Socks1000

21st Mar 2012

Alien (1979)

Chosen answer: Because Ripley would warn the other crew members about the Special Order, namely that the company's mission was to collect the alien (to use as a biological weapon) and that the crew was expendable. The company assigned Ash to carry out the plan, and being a robot, his only intent is to follow their orders.

raywest

24th Jan 2011

Superman (1978)

Answer: That's the updated comic book version. In the movie and the original origin story their red sun was going super nova and caused Krypton's orbit to shift.

Jor-El's conversation with the Science Council in the movie is all about the planet's core.

Captain Defenestrator

You must be thinking of a different movie. There wasn't any mention of the core and when Jor-El says the planet will explode, the reply is the planet is just shifting orbit. Later, Jor-El tells 18 year old Clark they will enter the realm of the red Krypton sun, the cause of their destruction. The answer about Krypton's sun is correct.

Bishop73

I went and looked up the script and it DOES say orbit. OK, you're right.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: An atomic chain-reaction in the planet's core. The explosion also irradiated the fragments of the planet, which is why kryptonite is deadly to Superman.

Captain Defenestrator

24th Jan 2011

Stargate SG-1 (1997)

Show generally

Question: It's been shown that if a Prior were to be captured or betray the Ori then they would burst into flame. When Daniel was turned into a Prior, why didn't he burst into flame the instant he betrayed Adria and the Ori?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Either because Adria believed he was truly devoted to Origin when she made him a Prior or the same mechanism that made the transformation wear off prevented it.

Grumpy Scot

24th Jan 2011

Farscape (1999)

Show generally

Question: Why is John's Farscape-1 module able to navigate wormholes where some other, more sophisticated craft, notably Peacekeeper Prowlers, cannot without liquifying passengers?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It's never explained. John mentions a theory that his less technologically developed craft simply interferes with the wormhole less than the "superior" Vipers, but they never make a concrete determination on that point. But we also have to take into account the fact that Moya traverses wormholes with no ill effect as well.

Garlonuss

24th Jan 2011

Charmed (1998)

Answer: On top of not being able to see while you're still grieving, Shannon Doherty cost too much for the Charmed budget to bring her back in that sense.

Chosen answer: They are allowed to see a dead relative, just not as soon as they die. It gives the sisters time to grieve. Grams and the mother have been dead many years, therefore they are not grieving for them as much.

Chosen answer: Yes, he developed a way to test for Cylons. He even figured out Boomer was a Cylon, so we know it works. But in a later episode, he specifically tells Head 6 that he hasn't been doing the testing that he claims to have done because he actually prefers not to know, because it only breeds paranoia and fear. His opinion of Cylons is, after all, not typical.

Garlonuss

Chosen answer: (Extreme spoilers here.) They hear it because they're either Cylons or their destiny has been influenced by the Cylons. The notes are the coordinates to Earth.

Captain Defenestrator

12th Jul 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Doomsday (2) - S2-E16

Question: Why wasn't Pete sucked into the Void when he came back to rescue Rose? Also, how did he even know when and where to teleport to, or that she even needed saving at all?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: He was only there for a fraction of a second, so the Void didn't have a chance to drag him in. As for knowing when and where, it's one of those last-second rescues that fiction revels in. Improbable, but dramatically satisfying.

Tailkinker

12th Jul 2009

Event Horizon (1997)

Chosen answer: At least one crewmember is seen as a floating, frozen corpse on the bridge of the ship when the rescue crew are exploring, there is also evidence seen that a significant amount of tissue and blood have been spread around the walls in some parts of the ship, however it is implied that the original crew are in the alternate Hell dimention, if not physically then spiritually.

12th Jul 2009

Ghostbusters (1984)

Question: When using the trap, why is it inadvisable to look directly into it?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It is so bright, it may damage your eyes.

William Bergquist

Question: Why is Daniel afraid of Mike Barnes when he fought in a supposed fight to the death against a karate master in the second film?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: He is fighting someone who is specifically trying to hurt and injure him. He also is worried because he was betrayed by Terry Silver and doesn't know how much Barnes knows about him.

Chosen was trying to kill him not just hurt him, this still doesn't explain his fear.

Answer: Daniel doesn't believe the Okinawan guy is a real threat, he is coming off his big victory in his last fight. Barnes is a better aggressor and gets in his head, also its s movie.

12th Jul 2009

The Karate Kid (1984)

Question: Why does Daniel lie to Freddy Fernandez about his mother's job? He said that she worked with rocket computers, yet we see her working in a restaurant.

Socks1000

Chosen answer: He didn't lie. That was the company she was supposed to be working for. However, the company went bankrupt and she lost her job. She showed up at the restaurant at the same time that the hostess quit and was hired immediately.

12th Jul 2009

Jonathan Creek (1997)

Chosen answer: It was a bottle of turpentine.

Methylated spirit, always coloured purple.

Answer: It was actually mouthwash.

Chosen answer: "I think, therefore, I am" - Descartes Both Six and the Armistice Officer are alive. What she is doing is pointing out the central theme of the show. Humans don't believe that the "toasters" are alive. But when asked to prove that they are alive, humans are as powerless to do so as the Cylons. This is because it is inherently unprovable. The show is pointing this out right from the very beginning. What is life? Who is alive? How can we possibly know? and most importantly, what gives us the right to decide who and what is alive?

12th Jul 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: The Cybermen have a misplaced belief that all other life forms want to be upgraded. He can probably work out, from scaning the Dalek, that it is a powerful war machine and thus useful in subduing the humans. Once that's done, they could reward the Daleks by upgrading them.

Josman

12th Jul 2009

Event Horizon (1997)

Chosen answer: The movie never explicitly says; but science is as yet unsure what happens to a given piece of matter once it crosses a black hole's event horizon, so who knows? The ship could have been thrown seven years forward in time, or far enough away that it took seven years for it to drift close to Neptune. Pick any explanation you like.

11th Jul 2009

Ghostbusters 2 (1989)

Question: What exactly happened to the Ghostbusters between the first film and this film? Why was a restraining order taken out against them?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: After the initial high of saving the city from Gozer wore off, they were blamed for the danger in the first place and sued out of business. The restraining order was additional insult to injury.

Captain Defenestrator

11th Jul 2009

Ghostbusters (1984)

Chosen answer: Gozer vanished to either give them the sense of accomplishment that they won OR she realized that the proton energy stream COULD do her harm. She vanished and then had one of them choose "the destroyer", which was the Stay-Puft marshmallow man.

CCARNI

Question: Was there a particular reason why the defending champion only fought in the last fight/round? Why exactly did the rules change in this tournament?

Socks1000

Answer: It was a new rule just brought in that year. Defending champion only had to fight in the final.

Chosen answer: My guess is that they wanted to give everyone a chance to fight to the end without a bunch of people needing to fight the previous champion, and therefore be knocked out early by someone of obviously higher skill.

Johnny Lawrence was the champ the previous year. And he fought his way to the championship.

As mentioned previously, it's stated in the film that it's a new rule that the champion on fights in the last round.

10th Jul 2009

The Fly 2 (1989)

Question: What became of Martin and Beth after the the gene-swapping sequence? also, were Bartoks' employees aware of Bartoks' transformation?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Presumably they go on to live relatively normal lives. The scene at the end of Bartok is meant to show that his employees have no sympathy for any creature, including him, who is suffering. At least some of them are aware it's Bartok, yet they allow him to be imprisoned and gawked at, just as they did the dog.

10th Jul 2009

Stargate SG-1 (1997)

Chosen answer: He left the show because Michael Shanks decided to come back to the show the next season.

Kevin Howard

Chosen answer: Warlock is his computer name just like Keanu Reeves' character in The Matrix is called Neo even though his "real" name is Thomas Anderson.

Shannon Jackson

10th Jul 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: They wanted a good mix of pollutants to turn the planet into a giant cloning facility. Something humanity was well on its way to doing for them.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: Her motives are never explained. One possibility would be curiosity, a simple experiment in human infant physiology. Another, perhaps more likely one from her subsequent look of apparent distress is that it was, in an odd way, an act of mercy, giving an innocent baby a swift death, rather than leaving it to die in the nuclear fire or of radiation poisoning afterwards.

Tailkinker

10th Jul 2009

X-Men 3 (2006)

Question: I have a couple of questions regarding Jean Grey: 1) What exactly caused her to turn against the X-Men and join Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants? 2) Why did she kill Scott and Professor Xavier?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It's not exactly Jean. It is her alternate personality known as the Phoenix that has full control. The Phoenix, unlike Jean, wishes to use her powers for her own needs. She kills Scott because she cannot control her powers, and kills Xavier because he is able to lock her back in Jean's mind.

