Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Gaston tells Belle that she will end up as a beggar if she does not get married. I know this is a fantasy setting, but in similar settings, couldn't an unmarried woman still inherit property?

Answer: Gaston is trying to intimidate her into marrying him. If she did inherit father's home someday, it's likely that she could sell the property and go to Paris or another place with a larger population. Women could work a variety of low-paying jobs. Still not an ideal life, but better than growing old in the village and having very limited options.

Question: What was the point of changing "Twin Pines Mall" into "Lone Pine Mall"? This change doesn't affect the series' plot at all, so what was the reason behind it?

Answer: Just to show how actions in the past have had a knock on effect on the future, giving audiences a heads up that things have been changed. Alternatively just a fun thing for audiences to notice.

Answer: It's a small but noticeable change in the timeline as a result of Marty's time travel. The first we see when he returns to 1985, confirming that his actions have altered the present. It was originally called "Twin Pines Mall" because there were originally two pine trees; Doc reminisces about "Old Man Peabody" trying to breed pine trees on the land where the mall stood. When Marty travels back to the same place in 1955, it's Peabody's farm, and making his escape, he runs over one of the two pines (and we see the mailbox with the name "Peabody" on it). Therefore, when he returns to 1985 having destroyed one pine, the mall is now "Lone Pine Mall", because in the new, altered present, there was only one pine tree, not two.

Question: Charlie rings Lucinda's workplace and they put him through to her. But later he finds out she's just a temp called Jane, how does that work?

Answer: The operator put him through to "Lucinda" on the phone because there is a REAL Lucinda that works there and Jane (who posed as Lucinda) was her temp who filled in for her supposedly when Lucinda was away. So the operator simply patched Charles' call to Lucinda's office, and Jane answered. It was either lucky for Jane that Lucinda was away at the time, or maybe Lucinda was away on business for a given amount of time, and Jane took advantage of that.

Question: Spoilers. The end of the movie shows Meg at home, apparently surviving the ordeal. In the final frames, though, we see the eviscerated body of Meg wearing the same clothes she wore in the final fight. How did Meg get zombified? Every other zombie monster had to go through the breach machine to transform, but Meg was still human at the time the machine was destroyed.

Answer: I don't think this is a "zombie" movie - it follows different rules. The scientist and the machine were destroyed, but there were several altered human test subjects still alive at the end. The scientist's rambling explanation was that he wanted to instill the ability for humans to change their physical form. The best I can figure is that Meg survived the fight but one of the altered human test subjects bit her, transformed into an imitation Meg, and later followed her home to kill her. I suppose the "shocker" in the last scene was that the pregnant Meg was an imitation and would now start a new colony of altered humans.

Answer: Sorry, no answer here, but at the end I was left with the same questions. I gave this a watch because the music was supposed to be directed by a member of the Canadian band RUSH. I'm not a fan of zombie flicks, so I don't know the rules or conventions, but I do remember a long and tedious scene toward the end where the demented scientist was explaining to the sheriff how the breach device works and what he was trying to do.

Question: Why did King Triton initially dislike humans?

Answer: He doesn't know, trust, or understand humans, who would be considered a potential threat to the oceans and its inhabitants.

raywest

Answer: He has an arrogant, power-hungry personality. As the situation with the medicine gets worse, he doesn't want to lose admiration from the humans and other dogs.

Question: Why was Sam upset over Carl's death?

Answer: They were close friends. I also think Sam is more upset over Carl's deception and greed that ultimately destroyed both of their lives. Carl's death was also pretty brutal, which disturbed Sam when it happened.

Phaneron

Question: Surely the rest of the Mafia would seek revenge on Corleone for the death of Don Fanucci, right?

