Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: This movie used Ultra Panavision 70 lenses which gives an aspect ratio of 2.76:1. However the release print and home entertainment versions have an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. Why is this?

Question: When in the movie did it mention that Viggo's henchman was "Kirill?" Because his name is given on Wikipedia but never mentioned.

Answer: His name is never mentioned on screen but it is listed in the credits.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Can anyone identify the knife that Kang and Forbes used?

Answer: A bit of research online is showing that it is a Gerber CFB fixed knife.

Ssiscool

Question: At the beginning of the movie, was Jim purposely woken up to fix the Avalon's damage or was it because his pod malfunctioned?

Answer: Jim, who was a passenger and not a crew member, was not intentionally awakened to repair the damage to the Avalon. It was a malfunction, but because Jim happened to possess useful mechanical engineering skills (he "fixes" things), the ship's damaged computer system may have detected this information from his passenger profile and then mistakenly routed a signal to his pod, opening it.

raywest

Gus examined Jim's pod, and determined it had a malfunctioned clock circuit. The computer didn't wake him intentionally in any way.

tsahi

Answer: He wasn't woken up deliberately because he didn't have a crew wrist pass to give access to all areas, which you'd need to fix the ship.

Question: Why would Clarice take the blame for the botched drug raid instead of telling her superiors that another agent was actually responsible by disobeying her orders to stand down and wait to apprehend Drumgo another day?

Answer: She was the officer in charge and as such, fairly or unfairly, the responsibility for all agents and their actions rests with her so she felt it was still her fault even though she didn't want the action that took place.

The_Iceman

Margaritaville - S13-E3

Question: Can someone explain the subplot with the Margaritaville and Stan going to a bunch of places trying to return it? It's really confusing. And this sounds stupid, but in a recession, wouldn't spending money be bad?

Answer: Essentially Stan was trying to return the blender that his dad, Randy, had bought because he knew his parents couldn't afford the extra debt. The blender, which represented mortgage-backed securities, had been bought on payment plan, meaning Randy had to make monthly payments, with interest, on something that wasn't essential. The episode represented the recession that was occurring at the time, including the housing bubble and mortgage crisis going on, so there's a lot going on. However, the payment plan (which is to say the debt) had been sold to another company by the store that sold Randy the blender. (To explain why, because of the recession, the store needed cash on hand, and they would only be getting a little money each month, if Randy paid his bill. So the store sells the debt to a company who gives the store the money upfront. Think of the J.G. Wentworth commercials, "I have a structured settlement, but I need cash now".) Because the store sold the debt, in ridiculous fashion, Stan had to return the blender to the company that bought the debt, although they too sold the debt to another company. Finally he gets to the U.S. treasury who tells him his blender is worth $90 trillion (again a ridiculous exaggeration) meaning that the debt owed is greater than the product is worth and to deride the way government agencies set up their budgets (which requires much more complex economic lessons). Kyle's whole point was people shouldn't fear the economy or see it as a vengeful being, but continue to spend and live as they normally do. Economically speaking, not spending money during a recession creates a longer lasting recession, and to solve a recession, people should spend money, although people and businesses shouldn't acquire debt during a recession because interest rates are higher. But on a personal level, individuals are fearful of losing their jobs during a recession, so they save money in case that should happen. But again, this is complex economics lesson.

Bishop73

Question: Near the beginning, Holmes tells Watson not to shoot Lord Blackwood because there is a piece of glass between Holmes and Watson, and Lord Blackwood. But Holmes breaks the glass easily. So why did Holmes tell Watson not to shoot?

Answer: Sherlock Holmes does not tell Watson not to shoot (there is no such dialogue). Holmes and Watson incapacitate Blackwood's henchmen, and Watson is behind Blackwood, holding him at gunpoint with the revolver in his left hand. Blackwood then provokes Watson, who lunges forward, about to strike with the baton in his right hand. Holmes rushes forward and stops Watson just before he makes a fatal mistake. If Watson had taken one more step, the nearly invisible glass spike in Blackwood's hands would have impaled Watson through his eye and into his brain.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: Early in the film, the Mangalore warrior Aknot mutters "Showtime" as he leads the attack on the Mondoshawan transport ship, destroying it. Shortly thereafter, at Zorg's factory, we see Aknot shape-shift between his human disguise and his natural Mangalore appearance. Much later in the film, we see Aknot in his same human disguise again aboard the Fhloston cruise ship, where Aknot again mutters "Showtime" before leading a murderous assault. So we recognize Aknot by his appearance and his mannerisms throughout the film. But wait: Presumably, Zorg killed the Mangalores who failed him (including Aknot) with a powerful explosive booby-trap at his factory, early in the film. So, how did Aknot appear much later aboard the Fhloston cruise ship? (There is no reason to assume that the Mangalores were capable of surviving the powerful blast at Zorg's factory, because we see Mangalores killed by smaller explosions and small firearms throughout the film).

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: Aknot wasn't killed, just injured in the explosion - he didn't seem to to be too close to the Mangalore whose weapon exploded. You see him later with several wounds, when he resolves to get the stones from Fhloston to get revenge on Zorg.

Sierra1

Answer: It is shown on a news report that he was caught and arrested soon after.

Casual Person

Question: How could the auctioneers verify that Kimmy was a "certified pure?"