Chosen answer: An apparent long string of illnesses.

Answer: Joan Mavis Trotter (Nee Hollins) was an unseen character in Only Fools And Horses, having died in 1964, 17 years before the series began. She died of an alcohol related illness due to both her sham marriage to Reg Trotter and being hit hard by the death of her secret lover Freddie "The Frog" Robdal.

Ssiscool

Answer: Short of breath.

Show generally

Question: How does Number Six appear in Gaius Baltar's' mind? Is she a vision of some kind? Does he have a chip inside his head? Or is it something else entirely?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Well, that's one of the big questions of the show and it's answered in the final episodes. She's, to use Baltar's term, an "angel". Beings who appear in the form of loved ones to help and guide us. Most of the time, they only appear in the head of one person, but the final season had one angel that everyone could see and interact with.

Garlonuss

Question: How could the citizens of Springfield breathe with a dome over their town?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: There were still trees in town to create oxygen, however, in all probability, the EPA meant for everyone to die off eventually.

Captain Defenestrator

10th Jul 2009

The Prisoner (1967)

Chosen answer: We're led to believe Rover is some kind of robot in the series. According to books on the show, Patrick McGoohan was looking for an unusual guardian for the Village, looked up at the sky, and saw a weather balloon, which was what Rover was.

Captain Defenestrator

10th Jul 2009

Stargate SG-1 (1997)

Chosen answer: It's never actually mentioned on the show, though in the 'Continuum' universe, she says she's been with Ba'al for 50 years.

MoonFaery

Chosen answer: Before Q sent the Enterprise to the beta quadrant to officially contact the Borg, there were already indications that the Borg was beginning to reach Federation territory. There were remarks towards the end of the first season of the Next Generation that several of the furthest Federation outposts were being attacked by some unknown enemy. They suspected the Romulans, but when contact with the Romulans was re-established, they learned that it was not them. The Hansens had simply figured things out much earlier than anyone else in the Federation. They learned about the Borg nine years earlier, but Starfleet mainly took notice when their outposts started getting wiped out. It is logical to assume that there were indications of Borg scouting parties and research efforts well before that.

Garlonuss

Answer: Add to that the two transport ships at the start of Star Trek Generations were carrying El-Aurian refugees to Earth. It wasn't stated in the film what they were refugees of, but Guinan would state in TNG that the Borg wiped out her planet and most of people, so it's a safe bet that's what it was. And with 47 El-Aurians being rescued by the Enterprise-B, there were plenty of people to tell Starfleet about this cybernetic threat. At the time though, Starfleet did not have the ability or resources to investigate this further, and it was eventually forgotten when other things became important until the Enterprise-D encountered that cube at J-25.

Chosen answer: That's just how long it took. We are still digging up artifacts that are thousands of years old. It takes as long as it takes. Add to that the fact that, at the time the Borg came, Earth was still recovering from a massive war, and it's safe to assume that it took a while for complete exploration and research missions to get going full bore again. Also, they didn't know to look there. There would be no reason to simply head off to some random site in the Arctic and start digging.

Garlonuss

10th Jul 2009

The Fly 2 (1989)

Question: After the gene-swapping sequence, why was Bartok placed in observation? Also, what was that food they gave him?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Obviously, he was kept alive so he could be studied, which was a nasty twist on the fact that he kept the dog alive, and suffering, for so long. As far as the food, there is no way to know what it was. Probably some kind of bland mush.

wizard_of_gore

Question: You'll have to forgive my ignorance regarding a comment made by Matt Farrell. He said that it took FEMA five days to get water to the Superdome. What exactly was he talking about?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans, with many of the residents temporarily housed in the Superdome. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) was highly criticized for their response (or lack of), including how long it took to supply the Superdome with adequate water and food. Matt's pointing out to John how the government isn't nearly as capable of responding to disaster as people think.

OneHappyHusky

10th Jul 2009

The X-Files (1993)

Chosen answer: Yes.

Tailkinker

10th Jul 2009

The Prisoner (1967)

Chosen answer: 1) It's never made entirely clear, but it seems that the government, Six's employers, are involved. 2) Because they wanted to know why he resigned. 3) It's never revealed, although many fans assume that Six is really John Drake, McGoohan's character from the prior show Danger Man. McGoohan has, however, denied that this was the intent and there are some notable differences between the characters. 4) It's never revealed, although, as, in the final episode, Six and his companions are able to drive to London, it must logically be located within the British Isles. 5) No details are ever given as to who has ultimate authority over the Village.

Tailkinker

Answer: Hope I am not going on too much, but I was watching bits of "The Prisoner" on YouTube, and have some information in response to question three "What was Number Six's name?" In the opening sequence of "The Prisoner" Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six walks into an office and throws a resignation letter on the table. He then drives to his house and hurriedly packs a suitcase. You can see him throw a UK passport into the suitcase. Seconds later, knockout gas is pumped into his house. He falls unconscious, then revives in "The Village." If he has a UK passport this must give his name, so it can be inferred that his name might be known to, or available to, anybody who really wants to know. After all, it seems plausible that the people or organisation who ordered his removal to "The Village" would have made at least a rudimentary search of his house and found the passport. Subsequently, in "Arrival" the first episode of the series, Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six meets "Number Two" who shows him a series of photographs illustrating his life from his schooldays up till his resignation. I find it inconceivable that Number Two could have acquired such a comprehensive amount of information about Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six, and not known his name. Yet Number Two never once mentions his name. Occasionally, in later episodes, characters mention that they knew Number Six in the time before they were transported to "The Village." But, during all seventeen episodes of the series, neither Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six, nor anybody else, ever mentions his name. From all this, it is clear that it was deliberately intended that viewers of "The Prisoner" would never know his real name.

Rob Halliday

Answer: Patrick McGoohan was often asked these, and many other questions about The Prisoner. He always refused to answer. He said the programme contained the answers. But you might want to try reading "I Am (Not) A Number, Decoding The Prisoner" written by Alex Cox and published in the UK in 2017. I regret that I, personally, was not wholly convinced by everything in this book. However, Alex Cox makes a dedicated and conscientious effort to deal with some questions asked about this very enigmatic television series. Alex Cox argues that Patrick McGoohan intended that the 17 episodes of The Prisoner should be watched in the order in which they were filmed, as these fill in details along the way. Even so, many questions about The Prisoner may always remain unanswered. One obvious paradox is that Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number 6 always says "I am not a number", and it is quite clear that much of his life before he arrived in "The Village" is well known to everybody, but he never, not even once, ever mentions his real name.

Question: Throughout the film, Thomas Gabriel is shown be to an extremely intelligent and talented computer hacker with enormous resources at his disposal as well as an equally talented entourage of computer hackers. My questions are, why did he hire other hackers to write code for him and then kill them? He must have realised that this would draw attention? Couldn't he or any of his colleagues have done it themselves instead?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: First off, from the time they started killing off their hired hackers, there wasn't much anyone could do about it. They weren't worried about calling attention to themselves because they were doing plenty of that with their fire sale. Secondly, the number of systems they would have to hack would require lots of different methods and directions of attack. Way too much man power for Gabriel to let them all in on the plot without risking exposing their plans way too early. The idea of one hacker breaking into all of the systems they need is a nice Hollywood cliche, but rather unrealistic. People spend hours, days, or even weeks trying to hack one single system. Gabriel doesn't have that kind of time. The reason his one "extremely intelligent and talented computer hacker" is able to do everything he does is because all of their hired hackers had already passed off all of the programs and algorithms they needed. That's why he appears to have "enormous resources at his disposal" at all.

Garlonuss

10th Jul 2009

The Prisoner (1967)

Chosen answer: We were never told. In the series finale [Spoiler alert] Number 6 demands an answer to that question, only to be shown his own reflection.

Jean G

Answer: It's even more obvious than you think, you know who number 1 is in the very first episode. When 2 replies to the question "who is #1?" Change the way he answers from you are number one (in the monotone or accented answer to, "You are, number 6. The comma gives you the answer. #6 is #1. It's the tone of the answer.

Answer: The Prisoner was first shown on British television in 1967. I did not watch it then, but the series was was repeated on UK television in 1977, at which point it became a massive cult. Certainly, I was hooked. Well, ten minutes after I started watching The Prisoner, I was 110% certain as to who Number 1 was. In my opinion, the identity of Number 1 was so utterly, glaringly obvious that I could not understand how anybody could even ask such a question. I thought there was only one candidate for the identity of Number 1, and it was so plainly visible that nobody could even vaguely consider it to be anybody else. So, who did I think Number 1 was? you all ask. My answer? Himself! Patrick McGoohan (or rather, the character Patrick McGoohan played in The Prisoner) was Number 1. I was proved right. In Fall Out, the seventeenth and final episode, "The Prisoner" gets to meet "Number 1." Now this is a real "blink and you'll miss it" moment, but Number 1 has his face covered. The Prisoner pulls off the covering to see a mask, he pulls off the mask, to see himself! The Patrick McGoohan in Number 1's costume laughs in The Prisoner's face and runs away. Unfortunately, I don't know why Patrick McGoohan should be both The Prisoner and Number 1. I don't think anybody does.

