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: What happened to the time machine prop used for filming?

Answer: I read several years ago that it is in storage on the Warner Bros. lot.

Sierra1

Question: How would the train have been able to go back the same way with the ice on the lake cracking?

Answer: Because it's a magic train.

Question: How was Elijah getting out of his room in the first place? I know he has free roam of the facility after killing the guard and taking his keycard, but I don't recall the movie explaining how he was getting out earlier in the movie?

Phaneron

Answer: He's picking the locks on the doors, bypassing the keycards.

Answer: At one point, Elijah's mother mentions that he caught a glimpse of and instantly memorized a blueprint of the psychiatric hospital when he was first committed, and he used that knowledge to short-out the hospital's electrical system one time (before they started heavily sedating him). It seems likely that Elijah was able to somehow hotwire electronic door locks, using his knowledge of the hospital's electrical system. Later, he used a master keycard taken from the guard.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: Not only that but, it was shown in the first movie that Elijah was very good at manipulating people so he could have convinced somebody to let him out.

Answer: The movie doesn't explain. But given what we know about Elijah from "Unbreakable" and this film, it's really no surprise he managed to find a way out - he's psychotic, but he's also a genius.

TedStixon

Question: Why did Tom drive himself and Danny into the lake in the end?

11001001 - S1-E15

Question: Since it takes two people (usually the captain and first officer) to arm and disarm the self-destruct sequence what would happen if one were killed and couldn't concur to disarm? I am supposing it would go to the next ranking officer but if they are the only ones on the ship (like in "11001001") what would happen then?

Answer: If one or both commanding officers were incapacitated in some way and unable to disarm the self-destruct, then presumably the ship would explode and they would be killed. That is the inherent risk in such a system. However, being as its a TV series, there is always some technical loophole that saves the ship.

raywest

Question: During one scene in 1955, Marty mentions John F. Kennedy, and nobody has any idea who he's talking about. Would Kennedy really have been a totally unfamiliar name to most Americans in 1955? True, he wasn't President yet, but he was a popular Democratic senator from a prominent family.

Answer: He was both a war hero and a senator, but unless Lorraine's father followed politics closely he might not have recognized the name, especially since Kennedy wasn't a senator for their state.

Plus it would be unheard of to name a street after a living politician from across the country.

LorgSkyegon

Answer: Keep in mind, there was no TV news in that house (they just got a TV). And I don't see the dad being one to read any further than the sports page, or listen to anything but comedy on the radio.

They didn't just get a TV, he just made it possible to watch it whilst eating.

lionhead

If I remember correctly, Mrs. Baines said that they just got the TV.

That is their first TV. Lorraine says to Marty, "It's our first television set. Dad just bought it today."

Question: This follows on from the continuity mistake about Sister Ruth wearing makeup. Sister Ruth has been a nun, living under religious vows for many years. After the nuns start their mission in the Himalayas she becomes infatuated with English expatriate, Mr. Dean. Eventually she puts on a fashionable dress, assumes an attractive hairstyle, and even applies lipstick (at the time it was somewhat controversial for any woman to wear lipstick). She then tries to seduce Mr. Dean. Could a woman who has lived a life of religious self denial change into a convincingly steaming seductress?

Rob Halliday

Answer: There's no way of knowing. For the purpose of the movie's plot and to heighten the drama and underlying sensual passion, the Sister Ruth character was probably portrayed as being more sexually savvy than a lapsed nun normally would be. She may also have dated a lot as a teenager, watched many romantic movies, or read romance novels before becoming a nun. Also, not all nuns are sexually inexperienced before joining the church. Some enter when they're older, have previously been engaged, married, and so on.

raywest

Question: Why wasn't the Consul concerned with Lee's whereabouts after the explosion and before the Foo Chow incident?

Answer: He knew that Lee was very resourceful and could take care of himself. Consul Han's main concern was the safety and return of his daughter Soo-Yung.

Question: What happened to the boy Jay pushed into the pool?

Answer: He is rescued and receives first aid. This is not shown but since none of them end up in serious trouble it's safe to assume he wasn't harmed.

Ssiscool

Question: Does the movie take place during autumn?

Answer: It's been a while since I've seen the movie but I seem to recall scenes with the air being cold. Since it's light pretty late I would guess September time.

Ssiscool

Answer: Bernadette is surprised at the thought that Sheldon could get married. Going against everything she knows.

Ssiscool

Question: How did Chester Copperpot expect to find the treasure without the map with its clues?

Answer: He was a professional treasure hunter who'd probably done years of research. He was on the right track, after all.

Brian Katcher

Question: What happened to Horatio Quaxton? After D.J. Mulroney hangs him on the wall by his blazer and then they leave and he's left sobbing, we never see him again.

