# Silly, weird, perhaps unanswerable questions about movies and TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401 "2013-03-31T03:09:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/81 "2013-07-23T21:30:01Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > The Big Sleep: Okay come on, WHO killed the chauffeur and why? In a fascinating book that covers a lot of questions like this in novels, _Where Was Rebecca Shot?_ by John Sutherland, Sutherland suggests that Eddie Mars did it, at the behest of Vivian Sternwood, because Taylor was blackmailing her family. (I’ve never seen the movie, so I don’t know who played either of these characters.) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/82 "2013-07-23T22:10:10Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Segregation wasn’t legal, but it was pretty much _de facto_. School integration didn’t start until 1954, and I remember racial riots in school in the late 1960’s. It wasn’t like someone snapped their fingers and VOILA–total integration. > > I do think a 1955 school would be lily white, except possibly for the cleaning and kitchen staffs. I think you’re missing the point of the Doc Smith remark. **Waldo** was suggesting that, in the “original” history, schools were not racially segregated in the 50s, and that Doc did something in the 1880s that led to that changing. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/83 "2013-07-23T22:21:38Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Why would anyone NOT come out of warp/ hyperspace with their shields up? > [@](#): > > Because the physics won’t allow it? No, in Star Wars the Millennium Falcon wasn’t destroyed at Alderaan because Solo made a habit of always having his shields up on existing hyperspace. And I think that was also the case with the ST:TOS episode “Errand of Mercy”, although I haven’t confirmed the cite yet. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/84 "2013-07-23T22:29:38Z")
Re: Back to the Future - I think it also has something to do with how we perceive bands today compared to how people would in 1955. Today, when a band (or even a DJ) performs, they’re almost always the center of attention - the focus of the event. Back then, though, the band was just there to provide some inoffensive background music the guests could dance to. I doubt many people even looked in their direction, no more than people at a party today would spend their time looking at the stereo. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/85 "2013-07-23T22:38:14Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I don’t think so. He explicitly states that the first proton torpedo “impacted on the surface.” Meaning that it didn’t go into the exhaust shaft. If the surface of the sphere was shielded, the torpedo could explode there and not do any damage. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/86 "2013-07-23T22:42:58Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I think that was also the case with the ST:TOS episode “Errand of Mercy”, although I haven’t confirmed the cite yet. I don’t recall that it was, but putting the shields up when the Klingons attacked prevented use of the transporter, which was how Kirk and Spock were stranded on Organia. In “A Taste of Armageddon,” Scotty refused to lower the shields, but they were still able to beam Ambassador Fox down to the surface of Eminiar VII. Will someone please explain _that_ to me? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/87 "2013-07-23T23:00:54Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I don’t recall that it was, but putting the shields up when the Klingons attacked prevented use of the transporter, which was how Kirk and Spock were stranded on Organia. > > In “A Taste of Armageddon,” Scotty refused to lower the shields, but they were still able to beam Ambassador Fox down to the surface of Eminiar VII. Will someone please explain _that_ to me? :dubious: It wasn’t so much that lowering the shields would be instantly lethal; the Eminiarians weren’t constantly blasting them, after all. It was more that lowering the shields would be tricky. They had to risk that the Eminiarians wouldn’t be able to lock on and fire during the time that the shields were lowered. So let’s say this. Scotty moved the ship to the highest orbit at which the transporters would still function, which, possibly, was (a) outside the normal “safe” range for teleportation and (b) at the edge of the useful range for the enemy disrupters. He also tells the transporter operator to bypass much of the usual safety routines, which also extend the time the shields must be down–from 10 seconds to five seconds, say. He then tells Fox, “Okay, here’s the deal. Ordinarily the transporter has about a 0.0001% fatality rate. The changes I’ve made to minimize the danger to the Enterprise will raise that to 10%. So you’ve got a 90% change of making it to the surface safely, 10 % of arriving at goo. I won’t let any of my officers or crew use it under these circumstances. But if youstill want to risk it – and that includes beaming down alone, with no security detail – you can. Make your choice.