Rob Halliday

Chosen answer: Q brought the Borg ship to the Alpha Quadrant. He used his powers to alert the Borg of the human existance. Once alerted it is the nature of the borg to persue assimilating other cultures.

Boobra

Q moved the ship to the delta quadrant, near a cube that was likely exploring for targets. The Borg ship never left the delta quadrant until Q gave the borg a reason to do so.

oldbaldyone

Chosen answer: One Borg ship is usually enough. You notice, they were only able to destroy it because their assimilation of Picard ended up giving his crew a unique 'backdoor' into their system. No one had ever tried to retrieve an assimilated crewman before, because it is usually such a futile effort. So if the Borg feel that one ship is enough, they will send one ship. They are big on efficiency. Sending more ships diverts ships away from other potential targets and missions.

Garlonuss

Question: What did the Ãœber-Morlock mean when he said to Alexander that the Morlocks would not exist without those like Alexander in their quest for science and technology?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It was a metaphor for their life. He meant had it not been for the destruction of the planet due to scientists (their creations of bombs, germ warfare, etc), the Morlocks could not have existed because they were a result of the same scientists. Had the scientists attempted to do good for mankind, the world would not have turned out like it did when Alexander visited it.

CCARNI

4th Jul 2009

Doctor Who (1963)

Logopolis - S18-E7

Question: If The Master had closed the CVE it would have resulted in the total destruction of the universe. Would he have really closed the CVE if the peoples of the universe hadn't responded to him? Isn't that the complete opposite of what The Master wants, i.e. complete control of the universe? Also, if the universe had been destroyed, who and what would he have left to control?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The Master is insane. If he can't control the universe, he'd rather see it destroyed.

Captain Defenestrator

4th Jul 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Show generally

Question: If Davros created The Daleks from his own cells then why don't they fully trust him? He's been shown to manipulate The Daleks on the genetic level, so couldn't he use that to some way make them more obedient?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: When Davros created the Daleks, he conditioned them to hate everything that was not a Dalek. They decided that although he was their creator, he was not one of them.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: World War 3 may have been the reason for the nuclear war, but what caused World War 3?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It's never stated what caused it (in this movie, at least). So much time has passed that historical records have been lost or destroyed, and the remaining humans are no longer literate, nor do they have any inkling about their species' past. The apes also do not appear to know the reason, only that mankind somehow destroyed their own civilization.

raywest

4th Jul 2009

Doctor Who (1963)

Chosen answer: The Doctor left Susan because she fell in love with a human who had asked her to marry him. The Doctor probably thought that it was better for Susan to stay in one place rather than travelling all over the cosmos with him.

Agent Angel

He does explain if you listen to the speech he gives that the end of the episode as he leaves.

Dan23

Question: How could The Masters' trial and execution take place on Skaro when it was destroyed in "Remembrance of the Daleks"?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: They don't specify at what point in Skaro's history it took place. Only the passage of time on Gallifrey is absolute.

Captain Defenestrator

4th Jul 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

School Reunion - S2-E6

Question: The Doctor says he's regenerated half a dozen times since last seeing Sarah Jane. This would mean he last saw her in his fourth regeneration. But surely this is wrong? They last saw each other when The Doctor was in his fifth regeneration, during "The Five Doctors."

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The phrase "half a dozen" is often used as a round number, i.e. "half a dozen" is a little more than "a few." He didn't want to pause and figure it out as it's been a long time in his time line so he just estimated. That said, with the 50th anniversary reveal of the War Doctor, making the 10th Doctor actually the 11th, it's now exactly 6 regenerations since the 5 Doctors, making his statement accurate.

Myridon

4th Jul 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: The Master knows that deep down, he deserves death for the crimes that he's committed throughout his life, and since he regards The Doctor as his arch-foe, he expects it to be at his hands. The fact that The Doctor is still willing to forgive him for all of his crimes hurts him more deeply than death would.

Captain Defenestrator

4th Jul 2009

Doctor Who (1963)

Chosen answer: In the mockumentary "Whatever happened to Susan Foreman?" it is sugested that some Daleks may have survived the events of "The Daleks," rebuilt the race and gone back in time to take revenge on Ian and Barbra by invading 20th century Earth, but suffered a fuel shortage which left them stranded in the 22nd century. Presumably that would also leave them incapable of interstellar travel.

Josman

They wanted to remove the plants core - once removed, they can replace it with a power system that will enable them to pilot the planet anywhere in the universe. I don't know if anyone has mentioned why The Daleks would want to move the Earth anywhere else in the cosmos.

Dan23

Chosen answer: A Drill Instructor is always mad at the recruits in order to forge discipline. Private Pyle was the biggest screwup in the unit, thus creating more work for him.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: It also promotes unity and brotherhood against a common enemy, the drill instructor.

Chosen answer: Seraph previously worked for the Merovingian, but left him to protect the Oracle, thus the Merovingian considers that Seraph has betrayed him.

Sierra1

30th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Chosen answer: It was never stated directly in the series, although Lister does mention at one point that it was Kryten's fault. The first book based on the series states that the ship crashed after Kryten carefully washed the navigation console using soapy water, but it's unclear whether this is intended as a canonical explanation.

Tailkinker

30th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Chosen answer: Their bodies have simply decayed to dust over the intervening three million years.

Tailkinker

30th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Chosen answer: They reconstructed Red Dwarf as it was supposed to be, hence going back to the original plans, rather than the cut-down versions that were actually used to build it. A ship without a crew isn't much use, so they brought the crew back as well, possibly using the physical and personality information stored by the ship's holographic recreation unit as a template. How they might have restored the prisoners is another matter, probably best explained by the venerable science-fiction standby of "don't ask, they just did".

Tailkinker

30th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Chosen answer: In-universe, after leaving Red Dwarf after his first appearance, Kryten managed to crash Lister's space-bike into an asteroid. Lister found his remains and decided to rebuild him, however, due to the high level of damage and Lister's questionable repair skills, he was unable to recreate Kryten exactly, leading to changes in appearance, personality and accent. In reality, the original actor wasn't available, coupled with presumably practical concerns about one-off makeup as opposed to makeup for a regular cast member, so some visual changes were made.

Tailkinker

Question: Who made the handprints on the inside of that old house at the end?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Presumably it was the children being held there.

JC Fernandez

30th Jun 2009

Steptoe and Son (1962)

Show generally

Question: When exactly was Harold born? Throughout the whole show, both Harold and Albert give conflicting answers about Harold's age. For example, Albert states that Harold was born in 1932, yet in earlier seasons, it's said that Harold fought in World War 2. Could someone please explain?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: There is no definitive answer. In the original run of the series in the early sixties, Harold was given a birth year of 1925, matching that of Harry H Corbett, who played him, making him old enough to have fought in the war. When the show was brought back in the early seventies, his birth year was, for no immediately obvious reason, revised to 1932.

Tailkinker

30th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Chosen answer: The details are never made particularly clear, except that the ship was, at some unspecified point, stolen by Kryten's rogue nanobots while the crew were away from the ship on Starbug. A short online comic produced by the BBC suggests that this happened directly after the events of the fifth series' final episode "Back To Reality", that the crew returned from their encounter with the despair squid to find Red Dwarf missing, although events in the recent revival, "Back to Earth" appear to contradict that.

Tailkinker

30th Jun 2009

Blade Runner (1982)

Chosen answer: It measures a number of involuntary physical responses, like heart-rate, breathing, eye movement and pupil dilation in response to questions designed to provoke an emotional response. By examining the intensity of these responses over a series of different questions, the subject's empathy and emotional response levels can be measured, allowing those running the test to determine the true nature of the test subject.

Tailkinker

Question: Why are obsolete programs given the choice of deletion or exile? Why aren't they just instantly deleted?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: All programs are destined for deletion, however a quick witted program would realise their time is up and try and make an escape (exile). The programs aren't given a choice, the programs make a choice.

Sanguis

30th Jun 2009

Stargate SG-1 (1997)

Chosen answer: Report 30185 is a joke report referring to the time when SG-1 go back in time to 1969 in the episode '1969'. The joke is that Colonel O'Neil knocked up a hippie and made sure Mitchel was taken care of throughout his life, like how he got into the 302 program while his buddy, a better pilot, did not.

