raywest

11th Feb 2018

Poltergeist (1982)

Question: Why was only the Freelings' house sucked into the vortex? Since it was discovered that the developer only moved the headstones but left the bodies, shouldn't other houses that were also built over the cemetery have also been dragged in?

Answer: It seems that the majority of the activity was focusing in on the Freeling house exclusively. It's not fully explained why they were the only house affected, but there are a number of possibilities. Possibly because it's where the highest concentration of spirits were at unrest. Possibly because it could be inferred that the Freelings moved in first given Steven was involved with the company that built the community, and thus they became the first targets. And possibly because they were trying to get to Carol-Anne since she was an easy target.

Also, it is mentioned in the movie that Carol Anne was actually born in the house. That likely caused everything to focus on her.

It was not meant that Carol Anne was literally born inside the house, just while the family was living there. It was just a casual colloquial expression Steven's boss made.

raywest

Answer: A poltergeist haunts a person rather than a place. Though building the neighborhood over their graves is what initially disturbed the ghosts, they are fixated on Carol Anne.

TonyPH

Question: Doc seemed hell-bent on destroying the DeLorean. So why did he go to the future and get a hover conversion done on the train? Why didn't he just build the train, return to his own time and then destroy the train?

Answer: Quite a bit of time has passed for Doc since Marty went back to the future; he and Clara are married and have two children who look between six and ten years old. Plenty of time for him to change his mind and decide he likes the time traveling life with his family.

Answer: He didn't return to the Old West, both of them had a desire to go to the final frontier. Their favorite author is Jules Verne, who wrote "From Earth to the Moon."

Answer: Doc was happy living in the Old West but returned to the future to collect his dog, Einstein, and he didn't want Marty to worry about him. He probably also wanted to make sure that Marty had made it safely back to his own time, to properly say goodbye, and make sure the DeLorean was never used again. He never indicated he would destroy the train, only the DeLorean. The hover conversion on the train would have been done in the Old West, not in the future.

raywest

I doubt he was able to make the train hover in the old west, whilst he could easily go to the future with it and do it there, like he did with the DeLorean. He did say he has been to the future with it, so it's logical to assume that's where he upgraded it.

lionhead

Doc never says he went further into the future with the train or did the hover conversion there. If he could build a time-traveling locomotive in the 1880s, then he could create a hovering one, as he had the knowledge. Marty asks if he's going back to the future, and Doc says no because he's already been there. That could be interpreted a number of ways. It's a sci-fi movie, and there is a lot of suspension of disbelief employed here.

raywest

While the movie isn't explicit about when or where the Time Train was built, other sources do indicate its hoverconversion was done in the future. While Doc could invent a machine that was capable of time travel (the mechanics of which aren't really discussed), he had to travel to the future to convert the DeLorean and couldn't even fix the DeLorean in the past.

Bishop73

What 'other sources' indicate Doc travelled to the future for the hover conversion? Any fan speculation is invalid. I also don't get the argument. While Doc was unable to fix the DeLorean when Marty was in the Old West, he could, and did, in later years, build the time-travel train in the past. He could not otherwise have gone anywhere into the future to do anything. Time-travelling without the hover ability would be extremely difficult as a locomotive would be noticeable and require taking off and landing on empty train tracks. Doc would have to hide the locomotive while converting it. He would also have to know before time-travelling that the railroad tracks he took off on still existed in the future, as he could possibly arrive smashing into what became an urban development. This should be considered as both a deliberate plot hole and a plot device using "suspension of disbelief" solely intended to give the series a spectacular finale.

raywest

The comics reveal that Doc Brown traveled to 2017 in a prototype time machine and purchased materials which he brought back with him to the 1890s to use on the Time Train.

Question: Why would Dumbledore hire Lockhart to be a professor at Hogwarts? Dumbledore knows how incompetent Lockhart is and that the DADA is cursed.

