Question: In the scene where Tommy believes he is being made, right after he walks into the room you hear him say "Oh no!" right before he is shot. Tommy obviously realizes that he was set up. However, what is it that he sees in the room that tips him off?
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Answer: A man being 'made' is an event shrouded in ceremony. The top people in the family are there, among others to congratulate the new soldier. Tommy walked into an empty room.
Just as others have pointed out, the film implies Tommy realised something was wrong the moment he walked in and saw the place was empty...no other "made men" there for the ceremony. However, I always wondered why he hadn't caught on to what was happening when he saw there were only a couple vehicles parked out in the driveway.
Answer: Either the fact that the room was empty (being made is a big ceremonial event with many people) or he felt the gun pressed against the back of his head right before they shot him.
Answer: There should have been more people waiting for him.
Answer: Wasn't the floor covered with a plastic sheet? That would have given it away.
Or it was a floor with no carpet (tiled, I believe)...easier to mop up.
Question: Do the film's writers/creators ever explain why the machines choose to use humans as a power source over other, more efficient power sources such as nuclear power? (Nuclear power would require infinitely less maintenance and produce an infinitely higher power yield).
Answer: Nuclear power requires fuel. If we switched to 100% nuclear power, we would run out of uranium in less than 200 years. Not a very good long term plan for machines who plan to live forever.
Question: How is Marty able to play a 1980s videotape on a 1950s television set? Is this just another example of Doc's ahead-of-his-time inventiveness?
Answer: The video camera was in the DeLorean. With the right kind of adapter, which was common enough in the 80s that Doc might've had it on the camera or been able to jury-rig something in the 50s, it would have been possible to connect it into the antenna screws in the back of the TV like an old Atari and play it directly from the camera.
TVs in the 50s had a two prong antennae connection (two screws in the back that you put a prong antennae into) TVs in the mid 80s also had this. The coax connection (the one wire that screws in) was starting to become common, but, the two prong connection would have been more likely on any given TV at the time, so, whatever wire they used to preview recordings probably had that. very convenient that Marty brought those cords with him.
An old Atari 2600 RF Adapter would be how one would link a video camera to an old-fashioned television. A simple-enough part that Doc could probably make one with 1950s technology.
Answer: Video tape system back then could output an NTSC video signal, just like broadcast at the time, and up to HD in the 2000s. Usually there was a switch on the video device to change the output frequency between channels 3 or 4. Depending on what was an open channel in your area.
Question: If Optimus is a Prime, then how come he didn't know who/what the Fallen was? Or what its intentions towards Earth were?
Answer: Optimus isn't one of the original Primes who faced off against the Fallen, but is a descendant of that group. As such, it's reasonable that he should not be familiar with the Fallen, who has remained hidden for millenia, and its goals.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers - S1-E4
Question: When the Monkees are locked in the downstairs bedroom and they are planning to escape, where does Mick get the lab coat and the chemical bottle from which he plans to use to scare the evil people into letting them all leave?
Answer: The Monkees TV series was very much a fantasy (this was the "groovy" psychedelic 60s, after all). Impossible things, such as items appearing out of nowhere, happened on their show without explanation all the time.
Question: Throughout the movie, Ash does a few weird things, such as that jogging motion that he makes in the cockpit and the "poor baby" expression he gives Ripley just before he attacks her. Aside from driving home the fact that he's an android, do these actions have any meaning? (Unless he's being sarcastic, the expression doesn't seem fitting, since he doesn't seem to feel any particular empathy toward humans.) Also, what causes him to suddenly start bleeding? And finally, why does he try to stuff a rolled-up magazine down Ripley's throat? My interpretation is that he's trying to implant her with an embryo, since he also starts making weird gagging noises at the same time; but if that's the case, where/when did he get it?
Answer: I can't speak to the running motion exactly. I've always wondered about that myself. Maybe it was a quick systems check of sorts. Beyond that, the 'poor baby' expression and odd noises he makes are because he is damaged. There is a quick, light scuffle with Ripley before he starts bleeding where she throws him against the wall twice, and that's where the 'blood' comes from. After that, he's trying to kill her with the magazine in the throat. As Bishop points out in Aliens, that model has always been 'a bit twitchy'. He's trying to protect the mission by any means necessary, and she was in the way.
