Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: When Ryback frees the other men they tell him the six of them got trapped. How did they manage to do that when everyone was in the lounge for the party?

Answer: The men were probably part of the skeleton crew that the Admiral ordered to remain on duty, others may have been running late trying to finish their duties to get to the party. One or two may have been giving Gunners Mate Calaway a tour of the old ship, where he served during World War II.

Question: When the motorcycle went into the trees and was pulled out, was that in the script?

Answer: Also, those weren't stuntmen.

Answer: No but the accident was left in the film.

Answer: In a way. During the dinner party, when Donovan comes into talk to Indy the band is playing a soft version of the Imperial March theme. You can probably hear it best when Donovan's wife walks in.

Bishop73

Question: How did Lawanda get rabies if she was never bitten by her dog?

Answer: She didn't. Junior deliberately contaminated her blood sample with the rabid dog blood he swiped from the vets.

Brian Katcher

Answer: The scene was never shown on TV or on video either but at some point Junior was able to get a sample of blood from a rabid dog that was in the back of a van that belonged to the two vets, but we never saw it happen.

Question: Why was Will starting to become a "fish person"? Davy Jones and his crew only turned into "fishes" because he neglected his duties. If Will is still undertaking his duties then he shouldn't start having growths such as the algae and the starfish (seen when Henry summons the Dutchman at the start of the film).

Answer: There was never an explanation and it was just glossed over. The first Pirates film was meant as a stand-alone movie. Due to its phenomenal success, the story line was reversed-engineered into a trilogy, with many implausible and/or inconsistent plot elements added. When the fourth and fifth films were made, there were even more inconsistencies, including that Will, who once broke the Dutchman curse, is now inexplicably cursed, along with the Flying Dutchman ship and crew. One explanation is that the curse was reactivated after Davy Jones was somehow resurrected. Then it was supposed to be that the only way to break all sea curses was by destroying Poseidon's trident. It was all badly muddled.

raywest

Question: Why does the snitch at the pier claim that Nordburg was a dirty cop?

Dangar

Answer: Because Nordberg was working undercover in Ludwig's organization; not knowing this, the snitch would only see him working with Ludwig's crew, and would thus believe he was dirty.

Question: Game 4 ALCS, Sox down 3-0 in games and 4-3 on scoreboard in last of 8th. We see Mariano Rivera tagging first base for the third out of the inning. We hear Joe Buck's call, ending with, "Into the ninth!" However, on this video of FOX broadcast, his call is distinctly different: some words are changed, and his tone is subdued. And, no "Into the ninth!" Why would they redo it? Is it b/c FOX and/or MLB holds rights to the broadcast? Meaning they needed Buck to recreate the call? Thanks. (01:29:37)

Answer: That's exactly it. MLB is very protective of all its audio/visual property, hence that disclaimer in every game that no part of the broadcast may be used "without the consent of Major League Baseball." The rights to such cost a LOT of money, so, it would have been far more economical to simply hire Joe Buck to record a new audio track.

Question: If the Borg can survive in the vacuum of space without suits (decompression liquefying their organic skin aside), Hawk also should've been able to once assimilated. They obviously had to take his suit off to assimilate him, but why did they put it back on him before sending him back out to help his new comrades?

Answer: He had only just been assimilated and may not have yet have been modified with more specialized Borg technology that allowed the drones to survive in open space using a force field.

raywest

Answer: They assimilated him through his suit.

Question: Red quotes Andy a price of $10 for the rock hammer, and associated fees. Seems like a lot of money for the time period, doesn't it? And what did prisoners get paid, if anything?

Answer: $10 in the '40s is equivalent to roughly $180-$190 today, so yes, rather pricey for an item that retails for under $20 nowadays. Still, Red charges his fees, plus a significant mark-up due to the increased risk of smuggling contraband that could be perceived (by prison officials) as a weapon. The estimate of the cost of the hammer comes from the novel. And no, the prisoners likely weren't paid (even if, at that time, they had the option, the warden is so corrupt he'd likely keep their wages for himself); according to the novel, Andy smuggled a few hundred dollars into prison with him, hidden in...let's just call it a secret place.

