Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Serious spoiler alert, but this has always puzzled me. At the end of Barbarella the Black Queen unleashes "Matmos", an evil energy which destroys nearly everybody and everything in the film. Pygar (the blind angel) escapes, only rescuing two people from the cataclysm: Barbarella and the Black Queen. Barbarella asks Pygar why he saved the Black Queen after all the evil things she did (she even blinded Pygar). Pygar replies "an angel has no memory." I never got the point of that. What did Pygar mean? (In his previous conversation he recalled things that happened before he was blinded, so obviously he did have a memory.) And I could not see the point of or meaning to this ending at all. Did any of this make sense to anybody else?

Rob Halliday

Answer: I don't think his comment is meant to be taken literally. To him, a person's past behavior has no relevance to that particular moment in time (in that the memory of it has been selectively voided in the angel's mind), and therefore it does not affect who he saves.

raywest

Answer: You say that Barbarella was beyond lame-it was totally atrociously bad and ludicrous. It was released in autumn 1968, when I was 12, and too young to see it at the cinema. I finally got to see Barbarella when I was 18 and it was shown late one night on television. I wholly concur: I thought it was totally, atrociously bad and ludicrous, and my opinion has not changed since.

Rob Halliday

Answer: I concede your point. Perhaps I was being a bit too literal. When Pygar says he has no memory, he may not mean that all past events clear from his mind (in the way that, for example, you could delete a computer file from your laptop). Instead, he might mean he does not dwell on the past, or he does not retain bitterness or anger for past wrongs, or he does not return evil on those who were bad to him. I think the film was based on a comic that ended in pretty much the same way. All the same, I always thought the ending was rather lame. It was as if somebody told Roger Vadim (the director) "hey, this film is supposed to be 90 minutes long, but we've done 89 minutes filming, and we still haven't got an ending." So Roger Vadim got the Black Queen to unleash Matmos and destroy everything. (To be pedantic, Barbarella is 98 minutes long, but I hope you understand what I mean.) Personally I thought the ending of "Monty Python And The Holy Grail", where a police force stops the film, was a similar disappointment.

Rob Halliday

I would have to say that, overall, the movie was beyond lame-it was totally atrociously bad and ludicrous.

raywest

Question: At Ethan's funeral at the end of the movie, his tombstone was seen. And there were names: "James W.", "Dorothy M." and "Ethan H." Who are James and Dorothy? These are definitely not Ethan's parents' names. I remember from the first movie "A Dog's Purpose" that Ethan's parents' names are Jim and Elizabeth. Then who? And what W, M and H next to the names refer to?

Bunch Son

Answer: Jim is often a nickname for James. But I thought Ethan's parents got divorced, so perhaps Dorothy was his 2nd wife. Although there's no reference to that name in either film. I haven't throughly checked out of the books to see if they talk about if Ethan had a stepmom and what her name would be. The letter after the first names are their middle initials.

Bishop73

No Big Thing - S1-E8

Question: In this episode, in an aerial view of KITT travelling before meeting the semi, KITT is passing a parked car that seems to be one of the other cars used as the stand-in for the 'hero car'. Would that be any sort of error? (00:23:35)

Movie Nut

Answer: I would say that unless there's visual evidence it was another K.I.T.T. car, as in you could see the bar scanner or cut steering wheel, people on here would correct the mistake by saying more than one 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am was sold and there's no reason it's meant to be a random car.

Bishop73

Question: Was Ray Brower from the same town as the boys? If so, how did he end up so far away to where he got killed? It takes the boys a long time to get to him and its only mentioned that he was berry picking. Finally, how would he have got hit by the train? I doubt he didn't hear or see it coming.

Jen Hen

Answer: I think he was from a neighboring town because when Vern tells the group about what he heard Geordie says "could he have gotten all the way from Chamberlain to Harlow, that's really far" and we know the boys are from a town called Castle Rock, so I think Ray Browers was from a neighboring town called Chamberlain.

