Answered 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: The only animal surviving is a roach. It survives on wrapped food and shelter that Wall-e provides. There is little to no water in sight but if and when there is water it seems to be very toxic with sludge and acid rain. So how does the roach manage to live with no fresh water?

Answer: There's an old trope that if all humanity was destroyed in some cataclysmic event, only cockroaches could survive. It's meant as a joke, and this is just a play on that. It's unlikely anything could survive under those conditions.

raywest

Question: Are Violet and Mike stuck as being blue and stretched out permanently?

Rob245

Answer: It's left vague in the film, but in the book, it's made clear that yes, they are stuck that way.

Answer: In the original movie with Gene Wilder, Wonka assures Charlie that "they will be returned to their nasty selves." In this version they are stuck like that forever as a lesson to other children.

Answer: It's unknown if they'll stay that way for the rest of their lives or if they'll eventually return to normal.

Currahee - S1-E1

Question: Was Colonel Sink hoping all would turn out well if Captain Sobel was not held accountable (in this case, mutiny)? Mutiny is serious, but what was he hoping would happen if no-one came forward about the situation with Sobel? I am puzzled.

Answer: Sobel was not blamed for the mutiny; it was the NCOs who were rebelling against his command. Sink had to act because the men had done so in writing, but not punish Sobel directly as he technically didn't break any rules himself in his conduct. Hence, Sink demotes Raney, transfers someone else and tells everyone else to 'git' while sending Sobel away from Easy Company to train civvy types to jump, as he is an excellent trainer but horrible commander. Normally a Colonel wouldn't do anything about the situation but as the complaint was formal and in writing, and on the eve of D-Day he had to act quickly before someone took it upon himself to frag Sobel.

Answer: It's a solitary cell. Steve McQueen, star of 'The Great Escape' is known as the 'Cooler King'.

Answer: It's a slang term for an isolated jail cell. In wartime, POWs who attempted to escape or otherwise thwart their captors might be punished with solitary confinement, often in a cramped, poorly ventilated, windowless space.

raywest

Show generally

Question: Is it ever mentioned who is in charge of SGC when General Hammond isn't there? By that I mean, when he's home sleeping or taking a few days off, not when he steps down or resigns in certain episodes. Wouldn't SGC have to be operationally 24-hrs a day, especially when there's so many "unscheduled" incoming wormholes? Would Hammond be required to live on base? In real life, are military bases operational 24-hrs a day? Do generals take "shifts", or does the highest ranking officer become in charge?

Bishop73

Answer: The commanding General is always in charge, but generals never live on base (in fact they rarely command bases, that is Colonel's work). One would have to assume he has competent officers in charge of day to day activities; at one point in the TV series there are FOUR Colonels in the staff including Sam and Shepard. The General is usually called in when something is going to happen, as generals usually work at a field HQ or at the Pentagon.

Question: Venom can take control of Eddie any time he wants to. When he tells Eddie to jump out of the window after Eddie leaves the proof on his boss' desk, Eddie takes the elevator instead. Why did Venom let Eddie take the elevator instead of making him jump out the window?

Answer: The entire movie is about the struggle between Eddie and the symbiote, which doesn't always want to take control.

Question: Can anyone shed any light on Noah's death scene and how he actually dies? I assume he broke a load of bones in his body, hence why he wasn't able to get up. But there's a part in his death scene where he suddenly seems to suffocate and there's a crunching sound too. If anyone knows anything, feel free to comment.

Answer: He had not only broken bones but also internal bleeding from the fall. He choked on his own blood, most likely.

Show generally

Question: There are a few episodes where Phoebe is talking with her twin sister Ursula, and one of them will hand something to the other person, and you can tell a stand-in is not being used for one of them because Lisa Kudrow's face is visible for both characters. How do they achieve this effect?

Phaneron

Chosen answer: The effect can be achieved in various ways. Split screen and image overlapping is one method. CGI can simulate body movements making it appear the characters are physically interacting, or a face can be superimposed over a body double. Lisa Kudrow's older sister, Helena, who looks almost exactly like her, was often used as her twin body double, mostly filmed from the back or the side and in scenes where one stood or walked in front of the other.

raywest

Question: How is it possible that David, as a fugitive, was able to get on a plane to Oregon without getting caught?

Answer: At that point, David's school friend, Jennifer, had met up with him. She could purchase their plane tickets under her name. Air travel security then was less stringent than in the post-9/11 era though it was after the D.B. Cooper hijacking when tighter rules had been implemented. Being a movie, facts and reality are often skewed to serve the storyline though it begs the question of how a minor, even in this era, could buy tickets without proper I.D. for David and where did she get that much money.

raywest

Answer: According to him, yes: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/BOX+office%3A+Making+drowning+an+art+form%3B+Kurt+Russell+tells+Robin...-a0146253600.

Question: Wouldn't lying about your age constitute as fraud? If so, why was Samantha Cole let completely off the hook?

Answer: First of all, she's not "on the hook" anyway...this is a divorce proceeding, not a criminal trial. And second, this film has multiple inaccuracies in its depiction of the legalities involved (see Legal Eagle's two-part analysis on YouTube for a very good rundown); the fact that no-one brings up fraud is the least of them. It's not important to the plot, so it is simply brushed aside, counting on us (the audience) not worrying too much about it, like so many other lapses of reality in comedy movies.

Question: After George convinces the board to keep the Bailey Building and Loan open, why did they decide they'll only leave it open if George runs it but will shut it down if he refuses? Why not just let Uncle Billy run it?

Answer: Because Uncle Billy is a known alcoholic who has shown on multiple occasions that he is incapable of running anything; the board, justifiably, has no confidence in him.

