Question: Why does the bartender tell Doc "you know what happened last 4 of July" when he offered him a shot of whiskey if he's only been there 1 week?
Bishop73
20th May 2023
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
18th May 2023
City Slickers 2 (1994)
Question: What song were Mitch, Phil and Glen humming before Duke to told them to stop?
Answer: "The Godfather Waltz", the main title theme to the Godfather film. It's a reference from early where Glen is a fan of the film.
19th Oct 2022
Ghost Ship (2002)
Question: I'm trying to figure out if the book Dodge is reading on the way to find the ghost ship is real. It says "A Conspiracy of Evil" on the cover.
Answer: Yes. It is real. You can find a copy on Amazon.
I have searched but his book cover says "a conspiracy of evil genius" - can't find it.
I haven't found the book yet and the original answer comes across as someone who did a quick Google search without knowing what he or she found. As you said the title looks like it contains "genius" and "A Conspiracy of Evil" found on Amazon was published in 2018. And "The Conspiracy of Evil", about Osiris, was published in 2006.
16th May 2023
Seinfeld (1990)
Question: Kramer never seems to work, how does he pay for an apartment in NYC, even in the 90s they were still expensive, is his means of income ever revealed?
Answer: In the episode where Kramer goes to baseball fantasy camp, George says Kramer's life is a fantasy camp and that he "fell ass-backwards into money." It's never explained where this money comes from or what Kramer did to get it, but that's how he's able to afford the lifestyle he leads. Although the episode where Jerry buys his dad a Cadillac, Kramer sees the check Jerry earned for his comedy gig and didn't realise Jerry made so much money that he felt uncomfortable about knowing the amount, so it's not like Kramer is sitting on a ton of money, which is why he does all his schemes and side jobs.
Answer: This is gleaned from the Internet, though it seems a bit far-fetched that it would provide enough for all his living expenses: Kramer has a variety of ways of making a living, including gambling, working in various theater projects, acting out illnesses at a medical school, getting a spot on the show "Murphy Brown", and pitching ideas for inventions like his "Coffee Table Book."
14th May 2023
General questions
My husband watched an episode of a new series in 2021 or 2022. Humans are living on a large, multi-level space ship, maybe more of a "space station." The ship has realistic, Earth-like places, such as a beach room. They have been living there for several years, so the youngest children have never touched real grass, beach sand, etc.
Answer: Answering my own question since I stumbled across a page on IMDB. It's "Ascension", a mini-series from 2014. Only three episodes were made. Stars Tricia Helfer, Gil Bellows, and Brian Van Holt. Humans are living on a ship that was launched in the 1960s. A hundred-year voyage will take them to a new planet, which they are supposed to populate.
Answer: The TV show "The Orville" has an episode similar to this. In s01e04, "If the Stars Should Appear", is about a 2,000 year old bio-generational ship with an Earth like ecosystem and land features. The crew of The Orville find it adrift heading towards a star and after investigating find the inhabitants of the ship thinking they live on a regular planet and don't know they're on a spaceship. This episode was from 2017, but the third and final season was released by Hulu in mid-2022 (and Disney picked up the series later), so maybe it just seemed a new series.
Thank you for responding, but it was not "The Orville." It was definitely an entire new series. The overall tone was more dark and serious. And Seth MacFarlane was not in it. We watch "Family Guy" somewhat often, so we would have remembered him. Also, as my description says, these characters knew that they were living on a ship.
24th Sep 2021
The King of Queens (1998)
Question: The elderly man in Carrie's overnight team, George, says that the firm is trying to force him to retire. Why don't they fire him?
Answer: Because he didn't do anything wrong. If they fired him simply for being older, he'd have excellent grounds for a wrongful termination suit. Much easier to 'convince' him to retire.
I know he didn't do anything wrong, but I thought New York was an "at-will employment" state, meaning that a company can simply terminate someone's employment at will.
Answer: To fire someone you need a reason and simply being older is not a reason. They could be sued for wrongful dismissal. If he retires the company doesn't get sued.
Yes, but New York is an "at-will employment" state, so a company can terminate employment at any time, without needing to give a good explanation. Unfair but it happens.
Even in at-will States, employers and employees can still enter into binding contracts that would protect an employee from being terminated without cause. These contracts may have retirement policies as well, should an employee want to retire with any benefits offered. And, what others were saying, barring any contract, terminating someone without reason is one thing, but for an illegal reasons (age discrimination) is another matter which could result in a lawsuit.
25th Jun 2004
Airplane (1980)
Question: Right after Ted is dumped by Elaine, was that Harrison Ford that played the religious zealot he punched out?
28th Apr 2023
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Question: This may sound a little crazy to the uninitiated, but does anybody have an alchemical interpretation of Apocalypse Now? I remember seeing pages from Coppola's screenplay that were annotated and made reference to transmutation.
