Best sci-fi movie questions of 2019

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker picture

Question: How did Palpatine come back? Cloned? Or somehow survived the Death Star explosion, which seems unlikely.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: According to the novelization, Palpatine sensed Vader's internal conflict and created a clone as a backup in the event that Vader betrayed him. When Vader threw him down the shaft, Palpatine transferred his consciousness into the clone's body.

Answer: It is not said exactly how he came back. He says that he had died before which presumably is him dying in ROTJ. The most we get is the reference to Sith ability that some consider unnatural.

It is not said how he came back, but I get the idea that he was using the Force to keep himself alive. At least that's the message I was getting when I saw that Palpatine's fingers were wilted away. And I thought that the power he was using was urging his life to go on, but his physical appearence was being dragged behind.

Answer: The line "The dark side is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural" is a direct reference to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, in which Palpatine says the same line verbatim to Anakin. Recall that a major plot point to that prequel is that the Sith have long been rumored to have found a method to cheat death. This film strongly suggests that Palpatine had indeed discovered this method. The film doesn't go into specifics. My understanding is the novelization says his body is a clone. Going by his appearance in the film (blank eyes; body manipulated by machine), it suggests to me that he is a reanimated corpse.

TonyPH

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Shazam! picture

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?

lionhead

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.

Sammo

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.

lionhead

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.

Sammo

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Spider-Man: Far From Home picture

Question: Why doesn't JJJ look like himself? True he's being played by JK Simmons but here he's bald without the trademark Jameson hairstyle.

Rob245

Answer: This is a different version of JJJ, not the one from the previous Spiderman movies, just like PP.

lionhead

Thanks folks though it's still weird looking since he should have his brush top look.

Rob245

I agree. But I'm already glad it's JK Simmons and not some other actor.

lionhead

Answer: The general movie-going audience doesn't always know the difference between MCU movies and movies that are based on Marvel properties made by other studios. Jameson's different look might have been done to avoid confusing fans into thinking that this iteration of Spider-Man is somehow connected to the Sam Raimi films.

Phaneron

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Gemini Man picture

Question: At the end of the movie, Will Smith (the older one) has a present for his son/brother/younger self; his official documents he apparently did not have. Passport, driving license and birth certificate; he congratulates him on his name choice. And he gives those to him as Junior is walking out of the college campus, which he obviously is already frequenting and where he made many friends. I know the US system allows undocumented students, but can you even enroll without the most basic ID? In particular since he is in Georgia, which reportedly is one of the strictest states about it.

Sammo

Answer: I worked at a university for over 30 years. A person cannot enroll in an accredited university or college without proper identification, educational history, transcripts, test scores, financial information, etc.

raywest

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Ad Astra picture

Question: How did the monkeys get onto the space ship and why were they so aggressive?

Answer: On the way from the Moon to Mars, the Cepheus interplanetary vessel receives an automated distress signal from a Norwegian bio-medical space station (that studies and conducts experiments on Earth animals in the deep-space environment). Apparently, a couple of very powerful and temperamental adult baboons escaped from their cages and killed everyone aboard the space station, feeding on their bodies. When the Cepheus answers the distress signal and arrives at the space station, the baboons attack and try to eat Captain Tanner and Roy McBride, also.

Charles Austin Miller

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Sonic the Hedgehog picture

Question: This is a two part question: firstly if Crazy Carl was onto Sonic why didn't he find any of Sonic's quills when Tom found one without even looking for one? Secondly: what happened to the ring that Sonic threw and bounced of the robot, did he get it back, or will it play a part in getting Robotnick back in the possible sequel?

Darth Crucible

Answer: First, it seems Sonic doesn't shed his quills that easily. Tom found one just by sheer luck. Second, yes that ring is likely going to play a part in the sequel.

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Avengers: Endgame picture

Question: What happened to Loki? Does this mean he's now alive?