Answer: By examining if her hymen had been broken. Although it is a misconception that the hymen is always broken once a female has intercourse for the first time it is still generally accepted that if the hymen is intact, the woman must be a virgin.

BaconIsMyBFF

Chosen answer: He said he wanted to see Luke with his own eyes rather than through his mask. He was aware that he was doomed and did not care about what would happen if he took the mask off.

Casual Person

Ship in a Bottle - S6-E12

Question: Is Moriarty aware that he is a character on a TV show? If Reg is the only real character in Moriarty's holodeck simulation then why does Moriarty continue his ruse when Reg is not in the scene? To keep the viewer engaged? Was this an inside writers joke?

Answer: Moriarty's holodeck simulation was also created as a deception for Picard and Data, who are also real. Moriarty does realise that he is a holodeck creation based on a character in the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes novels. However, he was imbued with self-awareness when he was originally created by Geordi as a villain "capable of defeating Data" in the episode, "Elementary, Dear Data." Over time, he overcomes his own programming and achieves sentience, hence his desire to be liberated from the limitations of holodeck space.

Michael Albert

Question: Why do they call the aliens Mimics when we never see them actually mimic anything?

dizzyd

Chosen answer: First it should be noted that this film is based on the Japanese novel "All You Need is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which is where the term "mimics" comes from and could be something lost in translation (they adapted to alien planet environments by mimicking the biology of the planet's life, not necessarily making themselves look like a certain species). However, in the film itself it, was said the aliens "mimic our every action", militarily speaking. This is of course because the aliens were resetting the timeline when an alpha died and knew what the military would do, but to the military (and news reporters) it looked like they were just copying our fighting style.

Bishop73

Question: When the team is twice under, I think, the bus, with all of them on it - the reality - is heading for water, it has been hit. But what I don't understand is how Cobb says, "When the van hits the water," how would he know this? He's dreaming, as they all are.

kh1616

Chosen answer: When the van hits the water it will suddenly stop, giving a kick to the passengers. Cobb knew because driving the van off the bridge was always the plan.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Even though not said outright, why would Inspector Aberline accuse Lawrence of the murder of his brother and the gypsies? He was with his theater troupe when his brother was killed and the gypsies were killed by Sir John as a werewolf. Not shot to death.

Answer: Aberline suspected Lawrence of murdering his brother and the gypsies because of his mental history and, as a Shakespearean actor, he often played mentally-disturbed characters. Aberline jumped to a conclusion that it might be a case of life imitating art.

raywest

Question: Near the end, Dr Shaw is seen lowering something to the ground. It looks like a body - is it, or what is it?

Answer: Shaw is lowering David's android body from the alien craft to the ground. She is taking it with her to find the Engineers. David's detached head is stowed inside her utility bag. Presumably she will reassemble him during the journey.

raywest

Question: I have 2 discs, which seem to be exactly the same, are they? Do I need to watch the second disc, to see different things?

kh1616

Chosen answer: Depending on which 2-disc set you bought, they should be the same, just a different format. The Blu-ray set comes with a Blu-ray disc (BD-50) and a standard DVD. The 4K Ultra comes with a BD-66 and BD-50.

Bishop73

Show generally

Question: I'm trying to find out in which episode this happens. Reed and Malloy are driving when they get a call to be on the lookout for a red convertible. In the rear window of their squad car you see the exact car described in the radio call. It passes them, then is seen in front, but neither of them comment on it and it's not referenced later. Not sure if it was a poor choice of stock footage or a gag, but what episode does it happen in?

Answer: This is from Season 1, "The Long Walk." After Malloy and Reed responded to a "211 in progress", the partners later search the area and question a man walking his dogs, and it's this man who tells them the young guy they're looking for drove off in a red convertible, so Reed radios in the added information and clears them. Later, when the partners are driving along, Reed brings up the topic of the criminal's convertible, and while they're discussing it we can see through the squad car's rear window that a red convertible with its black top up changes lanes, and in Malloy's closeup just as they're talking about how the criminal's convertible was likely stolen, we see the red convertible passing Malloy to his left. That's all we see of this red convertible.

Super Grover

Question: Can someone please explain War daddy's quote "Ideals are peaceful, history is violent?"

Answer: There are probably a number of ways to interpret the quote, to be debated in a different forum. He's just saying thoughts about how to make the world a better place are peaceful. Rarely do people see war as a means to bring about peace. but as history shows us, war and violence often occur as a result of wanting change. Think about the 60's Civil Rights movements. Ideally, all men should be treated equally and there should be no segregation, but opposition to this resulted in violence (and to the opposition, ideally it would be better if races kept to themselves).

Bishop73

Question: Why did Gordo bring up the horse thing at breakfast?

Answer: Gordo was making a point to Norman that the crew of the "Fury" had seen some horrible things during the Battle of the Falaise Pocket. After wiping out an entire German army there, they were tasked with putting wounded horses out of their misery. The point was that Norman was not there, and did not experience what they had, so Norman could not judge the tank crew's actions.

Scott215

Gordo brought up the horse thing because him and the other (original) crew members were not happy with Don and Norman enjoying a nice, quiet meal without them. He even say's "You weren't there" meaning Don sharing this with Norman when he hadn't yet been through much war time like all of them had, together. They also say "We weren't invited", "Why weren't we invited." The horse story was to get at Don for not inviting them and sharing it only with Norman.

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