Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Answer: Shinzon was always intended to be much younger than Picard - the whole point is that he's a Romulan project that was ultimately abandoned - he hasn't gone through the accelerated aging process. Patrick Stewart could not have convincingly played a version of his character who was that young. And Tom Hardy does bear a distinct resemblance to a young Patrick Stewart if you look properly.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: This may sound like a stupid question but It happens a lot in the Simpson's and Friends shows. What are the purpose of clip shows?

Answer: Clip shows are time savers and budget stretchers. They allow the producers to create a "new" show without having to spend the time and money filming (or animating), editing, and scoring the whole thing from scratch if they feel that their budget is getting spread too thin or their deadlines are getting too tight.

Garlonuss

Question: What exactly does NOC mean? It's never established in the movie.

Answer: "Non-Official Cover". Operative who work for the CIA but are not formally recognized or connected (in case a mission goes bad - he would be on his own). Same thing from The Recruit.

Nick N.

It's never stated verbally, but it's visible on computer screens on several occasions.

Question: Towards the end of the film, Dr. Evil kills number 2 yet number 2 is alive in the next two films. Why? I've been told there's an alternative ending on the DVD that changes this. Is that true?

Answer: Number 2 doesn't get killed. It is obvious from the attempt to kill Mustapha that the fire/chair thing is faulty, this is demonstrated in the second film by the fact that number 2 has a large burn scar on his face to show that he wasn't killed, just burned.

Kara

Question: What exactly is this "life force" Neo sees after Bane blinds him?

Answer: It is the connection he has to the Source. Like when he sees the Machine City and the Sentinels.

Kirill Ostapenko

Question: Why does Rose say "artists need good light don't they?" when they enter her stateroom, even though she hasn't actually asked Jack to draw her yet?

Answer: She probably had already asked him (he had all of his material with him after all); she just hadn't yet specified *how* she wanted to be drawn.

Sereenie

Question: Why does Rose get Jack to draw her if she is only going to give it to Cal to make him angry?

Answer: You answered your own question. That is her only reason. She is showing Cal all that he will never get and that, obviously, someone else (of a lower class!) will.

Sereenie

Answer: The answer by Sereenie isn't totally wrong, but I think there is a bit more meaning. Cal is a wealthy, powerful, controlling man. By giving him the drawing, Rose is showing him that she deceived him. It's also a sign of her choosing a life with Jack instead of him. He is probably not used to being rejected by many women (due to his wealth and social status) – he does the rejecting. And it's especially insulting that Rose prefers an unstable life with Jack, a low-income drifter type.

Question: At the end of the movie, did both Alex and Carter die by the sign?

Answer: Carter was the only one killed by the sign, as shown when officer Burke from FD2 looked up Alex Browning after the pile up.

Answer: No. In Final Destination 2, Clear explains that Alex was killed 3 months later.

DirrtyGrrl

Question: When Neo and Morpheus cross the road at the very start of the "women in the red dress" training programme scene, the short man with the glasses at the centre of the crowd crossing toward them looks up at Morpheus and nods at him. Has this anything to do with the plot or is it a genuine mistake?

Answer: Hasn't got anything to do with the plot, but neither is it a mistake. The simulation is meant to be realistic and plenty of the people in the crowd interact with Morpheus and Neo (bumping into them or moving out of their way). A nod to someone you're passing on the street isn't in any way unusual.

Phil C.

Question: Does Padme not age or something? Anikin has aged ten years between the first and second movie, but she looks the same. Please explain.

Answer: She does age (she's human, just like Anakin) but the changes in her appearance are much more subtle. This is only natural; the change in appearance from an eight-year-old boy to an eighteen-year-old young man would be much more dramatic than, say, from a sixteen- or eighteen-year old girl to a twenty-six or twenty-eight-year old woman.

Phil C.

Question: Where did Sam get the potatoes for the "coney stew"? Not having enough food is a big issues for the hobbits yet it seems he has more than enough ingredients to make a stew with the rabbits that Gollum brings to him. And, if he just dug up the potatoes, why is running out of lembas bread such a tragedy?

Nick N.

Chosen answer: Sam didn't "get" them anywhere at all. He says, "What we need now is a few good taters," implying that he wishes he had some - but he doesn't.

Phil C.

Question: When Jean 'hears everything' at the museum, she hears a man yell "to the shelter" this suggests that she can hear all the way to Washington D.C. with her incoming increase of powers. My question is can the Phoenix hear the future? If you watch with the subtitles, you see as she's looking around, it says WOMAN- THEY'RE GONNA KILL HIM the voice is of Rogue in the scene where she bobby and john are in the tunnels after Logan closes the passage way.