Answer: In Stephen King's novella, Ray was a boy from a neighboring town. It's unclear in the movie whether Ray is from the same town as the boys, but as it takes them a long time to get to where the body is, it seems that Ray is probably from somewhere else. It's also never explained exactly how Ray was hit by the train.

raywest

Question: 1. Why was Dyson holding the detonator in that way where dropping his hand would set off the bomb? Did he willingly set it off, or was he stuck in a position where he couldn't avoid it? 2. Was there any reason only one terminator was sent back to kill John? Wouldn't multiple terminators increase the chance of success, considering the last one failed to kill Sarah?

sebastya

Answer: For your first question. Dyson was dying, no way to stop that. He was holding the detonator like that as a literal "dead man's switch". He needed the swat team to get close enough before he would die and drop his arm or warn them to get away, showing the urgency of the situation. One look at him and the lead guy knew they had to run, allowing the others more time to get away. He sacrificed himself to buy more time. For Question 2. It's been stated several times that the terminator was sent back in both T1 and T2 as the last resort as Skynet was being destroyed and taken over. The Humans were at the gate and the time machine was still experimental and new. Had Skynet had more time to do it, sure, they would likely have sent an army back. However only one could go in at a time and the Humans got there just in time to stop Skynet and send one of their own back in time after the single terminator.

Quantom X

Answer: 1) Dyson's plan was to blow up the Cyberdyne office, but didn't want to cause any casualties in the SWAT team. He held an object above the detonator as to allow them time to escape, so that when he died he would drop it onto the detonator, the office would get blown up but no innocent people got hurt. He likely knew he wasn't going to get out alive, but made sure none of the data in the office was going to stay behind. 2) One of the most important things for a Terminator to do is to blend in with the public to prevent any suspicion from being drawn to it and prevent people from finding out about Skynet's existence. Had Skynet sent back multiple Terminators all trying to kill John Connor at once, far more suspicion would be drawn to them. It'd be much easier for them to send back one Terminator because that would be a better way of blending in with its surroundings.

Casual Person

Knight Rider [Pilot; a.k.a. Knight of the Phoenix] (1) - S1-E1

Question: At one point, after promising help, Michael parks, and goes to a pay phone to call Devon. As he gets to the booth, over his left shoulder, there is a badly altered Pepsi sign. Black tape has been put over the word 'PEPSI' in the familiar logo, and also over the "si" in the phrase 'say Pepsi please'. What type of mistake would this be?

Movie Nut

Chosen answer: Before "product placement" became common, name-brand products were rarely, if ever seen in TV shows, mostly due to avoid advertising conflicts with program sponsors. The Pepsi logo may have been taped out to prevent any commercial infringements.

raywest

Are you kidding? Product placement was so rampant in the 50s that sometimes you'd wonder if you were watching a TV show or a paid ad.

Brian Katcher

Knight Rider wasn't produced in the 1950s. TV shows of that era had advertising more similar to the old radio shows from the 30s and 40s. The early 50s series often had a sole sponsor, so their product (and related items) was likely seen in a program. An announcer also informed the audience at the beginning that, "This program is brought to you by (insert brand name). " From the 60s on, brand-name products weren't generally seen in TV programs. Networks sold air time to multiple advertisers, and their ads were shown during the long commercial breaks. So no, I'm not kidding.

raywest

Answer: It wouldn't be a mistake. Anyone could have taped the sign for a number of reasons.

Brian Katcher

Question: When Jimmy is giving Clark the cake, Mr. White says "where are the photos of that birthday clown massacre thing?" Is this suppose to be a nod to The Joker? I didn't think any of Joker's origin stories had him as an actual birthday clown that killed people until this recent Joker film.

Bishop73

Answer: I don't believe it is. This is a half reboot sequel to the classic Superman 2 movies and other than being a DC character, has no ties to other properties of the DC comic lore. This is more likely just meant to be something funny they could have Parry White say to get a laugh about him bringing up something random and ridiculous meant to be taken seriously.

Quantom X

Question: Grocer contacts the G-men to tell them that Blank is arriving by plane. Is that his own car he is driving around town, or are we to assume that he rented a car exactly like his own? If it is his car, how did it get there if he flew?

Answer: Given that Blank and Grocer both drive identical black Lincoln Town Cars throughout the film for some reason, that would be a reasonable assumption that they would also hire the same car model wherever they go.

Sierra1

Question: When Harry is brought into Malfoy Manor, Draco is told to confirm that it's really him. Even though Harry's face is jinxed, Draco knows that it's him, so why did he lie and say it wasn't?

Answer: Because at his core and despite being an unpleasant person, Draco was a decent and humane person who never could step over the line into being evil. He could not bring himself to betray Harry, knowing he and the others would be killed, and he could not have lived with that guilt. Dumbledore and Snape understood this about Draco, and worked to help him keep his humanity.

raywest

That is the moment when Draco is now a good person.