MikeH

Answer: The Loki from the original timeline is dead, but the 2013 Loki that is imprisoned on Asgard is presumably alive and well, and the 2012 Loki that escaped with the Tesseract is alive and supposedly, this version of the character will be the focus of his own upcoming Disney+ series.

Phaneron

Answer: The Loki who escaped is in a different timeline, so he will not encounter the "main" versions of the characters. This version of Loki will appear in the new series.

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Answer: Your guess is correct. Lawrence stated she was done with the franchise after "X-Men: Apocalypse." She jokingly told Simon Kinberg she would return for this film if he directed it, and to her surprise, he was serious about it and held her to it. Fans weren't very keen on her appearances either, because she was definitely phoning it in for the third film, so that may have factored into killing her off early as well.

Phaneron

More than one actress had played Mystique. Just because Jennifer Lawrence did not want to continue playing that role is not a reason the character would be killed off. They could easily recast another notable actress in the part. I would not be surprised if Mystique is miraculously "resurrected" in a future X-Men film with a new actress.

raywest

Aside from Deadpool, any new X-Men film would be a complete overhaul of the franchise since the characters will be part of the MCU now. You're not wrong about an actor wanting out to not really be a reason to kill off a character, but it doesn't preclude them from doing so either. They might have decided it wouldn't be worth the hassle of recasting the role with all the negative baggage that would come with it.

Phaneron

Here are some candidates I think could do it: Amanda Seyfried, Shailene Woodley, Chloe Grace Moretz. Heck maybe even Milla Jovovich-Anderson should be given an audition, what say you guys?

Rob245

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Godzilla: King of the Monsters picture

Question: Why is Las Vegas left abandoned for five years as shown on the screen by Dr Emma Russell when it was damaged by the MUTO? Why can't everyone just fix the damage to the city so the tourists can go there again or even repopulate it?

Trainman

Answer: I don't remember if either Godzilla 2014 or Godzilla: King of the Monsters directly said that this was the case, but the MUTOs were feasting on nuclear radiation and warheads, meaning that their presence and deaths in the area would most likely unleash a ton of radiation. Radiation can make entire areas uninhabitable for years.

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Captain Marvel picture

Question: How did Mar-vell get the tesseract?

Answer: Howard Stark relinquished custody of it to her. For a full history of the Tesseract see here: https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Tesseract.

ctown28

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Terminator: Dark Fate picture

Question: When Dani and Grace are in the vehicle that drops out the back of the plane...how then is it possible that the plane is able to nearly come down upon them if it was moving in a forward motion at a great speed in opposite direction? The plane would naturally have gone down miles away from them and not nearly collided with them.

Answer: The simplest answer is, this is a movie, and movies often exaggerate, change, or fabricate details that logically could never occur in real-life. This is a perfect example of a deliberately faked action sequence that is contrived solely to entertain the audience by employing a 'suspension of disbelief.' It's more exciting and suspenseful to be able to see the plane crash, even though, as you point out, it realistically would be miles away by that time.

raywest

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Glass picture

Question: How was Elijah getting out of his room in the first place? I know he has free roam of the facility after killing the guard and taking his keycard, but I don't recall the movie explaining how he was getting out earlier in the movie?

Phaneron

Answer: He's picking the locks on the doors, bypassing the keycards.

Answer: At one point, Elijah's mother mentions that he caught a glimpse of and instantly memorized a blueprint of the psychiatric hospital when he was first committed, and he used that knowledge to short-out the hospital's electrical system one time (before they started heavily sedating him). It seems likely that Elijah was able to somehow hotwire electronic door locks, using his knowledge of the hospital's electrical system. Later, he used a master keycard taken from the guard.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Not only that but, it was shown in the first movie that Elijah was very good at manipulating people so he could have convinced somebody to let him out.

Answer: The movie doesn't explain. But given what we know about Elijah from "Unbreakable" and this film, it's really no surprise he managed to find a way out - he's psychotic, but he's also a genius.

TedStixon

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