Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Did Wonka intend for those 5 kids to find the golden tickets? In other words, did he have Charlie in mind as the heir all along? It looked like the candy shop owner purposely gave Charlie the bar with the ticket in it. Also, Wonka treated Charlie kindly upon meeting him at the gate whereas he was sarcastic to everyone else-including Grandpa Joe, who didn't deserve the abrupt rudeness.

Answer: Yes, he did. Mel Stuart initially wanted to reveal that Willy Wonka had strategically placed the Golden Tickets in order to give the factory to Charlie. The idea was dropped, but the hints remained in the fact that Mr. Wilkerson conveniently showed up every time a ticket was uncovered.

Answer: It isn't clear the extent to which Wonka had a hand in the selection of the five finalists. The scenario you outline would be more likely in the later "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005) with Johnny Depp. In that version, and in the book, it is expressly stated that Grandpa Joe had once worked in the Wonka factory, making it more likely that, somehow, Wonka would have prior knowledge of the Bucket family. In the 1971 version, with Gene Wilder, Wonka has no explicit ties to the Buckets. That being said, it is quite coincidental that the faux "Mr. Slugworth" just happens to be everywhere a winning ticket is found moments later, which lends credence to your suggestion. Wilder's Wonka is portrayed as a highly eccentric and slightly dyspeptic candy mogul with a sardonic tone and a sadistic streak. His sarcasm to other characters is a reaction to the flaws which they openly display - and he really isn't even that rude, at that. In Charlie, Wonka recognizes a pure soul, to which he responds with kindness. The book and the 2005 film portray Willie Wonka as having a more childlike nature and being highly distrustful of adults, which would explain any wariness he might have regarding Grandpa Joe.

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: Zoey 101 and iCarly were both scored and composed by Michael Corcoran, so he may have written a short melody for the Zoey ringtone, and later re-used it for the song which was used as the iCarly theme.

Sierra1

Question: To date, Frozen is the highest grossing animated film of all time, beating Toy Story 3. I was wondering if anyone out there could tell me what animated film is highest if you account for inflation, or only count the number of tickets sold. For example, I know that Gone with the Wind out performed Avatar by ether criteria.

Answer: The website Box Office Mojo calculates inflation adjustment for box office grosses and worked out that the highest-grossing animated films was Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" from 1937.

Sierra1

Answer: The Baron tells Blackadder they will be sent to a convent school outside Heidelberg to spend the rest of the war teaching young girls home economics, which he sees as the ultimate humiliation. Blackadder, however, is delighted to be spending the rest of the war "teaching nuns how to boil eggs" rather than being shot at every day.

Sierra1

Chosen answer: Probably to broaden the scope of the show's plot and give the audience a chance to see the characters in a different setting, People act differently at home from the way they do at their workplace. By the ninth season, the characters would have become overly familiar and predictable. It gives the writers a chance to do something different with them.

raywest

Question: How old are Nick and Elizabeth? Hallie says that Nick's fiancee, Meredith, is young enough to be her sister. This would imply that Nick is at least sixteen years past Meredith's age, twenty-six. That would make him forty-two, so he was thirty or thirty-one at the time the girls were born. However, Meredith left Nick because they were "so young" and didn't get along. The early thirties years are not usually considered young ages for getting married and having children.

Answer: The marriage certificate at the very beginning of the film says he was 24 (in Jan 1986). Thus, in the summer of 1998 he would be about 36/37 (depending on when his birthday is), and so is about 10 years older than Meredith. An 11-year old would probably view this age difference as greater than adults would.

Answer: It depends on your point-of-view. Youngsters often consider people in their 30s as being "old" while more mature adults over the age of 40, would consider someone in their early to mid thirties as still being very young. Everyone matures at a different rate, and some people in their early 30s still think and act like they're much younger.

raywest

Answer: A middle-aged man, who is dissatisfied with his life and looking for companionship or especially some action, is far less likely to be put off by the idea of any potential female companion of his being far younger than he, and some are even attracted to the idea.

Question: In the Vito Corleone funeral scene at the grave site, the family is sitting before the coffin, Fredo is absent, where is he?

Answer: Freddy had been sent to Las Vegas after the Don was shot, not only to learn the casino business but also because he was emotionally traumatized by the murder attempt. He was also severely affected by his brother Sonny's death. Attending his father's funeral would have been too much for him, becoming overwrought and making a scene. Michael, now head of the family, would not have wanted this.

raywest

Answer: Gandalf originally lived in Valinor in the West. He was sent to Middle Earth to aid those who opposed Sauron. While there he had no specific home. He returned to the Undying Lands after Sauron was defeated.

raywest

Question: Why does Saruman have the orcs cut down the trees to make the orcs, when it looks like the orcs are being "born" out of mud sacs...what's the significance of what the orcs are doing down in the hole in the ground?

Answer: In addition to "birthing" the Uruk-hai (the enhanced orc soldiers), Saruman's orcs were also forging armour and weapons for the army of Isengard, which is why they were cutting down the trees to use as fuel. They were underground as the Uruk-hai process seems to involve the earth or ground in some way.

