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.

Question: How did Percy's mom know how to access the elevator to get them up to Olympus? She's human and Percy's god father left when he was a baby.

Answer: At some point in her relationship with Poseidon, he told her about the elevator. Otherwise, she could not have known.

raywest

Question: Throughout all the movies, there are a few times when people are shown using magic without a wand, so what is the point of taking away someone's wand (Hagrid) or casting the "Expelliarmus" spell?

Answer: Only the most skilled wizards (as well as some basic instinctive magic) can do magic without a wand. A wand is also necessary for a number of different spells. Notice how even Voldemort always uses both a wand and the incantation when casting the Killing Curse.

Greg Dwyer

Question: Why was there blood on Travers Goff's shirt when he died? I thought he died of tuberculosis. And what was the knife for?

MikeH

Chosen answer: The bloody shirt is from him continually coughing up much blood from the infected lungs, which is typical in people who had the disease. The knife isn't explained.

raywest

Question: In real life, when are cops allowed to shoot people? I find it hard to believe Samuel Gerard would have been allowed to shoot Richard repeatedly in the torso just for running away from him. I know the glass was bulletproof in that scene, but Gerard didn't know that.

MikeH

Chosen answer: Richard is a convicted murderer on the run. A police officer would be justified in shooting him to prevent him from injuring anyone or taking a hostage.

Answer: The Supreme Court case Tennessee v. Garner affirmed that law enforcement officers have the right to kill fleeing felons if they have a reasonable belief that allowing the subject that they're pursuing to escape would possibly cause more harm to others.

Answer: Samuel Gerard was not a police officer. He was a U.S. Marshal, and they are not governed by the same rules as police. Also being a U.S. Marshal Gerard would surely have known that any glass in any government building would be bulletproof for just such an occasion.

ChristmasJonesfan

Chosen answer: This is a very short, but very complex question about which dissertations are written. Here is my best attempt at a brief summary. Christine lives as a sheltered child-like woman in a highly patriarchal Victorian society. She is torn between two loves. There is Raoul, who represents safety, light, and a sort of romantic, adolescent view of what true love should mean. Then there is Erik, the Phantom, with whom Christine has had a long time bond. He has been to her like a guardian angel. He gave her music. He comforted her when her father died. And yet, as his role turns from that of protector and teacher to one of lustful suitor, he comes to represent darkness, passion, lust, obsession, and danger. He is unstable, driven to madness by a world of light he can never know. He is also, let's not forget, homicidal. Christine ultimately makes the only choice society makes available to her - the safe and sane choice. From the ending of the film, we learn that Christine remained wife to Raoul, but it is unclear how happily her life turned out. She probably always shared a connection to Erik, who possessed for her a depth of love she could never know from any other man. Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote a sequel to "The Phantom of the Opera" called "Love Never Dies." In it, we learn that the Phantom did, indeed, remain in Christine's life. I won't provide spoilers here, but more information about "Love Never Dies" can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Never_Dies_ (musical).

Michael Albert

The Phantom was controlling and abusive. Christine's love for him was based on pity and deception. The Phantom had planned to kill her right after marriage and blow up the entire opera house. When she offered him compassion and devotion, it was her bargaining for Raoul. Yes, Christine had a strong, complicated relationship with Erik, but they were not I love. When Erik realises this, he unites Raoul and begs forgiveness for his misdeeds.

The Phantom murdered, yes, but don't forget where he spent most of his life-it is said that he kills in/for love. And let's not even mention Love Never Dies, it's a whole mess.

debbi.ee

Answer: I believe some things stated are true, like Raou being thesafe choice the Phantom being the dark forbidden suitor. While the things I don't agree are the statements of the Phantom grooming her and kidnapping her. She always was willing to go. While yes he decieved her by saying he was her angel of music, he partly was. He gave her the chance to sing by coaching her. Did he do it from day one because he wanted to marry her? Who knows. I think she truly loved the Phantom but chosen Raoul out of safety. She would have had to live life on the run with the Phantom. The Phantom also told her to go.

Answer: First of all, Eric pretended to be a guardian angel sent from her dead father to teach her to sing. He continued this gaslighting throughout the movie / play, outright stating several times that he was her Angel of Music. Raul on the other hand, was her dear childhood friend, who represented memories with her father. Eric brought her down into his home under the pretense of having her sing for his music, then suddenly turned his tone into a romantic one and showed her and lifelike mannequin he made of her - that's incredibly creepy. At every point where things don't go his way, Eric throws a tantrum and ruins things for everyone in the Opera House. By the end of the show, Christine is terrified of him and is begging Raul to protect and hide her from Eric. We are led to believe that this is a love triangle, but this is an incel man forcing love on to an unsuspecting woman, and when she chooses another man he acts out in his typical fashion, putting them both in danger. It would be hard to love someone like that for anyone.

Question: The movie was released in 2004 and Season 4 was released in 2005. In the movie, SpongeBob is the manager of The Krusty Krab 2 and Plankton got the formula but went to jail. So then how come from Season 4 onwards there's only one Krusty Krab, SpongeBob's still just a fry cook in the original Krusty Krab and Plankton's free and is still trying to get the formula?

MikeH

Chosen answer: The movie is not in continuity with the series.

MasterOfAll

Question: Near the end of the movie, what did Will mean by his comment "the way I see it the blacksmith will receive two pairs of boots instead of one, so be it", or something like that. Can someone please explain what that comment means?

Answer: During executions, the executioner would recieve the belongings of the executed. In this case it was the blacksmith.

MasterOfAll

Question: It is revealed at the start of the film that Vanessa was a Fembot the entire time. When Austin tells Basil Exposition this, he replies that they knew all along. If they knew all along, why didn't they tell him? Am I missing something here, or is it just a very poor excuse for Austin to become single again and act the way he does?

