Question: Why was Hal mad and blamed Gabe for Sarah's death? It wasn't his fault. Also, how did Sarah get to that height at the beginning of the movie with no climbing experience? I mean, I can barely climb an indoor climbing wall, but she can climb a mountain like a walk in the park. (02:16:00 - 02:16:35)
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Question: When Bellatrix sees the Sword of Gryffindor, why did she assume that Hermione had broken into her vault when it was below the icy lake the whole time?
Answer: To protect the Sword of Gryffindor for Harry, Dumbledore had a replica made. Bellatrix acquired the fake sword (unaware it was a copy) and placed it in her Gringott's vault. Upon seeing the real one, Bellatrix assumed it was stolen from the vault. The genuine sword hidden in the pond wasn't there the entire time. When Snape discovered where Harry and the others were hiding in the Forest of Dean, he magically sent the sword to the frozen pond and then led Harry to it with his Doe Patronus.
Answer: Because of the goo that was on it.
Question: What is the liquid that comes out of the first tripod in the movie when it sounds the horn? I think it could be blood, but it was the first tripod to rise and it hasn't harvested any humans yet. Can someone please explain?
Answer: As it emerges, a lot of dirt is falling off it. I can see no liquid falling off. If you mean at the moment it sounds its horn, that's just more dirt falling off. It falls much later, probably because of the vibrations from the horn blowing.
Answer: It looks to be a combination of dirt, dust, steam, and water. As it's breaking through the ground, spouting water is erupting, which could be a broken water main. The machine is probably generating heat, causing the steam. The dirt is covering the hull and falling off as it rises. The machine also appears to vent some type of gas or exhaust on one side after it's fully risen.
Question: Can someone explain the scene where Patty tries to get a $5,000 loan, but she would need to deposit $5,800 to qualify? As she herself points out, she wouldn't even need a loan if she had $5,800. The employee might not be friendly, but the offer still doesn't make sense if the company wants to be in business.
Answer: A reputable bank requires borrowers to have an adequate income, a good credit rating, and some type of collateral (property, investments, other assets, etc,) above the amount of the loan in the event the customer defaults. It's been years since I've seen the movie, so I don't remember the timeline of events or what the loan was for, but if Patty and Drake had already bought the house, that could be used as collateral, though they might not want to risk it for such a low amount. If they hadn't bought the house, and had no other assets, it's highly unlikely they'd qualify for a loan.
And plenty of people might not "need" a loan because they've got the money saved, but they'd rather take out a loan and make predictable monthly payments they know are well within their means, rather than eat into their savings, leaving them with no safety net if some financial emergency hits.
This is still unrealistic and made up only for the film. No loan company would ever ask a client to put down a payment of that extravagant amount in order to get back the same amount of what they're asking for a loan for. Why on earth would a person take out a loan in the first place if they didn't actually need the money?
Question: How come Officer Ronnie pulled up in the squad car with lights and sirens near where Lee was parked, and just stood outside for a couple moments when there was no emergency in that immediate area (until the creek just started attacking)?
Answer: While what was happening was not yet considered an emergency, a situation was growing, and town residents were becoming somewhat panicked or were confused. Officer Ronnie used his siren and lights as a safety precaution to warn people milling in the street to move away. He also signaled Lee not to drive off because he wanted to talk to him. Ronnie didn't appear to just stand there. He was looking around and assessing the situation while Lee was walking up to him.
Question: In a few episodes, the FBI agents will walk into a room and say "smell that?" and the reply is "shots fired", supposedly because they can smell the distinct odor of burnt gunpowder. Then they'll look behind a desk and find a dead body in a pool of blood. But wouldn't the smell of a dead person, or the blood, be way more overpowering? Or would it take too long for a dead body to start to smell? And how long would the smell of gunfire in an enclosed room last?
Question: Why wasn't Andromeda spread by the wind, killing birds, wildlife, and individuals in the area around Piedmont?
Answer: The satellite containing the Andromeda strain was recovered quickly, helping contain the contagion. Also, Piedmont was an isolated town, further limiting the spread. Dead birds and other animals were shown, but most would be happening off-camera. The scientists also learned later that Andromeda quickly mutated into a non-lethal form but one that caused certain synthetic materials to dissolve, creating further havoc. To eradicate the strain, clouds were seeded to produce rain, which swept Andromeda out to sea where the alkaline ocean water rendered it inert. Would add that movies at this time and before had stricter standard codes and did not show excessive blood and gore like they do today.
I'm Goin' to Praiseland - S12-E19
Question: What does Reverend Lovejoy mean when he gives Lisa the "Unitarian ice cream", but the bowl has nothing in it? What is the joke?
Question: In the end scene with the tripod that has no shield, what are the black tentacle things hanging from under the tripod?
Question: Unless it's an oversight, how did the family get their pickup truck from town back to the farm where it was in the first movie without making any sound to alert the creatures?
Question: What made Rose change her mind about marrying Cal? Jack talks to her in the gym. It then goes to a scene of Rose at dinner with her mom and two other women. What happened that made her change her mind?
