Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: How did the monkeys get onto the space ship and why were they so aggressive?

Answer: On the way from the Moon to Mars, the Cepheus interplanetary vessel receives an automated distress signal from a Norwegian bio-medical space station (that studies and conducts experiments on Earth animals in the deep-space environment). Apparently, a couple of very powerful and temperamental adult baboons escaped from their cages and killed everyone aboard the space station, feeding on their bodies. When the Cepheus answers the distress signal and arrives at the space station, the baboons attack and try to eat Captain Tanner and Roy McBride, also.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: If Palpatine wanted Rey alive, as he says to her on Exegol, why did he repeatedly order Kylo to kill her earlier in the movie?

Answer: Palpatine has been manipulating Rey and Kylo Ren from the very start, bringing the pair together and instigating fights between them. He is trying to make Rey stronger so that when he takes over her body, she will be powerful. Palpatine can partially see the future and knows that Kylo will not be successful in actually killing Rey, but that their constant fights will cause the two to grow more powerful. Because he can see part of the future, he knows that eventually Rey will triumph over Kylo and "kill" him, and then come to confront him directly. He doesn't count on Ben Solo coming back to face him which winds up being his undoing.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Not just earlier in the movie, but in the trilogy itself since he is technically also behind Snoke. Yeah I wondered the same. For that matter, why does he not clue her in of his whereabouts but just hopes (what a very Jedi thing to do!) she'll just find the thing that leads it to him? Feels like a plot hole but I didn't bother sending it because I am sure some answer for it will come in the expanded universe or whatever. Of course one could just say it's the Sith way and if Kylo managed to kill her it would completely erase the very last Jedi and erase anything good remaining in Kylo, making the victory of the Dark Side complete. And likewise, if Rey kills him (which she does, in a way!) that will make the Dark Side in her stronger. Curious enough, notice how Kylo wants them both to go to Palpatine, to kill him, instead, so Palpatine's order is meant to make him do something he does not want to.

Sammo

Answer: Emperor Palpatine is a lying bastard. Earlier he wanted her dead because he feared her power. Now that she's actually showed up in the flesh he's trying to flatter her to convince her to join with him (literally in this case). The Emperor is the Star Wars version of Satan/Lucifer; his word is worth less than nothing.

TonyPH

Answer: Well Dr. Strange used the time stone to see how they could fight him and they executed that plan, though as Strange knew they wouldn't win against him. Eventually Thanos did beat them but I suppose advanced technology and strength in numbers were a good advantage even if he had 4 stones. I think they intentionally went for speed and his mind as that's the 2 stones he was still missing.

lionhead

Answer: Since they are in possession of the Time Stone and Doctor Strange is hiding it with magic, he may have decided to refrain from killing all of them, otherwise locating the stone afterwards could prove a difficult task.

Phaneron

Answer: He could have, but Thanos sees himself as merciful and doing the right thing. He fights the Avengers and Guardians in order to stop them and gain the Infinity Stones. He has no particular interest in killing any of them.

Question: Why do Harry and Marv: 1. Go after Kevin when they should remember the misery he caused them before and 2. Be stupid enough to tell him what their plans are?

Rob245

Answer: Harry and Marv go after Kevin probably to even the score for a kid having outsmarted them once before. They tell him what their plans are because they're not particularly bright, believe it doesn't matter, and simply because it serves as a plot device. Kevin has to somehow learn their plan, otherwise he could not thwart them.

raywest

Answer: Marv and Harry say in one of the scenes that Kevin is not at his own home meaning "he doesn't have a house full of goodies" to hurt them with (quoted from the scene). So they felt like they were safe from any havoc because he didn't know where he was, of course they underestimated him.

Question: When Kimble is in the hospital with the boy he changes the diagnosis to what? I have tried to look but it cuts away as he's writing it down on the boy's file.

Answer: When Richard changes the diagnosis, the first thing he writes down is "AO" which is medical shorthand for aorta. Many people who have medical degrees and saw the movie speculate that Joel had an aortic tear. This would cause blood to flow into the chest cavity making it difficult to breathe and with the impact from the crash it could have caused the fatal injury. An aortic tear requires immediate surgery and by changing Joel's diagnosis, Kimble was able to save his life.

Answer: Kimble is watching as the doctor, Al, looks at the chest film and states "possible fractured sternum, he's stable," and we can see Kimble's bothered by that. Then Kimble is told to take the boy to observation room 2. When Kimble questions the boy and looks at the chest film, Kimble ignores what he was told, and instead heads directly for the surgical OR. In the elevator he draws a line over the incorrect essential diagnosis: "depress chest w/ poss fr" (possible fracture), and begins to write "Ao," then he scribbles a signature on the Patient of Dr line. The essential diagnosis Kimble writes is presumably an Aortic trauma, which is a life-threatening critical injury and requires immediate attention. So when Kimble brings the boy to the OR (instead of observation room 2) for the emergency medical procedure, he tells the doctor the boy was sent up from downstairs. The child is then taken to operating room 4, STAT, saving the child's life.

Super Grover

Its a pneumothorax, is air trapped between the lung and the ribcage and it's very common.

