Question: How exactly does the Merovingian protect the obsolete programs such as the twins from deletion?
Captain Defenestrator
25th Jun 2009
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
25th Jun 2009
Dogma (1999)
Question: Bartleby says to Loki that as angels they have no free will. Yet, he also says that Lucifer, a former fallen angel, rebelled against God. Isn't this an example of an angel demonstrating free will?
Chosen answer: What he means is that humans have the choice to accept or reject God's love, but that angels have no such choice. Lucifer questioned this logic and was prompted to start a war, just as they're questioning it and are prompted to find a loophole to return to Heaven.
25th Jun 2009
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Question: I have a few questions: What was the ultimate fate of Mr. Alexander, the writer? The Minister of Interior mentioned something about incarceration? If so, why was he incarcerated? Was it because of what he did to Alex, or because he was a threat? Also, the Minister mentioned something about him writing subversive literature? What kind of literature? Finally, what exactly did Alex and his droogs do to confine Mr. Alexander to a wheelchair and how exactly did his wife die? Was it pneumonia or circumstances related to her rape?
Chosen answer: Since this is a futuristic police state, it's likely that Mr. Alexander was dealt with the way dissenters are often dealt with in such situations (Execution or lifelong imprisonment.). In the book, he wrote literature protesting the police state. (The phrase "A Clockwork Orange" comes from a pamphlet he wrote.) Alex and his droogs kicked and beat him while they raped his wife. A while later, the doctors told him she'd died of pneumonia, but he thinks the trauma made her give up the will to live.
25th Jun 2009
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Question: How exactly were the doctors able to reverse the effects and undo the Ludovico technique that Alex was subjected to?
Chosen answer: We're never given details. Possibly electroshock therapy or somehow purging his system of the Ludovico formula.
Answer: When Alex jumped out of the window, the shock of the fall snapped him out of the Ludovico technique.
He mentions later that he's been having dreams of someone picking through his brain. This is the government undoing the treatment.
25th Jun 2009
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Question: Why did Alex's droogs turn against him? Did they plan to turn against him all along or was it a spur of the moment thing when the police came?
Chosen answer: The droogs didn't like how Alex was leading them, so he attacked them. It's never explained whether the plan was to set him up all along, but given that Din was ready with the bottle to smash him over the head, it seems like an opportunity to be rid of him came up and they took it.
20th Jun 2009
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
19th Jun 2009
Dogma (1999)
20th Jun 2009
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Question: Why did Vader stop Luke when he tried to strike at the Emperor with his lightsaber? I know he said earlier that he has to obey his master, but he keeps encouraging Luke to give in to the dark side. If he hadn't stopped Luke, Luke could have given in to his anger and killed the Emperor, and also rid Vader of the Emperor at the same time.
Answer: Because the Emperor probably wouldn't leave himself so open to attack without a trick up his sleeve (a personal shield, perhaps), and if Luke failed in this direct assault, as Vader is expecting him to do, he would have had to explain why he didn't do anything to defend the Emperor and would have been executed himself.
Answer: It was still too early. While Luke was upset that the Rebels appeared to be losing, he was still relatively calm, and his attempt to strike the Emperor right then was still a rational choice made out of pragmatism, to bring him to justice. They need him to act on pure hatred so he can behold "the power" of the dark side, which they expect to be completely irresistible.
15th Jun 2009
Fight Club (1999)
Question: Why do all the members of Project Mayhem chant Bob's name after "Jack" says he has a name?
Chosen answer: Because they interpret what he's saying as Bob being elevated to a place of honor. Since none of them have names and now Bob has one, he must be special.
29th May 2009
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Question: When Luke asked Leia if she remembers her real mother she said she does but she died when she was very young. Her mother died during child birth. How can Leia remember what her mother looked like?
Answer: Leia most likely knew she was adopted as she had no reaction to Luke asking about her "real mother." I believe the correct answer here is George Lucas hadn't planned on Leia's mother dying during childbirth when this scene was written and at that time Leia genuinely had faint memories of her real mother. This was later shown to be impossible when the prequels were made.
