Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: When Dr. Evil demands $100 billion in 1969, the President laughs it off and says that amount of money doesn't even exist. However, the U.S. budget in 1969 was $186 billion. Does the President just mean that much physical money doesn't exist? If so, how did the government pay for things back then? Did they just reallocate funds?

Phaneron

Answer: I think it was just exaggerated as a gag. But he was asking for a huge amount of money that probably couldn't get pooled together. He was asking for almost 10% of the U.S. GDP and more than 50% of the budget. So it would have been like asking for $1 trillion in 1999 (or over $2 trillion today).

Bishop73

Question: Sour Bill imprisons Felix in the dungeon to make up for not doing so with Ralph. Why did he want to lock Ralph in there in the first place? (01:00:00)

Answer: King Candy decreed that Ralph be imprisoned, so he couldn't help Vanellope win the race. Sour Bill was obeying orders. Plus he wanted to get back at him for that torture lick he gave him. When Ralph escaped, he settled for Felix and blamed him for letting Ralph get into "Candy Rush."

Question: Any idea what chemical substance is used in the fire extinguisher? I initially assumed it couldn't be straightforward liquid H2O as I couldn't see any spherical droplets floating around, but could it be an aerosol?

Louisa Radice

Answer: A quick internet search revealed that the International Space Station uses both carbon dioxide and water-based foam extinguishers. The Space Shuttle used Halon 1301 fire extinguishers, but these were fixed nozzles built into the shuttle compartments.

Answer: It's never explained but my best guess would be that to assassinate a president-elect, they would hire a solid professional used to taking out high-profile targets who could remain anonymous. After the failed attempt he would likely have changed his face again and remained in the shadows till new work came along.

The_Iceman

Question: At the end, General Ross' convoy is nearly to Natasha, intent on arresting her...then we cut to two weeks later, and she's about to embark on a prison breakout. Are we just meant to assume she escaped...somehow? Fought off everyone who was in those about 20 SUVs? Ran for it and somehow got away?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: It was done intentionally that way by the director to be left up to the viewer's imagination. Cate Shortland said "that was intentional, because we wanted to leave the question of how she would get away, rather than allow the audience to get exhausted by another fight." Of course, it's also possible that future films or TV shows will discuss/show her escape. Perhaps she negotiated her way out with information on the Red Dust.

Bishop73

I don't see why she didn't just leave with everyone else. There was no reason for her to stand there and wait. She could have flown off, as well. The convoy was cars, not planes.

Natasha activated her tracker which led Ross to her. The plan was to have Ross and his men arrest Dreykov, but basically things went sideways. Natasha stayed behind to hold Ross and his men off from pursuing the Widows. Presumably, had she left with them, Ross would still be able to track her and everyone would be in danger of being captured.

Bishop73

Until it is explained by one of those future shows, it really can be thought of as a plot hole. The interview, after the quoted bit, goes like this; "We wanted to leave you guys on a high with the question of how did she use her ingenuity? Because she did. And it was probably, I would say, she bargained her way out of that situation. But I don't know." So...the director says she does not know how the hell did she -really - escape that situation, just that she must have done something clever. Hilarious.

Sammo

Leaving the how unanswered isn't a plot hole, even if writers or directors don't know the how. At best, it's an unexplained Deus ex machina. A plot hole is something that contradicts what's been established for the sake of the plot, but here, nothing was established.

Bishop73

I wouldn't say it's a DEM. Wikipedia; "Deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence."There is no occurrence here. Nothing that we (nor the director.) know of intervened between the two scenes.On the other hand,"Plot hole is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot." Natasha's situation is established and then ignored.

Sammo

Which is why I said it was "unknown." An unknown occurrence happened that resolved the situation that wasn't illogical. However, I wouldn't correct you if you submitted a plot hole mistake, but others might since something not being explained isn't a plot hole.

Bishop73

Yes, sorry, I was splitting hairs as usual; I don't think a DEM can be "unexplained" in the sense of "unknown" because its whole point is that it is the narrative device that gives the story its twist; as absurd as it is (like a literal God appearing out of nowhere fixing things), it must be "something." Here there's nothing; we only have a statement of the director, movie-wise it's not even particularly implied that the resolution was peaceful, since Nat simply says she'll hold them off.

