Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Why are there some characters (Bowser, Sonic, etc.) able to be in the Game Central Station when they're solely console-based characters, and none of them have appeared in arcade form? I know the sequel is going to touch base on console games and tablet games coming together with arcade characters.

Answer: Sonic has appeared in arcade games such as the arcade version of Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Sega All Stars Racing. Bowser has appeared in Versus Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart Arcade GP, as well as an arcade version of Super Mario 3. Though both games for Bowser are rarely seen in the US it's not unreasonable to think Litwak would have these games at his arcade.

MasterOfAll

Question: When Robocop is about to arrest Jones, he suddenly feels his system malfunctioning. Jones then explains that Directive 4 is used to shut him down if he attempts to arrest a senior officer of OCP. Why did Jones put this directive into Robocop? At the time nobody knew he was working with Boddicker.

Answer: Because he knew he was doing illegal activities. Robocop was said to be highly efficient at his job and Jones did not want to risk him out on the streets without the insurance of shutting him down if Robo came after him.

MasterOfAll

Question: What did Harry mean when he said to Jack "And I got shot... Another few inches and they would have given the medal to my wife." I still can't make complete sense of that line.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Jack shot Harry in the upper leg, and Harry is presumably referring to the proximity of the femoral artery, a large and vital blood vessel in the thigh. If Jack's shot had hit him there, he would almost certainly have died within minutes, and they would have to give the bravery medal to his widow.

Sierra1

Question: In the real world, during the "Let's put It All Back" sequence, the son's creations are set up fighting Micro Managers. When the dad is rearranging everything, he never seems to do anything with them. If they weren't part of the Lego displays he built, why didn't he change them?

Answer: Either they were part of another set (which since in Finn's imagination they're owned by Lord Business so them being part of another set could be possible) or he just didn't get round to them. We only see him destroy some creations, not all.

Christaffa

Chosen answer: It's a pun on the name of the boat which features in the film: the fictional U. S. Navy ship USS San Pablo. The sailors on the San Pablo call themselves the sand pebbles.

Sierra1

Show generally

Question: I remember an episode where Alex does the grocery shopping for the family and comes home with groceries and more money than when he started out. Elyse (Mom) says to Alex "I only gave you $20" and Alex replies that he used coupons and went on double coupon day or something like that and after the trip the store ended up owing him money. I can absolutely remember this part but have rewatched every episode (I think) recently and cannot find it. Does anyone else remember this part or episode?

Answer: A scene very similar to the one described happened on the show Mr. Belvedere that was on in the same time frame as when Family Ties was on. Perhaps this is what you are remembering.

af4dable

Question: In the epilogue, Victoire Weasley and Teddy Lupin are referred to as cousins. How can they be cousins? Were either of Teddy's parents related to the Weasleys?

Answer: The book never refers to them as being cousins - the reference to "Our Cousin" is said by the young James Potter about Victoire Weasley, who is indeed his cousin. Teddy Lupin is unrelated to either family, although, as he was orphaned in the Battle of Hogwarts, he has long been welcome at both the Potter and Weasley households. Harry states that Teddy comes round for dinner about four times a week; while this may well be something of an exaggeration, it still serves to show how close Teddy is to the family, hence James, who likely sees him as a surrogate older brother, referring to him as "Our Teddy".

Tailkinker

Question: Abbott and Gretkov could have framed anyone else for stealing the Neski's file, why did they frame Bourne whom they knew well was a tough cookie? Even if Kirill was successful in killing Jason right from the beginning, it took a lot of effort to do so.

DaveDD

Chosen answer: They frame Bourne because Borne was actually the one who killed Neski and his wife (he was doing it on Conklin's orders). Once Pam Landy does some digging, she will realize this; then it's a simple matter of putting two and two together - the man who killed Neski would obviously have a huge motive for covering up his crime. This is why Abbot and Gretski frame Bourne: he's the perfect fall guy.

Question: Does anyone know if in the scene when Blain gets killed and the group is hosing down the jungle, if the actors were using live ammo or just blanks with pyro to take out the trees?

Answer: Its unclear but highly unlikely any studio would let actors fire such high powered weapons for real. Probably just squibs. At most, it may be live ammo being used to shoot the trees by people trained in gun fire when not on an actor's close up.

The_Iceman

Question: What drink was Bill drinking at the end, when Beatrix and he was talking? It was too small for me to make out since I have not seen the bottle myself or recognize some of the writings on it.

Answer: It looks like a bottle of Tres Generaciones Añejo, a Mexican tequila.

Sierra1

A - S4-E16

Question: Why was the fence down in the flashbacks with Hershel at the prison?

Answer: The walkers could have knocked them down more than once. There may have been another wave that knocked down the fence earlier and they're going to put it up again soon.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Gaear gets the kidnapping job from his friend Shep. He can choose anybody he wants to help him do it. Why does he choose Carl, a person he obviously can't stand? They don't "fall out" - Gaear hates him from the get-go. And don't say that Gaear deliberately chose someone he disliked because he planned to kill him all along. Yeah, right... Planned to bring an axe to a gunfight. Great plan. Granted, it worked. But that was not planned. Anyway, Gaear is all ursine impulse, not organized forethought. So why Carl?

