Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Lannings wrote the three laws and built VIKI as his first robot, which leads to the conclusion that VIKI has been programmed with the three laws. If VIKI is programmed with those laws, how can she order robots to ignore humans orders and even kills them?

Friso94

Chosen answer: Viki is following what has been called the 0th law of robotics. It is an extrapolation of the other three with an application toward humanity as a whole rather than individual humans and is interpreted as "A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm". The idea being that she has now concluded that to fail to take action to prevent the self destruction of humanity itself would be a violation of that law. And being the 0th law, it supersedes all other laws, just as law 1 supersedes law 2 and law 2 supersedes law 3. Her actions may be regrettable or undesirable, but according to the 0th law, they are necessary to save humanity as a whole.

Garlonuss

Question: After Gothel discovers that Rapunzel has left the tower, how did she know to find her at the pub?

Answer: I doubt she knew to look there specifically. She probably ended up there the same way they found it too. Just walking along the way to get to town, and there it was. Can't remember exactly what happened, but even if she said something along the lines of "I thought I would find you here" that doesn't mean she DID think that, just that she wanted to imply to Rapunzel that she was always one step ahead even if she wasn't.

Kimberly Mason

Question: The Axeman doesn't die when Luther shoots three rounds into his head. But how come when Alice blows his head off, he does die?

Friso94

Chosen answer: The damage caused by Alice was more extensive and therefore sufficient to put the creature down.

Phixius

Question: How did the Transformers stay hidden during the days when there weren't any mechanical devices? Jetfire explains that he's been here for millenia, and there are probably more like him all over the world. For that matter, why didn't the Egyptians or the Chinese or the Greeks ever make a note about the Transformers, while their markings are all over the structures?

Friso94

Chosen answer: A lot of historians, or pseudo-historians some would say, believe the Ancient Egyptians did in fact have technology that surpasses even our own today. And that this technology was handed down to them from extra-terrestrials they worshiped as gods. This seems to fit the context of the movie, where the Transformers would be those extra-terrestrials.

Phixius

Chosen answer: Accoding to IMDB.com, Winslet was paid $2,000,000, and DiCaprio's salary was $2,500,000.

raywest

Question: In the scene where Shelby and Jackson are eating the wedding cake, what was the point of Nancy Beth telling Shelby that Jackson is "one big-hanging man"? And how does Nancy Beth even know?

Answer: Nancy Beth, who has had a crush on Jackson, is likely jealous that he is marrying Shelby rather than her. She is trying to ruin Shelby's happiness with her spiteful comment, hinting that she has been intimate with Jackson, though it is uncertain if she ever has been.

raywest

Answer: Reading this answer, I just now put two and two together. While it's obvious Nancy Beth is referring to the fact that she's been with Jackson intimately, it kind of refers to the "ladies man" persona Jackson has. It also foreshadows for later in the film, when Shelby bitterly says, "Jackson loves to hunt for anything", he is what used to be called "a skirt chaser." I always felt that having babies wasn't the only reason Shelby reconsidered marrying Jackson. I always suspected she feared womanizing on the side would happen.

Answer: She's basically saying she has had a piece of him already and was trying to ruin her day by reminding her of their affair. This also helps clarify when Shelby tells her mom she's pregnant, that they are having marital problems pretty much he is cheating on her.

Answer: She'd definitely been to bed with him. Nancy Beth was known as kind of loose, as you can see her mom had to reel her in at the wedding. Then there was the Miss Merry Christmas scandal where she was stripped of her title because she was found in a hotel room with I believe one of the judges. Shelby tried to appease Jackson by having a baby, to try to keep his interest at home.

Question: At the end of the movie where they lower The Terminator to its death, how come it has stopped obeying John's orders? John orders it not to go, yet it only replies that it now knows why humans cry. It also actually gave John an order, telling him to run earlier in the movie. How can it be able to do these things if it's programmed to listen to John's command?

marcusforsberg

Chosen answer: There are a couple of possibilities. One, he has "a neural net processor, a learning computer" He become able to resist that programming (a feature he demonstrates again in T3 when he shuts down rather than kill John). Also, his overriding mission is to protect John's past self. Telling John to run while he delays the T1000 and destroying himself to avert Judgment Day both fall under this.

Grumpy Scot

Another possibility: Doing whatever John says is one of his mission parameters. Once the T-100 was destroyed, the mission was complete so all mission parameters would be moot.

Kyle G.

