Question: Does anyone know what the ubiquitous, ever present helix means and what it signifies?
Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
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Question: Two questions about Nancy and John Redcorn's affair. First, has it ever been explained why Nancy had an affair for so long and didn't leave Dale? Her relationship with John seemed to be more than just fun. Also, have the show's creators ever said why they didn't do an episode where Dale finds out about the affair?
Answer: In one episode, Nancy says that she loves Dale "in a 'lights-on' sort of way." She feels some type of love and affection for him. It could be a case of her wanting to "have it all." Dale, who doesn't make a lot of money and has low self-confidence, will help care for Joseph and the home, giving Nancy more time to have a passionate affair with John Redcorn.
Answer: Nancy's and John's relationship was based solely on a physical one. they both seem to agree that THAT was the way things were and nothing more could come from it. The reason why there was never an episode of Dale finding out is cause it was one of the shows running gags.
Question: In the ending credits, you see "The Whiz Kid" and "The Whiz Kid's mom". Who are they and where do they appear in the movie? I have looked, but I have never seen Austin O'Brien anywhere in the movie even though he is listed in the credits as "The Whiz Kid", same with the Whiz Kid's mom. Is this a mistake or do they appear in some background?
Answer: Austin O'Brien has stated in an interview that although he filmed a scene it was dropped from the movie.
Question: This is about the poker game on the coffee cup the cop gets. Was this an actual contest or something back in the early 90s? Would the cop have actually won something for the "full-house" or were those cups printed just for fun?
Question: If Adam Monroe hadn't have had his power absorbed by Arthur Petrelli and subsequently died, would he have died anyway by the time of the eclipse?
Chosen answer: Probably not - he survived through earlier eclipses unscathed. The eclipse appears to negate powers, but doesn't appear to actually remove them, as they all return once the eclipse finished. Arthur's ability, on the other hand, forcibly strips powers away from people, which is something of a different thing. Adam can apparently survive a temporary negation, but having his ability removed completely resulted in his death.
Question: Exactly why did The Company create and experiemnt with a dangerous and life-threatening disease such as The Shanti Virus? Surely they must have known the risks?
Chosen answer: They didn't create it - it first manifested in Shanti Suresh. Their original reason for experimenting on it was probably to find a cure, just as real-world virus labs experiment on highly contagious viruses with that aim in mind. However, the effect of blocking access to powers was clearly of use to the Company in dealing with powered individuals, so their experiments also produced alternative strains of the virus, including the one used on Sylar and Niki Sanders that removed their abilities. These experiments may also have resulted in the ability negation pills given to Peter Petrelli during his time as a "guest" of the Company between seasons one and two. While the risks are obviously considerable, careful security precautions can be set up to guard against accidental release. Somebody insane enough to wish to release one intentionally is, of course, another matter entirely...
Question: How DID Sylar contract The Shanti Virus? Did The Company somehow infect him with it?
Chosen answer: Yes, he was intentionally infected by the Company to remove his powers and make him easier to handle.
Question: In the trailer the Joker walks towards Batman on the street, pulls out a knife and tosses it to his other hand, but in the movie they don't show that. Was that part cut out of the movie?
Chosen answer: Trailers are almost invariably put together before the final edit of the film is locked down. As such, it's not uncommon for them to contain shots from deleted scenes, alternate takes and so forth. The shot that you refer to wasn't used in the final version of the film, that's all.
Question: Why does Elizabeth take the medallion with her after Will rescues her? Surely she must have known the pirates would come after her if she took it.
Answer: They're going to come after her anyway - she's really the only lead they have to finding Bootstrap Bill's real child (at least until Jack appears on the scene, but she doesn't know that). If she has the medallion, then she has leverage - the pirates need it, so it could potentially be used as a bargaining chip. If she leaves it behind, she loses that potential advantage.
Question: At the end of the movie, why doesn't Carlisle drain Bella's body of the venom seeing as human blood doesn't affect him anymore in the way that it does other vampires?
Answer: Because he is controlling the bleeding and doing other medical treatments. Also it is Edward's choice, he won't make that decision for him.
It's never said that Carlisle is no longer affected by desire for human blood - he was just able to restrain himself for the few people who became part of his family... Edward talks about how incredibly difficult that was for Carlisle to stop then, and (likely) still would be going forward. In the case of Bella, Carlisle asked Edward to do it because Bella's future was up to Edward's choice.