Just before he runs on the spot. Ash put on a flight suit and blows into his hands. The gesture suggests to me that he is old and is trying to warm him self up. The running on the spot action could be to get warm or to ensure the flight suit doesn't restrict his movement. It's a very nice bit of foreshadowing. If you play the alien isolation game, the working joe androids do that when they are 'bored'.
The running motion could also just be to humanise Ash. His character does come off as a little cold and robotic, maybe Ridley thought some people might see the twist coming.
Question: If Mike's ex-wife (Scarlet) recognizes him from when they were teenagers, wouldn't the coach remember him too? He was the star player.
Answer: I've not seen the movie, but an ex-wife would be closer to her ex-husband than a coach to his old student, no matter how good.
Answer: It's also possible that the coach might have noticed a resemblance, but he would have simply written it off as an odd coincidence, much like Scarlet did earlier in the film.
Last of the Time Lords (3) - S3-E13
Question: Who took The Masters' ring at the end of the episode?
Chosen answer: This is unanswered. Hopefully, during the Christmas special of 2009, it will be answered, as it brings back the Master.
Answer: A member of a cult the Master set up to get himself resurrected, as shown in "The End of Time."
Question: I kinda understood the scramble suits that they would wear in the movie to keep their identity secret but I do not understand exactly how they would help. If you had to walk into the office every morning (it would have to be a high security area they worked in) where you would have guards/security and id cards and such to get in, people would know that you worked there simply by watching you entering and leaving the building. The only thing the suits would help with is at public speakings but all they really seem to do is keep your coworkers guessing who you are. You see "Code name guy" walk into room then "regular guy" walk out. Not very hard to figure out. Anybody with a little insight please explain.
Chosen answer: You are working on the assumption that it would be a standard 9-to-5 job and that the same people would be walking in at the same time. Bob Arctor is seen to go in irregularly and "Hank" would also keep irregular hours, much like officers in real-life. James was also seen to enter and exit the building and he was a witness; other witnesses, lawyers, public officials, the medical staff and janitors would also irregularly enter and exit the building. There are simply too many people entering and exiting the building randomly for anyone to definitively figure out who is who, particularly as their real and "suit" identities would be kept as separate as possible, "Hank" only figured out it was Bob because she was Donna. The identities of real-life police officers (particularly officers working undercover, especially on drug-deals) are routinely kept secret and the design of the building that Bob and "Hank" work in would be designed to protect their identities and the scramble-suits would be another layer of protection on top.
Question: On what Dumbledore thought when he said that the labyrinth has no dragon or sea creatures, but there is something much more dangerous: he didn't know it would be Voldemort in the maze, did he?
Chosen answer: Dumbledore did not know that Voldemort set a trap inside the maze. Unlike the book, there are no magical creatures or riddles to overcome inside the maze. What Dumbledore is referring to is a test of courage. The four champions must overcome their individual fears in order to successfully navigate the maze and win the tournament.
Question: At the TV station, how does the gun type apparatus V uses to seal the doors work? I've watched it several times and all I can garner is it pierces the door in some manner, then floods it with a type of liquid that I guess locks them in place.
Answer: Correct. It pierces the door and fills it with some type of fast setting/expanding substance, possibly foam, plastic or even a concrete-like substance, this then solidifies and jams the lock in place requiring the blow-torches we see later to open the doors.
Question: Who killed Frank Bryce? I doubt that was Voldemort, because he doesn't have a body at that moment.
Chosen answer: Oh, but it IS Voldemort. He is small like a hairless, feeble child, but he has a body nonetheless. When Nagini tells Voldemort, who is sitting in the chair (beside Barty Crouch Jr), that Frank Bryce is in the corridor, he tells Wormtail to step aside before he himself performs the Avada Kedavra with his own wand. We see Voldemort's entire body as Wormtail drops him into the cauldron with the 'rebirthing potion', which gives him the new adult form.
But who killed Cedric? Is it still Voldemort or Wormtail. I know Voldemort gives the order but Wormtail has the wand.
