Phil C.

19th Apr 2004

The Matrix (1999)

Question: When Neo and Morpheus cross the road at the very start of the "women in the red dress" training programme scene, the short man with the glasses at the centre of the crowd crossing toward them looks up at Morpheus and nods at him. Has this anything to do with the plot or is it a genuine mistake?

Answer: Hasn't got anything to do with the plot, but neither is it a mistake. The simulation is meant to be realistic and plenty of the people in the crowd interact with Morpheus and Neo (bumping into them or moving out of their way). A nod to someone you're passing on the street isn't in any way unusual.

Phil C.

Question: Does Padme not age or something? Anikin has aged ten years between the first and second movie, but she looks the same. Please explain.

Answer: She does age (she's human, just like Anakin) but the changes in her appearance are much more subtle. This is only natural; the change in appearance from an eight-year-old boy to an eighteen-year-old young man would be much more dramatic than, say, from a sixteen- or eighteen-year old girl to a twenty-six or twenty-eight-year old woman.

Phil C.

Question: Where did Sam get the potatoes for the "coney stew"? Not having enough food is a big issues for the hobbits yet it seems he has more than enough ingredients to make a stew with the rabbits that Gollum brings to him. And, if he just dug up the potatoes, why is running out of lembas bread such a tragedy?

Nick N.

Chosen answer: Sam didn't "get" them anywhere at all. He says, "What we need now is a few good taters," implying that he wishes he had some - but he doesn't.

Phil C.

Question: I've seen the full-screen version of the film several times on television now, and I'm wondering why the very last shot before the closing credits shows the wide-screen shot compressed into the full-screen viewing area (making everyone look tall and skinny). Is it because all five characters wouldn't be able to fit, or is it because the closing credits are about to be shown?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: It's probably the former. Pan and scan isn't possible in a static scene like that one, of course. Just another reason why "fullscreen" is misleading.

Phil C.

Question: The war between humans and machines started because machines needed a source of power and created the Matrix to hold humans in bondage while they were used as batteries. Now that humans are free to leave the Matrix, won't the machines start losing their source of power, causing them to force humans back into bondage, restarting the war?

Answer: The war didn't start because the machines needed a source of power; it had been running for quite some time by then. It was the humans who began the war because they weren't prepared to share a world with sentient machines. This is explained in the animated film "The Animatrix", or also in the supplements on the second disc of the "Matrix Revolutions" DVD. And while it is true that humans are now free to leave the Matrix, there's no guarantee that everyone who is given the choice will choose to leave. Remember Cypher from the first film? He preferred to stay IN the Matrix rather than live in the real world. Many others may do the same. And further still, it may be that most humans WILL choose to leave the Matrix and the machines may break the peace because they are losing their energy source. The Architect alludes to this when he says "How long do you think this peace will last?" and the Oracle responds "As long as it can." There are a myriad possibilities now.

Phil C.

15th Apr 2004

Finding Nemo (2003)

Chosen answer: It's the name the fish have given to the volcano in the tank, a volcano which can be "turned on" to produce a stream of bubbles (which look like a ring of fire when seen at night through the red glow the volcano produces).

Phil C.

The ring of fire is what comes out of the volcano but they gave it a name that sounds Hawaiian, I'm assuming; Mount Wanhanaluki or something like that.

Aww. You missed another joke! It's Mount Wanahakalugi, or "Want to hock a loogie", ie. Spit.

Question: When Strider meets up with the Hobbits at Bree, how does he know that they are looking for Gandalf? Or that Gandalf's not coming? Or about the ring and the Nazgul?

Answer: Because Gandalf told him about them. He doesn't know for certain that Gandalf is not coming - his words are "You can no longer wait for the Wizard, Frodo. They are coming." In other words, he knows that Frodo is in danger because he carries the Ring, and so they cannot wait for Gandalf to show. As for his knowledge of the Ring, his eyesight is keen and quick enough to see what it was that Frodo inadvertently threw up in the air when he fell to the floor in the common room, and the results when it slipped onto Frodo's finger. He would have guessed the rest.

