Top 10 Unanswered Questions in Geek Movies

[Captain Seafort]

Pice of cake compared to surviving a nuclear explosion.

Oh, that's easy - he was in a lead-lined fridge then. Obviously invulnerable to any nuke.

[B5B7]

Re: Back to the Future - so there's a guy they only knew for a week, 30 years before, and they are supposed to remember exactly what he looked like? Even if they remember vaguely what he looked like; that 30 years later he slightly resembles their son - what could they think but that it is a mere coincidence? One quite often meets people who look similar to other people one has known.

Yes, I recently encountered someone I knew 40 years ago as a teenager, and we recognised each other; but then there are other people that I have met that I haven't remembered when seeing them just a few years later.

[Solauren]

Back to the Future: Unless they had a photograph of 'Kelven' laying around (I don't remember him getting his picture taken), they'd have only vague memories to compare him to.

That, and we should assume that in-universe, Marty looks like someone from the family. Like his dad, or grandparents, or even 'Jailbird Joey'.

Given the massive improvement in their lives from the timeline change, odds are the marriage was solid enough if George ever noticed, Mom went 'Kelvin? Wow, I haven't seen him in 20+ years!'. Either that, or a quick blood test would have solved things.

Also, it's possible that they went looking for 'Kelvin' around the time of their wedding (after all, Mom was told he was Doc Brown's nephew), that Doc made up some reason why he wasn't able to come. (death comes to mind, as it would prevent further inquiries). Heck, 'Kelvin/Marty's' 'death' might have been, in the new timeline, the final reason they named thier second son after him.



Indiana Jones (Raiders)
I could have sworn that during the 'post submerge' scence I saw Indy climb down the ladder in a German Uniform. Maybe he got in, took out the tower-guard (I have no idea about the lay out or operation of a U-boat), changed his cloths, and just avoided the people that would have recognized him.

After all, the Nazi's that knew him were army, and a German sub commander would be within his rights and authority to say 'get the hell off my bridge, you're in my way'

I.Jones (Lost Ark)
No one knew about the seal.

Also; What would have prevented the Nazi's from figuring a way around it? I mean, come on, put it back on the other side of the seal, attach a big rope to it or something (or destroy the seal), and you can still take the Grail out. (Just ideas)


Gremlins
In the novelization, it turns out the Mogwai were created by aliens. So I'd explain it by really screwed up genetic engineering, or a planned biological weapon feature.

[Duckie]

Subs are very tight and cramped, and there's maybe two dozen people onboard. They'll all know eachother personally. To survive on the inside, Indie has to kill every single nazi down there and somehow run the boat himself.

[neoolong]

Subs are very tight and cramped, and there's maybe two dozen people onboard. They'll all know eachother personally. To survive on the inside, Indie has to kill every single nazi down there and somehow run the boat himself.

I totally believe that Indiana Jones can do this.

[Peptuck]

WRT to The Last Crusade: What's to stop the Nazis from, say, tossing the Grail over the Seal? Just have the one with the best pitching arm hurl the Grail to the other side of the room. Pick it up, run out of the Temple, and go Nazi the shit out of the Allies.

[neoolong]

They didn't figure out what would happen until it was pretty much too late.

[DaveJB]

Plus the Grail Knight implied that its healing and immortality powers would no longer work if it was taken beyond the Great Seal. All they'd have is a normal cup, and not even a particularly nice-looking one.

[Simon_Jester]

I.Jones (Lost Ark)
No one knew about the seal.

Also; What would have prevented the Nazi's from figuring a way around it? I mean, come on, put it back on the other side of the seal, attach a big rope to it or something (or destroy the seal), and you can still take the Grail out. (Just ideas)

It's all clever, but it depends on your interpretation. Remember that the Grail is supposed to be protected by the power of God, and the miracles that happen around it (highly localized earthquakes, healing bullet wounds, guys turning into skeletons in about five seconds) suggest that it really is. In that case, trying to rig a way to get the Grail out of the temple isn't going to work, because you'll just get your ass smited in some other way.

[Civil War Man]

I've personally found the Indiana Jones movies to make a lot more sense if I pretend that Indy is some sort of supernatural creature in a human form, like some kind of trickster spirit or something. This can also be extended to some of the supporting cast, as well.

[Bilbo]

That Last Crusade bit could also apply to Raiders: If Indy had just stayed home, the Nazis would have found the Ark, opened it, and had their faces melt off. I don't remember Crystal Skull that well as I've only seen it once, but I'm pretty sure that things would have worked out the same way there without Indy's involvement: CommieChick gets skull, wakes up aliens, gets vaped, aliens go home. Really, Temple of Doom was the only time Indy's involvement didn't do more harm than good.

Not quite.

If Indy doesnt go after the Ark then at the very least Marian gets disfigured if not right out murdered for the medallion.

If he doesnt go after the grail odds are the Nazis end up killing his father.

In Crystal Skull his old friend remains insane from the influence of the skull. Also a good chance his son would have gone after Marian and gotten himself at least possibly himself and his mother killed.

So Indy does not save the world. He saves his friends and family.

[TC Pilot]

The Star Trek IV problem applies to First Contact, too. If the Borg sphere could travel back in time, why didn't the Cube do it, say, before it ran into the Federation fleet? Or why not launch the sphere right away and travel back in time?

[Samuel]

The Star Trek IV problem applies to First Contact, too. If the Borg sphere could travel back in time, why didn't the Cube do it, say, before it ran into the Federation fleet? Or why not launch the sphere right away and travel back in time?

