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The Birnam Wood - S6-E2

Question: When C.J. gives the press conference announcing that after lunch the committees would meet to discuss the proposed topics, why do all the members leave in totally different clothes than just before? If it's supposed to be the same day, why would they change their clothes? The president also quickly changed his clothes to meet with the Palestinian president and the Israeli PM. Does anyone know why the costume change in that scene is still the same day? Or could it be a scene error?

Eduardo Sánchez Rodríguez

Answer: There are a couple of press conferences in this episode, so I'm not sure which you're referring to. The final press conference is at Camp David, which is in the woods, so some of the reporters may have changed from wearing suits at the White House to more fitting clothes for outdoors at the summit. It wouldn't also necessarily be the same group of reporters. Some of the faces would stay the same, but reporters get switched out as they go post their stories and others come to replace them, so they rotate.

Captain Defenestrator

Season 6 generally

Question: The fifth season begins at the end of the first year of the second legislature, and the sixth begins at the end of the third year of the legislature. Has it really been two years in season five? Another thing that doesn't add up to this time jump is Doug's career in Congress. In episode 5x09 (end of the first year of term of the second legislature) Doug wants the support of the White House to run for Congress (following the chronology of the series, the next year would be the Congressional elections, and therefore that's where Doug is going to run because it's the most logical thing to do and it doesn't say anything to make us think otherwise) in the mid-term elections that are held the following year, but in season 6 and 7 we see Doug running for Congress along with the presidential elections. A script failure due to wanting to make a time jump from season five to season six? If someone would explain it to me, I would be very grateful.

Eduardo Sánchez Rodríguez

Answer: Just because Doug wanted to run next year doesn't mean the election was the same year. It's not unheard of for a politician to spend months campaigning before an election.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Near the end, when Dean Wormer and Mayor DePasto are in the grandstand, officially launching the parade, there is an elderly gentleman in the background (also in the grandstand, about 2 levels up, on the left side of the screen) who is making odd, excited gestures and comical facial expressions. His appearance and odd mannerisms are so striking that he draws my attention away from the dean and the mayor every time that I've seen this film, and that's a lot of times. Surely, director John Landis must have been aware of the gentleman and his antics in the background through multiple takes, so it would seem Landis intended the peculiar distraction. Who was that gentleman, and was there any significance to his appearing in the scene?

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Sometimes these things get left in because it's simply the best take. (The child covering his ears before the gunshot in "North by Northwest," for example.) It could also be that John Landis cast the extra because he wanted someone with goofy expressions in the crowd. He simply could have told the extras "Ok, be excited that you're at a parade," and that's how this extra did it.

Captain Defenestrator

Caballo sin Nombre - S3-E2

Question: When Saul buys Jesse's house from his parents, he said that he showed their lawyer, Mr. Gardner, "all the pertinent financials", meaning $875,000 in cash available to buy the house. Jesse only had $450,000 and that money was not in any account. How did Saul show Mr. Gardner that he had $875,000 in cash?

dweezel7

Answer: Saul is a criminal himself. It's not past his capabilities to forge some documents to show the 857k is available.

Ssiscool

Forged documents by Saul is most likely the correct answer.

The_Iceman

Answer: Saul has a stash of cash himself, hidden in his office. It's possible he used some of that instead as part of the scheme instead of having to go through the effort of falsifying documents.

Phaneron

Answer: In all likelihood, he sold some more meth.

Captain Defenestrator

At the time, they were not producing enough Meth to get that much money in the time frame of the events.

Ssiscool

Question: Why does everyone stop and stare at the plane?

Answer: It's a bit complicated and subject to interpretation. They all look as soon as they hear the engines starting. For each one it signifies something different. Ilsa knows she must part with Rick, the man she loves, and stay with her husband, Victor, to support him and help with his work. For Rick, he knows he is losing Ilsa, by his own choice because he has chosen to stay behind to aid the war resistance and may not survive. Victor knows his wife Ilsa really loves Rick and he will be out of their lives, but she is staying with him out of duty.

raywest

Answer: Because the plane taking off meant that the people on board were on their way to Lisbon, and from there, America. Everyone is envious.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: For protection from the inmates.

raywest

Question: How did Mark manage to make the hab last longer? He said he was in a hab designed to last 31 days.

