wizard_of_gore

Question: This always kind of bugged me. Why would David think that Kirk murdered everyone left behind on Regula One? Even though they did not have a father/son relationship, surely the heroic exploits of James T. Kirk are well known? At one point, David even refers to him as an "overgrown Boy Scout." I've seen this movie a hundred times, but could there be something I'm missing?

wizard_of_gore

Answer: Because David is working under the assumption that Kirk ordered Reliant to take Genesis by force. Khan had Chekov send a message that Kirk was ordering Regula 1 to turn over the Genesis project. When Carol Marcus attempted to contact Kirk to confirm the order, he had the communications at Regula 1 jammed so the message couldn't go through. This lead David to believe that Kirk was attempting to steal Genesis. The fact that the group that stayed behind never made it to the cave suggested that they were killed. Since David has no reason to believe otherwise, he assumes Kirk is responsible. He has no idea who Khan is and that he is a mortal enemy of his father. Khan's goal was simply to acquire Genesis and bring his enemy to him, having David distrust Kirk was not part of his plan. It just happened that way.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Even though it's meant as a comedic moment, I've never really understood why Kirk would be so nervous about Saavik piloting the ship out of space dock. She's not actually flying the ship, so it's not like she's going to crash it into the wall or something. Plus, Sulu is an experienced pilot, so even if she said something stupid like "Warp speed!", he's unlikely to follow the order. Just something odd that I have always wondered about.

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: He's nervous because she's a trainee and had never done this maneuver before. Even if Sulu is there, she could still possibly make one small error that he would be unable to react to in time. As you point out, the scene is meant to be comedic, and it's being a little over-played strictly for that.

raywest

Again though, she is not actually piloting the ship, only giving orders.

wizard_of_gore

Even though Sulu is an experienced pilot, taking the ship out of space dock under power is still prohibited for a reason. If something were to go wrong and a quick decision had to be made, Savick would be the one giving orders to correct the problem. That's what makes Kirk nervous, not the piloting skill involved but the decision making required in an emergency.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Normally a ship is piloted out of spacedock using thrusters (see ST:TMP). Saavik ordered impulse power.

Answer: Saavik destroyed a simulated Enterprise during her Kobayashi Maru test, with Admiral Kirk chiding her afterwards. When Spock invites Saavik to take the real Enterprise out of space dock, Kirk is obviously nervous because he thinks Saavik is unready for command, as she destroyed the Enterprise earlier.

Charles Austin Miller

To my original point though, she is not actually touching any controls, only giving orders. The Enterprise was destroyed in the simulation during a Klingon attack, which is very different than guiding a ship out of spacedock. Not to mention the fact that the simulation is designed to make the cadet fail.

wizard_of_gore

The whole scene is about Spock taking a dig at Kirk's ego. Being the only cadet in Starfleet history to ever actually beat the Kobayashi Maru test (albeit by trickery), Kirk has an inflated standard for what constitutes "readiness for command," and it shows in his reaction. Knowing full well that it will raise Kirk's hackles, Spock deliberately invites Saavik to handle the simple space dock maneuver. McCoy also knows that Kirk will over-react, which is why he offers Kirk a tranquilizer.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: It is stated that Optimus is a descendant of the last remaining Primes which sacrificed themselves to stop The Fallen from destroying the sun. If the Primes were all dead, how could he be 'descended' from them and how can he himself be a Prime?

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: We don't actually know how "descended" works in Transformer terms, but presumably the original Primes created descendants in some manner before their sacrifice. The original Primes all gave their lives to stop the Fallen, but that doesn't mean that there couldn't have been descendant Primes created prior to that point.

Tailkinker

Question: During the first film, there is a huge battle in the middle of downtown L.A. (Mission City), witnessed by thousands of people and causing millions of dollars in damage. In this movie, this is just an Internet rumor? How did they cover this up? Did the government pay off thousands of people and repair all the damage that quickly? And, most importantly, in the first movie didn't Jon Voight go on TV and tell the whole world they were dealing with a superior technological civilization?

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: Per IMDB Trivia: The novelization states that the government created a fake corporation called "Massive Dynamics" as a cover for the events of Transformers (2007). The cover story stated that Massive Dynamics had developed robotic search-and-rescue robots which malfunctioned during tests and caused the damage seen in that movie's finale.

shortdanzr

Question: This might be subjective, but why does the Enterprise take so much damage, especially interior damage, long before the shields actually collapse?

wizard_of_gore

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.

raywest

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.

TonyPH

11th Jul 2007

Hostel: Part II (2007)

Question: ***Question contains spoiler*** OK, maybe I'm dense, but what was the point of killing the kid? Was it just another scene designed to shock the audience?

wizard_of_gore

Answer: The kids were beating on Beth. If she was beaten and bruised she's worth less money. So Sasha told the "leader" of the gang to choose one to die or he will.

Chosen answer: I think it was meant to show that there is a line that the kids can't cross - if they do, then one of them will get sacrificed...hence why the adult doesn't show any mercy in doing it, and the kids know that something nasty is about to happen.

Sam Johnson

Question: What happens to Leslie's mom at the end of the film? It seems like her dad up and moves away by himself.

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: She left early.

Disney-Freak

10th May 2007

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Question: This might be explained in the comics, but why does Peter Parker appear to be immune to death? He gets repeatedly slammed into walls all the time, and then he is pounded repeatedly by the giant Sandman and lives. I know that spiders are very strong relative to their size, but you can still squish 'em.

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: I'm not sure about the comics, but the science behind Spiderman is real. He embodies all the characteristics of a real spider, only amplified by genetic mutations (remember that the spider that bit him was not just any spider) and adjusted to his size. He can still be "squished" just like your standard house spider, although it would take a LOT more power...more than most of his adversaries are able to produce. This is why it took BOTH Sandman and Venom taking turns to wear him down.

Stefanie

Question: Other than maybe galactic domination, why does Shinzon want to destroy Earth? He was a human, created and enslaved by the Romulans? Why is he so bent on killing everyone on Earth?

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: Earth is the headquarters of Starfleet, and the de facto capital of the United Federation of Planets. As Picard says at one point in the movie, "If you destroy Earth, you cripple the Federation." Shinzon wanted to remove the biggest threat to the Romulan Empire so he could gain sympathy and support from the Romulan people, so they would support his rule.

Answer: Shannon seems to be based partly on Mordred from Le Morte d'Arthur and partly on Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon. Ming had nothing against Earth, and Mordred had nothing against Camelot. Villains are just into conquering and destroying. It's what they do.

Question: Near the end of the film, when Sarah dies, where did all the blood come from? Did she hit her head when she fell after the demon was driven out? If so, why did it take so long to start gushing?

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: Yes. It may have taken so long because the blood was probably pooling at the back of her head, which caused her to pass out, then finally built up enough pressure to gush out of the cut or fracture at the back of her head.

Macalou

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