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/88 "2013-07-23T23:11:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It wasn’t so much that lowering the shields would be instantly lethal; the Eminiarians weren’t constantly blasting them, after all. It was more that lowering the shields would be tricky. They had to risk that the Eminiarians wouldn’t be able to lock on and fire during the time that the shields were lowered. > > So let’s say this. Scotty moved the ship to the highest orbit at which the transporters would still function, which, possibly, was (a) outside the normal “safe” range for teleportation and (b) at the edge of the useful range for the enemy disrupters. He also tells the transporter operator to bypass much of the usual safety routines, which also extend the time the shields must be down–from 10 seconds to five seconds, say. He then tells Fox, “Okay, here’s the deal. Ordinarily the transporter has about a 0.0001% fatality rate. The changes I’ve made to minimize the danger to the Enterprise will raise that to 10%. So you’ve got a 90% change of making it to the surface safely, 10 % of arriving at goo. I won’t let any of my officers or crew use it under these circumstances. But if youstill want to risk it – and that includes beaming down alone, with no security detail – you can. Make your choice.” Having Scotty say “I’ll lower the shields just long enough to get you through, but that’s it!” during their confrontation on the bridge would have sufficed. Remember, though, he was under strict orders from Kirk _not_ to lower the shields under any circumstances. Also, the Eminiarians had been ordered to open fire the _moment_ the Enterprise dropped her shields (though I don’t know how long it would take a blast from a disruptor to reach a ship orbiting ~16,000 miles\* overhead). \*Maximum transporter range. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/89 "2013-07-23T23:45:42Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Having Scotty say “I’ll lower the shields just long enough to get you through, but that’s it!” during their confrontation on the bridge would have sufficed. Remember, though, he was under strict orders from Kirk _not_ to lower the shields under any circumstances. Also, the Eminiarians had been ordered to open fire the _moment_ the Enterprise dropped her shields (though I don’t know how long it would take a blast from a disruptor to reach a ship orbiting ~16,000 miles\* overhead). > > \*Maximum transporter range. Sure. Maybe hte director shot such a scene and deleted it in favor of more time spent lingering on [Mea 3](http://allyourtrekarebelongto.us/mea3.jpg); maybe the director and writers missed the contradiction themselves; maybe they just didn’t care because they were more interested in shooting an entertaining episode with an (anvilicious!) bit of social commentary in it. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/90 "2013-07-23T23:56:51Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Two words: Deflector shields. Except it was an _ **unshielded** _ exhaust port. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/91 "2013-07-24T00:08:25Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Except it was an _ **unshielded** _ exhaust port. Just because the _port_ was unshielded (it wouldn’t have been able to vent its exhaust if it were) doesn’t mean that the area _surrounding_ the port was unshielded as well. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/92 "2013-07-24T00:27:07Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Sure. Maybe hte director shot such a scene and deleted it in favor of more time spent lingering on [Mea 3](http://allyourtrekarebelongto.us/mea3.jpg); maybe the director and writers missed the contradiction themselves; maybe they just didn’t care because they were more interested in shooting an entertaining episode with an (anvilicious!) bit of social commentary in it. This was the actual exchange: FOX: Diplomacy, gentlemen, should be a job left to diplomats. You will, of course, immediately resume a peaceful status. SCOTT: No, sir, I will not. FOX: What did you say? SCOTT: I’ll not lower the screens, not until the Captain tells me to. FOX: You are taking orders from me. You will lower the screens as a sign of good faith. My authority. SCOTT: I know about your authority, but the screens stay up. MCCOY: Mister Fox, they faked a message from the Captain, they’ve launched an attack against our ship. Now you want us to trust them openly? FOX: I want you and expect you to obey my lawful orders. SCOTT: No, sir. I won’t lower the screens. FOX: Your refusal to comply with my orders has endangered the entire success of this mission. I can have you sent to a penal colony for this. SCOTT: That you can, sir, but I won’t lower the screens. FOX: Your name will figure prominently in my report to the Federation Central. (Fox leaves the Bridge) MCCOY: Well, Scotty, now you’ve done it. SCOTT: Aye. The haggis is in the fire for sure, but I’ll not lower my defences on the word of that mealy-mouthed gentleman down below. Not until I know what happened to the Captain. Interestingly, Scotty also says (earlier) that they can’t fire full phasers with the shields up, though they _can_ launch photon torpedoes. The tight production schedule and (at that point) unsettled format I think were responsible for the discrepancy. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/93 "2013-07-24T00:41:42Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So that means the school had no black janitors or lunch ladies? It was a hired band, not a bunch of students. Exactly, it’s no different than the myriad of nightclubs (on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line) that hired Black entertainers without allow them in as guests. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Segregation wasn’t legal, but it was pretty much _de facto_. School integration didn’t start until 1954, and I remember racial riots in school in the late 1960’s. It wasn’t like someone snapped their fingers and VOILA–total integration. > > I do think a 1955 school would be lily white, except possibly for the cleaning and kitchen staffs. Location, location, location. A lot of places outside of the South had various forms of de facto segregation, but there were exceptions. My grandmother (Class of '45) went to HS in rural Pennsylvania and was friends with the lone Black girl (from the only Black family in town) in her class. Apparently things did get a little awkward on their senior trip to DC, but the hotel and restaurants just looked the other way since she was part of a large white school group. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/94 "2013-07-24T03:20:09Z")
In “The Warriors” who is David Patrick Kelly (Luther) talking to when he uses the pay phone? In “48 Hours” what happened to David Patrick Kelly and his girlfriend after the bus got hijacked? In “Good Neighbor Sam” what happened after all the billboards were defaced? In the “Pine Barrens” episode of “The Sopranos” so where is the Russian? (sorry if that one has already been used) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/95 "2013-07-27T18:57:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In “A Taste of Armageddon,” Scotty refused to lower the shields, but they were still able to beam Ambassador Fox down to the surface of Eminiar VII. Will someone please explain _that_ to me? :dubious: I think this happens in a few episodes. IIRC in the TNG episode Relics, Scotty is able to beam off the old ship with shields raised. Also, remember that you can fire phasers with the shields up. My understanding is the shield is a barrier in only one direction. You can beam out, but not in. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/96 "2013-07-27T21:13:43Z")
Why do Homer Simpson’s and Hank Hill’s illegitimate half-brothers (sired by their respective fathers) look like them, when they both look like their respective mothers? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/97 "2013-07-27T21:16:17Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I think this happens in a few episodes. IIRC in the TNG episode Relics, Scotty is able to beam off the old ship with shields raised. Also, remember that you can fire phasers with the shields up. > > My understanding is the shield is a barrier in only one direction. You can beam out, but not in. Illogical. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![agnesnitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@agnesnitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agnesnitt)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/98 "2013-07-27T21:18:41Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > It would depend on the exact version. I can image several possibilities offhand: > [ul] > [li]Dracula shapechanges into vapor, a wolf or a bat, and the Monster’s head explodes as his brain takes on that form.[/li] > [li]Dracula’s brain infects the Monster’s body with vampirism, and you have Giant Ugly Dracula.[/li] > [li]Dr Frankenstein’s reanimation process resurrects Dracula’s brain along with the rest of the monster’s body, rendering him no longer a vampire.[/li] > [li]You end up with a Monster that has Dracula’s intellect and hypnotic powers.[/li][/ul] You end up with a horrible scarred monster with the monster’s intellect, but who is strangely attractive to thin pale women with long dark hair. In threes. Strangely, this happens in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/99 "2013-07-27T21:53:05Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Jerry’s girlfriend, why…: > > -…didn’t she try the apple pie? > -…did she wear the same clothes all the time? > -did her friends tell him he was so great for taking her out, and what did George and Kramer see in her that Jerry didn’t? > -what did she say to Jerry that was so dirty? > -didn’t she want to give him a massage? > -couldn’t she spare a square? > -did Newman dump her? > -didn’t she ever laugh? > -did she eat her peas one at a time, but scooped the corn? > -did she have man hands? I just saw on _Cracked_ that Jerry apparently had 73 girlfriends during the course of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/100 "2013-08-08T16:54:26Z")
Would a Bizarro-Hulk be intelligent and eloquent? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401.md?page=6)