Question: Why do the couple get old and start to disintegrate when Otho summons them in their wedding clothes?
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: I know it's never answered in the film but is it explained in the book just why the truck driver takes such a dislike to David Mann - he behaves this way after just a couple of overtakes?
Chosen answer: That is never answered for the film, and not knowing adds to the mystery and intrigue. No mentally stable person would target someone just because they overtook their vehicle on the road. It appears that Mann happened to cross paths with a psychopath. Steven Spielberg has commented that the multiple out-of-state license plates attached to the truck's front bumper may be "trophies" that indicate that the trucker is a serial killer who has run down other drivers. This could be a deadly game to the truck driver.
I just wonder why the driver's door on the big rig was open while it took a dive over the mountain.
Perhaps a hint that the truck driver escaped. You notice that the truck doesn't explode on impact, although the studio insisted it must; Spielberg fought the studio over the inclusion of a cliched fiery finale, as he wanted the crash to convey an ambiguous ending, suggesting that the driver might not have died. Spielberg even explained that the red liquid seen in the truck cab was not blood, but was some sort of automotive fluid. This all lent to the mystery of what actually happened to the driver, whose body we never see.
The stuntman driving the truck had to jump out of the truck right before it went over the edge, and due to equipment issues barely made it out, without having time to shut the door.
Question: Why was Quidditch taken out of this movie entirely since it plays an important enough role in the book?
Chosen answer: It wasn't important enough to include it in the film. As the series overall plot line became darker and increasingly complex, adding the Quidditch scenes would only lengthen the movie's overall running time, it is repetitive, and would slow the action. Film makers can not include every detail from a book into a movie script. Characters, plot points, themes, are entirely eliminated, reordered, or incorporated in other ways.
The Luminous Fish Effect - S1-E4
Question: Did the gang meet Mary before this episode? Because Leonard knew to call her but it seems like none of them ever met her before.
Chosen answer: It's unlikely that they ever met, which would mean Mary visited. However, the show seems to imply Leonard has had to call her in the past to help out with Sheldon, and he has her number. Plus, Mary seems to be more motherly (then say Beverly) and one can assume she's called Sheldon a number of times to check in on him and it's likely Leonard answered the phone some of those times and spoke to her. Given that Leonard often shares personal stories with the gang, it's also likely he's told the gang something about Mary.
Question: During the Vietnamese child-rescue scene (in which Vic Morrow and two child actors were horrifically killed in real life), why on earth did they allow Vic Morrow and the children to perform their own stunt work in what was, without question, an incredibly chaotic and deadly-dangerous night-time shoot? With several large pyrotechnics exploding on all sides and helicopters hovering less than 20 feet over the actors' heads, it was a recipe for disaster. Why did the film makers consider it worth the risk to capture a few frames of Vic Morrow's blurry likeness in a wide, distant shot?
Answer: It's unlikely we'll ever fully understand. However, there were already a number of violations involving the children, prior to the stunt. It seems to boil down to the audiences at the time demanding more and more dangerous stunts and actions in their films that the film makers, and Landis, tried to accommodate. Landis also seemed less concerned about the dangers and either didn't think it would be that risky or was more concerned about finishing production on time. For whatever reason, Landis ignored warnings of the dangers. But given that he violated night time production laws involving the children, including hiding the children from welfare workers and telling them to keep everything a secret, shows he was more concerned with getting the shots and must have felt the stunt was that important.
Question: Is it true that in the original version of this that Yoda says the reason Obi-Wan didn't tell Luke the truth about Anakin turning to the dark side is because Yoda wouldn't let him?
Chosen answer: Technically no. While this was never in the original version, there is however a deleted scene where this happens.
There are script drafts where Yoda tells Luke not to judge Obi-Wan too harshly because it was his suggestion to keep Luke in the dark about his father. However, Obi-Wan himself still seems to own his decision, citing the same belief in the film that he was right "from a certain point of view."
Question: Would Victor have felt any pain by the time he was found, or would he be so insane that he wouldn't be able to feel anything? And if so, how long would it take for him to become that insane? Also, would he be aware of where he is and who's in the room once he went completely insane, even if he's not able to communicate? And if he's no longer aware of reality, would he still feel pain? I'm a bit confused in that regard, as well as how long it would take for his brain to become mush.
Chosen answer: The question presupposes that there is a "level" of insanity wherein one stops feeling pain, which there is not. If his body still has active nerve endings, he would continue to feel pain no matter what his state of mental deterioration. As to the second part of the question, the examining doctor describes his brain (read: mind) as "mush", suggesting that he is too far gone to be aware of reality anymore.
Question: Santa doesn't come to Bikini Bottom, but then Squidward receives a thank you letter from him and sees him and his reindeer in the ocean's sky. Why didn't Santa come before? The one voiced by John Goodman appeared in "It's a SpongeBob Christmas" stop-motion special at the bottom of the sea talking to the characters. Can somebody clarify this for me?
Answer: In the "Christmas Who?" episode's intro, Patchy the Pirate is reading a letter where a fan ask if Spongebob loves Christmas as much as he does. Patchy explains they didn't always celebrate Christmas and this episode is a flashback to the first time Bikini Bottom had heard of Christmas. Santa had never visited before because nobody had believed in him before. Santa finally does visit because of Squidward's Christmas spirit. The "It's a Spongebob Christmas" episode aired 12 years later. So by this time, Bikini Bottom had been celebrating Christmas for quite sometime. Santa comes for a special visit because of how everyone in town, except Plankton, is on his naughty list.
