Question: There's a scene in this episode I haven't seen in over 30 years (edited out in more recent years) where the 4 kids upstairs are arguing (boys vs girls) and the kids continuously stamp their feet on the floor and then Alice is shown downstairs watching her cake in the oven. Periodically with all the stomping from upstairs, the cake gets flatter until very flat the end of the scene. Question is does anyone remember this scene and why does the cake in the oven get flatter every time a kid stomps from upstairs?
Bishop73
19th Aug 2019
The Brady Bunch (1969)
Answer: Realistically, a cake would not deflate in that way. There are some desserts, like delicate, airy souffles, that can deflate during and after baking, and that must be served almost immediately from the oven. The scene, broadly played for humor, is merely meant to show the argument's growing intensity gauged against the rate of the deflating cake.
Answer: I haven't come across a scene like that, but maybe over time what you remember got mixed up with episodes of other shows, so this is just a suggested episode. "Try, Try Again." In the episode, Mike is preparing a gourmet meal for Saturday. Jan is practicing tap dancing in the kitchen and his soufflé that he had spent 3 days preparing is knocked to the floor. While it is true soufflés can "fall" (meaning deflate), it's because the cooking time was wrong (or opening the oven door too soon) or the structure of the egg whites is too weak. Noises don't make them collapse.
This was not from "Try, Try Again" (though I do remember that scene too). That was in a later season when the kids were older. The one I was talking about was during the first season when all the kids were young. I know the scene in question were the 4 youngest kids and the scene started by each the boys and girls arguing that Greg/Marcia (running for student body president) doesn't stand a chance against him/her to win (boys for Greg, girls for Marcia).
That's "Vote for Brady", s01e11. I watched it and for some reason Carol tells Mike to be careful, after he makes too much noise, indicating noise will ruin the cake. Alice does keep checking on the cake with the oven light every time the kids make too much noise. However, the cake is always fine, and in fact getting bigger. Then, realizing the cake is fine, Alice is relieved and leans against the counter, knocking over the cutting board. The cutting board crashes to the ground, which this time does cause the cake to flatten. It seems like an exaggerated prop, I've never see a cake rise like that, it looks like how a muffin might rise. Then it's somehow deflated, as if it was hollow, like a puffed pastry, or too raw. If it was too raw, it shouldn't flatten in the oven. But the look of the cake doesn't remind me of any puffed pasty, which is made from a dough, not a batter and the cake looks like a batter cake to me. So, it just deflates for irony or comedy of error reasons.
18th Nov 2013
Batman Returns (1992)
Question: When Selina/Catwoman has Schreck cornered, she says that him, the Penguin and Batman killed her leaving her with only six lives left. I understand that Schreck "killed" her by pushing her out a window and that the Penguin "killed" her when she fell through a greenhouse, but how could Batman have killed her? She landed safely in a truck filled with kitty litter after she got knocked off the roof, so that can't count.
Answer: In each of Selina's 3 falls, there was something that broke her fall enough to save her. In the film, she never died from any of the falls. Her line about having 6 lives left isn't literal. So while the kitty litter did save her, she still attributes the fall to a loss of life at the hands of Batman, because were is not for being lucky and landing in the truck, she might have actually died. Just like she was lucky enough to survive the fall at the hands of Schreck and Penguin but still blames them for a loss of life.
Answer: Having nine lives is all about luck. They refer that to cats who appear to have nine lines because they are able to survive high falls. But for a human it refers to having a lot of luck. She was lucky to land on the kitty litter whilst she should have died from the fall, therefore she lost a life.
6th Aug 2019
General questions
This has been annoying the hell out of me for years. I'm thinking of an early 1960s (?) black and white American movie that features numerous cameos by A-List Hollywood actors who are so heavily made-up (with wigs and latex facial prosthetics) that they are all thoroughly unrecognizable. At the end of the film, as a complete surprise, there is a sequence of each of these otherwise unremarkable cameo characters removing their makeup for a big reveal. For example, a plain, middle-aged woman who only appeared for a few seconds onscreen grandly removes her latex face to reveal none other than Burt Lancaster. I believe Robert Mitchum and Tony Curtis were also among the reveals. What is this film?
Answer: "The List of Adrian Messenger" (1963). Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, and Tony Curtis, along with Kirk Douglas and Frank Sinatra, remove their heavy makeup during the epilogue to reveal who they are. Although Lancaster and Sinatra didn't actual portray the characters they claimed to have been.