Answer: It should be noted that "transmutation" is a word Coppola has used to describe the film making process. Https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LFTQcwgq4CY.
Answer: Could you be a bit more specific? I can give a link to the screenplay if you wish. Http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/apocolypse.html I hope that helps.
25th Apr 2023
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Question: This film will be a sequel to the first two Deadpool films, which were part of the Fox X-Men franchise, but will instead be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Is this the first time in history that a film is a sequel to another film, but is now part of a new franchise?
Answer: In addition to Bishop's answer, you could theoretically apply this to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man characters. They both appeared in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," which technically acts as a sequel to "Spider-Man 3," "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and "Spider-Man: Far From Home" - three distinct movie franchises. (And there are persistent rumors that Maguire and/or Garfield may make future MCU appearances).
To add to that (I ran out of room in my reply), with the creation of the multiverse, now any Sony or Fox franchise or universe can be considered as part of the MCU. So any Fantastic Four or X-Men sequel (although most likely any up coming film will be a reboot) can be part of the MCU.
I get what you're saying, but No Way Home was more of a crossover film that acknowledged characters coexisting in the multiverse, with those characters returning to their respective universes by the end, and Sony would still have control of those characters. Although we won't know for sure until Deadpool 3 comes out, Deadpool is meant to start as a character in a previously established film franchise and then occupy a different one moving forward.
But what film franchise would he be in? If he's in a Deadpool movie, he's in the Deadpool franchise. If they stop making Deadpool films and put him in another film, then he becomes part of another franchise. (Or more likely, just another crossover film).
This is where I would disagree with you about the MCU not being a franchise. I would contend that it is a franchise, and every series of films and TV shows within it are sub-franchises. So the Deadpool series of films would be a franchise unto itself, beginning in the larger Fox X-Men franchise and transitioning over to the MCU.
So what distinguishes one Marvel film from being in the MCU and another Marvel film not to be in it? Marvel Studios has been part of the production of a lot of films not included in the MCU, including the Blade, X-Men, and Deadpool films.
Any film made by Marvel themselves (or co-produced like the Tom Holland Spider-Man films). Marvel didn't begin making their own movies until the first Iron Man. All previous movies based on Marvel characters were made by other studios in association with Marvel, largely because Marvel licensed out their properties to avoid going bankrupt. The MCU itself is recognized as being the highest-grossing film franchise of all time.
Answer: It depends how you want to define a franchise. Are you talking production companies involved or the distribution company? And are you considering reboots? The reason Deadpool 3 would be "set" in the MCU is because Disney bought Fox and the filming rights returned to Marvel Studios, along with the rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four. When Sony rebooted Spider-Man with Tom Holland, Sony shared the rights with Marvel Studios. So Spider-Man was part of the MCU while still being part of the Sony Spider-man franchise. Venom 2's mid-credit scene is meant to make it part of the MCU while still being part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe. That being said, there are a number of cross-over films that put sequels into another franchises. Such as Freddy vs Jason, Godzilla vs Kong, or Frankenstein meets the Wolf-Man.
I'm speaking strictly from a narrative point of view. Say, for instance, they made a new Alien movie, but it was now part of the Avatar franchise moving forward, while still being a sequel to the previous Alien movies, and not intended to be a brief crossover. I know the meta nature of the Deadpool character and movies makes it a different beast, but still.
And this is what's up for debate, but to me, the MCU isn't a franchise. It's made up of the various franchises; Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, etc. where they exist in the same universe. So when crossover films occur, it's two or more franchises now existing in the same universe. Even the Avenger films can be considered crossovers. Which is why people were wonder if Spider-Man was part of the MCU or the Sony universe. Deadpool is still part of the Deadpool franchise, but now part of the MCU.
30th Jun 2009
Stargate SG-1 (1997)
Question: What was report 30185 and why wasn't Mitchell permitted to read it?
Chosen answer: Report 30185 is a joke report referring to the time when SG-1 go back in time to 1969 in the episode '1969'. The joke is that Colonel O'Neil knocked up a hippie and made sure Mitchel was taken care of throughout his life, like how he got into the 302 program while his buddy, a better pilot, did not.
Answer: This answer is incorrect, because after Mitchell said, I'm being parked on a Samantha, in a very serious tone, said seriously we can't tell you about 30185.
To clarify this entry, what Mitchell asked is "Oh, I'm being punk'd, aren't I?" The joke in the scene was 30185 was too classified for Mitchell to know, but then they turn around and tell Vala. O'Neill isn't really Mitchell's father, they were joking around. But then Samantha does honestly say they can't tell them about 30185. From there we never learn what it is.
12th Apr 2023
Gotham (2014)
Question: Trying to remember which episode had a literal 'black market' - crooks were pushing shopping carts down isles with signs indicating which contraband was stocked in which isle.
Answer: "The Merc" was a warehouse like store with aisles that sold mainly weapons, machetes, AK-47s, C-4, barrels of acid, etc. In s02e05, "Scarification", it was shown being raided by GCPD.
