Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: David Nix is talking about how they saw the iceberg and warned the Titanic, but the monitor was built after the world fair in 1963, and the Titanic sank in 1912 - how is it possible for that to happen?

Answer: He was using it as a metaphor. The Titanic being mankind heading towards its own destruction. Man was warned of the dangers (wars, global warming, etc) and we didn't do anything to change our ways, "went full stem ahead".

Bishop73

Question: Is it ever explained why Dory has her memory problems? Why she has such an incredibly bad memory, even for one of her species? Head injury, exposure to a chemical, genetic?

dizzyd

Chosen answer: In the absence of a neuropsychological work-up, we have only Dory's word for it: "I have short term memory loss...It runs in my family...at least, I think it does." So, Dory believes it to be genetic. At least, I think she does.

Michael Albert

Answer: Because she has short term memory loss.

Question: Unless it was stated in the movie, why was there a beacon or signal from the Empire State Building? And how did the surviving humans know how to create a signal to bring the spaceship back to earth?

Answer: There are already, in real life, a large amount of communication dishes on top of the ESB. It would be easier to modify that existing setup rather than building a new array from scratch. In the movie it says that the survivors opted for a longer term plan and hint that they had the know-how for a while but were waiting for a "Jack with a soul" to action it. As for the specifics of the signal, real life recovery beacons used in maritime and airplane landing approach can basically remote control a ship or plane. If someone knew the specific system used by the shuttle (and only a few exist in real life, making that a lot simpler that one might think), it would not be a hard thing to set up. It is not unbelievable that one or more of the survivors would have that knowledge.

Question: Why was the key broken off in the lock to the hoodoo room? Don't the servants use the room every few years to transfer their souls into someone else? Why break the lock to the main room you need to do your sacrifices in?

sunfox35

Chosen answer: I believe it was part of the plan to get Caroline to believe in hoodoo. Violet sent Caroline to the attic to get Caroline to witness the occurrence of the door rattling. This would cause Caroline to become curious and enter the room. Once Caroline saw the hoodoo artifacts, the idea of hoodoo becomes more real for her. They had to get her to believe in hoodoo in order for the magic to work.

The Corbomite Maneuver - S1-E11

Question: In this episode, the navigator, Mr. Bailey, has an earpiece only for the length of time it takes to notify the crew of the message coming in over the navigation beam. Why is it that no time before, or since, that anyone at the conn or navigation positions never had one?

Movie Nut

Chosen answer: This was an early episode and TV shows often make small changes to set design, props, equipment, and so on as the program progresses. Most likely it was felt that this particular prop was not effective and the producers decided to eliminate it.

raywest

Question: In the post-credit scene, The Tank gang are seen still trapped in their now algae-covered plastic bags as they reach California. Since this movie takes place a year after "Finding Nemo" (2003), how did these fish survive without eating anything for a whole year?

Answer: Algae on the inside of the bag?

dizzyd

Then what about being able to breathe or not being eaten?

Kamp Krusty - S4-E1

Question: When the kids take over Kamp Krusty, Lisa hands out all the kids' confiscated mail to them and one of them says "My insulin." How did that kid survive at that camp all that time (whilst it was being run by the bullies and Mr Black), without their insulin and not become ill due to not being able to treat their diabetes?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: He assumedly arrived at camp with a supply. The shtick is that the counselors are so cruel they'd withhold his lifesaving medication.

Brian Katcher

Question: To find south why not look at the sun. East to West?

Answer: That would only work when the sun is visible. In Alaska there are frequent rainy and overcast days where the sun is completely blocked by heavy clouds, making a precise directional determination difficult, if not impossible.

raywest

Question: How does Splinter know who shredder is? It's established that his first memories are from the lab so that's how he knows Eric Sacks is a bad guy and April saved them, but how does Splinter know Sacks is working for the foot and is connected to shredder? He even knows shredder trained Sacks as a boy, but this was in Japan, 20 to 30 years before Splinter was around.

Answer: Sacks told April that he was raised in Japan by a local sensei, and that he shared the lessons he learnt with her father. Splinter would have overheard Sacks mention his master at the lab, as well as when O'Neil discovered what he was up to with Project Renaissance and his connection to Shredder and the Foot Clan.

Sierra1

Question: At the end we discover the kid survived unscathed in the explosion, which makes one believe Ginny survived too. So what happened to her? Did the kid murder her?

Rory O'Flaherty

Chosen answer: If we say Ginny did not survive, we assume two scenarios: 1.) Each key represents the personality that was killed off in Malcolm's psyche. So, all in all 10 personalities have died. 2.) Ginny was the sixth one to be killed. This means that she has key #5 with her - remember that we are counting the killings in descending order. However, it was not shown anywhere in the movie how Ginny was killed by Timmy. So, it can also be said that aside from Timmy (who was seen walking away from the car explosion), Ginny (whose body was never found after the explosion) also remained alive. Ginny's state is inconclusive.

