Question: What did Alan Grant pick up and smell when they were in the cage right before he says "This is a bird cage"? And would it be possible for them when they got hunted by the raptors to hide in the mud to not get smelled by them?
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Answer: It was Pteranodon poop.
Question: Most adults in Empire of the Sun either dislike Jim or are openly mean to him. Why?
Answer: I don't think anyone disliked Jim or was mean to him. Basically, he's a somewhat annoying, overly-active kid that the adults, who are in a very dire situation, simply didn't have much patience or the inclination to deal with. Also, the adults are mostly upper-class British, and in that era and before, they tended to be stricter with and more dismissive of children.
Question: Why does Stanley kill himself? I understand in the film it is because he considered himself too weak and wanted to give his friends the best chance. However, why didn't he just stay where he was was and not return? Pennywise can't reach that far so could not influence him. Stanley could have come up with any plan, even faking his death.
Answer: It's a bit involved, but the fact is that he was never that stable with the idea to begin with. He had forgotten all the horrors of his childhood (either due to the influence of Maturin the turtle [from the book] or Pennywise it makes little difference) and when it all started to come back to him, he panicked. And frankly, he had no way of knowing whether Pennywise could get him where he was or not. He didn't know enough to know one way or the other. But he knew that where Pennywise was concerned it would never be over simply. Pennywise would have tormented and tortured them like he did when they were kids, and when faced with that prospect he decided that ending it now, especially in his panicked state, was preferable to the idea of torture.
Question: Who are the 2 people in the elevator who are making out when the guys get in to leave?
Question: Was that a real baby in the opening scene? The kid looked real to me and if it was how'd they make it look newborn, covered in stuff?
Question: Why is Han so skeptical of the Force? I get that he himself has never witnessed anyone use it, but he would have been alive during the Jedi purge, and surely he knows that Chewbacca fought alongside the Jedi on Kashyyyk. Additionally, is there any reason Obi-Wan wouldn't have demonstrated Force powers to Han on the way to Alderaan other than he didn't feel the need to prove it?
Answer: Han describes force powers as "simple tricks and nonsense." He has never seen any Jedi doing anything particularly super-powered. Even if Chewy did and told Han it is still reasonable for him to be skeptical and to think his friend is exaggerating. Han simply thinks the stories about Jedi are overblown. A good way to think about it would be to examine how ninja are presented in popular culture versus how they were in reality. The stories surrounding ninja are greatly exaggerated to the point of absurdity, applying immense fighting ability and oftentimes magical powers to normal men. The difference is jedi actually had magical abilities while ninja did not.
Answer: To answer the second part of your question, Obi-Wan has Luke demonstrate the Force in front of Han by putting a blinder on and fighting the remote. Believing he has made his point, Obi-Wan comments "You see!", to which Han replies that Luke's success was against a remote, and that fighting a living person was completely different. So even after being shown something that is completely impossible without the use of the force, Han still chooses not to believe.
Well Han also dismissed Luke's success with the remote as luck. If Obi-Wan used the Force to steal Han's blaster right from its holster, would Han just dismiss it as magic? Is there such thing as magical powers in the Star Wars universe independent from the Force?
Oh, I absolutely agree with your point. But I always took this scene to mean that Obi-Wan isn't trying to win an argument with Han or prove anything to him. He's trying to teach Luke about the force. He doesn't really care what Han believes and is dismissive of his comments. Luke believes he felt the force using the remote and that's what is important.
There actually is, or so I believe. The nightsisters, also called the witches of Dathomir, that appear in The Clone Wars-series. They used dark magic.
Question: Why is Mickey stubborn about seeing a doctor for his heart? Does he think this would distract Rocky?
Answer: A lot of older people are stubborn about their health, especially if they fear the news will be bad or if there's nothing to be done. At his age, Mickey doesn't want to hear that his heart is bad, that he doesn't have long to live, and that he has to make major lifestyle changes. As an ex-boxer, he's not going to want to sit in a rocking chair eating healthy food.
Question: Cabe says if he uncuffs Collins without a direct order, he violates half a dozen federal statutes. What federal statutes?
Question: When the two girls get out of their car due to a flat tyre, they begin walking back from where they just came. Why didn't they keep walking in the direction they were going instead of back tracking?
Question: Hank bears no resemblance to his father, but strongly resembles his mother. Bobby bears no resemblance to Hank (or seemingly Peggy), but bears a strong resemblance to Hank's father. Is it actually possible for a person to bear such a strong resemblance to one of their Grandparents if they are only getting half their genes from that Grandparent's child and that child bears no resemblance to that particular parent?
Answer: It's also said genetics plays a part here. You can look like an ancestor more than a parent. I myself look nothing like either of mine nor do any of my 3 siblings: older brother, older sister, younger sister.
Chosen answer: The short answer is "yes", it is possible to resemble your Grandparent even if your parent doesn't resemble your Grandparent. The old adage is "it's not like mixing paint", meaning combining genes doesn't always get the same result. It's why full siblings don't always look exactly alike even though they have the same genetic makeup. I look next to nothing like my paternal grandmother but I have a child that greatly resembles her.
Is it a mistake then that Hank's Japanese half-brother strongly resembles him, and by extension Hank's mother, or is that still a small possibility?
Sort of. These are animated characters, and the style of animation isn't particularly detailed. The resemblance between the two is played up for laughs. But there are plenty of real life examples of people that aren't related at all but greatly resemble one another. Famous examples are Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Javier Bardem, or Will Ferrell and Chad Smith.
