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: How did the monkeys get onto the space ship and why were they so aggressive?

Answer: On the way from the Moon to Mars, the Cepheus interplanetary vessel receives an automated distress signal from a Norwegian bio-medical space station (that studies and conducts experiments on Earth animals in the deep-space environment). Apparently, a couple of very powerful and temperamental adult baboons escaped from their cages and killed everyone aboard the space station, feeding on their bodies. When the Cepheus answers the distress signal and arrives at the space station, the baboons attack and try to eat Captain Tanner and Roy McBride, also.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: If Palpatine wanted Rey alive, as he says to her on Exegol, why did he repeatedly order Kylo to kill her earlier in the movie?

Answer: Palpatine has been manipulating Rey and Kylo Ren from the very start, bringing the pair together and instigating fights between them. He is trying to make Rey stronger so that when he takes over her body, she will be powerful. Palpatine can partially see the future and knows that Kylo will not be successful in actually killing Rey, but that their constant fights will cause the two to grow more powerful. Because he can see part of the future, he knows that eventually Rey will triumph over Kylo and "kill" him, and then come to confront him directly. He doesn't count on Ben Solo coming back to face him which winds up being his undoing.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Not just earlier in the movie, but in the trilogy itself since he is technically also behind Snoke. Yeah I wondered the same. For that matter, why does he not clue her in of his whereabouts but just hopes (what a very Jedi thing to do!) she'll just find the thing that leads it to him? Feels like a plot hole but I didn't bother sending it because I am sure some answer for it will come in the expanded universe or whatever. Of course one could just say it's the Sith way and if Kylo managed to kill her it would completely erase the very last Jedi and erase anything good remaining in Kylo, making the victory of the Dark Side complete. And likewise, if Rey kills him (which she does, in a way!) that will make the Dark Side in her stronger. Curious enough, notice how Kylo wants them both to go to Palpatine, to kill him, instead, so Palpatine's order is meant to make him do something he does not want to.

Sammo

Answer: Emperor Palpatine is a lying bastard. Earlier he wanted her dead because he feared her power. Now that she's actually showed up in the flesh he's trying to flatter her to convince her to join with him (literally in this case). The Emperor is the Star Wars version of Satan/Lucifer; his word is worth less than nothing.

TonyPH

Question: I don't quite get how the Hoffa killing plays out. His son is there in the car, Frank and Jimmy go into the house, Frank shoots him, apparently not heard, then leaves the house...doesn't Chuckie Hoffa have questions? Like where his dad is for a start, let alone the gunshots he must have heard?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: First off his name was Chuckie O'Brian. Jimmy Hoffa wasn't his biological father, he was more in the nature of a foster father. Second, he probably knew what happened. What was Chuckie going to do? It was a sanctioned hit. And if he went to the police he would have ended up the same as Jimmy Hoffa. They put him in the middle of it to keep him quiet. If he goes after the people who did it, he's as good as dead. If he talks he could end up in jail with them, and the mafia will probably kill him anyway.

Answer: Well Dr. Strange used the time stone to see how they could fight him and they executed that plan, though as Strange knew they wouldn't win against him. Eventually Thanos did beat them but I suppose advanced technology and strength in numbers were a good advantage even if he had 4 stones. I think they intentionally went for speed and his mind as that's the 2 stones he was still missing.

lionhead

Answer: Since they are in possession of the Time Stone and Doctor Strange is hiding it with magic, he may have decided to refrain from killing all of them, otherwise locating the stone afterwards could prove a difficult task.

Phaneron

Answer: He could have, but Thanos sees himself as merciful and doing the right thing. He fights the Avengers and Guardians in order to stop them and gain the Infinity Stones. He has no particular interest in killing any of them.

Question: Why do Harry and Marv: 1. Go after Kevin when they should remember the misery he caused them before and 2. Be stupid enough to tell him what their plans are?

Rob245

Answer: Harry and Marv go after Kevin probably to even the score for a kid having outsmarted them once before. They tell him what their plans are because they're not particularly bright, believe it doesn't matter, and simply because it serves as a plot device. Kevin has to somehow learn their plan, otherwise he could not thwart them.

raywest

Answer: Marv and Harry say in one of the scenes that Kevin is not at his own home meaning "he doesn't have a house full of goodies" to hurt them with (quoted from the scene). So they felt like they were safe from any havoc because he didn't know where he was, of course they underestimated him.

