Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Free Hat - S6-E9

Question: What is the name of the song that the band plays at the beginning of the announcement of Hat McCullough's release from prison? It's a pretty common song used in films and television, but I've never heard its name. I tried to use the Shazam app on my phone to identify it, but no luck.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa.

Bishop73

Question: Why didn't Bail Organa have R2-D2's memory wiped?

Answer: R2-D2 isn't known for being a loud mouth like C-3P0 is. 3P0 is very likely to spit out valuable information or information about the Skywalker twins being born because that's just how he is. There isn't that danger with R2. Also R2 is an astromech mechanic. Most wouldn't think of him holding information like a protocol droid would.

Quantom X

Answer: This is because only C3PO knows the identity of Leia and Luke, since he was around Anakin and Padme whilst pregnant, and thus most likely knows it's a twin and the identity of the father, whilst R2D2 doesn't.

lionhead

C-3PO could have easily told R2-D2 about Luke and Leia while thinking that he wouldn't say anything. I wouldn't say that R2-D2 was a blabbermouth but he did accidentally tell Luke about the private message for Obi-Wan in ANH.

Answer: R2-D2 is better capable of not revealing any secret information.

Rassdyt

Question: At the end of the movie, Will Smith (the older one) has a present for his son/brother/younger self; his official documents he apparently did not have. Passport, driving license and birth certificate; he congratulates him on his name choice. And he gives those to him as Junior is walking out of the college campus, which he obviously is already frequenting and where he made many friends. I know the US system allows undocumented students, but can you even enroll without the most basic ID? In particular since he is in Georgia, which reportedly is one of the strictest states about it.

Sammo

Answer: I worked at a university for over 30 years. A person cannot enroll in an accredited university or college without proper identification, educational history, transcripts, test scores, financial information, etc.

raywest

Question: Unless he's carrying a lot of money how does Forrest get those different clothes while he's running those several years?

Rob245

Answer: Or he bought them cheap from discount stores or charity shops, or they were given to him. There are lots of possibilities and this is in a movie deliberately loaded with coincidence and spectacle. It's speculation to go into more detail.

Answer: Forrest would not need to carry large amounts of cash with him, which would be dangerous. His business partner, Dan Taylor, could wire or transfer money to a bank wherever Forrest would be that would cover any expenses. Forrest could also be using a credit card, or a better option, a debit card that could have a small balance that Dan would add to as needed. If it was ever stolen, having a small amount on balance would protect Forest.

raywest

Answer: Hack, who was best known as the "Charlie" perfume model, was brought in after Kate Jackson was let go following numerous disputes she'd had with producers over script quality. At the same time, ratings for the show had been falling. Hack, Tiffany Welles, was supposed to add more glamour and a mystique intrigue to the show. While there was an initial spike in the ratings, they soon declined again. Hack was let go after one season and replaced by Tanya Roberts, who also failed to improve ratings, leading to the show's cancellation.

raywest

Thanks. Still let's face, the novelty had worn off and it was just a T and A show. I mean, anyone hear of anything worth watching starring any of them outside of this say a few things like Sheena?

Rob245

Farrah Fawcett probably had the more notable post-Charlie career. She left a silly hit show to pursue more serious work. She received good reviews for such movies as The Burning Bed, Extremities, etc.

raywest

Question: Three questions here: Why does Jenny insist Forrest touch her chest, why does she go all the way with him then leave, and wouldn't this be considered a crime on her part as he's only got an IQ of 75?

Rob245

Answer: Jenny loves Forrest and cares about him deeply. She knows he's in love with her, so she gives him that "gift" before leaving. They were both consenting adults, so unless there was a third party who insisted Forrest couldn't give consent there wouldn't be a legal issue.

Answer: As for the last part of your question, it's usually viewed that a person with a mental handicap can still legally give consent for sex so long as they display knowledge and voluntariness when it comes to the encounter. (Aka, they have a basic understanding what is happening, know the positives and negatives, and want to proceed.) Given that Forrest has been shown to be pretty high functioning (he's quirky and slow, but can do a lot of the things other people can, and has shown a lot of fields of talent), and would obviously consent because he loves her, Jenny shouldn't be in any legal trouble. If Forrest was more severely handicapped or showed a bigger lack of awareness, then that might be an issue. I actually read up about this years ago because I'm in the autism spectrum, and a previous (non-disabled) sexual partner I had expressed their concern about this very topic.

TedStixon

Question: Was part of the reason Anakin saved Palpatine because he saw him as a friend, and did Palpatine see Anakin as one, or did he just need him for his goals?

Answer: Anakin saved Palpatine because he believed (due to Palpatine's manipulation) that Padme would die without his help. Palpatine wanted Anakin as an apprentice, not a friend. He sensed the power in Anakin and knew he would make a powerful apprentice.

Question: What is the reason Phil's in this time loop? Just to force him to be nice or be stuck for eternity like that?

Rob245

Answer: No explanation is given in the film. In an early draft of the script it is revealed a spurned lover cursed him, but that concept was dropped. The writer and directer felt it was more interesting to have the reason left a mystery.