Answer: This is better explained in the book. Dumbledore, and also the other Hogwarts' staff, always doubted the narcissistic Lockhart's credentials and abilities, but no-one else would accept the job, knowing it was cursed and no instructor lasted more than a year. At the time, Dumbledore was pressed to hire a new teacher before the school year started, and Lockhart was the only option and better than nothing.

raywest

Answer: On paper, Lockheart is far from incompetent. Look at all his books. It appears he has exceptional experience of the Dark Arts and creatures such as Hag's Banshee's etc. So as far as Dumbledore knows he's the best position of the job. With regards to the job being cursed, it's been cursed for 13 years with no teacher lasting more than a year. He still needs a teacher. And all the teachers get more and more qualified as time goes on. Consider the fact that he hires ex-auror, Moody.

Ssiscool

In the novels, Lockheart has admitted to Harry and Ron that he's a fraud. His backstory goes that all of his "accomplishments" were told to him by other wizards that actually achieved them and after he learned the whole story, he used Obliviate on them to make them forget what they did and claimed them as his own. Even the spell that he claims would work on pixies failed.

In the movie he tells them too. Nobody knew that though, not even Dumbledore when he hired him. Although some do start getting suspicious, like Snape.

lionhead

Dumbledore was aware of Lockhart being a fraud as two of the wizards that had their memories erased were friends of his and was able to correctly guess that Lockhart was responsible.

I wouldn't consider Dolores Umbridge, who succeeded (the fake) Mad Eye Moody, as an improvement. She was mediocre in addition to being corrupt. The real Mad Eye, never taught, so it's unknown how well he would have done. Barty Crouch, Jr. (the fake Moody) was a dark wizard, making him an effective instructor. Lupin was an excellent teacher, as was Snape, though he didn't last a full year.

raywest

Answer: Mainly it was about egos (mostly McQueen's) and a professional rivalry, not only as top movie stars, but also as auto racers. McQueen considered himself a superior driver to Newman, even though they never competed against each other. When McQueen was considered to co-star with Newman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," McQueen wanted top billing, then dropped out when he wouldn't receive it, even though Newman was considered the bigger star. In "The Towering Inferno," McQueen supposedly obsessed over how many lines he had compared to Newman.

raywest

Expanding on this: McQueen's demand for top billing continued on this film (as did William Holden's, but he was never a serious candidate), which is why the end result was "staggered": McQueen's name was to the left but lower, while Newman's was higher but to the right, so both had top billing depending how one read it (left-to-right, or top-to-bottom). Studies have shown that the name audiences tend to see first is the one on the left, regardless of staggering, so McQueen may have "won" here.

Newman does get a small victory of sorts at the end of this film when the cast credits begin scrolling upward on the screen. Newman's and McQueen's names are again staggered like in the beginning intro, but Newman's name appears first as it scrolls up from the screen's bottom.

raywest

Question: Why did it take Bella almost dying for a house full of thirsty vampires to realize that the vampire fetus would want to drink blood?

sunfox35

Chosen answer: It was the first time that a vampire ever got a human pregnant, and they didn't know what will happen.

Anastasios Anastasatos

It wasn't the first time a vampire impregnated a human, as shown by the half-human/half-vampire South American native that appears at the end. However, the Cullens knew nothing about his existence until that time, nor could they assume the fetus was fully vampire. They therefore had no idea how to treat Bella's pregnancy.

raywest

Question: At the very beginning when the twins are talking to Scarlett it sounds to me like George Reeves says something about the "other 48 states" wanting war. Am I hearing that incorrectly? There were only 34 states when the war began.

William Lanigan

Answer: To answer your question, I looked for on-line versions of the "Gone with the Wind" screenplay. What you are hearing as "other 48 states" is actually "those fool Yankees." The full line is, "Y'know, those fool Yankees actually want a war?" Also, the line is actually said by Stuart Tarleton, played Fred Crane, not by George Reeves as his twin brother, Drew. In writing, it doesn't seem they would sound alike. When I watched the opening scene of "gwtw" on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymbmvQJcLDc&t=6s), I can see how the error was made. I might have misheard it, as well, if I didn't already know what the line was from my research. Mr. Crane's enunciation is rather muddled.

