Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Quantum Leap (1989)

Camikazi Kid - June 6, 1961 - S1-E8

Question: In this episode, Sam leaps into Cam, a teenager with braces. So when Sam looks in his reflection, he sees the braces, even though he's not wearing any himself. Someone submitted a mistake from one episode when Sam's reflection is wearing glasses, even though Sam isn't. While braces aren't as easy to put on or take off as glasses, they're still not part of the body (such as a zit), so shouldn't Sam have braces himself, the same way he'd have glasses on when leaping into somebody? Or should it not be considered a mistake that the reflection is wearing glasses and Sam isn't?

Bishop73

Answer: The obvious answer is that it would be very difficult to fit actor Scott Bakula with braces for an episode. As for the in universe rules, we can assume that items permanently attached to one's body (dental work, pacemakers, artificial joints, etc), would stay with the original body. Otherwise Sam would suffer agony when someone's fillings were jammed into his teeth. You have to have some suspension of disbelief when it comes to things like this. Why weren't Sam's shoes constantly too big or too small? Why does everyone look him in the eye, even when he's posing as someone much taller or shorter?

Brian Katcher

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Question: I don't understand why Lucius never looked for Voldemort, when he was one of his top followers up until now?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Voldemort was a cruel master. While he was gone, his followers did not need to worry about obeying his orders, or him targeting their family members. They shared his beliefs, but had more freedom and peace of mind without him.

Answer: To avoid being sent to Azkaban, he claimed that he had been placed under the Imperius Curse. The curse makes anyone who had been subjected to it to follow any order given by the person who cast it. If he had gone looking for Voldemort, then his lie of being placed under the Imperius Curse would be exposed and he'd be in trouble.

MythBusters (2003)

Answer: A more complex and complete answer probably isn't possible here, since we're dealing with fluid dynamics, pressure, boundary levels, etc. A simply answer would the air in the bed is kept there by the fast moving air coming off the roof of the cab. If there was no "secondary bubble" of air, you would have a vacuum in the bed. When air comes off the roof, it needs a place to touch down, which it is able to do with the top of the tailgate. The fast flowing air moving over the bed keeps the air that's already inside the bed from "escaping." However, the air in the bed is still moving and creates a vortex in the bed, which is described as a bubble. When the tailgate is down, the air coming off the roof will gather at the back of the cab and create drag.

Bishop73

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Question: Why did Stryver leave Daggett at Bane's mercy? It's even more puzzling since Daggett even ordered Stryver to stay and guard him.

EK8829

Answer: Either Stryver knew Bane was going to kill Daggett and he didn't want to risk his own life by interfering, or he was simply so intimidated by Bane that he chose to comply with Bane's demand rather than draw his ire.

Phaneron ★

The Hunger Games (2012)

Answer: The games were punishment for a long-ago rebellion against the Capitol which resulted in District 13 being destroyed. The games provide entertainment for the Capitol, re-enforces the Capitol's power over the districts, and reminds citizens of their ancestors' lack of remorse for the failed rebellion. The districts must continually pay retribution to the Capitol by sacrificing two children, one boy and one girl, each year.

raywest ★

Answer: Hi! This is many years later, but it is explained in TBOSAS. The games were unintentionally created, a drunken idea between Casca Highbottom and Crassus Snow (President Snow's father). Dr Gaul had requested the two to come up with a punishment for the war that happened between the districts and the Capitol. The pair were drunk, but Snow plied Highbottom with more alcohol until Highbottom was drunk enough to form the idea of the games. When sober, Snow gave this idea to Dr Gaul and she then got to work creating the games once the rebellion was over. I may have got a couple of the facts wrong, but I hope this helps:).

Malice (1993)

Question: Why does Dana have a nurse's outfit on at the end?

Answer: She was posing as the mother of the little boy who lived adjacent to Andy and Tracy.

Alan Keddie

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

Question: What's the song or music playing when Larry and Amelia end up in the black and white painting?