Answer: This answer is incorrect, because after Mitchell said, I'm being parked on a Samantha, in a very serious tone, said seriously we can't tell you about 30185.

To clarify this entry, what Mitchell asked is "Oh, I'm being punk'd, aren't I?" The joke in the scene was 30185 was too classified for Mitchell to know, but then they turn around and tell Vala. O'Neill isn't really Mitchell's father, they were joking around. But then Samantha does honestly say they can't tell them about 30185. From there we never learn what it is.

Bishop73

29th Jun 2009

Scream 2 (1997)

Question: What did Mrs.Loomis mean when she said she had a make over? Did she mean plastic surgery?

Socks1000

Answer: Sidney did eventually recognise Mrs Loomis. So it's also likely that she changed her hair. Style and or colour. She also could have put on weight or lost it accordingly. Plastic surgery is expensive so it's possible that she could not afford it. That being typed, a nose job is not entirely out of the question. Or any number of facial adjustments.

Alan Keddie

She is implied to have some kind of money, as Mickey says she paid for his college tuition.

Chosen answer: Yes, she had plastic surgery to disguise herself so she could get close to Sidney.

29th Jun 2009

Scream (1996)

Question: Why did Stu commit the murders with Billy? What was his reason?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Billy told Stu they were going to be famous as the sole survivors of the massacre. He believed Billy and went along with it, wanting fame.

Answer: I've known people who are influenced by a "leader" friend. They don't make many decisions for themselves. Stu seems to have latched onto Billy at some point, and is willing to join him in the murders. There are real-life cases in which murderers had associates who obeyed them.

29th Jun 2009

The Shining (1980)

Chosen answer: Danny's middle name is Anthony and "Tony" is his imaginary friend. At first Danny fears Tony, but he later becomes Danny's source of strength.

raywest

Answer: Tony was a god-sent to change the course of history, which ultimately saved Danny and his mother in the 80s compared to the 20s when both of them were finally killed and eaten by Jack. Tony appeared in Danny's life when he started reading alphabets and his main message was 'REDRUM'. This was critical in the movie, as its mirror image 'MURDER' saved Wendy's life in the 80s.

Chosen answer: There is nothing in the story to suggest what the "goo" is so we can only summarize that this is simply the remains of the master after his execution. Why he would become "slime" is debatable but as the air of Skaro created the Dalek Race, it is fair to assume that a prolonged exposure also mutated the Master's body in some way.

Phoenix2312

29th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: To stop him from traveling around Time and Space and causing trouble, he even says it as he is disabling it.

Repo_Man

Chosen answer: A very good question - It is suggested by Paul McGann during the introduction that "rules mean nothing" to the Master. Assuming this to be the case, that would suggest that outside of Galifrey where a Time Lord's life is absolute, The Master would be able to "alter and cheat" time.

Phoenix2312

Chosen answer: Q is a rather nasty entity hell-bent on proving that the human race are NOT the nice guys they make out to be. Q and Riker simply don't like each other and Q gives Riker the power of Q to prove a point...that power corrupts. And it almost does to Riker who uses his Q power to help, then to squander. Riker finally realizes that he's being corrupted by the power and gives it up, showing Q that he can't be swayed to the dark side.

CCARNI

29th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: Because he'd driven her insane by showing her the future and humanity's fate. (There's also the possibility that she might be The Rani in human form, but that's all speculation right now.)

Captain Defenestrator

29th Jun 2009

The Shining (1980)

Chosen answer: The ghosts are real.

raywest

Answer: Both Kubrick and King stated there were ghosts in interviews so as they are essentially the creators I would say there are.

In all fairness, Kubrick, unlike King, leaves the existence of ghosts somewhat questionable. The whole thing can just as well be just Jack succumbing to cabin fever: he loathes his family, and the long isolation just pushes him over the brink. Wendy witnesses the ghosts, too, yes, but she could also be suffering from cabin fever, not to mention the stress of her husband finally going insane, and trying to murder her and her child. In short, the whole existence of ghosts is a lot more ambiguous in the movie.

Jukka Nurmi

Question: Why DOES The Doctor give advice and information to people? surely, being a Time Lord he knows the risks of changing the future?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: A good question, and one that is posed by the characters themselves several times. It is feasible that the doctor having already been to that time already is aware of what may happen to them, and as he is at this point also able to travel to parallel points in time, may have also seen what may happen if they change events - which is presumably for the better.

Phoenix2312

Question: What caused Freddy Krueger to kill originally before his death?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Freddy's mother was working in an insane asylum where she was locked in a room and raped repeatedly by inmates. Growing up, Freddy was teased for being the son of 100 maniacs and was beaten by his step-father. He killed animals before he started murdering the children of Elm St. His backstory is revealed over the course of several sequels.

Shannon Jackson

28th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: This is unanswered. Hopefully, during the Christmas special of 2009, it will be answered, as it brings back the Master.

JonTheRandom

Answer: A member of a cult the Master set up to get himself resurrected, as shown in "The End of Time."

28th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: As revealed in "The End of Time" it was the President of the Time Lords who put the drumming back in time into the Master's head.

Question: The Tardis brings back Grace and Chang, so does that make them immortal, fixed points in time like Captain Jack Harkness?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Whereas Grace and Chang are both human, Captain Jack Harkness is alien - So the effect the TARDIS has is very different. In addition, as is revealed in the series as well, The TARDIS is more than a machine, it is alive... It also has knowledge even the Time Lords do not have - By making Jack Harkness immortal, it is also fulfilling his destiny.

Phoenix2312

28th Jun 2009

Independence Day (1996)

Question: After the B-2 bomber launches the nuclear missile towards the city destroyer, the B-2 is shown to be retreating, yet the nuclear missile is in fact travelling even faster than the B-2. My question is, was the B-2 destroyed when the nuclear missile struck the ship? Did it get out of there in time?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Cruise missiles fired from a B-2 have a 100 mile range, so it would have escaped.

Grumpy Scot

28th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (1963)

Logopolis - S18-E7

Question: The Master has shown himself to be extremely intelligent, so why didn't he know that killing all those Logopolitans would set off a chain reaction, resulting in the end of the universe? Also, why did he hold the planet to ransom? What was he hoping to gain by doing this?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The Master seemed to know what would happen, and exploited this to his own ends. His goal was to gain control of the entire universe, by giving people a choice: die with the universe as it is destroyed (by natural means, no less!), or accept his as their Master, with the only way to keep the universe going.

Question: Did Mace Windu actually beat Palpatine in their lightsaber duel or did Palpatine let him win? Also, is Palpatine's scarred face his "true" face or was it caused by the force lightning?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Palpatine needed to push Anakin over the edge and "fulfill his destiny", so he feigns defeat to allow Anakin the opportunity kill Mace and start him on the road to evil. The scarring was caused by the lightning.

CCARNI

28th Jun 2009

Star Wars (1977)

Question: Why does the technology in the original trilogy not look as good or as advanced as the technology of the prequel trilogy?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The real reason is that our technology has advanced in the thirty years since the original movies were made, so better effects were possible. The "in-movie" reason is that he rebels are operating illegally, and therefore their equipment is all jury-rigged and pieced together from stolen or broken scrap, not manufactured like the devices featured in the prequels.

Phixius

28th Jun 2009

Total Recall (1990)

Question: Throughout the movie it's suggested that Quaid/Hauser isn't experiencing anything at all and what he's experiencing is in fact a memory implant. My questions is, did the events actually happen or were they simply the memory implant Quaid purchased at Rekall?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Its left deliberately ambiguous for the viewer to make up their own mind about what's real and what's fake.

GalahadFairlight

Answer: Although left deliberately ambiguous, it should be noted that the director's intention was for it to be all part of a dream / delusion. Indeed, despite the ambiguity, more evidence exists to indicate that the story was imagined as opposed to reality.

Question: I've read that Anakin joined Palpatine because he felt remorse over the death of Windu and that he would have been expelled from the Jedi order for sure. Couldn't he have just lied and said that it was Palpatine that killed him and that he played no part in it?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: No, because it's wrong. Anakin joined Palpatine not out of remorse or fear of being expelled from the Jedi Order, but because he thinks that, with the Sith Lord's help, he can save Padme from dying. If he turns Palpatine in, he believes that she'll die and that's not an option for him.

Tailkinker

I don't disagree with the answer by Tailkinker, but I think Anakin was shocked by Windu's death. He realised that Palpatine's offer—to save Padme's life—would require him to make sacrifices.

28th Jun 2009

The Shining (1980)

Chosen answer: In the book, after Danny visits room 217 (237 for the movie) the ghost of the woman who killed herself in the bath chokes him.

