Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Why would an interpreter be necessary for a mission such as Miller's? Is this purely a plot devise to add a character who is 1) inexperienced in combat and 2) not part of a pre-existing group close-knit through combat?

Gordo-from-hell

Chosen answer: If they have to ask the locals for information they will need an interpreter for that.

Ssiscool

Answer: Miller and his platoon advanced onto Ramelle France. Seeing as none of the platoon spoke French, Upham was a perfect candidate for this. Also, when they capture steamboat Willy, Upham is also of good use as he spoke French and German.

Tony

Question: Why did Fletcher stop up the water pump at Faraway Downs?

Answer: So they'd be unable to water their cattle. Which has two benefits for Fletcher. The first being that they'd have to take their cattle to the watering hole on the border of their property, making it easier for Fletcher to steal the cows. Second, and more long term, their cattle would be of poorer quality due to lack of proper care. The ranch would lose money as a result, and they'd be more amenable to selling the ranch to their competition, whom Fletcher works for.

Phixius

Question: What is the name of the song which plays during the first basketball game where Scott turns into the wolf?

willieboy78

Chosen answer: Way To Go by Mark Vieha. Its on the soudtrack if you can still find it.

Gavin Jackson

Question: What is the point of WALL-E (a garbage robot) having the function of recording? It seems pointless.

dogboy44

Chosen answer: Since Wall-E has been repairing himself for 700 years, and likes music,he may have modified himself as he did when he took another robots tracks, There is no way to know if he was originally made with the recorder or not.

papajim

Question: How does the Phantom get his salary? I know he tells Firmin, "Send it care of the Ghost by return of post," but what exactly does this mean? And also, what does he do with his salary?

Answer: Mme Giry acts as the intermediary. She brings the notes, so sending the money by return of post means the money should be given to her to pass it on. As for what he does with it, the luxury of his clothing and lair bears witness that he doesn't pile it. He spends it on anything that will bring beauty around him, whether it's a wig, a mask, clothes, furniture or anything else. And it wouldn't be surprising if a few bribes weren't given here and there.

Sereenie

Question: I don't understand. What did Russell mean when he said, "Phyllis is not my mom." and why was this so dramatic?

Answer: It means his parents are divorced, or at least separated (since his dad is living with another woman), meaning he comes from a broken home and making the fact that his father never shows up to his events a lot harsher.

Gary O'Reilly

Question: In an answer for one of the other questions here, it says that Leia doesn't know she is adopted until Luke tells her that they are siblings. If she doesn't know, why would he use the term "real mother" when asking her about her mother? It seems that if she didn't know she was adopted, she would think it was strange for him to ask about a "real" mother.

Answer: It's never stated anywhere in the films whether Leia knows that she's adopted or not. Given her apparent lack of surprise at Luke's reference to her "real mother", it seems more than likely that her adoptive parents have told her at some point.

Tailkinker

Question: I don't understand why Darth Maul talks about having revenge in this movie or why Episode III is called "Revenge of the Sith". I thought the original group of Sith all killed each other. I know that they want to destroy the Jedi, but how is that getting revenge for anything in particular?

Answer: The Sith and Jedi have been at war for millenia. Yes, there's always been infighting among the Sith as well, but the fact remains that their primary enemy has always been the Jedi. The Sith have been forced to hide away, working in the shadows, for a thousand years, because they lacked the power to eliminate the Jedi. Now, finally, they're in a position to do so. What else would you call it but revenge?

Tailkinker

Question: This is a two part question. Question 1: during Obi-Wan and Darth Vader's duel aboard The Death Star, Obi wan spins around, briefly exposing himself and giving Vader an opening within which to strike. Why didn't he take it and stab him through the back? Question 2: towards the end of the duel, at 91 minutes 28 seconds, why does Obi-Wan's lightsaber dim to the point of where it looks like it's going out?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: In response to your first part, its simply a case that Vader missed the opening, he clearly has no issues with striking down someone unarmed as he demonstrates later. In response to your second question, its a fault with the effects used at the time that when the lightsabers were held at certain angles, the effects used to 'paint' on the shimmer of the lightsabers couldn't be applied because there wasn't enough of the required colouring.

GalahadFairlight

Question: I've always wondered about one scene in the movie. It happens when Tom Hanks says, "prepare for a little jolt, fellas." We see the astronauts being propelled forward in their seats as the spacecraft accelerates very quickly. But the only time you'd be going forward was if you were riding in a car and the brakes were suddenly slammed on, right? Can someone explain this to me?

Answer: While this did actually happen on Apollo 13 it was completely unexpected, the "get ready for a little jolt" line was made up for the movie. There are retro rockets on the S1-C (first) stage of the Saturn V that are supposed to fire at separation to slow the S1-C and create more separation before the S-2 ignites. The retros fired one second early on this mission so it was before separation and the unexpected reverse thrust is what caused them to get thrown forward. Apparently Jim Lovell even had marks on his helmet from hitting it on the panel when this happened.

