Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Why did Mr Guggenheim and the other guy, who was with him, just sit in the grand staircase waiting for the water? I can understand Captain Smith locking himself in the wheelhouse (captain goes down with the ship), but why Mr Guggenheim? Was he a person of any particular importance, or had he just given up on trying to get into a lifeboat?

Answer: This happened in real life. Benjamin Guggenheim (a member of the prominent Guggenheim mining family; his brother, Solomon, founded the Guggenheim Museum in New York) assisted with the loading of women and children into the lifeboats and helped maintain order. He realized there wouldn't be enough space for himself and many others, and that the ship would inevitably sink, so once the lifeboats had gone, he dressed in his finest, made himself a drink, and accepted his fate. His line about being "prepared to go down like a gentleman" is reportedly accurate, as well. The other man is (or at least, in reality, was) his secretary, Victor Giglio.

Also, during a crisis, some people take a "business as usual" approach. They cling to a last shred of hope that everything will be all right, somehow, so they want to behave as normally as possible. I think it's one reason why the band kept playing music.

Show generally

Question: Did Leo Howard actually do all the skateboarding tricks that are in the show or were they stunt doubles?

Answer: Stunt doubles.

Question: The park scene. When Cheng and Mei Ying were arguing...what were they saying?

Answer: I only heard this part: Meiying: What are you doing! Cheng: If your father knows, he would be very mad. Meiying: So what? You're not even my father.

Question: Can you please tell me which type of kung fu Cheng used? I really like his style with his footwork (the spins he makes after punching or kicking, I think it's because of changing to the dominating side). If it's a mix of more styles, would you please name them if you recognize any of them?

chengZ

Answer: Cheng uses a type of Chinese kung fu called "Wushu." This is a modern Chinese martial art with a training program, incorporating mixed martial arts exercises from famous traditional martial arts such as Shaolin, Wudang, Nga Mi, Khong Dong, Wing Chun, and Tai Chi.

Question: Is it really possible for a man, even one as strong as John is implied to be in the movie, in a weakened condition, to throw a steel pipe with such force as to penetrate all the way through a large man and into the wall of something behind? The only time I've heard of anything remotely like that happening is in tornado and cat 5 hurricane winds (hurricane Andrew was powerful enough to blow timber planks through the trunks of pine trees).

Answer: No, that is not realistically possible. It is not a steel pipe since Matrix simply rips it off, breaking it. It's made of some sort of plastic like PVC. That is definitely not hard or sharp enough to penetrate a body, nor the boiler behind him. Even if it was, you'd need a whole lot more force than a human can produce from that distance to fully penetrate a person.

lionhead

Answer: The Hulk is accused of killing Dr. David Banner and Dr. Elenia Marks. After the lab explodes, McGee sees the Hulk emerge carrying the body of Dr. Marks, so he assumed the creature is guilty. It was McGee who caused the explosion. After following the trail of evidence of the Hulk to the lab, he hides when David and Elania arrive. In a darkened storage closet, he knocks over a bottle of flammable liquid. He confronts them, then is forced to leave by Banner, who says, "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry." When Banner reenters the lab, it explodes, caused by the Hulk when it went on a rampage trashing the lab, causing many electrical systems to catch fire, thus igniting the flammable liquid.

Answer: The phrase "Incredible Hulk" is coined by Jack McGee in one of his tabloid articles. He's trying to find proof of the Hulk because no one takes his story seriously, so probably nobody takes his name for the creature seriously either.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Maybe I missed some dialogue, but why exactly did Voller think the fissure they were flying towards would take him to his desired date in 1939? I get that the dial detects fissures in time, but why would he think that particular fissure was the one he needed to travel through?

Phaneron

Answer: There is a bit of dialogue en route to the airport when Voller sets the instrument that says, "the first hand sets the destination," as in the time you want to travel back to. This would make the device completely absurd in principle if true (that's why I wanted to mark it as a plot hole/stupidity). Since it's supposed not to open portals but just detect them, it can't be that there are infinite portals for every moment in time you can choose to go back to (and they even close). The sky, while vast, is not infinite. We then find out that it is a trick since it is set to actually bring you to just one destination, but they don't know it yet.