Answer: Bugle Call Rag by Benny Goodman.

jimba

Planet of the Apes (2001)

Question: To prevent spoilers/plot leaking to the public, Tim Burton made five endings to keep people guessing. Is there anywhere I can see any of the other four?

dizzyd

Answer: There were five different endings to the movie and late actor Michael Clarke Duncan saw them all. So far, no website seems to have all five endings. Just the one we're familiar with.

Answer: You might be mistaken, there was only ever one ending shot for this film: the ending we all saw at the Lincoln Memorial. There were different planned endings (one was a similar ending to the theatrical but set at Yankee stadium with apes playing baseball) that were each rejected for various reasons. The ending we see is the one that is in the script.

BaconIsMyBFF

Addams Family Values (1993)

Question: In the very last scene of the movie, we see Christina Ricci and David Krumholtz sitting in the Addams Family graveyard, and Krumholtz is placing flowers at Debbie Jellinski's tombstone, when a full human arm (presumably the late Debbie's) shoots out of the grave and grabs his wrist, sending him into screaming fits. However, Debbie was completely cremated to ash by electricity a few minutes earlier in the film. Nothing left of her but ash, shoes and credit cards. So, whose arm reached out from Debbie's grave?

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: We are never told whose arm it was that came out of the grave.

Answer: I always assumed she used Thing to prank him, but the arm was too long.

Answer: It was a prank Wednesday was pulling on Joel. She mentions she would scare her husband to death and then smiles when Joel starts screaming.

BaconIsMyBFF

Yes, she said she'd scare her husband to death. But it is a very animated human arm that reaches out of the grave, causing me to wonder WHO was in the grave to pull off the prank?

Charles Austin Miller

I mean, if it was just a hand coming out of the grave, I would be satisfied that it was "Thing" taking part in the prank. But it was a whole human forearm (which Thing does not have).

Charles Austin Miller

There's no evidence in the film to answer the question. They never show you who the arm belongs to, and with good reason. It would ruin the joke. This is just one of those questions that can't be definitively answered.

BaconIsMyBFF

This is also a reference to the end scene of Carrie.

Oliver Baum

The Fugitive (1993)

Question: When Dr. Kimball gets his foot stuck in the security door, the Marshal looks at him and mouths the words "Tilt it" to Kimball. Does the Marshall want Kimball to get away?

Answer: He does not want Kimball to get away. Although you can't know for sure what Gerard is saying, it looks like he may be mouthing a silent expletive because he knows Kimball is escaping.

raywest ★

Answer: It looks to me like Gerard is saying, "Son of a..." because he's just realised that the glass is bulletproof and his shots are having no effect.

War of the Worlds (2005)

Answer: They don't particularly want her. They're capturing humans in general and use their blood to manufacture a solution that will vegetate the earth with alien plant life.

raywest ★

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Question: When Woody is trying to explain to Jesse, Stinky Pete and Bullseye why he was at the yard sale before Al finds him, Stinky Pete interrupts him. Why?

adamtrainman@aol.com

Answer: As we learn later, Stinky Pete has his own agenda. He's seizing on the fact that Woody was being sold as a way to convince Woody to go to the museum.

The X-Files (1993)

Show generally

Question: In a vast majority of the episodes, whenever Mulder and Scully investigate some mysterious or paranormal phenomenon, Mulder believes that some unknown force is responsible but Scully always has a rational explanation for what is happening. In other episodes, when Scully herself is caught up in something mysterious, she is the believer but Mulder is the skeptic. In those episodes, why would Mulder be skeptical about an unexplained phenomenon considering that he a was witness to his own sisters abduction and he saw many strange things that defied explanation while working for the F.B.I.?

