Best sci-fi TV questions of all time

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Knight Rider picture

Knight Rider [Pilot; a.k.a. Knight of the Phoenix] (1) - S1-E1

Question: At one point, after promising help, Michael parks, and goes to a pay phone to call Devon. As he gets to the booth, over his left shoulder, there is a badly altered Pepsi sign. Black tape has been put over the word 'PEPSI' in the familiar logo, and also over the "si" in the phrase 'say Pepsi please'. What type of mistake would this be?

Movie Nut

Chosen answer: Before "product placement" became common, name-brand products were rarely, if ever seen in TV shows, mostly due to avoid advertising conflicts with program sponsors. The Pepsi logo may have been taped out to prevent any commercial infringements.

raywest

Are you kidding? Product placement was so rampant in the 50s that sometimes you'd wonder if you were watching a TV show or a paid ad.

Brian Katcher

Knight Rider wasn't produced in the 1950s. TV shows of that era had advertising more similar to the old radio shows from the 30s and 40s. The early 50s series often had a sole sponsor, so their product (and related items) was likely seen in a program. An announcer also informed the audience at the beginning that, "This program is brought to you by (insert brand name). " From the 60s on, brand-name products weren't generally seen in TV programs. Networks sold air time to multiple advertisers, and their ads were shown during the long commercial breaks. So no, I'm not kidding.

raywest

Answer: It wouldn't be a mistake. Anyone could have taped the sign for a number of reasons.

Brian Katcher

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The Originals picture

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Question: Can't remember which episode, but when Celeste is put back into her body, she has a French accent and speaks French, but in previous episodes in the flashbacks she had a normal accent. Am I missing something?

Answer: She was in a different body.

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Chosen answer: It was a piece composed expressly for the episode by Christopher Franke, who simply called it "Bar Background Music."

Jean G

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The War Without, the War Within - S1-E14

Question: In dialogue, Starbase 1 is described as "100 AU from Earth," which is over three times the orbital distance of Neptune. But the onscreen graphic shows the starbase next to a planet that can be visually recognized as Earth; portions of North America, including the Florida peninsula and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, are visible. The distance given in dialogue makes sense, given the episode's plot; it's a distant location still within the Solar System, and the Klingon attack is said to be "practically in Earth's backyard." The location shown in the graphic does not make sense, because Earth would already be under attack yet everyone is concerned only about the starbase, not the planet (which is never mentioned at all, let alone said to be Earth).

DavidK93

Answer: The planet shown could well be a terraformed moon on the outskirts of the Solar System. The planet is not shown in great detail behind the damaged station.

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Answer: According to Wikipedia: "It was a cross-section of 'domestic militia, anarchists, and religious fanatics' – terrorist groups that would never ordinarily collaborate, ideologically or politically. The only thing that connected them was the desire to take down the federal government of the United States. The entire plan was orchestrated by someone with deep resources, an ability to coordinate diverse groups, and by all indications, an American. After someone (believed to be Thomas Valente) tipped off the terrorists about the government's knowledge of the plot, they moved up the timetable for the attacks."

lionhead

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Z Nation picture

Batch 47 - S2-E4

Question: In this episode, several teams of human "harvesters" wander through a greenhouse filled with vegetable-hybrid zombies, searching for specific seed pods that might cure the zombie virus. None of the harvesters survive very long inside the greenhouse, even though the translucent plastic/fiberglass greenhouse walls are never more than a few steps away. In fact, the prized "Batch 47" is discovered just feet away from the translucent wall. Why couldn't the harvesters escape from the zombies by simply charging straight through the flimsy greenhouse walls? Or, even better, why didn't they just tear out the flimsy walls from the outside and search for Batch 47 from around the perimeter? I mean, it's just a greenhouse, not Fort Knox.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: When the plant zombies would attack they would wrap people with the vines and hold them, so they couldn't escape.

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Are You Afraid of the Dark? picture

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Question: Does anybody know of a website that will allow me to watch all the episodes of "Are You Afraid of the Dark"? I've found my favorite episode on some websites, but it's not an episode that is viewable. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Danelle Williams

Chosen answer: www.tv-links.co.uk has almost every one of them.