Phil C.

Question: Some people have said that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the "Rings" novels to make a point regarding 20th century society. What is it?

megamii

Chosen answer: The people who have said such a thing are incorrect. Tolkien stated that the work's inspiration was primarily linguistic in nature, and strongly disagreed with the meanings that other people saw in the books - the Ring as allegory for the nuclear bomb, et cetera. Tolkien's exact words, from a foreword to one of the editions of the books: "As for any inner meaning of 'message', it has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical....I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."

Phil C.

Question: After the D-Day battle, Capt. Miller and the Colonel are discussing whatever. They keep mentioning something called "the 88's." What are the 88's?

Answer: An "88" is a German 88-millimeter gun, a lethal and extremely versatile gun which was often thought of as the best gun in the war - on ANY side. It could appear on a tank, as an anti-tank gun, as an assault gun or as an anti-aircraft gun.

Phil C.

24th Mar 2004

The Terminator (1984)

Question: When Vukovic and Traxler are watching Silberman question Reese, Vukovic mentions a guy they brought in who apparently burned something and did something else I couldn't quite hear. What's he actually talking about?

Answer: The quote: "He had this guy in here last week who set his Afghan [a breed of dog] on fire. Screwed it first, then set it on..." [and here Traxler interrupts him].

Phil C.

Question: After the scene where Indy first goes onto the German U-boat, he runs around apparently looking for something, then the scene changes to the inside of the sub where you can hear that the order has been given to dive. Was there an actual scene cut out of the film where Indy lashes himself to the periscope? (When Raiders first came out in Aus, I vividly remember seeing it with this scene.)

Answer: The scene you describe was indeed filmed. It was cut out of the US release of the film although I cannot speak for the Australian version. The scene also appears in the Marvel Comics adaptation. http://www.theraider.net/films/raiders/deleted_scenes.php has a list of this and the other deleted scenes.

Phil C.

15th Mar 2004

Schindler's List (1993)

Question: In the liquidation of the ghetto segment a little girl is shown in color wearing a red dress. What is the significance of this?

mxdllngr

Chosen answer: The little girl appears three times in the film: once at the beginning of the film, bringing her belongings into the ghetto with her family, once during the liquidation of the ghetto, and once during the disinternment and burning of the Jews killed at Plaszow. Schindler noticed her during the liquidation scene and was horrified by the way the Germans completely ignored her and callously murdered and destroyed other human lives without any regard for this innocent child. It was one of the turning points in his life; after that he began to realize he could no longer turn a blind eye to the monstrous evils of the Nazi party, and began to take a more active role in protecting and rescuing Jews. As another possible answer: During the Adolf Eichmann Trial, which took place in Israel, a story was told by a holocaust survivor (a father) who just parted forcibly with his wife and daughter at Auschwitz. Then, moments later, his son was told by the SS guard to run after his mother. The only way the father could follow the sight of his family among so many people was to follow his little daughter who was in a red jacket. He describes the sight of the girl in the red coat getting smaller and smaller...that was the last they saw of his family. Here is a link to that story http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-053-04.html Additionally, the story was so moving that the prosecutor could not speak for many minutes (per an interview I once saw with the prosecutor, who also had a little daughter the same approximate age) and the courtroom was silent under the weight of this story of the girl in the red coat.

Phil C.

Question: As Boromir is struck by the second arrow, a cut to Merry and Pippin shows Merry dropping something round from his hand. What's that supposed to have been? It looks like a hockey puck, but I doubt that's what it was.

scwilliam

Chosen answer: A rock. Merry and Pippin are shown (in the Extended Edition of the film at least) throwing rocks at the charging Uruk-Hai.

Phil C.

8th Mar 2004

The Lion King (1994)

Question: This question is not exactly for The Lion King but all the Disney films, I just didn't know where to put it. Has any character actually bled in any Disney animation? For example, in The Lion King, Shenzi and Banzaii (the hyenas) have red scratches but they aren't dripping with blood.

