Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: On the Federation ships, in addition to the signature photon torpedoes and phaser banks of the series, there were arrays of small anti-aircraft-like cannons that fired rapid tiny blue energy bolts. 'Probably most-prominently seen on the USS Kelvin, but other ships might have used them. I was wondering what they were (i.e. if there was an official designation).

Answer: Those turrets firing the blue bolts are actually the torpedo launchers. According to Memory Alpha, the Kelvin was fitted with "rapid-fire, double-barrel torpedo launchers that fired blue photon torpedoes". Due to the relatively low-tech weaponry of the Kelvin compared to ships like the Enterprise (which from then on were implied to have been developed based on the information gathered from the Kelvin's fight with the futuristic Narada), the torpedoes are not as advanced as the larger, more powerful, slower-firing red torpedoes shown thereafter.

Question: My friend swears the lead female actress changes at about 10-15 minutes into the film. He says Yancy Butler of Witchblade fame plays the lead at first, and then someone else (I assume it must be Kate Beckinsale) takes over the role. My research to date tells me my friend is nuts. Is he? Is there any explanation related to this? (I think maybe it's due to my friend's pain medication/s - a side effect of some sort.) Thank you for the help. He paid me to research this for him (only two bucks) and so far I've spent over two hours on it. But I did at least learn about these actresses.

Answer: This could be a confusion over characters. If I remember rightly, the film opens with a scene set somewhere around 1200AD, showing the three vampire elders, Markus, Viktor and Amelia, leading a war party. Possibly your friend has mistaken Amelia, played by Hungarian actress Zita Görög, for Selene, who doesn't appear in the film until after this lengthy flashback sequence has finished.

Tailkinker

Question: At what point does Will actually realise that Thomas Kent is really Viola?

rachypoos

Chosen answer: When they are in the boat, just after "Thomas Kent" delivered Viola's farewell letter to Shakespeare. After a brief discussion about Will's feeling's for Viola, Thomas (Viola) kisses a surprised Will Shakespeare, then rushes away when the boat docks. The ferryman comments to Will that it was actually Lady Viola.

raywest

Question: What is the name of the song being played when "Gil" is at the tower looking for the "biggest baddest mother in the yard"?

mechanical sponge

Chosen answer: "Click Click Boom" from Saliva.

amimon

Chosen answer: It can, but that doesn't mean that it's supposed to. At the time of the episode, Red Dwarf's thrusters have been firing continuously for millions of years, accelerating the ship until, in this episode, it finally achieves light speed. This is not a speed that the Dwarf was ever intended to attain, hence the need to slow it down again before the stresses tear it apart. If they wanted to hit light speed again, it would take the same sort of length of time to accelerate back up to that speed. Technically possible, but not exactly practical.

Tailkinker

Question: If everyone has to throw in "a buck apiece" for the tip, how much would the bill have been?

willieboy78

Chosen answer: Assuming a 15% tip, about $45-50. If 20%, $40.

Captain Defenestrator

Borderland (1) - S4-E4

Question: Throughout various episodes, the augments have shown themselves to be very strong, yet whenever they face each other they easily succumb to whatever physical violence is directed towards them. Why is this?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: They're stronger than humans, but they're not invulnerable.

JC Fernandez

Answer: Two augments fighting each other would most likely look to an outside observer as a fight between any other two people. The augments would be fairly evenly matched (allowing for an individual's weight etc) and so could take each other down the same as normal people fighting.

Question: In order for Cypher to speak to Agent Smith he must first, for want of a better word, 'plug' into the Matrix in order to accomplish this. My question is, how was he able to achieve this without his crew members finding out or seeing him 'plug' in to the Matrix?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: In the scene when Neo can't sleep and talks to Cypher, Cypher appears startled and quickly switches off the monitors. This seems to imply he is setting up some kind of "automatic" Matrix connection that will allow him to jack into the Matrix without an operator while the rest of the crew sleep.

Sierra1

Question: How exactly were the doctors able to reverse the effects and undo the Ludovico technique that Alex was subjected to?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: We're never given details. Possibly electroshock therapy or somehow purging his system of the Ludovico formula.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: When Alex jumped out of the window, the shock of the fall snapped him out of the Ludovico technique.

