Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Doomsday (2) - S2-E16

Question: Why wasn't Pete sucked into the Void when he came back to rescue Rose? Also, how did he even know when and where to teleport to, or that she even needed saving at all?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: He was only there for a fraction of a second, so the Void didn't have a chance to drag him in. As for knowing when and where, it's one of those last-second rescues that fiction revels in. Improbable, but dramatically satisfying.

Tailkinker

Question: When using the trap, why is it inadvisable to look directly into it?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: It is so bright, it may damage your eyes.

William Bergquist

Chosen answer: Her motives are never explained. One possibility would be curiosity, a simple experiment in human infant physiology. Another, perhaps more likely one from her subsequent look of apparent distress is that it was, in an odd way, an act of mercy, giving an innocent baby a swift death, rather than leaving it to die in the nuclear fire or of radiation poisoning afterwards.

Tailkinker

Question: You'll have to forgive my ignorance regarding a comment made by Matt Farrell. He said that it took FEMA five days to get water to the Superdome. What exactly was he talking about?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans, with many of the residents temporarily housed in the Superdome. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) was highly criticized for their response (or lack of), including how long it took to supply the Superdome with adequate water and food. Matt's pointing out to John how the government isn't nearly as capable of responding to disaster as people think.

OneHappyHusky

Chosen answer: It's never actually mentioned on the show, though in the 'Continuum' universe, she says she's been with Ba'al for 50 years.

MoonFaery

Question: What exactly happened to the Ghostbusters between the first film and this film? Why was a restraining order taken out against them?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: After the initial high of saving the city from Gozer wore off, they were blamed for the danger in the first place and sued out of business. The restraining order was additional insult to injury.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: Warlock is his computer name just like Keanu Reeves' character in The Matrix is called Neo even though his "real" name is Thomas Anderson.

Shannon Jackson

Chosen answer: Before Q sent the Enterprise to the beta quadrant to officially contact the Borg, there were already indications that the Borg was beginning to reach Federation territory. There were remarks towards the end of the first season of the Next Generation that several of the furthest Federation outposts were being attacked by some unknown enemy. They suspected the Romulans, but when contact with the Romulans was re-established, they learned that it was not them. The Hansens had simply figured things out much earlier than anyone else in the Federation. They learned about the Borg nine years earlier, but Starfleet mainly took notice when their outposts started getting wiped out. It is logical to assume that there were indications of Borg scouting parties and research efforts well before that.

Garlonuss

Answer: Add to that the two transport ships at the start of Star Trek Generations were carrying El-Aurian refugees to Earth. It wasn't stated in the film what they were refugees of, but Guinan would state in TNG that the Borg wiped out her planet and most of people, so it's a safe bet that's what it was. And with 47 El-Aurians being rescued by the Enterprise-B, there were plenty of people to tell Starfleet about this cybernetic threat. At the time though, Starfleet did not have the ability or resources to investigate this further, and it was eventually forgotten when other things became important until the Enterprise-D encountered that cube at J-25.

Chosen answer: Q brought the Borg ship to the Alpha Quadrant. He used his powers to alert the Borg of the human existance. Once alerted it is the nature of the borg to persue assimilating other cultures.

Boobra

Q moved the ship to the delta quadrant, near a cube that was likely exploring for targets. The Borg ship never left the delta quadrant until Q gave the borg a reason to do so.

oldbaldyone

Question: After the gene-swapping sequence, why was Bartok placed in observation? Also, what was that food they gave him?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Obviously, he was kept alive so he could be studied, which was a nasty twist on the fact that he kept the dog alive, and suffering, for so long. As far as the food, there is no way to know what it was. Probably some kind of bland mush.

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: We are never given any direct indication that they know Reese's importance. They don't appear to know that Reese is Connor's father. They are merely using him as bait for Connor. They must know that John is interested in someone named Kyle Reese and figure that news of his capture would bring them the man they really want.

Garlonuss

Question: How could the citizens of Springfield breathe with a dome over their town?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: There were still trees in town to create oxygen, however, in all probability, the EPA meant for everyone to die off eventually.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Throughout the film, Thomas Gabriel is shown be to an extremely intelligent and talented computer hacker with enormous resources at his disposal as well as an equally talented entourage of computer hackers. My questions are, why did he hire other hackers to write code for him and then kill them? He must have realised that this would draw attention? Couldn't he or any of his colleagues have done it themselves instead?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: First off, from the time they started killing off their hired hackers, there wasn't much anyone could do about it. They weren't worried about calling attention to themselves because they were doing plenty of that with their fire sale. Secondly, the number of systems they would have to hack would require lots of different methods and directions of attack. Way too much man power for Gabriel to let them all in on the plot without risking exposing their plans way too early. The idea of one hacker breaking into all of the systems they need is a nice Hollywood cliche, but rather unrealistic. People spend hours, days, or even weeks trying to hack one single system. Gabriel doesn't have that kind of time. The reason his one "extremely intelligent and talented computer hacker" is able to do everything he does is because all of their hired hackers had already passed off all of the programs and algorithms they needed. That's why he appears to have "enormous resources at his disposal" at all.

