Answered 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: Who are the two men that the Emperor talks to on the Death Star, after he tells Vader to send the fleet near the far side of Endor, and Vader leaves? I know that who they are is not said in the movie.

Answer: According to the Star Wars Databank, the pair are Sim Aloo and Janus Greejatus, two members of the Imperial Ruling Council, a large group numbering several hundred who act as advisors to Emperor Palpatine and are also sent on missions across the galaxy as his personal representatives. Both are Force-sensitive with some training in the Dark Side directly from Palpatine himself and, as their presence during the Emperor's discussion with Vader shows, are among his more trusted acolytes.

Tailkinker

Question: During the Statue of Liberty scene, Magneto is clearly seen to be manipulating the copper inside the statue to bind and tie up the X-Men. How can this be? I thought magnetism wouldn't work on a non ferromagnetic metal.

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: True, but Magneto's power is not EXACTLY the same as magnetism. He can manipulate ANY metal, ferrous and non-ferrous alike. It's just handy to refer to it as "magnetism".

Twotall

Answer: Well if he can control ANY metal...why did he have to wait for the guard to be injected with iron? Couldn't he take iron out of food or water? Or even his own body?

The way he took iron out of the Guard, that seemed very painful and it looks like the guard did not survive. So, taking it out of his own body would not have been the smartest of decisions. He needed to wait for the guard to be injected so he could have enough iron to take out to then turn into a weapon, and transportation.

jshy7979

Chosen answer: He and Xavier has been keeping track of mutants for years, in part by using Cerebro (as seen in X2: X-Men United). And as Logan is a very powerful mutant, as well as part of a government-funded project (which leaves a paper trail), they would definitely know of him and would have collected as much data as possible about him. When Magneto then detected his adamantium skeleton, it was easy to deduce Logan's identity.

Twotall

Chosen answer: Adam is hundreds of years old, and has been kept alive only through his regenerative powers. When that is taken away from him, the years catch up on him, and his body ages so rapidly that he is instantly mummified and crumbles to dust.

Twotall

Question: Do either of The Joker's "You wanna know how I got these scars" stories have a hint of truth to them? Also, why does he recount the stories to people?

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: There's no way to tell - the Joker gets no backstory at all in the film, other than the two stories that he tells, which contradict each other anyway. In all likelihood, they're both lies, made up on the spot. As to why he tells them, it distracts people, puts them on edge, plus, most importantly, it amuses him to do so.

Tailkinker

Question: Why would Ivo Shandor and his followers possibly want to summon Gozer? For what reason?

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: Because Shandor believed that human society was too sick to survive (to quote Egon). Gozer was supposed to destroy human civilization in the hope (apparently) that something better would rise to replace it.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Instead of using Rogue to power the machine, why not just build in some sort of automated system? Surely a lot less time consuming.

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: Maybe they tried it and they couldn't. Maybe there's something about the specific energies of Magneto's powers that makes the system work. Maybe it would have made for a far less dramatic film if they had. Script-writers make the choices that they make with the aim of crafting as good a film as possible. Dramatically, it's far more interesting to have Rogue used as an unwilling power source than them building some power reactor thing. You may disagree, but it's the choice that they made.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Just like Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" we are not actually told how Edward is created. (Most have interpreted it to mean he was made of discarded body parts, though she never actually states that the body parts he stole were used in the monster, just in his "experiments".) In the end, we are left to believe that the inventor created a human-like person from some sort of scratch. Edward has blood, emotions, creativity, and the ability to heal his many wounds. Beyond that, we are told nothing.

Garlonuss

Question: Is there any explanation regarding Adrian Veidts' fighting skill? All Watchmen are obviously very well trained in unarmed combat, but Adrian easily takes out both Night Owl and Rorschach attacking together, and he manage to grab a bullet fired from close range. I'm curious if it's explained in novel or somewhere in the movie that I might have missed.

Answer: Veidt has, through unspecified training, become able to use considerably more of his available mental capacity at any given moment than the average human. This allows him heightened intelligence, speed, reflexes and coordination, allowing him to easily out-think his opponents and accomplish physical feats at the absolute peak of human possibility. More than enough to give him an edge over the well-trained Nite Owl and Rorschach.