Thank you. The name of this movie has been on the tip of my tongue for many years.
Incidentally, director John Huston (who also made a cameo appearance in the film) tried to convince Elizabeth Taylor to play a disguised part in this movie; but, when Taylor learned that her lovely face would be completely hidden under heavy latex, she turned down the role.
4th Aug 2019
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Question: If Doc Ock were to die, would the arms attached to him also die? Also, if they did, could they be removed from him, and attached to someone else and come back to life?
Answer: It's hard to say. The film shows Doc Ock dying, and the arms seem to "die" with him. (Notice the lights on them slowly blinking out as he sinks into the water.) But at the same time, we don't know 100% how they work, so there's always a chance if they were removed and attached to someone else, they may come back alive and resume their "mission." Outside of the inhibitor chip, which seemed to have its own power source, the arms themselves didn't seem to "come alive" until the unit attached itself to his spine. So I always assumed they got their power/electricity from a host body. Which would explain why they appeared to "die" when Ock died.
Answer: How the tentacles work in the film differ a bit from the comics, so any answer would be speculation (and not really relevant since any future Doc Ock movie character is going to be a reboot with rules based on the writers' whims). In the film, the tentacles were attached to his nervous system along the spinal cord and he was able to control them mentally (mentally controlled prosthetics are a real thing). In the comics, they were more remote-controlled and his exposure to radiation gave him telepathic control over them and he could control them psionically, even when severed from his body. In the film, the tentacles had been built with more A.I. than in the comics, and the blast from his sun experiment actually caused the tentacles to gain control of Doc Ock because of the A.I. If Doc Ock died, the tentacles could continue to "live" if they had a power source. They could then be attached to someone else in the same manner, i.e. connected to the nervous system. However, whether or not they would be in control of that person or "alive", without going through another similar accident, would be speculation and up to the writer.
4th Aug 2019
Beetlejuice (1988)
Question: When Beetlejuice tried to get the Maitland's business - I don't recall hearing what he expected for payment from them - does anyone know?
Answer: He didn't really talk about payment from the Maitlands. He made it seem like he was good at getting rid of the living and just wanted to help out. But really, he was trying to get "hired" so they would say his name 3 times so he could be summoned. Then by marrying Lydia, he could escape the Neitherworld.
19th Apr 2004
Finding Nemo (2003)
Question: When the turtle first meets Marlin, he talks about how he brought up his turtle offspring and says, "You know, you leave them on the beach to hatch on their own... and coo-coo-cachoo, they find their way back to the big old blue." Coo-coo-cachoo is also mentioned in the song 'Mrs. Robinson' by Simon and Garfunkel in the beginning of a chorus saying "Coo coo ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know." Does anyone know if there is any connection between the phrases containing coo-coo-cachoo, or what the phrase's possible meaning?
Answer: The actual lyrics are "Koo-koo-ka-choo, Mrs. Robinson", but it most certainly is a part of the song "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel. There is likely not a connection of any kind, or any hidden meaning, it's just a nonsense sound that is in more than one song.
Answer: Coo-coo-cachoo is not in Mrs Robinson, they actually sing woo hoo hoo and wow wow wow in that song. Coo-coo-cachoo is from a Beatles (and then Oasis) song called I am the Walrus. Other than the aquatic nature of the walrus being similar to that of the turtle there is no connection. The turtle was supposed to be a hipp-esque character prone to use unusual words and phrases like whoa, and like whoa!
"Koo-koo-ka-choo" is from "Ms. Robinson." The line in "I Am the Walrus" is "Goo goo g'joob"
31st Jul 2019
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Question: When Daniel is calling home to apply for the job of housekeeper, why did he use different accents instead of just using the British accent instantly?
Answer: Daniel was pretending to be different people that were just all very horrible, so he used different accents. This way, when the "British nanny" calls, he was hoping Miranda would instantly consider him. If he called pretending to be Ms. Doubtfire right away, she might not have basically given him the job right away. And if he used the charming British accent for all his characters, it would have lost its charm when he decided to be Ms. Doubtfire.
Answer: He was just practising or trying it out, and took a while to think of it.
