The Ember Island Players - S3-E17
Question: Is there an inside joke or added meaning to the names that worked on the "play"? The "surprisingly informed cabbage merchant" is obvious, but besides that.
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Question: Why did Maroni survive being dropped 3 stories by Batman, but Harvey Dent did not?
Answer: It all depends on how you land. Maroni landed on his legs, which would break them, but wouldn't necessarily be life-threatening. We don't know how Dent landed - he could easily have just broken his neck on impact or something.
Question: When the Princess Nuala asks Abe what he's wearing early in the film, Abe answers "It's a breathing apparatus". But he only dons the mechanism twice in the film, and rarely wears it outside where the microbes in the air can kill him! Why even wear it?
Chosen answer: Why not wear it? It's clearly something that's useful to him, even if it's apparently not particularly essential. It may simply just make him more comfortable, like a human wearing a scarf in cold weather - allowing him to breathe the water that he prefers rather than air. There's never any mention that Abe can only survive for a limited time out of the water; equally, there's no suggestion that he's particularly vulnerable to atmospheric microbes. It's part of his equipment that he uses when he wishes to, that's all.
Question: Doc Brown shows up at the end of part three with his wife Clara, his two boys, and a time-traveling, hovercraft-converted train. How did he build it? There was nothing in 1885 that could even begin to help him build another time-machine! And don't tell me that he used Marty's 'hoverboard' as parts, because that doesn't wash.
Chosen answer: Time machines don't actually exist, so who are we to say whether or not the parts to build another time machine are available? Doc Brown is an inventor. Doc had the knowledge of how to build a time machine having built the original machine into a DeLorean, Doc also appears to have had a few years to come up with a way of building a time machine into a train, given that he now has children who appear to be around 5 years old. Plus, remember that the fridge in Doc's shop was much bigger than a modern fridge, and a steam train is way bigger than a DeLorean.
Answer: Doc's consistent problem was finding high-energy power sources for his inventions. But, actually, materials and technology did exist in the late 19th Century to construct extremely high-energy components. If Doc Brown had contacted electrical geniuses of the day (such as Nikola Tesla, who was already working in high-energy physics, radio and and X-ray technology in the 1890s), he could have certainly acquired the materials to reconstruct the Flux Capacitor and back-engineer hover pads for his time-travelling locomotive. As we saw earlier in the film, he was quite capable of back-engineering 1980s electronics using 1950s components (when he repaired the DeLorean).
Question: As Phoenix is using the computer stand on the street and accessing Edgar Friendly's info, a box pops up on the screen with a phrase and then Phoenix's name at the end. What does that box say? I've tried pausing it and watching in slo-mo, but its picture is blurred on my screen.
Answer: The box reads, "You have accessed secure mailbox facilities for...Simon Phoenix."
Question: I have a question about the car chase scene. How is it possible that a van of this size is able to catch up to a Viper? As far as I know that car can reach 60mph in less than four seconds.
Question: In the Joker's last scene, he has Batman pinned underneath a bar and asks, "Do you know how I got these scars?" Batman replies "No, but I know how you got these" and he shoots those blades of his into what I thought was the Joker's face. But later, when the Joker is hanging upside down, his face doesn't appear to be any different than usual. Did Batman shoot the blades into another part of the Joker's body, or was I completely oblivious to the Joker's new wounds?
Question: Is this one of the longest-running animated shows after The Simpsons? It's been around for eleven seasons.
Answer: As of 2014, King of the Hill finished with 11 season, putting it 6th among longest running US animated shows (with at least 3 animated shows already in 9th or 10th season.) In terms of episodes, it's 3rd with 259 episodes, behind The Simpsons and The Bugs and Tweety Show, with South Park nearing that number.
Question: Was the possibility of putting Asajj Ventress into the movie ever considered?
Answer: No, but before the character of Count Dooku was developed, the Art Department for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones developed a female Sith as the film's villain, as seen in concept art by Dermot Power in The Art of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. Since Dooku replaced her as Sidious' apprentice, she was put in to the animated series.