Michael Albert

George Reeve plays Brent Tarleton, not "Drew."

raywest

Answer: I watched this scene several times on HBOmax, both with and without the closed captions. The line, spoken by Brent Tarleton (George Reeves) is: "You know, those poor Yankees actually want a war." It does sound like he says another word just before saying "Yankees," but it's so muffled that it's unintelligible and the closed captions do not record it. It could be "poor fool Yankees," but that's a guess.

raywest

Answer: In the version I am watching it is definitely Reeves' character who say the line, right after he tells Scarlett "War. Isn't it exciting Scarlett?" Then comes what sounds like what I posted. Is it possible there are different versions?

William Lanigan

29th Oct 2015

Crimson Peak (2015)

Corrected entry: The Sharpe's dilapidated mansion has had a huge hole in the roofing for some time that allows snow and rain to fall through into the foyer. However, there is no sign of water and weather damage to the foyer area except to a portion o the floor directly beneath. The foyer walls, staircase, and furniture look completely unaffected by being exposed to the weather when they should be stained, faded, moldy, warped, or buckled.

raywest

Correction: The water damage is prevalent and easily visible throughout the entire house.

Phixius

I am only referring to the foyer area, where the huge, gaping roof hole is several stories directly above, and not the rest of the house. Other than the floor, the rest of the room looks practically pristine, unaffected by the mold, mildew and humidity that would be caused by the rain and cold.

raywest

Corrected entry: Near the end, there's a huge parade in downtown Chicago being held in the middle of a school/work week with no explanation about why it is in progress when parades are typically held on the weekend. Despite that, hundreds of people, who would normally be working, are there watching it with their kids who, like Ferris and his fellow truant pals, should be in school.

raywest

Correction: First off, it's made very clear it's the Steuben Parade (a very popular German-American parade held in Chicago in September). While there is no "explanation" in the movie, parades are held in the middle of the week for various reasons, such as bad weather on the scheduled day, etc.

Bishop73

The Steuben Day Parade is held on a weekend day in September, not in the Spring shortly before high school graduation. In most cities, it is the third Saturday of September. It is inconceivable that if a parade of that size and duration was unexpectedly cancelled for any reason that it would just be moved over to the middle of the week. The logistics are such that it would either be cancelled or rescheduled for another weekend which would take months to arrange due to the tremendous time, planning, and physical work involved to establish staging areas, issue new permits, transport the floats, reschedule marching bands, drill teams, and other participants, set-up food and souvenirs vendors, close streets, reroute traffic, handle crowd control, arrange security, do promotion, etc.

raywest

This correction was done in my infancy of joining the website. I was trying to correct the mistake of what the parade was for (but did acknowledge it's a September parade) rather than accept the Steuben parade was out of place and wouldn't have been scheduled for the following year if the film was meant to be set 1-2 months before graduation.

Bishop73

10th Jun 2014

Sabotage (1936)

Question: Who played the actress who tried to return the song bird?

Answer: The person returning the songbird was Mrs. Jones played by Clare Greet.

Bishop73

Incorrect. Mrs. Jones is the Verlocs' cook.

And the cook was the one returning the bird.

Bishop73

Answer: The actress is Sylvia Sidney.

raywest

Sylvia Sidney plays Mrs. Verloc. The Poster is asking about the actress who appeared in one scene in the bird shop.

Thanks for clarifying.

raywest

Question: Do we know the human casualties by the end of the war?

Answer: No such numbers are ever discussed in the novel or in the subsequent radio and movie treatments. What we may surmise, however, is that the human casualties were comparatively minor. Once the Martians were exposed to earthly microbes, they were wiped out pretty quickly.

