Question: I know this would end the movie, but when Jack is running alongside the bus, trying to get on before it reaches 50, why doesn't he shoot one of the tires? This would've taken the bus to a stop.
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Question: Something that I can't figure out: Was there a reason why the Philosopher's Stone needed to be removed from the bank vault in the same week that Harry came to Hogwarts?
Answer: The timing was more a matter of convenience than absolute necessity. Dumbledore learned that one of Voldemort's servants might soon attempt to steal it. So, since Hagrid had to collect Harry from his Aunt and Uncle then take him to Gringott's among other places anyway, Dumbledore instructed Hagrid to get the stone for him while he was there.
Question: There is a scene in Robert Graysmith's kitchen where you can see a container of Old Bay Seasoning on the top of the stove. I am from Maryland and I found it unusual that they would have it out in California, especially before the internet came into being. Did I see that wrong? I couldn't find the answer anywhere else.
Question: I don't recall Gretchen ever meeting Rose, yet they seem to recognise each other at the end. Is it implied that they had met in the TU?
Answer: They don't recognize each other specifically. Gretchen knows Rose as a woman whose son just died, and Rose might just assume Gretchen is a neighbor. It's possible that they feel some connection, but it is not made explicit.
Question: How did the Stabbington brothers get Flynn to go on the boat, and steer it? It is shown that when he is at the place and the guards arrest him, he is sort of asleep.
Chosen answer: They surely clobbered him badly enough that he fell unconscious, and he didn't wake until the guards saw him. Also, they tied him up in the correct position and gave him a good push.
Question: What happened to the Arkenstone after the epic battle? Also I would like to know, how on earth did an army of Dwarves come to the aid of Thorin Oakenshields when the wood elves were about to attack the lonely mountain? (It's at least not shown in this movie that Thorin sent for any help... And prior to the movie it was always shown as if the entire mission of Thorin to retake the lonely mountain was a secret. This makes me think that it was strange for the dwarves to have known about the retaking.
Chosen answer: After the battle the Arkenstone was placed with Thorin in his tomb. It is shown that during the siege, prior to the battle, Thorin sends out a raven which returns shortly before the Dwarves arrive. This raven carried the message to ask for help. The mission to retake the mountain was not a secret among the Dwarves, Thorin had sought an army to help them from the beginning but only the few who went on the journey were willing.
Not quite, the mission to retake the mountain was organized by Gandalf and Thorin, who lived in exile with his family and small group of followers. Dain and other Dwarves did not know, as Gandalf never shared this information with anyone, not even Elrond. It was only after Thorin and Co. Actually arrived in Erebor that Thorin asked the ravens to travel to any Dwarf settlement nearby and gather the armies as the Elves and Men would no doubt come back to the Mountain. The raven was actually an old raven, so he only flew to the Iron Hills to get Dain.
Question: Why do the guard do execution rehearsals with a man who's not going to be executed? At first I thought the rehearsals were so the person being executed would know what to expect. The guards know how to run an execution, so why would they need to practice without the one being executed?
Chosen answer: They do it for the same reason people practice anything. It is to stay on top of how to perform a certain function or activity. The man is just a volunteer. Correction officers (prison guards) who do executions would particularly have to make sure they can perform flawlessly. The state and/or federal government would closely regulate and monitor this. If anything was botched, there would be severe legal repercussions, possible job dismissals, and even lawsuits by families of the condemned prisoner. Also, executions are not performed on a regular basis at any one penitentiary, so constant practice would be essential to maintain an adequate skill level. Most likely, regular drills are required by law. There would also be changing or rotating staff that needs to be trained and/or retrained. There's been much publicity recently about several executions using lethal injections being done improperly, so it is hardly surprising the procedures would constantly be reviewed and practiced.
Chosen answer: The general consensus is that Big Bird is a canary; however, according to Wikipedia, he's also been described as a condor as well as an ibis. The one constant factor is that regardless of his species, Big Bird is always eight feet, two inches tall and flightless.
Hot-Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X - S1-E4
Question: Back in the day when I was a little kid, I used to own a handful of VHS copies of some episodes of this series, and something that always stuck out with me was that on the covers of some, the turtle's weapons were changed in color. I don't remember for sure which ones, but I remember one example that I believe was on the cover for Hot Rodding Teenagers, Leonardo's swords were solid red. Bright red. Like they were made of plastic or something and looked like toys. Why did they do that for the cover? Was it really such an issue to show metal weapons on a kid's cartoon that was full of them anyways?
Question: Why didn't Percy hit Wild Bill when he was strangling Dean? He enjoys hurting people, so what was the problem in that scene?
Chosen answer: Percy is a coward and froze in the heat of the moment. He has no idea how to deal with dangerous people, only helpless ones who are behind bars, like Del.
Question: This whole finale never made sense to me because of these plot holes. If all the stars were supposed to supernova when the Doctor was locked up, then why was the Earth not destroyed by the sun exploding? He says the world carried on relatively normal due to the TARDIS exploding being a light and heat source to replace the Sun, but the supernova should have decimated the planet regardless, shouldn't it? Also if the TARDIS was exploding at every moment in time and space (as the Doctor states) then shouldn't it also have exploded on earth every time it has been here in the past? Destroying the Earth that should have been destroyed by the supernova?
Chosen answer: The stars didn't supernova, the rest of the universe ceased to exist. Earth still stands because of it's place in the eye of the storm and the TARDIS explosion providing the heat and light that the sun that now never existed would have, but history is still collapsing. Because they are all temporal anomalies, it buys them some time for the Doctor to pilot the Pandorica into the TARDIS explosion, restarting the universe.