Answer: The Phoenix Force is a primal force of the universe and Jean is tapping into it. As such, she's heading for a point where she really doesn't have any limitations - in the comics, Phoenix destroyed an entire star system. A degree of precognition doesn't seem remotely out of the question.

Tailkinker

Question: In the movie, when you see Happy's dream (happy place) for the second time, you see Shooter "eat" Grandma's tongue, however, in the TV version, that part is cut out, why? There's nothing bad about that part.

Answer: Maybe not to you but to a lot of people a scene in which Shooter graphically makes out with a elderly woman is a little disturbing, not something to be broadcast for children to see.

Nick N.

Answer: I tried to find if a specific reason was given, but couldn't. However, movie studios provide the edited version of films for television and airlines. Removing this scene (or this scene and whatever else was cut) probably would have given "Happy Gilmore" an MPAA rating of "PG", making it more suitable to broadcast. (Of course, this is 90's MPAA standards, and if "Happy Gilmore" was released today, it might get a "PG" rating and not "PG-13.) Additionally, scenes are also cut for time, so the version that was broadcast might have been for time and not content. Studios will also include deleted scenes (often not available on home release versions) into the broadcast version to ensure the film is long enough if too many scenes have to be cut.

Bishop73

Question: In the scene where Vernita Greene and The Bride are talking to her daughter, right before she asks how old she is and again shortly after, on the DVD, what are the beeping noises in the background?

Answer: The bleeping is used to block out The Bride's name, an homage to the "man with no name" of old kung-fu's. Her name is revealed in Volume 2.

Nick N.

Question: Does anybody know how old Shelob is, is she older than Sauron?

Answer: Shelob's date of birth is not recorded, but is believed to be sometime in the First Age, which would make her at most seven thousand years old. Sauron is much older, having been around since the creation of the world.

Tailkinker

Question: When we see Jack and Judy (the nude stand-ins) in the scene where Judy takes her top off for the first time, one of the crew members hold a black object beside Judy first, and then Jack. What is he doing?

Answer: He is doing lighting checks to set the cameras properly.

wolfchild

Question: What did Claire do to get in detention? Andy taped the one guy's butt closed, Brian had a gun in school, the Goth just wandered in, and Bender pulled the fire alarm, but we never hear what Claire did.

Answer: She blew off school to go shopping, in other words she got caught cutting class. Her dad mentions it in the first scene when he is sitting in the car with her.

Jeanne Perrotta

Question: What is the point of the chinese girl? I've watched the film and can't quite figure out what she does with the plot, especially when Donnie grabs her face and says "Everything will be better for you".

Answer: Throughout the film, themes of alienation and disillusionment are prominent - an illustration of the alternate universe plotline. Cherita is that theme manifested in a very visible sense - people make fun of her, reject her, and she obviously doesn't fit in.

Phoenix

Answer: Cherita's seemingly small role has larger implications and can be used as a contrast effect to Donnie. Cherita liked (loved?) Donnie, but she could never be with him because they are from two "different worlds." But this does show that people with "mental problems" can be and often are attractive to others. Many teens feel alienated but for different reasons. Cherita and Donnie didn't fit in well. Cherita was teased/bullied by teenagers who went to a private religious school. Surely they have heard the expression "do unto others..." Why is this bullying behavior not viewed as mental illness while some other behavior is? Donnie told Cherita things would get better for her. After the teenagers graduate and mature, they will outgrow the behavior and the teasing should cease. Cherita doesn't need to change in order to have a better future. The same is not true for Donnie - he is not likely to outgrow his mental illness, and unless there are major changes in him, he will have no future.

KeyZOid

Question: I've seen the full-screen version of the film several times on television now, and I'm wondering why the very last shot before the closing credits shows the wide-screen shot compressed into the full-screen viewing area (making everyone look tall and skinny). Is it because all five characters wouldn't be able to fit, or is it because the closing credits are about to be shown?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: It's probably the former. Pan and scan isn't possible in a static scene like that one, of course. Just another reason why "fullscreen" is misleading.

Phil C.

Show generally

Question: Can someone PLEASE explain the ending? The whole show was pretty confusing, particularly why everything disappeared at the end, why people lost their memories, etc.

Azureth

Chosen answer: The show was originally planned to have a second season, but then it was dropped because of low ratings in Japan, thus the abrupt ending leaving everything unexplained and out in the open. Still, the show was so popular on TV in the US that The Cartoon Network decided to finance the production of the second season, which is right now coming out on DVD (I think the first three volumes are already out). This should end up tying everything nicely.

Sereenie

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