Charles Austin Miller

Voiceover by Morgan Freeman at the end of the movie: by the toll of a billion lives.

Morgan Freeman says "By the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity, his right to survive among this planet's infinite organisms." He is saying that Mankind evolved with microorganisms for countless generations on Earth, making Mankind immune to most of those microorganisms. Perhaps a billion humans or more died of bacterial and viral plagues throughout human history; but, as a species, we gained immunity. Freeman's quote has nothing to do with the number of Martians that died because they had no immunity.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: The ending dialog states a death of 1 billion.

The billion deaths spoken of don't refer to those that died in the alien attack but the billion deaths from the microorganisms that killed the aliens. "By a billion deaths man earned his immunity."

Bishop73

I feel that he meant that the organisms that killed the aliens killed a billion humans first before we got our immunity from them.

They are saying that.

lionhead

You are correct that he means humans, over tens of thousands of years, naturally gained immunity to many disease-causing organisms after billions of other people had died from them. The aliens had no immunity whatsoever and is why they died.

raywest

19th Apr 2021

Into the Wild (2007)

Question: Chris didn't take any ID or such with him. It's OK that he could work with the country guys, but how could he get an "official" job in a fast food restaurant without any identification document or card?

Dangar

Answer: Chris probably knew what his Social Security Number was, and providing this could be enough to legitimately get him on the payroll. The people he worked for along the way could have been used as references. It is also possible that he was able to get a transcript and/or other documentation from Emory University; maybe a phone call to check if he graduated was more than enough. Christopher was also somewhat older and educated/ intelligent than others seeking such employment - in his early 20s compared to high school kids - which may have given him an advantage. There was probably a high job turnover rate among the employees, making it easier to get hired. Fast food restaurants tend to hire people from all walks of life, many who do not have much, if any, formal education or prior job experience; they often hire whoever applies.

KeyZOid

Not entirely disagreeing with your answer, but having worked at a university, I can say that someone cannot simply make a phone call to obtain a student's academic information, even their own. A 1974 U.S. federal law (FERPA) protects student privacy. Every school is different, but there is usually a process requiring identification, paperwork, and signatures to prove identity. As Chris had left all his I.D. behind, it would take some time for him to get any college information, particularly from a school in another state.

raywest

Answer: In real life, his sister Carine recovered his backpack, which had been taken and kept by a man immediately after Chris died. In it was his wallet, along with his SS card and other important documents.

Answer: One possibility is that it wasn't an "official" job and his boss was paying him 'under the table' (unreported employment). It is illegal, but it's more profitable for an employer to avoid reporting anything to the federal government, disregard regulations, not pay the usual employee taxes, benefits, etc.

raywest

Question: At one point, Melanie mentions that Jake got her pregnant several years ago. Was the baby stillborn or did she get an abortion?

Answer: She had a miscarriage.

raywest

Answer: She says something to the effect of "mother nature had other plans" leading audience to believe she had a miscarriage.

Answer: She had an abortion because she said it would have altered her future plans and admitted to feeling so ashamed.

Melanie did not have an abortion. When she's talking to Jake's mother, Stella Kay, at the bar, it's mentioned that Melanie had a miscarriage. Melanie felt ashamed because after losing the baby, she ran out on Jake and their marriage to pursue her own goals in New York.

raywest

Doesn't Melanie say she's ashamed for being relieved about losing the baby?

Saying "losing" a baby indicates it was unexpected event and not a deliberate action. Melanie only means she was relieved her pregnancy didn't naturally continue.

raywest

18th Oct 2017

Aladdin (1992)

Question: When the genie learns that Aladdin tricked him into getting them out of the cave without making a wish, couldn't he have just teleported Aladdin, Abu, and the carpet back inside the cave to make sure Aladdin wishes himself out of the cave?

