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: The opening scene, as well as several others, shows Kaiju skeletons lying on the beach. In the first film, Kaiju bone power was $500 an ounce, used as a aphrodisiac. If that is the case, why is there 10s of millions of dollars just lying on the beach deteriorating?
Question: After the subway ghost shows Sam how to move things, he gets angry at Sam's question about his death, making him kick a cigarette dispenser. After kicking the dispenser, why does the subway ghost suddenly not recognize Sam?
Answer: The ghost is mentally unhinged with periodic lucid periods before lapsing back into unstable rants.
raywest
Answer: The subway ghost was a paranoid schizophrenic who committed suicide by throwing himself in front of the train. As a ghost, he still has extreme mood swings that range from denial to grief to anger and even violence, and he apparently suffers short-term memory loss, as well.
Charles Austin MillerThe subway ghost told Sam that somebody had pushed him.
As I said, the subway ghost was a paranoid schizophrenic who is in denial. He insists that he was pushed; but his odd insistence implies that he actually committed suicide.
Charles Austin MillerQuestion: On the Russian vessel, shortly after Ryan boards via the airlock, there's a readout in English concerning oxygen. Shouldn't the readout, and indeed virtually everything on that ship, be written in Russian?
Answer: The International Space Station is serviced and manned by representatives from several countries. It stands to reason that because of this, instructions for spacecraft and equipment would be printed in several languages. As the movie shows, in the case of an emergency it would not make sense to have spacecraft and equipment be effectively "locked out" to those who don't speak a particular language when that problem can be easily solved by printing instructions in multiple languages.
BaconIsMyBFFThis is similar to how the airline industry works internationally. All pilots, crew, air traffickers, etc, regardless of what country, speak in English. It is the international language.
raywestQuestion: Why is the title of this movie just "Raiders of the Lost Ark" instead of "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark"?
Answer: The original title was simply "Raiders of the Lost Ark" because George Lucas and Steven Spielberg didn't anticipate the lead character exploding into a cultural icon. After this first blockbuster film, they added "Indiana Jones and..." to the title of every sequel, and "Indiana Jones" became a marketing trademark for a deluge of licensed merchandise (most of which was directed at kids and young adults). Years later, in subsequent releases on Blu-Ray and DVD, Lucasfilm actually went back and retitled the first film "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark," in order to keep the collected films under the umbrella of the "Indiana Jones" trademark.
Charles Austin MillerQuestion: If Gizmo is not allowed to come in contact with water, then how is he so clean? Since they can't wash him, wouldn't he be smelly and covered in grime?
Gavin JacksonChosen answer: In the original script it was mentioned that mogwais could not reproduce if the water was below 25° (which is why the snow doesn't cause them to multiply). So it's feasible they could be washed with ice water. In addition, there are other methods of cleaning that don't require water (e.g. dry cleaning).
Bishop73Answer: There's a possibility that Mr. Wing, Gizmo's first caretaker, used dry shampoo to keep him clean.
Question: Why does Luke agree to train Rey just cause R2 showed him Leia's message to Obi Wan?
THE GAMER NEXT DOORAnswer: Rey states that she needs to train in order to help Leia and the Resistance. The message reminded Luke that once he too came to the aid of Leia, and in doing so changed his life forever. It also sparks a pleasant memory for Luke, he loves his sister dearly and the message reminds him of this.
BaconIsMyBFFQuestion: How did Santa, Anya, Donner and Blitzen get to the North Pole if they passed out?
Answer: They were magically transported there.
Question: Why is everyone talking about the volcano making all the dinosaurs extinct? This technology has now existed for years and years - there would be backups, other clones, other labs. The plot of this movie seems to hang on the idea that when this island is destroyed all dinosaurs that have ever existed or might ever exist will be gone forever. Yes it's still no small thing for a lot of animals to be wiped out by a volcano, but people are acting like it's of much greater significance than that.
Answer: It had appeared that InGen, the company that developed the dinosaurs, had abandoned all of their research on the island when it was evacuated three years prior. They have, of course, been extremely secretive about just what they were doing, and were able to move much of their technology off-site without the world knowing about it, as there would be much controversy and obstruction to them creating more dangerous dinosaurs. It is assumed that anything that was left behind on the island is now being destroyed in the volcano. Of course, this is all a bit of a stretch story wise, but it is contrived in order to make the plot work for the movie. This is called suspension of disbelief.
raywestQuestion: Why does the gravedigger try to kill Van Helsing?
Answer: Because he has a developed a bad habit from dealing with dead bodies too long and now has some sort of urge to fill coffins and bury them, even if he has to do it himself.
lionheadQuestion: Is Mace Windu more powerful than Yoda, considering he did defeat emperor Palpatine, which Yoda couldn't do?
DFirst1Answer: Mace didn't actually defeat Palpatine. Palpatine was putting on a show for Anakin to gain sympathy and try to force Anakin's hand into turning on Mace to further propel him down the path of the Dark Side with no hope of return. At any point, Palpatine could have easily turned the tables on Mace and took him out, but he knew Anakin was coming. That's why he dispatched the other 3 Jedi so quickly so that they wouldn't be in the way, and knew that Mace would have the most impact on Anakin having the Jedi turn on the Master.
Quantom XBut Mace defeats Sidious fair and square.
