Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Credible Threat - S1-E18

Question: It shows the tier 1 operators taking the congressman and other officials through the hospital with photographers and film crews everywhere. Aren't tier 1 operators identities supposed to be unknown? Why would they be visible in such a high profile scene?

Answer: They should be wearing balaclavas. They do such operations usually on foreign soil.

Answer: That was the irony of it all, by sheer coincidence the twins were never seen together by Freddie due to unforeseen circumstances.

Answer: I believe they meant Freddie is only helping them as in not Sam and Flick.

Question: When Chris is talking to Gary in the bar, he mentions that one of the side effects of his traumatic brain injury is that he randomly falls asleep. Would he actually be allowed to drive if that's the case? Seems like he would be required to disclose that to the DMV.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: That's a good question! If this condition was known to his doctor, the doctor would have been required to notify the DMV and Chris would more than likely lose his driving privilege. However, there are medications, for example, used to treat narcolepsy that Chris might be prescribed in order to regain driving privileges. He'd have to have maybe a six-month period free of falling asleep before his doctor would notify the DMV that it is safe for Chris to resume driving.

KeyZOid

Question: Chris didn't take any ID or such with him. It's OK that he could work with the country guys, but how could he get an "official" job in a fast food restaurant without any identification document or card?

Dangar

Answer: Chris probably knew what his Social Security Number was, and providing this could be enough to legitimately get him on the payroll. The people he worked for along the way could have been used as references. It is also possible that he was able to get a transcript and/or other documentation from Emory University; maybe a phone call to check if he graduated was more than enough. Christopher was also somewhat older and educated/ intelligent than others seeking such employment - in his early 20s compared to high school kids - which may have given him an advantage. There was probably a high job turnover rate among the employees, making it easier to get hired. Fast food restaurants tend to hire people from all walks of life, many who do not have much, if any, formal education or prior job experience; they often hire whoever applies.

KeyZOid

Not entirely disagreeing with your answer, but having worked at a university, I can say that someone cannot simply make a phone call to obtain a student's academic information, even their own. A 1974 U.S. federal law (FERPA) protects student privacy. Every school is different, but there is usually a process requiring identification, paperwork, and signatures to prove identity. As Chris had left all his I.D. behind, it would take some time for him to get any college information, particularly from a school in another state.

raywest

Answer: In real life, his sister Carine recovered his backpack, which had been taken and kept by a man immediately after Chris died. In it was his wallet, along with his SS card and other important documents.

Answer: One possibility is that it wasn't an "official" job and his boss was paying him 'under the table' (unreported employment). It is illegal, but it's more profitable for an employer to avoid reporting anything to the federal government, disregard regulations, not pay the usual employee taxes, benefits, etc.

raywest

Question: Why did Sgt Drucker not simply identify and arrest Chris (Val Kilmer) when he arrived to collect Charlene? They had seen each other just earlier that day at the bank shoot out.

Answer: Sgt. Drucker didn't actually see Chris. He relied on the description that the officers who stopped Chris gave to him over the radio.

They have known who Chris is and what he looks like for most of the movie. Hard to believe the cops at the check point are relying on Drucker's description when they would have his name and picture on file to give to every cop on the force.

Question: Is Toulour the guy on the motorcycle next to Detective Lahiri's car when she is trying to get her boss to sign the 1077, when she realises that Ryan and the crew are going to try to steal the egg, or is it just some random guy on a motorcycle? He seems awfully interested in her car. (01:03:46 - 01:04:16)

Answer: We see his face as he pulls up to her car; it's Toulour.

Question: How did anyone ascertain that Orson Welles read the spoken narrative in this film and that it was written by Ray Bradbury? Similarly, how did they come to know that Agnes Moorhead coached Jeffrey Hunter with dialogue? None of these persons feature in the credits though things like the choreography for Salome's dance are printed.