Dra9onBorn117

Chosen answer: It's just a random joke and an easy way for them to write out Elizabeth Hurley and bring in Heather Graham.

Question: What happened to Little Bo Peep? Was she given away or her voice actress was unavailable? Why isn't she in Toy Story 3?

Answer: The toys make reference to her loss, but it's never stated what happened. We're left to wonder.

Answer: It is explained in the short lamp life. She was given away to another family and in that time the light bulb in the lamp caught fire and burnt her hat. After a while she was lost and found and given to a grown man as a gift and endured constant ridicule until she was lost on the street and found by the old lady at second chance antiques. She made friends and got bored and left with giggles and the sheep for seven years.

Question: Obi-Wan Kenobi has a lightsaber in Star Wars, and he is killed by Darth Vader. Luke does NOT pick up Obi-Wan's lightsaber, but escapes on the Falcon. In the Empire Strikes Back, Luke has a light saber, which he uses to escape from the Wampa. We know that Luke did not make his own lightsaber until Return of the Jedi (a green one). Question: Where did Luke get the lightsaber that he uses in Empire Strikes Back?

nothosaur

Chosen answer: It's his father's lightsaber, which Obi-wan gives him at the beginning of the film.

Answer: It's Anakin's lightsaber, the one Obi-Wan gave to him at the beginning of the movie. After the duel in Revenge of the Sith Obi-Wan took it. You can tell it's the same saber by the hilt.

Question: Since Gandalf knew how dangerous the ring was, why did he give it to Frodo and tell him that he must destroy the ring? It would make more sense to either do it himself or find someone else to do it.

Answer: The temptation of the Ring is directly proportional to the power and ambition of the bearer. To someone like Gandalf - a mighty wizard who wants to save the world - the temptation would, over time, prove to be too much, and he's realistic enough to understand that about himself. With an ordinary hobbit who only wants a nice meal and some peace and quiet, the Ring has a lot less to work with.

Answer: Gandalf can't take the ring because he would be tempted to use it, and it would ultimately corrupt him. This is true for nearly anyone who has it for any length of time, except hobbits for some unknown reason. Gandalf recognized this in Bilbo, and later in Frodo.

Answer: It's part of his plan to ruin him. He trains him to be overly aggressive, which will not serve him well in the tournament. Also, he enjoys watching Danny suffer through the rigorous and painful training.

Question: In the beginning where Anderton and his team are having trouble identifying the house where Mr. Marks kills his wife and lover, why didn't the houses have numbers on them? That would have made it easier than just looking for the only house whose door was open.

jm1138

Chosen answer: The houses did have numbers, but the images from the precogs didn't include them. Part of the difficulty of their method is that they have to decipher the random, jumbled images the precogs send them.

Question: Doc Brown strongly believes that nobody should ever find out about their own future. With such a strong conviction, why would Doc tell Marty that his children going to prison is the one event that would ruin the whole McFly family?

Answer: At the end of the first film, Doc says, "what the hell" in response to the letter Marty gave him. So this shows it is not that strong a conviction, especially in the face of definite knowledge about something bad happening. It is also a way for Doc to repay Marty.

MasterOfAll

Answer: Doc advises Marty to not tell him about his future because it may affect his life. It doesn't matter what happens to his kids at all.

Question: How could people sneak into the show? It's in a large dome, and I assume there's lots of security.

MikeH

Chosen answer: A motivated individual can find a way. One could get hired as an extra, or as a crew member. And one could certainly simply elude security. The larger the operation, the easier it is to find holes in the system. We have certainly seen many instances of that in real life, in museums, theme parks, celebrity residences, national landmarks, etc. Why not in a fictional, dome-enclosed town?

Michael Albert

Question: How does curb stomping someone kill them? It will obviously destroy their teeth, but it doesn't look very fatal.

MikeH

Answer: The stomp is to the neck. It breaks the neck and causes death.

Chosen answer: "Curb stomping" is a form of assault in which a victim's mouth is forcefully placed on a curb after which the head stomped from behind. Depending on the force of the stomping, the practice may, indeed, cause severe injuries and sometimes death. Any time you have a person's head being crushed between a hard, immovable object and an object moving with force, it is not unreasonable to posit that death can result - either immediately from the trauma, or later due to internal injury and bleeding.

Michael Albert

Question: It seems to be fact that John Ratenzburger voices a character in every Pixar film. But who does he voice in this movie? It doesn't say in the "cast" section of the credits.

Answer: John Ratzenberger is the voice of Gordon, the guard.

Michael Albert

Question: Does "pattycake" also mean something sexual? We were obviously at first supposed to think Jessica and Acme had sex, but if they were, why would she say "pattycake" and why does Maroon say "You're not the first guy whose wife went pattycake on him"? Am I missing out on something?

MikeH

Chosen answer: According to the director, Pattycake is the toon equivalent to sex.

Greg Dwyer

Question: I heard that originally the character of Lt. Ripley was supposed to be male, is this true?

Answer: Lt. Ripley stands as one of the first strong female lead characters in American science-fiction. In an early version of the script, writers Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett had written all of the roles as generic male ones with a note in the script explicitly stating "The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women." It was left to director Ridley Scott and the casting agents to choose the cast of any gender composition they wished.

Michael Albert

Question: I've seen this movie a million times and I still can't figure out the whole "Peter having one testicle because another guy had a pencil in his back pocket because he was a lawyer while they were playing basketball" thing. I got that they were playing basketball but still, can someone please explain to me how Peter lost a testicle while playing a game? Thank you.

Answer: Peter was being boxed out by the other guy, so the other guy was putting his back against Peter's front. With a pencil sticking out of his back pocket, you can imagine how some damage might be done.

Greg Dwyer

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