Question: This might be subjective, but why does the Enterprise take so much damage, especially interior damage, long before the shields actually collapse?
Answer: The depiction of the shields in this movie is actually interesting because it seems they deliberately tried to show how the ship could plausibly take damage while the shields are up. Here the shields seem to be "on" the hull (or perhaps emanate from the hull itself) and their function seems specific to preventing hull breaches. In TNG and onwards the shields appear as a kind of energy bubble wrapped around the ship, and accordingly they seem to absorb much more impact.
Question: Troops were sent to check out the mysterious toxic stuff in the centre of the space city but none returned (as mentioned by Clive Owen). Later it is discovered there is no toxicity. It seems extremely out of character for the pearls to have killed a whole unit of soldiers. This plot point was never explained. Were they killed by the pearls?
Answer: It is never answered, but it's safe to assume the commander has been killing the teams with his guard robots.
Thats nonsense because the commander didn't know the pearls were there so no reason to kill the teams. It was classified toxic because nobody returned, possibly incapacitated by the pearls to avoid discovery but not killed.
Question: In the original novel, it was Shogo (not Shuya) who hacked the system to discover how to disable the collars; at the same time he found out that the class would be doing the Battle Royale and transferred into that class to try and use his knowledge to mess it up. In the film, the person who found out how to disable the collars and the person who found out about the Battle Royale and transferred into it are different people. Does anyone know why this change was made?
Chosen answer: Kawada hacked the system, learned about the collars, and transferred voluntarily to the class he knew would be participtaing in both versions. The only difference is when he transferred: in the book, it was right after his win, and in the film it was just for the battle. Shuya never hacked anything in either the book or the film. As to why the change was made, I can only assume that, given the shortening of novels involved in film making, it's easier to make Kawada a complete stranger than a loner that the kids recognize.
Question: Near the beginning, what does Wayne mean when he says "Nothing like the smell of 2-part apoxy resin"?
Answer: Epoxy resin is sometimes sold in two seperate tubes. You have to mix the contents of both for the epoxy to harden into plastic. It also shows how weird he is, as epoxy tends to smell pretty foul.
Question: When the Debutante examines herself in the mirror, why does she center on and support her breast just before doubling over in pain?
Answer: She was most likely giving herself a breast-self examination. Doing this would enable her to feel for lumps, distortion or swelling which if felt early would mean that she might have early stages of breast cancer and could get it checked immediately.
Her breast was sensitive and painful because she could sense that something wasn't right with her.
So the alien embryo inside of her body was giving her cancer?
No. It wasn't giving her cancer. She probably does a breast-self examination periodically to insure that there's nothing wrong with her breasts.
Plus, it wouldn't make any sense for an alien embryo to give her cancer since after giving birth to an alien hybrid she would immediately die.
Answer: She could feel discomfort in her breast as she moved her hands down to her stomach.
Question: What exactly was Clu's vision of "the perfect system"?
Answer: Going by Clu's behavior and personality in the film, Clu's idea of a perfect system was likely a system where every component worked as intended and as expected. One where every action by programs could be consistently predicted. The Isometric Algorithms very existence went against everything that he believed was "perfect", in that by their nature their actions could not be predicted. Users also seem to exist in contrast to Clu's beliefs as their human emotions cause them to act irrationally and erratically.
Question: Evil tells of his assistants, "tell me about computers". And he later says, "show me subscriber trunk dialing". Why does such a powerful entity have an interest in technology? (01:30:45 - 01:31:35)
Answer: Remember his whole speech about technology being his version of the universe, while the Supreme Being concentrated on nature?
Question: Why were the aliens abducting people and why did they bring them back?
Answer: It wasn't definitively answered, but it appears the aliens took people in order to learn more about humans. It's unclear if all those who were returned had originally gone willingly, but the intent was not to keep them indefinitely or harm them, and they were returned to Earth, albeit many decades later. At the end, after the aliens had made contact, a new group of humans, including Roy, went with them voluntarily.
Question: How did Kirk die? He got hit by a lot of debris but from what was seen, not enough to do real damage.
Answer: Kirk also fell a considerable distance, clinging onto the platform as it dislodged from the cliff and rolled several times. In addition to being crushed/hit by debris, the fall and the rolling would have caused further serious trauma.
Question: Maybe this was explained in the film and I missed it, but it has been bugging me for a while. What happened to all the rest of the clones of Jack and Victoria after the Tet was destroyed? Presumably their daily instructions in the form of Sally would cease. Wouldn't they get suspicious? Some reasonable explanation would be nice.
Answer: They would obviously notice that the Tet was gone and would no doubt have questions, but, without outside intervention, would be unlikely to be able to do anything about it, as they would have no reason not to believe that the "radiation zones" confining them to their particular area weren't real. Some would likely die fighting Scavenger groups in their areas (without the drones, they'd be increasingly vulnerable), others might be successfully contacted by those groups and thus could join with them, some may have ultimately starved without resupply from the Tet. The film only covers what happens to Jacks 49 and 52; the others likely met with a variety of different fates.