Answer: In the introduction he wrote for Ray Harryhausen's book, 'Film Fantasy Scrapbook', Bradbury mentions writing Orson Welles' narration for 'King of Kings'. A number of online sources cite Agnes Moorehead as coaching Hunter on the post-filming dialogue. She had years of experience performing in radio drama and had a Master's degree in Public Speaking. She likely coached other actors. Not every person involved in a film's production is credited and a voice coach is not a particularly significant role, even for a notable actress. Bradbury was not the screenwriter and only wrote the narration. Scripts often have multiple writers (i.e. script doctors) who are uncredited. Welles demanded more money to allow his name be listed in the cast credits, so the studio left him uncredited. Even uncredited, his voice is quite recognizable.

raywest

Question: Why were only three predators sent to deal with all the aliens?

Answer: As the film explains, it's part of a "rite of passage" ritual where a small group of chosen predators are sent to hunt xenomorphs to prove themselves worthy. The xenomorphs are the "ultimate prey" for them to hunt. There's only three because that creates more of a challenge for them to overcome. If there were more predators, it wouldn't be as much of a challenge, and thus it wouldn't really prove them to be "worthy."

TedStixon

Answer: The Aliens are trophies for the Predators, not some ancient mortal enemy. The 3 Predators are a literal hunting party sent for sport. This is why Danny Glover is not killed at the end of Predator 2 as he had managed to hunt and kill a Predator to its death.

Question: Now I know this is based on a true story, but theoretically speaking: 1) Why did Bobby hold off gunning the engine until the very last second? If he'd have acted sooner then maybe the ship would have made it up the wave 2) Why not just slam her into reverse and wait for the wave to collapse? I mean, wouldn't that have been the safest bet?

Answer: Not a ship captain, but will take a shot. If a massive wave is close to cresting, as I seem to recall in this scene, the boat would have to climb a near vertical wall of water and would likely be flipped back and upside down by the advancing wave. Perhaps he was planning to gun the engine to penetrate the wall of the wave, and bob to the surface after it passed. Reversing the engine would just let the thousands of tons of water in the breaking wave smash down on the boat, crushing it.

Answer: I think you sort of answered your own question. I'd say at a guess he himself would have been wondering what the best action would be and in the end decided to go full throttle. Sadly, no-one will ever know the final moments aboard the Andrea Gail.

Infestation - S1-E3

Question: If the universe is around 13 billion years old, can the distances between galaxies be counted as a different units? Galactic distance is huge; could the distances be in trillion light years apart? I believe the age of the universe is different than galactic distances?

Answer: Yes to all questions. The best theoretical estimate is that the universe is about 7 trillion light years across. That is about 250 times larger than the currently observable universe. So, yes, using trillions of light years as a unit of measure is appropriate. And, yes, the age of the universe is a measure of time, and the space between galaxies is a measure of distance.

Question: When Woody Harrelson is eating the key lime pie in the opening scene, how exactly was that pie made? It looked more translucent like Jello, as opposed to regular key lime pies, which resemble cheese cake.

Phaneron

Answer: Yes, it definitely does not look like a key lime pie. I suspect that because Woody Harrelson is a strict vegan, that it is a substitute made with vegan ingredients.

Answer: My take: The Key Lime pie Mickey eats in the diner looks cheap and trashy on purpose... a garish trailer park version of that pie. The crust isn't even cooked. I think it has more to do with the demographic theme of the diner patrons rather than Harrelson being a vegan.

Question: In the film, Officer Robbie seems to have heavily modified his police cruiser, including adding nitrous. In real life, could an officer actually modify his or her vehicle, even if it's at their own expense? The examples of modified police cars I could find online are never real cop cars (they're for a car show, just a stunt, or hoax of some sort).

Bishop73

Answer: A major police department would probably not allow modifications to an official vehicle, even if it was assigned permanently to a particular officer, due to safety or insurance concerns. That said, many departments do use high performance or exotic vehicles seized during crimes under various forfeiture laws. Most times these are for promotional purposes, but I do know of a Florida department that used a souped-up Dodge Hemi-Charger painted in standard department livery for traffic enforcement.