Answer: I think Mulrooney probably called the freak show folks anonymously and got them to rescue him after a short while, since he only hung Quaxton on the antlers to prevent him from stopping them leaving with the gnomes.

Question: If Count Dooku took over with ordering the clone army for Dyas, did he ask for the clones to have the biochip that would turn against the Jedi? If so, why wouldn't the Kaminoians inform Obi-Wan of this?

Answer: Order 66 was an extra implaced by Dooku later on to the clone army. It was a secret order and the Kaminoans are very loyal to the customers. The fact Obi-Wan came there to inspect the army doesn't mean they should reveal the secret order, they had no reason to do so as they thought Obi-Wan already knew.

lionhead

Question: Did Palpatine somehow use the dark side to create the visions Anakin had of Padme dying in Palpatine's own mind and then transfer them to Anakin's?

Answer: No the idea is given Anakin had the premonitions himself, part of his strong connection to the force. Anakin entrusted Palpatine with this information and he took advantage of it to corrupt Anakin. If Palpatine created these vision he must have known Padme was not only pregnant but going to do die at childbirth, which isn't possible for him to know.

lionhead

Question: What did Obi-Wan mean when he said to Luke "then the Emperor has already won"?

DFirst1

Answer: Luke was the only chance to get Vader back to the light side. Only together they could defeat the Emperor and bring balance back to the force. If Luke couldn't confront his father, then the Emperor would kill him. Then he would have won.

lionhead

Question: How did the Phoenix land on Earth after the warp display for the Vulcans? It looked like a non-reusable rocket to me.

Answer: It was never shown or explained how they landed, so any answer would be a guess. This is set in the future (mid-21st Century), so there could have been new rocket technology.

raywest

Answer: While the main fuselage was a re-purposed intercontinental ballistic missile, and they separated from the ascent stage of the rocket, the payload section housed two deployable prototype warp nacelles capable of achieving lightspeed. Beyond that, the payload also contained the prototype warp core (which was powered by matter/antimatter annihilation), the warp core coolant, elaborate magnetic-containment systems, and probably even impulse drive and landing thrusters (It kind of goes without saying that thruster and impulse technology would have existed before warp technology). There was no space left over in the payload section for conventional rocket propellant, and Zefram Cochrane's enormously-expensive and one-of-a-kind warp components would not be expendable; so he must have devised a way to safely bring the Phoenix down for re-use. Since the Phoenix's return and landing were never addressed in the film, my assumption is that the payload section was powered entirely by the warp core, including its impulse drive and landing thrusters.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: This gets described as a reboot rather than a sequel, but why? Nothing directly contradicts the original, as far as I'm aware, the only real change is the title character being recast - hardly unusual for a franchise.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: I haven't seen this movie in several years, but one contradiction I distinctly remember is the Punisher having a deceased daughter in this film, whereas in the 2004 film, he only had a son. The 2004 film had the Punisher's wife and son (named Will here) murdered in Puerto Rico and buried and Tampa. This film takes place in New York, and the cemetery the Punisher goes to has a gravestone for his wife, daughter and son (named Frank, Jr. here). There is also a brief flashback in this scene of the Punisher sitting on a picnic blanket with his dead family around him, which is closer to the comics origin where his family were collateral damage in a gang crossfire. The 2004 film depicted his family as being the deliberate targets of a mob hit and were run over by a truck on a pier.

Phaneron

Question: What ended up happening with Truman's "father"? It seems like him returning convinced him to stay, but then all of a sudden he decided to leave. So does that mean he was faking it when he hugged him, and he knew he wasn't actually his father?

MikeH

Answer: His reaction to his father's return was genuine. However, as time went on more clues helped him realise some of the truth. Enough, in fact, that he became determined to learn what was actually going on.

Answer: Leigh Allen. Mike Mageau was the only one who had seen him and was still alive. He recognised him at the end of the movie.

Jan Arends

This is what I read online: "In 1991, Mike Mageau identified Arthur Leigh Allen as being the shooter. This identification was the result of Mageau being shown a photo lineup by George Bawart of the Vallejo Police Department. When Bawart asked Mageau why he had never identified Allen in the 20 years Allen had been the top suspect, Mageau said that he had never been shown any pictures of suspects and he had only been asked if he recognized certain names. If Mageau's statement is true, it's probably the biggest law-enforcement blunder of modern times." This would suggest that the police also never made a composite sketch based on Mageau's testimony.

Phaneron

Answer: Which suspect are you referring to? Several men were suspected of being the Zodiac Killer. The film even cast different actors for different scenes to account for the discrepancies in individual eyewitness accounts. Additionally, this film is based on the real-life case files as well as Robert Graysmith's book, and there does exist a composite sketch of the Zodiac Killer (you can Google it). So if there is a certain suspect whose sketch isn't shown, it could be either that it wasn't shown in the film or it doesn't exist in real life.

Phaneron

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