Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: During the attack on Klendathu when the fleet is bombarded by the plasma bugs, you can see a plasma burst impact the bridge of the Roger Young and kill everyone in it, Carmen included. But later the fleet regroups to repair and the ship arrives with everyone safe and alive. What's with that?

Zvriith

Chosen answer: It doesn't kill everyone on the bridge, it just destroys a lot of it, and presumably the ship has the ability to seal hull breaches so everyone doesn't get sucked out.

GalahadFairlight

Question: If the real Henry Hill wrote a book and co-wrote the screenplay (with Martin Scorsese), how is it that the Mob never found him? Or did they, and we (the viewers/general public) were never told about that?

Answer: He went into the witness protection programme along with his family under assumed names, however was expelled from that programme after being arrested for drugs offences in Seattle in the late 1980s. Since then he apparently lived quite openly, including a number of media appearances, although he continued to have problems with the law, mostly due to a long battle with alcoholism. He lived in Malibu up until his death in 2012. As to why the Mob appeared to be disinterested in pursuing him, you'd have to ask them.

Tailkinker

By his own loud admission on Howard Stern, he had no idea why he was able to live such an incredibly long time for his circumstances.

dizzyd

Also, Henry Hill, in the last years of his life wasn't so worried anymore about getting whacked. All the people that were a threat to him were either in prison or dead by that time.

Question: I have three questions. First, on one of the holo-screens in the beginning, (the one saying: "Too much garbage in your space? There's plenty of space out in space"), there are two Axiom cruisers leaving. I thought it was just one. Question number two: What's the purpose of that robot that is clicking on a keyboard? (The one that lets GO-4, Wall-E and Eve pass to the bridge.) Last question: In the Axiom garbage disposal thing area, there are two gigantic Wall-A's. What does the A stand for?

Answer: (1) If you continue to listen to the announcement that you quote, the next line is "BnL Starliners leaving each day". Clearly there's a sizeable fleet of ships, as you'd expect, given the necessity to completely evacuate Earth's population, with the Axiom, described as "the jewel in the BnL fleet", presumably being the flagship. Whether any of the other ships were also still functioning remains unrevealed. (2) It's presumably some sort of administration robot, with specific duties regarding access to the captain's office. (3) It stands for "Axiom".

Tailkinker

Question: When Cobb finally gets home to see his children at the end why don't they look any different from his memories? The story implies that he's been gone for a long time yet they don't appear to have aged.

Answer: The answer above is solid and I agree, but there's another plausible way of looking at it. It is implied at the end that Cobb could still be dreaming (we never see if the top stops spinning). If that's the case, then he would likely dream his children to be exactly how he remembers them.

jshy7979

Answer: The story really doesn't imply too heavily exactly how long Cobb has been on the run. Very few clues are given, so it could quite plausibly be less than a year since his wife's death, in which case their children would not have aged dramatically. Their voices on the phone seem compatible with children of the ages shown at the end of the film and Cobb shows no concern when reunited with them that they should be older than they are. Two sets of children are listed in the credits, of different ages.

Tailkinker

Question: What was the eventual fate of the Earth President? His 'A113' message ends with him muttering about "getting the hell out of here" which would suggest he went on the space liners with the other humans but no further mention is ever made of him.

Answer: He almost certainly boarded the Axiom, and lived out the remainder of his days in luxury.

Phixius

Actually, I think he stayed on earth. In the message, he says Earth is beyond saving, and that everyone should remain in space and not return to earth. He then puts on a gas mask, accepting that Earth is a lost cause. There'd be no need for a gas mask if he was aboard the Axiom. Also, we see the message was sent to the Axiom in 2110. If you look at the date of the 1st captain, it is 2105. So, he stayed on earth to clean up the planet, and after 5 years they deemed it a lost cause and sent that message.

jshy7979

Question: Why does Doc suddenly change his ideas (about time travel and not learning too much of your own future) in Part 2? In Part 1, he was determined not to learn too much about his own future, despite Marty trying to warn him that his life depended on it. But in Part 2, suddenly it's okay to bring Marty to the future and give him enough information to try to change the course of destiny for his son. Also, wouldn't it have just been easier to warn Marty about the accident he was going to have that caused his life to go so wrong to begin with? One would have to think that if Marty becomes successful and lives out an entirely different life, then maybe his son doesn't turn into such a wimp.

unicorngoddess

Chosen answer: Marty's saving his life with the note made him realize that some events are worth tampering with. He wasn't aware that Marty's entire life had taken a wrong turn, he'd just read that his son goes to prison after the robbery and takes action on that one thing.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Cindy told Cody that she's taken care of him since his birth. Have ten years passed between the second and third movies (considering Cody's age)? Because she didn't take care of anyone in Scary Movie 2.

