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.

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Question: In the showcase episode, where Troy McClure shows deleted scenes and the alternate endings for Who Shot Mr. Burns. Were these really alternates and deleted scenes, or just made up for this episode?

Answer: They probably never intended for anyone other than Maggie to shoot Mr Burns, but by having the animators animate all the different characters shooting him, it meant that they couldn't spill the beans before the episode was shown. Other than Maggie, the only other real possibility would have been Waylon Smithers, because they didn't just animate him shooting Mr Burns, they animated the whole scene (including Mr Burns revealing who it was in the hospital). By doing two endings, it meant that the people working on the show wouldn't be able to leak the ending. It is not uncommon for this to happen - it happened with season one of 24 which is why there are two different endings on the DVD.

Sam Johnson

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Question: What is Bobby's full name? There is one episode where Peggy says that she and Hank gave him a dumb middle name.

Answer: Bobby's full name is Robert Jeffrey Hill. I cannot recall the episode however on whether it was a joke to give him a dumb middle name.

Lummie

This might be a continuity mistake now. In "Bobby Slam" (Season 2, Episode 10), Peggy says that she wanted Bobby's first name to be Jeffrey, but "some man" wouldn't "let" her name him that. Also, Boomhauer's first name is revealed to be Jeffrey, and he is highly respected by his friends and neighbors. Doesn't sound like a name that Peggy really thinks is "dumb."

Answer: In S03E18, "Love Hurts and So Does Art", where Bobby gets gout, they take him to the doctor's to see what's wrong with his toe. When Peggy is filling out the HMO forms, she says, "You know, Bobby, we gave you a dumb middle name."

Bishop73

Question: An Easter egg is mentioned that you highlight THX and enter 11,3,8 to get a clip. But when I enter this, nothing happens. In fact, I can only enter up to 3 digits at a time, not 4. How do you exactly unlock this clip?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: On the main title menu, go down to "Options," and select it. Once in the Options menu, there should be a THX logo somewhere. Highlight the logo, but don't select it. Then type in 1-1-3-8 (or if your remote requires it, 10+1, 3, 8).

Cubs Fan

Question: At the start of the film, where the stage light falls from the 'sky', it says Sirius on it. Are we meant to presume that this stage light lit up the place in the sky where the star Sirius would be in real life?

Answer: That would seem like a logical deduction, yes. The light was presumably on some sort of track to allow it to simulate the movement of the heavens caused by the rotation of the Earth.

Tailkinker

Answer: He isn't mentioned much, but in season 4, episode 2 - "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High" when Brian introduces himself to Chris's class, it is revealed that Chris has been told that Brian's father's name was Coco and that he was hit by a milk truck.

Andreas[DK]

Answer: It was also revealed in one episode that Brain's father was a racist.

Question: When Henry and Lucy are getting intimate and Henry sees the two dolphins in the tank watching, he calls them Mary Kate and Ashley. I know who they are but why does he refer to them like this?

Answer: Probably because it was the dolphins' names. Someone probably thought the dolphins looked alike and that it would be funny if they were named after the famous twins.

Andreas[DK]

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Question: Has Joe (Pauline's husband) been a narrator for a children's program in the past? I recognize his voice and am sure its something to do with kids TV.

Answer: Yes he was the narrater for the kids TV show Mr Benn. This was the program where Mr Benn would go into a costume shop each episode and try on a different outfit. He would then "be" the character he dressed up as.

dgemba dgemba

Question: What would happen to Erin's interview if Darcy fires Nick, as it was Nick who arranged to meet her?

Answer: She would come in and explain it and they would either cancel it or interview her anyway.

Grumpy Scot

Question: How can Rodimus Prime transform into a completely different vehicle when he looks exactly the same as Hot Rod?

Answer: As Hot Rod got hold of the Matrix it not only altered his physical form (visible in the enlargement of Hot Rod's body), this change also altered his transformation form. Besides - as seen with Astrotrain - a Transformer can even have more than one transformation form.

Christoph Galuschka

Question: Why was Benicio Del Toro's character killed in the film, what was the point if he was doing the job as well, surely it just makes it harder with less men?

