Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Emergency! (1972)

Dinner Date - S2-E10

Question: When Melissa Gilbert yells "daddy" and runs towards the ambulance to see her father, starting to go down the porch steps. Then we quickly see her father being loaded into the ambulance, then the camera returns to Melissa. She's down the steps entirely and starts to run to her dad and runs right into Roy's arms. He doesn't bend down to hold/hug her at all, she goes right into his arms as though she's the same height as Roy. There is a wall aside of the steps but she's nowhere near it when Roy hugs her. How is she the same height as Roy?

Answer: There's actually a YouTube clip of this. There's a couple of things to consider. First, when Melissa runs towards Roy, he does bend down a little and then picks her up. I also noticed both actors are filmed from the waist up. When Melissa is running to Roy, she is taller than what she'd normally be. It looks like she might be running on an unseen raised platform. This would be done probably to make it easier to pick up Melissa, and also to frame the actors in the scene so they are more head-to-head, and both are more visible. Otherwise, Melissa would be much lower in the shot.

raywest ★

Kiss the Girls (1997)

Question: The villain is driving off with Morgan Freeman running right behind him with a gun in his hand. Why didn't Freeman try and shoot the tyres? (01:10:00)

oobs

Answer: Shooting out of the tires on a fleeing vehicle is not a viable, realistic strategy. It is a movie cliche akin to shooting out a padlock or saving a hanging man by shooting the rope. It is not something people do in real life and it is therefore realistic that Morgan Freeman wouldn't attempt to do so in this film.

BaconIsMyBFF

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Question: I don't get it. When Peter and Aunt May are at the bank discussing savings with the teller, Aunt May suddenly kicks the teller. What was the point of that?

Answer: May says she's giving piano lessons again to try and convince the bank teller she's making enough money to refinance her home. Peter absent-mindedly says "You are?", which reveals that May may have been telling a fib. She was trying to kick Pete to signal him to not say anything, but accidentally kicked the teller instead.

TedStixon

Incredibles 2 (2018)

Answer: The movie doesn't give an answer, since it doesn't really matter in the context of the story. But in all likelihood, the family will continue to reside in the mansion, at least for the time being. Winston loves the Supers, so he'd probably be more than happy to let them stay there.

TedStixon

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Question: After the skull is placed on the body, what did Marion notice about the eyes?

Answer: Smoke started coming out of them.

lionhead

Robin Hood (1973)

Question: Robin Hood and Little John steal Prince John's bags of gold by a rope being pulled by Alan-a-Dale. I have a problem with that because there were a lot a bags of gold tied to the rope. Wouldn't that add a lot of pounds to the rope's weight, making it difficult to pull?

Answer: There's no way to accurately answer this because it's an animated film. The norms of real life do not apply here. The characters are cartoons, and they can do things that real humans cannot, such as easily lifting heavy loads.

raywest ★

Answer: I think the problem in trying to answer this question is "how much do the bags weigh?" How many coins are in there and how much do the coins weigh? Say a coin weighed 5 grams. 1,000 coins would weigh a little over 11 pounds. We see a character carrying 3 bags and a lot of other characters able to carry one bag, even while using a crutch. So I don't think the bags weighed more than 15 pounds and you never really see more than 20 bags on the rope and there's several characters pulling on the rope. To Raywest's point, too many silly things happen where the weight of the gold on the rope shouldn't be an issue, even if the bags weighed 50-100 pounds. Prince John's foot gets caught and they pull him and his bed to the edge. The Rhino's crash Prince John through the gate and brick wall and he's just fine. Robin Hood shoots an arrow that picks 3 characters up and pins them to a post.

Bishop73

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Answer: I've read that the opening scene of "Endgame" with Clint and his family was originally going to be in this film. Ant-Man's inclusion seems doubtful since the post-credits scene for "Ant-Man and the Wasp" takes place at the same time as the climax for this film and Ant-Man is on the other side of the country doing his own thing.

Phaneron ★

Batman Begins (2005)

Question: Why change Ra's group's name to League of Shadows? League of Assassins sounds better.

Rob245

Answer: The group has often gone by different names. For example, it was the Society of Shadows in Batman The Animated Series.

Scooby-Doo (2002)

Question: When the gang kicked Scrappy out, how did he get to Spooky Island and learn about the Daemon Ritus?

Answer: It's never explained. We're just left to assume he was somehow able to.

White Squall (1996)

Question: During the dance with the skipper and his wife while at the Dutch girls' school, there is a cat on the serving table. Was the cat supposed to be there?

Answer: No.