Question: Just before the Emperor is raised, why does the General demand that Evie O'Connell translate what's written on the Eye? She is (or at least was) an Egyptian expert. Both the General and his female aide are there - couldn't one of them read it?
Answer: First, it's ancient Chinese, probably unreadable to someone who speaks modern day Chinese (and possibly a different dialect as well). Also, Evie was an Egyptian expert, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have other areas of expertise.
Question: Why are Rick and Evie the ones requested to return the Eye? I know the General needs the Eye to revive the Emperor, but why have 2 mummy experts bring it? After all, he's raising a mummy emperor and army, wouldn't he be worried the O'Connells would interfere? Or is he wanting to get all 3 (parents and son) together so they can all be killed?
Answer: He needed Evie's skill with ancient languages. She was one of the few people in the world who could translate what was written on the Eye accurately, and who could be easily persuaded to travel to Shanghai.
Question: Was there a reason why Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson didn't just play the high school versions of themselves in the flashbacks at the beginning of the movie? If their characters in the present are in their early 20's, it seems like it wouldn't have been a big stretch for them to play themselves as high school students.
Answer: Presumably the filmmakers wanted to emphasise that some time has passed since they last saw each other. If they still looked pretty much the same, which they would if played by the same people, that wouldn't be as clear.
Question: What is the order of seniority between Nick, Sarah and Warick?
Answer: Warrick first, Nick next, Sarah last.
Question: Just wondering, does Jim Gordon realize in any of these two movies that Bruce Wayne is in reality the Batman? Because when Bruce and Gordon talk after Bruce crashes his Lamborghini, they talk as if they don't know each other.
Answer: No, there's no indication that Gordon has any idea.
Answer: In the first movie, he became a recluse then disappeared for several years. They never stayed in contact with one another. Even after Bruce returned they only spoke when he was Batman. While Gordon was trying to fight crime and corruption, Bruce was playing the boozy Playboy millionaire.
Question: Just a question about the remarkable resemblance to Johnny Five from the Short Circuit films. Is Wall-E intentionally modeled this way or is it just a coincidence they look so alike?
Answer: It certainly wasn't intentional, although the director, Andrew Stanton, has acknowledged that he did see Short Circuit many years ago and agrees that it could well have been a subconscious influence. WALL-E was principally designed with the job that he does in mind - the design brief was to consider WALL-E as an appliance first, what he would need to look like in order to do his job efficiently, then work out how to read emotion into the character after that. Stanton has stated that the chief inspiration for WALL-E's eyes came from a pair of binoculars, which he decided looked happy or sad depending on which way up they were.
Question: Why does the mob boss keep reappearing in the movie? Wasn't he thrown in jail in the scene with Dent and Rachel in the courtroom and all the mobsters shouting at once? Does the joker set him free? But then why does Gordon not arrest him again in the hospital?
Answer: Nope, the trials never got to the stage where Maroni faced jail. The first time, the star witness changed his story on the stand (plus tried to shoot Dent). The second time, when all the mobsters were present, Maroni had the money to make bail, so he's out again. Then the judge was murdered, leaving nobody to try the case anyway. Maroni's walking the streets on entirely legal grounds - Gordon has no reason to arrest him when they encounter each other at the hospital. Plus Maroni may be his only source that could possibly lead him to the Joker; arresting him wouldn't exactly help with that.
Question: When Spartan is asking about his daughter, all I hear is "(mumble-mumble) happened to her?" Does anyone know what he actually says?
Answer: He says "I had a daughter. What happened to her?"
Question: In the very beginning in the fight between Batman and Scarecrow, Batman grabs a rifle and bends it with his bare hands. I've never known Batman to have super strength before. I know he is strong and agile above Olympic levels, but not to be able to bend metal. Or does his Batsuit give him a boost in strength? This is something also that would be new since Batman is known for his utility belt and being the greatest detective in the world, but not for super powers.
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Answer: The pirates are from the episodes "The Waterbending Scroll" and "The Waterbending Master" (They're the ones Katara stole the scroll from). The traveling musicians are from "The Cave of Two Lovers. The prisoners of war likely refer to the Kyoshi Warriors, the men of the Southern Water Tribe, and possibly Bumi and the other citizens of Omashu.