Answer: Fenster was running away, making it entirely clear that he had no intention of going through with the job. As such, he was killed, both as revenge for crossing Soze and to make it clear to his erstwhile cohorts that attempting to flee was not a viable option.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: I still cannot understand the dynamic of the plane crash. I mean, the tail breaks off at mid-air, and crashes into the let's say 'south' side of the island. The mid-section will end up at the other side ('north') and the cockpit crashes in the middle of the island, between the tail and the mid-section? I know this island is weird and full of mysteries, but this crash seems a little too bizarre. Any thoughts?

Answer: One plausible sequence of events is as follows. The tail section breaks off first and hits the ocean on the 'south' side. The plane is obviously not flying in a stable fashion at this point, and the loss of the tail is only going to make matters worse - it begins to tumble in mid-air, flipping end over end. Under those circumstances, it would be entirely plausible that the nose section could end up between the tail and the mid-section.

Tailkinker

Question: Does anyone know if Mary Jane and Peter will have a daughter in the movies (as they did in the comics)?

Answer: Given that, in the films, they're only just starting their relationship, it can be safely said that any thoughts of starting a family are likely to be some distance off.

Tailkinker

Answer: Yes, it is a real condition, although debated by some. IMS is by this page considered the male equivalent of menopause for woman.

Lummie

Question: What does Fowler signal when the truck full of marines pass a car with a woman with a veil in it?

Answer: Its a crude gesture meaning "I want to perform oral sex on you."

Grumpy Scot

Question: What happened to General Grievous? Was he badly injured and put inside a droid-ish body?

Answer: That's pretty much it, yes. Grievous originally refused to take up the leadership of the Seperatist armies, so Dooku secretly planted a bomb on a shuttle carrying Grievous leaving behind enough evidence to implicate the Republic in the assassination attempt. The critically injured Grievous was then reconstructed into his cyborg form by the Geonosians. Filled with rage directed towards the Republic that he thought had maimed him, Grievous finally agreed to lead the Seperatist forces in battle.

Tailkinker

Question: What music is played in the scene of Norrington's promotion ceremony, where he receives the sword from governor Swann?

Answer: It's an instrumental version of the song Rule Britannia.

Tailkinker

Question: Darth Maul had to feel that Anakin was very Force-sensitive, so why would he almost hit him with his speeder (it looks intentional)? And why wouldn't he tell Darth Sidious about a very Force-strong boy being with the Jedi?

Answer: There is nothing to indicate that a Force-user should automatically detect Force sensitivity in others. In fact, in the books it is made very clear that this is not the case (as Luke has to discover a way for himself to detect potential Jedi candiates). As Anakin did not use the Force while Maul was present, Maul would not pick up any indication that Anakin could use it, and would therefore not suspect Anakin to be any more than a slave.

Twotall

Question: Does Darth Maul know that Darth Sidious is Palpatine?

Answer: Yes, Darth Maul did know Palpatine's true nature. Palpatine/Darth Sidious was his master. Also, in the movie, they have a brief discussion on the balcony outside Palpatine's office.

Bruce Minnick

Question: In the extras DVD of the deluxe boxset, there are a few videos of Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman performing the opera (and from what I can tell the video looks from around the time or the original stage show). But it looks to be very much done for the camera (rather than just a recording of the show being performed live). Was the whole opera done in this way, using the original cast? And was it released? I can't find any reference to it at all on IMDB. If it has been released, where can I find it?

Gary O'Reilly

Chosen answer: In 1986-1987, before the show actually premiered, a few songs featuring Sarah Brightman were released to promote it, including the signature theme, featuring both her and Steve Harley (and not, as is often assumed, Michael Crawford). Although the song is from the stage musical, the lyrics used were not the definitive ones and the accompanying video was specially recorded for promotion purposes and was not from the actual show.

Sereenie

Question: What's with Obi-Wan disappearing when he dies? I mean, I've never seen anyone else in the Star Wars 6-logy do it.

Answer: Yoda does it as well. This is linked to the bit at the end of Episode 3 when Yoda tells Obi-wan that his old mentor Qui-gon has managed to 'return' through the Force and instructs him to learn how this can be done. As such, when they die, both Yoda and Obi-wan are, in some unexplained manner, absorbed into the Force - this is what allowed Obi-wan to continue to communicate with Luke during the subsequent films.

Tailkinker

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