Twister

Question: When Jo and Bill seek shelter in a barn and see a lot of sharp objects, Jo asks, 'Who are this people?' and Bill replies, 'I don't think so!' Is there supposed to be some meaning to this?

Answer: No double meanings. Jo just sees the lethal-looking farm equipment (which is ordinary equipment that many farmers have) and in her panicked state wonders who would have such dangerous things in their barn, as though they were serial killers or something. Bill's "I don't think so!" just means they're not hiding in the barn where they could get impaled or decapitated at any second.

Krista

Question: After Jo's truck is destroyed and they have to use Bill's truck to load two of the Dorothys in, what do they do with the top that was over the bed of Bill's truck?

Tiffany

Chosen answer: I imagine they just left it at the house where they loaded the Dorothys. You only need a couple of wrenches to remove a camper top.

Grumpy Scot

They were not at a house.

Answer: It was most likely placed inside one of the other vehicles, the most likely being Dusty's "Barn Burner," which would've had ample space for it.

Question: It's obvious that Jo still has feelings for Bill at the beginning of the film, so why, after he sort of admits that he still has feelings for her, does she purposefully go ahead and sign the divorce papers, after purposefully not doing so in the beginning?

Krista

Chosen answer: Jo finally signs the divorce papers after she sees how upset Bill's fiance is getting after all the near misses with the tornados. She also sees that Bill does care for his new fiance and she finally decides not to stand in the way of his new relationship, even though it did not work out in the end.

Mark English

Answer: She signs it as at the time she was very annoyed with Bill. She wanted to stop and pick up the sensors but Bill dragged her into the truck instead and then even reversed and hit the machine.

Question: Why did Jonas steal Bill and Jo's idea? I remember the movie very fondly and I don't think it ever explained why he did.

Answer: He didn't steal their "idea", he stole their machine and method for getting sensors inside a tornado. He stole it because it was a good design, better than the one he had, and apparently Bill and Jo were too wrapped up in chasing twisters to patent it.

Answer: I don't think Jonas stole the their idea. In some scenes, Jo gives Jonas information on the weather. Without Bill around, it's quite possible Jo shared information with Jonas on how to build Dorothy. She didn't care about copyright because all she wanted to do/cared about was getting those things inside the tornado. Think of it like a surprise gift to all of meteorology.

First, Jo and Jonas aren't seen sharing information. Jonas had offered her info hoping to get some intel in return, but she denied sharing any. The most likely thing is that Jonas probably got word that Jo's team was developing this instrument pack and used his corporate resources to build a better version. If you look at Dorothy compared to DOT3, Dorothy looks like the type of pack that was built from scratch using random parts whereas DOT3 is a more refined version.

Question: During the F4 tornado at the drive in, the wind causes some debris to turn on an air hose in the pit where everyone took cover. After this happened, some of the guys tried to grab the hose, and after Preacher managed to grab hold of it he got sliced on the head from a sharp hubcap flying through the air, causing him to let go of the hose. Why was it so important that they grabbed the flying hose?

Answer: Well, the hose was a long, flailing object blowing forced air which could have caused physical harm had it thrashed into people. And it would only have gotten worse. Preacher's elation at grabbing hold of it was probably a bit out of proportion to the accomplishment. However, under the circumstances, subduing the hose was a pretty good move at the moment, even though its potential for harm paled in comparison to the cars and drive-in sign that would soon descend upon the pit.

Michael Albert

Question: If the two waterspouts were swirling closely around the pickup truck, how come they weren't able to pick it up?

Roman Curiel

Chosen answer: A tornado would have to be at least an F3 to be able to pick up a truck. The waterspouts were very small.

Greg Dwyer

The Fujita Scale is incorrectly portrayed as being used to describe the size of a tornado. It's actually used to describe the amount of a damage it has caused AFTER it has passed.

stiiggy

Question: Did Melissa not trust Bill? He told her to take the truck and head home, but she was adamant she wanted to tag along.

Answer: It's unknown what Melissa's motive was, but probably a combination of factors. She may have felt uncomfortable about Bill being with Jo, but also wanted to show her loyalty and commitment by staying, and proving she is as strong as Jo and can tough it out. Mostly it's a plot device to drive the story and sets up a conflict for Bill between his relationship with Melissa, who he does not truly love, and with Jo, who he still cares deeply for.

raywest

Question: Did any of Jonas' DOT parts or even the majority of it come from the little robot, "Jinx" in the movie Space Camp? Most of DOT looks like Jinx.

