Friends (1994) - 144 questions

Question: There is a noticeable change in the lighting in the first season compared to the rest of them, does anyone know why this is?

Answer: Normally first seasons of a show do not get the budget that established shows get. It is possible after the huge success of season 1, the show got a better budget and better lighting.

Question: In which episode are they playing the states game?

Answer: The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs. Season 7, episode 8.

Question: In which episode did Ross play his keyboard in Central Perk, etc.?

Answer: This took place in episode number 7 in Series 4. The episode is entitled "The One Where Chandler Crosses the Line".

Question: What are the differences in ages between the Friends? On the episode "The one where they all turn thirty" Ross comments at the end that they are ALL thirty - but he and Monica are brother and sister. Surely they can't be the same age?

Answer: He means that they have all turned 30 by this point in the series - this episode flashes back to all the 30th birthday stories. Ross & Chandler were in the same college class and Joey states that he is 28 during the second season (TOW Joey Moves Out). Monica and Rachel were in the same high school class, and were seniors when Ross was a college freshman, implying a 1-2 year gap. The run from oldest to youngest is: Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, Ross, Monica, Rachel.

Question: Last year, before Friends had finished being filmed, I read an article in a paper that friends would have a special "Friends Reunited" episode and film it while they were still making the program. Did this happen or was the whole idea replaced with the spin-off series Joey?

Answer: Accorting to Martha Kauffman, no reunion will ever be filmed because, in her words, "reunions tend to suck". So this was probably all just a rumor.

Question: Did Joey ever mention moving to L.A. or did he just move and not tell anyone? Moving to the other side of the country is pretty much bigger than anyone else's reason for splitting up the group, surely?

Answer: We never saw what happened after the last episode of friends, we do not know how much time passed between that last episode and Joey's move. I assume at some point after the last episode of friends he decided to move to LA, and I am sure he told everyone at some point. If you remember he was kind of depressed that all of his friends where married and starting families, I am sure this helped him decide to move.

Question: Does anyone know which episode it is where Joey and Chandler are at another apartment and Joey runs out of the bathroom and says "now would be a great time to leave because I've just clogged the toilet"?

Answer: This is in season four. The episode is called "The One With All The Haste". Monica and Rachel are trying to get their apartment back from the guys.

Question: We can see a decoration in Ross' apartment, a kind of big Japanese sword hanging on the wall, especially on Seasons 2-3-4. Can anybody give some info about that weapon? I find it really beautiful.

Answer: This is a Chinese axe called a Pudao or a Guan Dao. It's made of a broadsword, but has a much longer handle - about four to six feet. Also known as the 'Horse-Cutter'.

Question: Can someone chronicle Chandler and Janice's relationship for me?

Answer: We first meet Janice in the season one episode The One With The East German Laundry Detergent, during which Chandler gets Phoebe's help to dump Janice. Chandler then asks her out for New Year in The One With The Monkey, and once again dumps her before the episode is over. In The One With The Candy Hearts, Joey sets Chandler up on a blind date which turns out to be with Janice. Janice next appears in the season two episode The One Where Heckles Dies - Chandler calls her as is he is feeling lonely, and she reveals she is now married, and pregnant. In The One With Barry And Mindy's Wedding, Chandler falls for a woman he meets online, who then turns out to be Janice. This is the first time their relationship lasts across multiple episodes, as they continue to see each other until breaking up in the season three episode The One With The Giant Poking Device, in which Chandler discovers she has been seeing her ex-husband on the side. In the season four episode The One With All The Rugby, they meet again, and to avoid starting up a relationship with her again, Chandler pretends to be moving to Yemen. This is the end of all romantic involvement between them, although Janice does cross paths with Chandler and the others several times. She is seen for the last time in season ten episode The One Where Estelle Dies, in which Chandler pretends he is still in love with her to try and put her off moving in next door to him and Monica.

Question: I know I have seen an episode where Ross is in his apartment (the ugly naked guy's one), and he is doing different stuff through the window for the girls to see (shark attack etc.), when Monica and Rachel use cutout boards of some Baywatch girls. Could someone please tell me which episode this is? Thank you.

Answer: This is from season 5, episode 17: The One With Rachel's Inadvertent Kiss.

Question: It's been mentioned that Rachel attended college, but what exactly did she major in?

Answer: Rachel attended college, but in one of the thanksgiving flashback episodes she mentions that her major was psychology but there was no parking around the pyschology building, so she switched majors. She never says what her new major was.

Question: During the opening credits one season we see a hand gesture where they smack both their fists together twice. Does this gesture have any meaning?

Answer: On episode No. 405 "The One with Joey's New Girlfriend," Monica explains the story behind the hand gesture: "It's this dumb thing that Ross made up because he was trying to fool our parents. It's a way of giving the finger, without actually having to give it. I remember I cried the night he made it up, 'cause it was the first time that I realized that I was actually cooler than my older brother."

Question: What is the episode and the season where Chandler and Monica get engaged? They share a bathtub together, and the other friends (sans Ross) do the "They don't know that we know that they don't know".

Answer: You are actually referring to three separate episodes from two different seasons. They share a bath in the season five episode "TOW all the Kissing" (2nd episode). The episode with the "they don't know that we know that they know" is "TOW Everybody Finds Out" (14th episode of season 5). They get engaged in the season six finale, a two-part episode titled "TOW the Proposal".

Question: In which episode do we find out that Ross's middle name is Eustace?

Answer: His middle name was stated by the writers in interview, and is mentioned in the Friends Trivia Game, but is not confirmed in any episode.

Question: How do you spell Rachel's surname? I always thought it was GREENE, but lots of subtitles seem to think it's GREEN.

Answer: The correct spelling is Green.

Question: TOW the Proposal. Eventually Chandler asks Monica to marry her. Why does Monica say later on that she asked Chandler? (This is when she gives Phoebe advice about her wanting to get married to Mike).

Answer: Because initially Monica set up the room with all the candles etc to ask Chandler, she got down on one knee and then starting crying saying "there's a reason why girls don't do this" so Chandler knelt down too and they kinda asked each other.

Question: In what episode does Joey try to look nineteen years old? There is a scene where he comes out dressed ridiculously, and asks if he looks nineteen, to which Chandler replies, "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most looking like an idiot, you're easily a 19."

Answer: The first episode of the 7th season. The One With Monica's Thunder.

Question: How was the relationships between Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt Le Blanc on the set? Were they as close as the ladies?

Answer: On various documentarys, it is noted that all of the cast were very close friends, to the extent that guests felt very left out during filming. To answer your question yes, they were all very close.

Question: What episode is it when the guys find a 'adult' video of who they think is Phoebe but is actually Ursula? I think the name of the video was "Buffay the Vampire Layer."

Answer: The One where Chandler Can't Cry - Season 6 episode 14.