DFirst1

Answer: Draco wasn't entirely sure it was Harry and if he told the death eaters it was and they called Voldemort, he knew the repercussions would be painful, maybe fatal if he was wrong.

Draco absolutely knew it was Harry. He just couldn't bring himself to be responsible for his death.

raywest

Question: Why did Zach keep calling Cassie down from the stage every time she was dancing with the others? Every time he does it, he criticizes her dancing to her face but she's a very good dancer.

Answer: The problem is she's "too good" of a dancer. The audition is for a chorus line where the dancers have to perform uniformly and as one unified group. She keeps doing the extra moves and gestures, making herself standout from the others, which is exactly what Zach does not want. He even tells her that she's too good of a dancer to be in a chorus line. She's talented as a lead or solo, but she needs this job. She has to continually restrain herself to blend in.

raywest

Question: When Matt Murdock becomes blind his other senses are enhanced. Is this possible in reality?

Answer: Not to the extent in the show, of course, but it can absolutely happen to an extent: https://www.livescience.com/58373-blindness-heightened-senses.html. In short the brain is quite "plastic" and good at redirecting its resources where needed. Not being able to see can "free up" brain power and improve other areas. Only up to a point, of course.

Jon Sandys

Answer: Not blindness, but the same principle applies. I know a deaf comedienne that doesn't like people to use flash photography at her shows because she relies on her eyesight to help compensate for her diminished sense of hearing, and the flashing can mess with her senses.

Phaneron

Question: The boys are playing baseball and young Carol shows up in a wheelchair. Shakes says she is his sister, so why later in the film does she ask him why he never asked her out.

Answer: I believe you are confusing two characters and what person's sister. The girl in the wheelchair (can't remember her name offhand) was Hector Maldonado's sister. Hector was on the opposing stickball team. Carol (who was not in a wheelchair) was Michael's girlfriend, so Shakes saw her as "taken" and "off limits." (Shakes wouldn't steal his friend's girlfriend).

KeyZOid

Question: When Charlotte starts singing "I am Woman" too early and then looks embarrassed, was that actually in the script or did she really make the mistake and they just left it in?

Answer: In the script.

Question: Spoiler! The scene at the very end, with Arthur locked up talking to the doctor/social worker - is that meant to be later, after he's been captured again, or is it a flashback to when he was hospitalised before, as was referenced earlier in the movie?

Jon Sandys

Answer: This is later, as the building appears to be Arkham. He's committed there instead of going to jail based on his insanity. It appears he is laughing about the death of Thomas Wayne, we see a flash of that scene again for a reason.

lionhead

Chosen answer: I think it's meant to be deliberately ambiguous. I took at as him being locked up for his crimes, but others have commented that they think he was always locked up and the entire movie takes place in his head.

Phaneron

Answer: He doesn't bring her in the book, but in order for the plot to work out, they had to plant her there some way.

Answer: He probably wanted help, she was seen putting the bumper on the car with Mikey. He probably had other tasks for her to do, but she annoyed him by calling him a crook before he could give her more jobs and then Zinnia arrived shortly afterwards.

Answer: Just to bring her, as her guardian.

But she's always at home alone?

Question: Would the army really take a guy with a low I.Q., much less one with a cleft lip?

Rob245

Answer: The Army doesn't issue IQ tests upon enlistment. Given that Forrest had a college degree, and passed basic training with flying colors because of his amazing ability to follow orders, he would be allowed in just fine. And Bubba didn't have a cleft lip, just big gums.

LorgSkyegon

Answer: I can't even guess why you think a cleft lip would disallow someone from being admitted into the Army, or anything/anywhere else for that matter.

Because an unrepaired cleft lip is a disqualifying disability. You can't join the US military if you have one.

LorgSkyegon

Question: Why do they spare one Mexican cop while killing the other one who is dirty?

Rob245

Question: Why couldn't ET fly earlier in the movie while people pursued him?

Rob245

Answer: He can't fly he can only make objects levitate.

Question: Why couldn't ET use his magic finger on himself when he was ill?

Rob245

Answer: The ability is meant to be empathic - he can use his energy to heal other life-forms but must himself heal normally, given sufficient time and hope. Elliot's caring for E.T. helps facilitate his recovery.

Erik M.

Answer: He may have been too weak to do it himself.

Answer: Because he's a rich, spoiled, self-centered bully who sees the Goonies as low class weirdos who are getting in the way of his father's development plans (and he sees Brand as as rival for Andy's affections).

Brian Katcher

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