Answer: He reprogrammed the computer so that it was possible to win. But winning and losing wasn't really the point; it was a test of character, gauging how potential captains dealt with a situation with only bad options available.

Cubs Fan

Question: Is the kitchen ghost woman the mother of gunshot boy?

Answer: Multiple ghosts just gravitated to where Cole was. It didn't have anything to do with the spirits having any relationship with one another. They actually seem oblivious to other ghosts.

raywest

Answer: Highly unlikely. The ghosts are there because they have unfinished business regarding their deaths. The woman you see is raging about having a lousy husband, she was probably abused and possibly killed by him. That has nothing to do with the boy that shot himself.

lionhead

She killed herself. Remember, she shows her slit writs and says 'Look what you made me do!'

Brian Katcher

Question: How did Quicksilver manage to get the arcade game, the table tennis and what looks like a sound system in the basement? They are very heavy and even with his speed would be impossible to move.

Answer: There could be a basement door, so he wouldn't need the stairs, and with a hand truck, even the heavier objects would be easy to move.

Brian Katcher

He's able to move several people out of the Mansion when it is destroyed, so perhaps his powers allow him to move things that big quickly. He can also push a cart or trolley at speed, remember.

Answer: He doesn't have to steal the actual heavy items, he can steal money and buy the heavy items and have them delivered. His mother is a single parent so it wouldn't be very difficult for him to arrange delivery of items while she is working. Mom also appears to be completely aware of Peter's crimes and doesn't really seem all that concerned.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: He could have just hired a moving company to do it all for him.

Phaneron

And his mother wouldn't have found that suspicious? Or the movers? He's a teenager.

Brian Katcher

His mother seemingly already knows that he steals stuff. It's her house after all. She thinks the heroes are the police when they first show up to talk to him, and she visits him in the basement in the next film, and would have seen all the stuff he has down there. As for the movers, I used to work for a moving company, and not once did we ever ask a customer where they acquired something we were moving. They would be there to do a job.

Phaneron

That totally doesn't make any sense. The idea is that he stole these items. Would he call a moving company to steal an arcade game out of an arcade hall? How does he get the arcade game in the first place? Does he leave it on the curb of the arcade hall (or shop) so they can pick it up and drop it off at his house?

lionhead

He most likely stole money and legit bought all those things. He likely helps his mother with the bills and stuff, so she doesn't ask him how he does it. Pietro is not known to be some master criminal with bad character, so he likely doesn't steal from ordinary people. The way he broke Magneto out of the prison, it seems he knows his way around a vault.

How he gets the arcade game is another question entirely. Maybe he stole it from a gas station or a restaurant that was near an apartment complex, but was still far from his home, and arranged to have it picked up at the apartment complex, so it would look like he lived there and was moving it to a new place. Alternatively, he could have had friends help him load it onto a truck.

Phaneron

Question: I don't quite understand why Dr. Manhattan had to kill Rorschach. That is, I don't quite get why that was the only solution. Rorschach was a valuable member of the Watchmen, and in the type of world they were in (chaos, corruption, murder, etc) one would think that they would want to keep as many of themselves banded together as possible. Couldn't some sort of negotiation or compromise have been reached/agreed to by Rorschach instead of him being killed?

Answer: He has spent years as a costumed vigilante despite the fact that it was illegal. He has a very strict idea of what is right ("never compromise") and has proven himself incapable of doing otherwise. So no, there was no real chance of negotiating with him - Rorschach himself made it clear he'd have to die if they wanted his silence.

Garlonuss

Death was not the only choice. Doc M could easily have teleported/banished Rorschach to Mars/anywhere secluded in an oxygen bubble. He could have spared his life and just made him mute or manipulate his brain chemistry/atoms to remove the memory of what happened. The point is Doc M is all powerful and could manipulate matter at his whim; death was just a plot device creating a chance of an emotive martyrdom/sacrificial ending.

Ethically speaking, exiling him to Mars or erasing his memory of the event can be considered just as cruel as killing him, because then his agency is being taken away from him. Rorshach's malcontent with the situation poses a problem for the other heroes, and since Dr. Manhattan isn't willing to let him tell the truth of what happened, he obliges Rorschach's demand that he kill him instead.