Answer: In the 80s it was the old lady's ghost who hurt Danny. This was a repeat of the 20s when the actual old lady lured Danny in her room and tried to bite him and satisfy her hunger. (Given the lack of food due to snow storm).

I keep seeing things relating to the "20s version" and the "80s version " what is this about? I didn't even see them mention the 1920s until the picture at the end.

Throughout the movie there are flashes to the 20s which is seen as vision of what has already happened or as Jack's "psychotic break delusions." Since his soul is linked to the hotel, he returns time and time again (shown by the photo at the end of the movie). There are 2 versions, the 20s and the 80s. The 20s is when Jack and his family were at the hotel, snowed in and they resorted to cannibalism (the lady in the room 237), as seen in the photo. In the 80s version, his reincarnated soul is drawn to the hotel and we see bits of the 20s through flashbacks or delusions. For example, the ball is a delusion or reincarnated vision of him there before. It is more evident in the book when he hears voices of the hotel. As well, the blood vision in the hallway coming from the elevator is a reference to the 20s.

28th Jun 2009

The X-Files (1993)

Chosen answer: Because the aliens have to undertake many preparations in order for their invasion/colonization to happen successfully. They have to develop the alien/human hybrid to use as a workforce, and the alien bounty hunters have to put down the alien rebels. Also, the syndicate, and new syndicate, have to battle Mulder and suppress public information of all this.

28th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (1963)

Chosen answer: Injuries sustained by having his TARDIS yanked out of the Time Vortex by The Rani.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: During Anakin's duel with Dooku, why did he cut that huge cable and why exactly did he open himself up by sticking his arm out, thus giving Dooku the opportunity to chop it off?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: He presumably cut it so he wouldn't trip over it. Dooku was a better fighter than him and Anakin was overconfident, but Dooku was one of the top duelists in the entire order. His style was meant for saber-to-saber combat, whereas Anakin's was meant to block blaster bolts. He lost his arm because he didn't think.

28th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Show generally

Question: What exactly made Jack Harkness immortal? I know Rose brought him back to life, but how? The Doctor mentions something about him being a fixed point in time and space, but what exactly does that mean?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: In the series 1 episode 'The Parting on the Ways', Rose stared directly into the heart of the TARDIS which infused her with the time vortex. This power enabled her to disintegrate the Daleks and also allowed her to bring Jack back to life. However, Rose was not fully aware of how her powers worked and by bringing Jack back she also removed his ability to die. The Doctor referring to Jack as "a fixed point in space and time" refers to the fact that Jack cannot be removed from existance through death as a normal person could.

28th Jun 2009

The Shining (1980)

Chosen answer: There are two possibilities: Most likely, Jack's soul is forever linked to the hotel, and every once in a while, he is reborn into the world, only to return to it, and instigate more killings. Basically, he is constantly resuming his duties as the caretaker of the spirits in the Hotel. That, or every time someone dies at the hotel, their soul becomes linked to it, and the photo at the end changes to illustrate that link. However, if that theory were true, then the cook would also be in the photo.

The cook would not be in the photo, as he was not succumbing to the Hotel, he died fighting it, and therefore his soul does not "belong" to the Overlook.

Jack is never reincarnated. Period. The hotel decides that Jack will become the next caretaker in the afterlife when he attends the initial interview! Therefore, when he dies, he becomes part of the ghosts in the hotel and immortalized in the infamous group photo on the wall! And he will make his presence known to the next victim.

Answer: I always believed, as have others, that anyone who is "killed" by the hotel has their soul added to the hotel which materializes as them being added to the picture.

Yeah, but it seems kinda weird he is in the middle of the picture with everyone around him even though he was added last. And the ghost calling him "the caretaker" suggest he is the caretaker in that picture too, so the same person as the original one who was caretaker all that time ago.

lionhead

Answer: The point of the picture at the end is to show Jack has indeed been at the hotel before. This explains the deja vu he feels upon entering the hotel. Notice none of the other ghosts, such as Delbert, the twins, Mrs Massey, etc. are visible in the photo. That's because they were at the hotel after 1921. The answer that says his soul has been around a long time is correct.

28th Jun 2009

The Shining (1980)

Chosen answer: In the book, she is Mrs. Massey, an older woman who is seducing a man much younger than her, until late one night he leaves in the car they arrived in, and doesn't return. Distraught, Mrs. Massey kills herself with liquor and sleeping pills while taking a bath. However, since none of this is in the actual film, fan theories have sprung up regarding her importance to the movie. One theory is that she is in fact Grady's wife, and 237 is where he murdered his family.

I don't think this is quite as true because the twins are Grady's children and they are seen to be killed in the hallway in a vision of Danny's when he was riding the bike through the hotel. Therefore, the movie version could be the wife of Grady in room 237 however the children were not there and not killed there at the time. However, why would she have been staying in room 237 if there is the apartment for the caretaker?

Answer: Her significance to the story is that she is one of the most powerful spirits that resides in the hotel. When Jack enters her room, she appears to him as a young and beautiful woman at first. This symbolizes his embracing the evil of the hotel, while Danny sees the hotel for what it really is. The aftermath of his visit to room 237 shows that the hotel has Jack in its grasp, as he lies to Wendy about not seeing anything in the room. He knows Wendy would want to leave, whereas he wants to stay.

Answer: The old woman in room 237 could have been a sex-worker. The shining parallel story shows Jack going in and having sexual advances with her (before they cut it with her current rotten version). Until one day, she lures Danny in her room and bit him out of hunger. That's when Jack goes in the room and kills the old lady.

28th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (1963)

Chosen answer: No, it was the result of the Cybermen's draining Earth of energy to their world, that also affected the Doctor, draining his energy as well, causing him to regenerate.

Also In the episode it's said that his body was wearing thin.

Dan23

28th Jun 2009

The Shining (1980)

Chosen answer: The Ghosts want Jack to kill Danny because the shining is what gives the Hotel power. The only way Danny's shine would stay permanently at the Hotel would be for him to die there. The only reason Jack was chosen was because he was the weakest link to get to Danny.

28th Jun 2009

Battlefield Earth (2000)

Chosen answer: Scout ships exploring the area detected the gold on the planet and sent a report back to the nearest base or to the Psychlos' homeworld.

Phixius

If they knew there was gold there, they would have been there centuries ago and been easier to take control.

28th Jun 2009

War of the Worlds (2005)

Question: How come Boston was relatively intact with no signs of destruction?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The Martians hadn't gotten that far yet.

Grumpy Scot

Chosen answer: It's a galaxy. Given the distance that the fleet would have to be away from it in order to see the whole thing like that, it seem unlikely that it's intended to be the galaxy that the saga takes place in, but another one that's relatively close to it.

Tailkinker

Answer: It is the Star Wars galaxy. Haven was the codename of the Rebel Alliance's predetermined rendezvous point far beyond the Galactic Rim, where the Alliance Fleet regrouped after the Rebellion's defeat at the Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY. The rendezvous point lay near the coordinates 2.427 by 3.886 by 673.52 above the galactic plane.

28th Jun 2009

War of the Worlds (2005)

Answer: Robbie said that he only wanted to watch it happen, and not interact. He most likely ran off somehow and hid from the aliens before you saw the burning Humvee indicating the death of the military squadrons flying/driving in.

Chosen answer: Dumb luck? A soldier chased him off from the fighting? Who knows?

Grumpy Scot

Robbie's survival is a movie all on its own.

28th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: I think that looking into the Untempered Schism shows the young Time Lords infinity. It shows them everything, and it is like a test. If they can resist the urge to grab it and take it all for themselves, then they are worthy to be a Time Lord.

Question: What makes Taylor think they're on a planet in the constellation of Orion some 320 light years from Earth? How did he come to this conclusion?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Because that's where the ship was originally headed. Some sort of malfunction made it turn around and return to Earth.

Grumpy Scot

28th Jun 2009

Battlefield Earth (2000)

Question: Is Jonnie correct in his assumption that there are other Psychlo colonies out there?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Between the book and the hideous box office take, no he is not correct. In the book, Psychlo got turned into a sun and all the other colonies tried to teleport their ore shipments home and were wiped out by the resulting explosion.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: If there were other colonies out there, they wouldn't love as much as their home planet just like earth. Besides even if there was, they've been mostly defenseless without their fleet on the homeworld and will already be on the verge of extinction.

Question: Do doctors usually play music when performing important surgery?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: I've watched a surgeon perform open-heart surgery, and the radio was on the whole time. Whether music plays is probably up to the head surgeon for the particular operation, but it is certainly allowed.

