Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Before I claim this as a continuity or factual mistake - a question: When the Arab raiding party shows up over the dune, they camp by a collection of scrub that was not all dead, some was green. There were also a number of plants in that low-lying area around the camp. Wouldn't the survivors had a better chance of surviving more days by digging for underground water in that area? Perhaps deep, but there. If they took 12 days to build the plane, it seems 2 days digging for water would have given them more time.

kaevanoff

Answer: In the desert, the only place you can find water as at an oasis or maybe digging in a dry river bed. Those bushes would be extremely salty, and any meaningful water would be far too deep under the sand.

stiiggy

Question: I know the crew is trying to steal the fake egg all for appearances, because they already have the real egg. They are doing this just so that the Nightfox doesn't get suspicious. My question is, why would that really matter? Tolour is going to find out that they stole the egg prior to the bet being made either way. If they fear he won't pay if they stole it before the bet...well, again, he will find this out anyway. They really could have just said right after the bet that they had already stolen it and won. Was the fake robbery more for the benefit of Lemarque's daughter and getting her to ruin her career, so she would board the plane?

oldbaldyone

Answer: If they'd told him right away, he never would have made the bet at all. And I kind of doubt he'd honor the bet if, right after suggesting the egg (and before even giving the money to Lemarque to hold in escrow), Danny just announced they already had stolen it. It was partially about Isabel, sure, but also about humiliating Toulour and teaching him a lesson for "breaking rule number one."

Question: In 1985-A, when Biff threatens to shoot Marty, Marty says that the police would match up the bullet with the gun. Biff mentions that he owns the police and that they couldn't match the bullet with Biff's gun. How could the police be unable to match the bullet that murdered George with Biff's gun?

Answer: Because he owns the police, and ensured the forensics were rigged.

Question: The ship is moving 50% of the speed of light, and Jim gets ejected. How did Jim have time to throw the door to change his trajectory? How did that throw outpace 50% of the speed of light?

Answer: He didn't have to outpace that entire speed. Since he ejected from the ship, he was already moving the same speed as the ship. So throwing the door gave him a little bit of extra momentum on top of the speed he was already moving.

Quantom X

Question: Why announce to the passengers you're passing a star for viewing when everyone is supposed to be asleep? Can't imagine you would waste time programming that?

Answer: The computer detects there are people awake so it gives this kind of information. It's not clever enough to understand that's not supposed to be the case, but since pods shouldn't malfunction they never put that kind of programming into the computer.

lionhead

Question: Star tells Michael that she was supposed to be his first kill. I'm only speculating that it was on David's orders so, if he was, why did David change his mind and decide to make Michael a vampire instead?

Answer: Because the Head vampire, Max, had fallen in love with Michael's mom. At the end of the movie he said, "Boys need a mother and if I could get Michael and Sam into the family, you would have no choice but to join us."

Hit and Run - S2-E5

Question: Towards the end of this episode the squad car has to double park so Regan can use a phone box, as Regan gets out of the car a van has to drive round the squad car and the driver sounds the horn, Regan gesticulates and shouts "up yours" at the van driver. I wonder if this was scripted or was a random moment and John Thaw was ad-libbing?

eric 64

Answer: Scripted.

Question: Did Jamie acting like Michael at the movie's end happen because of the night's events, or when she touched his hand, or what?

Rob245

Answer: I think it's really up to the viewer to decide. I personally always took it as she simply snapped and briefly lost her mind and became just like her uncle for an instant. But given she and Michael share a psychic connection in the sequel, I've seen other people suggest that perhaps she was under his "influence" in some way.

TedStixon

Question: Is there any reason they can't introduce sand worms to other planets in the Duniverse, there to proliferate and produce a greater, more widely distributed quantity of the spice? The newborn worms are called sandtrout, by virtue of being more or less the size of such. Should be easy enough therefore to capture some, surround them with sand in the spaceship to imitate their homeworld, and take them to some other planet the Empire is willing to give up for any other use, then let them grow and produce spice? Much greater abundance, much surer supply (the proverbial eggs in one basket), much closer at hand for any other world in the Universe?

dizzyd

Answer: In the books people were trying this with no success, at least by the end of book 3 which is as far as I got. The implication was there was a complex eco-balance needed which they were failing to achieve. It is a big part of book 3 that the smugglers were capturing the sand trout and selling them to offworlders, since this is how Leto II got them to perform his metamorphosis. Perhaps in later books they succeeded at starting another location.

Isn't it so they only discovered the sandworms were the source for the spice by the time Leto II takes charge and turns into one? After which he turns Arrakis into a paradise with only a small patch for sandworms to produce spice in.

lionhead

Question: Near the end of the movie, Miller says "James, earn this. Earn it." What is he talking about?

Answer: A great number of soldiers died to save James' life. Miller is telling him to go on to live a life worthy of that sacrifice. That's why elderly James desperately asks his wife if he'd lived a good life.

Brian Katcher

I'm sure James was grateful that Miller, and his men were willing to risk their lives to save his.

