Question: Why did the bank people open the safe in the beginning of the movie? I get that they were trying to demonstrate the safety of the vault, but how does opening it do that? Feels like something written just to help the story move on.
Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
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Question: When the T-1000 is impersonating Janelle, why did he act concerned? When he first meets Janelle and Todd and asks about John, they both look annoyed and even sound angry. Why didn't the T-1000 act this way too after his observation of how they reacted?
Answer: The T-1000 is trying to lure John home, or get him to reveal his location, so why would it act angry? It acts concerned so John will let his guard down. This, of course, backfires, because it acts TOO nice and tips John off.
Question: After Alex trades seats with Christa and Blake, Tod complains: "Because of you I have to sit here and watch fucking Stuart Little." What does he mean by this exactly? I know about the movie Stuart Little but I don't see what it has to do with anything.
Answer: Tod was sitting next to Blake and hoping to make some sort of move on her, or at least chat/flirt with her. Since Alex agreed to switch seats, Tod has to sit next to Alex and is saying now he has to watch the in-flight movie, instead of trying to score with Blake.
Question: Would anyone happen to know what song is playing in the background on the radio beside the intelligence officer sitting at the bar when Martin Sheen enters the Generals trailer and is being interviewed by Harrison Ford for the first time?
Answer: It's not any specific song; it's just the kind of generic piano music you'd hear at dinner at a high-class restaurant of the era. Think of scenes in movies, films, etc. set or made in the '50s and '60s, where the characters go to a nice dinner and there's someone at the piano playing unobtrusive music to accompany the food/conversation.
Question: Since it was so cold on the return journey to Earth, why didn't the astronauts wear their full space suits they wore on lift-off to keep warm? The just seem to be wearing their lightweight flight overalls.
Answer: Because they need to be able to move quickly through the confined space of the module, and the full suits would be far too bulky in an emergency.
The older Apollo missions all splashed down with full suits and helmet on. Just the launch suits, not the much bulkier EVA (moon walk) suits.
Answer: According to Jim Lovell in a later interview about the mission, the crew considered putting on their space suits but in addition to them being too bulky, there was concern the suits would make them perspire too much, thus making them wet and even colder. It wasn't quite as cold as depicted in the movie, it was always above freezing, and there were no icy windows or frozen hot dogs.
According to Lovell in his book, there actually were frozen hot dogs.
Answer: In addition, since they have to leave the ship after landing, the suit filling with water would be very dangerous.
The launch abort mode was for an ocean landing, so they would have been just as vulnerable at the start of the mission. I get your line of thinking though.
Answer: Don't remember the source (the actual movie or one of many books) but I do remember there were only two moon suits on board (the CMP, Swigert, doesn't land on the moon). I believe they decided to suffer together. I misread the question, but the option for wearing the Lunar EVA suits was considered. IIRC, they did actually wear the boots at one point.
Question: I recently submitted a "mistake" which revealed my own misunderstanding. The package that Chuck eventually delivers to Bettina had been sent to her partner in Moscow, which COULD explain its presence on a westbound trans-Pacific flight. Still, would a package sent from Memphis to Moscow be routed through southeast Asia? It would be shorter, and therefore faster, would it not, to send it across the Atlantic?
Answer: There are two packages sent by Bettina Peterson. The first we see goes to Russia to a man also named Peterson. The second never reaches its destination but we don't know where exactly it was being sent. That second package must have been going somewhere that required it being routed through Malaysia.
Agree with your answer, but something else occurred to me. Bettina appears to be sending out packages via FedEx fairly regularly. She is an artist, and may sell her work internationally. While she does create large-scale wing sculptures, she may also do smaller types of metal artwork, jewelry, etc. We assume she was only mailing packages to her cheating husband, but she could have been sending something to a customer in Southeast Asia.
I found an earlier version of the script that explains this. After rescue, FedEx looked at the husband's records, which indicate he had moved from Russia to Kuala Lumpur. The package on the plane was being sent from the lady in Texas to there. The FedEx people could not locate a current address for the now ex-husband, so Tom returned it to the sender address in Texas.
Question: Tommy mentions something about ace degenerate - what was he talking about?
Answer: Tommy was saying Johnny was the number one, or best in the group, degenerate. Meaning if there was something bad or wrong to do or get into, Johnny would have been the first to do it or lead the way. Tommy offered Johnny a beer and Johnny refused. At this point, they're not even seniors in high school, so they're engaging in illegal underaged drinking (degenerate behavior). Tommy says it in an affectionate/positive way though, like he his proud to be degenerate.
Question: How did Cal manage to get into a lifeboat with the child that wasn't his? All the crew seem to know who he is so shouldn't have been fooled into thinking the child was his?
Answer: Not every crew member would have known him. He was in first class, the crew were lower deck officers, and there was so much confusion about, that nobody was paying close attention to who he was, just that he was a man with a baby.
Answer: While they probably did know that to be the case, they had to consider the possibility the child had already lost their parents. By refusing Cal onto the boat, they could easily have been sentencing the child to death. At least with an adult the child stands a chance of survival. Hence the hesitation by the guard. Let Cal in with a child that's not his and save the child or refuse him and the child and let them fight for survival. In that guard's position I know what I would do.
Question: How realistic is the helicopter scene?
Answer: Fixing the helicopter while flying, not possible. Tilting the helicopter on its side, possible.
"Fixing the helicopter while flying, not possible" why is fixing a helicopter while flying not possible?
He would either be blown off or killed by the blades.
Question: Why are the people being infected by the pesticide only seeing messages to kill from electronic devices? Why not from hearing voices in their head or from reading a newspaper, magazine, etc.?
Answer: Two reasons. One, it was The Beginning of the electronic age, when devices were becoming an everyday fixture in our lives. Second, to make sure the right message was sent to the right people to perform a specific task.
Question: Why did Suzanne Cullen lie to Michelle about her not being at Terry Maslin's house the day and night before he was killed when she did?
Answer: If it was ever found out that she was at Terry's house before he was killed, there's a possibility that a lot of people would have begun to suspect her of murdering Terry. By claiming that she wasn't, she was hoping that people wouldn't accuse her of the murder.
Question: During Jon's backstory into becoming Dr. Manhattan, why did Janey leave Jon in the chamber instead of letting him out? There was plenty of time for Janey to get Jon out of there, but she simply walked away.
Answer: Wally says "we can't override the time lock." Janey sees that he's locked in there and leaves because she can't bear to watch him die. That's why she bursts into tears as soon as she leaves the room. If it was possible to open the door, Wally would have done so.
Question: John Kramer says to Cecil who is tied to a chair, "Some people stop to help a stranded motorist and get taken out by a speeding semi. There's no accounting for it." Who is he referring to by the stranded motorist? And who was killed by a semi while helping the motorist? It's been a while since I watched the movies. I don't remember it.
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: Whenever there are scenes in the shower tent, it seems that the direction of the showerheads change. Assuming the door is facing North, sometimes the showers are on the East side, sometimes West. Is this considered a mistake?
Chosen answer: According to the show, they have "bugged out" (moved) more than once. The shower would not necessarily have been put back in the same place each time.
Question: Why did Lady Lisa look like an ordinary person instead of a Pixel?
Answer: She was a pixel but turned into an ordinary person. Probably to make the fight look epic.
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Answer: You answered your own question. It was written that way to serve the plot line, even if it was illogical.
raywest ★