Answer: It was designed to last a month with six occupants, but with only one the supplies would last a lot longer. As far as the structure itself, the "design" lifetimes are always conservative, as evidenced by the Mars rovers still running around Mars, such as Opportunity was designed to last at least 90 days, but is still ticking after 5000 days.

jimba

I thought that after 31 days the hab would run out of air.

Air for 31 days would assume they were using only canned air, and NASA included no extra for safety (like if they couldn't leave on time). Assuming they were using canned air, then with only one occupant the remaining air would last 6 times as long, so would still go well past the 31 day mark, though they were almost certainly using systems to recycle the air by scrubbing the CO2 so the air would last a lot longer. This is the same way air is handled in current NASA spacecraft. An offset though is we have a flame which is using oxygen at a greater rate than a person would, and plants that are also helping remove CO2 to produce oxygen, though the net of this would almost certainly be to have a higher oxygen use rate.

It's explained in greater detail in the book. There was a plentiful supply of oxygen for him to survive a long time, even using up some of it to produce water for the soil. The real risk was a potential build up of carbon dioxide, which would prevent the diffusion of carbon dioxide out of his blood and into his lungs.

He had an oxygenator in the Hab. That meant there was not a finite amount of oxygen.

Smokyoak

Question: Why does Han irritate Leia so much?

Answer: Star Wars being for the young and the young at heart, Han and Leia's relationship unfolds in a deliberately childish manner that kids can relate to and adults will find comedic. Leia is irritated at herself for her attraction to Han, and certainly unamused that Han teases her over it, while at the same time he is not brave enough to admit his own feelings, either.

TonyPH

Answer: Because Leia is trying to bring down an evil empire while Han keeps trying to charm her. Also she sees potential in him as a leader and fighter instead of just a mercenary smuggler.

Chosen answer: Renton is wet to recall the toilet diving scene. See "The Story Behind the Groundbreaking Trainspotting Poster" on the Vice website for details.

Answer: More than likely she didn't want them. Besides Barbie the toys never really speak of Molly at all, so it's likely she rarely ever played with them, if at all.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Then why does Andy have Mrs. Potatohead? From what I remember Molly got Mrs. Potatohead for Christmas at the end of the first movie so shouldn't she belong to Molly?

It is suggested Molly hardly played with Mrs. Potato Head and she was kept alongside Mr. Potato Head in Andy's room since then. The rest of Andy's toys are mostly "boy" toys, so Molly may well not be interested in them anyway.

lionhead

Either Andy borrowed or even kept it in case Molly didn't need it or want it.

Trainman

Answer: They were just bullies making fun of Forrest for being weird and different.

Bishop73

Question: The SAM missiles continuously chases the fighter jet for a few minutes. In reality, don't SAM missiles only contain enough fuel to fly for about 5 to 10 seconds?

Answer: Surface-to-air missiles come in 3 ranges (long range, medium, and short). Long range missile have a range of 100-150 km (there are some very long ranged missiles that can go up to 400 km). Short range missiles go about 3 km. SAM's are faster than Air-to-Air missiles and can travel around Mach 3 and up to Mach 8, with some that can go faster (so about 1 - 2.7 km/s) I don't know what kind of SAM was used, but long range SAM's are fired from a fixed or semi-movable position and medium ranged SAM's can be fired from vehicle mounted systems.

Bishop73

A behind enemy lines goof from IMDb, says that no missile is capable of chasing the F/A-18 as it is portrayed in the movie. A missiles rocket motor only holds enough fuel for one pass at a target. I don't know if you agree with it or not.

I would disagree with the statement that it wouldn't have enough fuel. However, even after a missile runs out of fuel it can still glide to its target at supersonic speeds for a time. I do think the portrayal of the chase scene is overly dramatic in Hollywood fashion though, particularly for the first SAM fired.

Bishop73

According to the trivia of the film the missile used was a 9m37m missile.

In that case the scene is completely Hollywood and unrealistic. The 9m37m is a short range missile, even though it's vehicle mounted, and has a max range of 5 km and doesn't even reach Mach 2. When the 2nd missile is fired we hear one of the pilots say "3 miles and closing", meaning the SAM shouldn't have been able to catch up to them or chase them down. The film makers probably wanted something cool looking without considering (or caring) what they had or may not have access to a midrange SAM system and pretended it was one.

