Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Look how Mark Watney is able to walk, and stand on earth just fine. In reality, wouldn't he have had a hard time readjusting to earth's gravity if he was stranded on Mars as long as he was, especially since Mars gravity is much lower than earth's?

Answer: The scene where Mark is back on Earth does not take place as soon as he got back. This takes places months after returning. He likely would have faced some difficulties readjusting to the Earth's atmosphere upon returning, but would have adapted to the atmosphere, and be able to walk and move around properly after some time had passed.

Casual Person

How do we know it takes months after returning? I didn't see any words saying months later.

A number of factors indicate it is much later. He has regained much of the weight he lost (which he could have gained during the journey back, along with using the gravitational wheel of the ship to help his recuperation), he now wears glasses, he has become more grey. Most importantly, the Ares V mission is about to launch, which was scheduled to be 5 years after the main events of the film.

We don't see any words saying it happens the day after he returned either but you aren't assuming that to be the case. You are accepting that some time has passed, so assume it's enough for him to have adjusted, which is the case.

Answer: He's gained a lot of weight and has been hired for a teaching position. It's safe to say a bit of time has gone by.

Brian Katcher

Answer: During the journey back from Mars, Mark would have been able to use the exercise equipment present on the Hermes. This would have helped his body re-adapt to heavier gravity. He would also be able to regain much of his lost body mass during the long journey back. NASA knew that the crew would spend a long time in low-gravity so the equipment was designed to keep them fit. Despite this, he would have had a fairly long recuperation time on Earth. The epilogue of the film is set after he has fully recovered and is able to return to work as a lecturer.

Question: What exactly did that Police Officer mean when he said to Miss Hannigan "Look what I found under a paving stone"?

Answer: Paving stone is just a description of the City's street pavement, like the Lower East Side's Belgian block pavers or even cobblestones. It's pretty much similar to saying "Look what I found under a rock" and both are uncomplimentary to Annie.

Super Grover

Question: When Harry is packing his trunk at the end and Dumbledore is talking to him about setting the curtains on fire, does anyone know what is written on the inside of the lid of Harry's trunk?

Answer: It's hard to say what was written on the inside of the trunk. Sometimes they write the company that made the trunk so it might have had the manufacturer's name inside of it and maybe even the year that it was made as well. It seems like everyone at the school has very similar trunks so it may have his name written inside of it so as not to confuse it with anyone else's.

Answer: It looks like information for Harry's trunk in case it was ever found by someone. Probably had his phone number and address inside of it.

You wouldn't put that information on the inside.

lionhead

You would if you didn't want to display your personal information everywhere but also expected that if your trunk was lost, the finder would open it to see whose it was. Yes it is more practical to have an ID tag or similar in modern luggage but the Harry Potter stories are deliberately written as quaint and old fashioned.

You don't open luggage you find. Name of the owner is always on the outside.

lionhead

Sure you would. Presumably, it's very difficult to lose a trunk that big, given the modes of transport that Harry uses. Info on the inside would be a last resort.

Question: Why was Evan interviewed separately from the other "survivors"? Why is he so special; I thought all he did was win the lottery?

Answer: You thought correctly. He did only win the lottery. We only see Evan interviewed separately. It's just possible that he was last to be interviewed. Kimberly and the others were being babysat by Officer Burke, so it's likely they were interviewed before Evan. I think that all or any witness would be interviewed separately whatever the circumstances.

Alan Keddie

Answer: Right before Barney and Andy walk into the courthouse to meet Governor Ed, his chauffeur (played by Rance Howard) is standing beside the Governor's car. In the next shot inside the courthouse, when Governor Ed shakes Barney's hand, I'm presuming the young man with the Governor is his aide or personal assistant. The young man is carrying an attache case which likely belongs to the Governor, and earlier the Governor told Andy that he had some business in the vicinity.

Super Grover

Answer: I heard that that man was also Ron Howard's real father. Is that true?

Yes. The governor's chauffeur was played by Rance Howard (Ron Howard's father).

Question: Here's something I don't fully understand. At the end of the movie just before Carter dies, him, Clear and Alex are all drinking alcohol. They were just graduating from high school, or at least they were going to as Clear said that she and Alex went through four years of it, and only a few months had passed since then, so how are they drinking it at all? Did they have passports and if so, why? Are the rules different in France? Was it a special occasion? I just don't see it happening when you have to be twenty-one.