Phaneron

Question: James Harrison reports to general James Longstreet that the union Army of the Potomac is moving in their direction. If that is true, why didn't General Stuart report it? Stuart's mission was to report any movement by the union Army of the Potomac.

Answer: Stuart was away from the army at that critical moment. He had fallen into the trap of reading his own news press clippings about being a dashing cavalry general, and he was off trying to ride around the entire Union army in order to make headlines. His absence (and his cavalry's "eyes") kept General Robert E. Lee from making an informed decision about his army's disposition and set in motion a chain of events that probably helped lead to the Confederates defeat at Gettysburg.

Answer: As noted elsewhere here Jeannie is speaking Farsi.

What are the several things she says in Farsi? Please translate.

Answer: Regarding the three wishes, there was never any set-in-stone rule or belief. This appears to originate from "The Ridiculous Wishes" or "The Three Ridiculous Wishes" that is a French literary fairy tale written by Charles Perrault and was published in 1697. It sort of set the standard for genie rules that later appeared in other folk tales and then in movies and TV shows. Like vampire lore, common details can be changed by any author to suit their story.

raywest

Answer: She's speaking Persian. And there was never a 3 wish rule. When Tony freed her, he became her master, and she'd do anything for him (i.e. grant his every wish).

Bishop73

Question: Why did the shuttle craft only have room for two crew members when there are seven of them? The shuttle is mainly an escape vessel if the ship was in danger and their lives were at risk hence the stasis capsules, so there should have been accommodation for seven.

Answer: Considering "The Company" that owned the mining space ship was notoriously cheap (and corrupt) about providing their crew with necessities, it is hardly surprising they had inadequate safety equipment, like enough stasis capsules. Also, the company's real mission (known only to Ash) was to collect the alien creature at any cost while the crew was deemed "expendable," so no need to provide them with a viable escape method.

raywest

Question: The record shop girl gives Ethan a record. Where does it come from? The way her arm moves it's like she receives it from someone at her right.

Answer: She gets it from under the counter. It's hard to see the way the shot is framed, but you can just see her arm movements as she reaches under the counter, slides the record out, then rotates her arm (out of frame) to hand the record to Ethan.

Sierra1

Question: Just after Maverick gets put in jail he makes one of the officers hold up a tablet for them, showing the lawbreaking race. This doesn't seem likely at all to me: 1, wouldn't this encourage more lawbreaking? 2, surely an officer has better things to do than stand there holding a tablet. 3, I call this an objectification of the officer (reduced to a stand). 4, inmates making their officers doing what they want can't end up good. I'm not wrong here, or what?

Answer: In this instance he was a civilian in military prison. Notice he wore civilian clothes while his cellmate still had on garb. The rules process is different for civilians held in military prison so it is quite reasonable that would happen.

Question: Why do Rorschach and Night Owl go searching at Veidt Enterprises for further clues about Pyramid Deliveries? They go there after interrogating the guy at Happy Harry's about Roy Victor Chess. He tells them that Janey Slater had him give the sealed envelope (with the assasination orders) to Chess. So is this the link, that they know Slater is also working for Veidt Enterprises? Furthermore: Can it be assumed that Slater was in on the staged assassination on Adrian Veidt, as she was delivering the envelope? Or did she also not know what was in it?

Answer: They go to Veidt's place because they think he will have business contacts that will help them uncover more about what is going on at Pyramid Transnational. It's only once they look through Veidt's office that they learn that Pyramid Transnational is a subsidiary of Veidt's corporation. The man at the bar mentioned that Janey's job at Pyramid was to give work to ex-cons, so it's unlikely she was in on the red herring assassination attempt on Veidt. She would have just been doing her job to give assignments to people under her.

Phaneron

Question: How does Cassandra manage to find Brett's home address and track him down there? There's no suggestion he gives her any other information than his mobile number, which isn't enough to find an address.

swordfish

Chosen answer: It's possible to find someone's address using a reverse directory (using a cell or landline phone number to link to an address). I've found people's addresses by putting their name and/or phone number into a search engine.

raywest

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