No she does die. At the end of the movie they show her being suffocated by Timmy.

Nope, that's Timmy's mother that's being suffocated.

No. Timmy suffocated his mother in the bed.

That was his mother, not Ginny.

Answer: Since Timmy is the killer here, it would be correct to assume that he blew up the car and took Ginny away during the commotion and killed her in some way that isn't shown in film. Or else blowing up of the car becomes completely pointless and a classic like this won't show a scene that doesn't have a significance. So blowing up the car was actually a part of the plot to kill Ginny.

Question: What does it mean to call someone a "bubble-butt" boyfriend, as a girl refers to Billy when Sidney is in a bathroom stall?

Answer: "Bubble butt" is, in some areas, a slang term for a nice-looking rear end. The comment is a reference to Billy being perfect, as Sidney herself and Tatum describe him at other times in the movie.

Question: I understand why Jigsaw targeted Adam and Lawrence, it's stated in the film. But why Zep? He was shown earlier to actually care for his patient.

Answer: Jigsaw described Zep as having "issues of his own". Zep was guilty in Jigsaw's vision. Zep talked about all the doctors, behind their back and claiming they all had affairs and especially calling Dr Gordon a cold hearted bastard. Jigsaw noticed also that Zep wasted his life with hopeless dreams of becoming a doctor, a dream that would never become true because Zep himself never really attempted to fulfill his goals. And as you know, one of the most important principles that Jigsaw wants to teach people, is how they should appreciate their lives and not waste them. That's why he had "Zep" tested, because he felt Zep wasted his life on useless dreams.

And just because Zep was fond of Jigsaw didn't mean he was exempt from the game.

Question: What is the steel mask that young Willy is wearing all the time? What is its purpose? How does he eat, drink, talk, or brush his teeth with that mask on?

Answer: It's (ridiculously exaggerated) orthodontic headgear, designed to straighten one's teeth. I had to wear a much smaller version as a kid.

Brian Katcher

Question: Was any member of the team aware that they were infected by the creature, or did they not know they were until they began changing?

Answer: The death of Fuchs is probably the best answer to this question, as it appeared that Fuchs burned himself alive before the Thing could assimilate him. It's also possible that Norris suspected he was infected before he transformed. There is a scene in which we see Norris, who is alone, suddenly wince in pain, surprised, and grab at his chest, but he continues functioning normally thereafter. Following the altercation with Mac, Norris collapses and becomes unresponsive, until his chest cracks wide open and bites off Copper's arms. Also, in the blood test scene, Palmer's facial expressions appear to betray his secret, but he was already fully transformed at that point.

Charles Austin Miller

Charmed Again (1) - S4-E1

Question: At the wake, Phoebe interrupts two people talking, and she says in passing, "Excuse me, Aaron." Is this Aaron Spelling in a cameo? Does he make others throughout the series?

Answer: Yes, this is Aaron Spelling.

Answer: Cooper's CIA superior, Ross, learns that Cooper is attempting to oust him by making false accusations so he can become the CIA director. Ross devises his own plan to fool Cooper into believing that someone who can exonerate him is arriving at the airport. Ross sends one of his agents to the airport to randomly chose a man to appear to be the person that Ross is expecting. The agent selects Richard Drew because he is wearing mismatched shoes, the result of a trick a friend played on him. Cooper, who had bugged Ross' house, overheard the fake conversation and fell for the bait. He sends his own agent to the airport, who spots Ross' man with Richard and begins trailing him. Of course, Richard has no idea what is happening.

raywest

Answer: The mountain in the background appears to have two vertical grooves down the surface facing the camera. Those grooves are far too wide to be ski trails. They are simply a natural part of the mountain. Mountains are subjected, over hundreds of thousands of years, to a variety of natural forces, such as wind erosion, water erosion, tectonic shifts and earthquakes, just to name a few. These cause mountains to have irregular shapes, and irregular surfaces.

Michael Albert

Question: Who killed the young girl, or did she hang herself?

Answer: In her flashback, the killers catch her as she was trying to run away and hang her.

lartaker1975

Question: How come in First Blood, Rambo went out of his way to subdue his enemies non-lethally like Batman, but in the sequels he just killed everyone?

MikeH

Chosen answer: Probably because the first film is set in the United States, and Rambo's opponents are non-military, but the sequels are set in Asia and the opponents are "foreign" (mostly Soviet) soldiers.

Sierra1

Question: What does Kylo Ren mean when he tells Rey "Don't be afraid. I feel it, too"? I thought he meant the Force, but Rey has seen him use the Force by now, so it would be strange to for him to inform her that he can feel it.

Answer: Kylo Ren is referring to an unexpected connection through the Force between them. He thinks this will make it easier for him to read Rey's mind, but it actually allows her to block him and read his mind.

Sierra1

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