Question: Here's a question that's never been answered. After Captain Quint addresses the Amity city council, he bids them good day and leaves, and a dog and a little guy wearing a cap obediently follow Quint down the hall. For a split-second, we also see this little guy's cap pass before the camera inside Quint's dock-front quarters. Who was this little guy, Quint's first mate? We don't know, because that little guy is never seen again after the dock quarters scene.
Answer: I believe you see the same person helping prepare the Orca before it starts setting out. He has Quint's M1 slung over his shoulder.
Chosen answer: The man is never identified. It is never stated in the movie that he is Quint's first mate or that he works for him. He could be or may just casually know Quint, and is probably also a local fisherman.
He is Quint's deckhand/first mate. The fellow who was cast was not an actor, just a local character, whose dog followed him everywhere (Spielberg got a kick out of him and cast him). This was clarified in a scene where he quits rather than go on the boat after Jaws, which was cut out of the film but can be found on YouTube.
Question: Why did Zuko get mad when Leo said "Pinks you punk! Pink slips! Ownership papers!"
Answer: The ownership papers of cars use to be pink. Whomever won the race would win the other persons car. They were playing for pinks and he did not want to lose their car.
Answer: Pink slips are ownership papers which means the winner gets the loser's car.
Answer: Because Zuko was being called a punk, and they other guy was from a rival gang and putting them down and being generally obnoxious. Plus, it's possible the word "pinks" was meant to be initially misunderstood as the "Pink Ladies."
Answer: Because Danny didn't understand right away what the guy meant by "pinks" and the guy tried to humiliate Danny by calling him a punk for not knowing the lingo - that he was too inexperienced and dumb to know what he was talking about.
Question: Most of the songs the Brady kids sing in this movie (and the sequel) were played at normal speed but were redone with new musicians and singers. However in this movie, during the Sears scene, "Sunshine Day" plays and you can tell it's the original recording from the original show but has been slowed down. Just curious about the reason for slowing this one down - was it a legal issue since the original cast/recording was used or another reason?
Answer: I have listened several times to both versions of "Sunshine Day" on YouTube. To my ear, they are both the same speed. However, the movie version does have some significant cuts, and some added incidental bridge music, such as when the crowd of women rushes to the Tori Spelling book signing, or when the kids are talking to Alice in the massage chair. If the movie version is slower, it is not significantly so. And perhaps it was changed to fit the blocked movement they wanted, and to accommodate the timing of the scene that they were going for. I doubt legality had anything to do with it, as the soundtrack notes states the song was used by permission. But, again, I don't think the tempo has been significantly altered.
The original series was faster. I just listened to the start of both versions a few times in a row and although they are both in the same exact key (key of A), the show is definitely faster tempo and the movie slower. Even the singer in the first line of the song (one of the girls) sounds higher pitched in the show, and slower and lower pitched in the movie.
Question: When everybody is staring at the body behind the flooded window, why was Matt looking at the the ventilation opening? I don't get it.
Answer: Because he could hear the zombies on the other side of the vent. They weren't sure yet what was going on, therefore he was trying to determine what that noise was.
Question: Looking at the Gremlin-filled theater, there seems to be a definite line between the last row of white seats and first row if red seats in the middle, as if two scenes were super imposed. Is this a filming error?
Chosen answer: There is a walkway in between those seats, hence why they are separated like that.
Question: In the episode where Spongebob loses his name tag in the dumpster... He says "pourquoi!" Later, there's a scenario of a bank robber wearing his name tag who yells out what I believe is "gattica!" I was wondering what they meant and why they said it.
Answer: 1) Pourquoi is the French term for "Why". SpongeBob was yelling "Why!" in French because of the situation he is in. 2) The bank robber does not say "Gattica", he says "Attica". This is a reference to the Attica Prison riot, an uprising that occurred in Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York between September 9-13, 1971. This was done as a way exaggerating how SpongeBob was worrying about the consequences of not passing the inspection.
Question: After Simba ran away and Scar took over the pride, why didn't the lionesses just leave? At one point, Scar says that they are supposed to "do the hunting", so they have opportunities to go out and not return.
Answer: Lions live in packs and are not loners (except for males in the real wild), a single lioness would definitely starve. Scar was the next in line to lead the pack, so they stayed.
Question: Why aren't the police officers' uniforms dirty, and how are they clean shaven, after being trapped in the sewers for so long?
Answer: They were getting care packages from Gordon. This was shown.
Question: The scene where Will and Elizabeth are sitting together tending to Elizabeth's cut (after the scene where Will has rescued Elizabeth from Barbossa and the pirates in relation to the Aztec Gold). I don't really understand what's going on with the scene where they are alone below deck, they seem to have a moment where they're about to kiss and they randomly stop and she pulls his hand to the medallion on her necklace. I know that scene's quite cute but I just don't understand it properly. Can anyone explain?
Answer: Elizabeth is a high-born lady while Will is a lowly commoner. Elizabeth is conflicted over her feelings for Will while she is technically engaged to Commodore Norrington, who is considered a far more suitable match than Will. In this time, people were expected to marry within their own social class.
Question: Why does Elizabeth take the medallion with her after her blood fails to lift the curse? She knows that it "calls to them", so it would only act as a homing beacon, but she doesn't know that they're after Will specifically, in fact, at that point, only Jack knows that. So why would she risk the pirates coming after them?
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: Otho was trying to perform a séance (using the wedding clothes as something belonging to the dead). However, he was using the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and didn't know what he was actually doing and accidentally started performing an exorcism. It was the exorcism that caused Adam and Barbara (the couple) to age, in the attempt to destroy them.
Bishop73