Answer: It's rare, because Disney likes to sanitize their violence. The recent Platinum Edition of Beauty and the Beast on DVD added a bit more blood to Beast's wounds after the wolf attack. "The Lion King" also does have a brief moment during the Scar/Simba fight when one of the lions whacks the other across the face and blood sprays. Those are two examples. Others can probably be found if you look hard enough.

Phil C.

Question: I don't understand the term "Davey Jones' Locker", who exactly was Davey Jones?

Answer: The phrase "Davy Jones' Locker" refers to the bottom of the sea, the resting place of drowned seamen. Origins of the phrase are deeply buried and there are many possible sources, ranging from "Jones" being a corruption of the Biblical name Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale, to a reference to a 16th-century pub owner named David Jones who had an unsavory practice of drugging unwary sailors and storing them in a locker till they could be pressganged aboard a ship. Still another reference suggests that David Jones was a fearsome pirate who frequently forced his enemies to walk the plank, thus having them end up at the bottom of the sea. The first clear usage of the phrase comes from Tobias Smollett, who wrote in "The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle" in 1751 that "...this same Davy Jones, according to the mythology of sailors, is the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep...". In any case, the real Davy Jones (if there was one) is unknown. Most of these tales are believed to be folklore but the phrase has still passed into the pirate lexicon.

Phil C.

Question: I know that Arwen's mother is Celebrain (daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel) since she was married to Elrond, so my question is where is her mother now? And also where are her brothers (Elladan and Elrohir)? Or is this just a book/film difference?

Answer: Celebrían was attacked by orcs in the Misty Mountains and was rescued by Elladan and Elrohir. She passed into the West soon after. Elladan and Elrohir do not appear officially in the films, though some have argued that this elf or that elf could be them in the Council of Elrond scene.

Phil C.

Question: What exactly is "Middle Earth"? Does it refer to a specific area of land/continent, or a period in time, such as the Middle Ages (but obviously thousands of years earlier), or to something completely different?

Answer: Middle-earth is usually represented as a single continent, but Tolkien's writings (and more specifically his Letters) suggest that Middle-earth is typically defined as that part of the world inhabited by mortal beings. This would mean that it includes the lands of Arda except for Aman and, perhaps the Empty Lands. The name does not refer to a specific time period, although some scholars have argued that Middle-earth represents "our" Earth from a period long ago.

Phil C.

Answer: "Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatulul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul!". This is the translation of the corrupted Tengwar runes inscribed on the One Ring itself. In English it means "One Ring to Rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." This, of course, is only two lines of the longer verse about the Rings of Power.

Phil C.

Question: When the film makers deviate from the book there is often an acknowledgement in some minor detail in the film, for example, Sam's line in Osgiliath, "By rights we shouldn't even be here", is acknowledging that they never go to Osgiliath in the book. Is there anything like that, in any of the trilogy, to acknowledge that the makers / writers left out Tom Bombadil?

Answer: There's a slight reference in the Extended Edition of the Two Towers. When Merry and Pippin are being "eaten" by the tree in the quiet dell of Fangorn Forest, Treebeard arrives and makes the tree let them go. The words he speaks, "Away with you! You should not be waking! Eat earth! Dig deep! Drink water! Go to sleep!" were spoken by Tom Bombadil in the book edition of "The Fellowship of the Ring", to make Old Man Willow release the hobbits.

Phil C.

Question: During the battle at Minas Tirith, what are those red dots that flash in the center of the screen? They appear when one of Gondor's catapults is fired, then when a couple of the orc's catapults are fired, also when the tower door is lowered for the orcs that attack Gandalf & Pippin.

Answer: The red dots you see are part of a really stupid scheme to foil internet piracy of movies. They are known as the CAPS code and were developed by Kodak. Lately they have been showing up more and more often in films. A good discussion can be seen at http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=162471 if you are interested in learning more.

Phil C.

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