Question: The Alien brings Brett and Dallas back to its nest alive in order to create more Aliens. It seems that Brett had died in the process but Dallas is still alive. How then would the alien impregnate them without facehuggers complete with an egg?
BaconIsMyBFF
2nd Nov 2020
Alien (1979)
Answer: Actually the alien was using Brett and Dallas to make new facehugger eggs. The scene, only shown in the Director's Cut, shows Brett partway through being turned into an egg and Dallas in what appears to be the very beginning of this process. This scene was cut from the theatrical release and as such, James Cameron did not include this feature of the alien lifecycle in the sequel. Cameron showed the eggs are laid by a queen and the franchise has continued with this approach since Aliens and has never revisited the idea that alien eggs are created from the bodies of humans. Since this scene only appears in the Director's Cut, its status as canon remains in question. However, some fans reconcile this by theorizing that in the absence of a queen a single alien can use human bodies to create more facehuggers.
2nd Nov 2020
The Faculty (1998)
Question: When things are normal again how do they cover up Principal Drake's death? And when we see Zeke at football practice, Ms Burke's watching him and smiling. So is she interested in him for real or what?
Answer: They don't need to cover up Principal Drake's death, the local paper reveals that the alien invasion is known to the public. Drake was infected so Zeke shooting her didn't even kill her. It wasn't until Marybeth threw the drugs in her face that Drake died. Since Marybeth is actually the alien queen in disguise, the murder is her fault. Ms. Burke is definitely interested in Zeke. She flirts with him earlier in the film. Since Zeke is repeating his senior year, he is at least 18 years old. Though she would still lose her job for dating him, it isn't illegal if he is an adult.
2nd Nov 2020
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Question: In the scene near the end, fighting in the super structure, Picard doesn't seem to have a com device (no jacket). How would that work when Riker contacted him?
Answer: The station itself has a communication system. The Enterprise can use that to communicate with Picard.
23rd Oct 2020
Alien (1979)
Question: Why wouldn't the self-destruct system have a stop button? Presumably if you wanted to abort the procedure it should be instant and not have to go through all the rigmarole of trying to shut it down.
Answer: The Nostromo is powered by a nuclear reactor. The self-destruct system simply shuts down the cooling towers, causing the reactor to gradually rise in temperature until it reaches critical mass. The cooling system can be turned back on within the first 5 minutes but after that, the reactor is so hot the cooling liquid will evaporate once it comes into contact with the system. Ripley tries turning the cooling towers back on, and she does so right before the 5 minute failsafe timer is up, but the system was still too hot to cool the reactor. This is why Ripley curses at MUTHUR, she made it back in time but a meltdown is still inevitable. Apparently the 5 minute failsafe timer is not exact to the second and Ripley actually had slightly less than 5 minutes.
I believe she just barely misses the cutoff, rather than making it but still having it be ineffective. She curses Mother out of frustration, and perhaps fury at the computer's cold indifference to her fate.
Answer: It's pretty typical in movies that in a self-destruct situation, once it's started, it is impossible to stop, for whatever reason. It's about plotting and maintaining the tension to keep the audience on the edge of their seats to see if the hero can survive. Considering how corrupt the company was, they'd expend little effort into proper safety procedures.
17th Oct 2020
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Question: In order for the game to end, the player has to lose his or her last life. As such, the closing screen shouldn't end with Ralph being thrown off the roof, but rather with Fix-it Felix doing the lie down holding a lily, with Ralph standing at the top of the ruined building in triumph. So why does the end of a successful day show the aftermath of Ralph being thrown off the roof of the building?
31st Aug 2020
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
Question: Whenever we see Sauron aka the Necromancer, he appears to be shadowy. Did he have a physical form during the events of the Hobbit or not?
Answer: Sauron did not have a full physical form at this time. He cannot completely reform his physical body until the One Ring is returned to him. The Necromancer is portrayed as "shadowy" in the films to represent the fact that he is not an entirely corporeal being. Sauron at this point was only able to use a fraction of his power, so he was easily cast out of Dol Guldur.
28th Sep 2020
Closer (2004)
Question: Hopefully this is not a silly question. What is the meaning of the title "Closer"?
Answer: No such thing as a silly question. The title refers to the central theme of the film and the play upon which it is based: Knowing the truth doesn't bring us closer together. It is meant to be ironic, truth offers clarity but actually drives people further apart.
Answer: At different times, the characters were getting closer to a happy life with a committed relationship, but each of them ruined it. Larry confessed to Anna that he slept with someone during a business trip. He assumed that he could apologize and make it better. Dan and Anna had an affair, cheating on Alice and Larry. Later, Dan insisted on knowing if Alice slept with Larry. Alice was lying to Dan about her name the whole time. She was always ready to leave her current situation and disappear. All of them were close to being happy, but they insisted on having things their way.
28th Sep 2020
The Sandlot (1993)
Question: Why did Wendy ban all the gang when only Squints pulled the kiss on her, and they didn't know about it?
Answer: As far as Wendy is concerned the whole gang is a bunch of miscreants, since they associate with Squints. She doesn't really care if it's fair to ban them all.
28th Sep 2020
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Question: If Yoda's better than Darth Sidious then why couldn't he beat him?
21st Sep 2020
X-Men 2 (2003)
Question: Why does Charles look out of the window in the end of the movie, when he's teaching a class?
Answer: Presumably he is sensing the presence of Jean/Phoenix.
21st Sep 2020
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (1989)
Answer: "Club Mario" was reruns of the original show repackaged with new live action segments. It was a cheap way to present the old animated episodes as a new show. Club Mario was incredibly unpopular and eventually reruns of the original show with the Captain Lou Albano segments were aired in its place.
