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: In the end of the movie, what does Vitruvius mean when he says "I liked Emmet before it was cool"?

Answer: The "it was cool" part means how Emmett saved the day and how his sacrifice made a good final battle. He's basically saying, even before Emmett made himself a hero, he still liked him anyway.

Casual Person

Season 8 generally

Question: In Season 5, the Doctor states his age as nine hundred and six years old. In a voice-over for Season 8, he states that he's lived for over two thousand years. Granted, he's a Time Lord, but how could he make such a grievous error in his own age?

Movie Nut

Chosen answer: He has not made an error, he probably is 2000 years old. He may have been 906 in season 5, but remember, at the end of season 6, he is 200 years older, 1107 years old and in season 7 episode 3, the Doctor stated he was 1200 years old. Plus, he also in "The Time of the Doctor", he lived at that village for several hundred years. It may have been only 4 years for the audience, but it has in fact been over a millennia for The Doctor.

Casual Person

Sometimes when the doctor says things about himself people say that he is known for lying.

Dan23

Answer: He can't actually remember his precise age. He's almost certainly over a millennium older than he claims, but even he doesn't remember the real number.

Question: In the scene where Helen tries to shoot the bad guys and drops the gun down the steps and the gun is firing by itself shooting everyone, one of the bad guys has a hold of Harry, Harry says one word to the guy that makes him let him go before they both get shot, what is it Harry says?

dan coakley..

Chosen answer: He just exclaims, "Shit!" It's not what he says that makes the henchman let him go, it's that they both realize that if they don't find cover they'll both likely be shot by this random, firing Uzi.

Question: Is the "singing" by the monolith heard by the characters or just the movie audience?

Answer: As is the case with all non-diegetic sound in films, the characters do not hear it.

Answer: Aside from the piercing radio signal transmitted on the Moon, the Monolith makes no sounds or "singing" whatsoever. Intending this film to be as scientifically-accurate as possible, director Stanley Kubrick deliberately and correctly opted for total silence (no sound effects) in the vacuum of space. He knew, of course, that dead silence is a sure way to lose audience attention, so he commissioned an original musical soundtrack (but never used it). Instead, Kubrick chose to use an eclectic variety of classical symphonic and more modern choral compositions as his "guide music" during production and then as the actual soundtrack of the film. Interestingly, there's no music at all in scenes with dialogue, and no dialogue in scenes with music. As for the "singing" that you mention, you're probably thinking of composer György Ligeti's "Atmosphères" and "Lux Aeterna," which Kubrick used to achieve a mournful, eerie, otherworldly feeling in some scenes. To be clear, this music was not supposed to represent the Monolith "singing"; no characters in the film heard the musical soundtrack, as it was intended solely to set the mood for the audience.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: What could possibly have made Teasle think that it was Rambo who killed Gault? Teasle was fully aware that Rambo was injured and unarmed and that Gault was in a helicopter trying desperately to shoot him (against orders). So how the hell did he come to that conclusion?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Rambo essentially admitted responsibility, when he tried to make peace with the officers as he stood near the body. As well, we can assume the chopper pilot reported the incident - while he may not have seen Rambo, rocks don't throw themselves at helicopters.

DavidRTurner

Answer: In Teasle's mind, anything that happened after Rambo escaped would be his fault - he put in motion the sequence of events that lead to everything happening. Additionally, he isn't exactly in his right mind with all this.

Question: Would it be possible to create dinosaurs in real life the way they create them in this film?

dan coakley..

Chosen answer: No. There are a number of reasons why this is not possible, including the fact that DNA simply doesn't remain preserved for that long. See http://www.iflscience.com/technology/could-jurassic-park-ever-come-true for more details.

Answer: While wardialing every number in Sunnyvale, California to find the game company's number, he found a number that led to a back door into the WOPR.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: What happened to Hermione's cat Crookshanks? He's not seen at all at the start of this movie. I can't remember if it's mentioned in the books what happened to him; the movie doesn't seem to mention it either.

