Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Scott throws discs which enlarge/shrink whatever they hit, except when he throws them at Darren in Cassie's bedroom. Darren is able to bat them away. One hits an ant, the other the train engine, both of which enlarge. Why didn't Darren enlarge when he touched the discs?

MFWills

Chosen answer: I can assume it was because they didn't attach, just touched.

Question: As Kurt is loading the hack to deactivate the laser grid, Paxton and his partner are banging on the van, demanding that Kurt and Dave come out. Just as the program finishes loading, the cops open the door and drag them out. If the van was locked, how did they open the door? If It wasn't locked, why did it take so long to just open the door?

MFWills

Chosen answer: They could have opened it with a crowbar or a Jaws of Life. (Likely the crowbar, since we didn't hear metal rending).

Captain Defenestrator

Question: At the end of the space battle in the latter half of the movie, the Resistance's X-Wings jump to hyperspace with their stabilizer foils still locked in attack position. Why?

Answer: The design could have advanced enough in the last 30 years that the S-foils no longer need to be closed to enter hyperspace.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Maybe I saw it wrong since it happened so fast, but wasn't Minnie shot in the face initially when she was behind the counter? If so, surely she wouldn't still be alive, yet she was still alive when seen a little later on the floor where she is shot again in the stomach/chest.

odelphi

Chosen answer: You are thinking of two different characters. Jody shoots Minnie in the head. Minnie has another lady working for her, who goes to get the jellybeans for Tim Roth. It is this other lady who was shot while getting the jelly beans, and then shot again while lying on the floor.

jshy7979

Question: I don't get it. When Arlo finally returns end at the end of the film, why does his mother initially mistake him as her husband, Henry, when she should know Henry is dead?

John Ohman

Chosen answer: It's a momentary emotional lapse. Arlo has come back changed, and his mother is seeing him differently now, as if he is his father.

raywest

Question: If the movie plot is over a 4th of July weekend, wouldn't offices be closed? It appears to be a regular non-holiday weekday with so many people working.

Answer: Government offices would definitely be closed, however, in a big city like DC, not everyone would have the weekend off, and between the people who still have to work and the ones going out of town for the holiday, traffic would be about the same if not worse.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: My question is regarding the first shot of the film. You see the back of a henchman holding a clown mask with a suitcase. Later you realize that this is the Joker, however he is in full make up. So does this mean he was standing out in broad daylight without a disguise on at the very beginning?

Answer: Yes. No reason not to. Nothing's happened yet and people in a big city like Gotham would just walk past the guy with the weird makeup and not think anything of it. (And since they wear masks in the holdup, nobody's going to think that the guy in the mask is in weird makeup under it).

Captain Defenestrator

Batman was shown a joker card in an evidence bag at the end of Batman Begins so would not at least some of the police be looking for him?

Bane91

This doesn't mean that the general public is on the lookout for a guy in makeup.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: How was Ethan successful in getting touch with Luther Stickell? Was it the from list Ethan was checking of the disavowed agents?

Shouvik Roy

Chosen answer: Yes, Ethan accesses the disavowed category of the IMF personnel database to recruit Stickell and Krieger. Even if their locations were not there, Ethan is shown to be very resourceful and could have worked out how to find or contact them.

Sierra1

Question: When Bourne interrogates Nikki (under duress) in the underground station, Nikki insists that Bourne had never worked in Berlin, much less completed his first mission there. But it is established that Bourne had killed the Neskis in Berlin on what is described by Conklin as his first mission. Assuming Nikki has no reason to lie and that she would have accurate information about Bourne's activities, what might explain that issue?

Dusibello

Chosen answer: Conklin ordered Bourne to kill the Neskis, telling him it was a training mission, when in fact it was an unofficial, off-the-books assignment to cover up his and Abbott's corrupt dealings with Gretkov, which Neski was about to expose. Nicky did not know about this Berlin mission as it was not an official Treadstone operation.

Sierra1

Conklin did not tell Bourne that it was a training mission. Conklin told Bourne "this is not a drill soldier...this is a live project, you're a go."

Partially correct. After Bourne eliminates the Neskis, Conklin says "Congratulations soldier, training is over." This implies that while the mission was real, Bourne was still an asset in training, and off the books.

By "not a drill" and "live project", Conklin is telling Bourne to actually kill the Neskis - like killing the hooded man for Hirsch, it's training him to do anything for Treadstone. It could be that the edit is out of chronological order, but the order of the scenes implies that after Bourne has done the job and returned to the car, Conklin says "Congratulations, soldier. Training is over."

Sierra1

Question: How could Hermione attend classes back in time, when all the others were seeing her? When she travelled with Harry, they were told they can't be seen.

Answer: Hermione had special permission, arranged by Dumbledore from the Ministry of Magic to use the Time Turner to take classes that were scheduled at the same time. Its use was carefully regulated and Hermione was instructed on how to utilize it so that she could attend multiple classes without other students noticing. When she is traveling with Harry to rescue Sirius, she is explaining to Harry that they must not be seen at the same time as the "other" Harry and Hermione that are in the past.

raywest

Question: What ever happened to Obi Wan's lightsaber? Did Vader keep it as a trophy, or just throw it away?