Question: After Riot took over the little girl's body at the airport, what happens to her parents?

Trainman

Answer: The parents do not notice when the little girl leaves the bathroom and are never seen or heard from again. Presumably they believed their daughter to be missing and an investigation would be launched, but the girl would not be found until after Riot had switched bodies and she was killed.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Who started the rumor that children were toxic and harmful?

Answer: The movie doesn't say, but Waternoose's long history at the company implies that even if he isn't behind the story, he's been supporting it for a long time.

Question: Why would Agnes join Billy in his killing spree? She was a victim of him, losing an eye and her parents. She could've joined the sorority girls in stopping him.

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: Because Agnes is in love with her fatherbrother, and besides, they were invading her home, from her perspective.

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: Maybe like him she's also mentally ill, getting it from their mother. Maybe she feels doing this will bring them together.

Rob245

Question: I have seen a version where when the lights finally come on, an attic scene shows snow being melted into the attic from all the holes Clark punched into his roof. Where did I see this? I am so sure I have seen this scene somewhere in time, as I watch this movie every Christmas.

Question: When Kimble is in the hospital with the boy he changes the diagnosis to what? I have tried to look but it cuts away as he's writing it down on the boy's file.

Answer: When Richard changes the diagnosis, the first thing he writes down is "AO" which is medical shorthand for aorta. Many people who have medical degrees and saw the movie speculate that Joel had an aortic tear. This would cause blood to flow into the chest cavity making it difficult to breathe and with the impact from the crash it could have caused the fatal injury. An aortic tear requires immediate surgery and by changing Joel's diagnosis, Kimble was able to save his life.

Answer: Kimble is watching as the doctor, Al, looks at the chest film and states "possible fractured sternum, he's stable," and we can see Kimble's bothered by that. Then Kimble is told to take the boy to observation room 2. When Kimble questions the boy and looks at the chest film, Kimble ignores what he was told, and instead heads directly for the surgical OR. In the elevator he draws a line over the incorrect essential diagnosis: "depress chest w/ poss fr" (possible fracture), and begins to write "Ao," then he scribbles a signature on the Patient of Dr line. The essential diagnosis Kimble writes is presumably an Aortic trauma, which is a life-threatening critical injury and requires immediate attention. So when Kimble brings the boy to the OR (instead of observation room 2) for the emergency medical procedure, he tells the doctor the boy was sent up from downstairs. The child is then taken to operating room 4, STAT, saving the child's life.

Super Grover

Its a pneumothorax, is air trapped between the lung and the ribcage and it's very common.

Answer: The presumption is the boy was misdiagnosed and he changed the chart to the correct diagnosis. The doctor says later that he saved the boy's life. Most likely he changed the charge to order specific tests.

Answer: It's never specified what he changed the orders to, nor is it important to know. This was done only add to the plot where the other doctor noticed him looking at the X-ray, arousing her suspicion, then creating suspense as Kimble barely escapes from the hospital.

raywest

We know it isn't important know, it's just a point of curiosity.

True and if you notice that's the always reliable Julianne Moore as the other doctor. This was the first movie that she did that was lampooned in Mad magazine, the next would be Mocking Jay Part 1.

Rob245

"The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and "Hannibal" were both lampooned by Mad before "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1."

Bishop73

I totally get that you're curious about it. Just saying that filmmakers usually aren't concerned with showing small details like that. They use broader strokes to tell the story.

raywest

A lot of film makers do put in small details into their work. Yes, some are lazy, for example, repeating 1 or 2 paragraphs in a news article too look like they whole page is filled. Others take time to have the whole thing filled out, even adding funny things for the viewer who paused the video to read. This is why there's a lot of trivia entries and questions about what something small was or meant. A casual viewer wouldn't know if what they saw meant something or was the film makers being lazy.

Bishop73

Question: If she can destroy Ares with her hands then why does she even need a sword and shield? Perhaps for merchandise?

