Question: One of the early posters of this film shows a bearded guy (who is not in the film) coming through a wall crack and holding puppet strings with one hand. Who is this guy supposed to be and what does he represent?
Chosen answer: He does bear a striking resemblance to Stephen King. King was both the writer and director of this movie, and as such, was certainly the guy in charge of all the character's fates and pulling all the strings.
Answer: It is Stephen King.
Question: What is the actual reason given why the police couldn't find Billy's mom? Just the fact his mom didn't want to find him and left doesn't mean the cops would stop looking. It's hard to imagine a 5 year old isn't able to tell the cops his address, where he goes to school or where he lives in general. Teachers, neighbours, his physician or dentist, classmates, all can tell where the mom is. Next to that isn't his dad in prison and thus easy to find?
Answer: He was a baby when he was abandoned - all he knew about his mother was her name, not her birth date or social security number. He didn't know anything about his father and his mother went back to her maiden name. In case you're wondering not everybody has their DNA taken.
He knew his full name. He's a legitimate son born in wedlock. They would have easily tracked down the father who is an inmate: that is on top of what the original poster mentioned, such as his home address or other minimal information. Lionhead, I believe this belongs in the Plot Holes section rather than simply the Questions section: I am not informed about Pennsylvania's laws for child abandonment, but I think it's rather unlikely that someone could just drop their kid in the middle of a crowd and get away with it entirely, especially when the kid knows his own full name.
I'm not too eager to put it in the plot holes section, because it is plausible I suppose that she disappeared willingly and they couldn't find her specifically. But you address the right point I was trying to make that the cops won't simply stop looking for his mother. It's a crime to abandon your child and they will look up and question a lot of people. And I mean a lot of people to find her. Even if there is literally no family besides mom and dad, the dad will be found since he is in prison. He won't be able to help much but contact will be maintained, even if he doesn't want it.
The thing is, they don't even have to question a lot of people since the kid is not a newborn left on the steps of a church or something: he was able to provide his own full name to the authorities. So it's absolutely straightforward for the police to see who his parents are - although it should be noted that he was born in a different state, I don't think it should be a particularly complicated research for the authorities.
Question: When Wall-E and Eve are in the repair ward, and Wall-E is misinterpreting Eve's cleaning as torture, what is the second "scene" supposed to be? I understand that the first one looks like Eve is having her arm ripped off and the third looks like Eve is having her head chopped off, but I can't figure out what the second one with the malfunctioning umbrella is supposed to be.
Answer: It's a combination of what WALL-E sees happening to EVE, with her circuitry lighting up and her head bobbing up and down as she laughs, with the noise of the umbrella as the diagnostic arms try to force it down. All WALL-E can hear is something that resembles a mechanical screech, along with EVE reacting - he thinks that she's being electrocuted and is in pain.
Question: There's a quote that I don't understand: "The fact that you prevented it from happening doesn't change the fact that it was going to happen." I immediately thought, "Yes, it does change the fact that it was going to happen." If Witwer hadn't put his hand there, it would have happened. However, he did, thus "changing the fact that it was going to happen," right? Isn't this the point of the whole movie: determinism is foolish and that different actions produce different consequences?
Answer: No, he didn't change the fact that it was going to happen. He prevented it from happening. But until he stopped it, it was going to happen. And no matter how many times you look back at that sequence, it was going to happen. Up until a point, it was going to happen. It was just prevented.
Answer: The statement involves the idea of arresting people who did not commit the crime yet but are going to. Until the precogs tell someone to change things, the idea is that it will happen. If Anderton had rolled the ball and the other guy was not watching, it was going to fall. The only way to change it would have been for Anderton to say something. Things will happen unless the future is changed. Ultimately the idea is proven sketchy at the end at best.
Question: SPOILER If, by the end of the movie, the facility was reprogrammed to have all doors unlocked on a power failure - and there was a sudden power failure when Domhnall inserted the card into the computer terminal... Why did he remain locked within? Shouldn't he be set free by the programming change he freed Ava with?
Chosen answer: He inserted his own card in Nathans computer. Also, there was no mention of a power failure, only a red glow. This would be a different event than he's programmed the system for.
Answer: The "Red glow" was the emergency lights that had come on every other time the power went out. And the final power outage was orchestrated by previous arrangement by the robot and Caleb.
Question: I don't get what happens at the end. Does Sean Connery come back to life? Someone please explain.
Answer: After Quartermain is buried, we see a witch doctor performing magic above his grave and the clouds darken indicating something is about to take place. The witch doctor is chanting "Return" and the grave begins to shake. Although we do not see Quartermain come back to life it is most definitely hinted that he did and left room for a sequel which never came to pass.
Question: How come a high tech ship would be unable to start its engine merely with the reason that the gate is unable to close?
Chosen answer: Its a safety device so the ship doesn't put to sea and ends up flooding the ship. The passenger ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in the port of Zebrugge in 1987, precisely because the doors were not shut properly.
Question: How did Snake lose his eye?
Chosen answer: During a mission known as the "Leningrad Ruse." He and his flight squadron were sent unknowingly on a suicide mission. During it, his goggles cracked and let in a poisonous gas, paralyzing his iris. He has to wear the patch because his eye can't focus against bright light, causing pain. This is mentioned in the novelization.