Answer: She is referring to Padme. I believe she actually replies 'not really' when asked what her mother looked like. Also, Leia was a senator at some point, like Padme. It is likely she would have seen a painting or senator entry.
She most likely didn't know Padme the senator was her mother, because that would mean Anakin/Darth Vader would therefore have the same knowledge. She most definitely knew she was adopted. The "not really, just feelings" (paraphrased) line was "ret-conned" to fit when the newborn twins were shown in Episode III. Luke's eyes were shut, while Leia's eyes were open-she "saw" her mother. Perhaps the Force gave her a more mature feeling/insight into her mother from the brief time between pregnancy and when she was spirited away to Alderaan and her adoptive family.
Chosen answer: The mother Leia refers to would be Queen Breha Organa of Alderaan. At this point, Leia has no idea that she was adopted.
Negative. Luke specifically says "your real mother." Nowhere is it said Leia didn't know she was adopted. It's also highly unlikely she didn't know, since her adoptive father was a high-profile governmental figure and no way would the press keep a tight lip on the Bail and his wife suddenly having a baby without any signs of pregnancy.
Bail Organa says "We've always wanted a daughter." It wouldn't make sense to tell the daughter they've adopted in order to hide her from Vader "Oh yeah, you're adopted but don't tell anybody because the Emperor would send Vader to hunt you down." Better to just let her think you're her real parents.
Just because Leia knows she's adopted doesn't mean she has any idea who exactly her birth mother was, aside from her apparent memories. The Organas may well have concocted a whole cover story about her birth parents for another layer of protection over her identity. In fact, the way both Luke and Leia casually use/accept the "real mother" term suggests that not only does Leia know she's adopted, it's actually fairly common knowledge.
Answer: The short answer is that we don't know and it's left a mystery for the viewer. But on the flip side the lack of concrete information does leave room for numerous possibilities: One is that Leia might simply be mistaken: she had dreams of an idealized mother figure that she mistook for memories. Another is that the Organas could've lied to Leia about who her birth mother was for her own protection, and she is recalling this decoy mother (I quite like the theory that they told Leia her birth mother was one of Padme's loyal bodyguards chosen for their resemblance to her). And of course there's always the possibility there's something supernatural going on: Leia is strong with the Force and doesn't know it, and Padme's fate was so inexplicable you could theorize she didn't even really "die" so much as her spirit simply left her body.
29th May 2009
The Matrix (1999)
Question: It's been stated in the movie (and in The Animatrix) that humans used nanomachines to intentionally blacken the sky in order to cut the machines off from their main energy source, the sun. Firstly, why did the humans resort to such a drastic and desperate plan? They must have known it would be risky? Secondly, once the plan was implemented, why couldn't they halt or shut down the nanomachines when it grew out of control? Thirdly, why were the machines dependent on the sun in the first place? Couldn't they use or invent an alternate energy source? And fourthly, why couldn't the machines use their combined artificial intelligence to somehow find a way of eradicating the nanomachines in the atmosphere?
Chosen answer: Blocking out the sun was an act of desperation, the humans weren't thinking about long-term consequences like unblocking it again. As for the machines, once they had adapted and created the Matrix, there was no need to unblock the sun because their problem had been solved.
28th May 2009
Groundhog Day (1993)
Question: Toward the beginning of the movie, on Phil's first day at the bed and breakfast, he turns on the shower and it is very cold. He asks the lady in the hallway why there is no hot water. The lady answers "Oh no, there wouldn't be any today." Why not?
Answer: Old fashioned hotels have a single boiler for all the hotel rooms. Once the hot water reservoir is used up there won't be any more to use until the reservoir is refilled. This only happens once every few days.
Answer: Likely because there are a lot of people staying there and using up the hot water.
25th May 2009
Star Trek (2009)
Question: How are Kirk, Sulu, and Olson able to parachute from space to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere?
Chosen answer: Vulcan has a thinner atmosphere than Earth. That, combined with the special dive suits they're wearing and the lower speed than space vehicle re-entry makes it possible.
12th May 2009
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Question: I don't understand why Alex waits until Mrs. Alexander has unchained the opened front door and fully opened it, before he and his droogs break in. I'm sure the four of them could easily have broken the chain off with a bit of force. Is it simply part of Alex's nature to be invited in, before he starts his attack?
