Question: When Superman went back in time to save Lois, doesn't that mean that the people that he had originally saved are now doomed to die?
JC Fernandez
15th May 2013
Superman (1978)
Answer: There are generally two methods of time travel. Skip vs Slide. When you slide through time, you are in essence rewinding or fast forwarding a tape. Time will accelerate to the desired moment. This method, the traveler will witness the rewind and will only allow one of them to exist. When skipping, you are plucking yourself from the time stream and placing yourself in the desired moment. This method, travel is instantaneous and can allow for multiples of the traveler to exist at once. Superman rewound time. He used the slide method and went directly to Lois after doing so. This means those he previously saved...died after his reversal.
Or he could have used the skip method. Like you said, it enables a traveler to pluck themself from the time stream and placing them at the desired moment allowing for two Supermen to be able to prevent both missiles from reaching their destinations.
He couldn't have used the skip method if he rewound time.
5th Jul 2011
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
9th May 2011
War of the Worlds (2005)
Question: Is it realistic to think that Manny, the garage mechanic would have NO idea of what was going on when Ray steals the van from him? After all this is probably about 20 minutes after the Tripod emerged a few blocks away. Surely news would travel faster than that! And you'd think Manny would have felt the massive tripod moving or heard the destruction.
Answer: There's no electricity, so the only way Manny could have heard was through word of mouth. The few survivors from the initial attack scattered in different directions and if any happened Manny's way, they were probably too busy running to stop to explain anything to a garage mechanic. As for his awareness of the destruction, anything he may have felt or heard he likely dismissed as further manifestations of the freak electrical storm.
People are running scared all around him, and there is a burning tree nearby which can be seen when the van drives away. By that point Manny should have caught on to what was happening.
25th Dec 2010
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Question: Three or four people in the movie claimed to know doctors who can help Edward. Why didn't he ever go see any of these doctors while he stayed with the family?
Answer: First of all, the film only takes place over the course of a few weeks. He's still adapting to the real world. Second, to do so would be to accept that Edward was, in fact, "crippled". One of the film's recurring messages was that Edward was special but not handicapped. Not to mention the financial incentive in having Edward stay the way he is.
Answer: In addition to JC Fernandez's explanation: People often say such "nice" things, but never follow through. It's similar to when someone tells you "We should get together sometime." Other than Peg, the people who said it probably got busy and/or lost interest in Edward. They were briefly intrigued by him, but did not truly care about him long-term.
15th Jun 2010
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Question: Can anyone explain why Crispin Glover was almost completely edited out of this film? True, his character wasn't that important, but even in 2015 (when he was hanging upside down after throwing out his back), his character was played by another actor.
Answer: Crispin Glover is not in the BTTF sequels (except where footage from the first film was recycled). There are some contradictions as to the whys depending on who you talk to (salary dispute, Glover uninterested in reprising the role, Zemeckis uninterested in working with Glover again, etc.).
Answer: To be honest Glover didn't like the end of part I because the McFlys were rich and love was a better reward, however he complained about not getting as much money as Christopher Lloyd and the others, even Fox. He then sued Universal for using unlicensed footage of him.
His lawsuit was for violating his right of publicity, not for using footage of him. Prosthetics were applied to Jeffery Weissman using an old mold of Crispin Glover to make Weissman look like Glover.
26th May 2010
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Question: Does anybody know why exactly Max wants the NOC list and if she gets it, what she is going to do with it?
Chosen answer: I don't think it's ever outright stated. But presumably she would use it to sell the names to other governments or extort the money from the US government to protect its assets.
26th May 2010
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Question: When Frollo, has Ezmeralda, in his grip in the the church, he says "I was just imagining a rope around that beautiful neck" and she says "i know what you were imagining", what was he thinking? I assume its something sexual, but its a cartoon.
Answer: It was most certainly sexual. Frollo's whole arc was his fight against his carnal desires (seeing Esmerelda dancing in the fire, sniffing her hair, etc). In order to maintain a G-rating, they couldn't be overtly sexual, which is why it's done through suggestion and subtext.
Answer: The entire point is that he lusts after her. However, the Disney movie does not dive into that nearly as much as the novel.