Bishop73

But don't long range missiles lack the ability to turn fast enough to follow and chase a jet due to the weight of the amount of fuel they carry?

Answer: Technically Calder's people were doing the digging themselves. The planet basically had a caste system and the working class citizens had to do the digging as slaves while the upper class citizen got to live on the surface. All the workers underground were citizens of the planet except for SG-1. However, Calder was also trying to preserve this caste system because he wanted to stay in power and the upper class enjoyed their lifestyle. I don't see it so much as being lazy but more like, why do something yourself when you can get someone else to do it.

Bishop73

Then what would you call being lazy?

Laying around, not doing anything when you could be, or are suppose to be, doing something. In this episode, the upper class people still had jobs, they just didn't do the dangerous, dirty, and labor intensive jobs.

Bishop73

New Ground - S3-E19

Question: Why does the guy who was interrogating SG 1 think they know how the dead man they found was killed? Why does he think they're lying? Why doesn't SG 1 tell their interrogator that they weren't there when the man was killed?

Answer: He knows that SG-1 didn't kill the man because they were in custody when he died. He suspected that there was a fourth member (Teal'c) and was trying to get them to admit it.

Answer: The planet had two groups of people that were basically at war with each other. The guy interrogating SG-1 was part of the Bedrosian military and thought SG-1 was working with, or part of, the Optricans (their enemy). He simply doesn't trust his enemy and thinks they're responsible, and he certainly isn't going to listen to reason. Plus, he's trying to preserve his religious beliefs and doesn't want to think his people came through the Stargate.

Bishop73

Question: When Logan and Laura are in the truck together and he finds out that she can talk what does she say to him in Spanish?

Answer: She asks if he really expects her to talk when he yells at her and tries to abandon her.

Question: Does Liam Neeson (Dr. Martin Harris) ever pick up a gun? And if so, when? I've seen him with a gun on posters and the DVD case, but I don't think I've seen him with a gun in the film.

Answer: I haven't seen him with a gun.

Question: How accurate is the boxing depicted in the movie compared to real boxing?

Answer: It's pretty inaccurate. Real life fighters would tire out long before the 15th round after throwing so many haymakers (knock out punches). The amount of punches that connect clean without a knock out is also unrealistic. Creed doesn't seem to ever miss with his punches. Even an inexperienced boxer should be able to see at least a few punches coming and move to avoid them, Rocky seems to have no defense at all. The reaction to being punched is exaggerated for dramatic effect (Creed being lifted off the ground due to the power of Rocky's body punches, Rocky's head being thrown back due to the power of Creed's jab). It is also likely, though this is debatable, that the fight would have been stopped prior to the 15th round as both fighters could hardly stand going into that round.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Why did Qi'ra choose to kill Dryden Vos and spare Han? Was it because she loved Han, or simply because she decided that she would rather work for Darth Maul instead?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Qi'ra's motivations are purposefully vague. It could be she killed Vos because she loved Han. It could be a simple power play, as she did not like being a slave to Vos. It could be a combination of both: she was able to save Han and also gain a position of power by killing Vos. We'll likely never know the answer as a follow up to Solo seems unlikely at this point.

BaconIsMyBFF

Chosen answer: She was promoted to Captain and thus had to leave Babylon 5, becoming a captain on a new Warlock class ship. Later on she retires/quits and becomes the top Ranger on Minbar.

Answer: She was promoted to Captain and headed a new class of ship called the Warlock. Hence she was no longer on the station after season 4, dealing with her grief from Marcus dying.

Answer: I believe he was referring to two things here. The obvious one is dying, however I'm thinking that's less likely. As even though Logan always would heal before and come back, he has "died" many many times in previous events and would have felt that until his body regenerated enough for him to come back. Other than on maybe a religious level and if feeling the soul disconnecting from his body differently on a permanent death, it would be the same. What I really think he is referring to... is love. He is a father now, and accepting of it. His daughter is right there with him and crying over him, something that probably nobody has ever done for him in his life or a very long time. He is feeling that genuine unconditional love for the first time. He gets to experience what it feels like to be loved as a father moments before he dies, and I believe that is what he is referring to.

Quantom X

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