Answer: According to the Expanded Universe (now non-canon), Darth Vader kept it as a trophy in his castle on Vjun. It was found by Anakin Solo, stolen by someone who wanted to learn to be a Jedi, and eventually returned to Luke's Jedi academy.

Greg Dwyer

Question: I thought sunglasses weren't invented until the late 1920s?

Answer: Have to say, I have not seen movie, but to answer your question, one of the earliest surviving depictions of a person wearing sunglasses is of the scientist Antoine Lavoisier in 1772.

Triviani

Answer: It's wasn't unusual for multiple actors to play one character on this show. The villains on the TV Batman were played by guest stars, not regular cast members. George Sanders, Otto Preminger, and Eli Wallach played the part at various times. They may simply have only wanted to play the part once or twice, or they were later tied up with other projects, making it necessary to cast someone else. Other characters, like Catwoman, were also played by more than one actress.

raywest

Question: What kind of sailboat (designer/brand) is Fox III?

Answer: Beneteau.

Question: Why is Master Li evil at heart and why does he hold a grudge against Mr. Han? Also why isn't he on speaking terms such as the peace offering by Mr. Han?

Answer: Master Li is based on John Kreese from the original Karate Kid film, and much like Kreese the reasons for his behavior are never fully explained. It is only vaguely mentioned in The Karate Kid Part 3 that Kreese and Terry Silver's martial arts instructor taught them their philosophy on fighting: strike first, strike hard, no mercy. It is reasonable to assume that Master Li learned his behavior from whoever taught him Kung Fu. Master Li holds a grudge against Mr. Han because Mr. Han "attacked" his students. He doesn't accept Mr. Han's peace offering because he views this as a sign of weakness, which he despises.

BaconIsMyBFF

The grudge is based on Sato and Chozen Toguchi from Part II (1986).

In what way? Sato had a very personal, openly stated reason for his grudge against Miyagi. There is no such indication that Mr. Han and Master Li had ever so much as heard of one another.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Why are Cheng, Liang, Zhuang and all the other boys so mean to Dre and why do they hate Dre so much even when Dre minds his own business? When Dre leaves them alone, why don't they leave Dre alone? They seem to be attacking Dre for no apparent reason like they're psychopaths. Are they purely malicious and evil at heart?

Answer: Cheng is picking on Dre because Dre developed a crush on Meiying, a violinist, but it is implied that she is Cheng's love interest since his family is close to Meiying's. After Dre develops a crush on Meiying and she reciprocates those feelings, Cheng becomes jealous and vindictive. From then on, Cheng and his gang continually bully Dre. As bullies usually do, they attack someone they perceive as being weaker, purely for malicious reasons.

raywest

It is not because of the crush but it is because Dre was trying to give the sheet back to Meying and Cheng pushed him to throw it on the floor. Then Dre challenged Cheng to a fight and tried his best. After that Cheng started showing no mercy to Dre and Dre became a prey.

Answer: They use stock footage of Time square in the electrocution scene. This is taken from Home Alone 2.

Answer: It's just a joke. Like the Naked Gun movies, the credits contain inside jokes and utter nonsense.

stiiggy

Question: How was the Mexican girl connected to the story? The three Night Owl suspects abused her and then burned their blood-stained clothes. She is found tied up at a house (why?), and later she says "Would anyone care that they raped a Mexican girl if they hadn't killed those white people at the Night Owl? I did what I had to do for justice." What does she mean?

Neulwen

Chosen answer: Inez's statement that they left her at midnight meant the suspects had time to commit the Nite Owl massacre at 1am. However when Exley questions her about the time, she implies that she only said that so they would be in the frame for the Nite Owl and would be arrested (and likely killed) by the police. No one would care about her rape, so she indirectly accused them of the killings "for justice".

Sierra1

Question: Why does Darth Vader stop Boba Fett from shooting Chewbacca when he's attacking stormtroopers when Hans been put into carbon freeze? Vader kill his own people at will, so why save the enemy?

Answer: Vader's goal is to lure Luke to Bespin by capturing his friends. With Boba Fett taking Han away, that leaves Vader with two hostages. Killing Chewbacca means losing half of his bait. He also thinks he can convince Luke to join the Dark Side and rule the galaxy with him, an easier proposition to pitch if he hasn't killed two of Luke's friends. (Sure, he gave one to a bounty hunter, but then he's got "We can get Han back" as a backup bargaining chip).

Captain Defenestrator

Question: At the end of the film it made it clear that there were not 2 siblings Ryan and Carrie Anne, there was just Carrie Anne that wanted to be a boy called Ryan, so why when Ellise picked up a photo frame did it have a young boy and young girl in the photo?

Answer: SPOILER ALERT: There actually were two siblings at one point, Ryan and Carrie Anne. The young Carrie Anne dies in a swing accident. In the end, we learn in flashback that the parents, who blamed Ryan for Carrie Anne's death, proceed to punish him by making him dress up as Carrie Anne and take her place. When he protests, he is physically abused by his mother. So, it isn't Carrie Anne who wanted to be a boy called Ryan. It is Ryan who was forced to take the role of his dead sister, Carrie Anne. Eventually, in the persona of Carrie Anne, Ryan kills his parents, and proceeds to find women whom he tries to transform into his dead sister.

Michael Albert

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