Chosen answer: They hate the moisture farmers, who they regard as having encroached on their territory. They kidnapped Shmi and tortured her to gather information for a future big raid on the local moisture farms.

Tailkinker

28th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: Well they are Time Lords, they can manipulate Time itself to some extent so bringing people back from death wherever or however it happens.

Repo_Man

28th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (1963)

Chosen answer: They were a diversion to keep The Doctors focused on escape rather than thinking about who had collected them from time and why.

Captain Defenestrator

28th Jun 2009

Battlefield Earth (2000)

Question: How could one nuclear weapon destroy the Psychlos' home planet?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It's actually very similar to what scientists of the time thought would happen on Earth if a nuclear bomb was ever detonated. They were convinced that the entire atmosphere, being made up of several combustible gasses, would erupt in flames killing everyone on the planet. On Psychlos, their atmosphere reacted with the radiation released by the bomb. It's the reason the Psychlos could not enter the irradiated areas of Earth where the last groups of free humans lived: their breathing apparatuses would explode.

Phixius

28th Jun 2009

Battlefield Earth (2000)

Question: Do the Psychlos have spacecraft or do they simply rely on their teleportation technology to get them from planet to planet?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Yes, they have spacecraft. They can't teleport from planet to planet without and teleportation device being on the planet.

Phixius

Question: What caused the original nuclear devastation depicted in the movie?

Socks1000

Answer: I think that this is meant to be a mystery. Taylor/Charlton Heston, an astronaut, leaves a world set somewhat in the future after 1968 (when the movie was made) but still recognisable to cinema-goers at the time, to travel through a "time vortex" to arrive in a world in a distant future, which has changed beyond recognition. Taylor meets the orangutan Zaius/Maurice Evans, and Zaius hints that he has some idea of what had happened, but Zaius' knowledge is either limited, or else Zaius is not going to tell Taylor (or his fellow apes) the full story. At the end of the movie Taylor discovers that, at some point between his leaving his own time and arriving in the "Planet Of The Apes", the world had been devastated by a nuclear war, but I think that the exact time, causes of, and course of this nuclear war are deliberately left as a mystery. Sometimes I think a bit of unresolved mystery actually improves a story, and I think this is the case here.

Rob Halliday

Chosen answer: World War III.

Grumpy Scot

27th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: He likely means an empire where he, a Time Lord, rules over all creation.

Captain Defenestrator

27th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (1963)

Logopolis - S18-E7

Question: Towards the end of episode 4, The Master transmits a message to the peoples of the universe, saying that if they do not acknowledge his rule, he will send a signal to close the CVE and restart the collapse of the universe. My questions are: How does The Master expect the peoples of the universe to respond to him in time? And what happens if the peoples of the universe don't comply with The Master's demands? Would he just close the CVE anyway?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Two possibilities. 1: They can reply on the same frequency he's transmitting from. 2: He intends to close the CVE anyway and this is simply an act of cruelty.

Captain Defenestrator

27th Jun 2009

Red Planet (2000)

Question: Why does AMEE prolong the death of the crew? Why not kill them all the minute they try and remove her power source?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: At first, she's assessing the threat level. After she determines them to be a threat, she then decides how to eliminate them. She decides on guerilla warfare because she can fare better in the environment than humans can. She was damaged, so if she tried to attack them all at the same time, she would likely lose the battle.

Knever

27th Jun 2009

Red Planet (2000)

Question: In the movie, AMEE is shown to have various settings, such as 'Navigaton' and 'Military'. It is also stated that AMEE is on loan from the marines. My question is, before giving her to the crew of Mars-1, why didn't the marines remove the the military part of her programming? What possible use could it have been to the crew?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It was disabled. The part of her program that was in effect was merely the survival instinct, given to it so it could protect itself.

Knever

27th Jun 2009

Red Planet (2000)

Question: What exactly are those little bug things on Mars and how do they produce oxygen?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: They aren't given a name. They act like plants, except instead of absorbing carbon dioxide and expelling it as oxygen, they eat plants and release oxygen from their bodies. It's probably more effective than using plants since they weren't expecting to be able to breathe on the surface.

Knever

27th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (1963)

Chosen answer: Because he wouldn't be satisfied simply killing The Doctor when he's weak and infirm. The Master needs to outsmart him.

Captain Defenestrator

27th Jun 2009

Independence Day (1996)

Question: It's been shown in the film the the aliens are technologically more advanced than us. Then, how come, with all their technology, they were unable to defend themselves from something as simple as a computer virus?

Socks1000

Answer: Remember that the aliens had to interface with our satellite computer code first...David simply "reverse engineered" the code to create the virus. When it was uploaded, they didn't have enough time to combat it.

Answer: It was also a bit of a tribute to "War of the Worlds", in which the alien invaders with much more advanced technology ultimately succumbed to ordinary terrestrial pathogens in the original novel by H. G. Wells as well as its many screen adaptations.

zendaddy621

Chosen answer: Its supposed to be an exercise in demonstrating how the aliens underestimated their opponent, but in reality it's merely a convenient plot device.

GalahadFairlight

Answer: I was wondering the same thing. Since the Harvesters had our satellites meant they could eavesdrop on every single conversation. David and other people in the facility probably put up a firewall on the computers and cameras, so that the aliens couldn't see or hear what they were planning on doing.

Answer: Maybe there were no viruses in the planet where these aliens came from so they didn't have any countermeasures against them.

Answer: They could defend against it, hence why they bring the nuke. The virus drops the shields, and the nuke destroys The Mother Ship. David even says that the shields will be down for a few minutes.

27th Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: Given that their entire race was wiped out by the Daleks in the Time War and the Daleks are still around, I'd say that a Time Lord would have something to be vengeful for. That much power would go to anyone's head.

Captain Defenestrator

26th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Chosen answer: Starbug took 200 years to catch up with Red Dwarf, so Lister and Cat went into suspended animation while Kryten piloted Starbug after the ship.

Captain Defenestrator

25th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Chosen answer: It can, but that doesn't mean that it's supposed to. At the time of the episode, Red Dwarf's thrusters have been firing continuously for millions of years, accelerating the ship until, in this episode, it finally achieves light speed. This is not a speed that the Dwarf was ever intended to attain, hence the need to slow it down again before the stresses tear it apart. If they wanted to hit light speed again, it would take the same sort of length of time to accelerate back up to that speed. Technically possible, but not exactly practical.

Tailkinker

Borderland (1) - S4-E4

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?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: They're stronger than humans, but they're not invulnerable.

JC Fernandez

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.

25th Jun 2009

The Matrix (1999)

Question: In order for Cypher to speak to Agent Smith he must first, for want of a better word, 'plug' into the Matrix in order to accomplish this. My question is, how was he able to achieve this without his crew members finding out or seeing him 'plug' in to the Matrix?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: In the scene when Neo can't sleep and talks to Cypher, Cypher appears startled and quickly switches off the monitors. This seems to imply he is setting up some kind of "automatic" Matrix connection that will allow him to jack into the Matrix without an operator while the rest of the crew sleep.

Sierra1

Question: How exactly were the doctors able to reverse the effects and undo the Ludovico technique that Alex was subjected to?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: We're never given details. Possibly electroshock therapy or somehow purging his system of the Ludovico formula.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: When Alex jumped out of the window, the shock of the fall snapped him out of the Ludovico technique.

michael g

He mentions later that he's been having dreams of someone picking through his brain. This is the government undoing the treatment.

Captain Defenestrator

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?

Socks1000

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.

Captain Defenestrator

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?

Socks1000

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.

Captain Defenestrator

25th Jun 2009

The Karate Kid (1984)

Answer: While the kick might not have killed Daniel, who's to say that the beating would have stopped there? Johnny told Bobby that he'd decide when he'd had enough. Johnny was extremely mad, and might have gone really far. Even if he didn't, most of his friends were on the same page, so they might have joined in beating him. If Miyagi hadn't intervened, Daniel very well could have been killed.

dewinela

Chosen answer: Very unlikely.

Question: What's the story behind Mike Barnes? How old is he? Where does he come from?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Mike Barnes is another karate champion, someone known in the karate tournament world as being brutal and excellent. It is never stated where he comes from, but it is far enough away to require a plane flight. His age is also never stated, but as it is an under-18 tournament and he can drive a car, we can assume it is either 16 or 17.

Answer: Mike most likely comes from north of LA (northern California, Oregon, or Washington) based on the fact that he said "if I come DOWN here and beat this Larusso kid..." Usually the term for travelling "down here" refers to coming from the north, "up here" is coming from the south, and "out here" or "over here" is from coming from the east or west.

It's not quite as simple as that. It wouldn't be unusual for someone from Kansas City, Chicago, or Detroit, etc. to describe traveling to LA as going "down" there.

