Question: Are the people present at the digging site when they're discussing new approaches to analyzing skeletons supposed to be paleontologists in dr. Grant's group? If so, why would they laugh at his musings of "how dinos learned how to fly"? And why would he have to explain it to them? Seemed to me like he is explaining very basic stuff to the people that would already know this (and of course, to the movie audience).
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: What does Bruce Wayne live in, did he rebuild his house that burned down in Batman Begins?
Question: Just need to check on this. I just saw the new X-Files movie last week and believe that I saw a funny mistake in the movie. At a certaian part in the movie Mulder goes to call Scully on his cell phone and when he gets to her name it in fact says Gillian not Scully. Anyone else see this?
Answer: Sadly, it's not true - already been submitted and corrected. When we see the screen, it reads "Scully" correctly. All the other names on the screen are surnames of crew members who worked on the TV show, including, immediately underneath Scully's name, Gilligan, for Vince Gilligan, a writer on the show. Understandably, given the brevity of the shot, this is easily misreadable as Gillian.
Question: At the end of the movie was a dedication to a man, I believe the name was Randy Stone or something. Does anyone know who that is?
Answer: Randy Stone was Head of Casting at 20th Century Fox Television and part-time actor. When Chris Carter created the X-Files, it was Randy who cast Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny as the leads, Agents Scully and Mulder. A few years later, Randy's connection to Chris Carter continued with Carter's new creation Millennium, which he also cast. Randy was 48 when he died suddenly in February of 2007.
Question: Why did the office people give Harvey Dent the nickname Two-Face before he actually became the villain Two-Face?
Answer: Because he had been a policeman working in Internal Affairs; in movies at least, IA officers are often shunned by other officers, as they are conceived to be working against their own. The name "Two-Face" was a way of branding Dent as a turncoat.
Question: Any thoughts on whether or not General Glozelle actually killed his three men, like Miraz 'told' him to? He did attempt to follow Miraz's order to assassinate Caspian, but then hesitated to give the order to fire into the courtyard, didn't shoot Peter, and didn't stab Caspian. Maybe he told the three men to hide?
Answer: Without additional information, we have no way to tell. However, given the number of Miraz's supporters that were around at the time, it seems likely that he would have no option but to obey a direct order and kill his men. This may well have been the impetus for his subsequent dissatisfaction with Miraz.
Question: The main premise of 'Blink' is that the Doctor and Martha are stranded in the 1960s. The Doctor is immortal, so wouldn't he have caught up with the present day eventually, to sort out the problem with the Angels?
Answer: Well, technically the 60's are recent enough that both Martha and the Doctor would live through to the present day, but that's hardly an ideal solution, particularly for Martha, who probably wouldn't relish the idea of explaining to her family and friends why she's suddenly in her eighties. So, yes, technically speaking, the Doctor could just sit around and wait, but that's not really the Doctor's style, is it?
Question: Are the events in this movie going to be considered canon for the time between Episodes II and III, or will the events in the Clone Wars TV show be considered canon, or both (if the events in the movie possibly take place after those in the show)?
Answer: Canon in the Star Wars universe is a somewhat complex term as it has several levels ordered in a hierarchy of precedence. Facts stated at a certain level are considered as canon, unless contradicted by something at a higher level of canonicity. The uppermost level of canonicity are the six live-action films. Lucas has stated that the television episodes (which include the Clone Wars movie, which can be considered as the first episodes of the TV series) are to be considered as the next level down in canonicity, so below the films, but above any other releases (books, comics and so forth). So, basically, yes, they're to be considered canon, except in any case where they contradict something established in the live-action films.
Question: Not related to movie. Did Christian Bale get work done on his teeth? In Batman Begins, his teeth were quite crooked and his jawline was quite distinct. In this movie they seem straight and perfect.
Answer: Yes. definitely. His teeth look much straighter in this movie.
Question: How old is Asajj Ventress?
Answer: Her date of birth is unrevealed. What little is known is that she was found as a child (precise age unknown) by a Jedi who crashlanded on her homeworld of Rattatak somewhere around 40BBY (precise year unknown). Realising her Force potential, he took her as his Padawan and trained her for some years, only to be cut down by a local warlord before he could finish, leaving her to seek vengeance on the warlords who had conspired against him, precipitating her fall to the Dark Side. It's difficult to determine her precise age from all this, but if we assume that she was ten when she was found, and that was in 40BBY, then Asajj would be 28 at the outbreak of the Clone Wars. So figure on anywhere in a range a few years either side of that.
Question: Is there any reason why Batman lets The Joker live in this movie, but lets Ra's al Ghul die in Batman Begins? It would seem The Joker represents a greater threat, having escaped already once.
Question: When Dent first meets Alfred at the fundraiser, he says, "You've known Rachel her whole life?" Alfred replies, "Not yet." Was this an intentional attempt to foreshadow Rachel's death?