Sammo

Answer: We're supposed to accept that the dials are pointing to the rift in the sky, which is what makes this plot decision so ridiculous. There's no common reference point (magnetism wouldn't be discovered until and used in compasses for another 2,000 years), and the dial is 2-dimensional. Thus, you could turn your body 90 degrees and aim it down, and there's no indication from the movie that the dial would in any way turn to face the previous rift.

I think, technically, the fact that there's no common reference point is addressed when Voller mentions that the coordinates given are 'Alexandrine coordinates'... which I think might be another anachronism since all I can think it means is the ones used by Ptolemy in his Geography, which was hundreds of years after Archimedes' time. The dial is 2-dimensional, but there are 3 hands. It can be argued that when all 3 align, it does show that the direction you are headed is definitely correct, including the height you are pointing at. I definitely think it's entirely implausible, but the way the unknown mechanism works, attuned to something that does not exist such as time rifts, is kind of a lesser problem. Even if it is supposed to work by some mathematical principle, and then acts as some dowser rod.

Sammo

Not true. The Chinese were using compasses around 200 BC, and Vikings are believed to have had them as well.

Answer: As they approach the rift, all three of the dial's hands are suddenly pointing towards it. If that is no clear indicator, then what is?

Daniel4646

The dial pointing towards it only indicates that they are heading towards the fissure. How does that give Voller any certainty that this is the exact fissure he needs to travel through in order to reach his desired destination, especially considering it ended up not being the one he needed? Were there coordinates in Basil's diary that indicated where the exact fissure would open? I only recall the date of August 20 (?), 1939 being written down.

Phaneron

Only the time is written in the diary (the date you mention is next to August 20, 1969, which would be then supposedly when the finale of the movie takes place). For the coordinates, you need to have the device, which, apparently, allows you also to input with firsthand your desired destination. Voller couldn't know that to concoct his plan, though, since he did not have the diaries at the beginning of the movie.

Sammo

Answer: Fox witnessed Luthor shoot Cyrus. Chances are, during their trip home before Fox was killed, he mentioned it to Swan and the other warriors.

Gavin Jackson

There is no evidence that Fox told anyone about the shooting. The Warriors don't learn that they were accused of it until they encounter The Lizzies. To restate what the other person said in an earlier comment, Swan would have tried to call off the hit had he known they were framed by the Rogues.

Answer: The first person to falsely accuse you of shooting someone is very likely the one who did it.

Captain Defenestrator

There is nothing in the conversation that would allow Swan to know Luther actually did it. If he knew earlier, he would have gone to the Riff's himself.

Answer: I don't think this has been explained in any episode. At some point, he most likely asked people to use his full name. Perhaps he wants to highlight the "Redcorn" at all times, out of pride for his family history.

Answer: John is a common enough name that they might know several other Johns that we've never met, so they're being specific.

Captain Defenestrator

Texas City Twister - S2-E2

Question: Why is Luanne being pursued for back rent that her parents owe? I know she is eighteen or nineteen years old, a legal adult, but that doesn't automatically make her responsible for paying family members' bills.

Answer: Luanne's parents are the kind of people who might have signed their daughter's name to the lease. A decent lawyer could get her out of it, but that's beyond the scope of this episode.

Captain Defenestrator

Also, she might have chosen to sign that lease if she was 18 at the time. Maybe her parents asked her to do it, and she didn't fully understand the responsibility.

Question: Why, in the beginning scene, would they be playing basketball on the rooftop with the hoop set up with no screen or rail to protect them and the ball from going over? The premise makes no sense. (00:00:01 - 00:01:53)

Answer: There is no in-film explanation for this nonsensical scene. It's a dilapidated hoop on a roof, so maybe we can assume there used to be safety netting there at some point, but it has since been removed or destroyed. The real-world answer is the filmmakers wanted the death to be a freak accident. It also had to be something Shep would be legally blamed for (the police thought Shep threw Nutso from the roof) and something that would make Shep feel immense guilt (he bet Nutso couldn't jump higher than he could). And of course, to make it topical to the plot of the film, it also had to occur during a basketball game. This is apparently the best they could come up with, and we are left with a classically ridiculous death scene that makes no sense at all.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: What song is Professor Lupin playing while everyone is learning Riddikulus?

