Question: Ames was in prison for 10 years and after that time he was executed? Why after 10 years?
Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
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Question: Why is Carmichael on her divorce papers when her name is Smooter or Perry?
Answer: After moving to New York to start her fashion career, Melanie changed her maiden surname from Smooter to Carmichael, and that became her legal name. She initiated divorce proceedings without any intention of resuming her old life, which embarrassed her and she tried to hide. Like many women, she did not use her married name (Perry) after ending her marriage and may never have used it. Also, using "Smooter" on her divorce papers would have exposed her lie.
It did not embarrass her, Melanie never wanted to return to Pigeon Creek if her and Jake were over, she kept hoping they would get back together. That's what annoying, people assumed she was ashamed but as the meaning of the film is 'Home is where the heart is'. That feeling of where she longs to be never left even when she was in New York and obviously that was to be with Jake.
Question: Being unable to believe Paul's existence, Clive attacked Paul by gripping his throat in the RV. Then Paul said "That's my fucking jorph. Get your fucking fingers out of there! If I get a jorph infection, you're dead!" What exactly does jorph mean? Where does the word come from?
Answer: Since Paul is an alien, his race would probably give their body parts names that are in their own native language. To humans, we have throats. To Paul's race, jorph is their word for throat.
It cannot be a throat as it is an opening, it is more likely an opening that acts like a human ear.
Question: I found it odd that Slim's real name is never revealed. Why does she have this nickname, with no explanation as to why she never tells anyone her real name? Was there a deleted scene?
Answer: From memory her daughter says "I don't even think you're that slim" making a dig she's not that skinny, maybe it's due to her being thin?
Answer: I wonder if the nickname is related to the difficult times in her life. Her father was not around. She and her mother did not have much money. Maybe she felt that she had a "slim chance" of life getting easier.
Question: As the monster is breaking free from the crate, Wilbur snaps out of the hypnosis that Dracula placed on him. When Wilbur sees Dracula and the monster ready to leave, he immediately pretends to still be hypnotized and unable to move. Since he only pretended to still be hypnotized so as to not alert Dracula and the monster, as soon as Chick, McDougal and the insurance agent showed up why didn't he immediately run to them screaming for help? Why was he acting like he was still hypnotized?
Question: Was Robinson Crusoe On Mars scientifically plausible when it was made in 1964? Aged eight, I watched this movie on release. Even then I knew it was a movie, not a scientific documentary. Nevertheless, I understand that it was once seriously believed there were canals on the surface of Mars. (I even had a children's pictorial encyclopaedia which showed Mars criss-crossed by canals.) After crash-landing on Mars astronaut Kit Draper (Paul Mantee) discovers that the Martian canals were made by intelligent, technologically advanced beings millennia ago. Could anybody in the scientific community have believed this in 1964? Kit Draper discovers ways of creating oxygen, so he does not suffocate; he then finds water sources, vegetation he can eat and a coal like rock that burns to make fires. He witnesses extra-terrestrial aliens visiting Mars in space ships. Was this, by any stretch of the imagination, regarded as even remotely credible in 1964? Or was it pure Hollywood hokum?
Answer: This is pure Hollywood fiction, never meant to be science-based fact, and was typical of sci-fi films of that era such as: War of the Worlds, Invaders From Mars, The Martian Chronicles, and others. Many were based on early-to-mid-20th century science-fiction novels when little was scientifically known about any of the planets. Authors imagined what Mars was like purely to entertain readers. After the 1960s, as more was scientifically known about Mars, films became more realistic, although the 2012 Disney film, "John Carter," was a deliberate throwback to that earlier genre. Also, scientists never believed that there were canals on Mars. In the 1870s, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli was mapping Mars through a telescope. He described the long, trench-like geographical features as "canali," (Italian for channels). American astronomer Percival Lowell misinterpreted this as "canals" and believed they were of intelligent origin, though other scientists debunked that. Sci-fi writers of the time (H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Boroughs, et al) incorporated Lowell's published theories into their stories.
It should be noted "John Carter" is based on the 1912 novel "A Princess of Mars."
Question: What was a Predator doing in L.A.? Why not stick with the jungle?
Answer: There's really no reason for it not to. Predators are hunters that hunt for both sport and for honor. It likely saw hunting humans in an urban setting (especially one as chaotic as LA is portrayed in the film) as a potential greater challenge, and thus a greater reward.
Note: Cities are sometimes compared to jungles. So for the predator there is hardly a difference.
Answer: The Predator kills humans for sport and wants to kill as many as possible (for fun and status). There is "critical mass" in cities (urban areas are heavily/densely populated) but relatively few people live in or are found in jungles. The Predator went where he was most likely to encounter MANY people and thereby maximize his head count. (Why spend all day waiting to see if you can find a human in the jungle when you know there are hundreds of thousands - even millions - of people in major cities/urban areas?).
Answer: I believe the reason was, it was looking for the ultimate challenge. In the first movie, it was the first time they had ever been defeated. They considered humans nothing more than animals to be hunted for sport. Now humans had evolved to the point, where they learn to fight back. So the Predators went to the city looking for someone who was smart, tough and shows no fear. He was studying Danny Glover, following him and taunting him.
Question: Can anyone explain the airlock that the Queen gets sucked out of at the end? The location for the activation levers seems ridiculous. Ripley gets pulled in by the Queen, then starts climbing out and pulls a lever to open the outer door, then has to climb out to the top to close it. This seems like an insanely dangerous design.
Answer: The airlock was probably designed to drop out cargo in space to be taken to another ship or a space station or for astronauts to go on space walks or make repairs to the outer hull of the ship. Maybe to quickly get rid of something dangerous or deadly, like a bomb or alien monster.
