Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Something that's bugged me ever since becoming a Star Trek fan: Why do none of the ships featured in this or any other Star Trek series have seat-belts or some futuristic equivalent for their bridge crews? Practically every time, for example, the Enterprise comes under heavy attack, consoles and panels start exploding and crew members are thrown from their chairs and shown flying through the air. To me this seems a very obvious oversight.

Answer: The ships have inertial dampeners, they don't really need seatbelts. And consoles aren't really supposed to be exploding. When the do, would you really want to be lashed in place so your face and torso take the full force of it?

Phixius

There is a deleted scene in Star Trek nemesis where Captain Picard captain's chair get a seat belt and he makes a comment about them.

Dan23

The question refers to all crew, not just the captain's.

Noman

This video shows the many instances in the shows and films where seatbelts are used by the crew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysvyXDebsM.

Answer: In ST:TMP, the captain's chair had restraints; the arms folded down over him, holding him in place.

The question refers to all of the crew, not just the captain's chair.

Noman

In that scene all of the chairs have these restraints, so the answer actually applies to the whole bridge crew.

Question: Is the gravitational force in Pandora the same as in Earth? The humans are seen walking in the same way they walk on Earth.

bharath

Chosen answer: No, it's not the same, it's a little bit lighter, as mentioned by the Colonel early on in the film. That's part of why many of the creatures are so tall and lean there. Lighter gravity wouldn't really affect the way you walk - astronauts on the moon hopped around due to the bulky spacesuits.

AJ Aneres

Question: While in Italy, the Anglican pastor tells a joke, and the punch line is about an American seeing a "yellow dog." Exactly what is he referring to?

raywest

Chosen answer: The joke is: The American girl asks her father "What did we see in Rome?" The man says "Rome was where we saw the yellow dog." Explanation: Americans can tour the Eternal City and all they will see that is memorable or of interest to them is a dog.

Myridon

I don't get it. It doesn't make sense.

What part doesn't make sense? Rome is filled with better things than a dog. To put it another way, it would be like if you went to one of the greatest sporting event live with on-field/court-side/ring-side tickets and when asked about the event you said "I thought the nachos were good."

Bishop73

It's a crude joke about Americans. It doesn't have to make sense. It's a joke that highlights the sense that Americans are crude, illiterate, with no culture. They believe a yellow dog (a common dog in the US) was the best thing to see.

odelphi

Question: In the beginning of the film, who is the girl in the pink dress who is leaving the trashed hotel room right before the guys wake up from their night, and, why was she sneaking from the room?

Answer: It's Jade, the stripper Stu married. She's sneaking out because she wants to surprise them with coffee.

MoonFaery

Answer: She also added that she was being quiet to not wake them up. She went to get them coffee and when she returned everyone was gone.

Question: On the IMDB Trivia page, it says that little of Terry Jones' script was kept past the point where Sarah eats the peach. I have two questions concerning this: 1) Who wrote the rest of the film? and 2) Why was some of his material removed?

Answer: As with any film, there are often numerous rewrites of the script as the writing process progresses, and it's not at all uncommon for different writers to be brought in to tweak plot points, enhance dialogue and so forth as the script is honed towards the point where they have a finished product that they can shoot. Who ends up with the eventual credit is a highly complex and somewhat arcane process, involving judgement calls on who has contributed what towards the final script. As such, Jones' script being heavily rewritten after a certain point is nothing particularly unusual, but what amounts to standard practice in the movie industry - presumably it was felt that his script subsequent to that point lacked punch in some way, leading to another writer being brought in to revamp it. Other writers known to have worked on the script include screenwriter Elaine May, childrens author Dennis Lee and the film's director Jim Henson. There may well have been others.

Tailkinker

Question: Is Aragog smaller in this film, than in the Chamber of Secrets?

Answer: Yes, much smaller. I'd estimate that the Aragog in Half-Blood Prince is about one third the size of the spider in Chamber of Secrets.

raywest

Answer: Yes. They needed to make the effect that his body has dried out and has no life.

Question: What happens to the girl that had Kim's jacket? Is it assumed that he just left her in the hotel?

Answer: It's never stated, but it's likely Bryan had made arrangements with his friend (the hotel manager) to help her return home once she recovered enough from the drugs.

raywest

Question: When McClane ejected from the cockpit of the military plane, why didn't Colonel Stewart and his men shoot him while he was in the air? These men deliberately crashed a commercial plane killing innocent civilians and by doing this, it's obvious that they are ruthless, so why wouldn't they try to kill their main enemy when he is at his most vulnerable? (With the weapons the soldiers had, McClane was still in range to be hit.) Can someone explain this for me?

Answer: Because the police were moments away from arriving at the scene. They needed as much time to get away without being tracked. Every moment counts. And a target rocking about a few hundred feet in the air doesn't seem to be such an "easy target".

