Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: Who's that weird little holographic alien Jonnie sees next to the learning machine?

Jane'sBitch

Chosen answer: It's a Chinko. A subject race of the Psychlos. They were scholars and historians until the Psychlos got tired of them and wiped them out.

Grumpy Scot

Season 1 generally

Question: Why exactly do The Company want New York City destroyed? Is it so that they can manipulate Nathan into becoming president, ensuring he becomes their puppet?

SocietyCynic

Chosen answer: Not exactly. Their intent is that the destruction of New York will act as a focus for the entire nation, a rallying point of sorts. The plan is that Nathan will be in a position to show strong leadership after the explosion, giving him a high public profile and a strong support base as the outraged and shocked nation unites behind him. This support could then be used to put him into the White House where he can continue to further their agenda. Not so much a puppet, more a willing ally, but the effect is much the same.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Peter doesn't have perfect control over any of his abilities - he has to be able to focus on certain mental keys to be able to use them with any degree of certainty. With his acquired radioactivity power beginning to run out of control, any possibility of focus is gone - he's scared, he's in considerable discomfort if not outright pain. He's simply not able to do it, so Nathan has to step in to help get him clear of the area.

Tailkinker

Question: In the Trivia section for this movie, there is an entry that says that all of the characters are named after prisons around the world, and it gives some examples. Can someone identify all of the prisons and how they relate to the character?

Knever

Chosen answer: Quentin is named after San Quentin State Prison in California, notorious for a high-level of brutality. Holloway is a women's prison in London, leading to a female character. Alderson Prison is in West Virginia and uses isolation as a major punishment, thus Alderson never meets the other characters. Rennes Prison in France pioneered many modern prison policies, so the character Rennes appears as a knowledgeable mentor to the other characters. The Kazan prison in Russia is disorganised, tying in to the autistic Kazan character. Finally, Leaven and Worth are both named for Leavenworth prison in Kansas, which is corporately built and run, relating to Worth, the corporate architect, and runs on a very rigid set of rules, which ties in to Leaven's mathematical ability.

Tailkinker

One of Us, One of Them - S3-E3

Question: Why exactly did Angela Petrelli present Bridget Bailey to Sylar? What could Angela possibly gain from Sylar killing and absorbing her power of Clairsentience? Also, why did Bridget just stand there? Surely, working for The Company, she knows who Sylar is?

ModestFilmCollector

Chosen answer: Angela intends to turn Sylar into an asset to the company. By allowing him to take Bridget's power, Angela's hoping to create a bond of trust between them. If it doesn't work, then the Company's not lost an agent with an effective combat power, nor have they given Sylar a power that could make him any more dangerous. If it does work, they trade an agent with a minor ability for a new agent of extraordinary power who still has that same ability, so they've lost nothing. As for poor Bridget, yes, she probably does know who Sylar is, but she could hardly anticipate that Angela would bring her, a loyal agent, down to the holding cells to "feed" her to a serial killer. We never see her after Angela says that she's there to feed Sylar - for all we know, she did try to run, but didn't even make it out of the door before Sylar got her.

Tailkinker

Question: I don't understand the explanation John gives when he says that if the other terminator in T2 hadn't intervened, he would've met Catherine.

Answer: It's another reference to the fact that Judgment Day is inevitable. When they changed/prevented one possible future scenario (T2) they created another (as explained in T3 where they simply delayed Judgment Day). In other words, Catherine's father was always going to be responsible for creating Skynet and the killing of Miles Dyson only "delayed" that scenario. If the events of T2 had not happened, John would have met Catherine sooner and would have met the "real" person behind "Skynet".

XIII

Question: Jean and Storm combine their powers to get Wolverine to the top of The Statue of Liberty. Why is this? Wouldn't Jean's telekinesis be sufficient enough to levitate Wolverine to the top without Storm's power?

SocietyCynic

Chosen answer: Jean's powers were not that powerful at the time.

shortdanzr

But they were powerful enough to lift cars, water, etc. when she was like 7.

It's more that she doesn't have enough control over it.

lionhead

In addition to what Lionhead said, Xavier also says he altered her mind in "X-Men: The Last Stand" by creating psychic barriers to lock out the Phoenix personality, which also seemed to have altered her memory. So it's entirely possible (and likely) her overall power reduced when that happened, and didn't start to fully come back until the events of "X2."

TedStixon

Question: What's the name of the song at the final credits?

Answer: The name of the song is "Bible Belt" and it's sung by Travis Tritt.

Chanteuse66

Answer: It is Bible Belt by Travis Tritt; however, the lyrics were changed to fit the movie.

Kitty1019

Question: Instead of using his powers to rip open the train, why couldn't Magneto simply stop the train and open the door to get on? Surely a lot simpler?

SocietyCynic

Chosen answer: He was making a statement. So the everyone inside the train carriage would take him seriously. If some random guy walked into my train carriage in a silly suit and helmet, I'd probably just laugh at him. If the train carriage was ripped open and I saw a guy fly in, I'd probably take him a little more seriously.