9th Feb 2010
Avatar (2009)
Question: I'm assuming that floating rocks are made from Unobtanium - thus able to fly. But where did they get all the water to supply the waterfalls?
Answer: It's never stated that the floating mountains are made from any particular substance. And it's doubtful they're made from unobtanium, otherwise why would they need to mine it from underneath the Na'vi's tree? The mountains float because of some magnetic properties in that area of the planet. As for the water, I imagine it comes from the same place water comes from on mountains on Planet Earth -- melting snow.
This is an incredibly lush place, probably very rainy, therefore the water could have come from there.
9th Feb 2010
Hook (1991)
Question: I know I already asked this, but my question wasn't answered correctly. Supposedly, some member of a band lost a bet and appeared as one of Hook's pirates. It definitely was not Phil Collins, David Crosby, or Jimmy Buffett, but definitely somebody else. The best I can come up with is that it was a band from either the 70's or 80's, but even that fact is pretty pointless considering the movie was made in 1990. It is quite possible that this person could have had no lines or was uncredited, but I know for sure that I'm not making this up. Can somebody find out for me?
Answer: I don't know how you can say it was answered incorrectly when you don't know the answer yourself. I also don't know how you "know for sure" when you also say it "supposedly" is true. In any case, I can't speak to any kind of bet... but along with Phil Collins, Genesis band members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford appear in the same scene. Perhaps if you reference the initial source of this information someone might be able to help more.
16th Nov 2009
General questions
When I was little I saw this movie that I can't find anywhere. It was a family movie, and it looked like it was filmed in the early 1990's. I only remember bits of it. I'm not entirely sure if this part was even in the movie, or possibly a different movie. The main character, maybe 9, liked this girl and didn't tell anyone and had a dream these bullies were surrounding him saying, "Truth or die!" or something like that over and over again. Later in the movie, these two other kids were walking down the street before a go-kart race around the town. In the street, there were arrows showing where the go-karts had to go, and one of the kids turned the sign the opposite direction so the arrow was facing the wrong way. Later, during the race, the kids in the go-karts followed the arrow the kid changed and drove past a supermarket and ran over some ladies. The main character won the race and did this weird thing with his ears where he wiggled them without using his hands.
Answer: The Little Rascals.
13th Oct 2009
Halloween (1978)
Question: I have wondered this for ages. Laurie went over to the Wallace house because she thought they were all playing a prank on her. So when she found the bodies in the bedroom, why did she never assume that this could all just be a practical joke set-up? How did she know straight away that it was the real thing?
Chosen answer: Because it was too graphic and elaborate for her to think it might be a prank. Not to mention that there was probably a very distinctive smell to the room.
4th Oct 2009
Back to the Future (1985)
Question: Since Marty's actions led to him not existing, shouldn't no Marty mean that there would have been no Marty to get hit by the car in the first place, meaning that Marty would have just reappeared when he ceased to exist?
Answer: The simple answer is NO. According to the time travel rules established in the films, alternate realities are created when changes are made to the past. Marty continues to exist as long as there's the possibility that he exists in 1985. Small changes don't affect him. Marty only begins to disappear after the past has been altered so significantly that he would *never* exist in the present. But at the time he gets hit by the car, Marty hadn't impacted the timeline enough to assure his non-existence.
16th Sep 2009
Titanic (1997)
1st Aug 2009
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Question: When the 1985 Doc is suddenly transported back to 1885 at the end of BTTF 2 and Marty discovers that he has been murdered, because there is a Doc in 1955 that has already been born after the 1985 Doc has died in the West, why did he go to the trouble of going all the way back to 1885 when Doc was still alive? Is there any actual legitimate time travel reason for this, or did he just do it out of instinct to help his close friend?
Answer: Technically when Doc got transported to 1885, he should not have existed in 1955 because he died. This is the problem I'm having with part 3. The movie should not have happened this way. It should have been where doc did not exist nor the time machine. Part 3 should've never happened.