Sheri Hartman

Chosen answer: Because the two films are completely unrelated (even from a company perspective), and because there isn't some giant Hollywood Prop Flea Market where everybody shares each other's props, I'm going to say no. The design may have been based on the robot from the movie.

Question: When Jo and Bill drove through Wakita after the twister came tearing through moments earlier, she saw a family that looked just like hers from when she was a little girl standing in the wreckage. Was that an actual lookalike family who were victims of the Wakita tornado, or was her mind playing tricks on her because of the mixture of lack of sleep, stress, and her childhood trauma/PTSD?

Answer: It didn't appear to be an hallucination, but a real family that was similar to her own. Maybe someone else has a different take, but I don't think that was the intention.

raywest

Answer: Reportedly, their personalities just didn't mesh, and it was also a very hectic shoot due to all the effects. So, the atmosphere was high-stress, which isn't typically conducive to people getting along. Though Hunt has stressed that they were always cordial after filming was complete and had even talked about potentially working on a sequel together a few times, so it seems that they didn't overtly dislike each other.

TedStixon

Question: At the beginning, why did Jo's dad try to hold the storm cellar door against the raging winds of a tornado when he could have just scooted them into the farthest corner of the cellar – and even shielded them with himself if necessary? It was almost foreseen what had happened when he held the door.

Answer: His impulse thinking was to close the cellar door to best protect him and his family. He likely didn't believe they could survive if it was left open, even if they were all huddled in the furthest corner.

raywest

Question: When we first see Jonas and his army of storm chasers, what did the guy mean by telling Joe "I think we've got fleas" (at least that's what the subtitles say!).

Answer: He's making a wisecrack about Bill and Jo's team being scruffy, ill-funded, and not as "slick" as Jonas'. Basically comparing them to stray dogs, and joking that by being around them, they've picked up fleas from Jo's crew.

It was one of the guys on Jo's team that made the comment, not Jonas'. Whoever it was (sounded like Beltzer possibly), was referring to the fact that Jonas' team is like fleas to them. Pesky bugs that they can't shake.

Question: When Jo and Bill are in the car with Melissa in the back, Melissa is confused as to why they're chasing another storm given Jo and Bill nearly got killed in the previous tornado. Yet wouldn't Melissa already know they were chasing another tornado given they were driving as part of a 'pack' and there was another Dorothy in back of the truck? (00:34:45)

Answer: She's confused, scared, and her thinking is unclear. She wrongly assumes she knows how Bill will react. She does not really know the person Bill is, as he had put his storm chasing life behind him. Once he is thrown back in his old environment with Jo, which is where he really wants to be, Bill reverts to his old self.

raywest

Question: What exactly is Preacher's role in the group? He only has a few lines and never appears to be really doing anything of use.

Kyle G.

Answer: Based on his scenes, he seems to be a photographer for the team. He was taking pictures of Jo, showing how Dorothy worked, and was setting up a camera when Bill and Jo were going after the F5 at the end.

Answer: He's one of the scientists who works with Jo tracking tornadoes, gathering data, etc. He's a minor character, and therefore plays a lesser part in the story but is a part of the scientific team.

raywest

Factual error: When they are at Aunt Meg's the first time, they get word that a tornado has been spotted and somehow they already know its rating. Tornadoes get their ratings from the amount of damage they do. This is determined after the tornado is gone.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The scale back then was based on the size of the tornado, it's only more recently it is based on damage. So during the time of the movie, the scale was being used correctly for size not damage.

The Fujita scale was introduced in 1971 and was in use during the 90's when this film came out. The Fujita scale measured the damage caused by a tornado to man-made structures after ground or aerial surveys, it was not a measurement of tornado size (an F5 tornado is a tornado that's rated on the Fujita scale). It is true the Fujita scale was replaced by the enhanced Fujita scale in 2007, but that was only to align the ratings to the damage better, it did not change rating tornadoes from size to destructive powers.

Bishop73

More mistakes in Twister

Melissa: She didn't marry your penis... Okay, she didn't only marry your penis.

More quotes from Twister

Trivia: While he enjoyed the finished film, star Bill Paxton admitted he wished "Twister" was a bit darker and edgier. For a while around 2010, he tried to get a sequel off the ground to deliver this more intense vision, and he was even interested in potentially directing the follow-up. Little is known about what the sequel would have been about, although Paxton hinted he wanted to utilize 3D filming techniques (which had been re-popularized by James Cameron's "Avatar") to really put the audience into the tornado chases. Unfortunately, the sequel never came together.

TedStixon

More trivia for Twister

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