Question: During this episode we see Bart stay with Flanders while Marge is in labour with Lisa. However Rod and Todd seem to be the same age here that they are in normal episodes. Lisa even babysits them in some episodes despite them obviously being at least 4 or 5 years older than her. Compared to Bart and Lisa, how old are they supposed to be?
Chosen answer: This extensive discussion of Rod and Todd's ages appears in the website simpsons.wikia.com: "There is also some controversy as to which of the two is the elder. In "Dead Putting Society" the commentator at the golf tournament states that Todd is 10. In Homer Badman, one of the corrections that the TV-magazine show Rock Bottom makes is to their claim that "the older Flanders boy is Todd, not Rod" (although this could have been included purely to stir up fans). Later, in Bart Sells His Soul, the Flanders family eat out for Rod's "big ten-oh", suggesting the two are of similar age (however, the present time in at least one other Simpsons episode has been set two years before that of others, as shown by All's Fair in Oven War). However, in "My Sister, My Sitter" Lisa, when babysitting Rod and Todd, tells a story about a robot named Todd who "had a brother named Rod, who was two space years older than him". Todd responds by saying, "I don't like this story!" As Rod is shown to be quite a bit bigger and taller than Todd, the claim that Todd is the older brother is disputed. Rod and Todd were both born before Lisa (who is eight), Todd appearing a younger age than Bart (who is 10) in the episode "Lisa's First Word" (when Bart was entering "the terrible twos"). Despite these discrepancies, the Simpsons official website states that "Todd is the youngest and most impressionable member of the happy Flanders clan". This seems to trump any inconsistency concerning age seen in the episodes. On the other hand, the character profile for Rod Flanders in the book "The Simpsons: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family" describes him as the "youngest of the Springfield Flanders.", but they have made some mistakes in that book. Another possible reason for the variation is that, in the DVD commentaries for show, the writers have stated that they are never sure which Flanders sibling is Rod and which one is Todd and are often forced to check character models to be sure. According to the commentary, early show writers used two different mnemonics to identify the taller brother; first that Todd started with T and was Taller, or that Rod was long like a rod and hence taller."
Question: What happened to all of the Enterprise's Shuttles and the ship Kirk's team took to Qo'nos? Did they all become disabled that only Kirk and Khan would jump out an airlock and shoot through a dangerous debris field to board the Vengeance? Rather than taking an entire strike team to take out the minimal crew on the other ship, just the two of them go. Makes no sense, given the situation. Also, consider that even the escape pods have propulsion capabilities as shown in the previous movie when they ejected Kirk off the ship.
Answer: The plan is for Kirk and Khan to sneak aboard the Vengeance, with Scottie's help, without being detected. That could not be accomplished if they took a shuttle or used an escape pod. It would have been spotted, and it would be impossible to land a shuttle on board without the bridge crew knowing it. Even though there is a minimal crew on board Vengeance, they could ambush intruders as they exited their craft.
Question: Why did Tim have to go to treatment, but his sister didn't?
Chosen answer: Tim was the one accused of murdering his father. His sister was deemed a victim of Tim's neurosis. He tried to defend his actions by blaming it all on the mirror which made him appear to be crazy. His sister was not accused of any actions she'd need to defend herself against and so was able to avoid the scrutiny of medical professionals.
Question: When Sanchez bursts in on Lupe and her lover at the beginning, how did he know where she was?
Question: I understand why the killer was after the 4 teenagers that were responsible for Robin's death. But there's something I can't figure out. The girl that was with Slick and having sex with him in his van, she wasn't one of the 4 teens. Neither was Slick. First he killed the pigtails girl, she was there. And then he went after the girl and Slick in the van, but neither of them had connection to Robin's death that I could figure out. He then went after the girl in the red dress who was one of the kids, and then went after the other two, the guy and the main girl. But Slick and the girl he was having sex with in his van, I can't figure out why the killer left the school to go after them. Why?
Chosen answer: The girl in the van was Jude. She was involved in Robin's death. You see her flashback as young Jude when she receives her prank phone call then she meets Slick walking on her way to school.
Question: What is the Big Band song playing as the taxi drives over the bridge?
Answer: It's called Empire State Montage by Hugo W. Friedhofer.
Question: When there in airport there's a Indian or Buddhist guy handing out brochures. He tries to give one to Alex and Alex looks at him weird. Why? And what does the brochure say?
Chosen answer: He says that the world is ending which sounds kind of strange to Alex. The brochure was for Hare Krishna so he may have also found the brochure to be kind of strange as well.
Question: Why didn't James Cameron return to direct? I know he made more than a name for himself after Aliens but I don't understand why the studio wouldn't ask him to return due to how good Aliens was. And why was a debut director (David Fincher) brought in with such a high budget? Wouldn't the producers think of choosing a more experienced filmmaker to deal with the budget and actors, considering how strong the previous films were?
Chosen answer: I did a little reading on this. Cameron was adamant at the time that if there was an Aliens 3 that he, and his then-wife, Gale Hurd, would not be part of it. He said by the time a decision could be made about a another sequel and a plot was outlined, they would already be on to other projects, and he did not want to invest that much time and effort into one film franchise. He stated that money was not an issue, but he simply wanted to move on to other creative projects. Fincher had at this point directed several successful and lucrative, big money advertisements. The producers had enough faith in him to believe he was capable of directing the third film, but not so much to give him total creative control. There has never been a "directors cut" of Alien 3, as Fincher had so little control, that he pretty much disassociated himself from the film after completion.
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Answer: Shooting out car tires is a bit of a movie myth, and bus tires are much more heavily reinforced, so it would be very difficult to hit and puncture a tire successfully. It would also be very dangerous to fire a gun at a small, rapidly-moving target on a busy highway, and a person shooting at the bus would almost certainly make the driver speed up to get away. Finally, one of the tires does blow out at the airport, which makes virtually no difference to the bus's speed or motion.
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