Question: Was the film always intended to be in black-and-white? If not, roughly when was the decision made? And what was the reason, was it artistic, to get an elderly feel to it or to take focus off blood and gore?
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.
Answer: To Spielberg, the black and white presentation of the film came to represent the Holocaust itself. Spielberg stated, "The Holocaust was life without light. For me, the symbol of life is color. That's why a film about the Holocaust has to be in black and white."
Question: On the PAL version (just released), how do you get to the Audio Commentary?
Answer: Some copies of the DVD have been accidentally released without an Audio Commentary. If you can't find it on yours, it's likely you've bought one of the defective copies. You're best off returning into to the store you bought it from and exchanging it, or writing to the distributors themselves and getting it replaced.
Question: Could someone please explain the ending to me. Telly passed the test by not forgetting and ended up in the park. So, did she go back in time? If she did go back in time, are we to assume the events of the the film never took place (i.e. the female cop dying)? Also, were the government agents helping the beings? Were they aliens or something else? Any information on this would be appreciated.
Answer: Okay first of all, Telly didn't pass any test. The whole thing was an experiment in testing the strength of the parent/child bond. Second, no she did not travel back in time, she simply traveled back to her neighborhood, where everything was as it would have been, had the children never been abducted. Lastly, no the government agents were not aliens, and they weren't exactly helping the beings either, but rather they were minimalizing the damage, as to not have a full on "Independence Day" invasion. Oh also, neither Alfre Woodard (the cop), Dominic West, or the governemnt agent, were killed, they were simply abducted.
Question: Why does Sam refer to his old gaffer while killing the orcs guarding Frodo?
Question: In the end when the credits are playing, after Enya's song "May It Be", another girl sings. Who is it and what is the song called?
Answer: It's a boy called Edward Ross singing 'In Dreams'. It's on the soundtrack CD at the end of track 17 'The Breaking of the Fellowship'. The 2 songs are reversed in the film and CD.
Question: In the UK at least, new box sets have just been released of all 10 series (3 discs per box). Does anyone know if these are double sided or single sided discs? The original DVDs were double sided, which always seemed stupid.
Chosen answer: They are double sided. Four episodes per side on 3 discs gives 24 episodes which equal one season.
Question: How where the flying ball shots in the beginning done? I know it could be a helicopter, but some of the shots go through branches etc. Not too easy with a helicopter.
Chosen answer: Computer animation.
Question: Why aren't the four hobbits given a hero's welcome when they return to the Shire? The fellow who greets them seems less than impressed that they just saved Middle-Earth. Do the Shire folk not know about what went on? Do they ever learn of it?
Answer: Few hobbits have ever ventured outside of the Shire and tend to regard Bilbo and Frodo with a certain amount of suspicion for having left for so long. In the novel, the Shire is attacked and therefore they would know about it, but since it is apparently unharmed in the movie they wouldn't care very much about what was going on in the rest of Middle Earth.
Question: Does anyone know whether the African Prince in the opening sequence was actually Drew Barrymore herself in disguise, or whether it was an actor who was replaced by Drew in the revealing scene ("I think you mean crazy bitch"..."Damn I hate to fly" etc...) Thanks.
Question: Why did the police officer give Miranda the keys to outside/his car when she was trying to escape the mental institution? And why didn't he tell the other police officers that she was there?
Answer: The security guard you're talking about is friends with Miranda, and felt sorry that she was being treated the way she was. He was just helping her out, and didn't tell the others because of it.
Question: Is there any reason why Samuel Jackson's character got a purple light saber? I know bad Jedi used to have red and good Jedi blue or green, but what about purple?
Answer: Sam L. Jackson asked Lucas if he could have a purple saber, and Lucas said yes (so the story goes at least). I suppose Jackson just wanted to be different. It could also possibly be explained in-universe that Mace Windu uses a fighting style that borders dangerously close to the dark side (it's in the starwars.com databank if you wish to look it up), so his saber is a mix of Blue (light side) and Red (dark side) to signify this.
Question: Marie teaches Debra to make something called Canopys (I'm not even sure that's how you spell it). Can someone tell me what Canopys are and give me the correct spelling? I assume it's some sort of Italian appetizer or dish.