Question: The movie never provides a explanation for why the cops don't go in the Warzone area. Why don't they?
Answer: These areas are controlled by gangs and it is implied the police won't enter out of fear.
Question: When the birds attack the town a gas station attendant is hit by a bird and drops the gas hose he is using to fill a car. The gasoline flows down the street and under a car; a man drops a match and lights the gas causing an explosion. Why didn't the gas pump shut off when the man dropped it?
Answer: The movie takes place in the 1960s, so presumably gas pumps worked a bit differently back then. This is also a small town and probably the gas station had not modernized. There may not have been automatic shut-offs, or if there was, it was faulty.
The automatic shut off is in the handle of the hose. When a person grips the handle they have to lift a levered switch to allow gas flow; the lever is spring loaded so that if it is released the gas will stop flowing. I have looked at older antique gas pumps and they are all the same; even the visible glass gravity flow ones. If that hose was dropped the the gas should have stopped flowing.
Question: So was there a point to the dressing room scene between Amy Adams and Gal Gadot? She trying to seduce her to get info or was this merely an excuse to get these two half nude?
Answer: It was definitely meant to be a sexy scene, but it isn't pointless. The two were genuinely bonding during that scene and the gradual friendship built between the couples forms a major part of the plot. The sexiness between them also sets up the scene later in the film where the two kiss and Karen discretely passes a knife to Natalie. As an aside, Karen isn't played by Amy Adams, she is played by Isla Fisher. Amy Adams and Isla Fisher share a striking resemblance and are constantly mistaken for one another.
Question: Did anyone notice, or can explain how both James Whitmore, a state trooper, and James Arness, an FBI agent suddenly become outfitted in Army or National Guard uniforms, fully qualified to fire bazookas, etc and more or less in charge when the action moves to the pursuit in the LA sewer? seems like there would have been jurisdictional issues there (at least for James Whitmore).
Answer: Like the General said, the less people that know about the ants the better. They were a special task force assigned with the equipment and deputized to use any and all measures to stop the ants. Since the movies was set in the 1950's, James Arness and James Whitmores were most likely veterans of WW II and Korea.
Question: Harry opens a door causing a bag of tools to fall on his head. In real life, wouldn't Harry have been badly injured if that really did happen to him?
Answer: The YouTube channel Screen Junkies did a video consulting with a doctor called "Honest Action - Home Alone" in which they break down all the traps Harry and Marv encounter and what the real consequences would have been. For this one in particular, they said Harry would have been killed by a skull fracture and a possible epidural hematoma.
Answer: There are numerous YouTube videos of real doctors analyzing the traps in Home Alone 1&2 and what would "really" happen to Harry and Marv and almost every doctor who examined the bag of wrenches trap said Harry would've most likely died of severe head trauma, brain bleeding, skull fracture etc. You gotta check them out.
Answer: Yes it would have. In real life, a lot of the traps Kevin sets in both films would have seriously injured or killed both Harry and Marv.
Question: Why does B-Rabbit break up with Jeneane in 8 Mile? What does he mean by, "I know why you said you were pregnant"? Why did Jeneane say she was pregnant?
Answer: Their relationship is implied to be toxic. It is implied that Jeneane said she was pregnant to get Jimmy to stay with her out of obligation.
Question: In the first episode Barney and Andy are cousins. Later they are friends. Are they no longer cousins? Season 2 "The Clubmen" Andy references Barney as his friend.
Answer: The first episode was the pilot and like all first episodes, it was something to show the network executives. Once it was picked up they fine tuned the show and the characters.
Question: Did one of the church ladies in the "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" scene, poop herself? The one with the floral shorts. Watch at the end when she is walking out of the church. (00:25:15)
Answer: The marks could be from when they were sliding across the pews.
Answer: 100% period! If you watch from the beginning of the scene, you'll see the stain slowly growing, also it's not on the side of her shorts, is in-between her legs, and eventually down the back.
Answer: Period shorts.
Question: I get why counselor Troi would wear what may be considered civilian outfit or non-standard uniform, but why does she never wear her rank insignia for the first 5 or 6 seasons? In s5e5, "Disaster", it's revealed she has the rank of Lieutenant Commander and is in charge as the highest ranking officer on the bridge after the accident. Did I miss something, or was this just something the writers decided to add late into the series? In previous episodes, I never got the impression she was a bridge officer, or even had any Starfleet training, only on the bridge on the behest of Picard who wanted an Empath to help when encountering someone, or something, new. I never saw her take command in any situation (for example, Data whose rank was also Lieutenant Commander, was often seen taking command of the bridge for night duty or other reasons). Was there any previous episodes that mention her rank or training or shows her insignia, etc?
Answer: Troi always carried the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and does wear her rank insignia in the 1st episode of the series, "Encounter at Farpoint" while wearing the "skirt" uniform. She never takes command prior to the episode "Disaster" because at that point, she had not yet taken the Bridge Officer's Test. She passes this test in the Season 7 episode "Thine Own Self", at which point she becomes a line officer and is assigned bridge command during her duty shifts (though we never actually see this).
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Answer: He picked up a chunk of "bird" guano, and was smelling it to see if it was something biological as opposed to chemical. He realised it was left by a pterosaur. There's no way of knowing if hiding in the mud would fool the raptors.
raywest ★