Question: Is it usual for gun store clerks to leave ammunition and bullets on the counter where anyone can pick them up and load them into a gun?
Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
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Question: Why are the vast majority of stories set on modern day Earth as opposed to the 1963-1989 series where nearly every story was set on an alien planet?
Chosen answer: One of the 'quaint' aspects of Doctor Who of old was the utter cheapness of the BBC in spending as little money as possible on the original series. Visits to 'alien planets' were laughably poor looking, clearly were Earth like with a few 'alien' touches, and it was something that writer Russel T Davies didn't want to return to.
Question: How come Wade has to take out all those guards, and why not his teammates? Agent Zero, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Wraith, and the big guy can easily take them out as they are powerful mutants.
Chosen answer: Stryker simply knew that they were all eager to show their skills and knew that wade wouldn't have any trouble doing it. He wanted to see how good his team was and this was a good way. Anyhow given how eager Wade was, he probably let him just to shut him up.
Question: It's been established that during Lister's time in stasis there was a radiation leak that wiped out Red Dwarf's crew. My questions are, after the radiation leak was The Jupiter Mining Corp aware of what transpired? Was there any attempt at all to salvage Red Dwarf? Also, exactly how did Red Dwarf become lost?
Chosen answer: After the radiation leak, Red Dwarf became an extremely dangerous place, with the majority of the ship irradiated and thus a danger to anyone who ventured near it. As such, Holly boosted the engines to maximum, sending Red Dwarf hurtling out into deep space where it couldn't pose a threat. It would seem likely that the Jupiter Mining Corporation would have been informed, either directly by Holly or by some sort of automated system, but, given the irradiated nature of the ship, they probably would have decided that any salvage mission would be pointless and would simply risk more personnel. Once the radiation finally reached a safe level for Lister to be brought out of stasis, after three million years of thrust, Red Dwarf was well and truly lost.
Question: After Luke and Vader's duel aboard the second Death Star, Why does Luke deactivate his lightsaber and throw it aside?
Chosen answer: Palpatine's trying to turn Luke to the dark side, to make him his new apprentice in Vader's place - he wants Luke to strike the now defenceless Vader down in anger and hate and thus open himself to the Sith way. By throwing his lightsabre aside, Luke's telling the Emperor that, no matter how much the Emperor goads him, he will not raise his weapon against Vader again and that he utterly rejects the Sith way.
Question: How did Remy know that Ego would want ratatouille as his meal? It couldn't have been that Remy lived in the house during the flashback because the flashback is from too long ago for Remy to have been born.
Answer: He didn't. He's playing a hunch. Ego's used to high-class food, chefs plying him with their most up-to-date haute cuisine - he gets that all the time. Remy's guessing that giving him a simple traditional meal, albeit presented in a style appropriate to a high-class restaurant, will work well; something that proves to be correct.
Question: Why did Yoda leave for exile after his duel in the senate with Palpatine? Why didn't he continue fighting?
Chosen answer: Because he came to the conclusion that he couldn't win, so the best solution, long-term, was for him to hide away somewhere to be ready to help prepare the next generation for the fight. If he continues the fight, he risks his own death and the loss of his ability to pass his knowledge on later, which could leave the galaxy under Sith rule forever. If he runs, then the Sith will rule for a time, but there's a far greater possibility that the Jedi will eventually be able to rise again and defeat them.
Question: It's been shown that Zankou has the ability to steal powers through touch utilizing Power Absorption. Yet, why did he need a potion to steal The Charmed Ones' powers?
Chosen answer: Zankou can only steal the powers of demons - he cannot steal the powers of good witches because he is evil. He would need a power stripping potion to do that. Now that he has control over the book of shadows he is now able to make the power stripping potion.
Answer: He can't steal powers from good witches because he is evil.
Answer: Zankou needs to kill the demon or witch to steal their powers.
Question: When Han and Lando meet for the first time after a while in the Cloud City, Han gets a rude welcome from Lando. Was Lando's rudeness a veiled warning to Han to leave, since Darth and the troopers were waiting for him?
Chosen answer: The rude welcome was just a way for Lando to "mess" with his old friend. It would have been suicide for Lando to get Han to leave knowing Vader and Company were waiting for all of them.
Question: Was the scene of a naked Wolverine arriving at the elderly couple's farmhouse supposed to be some kind of a reference to Superman? The couple seemed to resemble Ma and Pa Kent, the house and farm looked identical to the ones in the Superman films and Logan turning up naked seemed to mirror the fact that baby Clark was naked when he first arrived. So was it intentional?
Chosen answer: There is nothing that the filmakers have said to indicate that this is a reference to Superman. In addition, since this is a Marvel comic, and Superman was was/is a DC comic, it's unlikely.
Question: What causes the explosion near the start which causes John Connor's helicopter to crash? I may be missing something, but they never seem to address it.
Chosen answer: It was a strike by Skynet on the attacked facility to try and deny the resistance information and anything useful.
Question: Was Bryce Dallas Howard actually pregnant when this film was made, or was she just wearing some kind of a cushion under her shirt? Just asking cause no one in the film seems to mention it.
Chosen answer: She wasn't pregnant, no. Her pregnancy, while unremarked upon in this film, will presumably assume greater significance in subsequent films.
Question: When Marcus goes to Skynet he is "analyzed" by the large machine, that recognizes him as being a machine as well, and then he is granted access. So why did the Terminator not recognize him as being a machine and try to shoot him earlier in the movie when he first reaches the city?