Question: Were there ever plans for a sequel, if so why was it never made?
Chosen answer: A sequel was not only planned, but money was spent developing sets and costumes. However, Dolph Lundgren did not want to reprise the role, so Laird Hamilton was picked to play He-Man with Albert Pyu set to direct. Canon Films, who produced the first movie, was also planning on producing a Spider-Man movie. However, Canon Films still owed money to Mattel and Marvel for the character rights that they couldn't feasibly pay, so both projects had to be scrapped. Incidentally, not wanting to let money go to waste on sets and costumes, they had Pyu come up with a movie to utilize them, which resulted in Cyborg starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Question: In the original film, the Discovery's onboard computer states: "I am a HAL 9000 Computer, Production Number 3. I became operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, on the 12th of January, 1992." So, "HAL" was a manufacturer identification prefix (standing for Heuristically-programmed ALgorithmic Computers), "9000" was its model number, and "No.3" was its production lineage. In this sequel, however, Dr. Chandra is chatting with one of HAL's earth-based twin computers which has a feminine voice and is called "SAL"; but how can they arbitrarily change its manufacturer identification prefix? Being produced by the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, and being identical to the computer aboard the Discovery, the twin's name should have a different production number, but it should still be called "HAL," should it not?
Answer: The most likely reason the name was changed was probably a literary one. It makes it easier for the audience to differentiate SAL from HAL, showing how they are two distinct computers playing different roles in the film. It may also just be a feminine nickname being that SAL has a female voice.
I thought perhaps "SAL" was a nickname, also, until I saw that the computer's maker nameplate reads "SAL 9000" (visible in close-ups of SAL's glowing eye).
Question: At the end of the movie, Will Smith (the older one) has a present for his son/brother/younger self; his official documents he apparently did not have. Passport, driving license and birth certificate; he congratulates him on his name choice. And he gives those to him as Junior is walking out of the college campus, which he obviously is already frequenting and where he made many friends. I know the US system allows undocumented students, but can you even enroll without the most basic ID? In particular since he is in Georgia, which reportedly is one of the strictest states about it.
Question: When Thomas and the others are trying to escape the station, they face a masked man as Thomas opens a door. Thomas shoots a stun gun at him. This masked man looks like he was going to save them. Who is this guy? (00:27:20 - 00:27:50)
Answer: He is one of the guards that works in the facility.
Question: At the end we are left with the question of the pilot's intentions, and what happened. Is he going to help them, or pull an about-face and machine-gun them down thinking they're infected?
Answer: That question is actually answered. The pilot is speaking Finnish, and he says into the radio "lähetätkö helikopterin" which translates as "Can you please send a helicopter?" Looks like he was actually helping them after all, and there is still some civilization (or at least people with radios and helicopters).
Question: After the gene-swapping sequence, why was Bartok placed in observation? Also, what was that food they gave him?
Chosen answer: Obviously, he was kept alive so he could be studied, which was a nasty twist on the fact that he kept the dog alive, and suffering, for so long. As far as the food, there is no way to know what it was. Probably some kind of bland mush.
Question: When Donnagon is about to fire the transmooker on Juni, Carmen and Ingrid. Did Carmen try to grab Juni and protect him?
Answer: Yes.
Question: If the "cold drink" vending machine was unplugged and the buttons were unresponsive, WHY did the saboteurs deliberately illuminate the front of the machine? Wouldn't this ATTRACT people to the machine, only to subsequently arouse curiosity when it failed to function (as it did with Mulder)? The more logical approach would be to disable the vending machine (including the illumination) and tape an "out of order" sign on it. People would then just ignore the machine, arousing no suspicion. The illuminated vending machine gimmick looks like an illogical contrivance to advance the plot.
Chosen answer: If they had put an "Out of Order" sign, or left it unilluminated, someone in charge might try to have it fixed or replaced, or could have checked to see if it's plugged in, etc. By leaving it illuminated, it doesn't look out of place and simply not taking money wouldn't arouse too much suspicion. In my own life, when I've come across a seemingly working vending machine that won't take my money or dispense drinks (but gives my money back), I just find another one instead of calling someone or reporting it. But yes, it is very convenient to the plot that Mulder just happens to try and use this particular machine.
Question: I was really confused by the ending, who were the three figures we kept seeing, and what were they trying to do?
Answer: The figures are spirits who figured out how to contact the living, like Michael Keaton's wife. But where his wife wants him to help others, the three spirits are evil and want to only do bad things.
Chosen answer: There's a limit as to how much the shields can protect the ship. Depending on the force of the explosions, the ship still suffers some damage from any weapon blasts. Also, the shield only holds for so long and gradually loses it protectiveness with successive attacks, causing increasing damage to the ship.
raywest ★