Question: How does Jake survive despite being seen eaten by the shark?
BaconIsMyBFF
15th Mar 2021
Jaws 4 (1987)
4th Mar 2021
Family Matters (1989)
Question: Would Eddie have actually been able to become a cop? In earlier episodes, he is drunk and has even got in trouble with the law several times, which resulted in him being arrested.
Answer: Having an arrest on your record will not disqualify you. Only a conviction will count against you because in the United States, you are considered innocent until proven guilty. And even then most police forces will only consider felony convictions or specific misdemeanors such as theft as disqualifiers.
2nd Mar 2021
General questions
Looking for a movie title (most likely made after 2000) where a zombie/robot takes in a lost little red-headed girl. The girl then leaves to kill the man who killed her mother. In the end, flies away with a man in a homemade red airplane. It's a futuristic movie and in one scene the girl and the man eat Twinkies that expired 1,000 years before. England is a moving tank on wheels. Title anyone?
Answer: Mortal Engines, based on the book of the same name.
2nd Mar 2021
Justice League (2017)
Question: When Bruce tracks down Aquaman in the Icelandic village, they have a conversation in which Aquaman calls Bruce "Batman" within earshot of strangers; since Bruce Wayne is highly protective of his secret identity as Batman, isn't this a bit careless on Aquaman's part? Even if the Icelandic villagers didn't understand English (unlikely, since most Icelandic people are at least bilingual), they would still recognize the word "Batman" and be able to put two and two together.
Answer: It is implied that the village is isolated. Bruce says that Arthur helps the villagers survive the winter by bringing them fish, which indicates they are so cut off from the world they would die out without Arthur's help. There is no indication that any of these people have ever heard of either Bruce Wayne or Batman. Neither appears to be particularly famous outside of Gotham, Clark didn't recognize Bruce Wayne in the previous film at the party and Batman had only recently made national news.
2nd Mar 2021
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Question: I always feel like I'm missing something with the scene where Kirk orders the Enterprise to reverse at the beginning of the battle. It confuses the Klingons and leads to a short respite in taking fire, which I would assume was exactly Kirk's intention, but then Kirk himself expresses confusion that the Klingons had stopped firing. What else could Kirk have been trying to do with that action?
Chosen answer: Kirk is highly skilled and experienced in combat. He knows the bird of prey must be between the Enterprise and the planet, so he instinctively orders a reverse after they are hit, fearing that they are at point-blank range. Chang is worried that Kirk may have somehow detected him, so he holds fire and repositions, but Kirk is merely being cautious.
Answer: Kirk wants to buy time to find a way to detect Chang's ship. Reversing is an unorthodox tactic so Chang is also thinking.
3rd Aug 2020
X-Men (1992)
Question: Does anyone know why Gambit was featured less and less in episodes as the show went on? He was one of the most popular characters in not just X-Men, but all of Marvel Comics around the time this series first aired, so unless it had something to do with his voice actor's contract, it seems odd they wouldn't have utilized him more.
Answer: Chris Potter, the original Gambit voice actor, did indeed quit the role in the 4th season. His last episode was The Phalanx Covenant Part 1 so it seems reasonable that Fox would limit the use of the character even though it was recast. It doesn't appear that Potter left the role due to animosity, he stated in an interview that he wished to play Gambit in the first live action X-Men film.
23rd Feb 2021
Cast Away (2000)
Question: Considering that Chuck had been on the island for four years, would he actually still have all of his teeth or would he have lost them all? From all the things that he saw in the packages that he opened, not one of them had anything to keep his teeth clean.
Answer: Even without dental care for four years, it would take far longer for a generally healthy person to lose their teeth if they had previously maintained proper oral hygiene. Chuck's diet was a factor (little or no sugar) and he could also fashion a primitive toothbrush or toothpick from materials on the island. Ancient humans had relatively little tooth decay. It was after sugar was introduced into the European (and later American) diet in the 11th century, that dental problems started becoming more prevalent.
Answer: It's possible that he could keep his teeth, provided he doesn't eat too many sugars. Just think of all the cultures throughout history and today that do not brush their teeth. They certainly have dental issues compared to those who regularly brush and see a dentist, but it's not like none of them have teeth.
Answer: Toothpaste and toothbrushes (+ floss) are not the only things that can be used to clean teeth! (What did people use before toothpaste and toothbrushes were manufactured?) A CLEAN finger can be used or a wet piece of cloth - and some fruits (e.g, apple) and vegetables (e.g, carrot) can help remove gunk from teeth. He had access to sea salt, which could help. If he "wiped" his teeth (after every meal and snack), he would be able to avoid plaque and tartar buildup. Toothpaste in and of itself is NOT necessary - it is added flavor to supposedly make brushing teeth taste better (e.g, bubblegum flavor for kids), be more pleasant (and thereby encourage people to brush longer), and/or add fluoride. Few, if any, people make it through adult life without a cavity, but there's no significant factor during his four years that would make him lose all of his teeth! The information given in the previous answers is also relevant.
