Question: After they escape the safe house, Weston calls the CIA and says "no chance of an SDR, I've picked up a tail." What does SDR stand for?
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: How is it that Butch doesn't get his hand back but Galavan's sister has full control over hers even though it was sliced off?
Answer: Tabitha got her hand sewn back on, Butch didn't.
Question: When Charlie looks inside the toilet to see the mess Max made since he missed, why don't we see what's inside?
Answer: Because it's a kids movie that adults are supposed to be able to sit through as well. Seeing the horrific diarrhea mess would have too high a gross out value and be a turn off for the audience. It's better to leave it to the imagination than gross out your audience when that's not what you're wanting to do with the movie as a whole.
Question: Mark finds pathfinder, and takes it back to the hab, and recharges it. Wouldn't he have to repair it first? The rover is very old, and hasn't been used in decades.
Answer: Maybe some slight repairs sure, but it wouldn't have been nearly as damaged as you would think. Unlike on Earth, the Martian atmosphere lacks enough oxygen to cause corrosion or rust. And since the Pathfinder has been buried, it wouldn't have really taken much damage from weathering or light past that point. In other words, the conditions of Mars would have actually preserved it pretty well.
I am not asking whether or not he would have to repair the rover due to the effects of corrosion, or rust. I am asking whether or not he would to repair the rover due to the effects of aging.
What I said still stands for that. A lot of the issues with equipment aging is due to being exposed to the elements. Oxygen in the air oxidizing metals, sun light cracking plastics and rubber, the presence of bacteria and other microscopic life forms causing bio degradation, etc. Those are the main reasons why machinery and equipment here on Earth are subject to deteriorating with time and age. The environment the Pathfinder was in is a stark contrast and it was basically kept preserved like in a museum... so to speak. Yes, it's been up there for 2-3 decades. But the amount of aging it would have taken from that might only be equivalent to a couple years or so if it were here on Earth. The environment, and especially the air and exposure to sunlight, are the main contributors to the aging process of non living items. Being buried under the Martian soil for 30 years most protected it from any exposure to the elements that would cause aging.
But being buried in sand could damage it too though right, Given that it could allow sand to get inside the rover, and damage the electronics?
No. Dust storms are a part of life on Mars - any rover would be designed to withstand sand intrusion, or not be affected by it to any serious extent, otherwise they'd stop working. Spirit and Opportunity massively outlasted their original mission parameters despite frequent dust storms which would apply much more pressure than being buried.
Question: If Remus is a tidally locked planet, and the bright side is too hot to live on, wouldn't the dark side be too cold to live on?
Answer: On the surface, yes. But if I recall, the Remans live underground. Below a certain depth from the surface, the outside temperature would not affect living environments underground and they would pretty much have one single temperature through out their whole civilization. Like how here on Earth, regardless of what part of the planet you are on, once you reach a certain depth, the temperature below the surface is usually a constant 65° globally until you start getting too deep.
Question: Is it really possible to keep a person warm by putting him inside the body of a large animal? That's what Han does with Luke in the movie.
Answer: There are real life stories of people using horse carcasses for warmth and shelter. There were even old stories of shepherds using their camels in the exact manner as Han does for Luke, although I can't attest to their validity. (DiCaprio does a similar thing in "The Revenant" with a horse). There is residual heat in these animals. Most large animals have an normal temperature over 100°F (a camel's temperature can rise to 104°F during the day). However, what is most likely keeping them relatively warm is using the carcass as a heavy blanket while at the same time blocking the cold winds (creating a small tent) and not using the guts to warm themselves up.
Question: If the core stopped spinning, where would all the kinetic energy that keeps it spinning go? Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
Answer: For one thing, the rotation of the core is almost identical to (if not a bit faster than) the rotation of the rest of the planet; so the core coming to a stop relative to the rest of the planet is physically impossible. Over billions of more years, the Earth's core and mantle may eventually cool off and solidify (as has happened on Mars), but the core will still be rotating at the same velocity as the rest of the planet. By that time, of course, Earth will have also lost its Moon, so there will be no tidal forces between the Earth and Moon, which means the planet will be seismically dead, but the Earth will still be rotating on its axis. For the time being, though, it would literally take a miracle, an act of divine intervention, to overcome the physics of planetary rotation. If the core could somehow be stopped relative to the rest of the planet (which is physically impossible), then the core's energy would quite quickly be dissipated into the Earth's mantle, which would become an unimaginable inferno (much more so than it already is), propagating seismic and super-volcano activity all over the globe by a factor of, say, 10,000 times normal activity. The Earth's crust would be effectively ripped to shreds by super-earthquakes and eruptions within a matter of hours, perhaps even causing the entire globe to disintegrate into space. As mentioned, though, it would require something on the order of a true miracle to precipitate this chain of events.
Answer: The same place it goes normally: dissipated into the Earth.
Question: Despite how loyal Rattlesnake Jake was to the mayor, why did the mayor betray and attempt to kill Jake at the end?
Answer: The mayor wanted to modernize the town, getting rid of every trace of its "old west" feel. Rattlesnake Jake, being a stereotypical gunslinger archetype, was a huge part of what the mayor was trying to eliminate.
