Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: What exactly is "snow blowing" referred to by Isabelle in Stepmom?

Answer: This site isn't the proper place to explain what "snow blowing" is. I would suggest you look up the term on Urban Dictionary, but be aware of its graphic description.

Bishop73

Question: Why would the terminator carry his weapon unloaded? It's shown loading the pistol prior to firing. A machine without care for injury would be loaded at all times.

Answer: Having watched the movie again, this can be explained by the previous scene where the Terminator kills Ginger and her boyfriend. It reloads the pistol but doesn't chamber a round before Sarah calls and leaves the message saying where she is. The Terminator then puts the pistol down and quickly rifles through Sarah's belongings before leaving so presumably it only thinks to finish readying its weapons once it's reached the Tech Noir bar and has Sarah in its sight. Either that, or it's actually doing a brass check (pull the slide back just enough to confirm there's a bullet in the chamber) before firing.

You mean such a sophisticated and advanced killing machine can't keep count of the bullets and has to check if the gun is loaded? I know the terminator runs out of bullets many times in the movie, it's great for entertainment but not for verisimilitude. Of course, if the perfect machine didn't make mistakes the movie would last 15 minutes and be extremely boring.

Answer: It does carry its pistol loaded: it merely pulls back the slide in the nightclub scene, priming the weapon. As an infiltration unit, the Terminator would try to prevent an accidental discharge, and thus avoid drawing attention to itself until it's reached its intended target.

Jukka Nurmi

Although I'd argue a perfect killing machine would never discharge its weapon accidentally, how could it?

The Terminators are shown time and again throughout the series NOT to be "perfect"; they make mistakes that are unaccounted for in their manufacture/programming. They are continually improved upon from film to film, indicating that they are BEING perfected, but not perfect. There is a world of difference, perhaps an insurmountable one, between the idea of a perfect anything, and the actual execution of that perfect thing.

Question: Rose and her mother need the financial security from Rose's marriage to Cal. What were they probably expecting after the wedding? Was Cal aware of Rose's father's debt? Did they think he would pay it off, or did they hope he would never find out? I would expect Cal, being from a stable, wealthy family, to have his choice of suitable (to him) women who did *not* come with the burden of debt.

Answer: Cal, who was quite rich and prominent, would have fully investigated the family's debts or other concerns. To avoid any social embarrassment, scandals, or lingering complications, he would likely pay off the remaining debts. Despite Cal's despicable character, he loves Rose, and that is the price of marrying her. In this era, women had many restrictions and few legal rights, so even as Cal's wife, Rose would have no direct access to her husband's money. She would probably receive a small monthly allowance and her expenditures would be closely monitored. Rose and her mother may not have had any money, but they are socially prominent and respected, and that would be an asset to Cal.

raywest

Answer: Rose's mother wanted Rose to marry Cal, so they had joint finances. With joint finances Rose would be able to get money to pay off her family's debt.

Ssiscool

Question: How does the government hear about the comet? The scientist saves the information to a disk then takes the disk in the car with him. He crashes and the car catches fire. The disk would have been destroyed.

Answer: It could have been salvaged and worked on, plus he was calling people in authority. There would have been an investigation into the crash, which leads back the young boy and the comet.

Question: If there are roadblocks to leave the town, and it took a great distraction for the sheriff to cross, how did the 3 hunters cross the border to the gas station? And where did the 3rd one go? The sheriff set one on fire and his wife shot another one.

Answer: The 3 hunters were last seen the night before David and Judy got to the gas station. That was the same night that David and all those people were hauled to the gas station. They probably drove there following the cars and no road blocks were set up yet. You can also hear the military say when they are in the barn at the McGregors' farm that the military is pulling back to the perimeter. They likely set the road blocks up after that. As for the 3rd hunter he may have been the dissected corpse on the top of their pickup truck. I'm not entirely sure on that one.

Actually, all three hunters were there. He walked into the cooler of the restaurant. Check it out.

Question: Why can't Edward hear Victoria's thoughts when she is at prom? Why is Victoria able to leave without any of the vampires knowing she was there?

Answer: Edward doesn't hear everyone's thoughts at once. He focuses in on nearby individuals. He was preoccupied with Bella, and wasn't aware that Victoria was there while she kept her distance from everyone.

raywest

Question: The stamp that was used to "mail" the envelope that never arrived... Is this something that is available to buy?

Question: What did the sharks survive on before the divers?

Question: V has shipped and delivered mass quantities of his outfit to just about every citizen in London. How did he manage to ship and deliver those packages when everyone is out looking for him?

Answer: It is never explicitly stated he worked alone. He had help keeping Evey locked up for example.

lionhead

Answer: They received the costumes in the mail, it was been easy for him it gets it shipped, especially the people who supported his cause. He never had any help imprisoning Evey. He played all the characters. That's why you never saw their faces.

Question: Who's the actor that played the jumper...? IMDB doesn't say... I thought I heard once that it's Mel Gibson's brother? He looks like the character "Johnny" in Mad Max.

Answer: The jumper's name was Len McCleary. He was played by Michael Shaner and is credited for the role in the film (and on IMDB).

