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: How does a tear from Rapunzel revive Flynn? I though she could only cure with her hair.
Chosen answer: So did she, but apparently tears work too. The magic is in HER, after all. It just manifested most obviously in her hair, the parallel to the petals on the flower.
So then why did Mother Gothel die?
Answer: Because she used her hair to stay young and now her hair is gone.
Answer: Because she used the power from her hair and now her hair is gone. So she is as well.
Question: How is Megamind's robot able to do exactly what he does? We don't see him push any buttons or anything, so how is this possible?
Answer: Mad Science. There's an old science fiction writers' saying that "Poorly explained science is better than DUMB science, " so exactly how it works isn't important, it just works.
Answer: Because he trained him.
Answer: I could be wrong, but I always figured that Megamind had created I device that would be able to have Minion control the robot thing with his mind.
Question: A few questions about all the deaths being blamed on Batman. Why couldn't they blame it on The Joker or one of his henchmen? What would they have said Batman's motives were? And who would've told everyone, and how? If it was Gordon, he'd have to say he was an eye witness, because there was no evidence, and wouldn't people think it was weird he didn't do anything about it?
Chosen answer: The Joker was already being arrested by a large number of officers at the time of the incident with Dent. The Batman, already a wanted criminal, was the easy choice for them to make. He could take the blame whilst allowing Dent to die as a hero, implementing new laws to bring down organised crime.
Alternatively, it was done this way so that the title of the movie made more sense.
Question: Why would John want Hoffman to be killed by Jill? What's wrong with him? I don't get it.
Question: At the beginning of the movie, Alan grant is at a dig in Montana. They load what looks like a bullet into a chamber and fire it into the ground. What was it they fired underground and why did they do it?
Chosen answer: They are using a ground penetrating sonar device. A shotgun shell is discharged into the earth. The resulting blast creates sound waves that bounce off any underlying object, like fossils, and are transmitted to a receiver and seen on a TV monitor as images to reveal what is buried underground.
Question: What was the ball of fire as the planes are landing to the right of the screen?
Answer: That would be a flare being fired from the aircraft. Yellow ones meant the aircraft had sustained serious damage, although that was often self-evident, and a red one meant that there was a seriously injured crewman on board - prompting first aid teams to be ready to meet the aircraft once it had landed. Their was also an unofficial green flare that meant someone had completed their tour of duty.
Question: Why wouldn't Dumbledore let Professor Snape teach Defense Against Dark Arts before this year? Snape says in the book that Dumbledore was afraid of him being tempted to relapse into his Death Eater ways, but he says this to Bellatrix and Narcissa, who falsely think that he is on their side. Also, he probably wouldn't feel tempted to become a Death Eater again after Voldemort killed Lily. And Dumbledore repeatedly insists that he completely trusts Snape.
Answer: While Dumbledore did trust Snape, he knew that his being immersed in teaching the Dark Arts could have an effect on him. Also, many years before, Voldemort had placed a curse on the position of the Dark Arts instructor after Dumbledore turned him down for it. After that, no instructor lasted more than one year. He didn't believe that Snape could last any longer than the others had, and he couldn't risk losing his strongest ally.
Question: The night when Harry is given to the Dursleys takes place in 1981. McGonagall and Dumbledore each say something about "for eleven years", so they are referring to the year 1970. What happened that year? I know from the sixth book that Voldemort had been around and gathering followers since way before then; he had some followers when he was 28 and he visited Hogwarts to apply for teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Question: Why did Alex have to wait until Valentine's Day 2008 to meet Kate? Even assuming for the sake of argument that the "time-traveling" letters stopped after Alex avoided the bus accident on "his" Valentine's Day 2006, Alex certainly knew how to find Kate at that time - and vice versa. The two-year gap where Kate had not known about Alex had closed by that time, and each knew about the other.
Answer: The movie is not about them trying to find ways to meet. They are not trying that hard to meet and the time distance is a metaphor. I think the movie misses the tension that she is trepidatious about meeting and he is trying to respect that. He gets killed the first time for trying to force it! This shows when the stack of letters is piling away. She is worried he is a coward who will not be able to handle real romance. This is shown in his retreat to build mass produced houses and has something to do with his mom/dad. She's the doctor, he's the architect: she saves people for a living and is hung up about her own father's death. It's only when it's life or death that she gets over it and he also figures himself out and stops trying to fix everything.