Question: How could Eric and Godric be hunting the werewolf pack in 1945 without Pam, who we later learn is made in 1905?
Answer: Pam doesn't have to be with Eric 24/7.
Question: Who is the actress playing the flight attendant that listens to the guys in the bathroom with disgust?
Answer: Lara Cox is not the flight attendant. "Cute Girl on Plane" was the 2nd girl to enter the scene and overhear the boys in the bathroom. I was unable to find who played the flight attendant and she may have just been a featured extra. I suspect Lara Cox is a member of S.A.G. and that's how she got a credited role and the other lady is not a member and was just hired as a background actor, which is why she's not credited (most extras are not credited).
Answer: If I'm able to figure out who the correct person is by the IMDb listings, I think she's credited as Cute Girl On Plane, with the actress playing her being Lara Cox. That's the closest thing I could find in the IMDb listings to a flight attendant, as I don't think customs officer counts.
Question: Why didn't Miss Honey or any of the other teachers report Miss Trunchbull's abuse?
Answer: The "real world" answer is that it's a movie, and without Trunchbull, there's no villain at the school for Matilda to battle. Within the context of the film, everyone, including the staff, is afraid of her and fear if they speak up, she'll retaliate.
Answer: They would have been simply too afraid of the Trunchbull to report her.
Question: What did the emperor mean when he said "only now at the end, do you understand?"
Answer: The Emperor firing lightning from his hands is a shocking development (no pun intended), an ability unlike any Luke had seen before and he was caught completely off-guard and defenseless against. One way to interpret the Emperor's words is "You fool, did you really think I just made that all up about how powerful the dark side is? Now look at you, I'm a feeble old man and I am literally going to effortlessly kill you with my fingertips!"
Answer: The Emperor meant that he had lured the Rebellion into a trap at Endor, and that Luke came to confront the Emperor believing that Vader ultimately would turn back to the light. The Emperor believed in that moment that he had won, that if Luke would not turn to the dark side then he would murder him and Vader would do nothing to stop him, and that Luke's optimism was misplaced. Of course he was wrong, the Rebellion was saved and Vader did turn, but the Emperor never thought it would happen in a million years.
Question: Why does Christine sing "in sleep he sang to me..." on her way to the cemetery?
Answer: She sings this on the way to the cemetery because she is thinking of the effect the Phantom has on her. This deeply troubles her as he suddenly went from a paternal figure/angel to just a man who harbors obsessive and lust-filled emotions which frightened her (as did his temper). As a child, the Phantom would sing Christine to sleep which gave her comfort she held on to. By singing this line, it shows how Christine still holds on to that comfort he provided her with and allowed him to get into her head. This emphasizes the powerful psychological hold the Phantom has over Christine. It would explain why she was still so easily drawn to him during the masquerade and wandering child scene, and was still attached to the comfort of his music. Even after all she saw him do, she still felt haunted by him.
Question: Why can't the kids tell the reporters that they found Chester Copperpot's remains at the entrance of the cave since he's been missing and dead for years as seen in the newspaper at the beginning?
Answer: Even though it's never seen, they might have told them eventually.
Question: Towards the end of the movie, after he kidnaps her a second time, Christine originally has on her outfit from Don Juan but then has time to change into the white wedding dress. Why did she change? Did he make her change into that? I understand from like a movie point of view that it's a different song/act.
Answer: The Phantom forced her to change into the wedding dress shortly after he kidnapped her the second time. He intended to make Christine his "bride."
Question: I have a problem with the scene where Chuck makes a fire by rubbing sticks. While it is possible to make a fire by the rubbing sticks, don't you need to run the stick against bamboo for the trick to work?
Answer: The point of the scene is that he has no idea what he's doing.
Chuck is using the fire plough method. A very established method. This and the fire saw method probably resulted in early sailors bringing back stories of."natives rubbing sticks together" to create fire.
Answer: You can use any wood (although technically bamboo is a grass and not wood), it just should be very dry wood. He's employing the fire trench method where the friction is created by rubbing one stick at a 45° angle against a trench in a wood plank (his trench looks to have been created because the plank was slit).
Actually, I looked up how to make a fire by rubbing sticks because asking this question, and I misread it as suggesting using bamboo. It was actually suggesting using coconut wood.
Question: Did the emotions know that Riley missed Minnesota before she admitted it? Was the sad core memory a possible clue?
Answer: The other emotions are certainly aware that Riley misses Minnesota, Anger especially. He complains quite a bit about how much he hates San Francisco. What the emotions don't seem to realise is that missing Minnesota is making Riley incredibly sad. Because Joy works so hard to suppress sad feelings, the other emotions don't seem to understand that by not allowing Riley to acknowledge her feelings they are causing her to become depressed.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: "Surveillance Detection Route." It's what you do when you think you're being followed (drive a specific route to detect if you're under surveillance or not). Weston says "I think I might have picked up a tail", so he was unsure if he was actually being followed or not, but had no time to try and determine if he actually is being tailed or not.
Bishop73