Question: After Marty enters 1885, in his fleeing from the Indians, the DeLorean's fuel line gets ruptured and it loses all its gas. When Marty tells Doc this, Doc says gasoline doesn't even exist yet. However, Doc's DeLorean, which is now hidden in a cave, has its own gas supply in its gas tank and will not need it anymore, as 1955 Doc would just refill it after getting it out of the cave. Why didn't Doc siphon the gas from his DeLorean, and refill Marty's? He said the only problem at that moment was no gas. Not that he could not patch the fuel line, which would have been easy.
Sierra1
18th Mar 2014
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Answer: When putting any vehicle into storage for a long time, fluids must be drained from the vehicle. 1985 Doc most likely did this after being sent to 1885.
15th Mar 2014
Goldeneye (1995)
Question: If the opening scene was staged to get 007 to surrender, then it seems it was a terrible plan. Look how many Russians got killed by Bond and 006. It seems very awkward that the whole thing was staged. Why did Bond need to surrender? Why couldn't 006 just shoot him (besides the usual reason that 007 must be executed through an overly involved and escape-riddled plan) What would they do with him once he was captured? Too many questions and a weird scenario.
Answer: The plan was not to capture 007, it was to stage 006's death. Trevelyan's long-term goal was to steal money from the Bank of England and cover it up using the GoldenEye satellite - he presumably did not have time to run the Janus Syndicate and implement this very elaborate plan whilst serving as a full-time MI6 officer. In fact, it was probably the intention that Bond should escape and tell the British government that 006 had died a hero's death.
2nd Mar 2014
Avatar (2009)
Question: How come Trudi sometimes needs an oxygen mask but mostly doesn't - I can understand her not needing one (apparently, there is a glass partition between her and the rest of the helicopter; so whoever is with her has to wear masks, as they are behind the glass partition. But at one stage, Trudi and Norm are up front and Jake and Grace are behind them, and none of them are wearing masks - is the glass partition movable? And during the battle scene, you can see a bullet hole in Trudi's helicopter glass - shouldn't she need a mask now, as the outside air is getting in? Finally, how come Trudi needs a mask just after the home tree is destroyed and she and Norm and Jake and Grace (who was shot and is dying) escape and head for the Tree of Souls? What makes this time so special?
Chosen answer: The cabin on the Aerospatiale SA-2 Samson is pressurised, and there are two sealed doors with windows separating it from the open cargo area. There are actually four seats in the cabin which is why Jake and Grace don't need masks. The cabin pressure is slightly higher than the atmosphere (+0.3 psi) which means that if there is a small rupture in the hull or canopy (such as a bullet hole) the oxygen will leak out rather than toxic gas leaking in.
24th Feb 2014
Doctor Who (2005)
Question: In this episode the Doctor says 'Metebelis three' different to how Sarah-Jane in 'The wedding of Sarah Jane Smith' (The Sarah Jane Adventures spin-off) says 'Metebelis three'. (she says it like 'Metabeelis'), so which is correct?
Chosen answer: The Matt Smith pronunciation in this episode seems to be the outlier. Metebelis 3 was first mentioned and shown in the Jon Pertwee stories "The Green Death" and "Planet of the Spiders". In those stories, and in Sarah Jane Adventures it was pronounced 'Meh-teh-beel-is'.
16th Feb 2014
Airport (1970)
Question: Near the end of the film, the plane stuck on the ground is pressurised before it can move out of the way. Why is it pressurised if it's on the ground and not in the air?
Chosen answer: Patroni isn't referring to the cabin pressure, he says to "pressurize the manifold" - part of the engine start procedure of a Boeing 707, which I believe involves a ground crew pumping gas (nitrogen?) from a cart into the intake manifold.
Pressurize - as in the manifold, to turn on bleed air from the APU - on board Auxiliary Power Unit - a small jet engine that provides electrical and pneumatic air to operate aircraft systems including starting engines.
22nd Feb 2014
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)
Question: If the island sinks underwater at regular intervals, then what happens to the tiny elephants, giant bees, etc (and the whole ecosystem) while the island is underwater?
