Question: When McClane asks Barnes to 'break the code' on one of the baddies' Walkie Talkies, Barnes tells him it is impossible as it is a 10 button device with a 6 digit readout..."There could be a million combinations!" How can there be a million combinations? Surely the largest number on a 6 digit readout is 999,999.
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Answer: Totally agree with the other answer, but also, someone saying, "There could be a million combinations!" can also just be a deliberate hyperbole, and never meant to be taken literally. It's like saying, "I told you that a thousand times already."
Except that a 6-digit code literally has a million combinations. It's not hyperbole at all.
Oh really? No kidding? Never disputed that there was one million combinations. The character, however, could have intended his comment as a hyperbolized, off-the-cuff remark that was not meant to be an exact number count. He said, "There COULD be a million combinations!" He did not say, "There are precisely one million combinations." He could have meant it either way. There was more than one way to interpret what he said.
This is a strange situation because the wording suggests that Barnes is using hyperbole ("there COULD be a million combinations..."), but mathematically the number of possible combinations with a 0-9 keypad and a 6 digit readout is exactly 1 million (10x10x10x10x10x10 = 1,000,000). So he is technically not using hyperbole but that was his intent. So it's both hyperbole and not hyperbole at the same time. It's kind of fascinating, actually.
Question: How did Hank's wife Janet survive all those years in the quantum realm?
Answer: Hank asks Janet a question about the energy from her hands, and she hints that the quantum realm changes you: not just adaptation but evolution (or mutation!) which gave her certain abilities which may have helped her survive. It's also hinted that she was involved with/accepted into a civilization which existed in the quantum realm and you see a city in the distance as they depart.
Question: Watson gets absorbed into the Darkness, becoming a part of it, so how was he able to appear and open the attic window to let Sara and Eddie escape?
Answer: The Darkness was so focused on Sara and Eddie that Watson used his few seconds of freedom to help them.
Question: How is the "no fighting on holy ground" rule enforced? I really can't see a guy like the Kurgan, who seems to have no sense of honor to speak of, following the rule willfully, unless there was some severe punishment for breaking the rule.
Answer: What the punishment is isn't shown in this movie, but since even the Kurgan follows it, it must be high. In Highlander 3 we see that fighting on holy ground at least destroys the weapons they are fighting with (although only Macleod's for some reason), it's possible the ultimate penalty is given when an immortal kills another immortal on holy ground. A good guess is the penalty is death.
Answer: The "No Fighting on Holy Ground" is considered a sacred rule. Like being quiet in church, a funeral or any religious service. If any immortal would break this rule he was not be honorable and not subject to any of the other rules. Like fighting one on one and using hired thugs to capture an immortal holding him down to take his head.
Question: When Russell can't climb the hose from Carl's house in the sky, Carl turns to Russell and shouts out "Caw, caw! Raar! Caw, caw! Raar!" as he goes up the ladder on the airship. Why is he saying that? At the end, even the audience said this as that kids received the badges on the stage. What's the meaning behind the words?
Chosen answer: Russell is part of a group called the Wilderness Explorers I think the whole "caw caw roar" thing might be something that the kids in the pack always do. Kind of like a special salute or signal.
Question: After Laurie stabs Michael in the chest when he attacks her in the closet, she turns her back on him and lays down for a rest. This happens after she saw him survive getting stabbed in the neck with a knitting needle, so why would she be so certain he's dead? Why not either make certain he's dead by, say, taking the knife and stabbing him in the head, or just get out of there?
Answer: Because you might not die from a wound in the neck. So she thought a knife to the chest was enough to kill him.
Question: It is quite obvious that both Hans and Karl are Germans. So how is this possible that, when Hans ordered Karl to shoot the glass (Schieß dem Fenster) in German, Karl didn't understand it? He complied with this order only after Hans repeated it in English.
Answer: Karl understood what Hans was saying in German. He hesitated because he was puzzled by the request, probably unaware, unlike Hans, that John would have to run through shattered glass while barefooted. Hans repeating it in English is merely a plot device so that the audience understands what he's saying without subtitles being used and it emphasizes Hans' urgency.
My interpretation is that when Hans said it in German, he said it too quietly for Karl to hear. When Hans repeated his command in English, he said it louder.
Question: After Sly jumps onto the lifeboat and they are in the water, wouldn't a propeller from a boat moving forward push water and objects away from the prop? Instead they are getting sucked under. (00:33:20)
Answer: A propeller sucks in from one side and pushes away from the other side.