Question: In the original novel, it was Shogo (not Shuya) who hacked the system to discover how to disable the collars; at the same time he found out that the class would be doing the Battle Royale and transferred into that class to try and use his knowledge to mess it up. In the film, the person who found out how to disable the collars and the person who found out about the Battle Royale and transferred into it are different people. Does anyone know why this change was made?
Chosen answer: Kawada hacked the system, learned about the collars, and transferred voluntarily to the class he knew would be participtaing in both versions. The only difference is when he transferred: in the book, it was right after his win, and in the film it was just for the battle. Shuya never hacked anything in either the book or the film. As to why the change was made, I can only assume that, given the shortening of novels involved in film making, it's easier to make Kawada a complete stranger than a loner that the kids recognize.
Question: Why is the secretary was so rude to Howard when he tried to find the job?
Answer: As she said to Howard, she believed that he was using his "outlandish" appearance to be unable to find work and collect money through unemployment. She's probably dealt with people who did the same thing and was eventually sick of it.
Question: What is the deal with a apples in this movie, is it a subtle reference to something? Aside from the main bad guy chomping on one while tailing with someone (rude), there are several scenes with large bowls of apples. In one scene, there are two tables with bowls of apples on them.
Answer: Its a Navy thing. Centuries ago, to ward off the threat of Scurvy when sailing long distances, eating apples would prevent it, and the tradition carries over into modern times.
After 21 years of Naval service (10 years destine and four ships) I have never heard of apples warding off scurvy. It was discovered that lemons were very effective. Later in time the British started using limes to avoid scurvy. While limes were cheaper than lemons, they were not as effective. This is also where we get the phrase "Limey Brits" from.
Yep you're right. It's the Vitamin C in limes and oranges that prevents scurvy. Not much of that in an apple.
Question: In the original film, the Discovery's onboard computer states: "I am a HAL 9000 Computer, Production Number 3. I became operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, on the 12th of January, 1992." So, "HAL" was a manufacturer identification prefix (standing for Heuristically-programmed ALgorithmic Computers), "9000" was its model number, and "No.3" was its production lineage. In this sequel, however, Dr. Chandra is chatting with one of HAL's earth-based twin computers which has a feminine voice and is called "SAL"; but how can they arbitrarily change its manufacturer identification prefix? Being produced by the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, and being identical to the computer aboard the Discovery, the twin's name should have a different production number, but it should still be called "HAL," should it not?
Answer: The most likely reason the name was changed was probably a literary one. It makes it easier for the audience to differentiate SAL from HAL, showing how they are two distinct computers playing different roles in the film. It may also just be a feminine nickname being that SAL has a female voice.
I thought perhaps "SAL" was a nickname, also, until I saw that the computer's maker nameplate reads "SAL 9000" (visible in close-ups of SAL's glowing eye).
Question: In the scene where the main characters are talking about their peculiar behaviours i.e.- "Stokely, since when did you start liking boys" and "What, Delilah, you haven't gone without hairspray and contacts since birth". Can anyone please tell me what Delilah means when she says to Casey- "And Casey, since when did you become Sigourney Weaver?" I have never understood what it means but I think it might have some reference to the movie "Alien".
Answer: That's exactly right. Weaver fought aliens in all the "Alien" movies.
Question: I don't get the joke Chris told Liz in the cabin motel about the Zen master that ordered a hotdog with everything. What was funny?
Chosen answer: The Zen master tells the hotdog vendor to "Make me one with everything," a pun, of sorts, on the Zen philosophy of becoming one with the universe.
Question: After Alan Krumweide starts spreading misinformation about Forsythia curing MEV-1, we see a scene in a pharmacy being flooded with desperate customers. But if Forsythia is a homeopathic drug, then why is it being sold in pharmacies in the first place? As the characters say later on, it takes months just to get a drug approved, let alone sold.
Answer: Many pharmacies in the US sell homeopathic supplements.
Question: Maybe this was explained in the film and I missed it, but it has been bugging me for a while. What happened to all the rest of the clones of Jack and Victoria after the Tet was destroyed? Presumably their daily instructions in the form of Sally would cease. Wouldn't they get suspicious? Some reasonable explanation would be nice.
Answer: They would obviously notice that the Tet was gone and would no doubt have questions, but, without outside intervention, would be unlikely to be able to do anything about it, as they would have no reason not to believe that the "radiation zones" confining them to their particular area weren't real. Some would likely die fighting Scavenger groups in their areas (without the drones, they'd be increasingly vulnerable), others might be successfully contacted by those groups and thus could join with them, some may have ultimately starved without resupply from the Tet. The film only covers what happens to Jacks 49 and 52; the others likely met with a variety of different fates.
Question: I was really confused by the ending, who were the three figures we kept seeing, and what were they trying to do?
Answer: The figures are spirits who figured out how to contact the living, like Michael Keaton's wife. But where his wife wants him to help others, the three spirits are evil and want to only do bad things.
Question: Near the end of the song "I am a dentist", is Orin saying "and a success" or "and I say sit"?
Answer: He says "and a success". He's singing about his mother telling him he'd become a successful dentist.
Chosen answer: Song: Manipulated Living. Composer: Michael Andrews.