Rob245

Answer: For the majority of the movie, Diana believes the sword to be the only weapon capable of killing Ares. She doesn't realise until she fights him that the sword is just an ordinary weapon and thus, useless against a god. She carries the shield because it is useful. She uses it in combat most prominently to block gunfire.

BaconIsMyBFF

Show generally

Question: Why did they keep changing female ADA's? I personally think Wolf may have been a bad boy and most of them didn't want to play his game.

Rob245

Answer: It was an open secret that Jack McCoy slept with his female assistants. It's reasonable to assume that as he tired of them or they moved on in life, he found a new assistant. In the case of Serena, she became a lesbian and was eventually fired for being too emotionally involved with defendants.

Question: What was the name of the book McCall gives to the kid to read as part of the deal to paint his kitchen wall?

Answer: Native son.

Between the world and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Native Son is the book on the shelf that hides the button to the panic room, which also happens to have been adapted into a movie which the actor that plays Miles stars in.

Question: Why did General Donald McClintock want to keep the virus a secret and not let anyone know of its existence?

Trainman

Answer: He wanted to eventually use it as a biological weapon.

raywest

Answer: Is it because if anyone knew about it will spread information across the globe and will likely lead to his enemies and will no longer be a secret and his plans will be ruined?

Trainman

Show generally

Question: If Roper wouldn't rent to Jack unless he faked being gay then what made him not suspect the girls of being gay?

Rob245

Answer: Possibly because in the 70s/80s, no-one would bat an eye about two girls living together, or 2 guys living together.

Answer: Because they've had various boyfriends and dates over the years. How he never noticed Jack had a stream of women coming to The Apartment is another issue.

Brian Katcher

Answer: It's not uncommon in real life for spouses to be unhappy in their marriage and resort to extramarital affairs. I haven't seen every episode of this show yet, but the vibe I get is that it's not so much funny that she cheats on Dale, but how painfully oblivious Dale is to it, to the point where he can't even tell Joseph is obviously John Redcorn's son and not his.

Phaneron

The main joke is that Dale is so fascinated with mysteries, the paranormal, conspiracy theories, etc, he is too busy to notice his wife having an affair. He does not see the "conspiracy" of Nancy and John, happening right in his own home.

Answer: Nancy has stated that she loves Dale "in a 'lights-on' sort of way" (season three - "Peggy's Headache"), and other episodes make it clear she cares about him. It could be a case of her "having the cake and wanting to eat it, too." She can enjoy her affair with Redcorn while Dale takes care of Joseph, due to him not always working much. Perhaps she needs an escape from Dale's reckless adventures and conspiracy theories. An affair is not a good way to deal with this, in my opinion, but there are people who do it.

Question: What is the name of the necklace that Lupita gave Creasy? Some kind of angel like guadeloupe or something?

Answer: Saint Jude - Guardian of Lost Causes.

Answer: It's the Judas Apostle. The guardian of the hopeless.

Answer: He does eventually when Marie teaches Debra how to make her meatballs, but changes the spice label.

Answer: Unlikely. It's shown numerous times Ray is scared of upsetting his mother.

Ssiscool

Question: Wouldn't it have made sense ton purchase a new battery if Grant Taylor's car kept breaking down?

Answer: No. It might not been the battery.

Question: Where exactly is Whoville located? And what year is the movie meant to take place?

Answer: Then why does it appear as a tiny speck in Horton Hears A Who?

In "Horton Hears a Who", both the book and the animated film, the speck of dust lands on a clover. In the 2000 Grinch film, the speck of dust has now landed on a snowflake because it's winter time. It should be noted that it's only the 2000 Grinch film that has Whoville as a speck similar to Whoville in "Horton Hears a Who." In the book and other adaptations, Whoville and the Whos are normal sized and probably located somewhere in Massachusetts.

Bishop73

Where are you getting Massachusetts from?

Brian Katcher

Dr. Suess was born in Springfield, MA and there are some that claim the drawings in the book are similar to Easthampton, MA and Mt. Tom (although others say it's La Jolla and Mt. Soledad in California). Residence of Easthampton put on an annual "Whobalation" to celebrate the legend Whoville is based on them.

Bishop73

Answer: According to the introduction, Whoville is located on a snowflake. Therefore they don't keep time like we do.

Brian Katcher

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