Answered 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.

Episode #1.8 - S1-E8

Question: As we know Gene died in 1953 so how did he save Alex in 1981 from the car bomb, he was already dead and in the purgatory world?

Answer: Have you finished watching the entire series? I don't think it's fair to answer this for someone who hasn't.

Bishop73

Answer: Agree with the other answer. This is not the place for spoilers. I suggest checking the series' entry on Wikipedia. There is a synopsis of each season's episodes that may have the answer you seek. Check here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ashes_to_Ashes_episodes.

raywest

Question: The older sister seems to hate Uncle Buck. Why does she hate him?

Answer: She doesn't seem to really hate him, per se. She's a rebellious teenager going through a hard time in her life, pretty much giving all adults/authority figures a hard time (including her parents). Like a lot of teenagers, she doesn't like being told what to do and thinks herself far more mature than she is. She starts off on the wrong foot with Buck before he even shows up, since she resents her parents for having him come in the first place; she thinks she's old enough to a) be left alone, and b) look after her two younger siblings. So, when he shows up, she immediately defies him and refuses to acknowledge that he is "in charge", since she is, in her mind, not a child anymore. Her relationship with him eventually thaws as she realises that he genuinely cares about her (something she doesn't think her parents do).

Question: The main characters were going to fly to the Caribbean at the end of the movie. Gordon was going to go back there with his sister. As for the rest of the crew, were they to travel there for good to escape authorities or just go on vacation?

Answer: Escape authorities.

Question: There's a scene where they are getting ambushed by the humvee and then Wex is cut in half. Right before that, it shows a soldier pick up a chopped off hand and put it in his bag. Why did he do that and secretly?

Answer: My thought when I saw it was that he just didn't want to leave any comrade behind, even if it was a small body part. It's gruesome but it appears he's being driven by his emotions and loyalty.

raywest

If I recall, one of the mottos used in the film was "Leave No Man Behind." So, as the other answer says, by picking it up he is making sure no part of someone is left behind.

Ssiscool

Question: When Coach Haskins allows players to "play their way" why is the team more effective?

Answer: Because it's a bi-racial team. While he worked to build a unified team, he recognizes that there are many differences between the members. He realises he needs to also allow them to play to their natural abilities and individual strengths, making them more effective players.

raywest

Answer: The army found out it was George Berger who fought in the war. If you look at the scene where they are standing over the grave, you will see Claude in civilian clothes. He should have been arrested for dodging the draft and having someone else impersonate him.

Answer: It is assumed the military will have worked out his actual identity by this time. He likely told someone between boarding the plane and his death, was drafted per his draft card, dying (needlessly, as did all those who went to and /or fought) in Vietnam. It was demonstrated on both sides that soldiers tended to shoot high, above their "opponents" heads - it is not within the nature of humans to wish to kill each other with no motivation (on the whole). War sucks, is part of the vast corporate money machine. This film is a tribute to peace, love and the human condition.

Question: Was it Annie or Hallie that put the rocks in Meredith's bag, put the lizard on her head, and Evian bottle?

Answer: It was Annie. I know because Hallie was ahead of everyone when they're were walking which means she knows the way to their camping site... Know that it's Annie's first time on their camping trip.

Question: What does Colonel O'Connell yell to his Legionnaires in French as the cavalry charge nears? And why does he then continue in English ("Steady, Steady...Fire!").

Answer: He is in the French Foreign Legion, which is a corps in the French army which allows foreigners to sign up. But, it is mostly led by French and a lot of French nationals are still a part of it. So hence why he speaks in multiple languages, being trained by French.

lionhead

Yes, I know, but what does he yell in French? Does anyone have the text? It's not in the script. Fraser is fluent in French, maybe it was his improvisation. I'd still like to know what he said.

tovangar

Ah yes, sorry. I was too focussed on the second question. He says "Prenez vos positions." Which means "take your positions!"

lionhead

Question: Hermione was the one who said that when a werewolf transforms he'd kill his best friend if he saw him, so why did she think she could talk to Lupin after he transformed?

Answer: Hermione was quoting what she knew from reading in text books. Now she was in a precarious real-life situation and she's going to try anything to survive. At first, Lupin (as a werewolf) seems passive and non-dangerous, prompting her to see if she can communicate with him. She quickly realises she's wrong.

raywest

I wonder why Lupin can't recognize Hermione while in his werewolf form, but he used to spend time with James, Peter, and Sirius, in their Animagus forms? So he was capable of recognizing friends.

