Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Why would Grevious choose to face Obi-Wan alone? He could have a one-shot chance to defeat Obi-Wan completely with his droid army.

Answer: Grievous collects the lightsabers of Jedi he has killed as trophies, so as a warrior he believes there is considerable prestige to be had by defeating them in single combat (particularly one of Kenobi's ability) rather than relying on his droids to do it.

Sierra1

Answer: Being the sort of character that he is Grievous had a big ego so to simply let his droids take out Kenobi would be a waste of his abilities. Like in the clone wars where he would earn trophies of sorts by collecting defeated Jedis' lightsabers - he references this earlier in the film by taunting Anakin and Obi-wan.

Answer: Part of it is the cliche of the abusive or angry step-parent or adoptive patent. Although this is something that does occur, Sir Ector just thought more highly of his own son and would rather see his son become king. He probably regrets having to take care of him, but felt obligated as a knight of Uther Pendragon. In addition, he's more of a brute and fighter and doesn't like learning (or magic). So when Arthur displays an aptitude towards learning over fighting, Ector has less in common with the boy and treats him as a servant.

Bishop73

Chosen answer: Probably because part of being in a relationship with someone means sharing their interests, even if you yourself are indifferent, to grow closer together. Penny feels otherwise.

Sweet and Vaded - S6-E7

Question: Does Lowen know that Tara isn't really pregnant and just staged the miscarriage? Or is she in on it too?

Answer: Lowen had no idea until after everything happened with the faked miscarriage.

Question: I have two questions. First, Did the disaster start as shown in the movie? Second, did the explosion look like what we saw in the movie?

Answer: The disaster started as a gas blow-out followed by a massive explosion on the oil rig, visible from 40 miles away. Eleven people were killed. Two days later, the burning rig collapsed into the sea, which severed the wellhead at a depth of over 4000 feet. If anything, the movie underplayed the disaster.

Charles Austin Miller

Actually, according to history vs Hollywood the real life explosion was equally as bad as what's shown in the movie.

Question: The film opened with a scene from the bloodiest day in American history - which battle was depicted?

Answer: The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg. It took place 9/17/1862. 3,675 men lost their lives, with an additional 17,301 wounded that day.

Bishop73

Question: When several soldiers surrender, why was the first one shot? I'm not referring to the end, I'm referring to the opening battle, when several surrendered, and only the first was shot.

MikeH

Answer: In the D-Day scene at the beginning of the battle, when the Germans surrender after a brief trench battle, one gets shot. I think this is because one soldier was still very tense and shot the German because he didn't see his hands up in the fight or flight response he was having.

Question: Why did Upham tell the soldiers to drop their weapons instead of shooting them? Why did they surrender instead of shooting him? And why did he then let them go?

MikeH

Answer: Upham was not a hardened war vet like the men in his squad. He seen Steam boat Willie shoot Miller which made him furious because of how desperately he tried to save Willies life at the Radar tower so he felt betrayed and guilty for not listening to his squad so he finished the job he didn't have the heart to do before by killing Willie. He let the others go because he didn't have a problem with them. The surrendering Germans knew the Americans were inbound after tank was destroyed so they gave up immediately.

Chosen answer: He was alone and probably couldn't have shot them all before being shot himself. However, he was in a perfect position to make them surrender as none of them wanted to be the one to get shot for aiming their rifle at him. He didn't let them go, he told them to start walking in one direction as his prisoners.

lionhead

Question: Why didn't they just shoot Steamboat Willie on sight? And once they decided not to kill him, why couldn't they call a chopper to come take him? Also, why were they so intent on committing a war crime by killing him once he'd surrendered? I know he killed Wade, but that's just what happens in war.

MikeH

Chosen answer: Rules of war are when someone surrenders you take him prisoner and are not allowed to kill him, they followed the rules of war. They are all very emotional from the battle and losing a friend and fellow soldier though and they wanted a scapegoat. They were behind enemy lines so nobody could come to pick up the prisoner, as the lieutenant explained, and helicopters weren't really around in WW2.

lionhead

Show generally

Question: Why is the driveway in front of the station always wet? Day or night, whenever they pull in or out it looks like it was just hosed down.

Answer: It is standard practice to wet down driveways so that they stand out in a long shot.

stiiggy

Question: Did the Clones know that Tyranus/Dooku is the one who ordered the clone army?

DFirst1

Chosen answer: Most likely yes. As pointed out in a correction in this page, they did not shoot him in the pursuit scene on Geonosis with the Gunship lasers as they knew he was a leader of them. They might have known that he was the one who placed the order, but they followed Sidious whether they knew or not.

It's also possible that they were ordered to capture Dooku alive to gain information on his master and the Separatists, and shooting him down would probably kill him.

Show generally

Question: Why doesn't the military just give the Stargate to the army or the marines corps instead of the Air Force? Ground combat just isn't the Air Force's way. They don't understand ground combat nearly as well as the army or marines. If the Air Force has more scientists and engineers, why not just transfer some of them to the army and marines corps?

