Question: Why did Dunbar's superior kill himself as Dunbar was being taken to his new post?
Mark English
6th Jul 2005
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Answer: Dunbar's superior supported the British ("The King is dead... Long live the King" said with a heavy British accent) and was likely a closet-case Redcoat his entire US military career. It was not rare and many suicides were a result of that.
This claim is not supported by the movie. "The King is dead. Long live the King" is a common idiom referring to the passing of power to someone new. It most definitely does not literally refer to the English King. The movie is set in the middle of Queen Victoria's reign. As for your assertion that there were a large number of English loyalists in the Union Army three generations after the Revolutionary War seems highly unlikely. Can you cite evidence of this?
13th Jun 2005
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Question: If Vader wants to kill the current Emperor, and become emperor himself, why does he not let Luke kill him? I am thinking he needs the Emperor to convert Luke to the dark side.
Answer: You are correct. Vader wanted to kill the Emperor but as a Sith he would need an apprentice. He wanted his son Luke to be his new apprentice, but he knew he needed Luke to kill the Emperor in order to completely turn to the Dark Side.
13th Jun 2005
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Question: Why does Yoda seem so "childish" when Luke first meets him in the swamp? I mean in comparison to Episode III when he seemed much wiser. Is there any reason for this?
Chosen answer: Yoda was testing Luke. Luke was looking for a great Jedi warrior and expected to find this great man or creature, not a short, little, funny, "weak", creature. Yoda knew Luke must get past preconcieved ideas and conceptions of what it takes to be and become a Jedi. Luke failed this initial test.
Answer: It's a trope popular with many of the Asian films (and some fantasy books) that inspired Lucas' original trilogy. The powerful master is often encountered first as a seemingly harmless (or meaningless) person only to unveil themselves later to the protagonist's surprise. In many respects, it's like Obi-wan's first appearance in A New Hope.
13th Jun 2005
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Question: In this movie we see a shot of a mechanical arm placing Darth Vader's helmet onto his head. But in ROTJ, removing Vader's helmet & mask made him die according to Luke. Is this because in ROTJ it was his helmet *and* his mask being removed, while in ESB it was just his helmet?
Chosen answer: Removing the mask alone would not make Darth Vader die. He stil had breathing help built into his suit. Vader was already dying when Luke took his mask and helment off in ROTJ, due to injuries sustained by Luke and the Emperor's force lightning. Anakin (Vader) just wanted to see his son Luke with his own eyes, before he died.
12th Jun 2005
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Question: Something I wasn't quite sure of was about Padme's death. Now I know throughout the film Anakin senses that she will die and must rescue her, but was her death a certainty or more a result of Anakin's turn to the dark side? I ask because I know the Jedi can sense the future, and was wondering if it was meant to be a vision of what was going to happen with his descent to the dark side.
Chosen answer: The future is not always set in place, according to Yoda, especially when clouded by the Dark Side. As Anakin's fears for Padme increase the more dependent he becomes on the Dark Side to try and stop the events of Padme's death in his dreams. What he didn't see was that he was indirectly responsible for causing her own death by turning to the Dark Side. Although Padme could have survived injuries caused by Anakin's force grip, her will to die rather than live without him is what caused her death.
13th Jun 2005
Aladdin (1992)
Question: What does Aladdin mean when he says: "Look at that Abu, it's not everyday you see a horse with two rear ends."?
Answer: Aladdin is referring to the person riding the horse as being a "horse's ass" in the way he is acting, thus the horse the person was riding on has two rear ends, his own and the rider.
18th May 2005
Braveheart (1995)
Question: Directly before Wallace is beheaded, he sees his dead wife in the crowd. Is this meant to be her ghost or is he imagining it?
Answer: I prefer to think that her spirit is actually there to welcome him to the afterlife.
Its all left for us to figure it out.
Answer: He is imagining it. He is trying focus on the fact he will see his wife again soon, in the after-life, rather than the pain of torture and his impending death.
18th May 2005
Shrek 2 (2004)
Question: Does anyone know why the Three Little Pigs have a German accent?
Answer: The story of the Three Little Pigs originated in Germany and came to America with German immigrants. Thus the German accents.
18th May 2005
Rain Man (1988)
Question: Why does Ray freak out when Charlie turns on the hot water in the bathtub?
Answer: When they were children, Ray witnessed Charlie being burned by hot bath water. I think Ray says something about how he was left to look after Charlie while Charlie was in the bath, and Charlie got burned by the hot water. That memory must be very strong for Ray, and not comprehending the passing of time, Ray did not want to see Charlie hurt again.
30th Apr 2005
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Question: If George Lucas had a false page in the script to fool everyone into thinking that Obi-Wan killed Luke's father, then how did he get round the scene between Luke and Vader later (where Luke actually calls Vader 'Father')?
Answer: Everything after the false ending page was hidden from Mark Hamill and the rest of the cast. The scene where Luke calls Vader "father" was filmed after Hamill had already found out the real truth that Vader is Luke's father.
