Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Answer: Gillian says, "While we're building him up, they're knocking him down." The Professor is talking about building Duke's strength up, and Gilligan is basically saying Ginger and Mary Ann are wearing Duke out by running around with him.

Bishop73

Question: Would Bruce, standing in front of the Gamma Sphere, have really saved Harper's life?

Answer: It's fictional sci-fi movie technology, so it's honestly up to the writers. In the case of the movie as depicted, it seems to have worked. (While there is a real Gammasphere that was used as the very loose basis for the one seen in the movie, its function is entirely different, so it can't really be used as a valid comparison.)

TedStixon

Question: Why did the cable jam when Jim was being pulled into the rescue helicopter?

Answer: Simple malfunction to get the movie going. Also, the cable could have been old and in dire need of replacement.

ChristmasJonesfan

Moreover, after jamming and before breaking loose, this cable started smoking.

Question: Unless Dylan or a stewardess closed the plane's door, wouldn't passengers get sucked out as she and the would-be bomber parachuted out of it?

Rob245

Answer: A plane's altitude is a factor. If flying low enough so that the cabin's internal air pressure is equal to the external air pressure, there would not be a huge suction; the danger would be passengers falling out the open door. At a higher altitude, the door being blown open or a hole in the fuselage would suck people out until the pressure equalized within a few minutes. (Those left inside would suffocate without oxygen masks.) It's impossible to open the door if the inner and outer air pressures are unequal. Think of skydivers jumping from planes. The altitude must be under 10,000 feet for divers not to pass out from low oxygen during the descent and be below the sub-freezing air temperatures. The whole scene is ridiculous; the bomb's shockwave would likely kill or seriously injure all three. Jumping from the plane that way could have sucked them into the jet's engine or hit the wing or tail resulting in death.

raywest

Answer: Yes, you're correct, they would. But once the door was opened, there was no reclosing it. The way I look at it is that this was just a pre-credit action set piece which had zero to do with the rest of the movie. Similar to the Bond movies, only excruciatingly dumb.

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: The timeline of the movie is important to consider. The 1966 film began production while season 1 of the TV series was being aired. Eartha Kitt didn't play Catwoman until season 3. According to the TV show "Biography", Newmar was suffering from a back injury and unable to reprise her role for the movie. But she was able to recover by the time they started shooting the 2nd season. So, for the movie they hired Meriweather.

Bishop73

Answer: Of the three actresses that portrayed Catwoman, Julie Newmar was the first in the TV series and Eartha Kitt assumed the role after Newmar became unavailable. Lee Meriwether played the character in the movie. All were "guest stars," not regular cast members, so their availability would constantly change as they did other TV shows, movies, plays, etc. Show creator William Dozier originally wanted to first film and release a feature-length Batman movie, using it like a pilot, to introduce the Batman character, then launch the TV show based on it. However, the studio, 20th Century Fox, wanted the TV series first, so the movie was delayed until after the successful first season. During the movie's filming timeframe, Newmar was unavailable (various reasons have been reported about why she did not reprise the role) and Meriwether was cast.

raywest

Answer: Presumably you're referring to the additional 18 minutes added to the DVD ending. This is not unusual. Theatrical releases usually maintain a certain runtime to allow the movie to be shown so many times per day, maximizing number of tickets sold. Most movies are around 90-120 minutes, so a film's scenes are often trimmed or cut entirely, often against the director's preference. The DVD "extended cut" allows the director to re-add deleted footage and show a more complete and cohesive story.

raywest

Question: What exactly was wrong with Hedy? What made her so messed up?

Answer: Hedy's twin sister drowned when she was a child. She's trying to reform that bond with Allie.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Like Richter, she didn't know that Quaid/Hauser was a mole planted by Cohaagen. She hated being his wife, going to bed with him, and pretending to love him. She was Richter's mistress and like him was a total psycho.

Answer: For the money. And she's like the other guy said, psycho. Also, it was her job.

