Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: When Cal says to Rose,'I should have kept that drawing it would be worth a lot more in the morning'. What does this mean?

Marko1215

Chosen answer: Cal sarcastically means that he expects Jack Dawson (who drew the picture Cal is referring to) will die when the Titanic sinks. It is a morbid fact that, historically, an artist's body of work becomes more valuable "after" their death, even doubling or tripling in value. Cal is saying Jack's drawing would be worth more once Jack is dead.

raywest

Answer: Personally, I always also highly suspected that, given Rose's answer a moment later; he meant that since the drawing was made on the Titanic and dated the night of its sinking; it would be very valuable given its historical connection then.

Question: There's a quote that I don't understand: "The fact that you prevented it from happening doesn't change the fact that it was going to happen." I immediately thought, "Yes, it does change the fact that it was going to happen." If Witwer hadn't put his hand there, it would have happened. However, he did, thus "changing the fact that it was going to happen," right? Isn't this the point of the whole movie: determinism is foolish and that different actions produce different consequences?

Answer: No, he didn't change the fact that it was going to happen. He prevented it from happening. But until he stopped it, it was going to happen. And no matter how many times you look back at that sequence, it was going to happen. Up until a point, it was going to happen. It was just prevented.

Garlonuss

Answer: The statement involves the idea of arresting people who did not commit the crime yet but are going to. Until the precogs tell someone to change things, the idea is that it will happen. If Anderton had rolled the ball and the other guy was not watching, it was going to fall. The only way to change it would have been for Anderton to say something. Things will happen unless the future is changed. Ultimately the idea is proven sketchy at the end at best.

oldbaldyone

Question: When David is in the Hamill's house, David stabs Peggy Hamill in the neck with the knife that was already en-lodged into David's hand by Peggy's son. Peggy's blood should have seeped into David's hand wound; Why doesn't David get infected?

43vrmoto

Chosen answer: Because he's naturally immune to the disease, just like all of the other survivors at that point.

Phixius

Question: If the character's nicknames (Columbus, Tallahassee, etc) come from their destinations, how come Witchita & Little Rock have different names, when they're sisters and are coming from - and heading to - the same place?

Answer: The names come from their hometowns, not their destinations. Witchita is much older than Little Rock; she could have spent the majority of her childhood in Witchita before her family moved to Little Rock where her sister was born. She still considers Witchita to be her "hometown".

Phixius

Question: Why were the Nazis so desperate to get Captain von Trapp into their navy? Austria hadn't had a navy since the end of the first world war, so his skills weren't exactly up to date.

Answer: True, but a decorated and highly respected command officer, particularly one with proven wartime experience, is still a major asset. While he might not be directly familiar with the current equipment, naval tactics wouldn't have altered to any great degree and his ability to lead and inspire those under his command would remain the same.

Tailkinker

Question: How does Superman know who Zod is when he is in the bar with Lois and the President makes the emergency broadcast?

Answer: Superman was well educated regarding his home planet's history. All this information was left for him by his parents at the secret installation at the North Pole.

raywest

Question: When Bond ejects the guy, strangling him into the underside of the jet flying above, why exactly does the latter jet end up exploding?

DEvans

Chosen answer: According to the script, the other jet is hit by the two heat-seeking missiles it had previously fired, although that's not very clear in the film and it looks like it explodes when hit by the co-pilot.

Sierra1

Question: Given that Logan's body (skin, bone, muscle, etc) is what "regenerates" quickly, and Adamantium is absolutely fixed once it is solidified, Logan would now have two permanent holes in the front of his skull from the bullets fired into his brain to destroy his memories at the end of the film? Unlike the skin, muscle, bone and brain tissue, the Adamantium would not "heal over" or regenerate, so the two vulnerable bits of bone would remain, a bit of a vital vulnerability in a dangerous area of the body.

Answer: That would indeed seem to be the case. Granted, it would have to be an extremely lucky shot to find one of those holes under his flesh, but, yes, it is an apparent vulnerability.

Tailkinker

Question: Nikolai comes across the colorful plant, which Edwin identifies to be poisonous, and he even knows its scientific name. But if the plant is known for Edwin, then it must be native to Earth, since there is no reason to believe that the doctor has studied extraterrestrial flora. Why is this plant growing in there? Have the predators maybe prepared the planet to be more "interesting", by adding some toxic plants from another worlds in there?

Pietu85

Chosen answer: Indeed, it's an interesting question, and not one to which any answer is given. In the absence of any other information, your speculation that the predators have taken various plant species from other worlds to study and just make their hunting environment more interesting is as good an explanation as any other.

Tailkinker

Question: When Fabrizio finds Jack, Rose and Tommy and the bottom of the main stairwell after they have been told they cannot get up that way, why when Jack is informed that "the boats are all gone" and then told by Fabrizio that there is an exit, why does Jack not go that way?

yaboo100

Chosen answer: Fabrizio says "There is niente this way." Meaning, there is nothing. He doesn't say there's an exit.

Jennifer30

Question: At the end of season six, Grace told Robert E she was pregnant. Throughout this series finale, which is fast-forwarded three years, there is no such child. Do we assume she miscarried?

oprlvr33

Chosen answer: We could assume that, but more likely the writers decided that adding a baby to the show did not serve the plot that well.

raywest

Question: Is that man with the pirate code Jack's father? He sure looks like it and Jack asks "How's mum?" but it's a very hard tell/guess.

wolf8265

Chosen answer: Yes, he is. This is Captain Teague, Jack's father, played by Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, who was one of the primary inspirations for Depp's performance as Sparrow.

