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: Did the arriving FBI agents at the end of the movie let Seth leave because they knew he was going to testify against the firm?

Answer: Yes. Actually, with the help of Seth's dad, he cut a deal to testify.

William Bergquist

Question: How does being magnetised give you the power to delete tape footage? Wouldn't that work for DVDs, but not for VHS? Also I noticed in the scene where Jerry walks into the video store magnetised, the screen on the tv got all staticky every time I watched it. Was the static intentional?

Answer: VHS is data magnetically encoded on tape. A magnet will wipe them out. DVD/CD's are data encoded in plastic with a laser. Magnets won't hurt them in the slightest. Yes, the static was intentional, magnets can interfere with televisions.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Why would Skynet want to kill Kyle Reese? If he doesn't go back, he won't destroy the first Terminator, and that arm will not end up becoming Miles Dyson's inspiration for creating Skynet (as stated in T2), and if Skynet isn't created at that point, they will never exist in the future. Surely the machines would work this out, and make sure the loop is completed (i.e, not killing Kyle so Connor can send him back?

Answer: No because the timestream clearly has some flex in it for changes, but Judgment Day is inevitable. The arm and chip were destroyed, yet Skynet was still built in T3. In all the timelines, Skynet is built and John Connor beats it. So killing Kyle or John is Skynet's only real option.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Are the Na'Vi aware or at least able to sense if one of their kind is an Avatar? They don't seem all that surprised when they encounter one of their own kind wearing army clothing and wielding a human weapon (they actually go so far as to dub Jake a 'dreamwalker,' which I took to be their term for a Na'vi body being remotely controlled by another being), yet later on when Jake and co.'s true status as impersonators is revealed, Tsu'Tey makes a huge uproar of disgust about it.

Answer: The Avatars have five fingers while the Na'vi only have four - the avatars' eyes are larger and they have eyebrows and avatar noses are more humanlike vs the na'vi's more catlike noses; the Na'vi simply tolerate the avatars (remember Neytiri tried to kill Jake). Tsu'Tey isn't angry that they are actually human, he's angry that their ulterior motive is trying to get them to leave their home.

Sanguis

Question: Why does the Comedian say, "I'm sorry, Mother," in the movie? He says this as he is dying and also when he visits Moloch. Could "Mother" be a reference to the two mothers of his children - the Asian one that he killed as well as Laurie's mom whom he raped? If this is not the case, then I just don't get it.

Answer: I always took it to mean that he was apologizing to his own (presumably dead) mother for being the kind of man he is; one he feels she'd have been disappointed in.

Phixius

Question: Do the creators ever plan on making a sequel? The ending is such a good cliff-hanger that I assumed it would return, although it has been over six years since the film's release that it looks doubtful.

T.Rex.Sheffield.Can+Ash

Chosen answer: The film was critically panned and a commercial failure. While the possibility of a franchise would obviously have been considered, the poor box office returns would have put paid to any studio interest in a sequel.

Tailkinker

Question: Is it really likely that a main governing body on Earth wouldn't have a say in whether or not humans eradicate a whole species, not just on Earth, but on another planet, and a humanoid species at that? It just seems odd that a mining company owner has the final say on whether a scientifically significant race lives or dies.

Answer: Earth is six years away. The company can do whatever the hell they like, partly because there's nobody there to stop them, but mostly because ultimately what people really care about is results. If they keep up a steady flow of unobtanium, whatever methods they took to get it will be largely ignored. And with nobody around to say otherwise, painting the Na'vi as the aggressors in the situation would be relatively easy, allowing them to claim that they were merely defending themselves and that the Na'vi brought it on themselves by their hostile actions.

Tailkinker

Question: If the Fallen can teleport (or open space bridges, whatever), why does he need an alt mode?

Answer: The alternate form is a type of camoflauge to hide in their surroundings, it's got little to nothing to do with their traveling needs. Legs, wings, or wheels, it's all the same to them; just some can teleport also.

Phixius

Question: If the ship's artillery is only equipped with 5-inch starburst rounds (as stated more than once), how do they use the much larger guns to sink the submarine?

Answer: The smaller guns were only equipped with the Starburst rounds. The 16 Inch Cannons were still supplied with live ammo. None of the characters left to fight had experience with the 16 inch guns except for the Gunner's Mate, therefore none of them thought to use one of the 16 inch guns.

dablues7

Question: Not sure if it's a mistake: When Anakin is turning to the dark side, after killing Windu, Sidious' voice changes constantly during the whole scene. What happened there?

Answer: It is one of two things, either his attack on Mace Windu reflected onto himself damaged his vocal chords as well as his body, or, as has been suggested, his deformed figure is actually his true form which he has been hiding for so long with the force, and only now does he stop hiding it as he has no more need to.

What the submission meant was did it go from normal to croaky and back again afterwards? Personally I agree. I thought the croaky voice was probably from his hidden identity, but his voice is normal again when he says "execute order 66."

