MovieChat Forums > Men in Black³ (2012) Discussion > They ruined the neuralyzer gag....

They ruined the neuralyzer gag....

posted 12 years ago by drivenkick43
28 replies | jump to latest

I thought it was pretty clever that when they were going to erase J's memory when he first got back to 1969 that the he had to be placed inside a huge neuralyzer the size of a whole room. As we know, everything gets smaller as technology advances: the first computer filled up a room, early microwaves were the size of a refrigerator, early cell phones were the size of a large brick, etc. It only made sense that the early generation neuralyzers were massive.

But then near the end when they are at Cape Canaveral, it turns out that 1969 K does have a hand-held mini neuralyzer after all- it just has to be hooked up to a battery pack. Ummmmm, so why didn't he just use that on J in the first place? Why do they even still have a massive, room-size neuralyzer that requires the target to be placed inside and takes a minute to warm up when they can just use the pocket size version instantly?

They ruined a pretty clever bit by pulling out the mini version in the end. They should have just used J's modern neuralyzer if when they needed a portable one at the end. They could have had K marvel at the small size of it (like the way J marveled at the huge size of K's '69 portable phone in that one scene).

[–] asphyxion_ 12 years ago

My assumption was this about the Neuralyzers:

1. The handheld neuralyzer uses a 'flash' which requires that the one being flashed stare into a lens on the device itself.

2. The giant neuralyzer K puts J in doesn't have this flash, instead it has what appear to be electrical probes/outlets that point towards the person's head inside the machine.

I always thought that the large neuralyzer would 'shock' the brain (kind of like MiB 2 when they have to deneuralyze K's brain in Jeebs' basement) in order to erase the person's memory so that they couldn't avoid being neuralyzed (if they closed their eyes on a handheld neuralyzer they probably wouldn't have their memory erased). I'm assuming that K might have thought J would know how to block having his memory erased by the handheld neuralyzer, and he wanted to make sure J told him the truth by threatening him with the neuralyzer that couldn't be blocked.

Just my theory..

[–] itscoldiniowa 11 years ago

You made me think of something...

Maybe (old) J could look away from the small nuralizer and the big one he couldn't or something like that.

[–] ladydesdemonna 12 years ago

It seemed to be the large neuralyzer, unlike the smaller version erased all of your memory basically rendering you an amnesiac.

If you can't stand the heat in the kitchen turn off the stove

[–] sfstagewalker 12 years ago

This was my assumption as well, the big one for big wipes, the small one for brief one-time only wipes.

[–] Masterfulks 12 years ago

It was probably one of the old ones that they just kept in use. K likely used it for the interrogation factor. He knew that J was not telling the truth. Using the big one gave him more time to mess with J instead of just holding up the quick version.

[–] old-skool101 11 years ago

If you remember it had a dial up modem sound...so it could be hooked up to the one back at HQ

[–] mikexx 11 years ago

IIRC, the giant one was also a mind-reader/raper/whatever. In fact, we don't even know what it really does, because nobody ever says what does -- J just *assumes* it's a neutralizer.

[–] Saggygrandmama 11 years ago

I'm pretty sure the big one was for huuuuge memory erasing. This is due to the fact that when Agent K is leaving with J, O sees them and asks "K, why are you still with that man?" And K responds "I think I cooked him too long. I'm gonna walk him out to make sure he's ok." And J says (in an infantile voice) "I put my pants on!"

I took this to mean that the big neuralyzer had the ability to be used for varying amounts of time, and the longer it's used the more memory erasing that occurs.

[–] rams_lakers 11 years ago

Odd no one mentioned this: wasn't the "flashy thing" red in the first 2 movies? Why the change to blue? That's really annoying. They aren't star wars light sabers.

[–] SpaceMountainMike 9 years ago

Ummmmm, so why didn't he just use that on J in the first place? Why do they even still have a massive, room-size neuralyzer that requires the target to be placed inside and takes a minute to warm up when they can just use the pocket size version instantly?

For that matter why do people still have desktop computers when there are smartphones? Why do payphones still exist?
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[–] pibwl 8 years ago

That was also my thought: a big neuralizer from the 1950s was still in use, because it worked. That's why the Pentagon reportedly still uses computers from the 1960s, with 8-in floppy discs. The MIB agency sure had a big budget, but maybe not that big, to replace all equipment with new one. It is also a reasonable thought, that it was more powerful tool, than hand-held battery-powered ones.

Besides, K knew, that J knew what a hand-held neuralizer is, and he could possibly close eyes instead of stare into a light. But in my opinion, K did not mean to neuralize J at all, only to scare him - it would be totally foolish to neuralize a man, who evidently has a very interesting knowledge about the MIB and its targets.