Question: Do the holes in the shower-room wall serve any practical purpose, other than as a plot device? I've never seen a real shower with them.
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: Why does Yoda seem so "childish" when Luke first meets him in the swamp? I mean in comparison to Episode III when he seemed much wiser. Is there any reason for this?
Chosen answer: Yoda was testing Luke. Luke was looking for a great Jedi warrior and expected to find this great man or creature, not a short, little, funny, "weak", creature. Yoda knew Luke must get past preconcieved ideas and conceptions of what it takes to be and become a Jedi. Luke failed this initial test.
Answer: It's a trope popular with many of the Asian films (and some fantasy books) that inspired Lucas' original trilogy. The powerful master is often encountered first as a seemingly harmless (or meaningless) person only to unveil themselves later to the protagonist's surprise. In many respects, it's like Obi-wan's first appearance in A New Hope.
Question: In this movie we see a shot of a mechanical arm placing Darth Vader's helmet onto his head. But in ROTJ, removing Vader's helmet & mask made him die according to Luke. Is this because in ROTJ it was his helmet *and* his mask being removed, while in ESB it was just his helmet?
Chosen answer: Removing the mask alone would not make Darth Vader die. He stil had breathing help built into his suit. Vader was already dying when Luke took his mask and helment off in ROTJ, due to injuries sustained by Luke and the Emperor's force lightning. Anakin (Vader) just wanted to see his son Luke with his own eyes, before he died.
Question: Something I wasn't quite sure of was about Padme's death. Now I know throughout the film Anakin senses that she will die and must rescue her, but was her death a certainty or more a result of Anakin's turn to the dark side? I ask because I know the Jedi can sense the future, and was wondering if it was meant to be a vision of what was going to happen with his descent to the dark side.
Chosen answer: The future is not always set in place, according to Yoda, especially when clouded by the Dark Side. As Anakin's fears for Padme increase the more dependent he becomes on the Dark Side to try and stop the events of Padme's death in his dreams. What he didn't see was that he was indirectly responsible for causing her own death by turning to the Dark Side. Although Padme could have survived injuries caused by Anakin's force grip, her will to die rather than live without him is what caused her death.
Question: What happens to the clone army between episodes III and IV? I assume they are not the same as the Imperial forces in the original Star Wars movies (unless they got new ships, uniforms, etc.).
Chosen answer: You assume incorrectly, I'm afraid, it's the same army. Their equipment has evolved over the twenty-year period between the films, as you would expect to happen. The main change to the ground forces is that the stormtroopers from episodes 4 to 6 are conventionally recruited troops rather than clones (which may account for their apparently decreased effectiveness) - very few, if any, of the original clone troopers would still be alive, given the levels of combat that they've seen and their accelerated aging process. The only faction where only the original clones remain is the 501st Legion, otherwise known as Vader's Fist. They were the clones who helped Anakin overthrow and destroy the Jedi Temple.
Question: I know practically nothing about submarines, so this seemed a bit strange to me. When there's that huge storm, why do they keep staying at the surface, only going down for an hour at a time?
Answer: U-boats also travelled much faster on the surface...about 18 knots, vs only 8 knots or so beneath the surface.
Answer: Because that's what the U-boat was designed to do. Unlike modern nuclear boats, they didn't have the capacity to stay submerged for long periods - basically just as long as the air lasted; there wasn't atmosphere control equipment. They would 'snorkel' near the surface, recharge the batteries with the diesel engines, and then dive for a few hours at most before having to come back up and repeat the process.
Question: In the battle of Hoth, when Han and Leia are at the command center, we hear a voice saying "Imperial troops have entered the base" but this happens before General Veers has destroyed the power generator. How is it possible for them to enter when the shield is still up?
Chosen answer: The shield prevents ship from landing close to the base and stops any orbital bombardment; it's not designed to prevent actual entry to the base. As such, the Imperial Walkers were landed a long way out, then they simply walked in under the shield, much as the probe droid did earlier. The ground troops simply came in with the walkers, disembarked and entered the base - the shield wasn't in their way.
It got corrected on the 4K release.
Question: One thing I'm unsure of in the transition between episodes III and IV involves R2D2 and Obi-Wan. In Episode IV. Obi-Wan says "Strange, I don't remember owning any droids" when he meets C3PO and R2D2. Now technically yes, he never OWNED the droids, and he has been in hiding for 19 years, but after all, he and R2 went through in the past, you'd think he'd be more pleased to see him. He barely even recognises him. Any theories anyone?
Answer: Actually it was Anakin whom R2 accompanied during the events of the new trilogy. Obi-wan spent most of his time with R4-P17, and that was (as you've said) because he was essentially part of his cruiser, not because he owned him. So upon seeing R2 that many years later, it's understandable that he would not strike him as a droid he ever "owned."