Question: One burning question: Why do the machines need to capture the humans? What do they need them for? Surely a neurotoxin introduced to the atmosphere or water table would eradicate all non-mechanical life?

Answer: The new T-800 model that Skynet's working on is the first to use real human tissue. The humans are being captured for use in experiments related to that. It is also stated in T1 that some humans were kept to work in the camps.

Tailkinker

Question: Two questions: In the bar, Obi Wan's lightsaber is purple, not blue. Is there any particular reason for this? Also, the trivia section for this movie mentions a scene with Han Solo and Jabba the Hut that I have never seen before in the movie. Can somebody explain where the scene is and what happens in it?

Answer: The different color is likely due to the lighting of the cantina. The scene with Jabba is in the remastered version of the film and takes place as Han and Chewie are preparing the Falcon for takeoff. Han tells Jabba that he'll have the money to repay him as soon as he gets back from the job of taking Luke and Obi-Wan to Alderaan and Jabba tells him that if he doesn't, he's going to have to send Boba Fett after him.

Captain Defenestrator

Lucas filmed the scene during the production of Star Wars but dropped it because he didn't have the technology at the time to replace the stand-in with Jabba the way he wanted. Later during the remaster, now equipped with the right technology, they added Jabba and included the scene in the film.

jimba

Question: I was wondering, at the beginning when the cop is about to shave him, why does he freak out about the knife but can kill people with his own knife?

Metalligod666

Chosen answer: Because it's a knife that someone else is holding and can use against him. It's common for people in dangerous professions to regard their weapons as tools. For example, police officers who commit suicide by handgun rarely use their service weapon, but rather a personal firearm.

Captain Defenestrator

Additionally, I believe it is made clear during that scene that Rambo had previously been tortured at some point, and one of the tools used was a knife. So the combination of being restrained and having someone approach with a knife caused him to basically have extreme PTSD and so he attempts to escape.

oldbaldyone

Show generally

Question: The question "How do the girls' husbands, other than Dorothy's, die?" was answered that in theory, Blanche's husband could have had a car wreck, fallen into a coma, and died while she was getting a pedicure. This is not true. Blanche stated that when George came back to her in a dream, she remembered tripping over his shoe on her way to answer the phone, thus finding out that George had died in a car wreck. Doesn't this prove that the "he had a wreck, fell into a coma, and then died during Blanche's pedicure", theory is out?

Countryrunner

Chosen answer: Yes, you are correct, as stated, In one episode Blanche said he had been in a coma for days, in the episode where she's in her dream, she said "The day you died ... The police told me you had been in an accident." Thus the original answers theory is wrong. If he had been in the accident the day he died he could not have been in a coma for days.

Valentine

Yeah, in another episode she relates how a thoughtless state trooper phoned her and told her that her husband was dead with his mouth full.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Yes, the boy was an intentional reference to the film.

Question: When Eddie is fighting Doom at the end he spots a box with a singing sword in it. He whips it out and sure enough, the sword starts singing. My question is, why would there even be a singing sword? Is this a reference to something else?

Carl Missouri

Answer: Valiant also shares his name with Arthurian comic strip hero Prince Valiant, who wields a singing sword, Flamberge.

Chosen answer: One of the legends of Excalibur says that the sword sang when Arthur pulled it from the stone. Bugs Bunny went on a quest for the singing sword in a cartoon once, so there's historical AND cartoon precedence for singing swords.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: It's likely just meant to be a nonsensical gag. Notice how Eddie and Doom both give the sword a questionable look, like they're also confused as to why such a thing even exists.

Answer: This is also a gag factory where such things like that would be made for cartoons.

Rob245

Question: I never understood the "shave and a haircut" trick that Doom uses to lure out Roger. Why does Roger burst through the wall and yell "Two bits!" just to get caught? I never got it and its never explained.

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: The musical notes that accompany the lines are a staple in nearly every cartoon ever drawn. Hence Doom's insistance that "no toon can resist" it. It drives Roger nuts that Doom isn't finishing the ditty.

Phixius

Chosen answer: He burned Nero's original plans for his New Rome, inspiring Nero to burn down Rome to rebuild.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: No.

Tailkinker

Question: How could McClane tell that the ammo in the blue labeled magazine were blanks?

Answer: If you listen, he says something to the effect of "I know I had that guy in my sights", meaning he is amazed he missed. So he checks the bullets in the magazine to see if that's the problems. Blanks are simply shells with no bullet that are crimped shut to hold the powder in. The difference between blanks and live rounds is very obvious even at a glance.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: Just before the attack on the church, Grant and his team switch the red taped clips from their weapons with blue taped clips. The blue clips carried blanks and the red clips carried real ammo. After firing on a guy but not hitting him, McClane checked the clip and realised that the gun he used had blanks and that Grant and his team were involved with freeing Esperanza.

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