All 3 friends of Remus managed to calm down werewolf Lupin as animagi after a while. But only Sirius wasn't enough apparently, plus it had been decades since they did that.

lionhead

Totally agree with Lionhead, but would emphasize that Lupin had no control whatsoever over his mind, did not know who he was, nor did he recognize anyone when he transformed into a werewolf. He simply related to James, Sirius, and Pettigrew in their Animagus forms as being other animals who could moderate his behaviour and kept him far away from humans.

raywest

De-Kahnstructing Henry - S3-E13

Question: When Minh says that Dale can buy the panda radio, and she tells him to address a check to her, why does he pretend not to know her name?

Answer: Dale probably wasn't serious about buying the radio. He was teasing Kahn by asking what Minh's name is. He is enjoying the fact that Kahn and Minh need to sell stuff at a yard sale, because they are normally arrogant, condescending people.

Question: Since I didn't notice it for a long time, I wanna make sure I'm right about this, so am I seeing a real tear roll down Hermione's face as she and everyone claps for Hagrid at the end?

Answer: Yes there is a tear you can see on her face. I think it is meant to be a happy tear because Hagrid is a kind and caring person to her and others at Hogwarts.

Question: At the beginning, when the mothership is first photographed with the infrared and the sheet is laid out on the table, there are four distinct objects that can be seen. The mothership, the moon, and two other objects. One is smaller and to the right of the moon, and there is a kind of swirl directly below both the moon and mothership. Any ideas on what these two other objects could be?

Answer: Have a closer look at the two infrared photos of the Mothership (at 00:04:25 and 00:13:40). It's not "four distinct objects" that we see, it's actually only one image of the massive Mothership. The round bit is not the "moon" it's part of the dome portion of the Mothership. The "kind of swirl" directly below is one of appendages (it has 2) that hang underneath the irregular dome. Compare those infrared photos to the images of the actual Mothership (at 02:02:40 and 02:03:10). At the Pentagon's Space Command, the first infrared photo is only the Mothership (00:04:25). At the White House, the second infrared photo shows the Mothership and numerous Destroyer ships (00:13:40). I can't upload screenshots for answers, but here's the link: Screenshots showing the infrared photo and the actual Mothership.

Super Grover

Answer: It might be an impaired image of the radar, which would indicate why an incomplete image is the only one available. It might not show the full image due to radar interference, much like the television signals are affected due to the satellites being used by the Aliens.

Question: What sort of mental illness does Darian have? And for that matter, she seems to come from a stable home and family. Since this is the case, why should she be mentally unstable and how come her parents never noticed her condition when she was growing up?

Answer: Darian would likely be considered as a depiction of Borderline Personality Disorder. She immediately idealizes Nick, becoming emotionally attached to him, which leads to her wanting him all to herself and becoming jealous of his relationship with Amy. Nick's rejection of Darian's sexual feelings for him and his insistence that they be simple friends is what leads her to her feelings of wanting revenge, while she also has unpredictable short-lived mood swings and unreasonable anger over trivial situations. To top it off, her pettiness and lack of remorse in sabotaging Nick in ways like vandalizing his car, erasing his work, trying to harm Amy and even her closest friend, would be almost certain to lead to a comorbid diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder, especially considering she didn't change in the end, and those with BPD aren't typically violent against others (as media often portrays).

Movielover1996

Answer: I don't think Adrian was written as having a specific mental illness. Regarding her family, it's not unusual for someone with her issues to come from a stable, well-respected home. Real-life stalkers and killers have. Their families, friends, neighbors, etc. were truly shocked by what these criminals did. They knew a totally different person, compared to the person who the victims encountered.

Question: Why did Tom-Tom/Lucy have a nose job? Their nose was basically the same (and pretty as well). And why do people call her Tom-Tom?

Answer: Near the start, when Tom-Tom holds up her school photo packet, her real name Lucy Thompson is on the packet (there's a sticker at the right side of the photo with her name, sideways). So the nickname Tom-Tom may stem from Thompson, though we're not told why or when that nickname even started. Within the movie we're also not given the outright reason for her nose job. If she became self-conscious about her nose, regardless if others thought it was a "pretty" nose, she opted to have rhinoplasty to alter the shape, even in a small way.

Super Grover

I just looked at that scene, and her name isn't on the packet. It has "Tamarack" in big letters at the top, in between two 1987s, but it says the same thing on Jenna's, which I'm presuming is the name of the school. So that can't be it.

Look again. Both Jenna's and Lucy's packets have their names on stickers at the right side of their photos. On Jenna's it reads "RINK, Jenna 03-88743" (we see it when Jenna picks up her photo packet from the table), and on Lucy's packet it reads "THOMPSON, Lucy 04-22578."

