Question: Why is Teasle so against allowing Rambo to come to town to get something to eat at the beginning? And what's with Galt being so harsh and brutal to Rambo when he's in prison, and then becoming obsessed with wanting to kill Rambo after he escapes? What is the character motivation for Galt hating Rambo so much?
raywest
16th Mar 2021
Rambo: First Blood (1982)
16th Mar 2021
Stargate: Atlantis (2004)
Question: I've been told stargate Atlantis was cancelled because it was too expensive to make. Is this true?
Answer: True, and the reason is complicated. Production costs were rising and it was announced that Season 5 would be the last, but there was to be a direct-to-DVD movie after the series ended, with more movies to follow. The movie was never made, and while there were later discussions about a revived Season 6, the MGM studio was undergoing financial difficulties, eventually going bankrupt. The project, after numerous failed attempts to negotiate with other production companies, was eventually shelved.
16th Mar 2021
Die Hard (1988)
Question: When John sees a group of SWAT guys head to the building, why does he react by saying, "No, no, no!" Wasn't having the police come to help exactly what he wanted?
Answer: As you may have noticed in the immediate run-up to this, he has been trying to warn them against taking direct action. He has tried to tell them that they are fighting heavily armed and highly trained terrorists who are well-prepared to handle a small group of policemen overtly entering through the front door. So, he was saying that because he knew the SWAT men were about to get hurt, or worse, in their idiotic attempt to, as Dep. Chief Dwayne puts it, "kick ass."
16th Mar 2021
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Question: Why does Landa allow Shosanna to go free at the beginning instead of shooting her and killing her?
Answer: Because he's arrogant, and it's all a game to him. He figures he'll get another shot at capturing her, so he decides to let her go (maybe also out of recognition of her bravery), to continue the chase another time. Why not? She's one fugitive on the run, and he has time and the entire apparatus of the German state at his disposal.
Answer: It could be a compassionate act, though leaving her alive as the lone survivor after seeing her family killed is also cruel and inflicts life-long emotional pain. He may have also have had moral issues about killing a defenseless woman, even a Jewish one, or considered her too insignificant to bother with.
16th Mar 2021
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Question: Why does it take Taylor so long for him to figure out he's really still on Earth? Shouldn't the fact that the apes all speak perfect English be a dead giveaway?
Answer: This is an issue with the "Planet of the Apes" films. The astronauts never question why the apes speak English, why all animals (like horses) are identical to ones on Earth, the vegetation is the same, the star constellations have not changed, etc. You really just have to attribute it to a "suspension of disbelief" where we are expected to accept the premise that the main character does not work out the truth until the big "reveal" at the end of the film.
Answer: At the time, it was a standard film convention to have the characters speak the language of the country that produces the film. Sure, they could all speak "ape", but that would have been an added layer of complexity (and pre-production) that just wasn't done in Hollywood at that time. Even most WWII films had the Germans, French, etc, all speak English. But to give an in-film explanation: he's on a planet where apes evolved from humans just like him, so maybe he just assumed that English had evolved there, as well. In a universe as vast as ours, it's actually a statistical certainty that English has independently arisen on another planet.
14th Mar 2021
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008)
Question: Why was this series cancelled after two seasons?
14th Mar 2021
The Birds (1963)
Question: What's making the birds go insane and attack people?
Answer: It is never explained, probably because it would ruin the mystery of the film to spell it out.
If you are a Hitchcock fan, you pay attention to dialogue. They mention quite often that it started Melanie's arrival, of which she brought 2 caged birds. The rest is implied.
Answer: None of the characters knew why the birds attacked, or the reason it was confined to the one town of Bodega Bay. The incident was so isolated that the outside news media was barely aware it was occurring or knew its severity, so there was no investigation into it at the time. Alfred Hitchc0ck's explanation was that the birds were rising up against humans to punish them for taking nature for granted.
9th Mar 2021
Poltergeist (1982)
Question: Is there any particular reason the ghosts are still there after Tangina has declared the place clean, other than these are just the biggest, baddest ghosts on the block? I'm fine with that explanation but I always wondered if there was more to it.