Answer: You have to think three-dimensionally. The rocket is travelling upwards under the thrust of the first stage - the moment that thrust cuts off, the only force acting on the ship is gravity, so it's effectively as if the brakes have been slammed on, relatively speaking, as they are no longer moving forwards anywhere near as fast. Then the second-stage engines kick in, propelling them upwards at speed again, pushing them back into their seats.

Tailkinker

Question: Is it usual for gun store clerks to leave ammunition and bullets on the counter where anyone can pick them up and load them into a gun?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: No, it's not, but not every gun shop owner is reputable or responsible.

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: Randall is telling him that the ending of the film would have been better if Frodo and Sam had had gay sex. This image grossed the guy out to the point he puked.

Grumpy Scot

Show generally

Question: Why are the vast majority of stories set on modern day Earth as opposed to the 1963-1989 series where nearly every story was set on an alien planet?

ExcellentCryer

Chosen answer: One of the 'quaint' aspects of Doctor Who of old was the utter cheapness of the BBC in spending as little money as possible on the original series. Visits to 'alien planets' were laughably poor looking, clearly were Earth like with a few 'alien' touches, and it was something that writer Russel T Davies didn't want to return to.

GalahadFairlight

Question: How come Wade has to take out all those guards, and why not his teammates? Agent Zero, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Wraith, and the big guy can easily take them out as they are powerful mutants.

rockmandrum

Chosen answer: Stryker simply knew that they were all eager to show their skills and knew that wade wouldn't have any trouble doing it. He wanted to see how good his team was and this was a good way. Anyhow given how eager Wade was, he probably let him just to shut him up.

Gavin Jackson

Show generally

Question: It's been established that during Lister's time in stasis there was a radiation leak that wiped out Red Dwarf's crew. My questions are, after the radiation leak was The Jupiter Mining Corp aware of what transpired? Was there any attempt at all to salvage Red Dwarf? Also, exactly how did Red Dwarf become lost?

ExcellentCryer

Chosen answer: After the radiation leak, Red Dwarf became an extremely dangerous place, with the majority of the ship irradiated and thus a danger to anyone who ventured near it. As such, Holly boosted the engines to maximum, sending Red Dwarf hurtling out into deep space where it couldn't pose a threat. It would seem likely that the Jupiter Mining Corporation would have been informed, either directly by Holly or by some sort of automated system, but, given the irradiated nature of the ship, they probably would have decided that any salvage mission would be pointless and would simply risk more personnel. Once the radiation finally reached a safe level for Lister to be brought out of stasis, after three million years of thrust, Red Dwarf was well and truly lost.

Tailkinker

Question: After Luke and Vader's duel aboard the second Death Star, Why does Luke deactivate his lightsaber and throw it aside?

ExcellentCryer

Chosen answer: Palpatine's trying to turn Luke to the dark side, to make him his new apprentice in Vader's place - he wants Luke to strike the now defenceless Vader down in anger and hate and thus open himself to the Sith way. By throwing his lightsabre aside, Luke's telling the Emperor that, no matter how much the Emperor goads him, he will not raise his weapon against Vader again and that he utterly rejects the Sith way.

Tailkinker

Question: How did Remy know that Ego would want ratatouille as his meal? It couldn't have been that Remy lived in the house during the flashback because the flashback is from too long ago for Remy to have been born.

Answer: He didn't. He's playing a hunch. Ego's used to high-class food, chefs plying him with their most up-to-date haute cuisine - he gets that all the time. Remy's guessing that giving him a simple traditional meal, albeit presented in a style appropriate to a high-class restaurant, will work well; something that proves to be correct.

Tailkinker

Question: Why did Yoda leave for exile after his duel in the senate with Palpatine? Why didn't he continue fighting?

ExcellentCryer

Chosen answer: Because he came to the conclusion that he couldn't win, so the best solution, long-term, was for him to hide away somewhere to be ready to help prepare the next generation for the fight. If he continues the fight, he risks his own death and the loss of his ability to pass his knowledge on later, which could leave the galaxy under Sith rule forever. If he runs, then the Sith will rule for a time, but there's a far greater possibility that the Jedi will eventually be able to rise again and defeat them.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Zankou can only steal the powers of demons - he cannot steal the powers of good witches because he is evil. He would need a power stripping potion to do that. Now that he has control over the book of shadows he is now able to make the power stripping potion.

Stephen Edmonds 1

Answer: He can't steal powers from good witches because he is evil.

Answer: Zankou needs to kill the demon or witch to steal their powers.

Question: When Han and Lando meet for the first time after a while in the Cloud City, Han gets a rude welcome from Lando. Was Lando's rudeness a veiled warning to Han to leave, since Darth and the troopers were waiting for him?

Allister Cooper, 2011

Chosen answer: The rude welcome was just a way for Lando to "mess" with his old friend. It would have been suicide for Lando to get Han to leave knowing Vader and Company were waiting for all of them.

dablues7

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