Question: Is it possible for someone to drink to the point of passing out and then moments later appear completely sober (as Marion does)?
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: Why do the East India Company's marines dress in blue?
Answer: Because it brings out their eyes beautifully, doesn't show the dirt, is readily available and because red is just SO sixteenth century colonial. Seriously, because it's the colour that the EIC decided to make their marine uniform. No other significance exists.
Question: What are the appendages dangling off the monster's underside? Are they arms or tentacles?
Chosen answer: The extra tentacles placed on the monster where originally to make the more dangerous towards the people below. In the Japanese comic regarding cloverfield, he uses these tentacles to eat people. For the movie, this premise was the same. Rumors of CGI effects that were created to be in the movie of the monster eating people with these "feeding tubes" where made, however, no actual footage has been made public via DVD or internet sources as of yet. In essence, since the monster was SO large, the creators wanted a way the monster could eat people without having to bend over like the scene at the end depicted. Even the final scene was a disappointment to the editors, as scaling issues made the monster "look" smaller than it really was.
Question: When Pepper helps Stark replace his power cell, doesn't she accidentally pull out the magnet at the bottom? Wouldn't she need to put it back before putting in the new power cell? Otherwise, it wouldn't be powering anything, and the shards could get into his system.
Answer: The copper coil is left over from when Tony threw together the miniature ARC reactor during his time as a captive. Since the ARC reactor functions as a powerful electromagnet to keep the shrapnel out of his chest, it can be assumed that the copper coil is really just there to act as a residual magnet if and when the main unit needs replacing. Since Pepper pulled it out and Tony didn't have a spare copper coil on hand, he went into cardiac arrest. It's really just there so he doesn't go into cardiac arrest every time he needs to replace his chest piece. I'm sure he pops a new copper coil in there later on.
Question: How is it that the disease could infect dogs too, and turn them into the same thing as infected humans? At the beginning of the movie, it is stated that the virus that killed everyone arose from a specially bioengineered treatment for cancer, which mutated into the deadly virus. But dogs can't get a lot of the diseases that infect humans. Did the disease really mutate far enough so that it affected dogs that way too, or did people want their pets cured of cancer, or what? Even if the disease was able to infect the dogs, it seems strange that it would affect them the same way as it does humans.
Answer: When the woman who created the cancer treatment is being interviewed at the beginning of the movie, she states that the original virus used to create the cure was the measles. Human Measles are in a family of virus called paramyxovirus. This same family contains the canine virus distemper. So they are very closely related to one another. The virus was then modified in a way that was not stated so that it could deliver cancer therapy. After that, since the patients in the clinical trial were initially cured of cancer (stated in the same interview), the virus must have mutated in order to turn humans into night seekers. Then, in order for the virus to become airborne it must have mutated yet again. So, it is not hard to believe that it would be able to infect both species after a virus coming from a family that is already known to infect both species has been changed 3 or more times. This might also explain why the virus is slightly different in dogs, e.g. Dogs can't catch the airborne strain, and dogs can come out at dusk while night seekers must wait for full dark.
Question: Can we be sure that the "trap" set for Smith wasn't just bad luck? Is there proof that the infected set it up that way? I thought that it was just a coincidence that he got stuck, at first.
The One With The Flashback - S3-E6
Question: In "ToW The Flashback" one of Rachel's posh friends is credited as Marissa Ribisi. Any relation to Giovanni Ribisi?
Answer: Marissa is Giovanni's twin sister. According to imdb.com, Giovanni is 15 minutes older.
Question: I've never seen them in the movie, but someone is in the credits as "Stan's Girls." I assumed this was Stan Lee, but where (if anywhere) are they in the film?
Answer: They are outside the award banquet he goes to, he calls Stan Lee "Heff" and Lee is dressed like Hugh Hefner, and has a few girls around him.
Question: Did Chigurh shoot the accountant in Stehpen Root's office? The IMDB FAQ claims that he didn't, thinking that the accountant didn't look at Chigurh's face - However, the accountant DID look at Chigurh's face. Right after Chigurh says, "That depends - do you see me?", he turns around and looks at the accountant in the eyes. They both stare at each other. So my question is, after my explanation - Did Chigurh shoot the accountant?
Answer: That's intentionally left ambiguous - it's open to your own interpretation.
Answer: Of course he killed the accountant. When the accountant asked Chigurh if he was going to kill him and Chigurh replied by asking "Do you see me?", Chigurh might have been saying, "Of course I'm going to kill you, you're a witness," but I think he was telling the accountant that the question was as dumb as if he asked the accountant if the accountant saw him when the accountant was looking right at him.
The first answer is actually correct. It's left ambiguous. He could mean "do you see me?" meaning yes I'm going to kill you because you've seen my face. Or he could mean "do you see me?" meaning if you say no and keep your mouth shut I'll leave you alive.
