Question: In the end Fink finally figures out the trick to the boot. How come the Germans don't use this trick, but drink the boot straightforward instead of spinning it like the Americans do?
Captain Defenestrator
2nd Nov 2015
Beerfest (2006)
29th Oct 2015
Toy Story 2 (1999)
21st Oct 2015
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Question: When they are preparing to attack the machine gun emplacement guarding the radar, Captain Miller asks 'Who's going left?' There's a long silence and finally Jackson responds that he'll do it - he'll go left. What is the significance of going left? I'm assuming that it is more dangerous, but if this is the case, why? Also, why does Captain Miller ask for volunteers for someone to go left? (As he picks himself and Mellish to go middle and right, respectively).
Chosen answer: There's no tree cover to the left. Whoever goes that way will likely be spotted and targeted before the others and get gunned down, but it's their best chance that one of them will make it into grenade range of the nest before they're all killed. It's not a job anyone sane would volunteer for, and the Captain is trying to get someone to volunteer so he doesn't have to potentially order TWO men to their deaths on a mission that all of them, including him, think isn't worthwhile.
Answer: Most people are not ambidextrous so running left means you'll have shoot left or use the right shoulder to shoot as you're running left which is much harder to do, try this out.
Answer: As I seem to remember, the squad a viewing the gun position from the side and the gun is viewed pointing from their right to left, correct. So if someone is going to the left and is by the MG crew they, as said MG crew turn the gun to bring them under fire, would more than likely be the first target in line.
19th Oct 2015
Stargate (1994)
Question: Why would Ra be afraid of an uprising? He's got alien technology that he can fire at the people to keep them in line. Even if the people knew the truth, he could still use what he had to make sure everyone never opposed him, considering they had no technology to defend themselves.
Answer: A human uprising forced Ra to leave Earth thousands of years ago. He likely fears a second one could actually destroy him.
19th Oct 2015
Die Hard 2 (1990)
Question: When McClane is crawling up into the elevator shaft and the news reporter mentions Colonel Stewart, McClane looks at her and says "Stewart, that's who it was." Did he mean "That's who it was on the speaker." Or "That's the guy I bumped into today"?
Chosen answer: That's the guy he bumped into earlier, and didn't remember where he'd seen him from until she said his name.
12th Oct 2015
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Question: Why did Thade kill the two apes that were with him after they showed him the trail left by Leo's pod?
Answer: To prevent anyone else from learning that Leo came from space. After Pericles' ship crashed, there was a prophecy of a second coming of Semos, the founder of Ape civilization. Thade wants to kill all humans, so if anyone found out, it would be considered a sign and the council might consider making peace with the humans.
12th Oct 2015
Charmed (1998)
9th Oct 2015
Superman III (1983)
Question: In the original Superman television series, Superman created a duplicate of himself so that he could be in two places at once. However, as one went to pull the bars out of the wall, he had to have the other help, as the strength of one was half that of the original. That said, how is it that both Clark and Evil Superman have the same strength of the whole being after being split?
9th Oct 2015
Mary Poppins (1964)
Question: How did they do the trick where Mary takes the lamp and all of the other things out of her bag?
Answer: A false bottom in the bag and a hole in the table with a false background under it so we can't see the person handing the items up through the bag.
9th Oct 2015
M*A*S*H (1972)
Question: A number of times it is mentioned that the outfit is unarmed, yet several times, Frank has a rifle, or a pistol, and once Klinger had a grenade, and the guards and Klinger, while on sentry duty, has a rifle. Was this standard, or is this a mistake?
Answer: Even an Army field hospital would have SOME weapons for self-defense if the enemy attacked. What's meant is that it's not a combat outfit, and therefore wouldn't have enough weapons to actually attack anyone. (It's also mentioned a few times that the Officer of the Watch is supposed to carry a pistol at all times, but Hawkeye refuses to do it when he's in charge and Colonels Blake and Potter don't enforce the rule).
Answer: The Geneva Convention allows even doctors to carry a sidearm to be used in their self defense or the defense of their patients, however it is rare to do so.
Answer: As an old medical unit staffer, my experience is that med units have combat units assigned to defend them. Usually it was marines.
Answer: My old doctor (now deceased) served in Korea during the War. He was required to carry a sidearm anytime he was not in the hospital.
1st Oct 2015
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Question: On the Enterprise-D, Scotty asks to see the bridge of his old ship. The computer shows him the original Constitution class bridge. After the refit, before the A was added, it was referred to as a Constitution class as well as Enterprise class. So, why didn't the computer show Scotty the refit bridge?