Answer: The presumption is the boy was misdiagnosed and he changed the chart to the correct diagnosis. The doctor says later that he saved the boy's life. Most likely he changed the charge to order specific tests.

Answer: It's never specified what he changed the orders to, nor is it important to know. This was done only add to the plot where the other doctor noticed him looking at the X-ray, arousing her suspicion, then creating suspense as Kimble barely escapes from the hospital.

raywest

We know it isn't important know, it's just a point of curiosity.

True and if you notice that's the always reliable Julianne Moore as the other doctor. This was the first movie that she did that was lampooned in Mad magazine, the next would be Mocking Jay Part 1.

Rob245

"The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and "Hannibal" were both lampooned by Mad before "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1."

Bishop73

I totally get that you're curious about it. Just saying that filmmakers usually aren't concerned with showing small details like that. They use broader strokes to tell the story.

raywest

A lot of film makers do put in small details into their work. Yes, some are lazy, for example, repeating 1 or 2 paragraphs in a news article too look like they whole page is filled. Others take time to have the whole thing filled out, even adding funny things for the viewer who paused the video to read. This is why there's a lot of trivia entries and questions about what something small was or meant. A casual viewer wouldn't know if what they saw meant something or was the film makers being lazy.

Bishop73

Question: Who started the rumor that children were toxic and harmful?

Answer: The movie doesn't say, but Waternoose's long history at the company implies that even if he isn't behind the story, he's been supporting it for a long time.

Answer: I just assumed that it was the plutonium on board. But I may be misremembering. It could have been uranium.

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: The boilers explode due to water intake.

Question: If she can destroy Ares with her hands then why does she even need a sword and shield? Perhaps for merchandise?

Rob245

Answer: For the majority of the movie, Diana believes the sword to be the only weapon capable of killing Ares. She doesn't realise until she fights him that the sword is just an ordinary weapon and thus, useless against a god. She carries the shield because it is useful. She uses it in combat most prominently to block gunfire.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Why did General Donald McClintock want to keep the virus a secret and not let anyone know of its existence?

Trainman

Answer: He wanted to eventually use it as a biological weapon.

raywest

Answer: Is it because if anyone knew about it will spread information across the globe and will likely lead to his enemies and will no longer be a secret and his plans will be ruined?

Trainman

Show generally

Question: If Roper wouldn't rent to Jack unless he faked being gay then what made him not suspect the girls of being gay?

Rob245

Answer: Possibly because in the 70s/80s, no-one would bat an eye about two girls living together, or 2 guys living together.

Answer: Because they've had various boyfriends and dates over the years. How he never noticed Jack had a stream of women coming to The Apartment is another issue.

Brian Katcher

Answer: According to Ms. Hannigan, they died in a fire.

Brian Katcher

Question: Where exactly is Whoville located? And what year is the movie meant to take place?

Answer: Then why does it appear as a tiny speck in Horton Hears A Who?

In "Horton Hears a Who", both the book and the animated film, the speck of dust lands on a clover. In the 2000 Grinch film, the speck of dust has now landed on a snowflake because it's winter time. It should be noted that it's only the 2000 Grinch film that has Whoville as a speck similar to Whoville in "Horton Hears a Who." In the book and other adaptations, Whoville and the Whos are normal sized and probably located somewhere in Massachusetts.

Bishop73

Where are you getting Massachusetts from?

Brian Katcher

Dr. Suess was born in Springfield, MA and there are some that claim the drawings in the book are similar to Easthampton, MA and Mt. Tom (although others say it's La Jolla and Mt. Soledad in California). Residence of Easthampton put on an annual "Whobalation" to celebrate the legend Whoville is based on them.

Bishop73

Answer: According to the introduction, Whoville is located on a snowflake. Therefore they don't keep time like we do.

Brian Katcher

Question: Why doesn't the Interceptor fight back against the Dutchman and the Pearl?

Answer: I'm assuming you're actually referring to Beckett's ship the Endeavour in the third film "At World's End." (The Interceptor was destroyed in the first film.) If that's the case, the ship is simply outgunned and the captain Beckett freezes and doesn't make any commands. He doesn't know what to do because there's no way he could win. The call is then made to abandon ship. Hence, they don't fight back.

TedStixon

And without an order to attack, they were simply not able to. Beckett had hoped the Dutchman would be on his side. And was simply gobsmacked at the turn of events.

Ssiscool

Answer: It's not uncommon in real life for spouses to be unhappy in their marriage and resort to extramarital affairs. I haven't seen every episode of this show yet, but the vibe I get is that it's not so much funny that she cheats on Dale, but how painfully oblivious Dale is to it, to the point where he can't even tell Joseph is obviously John Redcorn's son and not his.

Phaneron

The main joke is that Dale is so fascinated with mysteries, the paranormal, conspiracy theories, etc, he is too busy to notice his wife having an affair. He does not see the "conspiracy" of Nancy and John, happening right in his own home.