DFirst1Palpatine made it look that way. Because he knew Anakin was coming and wanted to see him in that predicament to gain more sympathy from him to act against Mace. Palpatine threw the fight, took a dive.
Quantom XRegardless, What I'm asking is Mace stronger than Yoda consdiering that he defeats the Emperor regardless when Anakin intervened.
DFirst1No, he is not stronger. Yoda's highly force sensitive blood is even mentioned in Episode 1 when they discover Anakin's blood. That "No Jedi has a count that high, not even master Yoda." Yoda is over 800 years old and a long time student of the Force, and of his species. Not to mention he even has such a high count in his blood in such a small body. Mace is basically just human.
Quantom XPretty much similar as to if Anakin is stronger than Yoda considering he beats Darth Tyranus. But in reality, Yoda is stronger than Anakin or Mace Windu.
DFirst1I wouldn't say Yoda is stronger than Anakin... just far more experienced. Again, he's had 800 years to study and master the Force and expand upon himself. Anakin is still learning and only in his 20's. Also after his limbs are cut off and replaced by the mechanical parts when he becomes Vader, he's actually a lot weaker than he was since he lost so much of his precious blood.
Quantom XQuestion: In real life, do amusement parks actually have a master control room that controls all the rides?
New this week Answer: No they don't, the rides are controlled individually by a ride operator at each ride. This was just made up for the movie.
Question: Why is Maximus surprised Commodus is Caesar? After he speaks with Lucius he hides back in the cell. Proximo tells him the young emperor is having these spectacles to commemorate his father's death.
Answer: He hides because he believes Commodus might be nearby, since Lucius is there. At this point, Commodus has no idea he's still alive, and Maximus wants to keep it that way.
Jason HoffmanQuestion: Harry having the resurrection stone makes the ending make sense if that is the way that he survives/comes back from death when Voldemort kills him. But he drops the stone after talking to his dead loved ones. How does Harry survive if, as Dumbledore says, he HAS to die to kill Voldemort? Pretending to be dead shouldn't work, so he must actually die, right? (02:13:00)
Answer: The Resurrection Stone never had nothing to do with Harry surviving Voldemort's curse at the end. He survived because he carried one of Voldemort's horcruxes inside him, and that is what protected him. Dumbledore's prediction was wrong because he did not know until much later that Harry was one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Voldemort also did not know this, having accidentally creating it when he attempted to kill Harry when he was an infant.
raywestQuestion: Most of the characters on this show are male. Why is that?
Answer: Female characters in literature, movies, television, etc. are commonly and historically less prevalent than male ones. It's an inherit gender bias that continues to exist within male-dominated industries. This same bias exists against characters of color and other orientations.
raywestIt's also a really old show that would've been fairly male run.
Max ThompsonQuestion: If Voldemort is now controlling the Ministry of Magic, why does Dolores Umbridge have a position there? In Order of the Phoenix, she refused to believe that he had returned. I wonder why he didn't kill her for opposing him.
Answer: Umbridge was an opportunistic collaborator, and once Voldemort took power, she became complicit in order to advance her own career. She never opposed Voldemort, she, like many others, simply believed he had been killed years before.
raywestAnswer: She refused to acknowledge it openly, that doesn't mean she didn't believe it, or hope for it.
Jason HoffmanQuestion: When Obi-Wan tells Luke about Darth Vader murdering his father, Luke doesn't seem to have heard of Vader before. But he knows about the rebellion and wants to go to the Imperial Academy (so he can defect later). Shouldn't he know who Vader is?
Answer: Not necessarily. The Empire is infamous, but that doesn't mean everyone will know who their higher-ups are. I know who the Ku Klux Klan are, but I couldn't tell you who their leaders are.
PhaneronThis. Or possibly, Luke knows who Vader is but just doesn't comment while Obi-wan is talking.
Answer: For most of his early life, Luke lived a simple, rustic life. His aunt and uncle knew his parentage and no doubt suppressed information about the Empire from him. Luke is naive and still has a limited and generalized knowledge of the rebellion, most of which was gleaned from talking to friends. He has little awareness of who the key players are.
raywestAnswer: Remember that Luke was hidden on Tatooine as a baby, and Obiwan also went into hiding there, presumably as a protector to keep Luke's very existence a secret from Darth Vader. It could be that Obiwan remotely exercised Jedi mind-tricks on Luke throughout his young life to block any curiosity about Vader.
Charles Austin MillerQuestion: Why did C-3PO go with them to Geonosis? I always figured protocol droids stayed with their masters unless they were sold?
THE GAMER NEXT DOORAnswer: Anakin built C3P0, remember? And Anakin had left C3P0 to take care of his mother. However Anakin's mother, Shmi, has now died. So 3P0 is now going along with his creator.
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Answer: The film never addresses this, and in fact the kaiju black market is never even mentioned. Any answer would be speculation. You could argue that it has been a decade since the events of the previous film and in that time the kaiju black market could have collapsed for any number of reasons (lack of demand, procurement costs, government regulation, etc). We must also consider that the writers were not concerned with consistency between this film and the previous film. Since Hannibal Chau does not appear in this film, nor is he mentioned, the idea of a lucrative kaiju black market appears to have been dropped. Since this film focuses instead on a jaeger black market, it might have been a conscious decision by the film-makers to ignore Hannibal Chau in this film to avoid confusing new viewers who didn't see the original film.
BaconIsMyBFF