Question: Christy and Billie Jenkins are very powerful witches, yet it's been established that their parents are ordinary mortals. So, where did they get their powers from?
Chosen answer: In the episode Mr and Mrs. Witch, Billy's mom explains that their grandmother was a powerful witch and that it just skipped a generation.
Question: Towards the end of the episode "Journey's End", Davros calls The Doctor "the Destroyer of Worlds". Isn't this just a little bit ironic considering Davros and the Daleks were about to wipe out the universe using a reality bomb?
Chosen answer: It's a psychological tactic. The Doctor thinks of himself as a good person, but he's had to do horrible things during the Time War and on other occasions. Davros is playing on his guilt.
Question: Who's that weird little holographic alien Jonnie sees next to the learning machine?
Chosen answer: It's a Chinko. A subject race of the Psychlos. They were scholars and historians until the Psychlos got tired of them and wiped them out.
Question: It's been stated through out the show that Earth was originally inhabited by an extraterrestrial species known as 'The Colonists', that they fled the Earth during the last ice age and that they intend to re-colonize the Earth in 2012. Now, they're obviously more technologically advanced than us, so why do they want to re-colonize the Earth? There's a whole universe of planets out there to choose from. Also, why wait until 2012? Why not just invade?
Chosen answer: They want to return because its their home planet. Secondly The Colonists didn't expect Humans to get quite so advanced whilst they were away, so invading doesn't make sense, and is likely to ruin the planet further.
Question: What are the mechanics behind The Ghostbusters Proton Packs? How do they work?
Chosen answer: Theoretically, they are nuclear powered proton colliders. The positively charged energy released by the proton collisions is channeled through the neutrona wands into a manageable beam. This positively charged beam bonds to the negatively charged ectoplasm which ghosts used to manifest. This allows the Ghostbusters to draw them into their traps.
Question: Why did the Psychlos subject Jonnie to that learning machine? Surely a race as intelligent as the Psychlos must have known that there would be unforeseen risks of subjecting a human to so much knowledge? Also, why not simply programme the learning machine to download a limited amount of information into his mind?
Chosen answer: To see if the man-animals could be trained to perform tasks more complex than simple mining. The machine wasn't programmed to restrict the information it gave him because, smart as the Psychlos are, they're also very arrogant. It simply didn't occur to them that a species as inferior as humans could possibly become that intelligent.
Homecoming - S1-E9
Question: Why does Sylar choose the Homecoming event to kill Claire and take her power? Surely a person as clever as Sylar would realise that it would be full of people and that there would be a risk of capture (which is exactly what happens). Why not wait until Claire is asleep? Or follow her when she's on her own and corner her in an alley?
Chosen answer: Sylar's not bothered about the risk of capture - his confidence in his abilities is high enough that he probably thinks that he would be impossible to take down anyway. And you have to remember that he's driven by a hunger to take new abilities - he's not going to be happy with the idea of waiting for the perfect moment. She's relatively isolated, her only companion being another cheerleader, no reason to wait.
Question: Exactly why do The Company and their agents conduct bag and tag missions? Is it simply to study evolved humans and their powers? Or do they have something more sinister in mind? Also, why bag and tag at all? Why not just talk to the people they target?
Chosen answer: It's partly study, partly containment, partly potential recruitment. Simply talking to the targets isn't going to get them what they need to know - they're looking for detailed genetic information, plus they want to install the tracking isotopes, neither of which could be done during a pleasant chat.
Question: Why exactly do The Company want New York City destroyed? Is it so that they can manipulate Nathan into becoming president, ensuring he becomes their puppet?
Chosen answer: Not exactly. Their intent is that the destruction of New York will act as a focus for the entire nation, a rallying point of sorts. The plan is that Nathan will be in a position to show strong leadership after the explosion, giving him a high public profile and a strong support base as the outraged and shocked nation unites behind him. This support could then be used to put him into the White House where he can continue to further their agenda. Not so much a puppet, more a willing ally, but the effect is much the same.
Question: During Sylar's examination, Hank informs Mr. Bennet that they've been trying to find the codon switches that identify his powers, but they're unable to identify any of them except for telekinesis. How can this be?
Chosen answer: Sylar's powers are stolen and forcibly impressed into his DNA, unlike most of the empowered characters where the DNA is natural. It's entirely understandable that his powers might be more difficult to determine under those circumstances.
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Chosen answer: It is a reference to human DNA. It represents how some people have evolved past what is considered "normal". Hence the name of Chandra Suresh's book: Activating Evolution".