Answer: Principally it's intended as Alfred making a small joke, but it's certainly an ironic one given subsequent events. As for the precise intent, the only ones who could confirm that are the scriptwriters.
Question: When the Joker's body is brought to Gambol, Joker awakens and pushes away two approaching thugs. Are these the same two thugs being held at gunpoint on the ground by the Joker's henchmen? Also, what does the Joker do to Gambol? Gambol falls from Joker's grip as if he's dead, but the Joker's knife was held to Gambol's cheek, not his throat? I have no doubt that the PG-13 rating opens this to interpretation.
Answer: Gambol is clearly killed, likely having had his throat cut while the camera was on the others in the room. Had we seen the actual cut, the film would have been stuck with an 'R' rating. As for the two thugs, it's a bit vague - I thought it looked like the Joker stabbed them, meaning the two on the ground are two others, but everything happens a bit too fast to be sure.
Question: In the trivia section, there is this entry: At the beginning of the film, the Nazi who gets thrown into the portal lets out a Wilhelm scream as he disintegrates. Can someone please tell me what a Wilhelm scream is?
Answer: The Wilhelm scream is a distinctive scream with relatively high pitch that was originally used in a film called Distant Drums back in 1951. Since then, it has become a frequently used stock sound effect used in movies and TV shows.The Wilhelm scream was popularised in modern film by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt, who has made a point of using it frequently in the films that he works on - he dubbed it the "Wilhelm scream" after a character called "Pvt Wilhelm", who emits one of the screams in a 1953 film called The Charge At Feather River. Other sound designers have also started to use it as well, leading to the scream now being one of the most recognised stock sound effects in cinema. A more detailed history of the scream can be found here.
Question: Why wasn't Amanda's face shown in the flashbacks of her first day at the school?
Answer: The filmakers decided to forego showing Amanda's face early on to give her grand entrance at the party more impact.
Question: Two questions: First, why didn't Dent kill the Joker in the hospital? Okay, he left it up to chance with a coin flip. But the coin was double-sided! So after all the agony, and all the crime busting Dent has been through and achieved, why let the Joker live? Secondly, and this is a pretty major thing, how is it the Joker knows every move that either Batman or the Police/Commissioner Gordon, etc., makes or has planned? It literally seemed like no matter what Batman did, the Joker correctly predicted his move and was already one step in front of the Batman. That seems a little ridiculously impossible to me, unless the Joker is one smart smart con man. Anyone else realize this?
Answer: Harvey's coin isn't identical on both sides any more. One side is pristine, one side is damaged (scratched and scorched), so it's truly a fair coin flip now. Joker persuaded Harvey to leave it to chance - the coin came up undamaged so Joker lives. As for predicting their moves, that's precisely the point - they are predictable, because they live their lives according to rules, laws and ethics. Joker, as an agent of chaos, has the edge over them because he doesn't. He's smart enough to know that people react in predictable ways in particular situations. So it's not that he has some mystical ability to know ahead of time what people will do, he just anticipates the most likely course of action and prepares something to counter that course of action ahead of time.
Question: This question probably is insignificant but I was just wondering - why didn't Rachel want to be with Bruce, and choose Harvey over him? Did she love him more and not love Bruce anymore? And did she really die at the end? I know she probably did but I thought maybe there was a chance she survived? Thank you.
Answer: Bruce has a darkness to him - she says in the first film that she can't be with him while Batman exists. Then Dent appears on the scene and has the same drive for justice that she and Bruce do, but goes about it in a much more open fashion - it's not that she doesn't care about Bruce any more, it's simply that Dent is a man that she can be with, which Bruce isn't. Then, when Bruce fails to hand himself in, letting Dent pretend to be Batman instead, she feels that Bruce is in the wrong and that basically ends it for her - she still cares, but it pushes her into finally making her choice to be with Dent. As for her death, there's no indication whatsoever in the film that she survived the explosion.
The Ember Island Players - S3-E17
Question: Is there an inside joke or added meaning to the names that worked on the "play"? The "surprisingly informed cabbage merchant" is obvious, but besides that.
Answer: The pirates are from the episodes "The Waterbending Scroll" and "The Waterbending Master" (They're the ones Katara stole the scroll from). The traveling musicians are from "The Cave of Two Lovers. The prisoners of war likely refer to the Kyoshi Warriors, the men of the Southern Water Tribe, and possibly Bumi and the other citizens of Omashu.
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Answer: They are not paleontologists, just people interested in dinosaurs. It is common for museums and other scientific organizations to offer the general public an opportunity to participate in a real paleontology dig. For a fee, they become an exhibition team member for a period of time, learn about dinosaurs, help excavate fossils, and so on. This is likely how Dr. Grant (or his institution) supplements his research funding.
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