Question: In the original film, the Discovery's onboard computer states: "I am a HAL 9000 Computer, Production Number 3. I became operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, on the 12th of January, 1992." So, "HAL" was a manufacturer identification prefix (standing for Heuristically-programmed ALgorithmic Computers), "9000" was its model number, and "No.3" was its production lineage. In this sequel, however, Dr. Chandra is chatting with one of HAL's earth-based twin computers which has a feminine voice and is called "SAL"; but how can they arbitrarily change its manufacturer identification prefix? Being produced by the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, and being identical to the computer aboard the Discovery, the twin's name should have a different production number, but it should still be called "HAL," should it not?
Question: The ending of this film seems rather vague on the actual outcome of destroying Skynet's HQ. Does that mean the humans have won the war or is Skynet still a threat? The ending of Terminator 3 would suggest the latter since there it was confirmed that Skynet is capable of moving from transferring itself from one installation to another when needed, yet here everyone seems to believe they accomplished a significant victory. So which is it?
Answer: It's suggested that they've succeeding in destroying a major node in the Skynet network, possibly the key node in that region of North America, but, no, Skynet is still a functioning entity.
Question: This might be subjective, but why does the Enterprise take so much damage, especially interior damage, long before the shields actually collapse?
Chosen answer: There's a limit as to how much the shields can protect the ship. Depending on the force of the explosions, the ship still suffers some damage from any weapon blasts. Also, the shield only holds for so long and gradually loses it protectiveness with successive attacks, causing increasing damage to the ship.
Answer: The depiction of the shields in this movie is actually interesting because it seems they deliberately tried to show how the ship could plausibly take damage while the shields are up. Here the shields seem to be "on" the hull (or perhaps emanate from the hull itself) and their function seems specific to preventing hull breaches. In TNG and onwards the shields appear as a kind of energy bubble wrapped around the ship, and accordingly they seem to absorb much more impact.
Question: When Chekov and Kirk step into their escape pods while on the Enterprise there are wearing their yellow uniforms, but when arriving on the planet they step out of the escape pods and are now wearing a completely different outfit. All of the other crew that used escape pods have not changed outfits. Where did they get the new clothes from?
Chosen answer: The outfits were in the escape pods they escaped in. The other crew members didn't change outfits because they were all captured and were unable to. Chekov and Kirk were not captured and were also the only crew on board who successfully escaped in the designated escape pods, so logically they would be the only people wearing different outfits.
Question: Maybe this was explained in the film and I missed it, but it has been bugging me for a while. What happened to all the rest of the clones of Jack and Victoria after the Tet was destroyed? Presumably their daily instructions in the form of Sally would cease. Wouldn't they get suspicious? Some reasonable explanation would be nice.
Answer: They would obviously notice that the Tet was gone and would no doubt have questions, but, without outside intervention, would be unlikely to be able to do anything about it, as they would have no reason not to believe that the "radiation zones" confining them to their particular area weren't real. Some would likely die fighting Scavenger groups in their areas (without the drones, they'd be increasingly vulnerable), others might be successfully contacted by those groups and thus could join with them, some may have ultimately starved without resupply from the Tet. The film only covers what happens to Jacks 49 and 52; the others likely met with a variety of different fates.
Question: Does anyone know the song that plays on the radio after a Graboid swallows it?
Answer: Trouble by Travis Tritt.
Question: Where did the bad guys get the cigarettes, paper, beer, gasoline, and water. All of the guys said they've never seen land, so how did they get this stuff?
Answer: Sealed stuff floats. They gather stuff just like the mariner.
Answer: Well the Black Death cigarettes and the smeat cans were both sealed items so they theoretically were waterproof. The gasoline was refined from oil which was leftover in the Exxon Valdez and the water was purified from sources? Just like how the mariner purifies his pee. I mean if you can believe he can purify his pee on the trimaran then I'm sure the crew of the Valdez is capable of purification.
Answer: These points have been brought up ever since this movie came out. I guess you have to suspend a lot of disbelief!
Question: According to the IMDb, every ship that's ever been in a Disney move is included in the Leviathan graveyard. Could anyone give me some examples?
Answer: For example prince Eric's ship/s from "the Little Mermaid" and the Susan Constant from "Pocahontas".
Question: Why was Ripley cloned?
Answer: In Alien 3, Ripley discovers there was an Alien queen embryo growing inside her, so she chose to kill herself. By cloning her, scientist were hoping the Alien queen embryo she had in her at the time of her death would also become cloned, which finally happen after the 8th try. This is also why the Alien queen they extracted from Ripley has some human traits.
Question: Why is the secretary was so rude to Howard when he tried to find the job?
Answer: As she said to Howard, she believed that he was using his "outlandish" appearance to be unable to find work and collect money through unemployment. She's probably dealt with people who did the same thing and was eventually sick of it.
Question: If the "cold drink" vending machine was unplugged and the buttons were unresponsive, WHY did the saboteurs deliberately illuminate the front of the machine? Wouldn't this ATTRACT people to the machine, only to subsequently arouse curiosity when it failed to function (as it did with Mulder)? The more logical approach would be to disable the vending machine (including the illumination) and tape an "out of order" sign on it. People would then just ignore the machine, arousing no suspicion. The illuminated vending machine gimmick looks like an illogical contrivance to advance the plot.