Answer: He is not an evil genie and, even though he was tricked, he would not have wanted Aladdin to be trapped in the cave again. He likes Aladdin and admires his cleverness in getting himself out of the cave without wasting a wish.

raywest

What I was wondering is why he likes Aladdin.

The Genie likes Aladdin because he is clever, friendly, and charming. As he indicates several times in the film, most of the Genie's masters were greedy, unkind, and selfish.

BaconIsMyBFF

Aladdin doesn't just greedily use up his three wishes and send Genie back into his lamp, which is implied to be what Genie's previous masters have done.

"He is not an evil genie" who says only an evil genie would teleport Aladdin, Abu, and the carpet back inside the cave to make sure Aladdin wishes himself out of the cave?

The comment was specific and limited to the character of the one genie in the movie who is not evil but kind-hearted. Never said "only" evil genies.

raywest

20th Mar 2005

Roseanne (1988)

Show generally

Corrected entry: The exterior stock shot of the Conners' house doesn't match the interior. In the stock shot, the front door is all the way to camera left; inside the living room, the door to the outside is near the center of the room.

Correction: The stock photo still matches the inside of the Conner House; there is approximately a three foot space alongside the door. On the inside of the house there's a cabinet piece on that wall, beside the door, and the TV in the living room is directly across from it. In the credits for the Season Finale of Season 8, we see the TV is pushed up against a wall, where normally the cameras are.

Disagree with the correction to this entry. The Conner living room's dimensions do not match the stock photo at all The photo shows the space right of the door is far too shallow to be the Conner living room. The real house is located in Evansville, Indiana, and its living room is situated to the left of the entry where the big windows are. Also, the front porches are completely different lengths. There are photos of the real house's interior on Zillow.com that show the differences: https://www.zillow.com/homes/619-Runnymeade-Ave, -Evansville, -Indiana_rb/77104997_zpid/.

raywest

Question: I would really like some insight on a burning question I have had since seeing this movie as a child in 1978, when it came back around in theaters in eastern Canada, where I grew up. Not knowing much about American history in school, I didn't know at the time that there even was a Devil's Tower, or that it had been made the first US National Monument in 1906, and as such would have been famous to all American citizens. I still remember loving the psychic element in the film where our heroes agonize internally about the strange mound shape seen only in their heads, to be finally rewarded and deeply relieved with news footage later in the film which solidified their visions into something tangible and concrete (igneous rock actually!) Thus, as a boy knowing nothing about the tower in Wyoming, this part of the film played perfectly into the fantasy for me-it sold me all the way. But why or how did this work for Americans at the time the film was new? In the film, we are to believe that our adult heroes knew nothing of the tower before their initial close encounters, and were shocked to discover that it actually existed. Again, for me, Devil's Tower was an absolutely incredible and awesome choice, and made me love the film all the more for it. But I would like to know how Americans felt about it during the film's 1977 and later 1980 re-release? Was it just as awe-inspiring for them as well, or was it more like: "Duh-you're driving your family crazy making models of a natural rock formation everyone knows is less than 90 miles away from Mount Rushmore?" I would really appreciate an answer, because for me, the tower's news-footage "reveal" was a huge moment in the film, and really does provide the kick-start that launches the entire third act of the film. For American audiences, why was it not the same as if Roy had struggled to attach a garden hose under a hastily-built plywood model with a hole in the middle, because the aliens implanted a vision of "Old Faithful" in his head?

Answer: Devil's Tower really is out in the middle of nowhere, and in one of the least populated states (it's "only" 90 miles away from Mt. Rushmore, but it's an incredibly boring 90 miles of mostly empty plains) so it didn't make for a convenient tourist attraction like other landmarks and thus didn't garner as much fame (it's actually much more famous nowadays, thanks to this movie). That said, the movie seems to have cleverly provided two separate "reveals" for this plot turn: those familiar with Devil's Tower will recognize it when Richard Dreyfuss knocks the top off his sculpture, giving it the distinctive "flat top" shape; then, only minutes later the rest of the audience will discover it along with the characters during the news broadcast. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this was set up deliberately keeping in mind the landmark's status of "kind of famous but not really THAT famous."

