Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: This isn't technically a mistake per se, but it involves Spock's funeral. Several Enterprise crewmembers are killed during the battle with Khan, and yet only Spock gets a funeral. Perhaps there was a smaller memorial for the others, and Spock got a full funeral due to his status as captain, but why is Kirk only sending Spock's body to the Genesis planet? I imagine he sent only Spocks's body there since in ST3 there aren't dozens of little regenerated human babies crawling around down there.

Vader47000

Chosen answer: I imagine there was a memorial service for everyone killed. Starfleet's policy on corpses is probably to return them to Starfleet HQ where their families can collect them for whatever services or ceremonies they want unless the crewman had left instructions specifying otherwise. There's no telling why Kirk sent Spock's body to Genesis. Based on Sarek's reactions in ST3 he almost certainly went against Spock's wishes, unless of course, Spock left no recorded instructions and Kirk did what he thought would please Spock based on his being highest ranking officer and Spock's closest friend. It also seems very out of character for Spock to just assume that whoever he transferred his katra to would be able to handle it and carry out his wishes (McCoy certainly couldn't!). Ultimately it seems we have to chalk it up to a plot device to base the sequel on.

Grumpy Scot

According to the novelization, Kirk's intentions were to send Spock's remains into the Genesis sun. Lieutenant Saavik altered the trajectory of the torpedo beforehand, due to Spock's desire to see the Genesis effect for himself. The torpedo casing was expected to incinerate when entering the atmosphere. As pointed out by David Marcus in STIII when the pod was detected on the scanners, the gravitational fields were in flux at the time, and the pod had obviously soft-landed on the surface.

Question: Why is it in one scene revealed that the headless horsemen is just a normal guy? That doesn't fit into the plot.

Answer: Try watching a bit more closely. The "guy" in question is Bron, Katrina's would-be suitor, who is pretending to be the headless horseman to make fun of Crane. They're playing a joke on him, nothing more than that.

Tailkinker

Answer: The scene happens to be a play on a common theory of how, in the original Legend of Sleepy Hollow, that Brom was pretending to be the Headless Horseman in order to scare Ichabod Crane away from Sleepy Hollow.

Question: Just curious, but how does Indy's dad know what the trials to get to the Grail are if he's never done it and anyone who has hasn't survived past the first task?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: He states quite specifically in the movie that he found the details of the trials in the Chronicles of St Anselm. How the details got in there is anybody's guess - given what's seen to occur in the movies, divine inspiration is an entirely reasonable explanation.

Tailkinker

Of course, that begs the question... If the grail was not meant to be discovered, then why inspire Henry with the clues to get to it?

The Grail is meant to be discovered, but only by those who are worthy of locating it. In a Grail Quest, the hero has to overcome various challenges and seek out clues to be considered worthy of finding and wielding the Grail. You can't get the Grail if you're unworthy. The 3 Challenges in the temple specifically require traits like faith, wisdom, and bravery to pass. Only someone who understands what the Grail represents would be able to succeed. When divine inspiration is used in storytelling, the goal is to spur people on to want to make themselves better, or to fix something. There may be some divine inspiration that gave Henry the nudge to want to find the Grail, but he still has to put in the work and make himself worthy of it.

Question: Towards the end of the film, when Harry and Lucius are talking after leaving Dumbledore's office, after Dobby stops Lucius from casting a spell on Harry, Lucius says, "You're parents were meddlesome fools too". I don't recall any indication in the book that Harry's parents knew the Malfoys. Obviously the Malfoys probably knew the Sirius Black/Peter Pettigrew storyline that is explained in PoA. I seem to recall something in one of the last two films where Voldemort discusses something about the Potters with Lucius.

Answer: I'm not really seeing a question there - you might want to work on your wording a little. Bear in mind that you don't have to actually know people directly to describe them as meddling fools. Malfoy would obviously be aware of the Potters, both before their deaths, through his role as a Death Eater, and after, as their son's role in Voldemort's apparent downfall was known throughout the wizarding world. He can readily describe them as meddling fools if he wants to - he doesn't have to have actually met them to do so.

