Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Just a thought. If the Mattsons chose to file a complaint against Abel, would his history of unethical behaviour on the job make his superiors more inclined to take the complaint seriously? It just seems odd to me that accusations of inappropriate behaviour against a policeman outside the job would be dismissed so easily when he has a long history of questionable behaviour on the job.

Movielover1996

Answer: It's not unheard of that some police departments have covered up their own officers' inappropriate behaviour or misdeeds, particularly ones who are higher ranking. It would then become a matter for Internal Affairs or even the Department of Justice to investigate.

raywest

Question: Why was Charlie running away from Paris? And what happened to the things from his apartment?

Answer: Charles was escaping to South America because his cohorts were after him for their share of the stolen army gold. Charles had sold off all the apartment furnishings and other items while Reggie was gone before intending to disappear, though he was killed before getting away.

raywest

Question: There are scenes in the movie where Dick Best's gunner, Murray, is facing forward in their aircraft, particularly when the aircraft is on the Enterprise. The only time he appears to be facing the rear of the aircraft is when they are under attack. How is that possible?

caharmey

Answer: Good eye! The gunner's seat in the Douglas SBD was on a swivel. The military rating was actually radioman/gunner, and when facing forward, he had access to a suite of radio equipment and a set of basic flight controls! He could actually fly the SBD from the rear seat, although this is never reported to have been necessary in combat.

Question: The comet fragment lands on one of the Outer Banks Islands in North Carolina. Wouldn't the wave created then rush outward from the impact, toward Africa, and not inland as shown in the movie?

Answer: The wave created by displaced water would radiate outward in all directions equally. Since the ocean floor slopes upwards toward land, the wave would increase in size in that direction. Because the depth drops sharply on the ocean side, the wave would be greatly reduced in size.

Question: Did the Professor and the other 2 guys working with him in Scotland survive?

Shipper

Answer: It's highly implied they did not.

Brian Katcher

Question: Although the movie itself is in English, how is it that in a lot of cases both Poles and Germans all seem to be speaking the same language? Are they speaking Polish or German?

Answer: They're speaking both. Spielberg did an interview about it and said, "I had Germans speaking German and Poles speaking Polish only on certain occasions when I wanted to pretty much show what it was like and what it sounded like, and then only let those moments come across in English where I had to make a point." Link to interview: http://www.insidefilm.com/spielberg2.html.

Ssiscool

Question: In the scene with the church service, what was Jack trying to do? Ask someone to tell Rose to come outside? Or go inside and sit with her? Both seem like very bad ideas, with her mother and Cal being right there.

Answer: Jack wants either. He wants to speak to Rose by any means, if that involves going into the service or getting someone to bring Rose out.

Ssiscool

The Morning After - S4-E14

Question: The plot gives the impression that Ben was just using Sharon, but how? If he was always planning to murder his wife, then having a girlfriend would only add suspicion.

Answer: I don't think Ben always planned to murder his wife. He wanted to "have it all": stay married and carry on a relationship with Sharon (or someone else - he may have done this before). He lied to Sharon about his wife refusing to grant him a divorce. As Sharon's mother discovers, his wife knew nothing about the affair. She believed that she and Ben were happily married. Ben decided to kill her later, after she heard about Sharon (from Sharon's mother). She pointed out that he would not receive much money if they divorced. Presumably, he thought he could inherit money if she died.

Question: Rose's mother says that a woman's purpose for going to a university is to find "a suitable husband," and Rose is already engaged to Cal. I was under the impression that, during this time, many women would still be homemakers instead of pursuing careers. Were they studying for degrees but hoping to find a husband and not have a career after all?

Answer: Not exactly. In the mid-19th century, in the wake of first-wave feminism, women began entering university in greater numbers, breaking the gender barrier across the world. However, in 1912, it was still not common for the "upper class" to do so, since, as you say, women were restricted to their more traditional role of wife/homemaker. Rose's mother is simply reflecting this view (and her class' general dim view of higher education in general, i.e, what's the point, when you have wealth?) while Rose herself admires, and wishes to emulate, the women who went to university for its intended purpose, to receive an education.

I want to add that college was not always about training for a job. Female students used to learn more about home-making skills and arts. As an upper-class woman, Rose would be expected to socialise and entertain other women, i.e. the wives of her future husband's business contacts. Of course, she may have attended a "finishing school" (which Jack makes a joke about).

Question: Was Tracy self-harming before or after she met Evie?

Answer: I think she harmed before Evie because she knew where the scissors were in the cabinet. And, since she's already had problems before Evie, maybe she self-harmed to help relieve pressure.

I agree. She was already upset about her mother's boyfriend and her father not spending much time with her. I've read that people often self-harm because they want a form of pain that they can control (unlike the circumstances that are beyond their control).

Question: When Chewbacca tells Han that Luke is a Jedi Knight (or almost one), why does Han consider this a "delusion of grandeur"? He has known Luke for about four years now. Luke did some training with Obi-Wan in the Millennium Falcon, so Han knew what his goal was.