TonyPH

Your explanation (and the other answer) helps makes the overall plot more understandable. The French scientist, Lacombe, mentions that there were probably hundreds of people who were implanted with the Devil's Tower image in their minds. As pointed out, it is not a particularly recognizable landmark, which would explain why many never made the connection to it.

raywest

Answer: "Devil's Tower" is, indeed, a national landmark. However, it isn't one of the most famous, nor most iconic. It isn't nearly as widely known as, say, the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River, Niagara Falls, or the landmarks you mentioned - Mount Rushmore and Old Faithful Geyser. But, as you stated, its imposing form does fit so nicely into the aura of the film's alien encounter. Devil's Tower isn't something everyone knows by shape. And for those of us who do, it doesn't require much suspension of disbelief to posit that the characters in the film wouldn't have put it together prior to the news footage.

Michael Albert

Plot hole: The aliens provide coordinates for a place to make a rendezvous with humans but do not specify a time. It's possible they're monitoring and will arrive when they see enough humans gathering at Devil's Tower, but the humans seem to expect the aliens to come more or less exactly when they actually do, somehow.

TonyPH

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Scientists were prepared for the aliens and knew when and where they would arrive, as seen by the extensive complex built at Devil's Tower. However, as Claude Lacombe, the French scientist, speculates towards the end, hundreds of humans may have had the Devil's Tower image recently implanted in their minds, saying they were "invited" but never made the connection. Neery figured it out and was compelled to go there at that time. Neery was then allowed to join a group of trained volunteers that were already prepared to go on the ship, while the previous "abductees" were being returned to Earth.

raywest

The aliens had not given a time to meet. The scientists may be taking it on faith that the aliens will know that they've arrived at Devil's Tower and are ready, but the way the subject of timing is left unaddressed on screen feels like an oversight.

TonyPH

We don't know for certain if the scientists were given a specific time, but it appears they were, or at least a general window. The long-lost objects, like the ship and the military aircraft, suddenly showing up in the desert, is an indication the process has started. If humans were given the precise location where the alien ship would arrive (Devil's Tower), then, logically, the aliens would also communicate when. The scientists were communicating with the aliens using tonal sounds. Early on, the scientists received map coordinates through dish satellites as repeating pulses. They would likely receive time information the same way. As often happens in movies, this info may be something that got edited out of the film, causing an inconsistency.

raywest

This might be one of those edge cases. Under most circumstances I'd agree we could assume arrangements were made off-screen by virtue of the fact that the rendezvous occurs successfully in the first place; but in the context of this movie, in which any and all forms of contact with the aliens is treated as profound and significant, leaving it unaddressed (not even with a line of dialogue) comes off like a plot hole. I suppose we'll just have to let our fellow website readers decide.

TonyPH

Question: Marty shows Doc in 1885 the image of the tombstone, and he says that he wished he'd paid Buford off. Why can't he just round up 80 dollars to give to Buford and apologise for not doing that in the first place?

Answer: Adjusting for inflation, $80 back in 1885 is equivalent to about $2,143.65 today. Not something you can just conjure up easily, least of all back then. And Marty couldn't just take 1985 money back to 1885 and expect people to accept it.

Quantom X

Except that Doc was in 1885 and could have just gone to the bank and withdrew the $80's.

How? He arrives in 1885 and magically has the equivalent of $2,100 already in a bank account? He presumably borrowed it from Buford in the first place precisely because he didn't have that much cash available.

Doc didn't borrow money from Buford. He time-traveled with a briefcase filled with currencies from different time periods, including the 1800s. Doc had shoed Buford's horse for $5, for which Buford never paid him. When one shoe later came off later, causing Buford to be thrown, Buford shot the horse and demanded Doc pay him $75 for it and $5 for a broken bottle of whiskey.

raywest

Where would have get the $80 from? You're assuming he had the $80 available to him. The bank wouldn't just give out the money for free.

