Question: Why does Doc suddenly change his ideas (about time travel and not learning too much of your own future) in Part 2? In Part 1, he was determined not to learn too much about his own future, despite Marty trying to warn him that his life depended on it. But in Part 2, suddenly it's okay to bring Marty to the future and give him enough information to try to change the course of destiny for his son. Also, wouldn't it have just been easier to warn Marty about the accident he was going to have that caused his life to go so wrong to begin with? One would have to think that if Marty becomes successful and lives out an entirely different life, then maybe his son doesn't turn into such a wimp.
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.
Question: Cindy told Cody that she's taken care of him since his birth. Have ten years passed between the second and third movies (considering Cody's age)? Because she didn't take care of anyone in Scary Movie 2.
Question: In the scene right when they leave the hotel after the wild night, they see Doug's mattress. Is there any significance to the guy that turns to them and says some people just can't handle Vegas?
Answer: His name is Chuck Pacheco and he's an actor/director. He played Chuckie in the movie Alpha Dog.
Answer: I'm sure the guy Phil asks is a famous golfer, just not sure who. It is significant in what he says, because the Wolf Pack couldn't handle Vegas, so it was a sideways slap to them.
Question: When Captain Marshfield goes to arrest Captain Cummins, he says, "You gave intel to a foreign government" (or something like that). What is Marshfield referring to?
Question: Why did HAL go berserk? I thought it was because HAL knew the real reason for the mission (as Dr. Floyd reveals in the pre-recorded briefing), and was suspicious or curious of whether or not Dave and Frank knew. So when Dave is showing his drawings to HAL, HAL uses this opportunity to discuss the "rumours" with Dave. HAL of course is thinking as a computer in a chess game, and assumes to know what Dave will say next. But Dave thinks HAL is doing some psychology report on the crew and asks HAL that question. HAL did not expect this response, and quickly responds, "Of course I am." Now HAL is caught in a lie and does not know what Dave's next question might be, so he diverts the conversation by creating the AE-35 unit crisis. This, of course, sends the astronauts down a path that he cannot control, and he ultimately must terminate the crew to protect himself. 2010, however, went down some other path that did not make any sense to me. Hence the question. I would love the opportunity to discuss.
Chosen answer: This is explained in the sequel, 2010. In that film, Doctor Chandra explains that Hal was given orders that directly contracted each other. He was informed about the monolith and instructed to complete the mission should the humans become unable to, but was also programmed not to deceive, and to relay information without distortion. This caused a "mental" breakdown in his programming. He decided the only course of action was to incapacitate/eliminate the crew and then complete the mission.
Answer: The HAL 9000 was designed to replicate almost every aspect of human mental processes, faster and with perfect recall. It was, essentially, artificial intelligence, but not nearly as complex as human intelligence (because nothing is as complex as human intelligence, that we know of). In carrying out the Jupiter Mission, HAL was instructed to deceive the standing crew (Frank Poole and Dave Bowman) regarding the mission objectives; however, HAL was not so sophisticated that it knew how to deceive. As it turned out, HAL was "human" enough that it felt guilt and even paranoia for deliberately lying to Frank and Dave. But HAL had no contingency for guilt or paranoia responses, and it drove the machine quite mad. Homicidally insane.
Question: During the run of the series, the Brady's had a housekeeper, Alice. When they were giving Alice a few days off they even hired a temp to keep things straight while she was away - even though Carol had no career and all six kids did chores. So now that the kids are gone and they both (Mike and Carol) have careers, can they live without a housekeeper?
Chosen answer: I'm sure they could, but as long as she's there, now a part of the family, and they can afford her, why fire her? Plus, with six kids help is welcome, with a career and no kids, help is welcome, and everything in between.
Answer: Technically, they DO live now without a housekeeper. Alice is simply their guest in this film, because she dropped by after her husband left her and Mike and Carol took her in. She was helping out while there since the whole family was visiting.
Question: I'm not sure if it was just one song or not, but what was the song played that cued the "kick"?
Chosen answer: Édith Piaf's "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien".
Question: In the original ending, Mrs. Vorheese opens her eyes and smiles. People say that this would indicate that Jason had killed Paul. How would that indicate that he had killed Paul?
Question: Does Hanzo have the katana with him from the beginning? My brother thinks he picked it up in Nolan's hideout, but I'm pretty sure a Yakuza would know how to conceal a katana, and in any case, it just makes more sense that way. Which of us is right?
Answer: Your brother is correct, he picked it up at Noland's hideout.
Answer: When he found it in Nolen's hideout, he noticed how old the sword was and therefore made the comment about the Predators doing this for a very long time.
Question: I am confused about a scene near the beginning of the film, when all the SPECTRE agents, among them Largo (Adolfo Celi), are in a secret room being quizzed by the unseen Blofeld (number 1). At one point, an agent named Number 11 is talking about money he and Number 9 (seated to his left) collected. Blofeld says "One of you is guilty of embezzlement." Number 11 has a guilty look on his face, and Number 9 gives him a smug look. It's as if Number 11 is about to be "punished" and he expects it, but suddenly, Number 9 is electrocuted in his chair and dumped beneath the floor. Afterwards, Number 11 is seen wiping his sweaty face. What exactly happened? Were Numbers 11 and 9 in cahoots and Number 9 was the only one that was caught? Did Number 9 set up Number 11 to look guilty and was found out by SPECTRE and punished accordingly? Or did SPECTRE simply make a mistake and kill the wrong guy?
Answer: They're both embezzling. Number 11 expects that he's about to be caught and Number 9 might have tried to pin his own embezzlement on 11, but Number 1 saw through it.
