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: What does Gimli say, after Legolas so spectacularly defeated the Mumak and slid down its trunk? The cheering in the theatre tends to drown out the dialogue...

Ioreth

Chosen answer: He says "That still only counts as one" (As they are keeping score).

Zaphod Beeblebrox

Question: In the beginning of the film Galadriel says that Bilbo's finding of the ring was something that "the ring did not intend." Later in the film Gandalf tells Frodo that Bilbo was meant to find the ring. I have not read the books, but both statements can't be true. So what's the real story with Bilbo and the ring?

Nick N.

Chosen answer: One does not contradict the other. The ring didn't intend to be found by Bilbo, but Bilbo WAS meant to find it, by forces other than the ring. Gandalf explains this by telling Frodo that not only evil forces are at work in the world.

Zaphod Beeblebrox

Chosen answer: Presumably to Teddy.

Sereenie

Question: So how is Neo able to control (or just disable) the machines in the real world? I mean, what's this "source" talk about?

redbaron2000

Chosen answer: By picking the left door when meeting the Architect, he has been forever connected with the "Source," the machine main-frame. As such, he can tap into it at will to disable any machines in the real world.

Show generally

Question: How come neither good nor evil want Charity and Miguel to be together? I only started watching this show a year or so ago but I still can't figure out why at least good forces wouldn't want the two to be together.

Answer: I don't know about good not wanting them to be together, but I know the evil side doesn't want them together because once they sleep together, then Charity's powers will multiply, and she will be a driving force against the evil darkside.

Question: When the brothers go into the bank for the first time Bill overhears the manager call Sara by her name. Bill then goes over and says "Sara? Sara Collins?" And she says yes, and later she askes Bill if they know each other. He says they do not, and she walks away. But why didn't she ask him how he knew her last name when no one told it to him at the bank?

Answer: She was busy at work and did not care how or why he knew.

Answer: Obviously it is because the actors are from different places. But you can explain it away by saying that the hobbits are from different families. From Bilbo's speech at his party it is clear that the Hobbits are split into a small number of large extended families - the Bagginses (Frodo, obviously), Tooks (Pippen), Brandybucks (Merry) etc. The families differ in obvious ways - the Tooks are large, the Bagginses are eccentric, the Proudfoots have large feet. Perhaps accent is another family trait?

jle

Question: At the end, where is it that Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, Elrond, Galadriel and Celeborn are sailing to, and why are they all going there?

Answer: They are sailing to the Undying Lands. Elrond, Galadriel, and Celborn are leaving because the time of the elves has enden and for them to stay in Middle Earth would be pointless. Bilbo leaves because he was offered and accepted Arwen's place. Frodo because there is nothing left for him in Middle Earth and I believe that Gandalf leaves because he has fully filled his promise to help Frodo destroy the ring. An additional part of Frodo's reason for leaving Middle Earth is because his wound (from the Nazgul) will no longer pain him in Valinor, the Undying Lands. Bilbo and Frodo also earned the privilege as Ringbearers. In fact, Tolkien says that because he bore the Ring for even a short while, Sam Gamgee also was later permitted to journey to the West.

bessytheevilcow

Chosen answer: When the two Orcs were fighting in the tower where Frodo was being kept, the larger one shoved the smaller one down the stairwell to a lower level. He then yelled down that the smaller Orc tried to kill him, so they should kill the smaller Orc. From that brawl an Orc was pushed out a window down to yet, another lower level. This spurred another brawl below...a chain reaction, in other words. Also, there were two companies of orcs in the tower so there was a natural rivalry already present - much like when the orcs and uruk-hai that captured Merry and Pippin fought amongst themselves. Finally, the power of the ring had an effect.

Bartlet's Third State of the Union - S2-E13

Question: The music heard as the theme tune to the political TV show ("Capital Beat") CJ appears on - is that heard in other US shows? Because here in Britain it's the music for the ITN "News at 10" (or was a while ago, at least). Just curious as to whether it's recognisable in the US.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: As a frequent watcher of the show, I have never heard the tune and thought, "That sounds familiar," so I would guess that it is not a theme song to any other shows (political or otherwise) here in the States.

Macalou

Question: In the dream/vision sequence as Arwen is on her way to the Grey Havens, does anyone know who the little boy was that played her son? It's just that he looks so much like a little Viggo, I was wondering if they were related?