Answer: I wasn't told as a kid I had to brush my teeth every day. I brushed them only before going to the dentist or a special occasion, would sometimes go months without brushing. I only started brushing properly after puberty and I still have each and every single one of my teeth. They're a bit yellower than average, but not that bad. Even with smoking all my life and practically living of sugar, most people actually think I have pretty decent teeth and I never get comments about having bad teeth. They do tell me that if this had gone on for much longer, I would regret it and my gums have retracted a bit from all the tartar, but this makes me assume that, being healthy, you can probably go at least 10 years with poor mouth hygiene before your teeth actually start rotting.
8th Jan 2021
The Prestige (2006)
Question: When Cutter arrives below stage to find Angier drowning in the tank he sees Borden hitting the glass trying to break it, desperately trying to save Angier, but why does he tell the court that Borden was just watching him drown?
Answer: Cutter believes that Borden set up the tank as a trap. It doesn't make sense that Borden would then try to save Angier, so it seems reasonable that Cutter believed Borden was simply putting on a show for the witnesses because he was caught red-handed. Cutter pushes Borden out of the way and exclaims "What have you done!" as he happens upon the scene, so it is clear he doesn't believe Borden is actually trying to save Angier.
14th Jan 2021
The Powerpuff Girls (1998)
Moral Decay / Meet The Beat Alls - S3-E13
Question: There is something I don't get about Buttercup in this episode. She's a hero. Why would she knock some teeth out just for some money? That sounds like something a villain would do.
Answer: Buttercup is a hero, but she is also a 5-year-old child. She still needs to learn the same moral lessons any other child would. The girls often make the same questionable decisions regular kids do in real life, taken to an extreme because they have super powers and fight crime. Also, this is a highly stylized and over the top show where character traits are regularly exaggerated for a laugh.
29th Jan 2021
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Question: Who shoots Herod the first time in the final showdown with Ellen? I have replayed the video several times and her gun does not fire until the second, kill shot to the head. Cort is just behind her. Are we supposed to surmise that he shot Herod first? Just a mistake?
31st Jan 2021
VeggieTales: Where's God When I'm S-Scared? (1993)
Question: How big are the characters in Veggie Tales?
Answer: The VeggieTales characters are fruits and vegetables that live in a regular human kitchen. So all the characters are meant to be the same size as their real-life counterparts.
5th Feb 2021
WandaVision (2021)
On a Very Special Episode... - S1-E5
Question: The intro sequence for this episode seems most closely based on Growing Pains, with a dash of Family Ties, but the painting being coloured in really reminds me of something else, I assume another TV show, but can't place it. Any inspiration?
Chosen answer: The living painting is taken straight from the Family Ties intro.
Ah, that makes sense - I first saw this one on Youtube, which at a guess was the first season or an early version? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPRdtO6UKD0. But yeah, this is exactly right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip1szfz9nZ8.
Answer: I noticed that too and although I can't think of any sitcom starting like that it does remind me strongly of Bob Ross "The Joy of Painting" intro, which was from the 80's as well.
26th Jan 2021
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Question: How did the T-800 figure out that John's foster parents were dead?
Answer: He tested the T-1000 by asking him about the barking dog. The dog's actual name is Max, so the T-800 asks "What's wrong with Wolfie? I can hear him barking." When the T-1000 answers that "Wolfie is just fine", The T-800 knows that the T-1000 has killed Todd and Janelle. There's actually a deleted scene (reincorporated into the Director's Cut) where the T-1000 then goes outside, kills the dog, and checks the tag to find out if he was duped.
26th Jan 2021
The Departed (2006)
Question: I understand that Sullivan killed Barrigan at the end of the movie because there needed to be someone dead other than Costigan that Sullivan could pin as the mole in order to evade being caught. But why couldn't Sullivan keep Barrigan alive and then both of them pin Trooper Brown, who Barrigan had killed just a second beforehand, as the mole?
Answer: It is unlikely that Trooper Brown would be believable as a member of the Irish Mob, considering the fact that he is African American.
21st Jan 2021
Cast Away (2000)
Question: I recently submitted a "mistake" which revealed my own misunderstanding. The package that Chuck eventually delivers to Bettina had been sent to her partner in Moscow, which COULD explain its presence on a westbound trans-Pacific flight. Still, would a package sent from Memphis to Moscow be routed through southeast Asia? It would be shorter, and therefore faster, would it not, to send it across the Atlantic?
Answer: There are two packages sent by Bettina Peterson. The first we see goes to Russia to a man also named Peterson. The second never reaches its destination but we don't know where exactly it was being sent. That second package must have been going somewhere that required it being routed through Malaysia.
Agree with your answer, but something else occurred to me. Bettina appears to be sending out packages via FedEx fairly regularly. She is an artist, and may sell her work internationally. While she does create large-scale wing sculptures, she may also do smaller types of metal artwork, jewelry, etc. We assume she was only mailing packages to her cheating husband, but she could have been sending something to a customer in Southeast Asia.