Answer: As he stated many times throughout the series, Mulder needed Scully to be sober and skeptical. Whenever Scully's skepticism wavered and she started questioning her own rationality, Mulder would try to restore her sense of skepticism, because he needed her to be clear-thinking.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: A variety of reasons. Just because Scully saw something unusual does not mean that it was. Mulder always needs concrete proof before he'll believe there's some otherworldly explanation for unexplained phenomena. He's too experienced to take a novice's explanation as fact. It is also a plot by device by the writers to switch the tables on the characters to make it more interesting and to let viewers see another side of their relationship.

Flightplan (2005)

Question: How did Carson convince the captain Kyle was a hijacker without showing any evidence of Kyle being a hijacker?

Answer: Basically, Carson used his role as an air marshal to mislead everyone. In matters of security, the captain would assume the marshal was the expert and he would follow his recommendations.

raywest ★

Well a plot hole says just Carson is an Air Marshal does not mean the captain would trust him. The captain would know Air Marshals break the law too.

The captain had no reason to distrust him. He's busy flying the plane and Carson is acting exactly the way an air marshal would.

raywest ★

You would have to read the entire plot hole.

The captain has no reason at all to distrust an air marshal at that point. First of all, he was suspicious of her from the beginning and was angry for disrupting the flight which was the whole point of removing all evidence of the daughter, which was also the point have the morgue director sending a fake certificate that Julia died. They were going to use the "daughter's disappearance" as a credible excuse for "Kyle" to enter the hold and retrieve the explosives. The real plot hole is not that Carson has no evidence of as a hijacker, but why the airline accepts the "hijacker's" request to wire the money without talking to them or having a background identity.

Riddick (2013)

Question: I'm confused with the start of the movie where he goes to the waterhole, but he doesn't drink the water. Why is that?

Answer: As he goes to drink the water, he smells it and realises it is not safe to drink.

A Few Good Men (1992)

Question: While questioning the doctor on the witness stand, Kaffee asks him if a heart condition could have caused the fatal lactic acidosis rather than a mysterious poison on the rag stuffed in his mouth. Under the circumstances of the Marine's death, wouldn't a complete autopsy have been performed to positively determine the cause of death? And if an autopsy were performed, wouldn't the heart condition have easily been discovered?

Answer: An autopsy can show what physically caused a death, but not necessarily what led up to it. Kaffee is trying to prove that there could be more than one reason for the marine's death.

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

Question: I get that Meg is in trouble for hitting Veronica in the face with a basketball, but why isn't Veronica in trouble for leaving a mean note on Meg's locker and calling her brother crazy?

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: Could be a matter of severity. Hitting someone in the face with a basketball could result in someone being permanently injured or disfigured, possibly even blinded. Leaving mean notes and calling someone crazy is far less serious and might not warrant being punished other than a mild reprimand.

raywest ★

The Monster Squad (1987)

Question: At the beginning of the movie, it was stated that Van Helsing planned to use the amulet to send every monster to limbo but that him and his team blew it. How exactly did they blow it?

Answer: It is shown that Dracula's servants were successful in protecting their master. Dracula escapes while Van Helsing himself is sucked into limbo.

BaconIsMyBFF

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

Question: I know Elizabeth can't live on the ship and William can't be on land except every 10 years. Why can't they meet in the ocean whenever they want to? She can swim... she swam to the island when Barbossa stranded Jack and her... and it's not land so William can be there... so why don't they think of that?

Answer: To fulfill his purpose of ferrying souls to the "other side" William must remain in the underworld, allowed to leave it only once every ten years to step on land (in the living world). Davy Jones had abandoned this role and returned to the living world. As a consequence, he and his crew were cursed and began transforming into the hideous monsters.

raywest ★

Flightplan (2005)

Question: Even if Carson was exposed as the hijacker, how would the US, and Canada charge him? The crime was committed outside of both of those nations.

Answer: They can still arrest him, regardless of where the crime was committed. He'd likely be extradited to the appropriate place to be charged. Also, the crime was occurring while the plane was on Canadian soil. There would also be matters of violating international law.

raywest ★

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