Answer: Couple of possibilities. The older model Terminator may simply not have had the sensors necessary to determine that Wright is a machine. Or, as the unwitting Wright is actually an infiltration unit, designed to work his way into the resistance, it may well be that the Terminator does recognise him as one of them, but has been programmed to attack anyway - after all, if he's not attacked by Skynet forces, despite standing in full view, it would look extremely suspicious and compromise his mission.
Question: Young Willy runs through the flags of various countries at the museum. Can someone name those countries in order?
Answer: Please keep in mind that some of the flags overlap and are only seen briefly. In order: Canada, France, India, Switzerland, Germany, United States, Great Britain, Mexico, Japan, China and Iraq.
Question: Could someone please explain to me exactly how the Millennium Falcon is being flown. It appears to swoop in such a way like someone is steering it, but no one on board seems to be doing much more than pressing the odd button here or there. And it can't be autopilot because it seems to be doing exactly what those on board want. So does anyone know?
Chosen answer: Han has the control board in front of him - he has everything he needs to fly the ship to hand. We never get a particularly good look at the console, so we don't know precisely what format the controls are presented in, but that's what he's using.
Question: The commanders said that the destruction of Skynet in LA would end the war but when John blew it up, he said the war is not over. Did the commanders mess up on that statement or what?
Answer: The same commanders also thought that they had the radio frequency that would disable all the Terminators. So when John said the war was not over, he was considering that A) they don't have the super weapon they thought they'd have, and B) a fair amount of the commanders were killed.
Question: When Luke asked Leia if she remembers her real mother she said she does but she died when she was very young. Her mother died during child birth. How can Leia remember what her mother looked like?
Answer: Leia most likely knew she was adopted as she had no reaction to Luke asking about her "real mother." I believe the correct answer here is George Lucas hadn't planned on Leia's mother dying during childbirth when this scene was written and at that time Leia genuinely had faint memories of her real mother. This was later shown to be impossible when the prequels were made.
Answer: She is referring to Padme. I believe she actually replies 'not really' when asked what her mother looked like. Also, Leia was a senator at some point, like Padme. It is likely she would have seen a painting or senator entry.
She most likely didn't know Padme the senator was her mother, because that would mean Anakin/Darth Vader would therefore have the same knowledge. She most definitely knew she was adopted. The "not really, just feelings" (paraphrased) line was "ret-conned" to fit when the newborn twins were shown in Episode III. Luke's eyes were shut, while Leia's eyes were open-she "saw" her mother. Perhaps the Force gave her a more mature feeling/insight into her mother from the brief time between pregnancy and when she was spirited away to Alderaan and her adoptive family.
Chosen answer: The mother Leia refers to would be Queen Breha Organa of Alderaan. At this point, Leia has no idea that she was adopted.
Negative. Luke specifically says "your real mother." Nowhere is it said Leia didn't know she was adopted. It's also highly unlikely she didn't know, since her adoptive father was a high-profile governmental figure and no way would the press keep a tight lip on the Bail and his wife suddenly having a baby without any signs of pregnancy.
Bail Organa says "We've always wanted a daughter." It wouldn't make sense to tell the daughter they've adopted in order to hide her from Vader "Oh yeah, you're adopted but don't tell anybody because the Emperor would send Vader to hunt you down." Better to just let her think you're her real parents.
Just because Leia knows she's adopted doesn't mean she has any idea who exactly her birth mother was, aside from her apparent memories. The Organas may well have concocted a whole cover story about her birth parents for another layer of protection over her identity. In fact, the way both Luke and Leia casually use/accept the "real mother" term suggests that not only does Leia know she's adopted, it's actually fairly common knowledge.
Answer: The short answer is that we don't know and it's left a mystery for the viewer. But on the flip side the lack of concrete information does leave room for numerous possibilities: One is that Leia might simply be mistaken: she had dreams of an idealized mother figure that she mistook for memories. Another is that the Organas could've lied to Leia about who her birth mother was for her own protection, and she is recalling this decoy mother (I quite like the theory that they told Leia her birth mother was one of Padme's loyal bodyguards chosen for their resemblance to her). And of course there's always the possibility there's something supernatural going on: Leia is strong with the Force and doesn't know it, and Padme's fate was so inexplicable you could theorize she didn't even really "die" so much as her spirit simply left her body.
Question: Why does Vader go and stand near the Emperor for a moment before deciding to kill him and save Luke? Earlier, the Emperor told Luke to kill Vader and take his place. It seems strange that Vader would remain loyal after his master just encouraged someone to kill him.
Answer: Vader's alone; for twenty years, he's had only the Emperor, a man who he hates for what he's become, but also the only person truly remaining in his life, having killed or otherwise burned his bridges with everybody else. He has nowhere else to go but to the side of the Emperor. He may well be angry at the Emperor for telling Luke to kill him, but it's exactly the same deal that he tried to make - it's the way of the Sith that the strong replace the weak. The Emperor needs an apprentice; with Luke dead, the Emperor may well punish Vader, but won't kill him, because he doesn't have a replacement. So he initially returns to his master's side, resigning himself to going on as he is, a bitter twisted half-machine in the thrall of a more powerful master. It's only when Luke reaches out to him through the pain that he decides that his son's life is worth more than his own and finally acts directly against the Emperor.
I thought the reason Vader stood near the Emperor was that he wanted to save his son while the Emperor tortured Luke with lightning, but his loyalty to the Emperor got in the way.
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Chosen answer: No, it's not, but not every gun shop owner is reputable or responsible.
wizard_of_gore ★