Question: Is there a reason why Lucas chose the number 66 to be the "code" for the clones to kill the Jedi? According to an article on msn.com, it is something Biblical; however, as the article was nonspecific, I am still not sure if it is an actual textual reference, or if it's just referring to the fact that the Bible contains 66 books.
Answer: Here is a site that contains several of the 66 references in and about the Bible: http://www.greaterthings.com/Word-Number/66.htm. There's no confirmed reason for George Lucas' decision.
Question: When Shrek, Donkey and Puss find the "Happily Ever After" potion on the glass-enclosed shelf in the Fairy Godmother's factory, Puss uses one of his claws to cut the glass and get the bottle out. But I've heard that the only substance that can cut glass is a diamond. Were Puss' claws made of diamond? Or was this just for dramatic effect, since it's a fairy tale?
Answer: It was just a dramatic effect, since it was a fairy tale.
Question: This question applies to all three Harry Potter movies. Why is no one allowed to say Voldemorts name?
Answer: There's no actual law preventing it, it's largely traditional, left over from when Voldemort was previously active. He was considered so terrifying that people were frightened simply by the power of his name, so it became the norm to use an alternate method of referring to him if it was necessary to do so. Despite his apparent fall, the tendency remains. Later on, when Voldemort rises to power once again and gets hold of the ministry, a taboo is placed upon his name. Meaning that those who speak the dark lords name will immediately be attacked by death eaters. Some speculate the taboo was placed so as to find Harry more easily, as after Dumbledores death he was the only one brave enough to speak the name.
Question: Why didn't Luke just stay in the cave and wait until the next morning to contact the Rebel base? Isn't the cave just as adequate a shelter as what Han dug for him?
Chosen answer: There's still a very large and annoyed Wampa in there, and there could easily be others in the depths of the cave. Running out into the cold may not be the most sensible move in the world, but it's reasonably understandable.
Question: After Jo's truck is destroyed and they have to use Bill's truck to load two of the Dorothys in, what do they do with the top that was over the bed of Bill's truck?
Chosen answer: I imagine they just left it at the house where they loaded the Dorothys. You only need a couple of wrenches to remove a camper top.
They were not at a house.
Answer: It was most likely placed inside one of the other vehicles, the most likely being Dusty's "Barn Burner," which would've had ample space for it.
Brother From the Same Planet - S4-E14
Question: When Homer is at the Bigger Brothers place, he looks at a book of children who want a Bigger Brother. When he looks at one of them he says "Zooie. Zooie." What exactly does he mean by this?
Question: Will there be a sequel to Team America, because the ending seemed so open?
Answer: Trey Parker and Matt Stone said that there will never be a sequel and they will probably never do that kind of film again because it was too difficult.
Question: After Marie dies, why does Bourne burn the pictures of her as well as her possessions but keeps of picture of him and her?
Answer: It would be standard practice from his old career as an assassin - leave no evidence behind, don't carry anything with you that you don't have to, so he burns all the passports that were created for her and so on. It's only when he gets the photograph of the two of them together that he can't bring himself to burn it - after all, he loved her; she means too much to him to just discard it completely.
Question: Could someone please tell me who was actually murdered? I understand that all the characters at the motel were personalities in the mind of Malcolm Rivers, and that the killer was Timmy, who was also one of Rivers' personalities. So if all the people at the motel were not real, why is Rivers about to be executed for murder, and how did the authorities have photos of the murdered people if there were no actual people murdered?
Answer: The actual, "real-life" killings happened before the events shown in the movie and are shown briefly in a flashback. The authorities knew that Malcolm had done it while believing to be one of his alternate personalities, but did not know which one, and had to be convinced that the killer personality was dead before changing his sentence to life imprisonment. Meanwhile, the killings we see in the motel during the movie, are Malcolm killing off his other personas, leaving in fact only - the killer.
Answer: Since Timmy is the killer here, it would be correct to assume that he blew up the car and took Ginny away during the commotion and killed her in some way that isn't shown in film. Or else blowing up of the car becomes completely pointless and a classic like this won't show a scene that doesn't have a significance. So blowing up the car was actually a part of the plot to kill Ginny.
Question: At Minas Tirith when the Witch-King destroyed Gandalf's staff and was then distracted by the Rohan army. Why didn't he just quickly kill Gandalf before going off.
Answer: Even without his staff, Gandalf is not going to be a pushover - the Witch-King isn't going to be able to simply take Gandalf out by snapping his fingers. Better to simply inconvenience Gandalf by taking his staff out, then return to the battle, rather than taking on the risk of a serious one-on-one fight while the main battle below is still undecided, particularly as his opponents have just had some substantial reinforcements show up.
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: They are not supposed to be there - they were drilled by someone so they could look into the girls' shower.
pross79