Answer: Nancy has stated that she loves Dale "in a 'lights-on' sort of way" (season three - "Peggy's Headache"), and other episodes make it clear she cares about him. It could be a case of her "having the cake and wanting to eat it, too." She can enjoy her affair with Redcorn while Dale takes care of Joseph, due to him not always working much. Perhaps she needs an escape from Dale's reckless adventures and conspiracy theories. An affair is not a good way to deal with this, in my opinion, but there are people who do it.

Answer: Elizabeth lied because she knows that being the governor's daughter makes her a valuable hostage who would either be ransomed or used for leverage. A commoner girl is far less useful.

raywest

What would the pirates ransom Elizabeth for? Gold silver and jewels?

Possibly for gold but she was more valuable for obtaining her father's cooperation to give them whatever they wanted (i.e. a safe escape, finding the coin, etc.) in exchange for not harming her.

raywest

"Safe escape" they can't die. "Finding the coin" the coin was already on board their ship.

She doesn't know that.

lionhead

Answer: Because of her father. She knows 'Turner' is a pirate's surname. If she gave the name Swann they would associate her with her father and put the family at risk.

Ssiscool

Answer: He does eventually when Marie teaches Debra how to make her meatballs, but changes the spice label.

Answer: Unlikely. It's shown numerous times Ray is scared of upsetting his mother.

Ssiscool

Question: When is The Coral Sea Battle shown?

Answer: It's shown in the original 4 hour movie. Most of the scenes from the Coral Sea Battle are cut from this version and the battle is referenced, but never really shown.

Question: They say the wires for the electromagnetic seal "can't be cut locally" - how is that possible? I mean at some point the electricity for them has to come into the building, surely?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: I took this to mean that cutting the lines themselves wouldn't open the safe. The safe is designed such that the physical locks could be destroyed but the electromagnetic lock wouldn't open unless the power to the entire building was shut off.

BaconIsMyBFF

But my point is they've got control of the building, including the basement/anywhere else. General power has to enter the building from the street somewhere, and I don't see how they wouldn't be able to just cut through a main power cable and achieve exactly the same result as a switch being flipped by a city engineer.

Jon Sandys

The city engineer shuts down an entire city grid. I think that has something to do with it. It's not as simple as cutting a power line or flipping a switch.

BaconIsMyBFF

I get that's the argument, I just don't see how. Because eventually it has to come down to the building being connected to the city grid via...something, and I don't see why the bad guys couldn't just interfere with that "something" themselves. There's either a technical reason or it's a plot hole, but I'm not really bothered about the mistake aspect, it's more just a query my brain can't let go of and I want the answer. :-).

Jon Sandys

Answer: There's no mention as to where the cables actually enter the building. They could come in via the basement, there could be a separate utility room that can only be accessed from outside or the cables could simply be inside a wall somewhere. They'd probably need to find the building blueprints to find out where the cables come into the building.

A Thing I'll Never Understand - S6-E4

Question: Who sent Vic the barn toy? Some people on the internet say she bought it online (like eBay or Craig's list), but I don't remember seeing her be online to buy stuff. Plus, it didn't seem like she was doing much to prepare to have the baby, so it would seem odd that buying a used barn toy would be one of the first things she buys.

Bishop73

Answer: Chance.

Question: The armoured vehicle that gets sent in when the SWAT team are struggling to get in, before they're even attacked...what's that meant to actually achieve? If it's just meant to smash the doors, the men with guns could do that. And if not...will it just sit there?

Jon Sandys

Answer: I believe it is supposed to be that it was a precautionary measure and probably standard operating procedure to have it on site when dealing with a terrorist situation. To have it at the ready for if they needed it. Not only this, but a large armored vehicle like that could serve as physiological warfare to make the terrorist more fearful merely by it just being there. A show of strength. As for using it on the door, yes, guys with guns can smash those doors. But guys with guns are still targets to be shot at especially though glass doors. The armored vehicle can smash through it and get the men inside without exposing them to small arms fire.

Quantom X

But why send the armoured car into the lobby before being attacked? And why send it in in the first place? Once it's in the lobby it becomes a sitting duck. Easy pickings for when the occupants decide to disembark.

Ssiscool

In some cases, maybe. But the vehicle itself still provides cover for the men in it. They usually would exit from the back or the top, and have that as something to hide against or shoot from. Also, most armored SWAT vehicles like that usually have a very high powered water cannon on the top that has the pressure of a fire truck. This can quickly subdue any hostile forces and knock their defenses down, giving the SWAT ample time to make their move while the enemy is still recovering. Not only this, but the vehicle can have inside more equipment the SWAT members can use, like throwing out smoke and flash bang grenades, or have riot shields as the exit. But this at least gets them inside and up where they can do good. If they tried to walk up to the door without cover, they would be easy pickings from small arms fire and snipers.

Quantom X

Good answer. I would add that presumably, the SWAT vehicle could be put in reverse, and once the front entrance was breached, it would back up. Also, this being a movie, it's shown that the overall police and F.B.I. response is supposed to be somewhat bungled, with different egotistical characters vying for control. Plot wise, it shows how well armed the "terrorists" are supposed to be by blowing up the SWAT vehicle with a missile, and how they anticipate and outsmart the police's every move. This is not reality.

raywest

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