Question: At the start of each episode of Mission Impossible Briggs or Phelps received details of the mission from a tape recording that was 'hidden in plain sight', say a telephone booth displaying a poster saying 'Telephone Out Of Order. Do Not Use'. So, what would happen if somebody went into the kiosk before Briggs or Phelps, picked up the telephone and got the secret message ahead of the Mission Impossible team?
Answer: This is not really a serious question. When I posted this question I was fully aware that Mission Impossible is only a television programme. Like many espionage thrillers (Man From Uncle, The Avengers, James Bond) it is meant to entertain, it is never meant to be taken literally seriously. It was essential to the story that Briggs or Phelps received a secret message, which would give them a mission to accomplish. If they did not receive the message you would not have had the story. When I used to watch Mission Impossible it just used to amuse me to wonder what might have happened had somebody picked up the phone containing the secret message ahead of Briggs or Phelps. I even considered writing to a comedian and suggesting that they devise a comedy sketch in which this happened. My question was only meant to be a joke, that I posted to amuse people.
The Lucy Show or Here's Lucy did an episode of exactly this scenario.
Question: Why was Columbo never promoted, given that across the whole show he solves all the murders in such a spectacular fashion?
Answer: In the show, he was already a Lieutenant. A promotion would put him in the next rank up, which for the L.A.P.D. would be Captain. However, some of a Captain's duties would be overseeing other officers and ensuring they're compliant with policies, regulations, and standards. It would also most likely take him out of the field. This is something Columbo has no desire for as he rarely goes to police HQ's. Nor does he show interest in compliance and standards (for example, not going to his semi-annual evaluation at the firing range). However, he could still be assigned to a higher pay grade based on expertise, which is a form of promotion that does not include rank advancement. This would be going from Lieutenant I to Lieutenant II. I don't believe in the show it's ever started what his pay grade is. Although, in s02e01 (I believe) he mentions making $11K a year. Whether or not this was a true statement on his part, if you could find pay scale information for an LAPD Lieutenant in the 70's, it could give you an idea of his pay grade.
Question: Does it seem like this show took from LOST in the sense that a phenomenal event starting with a plane crash changed people's lives?
Answer: Only superficially. Manifest doesn't even begin with a plane crash, but rather a plane disappearing for 5 years with the assumption that it crashed, which turns out not to be true.
In the particulars it seems different, but the overall plot is the same. A seemingly random group on an airplane experience a weird event and spend years trying to figure out what happened. Let's hope the reveal in the final episode is not as disappointing as "LOST" - they're actually all dead.
Answer: Yes, I see the larger connection. There are a lot of movies and shows where people come back from somewhere like car, train, and bus crashes, or even space, war, or who knows where, then try to figure out why. We probably should consider a new genre for plots where the departed or missing return and try to figure out why. Needs a name though. Maybe "Come-back Conundrums" or "Put-back Puzzlers"?
Answer: "The major" is a major general, no major general would go by a title implying a lower rank. Her official DOD photo shows her (and a bunch of other women in uniform) with long loose hair below their collar. Women's hair has to be above the collar or put up, until VERY recently, and if this show is set in 2018 the hair is out of regulations. No major general would have an official photo with hair out of regs.
Question: The crew takes a private jet to most locations but always have the same black S.U.V.s. How do the vehicles get there as fast as the crew?
Chosen answer: Black SUVs are common police, military and dignitary vehicles around the world. It is not too much to assume they could be rented or owned by the police forces in the areas.
Other people have explained it but fore more information, federal cars would most likely be brought to the airport from the nearest agency, so they can drive out to their locations especially in rural situations.
Answer: There is only one BAU (or that's the impression the show gives, in reality there's 5 teams within the BAU), and they're based out of Quantico. However, the FBI has 56 field offices, each with their own vehicles leased from the over 200,000 vehicles that make up the Federal motor fleet. There are long term leases to federal agencies on these cars, in addition to there always being vehicles being made available to lease on an ad hoc basis for assignments. Plus, local and state police likely also have their own unmarked fleets, but due to the vehicles being mostly the same make/model/color in most episodes, they'd likely be borrowed from the nearest field office or other local federal office or ad hoc leased from the fleet for the assignment.
Jiu-Jitsu, Bubble Wrap, and Yoo-Hoo - S1-E17
Question: Why does the girl who keeps going after Sheldon go after him at all? She looks at him like she just hates his guts and would love to kill him, but why? I know that bullies go after the weaker people but she seems to act like Sheldon ruined her life or something.
Answer: Some people just have a dislike for someone that can't be explained. Could be as simple as the way he's dressed.
Question: If Voight's a dirty cop and everyone knows it why tolerate it? Why not set up a sting and take him down?
Answer: Because he is a great cop and gets the job done better than anyone.
Answer: Also, if you watch Season 1 of Chicago Fire it gives a little history of Voight before he goes to jail when he was actually a "dirty cop" and Antonio Dawson is actually the one who takes him down. I found it interesting and was surprised by his character back then.
Answer: And cuz he's only dirty to the bad guys. He takes care of the victims.
Question: At the end of the last ever episode, when Claire is taking the family photo, Nate whispers in her ear 'You can't take a picture unless it's already gone.' What does he mean by that?
Answer: Nate actually say "You can't take a picture of this, it's already gone." It's kinda hard to explain, but he's referring to the fact that the moment Claire wants to take a picture of is over already, and she can't take a photo of it, just a different, lesser moment.
Question: In the first main movie, Baltaar the traitor (as a human) is executed before the Cylon's supreme ruler; yet in the later movies (and probably the TV series, which I did not get to watch) he reappears. How can this be possible?