Answer: Tangina may have believed the house was "clean," but the dark spirit she called the "Beast" was more powerful than she realised and was preventing the other spirits from moving on. The real estate development that the Freelings' house was built on was supposed to be a former cemetery. However, no-one, including Tangina, knew that the bodies were still buried there (the developers had only moved the tombstones) and was why the spirits were angry.
9th Mar 2021
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Question: When Professor McGonagall acquires a Nimbus 2000 for Harry, that's pretty much the state-of-the-art broom, and very expensive (given no-one else has apparently got one, and only the wealthy Malfoys can afford the next-gen 2001's in the second film). It seems unlikely for a teacher, or a school, to buy an untried first year a state-of-the-art broom when the school is generally muddling along with old cast-offs that he could have used. Who paid for Harry's Nimbus 2000?
Answer: Prof. McGonagall personally bought the Nimbus 2000 as an anonymous gift for Harry, though he knew it was from her. The Nimbus 2000 may have been too pricey for Hogwarts to buy for all four Quidditch teams, but it was not beyond what most wizard families could afford for their own children. Lucius Malfoy was rich and could afford to buy the entire Slytherin Quidditch team the more expensive brooms, which he provided as a bribe for Draco being made the new Seeker. Up until then, all teams used school brooms, though some individual players may have had their own. It's unclear what the rules are about what brooms can or cannot be used.
5th Mar 2021
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
Question: I read that, according to Margot Kidder, when working on this movie, Christopher Reeve and Sidney J. Furie didn't get along at all. Is this true? If it is true, then what was the reason behind their feud in the first place?
6th Mar 2021
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Question: Many times Hogan and company manage to actually escape Stalag 13, especially at night. If they can escape so easily, then why doesn't everybody in the whole Stalag do it and head to an American Embassy?
Answer: The core POWs regularly escaped and returned to the prison camp because they made it their mission to conduct espionage and commit sabotage in the surrounding German territory. They also collaborated with different underground resistance groups and used a network of secret tunnels to help prisoners from other POW camps to escape, who then relayed vital information back to the Allied forces. Hogan and his men maintained the illusion that Stalag 13 had never had any prisoners escape in order to avoid their covert operations being shut down. Being that the prison camp is set in Germany during WWII, there were no American embassies.
Hogan has mentioned to different characters that they are actually stationed at Stalag 13 to help allied soldiers and prisoners from other Stalags to escape Germany.
5th Mar 2021
Jaws (1975)
Question: I know that during the filming Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw often argued. What caused them to dislike each other so much?
Answer: Agree with the other answer but would add that while the entire cast thought Robert Shaw was a charming and pleasant man, his chronic alcoholism caused problems and tensions on the set. I remember a TV interview with Richard Dreyfuss saying he once lost his patience with Shaw during the production, strongly telling him to just stop drinking after Shaw commiserated about his problem. That may have been the source of the feud rumor.
Answer: Simply put, they didn't; rumors of a feud between them got blown out of proportion over the years. Richard Dreyfuss himself said that he and Shaw got on famously throughout the shoot, and that there was one altercation between them that was an isolated incident. "It's not true, and where that started I don't know, but trust me, Robert Shaw wouldn't countenance that idea of a feud, forget it." You can read the interview with Dreyfuss from 2019 here: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity-interviews/jaws-legend-richard-dreyfuss-reveals-17325959.
5th Mar 2021
Mad Max 2 (1981)
Question: In the first film, society was still functioning; there was still law enforcement and a criminal justice system, there were still hospitals, businesses and a news media. However, in this film there is no law and order at all, it's all chaos and kill-or-be-killed. What happened in between films?
Answer: There was a war over oil which included nuclear warfare and the complete loss of civilization. People ended up like the biker gangs, loners like Max or the Refinery people who were trying to get to the presumably safe northern areas of Australia. In the narration the old man tells the whole story.
Answer: In the opening scene, the narrator explains about the fall of civilization with clips of war and social collapse.
3rd Mar 2021
The Departed (2006)
Question: When Matt Damon and his girlfriend are talking about erectile dysfunction from the night before, she is eating a banana. Is this a deliberate easter egg Martin Scorsese threw in? (00:50:50)
4th Mar 2021
The Black Stallion (1979)
3rd Mar 2021
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (2018)
Question: Why is Tom Clancy credited as an executive producer on this show considering he passed away 5 years before the show went into production?