Super Grover

Answer: I think the "Tom-Tom" and nose job details were just bad writing. She says, "No one's called me that since I had my nose job." Thompson is not an unusual last name, but I've never heard of anyone being called "Tom-Tom" because of it. And it sounds like the nickname is connected to her nose, even if it's not supposed to be. Just not good writing. Maybe someone based this on an "inside joke"/private joke, not realizing that a mass audience might not understand it.

Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mammy - S6-E5

Question: According to this episode, Mammy Watkins and Blanche's father were in love for 50 years. And they would have been married "in another time and place." However, Blanche's father married a different woman in Season Two ("Big Daddy's Little Lady"). Why would he not have married Mammy Watkins after Blanche's mother died?

Answer: My interpretation is that Blanche's father didn't feel quite the same way about the relationship. Blanche only has Mammie's word that they "would have been married" in another life. I've heard of situations where a person had a longtime affair with someone, but refused to leave their spouse, for whatever reason (maybe finances and reputation/image in their community). This actually happens to Dorothy in another episode: she dates a married man who wants a secret relationship with her, while keeping his marriage because it's predictable and safe.

Azalea

Answer: Because a lot of people, especially in the southern US, simply would not have accepted an interracial marriage. Depending when Blanche's mother died, it might not have even been legal at the time; the last anti-miscegenation laws in their home state of Georgia were struck down in 1967.

Brian Katcher

The episode "Mother's Day" shows Blanche visiting her mother, who is age 89, and Blanche does not look any younger than she does in the present. Apparently her mother died in the late 70s or the 80s. However, I live in the southern US. Even now, in 2023, there are still many people who would object to an interracial marriage. Another factor could be guilt; maybe Blanche's father felt too guilty to marry Mammy Watkins after betraying Blanche's mother for so long.

That is a good point. Marrying someone he's known for years...tongues would wag. 'How long was THAT going on?'.

Brian Katcher

Computer Terror - S6-E9

Question: Does anyone know the name of the actress that plays Thaddeus (the dog's) Mom on season 6's "Computer Terror?" I don't think I've seen her anywhere else. I looked it up on IMDb and it's not listed (uncredited). I even tried google but no luck. Also, does anyone know the name of the actor who played her husband? He does look familiar, but can't place him.

retiredfiregirl

Answer: The husband, Wilbur, is actor Frank Aletter. The wife, Marion, is played by Sandy Balson.

Super Grover

Answer: In addition to lionhead's answer, there are also rumors that Norton wanted more creative control over the character and franchise, as evidenced by the fact he did frequent uncredited rewrites on the set of "The Incredible Hulk" and also even ghost-directed a few scenes while director Louis Letterier was tied up with other obligations. Given the complexity of the MCU, the producers and studio didn't necessarily want cast-members to exercise more creative control over the films early on because it could undermine their long-term plans.

TedStixon

Answer: There were disagreements between him and Marvel about the contract. It's said Norton didn't want to be clung to a single character.

lionhead

Question: Excluding plot device, when Lanie goes to see Prophet Jack a second time, why didn't she simply ask him how she was going to die?

Answer: Probably one of many reasons. It could be fear, denial, inevitability, accepting one's fate, and so on. Not many people want to know exactly when and how they will die.

raywest

Question: At the beginning, Jill tells the police that she believes the caller is watching her through the windows. Since he calls her, how is this possible since cell phones did not exist at the time this movie came out?

Answer: Sorry, editing my answer because I misunderstood the question. The caller is using a different phone line in the same house. It's possible to have multiple different landlines/phone-numbers in the same building. However, Jill doesn't realise this and probably assumes he's watching her from a different house using binoculars or something similar.

TedStixon

Question: In this film we see what happens to Dr Gordon after Saw. Were these shots filmed in 2003 when Saw was filmed, or were they filmed in 2010 with this film?

Ssiscool

Chosen answer: They were filmed in 2010 for this film. When the original film was made, it was intended to be a one-and-done, direct-to-video movie. They didn't know that there would be more than a half-dozen sequels and that Dr. Gordon would be revealed as a mastermind all along, so they'd have no reason to film such scenes. A sequel wasn't even announced until the original film tested well during festival screenings, was given a theatrical release and became a big hit. You can also kind of tell because the first film and this film were shot on different mediums (film and digital) and have a different aesthetic, and the first film also didn't have the budget for some of the digital effects used in those scenes (such as digitally removing Gordon's food).

TedStixon

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.