You make a new timeline and the Collective gets no benefit out of it.

Of course why the Feds still use timetravel escapes me- perhaps they hope that the universe they are helping to fix will send a mission to them similtaneously?

[Ted C]

Of course why the Feds still use timetravel escapes me- perhaps they hope that the universe they are helping to fix will send a mission to them similtaneously?

Mainly a matter of getting your own asses out of the bad timeline you've found yourselves in, I expect.

[TC Pilot]

You make a new timeline and the Collective gets no benefit out of it.

Is that argument suppoused to actually make sense? Of course the Collective benefits. They assimilate Earth, as is blindingly obvious when the entire bridge crew sees the Borgified Earth. That also doesn't change the fact that the Borg did go back in time. So why not do it with their vastly larger, vastly more capable Cube while avoiding the entire Federation fleet in the process?

[Oskuro]

Maybe whatever magic tech they used for time travel didn't work with the cube? It could be something as arbitrary as the geometry not being right, or something as understandable as "The cube is too massive".

As for Indy, since he's been helping God keep his stuff safe, it is worth considering that God might like him and give him a helping hand sometimes?

[TC Pilot]

Maybe whatever magic tech they used for time travel didn't work with the cube? It could be something as arbitrary as the geometry not being right, or something as understandable as "The cube is too massive".

Possible, though that's a pretty weak cop-out, considering the Enterprise-E didn't have any trouble going through or recreating it to return home.

[Darth Smiley]

You make a new timeline and the Collective gets no benefit out of it.

Is that argument suppoused to actually make sense? Of course the Collective benefits. They assimilate Earth, as is blindingly obvious when the entire bridge crew sees the Borgified Earth. That also doesn't change the fact that the Borg did go back in time. So why not do it with their vastly larger, vastly more capable Cube while avoiding the entire Federation fleet in the process?

No, the Collective in the new time line benefits. The Collective in this time line? They get nothing. If you have nothing else to do, you can send in the sphere on the off chance the super-powerful collective in the new time can get back to them and help them, but it's seriously a long shot anyway.

[TC Pilot]

No, the Collective in the new time line benefits. The Collective in this time line? They get nothing. If you have nothing else to do, you can send in the sphere on the off chance the super-powerful collective in the new time can get back to them and help them, but it's seriously a long shot anyway.

Where does this new/old timeline nonsense come from? We clearly see Earth Borgified after the sphere went back in time and before Enterprise followed them, so they're not creating some divergent universe independent of the old one. The Borg just went back in time and changed history.

[The Romulan Republic]

As near as I can gather, it is assumed by a lot of people that time travel in Trek does not actually change anything, but merely creates an alternate timeline where events precede differently. Why one should assume this holds true 100% of the time I'm not sure, but this is as I recall the official explanation of what happened with Spock and Nero in the new Trek movie (all the old Trek still exists, its just another reality that Nero made).

[Slacker]

Maybe some weird effect by the tunnel displaced the Enterprise into the future of the altered universe. Or something like that. With the time line fixed, they bounce back to their own quantum shenanigans.

[TC Pilot]

As near as I can gather, it is assumed by a lot of people that time travel in Trek does not actually change anything, but merely creates an alternate timeline where events precede differently. Why one should assume this holds true 100% of the time I'm not sure, but this is as I recall the official explanation of what happened with Spock and Nero in the new Trek movie (all the old Trek still exists, its just another reality that Nero made).

Ah, so it's a retcon in order to help butt-hurt fans get over the reboot. Pretty flimsy excuse, I'd say.

Maybe some weird effect by the tunnel displaced the Enterprise into the future of the altered universe. Or something like that. With the time line fixed, they bounce back to their own quantum shenanigans.

So what about the alien Nazis in Enterprise season 4? Or that TOS episode where McCoy jumps through that portal and changes the outcome of World War II by saving that woman? Should we just retcon all that into some interdimensional nonsense so a few fans don't cry quite as hard about a reboot?

[The Romulan Republic]

Ah, so it's a retcon in order to help butt-hurt fans get over the reboot. Pretty flimsy excuse, I'd say.

I'm sorry if that's the impression I gave. The theory that time travel in Trek simply results in an alternate reality existed well before the new movie. I simply referenced the movie as a rare example where it is explicitely stated that this was the case.

Edit: To be honest, I kind of empathize with the writers' position here. A lot of fans were going to be pissed off if it was declared that the new movie canon overrode the old canon, perhaps even if the question were simply left unanswered. It could have been handled better, but the "alternate timelines" explanation in and of itself wasn't a terrible idea.

[TC Pilot]

I'm sorry if that's the impression I gave. The theory that time travel in Trek simply results in an alternate reality existed well before the new movie. I simply referenced the movie as a rare example where it is explicitely stated that this was the case.\

Edit: To be honest, I kind of empathize with the writers' position here. A lot of fans were going to be pissed off if it was declared that the new movie canon overrode the old canon, perhaps even if the question were simply left unanswered. It could have been handled better, but the "alternate timelines" explanation in and of itself wasn't a terrible idea.

Is the distinction even remotely relevant to this, though? From the time traveller's perspective, there will be a change. For the Borg in First Contact, they'll return to a reality in which they've assimilated Earth. For the Klingons/Romulans in ST:IV who fly around a star at warp, they'll return to a reality in which their empire reigns supreme. It's not as if, having completed their mission, the time traveller will return to their original dimension.

[Batman]

Um-the only ones who fly around a star at Warp in Star Trek IV are Kirk and his merry men in the 'Bounty'.