The Incredibles (2004)

Question: A few questions about this movie. Firstly, Syndrome's ultimate plan was first testing his prototypes on other supers, using the next had the last been defeated, and all leading up to the final face off with Mr. Incredible. What would Syndrome had done had Mr. Incredible denied the opportunity from Mirage of coming to the island to do the hero work as devised and everything he planned had been spoiled? Secondly, when Mr. Incredible was captured and held hostage in the round electric type of cell, did Syndrome plan for him to just hang there until he died? Thirdly, what made Mirage suddenly have a change of heart after all the working she's done with Syndrome and killing off supers in the past?

Answer: Syndrome's plan worked because even though the superheroes were retired a lot of them missed the old days and wanted to do real superhero work. This opportunity lured a lot of them to the island, including Mr. Incredible. If he hadn't gone there Syndrome would have found others. He kept Mr. Incredible locked up there until his plans of sending the robot were executed. Afterwards he probably would have killed him, perhaps by turning the robot loose on him again but this time in public. Mirage got second doubts when she realised Syndrome didn't care about her or the lives of innocents, I'm guessing a lot of information was kept from her and she simply thought Syndrome was after power and not petty revenge on superheroes.

lionhead

I'm a little confused about the second and third answers. We saw that Syndrome was trying to destroy the robot while mimicking it (really, using his remote) while he meanwhile had the Incredibles held hostage at his island. How would he have sent Mr. Incredible to the public to be killed by the robot if it were destroyed? Also, if Mirage thought the superhero revenge on Mr. Incredible was minor and the other supers he was killing were innocent, why did she decide to be his assistant and help him in the first place?

I'm sure his first encounter with the robot was just for show, letting the people think he beat it, without actually damaging it. The point was that the robot could not be defeated by any superhero and then everybody would flock to him and he could sell his inventions to make everybody "super" so superheroes will not be necessary anymore. It's somewhere along the lines of that anyway, I've never actually known what his actual plan was. The point was to make an unbeatable robot that only he could defeat by cheating, then sell his inventions to everybody. That I'm sure of. How he was going to take his revenge on supes to the next stage I don't know. Mirage wasn't innocent, she knew supes were being killed by the robot but she thought he did it for power. She also started to like Mr. Incredible I think. Once she realised he didn't care about her or literally anyone else she decided to betray him. Maybe she found out what real power is, and he didn't have it.

lionhead

The Fifth Element (1997)

Question: Corben and Leeloo fly to Fhloston Paradise planet in spaceship at hyper-speed (around speed of light). And the flight takes long enough for the spaceship crew to put passengers asleep. Let's say the flight at hyper-speed takes 2 hours. That means it would take 2 hours for radio signal originated from Fhloston to reach Earth. But 1) After Corben enters his hotel room on Fhloston he gets call from his mother who is on Earth. And they are talking over the phone in real time with no signal delay! 2) President and his cabinet - who are on Earth - are observing events on Fhloston via radio with no signal delay! How that might be? I realise that movie events take place in the future where new advanced communication technologies might be invented. But the speed of light is a universal constant that can't be changed or exceeded. So it would still take 2 hours (in our example) for the signal to be exchanged between planets. How come Earth and Fhloston communicate each other with no signal delay?

grrench

Answer: I think the issue here is that you are trying to apply real-world logic to an overly fantastical film. There's not necessarily a feasible or realistic explanation... but that's okay, because the film doesn't need one. It's just not that type of movie. And that's part of the fun of this film. It's a wacky, crazy movie. (Not to mention, instantaneous communication when there should be a delay is a pretty common trope in all of sci-fi.) You just gotta go with it. The best possible explanation I could give you is "futuristic sci-fi technology somehow makes it possible." But again, it's just not that type of film where it really matters.

TedStixon

Glee (2009)

Show generally

Question: Why don't any of the bullies ever get in trouble for throwing slushies at the members of the Glee club?

Answer: The show is purposefully stylized and over the top. It is not designed to be an accurate, realistic representation of American high school. The idea that the glee club is so unpopular other students can literally throw garbage at them with impunity is an over-exaggeration of how glee club is considered "un-cool" compared to things like football. However, there is a second way of looking at it. The audience is simply never shown anyone getting into any trouble for throwing slushies. Just because we don't see it doesn't mean it never happened.

BaconIsMyBFF

Ender's Game (2013)

Question: Maybe this is explained better in the book, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention. But at the end, when Ender killed all the Formics, did he kill any innocents, or were they all involved in the first invasion? Because Ender never mentions innocents being killed, that would be a pretty good argument as to why it was wrong. If they were all involved in the first invasion, I don't see anything wrong with killing aliens that murdered millions of humans.

