Question: Since kryptonite obviously doesn't come from Earth, how can Earth elements be used to create a synthetic version? Like in "Man of Steel", when Jonathan says that the Krypton key wasn't made from anything on the periodic table, so it couldn't be from Earth.
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: How exactly did Ynyr die? When he visits the Widow of the Web, he makes it safely to her without being attacked by the crystal spider. He even uses the sand from the hourglass to stop the spider from attacking him. But, when he makes his way back to where everyone's camping, he dies after telling Colwyn where the Black Fortress will appear.
Question: When Gerry and Segen are making their way to the airport, the helicopter they're supposed to take gets blown up. So they're without transportation. Yet suddenly, 20 seconds later, they're running onto the runway, boarding the Belarus plane. How did they get to the airport?
Answer: The likely answer is that they ran to the airport. Their journey to the airport was simply cut to save time and keep the movie going.
Question: What does Will Ferrell say to Mark Wahlberg in the scene at the fertility clinic, when Wahlberg first takes his pants down? Farrell makes a few remarks about the size of his genitals.
Answer: He says, "James and the Giant Peach."
Question: Watney leaves the Hab for the long trip to the Aries 4 site in the rover. Is there a restroom on board?
Chosen answer: No. The book answers this by stating that he uses a bucket for his waste.
Question: If the French kidnapped the Native American woman, then why were the natives trading the furs with them and saying that they needed horses to find the woman. Were the French hiding her?
Answer: The French were lying to the natives. They had kidnapped the woman and then sold them provisions to help the search for her. They benefited further from the Native Americans killing their rivals.
Question: Scott throws discs which enlarge/shrink whatever they hit, except when he throws them at Darren in Cassie's bedroom. Darren is able to bat them away. One hits an ant, the other the train engine, both of which enlarge. Why didn't Darren enlarge when he touched the discs?
Chosen answer: I can assume it was because they didn't attach, just touched.
Question: As Kurt is loading the hack to deactivate the laser grid, Paxton and his partner are banging on the van, demanding that Kurt and Dave come out. Just as the program finishes loading, the cops open the door and drag them out. If the van was locked, how did they open the door? If It wasn't locked, why did it take so long to just open the door?
Chosen answer: They could have opened it with a crowbar or a Jaws of Life. (Likely the crowbar, since we didn't hear metal rending).
Question: At the end of the space battle in the latter half of the movie, the Resistance's X-Wings jump to hyperspace with their stabilizer foils still locked in attack position. Why?
Answer: The design could have advanced enough in the last 30 years that the S-foils no longer need to be closed to enter hyperspace.
Question: Maybe I saw it wrong since it happened so fast, but wasn't Minnie shot in the face initially when she was behind the counter? If so, surely she wouldn't still be alive, yet she was still alive when seen a little later on the floor where she is shot again in the stomach/chest.
Question: If the movie plot is over a 4th of July weekend, wouldn't offices be closed? It appears to be a regular non-holiday weekday with so many people working.
Answer: Government offices would definitely be closed, however, in a big city like DC, not everyone would have the weekend off, and between the people who still have to work and the ones going out of town for the holiday, traffic would be about the same if not worse.
Question: My question is regarding the first shot of the film. You see the back of a henchman holding a clown mask with a suitcase. Later you realize that this is the Joker, however he is in full make up. So does this mean he was standing out in broad daylight without a disguise on at the very beginning?
Answer: Yes. No reason not to. Nothing's happened yet and people in a big city like Gotham would just walk past the guy with the weird makeup and not think anything of it. (And since they wear masks in the holdup, nobody's going to think that the guy in the mask is in weird makeup under it).
Batman was shown a joker card in an evidence bag at the end of Batman Begins so would not at least some of the police be looking for him?
This doesn't mean that the general public is on the lookout for a guy in makeup.
Question: How was Ethan successful in getting touch with Luther Stickell? Was it the from list Ethan was checking of the disavowed agents?
Question: When Bourne interrogates Nikki (under duress) in the underground station, Nikki insists that Bourne had never worked in Berlin, much less completed his first mission there. But it is established that Bourne had killed the Neskis in Berlin on what is described by Conklin as his first mission. Assuming Nikki has no reason to lie and that she would have accurate information about Bourne's activities, what might explain that issue?
Chosen answer: Conklin ordered Bourne to kill the Neskis, telling him it was a training mission, when in fact it was an unofficial, off-the-books assignment to cover up his and Abbott's corrupt dealings with Gretkov, which Neski was about to expose. Nicky did not know about this Berlin mission as it was not an official Treadstone operation.
Conklin did not tell Bourne that it was a training mission. Conklin told Bourne "this is not a drill soldier...this is a live project, you're a go."
Partially correct. After Bourne eliminates the Neskis, Conklin says "Congratulations soldier, training is over." This implies that while the mission was real, Bourne was still an asset in training, and off the books.
By "not a drill" and "live project", Conklin is telling Bourne to actually kill the Neskis - like killing the hooded man for Hirsch, it's training him to do anything for Treadstone. It could be that the edit is out of chronological order, but the order of the scenes implies that after Bourne has done the job and returned to the car, Conklin says "Congratulations, soldier. Training is over."
Question: How could Hermione attend classes back in time, when all the others were seeing her? When she travelled with Harry, they were told they can't be seen.
Answer: Hermione had special permission, arranged by Dumbledore from the Ministry of Magic to use the Time Turner to take classes that were scheduled at the same time. Its use was carefully regulated and Hermione was instructed on how to utilize it so that she could attend multiple classes without other students noticing. When she is traveling with Harry to rescue Sirius, she is explaining to Harry that they must not be seen at the same time as the "other" Harry and Hermione that are in the past.
Question: What ever happened to Obi Wan's lightsaber? Did Vader keep it as a trophy, or just throw it away?
Answer: According to the Expanded Universe (now non-canon), Darth Vader kept it as a trophy in his castle on Vjun. It was found by Anakin Solo, stolen by someone who wanted to learn to be a Jedi, and eventually returned to Luke's Jedi academy.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Chosen answer: Kryptonite is a compound created by irradiated fragments of Krypton rather than a pure element, Synthesizing it would then be a matter of analyzing the compound and finding Earth elements with similar properties. (Some, as you say, would be beyond the knowledge of human science, which is why Gus looked at his cigarette pack and decided to use tar in the place of the unknown elements).
Captain Defenestrator