Answer: Gaear would choose who he thought was the best person to help him pull off the job, regardless of whether or not he likes him. He's not particularly intelligent, and Carl is the smarter of the two and that would be an asset. Gaear also appears to be very anti-social and it's doubtful he has any friends, or at least any that would participate in such a plot, and this may be the only person he knows of who will go along with it. His choice really has little to do with liking someone and everything to do with getting the job done. Gaear may very well have intended to kill him later to help eliminate any ties to the crime and to keep the money. It's easier to kill someone he doesn't like.

raywest

All good points! I might add Gaear was "mostly brawn." His limited intelligence ("dull normal" at best?) and lack of basic communication skills ["Where's pancakes house?"] would interfere with his ability to engage in constructive conversations with Jerry to arrange the kidnapping. He'd also have difficulty making a plan and following through on his own. Gaear wouldn't have any problem overpowering a person to be kidnapped, but needed someone like Carl to make the before and after plans.

KeyZOid

Answer: Regents park.

Show generally

Question: In different episodes a mug can be seen in the ice machine section on the outside of the fridge, which changes colors and patterns from episode to episode. Is there any significance to it?

Answer: Ice makers were a new invention, advertisement purposes.

Question: Is Gabby Johnson saying "Reverend" or "Rerand" during the church scene?

Seth Cain

Chosen answer: Reverend.

MasterOfAll

Question: How did John get away from killing Crow? I know it was a set up and perhaps he didn't willingly pull the trigger, but still it's a homicide.

Answer: The police are already conducting a manhunt to find him. As such they didn't attempt to decode the information from the pre-cogs so they don't know specifically where the crime will take place. John was originally decoding the information but when his name appeared he discarded the information and didn't tell the other police.

Answer: Based on what we were shown during the scene, it was clear that John did not kill Crow but Crow forcefully pulled the trigger on himself while the gun was still in John's hand. John said "Goodbye, Crow." as he was intending to leave the hotel room, not because he was saying goodbye to a man he was about to kill. Likewise, Crow said "Anderton, wait!" not because Crow was pleading for mercy but because Crow was asking John to "wait, don't leave yet, kill me first!" So it was not a homicide. John was innocent. Plus, Agatha was watching the whole thing. We can presume that she testified to the truth of what she saw - Crow pulling the trigger on himself. Furthermore, John was key in fighting for Agatha and the Twins' newfound freedom by bringing down the system. Likewise, it's only logical to assume that Agatha too helped and assured John's own.

Question: Is it common public knowledge, in the wizarding world, that Professor Snape used to be a Death Eater? It seems that a lot of parents might complain about him being allowed to teach at Hogwarts.

Answer: It is, but many Death Eaters used the "I was being controlled" defense and ended up getting away with their crimes.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Given that the Quarter Quell is held every 25 years, the first and second Quarter Quells would have killed off 23 of the previous 24 winners each time. Hence, even if Quarter Quell winners are still eligible (and still alive) for the subsequent ones, the maximum number of available contestants for the 3rd Quarter Quell rises to only 26, which is far too small to guarantee 2 contestants from each district, let alone exactly 1 of each sex. How can they get 24 contestants for the Quarter Quell games?

Answer: This is explained in the books, but not in the movie. Each Quarter Quell had a different twist. The first Quarter Quell, the citizens had to vote on who the tributes would be. The second Quarter Quell (which is actually the Hunger Games that Haymitch won), four tributes were reaped instead of the usual two.

Question: Can someone please explain why the uruk hai are being born through those mud sacs and why?

Answer: There is some contention about the origin of the orcs and the Uruk-hai, and it seems Tolkien was fairly vague on these points (are orcs corrupted elves, are the uruks half-orc/half-men?). Several web sources say that on the DVD commentary for Fellowship, Peter Jackson says that the Uruk-hai emerging from mud sacs was based on an early Tolkien line that orcs "worm their way out of the ground like maggots" - not sure where or when he said this, but it seems to be a movie-only notion.

Sierra1

Question: Did Wonka intend for those 5 kids to find the golden tickets? In other words, did he have Charlie in mind as the heir all along? It looked like the candy shop owner purposely gave Charlie the bar with the ticket in it. Also, Wonka treated Charlie kindly upon meeting him at the gate whereas he was sarcastic to everyone else-including Grandpa Joe, who didn't deserve the abrupt rudeness.

Answer: Yes, he did. Mel Stuart initially wanted to reveal that Willy Wonka had strategically placed the Golden Tickets in order to give the factory to Charlie. The idea was dropped, but the hints remained in the fact that Mr. Wilkerson conveniently showed up every time a ticket was uncovered.

Answer: It isn't clear the extent to which Wonka had a hand in the selection of the five finalists. The scenario you outline would be more likely in the later "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005) with Johnny Depp. In that version, and in the book, it is expressly stated that Grandpa Joe had once worked in the Wonka factory, making it more likely that, somehow, Wonka would have prior knowledge of the Bucket family. In the 1971 version, with Gene Wilder, Wonka has no explicit ties to the Buckets. That being said, it is quite coincidental that the faux "Mr. Slugworth" just happens to be everywhere a winning ticket is found moments later, which lends credence to your suggestion. Wilder's Wonka is portrayed as a highly eccentric and slightly dyspeptic candy mogul with a sardonic tone and a sadistic streak. His sarcasm to other characters is a reaction to the flaws which they openly display - and he really isn't even that rude, at that. In Charlie, Wonka recognizes a pure soul, to which he responds with kindness. The book and the 2005 film portray Willie Wonka as having a more childlike nature and being highly distrustful of adults, which would explain any wariness he might have regarding Grandpa Joe.

Michael Albert

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