Question: If the Zurg from the previous movie was the one transported to the daycare at the credits, what happened to the Buzz that decided to stay with him at the end of that movie?

Answer: We are never told that it was the same Zurg toy. If it was then perhaps the other Buzz toy was kept by the person who owned him.

Question: When Robert was talking to Anna and he got angry and smashed the plate, was it because he really was saving the bacon (which is what he told Anna) or I think it was because he had been broadcasting for survivors for YEARS and had come to believe he was the last being on earth and he had just killed his only companion, then this woman just shows up and is talking about an entire community of survivors. What is the reason for his anger?

Answer: It's all of those things basically, but mostly the loss of Sam. He has been alone for very long and couldn't handle the sudden changes, all of them, the biggest one losing his companion.

lionhead

Answer: He was angry because he kept feeding Sam vegetables not the bacon. Now some stranger cooked the bacon after Sam's death.

Question: During the war council when Krupke shows up, how does he know where the gangs were? They didn't have cars, so how did he track them down?

Answer: Officer Krupke and his partner pulled up in the squad car in front of Doc's earlier that night and asked the Jets why they were all there blocking the sidewalk, then mentioned that he knew they were cooking up something at the dance, and warned that he's coming back. Later, during the war council it's Lieutenant Schrank who shows up at Doc's. So how did Schrank know to show up there? Krupke could've told Schrank something may be going on at Doc's involving the two gangs.

Super Grover

Question: Why didn't Little Bill just dump his wife? Throw her out? Why kill her instead?

Rob245

Answer: His wife's constant infidelity finally reached its tipping point for him, so in what was likely a moment of temporary insanity, he decided to punish her and her lover by shooting them. His subsequent suicide could just as well be from the sudden realization of what he just did.

Phaneron

Question: At the start of the film when the facehugger tries to get into Newt's cryotube, why does it use brute force instead of acid to gain entry?

Darth Crucible

Answer: It does use acid, but it has acid for blood so it needs to harm itself first to produce the acid.

lionhead

In the first Alien, didn't the facehugger use acid to get into Kane's helmet? It wasn't bleeding acid.

It actually isn't shown exactly how the acid was used to get into Kane's helmet. The creature jumps on his helmet and Kane falls over with the creature on the outside and next we see, the creature has melted its way into the helmet. So it could be it cut itself, just as the creature does in Alien 3.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Has there ever been any sort of canonical discussion about the morality of droid treatment in any Star Wars titles? They're intelligent/sentient, are treated well by most people, even like friends/pets by some. And yet they also seem to casually get their minds wiped, or if they're destroyed many people shrug rather than mourn. Tools to some, valued comrades to others, it's just a bit all over the place. Idle thought really.

Jon Sandys

Answer: Lucas has gone on record as to the treatment of droids in Star Wars being a thought-provoking allegory for the way people treat minorities. I've never heard him specifically talk about how it's almost never commented-upon in-universe, but intentionally or not, I'm of the opinion that it's more compelling this way. Why doesn't anybody do anything about the way droids are treated? Well, go around asking people why they don't do anything about the way other people are treated and you'll quickly find out.

TonyPH

Answer: Not in the films, but several of the books removed from canon by Disney mentioned a "droids' rights movement" that decried memory wipes and other dismissals of sentience. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Droid_rights_ (movement).

LorgSkyegon

Solo, which is canon, features a subplot about droid's rights. So not everything has been scrubbed regarding this topic.

BaconIsMyBFF

Chosen answer: Nobody in the Star Wars universe, except on rare occasions, has shown sympathy towards a droid or any AI. Even though these robots learn, they don't really evolve beyond their programming so they aren't considered "alive" (unlike in other fiction like Wall-E), not even by the most sentimental of people. Organic beings develop attachments to droids, but mostly towards their usefulness, not because they like their personality, not even Luke Skywalker towards R2 or Poe towards BB-8. If they are destroyed, too bad. Memory wiping doesn't remove the droid's original programming either, and their way of talking and manners stay.

lionhead

In Episode 2, Obi-Wan makes the offhanded comment "Well, if droids could think there'd be none of us here", implying that droids do not actually possess artificial intelligence. R2-D2 seems to be a particularly unusual droid in that he is uncommonly resilient and steadfast, which makes his allies quite fond of him. Poe and BB-8 appear to have a bond that goes beyond simply being attached to the droid's usefulness, but like you say that appears to be a unique case.

BaconIsMyBFF

Just because he said that doesn't mean they didn't have AI. They think for themselves, so they have AI. Just not as advanced as in other fiction.

lionhead

The point is raised again later in the film when the cloners state that unlike droids, clones can think for themselves.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: I don't think so. Pikachu needs a thunderstone to evolve and I think in that episode Pikachu said it was happy the way it was.

Answer: He refused to! He is also not the only Pokemon in the series to have done that, the first time in episode 14 fighting a Raichu, and then other times in the series (episode 540 comes to mind). Pokemon have their own free will (for being a bunch of critters locked in tiny balls...) and some are so happy with themselves that they prefer not to turn into their evolved version. Which usually is way less cute, incidentally.