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: According to Favreau in an interview, he cited exhaustion after helming the first two Iron Man films as director/executive producer and wanted to step back. He also had other planned projects to work on.

raywest

Answer: TGRI, it stands for Techno Global Research Industries.

Answer: He was an American Neo-Nazi.

raywest

But his surname sounds German. It might suggest that he is an American Neo-Nazi of German descent.

Yes, of German origin. "American" is not a race or ethnicity, is made up of many cultures, and is only a nationality. Klaber is an American citizen likely with German ancestry. American Neo-Nazis are of many different racial backgrounds. They adopt Nazi ideologies.

raywest

German is also a nationality, not a race. To be clear.

lionhead

German is a nationality, referring to citizens of the country of Germany, and also an ethnicity, traditionally characterized by certain genetic traits, certain facial features, light-coloured eyes, blond hair, etc. "American" is only a designation of citizenship, not any particular racial or ethnic makeup.

raywest

That's not true. People with those genetic traits (like me) are not "German" or "Germanic." Maybe Aryan or Caucasian. Those are ethnicities. Not German. Germans are only distinguished by their use of the Germanic language, not their appearance. Also, certain Germanic tribes were very far from blond and light-colored eyes.

lionhead

Question: I don't know if this is a mistake so I'll ask here: why is there a soldier at the Berlin Rally who has the fraction 2/13 on the collar of his jacket instead of the SS runes? (01:10:01)

Big Game

Chosen answer: He is not SS but SA. Brown shirts are SA (SturmAbteilung) and SS wore black (and rarely gray). The 2/13 is the unit type and number respectively.

lionhead

Question: Why didn't Batman just contact Gordon and tell him what was really going on in Arkham City? They could use that against Professor Strange and stop Protocol 10 before it even began.

Answer: Because Batman didn't know until it was too late, and there was interference as he spoke to Alfred, if you remember hearing that. So contacting Gordon would've been even harder.

Rob245

Question: How did Doc originally plan to get from the train and into the passenger seat of the DeLorean? The tires didn't look very secure, so stepping on them would've likely resulted in them falling out of the carrier. Even if by some chance he had made it onto the back of the car, he'd then have to avoid damaging anything like Mr Fusion, etc., as he made his way to the passenger door.

Question: How did the gate that the boys went through in the gyrosphere get broken? It seems to be broken from inside the paddock that the herbivores are in, as you can see claw marks all over it. I doubt it was the Indominus, as all the herbivores seem pretty chill. Plus, I imagine it could only be reached to damage it from the herbivores' side due to it being electrified.

Answer: The implication is the Indominus broke the gate. It may have been far enough away from the big herbivores and stayed close to the fence line that the animals were unaware or unperturbed as long as it kept its distance. The area that the large dinosaurs roam in would be hundreds of acres and they may not have seen the predator yet. The Indominus had shown that the tactical team's electrical weapons had little effect on it, so the electrical fence may have been a minor obstacle.

raywest

Question: In the opening sequence, a tiered waterfall is shown with water spouting from the top tier. Were there electricity or water pumps for these tiered waterfalls available then?

Question: Has any explanation ever been given for why William Afton murdered children and how he was able to transfer their souls into the animatronics?

Question: Considering that there are many different theories about how time travel works, such as the grandfather paradox, temporal paradox, etc., why did Adam assume that the butterfly effect was the primary rule of time traveling?

Answer: It's just the rule they used for the movie; not a lot of thought was put into the time-traveling rules with the obvious inconsistencies the movie has throughout regarding it, especially in the ending.

lionhead

Question: Why did Stony and Keith never meet up in Mexico at the end? Stony just lost 3 dear friends on top of the 3 family members. Wouldn't she want to be with the last person in the world that knows she exists?

Answer: If someone disappears after committing a serious crime, they must cut past ties to avoid being traced. That includes ending any past romantic relationships that could lead police to their whereabouts. Stony would also not want to ensnare Keith into a life of being on the run, and possibly get him arrested. Their relationship was short-term and likely would not have survived such a stressful and tumultuous scenario. It seems unlikely Keith would give up his stable personal life for such a situation.

raywest

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