Chosen answer: It's part of the "fun element" of the crime to get the victim to open the door themselves.
9th May 2009
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Question: We see Biff groan in pain as he returns to 2015 with the stolen DeLorean. In a deleted scene we actually see Biff fade away as he is erased from existence by his actions. I assume this is because an alternate Biff now exists (or could have been killed) and so he is erased from time. If this happens to Biff, why doesn't this happen to Marty, Doc, and Jennifer? They too are replaced by alternate versions of themselves when they return and even before they return to 1985a. 1985a Biff even says in the film that Marty was in school in Switzerland, and Doc has been committed, so they too should fade away as Biff did, shouldn't they? I would say "time" was giving them time enough to correct things like in the 1st movie, but Biff faded away almost a soon as he arrived back in 2015a.
Answer: I read somewhere the reason Biff faded away was Lorraine shot him in the alternate timeline for murdering her husband, George.
I hadn't heard that one, could be in a novelization or something. This is entirely my own speculation with nothing official to support it; however, it could be that because Doc and Marty are trying to correct the timeline, he and his siblings' removal from history happens gradually, as they get closer or further from the act of their trying to set things right. Biff doesn't know or care and is actively trying to change history, so the moment he returns to 2015, he vanishes all at once.
If you have the DVD or Blu-ray, watch the deleted scene of Biff vanishing and turn on the commentary. It will confirm that Biff was murdered, which is why he was erased from existence.
Chosen answer: Biff faded away because he completely changed his own past. When Marty, Doc, and Jennifer return to 1985, they're returning to the alternate timeline that Biff created. They still exist and remember their own history because without it, Biff's timeline couldn't exist and a paradox would be created.
Answer: The comics answer this question. In 1986 in the alternate timeline, Biff forced the committed Doc Brown to send him forward in time to get more sports results, but Doc tricked him and sent him back to 1884 instead, where he was shot by his own great-grandfather Buford. When he reappeared in his current time (that's how the time machine worked in this timeline), he was dead. Old Biff faded from existence because Biff never grew up to become Old Biff (because he was dead), so Old Biff no longer existed.
7th May 2009
Doctor Who (2005)
Question: In "The Stolen Earth", is The Doctor refering to an old episode when he says, "Someone tried to move the earth before"?
Answer: Yes. The Daleks tried to destroy the Earth's core and replace it with an engine to pilot it through the universe in the first Doctor story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth."
25th Apr 2009
Doctor Who (2005)
Question: Towards the end of the episode "Journey's End", Davros calls The Doctor "the Destroyer of Worlds". Isn't this just a little bit ironic considering Davros and the Daleks were about to wipe out the universe using a reality bomb?
Chosen answer: It's a psychological tactic. The Doctor thinks of himself as a good person, but he's had to do horrible things during the Time War and on other occasions. Davros is playing on his guilt.
18th Apr 2009
Predator (1987)
Question: Why does the Predator use a cloaking device? As revealed in the film, it's huge and physically superior to humans, so, why hide?
Chosen answer: The same reason human hunters wear camouflage and hide in blinds: If they just stood out in the open with their weapons out, the prey would run away before they get a good shot.
23rd Jan 2009
King of the Hill (1997)
Death of a Propane Salesman (2) - S3-E1
Question: Why does Kahn act so emotional about Buckley (especially when he criticizes Luanne for not crying)? Even though he says that he sought Buckley out and got to know him, there haven't been any signs of him befriending Buckley until now.
Answer: Because Kahn doesn't like Hank and Buckley annoyed Hank so much.
Answer: Mainly, Kahn wants to annoy Hank by praising Buckley, because Hank did not like Buckley. Also, when a person dies (or some other tragedy happens), there are often people who "use" the incident to get attention for themselves. They act like they are more involved/close than they really are. At least in my experience.
25th Mar 2009
Doctor Who: The Movie (1996)
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Chosen answer: Obsolete programs are given the choice of deletion or exile. The Merovingian takes them in and, with his abilities to code the Matrix, allows them to stay under his protection.
Captain Defenestrator