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: The last time we see Crookshanks is at the Weasley house. They likely left him there.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: I don't understand what the device was that Cage and Rita had to steal. How exactly does it find where the Omega's real location is?

alamchop

Chosen answer: Basically, it reverses the psychic connection from the omega seeing all the alphas, to an alpha seeing the omega.

MasterOfAll

Answer: Bill and Lucy were arguing over one of her lines, in part due to a misunderstanding, but it blew over - Bill Murray has said "I feel very warmly for her now." He stated that he didn't want to return for the sequel due to someone involved in both productions, but beyond it not being Lucy Liu, he's never clarified who.

Question: What is the thing in the background at 00:31:23? It looks like a tentacle or worm but I really don't know. I've scoured the internet looking for information but I can't find anything relating to the subject. It seems this hasn't been brought up anywhere. I'd greatly appreciate an answer. Thanks in advance. (00:31:23)

Eric Lambert

Chosen answer: It's a Leviathan, the same kind of "flying worm" seen later in the final battle.

Friso94

Question: What does Dr. Evil's son really say instead of "Why don't we just call it Operation Buttcrack"?

Answer: In the uncensored version, he says, "Why don't you just call it Operation Ass Cream, ya ass?"

Question: When Harry enters the Great Hall after Voldemort calls a break to the battle so Hogwarts can bury their dead, who is it that Professor Sprout and Professor Trelawney cover up? It was so quick I was unable to see it.

SAZOO1975

Chosen answer: As Harry enters the Great Hall he passes Sprout dabbing at a male student's head wound (we see Sprout and this student again later in the background as Ron realizes his brother Fred is dead). After walking past Sprout, Harry comes across Professor Trelawney and Parvati Patel. Trelawney murmurs, "She's gone," and then she and Parvati pull a blanket over the still form of a girl. All we see of her is a quick glimpse of her nose and nostrils before her face is covered This student is Lavender Brown, who in the film was killed by werewolf Fenrir Greyback. The film writers took the liberty of having Lavender die at the end, confirmed in the movie tie-in book "Harry Potter: Page to Screen." However, J. K. Rowling left it ambiguous in the novel whether Lavender Brown actually died from her injuries.

Chosen answer: Because in Episode I, she was the Queen of Naboo. Viceroy Gunray had blockaded the planet with a trade boycott and then tried to take over the planet at the order of the Sith Lord Sidious. But he failed, her forces prevailing and destroying his droid army and capturing him. So in the second movie, which takes place 10 years later, he wants revenge on her for his failure, blaming her.

Quantom X

Chosen answer: She killed herself with potassium cyanide after what Adam and Bruno did to her.

Sierra1

Show generally

Question: I've been re-watching this show, and have noticed this in nearly every episode. In scenes inside GD, there's always one person, a background extra, who seems to have clear plastic wrap over their clothes. Do you know what that is all about?

Holly Halfman

Chosen answer: It's basically just a type of suit that's made for whatever special project they're working on. No different than a lab coat, hazmat suit, fire coat, etc.

Question: In the book, Snape and Lupin look at the Marauder's Map to see that Ron, Peter, Hermione, Harry and Sirius are all in the Shrieking Shack. How come Snape and Lupin didn't notice the second/future Harry and Hermione when they were near the whomping willow on the map?

Answer: They didn't notice the second ones because they weren't close enough to the tree when they were focused on that part of the map. There are hundreds of dots moving around the castle and it is possible they were just missed.

kristenlouise3

Matters of State - S2-E7

Question: Does anyone know the name and composer of the piece of music being played when Henry and Anne are dancing (interspersed with their passionate sex scene)? It sounds like Henry asks for A Valta but I'm not sure. (00:19:55 - 00:22:05)

Answer: Henry asks for a volta which was a type of dance as well as the general type of music played for it. It would be like requesting a waltz or tango.

Chosen answer: It isn't a song in its own right. It's incidental music. It sounds like a variation in the style of "I'll Be There For You."

Michael Albert

Question: Why does Frankenstein keep on having to switch gears to go faster, can't he just leave it on the fastest?

Answer: Because of the transmission. You have to change gears as the engine revels up higher RPMs to keep from blowing the engine.

Quantom X

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