Answer: I don't believe she says anything beyond seeing a clearer vision of her past.

Answer: According to Babylon 5 lore, PSI Cop Bester was quoted, "We learned some interesting things about Ms. Winters in the course of her debriefing and dissect-that is, examination.

Question: At the end, when Gnomeo and Juliet emerge from the rubble, Juliet is in perfect condition. After her fountain got destroyed, shouldn't her feet have broken off because she was still glued and Gnomeo wasn't able to free her?

Roman Curiel

Answer: The pedal she was glued to was most likely destroyed from beneath her, which freed her.

Question: At the beginning of the movie I counted 9 bad guys. We only see 1 die, then there are 6 - what happen to the others?

Answer: According to Wikipedia, the shootout at the ranch, both Devries brothers are killed by Jeff McCandles, before being shot himself. The rest die at the end of the movie.

You only see the older brother shot by Jeffrey before being shot himself. I only assumed young Billy stayed behind to help his brother.

Question: How did Io die and why didn't Gemma Arterton reprise her role? If she was resurrected by Zeus at the end of the first movie, why couldn't he do it again?

Answer: No particular reason, she was filming Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. The producers of the movie thought it would be easier to say she died, rather than recast her.

Question: After going through the first storm they lose track of the incoming plane they set the barricade up for. The after a minute the plane lands and the pilot is brought in by stretcher. The commander looks at the young inexperienced pilot like something was wrong. Why did the director choose to do that? I think the pilot aged but they took it out of the movie for time or something else. Any ideas?

Answer: First, he had a look of concern for the young pilot under his command. Second, he is also confused as to what exactly happened. They believe it was a first strike weapon, that the world was ending.

Question: Did Evie actually love Tracy or was she just using her the whole time? Did she actually want to be friends with her?

Answer: Tracy acted like she had done everything Evie did before. She pretended she was already bad to become friends with them, so Evie thought she had found someone who was like her. Evie was definitely also in love with Tracy, but was also jealous since Tracy had a family who loved her. She wanted that. Yes she used Tracy, but she also cared about her.

I don't think Evie was romantically in love with Tracy. It was more about her wanting to *be* Tracy, with a mother like Tracy's. Also, she seemed to know that Tracy was only pretending to be "bad." I think Tracy's innocence made Evie sad, because there was a time when Evie was more like her.

Answer: My interpretation is that Evie hates her home life, so she drifts between various friends. She hopes to stay at their homes and feel "included" in their families. Notice how she kept trying to please Mel. Eventually, she overstays her welcome and people make her leave. Tracy was just the current "friend" who Evie was using.

Answer: I don't think Evie ever loved Tracy or cared about her. I genuinely believe the whole reason why Evie befriended Tracy in the first place was the reason she knew well how innocent Tracy actually was and in a way Evie was jealous of that so I think she purposely wanted to change her which she knew would happen if Tracy started to hang out with her. The reason why the whole friendship continued is because of Tracy's mom which Evie was jealous she never had. I guess she thought that becoming obsessively close with Tracy would make her feel like she was part of the family and Mel was also her mother and Tracy probably her sister.? That explains the reason why Evie ditched Tracy the moment she realised Mel isn't going to adopt her - Evie never cared about Tracy she just wanted her life and when she realised that she couldn't have it she tried to ruin it by snitching on Tracy That's my explanation on the whole Evie - Tracy relationship in general.

Answer: I think Evie did care about Tracey, although she did manipulate her and make Mel's home life worse. She made careless mistakes ultimately because of the tragic upbringing she had. Evie was desperate to have a mother that actually cared for her, and Evie does show she loves Tracey. In parts of the movie, she says she loves her multiple times when she sees her asleep alone after she cut herself. She also says Tracey is her girl and she loved her towards the end right before ratting her out, which I think that Evie only blamed everything on Tracey was because if Brooke found out about the drugs she was probably worried about the outcome.

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