Rob245

Answer: Not really. It's more fully explained in a scene from the novel that was filmed but ultimately cut: Vito witnesses Fanucci get attacked by two street youths, who slit his throat from ear to ear (he survives, but with a scar). No one comes to Fanucci's aid and the youths are not hunted down, and Vito deduces that Fanucci is not well-connected at all, as if he was really a Mafia Don, no-one would dare attack him so publicly. This, combined with Fanucci's threat to report Vito and his friends to the police (something no mafioso would ever do, if they had real power), convinces Vito that Fanucci can be dealt with without retribution, and he is correct.

Question: Why did the ROARs congratulate Sully and invite him to join them after seemingly losing the Scare Games to Oozma Kappa?

quinnnmallory

Answer: They said he could rejoin the fraternity as long as he proved he could be a great scarer, so his victory showed that he was good enough for them.

Answer: Paulie believed that he shouldn't have to ask Rocky for a job. In Paulie's mind, Rocky should have known that Paulie was struggling and offer him a job, and not wait for Paulie to ask for help, because that would be humiliating. Paulie believes Rocky and Adrian owe him because their success wouldn't have happened without Paulie helping them get together. Rocky believed that Paulie is a grown man, and his financial and emotional problems are his own making and if he needed help he should have been a man and asked for it. In Rocky's mind, offering a job to Paulie would have been like giving him a handout, because he doesn't have any real experience working with a fighter at Rocky's superstar level.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: It was an idiotic diet fad in the mid to late eighties.

Tutoring Reese - S2-E19

Question: This question could be for many American TV shows not just this one, but are American schools so strict about cheating on one single test? Because here in Europe if you are caught cheating you will most of the time get an "F" for that test, plus "official warning", and you need like 3 or 4 warnings like that to be Kicked Out of school. But, I saw on many American TV shows situations when a character cheated once and he was like "they are gonna kick me from school" (one example, Family Matters when Steve helped Edward during the test and he was almost expelled).

Feather

Chosen answer: I work in a student conduct office. Students are not expelled after one academic misconduct incident (there are rare exceptions in higher academia). A first time offense usually results in a "0" grade on the test or assignment in addition to a sanction of a warning or probation. Repeated offenses can lead to being suspended for a period of time and even permanently dismissed. Students often cheat or commit plagiarism because they are struggling in school. The goal is to help students get the help and resources they need. Students who are caught committing a misconduct often tend to panic and believe the worst will happen to them. TV shows tend to exaggerate the circumstances for dramatic or comedic effect.

raywest

Answer: They used to do this. Cheating was a violation of the honor code and you would get a mandatory suspension. American schools vary a ton from place to place. During the late 90s and early 2000s they were incredibly strict about a lot of things. The rules have changed because of a lot of scandals in the troubled teen industry. After the school shootings in the early 90s there was a huge moral panic about schools not being strict enough and millennials like the kids in this show paid for it.

Question: Is Goldeneye a reboot? From what I remember, there's no clear evidence that it is a reboot like Casino Royale, but there's also no evidence that it's in the same universe as the previous movies. Licence to Kill is, because Tracy's death is mentioned, and it's clear that Bond and Felix have been close friends for decades.

MikeH

Answer: It's definitely not meant as a reboot. While there may not be any explicit references to earlier Bond films, plenty of them lack those. It may feel like a reboot because, as the first Bond film made after the end of the USSR, it had to establish Bond's place in a post-Cold War world; hence his terse exchange with the new M (Judi Dench) early in the film about how he is a "relic", and the fact that this story has its origins in the Cold War and many of its villains are ex-Soviet officials and such. It's more a transitional film in the series than a reboot.

Answer: In season 5, episode 17 (Polly in the Middle), Malcolm complains to Stevie about Dewey believing he is having a 'lucky shirt', to which Stevie replies "you're asking me about luck?"

Question: A couple of times, Luke mentions Vader not being able to kill/destroy him "before." What is he talking about? At Cloud City, Vader wanted to freeze him in carbonite, not kill him. He even tested the process on Han Solo first.