Bishop73

Answer: Also, "Johnny The Boy" from the first Mad Max film was played by Tim Burns, according to Wikipedia; not only is he a completely different actor, but he is also obviously not Mel Gibson's brother.

zendaddy621

Question: Will and his father slide down poles to get to the secret sanctum. How do they get back out?

Answer: Elevator, stairs, secret entrance used when the leave, like the batcave, or he used his super strength to leap both of them out.

Question: There's probably an obvious answer here; but why does Miraz wait until his wife gives birth to his child before killing Caspian? If Miraz wanted to take the throne, he could have killed Caspian any time after Caspian's father died (I think he died but can't remember the movie that well) so that he would be the next successor.

Answer: Prior to the birth of Miraz's son, Miraz had no heir. So his nephew, Caspian, was heir to the throne after Miraz. With the birth of his son, he didn't want there to be any questions as to who would be heir.

Bishop73

Show generally

Question: This might be a stupid question, but why do all three of the children speak in typical American voices? Wouldn't their speech have a British influence because of their father, and also Niles?

Answer: Children's brains and language skills are still developing at that age and they adapt to the environment they live in. My former boss was born in England and moved to the US at about eight years old. She completely lost her British accent by her teens, even though her parents still spoke as typical English citizens. A Japanese co-worker and his wife, also Japanese, spoke English as their second language. Their two children learned both English and Japanese simultaneously while growing up and spoke each language with the appropriate accent.

raywest

Answer: Kids tend to take on the accident of where they live. I once had a British student who lost his accent after a couple of years in the US.

Brian Katcher

Not just where they live, but also after their peers (who live there, but you know what I mean).

KeyZOid

Answer: Not necessarily. Their late mother being American would've probably made the most impact on their speech, considering most kids spend most of their early years more with their mothers than fathers.

Rob245

Gracie is young enough that she doesn't remember her mother. The episode "I Don't Remember Mama" was about this.

Question: When Tony Goldwyn shoots Belushi at the end, are they using fake bullets, or did he actually mean to shoot Belushi with real ones and Belushi just survived? If they were fake, when did the two of them plan to do this elaborate setup? It is never discussed in the movie.

Rollie55

Question: When Helga tells Luke about the Grand High Witch, Luke asks if she ever saw her. Helga responds that nobody has. Later in the film, Helga recognizes the Grand High Witch. How would Helga know what the Grand High Witch looks like if she never met her?

Answer: 1. Helga had met her before, she just didn't know at the time she had met the Grand High Witch. 2. Eva was not the Grand High Witch yet when Helga met her.

Episode #4.6 - S4-E6

Question: When Lady Edith gets the letter confirming her pregnancy - who is the letter addressed to? Because she would not have wanted to use her real name, or have the OBGYN doctor's return address on the envelope.

Answer: The letter was addressed to Edith, an adult woman. As such, the family respects her privacy and would not question her receiving something from her own doctor. If anyone asked, she would merely give some vague explanation for seeing a physician. If she was concerned about anyone becoming suspicious, then she could have instructed the doctor's office to send it in a plain envelope.

raywest

Question: Where were Natasha and Yelena taken to in the beginning?

Answer: After leaving Ohio, the "family" went to Cuba to meet up with General Dreykov. From there, the girls were taken to the Red Room located in Belarus.

Bishop73

Question: Any idea what chemical substance is used in the fire extinguisher? I initially assumed it couldn't be straightforward liquid H2O as I couldn't see any spherical droplets floating around, but could it be an aerosol?

Louisa Radice

Answer: A quick internet search revealed that the International Space Station uses both carbon dioxide and water-based foam extinguishers. The Space Shuttle used Halon 1301 fire extinguishers, but these were fixed nozzles built into the shuttle compartments.

Question: Why does Mickey want to stay behind with Yoshi, at the end, when Raph has had the connection with him throughout the film?

Answer: Michelangelo wants to stay behind for the same reasons as Raphael: because in that time and place, they are well respected, even revered as heroes. They can live openly and not be banished to sewers or subway stations.

LorgSkyegon

Mikey didn't want to stay behind because of Yoshi but because of Mitsu. Raphael even points out that she's the reason he doesn't want to return. When Mikey says they should stay, Raph responds, "Now, forget about Mitsu and give me the scepter."

Question: How did the company know about the Alien in the first place? Presumably no-one had been there before and the signal they picked up didn't indicate the presence of an Alien lifeform.

Answer: It was never fully explained. "The Company" had a standing directive that any signal detected which indicated alien life was to be investigated and specimens collected and returned. Failure to comply would result in the crew forfeiting their profit shares. The company apparently had previously detected the crashed alien astronaut's warning signal from LV-46 and wanted to search for alien lifeforms without specifically knowing what would be found.

raywest

Actually in the movie it is indicated that the company definitely knew about the xenomorphs, given Ash's directive. It is not explained how in this movie but it is in the movies "Prometheus" and "Alien: covenant." The standing directive about investigating signals was just an excuse to use an expendable crew to procure a specimen.

lionhead

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