Question: In the rainy scene outside of Steven's apartment building: Chip appears and Steven seems to be surprised that Chip helped him get together with Robin again. He asks, "How did you know we're back together?" But Robin already called Steven to thank him for the free cable upgrade. Shouldn't he already know that Chip was involved? Who else would upgrade Robin's cable and pretend that Steven paid for it?

Answer: If we're to assume it to be an intentional addition to their dialogue, and not just a minor continuity error, maybe it was just Steven's way of handling Chip's uncomfortable initiation of the topic? I can buy Steven not understanding what Chip was talking about when he said "I set em up, you knock em down" without much context to set up that convo. But once Chip says he juiced her up and helped get her back, it seems like Steven gets what he's hinting at. The way he turns away and sort of flees while asking "how did you know we're back together?" (to me) seems a little more like an effort to avoid acknowledging what Chip did, and a little less like him genuinely not knowing Chip's involvement. As if he was in denial and didn't want to openly accept the situation for what it was. That's just my guess anyway. I hope it sounds like a fair enough point and not like something I'm looking too deeply into. Never really gave that moment in the film a second thought until reading the question.

Question: It's never explained why Bobby would ever even consider going into business with Jeff? It's not as if Jeff is some great business mind. The entire Dearly family has no respect for him and treat him like a buffoon. There's absolutely no reason given for why Bobby would ever set foot on their property, much less inside their house.

Answer: [Continued] Bobby may have had a better "presentation of self" than Jeph and LOOKED smarter, but he had his own deficiencies (plus mowed over Peaches, losing that contract, and intended to kill Jeph, not Mona). Would a stranger (outsider) be willing to enter a business agreement with Bobby? When choosing someone you have known for years, you have a good idea of what to expect from that person and might have fewer doubts and face fewer unknowns (such as whether the person can be trusted). Partnering with a stranger can be a very risky endeavor. When starting a business, there's no guarantee that you will be successful. Landscaping businesses/ jobs involve hard physical labor - something a lot of people are not interested in doing, so Bobby may not have had (m) any potential candidates with the exception of Jeph.

KeyZOid

Answer: I doubt anyone can give THE answer with any degree of certainty. This may be why your question hasn't been anwered yet. One possible answer lies in the film's setting, Verplanck, NY. In real life, Verplanck is a small area (less than ONE square mile) with maybe 300 houses within the city of Cortlandt. Such an area, where "everyone knows everyone else," is classified as a hamlet (smaller than a village). Household/ family income probably falls below the U.S. median. In the movie, residents were portrayed as poor and not very intelligent (read: dimwitted, "Forest Gump smart" or "idiots"). Jeph and Bobby were part of this close-knit community and probably had more similarities than differences. Bobby didn't even have money to start the business - his brother Murph put up his half. Who would become business partners with someone who didn't have the start-up money? Someone in the hamlet who needed a job and could get money from his parents - Jeph. [Why would Jeph partner with Bobby?].

KeyZOid

Question: What's always bugged me is this: Where did the helicopter come from? If military no way would that stuff on board not be inventoried and everyone screened (The USO or RedCross, etc would be involved). If civilian, how would they really know where the ship was and how would the ship have a place for them (a Battleship is not a carrier).

Answer: It was Commander Krill who arranged everything. The chopper, the band and the girl, since everyone was told it was a surprise for their Captain, no-one suspected a thing. He told most likely told the crew he personally inspected everyone and everything, being a veteran sailor they had no reason not to doubt him.

Season 2 generally

Question: This season has added the odd effect of a large puff of red smoke/dust whenever someone is shot. It is unrealistic and distracting. Wondering if anyone knows the reason for this change.

Answer: Depending on caliber the body does spray blood from .308 and up.

Answer: Only because it looks cool on screen.

Question: Did the actress Eileen Quinn actually climb the B&O bridge and hang off there?

Answer: Due to strict child safety laws, a minor would never be allowed to climb and hang off from a bridge. A stunt double did the climbing. Close-up shots would be filmed on a sound stage with specially built props, and a safety harness, or other equipment used to make it appear as if Annie was "hanging" from the bridge.

raywest

Question: How does framing Halloran for the murders work out if the police then find his body in a trap that he "set up"?

Answer: I'm presuming that Logan will hide or dispose of the body somewhere so the police don't find it.

TedStixon

Question: This applies to the entire prequel trilogy. Can the Jedi (especially Jedi council) be considered anti-heroes? Or no? As a bevy of "protagonists", they sure have obvious shortcomings which leads to their downfall and in the end are not heroic in much sense at all.

Answer: I would argue that the Jedi cannot be considered antiheroes. A major characteristic of antiheroes is a lack of conventional morals, and they typically act in self-serving ways. For example, many antiheroes oppose the antagonist of a story for revenge rather than for the "greater good." The Jedi are presented as highly moral and indeed quite selfless. It is true the Jedi are flawed and their flaws lead to their downfall, but merely having flaws does not make you an antihero. Their actions fighting the Clone Wars were certainly heroic, even if they ultimately lead to Palpatine gaining more power.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Why was Kyle Reese removed from the theatrical version of this movie? Why is he only present in the extended version?

Answer: Movies typically film more scenes than are used in the final theatrical version. During the editing process, certain scenes may no longer result in a tight story, lose the continuity, slows the pace, or otherwise muddles the plot. The film's length might also run too long limiting how many times a movie can be shown in a theater per day and affecting ticket sales. Restoring the cut scenes in the DVD version serves several purposes. The director can re-edit the film in the way they originally envisioned. Deleted scenes are often added as a separate bonus feature to help market the DVD. Both help increase DVD sales. The Kyle scene may not have fitted the story line and/or it made the running time too long.

raywest

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