Tailkinker

Question: When Jack and Rose go to dinner, Rose is pointing out many first class people. Then she explains that the richest man on the ship's wife is Rose's age. Isn't she a little young to be married to him?

277872670

Answer: Some people may have the opinion that she is too young, and you may have that opinion yourself. However, the technical answer to your question is yes, she is much younger than her husband. If two people are consenting adults, they are legally allowed to be together if they wish. Madeleine Astor was eighteen years old and her husband was forty-seven. A large age gap is not what many people prefer, but this couple wanted to be together anyway.

Chosen answer: Well of course she is too young. Men, regardless of their age, typically prefer young attractive women. Wealthy and powerful men like John Jacob Astor (who Rose is pointing out) are able to attract beautiful young girls who want a rich husband, regardless of how old, unattractive, or physically infimed they might be.

raywest

Question: I know different vampire movies have different rules, but one that is always true about vampire folklore is that sunlight kills them. How is it that sunlight doesn't kill them in this movie, yet only makes them sparkle?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: Actually, you're wrong about the whole sunlight thing. While it is commonly believed to be a fundamental constant in the vampire mythos, in Bram Stoker's original Dracula book, which can be seen as a primary progenitor for much of the modern vampire stories, the character of Dracula is not harmed by sunlight, although it reduces his powers. Likewise the character of Carmilla in the 1872 novella of the same name (which influenced Stoker's work), who can be seen as the prototypical female vampire, is merely weakened by sunlight. So there is considerable precedent for vampires who are able to move about freely in sunlight. Meyer decided to make them sparkle because the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream, I believe the concept of vampires sparkling was part of said dream.

Tailkinker

Question: If The Fallen can only be killed by a prime, and Megatron killed Optimus prime in the forest, doesn't that make Megatron stronger than the Fallen?

Answer: No. We don't know exactly what limitation means that only a Prime can kill the Fallen, only that such a limitation exists. Given the demonstrated ability possessed by the Fallen, it certainly seems unlikely to be a question of raw power, so is more probably a question of the nature of that power, some aspect of being a Prime that's unique to them. It certainly doesn't follow that if somebody can defeat a Prime in combat, that automatically makes them stronger than the Fallen is.

Tailkinker

Question: In the scene where Tony takes strawberries to the office, there is a cool 'thing' on the desk that doesn't stop turning. It looks like it's a holder with a metal stick on top, balanced by a loose stick on each end. Does anyone know what that thing is called? I can't find it on Google (but I'm probably using the wrong search strings).

Answer: It's a Swinging Sticks Kinetic Energy Sculpture.

Garlonuss

Question: What does the mineral the RDA is after do? It's probably a superconductor, but it could also be a catalyst for hydrogen production (explains the floating mountains), or elements from the Island of Stability*, which are super-nuclear-fission fuel. Is it added to other materials to make them stronger and better, like platinum? Does this mineral make practical fusion possible, or even antimatter reactions? Is it an actual anti-gravity mineral? What is it? *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilithium_(Star_Trek)Fictional_elements_and_materials.

Answer: It's described as a room-temperature superconductor. That's all we get. Its primary purpose is to drive the plot.

Tailkinker

Question: Where are Dave and Linda McFly in the alternate 1985? They don't seem to live with Biff and Lorraine, and they are too old to be packed off to boarding school (like Marty), so where exactly are they? Biff mentions them when threatening Lorraine into staying so its not like they've been rubbed out like George was.

Answer: If you have the Blu-ray or DVD, watch the movie using either trivia track or watch the deleted scene where Marty meets his brother Dave and turn the commentary on. Dave is a homeless drunk and Bob Gale states that Linda ended up becoming a hooker. However, since Wendie Jo Sperber was pregnant at the time and couldn't appear in this film, it was decided to cut both of them out.

Answer: It's never stated in the film where they are. Biff makes a reference to having Dave's probation revoked if Lorraine leaves him, so Dave has apparently run into trouble with the law. He does appear in a deleted scene, where he has become an alcoholic and appears to be homeless with little contact with his family, likely because of his dislike of Biff, as he appears pleased to see Marty. No scenes with Linda were filmed, as Wendy Jo Sperber was pregnant at the time of filming, although scriptwriter and producer Bob Gale has stated that, had they included Linda in the alternate 1985 scenes, she would likely have become a prostitute, which would tie into Biff's threat to have her thrown in jail.

Tailkinker

Question: Can someone please explain how each and every totem works? We understand that Cobb's will not stop spinning if it is a dream, but how does Arthur's and Ariadne's work?

Answer: No details are given within the film. However, Arthur's totem is a loaded dice, so it seems logical to assume that it will always come down on a specific side, one that only he knows. As for Ariadne's chess-piece, we only see her working on it, never using it. Probably it has some specific and unusual weighting built into it, allowing her to determine, in some unspecified manner, maybe by tipping it to a certain angle, or simply by feel, that it's the genuine article.

Tailkinker

Question: For Silk Spectre 2's boots during the prison fight scene, being an alternate universe with very different technology, could she be able to remove her heels from her boots to do the fight scene, then reattach them afterwards?

curiouskid

Chosen answer: Technically possible, however, with absolutely nothing in the film to support such a supposition, something that speculative could not realistically be considered a credible correction for the current mistake covering the topic.

Tailkinker

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