Sammo

Answer: Mainly it was about egos (mostly McQueen's) and a professional rivalry, not only as top movie stars, but also as auto racers. McQueen considered himself a superior driver to Newman, even though they never competed against each other. When McQueen was considered to co-star with Newman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," McQueen wanted top billing, then dropped out when he wouldn't receive it, even though Newman was considered the bigger star. In "The Towering Inferno," McQueen supposedly obsessed over how many lines he had compared to Newman.

raywest

Expanding on this: McQueen's demand for top billing continued on this film (as did William Holden's, but he was never a serious candidate), which is why the end result was "staggered": McQueen's name was to the left but lower, while Newman's was higher but to the right, so both had top billing depending how one read it (left-to-right, or top-to-bottom). Studies have shown that the name audiences tend to see first is the one on the left, regardless of staggering, so McQueen may have "won" here.

Newman does get a small victory of sorts at the end of this film when the cast credits begin scrolling upward on the screen. Newman's and McQueen's names are again staggered like in the beginning intro, but Newman's name appears first as it scrolls up from the screen's bottom.

raywest

Question: Will and his father slide down poles to get to the secret sanctum. How do they get back out?

Answer: Elevator, stairs, secret entrance used when the leave, like the batcave, or he used his super strength to leap both of them out.

Episode #4.6 - S4-E6

Question: When Lady Edith gets the letter confirming her pregnancy - who is the letter addressed to? Because she would not have wanted to use her real name, or have the OBGYN doctor's return address on the envelope.

Answer: The letter was addressed to Edith, an adult woman. As such, the family respects her privacy and would not question her receiving something from her own doctor. If anyone asked, she would merely give some vague explanation for seeing a physician. If she was concerned about anyone becoming suspicious, then she could have instructed the doctor's office to send it in a plain envelope.

raywest

Question: Why can't Edward hear Victoria's thoughts when she is at prom? Why is Victoria able to leave without any of the vampires knowing she was there?

Answer: Edward doesn't hear everyone's thoughts at once. He focuses in on nearby individuals. He was preoccupied with Bella, and wasn't aware that Victoria was there while she kept her distance from everyone.

raywest

Chosen answer: It appears to be his initials "SH" in the style of the New York Yankees "NY" logo. He's also wearing pinstriped pajamas that look like the Yankees uniform.

Bishop73

I was expecting it to be some kind of Arabic symbol, but I can see the initials now, and it fits his character.

Phaneron

Question: Why would the terminator carry his weapon unloaded? It's shown loading the pistol prior to firing. A machine without care for injury would be loaded at all times.

Answer: Having watched the movie again, this can be explained by the previous scene where the Terminator kills Ginger and her boyfriend. It reloads the pistol but doesn't chamber a round before Sarah calls and leaves the message saying where she is. The Terminator then puts the pistol down and quickly rifles through Sarah's belongings before leaving so presumably it only thinks to finish readying its weapons once it's reached the Tech Noir bar and has Sarah in its sight. Either that, or it's actually doing a brass check (pull the slide back just enough to confirm there's a bullet in the chamber) before firing.

You mean such a sophisticated and advanced killing machine can't keep count of the bullets and has to check if the gun is loaded? I know the terminator runs out of bullets many times in the movie, it's great for entertainment but not for verisimilitude. Of course, if the perfect machine didn't make mistakes the movie would last 15 minutes and be extremely boring.

Answer: It does carry its pistol loaded: it merely pulls back the slide in the nightclub scene, priming the weapon. As an infiltration unit, the Terminator would try to prevent an accidental discharge, and thus avoid drawing attention to itself until it's reached its intended target.

Jukka Nurmi

Although I'd argue a perfect killing machine would never discharge its weapon accidentally, how could it?

The Terminators are shown time and again throughout the series NOT to be "perfect"; they make mistakes that are unaccounted for in their manufacture/programming. They are continually improved upon from film to film, indicating that they are BEING perfected, but not perfect. There is a world of difference, perhaps an insurmountable one, between the idea of a perfect anything, and the actual execution of that perfect thing.

Question: How does the government hear about the comet? The scientist saves the information to a disk then takes the disk in the car with him. He crashes and the car catches fire. The disk would have been destroyed.

Answer: It could have been salvaged and worked on, plus he was calling people in authority. There would have been an investigation into the crash, which leads back the young boy and the comet.

Show generally

Question: This might be a stupid question, but why do all three of the children speak in typical American voices? Wouldn't their speech have a British influence because of their father, and also Niles?