MikeH

Answer: In the book, Ender had grown disillusioned with military school and was depressed. Destroying the entire Formic homeworld was his attempt to force the school to expel him, by enacting a suicidal plan of action so ruthless his superiors would believe him unfit for leadership. In the film it appears that Ender is simply trying to win the game as best he can. As for the Formics themselves, they operate with a hive mind so in a sense, yes they were all "involved" in the invasion of earth. However, wiping out of the entire civilization in retribution, especially once the audience hears the Formic queen express her dismay over the Formic's actions, is evil. The film somewhat glosses over this fact, but in the books it is clear the Formics did not understand that humans were sentient at all because they could not comprehend an intelligent species lacking a shared consciousness.

BaconIsMyBFF

Yeah misunderstanding is the constant of the book series.

lionhead

Scream (1996)

Question: Why does Stu go along with Billy's plan? He's got nothing to gain. That and why kill Sidney? She can't help what her mother did with Billy's father.

Rob245

Answer: Stu is simply crazy. Probably brought down by Billy, sucked into his psychosis, sometimes that can happen if Stu is mentally unstable and easily manipulated. We don't know where his instability comes from, but its positive Billy has had a bad influence on him and brought him down this path of killing.

lionhead

Answer: Some people are influenced by a "leader" friend. They don't make many decisions for themselves. Stu apparently latched onto Billy at some point, and is willing to join him in the murders. There are real-life cases in which murderers had associates who obeyed them.

Answer: To add to the other answer, Stu briefly mentions "peer pressure" as his reason for going along with Billy's plan. Sure, he's being slightly sarcastic when he says it... but I think that it's a hint to his motivation. He's already somewhat unstable (his hyperactive personality throughout the film backs this up), and I think the implication is that Billy gave him the final "push" that put him over the edge into full-on violent insanity.

TedStixon

World War Z (2013)

Question: Why did Thomas go with Gerry's family? Why didn't he stay with his own family?

Answer: They were attacked and bitten. You can see his father on the roof top when they escape in the helicopter as one of the zombies.

Ender's Game (2013)

Question: If Ender would destroy the planet in the simulation, why wouldn't he do it for real? The simulations are supposed to be practice.

MikeH

Answer: For the same reason when you are playing a video game you will run people over, or shoot them without figuring out who they are. He thought it was the equivalent of a video game, i.e. not real, so he would potentially do things he wouldn't do if he thought it was real. This is the very reason the power structure put them into a real operation while leading them to think it was a simulation, so they would be likely to act when faced with a moral dilemma.

jimba

Scooby-Doo (2002)

Question: If the airport and a plane don't allow dogs, then why is a cat is allowed on a plane?

Answer: Probably because the cat is smaller and well-behaved. If Scooby wasn't on the plane, that cat would probably stay in its owner's lap the entire flight and not get into any trouble.

Answer: Maybe because cats are smaller than dogs and all felines are relatively the same size and fit into a small pet carrier. Dogs range in size from a few pounds to over a hundred, making crating them more difficult.

raywest ★

I should add that this being a movie, they make up their own rules about things to serve the plot. It's unlikely in real-life that an airline would ban dogs entirely, though there may be size limits.

raywest ★

Answer: Well before boarding Shaggy said they wouldn't allow large dogs on board. Implying smaller dogs would be OK.

Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Question: After they've defeated the villain Shaw says "you forced me to kill my own brother." Am I missing something? Last we saw in Fate of the Furious his brother was alive and well.

Answer: I believe he was referring to the villain being once like a brother to him.

Quantom X ★

The X-Files (1993)

Answer: SPOILER ALERT: Hook up, yes. Married, no. Children, maybe. The rumors that Mulder and Scully were married started when David Duchovny (Mulder) called Scully "Mulder's wife" when discussing the return of "The X-Files" show. However, series creator Chris Carter said "they were together but never married." In the 2nd X-Files film, "I Want to Believe", they are in a romantic relationship. But by Season 10, they are broken up as Scully has left Mulder. It is revealed that Scully's son, William, is the son of The Smoking Man, who is Mulder's father as well. In Season 11, Mulder and Scully hook up again and in the last episode of Season 11, Scully tells Mulder she's pregnant with his child. As of now, there are no plans for a Season 12 and Gillian Anderson (Scully) has no intention of returning to her role in "The X-Files."

Bishop73

I want to add, it's possible that they live together as partners and are legally common-law spouses. Or they consider each other to be "husband and wife" in a spiritual/sentimental way. I've known or heard of a few couples who did that. For whatever reasons, they did not want a legal marriage with documentation. But, for now, this is just fan speculation. Gillian Anderson and other cast members might change their minds someday.

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