31st Jul 2019
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000)
Question: Why does Mrs Perez tell Catherine that they couldn't find a marrow donor for Daniel because he's mixed race? I thought it didn't matter what race you are when it came to donating organs or blood, as long as the blood types match or were compatible.
Answer: What is often called bone marrow transplants is the transplant of hematopoietic stem cell. Instead of blood type match, patients need to be an HLA match (human leukocyte antigen). There's a lower percentage of matching one's HLA type with a random person than blood type. When it comes to matching human HLA types, a person's ethnic background is important in finding a match because the HLA markers used in matching are inherited, and some ethnic groups have more complex tissue types than others. A person's best chance of finding a donor may be with someone of the same ethnic background, meaning someone on the registry would have to be of mixed race as well. At the time, the total number of multiple race donors in the registry was very low (I don't have the figures for 2004, but in 2014 there were less than 500,000 multiple race donors).
28th Jul 2019
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004)
Question: Early in this movie while still in the USA, Gail says she can't support the research that the blood orchid flower can be used to renew youth for humans, which would make that flower the fountain of youth. Why can she not support the valid scientific research?
Answer: I interpreted it as "I can't support this claim the chemical will extend cell life" because she already said it was impossible. However, the way the line sounded when delivered off screen makes it seem like it was dubbed over different dialog. So someone may not have like what was initially said and had this in as a foreshadowing of her objections later in the film, or it was just a throw away line.
Nothing was stopping her from saying that before they left the United States so that is awful writing. She had no valid reason to think or expect that saying "I can't support this" would change the President and other persons minds after they saw a great presentation with images along with science research to substantiate the claim that the blood orchid flower could renew human youth like a fountain of youth. I assume by objections you mean she didn't want to continue to go through with the expedition after Ben was killed by a giant anaconda, also she gave some answer about evidence not being valid.
26th Jul 2019
Daredevil (2003)
Answer: If you're talking about the pendant that's a long, thin rectangle; it's her name, "Electra", written in lowercase Greek letters. They used "chi" instead of "kappa" so that her name has a "c" in it instead of a "k." (epsilon lambda epsilon chi tau rho alpha).
16th Jul 2019
The Sopranos (1999)
Christopher - S4-E3
Question: How could Bobby be talking to Karen when she had just died in the car accident? he was stuck in traffic talking to her on the phone, and the traffic was caused by her accident, so she would already be dead.
Answer: Bobby Jr. was talking to his son (Bobby III) on the phone, not Karen. Karen couldn't get a hold of Bobby Jr, so she called her son and told him to give his dad a message. For whatever reason, Bobby III waited to call his dad (perhaps he couldn't get a hold of him at first as well). During this time, Karen had her accident and traffic backed up enough for Bobby Jr. to be stuck in it.
Thank you.
14th Jul 2019
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990)
Question: Why does Carlton believe that his driving too slow was the reason he got pulled over? Will even stated that the real reason they were pulled over is because two black people driving an expensive car in a lower-middle income neighborhood looked suspicious. It was a case of racial profiling but, at the end of the episode, Carlton still believed it was because he drove too slowly.
Answer: Because Carlton is naive, trusting, and optimistic. He lived a pretty sheltered life in Bel-Air and just doesn't think police officers would do anything unjust. At this point in his life, he just hasn't gone through the things Will has to make him think otherwise.
13th Jul 2019
Aquaman (2018)
Question: Why does Aquaman even use a thing as a shield in the submarine when he is bulletproof?
Answer: "Aquaman" director James Wan commented on this when a question was posed about if Aquaman is bulletproof, how can he get tattoos. "Bullets (or whatever else) will penetrate and break [Arthur's] skin. He's not a man of steel. He just has really dense mass/muscles. At least that's what Geoff Johns and I talked about." In addition to his advanced resilience, he also has advanced healing abilities. Geoff Johns is a comic book writer whose work includes Aquaman, and he was President and CCO of DC Entertainment at the time. In the comics, Johns has shown Aquaman to be vulnerable to bullets.
Answer: Just because a bullet won't kill him doesn't mean he'll get hit by bullets if he can avoid it. It would still cause pain. He also isn't bullet proof, he is merely bullet resistant. Larger calibre bullets would hurt him.
13th Jul 2019
The Legend of Tarzan (2016)
Question: In real life, had Tarzan been raised by apes from the time he was a baby, would he have actually been able to be educated to act and speak like an ordinary person?