He did not. Every death has a clue...blood on his feet...he checked the bottom of his shoes after he left the wife's house. The feathers in the back of the truck he took. For every death he caused they either showed the victim or showed an immediate indicator he liked them.
I can also hear some sarcasm in his question. He asks with a smile (he doesn't smile that much, does he?) and a sarcastic tone, as if he wants to emphasize that now that you have seen me, you are very dead.
Answer: Did he see him? Yes. Did he kill him because of it? Yes.
Answer: Nothing is for certain, in Anton's own words. He might have killed the accountant. He might have spared him. The answer is the toss of a coin.
Answer: I see the question "That depends - do you see me?" as one of Chigurh's proverbial coin tosses. I actually believe that if the accountant would have answered "no" then Anton would have killed him.
Question: Why didn't Joe and Janie have any children after twenty years? I know that some couples have to try for years before getting pregnant, but twenty years seems like a long time.
Answer: One or the other may simply have been infertile. Some people simply aren't capable of having children, and no medical intervention would exist in the timeframe of the movie.
Question: Can someone tell me what the movie was that the McCallister family were watching in the hotel right before they received the call about Kevin being found?
Answer: They were watching "It's A Wonderful Life" in Spanish. It's a play on Home Alone 1, when they were watching the same movie in French while waiting to hear about Kevin.
Question: When Tony gets the shrapnel in the chest, he first pulls apart his shirt, then pulls apart something black and sees the holes in his chest. Is the black thing an undershirt, or some sort of bullet proof vest?
Answer: It's a flak jacket that didn't work as well as he would have liked.
Question: I noticed Bill Smitrovich's name in the credits. Since he has such a distinctive appearance, I didn't see him in the film. Where does his character appear?
Chosen answer: He is in the scene where Tony Stark is demonstrating the new weapons system to all of the brass.
Question: Why did Stark reveal he is Iron Man at the press conference? This makes no sense at all to me.
Answer: Tony underwent a dramatic metamorphosis during his captivity at the beginning of the film: In just a matter of screen-minutes, he transformed from a vulgar, egotistical merchant of death into a superhero fighting for life and freedom. As soon as he was rescued, he even held an impromptu press conference to announce a whole new mission statement for Stark Industries. Everyone thought Stark had lost his mind. Even the U.S. military and S.H.I.E.L.D. were still making up stories to cover for Tony's erratic behavior, right up to the end, at which point he puts all of the coverup and rumor and disinformation away once and for all: He is Iron Man, and this is his company, and this is how it will be run. It's not as if Tony Stark needs a secret identity, and his open admission wiped the slate clean for everything that follows.
Answer: Short version, he has a big ego and wanted the recognition. Also, in recent Marvel comics continuity there's been a superhero registration act, forcing superheroes to reveal their identities to the public. Tony Stark has been championing this cause "to tie the knots of friendship between ordinary humans and superheroes". His revelation in the movie could be laying the groundwork to tie into that in some way.
Answer: He's a womanizing multibillionaire with a power supply where his sternum should be. Of course he gave up his secret. It doesn't take a genius (and Stark is one with all caps) to figure out that he had a choice between intimacy or his secret identity.
Question: If Uhura can be re-educated in a few days, (after Nomad wipes her memory) why is there a Starfleet Academy? Couldn't you train an ensign in a week and then send him off on a ship to get practical experience?
Chosen answer: I'd say the difference is re-educated versus educated. The total of an education at any institution is more than what is taught in classes.
Question: Why don't any of the Treks to come use any of the useful things that Enterprise discovers? A psychotricorder can record your memories! Scalosian water speeds up humanoids to the point they can dodge energy beams! A veinful of kironide makes you a powerful telekinetic a few minutes after injection! If Picard, Sisko and Janeway had just read Kirk's logs, the Borg and Dominion wouldn't have had a chance.
Chosen answer: They do use much of the technology, just not the particular items you mention. There are many reasons: perhaps the technology was deemed too dangerous and outlawed (as with the planet Talos), or found impossible to reproduce. The Prime Directive would prohibit them from stealing the technology too, no matter how valuable.
Revelations - S3-E7
Question: In one scene, Giles reminds Buffy that, when Angel lost his soul, he tortured Giles for pleasure. Since it is established that Angel and Angelus are separate identities, shouldn't Giles know that, technically, it was Angelus who tortured him, not Angel?
Chosen answer: Yes, and he does, but when you've been tortured by somebody, the technical niceties of different personalities tend to lose their importance. The two look exactly the same, plus Giles is well-aware that Angelus is the 'real' personality, with "Angel" only really being a magically empowered construct due to the curse that restored his soul. Giles is not going to want Angel around, whichever personality happens to be in control.
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Chosen answer: Probably not, but Marion was faking it. She won a betting game that way. If she didn't at least act drunk, she'd never get anyone to compete against her. Sort of like how pool sharks pretend to be bad just to get people to play them, then they play just good enough to be assured of a win, but not so good that the player won't come back for more thinking they have a chance of winning their money back.
Phixius ★