Answer: As he is the author who created the Jack Ryan character that was adapted into a successful movie franchise, he could be credited as an executive producer for any TV or movie projects both before and after he died. It was announced in 2015 that the series would be produced for Amazon. Clancy died in late 2013, and he probably was involved in the series' earliest stages or discussions just prior to his death, and therefore would be credited posthumously. The title of TV or movie "executive producer" is fairly broad and can include one or more function, including securing financing, production oversight, creative input, script consultation, story concept, and more. Clancy's estate would likely continue to be involved under his name following his passing and receive profits and royalties.
While his estate would receive the profits, it's not automatic that Clancy would receive credit as a executive producer just because he wrote the novels. Authors like Michael Crichton, Douglas Adams haven't been credited as an executive producer after their death for use of their characters and works. Clancy's estate must be involved in the production in some way and rather than credit the estate, they credit the man.
Most likely his estate would be involved, through surviving family members, lawyers, etc. to act on his behalf in his name. No one said it was "automatic." It would have been a contract arrangement made while he was alive and that would continue posthumously. Whatever Michael Crichton or Douglas Adams did was a different arrangement for whatever reason they chose.
Nothing in your answer suggested anything about a contract arrangement (which if true would be the reason). You implied it was automatic. You said "as the author...he would be credited...for any...projects", but that simply is not true.
3rd Mar 2021
Game of Thrones (2011)
Question: Some of the Free Folk are reluctant to join Jon's fight against Boltons in Winterfell. Jon tries to convince them. And suddenly, Wun, the sole giant stands up and says "Snow." then leaves. What does he mean?
Answer: Giants only really speak the Old Tongue (in the book one of the Night's Watch, Leathers translates for Wun). So he just grunts out "Snow" as his pledge.
3rd Mar 2021
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: How is Peter Pettigrew, aka Scabbers, even able to enter Hogwarts under the guise of a pet rat? Surely with all the enchantments protecting the school, one couldn't simply turn into an animal to sneak in? If it's that easy to sneak in, wouldn't the other death eaters turn into cats and owls to do the same?
Answer: Pettigrew didn't sneak in. He arrived with Ron in the first film as his "pet" rat, Scabbers, and returned with him each year up until "Prisoner of Azkaban," when his identity was revealed. "Scabbers" (Pettigrew) was previously Percy's rat and lived with the Weasley family for twelve years. Every student could bring a small pet to Hogwarts, so there was nothing unusual about Scabbers being there. Every pet was accounted for and any outside animals suspect. Death Eaters probably could have sneaked in as a Slytherin student's pet, though few witches or wizards were capable of becoming an Animagus (changing into an animal), nor could they choose or change the animal form - it reflected their personality. All legal Animagus were registered with the Ministry of Magic and their animal forms documented. (Like Pettigrew, Sirius Black was an illegal Animagus, and he entered Hogwarts via the secret tunnel.) There was little reason for Death Eaters to sneak into Hogwarts as Harry wasn't a specific target until much later, and his mother's death magically protected him from harm until he was legal age. (Many consider the Weasley twins having never noticed Pettigrew's name on the Marauder's Map to be a huge plot hole).
3rd Mar 2021
Secret Window (2004)
27th Feb 2021
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Question: Is/was it really possible to smoke a cigarette on a submarine? (01:57:10 - 01:58:20)
Answer: Smoking was allowed on U.S. Navy subs up to 2010, though not when a sub was submerged. During WWII, there were restrictions about smoking on deck because the enemy could detect a glowing cigarette ember at night. After 2010, smoking was banned entirely. Foreign navies would have different rules, of course.
Answer: The engineering officer comes off as a bit of a rebel and the captain tolerates it as he is good at his job and is also one of the conspirators to defect.
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Answer: Teasle considered Rambo to be a vagrant who might cause trouble and wanted him out of town. Galt is a sadistic, cruel thug with a badge who enjoys abusing others. After Rambo overpowers him and his deputies and then escapes, Galt is furious, and, probably humiliated, wants revenge.
raywest ★