Answer: The legal drinking ages in Europe are much lower than some states in the USA. In many countries the legal drinking age is 18. In France and some other countries it is 16. In a large number of countries you are also permitted to drink alcohol from a younger age, provided it is with a meal and your parents have given consent. In France it is very common for younger people to drink wine with a meal.

Answer: The rules on drinking alcohol in France are much less stringent than the USA. 16 is the legal limit for drinking beer in France so all they need is their American passport to prove they are over 16.

The_Iceman

Answer: Maybe they had fake IDs.

Question: Bubbles dies because she was wounded in battle... yet nowhere in the scene could I see her actually get hit or hurt. Am I missing something, or do we just not see the moment where she's mortally wounded?

TedStixon

Answer: In the end they charge the Boulan-Bathors head on before they fall through the grid but before they fall they do make contact with the aliens and their weapons. Bubbles was also the last of them to fall through so she was exposed the longest to the Boulan-Bathor onslaught and was hurt. Its not specifically seen, nor do we know exactly how they were able to wound her flexible body.

lionhead

Question: Does anyone know what that spinning thing was at the top of the Trimaran's main mast?

Answer: A wind turbine to create the electricity he uses.

lionhead

Question: What made the banging the sound the crew heard before the oxygen tank exploded?

Answer: When Mission Control asked Jack Swigert to "stir" the No. 2 oxygen tank, Swigert complied; immediately, the astronauts heard and felt a loud banging noise followed by an actual explosion. As it happened, there were damaged electrical wires powering the "cryo-stir" fan inside oxygen tank No.2. Those wires violently shorted out when Swigert activated them, sparking an intense fire (fueled by the ship's pure oxygen atmosphere), destroying vital tank insulation, and overheating the No.2 oxygen tank to the point of rupture in a matter of seconds. So, the banging noises they heard just before the explosion were the result of electrical wiring violently shorting out and a flash-fire erupting, which precipitated the tank explosion.

Charles Austin Miller

Oddly enough, Jack Swigert had stirred the No. 2 oxygen tank a couple of times earlier in the mission, with no problems whatsoever. Why the wiring suddenly failed on this last attempt is still a subject of debate.

Charles Austin Miller

Why would it be subject to debate? The further into the flight, the less liquid oxygen in the tank. The frayed wires were not exposed until this point in the flight. Exposed wires allowed the arc. The arc caused the explosion.

What does the "ship's pure oxygen atmosphere" have to do with it? The ship didn't explode or burn. Apollo 1, yes, the command module did, but not 13.

Answer: Same issues Q and M have with James Bond.

Answer: Banning, head of Banning Corporation, wants to take over the global drinking water supply. He intends to start by poisoning major US reservoirs using genetically modified water strider insects. The striders carry bacteria that will spread from person-to-person.

raywest

Answer: If you're talking about his evil plan with the Banning Corporation, he wants to take over the world's drinking water supply (so that anyone who wants drinking water will have to buy it from Banning). He is trying to contaminate the U.S. drinking water with a deadly bacteria.

Bishop73

Question: After Miguel comes back to the land of the living, does the family believe that he went to the Land of the Dead? And if not, then do they believe that Hector got murdered, since the letters to Coco prove that he was the writer of De la Cruz's songs? And if they believe, do they manage to prove this to the general public and that is why they hate him? Or do they just hate him because they discovered that he lied about writing his own songs?

Answer: It is never actually addressed what Miguel told his family about his adventure, so it can't be said whether or not they believe him. It would seem to make sense that he would tell them though, it was a pretty fantastic tale after all and I'm sure he would want to tell his family about it. It would also make sense that his family would believe his story, it's really the only way he could have known that Remember Me was a lullaby Hector used to sing to Coco. The letters Coco saved prove that Hector was the actual writer of De la Cruz's songs and it was later proven to the general public, hence the graffiti on De la Cruz's memorial and a memorial for Hector taking it's rightful place in town. It can also be reasonably assumed that the general public is aware that De la Cruz murdered Hector since the theft of the music and Hector's death go hand in hand. It wouldn't make much sense for people to hate De la Cruz so much if all they thought he did was take credit for his partner's music after his partner was already dead.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Why are the people in Arendal cheering when Anna hits Hans in the end? They see Hans as a hero, Elsa as a monster, and they hardly know Anna. They don't know that Hans has tried to kill Elsa. But they still clap and cheer when Anna hits Hans and he falls in the water.