You can't take out $80 in 1985 money, and give it to someone in 1885. It would look like play money to them. U.S. currency looked a lot different back then.

Ray

Well he could technically get that amount worth in gold or silver.

lionhead

And, as stated, since Doc was in 1885, more specifically, eight months in 1885, he could have just taken the money out of the bank considering he had a job as a blacksmith.

In Back to the Future 2, Doc shows Marty a briefcase full of money from different time periods, including various mid-1800 currencies, that he carried with him in the DeLorean. (There are online screen shots of the contents.) Doc refused to pay Tannen the $80 because he never owed it to him. Tannen was extorting him.

raywest

Answer: Buford was a crazed gunfighter, even if they paid off the $80 that wouldn't have satisfied him. He loved to shoot and kill. He wanted a showdown to show people he is to be feared and not messed with.

1st Mar 2005

Rear Window (1954)

Chosen answer: I think her head was in the hat box after he dug it up from the garden where the dog was digging under the marigolds.

You are correct that it was her head.

raywest

Question: Why didn't Harry simply refuse to take part in the Tri-Wizard tournament? Even though his name came out of the goblet, he could have said no.

Answer: No, he had to participate because the goblet of fire forced him into a "magical contract." The goblet itself is probably partially sentient and would punish anyone who didn't participate after being selected by the goblet. How this works exactly is never explained, but the tournament judges were pretty clear that he had no choice but to participate.

lionhead

What would have happened to Harry if he broke the contract?

Broken magical contracts usually resulted in death; a good deterrent for not breaking them. Keep in mind, however, Harry (in the book at least), like many students, very much wanted to compete in the tournament despite the danger, but initially couldn't because he was underage. He still wanted to compete, despite knowing the selection process was rigged.

raywest

It's never explained.

lartaker1975

Question: Given the Tasks are the main point of the Triwizard Tournament, they're pretty poor spectator sports - one is an hour underwater and another is in a dark maze. So all the overseas students spend most of a year at Hogwarts to watch three short rounds of a competition, two of which happen out of sight?

Answer: This is better understood in the book. The students were not invited there solely to watch the Triwizard Tournament. It was also a year-long educational and cultural experience. Dumbledore revived the tournament in its original form for a specific purpose - his secret goal was to build an international wizarding community to help fight Voldemort, who he was certain would return and spread his evil beyond the U.K. Bringing the Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students to Hogwarts for the school year was intended to build lasting friendships and alliances and for them to work cooperatively. Also, the original competition was never designed to entertain a crowd. It was a dangerous, life-threatening event that tested competitors' courage and abilities under extreme conditions, That is hardly boring and would likely keep spectators engaged long enough to see if the champions survived, even if some events weren't entirely visible.

raywest

Not sure where that is in the books, other than it being a genuinely good strategy, but the original question does seem to have a point - if you're going to collate three communities to watch a very spread-out version of the Olympic Games, why select two games where the action is entirely invisible to the audience other than who eventually emerges from the lake/maze first? It's like staging the Indy 500 when the crowd can only see the podium and not the track.

It is part of the book's overall plot, and, in the movie, Hermione mentions its purpose is about "magical cooperation." I don't recall that Dumbledore personally selected the events. He revived the original TriWizard Tournament, albeit with safety modifications. The real answer, however, is that this is a book/movie. J.K. Rowling crafted the plot to make it exciting and suspenseful and to allow for Voldemort's ultimate plan at the story's end to unfold, hidden from Dumbledore, the Hogwarts staff, and Ministry officials, who, naturally, would intervene. Otherwise, how could Harry be captured, Cedric killed, Harry be part of Voldemort's resurrection, and the climatic duel with the Dark Lord in the graveyard take place? Sometimes facts/reality/logic, etc. are suspended for the sake of the story.

raywest

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