Answer: The simple fact of the matter is she overrides the safety protocol of the airlock by opening the outer door manually whilst the inner door is still open. This of course is highly dangerous but necessary given the circumstances. For dramatic effect though she then climbs out of the airlock to close the inner door instead of closing the outer door first. It's possible though she can't close the outer door anymore because she overrode the system (or the outer door is now damaged) and she closes both doors at the same time after climbing back up.
Question: Why does General Leland use the gun to shoot a fly instead of a flyswatter? Why was he shooting at a guard?
Answer: In universe, it's likely because he's drunk and reckless, as you see him continuing to drink while doing it. Out of universe, it's a reference to the Confucius quote "Don't use a cannon to kill a mosquito."
Question: Do they explain why the T-800 looks older? Or is it just an unavoidable plot hole you have to accept?
Answer: The T-800 is a metal endoskeleton covered in living human tissue. That human tissue still ages the same way a normal human would. This particular T-800 has been living in the current timeline since the early 1990's so he has aged at least 30 years and originally had the appearance of a roughly 40 year old man.
Question: When John said "I order you not to go", why didn't that work? Doesn't the T-800 have to do what John says?
Answer: The T-800 has been learning since he has been with John and Sarah. John specifically has been teaching him to have compassion for human life. Stopping Skynet from ever coming to be is the ultimate way to protect humanity, even more important than following John's order to stay with him. In short, he has overcome his programming and is making a selfless sacrifice.
Question: Why would Schultz and Candie risk their lives, and the lives of everyone around them, over a handshake?
Answer: Schultz finds Candie to be a vile human being and being forced to shake his hand to seal the deal is just too much for him to accept. Candie never had any idea that Schultz would shoot him so he's not really risking anything in his mind. Candie is simply gloating over his opponent.
Question: Why did Peter never question where the black suit came from and decide to keep it? Obviously as the film progressed, the symbiote started to influence him more, but in the beginning 1) He didn't wear it all the time; 2) He is aware that there is SOMETHING up with the suit (for example, when he looked in the mirror after the "damn door" scene and saw a vision and then quickly put the suit in the suitcase). I also know that the suit never triggered his spidey sense, but surely Peter at some point must have wondered "where did this suit come from and how is it boosting me physically?"
Answer: To be fair, he does take a sample of the suit to Dr. Connors to be analyzed, so he is showing some initiative into trying to find out what it is. But I always took it as a "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" situation for Peter. He knows that it came from somewhere, but given it seems to increase his power and has an intoxicating quality (as he says, it feels good when he's wearing it), he chooses not to question it too much. Remember, the suit becomes an addiction to Peter... and I can also tell you as someone who has had problems with severe addiction to alcohol and pills in the past, at a certain point you do stop questioning things because you're just craving the rush too much.
Question: A question about this movie and the book also: When Daisy first visits Gatsby's house, why is Gatsby insistent on making Klipspringer play the piano?
Answer: He wants to impress Daisy by showing authority and control.
Question: How realistic is Elliot's plan of building a new plane?
Answer: A flying version of the design about 1/2 scale was built and flown for the original 1965 film. It appears in several flying scenes in that movie, but tragically crashed during filming, killing stunt pilot Paul Mantz.
Answer: Completely realistic. As explained correctly in the film, the aerodynamic principles involved are valid. Given that the constructed aircraft would have oversized wing surface area and an excess of power available, it should fly. Disruption of the airflow over the top of the wing due to the passengers would be minimal. In the 1930's airshows featured multiple wing walkers atop much smaller and lower powered aircraft.
Answer: Stupidly unrealistic. The plane simply wouldn't fly with people hanging off its wings for a start.
There's a big difference between a single wing walker on a high lift biplane compared to 10 people hanging off the wings.
Search on "multiple wing walkers" and see a 160 hp biplane carrying 5 walkers. So, for the C-119 there is about 2894 square feet of wing area, call it 2000 after cut down. The PW R-4360 produces 3500 hp, but let's use only 30% of that to protect the cobbled airframe. 10 guys on the wings are going to disrupt airflow over about 12 square feet each leaving about 1880 square feet of unobstructed wing being driven by 1000 hp. 30 people on the wings would not stop it from flying.
Question: When the ancients return to Atlantis they are greeted by 2 star general O'Neill but later in that episode and the part 2 episode he only had one star on his uniform. This same thing happened in a SG-1 episode when Dr. Jackson became a prior for the Ori.
Question: Why didn't Stark and the government just hire Toomes and his guys? They could afford to do this, everyone's happy, no super villainy.
Answer: They wanted an internal department to handle the cleanup, in part to prevent any contractors holding onto alien technology (exactly like Toomes ended up doing). They probably could have applied for jobs in the Department of Damage Control, but it would have been for a lot less money than the contract they initially had to carry out the same work independently.
Answer: They were attempting to keep the alien technology from falling into the wrong hands, to avoid precisely what ends up happening; people using it for crime.
Question: Grandpa Evan ran away from his family when James was young and didn't know Florida but when he comes back he recognizes her, how?
Answer: Grandpa Evans was glad to meet family members he never knew existed. He didn't know Florida, but was simply glad to meet his daughter-in-law for the first time. It was simply emotional for him and Florida (more for Florida as this made her cry happily).
Thelma had told Grandpa Evans about the family when she met him before he met the family.
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Answer: The appeals process for capital murder cases is long and arduous, and it is also automatic in most jurisdictions. It typically takes years for those on death row to actually be executed.
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