Chosen answer: A Canapé is a cracker or a small, thin piece of bread or toast spread with cheese, meat, or relish and served as an appetizer.
Jellyfish Hunters / The Fry Cook Games - S2-E16
Question: In "Jellyfish Hunters", when Mr. Krabs keeps saying "More" to Spongebob to get more jellyfish, there are several pictures of Mr. Krabs saying this. There is one quite disturbing picture of what looks like a mutated and rotten Mr. Krabs. Can anyone please explain what it's supposed to mean, or is it just some random joke?
Answer: More likely a random joke. Commonly in Spongebob they use awful looking pictures of the characters as a joke usually about their appearance. In one episode Mr Krabs talks about how Squidward and Spongebob are some of the finest crew mates he's ever had and then you see them looking horribly dressed, with almost mutated faces and nothing close to impressive as Krabs states. The entire show is primarily made up of visual jokes like these.
Answer: I have a better answer. This image is known as an internet meme, something [either a phrase of any actions] that are popular all over the internet.
The image became an internet meme AFTER the episode aired. It's not fan art or a meme that was subsequently used in the show, so the question of what is the reference or joke has nothing to do with it being a meme.
Question: Where is the film set and where can I read up about the true story?
Answer: The film was inspired by an incident at St Crispin's Reef, a dive site on the Great Barrier Reef in 1998, when Tom and Eileen Lonergan was left behind by their diving boat after an error was made during the headcount. They were never seen again. More information can be found at http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200310/200310_mysteries_2.html.
Question: In the Chamber, right before the Basilisk blasts out of the water, Tom Riddle says something about Lord Voldemort returning. As he says this, he holds out a hand in front of him and stares at it. Is there a reason for this?
Chosen answer: As it states in the film Tom Riddle is Voldemort; as he was at school, and he put the memory of himself into the diary. Whilst in the chamber he is taking the life out of Ginny Weasly to bring himself back and get voldemort back to full power again. So as he pulls the power out of Ginny he is becoming more than a memory and therefore solid - this is why he is looking at his hand, he's watching himself become solid and real again.
Question: What was the deal with Magneto switching the metal squares in Cerebro around? They said Prof. X just needed to concentrate on a certain group of people, and the 'little girl' was telling him to concentrate on the mutants and then the humans, and we already saw he could switch between them without aid so why was rearranging the plates necessary?
Answer: He could switch between them in Cerebro. In Cerebro 2 (built at Alkali Lake), the plates had to be moved to find/kill one or the other. Stryker deliberately set it up that way so that Professor X couldn't hurt any humans (like himself or his troops) if he came to his senses in the second Cerebro.
Question: There is a scene in the movie in which Arnie disguises as a woman to pass the entrance control in Mars. Moments later, the mask he's using starts to malfunction and he has to take it off. When he's doing that, we can see that the man who's playing Quaid is not Arnie but a stunt double. Why did the director choose a stunt double to replace Arnie in a scene that's not risky at all?
Answer: It's not a stunt double, it's a mannequin (fake head actually) of Arnie, used for the artificial head shot.
Question: At the beginning of the movie, Quaid has a friend at work (if my mind's not failing me his name is Harry) that tells him not to go to Recall because some person got lobotomised. Later, when Quaid is returning from Recall his friend stops him and tries to kidnap (or kill) him because Quaid "talked about Mars". I can't understand the role that this man has in the plot. Quaid told his wife that this man is a spy (I wonder how he knew that), and I'd like to know which side he seems to be fighting for (the Agency or the rebels).
Answer: It depends on whether you choose to believe the events of the film are real or in Quaid's lobotomized brain. If the events are real (i.e. Quaid is actually Houser with his memories blocked) then Harry is from the agency and is there to make sure Quaid doesn't say or do anything that would potentially break his memory block (like going to Recall). If you believe everything is in Quaid's mind after he goes to Recall, then Harry really was just his friend.
Answer: Harry works for the Agency the same way Arnie's wife did. While the wife watched him at home, Harry was to watch him at work. Harry told Arnie that story to keep him from going to Recall and to keep him from having to kill Arnie for bringing up his memories of Mars.
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.
Answer: Documentary footage of this era was in B&W, this gave the movie a more authentic feel and was intentional from its inception.