29th Apr 2005
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: Was the candy in Honeydukes real and, if so, what happened to it at the end of shooting?
Answer: Some of the candy was real and was eaten by the actors, and later film crew. The rest was props. I assume excess candy was just trashed after a while.
11th Apr 2005
Twister (1996)
Question: It's obvious that Jo still has feelings for Bill at the beginning of the film, so why, after he sort of admits that he still has feelings for her, does she purposefully go ahead and sign the divorce papers, after purposefully not doing so in the beginning?
Chosen answer: Jo finally signs the divorce papers after she sees how upset Bill's fiance is getting after all the near misses with the tornados. She also sees that Bill does care for his new fiance and she finally decides not to stand in the way of his new relationship, even though it did not work out in the end.
Answer: She signs it as at the time she was very annoyed with Bill. She wanted to stop and pick up the sensors but Bill dragged her into the truck instead and then even reversed and hit the machine.
1st Apr 2005
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Question: Is the airplane captain supposed to be the "Gyro-captain" from "Mad Max 2"? (a.k.a. "The Road Warrior" in America) This would explain why Max says "You." when he first sees him, but I still do not know, as they say at the end of Mad Max 2 that no one ever saw him again.
Answer: The airplane captain is not the "Gyro-captain". Max says "you" in Mad Max 2 because he saw him earlier in the movie. In Beyond Thunderdome, it never says who or what happened to the real airplane captain.
31st Mar 2005
Back to the Future (1985)
Question: Shouldn't Doc have been severely electrocuted because he touched the lighting bolt when he connected the wires?
Answer: He probably got a good shock, but there have been recorded instances of people being struck by lighting and lived with little or no injuries.
Answer: Electricity always travels the path of least resistance. The wire cable is a perfect conductor and you can even see the electricity arch between the two cables while Doc is connecting the plugs, so most of the "1.21 gigawatts" passed by him and his gloves might have also protected him. In reality, a much smaller electric shock across the chest could have stopped his heart and, with no-one around to save him, would've left him dead.
Answer: He wasn't really shocked because he's wearing gloves when reattaching the wire after removing it from the fallen tree.
3rd Feb 2005
Friends (1994)
Question: There is a noticeable change in the lighting in the first season compared to the rest of them, does anyone know why this is?
Answer: Normally first seasons of a show do not get the budget that established shows get. It is possible after the huge success of season 1, the show got a better budget and better lighting.
22nd Mar 2005
La Confidential (1997)
Question: Was Dudley Smith written as an Irishman, or was the accent something James Cromwell just did for kicks?
Chosen answer: Yes, Dudley Smith was Irish.
21st Mar 2005
Goldfinger (1964)
Question: Why did Pussy Galore join the good side? Was she a American undercover agent?
Answer: If I understand correctly Bond and Ms. Galore had a romantic encounter and during that Bond explained the full intent of Goldfinger (killing all the innocent people at Ft. Knox)to her. Apparently willing to go along with the theft of the gold at Ft. Knox, Ms. Galore was unwilling to go along with mass murder.
1st Mar 2005
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Question: Why on earth does Marion take her bra off before putting on the white dress given to her by Belloc?
Answer: She takes off her bra because the dress has a very low back.
Answer: She was trying to "seduce" Belloc and get him drunk so she could escape. What better way to take a man's attention off your real plans, than to wear a white dress with no bra on.
21st Feb 2005
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: If Sirius Black is innocent, why is he so menacing-looking in his picture on all the Wanted-posters?
Answer: He is angry over his false arrest, being imprisoned without a trial, and he is very concerned about the welfare of his God-son Harry Potter. Also would you want to go to prison and be with the Dementors? I would be yelling my head off as well.
Not to mention; Sirius is lucky he came out with any sanity left, given what dementors do to people. A constant state of sadness is enough to make anyone upset.
14th Feb 2005
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: When Harry and Sirius are being attacked by the Dementors at the lake, Harry sees a glowing stag across the water. When Harry wakes up in the infirmary he says that he saw his father. Since his parents were killed when he was just a baby, how could he have known that the stag was his fathers animagi?
Answer: This is better answered by the book. Apparently each person has a different animal or shape that appears when they use the patronas spell. Professor Lupin (maybe Sirius) told Harry in the book that his father's patronas or shape was the White Stag. When Harry and Sirius were being attacked by the Dementors, Harry thought the White Stag Patronas was his father come back to save them. He only realized later that his own patronas was also a White Stag like his father.
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Answer: He was mentally disturbed and was depressed about being assigned to a "dead end" post with no chance at advancement. Dunbar, the hero, choosing to be assigned to the frontier, just pushed the poor soul over the edge.
Mark English
In a word, the disease syphilis. The urinary tract problems and the Insanity are possible side effects.
What are you basing this on? What in the movie indicates that he has syphilis?