Answer: There is a deleted scene on the DVD/Bluray where they attempt to give an explanation. Kailani asks "What happens to the animals when the island sinks? They can't all die!". Alexander replies "Even the mammals develop quasi-amphibian characteristics. They just burrow below the ground's surface and absorb the oxygen through their skin."
22nd Feb 2014
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
22nd Nov 2012
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
17th Feb 2014
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
Question: Maybe I missed something, but didn't Jack murder a guy in the beginning of the film and was about to get life in prison before he escaped? How is it that at the end, he flies back home with John and meets with his sister and they live happily ever after as if nothing happened? Is he not a fugitive from Russia?
5th Feb 2014
The Dukes of Hazzard (1979)
Question: In this episode, Jessie, ticked off that he had to pay the boy's bail, says that the mortgage payment has to be made to Jason Higgins. I thought that J.D. Hogg held the mortgage to the Duke farm. Has my memory got a hole in it?
13th Feb 2014
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Question: Towards the end when the briefcase has been recovered and Hobbs asks what the reward should be, Dom replies "1327." What do these numbers refer to? Shaw's former hideout? Or an amnesty law code or something?
1st Jun 2013
Run Lola Run (1998)
Question: I don't understand the scene in the casino. She screams and the roulette ball hits her number. What happened here?
Chosen answer: In the casino scene, Lola breaks the "rules" several times. She doesn't have enough money for a 100 mark chip, she defies the dress code, and the scream is a manifestation of her willpower overriding the laws of chance and probability itself to make the ball land on the number 20 twice in a row.
14th Jun 2013
St. Trinian's (2007)
Question: What 'group' is Annabelle in?
7th Feb 2014
Das Boot (1981)
Question: During the film one of the officers was holding a bottle of Becks beer. Was the label on the bottle age/era appropriate?
Answer: The label is absolutely correct, but at this time Beck's Beer was only for export and not regularly available in Germany.
10th Feb 2014
The Big Bang Theory (2007)
The Raiders Minimization - S7-E4
Question: In this episode, Amy deduced that if Indy wasn't in Raiders of the Lost Ark it still would have ended the same way. If I remember correctly, Major Toht was on the plane with him. Doesn't this look like the Nazis didn't know where to find Marion, and were following Indy?
4th Feb 2014
General questions
Which Pink Panther movie had Sellers using disguises that included an inflatable dog and an inflatable doll?
Answer: The Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) has Professor Balls presenting Ted Wass, Clifton Sleigh, with disguises including an inflatable dog and doll - it wasn't Peter Sellers though as he had died in 1980.
6th Aug 2013
Blade Runner (1982)
Question: What effect did they use to get the actors' eyes to glow, revealing they are replicants?
10th Jul 2013
Goldeneye 007
Question: After killing Xenia in the Jungle level, you get to dual wield an RCP 90 and a grenade launcher. Other than when using cheat codes, why is this the only time you can wield 2 different weapons at the same time?
Chosen answer: In normal gameplay, yes, this is the only level where you can dual wield two different weapons.
The question was why is this the only level that two different guns can be held. Not is it the only level where guns can be held?
4th Feb 2014
General questions
This US film is from the early 1950s or perhaps late 1940s, and is in B&W. A young woman is murdered, and during the investigation the film shows how several characters remember the victim. Striking differences in how they each remember her!
Answer: The Woman in Question (1950), directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Jean Kent and Dirk Bogarde.
31st Jan 2014
Star Trek (2009)
Question: Why do the phasers have recoil (kick-back) when fired?
Chosen answer: We don't know how much gas was in the De Lorean when it got struck by lightning - Doc may not have bothered to top-up regularly as he was using the anti-gravity (powered by Mr Fusion) a lot, and also Biff had used the car and may have used up some fuel. As Doc was putting it in storage, he would have drained the fuel before putting it in the mine to prevent damage (and 1955 Doc implies the tank was empty and that he filled it up) He also may have been reluctant to tamper with the car in the 1880s as it could have been damaged or destroyed (by a mine collapse), thus leaving him stranded in the 1880s and Marty in the 1950s with no time machine.
Sierra1 ★