Answer: "Hot Liquorice" (that's the correct spelling) by Dick Walter, though it seems somewhat intermixed with the film's soundtrack composed by John Williams.

raywest

Question: Snape promised Dumbledore that he would protect Harry. When Snape found out that the flying car was seen by Muggles, he tells Harry and Ron that he'll have them both expelled. Why would Snape expel Harry? Doesn't he realise that if he expels Harry, he won't be able to protect him?

Answer: What Dumbledore or Snape say and what actually happens are two different things. Dumbledore may threaten expulsion, but his intent is to scare them into behaving. It's doubtful he ever would, particularly Harry. Snape is always torn between his promise to protect Harry and his hatred for him. He is usually being reactive, and his misplaced animosity is irrational because it is Harry's father, James, that he actually despised. He also loved Harry's mother, so he would always protect Harry because of that. Also, one professor cannot expel a student. There would be an official hearing, and Dumbledore would make the final decision. As the other answer pointed out, Harry would still be protected by the Order. He is also magically protected by his mother's blood until he turns 17 years old, as he is when he spends summers at the Dursleys.

raywest

Answer: Snape, and others, could certainly watch and protect Harry outside of Hogwarts. Members of the Order of the Phoenix watch him later on, before his fifth year of school begins. Also, in the "Chamber of Secrets" book, Dumbledore tells Harry and Ron, "If you do anything like this again, I will have no choice but to expel you." Even he considered the possibility of Harry not finishing school.

Show generally

Question: Is there an episode where Bernard can't think of the word for a scanner or card reader or something and refers to it as a "beepitibeep"? Might have the wrong show entirely.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: You may be thinking of S3E1, "Manny Come Home", when Manny quits and gets a job at Goliath Books next door. The device they use to scan books, look up items, or even order muffins is referred to as the "Doo-Deedee-Doo," after the sound it makes when employees scan their cards in it.

Question: When Mort is talking to himself and figures out that he is John Shooter, he looks to the side and yells/makes an odd noise. It almost looks like he's calling out to something. Why did he do that?

Answer: Johnny Depp said he based it on the noises made by his toddler, who could not yet speak words. The idea behind this was that, confronted with the realization that he is Shooter, Mort would regress into a toddler-like state of confusion.

Answer: It's supernatural, but I don't know what to call it. Linda's consciousness is moving in time to previous days, somewhat randomly, after she sleeps. When she wakes on a day in the past, she has knowledge of the future, and her actions apparently 'stick' and change what happens in the days after. She has to figure out the rules of time travel, how her husband came to die in the crash, and how to prevent it. It was a lot for the audience to follow.

Answer: In the first season, Steve and Marcy are portrayed as being more proper and "straight-laced", compared to the following three seasons (and Marcy's later personality, after they divorce). I think Steve is having more "exotic" urges than usual, after going to Buffalo. If I am correct, it's not considered a very wild and intense place, but it was a change from the Rhoades' well-managed routine.

Question: In both Anastasia's ballroom daydream and nightmare scene, why is it her sisters are the only ones who age and not her brother?

Answer: Dreams are not reality and are subject to an individual's interpretation. Anastasia's brother, the youngest sibling, was sickly and physically weak. (In real life, Alexei suffered from hemophilia.) Anastasia apparently always sees him as an innocent, vulnerable child needing to be protected.

raywest

Question: During Anastasia's ballroom daydream, why is it everyone, except her father, are wearing different outfits than the ones we saw them wear at the beginning of the movie?

Answer: As noted, this is her daydream, not reality. She has a particularly strong mental image of what her father looked like, which is what she sees in the daydream. Also, her father is dressed in a royal uniform reflecting his rank as the czar, so it would be something he consistently wore during formal occasions. As a plot device, it also identifies for the audience that this is her father.

raywest

Question: When Lisa calls Chet Chip in the kitchen, was that planned or did Paxton ad lib his line?

Answer: I can't remember Chet's line, but Lisa says "Chip" so slowly and deliberately, it must have been scripted. When I heard it, I chuckled because I thought she was showing him how little he mattered to her by misstating his name.

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