That's not how most time travel (if any) stories work. Just because someone dies in the past doesn't prevent them from being born since they were already born and alive before going to the past. Think of it this way, if instead of 1885 he travelled to 2085 and died, would that prevent him from being born? The only reason Marty was in danger of disappearing and not existing (i.e. being born) was because his parents were in danger of never getting together.
It was the 1985 Doc that went back to 1885 so he would still be alive in 1955.
The Doc that got sent to 1885 was the Doc from 1985 so therefore it wouldn't have affected 1955 Doc at all.
The one in 1955 hasn't done anything 1985 Doc did.
31st Jul 2009
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Question: After one of the Imperial officers told Vader that the Millenium Falcon's hyperdrive had been deactivated, and then Luke and the others escaped anyway, why didn't Vader get angry? He killed a couple of officers earlier for losing track of the Falcon.
Answer: Well, he killed *one* officer (Captain Needa) for losing track of the Falcon. But all we can do is speculate... Perhaps it was the final failure, since his plan to turn Luke to the dark side didn't work. Perhaps he had second thoughts after meeting his son face to face. Perhaps Vader was concerned that if he was too aggressive, he might tip his hand that he had tempted Luke by suggesting the murder of the Emperor. Whatever the reason, Admiral Piett seems just as surprised as the audience that he wasn't executed.
29th Jul 2009
Independence Day (1996)
Question: My mistake was corrected by "BocaDavie", but I would appreciate it if someone can clarify the correction on the following points:
1. The alienship is standing still over Area 51. How can it drift several miles away when it's going down?
2. Assuming that the main weapon is in the middle of the alienship, located over Area 51 and the ship is 15 miles in diameter you have about 7.5 miles to each side. Again: how far can the ship drift away?
3. Even if the alienship is half a mile above Area 51 (in the movie seems to be less), when it's going down it should maximally crash at the front of the mountains, but not in the middle of it. Please try to think of an airplane, or better a helicopter, when it's standing still in the air. The downcurve would never reach this far.
I hope I explained my points and they are valid, so a possible recorrection may follow for my mistake to be put back to the mistakes page. Thank you.
Chosen answer: Your mistake was corrected because you assume the alien ship would crash vertically (straight down) after the attack. Just because it's severely damaged, doesn't mean that the ship didn't still have some of its capabilities (propulsion, navigation). The ship may have attempted to go back into orbit or even *land*. Going to your helicopter example... wouldn't the pilot of a damaged or otherwise malfunctioning helicopter try to land the craft safely? Or the ship's propulsion systems were damaged and the aliens had no control of the craft. We simply don't know. Because of all the unknowns, there are too many other equally likely possibilities for the scenario to qualify your entry as a mistake.
Answer: The alien pilot probably either tried to land the ship on a safe place, or to fly back to the mother ship.
5th Jul 2009
Charmed (1998)
Question: In the opening credits, Holly Combs is credited with "and Holly Marie Combs as 'Piper'". Why was she credited with her character's name, when none of the other three lead actresses were?
Chosen answer: Her agent/manager negotiated a special billing as part of her contract. It distinguishes her from the rest of the cast, probably when she became a producer on the show.
Answer: She became a producer.
Incorrect. Her billing changed in season 4 but she didn't become a producer until season 5.
30th Jun 2009
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Question: Who made the handprints on the inside of that old house at the end?
Chosen answer: Presumably it was the children being held there.
25th Jun 2009
Star Trek: Enterprise (2001)
Question: Throughout various episodes, the augments have shown themselves to be very strong, yet whenever they face each other they easily succumb to whatever physical violence is directed towards them. Why is this?
Chosen answer: They're stronger than humans, but they're not invulnerable.
Answer: Two augments fighting each other would most likely look to an outside observer as a fight between any other two people. The augments would be fairly evenly matched (allowing for an individual's weight etc) and so could take each other down the same as normal people fighting.
18th Apr 2009
Unbreakable (2000)
Question: Why exactly does the janitor hold that family hostage? What is the point?
Chosen answer: He's a murdering rapist. The point is he's evil.
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Chosen answer: No. Because the version of him *before* he time-traveled is still out doing those things. The REAL question is, what happens to that Superman, seeing as Lois no longer dies and he has no reason to travel back in time.
JC Fernandez