Answer: Eldarion, Aragorn and Arwen's future son is played by Sadwyn Brody, not Henry Mortenson. Viggo's son does have a small cameo before the Helm's Deep battle begins.

jenjora

Question: I haven't read the books so I don't know if this is in them, but why did Frodo leave at the end?

Answer: For pretty much the same reason as he says in his final speech of the film "I have been deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them". Also, he misses the Ring, and is sick and depressed once every year with longing for it. He feels his experiences have set him aside with the rest of the world, the Shire in particular, since no one understands what he went through.

jle

Question: When the horses of Aragorn and Legolas are spooked and run away from the entrance to the mountain cavern, Aragorn's horse gets away with the scabbard to his new shiny sword still on the saddle. Does he ever get his scabbard back for battle or just have to carry the sword unsheathed for the next scenes?

Answer: He probably carries it unsheathed for however long it takes to locate a scabbard that will hold the sword. Brego also must have returned to the camp of the Rohirrim, since Aragorn has him back in later battles and that particular scabbard was likely retrieved then.

Phil C.

Question: Why was there adamantium in Nightcrawler's flashback? We saw a needle too, implying he was being injected. Does this fit with any comic/movie interpretation?

Piemanmoo

Chosen answer: The needle in the flashback relates to the drug that Stryker placed on the back of his neck so that he could control him. The adamantium in the flashback is most likely because the flashback relates to events at Alkali Lake.

Question: Can somebody tell me the English translation of what the foreign guy, who sits next to Kevin on the plane, is saying?

Answer: "What's that? I'm from France and I'm a tourist here, it's my first time coming to America. Do you know a good restaurant? Or maybe your parents. They know a good place? Why aren't you responding? You speak a bit of French right? I don't speak English at all, give me a bit of help at least. My name is Andre, what's your name?"

Answer: he is saying, "I come from France, I'm a tourist here. It's the first time I've come to America. Can't you tell me of a good restaurant, maybe your parents know a good place. Why aren't you replying? You speak French right? I don't speak English at all, help me out here. You don't want to talk to me, do you? Are you upset with me?" (I got that from a website).

Question: Is Detective Kincaid the second killer? Two pieces of evidence spring to mind that he could be. One, he borrows Dewey's phone and soon afterwards Sydney is rung up by the killer and two, Roman Bridger has a bulletproof vest.

Answer: Those are misdirects/red-herrings to make you suspect Kincaid. Not actual pieces of evidence. But Roman is confirmed to be the only killer in the film. Originally, there was going to be a second killer (as there is in the three other films), but the idea was dropped during production to change-up the formula slightly and keep audiences guessing.

So how could Roman call her in that moment?

Answer: No, remember, the detective says something along the lines of "In the third movie, all bets are off." Meaning that you can't expect the same formula (ie two killers) as the first two movies.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: The line, "In the third movie, all bets are off," means to expect the unexpected. That anything goes, the hero could die, the killer gets away it or the boyfriend dies. There is an ending but not a predicable one.

Question: This is a question for the extended edition DVD. Does anyone have a translation of the insult Gimli says to Haldir in Lothlorien?

Answer: According to Elvish.org, Gimli says in Dwarvish, "Ishkhaqwi ai durugnul." It translates into "I spit upon your grave."

cullothiel

Question: In the first movie Frodo sees the sundering of Hobbiton in the mirror of Galadriel, yet in the third movie this doesn't happen. Does the mirror only show one possible version of the future and not necessarily that which will come to pass?

Answer: Galadriel says to Frodo upon him seeing the Shire burning, "It is what will happen, should you fail." Frodo didn't fail in his quest, and so the Shire was saved.

Question: In the scene with the Fellowship outside the walls of Moria, Frodo asks Gandalf, what the Elvish word is for 'friend.' Why didn't he ask Legolas, the only Elf, in their group? Or was he just asking in general and Gandalf answered first?

Answer: I think since Gandalf had just translated the Elvish it seemed only obvious to ask him.

troy fox

Question: Is there a definite answer as to why this is called "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" in the US?

Answer: Both the book and the film were retitled because Scholastic, the publishers, were worried that American children wouldn't have heard the legend of the "philosopher's stone", and would think the book was about philosophy. They wanted to rename it to something that made it obvious that it's about magic, so they used "sorceror's".

Moose

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