Answer: To start, it was the original film that had the Stargate under control of the Air Force. In the film, the Stargate was housed at an Air Force installation. And Jack O'Neil (in the show it's O'Neill) was a Special Operations Colonel, who just happened to be from the Air Force. At the time the Air Force had control of the Stargate, its purpose was unknown, so it seems just to be the writers picking a military branch. Later, especially in the show, once the Stargate's function was known, it makes sense the Air Force would continue to be in charge since they are the branch that handles space. In fact, their mission statement is "fly, fight, and win in air, space, and cyberspace." In the film, the Stargate could have been determined to be an alien relic, leading to the thought it came from space so the Air Force should be in charge. It should be noted, during the show, the producers maintained a very good working relationship with the Air Force (2 Chiefs of Staff appeared in the show). Since they had this relationship, the writers and producers may have just kept the Air Force in charge.

Bishop73

Question: In the scene when J meets the Zarthin (Rosario Dawson) in the pizza place after Ben gets killed. He asked her about the killer. He asked male she said female. He says Caucasian? She says grey. What in the world is grey? Thanks everyone for the help.

Answer: The killer was an alien and Laura was replying "grey", but not in regards to any race on earth (Caucasian, Asian, etc). Typically, there are 2 types of aliens that people claim they see (in real life when claiming to see UFO's and aliens), little green men or grey aliens. Grey aliens are the Area 51 types, with grey skin, big black eyes, and long skinny arms, etc. She didn't want to come across as crazy by saying the killer was an alien, so she just replied "grey".

Bishop73

Question: Why did Hayes hate the fame he was receiving?

Answer: It's hard to truly understand why some people aren't comfortable in the spotlight. But Hayes was known for saying "I am not a hero" and that the real heroes were "the brave men who died." He really didn't want to be known as a hero for raising the flag, especially when so many of his friends died and didn't earn the respect he was getting. Unfortunately, he turned to alcohol and developed a drinking problem, which lead him to shun fame even more. However, these things are not unique to him. Many soldiers, especially those who suffer PTSD, which Hayes may have had, feel guilt or remorse for surviving when friends didn't. Fame and the spotlight only exasperates these feelings as it becomes a constant reminder of their survival. Alcoholism also leads some to want to be left alone for numerous reasons.

Bishop73

Question: If Alice can see the future and Edward can read/see thoughts, does that mean when Edward reads Alice's thoughts he can see the future too?

Answer: That is basically true, but Edward knows that Alice's visions are subjective. If someone changes their mind or takes a new course of action, then the vision changes. If Edward is not around Alice when she sees a different vision, he would not know it has changed.

raywest

Question: What is in a frozen margarita?

Answer: Typically a frozen Margarita is tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and ice. Bud appears to make his Margarita with a store bought mix and adds the tequila and ice.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Not sure if this is a mistake or if it is because of the movie's time travel rules, but when Marty goes to 1955, he's there for a whole week so when he comes back to 1985, why does his family and Jennifer never question where he's been for a whole week?

Answer: He arrives back to the same night he left, specifically he arrives ten minutes earlier so he can rescue Doc. As far as his family and Jennifer were concerned, he was never gone.

Phaneron

Question: At the end, Dumbledore awards the trio back their 150 points, considering that he knew that them sneaking out to Hagrid was in good judgment. But then he gives 10 points to Neville for what? I know Slytherin had the house cup for 7 years straight, but was Dumbledore actually favoring Gryffindor to win the whole time or was not wanting Slytherin to win? I think a headmaster like him wouldn't be that slippery and would keep his opinions about the house cup to himself, even if for some reason he opposes Slytherin.

Answer: Neville had the courage to stand up to three people very dear to him when he knew that they were doing something wrong. There are a lot of teens out there who will just go with the flow no matter what, but Neville had the courage to break that and try to stop them. Dumbledore awarded him the points for that.

Question: Is it ever explained how Dobby found out about the Chambers of Secrets and how he believed Harry might be involved? I doubt Lucius or any of his peers would have discussed anything about this in front of Dobby.

Answer: The Malfoys would have had no concerns about discussing anything within earshot of their house elves. Dobby may very well have overheard the Malfoys' conversations. House elves are magically bound to guard everything about their masters' secrets. Breaking that would result in severe punishment or death. Dobby circumvented this restriction as much as he possibly could to warn and protect Harry.

raywest

Answer: I believe you are referring to the tall, hippie looking pilot that shook his head when Cass told his son to get him more coffee during the "crash course" scene. His character or name is not listed in the credits nor on IMDB.

lartaker1975

That's the guy who looks like the same guy in Tremors 7 - Shrieker Island, who runs the hunting tours. His name is listed nowhere in the ID4 universe. Any confirmation that this is the same guy?

It is definitely not Richard Brake, who was only 32 when Independence Day came out and the actor in question was at least 50.

lionhead

He definitely wasn't referring to Russell Cassee because he didn't have a beard. The other correction perfectly matches what the question describes.

lartaker1975

Answer: If you mean Russell Casse (you are too vague for it to be anyone else) the actor's name is Randy Quaid, brother of actor Dennis Quaid. He also appears in Brokeback Mountain.

He definitely wasn't referring to Russell Cassee because he didn't have a beard. The other correction perfectly matches what the question describes.

lartaker1975

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