Answer: When Rose is sitting with her mother and the other two women, she stares at a nearby table, where a woman is correcting her daughter's posture and movements. I think Rose imagined the future. Did she want to be like that woman in ten or so years? Married to Cal, and shaping her own daughter into a socially acceptable young lady?
Answer: Not loving or having any feelings for him in the first place, combined with it being very obvious from the start that her mother only arranged it to get Cal's money, plus the fact that he is possessive, ignorant, emotionally abusive, and violent, combined with her reawakened sense of self and determination inspired by her meeting Jack. She put on a veneer of being committed to Cal and the marriage, and got defensive when Jack called her out on it, because she was trying to do what she was "supposed" to do. Gradually, however, she realised that it was possible to be with someone who valued her and made her happy (Jack), and that she shouldn't submit to marrying Cal just out of financial and societal pressure.
Some viewers think that Cal actually loved Rose and basically treated her well until she got involved with Jack. He only "snapped" because of the way she changed during the voyage. Of course, we can speculate that he would end up "snapping" someday, no matter what. Even if he and Rose proceeded with their marriage as planned.
Question: What is the device that Ray uses to scan Vigo's painting?
Answer: In the context of the movie, it's simply a piece of Ghostbusting tech that's nature is never really revealed. In real life, it's a modified version of a camera called a "Globuscope." It was invented in the early 1980s and was used to take panoramic-style photographs. So far as I can tell, only a handful were ever produced, and somehow one of them ended up in the movie.
Question: Why did everyone at the baseball game decide to leave upon seeing the meteor descend from the sky?
Answer: It didn't look or act like a normal meteor streaking through the sky and burning up in the atmosphere. It was large, the fiery mass seemed suspended in air, and it was close enough to the ground that spectators, erring on the side of caution, sought shelter.
What does a "normal" flaming meteor look like? How many meteors do you think the people of a small town in upstate NY have seen? Don't know what you mean by "seemed suspended in air." It was passing over and would land miles away, posing zero threat to the people of the town.
1. Smaller and less fiery. 2. Probably lots on TV. 3. Means it was moving slower than a meteor would be expected to move. 4. They had no way of assessing the potential threat. As it turned out, it posed a very real threat to them.
Question: Why did Jack Albertson hate working with Shelley Winters when making this movie?
Answer: There's nothing specific reported about them, but other actors have also expressed disliking working with Shelley Winters. Stella Stevens, who was also in Poseidon, mentioned not getting along with Winters on another movie they made together because she was drinking at the time. Winters had a rather ditzy and brash personality that annoyed some people, which is probably what Albertson was referring to.
Moreover, Albertson once said, "The happiest moment making the movie for me was when she died."
Question: Were all-male jury panels the norm in the 1950s?
Answer: Depends where, and the type of case. At the time the film was made, women were still barred from juries in three states (South Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama); it wasn't until 1994 that the Supreme Court ruled that lawyers could not strike women from juries solely on the basis of gender. SCOTUS had ruled in 1942 that all-male juries were constitutionally acceptable. New York State (where the story is set) had granted women the right to serve on juries in 1927, so an all-male jury may not have been the norm across the board, but the nature of the crime (murder) would have, at the time, allowed lawyers to exclude women at the jury selection stage by citing the unsavoury aspects of the crime and arguing that the details of the case were not "suitable" for women to hear (being such delicate creatures, you understand /s).
Question: Why not take over this planet's cloning process instead of shutting it down and recruiting others to be Stormtroopers, when the clones were 100% obedient and loyal to the Emperor?
Answer: I think recruiting people is one of the sneaky ways of controlling the galaxy. Many Stormtroopers might have spouses and children back home. They could be receiving a tiny salary. Maybe some younger adults are eager to get away from their home planets, as Luke and Anakin both were. Still, others could be criminals who agreed to serve as Stormtroopers instead of another sentence (in "Game of Thrones", some convicted criminals can choose to join the Night's Watch order). These would all be ways to convince more citizens to support the Empire, instead of just training clones.
I'd like to add besides these points that it's possible the cloning process is just too slow and cumbersome for the Emperor. They were useful as shock troops, to fight droid armies. But their numbers were not great enough to cover the entire galaxy as a security force. This especially once the Rebel Alliance shows up. I'd say recruiting people gives him a much-needed manpower boost in a shorter time.
Answer: There would be serious moral and ethical issues about cloning sentient beings just to become mindless, obedient servants/slaves/killers to achieve your cause, regardless of its good intent.
But the Empire clearly doesn't really have moral/ethical issues about most stuff, so that's not really an argument.
Ray West mentions "mindless, obedient" servants, which is a good point. I think an army of "mindless" clones would actually be less effective. Instead, the Emperor claims that the Jedi wanted to overthrow the Senate. If he can persuade a decent number of people to support him, and spread his way of thinking, he can slowly gain more influence around the galaxy.
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Answer: There was no realistic reason. First, the steel buckle on the safety harness would never just bend and break like that. The accident was not Gabe's fault, but Hal is supposedly so angry and grief-stricken that he unfairly claims Gabe ignored his advice when rescuing her. The movie uses melodramatic plotting to contrive a conflict between the two men. It's also unrealistic that Sarah, an inexperienced climber, was able to make such a difficult climb, even with Hal's help. The movie had many plot holes.
raywest ★