Answer: Han still believes the Force and Jedi are just fairy tales, magic. He doesn't really believe in them still.

lionhead

Answer: And to add to that answer, Han also knows that the Jedi are all but extinct (he didn't know of Yoda). How is Luke a Jedi when he had no living Master to teach him?

kayelbe

Answer: The last time Han Solo had seen Luke was just after rescuing him from freezing to death after nearly getting eaten by an abominable snow creature. Having missed out on all the developments since then, Han still thinks of Luke as a plucky, immature kid. It'd be sort of like discovering someone you know of as an altar boy is now going around calling himself a bishop.

TonyPH

Question: When the inspector is talking with Reggie, he says something about Charlie making an auction. What is that auction?

Answer: Before his death, Charles had sold everything in the apartment at a public auction, which is where he got the £250K.

Bishop73

Question: Towards the end, Eddie resorts to assorted cartoon antics in order to make the Weasels "die laughing." But Eddie is not in Toontown, he's performing with real objects inside the Acme factory, and subject to normal physics again. So, how is it he managed to survive multiple bowling-bowl blows to the head, being electrocuted, etc?

Answer: The movie establishes, pretty quickly, that it doesn't necessarily follow real-world logic and physics, and plays fast and loose with them. After all, it's a world where humans and cartoons co-exist side-by-side. Lots of things happen by pure dumb luck, etc. It would stand to reason that Eddie could survive silly things like being hit in the head with a bowling ball, etc. You could also make the argument that the Acme factory could follow cartoon logic, especially as it seems to be literally right next to Toon Town (they even cut a hole in the wall directly to Toon Town) and was run by a man who loved the Toons.

TedStixon

Question: I read that the real Rocky Dennis had his body donated to the UCLA Medical Centre. Why was his body donated?

Answer: His body was donated to the UCLA Centre for Genetics Research, presumably so doctors and geneticists could study him and learn more about his condition. Hopefully, this would help them to better treat other patients like him in the future.

TedStixon

Question: Anya believes she has family in Paris, according to her necklace. However, if she had never met Dimitri and Vladimir and gotten there herself, how would she have been able to find her "family" if she did not remember their names, her real name, and last name?

Ashley Davis

Answer: Anya was desperate to locate her family and may have been willing to search for additional leads in Paris. Thousands of Russian refugees had settled in Paris after escaping the revolution, and they could have helped her, someone might have recognized her, and so on. Also, Anya's memory was slowly returning.

raywest

Question: After Rex finds out the key to the Judge is missing, he goes back home on a motorbike. He pulls up the garage door and finds the Judge is not there. He snaps and begins to punch, kick and swear. Breaks down the door, has stuff sprawled out all over the ground, and smokes a cigarette. In both versions of the movie including the deleted scenes, it never shows how Rex was able to find Ian at the motel. How was Rex able to find Ian at a motel in Knoxville, Tennessee?

Answer: LoJack.

Question: Was there any particular reason as to why the taxi cab in 2015 was built upon a Citroën DS? It would've been 60 years old in 2015, so it doesn't scream "futuristic car".

Answer: In real life, it was because the DS looked similar to a drawing one of the artists had come up with. But it does have a unique and futuristic look to it since it wasn't really a popular car or seen that often in the 80s in the UK. Since it wasn't meant to be the star of the show, they built off a working, existing car rather than design and build a working, unique car. If you're talking about in the Back to the Future universe, the taxi was meant to be a brand new model. It's even possible the taxi company retrofitted 60-year-old cars the same way people build hot rods out of old cars. Here's an inside look at the taxi. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb9Gtd-ycto.

Bishop73

Question: Why does Nick/David reply with 'Steven' when asked his real name at the end of the film? I'm assuming I'm missing something; surely this isn't a mistake that nobody picked up on because that would be enormous.

Answer: I've listened several times, but it sounds like he says "it's David." I think the actor trying to use a soft, sad voice makes it come across as "Steven," and whoever did the closed caption put "Steven."

Bishop73

Question: Why did Julien and Maurice save Marty when wild Alex was about to bite him? Why did they throw a coconut at Alex? It was none of their business so why did they interfere?

Answer: Because they wanted to, and thought it would be fun.

Question: According to IMCDB, Bobby rides a John Deere 200-series lawn tractor. Assuming he didn't do anything to spruce it up, how many miles would he realistically be able to ride it before having to fill it up? How fast could he ride it? Does it take regular gasoline or would it need a special fuel mix? I couldn't find any specs on its mpg, although JD says it has a 3.5 gallon tank and a top speed of 5.5 mph.

Bishop73

Answer: Didn't see the movie, but I looked up the specifications for the John Deere model 200 on TractorData. It was the first of the series and manufactured from 1975-1976. It had a Kohler one-cylinder 305cc 8 HP 4-cycle engine that runs on regular gas and a surprising maximum speed in 4th gear of 7 miles per hour! No one seems to rate lawn tractor MPGs, but similar-sized engines running generators at full load might use about 3/4 to 1 gallon per hour. So, he should be able to go at least 3 and 1/2 hours on a tank, or about 25 miles. He could fill up at a gas station without having to add oil to the gas.

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