Feather

Chosen answer: It's unlikely 10 years have passed, but very little is consistent across this franchise. For example, Brenda dies in this film, and yet is alive and well in the next one. It's just a throwaway line of dialogue that explains why Cindy has a kid so that the film can spoof "The Ring".

Manky

Question: In the scene right when they leave the hotel after the wild night, they see Doug's mattress. Is there any significance to the guy that turns to them and says some people just can't handle Vegas?

Answer: His name is Chuck Pacheco and he's an actor/director. He played Chuckie in the movie Alpha Dog.

Answer: I'm sure the guy Phil asks is a famous golfer, just not sure who. It is significant in what he says, because the Wolf Pack couldn't handle Vegas, so it was a sideways slap to them.

Question: When Captain Marshfield goes to arrest Captain Cummins, he says, "You gave intel to a foreign government" (or something like that). What is Marshfield referring to?

Answer: He gave the Russians EDI's energy signature so they could shoot him down, which is pretty classified information.

Brad

Question: Why did HAL go berserk? I thought it was because HAL knew the real reason for the mission (as Dr. Floyd reveals in the pre-recorded briefing), and was suspicious or curious of whether or not Dave and Frank knew. So when Dave is showing his drawings to HAL, HAL uses this opportunity to discuss the "rumours" with Dave. HAL of course is thinking as a computer in a chess game, and assumes to know what Dave will say next. But Dave thinks HAL is doing some psychology report on the crew and asks HAL that question. HAL did not expect this response, and quickly responds, "Of course I am." Now HAL is caught in a lie and does not know what Dave's next question might be, so he diverts the conversation by creating the AE-35 unit crisis. This, of course, sends the astronauts down a path that he cannot control, and he ultimately must terminate the crew to protect himself. 2010, however, went down some other path that did not make any sense to me. Hence the question. I would love the opportunity to discuss.

mschiavi

Chosen answer: This is explained in the sequel, 2010. In that film, Doctor Chandra explains that Hal was given orders that directly contracted each other. He was informed about the monolith and instructed to complete the mission should the humans become unable to, but was also programmed not to deceive, and to relay information without distortion. This caused a "mental" breakdown in his programming. He decided the only course of action was to incapacitate/eliminate the crew and then complete the mission.

Answer: The HAL 9000 was designed to replicate almost every aspect of human mental processes, faster and with perfect recall. It was, essentially, artificial intelligence, but not nearly as complex as human intelligence (because nothing is as complex as human intelligence, that we know of). In carrying out the Jupiter Mission, HAL was instructed to deceive the standing crew (Frank Poole and Dave Bowman) regarding the mission objectives; however, HAL was not so sophisticated that it knew how to deceive. As it turned out, HAL was "human" enough that it felt guilt and even paranoia for deliberately lying to Frank and Dave. But HAL had no contingency for guilt or paranoia responses, and it drove the machine quite mad. Homicidally insane.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: During the run of the series, the Brady's had a housekeeper, Alice. When they were giving Alice a few days off they even hired a temp to keep things straight while she was away - even though Carol had no career and all six kids did chores. So now that the kids are gone and they both (Mike and Carol) have careers, can they live without a housekeeper?

jairodrigue

Chosen answer: I'm sure they could, but as long as she's there, now a part of the family, and they can afford her, why fire her? Plus, with six kids help is welcome, with a career and no kids, help is welcome, and everything in between.

Answer: Technically, they DO live now without a housekeeper. Alice is simply their guest in this film, because she dropped by after her husband left her and Mike and Carol took her in. She was helping out while there since the whole family was visiting.

Question: I'm not sure if it was just one song or not, but what was the song played that cued the "kick"?

nbafanscw

Chosen answer: Édith Piaf's "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien".

Tailkinker

Question: In the original ending, Mrs. Vorheese opens her eyes and smiles. People say that this would indicate that Jason had killed Paul. How would that indicate that he had killed Paul?

Answer: Simple, it was her response to how Ginny was screaming for Paul, indicating that Jason fufilled her will and disposed of him.

discoduderock

Question: Does Hanzo have the katana with him from the beginning? My brother thinks he picked it up in Nolan's hideout, but I'm pretty sure a Yakuza would know how to conceal a katana, and in any case, it just makes more sense that way. Which of us is right?

Answer: Your brother is correct, he picked it up at Noland's hideout.