Answer: The original BSG has something of a complex version history. Several versions exist, but the rationale behind what you're referring to is as follows. BSG, before anything else, was a TV series - the 'pilot episode' was a three-part tale called "Saga of a Star World". In that three-parter, a last-minute alteration to the script meant that Baltar was ultimately spared execution, because Glen A. Larson, the series producer, decided that he liked the Baltar character enough to keep him around for the rest of the series. The theatrical version, which was edited down from the three-parter and was shown in some countries before the US TV broadcast, lost quite a number of scenes, including the one where Baltar is spared. The real continuity of the series can only be found in the TV version - the movies, all of which were created by editing together existing episodes, miss out scenes leading to such apparent continuity errors.
Answer: Baltar wasn't executed... the supreme leader decided to spare him to send him on a peace mission with the humans. I have every episode... just watched it again.
Answer: Strange... given I saw Battlestar Galactica at the movies when I was a kid. Aka the 'pilot' you refer to (which WAS a movie shown at the cinema).
Yes, there was a theatrical release of the film, which was released after the original 1978 series ended. This 1979 film is the edited compilation of the 1978 series "Saga of a Star World" episode.
Question: Why was Enterprise cancelled after only four seasons?
Answer: While ratings did drop, there was a lot going on to cause the rating drops and cancellation. First, "Enterprise" was on UPN, which was dissolved a year after the show was cancelled. At the time of cancellation, it was UPN's highest rated drama. Because they were on at night, they were often preempted by local UPN broadcast of baseball games. And it wasn't even aired in every market. They also lost a major corporate backer early and it was difficult for them to over come that loss. Plus, for season 4, they switched to a Friday night line up, so they were competing against Fox shows, like "The Simpsons" whereas on Wednesdays they didn't have much competition.
Answer: The same reason any show gets canceled, low ratings.
Not all shows get cancelled because of low ratings. Some get cancelled because they're too expensive to make.
Don't know why it had low ratings. IMO it was close to the best of Star Trek franchise.
Question: Why does Vicky hate Timmy so much?
Answer: I don't think Vicky necessarily hates Timmy. She is just a malicious and sadistic person.
Question: Does anyone know why Pamela Anderson quit?
Answer: I read that Pamela departed the show because she had become pregnant with her second child.
Question: Ahsoka's "head-tails" (called Lekku, technically) seem to have creases in them. Are these meant to be scars from battles, or are they just folds in whatever material was used to make the prosthetics? With all the high production values elsewhere, this would seem to be a fairly ropey oversight if so.
Chosen answer: They could be just like wrinkles from age, like the elderly Togruta in the Zygerrian slaver arc in The Clone Wars series, as Ahsoka is considerably older than her animated appearances. I think there is probably a character design/stylisation aspect to it as well - the other Togruta we've seen in live action, Shaak Ti, has four segments or folds in her lekku that were not visible in her Clone Wars appearances, so it would seem the character design in Clone Wars and Rebels reduces such features.
I'd Rather Twitch Than Fight - S3-E10
Question: Darren was angry at Samantha for getting rid of his favorite coat so, why was he even angrier when he got it back?
Answer: Larry had been telling Darrin what it means psychologically that Samantha gave the coat away. Larry said giving it away meant she's happy being married but if she liked the coat it means she desires to be single and carefree. So when Darrin sees the coat, he immediately thinks Samantha doesn't want to be married and the fact that she twitched it means (in his mind) she wants to be a single, carefree witch again.
Answer: I haven't seen the episode, but generally in the show, Darrin was always suspicious that Samantha always used some kind of witchcraft for any situation (even if she didn't). He probably figured the same thing with the coat while in her possession.
You should watch the episodes in question before giving an answer so you know what you're talking about.
Question: Why is John's Farscape-1 module able to navigate wormholes where some other, more sophisticated craft, notably Peacekeeper Prowlers, cannot without liquifying passengers?
Chosen answer: It's never explained. John mentions a theory that his less technologically developed craft simply interferes with the wormhole less than the "superior" Vipers, but they never make a concrete determination on that point. But we also have to take into account the fact that Moya traverses wormholes with no ill effect as well.
Question: How could Skaar be Bruce's son? In "The Avengers: Age Of Ultron", Bruce tells Natalie that he can't have kids.
Answer: Bruce can't have human kids, but Hulk has entirely different physiology, and Skaar's mother is no doubt not human either. Changes the dynamic entirely.
Question: Why was this series cancelled after two seasons?
Question: Just rewatched the series and in the episode where they are operating on President Kirkman to remove the bullet fragments I noticed what I think was a secret service agent in the background of the OR. Is this normal practice for when a president is under anaesthetic or a medical procedure, or was this just because it was after an attempted assassination?
Answer: Yes, it's normal. When President Reagan was shot, they were in the OR with him.
Answer: It would be normal procedure, yes. The Secret Service accompanies the president everywhere, except in very limited circumstances (for example, they don't go into the bathroom with him, or stand in his room while he sleeps). When Bill Clinton had an operation to fix a torn tendon, there was an agent in the operating room throughout the procedure.
Question: If Dustin, Dana, and James don't appear in a lot of episodes in the show, why are they still considered main characters?
Answer: Dustin was only considered a main character from season 1-3, and probably just because he's Zoey's brother. Dana was only a main character for season 1 and James didn't become a main character until season 4.
Answer: We don't know what would happen because the show never addressed this issue. Any answer would be speculation. This is a TV show, and the plot is structured so that only IMF team will retrieve the secret message.
raywest ★