Garlonuss

Chosen answer: They wanted a good mix of pollutants to turn the planet into a giant cloning facility. Something humanity was well on its way to doing for them.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: Yes.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: How does Number Six appear in Gaius Baltar's' mind? Is she a vision of some kind? Does he have a chip inside his head? Or is it something else entirely?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Well, that's one of the big questions of the show and it's answered in the final episodes. She's, to use Baltar's term, an "angel". Beings who appear in the form of loved ones to help and guide us. Most of the time, they only appear in the head of one person, but the final season had one angel that everyone could see and interact with.

Garlonuss

Chosen answer: That's just how long it took. We are still digging up artifacts that are thousands of years old. It takes as long as it takes. Add to that the fact that, at the time the Borg came, Earth was still recovering from a massive war, and it's safe to assume that it took a while for complete exploration and research missions to get going full bore again. Also, they didn't know to look there. There would be no reason to simply head off to some random site in the Arctic and start digging.

Garlonuss

Chosen answer: We're led to believe Rover is some kind of robot in the series. According to books on the show, Patrick McGoohan was looking for an unusual guardian for the Village, looked up at the sky, and saw a weather balloon, which was what Rover was.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Why was John Connor jumping of the chopper into the sea, while he knew the commander of the submarine refuses to meet him? Isn't it a suicide?

Answer: Perhaps, but once the submarine captain learns that John Connor has just jumped off the helicopter, what is he supposed to do? Let John drown? John must have known the Captain would have little choice but to pick John up.

XIII

Chosen answer: 1) It's never made entirely clear, but it seems that the government, Six's employers, are involved. 2) Because they wanted to know why he resigned. 3) It's never revealed, although many fans assume that Six is really John Drake, McGoohan's character from the prior show Danger Man. McGoohan has, however, denied that this was the intent and there are some notable differences between the characters. 4) It's never revealed, although, as, in the final episode, Six and his companions are able to drive to London, it must logically be located within the British Isles. 5) No details are ever given as to who has ultimate authority over the Village.

Tailkinker

Answer: Hope I am not going on too much, but I was watching bits of "The Prisoner" on YouTube, and have some information in response to question three "What was Number Six's name?" In the opening sequence of "The Prisoner" Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six walks into an office and throws a resignation letter on the table. He then drives to his house and hurriedly packs a suitcase. You can see him throw a UK passport into the suitcase. Seconds later, knockout gas is pumped into his house. He falls unconscious, then revives in "The Village." If he has a UK passport this must give his name, so it can be inferred that his name might be known to, or available to, anybody who really wants to know. After all, it seems plausible that the people or organisation who ordered his removal to "The Village" would have made at least a rudimentary search of his house and found the passport. Subsequently, in "Arrival" the first episode of the series, Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six meets "Number Two" who shows him a series of photographs illustrating his life from his schooldays up till his resignation. I find it inconceivable that Number Two could have acquired such a comprehensive amount of information about Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six, and not known his name. Yet Number Two never once mentions his name. Occasionally, in later episodes, characters mention that they knew Number Six in the time before they were transported to "The Village." But, during all seventeen episodes of the series, neither Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number Six, nor anybody else, ever mentions his name. From all this, it is clear that it was deliberately intended that viewers of "The Prisoner" would never know his real name.

Rob Halliday

Answer: Patrick McGoohan was often asked these, and many other questions about The Prisoner. He always refused to answer. He said the programme contained the answers. But you might want to try reading "I Am (Not) A Number, Decoding The Prisoner" written by Alex Cox and published in the UK in 2017. I regret that I, personally, was not wholly convinced by everything in this book. However, Alex Cox makes a dedicated and conscientious effort to deal with some questions asked about this very enigmatic television series. Alex Cox argues that Patrick McGoohan intended that the 17 episodes of The Prisoner should be watched in the order in which they were filmed, as these fill in details along the way. Even so, many questions about The Prisoner may always remain unanswered. One obvious paradox is that Patrick McGoohan/The Prisoner/Number 6 always says "I am not a number", and it is quite clear that much of his life before he arrived in "The Village" is well known to everybody, but he never, not even once, ever mentions his real name.

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