Answer: Children's brains and language skills are still developing at that age and they adapt to the environment they live in. My former boss was born in England and moved to the US at about eight years old. She completely lost her British accent by her teens, even though her parents still spoke as typical English citizens. A Japanese co-worker and his wife, also Japanese, spoke English as their second language. Their two children learned both English and Japanese simultaneously while growing up and spoke each language with the appropriate accent.

raywest

Answer: Kids tend to take on the accident of where they live. I once had a British student who lost his accent after a couple of years in the US.

Brian Katcher

Not just where they live, but also after their peers (who live there, but you know what I mean).

KeyZOid

Answer: Not necessarily. Their late mother being American would've probably made the most impact on their speech, considering most kids spend most of their early years more with their mothers than fathers.

Rob245

Gracie is young enough that she doesn't remember her mother. The episode "I Don't Remember Mama" was about this.

Question: Rose and her mother need the financial security from Rose's marriage to Cal. What were they probably expecting after the wedding? Was Cal aware of Rose's father's debt? Did they think he would pay it off, or did they hope he would never find out? I would expect Cal, being from a stable, wealthy family, to have his choice of suitable (to him) women who did *not* come with the burden of debt.

Answer: Cal, who was quite rich and prominent, would have fully investigated the family's debts or other concerns. To avoid any social embarrassment, scandals, or lingering complications, he would likely pay off the remaining debts. Despite Cal's despicable character, he loves Rose, and that is the price of marrying her. In this era, women had many restrictions and few legal rights, so even as Cal's wife, Rose would have no direct access to her husband's money. She would probably receive a small monthly allowance and her expenditures would be closely monitored. Rose and her mother may not have had any money, but they are socially prominent and respected, and that would be an asset to Cal.

raywest

Answer: Rose's mother wanted Rose to marry Cal, so they had joint finances. With joint finances Rose would be able to get money to pay off her family's debt.

Ssiscool

Question: Who's the actor that played the jumper...? IMDB doesn't say... I thought I heard once that it's Mel Gibson's brother? He looks like the character "Johnny" in Mad Max.

Answer: The jumper's name was Len McCleary. He was played by Michael Shaner and is credited for the role in the film (and on IMDB).

Bishop73

Answer: Also, "Johnny The Boy" from the first Mad Max film was played by Tim Burns, according to Wikipedia; not only is he a completely different actor, but he is also obviously not Mel Gibson's brother.

zendaddy621

Question: V has shipped and delivered mass quantities of his outfit to just about every citizen in London. How did he manage to ship and deliver those packages when everyone is out looking for him?

Answer: It is never explicitly stated he worked alone. He had help keeping Evey locked up for example.

lionhead

Answer: They received the costumes in the mail, it was been easy for him it gets it shipped, especially the people who supported his cause. He never had any help imprisoning Evey. He played all the characters. That's why you never saw their faces.

Question: What exactly is "snow blowing" referred to by Isabelle in Stepmom?

Answer: This site isn't the proper place to explain what "snow blowing" is. I would suggest you look up the term on Urban Dictionary, but be aware of its graphic description.

Bishop73

Question: There's probably an obvious answer here; but why does Miraz wait until his wife gives birth to his child before killing Caspian? If Miraz wanted to take the throne, he could have killed Caspian any time after Caspian's father died (I think he died but can't remember the movie that well) so that he would be the next successor.

Answer: Prior to the birth of Miraz's son, Miraz had no heir. So his nephew, Caspian, was heir to the throne after Miraz. With the birth of his son, he didn't want there to be any questions as to who would be heir.

Bishop73

Question: Where were Natasha and Yelena taken to in the beginning?

Answer: After leaving Ohio, the "family" went to Cuba to meet up with General Dreykov. From there, the girls were taken to the Red Room located in Belarus.

Bishop73

Question: At the end, Henry goes back to the meadow. Alba is there, now 9 yrs old, and the Gomez kids are there also. Henry says that they've gotten so big. Alba sends them to go tell Claire that he's back, but Claire is young again, so how are Gomez's kids there? Alba and Henry time travel yes, but Claire is young again, so how are the other kids there as well? I'm confused or just not seeing it right.

Answer: Not sure what you mean by Claire being "young again." Henry dies when Alba is five years old. His younger time-traveling self reappears when she is nine, so that is only four years later. Claire would barely have aged in that short amount of time. The young Gomez children, however, would have grown quite a bit in four years.

raywest

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