BaconIsMyBFF

25th Jun 2009

The Karate Kid (1984)

Chosen answer: Did you not see the beginning of the film? Daniel stood up to Johnny and the other Cobra Kai's on the beach. This makes him their enemy. As Kreese teaches them, "an enemy deserves no mercy", which is why they continue to pick on him.

Answer: There's also the fact that Daniel is with Johnny's ex, Ali.

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?

Socks1000

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.

Captain Defenestrator

25th Jun 2009

The Matrix (1999)

Question: Is there a reason the machines use humans for energy? Why not nuclear power or maybe even animals?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Nuclear power would eventually run out, the impression is that the Machines occupy almost all of the planet's surface, so a LOT of power is needed. Animals are probably not used as their minds are a lot more instinctual and so it would be a lot harder to create a Matrix that their minds could accept, plus most animal and plant life probably died off when the sun was blocked off.

Sanguis

25th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Chosen answer: He never strictly gives up, he just realises the practicalities of the situation, that it took Red Dwarf three million years to get to where it is, so it would take the same length of time to return. While he originally plans to go back into stasis for the long journey, the "Future Echoes" that he sees while travelling at light speed convince him that he should stay active on board the ship instead and look for alternative ways to get back, something that influences the plot of several subsequent episodes.

Tailkinker

Question: What exactly did the Architect mean when he said to the Oracle, "You played a very dangerous game"?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: By encouraging Neo to go to the machine city and negotiate a peace contract she has upset the Architect's "perfect" world. The Architect, ruled by brutal logic, has a method that is tried and true; the death and rebirth of Neo and Zion, the Oracle has created a new order of things and has allowed Zion to survive, throwing a rather large spanner in the Architect's plans.

Sanguis

Question: It's been stated that Seraph is a former angel programme left over from a previous Matrix. Then why does one of The Merovingian henchmen refer to him as wingless?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: A Seraph is the highest level of God's angels, typically depicted with six wings (three pairs), the joke refers to the fact that Seraph physically has no wings in the matrix and that he now no longer works for the machines and so is also meant as a "fall from grace" jibe.

Sanguis

25th Jun 2009

The Matrix (1999)

Question: Why does the Oracle ask Neo to open his mouth and say ahh? What was she hoping to gain from this?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Nothing, it is simply the character's sense of humour. She knows Neo will become the One but also knows that Neo won't believe her so she puts on an act and tells Neo what he wants to hear.

Sanguis

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

25th Jun 2009

The Matrix (1999)

Question: What exactly is the Matrix for? Was it designed solely to keep the human mind sane? Or does it have other uses?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Without it, the human race would effectively be locked in sensory deprivation tanks, their minds active, but with no stimuli, which would have a derogatory effect on their well-being. The Matrix is designed to keep them busy and, yes, sane, ensuring a good survival rate and decent longevity to stop the machines having to deal with a high turnover in their power plants.

Tailkinker

25th Jun 2009

Stargate SG-1 (1997)

Chosen answer: They have very little resources left after the war against the Replicators.

Answer: They did. There was an Asgard ship present during the battle at the second super gate (the battle in which the Korolev was destroyed). The Asgard ship's fate in unknown, but it is implied in dialog between Landry and Woolsey (which specifically mentions the Asgard being there) that it was either heavily damaged or destroyed like all the other allied ships present. Aside from that, yes, the Asgard did play very little role in the Ori campaign.

25th Jun 2009

The Karate Kid (1984)

Question: Johnny mentions something about ex-degenerate. I was just curious, what exactly was he talking about?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: He's basically saying that he's going to go "straight-edge" and stop drinking, partying etc. He's going to buckle down and be good. Most likely to win Allie back.

25th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Show generally

Question: How did the accident originally occur aboard Red Dwarf? I know Rimmer was responsible, but what exactly happened? Also, how come the accident didn't completely destroy Red Dwarf and why was the inside of the ship completely clean and tidy with no signs of destruction?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The crew were wiped out in a radiation leak, something that killed the crewmembers, but had little effect on the structure of the ship other than rendering it radioactive for the next three million years. Any minor damage was presumably fixed by the scutters in the intervening time. The leak supposedly occured after a faulty part of the drive system wasn't repaired properly, something that Rimmer blames himself for. However, as Kryten argued successfully in the episode "Justice", somebody as incompetent as Rimmer would never have been given responsibility for any task that could potentially have such devastating consequences, suggesting that the true cause of the accident may be considerably more complex than one minor drive plate fault.

Tailkinker

25th Jun 2009

The Terminator (1984)

Question: If Skynet is so worried about its Terminators "doing too much thinking" then why not remove from them the 'read-and-write' learning capabilities and simply set them to 'read-only' at all times?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Because the gathering of new information is still a key part to what they do. There has to be a write setting, even a restricted one, in order for the Terminators to assimilate new information that can assist them in their missions - possible target locations, voiceprints, even new mission parameters could not be uploaded without the ability to write to their CPU. Skynet can (and does) set restrictions on the Terminators' learning abilities, but, without those abilities, their effectiveness would be compromised.

Tailkinker

25th Jun 2009

Red Dwarf (1988)

Chosen answer: He brought Rimmer back because he's the person that Lister had the most interaction with during his time on Red Dwarf and also because all Lister ever did with his friends was get very drunk. Lister may not like Rimmer, but bringing him back probably has the best chance of keeping him relatively sane.

Tailkinker

Answer: Rimmer hid all the other personality chips apparently, so he was the only one that could be a hologram.

Rimmer did not hide the other discs until after he was revived as a hologram. He would not have had the authority to do so before he was the most senior officer on board.

Chosen answer: It's an extreme form of aversion therapy. The pleasant stimulus (violence in this case) is associated with an unpleasant stimulus (a drug that makes him feel sick). Eventually, it is hard to think of the pleasant stimulus without thinking of the unpleasant stimulus thus making the whole experience unpleasant.

Myridon

Question: What does the Architect mean when he says, "There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept"? What other levels does he mean?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The Machines have been sentient for a while, possibly a century or more, so a machine culture has started to emerge as evidenced by the existence of Sati; a program created with no purpose by two machines "in love". If the machines lost the humans then they would lose a significant amount of energy, meaning that a large number of machines and programs would need to be wiped out to ensure the machines survival, but it would be at a much lesser level, "stone age" by comparison.

Sanguis

25th Jun 2009

The Matrix (1999)

Question: How does the Oracle get her powers of foresight? How does she know the things she knows?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The oracle is a program, inside the matrix which is an even bigger program. The oracle is simply able to "read" the Matrix and make predictions based on the balance of probabilities.

Sanguis

23rd Jun 2009

War of the Worlds (2005)

Chosen answer: The aliens, who had no resistance to Earth's germs and microbes, were falling ill and dying, causing the tripods and the shields to fail.

raywest

Question: This is a five part question: 1) What exactly were the future mechas doing at the end of the film? 2) Why were the mechas were only able to bring people back for a day? 3) How did the human race become extinct? 4) In what year is it set? 5) In what city is it set?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: 1) They are excavating. 2) It is as far as their technology will allow. 3) It is never stated 4) The movie is set in the 22nd century somewhere between 2100 and 2200. The end of the movie is set 2000 years later. 5) The final parts of the movie appear to be set in Manhattan.

MasterOfAll

1) The same things humans do - what is our past, our meaning our purpose? Who were the "gods" who created us and why were we created? They were searching for meaning. 3) Assume safely the planet became unlivable for humans, as is will b/c...climate change. If I remember correctly, everything was under the ice, and it was frozen all the way to the bottom. Humans could not live with that. The planet will seize up and die...and us along with it.

23rd Jun 2009

The Mummy (1999)

Question: What exactly was O'Connell arrested and sentenced to death for?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Rick was purportedly sent to prison for deserting the French Foreign Legion. He was arrested after a bar fight, prompted by the pickpocketing of a certain Englishman.

23rd Jun 2009

28 Days Later (2002)

Question: What was the ultimate fate of Jim, Selina and Hannah? were they rescued?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: That seems to be the impression. European nations would be searching for survivors once the infected started to die off.

Sanguis

23rd Jun 2009

The Fly 2 (1989)

Question: Why did the scientists at Bartok Industries keep that poor dog alive in observation? what were they hoping to gain?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: They were studying the mutation. It was cruel to keep the animal alive, but they didn't care about that.