Question: Why is Teasle so against allowing Rambo to come to town to get something to eat at the beginning? And what's with Galt being so harsh and brutal to Rambo when he's in prison, and then becoming obsessed with wanting to kill Rambo after he escapes? What is the character motivation for Galt hating Rambo so much?
Question: I've been told stargate Atlantis was cancelled because it was too expensive to make. Is this true?
Answer: True, and the reason is complicated. Production costs were rising and it was announced that Season 5 would be the last, but there was to be a direct-to-DVD movie after the series ended, with more movies to follow. The movie was never made, and while there were later discussions about a revived Season 6, the MGM studio was undergoing financial difficulties, eventually going bankrupt. The project, after numerous failed attempts to negotiate with other production companies, was eventually shelved.
Question: It is revealed at the end of the film that Gordon is in fact the true Fester. However, all the photos and Gomez's home movie show young Fester as being completely bald. Then how did Gordon manage to have a full head of hair which he had to shave off in order to initially pose as Fester?
Answer: Presumably when Fester was lost in the Bermuda Triangle, whatever supernatural forces caused him to lose his memory also made him grow hair. This gets reversed at the end of the movie when he's zapped by lightning, restoring his memories and destroying his hair follicles as well.
Answer: I guess we assume he always shaved his head.
Question: Why does Landa allow Shosanna to go free at the beginning instead of shooting her and killing her?
Answer: Because he's arrogant, and it's all a game to him. He figures he'll get another shot at capturing her, so he decides to let her go (maybe also out of recognition of her bravery), to continue the chase another time. Why not? She's one fugitive on the run, and he has time and the entire apparatus of the German state at his disposal.
Answer: It could be a compassionate act, though leaving her alive as the lone survivor after seeing her family killed is also cruel and inflicts life-long emotional pain. He may have also have had moral issues about killing a defenseless woman, even a Jewish one, or considered her too insignificant to bother with.
Question: When John sees a group of SWAT guys head to the building, why does he react by saying, "No, no, no!" Wasn't having the police come to help exactly what he wanted?
Answer: As you may have noticed in the immediate run-up to this, he has been trying to warn them against taking direct action. He has tried to tell them that they are fighting heavily armed and highly trained terrorists who are well-prepared to handle a small group of policemen overtly entering through the front door. So, he was saying that because he knew the SWAT men were about to get hurt, or worse, in their idiotic attempt to, as Dep. Chief Dwayne puts it, "kick ass."
Question: Why does it take Taylor so long for him to figure out he's really still on Earth? Shouldn't the fact that the apes all speak perfect English be a dead giveaway?
Answer: This is an issue with the "Planet of the Apes" films. The astronauts never question why the apes speak English, why all animals (like horses) are identical to ones on Earth, the vegetation is the same, the star constellations have not changed, etc. You really just have to attribute it to a "suspension of disbelief" where we are expected to accept the premise that the main character does not work out the truth until the big "reveal" at the end of the film.
Answer: At the time, it was a standard film convention to have the characters speak the language of the country that produces the film. Sure, they could all speak "ape", but that would have been an added layer of complexity (and pre-production) that just wasn't done in Hollywood at that time. Even most WWII films had the Germans, French, etc, all speak English. But to give an in-film explanation: he's on a planet where apes evolved from humans just like him, so maybe he just assumed that English had evolved there, as well. In a universe as vast as ours, it's actually a statistical certainty that English has independently arisen on another planet.
Question: TV Tropes says there's an episode where multiple tornadoes come down on Earl's hometown, one after another - anybody know what that episode was?
Answer: Sounds like s04e11, "Nature's Game Show."
Question: How does Jake survive despite being seen eaten by the shark?
Answer: We never see Jake "eaten", he is merely shown being dragged underwater by the shark. Off screen, the shark simply let go of Jake and didn't kill him. In a movie full of factual errors and plot holes, this bit is actually somewhat realistic. Sharks typically do not eat humans, but will maul people on occasion and let go, presumably because they don't like the taste. How Jake survives underwater for minutes on end is not addressed. Originally, Jake was meant to be killed by the shark but for whatever reason, it was decided that Jake should survive and make a surprise appearance after the shark has been killed.
Question: Has David Lynch ever explained why the beings in the lodge talk funny?
Answer: The answer to pretty much any question beginning with "Has David Lynch ever explained _______?" is: no.
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Answer: You forgot 000000.
Jon Sandys ★