Phixius

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Answer: It's even more obvious than you think, you know who number 1 is in the very first episode. When 2 replies to the question "who is #1?" Change the way he answers from you are number one (in the monotone or accented answer to, "You are, number 6. The comma gives you the answer. #6 is #1. It's the tone of the answer.

Chosen answer: We were never told. In the series finale [Spoiler alert] Number 6 demands an answer to that question, only to be shown his own reflection.

Jean G

Answer: The Prisoner was first shown on British television in 1967. I did not watch it then, but the series was was repeated on UK television in 1977, at which point it became a massive cult. Certainly, I was hooked. Well, ten minutes after I started watching The Prisoner, I was 110% certain as to who Number 1 was. In my opinion, the identity of Number 1 was so utterly, glaringly obvious that I could not understand how anybody could even ask such a question. I thought there was only one candidate for the identity of Number 1, and it was so plainly visible that nobody could even vaguely consider it to be anybody else. So, who did I think Number 1 was? you all ask. My answer? Himself! Patrick McGoohan (or rather, the character Patrick McGoohan played in The Prisoner) was Number 1. I was proved right. In Fall Out, the seventeenth and final episode, "The Prisoner" gets to meet "Number 1." Now this is a real "blink and you'll miss it" moment, but Number 1 has his face covered. The Prisoner pulls off the covering to see a mask, he pulls off the mask, to see himself! The Patrick McGoohan in Number 1's costume laughs in The Prisoner's face and runs away. Unfortunately, I don't know why Patrick McGoohan should be both The Prisoner and Number 1. I don't think anybody does.

Rob Halliday

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Chosen answer: Terrorsaur was probably removed because his character was far overshadowed by Tarantulas. Both characters were treacherous and backstabbing towards Megatron, but it wouldn't have made sense to have two characters who served the same purpose, story-wise. Scorponok was removed because they wanted to introduce Quickstrike, and it wouldn't have made sense to have two scorpion characters on the show.

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Lexx picture

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Question: Why do the robot heads get attached to human bodies?? Doesn't make sense when you consider how much more advanced they could make robot bodies for such. Also, why not put human brains in robot bodies? We know they have that ability.

dizzyd

Answer: From what I'm seeing, the answer seems simple. The robotic heads allow the control of the body they need. However, no mater how advanced you make a robot's body, it will never quite be as flexible and versatile in it's movements and actions as a flesh and blood human body can be in most cases. And if they do put the effort into creating a robotic body with the capabilities they need, and be durable enough to last... it would cost a lot of money. The Cluster has a large influx of constant prisoners that they use for feeding the Lexx and other needs, so human bodies are easy to come by and in vast quantities. Them simply producing robotic heads with the ability to interface with the human nervous system and placing them on the decapitated bodies of expendable prisoners is a hell of a lot more cost effective and easier to do with the technology they have. It's just a cheaper, more effective option for them to have thousands fo 790 Units in production and use without the cost of manufacturing a fully functional and durable robotic body for them.

Quantom X

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Lost in Space picture

Season 1 generally

Question: The eels eat the fuel in all the Jupiters, other than the one in the desert. Somehow, the eels get in all the fuel tanks. We know that the Robinson's ship got them when their ship sank and flooded, so how did they get into all the other ships' tanks, and why wouldn't more eels suck down the fuel later added from the desert ship?

Answer: It's unknown how the eels got into all the fuel tanks. Once they were discovered, the colonists could flush them out of the tanks and keep them out before adding the fuel from the Jupiter that crashed in the desert.

raywest

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Doctor Who picture

Logopolis - S18-E7

Question: The Master has shown himself to be extremely intelligent, so why didn't he know that killing all those Logopolitans would set off a chain reaction, resulting in the end of the universe? Also, why did he hold the planet to ransom? What was he hoping to gain by doing this?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The Master seemed to know what would happen, and exploited this to his own ends. His goal was to gain control of the entire universe, by giving people a choice: die with the universe as it is destroyed (by natural means, no less!), or accept his as their Master, with the only way to keep the universe going.

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Chosen answer: The rings represent what is called the "Emotional Spectrum". Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. Where Green is the representation of will, the Star Sapphires are given violet rings, which represent the emotion of love.

MasterOfAll

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Answer: Gluto has quite a cowardly personality and never contributed too much in fighting against the Power Rangers. When he felt that the final battle was getting too intense for him, he decided that he would rather be frozen than participate.

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