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: Dooku didn't fight Anakin at his full strength in his final duel. The plan, as Dooku understood it, was to turn Anakin to the Dark Side, not to kill him. After defeating Kenobi, which he did relatively easily, he held back, prolonging the fight and taunting Anakin, trying to get him to tap into his anger and hatred. He believed that, once Anakin succumbed to temptation, that Palpatine would step in to stop the fight, reveal himself as a Sith Lord and complete Anakin's induction into the Sith. As such, he wasn't fighting to win, merely to prolong the fight as long as it needed to be to serve their purposes. Effectively, he took a fall against Anakin, believing, incorrectly, that his Master would save him. As such, you can't use Anakin and Obi-wan's fights against Dooku as a reliable indicator of their respective power levels.

Tailkinker

23rd Jun 2009

War of the Worlds (2005)

Chosen answer: Ray couldn't trust Ogilvy to be quiet when the aliens arrived. So Ray had to kill Oglivy in order to save him and his daughter.

23rd Jun 2009

Stargate SG-1 (1997)

Chosen answer: Apparently a ribbon device can activate the gate to the address it was dialed from. Like a sort of "*69" on the phone.

Grumpy Scot

23rd Jun 2009

Independence Day (1996)

Question: How did the virus that was uploaded into the mother ship affect all the other ships millions of miles down on earth? also, David said that the virus would last a matter of minutes, yet we see it last considerably longer that a matter of minutes. How can this be?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The ships are in constant communication, exchanging data, power and so forth, so the virus simply filtered its way along the alien communications network. As for "a matter of minutes", (a) David is estimating and (b) define "a matter of minutes"? Two? Five? Ten? Twenty? No clear figure is given at any point, and the finale sequence of the film takes relatively little time. His statement doesn't seem unreasonable.

Tailkinker

23rd Jun 2009

War of the Worlds (2005)

Question: How were the tripods underground for so long and no one noticed them?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It is never explained how or why they were underground or just how long they had been thre. However, they may have been buried too deep to have been detected.

raywest

23rd Jun 2009

War of the Worlds (2005)

Chosen answer: This has been answered before. The liquid, which is apparently a mixture containing human blood, is a defoliant that destroys Earth's foliage and replaces it with alien vegetation.

raywest

Answer: If you're referring to the liquid that pours out at the end when the alien piloting the tripod that was shot down dies, it may stand to reason that since the tripods themselves are built the same as the aliens (three legs and the same shaped head) it's a type of liquid that allows them to neurologically connect to the tripods and control it as though it's a dream. Sort of Pacific Rim-esque except no suit is needed.

General_Gigan

Answer: I believe that this orange liquid has nothing to do with the red weed or something like this. As this liquid is only visible when tripods are being attacked from inside or seriously damaged, this may hint that it is blood from the creatures or some kind of liquid flooding the whole habitable spaces inside the tripod, as the creatures look a little amphibious. Both theories fit the fact that in the last scenes, the liquid comes from the same door the alien puts his arm out.

23rd Jun 2009

War of the Worlds (2005)

Question: What exactly is the lightning the aliens use to get inside the tripods? How does it work?

Socks1000

Answer: For this film, the Martian tripods were already buried deep in the Earth's surface, lying dormant for thousands of years (or more) and only waiting for the actual Martians to arrive. When they did arrive, the Martians did not "teleport" into the tripods, but they were carried down in high-velocity capsules. Fairly early in the movie, a television news crew captures video footage of lightning striking the earth; upon replaying the footage in slow-motion, the TV crew can actually see these high-velocity capsules (containing the Martians) riding down the lightning stroke and into the ground. Therefore, the lightning probably served a dual purpose: It physically bored shafts into the ground directly to the tripods; it then served to guide the high-velocity capsules to the tripods.

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: Impossible to answer, there's no indication onscreen as to how.

GalahadFairlight

Actually the movie does explain how the beam works but as for what it's made of? Who knows.

Answer: I'm sure that's their teleportation beam.

Except that, if the Martians possessed extremely advanced matter-energy teleportation technology, they could have destroyed the entire human population without the Martians ever setting foot on the earth.

Charles Austin Miller

23rd Jun 2009

28 Days Later (2002)

Question: This is a two part question. One: To whom did the manor/mansion originally belong to? two: how did Major West and his soldiers come to acquire it?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: One: It is never established. Two: It is fairly obvious how the soldiers came by it. They found it abandoned and moved in.

23rd Jun 2009

Independence Day (1996)

Question: What was the motivation behind the alien's genocidal nature and attack on earth?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: They intend to plunder Earth's resources. That's easier to do if they eliminate the population first.

Tailkinker

22nd Jun 2009

Independence Day (1996)

Chosen answer: There's never any confirmation one way or another in the film. It's established that alien craft have been in the vicinity of Earth since the late forties, presumably scout ships investigating resources, likely level of opposition and so forth, which would quite likely have included a few abductions to establish human physical capabilities. Best we can really say is that it's possible that he was.

Tailkinker

Answer: Yes, as aliens do exist in this scenario.

22nd Jun 2009

Doctor Who (2005)

Chosen answer: The Cruciform has not been confirmed to be a location, a weapon, a ship, or some kind of object. It has only ever been mentioned, never described. All we know is that it belonged to the Time Lords. It must have been important in the Time War because the Daleks wanted control of it.

22nd Jun 2009

The Incredibles (2004)

Question: What are supers? Are they an offshoot of humanity, or an evolved breed of humanity?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It's never stated.

Tailkinker

22nd Jun 2009

Heroes (2006)

Chosen answer: I don't think they experimented on him. He was too dangerous to have constant visit from anyone. So they just kept him locked up.

lionhead

Question: What happened during Alex's dream that people were playing around in his head? What does this actually mean?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It means they were altering his brain to somehow undo the Ludovico Treatment.

Captain Defenestrator

20th Jun 2009

Heroes (2006)

Chosen answer: Caitlin was left in the possible future (where the virus had been released) when Peter teleported out. Then, when Hiro zapped the virus out of existance, that future became impossible, so that timeline became void. Basically, when that future ceased to exist, so did Caitlin, and since her parents seem to be dead (please correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while seen I saw S2) and Elle killed her brother, there are no next of kin to raise awkward questions.

cherry_girl

19th Jun 2009

Dogma (1999)

Question: What does Loki mean when he says that he's "heard a rant like this before"? What rant?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: He's saying that Lucifer made a speech much like this one, questioning God's judgement, before starting the war in Paradise.

Captain Defenestrator

18th Jun 2009

The Matrix (1999)

Chosen answer: The human body generates heat and a small degree of electricity. EKG and EEG machines for instance measure the electric activity in the heart and brain. It is thought that the energy generated by the human body could be harnessed to create power, obviously The Matrix is an evolution of that idea.

GalahadFairlight

16th Jun 2009

Heroes (2006)

Chosen answer: Because he's an idiot. From the story point of view, they needed the vault to actually be physically open so that the release of the virus would be a credible threat. Unfortunately, this required that Peter conveniently forget that he could simply walk through The Wall and use his telekinesis to tear the door open instead. Peter's increasingly large arsenal of abilities, where he ended up having pretty much any ability required for any situation, led to a situation where it became necessary to either have Peter apparently forget that he had a given power, as with the vault door scene, or become naively trusting, as with his refusal to scan Adam's mind to confirm his good intent. This problem, which simply made Peter look increasingly dumb as the show progressed, may well have been a key factor in the decision to severely reduce his ability during season three.

Tailkinker

14th Jun 2009

The Terminator (1984)

Question: Is it usual for gun store clerks to leave ammunition and bullets on the counter where anyone can pick them up and load them into a gun?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: No, it's not, but not every gun shop owner is reputable or responsible.

wizard_of_gore

14th Jun 2009

Star Wars (1977)

Question: This is a two part question. Question 1: during Obi-Wan and Darth Vader's duel aboard The Death Star, Obi wan spins around, briefly exposing himself and giving Vader an opening within which to strike. Why didn't he take it and stab him through the back? Question 2: towards the end of the duel, at 91 minutes 28 seconds, why does Obi-Wan's lightsaber dim to the point of where it looks like it's going out?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: In response to your first part, its simply a case that Vader missed the opening, he clearly has no issues with striking down someone unarmed as he demonstrates later. In response to your second question, its a fault with the effects used at the time that when the lightsabers were held at certain angles, the effects used to 'paint' on the shimmer of the lightsabers couldn't be applied because there wasn't enough of the required colouring.

GalahadFairlight

14th Jun 2009

Clerks 2 (2006)

Chosen answer: Randall is telling him that the ending of the film would have been better if Frodo and Sam had had gay sex. This image grossed the guy out to the point he puked.

Grumpy Scot

14th Jun 2009

Heroes (2006)

Chosen answer: The German's powers could be limited in ways of heaviness of the metal he is manipulating. Meaning the door could be too heavy for him to rip off.

lionhead

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