Chosen answer: If they had put an "Out of Order" sign, or left it unilluminated, someone in charge might try to have it fixed or replaced, or could have checked to see if it's plugged in, etc. By leaving it illuminated, it doesn't look out of place and simply not taking money wouldn't arouse too much suspicion. In my own life, when I've come across a seemingly working vending machine that won't take my money or dispense drinks (but gives my money back), I just find another one instead of calling someone or reporting it. But yes, it is very convenient to the plot that Mulder just happens to try and use this particular machine.
Question: When did Martian Manhunter get to Earth, why did he assume Martha Kent's identity, and where is she during Justice League?
Answer: Martian Manhunter is played by Harry Lennix, who also plays General Swanwick, a character who appears in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman (and we can see he transforms back into Swanwick he leaves), revealing that Swanwick was Martian Manhunter the whole time, so the indication is he got to Earth before Man of Steel. He assumed Martha's identity to speak with Lois, specifically to have a heart to heart with her as she is depressed due to Clark's death. Martha is present every other time we see her, when she leaves the Kent home at the beginning and when she reunites with Clark later on. This scene was the only time Martian Manhunter used her identity.
Question: At the very beginning of the movie, Ben refuses to fire on anyone even though he was under orders to do so. I can understand him being court-martialed for this but, why would they alter the video to show him killing innocent people with orders not to? And why send him to prison for allegedly killing innocent civilians?
Answer: They needed a scapegoat, someone to blame. The government controlled the people through violence, but at the same time tried to convince the people the government was fair (i.e. Runners who made it through were given their freedom when in fact they never left the arena alive). The people at Bakersfield were still massacred (that part wasn't made up) by the government in order to control the riot, but just not by Ben. But people would just riot more if they knew the government ordered their killing, so the footage was faked to make people think Ben acted alone and against orders. And to continue the ruse, they convicted him to appease the people and prevent them from rioting.
Question: One of the taglines for this film is "It's nothing personal". I have no idea what that has to do with the film and was hoping someone could explain it.
Chosen answer: Two possibilities. 1: The Terminator is emotionless, so the killing isn't personal, but rather what it's programmed to do. 2: Sarah Connor's plan to kill Miles Dyson to stop Skynet's creation.
It's also a sly nod to another famous tagline, Jaws: The Revenge. "This time it's personal."
Question: How did Marvin get the point of view gun to function the way it did (The front part popping open and firing a huge, wide-coverage blast)? That never occurred any other time the weapon was fired, and Marvin couldn't have known how to do it since they had recently discovered the gun.
Question: Were there ever plans for a sequel, if so why was it never made?
Chosen answer: A sequel was not only planned, but money was spent developing sets and costumes. However, Dolph Lundgren did not want to reprise the role, so Laird Hamilton was picked to play He-Man with Albert Pyu set to direct. Canon Films, who produced the first movie, was also planning on producing a Spider-Man movie. However, Canon Films still owed money to Mattel and Marvel for the character rights that they couldn't feasibly pay, so both projects had to be scrapped. Incidentally, not wanting to let money go to waste on sets and costumes, they had Pyu come up with a movie to utilize them, which resulted in Cyborg starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Question: Paul Ruebens does the voice of Max but why in the credits does it say that the voice of Max was done by Paul Mall?
Answer: According to IMDB, Paul Mall is just another one of his names people know him by.
Answer: It was Paul Reubens' idea to use a pseudonym, so as to keep the voice of Max a mystery and to surprise any fans of his.
Question: What exactly was Clu's vision of "the perfect system"?
Answer: Going by Clu's behavior and personality in the film, Clu's idea of a perfect system was likely a system where every component worked as intended and as expected. One where every action by programs could be consistently predicted. The Isometric Algorithms very existence went against everything that he believed was "perfect", in that by their nature their actions could not be predicted. Users also seem to exist in contrast to Clu's beliefs as their human emotions cause them to act irrationally and erratically.
Question: In the original novel, it was Shogo (not Shuya) who hacked the system to discover how to disable the collars; at the same time he found out that the class would be doing the Battle Royale and transferred into that class to try and use his knowledge to mess it up. In the film, the person who found out how to disable the collars and the person who found out about the Battle Royale and transferred into it are different people. Does anyone know why this change was made?
Chosen answer: Kawada hacked the system, learned about the collars, and transferred voluntarily to the class he knew would be participtaing in both versions. The only difference is when he transferred: in the book, it was right after his win, and in the film it was just for the battle. Shuya never hacked anything in either the book or the film. As to why the change was made, I can only assume that, given the shortening of novels involved in film making, it's easier to make Kawada a complete stranger than a loner that the kids recognize.
Question: Being unable to believe Paul's existence, Clive attacked Paul by gripping his throat in the RV. Then Paul said "That's my fucking jorph. Get your fucking fingers out of there! If I get a jorph infection, you're dead!" What exactly does jorph mean? Where does the word come from?
Answer: Since Paul is an alien, his race would probably give their body parts names that are in their own native language. To humans, we have throats. To Paul's race, jorph is their word for throat.
It cannot be a throat as it is an opening, it is more likely an opening that acts like a human ear.
Answer: The most likely reason the name was changed was probably a literary one. It makes it easier for the audience to differentiate SAL from HAL, showing how they are two distinct computers playing different roles in the film. It may also just be a feminine nickname being that SAL has a female voice.
raywest ★
I thought perhaps "SAL" was a nickname, also, until I saw that the computer's maker nameplate reads "SAL 9000" (visible in close-ups of SAL's glowing eye).
Charles Austin Miller