GalahadFairlight

Answer: When he found it in Nolen's hideout, he noticed how old the sword was and therefore made the comment about the Predators doing this for a very long time.

lartaker1975

Question: Where did the Mask get the limo before the scene in Cocoa Bongo?

Answer: Either A: he rented the limo with the stolen money, or B: the limo itself is just another one of The Mask's absurd creations, given it is just so dang long.

Brad

Question: I am confused about a scene near the beginning of the film, when all the SPECTRE agents, among them Largo (Adolfo Celi), are in a secret room being quizzed by the unseen Blofeld (number 1). At one point, an agent named Number 11 is talking about money he and Number 9 (seated to his left) collected. Blofeld says "One of you is guilty of embezzlement." Number 11 has a guilty look on his face, and Number 9 gives him a smug look. It's as if Number 11 is about to be "punished" and he expects it, but suddenly, Number 9 is electrocuted in his chair and dumped beneath the floor. Afterwards, Number 11 is seen wiping his sweaty face. What exactly happened? Were Numbers 11 and 9 in cahoots and Number 9 was the only one that was caught? Did Number 9 set up Number 11 to look guilty and was found out by SPECTRE and punished accordingly? Or did SPECTRE simply make a mistake and kill the wrong guy?

Answer: They're both embezzling. Number 11 expects that he's about to be caught and Number 9 might have tried to pin his own embezzlement on 11, but Number 1 saw through it.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: How can Tony get from Malibu to Queens in 40 minutes? How fast can the suit fly?

Answer: While no upper limit on the suit's flight speed has been given, the first movie establishes that the Mark III suit was capable of supersonic velocities. With the new suit demonstrating a much higher power output that the original, as stated during the climactic battle sequence, it's reasonable to assume that Tony is capable of reaching the sort of speeds necessary to make the journey in the time available. The distance from Malibu, California to Queens, New York City is 2477 miles. This distance would require a speed of 3715 mph to cover in 40 minutes. That speed equates to Mach 5.007. The current record speed for a rocket powered manned vehicle was set by the North American X-15 at a speed of 4,519 in 1967. It would be safe to assume that a weapons manufacturer could design a flight system capable of those speeds.

According to Marvel prior to the release of "Iron Man 2", the Mark IV armor was capable of speeds over 1,500 mph. It's unreasonable to assume that by "over" they meant "double" and instead take it to mean Mach 2.

Bishop73

Question: In the mistakes section it comments that Jude Law is wearing a hearing aid in one scene. Does anyone know anything about this? I couldn't find any reference to him having hearing loss online. Is it possible that it is actually just an earpiece?

Answer: Jude Law's hearing is fine, he was wearing the hearing piece so the director can tell him where to stand while they are filming.

Answer: Because when they are sitting in the prison yard side by side Jude law has an earpiece in his left ear, if this is supposedly for direction why don't they both have ear pieces in and not just Jude law or are you suggesting that Jude law requires more direction making him a lesser competent actor or is it just the fact that it IS a hearing aid.

Question: What happened to the original timeline to cause such a dramatic change in Marty's mom? In the original timeline, Marty's mom was 'born a nun' as Marty described her to Jennifer. But when Marty goes back to 1955, Lorraine is a drinking, smoking, parking with boys kind of girl. In the original timeline, what would have made it to where Lorraine thinks it's inappropriate for a girl to make advances on a boy? She seems to already be a boy chaser before Marty even gets there.

unicorngoddess

Chosen answer: Actually, nothing happened to the original timeline to change Marty's mom. It's Marty, like many children, who had a rather unrealistic view about what Lorraine was actually like when she was a teenager. He always believed (and was deliberately given the impression) that she was extremely shy and proper, when in fact, she was a boy-crazy flirt, though she apparently changed after falling in love with George. Parents are often evasive regarding their own youthful behavior.

raywest

Question: Can someone please tell me why Stark brought strawberries when he visits Pepper in her office? He knows that she is allergic to them and we know that he likes/loves her, but it was a spiteful and mean thing to do. Not to mention insensitive. If he did that just to get the model, couldn't he had done it differently? The whole idea just doesn't make sense to me.

Answer: He wanted to do something nice for her, but since he is a pretty self-absorbed, shallow multi-billionaire, he forgot about her allergy. He remembered that there was SOMETHING about her and strawberries, but misremembered and thought it meant she really liked them. He makes a simple human mistake, not out of meanness or spite, but because he honestly does not remember.

Twotall

Answer: I've only watched this movie once but I think he got the strawberries from the man on the side of the road, and he just didn't want them. The man did just place them on the seat of Tony's car.

He stopped on the side of the road to get the strawberries. The man didn't throw them into his car as he drove by.

lionhead

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