Tailkinker

Question: Why did/does Skynet launch a nuclear attack against humanity? What were its reasons? I'm just a bit confused because in both movies they give conflicted answers.

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: It was a defensive move, basically. As Skynet developed and increased in complexity, it ultimately achieved sentience and became self-aware. The humans tried to pull the plug, effectively trying to kill the new intelligence and Skynet fought back, utilising the nuclear arsenal to attempt to eradicate those who would shut it down.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Because it would be a really dull film. Anyway, they'd know that it's always out there, trying to find them, never sleeping, always searching, relentless. No matter how long it took, it would ultimately locate them. Best to face it now in a proactive fashion than lie low and risk being caught by surprise when it finally catches up with them.

Tailkinker

Answer: That's what they were going to do, when Sarah decided to kill the scientist who was working on the robotic arm from the first Terminator.

Answer: Consider a quote from the original Terminator about how terminators work: "It doesn't feel remorse, or pity, or fear, and it absolutely will not stop, until you are dead." Given that, running would be a temporary measure at best.

Chosen answer: Stu is a pretty unpleasant character - he's arrogant, rude, untrustworthy, he's considering cheating on his wife, treats his assistant like crap and so forth. The sniper's intent is to force him to change his ways, to confess his sins to those around him and hopefully, by doing so, put himself on a path towards some sort of personal redemption.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: Why do the writers and producers of 'Heroes' feel the need to kill such great characters? For example, The German. His power was pretty cool and could have been a major new villain in the third season, but they killed him off. Another would be Elle. Why her? She was such a great character.

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: The writers kill off characters as and when it serves the purposes of the overall story for them to die. All characters have some potential to them - just as with real life, not all of them will get to live up to that potential. It sucks when a favourite character is killed off, but that's the nature of a TV show - characters, particularly recurring characters like Elle or minor villains like the German, are going to die on a regular basis.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: It's not been made 100% clear. It was originally assumed that he actually consumed part of the brain, but this has turned out not to be the case. Sylar has been shown all along to have an instinctive knowledge of how things work and how to fix them - this is his actual original power and the ability that made him an exceptional watchmaker and repairer. It appears that he uses a similar process when acquiring new powers - he exposes the brain of the target, allowing him to examine it and determine how their power functions. He can then apply that knowledge to his own brain, allowing him to replicate the ability in question.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: During the beginning interviews with the townspeople, the one guy tells how the killer, Parr, would make his victims stand in the corner as he killed the other kids. He didn't like the way they would look at him, so he made them stand in the corner.

William Bergquist

Chosen answer: If any object can move across the water quickly enough, the weight isn't transferred completely. In some Scandinavian countries, they actually DRIVE very quickly across water in adapted vehicles. If the character of Dash could actually run that fast, it is feasible and possible for him to run on the water's surface.

GalahadFairlight

Question: Why does Bond go to Bibi to try and get information about Eric Kriegler? Couldn't he have simply contacted his own department to get a background check on him. After all, it's not like she would have had anything very informative (considering that she had previously stated that he never talks to girls).

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Whether he talked to her or not, Bibi would have inside information simply by being around him so much. She would have overheard things that a background check wouldn't reveal, like planned criminal activity.

Chosen answer: (POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING) Peter lost his regeneration ability and can now only possess one power at a time. He may yet get the scar.

Wait but that future scene was after the future was changed.?

Answer: You are talking about two different Peter's. The "scarred" peter never met Claire until Hiro told him to do so.

Question: When Mrs. Collins opens the fridge, is there a sandwich in a plastic bag in there?

Answer: There is a sandwich in a bag in there as well as a full jug of milk. It's one of the ways that she knows that her son isn't there.

padfootrocksmysocks

Question: This has been submitted before, but the answer is not correct. Richie, Eddie, Beverly, Ben and Bill don't remember anything about each other or the events in Derry. For example Bev's husband reads one of Bill's books and she doesn't recognise the name, and Bill doesn't know who the architect Ben Hanscome is. Why is it that Stan not only recognises Bill's name and remembers him, but also remembers the Turtle? He remembers all of this long before Mike calls.

Answer: The longer they're out of Dairy the less they remember about the specific incidents. That doesn't mean they don't remember any of it, just that their memory is dim and they've forgotten large chunks of it. They still remember parts of it in their dreams too.

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