I found an earlier version of the script that explains this. After rescue, FedEx looked at the husband's records, which indicate he had moved from Russia to Kuala Lumpur. The package on the plane was being sent from the lady in Texas to there. The FedEx people could not locate a current address for the now ex-husband, so Tom returned it to the sender address in Texas.
22nd Jan 2021
X-Men 3 (2006)
14th Jan 2021
It Chapter Two (2019)
Question: In the first It, Pennywise was defeated by the Losers because they were no longer afraid of Pennywise, which weakened him. How was he able to become strong enough to return?
Answer: Simply put, the Losers incorrectly believed Pennywise would starve during his hibernation because he couldn't eat them. This is apparently not the case and in the 27 years he was sleeping, Pennywise gained enough strength to eat the wounded Adrian Mellon when he wakes. After claiming Adrian, Pennywise was strong enough to resume his normal activities. Overcoming their fears was only good enough to win the battle with Pennywise, but it wasn't enough to kill him. In the book the Losers have no idea whether or not they have killed Pennywise, and this coupled with the fact that they get lost in the sewers causes them all to panic. The fact that Pennywise sleeps for 27 years leads them to believe that he is dead over time and all but Mike forgets about him and the rest of the Losers entirely. The film is identical to the book in the regard that Pennywise awakens after 27 years with just enough strength to murder and eat Adrian Mellon.
11th Jan 2021
The Sandlot (1993)
Question: Can a lifeguard legally throw a kid out of the pool like Wendy did to Squints after he kissed her?
Answer: Absolutely. In addition to having to administer life-saving measures, the lifeguard on duty at a public pool is also responsible for maintaining order. A kid purposefully diving into the deep end of the pool and pretending to drown just so he could kiss the lifeguard puts himself and others at risk. Anyone who doesn't abide by the pool rules can be kicked out by the lifeguard with no warning needed at all.
Answer: I would add to the other answer that inappropriately touching or kissing another person without their consent is an illegal act, giving the lifeguard the legal right to expel anyone.
I appreciate the answer, but the movie takes place in the 1960s. As much as I agree with you, that sadly wasn't the way things were then.
Even though it was the 1960s, it would still be illegal to touch, grope, or kiss someone without their permission. It would be considered a technical physical assault. Unfortunately, in that era, it was taken less seriously than it is now and the consequences were minor (i.e. a stern warning) to non-existent. The lifeguard was in the position of power at the pool, however, and she had the authority to eject anyone for that type of behavior.
Not in the 1960s. It was just a kiss from a little kid. It was embarrassing, not illegal.
23rd Dec 2020
Die Hard (1988)
Question: If the guy at the reception desk knew that the only ones left in the building were on the 30th floor, why did he tell John to use the screen?
Answer: Most large companies, particularly hi-tech or multinational ones, require visitors to check-in, especially afterhours. By having John search for Holly's name, it can be verified that he actually knows someone who works there, that there is an actual employee with that name, and otherwise assess whether John is a legitimate visitor. This scene's real purpose, however, is for plot exposition. John learns from the monitor that Holly now goes by her maiden name (Gennero) rather than her married surname. We see John's annoyed reaction to learning this, which sets up a later confrontation between him and Holly over their troubled marriage.
Answer: Any answer is speculation; but a simple explanation is he may have forgotten the only people left were there for the Xmas party until John mentioned the 30th floor. The guard also seems fairly proud of their new high-tech touchscreen system so he might have just had John use it to show off how nice the building is.
Answer: Most likely he just wanted to showcase a nifty (by 80s standards) piece of technology to a visitor.
Answer: The party was on the 30th floor and John was asking for a specific employee, his wife. He had no idea where she was exactly.
23rd Dec 2020
Die Hard (1988)
Question: Why did John send the elevator down to floor 31 and then floor 30 with the body inside it? Wouldn't it have been better to send it straight to floor 30?
Answer: He sent the elevator down and stopped it halfway between floors so he could get on the top of the car. Once he's on top of the car, he won't be able to hit the button for the 30th floor, so he has to hit both buttons before he gets on top of the car.
Answer: I always thought of it more of a last resort thing. His plan was to get on top of it, but if he ran into issues he had time to get out. If he sent it to floor 30 and found out he couldn't stop it or anything to climb up on top, the baddies would have got hold of him. By sending it to 31 and then 30, if he found out he couldn't stop it then he'd just be able to get out on floor 31 instead meaning the baddies wouldn't catch him.
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Answer: We never see Jake "eaten", he is merely shown being dragged underwater by the shark. Off screen, the shark simply let go of Jake and didn't kill him. In a movie full of factual errors and plot holes, this bit is actually somewhat realistic. Sharks typically do not eat humans, but will maul people on occasion and let go, presumably because they don't like the taste. How Jake survives underwater for minutes on end is not addressed. Originally, Jake was meant to be killed by the shark but for whatever reason, it was decided that Jake should survive and make a surprise appearance after the shark has been killed.
BaconIsMyBFF