Answer: I'd have to disagree with the previous answer. Being that Tarzan was raised by apes from infancy, there are many higher-level brain functions that he (in real life) would never have completely developed, such as upright walking and other motor skills, cognitive and speech abilities, social interaction, and so on. There are some vital human-brain capacities that if not learned at certain stages of early-childhood, cannot or can only partially be learned later. However, it is highly unlikely an infant could survive long in such an environment.
Answer: Any answer would be speculative at this point since we don't have enough examples of feral children living in the wild until Tarzan's age. Most children that become feral either start out at an older age, 5 or 7, where they know how to speak a language, or are found before they hit puberty. This makes teaching and integration somewhat easier. There was a case of a boy living in the wild for 15+ years that still had difficulty interacting with society even in his 60's and 70's. He had the ability to speak but eventually lost it as he became more feral and he had huge difficulties understanding technology, like radio and cinemas. In all probability, Tarzan, and similar characters, would not be able to learn how to communicate, even if he could learn to speak English. He would have an even more difficult time learning how to socialize and live as "normal" adults do. And I could not see any possibility he teaches himself how to read and speak English, or any language.
Answer: In the books, Tarzan was self-taught after he discovered the house his father built. He learned to read English using the elementary books his parents brought with them to teach the child they were expecting, these books were in the house. While studying these books, he mimicked many of the things he saw in pictures, which could have included walking upright. He did not learn to speak English until he was a young adult after traveling to Europe. Also, after rescuing Paul D'Arnot in Africa, the French officer taught Tarzan French as the two of them left Africa for Europe.
Yes, but the question was could he "in real life" be educated and learn to speak like an ordinary person if he had been raised by apes from the time he was a baby. You are only describing how Tarzan accomplished that fictionally in the book. In real life, that could not have happened.
12th Jul 2019
Oblivion (2013)
30th Nov 2013
The Sound of Music (1965)
Question: Gretel was 5 years old and the mother died seven years ago. Who is Gretel's mom?
Answer: In the film, the Mother Abess explains to Maria that the Captain Von Trapp's wife died "several years" ago. This is commonly misheard by viewers as "seven years." In reality, the actual mother of the Von Trapp children was Agathe Whitehead, who died of scarlet fever in 1922, just four years before Maria came to the Von Trapp home, initially as a tutor (not a governess) in 1926.
Answer: However when Captain Von Trapp gets the children to step forward and introduce themselves to Maria he states that their mother died 7 years ago.
Not in the 1965 film, perhaps in another version. In the 1965 film the only thing he says about his late wife when he first meets Maria is "you'll be the 12th governess...since their mother died." When he has the children introduce themselves, he only advises Maria to pay attention to their signals and names. Later after he leaves and the children say how old they are, Marta says "I'll be 7 on Tuesday."
21st Jun 2019
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Question: When Passepartout, Phileas Fogg and Monique are looking at a map to find a way of avoiding the British police, Phileas notes that they can't go to Singapore or Hong Kong because they're both British Colonies. Monique asks if England owns every country in Asia, Passepartout says they don't own China. Since Hong Kong is located in China, shouldn't England own that as well?
Answer: Hong Kong was indeed under British rule from 1841-1997. In short, it stems from the First Opium War where in the aftermath of the war, China ceded (gave up control of) Hong Kong to the British. After the war, with the cession of Hong Hong, it wasn't technically part of China any more and Britain didn't really seek to occupy more of China.
19th Jun 2019
The Simpsons (1989)
18th Jun 2019
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
Dying For Pie / Imitation Krabs - S2-E6
Question: At the end of "Dying For Pie," how could the pie SpongeBob took out of his pants still be in flawless condition? Wouldn't it have been crushed in his pocket?
Answer: There's a lot of sight gags in the show, something ridiculous or impossible happening for a laugh. This is just one of them.
14th Jun 2019
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Question: Why did time not end when Thanos destroyed the stones, and what happens in now there aren't any? The Ancient One stated that the stones control the flow of time, and removing even one of these opens up the world to unimaginable horror. Well why did nothing happen after Thanos destroyed them all? And now that our timeline has no stones, how would Dr. Strange be able to stop Dormammu from coming back?