Tailkinker

Question: SPOILER: At the end of the movie, it is common knowledge that Bruce Wayne is dead. A tombstone is erected and Wayne Enterprises are executing his will. Since everyone knows Batman died, did Gordon (or someone else) out Bruce as Batman? Fair enough, they could've come up with a cover story for Bruce's death, but surely people would get suspicious if Bruce Wayne and Batman died around the same time.

Brad

Chosen answer: Given that no accurate records would have been kept of what occurred in Gotham during Bane's occupation, it would be very easy to claim that Bruce had been in the city when the bridges fell, been captured and subsequently executed by forcing him out on the ice, as had happened with many other socialites. Plenty of people died during Bane's takeover of the city, particularly in the final hours. There's no reason why Bruce would stand out among them as a candidate, and even if anybody did harbour some suspicion, it could hardly be proven.

Tailkinker

Question: After Obadiah Stane steals Stark's new reactor, how does the old one he reinstalled run out of power? It's a reactor: it generates power.

Serpentor

Chosen answer: It was basically a prototype made from, to quote Stane, "a box of scraps." It was not strong enough to last, especially when it came to powering Tony's high tech armor armor upgrades.

Rydersriot87

Answer: Yes it does create electric energy, but because of the laws of physics, energy can't just be created, it must be converted from another type of energy (chemical in this case, I assume), so Tony added a ring of palladium to the reactor while building it, which causes a chemical reaction inside to generate electric energy, so anyways, if the chemical energy inside the reactor is taken way so is the ability of the reactor to produce electric energy. Tony solves this in pt. 2 with switchable cores.

Question: I don't understand why Felix and Bond meet for the first time in Casino Royale, because they meet for the first time in Dr. No. I know that Casino Royale is a reboot, but you still cannot meet someone for the first time twice.

liamk97

Chosen answer: Well, the fact that it's a reboot answers the question. Ignore Dr. No. It has no relevance to Casino Royale, because as far as this movie (and its sequels) are concerned, the other Bond films never happened. Bond and Felix can meet for the first time in this movie, because they've never met before. Ever. Period.

Brad

Chosen answer: To make them both suffer the pain they have inflicted on their victims.

Rydersriot87

Question: Was Edward Walker married? Is that why he wasn't allowing himself to touch Alice Hunt? I noticed that there is a Tabitha Walker in the credits, but it doesn't seem clear in the movie.

Answer: Yes, he is married. He is thought to secretly be in love with Alice Hunt, but he is faithful to his wife, Tabitha, and that is why he never allows himself to touch Alice in even the the most platonic manner.

raywest

Are we sure Tabitha isn't his sister? She sure doesn't ever act like Ivy and Kitty's mother. She looks a hell of a lot like Edward Walker, and seems upset like a daughter, not a daughter-in-law, when they reminisce about the slain father. Also, this would make the whole Walker/Alice Hunt relationship much purer, much more hopeful (themes of the film), as it isn't going behind anyone's back. I wonder if there's a deleted scene that made it clear Tabitha's relationship to Mr. Walker?

Answer: Ivy refers to her parents which indicates that Mr. Walker has a Mrs. Walker which is Tabitha Walker. She is his wife and not his sister. She is referred to as his wife in one of the elder meetings early in the movie too.

Question: If Edward's bite has venom in it, why didn't Bella start changing immediately after being bitten on her stomach repeatedly to get the baby out?

sunfox35

Chosen answer: Vampires may have the ability to control when they inject their venom.

raywest

Question: What music is being played in the end credits?

Answer: Iron Man by Black Sabbath (minus the lyrics).