Yeah that's always very confusing but the idea is that since Wormtail did it on orders by Voldemort, it was with Voldemort's wand and that Wormtail basically was a slave of Voldemort so Voldemort killed Cedric. Womrtail hasn't really got a will of his own anymore, including the point he is choked to death with the magical hand Voldemort gave him (in the books).
Wormtail did it on Voldemort's orders, so technically it was him.
Question: Is there any significant reason that Other Father becomes fatter and deeper-voiced towards the end of the movie?
Answer: Other Father is one of Other Mother's creations, in fact, he is an enchanted pumpkin. Other Mother's magic is fading and Other Father is turning back into a pumpkin.
That's actually because the other mother's magic depends on her food. She didn't get to eat Coraline when she had planned therefore causing her magic to fade and become weak.
Answer: He becomes this way because it's all a part of the Beldam's magic - the whole other world is Beldam's magic including the characters, but the other father could have maybe come from a squash or a pumpkin?
Answer: In the book he turns into this smelly clay or sop. She describes it as being this "thing" and not being even recognizable as the "other father." This shows how the other neighbors and other beings in this world are just puppets. (Besides the cat of course).
Answer: The other father is just another one of the other mother's puppets and so she probably made him out of squash or pumpkin, since she thought capturing a child wouldn't take too long.
Question: After Other Wybie frees Coraline from the mirror and is helping her escape, he takes off his glove and blows away his hand. Is something happening to him?
Chosen answer: Coraline urges Other Wybie to escape with her. He shows her that he can't - he is not a person, just another puppet of the Other Mother. What is blowing away is the sawdust Other Mother fills her puppets with.
He's just a temporary distraction.
Answer: It's because the other Wybie isn't real, he is just one of the other mother's creations. The other world is full of magic, so if he tries to go to the normal world he will turn into sawdust or sand because the normal world has no magic.
Question: Why did the Phantom always ask for Box 5 to be open for him? I know he wanted to watch the play from it, but if someone wanted to find him (after the trouble he causes to make Christine the star of the plays), they would know exactly where to look for him during any play.
Answer: In Gaston Leroux's novel, box 5 has in its wall a secret passageway with special acoustic properties that allows him to watch shows without being seen while remaining hidden. That is why he picked that box and no one ever sees him in it. Legend even has it that a column in box 5 of the actual Opéra Garnier rings hollow when you knock on it.
Question: At the beginning, what was in Connor's mind when he chased after a state-of-the-art HK with a 50-year old chopper?! What was he trying achieve?
Chosen answer: It is shown that the exposed engines of the Hunter Killers can be easily disabled by gun fire or by dropping something in it. Maybe he thought he could keep it occupied in an air fight while more help got there.
Question: Does anyone know why only the 20th season is available on I-tunes?
Question: Does anyone know how far Harry and Cho went when alone in the Room of Requirement? The book hints that they got further than mere kissing (half an hour passed and "Harry would take the secret of what happened in his grave").
Answer: They only snogged (made out). The snogging didn't take that long. Harry was in shock and had think for a long period of time about what happened before he was out of shock enough to go back to the common room. That's actually not what the book says, it says "Half of him wanted to tell them what had happened and the other half wanted to take the secret to his grave." The secret was that he snogged Cho which he ended up telling them because Hermione managed to guess it without him saying anything.
Question: In the trivia, it states that Heath Ledger based his performance on Sid Vicious and Alex from 'A Clockwork Orange'. Can someone tell me in what way his performance was influenced by these people? Did he use their mannerisms, and if so, which ones?
Answer: To get a proper answer we would have to ask Heath Ledger, who is unfortunately dead. Both Sid and Alex were Anarchists as is The Joker so I would say that their attitudes and views were integrated into Heath Ledger's performance, rather than any specific mannerisms or attributes. He did say in an interview that his performance was in part based on Tom Waits, and that seems spot on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsRbhBXPgKk.
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Answer: He was expecting a crowded room full of friends congratulating him. Also it was common knowledge among the mafia that being walked into an empty room when you were due to be made meant you were about to be executed, so Tommy likely knew he'd met his end just moments before the shot.
William Bergquist