Answer: The emperor wanted Vader to kill Luke outright, but Vader suggested instead to turn him and only kill him if necessary. He promises the Emperor that "He will join us, or die." Luke is saying that during their fight on Cloud City, especially near the end, he could sense Vader's hesitation to kill him. Vader even says to Luke at two points "Don't make me destroy you" and "Don't let yourself be destroyed as Obi-Wan did."

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Are there any ways Clark could have saved his father from the tornado without the need for superspeed and thus risk his secret getting out before the time was right?

Answer: Here's how I've always visualised it. Jonathan lets Clark help. While both are running to the truck, Jonathan tells Clark that when they get there, Clark would pretend to struggle with opening the door. After "pulling" three or four times, Clark finally gets the door open, they grab the dog and run back to the shelter. By doing this, Jonathan would have survived.

Question: What does Luke think happened to his mother before he meets Obi-Wan and learns that his father was a Jedi? Has this been mentioned anywhere?

Answer: It's never mentioned in the original movies what Luke believed about his mother's demise. His foster aunt and uncle probably never knew her identity, and Obi-Wan likely provided little information other than Luke's name. They apparently learned at some point that Vader was the father. Lars and Beru probably told Luke that his mother died from natural causes shortly after his birth.

raywest

According to the recent series about Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan didn't even know, right away, that Anakin became Darth Vader. He thinks that he left Anakin to die after their fight on Mustafar, and Vader is literally a separate person. Only ten years later does he find out that Anakin became Vader. If you think this change is weird and unnecessary, you're not the only one.

It is rather weird, though it kind of explains why Obi-Wan, believing Anakin was dead, would reveal Luke's real name to Lars and Beru. Even so, it would have been wiser to use a false surname. Of course, it also makes little sense that Obi-Wan, after learning about Vader, wouldn't tell Lars and Beru to change Luke's last name to protect him and themselves. It sounds like a typical plot point revision after people notice inconsistencies in the storyline.

raywest

Good point. But I thought Force users could sense when someone close to them dies. Anakin could feel his mother's pain, and later, Vader says he felt that Padme was still alive.

Just more plot inconsistencies, though Obi-Wan, the one who inflicted the pain, would have been sensing as well as witnessing Anakin's agony in the moment, leading to him assume Anakin would quickly die. He could have dismissed any later Force disturbances he felt regarding Anakin, believing him dead.

raywest

Question: When Stanley first met up with Charlie and their dates at the Coco Bongo, why did the admission guy refuse to let him inside? The guy knows Charlie (they greet each other), and he allowed the two women to follow Charlie inside, so why not Stanley?

Answer: Because Stanley didn't appear to be part of the group, as Stanley doesn't immediately follow them. The bouncer, at least, didn't see it that way. Charlie also doesn't say anything to the bouncer about Stanley before he himself goes through.

lionhead

Question: When Seth teleports a plate with a piece of steak on it, why doesn't the steak merge with the plate?

Answer: Short answer, because the plate doesn't have DNA. Initially the pod was making synthetic versions of what was being teleported, which is why it turned the baboon inside out and made the steak taste funny but inanimate objects appeared OK. It was only later, after reprogramming, that the pods could basically identify tissue to teleport living organisms. However, with the fly present, the pod's programming couldn't distinguish there were two separate living organisms and ended up combining them. It didn't happen with the plate because the pod recognized it as a separate object.

Bishop73

Answer: Something non-biological can't merge with something biological.

lionhead

Except that later on, a portion of the telepod merges with the Brundlefly.

Jukka Nurmi

Question: Why did the Princess not have money with her at the market? She could easily disguise herself as a lower-class person who has some amount of money with her, like the other shoppers.

Answer: Despite being a princess, Jasmine likely did not have access to money. Royals are known to never carry cash on their persons. Everything in Jasmine's life is controlled, and whatever she needs or wants is provided. She is young, naive, and has been so pampered and sheltered from the real world that she'd probably never consider how currency works.

raywest

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