Answer: Hans had told them earlier that Elsa killed Anna. When they saw Anna hitting Hans, they realised that Anna was alive, that Elsa had not killed her and that Hans was lying about the whole thing in a plot to take down Elsa.

Casual Person

Question: Is removing hands, feet and teeth really sufficient to prevent the corpses being identified? What about DNA?

Answer: Even with head, hands and feet removed, a lot about a person's identity can be determined from body scars, tattoos, body tissue and blood samples, etc. Sex, age, height, weight, body-fat content, race, hair color, and pre-death physical health can all be determined rather easily through traditional means, even given only a torso for examination. Once investigators have a general idea of identity, they can compare their findings to a missing persons database and narrow it down further to likely matches. Then they can request DNA samples from the families of likely missing persons and compare it to the DNA of the corpse. Of course, if the corpse was never reported as missing, that would bring the investigation to a dead-end.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Identifying a body (or anyone for that matter) through DNA would only work if that person's DNA is already on file and you had something to compare it to (and getting a DNA match is an extensive process that doesn't happen over night despite what some TV shows suggest). I don't know about the UK, but in the US, federal DNA databases didn't really start until 1994. And only a few states started a felon DNA database in the 90's, so it's unlikely Hugo's DNA was on file. It's much more likely that a person's fingerprints or dental records were on file since they were much more common and not exclusive to felons. Again though, those records would have to be on file in order to compare to a body. I don't know if the feet removal was more for the dark comedy aspect or if they thought his feet print were on file and would be viable (i.e. prints taken when he was born in the hospital).

Bishop73

Question: Where does Fred Astaire get his briefcase from, as he did not walk in with it? He walked in only carrying his suit and a bunch of flowers.

Answer: The briefcase arrived the same time the golf clubs did.

Answer: This is most likely a continuity error. The briefcase was accidentally left out of the arrival scene.

raywest

Question: At the end of the segment "The Hitchhiker", when the mutilated corpse attacks Annie in her car, what was she saying after she said, "How much do you want?"

Answer: What she says is "do you want 50 or a 100." You have to listen close.

The horror movie fanatic

I heard it. You got good ears. I had to increase the volume on my TV but I heard it.

Answer: Incoherent mumbling.

Question: At the end, when Jefferey shoots Frank in the forehead, the film editing becomes confusing, with two different closeup shots of Frank immediately after the gunfire. One shot is obviously Dennis Hopper with a wide-eyed and shocked expression (as well a hole in his head) as he falls backwards. But the following split-second closeup shot is apparently not Dennis Hopper: He now has what looks like facial hair, a sullen expression, larger brow and eyes that seem almost swollen shut (and he's still falling backwards). This second cut looks like a rubber mask or very, very different makeup from that which Dennis Hopper was wearing just a fraction of a second before. The appearance is so different that I wonder if David Lynch was ever asked to explain the continuity error?

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: I'm the same person who asked this question. I discovered it was Molly Price whom I recognized from Third Watch.

Cathrine R

It should be noted Donna was Jim Fowkes‘ secretary. Donna killed Peter.

Bishop73

Question: How did the caller escape the room where his rifle was found?

Answer: He made it look like the pizza guy was the shooter so he could get away.

Answer: We, the audience, are quite simply never shown. So it is left up to our imaginations.

Alan Keddie

Answer: My guess which is a likely part is the pizza guy slit his own throat just before police arrived to avoid being caught. Meanwhile the caller I'm believing was in a completely different side of the booth (not in the same room as the rifle that was found). 2 reasons I believe this. 1. Stu gets shot in his right ear. No way where the sniper they found could he have shot Stu in the ear on the side he was shot from. 2 was because when Stu saw the caller, he had a suitcase with him, which presumably was the/a second sniper rifle. There's also another belief of mine that Stu dreamt the whole thing but unlikely.

Why would the pizza guy slit his own throat to avoid being caught? He didn't do anything bad?

Answer: He didn't, the caller did. Later when the caller goes to Stu in the ambulance he says "I feel bad about the pizza guy." The caller slit his throat and set it up so that the pizza guy was the caller.

Question: "To the death" and "God help us", which Ardeth Bay said when confronting the Army of Anubis, what are they in original Arabic (or Egyptian)?

Answer: Allah Yufiquna is God help us in Arabic. Hataa Almawt is To the death.

oddy knocky

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