Best sci-fi movie questions of 1982

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The Thing picture

Question: Why did Kurt Russell sound the alarm when the thing was attacking the dogs? He was nowhere near the area and could not see what was going on. Also before he pulled the alarm, the sound he would hear was too faint to think something was wrong.

lartaker1975

Answer: Remember that he'd just spent the whole day investigating how something mysterious and horrible destroyed the Norwegian camp, so he's already in a spooked state of mind. Hearing the dogs screaming at night is already unusual on its own, and also reminds him how this whole episode all started with a crazed Norwegian trying to kill a dog. Deep down he knows whatever happened to the Norwegians is now starting at their own camp.

TonyPH

Chosen answer: He sensed something was wrong and wanted as much help from the others as possible.

Answer: Having investigated the Norwegian camp, he could have conceived that the use of fire would be helpful. As such, he would need fire extinguishers after combating whatever the thing might be with the flamethrowers. It could have been foresight on his part that by ringing the fire alarms, somebody was more likely to bring fire extinguishers with them, thus allowing better control of the fire.

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Halloween III: Season of the Witch picture

Question: This has been a question that's always brought up. Was Ellie Grimbridge always a robot from the very beginning, or was she turned into (or exchanged with) one when she was held captive at the shamrock factory?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: She was turned into one when she was captured. The robots didn't speak and if you notice that after he finds her, she never says a word. As well, she displayed genuine emotion throughout the film before she was captured, something the robots also never did.

I agree, she was a real person until she was captured. If she were a robot, I think Chalice would have found that out when they made love. Plus, as you mention, she had real emotions until her robot replacement was rescued.

Answer: Another theory might be that Ellie has always been a robot but an advanced model that Cochrane designed to interact with the outside world.

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Creepshow picture

Question: I heard that the marble ashtray that Bedelia uses to kill her father Nathan in the "Father's Day" segment appears in all the stories. Does anyone know the specific scenes it shows up in in the other ones?

Answer: Besides being in "Father's Day", it showed up in "The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill" right next to the cash box at the Department of Meteors. In "Something To Tide You Over" on the nightstand next to Richard's bed. In "The Crate", it was on the writing desk when Henry writes the letter to Wilma. In "They're Creeping Up On You", Upson Pratt uses it as a soap dish. And in the epilogue, it appears on Billy's desk when he starts stabbing the voodoo doll.

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Blade Runner picture

Question: I'm aware that there is debate on whether or not Deckard was a replicant, but as I was watching the movie, I couldn't see any clues as to why anybody would think this. Did I miss something obvious? Why do people think this?

Answer: The two most notable hints are as follows. The first (which is only in the Director's Cut) is that after Deckard dreams of a unicorn, Graf makes an origami unicorn and leaves it at Deckard's apartment. Some people interpret this as suggesting that they're aware of the memories that have been given to Deckard to prevent him realising his true nature. The second hint is that replicant eyes glow in certain lights - at one point in the film, Deckard's eyes can be seen glowing in the same fashion. Ridley Scott has stated on several occasions that, as far as he's concerned, Deckard is a replicant, but he does concede that they deliberately left it as somewhat ambiguous - the viewer should decide for themselves.

Tailkinker

Answer: Rachel asks Decker at one point if he had ever taken the replicant test himself, and he doesn't answer. Even though the movie itself doesn't seem to stress the point, in the book on which the movie is based "Do androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", the question of whether the protagonist detective is an android is the main theme.

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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial picture

Question: When Elliott, Mike and Mike's friends are escaping from the agents on their bikes, are the actors' stunt doubles adults or teenagers? Asking because I've heard of teenagers being stunt performers in movies.

Answer: The BMX stunt riders were aged between 15 and 20, so older than the kids in the film who were about 10.

Sierra1

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan picture

Question: When Khan speaks to Kirk, he tells him that he wants revenge for the death of his wife. Who was Khan's wife?

Answer: Lt. Marla McGivers was the crew member.

Answer: This is a reference to the TV show episode that this movie is a distant sequel to. In that episode, one of Kirk's crew falls in love with Khan and helps him take over the ship. When Khan is exiled to the planet, she chooses to go with him. So it would be that after the catastrophic events of one of the planets in that system exploding and causing all sorts of damage to their new planet, she was killed there and Khan blames Kirk for it.

Quantom X

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Swamp Thing picture

Question: What did Arcane believe he was going to turn into after drinking the formula?

Answer: He believed he would turn into a being of Supreme Intelligence, the next step in human evolution, like Professor X. An advanced mutant.

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Firefox picture

Question: When Clint gets inside the firefox in the hangar and starts it up, the guards don't think to shoot out the tires while it's in the hangar?

mozeus5

Chosen answer: There was just an explosion in the hangar and in the resulting confusion none of them were sure why it was moving. To get it away from the fire is not unreasonable. Also, the Soviet military is not big on showing initiative. Unless told to disable it, none of the guards would risk severe punishment for damaging a valuable aircraft.

Grumpy Scot

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Answer: He doesn't per se, the rats release him when they show up to move Mrs. Brisby's house.

Grumpy Scot

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