Question: Why did Traven lie to Mary-Ann and tell her that Julius died at birth and that Vincent was never born?
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: When Roy confronts Tyrell, he says something that I'm having difficulty figuring out. The captions read that he is saying "I want more life... father!" But to me, and I've listened to that part over and over trying to figure it out, it sounds like he is saying "I want more life... fucker!" So is he saying Father, or Fucker?
Chosen answer: It's a more complicated question than you might think. Two versions of the scene were filmed, the main one, where Roy says "fucker" and an alternate, originally intended for use on television, where he says "father." Different versions of the movie use different takes. Of the three best known variants, the original theatrical release and the inaccurately-named Director's Cut both use the "fucker" line, whereas the Final Cut, the only one that Ridley Scott had full control over, uses the "father" line. What he's saying will depend on which version of the movie you were watching. Only you can answer that one.
Question: What exactly prompts Zhora to attack Deckard when he's posing as an abuse agent? I guess there is something that makes her realize he's lying and or that he's a Blade Runner. But what tips her off? (00:55:08)
Chosen answer: She's paranoid, in hiding, and an expert killer. Either Deckard tipped her off or she decided it wasn't worth taking the chance that he wasn't legit.
Question: Why does Khan have to be alive for McCoy to use his blood to save Kirk? The blood will be removed from its supply anyway when drawn.
Chosen answer: McCoy has no real idea how much blood he's going to need to bring Kirk back - given the catastrophic radiation damage to his body, there's every possibility that he might need multiple transfusions over a period of time, which would be much easier if Khan was still alive. Plus there's also the issue that killing Khan could well involve spilling some of the blood that McCoy so desperately needs. Bringing Khan in alive is the best way to maximise their chances.
Question: On the DVD in wide screen, when the flying fish bombard the boat, bigger fish are after them. the bigger fish come out of the normal film area into the black bars above and below movie. How and why did the film makers do this?
Chosen answer: This movie makes a lot of meta-commentary on the medium of digital film; the question of whether Pi's story is real or not mirrors the fact that most of his story is visualized with a green-screen and CGI. The fish leaping "off the screen" plays along with the reality vs. film theme. Plus, they did it because they could, and because it looked cool in 3D.
Question: What exactly caused the ship to go down?
Chosen answer: It isn't exactly clear. Four days out into the Pacific, some noise, possibly an explosion, wakes Pi in the middle of the night. Pi goes out in the midst of a severe storm to explore what happened. Some have suggested that, at this point, he inadvertently leaves a water tight door open which allows storm water to enter the lower levels.
Question: When Roy and Leon are trying to get answers out of Chew, why does Leon start rubbing eyeballs on Chew's neck and head? (00:30:45)
Question: When Roy and Leon enter Chew's lab, Chew is muttering to himself in his native language. What language is he speaking exactly, and what is the translation of what he is saying? (00:28:05)
Chosen answer: The language is Chinese Cantonese, and is saying something like "... Now we can more time.", and when the replicants came inside the lab he says "... What a f*** doing here..."
Question: On the VK test, there is a bar light above the screen that shows the subject's eye. The bar lights up across from green to red. What does this bar indicate?
Chosen answer: The bar is meant to represent how far the eye monitor had zoomed in. One way this can be noticed is when Rick starts to question Rachael, the monitor zooms in and the bar goes down. The lights on the VK test load, then each light turns off one by one depending on how much the monitor had zoomed out.
Question: As Deckard is giving Rachel the VK test, her eyes have the golden glow to them when he asks the second question about the boy with the butterfly jars. Why does he not catch right then that she's a replicant just by seeing her eyes glow?
Answer: The glowing eyes phenomenon was actually an effect added by Scott, who probably thought it would look cool. Obviously he didn't think it through because it would make detecting replicants very easy indeed, and would make the VK test redundant. I believe he has said in interviews that it is intended as a cinematic effect, and is not intended to be a characteristic of the actual characters. This is one of several mistakes that the director made in the film, and which have subsequently passed into the folklore of Blade Runner.
Chosen answer: Deckard already knew that Rachel was a replicant before starting the VK test (Tyrell told him); Rachel was a new model of replicant who could supposedly beat the VK test. Deckard just wanted to see if this was true.
Question: When Bryant and Deckard are watching the tape of Leon's VK test, the screen displays the letters V.K. But below that it shows 96/W/9-3H. What does that mean?
Chosen answer: The tape was possibly numbered so the police know which tape is which. 96/W/9-3H is probably the number of Leon's VK test.
Question: When Jack gets to the ESB, retrieves Scav's transmission and Victoria decodes it, you can see precise coordinates where the "Odyssey" will crash. In reality that's the location of a contemporary house located north of New York. What's the significance of that house?
Answer: The coordinates point to the home address of the Visual Effects Production Supervisor for Oblivion, David Feinsilber, in New City, NY.
Question: If Dumbledore knew who Tom Riddle/Voldemort really was, then why take him to Hogwarts to teach him magic, since he would eventually grow up to be evil?
Answer: Dumbledore did not know when he first met the young Tom Riddle that he would one day become the evil wizard, Lord Voldemort. He even tells Harry this when they are discussing him. Riddle took the name of Voldemort when he began his rise to power some time after he left Hogwarts. Dumbledore always had suspicions about his behavior while he was a student and kept a close watch on him, but at that time he was unaware of who and what he would become.
Not to mention, Hogwarts is not the only school of magic. Dumbledore didn't know exactly how dangerous he would become, but he knew this kid had the potential to become dark. He'd be better off at Hogwarts than at a place like Durmstrang, where he'd learn much more dark magic and be more likely to grow up as a dark wizard.
Question: Who is making the death threat letters to Rachel? is it her sister or the blond pervert? if it's the blond pervert, why is he doing it? I thought he loved her and was obsessed with her, so why is he sending her death threat letters?
Answer: Nikki didn't know who was writing the letters, she did say they were her thoughts, but she didn't write them, the blonde stalker did.
Chosen answer: It was the blond pervert. He was sending them in a sort of "I'm so obsessed with you I want to kill you" kind of way. Most celebrities get death threats all the time from "fans" who want to kill them and they want everyone to know it was them who did it. The sister wouldn't send them as she had hired a professional and did actually want to kill her, but without anyone knowing.
From what I remember the sister admitted that she sent the letters because she said she hates her sister I'd have to rewatch it to see if I was mistaken but that's when she was coming clean to the bodyguard after the canoe was blown up.
No, her sister says that the letters started showing up BEFORE, and they are what made her think she could actually do it. It was the blonde perv.
No Nikki tells Frank she doesn't know who's writing the letters, but they were her thoughts because she hates Rachel. The letters made her think she could go through with having her sister killed.
Question: Maybe I didn't pay attention when I last saw this film, but when the IMF traitor reveals to Ethan that the Julia in front of him is Davian's translator disguised as her, he says that she (the translator) failed Davian at the Vatican. How exactly did she fail him? Did I miss something?
Chosen answer: It's stated that she's not just a translator, she's actually Davian's head of security. Given that he was snatched by Ethan's team on her watch, the depth of her failure is quite clear.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: Because the offspring of this experiment was meant to be studied, researched. Mary-Ann showed signs of maternal attachment toward the end of her pregnancy, which the scientists involved felt would hinder the experiment due to her not wanting her baby poked and prodded at all day, every day. So she was told her baby died at birth and she was sent on her way. There was no point even mentioning the second baby since she never knew she was carrying twins in the first place.
Phixius ★