Answer: You would need to be more specific as to which inmate to get an answer as to who possibly belongs in the mental ward. In general; usually the only mentally ill prisoners who go to the mental ward are inmates who show obvious psychotic breaks like Loli and crazy eyes as, with the conditions of prison, it's often difficult to tell who is mentally ill and whose frustrated from the conditions. Many of them are also only there temporarily. Crazy Eyes, first example, was in the mental ward. Her mother fought and won to get her out.

Show generally

Question: Is there any reason they can't introduce sand worms to other planets in the Duniverse, there to proliferate and produce a greater, more widely distributed quantity of the spice? The newborn worms are called sandtrout, by virtue of being more or less the size of such. Should be easy enough therefore to capture some, surround them with sand in the spaceship to imitate their homeworld, and take them to some other planet the Empire is willing to give up for any other use, then let them grow and produce spice? Much greater abundance, much surer supply (the proverbial eggs in one basket), much closer at hand for any other world in the Universe?

dizzyd

Answer: There could be a number of reasons: introducing non-native species can be devastating to an environment; the sandworms may only be able to survive in certain conditions that other planets lack; they may be unable to reproduce once introduced to a different environment; moving the number of worms needed to produce an adequate supply may be cost-prohibitive; it may be decades before the worms are old enough to produce the spice, the new environment might change the quality and chemical composition of the spice that is produced; political conflicts, and so on.

raywest

Answer: If Spice is even half as useful as the novel says, those are all trivial inconveniences compared to the payoff that would make it worth a try.

dizzyd

Next to the fact the unique conditions of Arrakis is what makes the spice melange (not just the worms, but also the planetary conditions) you have to also understand that having the spice production on one planet makes it much easier to control. Whoever controls the spice controls the universe. It wasn't until much later (hundreds of years after the death of the god emperor) they were able to replicate the spice, but before that they didn't even know how the spice was even made. A large reason for this is they had no AI (forbidden) to help analyze the spice melange.

lionhead

Fine, I accept the monopoly theory.

dizzyd

Question: Did Gulch say "damn"? It sounds like she says "If you don't hand over that dog, I'll bring a damn suit that will take your whole farm." But if she did, why is Gone With The Wind known for being the first movie to use the word?

MikeH

Answer: She said she'll "bring a damage suit."

Bishop73

Question: If the Toys always freeze around when humans present, then why they didn't freeze around animals like Scud or even Buster in the sequel?

Trainman

Answer: The reason the toys stay still in the presence of humans is because they need to keep their existence a secret from them. Animals cannot speak to humans, so the toys don't have anything to worry about when it comes to keeping their existence a secret.

Casual Person

Answer: The film was made for children and to make them think that their toys are real and care about them, I don't think the animals really factor in.

Jack Vaughan

Question: What differentiates the End of Mort story from the Shooter story? I mean, Mort adapts Shooter's story in the end, in which Amy is killed and buried in the garden, so what was the ending that Mort wrote in the book and magazine before John Shooter's "Perfect Ending"?

Greeverroom

Question: Alex's Seaplane McDonough avatar's weakness is being bitten by mosquitoes. He's also been in the game for 20 years. The region of the game that he's living in seems to be quite warm. It's literally impossible to go two decades without being bitten by a mosquito. So how is it that he went 20 years without being bitten?

Answer: Remember, the world of Jumanji operates on video-game logic in the context of the film. And in video-games, there are usually "safe areas," while hazards are often usually allocated to specific contained areas for the sake of creating dramatic gameplay. Something like mosquitoes, which are a character's weakness, might only appear in a few specific spots in the "map" of the game. So there's a very real chance he may not have encountered them because he just hadn't been in the part of the game map where they're located before.

TedStixon

Answer: They're in a video game, not real life, so it's possible mosquitoes are only in certain sections. Otherwise his character would be pretty doomed.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Also, his in game time was only a couple of months, not 20 years like in the real world.

Question: Why did they change her name from Rita Desjardin, in the book, to Miss Collins?

Rob245

Answer: The only answer I could find online was that it was changed simply because "Miss Collins" was easier to pronounce/remember. It's also worth noting that it's really not all that uncommon for movie adaptations to alter and rename characters. Especially supporting characters. Given there are some other changes to the character in the movie, renaming her could have also been a way to distance her more from the character in the original book.

TedStixon

Answer: It is my understanding that she "encouraged" her students to keep diaries. Some students did and some of the diary entries were later included in a controversial book (which some people found offensive because of the language used).

KeyZOid

Question: What did Cristu's right-hand man say that caused Looney Bin Jim to kill him?

Question: What does Tex mean by "I'm as real a donut motherf'r?"Something significant?

Rob245

Answer: To put some context into the scene, three members of the Manson family (Tex included) have broken into Rick Dalton's house and are holding Cliff Booth at gunpoint. Cliff, who is high on drugs asks "Are you real", to which Tex replies "I'm as real as a donut, mother fucker." Tex was trying to answer Cliff's question stating whether or not he was real, but in the most intimidating way possible, and I guess donut was the word that came to mind that described how real he was.

Casual Person

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