Sierra1

Question: Why does Dolores give Professor Snape a hard time during her inspection of his teaching? Shouldn't she, like Lucius Malfoy, be under the impression that he is loyal to Voldemort (not knowing that he is actually pretending)?

Answer: Umbridge isn't working for Voldemort. She is truly just that evil and therefore would inspect Snape the same as any other teacher.

kristenlouise3

Question: Whilst on a ferry, Jack does a magic trick that involves him bending a spoon with "his mind". One of them figures out how he did the trick. The man takes out a spoon and knife from his pocket, meaning he managed to do the trick with the knife and spoon. How did he accomplish this trick with the spoon and knife? (00:04:55)

Chosen answer: The spoon that he finds in Jack's pocket is the one that was originally shown to the audience as a normal solid metal spoon, tapping it on the handrail and so forth, which he then pocketed. The "knife" is actually the snapped-off handle of a second spoon, which Jack used during the trick to show the spoon handle moving downwards by "the power of his mind", which he then palmed and tucked up his sleeve while revealing the third and final spoon, which he'd already bent before the trick, to his audience.

Answer: Pushkin pushes a button on his watch to summon his bodyguard, but Bond sees him do it. He rips Ava's top off so the incoming guard will be "distracted" by her semi-nudity, allowing Bond to take him out.

Sierra1

Question: Who overrode the tunnel's explosion? Was it Marty since he had access to the system from the maintenance hatch?

Answer: It's stated that the tunnel should have blown hours ago, so the initial failure is most likely human error, that the order to blow the tunnel simply didn't get through to the demolition team on schedule. The subsequent problem blowing it up is referred to as being related to "a glitch up top", later stated as a "power re-route upstairs". While not stated outright, the only plausible explanation is that this was, as you rightly stated, due to Marty messing around with the equipment that he found in the hatch.

Tailkinker

Question: In the few seconds (Earth time) it took for the pod to fall through the time travel device, it would have been impossible for Ellie to have become detached from the safety seat. It would have been even less possible for the seat to have become dislodged from the pod, AND for the seat to smash against the side of the pod with sufficient force crush it. I understand there was a cover-up (e.g., the 18 hours of static on her recording device), but Ellie, herself, would have remembered the dislodged, smashed seat. Why did she never bring it up in defense of her version of the facts? Was there a reason someone knows of, or is this just a plot hole?

Michael Albert

Chosen answer: Ellie defended her version of the facts with everything she had to work with, but the simple fact was that the government cover-up was just too strong for her to overcome. The points you raise are perfectly reasonable, but the version of events released by the powers-that-be denies everything that happened and, without any other proof, Ellie has only her word to convince people with. For some, that's enough, as we see in the film, even if a majority choose to believe the "official" version.

Tailkinker

Answer: Only C-3PO's mind was wiped - if you listen to the dialogue, the order given specifies "the protocol droid" for memory erasure; R2-D2's memory remains intact. That being said, as neither droid in fact ever belonged to Kenobi, it's fairly clear that Artoo is simply being devious in the hope of being taken to the intended recipient of the message that he's carrying, a lie that he could have told quite readily even if his memory had been wiped at some point.

Tailkinker

Answer: At the end of Revenge of the Sith, Bail Organa said to wipe 3PO's mind. He didn't say anything about R2. In fact, R2 laughed at 3PO's reaction. Why would he do that if he was being wiped as well?

Answer: R2 D2 did not have his memory intact. Princess Leia gave him specific orders to find Obi-Wan and give the information to him and him alone. Since the information is in the Droid and it belongs to Obi-Wan, therefore he belongs to him.

This is speculation. If we consider Revenge of the Sith, it's plain R2's memory was not wiped. If we only look at what's in A New Hope, there's nothing to indicate it was wiped. In fact, R2's behavior suggests he knows far more about what's going on than C-3PO.

Question: When Charlie goes into the candy shop and gets a Scrumdiddlyumptious bar, he gobbles it down and the man warns him he'll get a stomach ache. The fifth golden ticket had been found (or so Charlie thinks at this point), so he can't be digging for it. I've never understood: what was the point in eating it so fast?

Macalou

Chosen answer: In the original book, Charlie has an obsession with chocolate that he only satiates once a year on his birthday. Also, at this point in the book, the Bucket family is going through an extremely hard time and Charlie has had less food than he usually would have, so he is EXTREMELY hungry.

Question: The scene where Jenny tells Forrest to run, and his leg braces tear apart, how did they manage to do the scene? Was it visual effects?

Vinitha Chandran

Chosen answer: There were actually very small charges placed in the joints of the braces. They could therefore detonate them at the right times creating the illusion that the braces were breaking due to the improved strength of his legs.

Question: At the beginning of the film, when some of the monsters introduce themselves, what does the clown say after he takes his face off?

Answer: "I am the clown with the tear-away face, here in a flash and gone without a trace."

Sierra1

Answer: He had been arrested and was released on bail, so he was collecting his personal effects from the property officer, which were a gold watch, a gold lighter and packet of cigarettes.

Sierra1

Chosen answer: They took it after they were put into their own worlds.

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