Rydersriot87

Question: When Indy gets to where the Grail is and meets the Knight, the Knight says that he is one of many brothers chosen to protect the grail, but if being in that cave with the Grail grants him immortality, what happened to his previous brothers?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: The other two brothers are the ones who left the tomb and traveled back to Europe. One of them is the knight Indy and Elsa find in the catacombs under Venice with the shield that has the second marker. The one left behind is the one the brothers determined to be the most worthy to guard the Grail.

Guy

Question: In the graveyard scene, I'm absolutely sure that Wormtail cast the Avada Kedavra spell on Cedric, but why is everybody saying that Voldemort killed Cedric then?

Loesjuh1985

Chosen answer: You're right. Wormtail did kill Cedric on Voldemort's orders. At that point, Voldemort did not yet have his body back and was unable to kill Cedric himself. Some of the confusion may come from the fact the Wormtail used Voldemort's wand to kill Cedric, which is why his ghost comes out of the wand during the fight with Harry.

Guy

Why was Voldemort unable to kill Cedric? He could kill the muggle caretaker at the beginning of the movie himself, wasn't he? He didn't have his body then.

Pettigrew had his wand.

Also, everybody believed Pettigrew to be dead at this point.

Question: How on Earth did the Joker know that Reese wasn't dead when he blew up the hospital? It seemed like he just guessed and blew it up anyway.

Brad

Chosen answer: Why not? That'd be Joker's style to blow up the hospital anyway, so it's very likely he didn't care whether Reese was dead or not.

Phixius

Chosen answer: There's a behind the scenes feature on a Friends DVD that shows an example: In "The One After Vegas"(Season 6 premiere), Chandler's line was originally "I don't think they're as much dating as they are drunk." Matthew Perry thought the line wasn't funny and came up with the alternative seen in the episode: "I don't think they're as much dating as they are two bottles of vodka walking around in human form."

Brad

Question: SPOILER: What exactly was Bane's and Talia's plan? Had Batman not thwarted the attempt at blowing up the bomb, were the bad guys simply content with being killed in the blast also as long as Gotham was destroyed as well?

Answer: Yes. Their entire purpose was to finish what Rha's had started; no matter what the cost.

Chosen answer: The drug is supposed to prevent a person from turning into a werewolf during a full moon. However, one batch is bad, and it causes immediate transformation.

raywest

Question: I don't remember if this is explained in the book, but when it is discovered that Umbridge has the locket, assuming she wore it while she had it, wouldn't she be possessed by its powers like Ron was when he wore it? And did she know it was a piece of Voldemort's soul?

Answer: This was never answered in the book, but in The Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter, it is speculated that Umbridge may have been unaffected because her own evil nature was more aligned to the dark locket. Also, the locket being somewhat sentient may have sensed that she posed no threat to it, whereas Harry, Ron, and Hermione's sole intent was to destroy it.

raywest

Question: How exactly did Merida get her mother to transform back into a human? Did she do it with her tears or was it by mending the tapestry and putting it on her mother along with the sun to help break the spell? (01:33:00)

Answer: It wasn't her tears, exactly, but rather her genuinely heartfelt confession of love for her mother, admittance of guilt, and regret for her own behavior that broke the spell. But not until the dawn's light touched her.

Phixius

Answer: It was sewing the tapestry, for sure.

Sewing the tapestry was just a symbol of mending the bond (as the witch said "Fate be changed look inside, mend the bond torn by pride"). However, we see she sewed the tapestry and that didn't actually turn her mother back to human. It's not until Merida hugs her mother, apologizes, and says she loves her that the bond is mended. After that the tapestry magically seals and her mother turns back to human. Phixius is right.

Question: After Hamish, Harris, and Hubert help distract Fergus and the lords as Merida helps Elinor, who has turned into a bear, escape, Merida offers her brothers to help themselves to anything in the kitchen. Why doesn't she warn them not to eat the cursed tart? (01:33:00)

Answer: She was rather preoccupied with getting her mother to safety. It didn't occur to her.

Phixius

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