Sammo

Isn't there an episode where Pikachu is actively trying not to evolve?

Ssiscool

Unlike most Pokemon which evolve as they gain levels, Pikachu can't evolve into Raichu unless it uses a Thunder Stone. In Indigo League episode "Electric Shock Showdown", Pikachu explicitly refuses to evolve, wanting to win its rematch with Lt. Surge's Raichu itself. Pikachu again refused to evolve in the Diamond and Pearl episode "Pika and Goliath!", simply resolving to train harder.

LorgSkyegon

What I heard is that pikachu is the mascot of the franchise, and evolving it into raichu the anime would enrage a lot of pokemon fans.

Even if Pikachu had evolved into raichu, wouldn't there be a risk that it would decrease the number of the show's viewers?

Head - S5-E25

Question: Assuming the mother's not arrested despite assaulting the teacher, shouldn't her son be removed from her home given how horrible a drunkard she is and could abuse him?

Rob245

Answer: Whether or not she was arrested, the court could order an evaluation regarding her fitness as a parent, require counseling, anger management courses, alcohol rehab and AA meetings, be under CPS supervision, etc.

raywest

Question: The whole plot of this movie makes no sense. What was the purpose of having all the soldiers "brainwashed' when they just used one to carry out what they wanted? Plus, why go to the trouble of doing all this when they could have just hired an assassin? Plus, how did they know, in 1952, that this man would be chosen to be the Vice-President?

wolfman

Answer: It's confusing. The entire platoon was brainwashed to be witnesses and verify the fabricated story that Raymond was a "war hero" who saved their lives. Raymond was unknowingly mentally programmed to become a sleeper agent to be used when needed by the Russians or Chinese. He was chosen because Raymond's monstrous mother, Eleanor Iselin, was married to a ruthless, ambitious "Joseph McCarthy-esque" U.S. Senator. She was propelling her husband into being their party's presidential candidate and contacted Communist agents to arrange for her husband's political rival to be assassinated. She was initially unaware that her son would be the chosen assassin. Raymond, being brainwashed, never realised he was a programmed assassin who would have no memory of executing his assignments. He apparently was recruited because of his step-father's political position. It is a rather incredulous plot, to say the least.

raywest

Answer: Most likely by smell or other sensory perception. We already know that the aliens inside the hosts adapt and take on DNA and characteristics from them, like most being humanoid from the humans or the one in Alien 3 being more canine since it came from a dog. It's likely that the creatures inside also alter the host's body chemically to better suit their growth in such a short amount of time. This would also be necessary in other situations where the aliens are catching humans or the humans are being exposed to eggs, and the aliens wouldn't kill them or take them again knowing they already have a young one inside them. Now in Alien 3, it's not necessarily the case that the alien knew that it was actually a Queen inside Ripley, but at the very least, it knew one of its own kind was already inside her and knew not to harm her.

Quantom X

Question: If they're spies then why are the four shown being booked in regular jail? Why aren't they in a federal prison?

Rob245

Answer: Because it's just a movie, it's a comedy, and the filmmakers are not concerned with exact, realistic details. They expect the audience to just enjoy the silliness and not be overly concerned about reality. The two other Home Alone films employed similar "suspension of disbelief" in the plots.

raywest

Exactly like what happened to the guy that gave them the chip. Wouldn't he be arrested too, but we don't hear anything about what happened to him. I'm assuming since he had a plan to catch he was going somewhere he can't be extradited.

The guy who hired Beaupre and his team was in China the whole time, so he couldn't be extradited to America since China has no extradition treaty with America.

Answer: There are two possible explanations: 1) Because there is far less space available in federal prisons, compared to state and local facilities, federal prisoners and arrestees are often kept in local facilities. 2) Because the federal charges or providing support for terrorism and industrial espionage are harder to prove compared to the state-level charges of breaking and entering, assault and battery, and attempted murder.

LorgSkyegon

It's doubtful the writers had all that in mind when writing a comedy holiday script. The plot simply calls for the spies to be caught and thrown into jail at the end of the story. There is also a difference between prison and jail. Prison is for those convicted of a crime. Jail is a temporary holding place after an arrest is made. With police being involved in the arrest, the spies would initially be booked and held in the local jail. The spies would later be transferred to federal custody to await trial.

raywest

Question: Why do they steal the actual NOC list instead of just giving Max another fake one to make sure the names didn't get out?

Answer: Presumably, both halves of the NOC list will interact with and match with each other perfectly in a way that won't work otherwise should one half be a fake. Think of it as two puzzle pieces, and if the computer tried to match up the wrong puzzle piece with the authentic first half of the NOC list, it would notify the user.

Answer: They need to prove to her that they have access to the genuine list. A list of names that can easily be proven fake is of no value to her, and would not entice her to help them. Ethan needs her in order to identify Job, so he can determine why the mission in Prague went wrong.

Cubs Fan

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