Charles Fraser

Question: It seems that new transformers created by the Allspark are either evil or actual Decepticons immediately after being made into Transformers. Why? Also, Wheelie appears to be only hours old yet he too is a Decepticon and hates working for them even though he has apparently never met one. He also has knowledge of Transformer history. Anyone know of an explanation for this?

Charles Fraser

Chosen answer: In the first movie, it is stated by Agent Simmons that Megatron is the source of the modern age, human technology such as lasers, microchips, cars, cellphones etc. are the result of studying and reverse-engineering him. This may mean that all human electronics contain an 'imprint' of Megatron which makes them inherently Decepticon when brought to life by the AllSpark. And Wheelie has been around for a while, he is likely one of Soundwave's 'cassettes'.

27th May 2005

Shattered (1991)

Plot hole: Spoiler Warning. It turns out that Dan Merrick is actually Jack Stanton after a whole lot of reconstructive surgery to make him look like Dan Merrick. Everything is believable except that he has Dan Merrick's voice as well. He should have Jack Stanton's voice.

Charles Fraser

Show generally

Question: Are lithium crystal ever mentioned in Star Trek Enterprise? I stopped watching the show after the first season but am curious if this was mentioned. I know that the first few episodes of TOS mentioned the use of "lithium crystals" instead of dilithium crystals and am just curious if that was explained in Enterprise.

Charles Fraser

Chosen answer: No, they are referred to as lithium crystals in one episode of TOS and dilithium after that. The name was changed as producers wanted something that wasn't found on Earth.

Grumpy Scot

Question: When asked if she would allow a group from the senate to go to Naboo and investigate her claims, Amidala says "no" and asks for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum. Why? Unless I interpreted this incorrectly they were offering to go and look into the situation. Why not say, "great, let's go" and they would have seen what was happening? Also, what would have been an acceptable course of action for her? This didn't make any sense to me.

Charles Fraser

Chosen answer: She was sick and tired of no action being taken. She wanted them to do something about it now, not send people out there to investigate, that would take too much time. This is coupled with the notion that Palpatine was somewhat brainwashing her into believing that Valorum was a poor/incompetent leader, and that following Palpatine's cause/actions was the best way for help.

Timothy Conard

Question: What was the original plan of the Trade Federation and Darth Sidious? I saw TPM six times in the theaters and a few times at home and I still don't know why they were blockading Naboo. What was with the treaty that they wanted Amidala to sign? If their plan had worked and she signed this treaty that gave them control over the planet what good would that do?

Charles Fraser

Chosen answer: You have to bear in mind that the Trade Federation and Darth Sidious probably have very different views of what the plan actually is. From the point of view of the Trade Federation, they're probably under the impression that the aim is to get the treaty signed, with the likely effect of bringing Naboo into the Trade Federation. This would allow them to exploit the natural resources of the place, and benefit from any trade carried out from that planet. Sidious, on the other hand, doesn't care in the slightest about the Trade Federation - he has carefully manipulated the situation to get Amidala to call for the vote that will remove Chancellor Valorum from office and force the election of a new chancellor, allowing Palpatine (who either is Sidious or is some sort of clone under his control) to advance to the leadership of the Senate. That's pretty much the sum total of his plan, which, as we see, is a complete success.

Tailkinker

Question: If the Predators know that the Alien's skin won't be affected by their blood why don't they use the Alien skin as their armor?

Charles Fraser

Chosen answer: The trial Predators purposefully don't have access to Alien skin before they are dispatched to the trial. Each Alien has a fairly skeletal structure, meaning that it would be very difficult to skin enough Aliens to cover an entire Predator during the trial. Besides, they're not supposed to get close enough for the Aliens' blood to get on them - they're supposed to use the shoulder blasters in the chest.

Phoenix

1st May 2004

The Pretender (1996)

3rd Apr 2004

The Fog (1980)

Question: I was wondering if there was supposed to be any connection between the six original conspirators and the victims one hundred years later? Obviously Father Malone was a direct descendant of one of the conspirators, but what about the other five? I thought maybe it was about roles, like a priest, three fishermen, a weather man and an old lady, maybe? Or was it just any six people who had to die? That doesn't seem to make sense because the zombies were going to kill Stevie and her son and the people at the church. Maybe they would have stopped after six were dead, I don't know. I also doubt that the six who died were all relatives of the six conspirators, what are the odds of the three fishermen all being relatives of the conspirators and being on the same boat? Anybody got any ideas?