XIII

Question: Wouldn't John Hammond be just a little bit worried at how animal rights activists may react to his park feeding live animals (like goats and cows) to the dinosaurs, and the damage it could do to the park's future?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: There are several factors to consider. First, zoos do feed live food to some exhibit animals that will not otherwise eat, like feeding live mice to some types of reptiles. Also, Jurassic Park is still top secret and is not yet open to the public, and therefore Hammond and the staff are, at this point, unconcerned about that and may change their practices later. Another consideration is that the park is in a foreign country that may have less stringent rules and regulations regarding zoo and aquarium practices; Hammond is likely paying them well to establish his park there and is bringing in tourism dollars. Finally, Hammond simply may be unconcerned about it, convinced that his fantastic park will be such a huge success and public demand to see the dinosaurs so great that it will overrule objections by animal rights groups.

raywest

Answer: In Jurassic World they still use animals so this isn't a concern.

What happens in a later movie is irrelevant to the question.

lionhead

Chosen answer: There is never a definitive answer, in either the book or the movie, as to what exactly possesses the Overlook. (There's a passing mention in the movie of the hotel being the site of an old Indian burial ground; Ullman says it as he's leading Jack and Wendy on the tour). The book makes mention of a lot of violent and unpleasant things that have occurred at the Overlook in the past, so the implication is that the hotel contains traces of these things. The answer to that question is left vague in both versions, though. You might get differing answers on the second part of your question, but most people who've read the book will probably tell you that the hotel's "goal" was not to drive Jack insane. Rather, its goal was to capture Danny's shining power. (The shining is a relatively rare power to begin with, and Danny's shine is extremely strong and powerful). The only way, of course, for Danny and his power to remain at the Overlook forever was for Danny to die there. Thus, the Overlook wants Jack to kill Danny, to ensure that Danny can never leave. If Jack's insanity is a side effect of that goal, there's no reason for the Overlook to care much about it.As an interesting side note, Jack believes that it is him that the hotel wants. In his conversations with Derwent and the bartender, he is led to believe that he is "managerial material" that is, that he will rise up the ranks from caretaker to the prestigious job of managing the Overlook. The Overlook does a good job of not revealing its true goal: to get Danny. Even though Jack is very flawed, he loves his son, and he repeatedly tells the manifestations of the Overlook that Jack's position in the hotel has nothing to do with Danny, and that Danny is ultimately none of the Hotel's concern. The Overlook finally begins to convince Jack of the need to "correct" Danny when it appears that Danny and Wendy's behavior might keep Jack from getting the manager job. (These last two paragraphs refer to the book, not the movie, as the movie provides virtually no answers at all to your second question).

Question: It's stated in the film that the aliens want to consume Earth's resources. Wouldn't that be a bit difficult considering they've destroyed nearly all the Earth's cities?

ModestFilmCollector

Chosen answer: Depends what they mean by resources. There's plenty of metal, minerals and biological matter that can be harvested from the planet. I doubt the aliens planned on occupying our high-rise office blocks; whether it's a pile of rubble or a pristine building, the same amount of material is there waiting to be collected.

Gary O'Reilly

Chosen answer: Huge robotic ships programmed to fly on a set course and drop poison gas.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: A woman shoplifting from a jewelry store, a guy in a pickup truck smashing a beer bottle at a black person and shouting something racist, a guy about to rape a girl who is passed out drunk and the subway janitor who breaks into the house and murders the parents and holds the two teenager's hostage.

Chosen answer: When he touches someone who has or will commit an evil act, he sees the act. For example, he sees a racist man throw something at a black woman for no reason, he sees someone buying drugs, he sees a woman kill another woman.

Chosen answer: They teleported a gas drone into Earth's atmosphere. The drone flew around the entire world and dropped poison gas which killed Earth's population.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: I believe that send an entire fleet of their mini-ships to earth by teleporting them (catching them off guard) and after settling on earth in the aftermath built a teleported on earth to survey the planet of its resources (unfortunately they couldn't find the gold which extremely valuable to them which was in Fort Knox, vaults and the Federal Reserve) and find an intelligent species to enslave to mine it.

Chosen answer: He's a murdering rapist. The point is he's evil.

JC Fernandez

Question: Why does the Predator use a cloaking device? As revealed in the film, it's huge and physically superior to humans, so, why hide?

ModestFilmCollector

Chosen answer: The same reason human hunters wear camouflage and hide in blinds: If they just stood out in the open with their weapons out, the prey would run away before they get a good shot.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: During the Statue of Liberty sequence, Magneto uses his powers to bind and restrain the X-Men to the statue. My questions is, why doesn't Jean simply use her Telekinesis to remove said restraints?

ModestFilmCollector

Chosen answer: Because his powers are stronger than hers (in this movie at least).

Grumpy Scot

Chosen answer: There's no indication that it applies to anything other than the visible light spectrum.

Tailkinker

Question: In the graphic novel, 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, Warren is speaking to someone on a phone explaining that the inhibitor has had a reverse effect. First, who is he speaking to and what does the person mean when they say it could have "other applications"?

ModestFilmCollector

Chosen answer: The person he's speaking to could be either a superior of his or a potential client. The 'other applications' are probably related to chemical or viral warfare.

erikvduyn

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