Question: Why did the Psychlos subject Jonnie to that learning machine? Surely a race as intelligent as the Psychlos must have known that there would be unforeseen risks of subjecting a human to so much knowledge? Also, why not simply programme the learning machine to download a limited amount of information into his mind?
Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
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Question: What did Magneto mean when he said, "I've heard these arguments before"? What arguments?
Chosen answer: He's talking about the government proposals to register mutants "for public safety" and so forth. He's comparing them to the Nazi programmes to weed out "undesirables" that ultimately led to the Holocaust and the deaths of Erik's family in the concentration camps.
Question: Before contracting The Shanti Virus, just how many powers did Sylar acquire?
Chosen answer: Confirmed powers prior to that point were telekinesis, freezing, kinetic projection, eidetic memory, liquification, enhanced hearing, precognition and radioactivity. There may have been others as well, but those are the definites.
Question: Exactly why do The Company and their agents conduct bag and tag missions? Is it simply to study evolved humans and their powers? Or do they have something more sinister in mind? Also, why bag and tag at all? Why not just talk to the people they target?
Chosen answer: It's partly study, partly containment, partly potential recruitment. Simply talking to the targets isn't going to get them what they need to know - they're looking for detailed genetic information, plus they want to install the tracking isotopes, neither of which could be done during a pleasant chat.
Homecoming - S1-E9
Question: Why does Sylar choose the Homecoming event to kill Claire and take her power? Surely a person as clever as Sylar would realise that it would be full of people and that there would be a risk of capture (which is exactly what happens). Why not wait until Claire is asleep? Or follow her when she's on her own and corner her in an alley?
Chosen answer: Sylar's not bothered about the risk of capture - his confidence in his abilities is high enough that he probably thinks that he would be impossible to take down anyway. And you have to remember that he's driven by a hunger to take new abilities - he's not going to be happy with the idea of waiting for the perfect moment. She's relatively isolated, her only companion being another cheerleader, no reason to wait.
Question: What exactly are the limits to Wolverine's power of regeneration?
Chosen answer: Hard to be exact, as his ability level has varied a fair bit in the comics over the years and it's impossible to know which particular level the moviemakers have chosen. Generally speaking, Logan can heal wounds in a matter of seconds and has been shown to regenerate large quantities of destroyed soft tissue in a few minutes, but certain writers have taken it further. At the very extreme end of the scale, Logan has been shown to swiftly recover fully from the effects of a nearby nuclear explosion and also return to life after having all his flesh stripped from his skeleton, leaving him with just his brain within his adamantium-laced skull. Probably the best way to look at it is that Logan's healing factor operates at whatever level the writer needs it to operate at for the story that they're trying to tell.
Question: It's been stated through out the show that Earth was originally inhabited by an extraterrestrial species known as 'The Colonists', that they fled the Earth during the last ice age and that they intend to re-colonize the Earth in 2012. Now, they're obviously more technologically advanced than us, so why do they want to re-colonize the Earth? There's a whole universe of planets out there to choose from. Also, why wait until 2012? Why not just invade?
Chosen answer: They want to return because its their home planet. Secondly The Colonists didn't expect Humans to get quite so advanced whilst they were away, so invading doesn't make sense, and is likely to ruin the planet further.
Question: During Sylar's examination, Hank informs Mr. Bennet that they've been trying to find the codon switches that identify his powers, but they're unable to identify any of them except for telekinesis. How can this be?
Chosen answer: Sylar's powers are stolen and forcibly impressed into his DNA, unlike most of the empowered characters where the DNA is natural. It's entirely understandable that his powers might be more difficult to determine under those circumstances.
Question: Who's that weird little holographic alien Jonnie sees next to the learning machine?
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.
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?
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.
How to Stop an Exploding Man - S1-E23
Question: At the end of the episode, when Peter starts to glow, why doesn't he just fly or teleport away to a safe location instead of having to rely on Nathan to fly him away?
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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".
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?
Chosen answer: Jean's powers were not that powerful at the time.
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.
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."
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.
Answer: It is Bible Belt by Travis Tritt; however, the lyrics were changed to fit the movie.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
Question: Who or what is actually possessing the Overlook Hotel? Also, why do the said possessors want to drive Jack Torrance insane?
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?
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.
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Chosen answer: To see if the man-animals could be trained to perform tasks more complex than simple mining. The machine wasn't programmed to restrict the information it gave him because, smart as the Psychlos are, they're also very arrogant. It simply didn't occur to them that a species as inferior as humans could possibly become that intelligent.
Phixius ★