Question: I have a few questions. Firstly the latest X-men film showed that although looking only 30ish, Mystique is as old as Professor X. That can only be cause of her mutation. So why after she was cured didn't she age into an older woman? Secondly, if Wolverine had been cured (assuming it would even have worked, given his healing ability), would it have killed him? Given his age and all the adamantium inside him, i couldn't imagine it, but am I wrong?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Both Wolverine and Mystique's mutations cause them to age slowly; effectively the normal human body deterioration is slowed for them, giving them a younger physical age than their actual chronological age. If that mutation was removed, then the factor that slowed their ageing would no longer function, but they wouldn't abruptly "catch up" with their actual age, they would simply possess a body at their current physical age which would age as a normal human after that point. As for the adamantium lacing Logan's bones, were his healing factor removed, he might well swiftly suffer extreme levels of toxic shock, which would likely prove fatal.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: She answered Monica's ad for a roommate.

raywest

Question: Is the cloning their explanation for why, in the series, Aeon Flux died in every episode? If not, I'd say she's Kenny McCormick's descendant.

dizzyd

Chosen answer: Although the scenario does happen in the episode "A Last Time for Everything", this is not the case. The creators intentionally left the series without a direct continuity as a satire of the action genre.

LorgSkyegon

Question: Was Smith being "set free" also part of the architects plan? What were the other choices for the other "chosen ones"? How are the 23 chosen, and are they given the tools to build Zion? Do they wake up in a Zion? I don't get that.

Zema

Chosen answer: No. Return to the Source or return to the Matrix. The One chooses them and yes. They are woken by the One (like Neo was by Morpheus) and taken to Zion.

LorgSkyegon

Question: I have three unrelated questions: 1. My comments are in parentheses. John Anderton: Why'd you catch that? Danny Witwer: Because it was going to fall. (No, it wasn't) John Anderton: You're certain? Danny Witwer: Yeah. John Anderton: But it didn't fall. You caught it. The fact that you prevented it from happening doesn't change the fact that it was *going* to happen. (Yes, it does, doesn't it?) That was my first question - I hope that you didn't mind the format. Also, don't hold back on the philosophy - I'm well-versed in it. 2. Since Crowe didn't kill John's boy, who did? If we didn't find out, are there even any theories? 3. This one's about the adulterers and the fact that they weren't arrested. Isn't it more likely that, in the future (esp. one like this, which, in my opinion, was at least semi-totalitarian) there would be more laws (specifically about adultery) rather than less, especially considering that even now there are some laws that apply to adultery?

Answer: 1. By the laws of physics, the ball would have fallen to the ground had Witwer not caught it. 2. We don't know who kidnapped John's child. 3. Obviously not.

LorgSkyegon

Question: Why does Batman override the controls to Robin's motorbike when they're pursuing Freeze? Robin says he can make it, and yet Batman still prevents him from doing it. Why? Robin's a professional circus performer and Batman knows that; if Robin knows he can make the jump, then Batman should have allowed him to make the jump.

Answer: Because Batman has been over protective of Robin the whole time and is not entirely sure that Robin is not a "reckless youth". The whole point is that Batman doesn't know that if Robin says he can make the jump, that he can make it. That's why at the end when Batman trusts Robin's judgement that he can do what he says, Robin thanks him.

shortdanzr

Answer: Jack came into possession of a drawing of a key after killing the warden of the Turkish prison that he infiltrated. All he knew was that the real key would open a chest containing something valuable. He then went to see Tia Dalma, who told him that the key opened Davy Jones' chest containing his heart.

raywest

Question: Does anyone know why Han's line was changed in the Special Edition to "It's all right, I can see a lot better now" from "it's all right, trust me" right before he shoots the sarlacc to save Lando?

razoprill

Chosen answer: Probably because George Lucas liked that line better. It's not unusual for dialog and action to change slightly with multiple takes of a particular scene, seeing what works best.

raywest

Answer: We can only speculate, but George Lucas has shown a penchant for making updates that super-clarify certain narrative logistics for viewers even if it's not strictly necessary. The new line explicitly establishes that Han Solo has regained his eyesight, whereas with the prior line the audience must infer this from his behavior here and in subsequent scenes (how much this was ever an issue for viewers in the first place is certainly debatable).

TonyPH

Answer: Harrison Ford improvised some lines so he could have improvised this one.

Question: Is it actually revealed why Jackson wants Keefe dead? Did I miss something?

Answer: It's a political assassination plot. Jackson is an operative working for the terrorist organization that wants to kill Keefe because he is the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.

raywest

Chosen answer: "Sibling Rivalry", Season 4, Episode 22.

LorgSkyegon

Question: After Phillip frees her, why did Syrena then go to find the chalices and give them to Jack Sparrow? She could have just left and taken Phillip with her.

raywest

Chosen answer: She most likely went to stop the ritual, she probably didn't want her tear to be used by the likes of Blackbeard. She knew that Jack would use it wisely.

Question: Although they only show Ray Finkle/ Lois Einhorn exposed to the cops, what exactly would be his/her comeuppance? Would he/she be sent back to Shady Acres Mental Hospital or to a state prison?

Answer: That would depend entirely on how she and her lawyer chose to plead, and what the judge and jury decided. It's outside the scope of the movie.

Question: Dr. Marvin Monroe isn't dead because he appeared in season 15, so why wasn't he in the movie?

Joel Sheffield

Chosen answer: There's no rule saying that every character from a TV show has to appear in the movie. There are plenty of short-lived characters from the show that weren't featured. He just didn't fit into the plot.

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