XIII

Question: Why did Elle kill Budd? Was it really just to get her hands on Kiddo's sword? or was it more to it? As poor as he was seems like she could have just offered him a small amount of money for it. Why kill him?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: The way she talks to Budd as he lies dying, seems to indicate that she has disliked and hated him for years, plus the fact that she feels that he was not "worthy" of killing Kiddo (seeing how Kiddo was a fantastic warrior, while Budd is an alcoholic hick). However, it would be difficult for her to get close enough to kill him earlier, as he would not buy any excuse why she just came visiting. But when Budd actually invites her over, she gets a chance to get back at him, and in the same while take the credit for killing the Bride and retrieving her Hanzo sword for Bill. Vengeance and personal gain in one swoop.

Twotall

Chosen answer: Nope. Joey is the only friend who has never gotten drunk.

Brad

Question: What do the curls on Navy officer's white wigs signify? Some have one curl on each side, while others have two, and so on. Are they an indication of rank?

raywest

Chosen answer: They are an indication of rank, however I am unsure what each one represents. But they do represent a rank.

Ssiscool

Question: Why was Terry the one who arranged his and Lara's escape from Hong Kong? Of the both of them, Lara logically would be the one to do this, as she has the clout, money and contacts. Terry was imprisoned and disgraced prior to this and unlikely to have contacts/someone who would help him. Even if the contact was part of an Asian criminal world, Terry still wouldn't be able to do it as he was an enemy of the Shay-Ling.

Answer: Terry was specifically taken to Hong Kong because of his contacts and dealings with people there.

GalahadFairlight

Question: When Ripley takes the gun and goes to see Newt, who is then under the bed, she puts the gun on the bed. But then the gun is in the next room when the alien is attacking. Have I just mistaken this and it was placed on the table, or is this a mistake? Thanks.

greengirl

Chosen answer: Neither, it's a plot point. When Burke released the facehuggers into their room, with the aim of impregnating Ripley and Newt with aliens so that he could get them back to Earth, he took Ripley's gun and moved it outside the room before he locked them in, so that she couldn't use it to defend themselves.

Tailkinker

Question: In a movie with talking ogres, pigs, mice, wolves, and all sorts of animals, why is everyone so surprised to find a talking donkey?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: Who is "everyone"? The only person surprised he can talk is the one human who is processing the fairytale creatures for banishment, and this was used as a plot device to highlight a joke (between him flying and talking).

MovieFan612

Fiona also says "it talks", after he "saves his ass."

To be fair, she was locked in a castle for the majority of her life, so she wouldn't know that donkeys would be able to talk.

And yet he wasn't the only one surprised by it; watch the scene again and Fiona was surprised, too.

Answer: It may be an evening affair.

Chosen answer: It's possible. Some brides will agree to get married on a weekday in order to have it at the location they really want. Some places book way in advance and are hard to book.

Shannon Jackson

Answer: Sometimes it is cheaper to hold a wedding on a weekday rather then the weekend.

Question: When Helen and Madelin have finished fighting and they asked Earnest to fix them, how did he fix the great big hole in Helen's stomach?

curiouskid

Chosen answer: He most likely filled it with something soft, then covered it. You'll notice the lingerie she is wearing completely covers her midsection.

Question: The ending seems to be shown as a happy one. They find land and head towards it. However, the earth was being cooked from the inside, so what happened? Did the earth just stop being destroyed?

T.Rex.Sheffield.Can+Ash

Chosen answer: The intense solar activity ceased, thereby allowing the core temperature to return to normal and leave us with the new look continents.

jonathan

Question: I was just wondering why, at the end of the movie, the name of the company changed from Colston to something like Ruiz and Hunt. I mean, Margaret's last name was "Tate" so her leaving shouldn't have caused a name change. (I apologize if the names are incorrect, I've only gotten to watch it once at a friend's house, so the movie isn't readily available for me to check).

Jazaray

Chosen answer: The building is named Ruik and Hunt, the publishing company is Colston, which is housed inside the building. The company never changed names.

Question: Why did the popular kids hate Aldys so much? What did she ever do to them? I know that they don't like "geeks" /"nerds" and all, but they were not even that horrible to her male nerd friend or Josie. They seem to be the meanest towards her.

Answer: Popular kids make fun of geeks because the are different. They may dislike Aldys more because she is antagonistic towards them, like when she bought the prom ticket.

LorgSkyegon

Answer: I think it is only because she is not intimidated by them, and she always talks back and stands for herself.

Question: Did Guy only like Josie because she became popular, or did he always like her, but was afraid to tell her because she was a "geek"? And it would ruin his reputation as a cool guy?

Answer: He only began noticing her after she became popular. You can see Guy ignoring her several times when he sees her as a geek.

LorgSkyegon

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