Question: How can Tony get from Malibu to Queens in 40 minutes? How fast can the suit fly?
Answer: While no upper limit on the suit's flight speed has been given, the first movie establishes that the Mark III suit was capable of supersonic velocities. With the new suit demonstrating a much higher power output that the original, as stated during the climactic battle sequence, it's reasonable to assume that Tony is capable of reaching the sort of speeds necessary to make the journey in the time available. The distance from Malibu, California to Queens, New York City is 2477 miles. This distance would require a speed of 3715 mph to cover in 40 minutes. That speed equates to Mach 5.007. The current record speed for a rocket powered manned vehicle was set by the North American X-15 at a speed of 4,519 in 1967. It would be safe to assume that a weapons manufacturer could design a flight system capable of those speeds.
Question: In the mistakes section it comments that Jude Law is wearing a hearing aid in one scene. Does anyone know anything about this? I couldn't find any reference to him having hearing loss online. Is it possible that it is actually just an earpiece?
Answer: Jude Law's hearing is fine, he was wearing the hearing piece so the director can tell him where to stand while they are filming.
Answer: Because when they are sitting in the prison yard side by side Jude law has an earpiece in his left ear, if this is supposedly for direction why don't they both have ear pieces in and not just Jude law or are you suggesting that Jude law requires more direction making him a lesser competent actor or is it just the fact that it IS a hearing aid.
Question: What happened to the original timeline to cause such a dramatic change in Marty's mom? In the original timeline, Marty's mom was 'born a nun' as Marty described her to Jennifer. But when Marty goes back to 1955, Lorraine is a drinking, smoking, parking with boys kind of girl. In the original timeline, what would have made it to where Lorraine thinks it's inappropriate for a girl to make advances on a boy? She seems to already be a boy chaser before Marty even gets there.
Chosen answer: Actually, nothing happened to the original timeline to change Marty's mom. It's Marty, like many children, who had a rather unrealistic view about what Lorraine was actually like when she was a teenager. He always believed (and was deliberately given the impression) that she was extremely shy and proper, when in fact, she was a boy-crazy flirt, though she apparently changed after falling in love with George. Parents are often evasive regarding their own youthful behavior.
Question: Can someone please tell me why Stark brought strawberries when he visits Pepper in her office? He knows that she is allergic to them and we know that he likes/loves her, but it was a spiteful and mean thing to do. Not to mention insensitive. If he did that just to get the model, couldn't he had done it differently? The whole idea just doesn't make sense to me.
Answer: He wanted to do something nice for her, but since he is a pretty self-absorbed, shallow multi-billionaire, he forgot about her allergy. He remembered that there was SOMETHING about her and strawberries, but misremembered and thought it meant she really liked them. He makes a simple human mistake, not out of meanness or spite, but because he honestly does not remember.
Answer: I've only watched this movie once but I think he got the strawberries from the man on the side of the road, and he just didn't want them. The man did just place them on the seat of Tony's car.
He stopped on the side of the road to get the strawberries. The man didn't throw them into his car as he drove by.
Question: At the end of the Roxanne number it looked to me as if the Argentinean snapped Nini's neck, killing her as payment for her betrayal. I thought I saw her on stage at the end in the finale. With which part am I mistaken?
Answer: The Roxanne number was the Argentinian telling a story - he didn't really snap her neck. Either he pretended to (showing the man in the story killed his love), or it was simply a dance move that resembled one.
Question: When Lex reboots the phones and Grant rings the bunker, how does Hammond immediately know it was Grant? Wouldn't it be more likely it was Ellie on the phone, or even Arnold?
Chosen answer: He was hoping it was Grant. He didn't want it to be Arnold or Ellie, who went to reset the breakers. He wanted it to be Grant - the one who was taking care of his grandchildren. He wanted to know they were OK.
Question: Why doesn't Stark like anyone to hand him things? Is it just a quirk or is there a reason behind it?
Answer: In the beginning of the first film, Tony has no problem being handed things. However, when he is kidnapped and his life is threatened and he realises that his weapons are being used for the wrong purposes, his mind starts to change. In his head, he believes that whenever he is handed something, terrible events happen. For example, when he was handed the documents to sign for his weapons in the beginning of the first film, he found out that they were being sold to the wrong people. Also, when the blonde reporter hands him photos, it's of a town being devastated because of his weapons, and he feels at fault. So he develops this small fear or dislike of being handed things because they do not end well and end up causing him pain.
Question: At the end of season six, Grace told Robert E she was pregnant. Throughout this series finale, which is fast-forwarded three years, there is no such child. Do we assume she miscarried?
Question: Are there more than three Star Fleet uniform colors? In the episode where Dr. Crusher is pulled into an alternate dimension aboard the Enterprise, there is an older science officer (not a recurring character) who is wearing a green uniform. When he is next to Dr. Crusher in her blue uniform, the difference is quite noticeable. Red is command, blue is sciences and medical, and gold is engineering, security, and ship services. What would green be for? I've only seen it in this one episode.
Chosen answer: The colors of the uniforms (like the models of the uniforms) change a lot. In the time frame of the original series for example the command color was gold/yellow and red was engineering. In TNG these colors are switched and altered. Also, the blue color for science has been more greenish in other periods of (Star Trek) time. And finally, uniform alterations are, to some extend, accepted (Troy often wears more casual clothing on duty and Worf adds cultural decorations to his uniform. To conclude: the green uniform might be a character's choice or an older type of uniform.
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Chosen answer: Marty's saving his life with the note made him realize that some events are worth tampering with. He wasn't aware that Marty's entire life had taken a wrong turn, he'd just read that his son goes to prison after the robbery and takes action on that one thing.
Captain Defenestrator