Answer: "Enterprise class" has always been an apocryphal term, mainly used in expanded universe material; so it simply might not exist in the actual universe of the series. The computer might also infer from the parameters "my old ship" and "No bloody A - B - C - or D!" that he means the original bridge.
1st Oct 2015
Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
Endgame (1) - S7-E25
Question: Before the future Admiral Janeway time-travels to cut time off Voyager's return trip to Earth, the time where she came from was stated as "10 years after a 23 year voyage across the galaxy", which would be 2404. But if the Star Trek reboot is canon, then the alternate reality is created in 2387. Would that affect anything?
Answer: It's been established that the reboot doesn't affect anything in the original timelines of any prior series. The alternate timeline of the new films does not change anything that came before.
1st Oct 2015
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Question: Why does Christine unmask the phantom twice in the movie? First unmasking: During first Christine's first time in Phantom's lair. Second unmasking, in front of everybody, after the phantom shows up on stage and sings with her.
1st Oct 2015
The Godfather: Part III (1990)
Question: In the kitchen scene just before Michael has his diabetic stroke, his sister moves to sit down at a table with a refrigerator behind her. There appears to be a water and/or ice dispenser in the door of the fridge. Were these made at the time?
Answer: Frigidaire introduced the feature in 1965. They would have been commonplace by the late 70s. A wealthy family like the Corleones would certainly have one.
1st Sep 2015
Star Trek (1966)
What Are Little Girls Made Of? - S1-E8
Question: When the Enterprise is in orbit, it uses the Impulse engines to maintain orbit. The Impulse engines are located on the back (aft) of the primary saucer. Why were these not on or lit up? Unless they're using gravity, but there are the familiar engine sounds.
Chosen answer: If they're in orbit, they're being pulled along by the planet's gravity well, therefore, impulse engines would only be used for minor corrections and would be "on standby" while in orbit, but not active. (Like keeping your car idling without revving the engine and creating plumes of exhaust).
Thank you for the info.
Answer: Happy to help.
30th Aug 2015
The Fugitive (1993)
Question: I am curious why Helen was killed when the doctor was the target. Harrison Ford (the doctor) said he found out why Helen was killed - he said on the phone and stated the reason was "they were after me." So - someone goes to kill him and kills his wife instead? Was it to frame him and if so, wouldn't it have been easier to kill him instead?
Answer: The one-armed man was there to kill Richard, but Helen was the one at home. Sending him to prison would have discredited him enough to satisfy the pharmaceutical company.
And don't forget, Kimble wasn't just sentenced to prison - he was sentenced to death. Nichols probably thought he'd seen the last of him.
16th Nov 2004
Red Dwarf (1988)
17th Aug 2015
General questions
There was a movie with Dabney Coleman. In this movie, he plays a man who had no knowledge that he was switched at birth. Because of this, he grows up and becomes a cop who is told one day, that he's only got 48 hours to live so he tries getting himself killed to make it quicker.
Answer: He wasn't switched at birth. He's a cop and he's about to retire when his test results get mixed up with someone else's and he's told he's got two weeks to live, but his insurance only pays if he gets killed in the line of duty, so he's trying to get killed on the job to pay for his son to go to Harvard. It's called "Short Time." (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100604/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1).
28th Jul 2015
Wall-E (2008)
Question: In 700 years, everyone on board the Axiom has grown very fat, lived their whole life on hover chairs and kept their faces buried in their screens. So where did all of the children come from? Every adult only looked at or talked to each other through the screens so how could any children exists if the adults never left the hover chair. That kind of ongoing lifestyle should not have produced any children at all and after about 200 or even 300 years all life aboard the Axiom and other ships should have been wiped out.
Answer: In vitro? Cloning? The fact that being fat doesn't stop people from wanting to have sex? There are many ways and they all work.
28th Jul 2015
Scream (1996)
Question: Forgive me if this question sounds stupid - I was eight years old when the movie came out, and I didn't use a phone a lot. Why is Casey not surprised that the caller was able to dial her the second time? From my experience, wrong numbers are often caused by people accidentally dialing wrong. It would be suspicious to me if a person could "accidentally" punch in the same wrong number twice. But she simply asks why he did it, then accepts his apology.
Answer: I wouldn't have found it suspicious at all if it happened to me. With the exception of some really old phones, a lot had a redial button which would call your last number even if you did dial incorrectly.
Answer: It's possible to dial a wrong number twice. She might've thought the person had made the same mistake again.
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Answer: Overconfidence. The Germans are convinced that they'll never master Das Boot, so they're too busy watching for the Americans to fail to concentrate on their own boot.
Captain Defenestrator