Answer: Kate asked him to wait, and come in 2008, so that's what he did. Likely they could have found each other before then, but it might not have even occurred to either of them.
They started communicating after he died in 2006 (her time) on his way to see her, but 2004 his time, neither of them knew he had died by this time so there was no way they could have met, my question is how did he know to go and meet her the first time if they hadn't started communicating yet?
They had been communicating for 2 years at that point - his time. Hence why he was going to meet her and got killed in the process.
Day 4: 1:00 A.M.-2:00 A.M. - S4-E19
Question: After the President is injured in the plane crash, VP Logan is made President. While hiding in the bunker he says "they could be coming for me next." If they did attack Logan and he was severely injured also, who would take over as President? No VP was appointed after Logan was "promoted" so who is next in line?
Question: If the pay phones are the only entrance/exit points in the matrix, why did the robots add it in?
Answer: Pay phones are not the only way in or out of the matrix. In fact, pay phones are only used twice in the film. The other times people are shown entering or leaving the matrix, they do so via a plain black rotary phone sitting on a table. Any hard-line (that is, physically connected to the system by wires) phone can be hacked to provide an entrance or exit. Several have been hacked already and, as the process takes time to complete, rather than begin a hack of the hard-line phone nearest to the operative, operatives are directed to the nearest previously hacked phone when a quick escape is required. The robots did not add this feature to the matrix, it is merely a manipulation of the code on the humans' part.
Question: Could the police really put the Lincoln back together perfectly and that quickly?
Answer: It's a different car of the same make and model that they swapped for the one they tore apart, and in which they hid the drugs in the same place as the original.
Question: When Rocky kisses Dianne, why is it a New Years dance if they are at summer camp?
Answer: It appears to be a party at camp. Lots of camps have special themed parties especially before the camp is over.
Question: Who plays the piano background music during the car scene after Chris was kicked out of his band, when Chris and Emily are talking and she's telling him maybe it's a sign to start writing your own songs?
Question: Has Samantha's birthday ever been officially said? She says she looks the same as she did that summer and all that shows is that she doesn't have a tan left. People are still wearing tank tops, dresses, skirts, shorts, etc. throughout the movie. It appears to be early to mid September but nobody says anything in the movie. Does anybody know?
Answer: The brother is constantly wearing Chicago gear. I'd bet Chicago. You can lose your tan in one month. That's a long time to a kid back in school. Plus the dance they go to is called the New Faces dance which may be a beginning of the school year.
I did a little checking on the movie production. According to the Wikipedia entry for this film, "Sixteen Candles was filmed primarily in and around the Chicago North Shore suburban communities of Evanston, Skokie, and Highland Park, Illinois during the summer of 1983." The summers in this region are usually quite hot and humid which may account for why the cast was wearing lighter clothing throughout the film, even though it was supposedly taking place in Autumn.
Question: Why was Meg the one to lead the mob? I know that Christine was her friend and all but was it because she was mad Madame Giry didn't let her go with Raoul?
Answer: It seems you likely answered your own question. Christine was her friend. The adrenaline borne of her concern for Christine likely overwhelmed any feelings of resentment or jealousy she might have felt, so that probably wasn't a factor. Maybe the better question would be why NOT Meg to lead the mob? She and Christine both grew up in the Opera House, and she was particularly familiar with the hallways and catacombs of the building. Being a woman at that time period works against the notion that she would lead a mob. But in this circumstance, she is just as logical a leader as anyone.
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: A combination of factors is at play here. Carrie's mother, Margaret, is mentally unstable. She is a staunch fundamentalist Christian. Her daughter, Carrie, is a product of forced intercourse by her drunken husband which her mother admits to having enjoyed, regardless of its sinful nature. Carrie exhibits telekinetic powers, which Margaret labels witchcraft. Carrie goes to the prom against her mother's wishes, which Margaret considers sinful. Margaret ultimately sees her daughter as an evil spawn, imbued with Satanic powers, who is also beginning to assert her independence and defy Margaret's Christian principles. It was probably part of Margaret's delusion that killing her daughter in the midst of prayer (they are reciting "The Lord's Prayer" when Margaret stabs Carrie in the back and continues to attack her) might facilitate her possibility for redemption.
Michael Albert