Answer: The way I understood it, removing the stones from one timeline into another timeline is what The Ancient One was talking about. The "new branched reality" is what would be overrun by the forces of darkness. But, even if she meant this reality, the reality where Thanos destroyed the stones, The Ancient One said it was their chief weapon, not their only weapon. Bruce then tells her Doctor Strange gave the time stone to Thanos and The Ancient One says maybe she made a mistake. However, since Thanos eliminates half the population of the universe, including the forces of darkness, whatever forces she was talking about may not have been around to try and attack Earth. Or in the 5 years that we don't see, there was an attempt and other weapons were sufficient.
Answer: In the comics the stones will be replaced by something else equally powerful to compensate for their loss. I suppose the same applies to the MCU. These powers need to have a physical presence in the universe, in one way or another.
The only problem is the films never insinuate this at all. The Ancient One flat out states that not having the stones would be bad for the universe, and yet Thanos destroys the stones with absolutely no adverse affects to the universe whatsoever. This movie played very fast and loose with the rules they established regarding the stones and time travel and I feel like things like this were massive flaws.
The universe is a pretty big place, though. There could very well be bad things in another part of the universe that have yet to affect our galaxy. Additionally, the forces of darkness that could potentially threaten the universe may be curbed by a cosmic entity such as the Living Tribunal, whose existence in the MCU was acknowledged in "Doctor Strange" and could very well appear in "The Eternals" or "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."
I just believe the ancient one didn't even know. The ancient one isn't always correct, as Bruce proved. And the bad thing was taking the stones away from their timeline, creating timelines where they are not supposed to be, it says nothing about destroying them.
That to me is still bad writing. You have a character whose entire purpose in the movie is to give exposition, and the exposition she gives is apparently incorrect. That's all well and good but that still needs to be addressed at some point. Some character should have brought up the fact that the stones were destroyed (and incidentally, remain destroyed in the main timeline) and the Ancient One should have addressed that fact. Otherwise, like the original question points out, it leaves a bit of a gap in the film's logic.
Answer: I believe the filmmakers have said that the energy of the stones was dissipated into the universe when their crystal vessels were destroyed. So that while they didn't have a physical form anymore, their essence remained and continued to regulate the flow of existence of the Universe. Presumably the energy can't then be reconstituted into the stones without some sort of profoundly intricate magic/science, the kind of power only possessed by gods and/or ancient elemental beings. Also, the Ancient One says that Hulk taking the time stone would be good for his timeline, but would leave hers without their weapon, which I presume means they wouldn't have the time stone to help the Sanctum's usual efforts in holding dark magic at bay. The actual effect of removing the essence of a stone from its timeline is still open to speculation.
If the ancient one was only talking about the time stone then Cap wouldn't have to bother bringing all stones back. No, she was talking about all infinity gems. Remove a stone and that universe is doomed.
Answer: The sorcerers may have other ways to stop Dormmamu from returning (even if those ways are currently unbeknownst to them). This could be addressed in the sequel. Additionally, since Dormmamu would have to know that the Time Stone was destroyed in the first place, he may well just stay away rather than falsely believing that he can be trapped in a time loop again.
Answer: She said the world not the universe. She said "without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness our world will be overrun." Theory: since Thanos used the stones to destroy the stones and Hulk heard what the Ancient One said, he could have used the stones to bring back their stones along with everyone else. He couldn't have know who all died in the universe, he could have just undid everything from 5 years ago.
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Answer: I think I remember that episode - but, more importantly, my mother always told me (and my siblings) to stop jumping/ stomping, running in the kitchen, and opening the oven door when a cake was baking... because these could make the cake fall. I believed my mother... and I, as a child, also caused a few "fallen cakes" because I didn't quite always listen (right away, anyway). I'm sure Alice's fallen cake episode was exaggerated, but cakes really CAN fall from stomps and opening the oven door too soon. Usually, it has something to do with the baking powder and how the air bubbles change during the baking process. Doing something that might cause the oven and cake inside to move/shake can suddenly change the air bubbles inside the cake and cause a collapse. I don't know all factors that have to occur for a cake to fall (collapse in the middle), but I've seen fallen cakes during my adulthood and... well... caused at least a few myself. Regarding Alice's cake falling each time one of the Brady kids stomped upstairs, I'm not sure if a series of falls could occur. IF it is possible, I think there would have to be way too much baking powder in the batter or some other inaccurate combination of ingredients that alter the chemical process during baking.
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