21st Sep 2020
Twins (1988)
Question: Who could they return the money to? The guy who paid Vincent was killed.
Answer: The money would be returned to the police and used as evidence. Even though Beetroot is dead the police still need to do an investigation to close the case. Since the $4 million was used in a felony (conspiracy and theft), the money would be impounded by the city.
21st Sep 2020
X-Men: First Class (2011)
Question: If Magneto didn't kill Shaw, what would they have done? It seems like killing him was the only possible way to stop him.
Answer: Charles wanted to incapacitate Shaw and all he needed to do this was to get the helmet off. Once the helmet is off Charles could freeze Shaw and they could figure out a way to hold him. With no helmet Shaw is very little threat (if at all) to Charles. Erik kills a defenseless man unnecessarily.
Actually Xavier says that he can only control this man for so long. Meaning he was struggling keeping him frozen like that. They didn't have forever. An option for Xavier could have been to release Shaw once he knew what Erik was going to do but that could cause Shaw to go nuclear on the spot and kill everyone.
Yes, he could only hold him for so long but instead of taking the opportunity to incapacitate/capture him, Erik steals the helmet, gloats, and then slowly pushes a coin through his head.
I'm not sure what the actual plan was. Charles freezing was the only thing preventing Shaw from killing everyone. Even if Erik manages to wrap Shaw into something, as soon as his mind is free he will be able to use his abilities. He killed him slowly, which was unnecessary, but killing him was the only option IMHO.
2nd Sep 2020
Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
Question: Is this movie supposed to have floating mattes? This is killing me! It's constantly shifting aspect ratios throughout the entire movie.
Answer: The constantly shifting aspect ratios are due to the fact that Michael Bay shot the film with several different camera types. Most directors who use multiple types of camera find a way to hide the shifts a little better, but Bay appears to have been unconcerned with this issue. There are several scenes where the aspect ratio changes from shot to shot. The aspect ratio shifts were also present in the theatrical release, and were a major source of ridicule then, but they are arguably more noticeable on a smaller screen.
31st Aug 2020
Unfaithful (2002)
Question: When Edward was talking to Paul, and he was sitting on the bed and said he didn't feel well and was dizzy and looked at him (conveyed a blurry vision) and he then got up and hit him, was Edward drugged by Paul?
Answer: In my opinion the snow globe took him over the edge - that did it for him.
Answer: No, Edward was simply overcome with emotion.
I actually thought Edward was having a panic attack when he was sitting on the bed before he hit Paul in the head. Dizzy blurry vision breathing hard seems like a panic attack to me.
Answer: He lost it when he learned Connie gave Paul that specific snow globe because in that snow globe, because it was on that specific snow globe where Edward hid a special letter to be opened on their 25th anniversary, with their family picture. So, it was very hurtful for Edward.
Answer: That was my first guess, because he took a look at Edward the moment he poured the second glass of vodka.
Answer: That's called temporary insanity.
1st Sep 2020
Inception (2010)
Question: After Ariadne falls off the building, why does Cobb wash up on the shore of Limbo again? Isn't he already in Limbo?
31st Aug 2020
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Question: SPOILER Why were Han's dice still in the Rebel base when Kylo entered? Shouldn't they have disappeared when Luke died?
20th Aug 2020
Kiss the Girls (1997)
20th Aug 2020
Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Question: Ames was in prison for 10 years and after that time he was executed? Why after 10 years?
Answer: The appeals process for capital murder cases is long and arduous, and it is also automatic in most jurisdictions. It typically takes years for those on death row to actually be executed.
26th Apr 2018
General questions
Has there ever been an incident in any Star Trek episode or movie where the Enterprise (or other vessel) encounters another ship that is oriented upside down relative to Enterprise's perspective? Given that starships use artificial gravity, a ship's orientation in space is meaningless (in fact there are times Enterprise will bank sharply to turn, but inside everyone and everything stays oriented upright and nothing falls over or slides off things). It just seems improbable that everyone is flying through space the same way, but I haven't seen or don't recall this. Is there something mentioned (show or novelization) about rules of orientation in space (e.g. a galactic law).
Chosen answer: There has not been any scene in any Star Trek film or TV episode of another ship being oriented differently from other vessels. Although it's possible in real life, for show production purposes, showing ships in various positions like that would make the story line unnecessarily confusing and disorienting.
Answer: In the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (...All Good Things pt. 2) the future Enterprise is shown attacking Klingon vessels from below them at a perpendicular angle, firing phasers from the Enterprise's perspective straight forward and from the Klingon's perspective "up" through the ships. Also, although not technically fitting the question, a major plot point in the climax of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan shows Kirk moving the Enterprise "down" on the Z axis to allow Reliant to pass and get behind her. The idea being that Khan is intelligent yet inexperienced in space combat and has difficulty understanding combat on a three dimensional plane.
Answer: There was an episode of Star Trek: TNG, Seasons 7 Episode 19, where Captain Picard and Data, in a shuttle craft, find the Enterprise spinning out of control.
Answer: It's possible that Brett was the only one being turned into an egg and that Dallas was merely stuck to the wall to be the eventual facehugger host.
TonyPH
Dallas is more than just merely stuck to the wall. He is in physical agony, his eyes appear to no longer work properly, and he has barely enough strength to muster more than a couple words. And the words he can get out are him pleading with Ripley to end his suffering.
BaconIsMyBFF
Rather than burning Dallas to death it would have been more humane to let him blow up with the ship.
Perhaps so, but Dallas was pleading for his suffering to end right then and there. It appeared that the burning was no more agonizing than what he was going through, which means he must have been in immense pain already.
BaconIsMyBFF