Charles Fraser

Chosen answer: From what I've gathered from listening to the DVD commentary there is no connection between the six that must die and the original conspirators (Father Malone aside). I've always found it quite silly that fog, which is seen roaring down the streets of town, seems hell bent on getting the main charaters and not bothering anybody else in the town.

If one reads the novelization of the film, it's revealed that the six were descendants of the original six conspirators. Although it wouldn't apply to the movie, it's an interesting plot point.

dewinela

Other mistake: Technically, this movie should be called, "I Still Know What You Did The Summer Before Last Summer" since the events take place the summer after the end of the first movie. That would be two summers after the events of the beginning of the first movie. (00:01:05)

Charles Fraser

18th Feb 2004

CSI: Miami (2002)

Stalkerazzi - S2-E15

Plot hole: The photographer who found the dead guy (Stalkerazzi) told Horatio that he was chasing a black Cadillac Escalade that was chasing the Stalkerazzi's car. He also said that he got stuck behind a truck and that when he finally caught up the Stalkerazzi was dead and there was no sign of the black Escalade. Throughout the rest of the episode nobody does any looking into the black Escalade, asks suspects if they own one or even mention it again. No investigation of the truck that the photographer got stuck behind was shown either. In the same episode Speed tells a cop, while in a tree looking into someone's yard, that they go in through windows if need be to close a case. This is totally inconsistent with the rest of the show and the law. They are always careful about getting search warrants and doing things By the Book.

Charles Fraser

18th Feb 2004

The Pretender (1996)

Show generally

Question: Why doesn't Jarod just go to the FBI or police and say, "Hey, these people kidnapped me as a child and are trying to rekidnap me, please arrest them". After what he's been through I cannot think of any reason for him to protect them. Also, why, when he's pretending to be a doctor or some government official, does he run when Parker or Sam or whomever come to get him? If he's in a hospital do you really think they could just drag him out at gunpoint unnoticed? It can't be that The Centre had infiltrated all of these government agencies to such a high level, or how could Jarod continually pretend to be FBI, ATF, Justice Department and military personnel without being caught? Many times he actually worked in the offices of these organizations.

Charles Fraser

Chosen answer: Well, there ARE people at the Center he wants to protect: Ms. Parker, Sydney, and Broots. Plus, people with influence like the Triumvirate has could stymie any investigation. And telling the FBI would necessitate revealing who and what he is to them, and he might be afraid that the Federal government would treat him as a guinea pig/resource like the Center did. Presumably, when the Center sends out Sweepers, they're "disguised" as law enforcement officials, with official-enough looking credentials to fool the casual onlooker. And just because the Center might have influence in government doesn't mean they necessarily have actual agents present everywhere. Perhaps Jared, in his Pretends, has made sure he's "under the radar." Besides, Jared doesn't KNOW how far up Center influence goes - after all, he wouldn't still be searching for "the truth" if he knew everything about the Center and its influence, would he?

Question: If the rebels have an ion cannon that can disable a Star Destroyer in orbit, why not use it on the AT-ATs instead of sending pilots to their death? I know it wouldn't be as cool without the ground combat with the snowspeeders, but it is a good question, I think.

Charles Fraser

Chosen answer: The ion cannon is designed for taking out large capital ships in orbit. It's not precise enough for use in ground combat situations. It's also highly likely that the Imperial forces would have detected the ion cannon from orbit, and would send in their ground troops from a direction where the ion cannon couldn't target them, just in case the Rebels were nuts enough to try it anyway.

Tailkinker

13th Oct 2003

Out of Time (2003)

Continuity mistake: When Denzel pulls up to the hotel to see Paul Cabot the view from the inside of the truck shows a connector for a rear view mirror, but no mirror. When they cut to an external view of the truck it has a rear view mirror.

Charles Fraser

27th Jul 2003

Bad Boys II (2003)

Bad Boys II mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Mike is driving the yellow Hummer through the shanty town at the end, the side-view mirrors are broken off several times. When the car comes to a rest the mirrors are intact. (02:13:25 - 02:16:10)

Charles Fraser

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