michael g

He mentions later that he's been having dreams of someone picking through his brain. This is the government undoing the treatment.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Why did Alex's droogs turn against him? Did they plan to turn against him all along or was it a spur of the moment thing when the police came?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The droogs didn't like how Alex was leading them, so he attacked them. It's never explained whether the plan was to set him up all along, but given that Din was ready with the bottle to smash him over the head, it seems like an opportunity to be rid of him came up and they took it.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: I have a few questions: What was the ultimate fate of Mr. Alexander, the writer? The Minister of Interior mentioned something about incarceration? If so, why was he incarcerated? Was it because of what he did to Alex, or because he was a threat? Also, the Minister mentioned something about him writing subversive literature? What kind of literature? Finally, what exactly did Alex and his droogs do to confine Mr. Alexander to a wheelchair and how exactly did his wife die? Was it pneumonia or circumstances related to her rape?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Since this is a futuristic police state, it's likely that Mr. Alexander was dealt with the way dissenters are often dealt with in such situations (Execution or lifelong imprisonment.). In the book, he wrote literature protesting the police state. (The phrase "A Clockwork Orange" comes from a pamphlet he wrote.) Alex and his droogs kicked and beat him while they raped his wife. A while later, the doctors told him she'd died of pneumonia, but he thinks the trauma made her give up the will to live.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: While the kick might not have killed Daniel, who's to say that the beating would have stopped there? Johnny told Bobby that he'd decide when he'd had enough. Johnny was extremely mad, and might have gone really far. Even if he didn't, most of his friends were on the same page, so they might have joined in beating him. If Miyagi hadn't intervened, Daniel very well could have been killed.

dewinela

Chosen answer: Very unlikely.

Question: What's the story behind Mike Barnes? How old is he? Where does he come from?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Mike Barnes is another karate champion, someone known in the karate tournament world as being brutal and excellent. It is never stated where he comes from, but it is far enough away to require a plane flight. His age is also never stated, but as it is an under-18 tournament and he can drive a car, we can assume it is either 16 or 17.

Answer: Mike most likely comes from north of LA (northern California, Oregon, or Washington) based on the fact that he said "if I come DOWN here and beat this Larusso kid..." Usually the term for travelling "down here" refers to coming from the north, "up here" is coming from the south, and "out here" or "over here" is from coming from the east or west.

It's not quite as simple as that. It wouldn't be unusual for someone from Kansas City, Chicago, or Detroit, etc. to describe traveling to LA as going "down" there.

BaconIsMyBFF

Chosen answer: Did you not see the beginning of the film? Daniel stood up to Johnny and the other Cobra Kai's on the beach. This makes him their enemy. As Kreese teaches them, "an enemy deserves no mercy", which is why they continue to pick on him.

Answer: There's also the fact that Daniel is with Johnny's ex, Ali.

Question: Bartleby says to Loki that as angels they have no free will. Yet, he also says that Lucifer, a former fallen angel, rebelled against God. Isn't this an example of an angel demonstrating free will?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: What he means is that humans have the choice to accept or reject God's love, but that angels have no such choice. Lucifer questioned this logic and was prompted to start a war, just as they're questioning it and are prompted to find a loophole to return to Heaven.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Is there a reason the machines use humans for energy? Why not nuclear power or maybe even animals?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Nuclear power would eventually run out, the impression is that the Machines occupy almost all of the planet's surface, so a LOT of power is needed. Animals are probably not used as their minds are a lot more instinctual and so it would be a lot harder to create a Matrix that their minds could accept, plus most animal and plant life probably died off when the sun was blocked off.

Sanguis

Chosen answer: He never strictly gives up, he just realises the practicalities of the situation, that it took Red Dwarf three million years to get to where it is, so it would take the same length of time to return. While he originally plans to go back into stasis for the long journey, the "Future Echoes" that he sees while travelling at light speed convince him that he should stay active on board the ship instead and look for alternative ways to get back, something that influences the plot of several subsequent episodes.

Tailkinker

Question: What exactly did the Architect mean when he said to the Oracle, "You played a very dangerous game"?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: By encouraging Neo to go to the machine city and negotiate a peace contract she has upset the Architect's "perfect" world. The Architect, ruled by brutal logic, has a method that is tried and true; the death and rebirth of Neo and Zion, the Oracle has created a new order of things and has allowed Zion to survive, throwing a rather large spanner in the Architect's plans.

Sanguis

Question: It's been stated that Seraph is a former angel programme left over from a previous Matrix. Then why does one of The Merovingian henchmen refer to him as wingless?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: A Seraph is the highest level of God's angels, typically depicted with six wings (three pairs), the joke refers to the fact that Seraph physically has no wings in the matrix and that he now no longer works for the machines and so is also meant as a "fall from grace" jibe.

Sanguis

Question: Why does the Oracle ask Neo to open his mouth and say ahh? What was she hoping to gain from this?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Nothing, it is simply the character's sense of humour. She knows Neo will become the One but also knows that Neo won't believe her so she puts on an act and tells Neo what he wants to hear.

Sanguis

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