10th Apr 2023
Thirteen (2003)
Question: What does the piercer say to Tracy/Evie right before piercing Tracy's tongue? (04:30:22 - 04:59:43)
Answer: He says something in Spanish that roughly translates to "if you only knew a woman with a big butt" and then in English says "I only put it in when I need to" (regarding his tongue piercing). Then says "stick it out." (referring to her tongue).
8th Apr 2023
General questions
This 90s movie has a part where the main character talks to a group of kids, then the kids' teacher/counselor says "Children, that brings me to my next point: don't smoke crack." They all nod quickly, as if the main character seemed crazy to them.
Answer: Adam Sandler's "The Waterboy" (1998). After Bobby is done talking to the kids, football star, Lawrence Taylor delivers the line.
30th Mar 2023
General questions
Why do some movies list the cast in order of appearance, or in alphabetical order? Most movies don't - the order seems to depend on top billing - so is there a specific reason?
Answer: Generally when the cast is listed alphabetically it's because there's an ensemble cast or no-one with top billing, despite what any movie poster or cover may show. It's a way to be as fair as possible to all cast members involved. When the cast is listed in order of appearance, it's much the same way, because no-one is getting top billing. But it's also generally done when the order of appearance plays a part in the film or to make it clear which character is which. For example, the 1990 film "Slacker", most of the characters don't have names, just a description.
30th Mar 2023
X-Men 3 (2006)
Question: What happened to Nightcrawler? Why isn't he in this film?
Answer: Short answer, the actor, Alan Cumming didn't want to reprise his role as the process of transforming him into Kurt/Nightcrawler was long and tedious, uncomfortable and unpleasant. His role would have been a minor one, and then with Bryan Singer not returning as director, it made it easy for Cummings not to do it. In a later video game, Nightcrawler is a playable character, which Cummings voiced, and he says he didn't want to be an X-Men anymore, because of the violent nature of their lives, and he left to live in Germany.
26th Mar 2023
Full House (1987)
Question: Was Sally Struthers ever on this show? In a South Park episode, Cartman says she is "a fat chick who was on Full House." It's not listed on her IMDb page.
Answer: You remembered that episode incorrectly. Stan asks the guys who Sally Struthers is, as they watch her in a TV commercial. Kyle tells him "Sally Struthers, dude. She used to be on Full House." I think it's a joke about her no longer being successful and popular - the kids are totally unfamiliar with her work.
21st Mar 2023
Last Action Hero (1993)
Question: Arnold Schwarzenegger portrayed the Terminator in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. When Jack Slater is in a video store in the real world with Danny, why does the cardboard movie cutout for Terminator 2 show Sylvester Stallone as the Terminator?
Answer: I've never seen a scene with Jack and Danny in the real world at a video rental store. The video rental store scene takes places in the Jack Slater movie world. Since Slater is Schwarzenegger, Schwarzenegger doesn't exist in the movie world. So the Terminator is played by Stallone, who does exist in the movie world.
Answer: It's not the real world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6PBhdM9Ftg. Danny's in Slater's world and trying to find evidence of Arnold Schwarzenegger existing, but instead finds that Stallone has taken that role in this version of reality.
19th Mar 2023
Die Another Day (2002)
Question: The Bond films have traditionally hired English directors to helm all the films (much to the annoyance of many American directors like Steven Spielberg who would love to direct a Bond film). So why with this film did they decide just once to break tradition and hire a New Zealand born director instead. I'm truly baffled.
Answer: I'm not sure about the idea that Bond films traditionally only hired English directors. Tamahori wasn't even the first New Zealander to direct a Bond film. Martin Campbell is a New Zealander who directed "GoldenEye" in 1995 (and "Casino Royale" in 2006). The first Eon Bond film, "Dr. No" was directed by Terence Young who was Irish, who directed 2 additional Bond films. Technically, Roger Spottiswoode is Canadian, but has dual citizenship. The first non-Eon Bond film, which had 5 directors credited, had 2 Americans, a German, and a Scottish director. And the 1983 film, "Never Say Never Again" was directed by Irvin Kershner who was American. And following Tamahori, there have been Swiss and American directors of Bond films (Marc Foster and Cary Joji Fukunaga).
21st Feb 2023
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)
Question: Why does the gargoyle have to kill Preston after he broke his vow? She loves him and even if he did go around telling people about her, nobody would obviously believe him.
Answer: While it's not explicitly said in the film, it seems Preston breaking his vow turned her back into a gargoyle. She didn't have a choice and since he swore on his life never to say anything, she had to kill him. Plus, the stories in the book don't have happy endings.
17th Feb 2023
Krull (1983)
Question: Is there any reason why Robbie Coltrane's voice was dubbed?
Answer: I looked online and while there are many references about Michael Elphick dubbing Robbie Coltrane's voice, there was no explanation about why. Interestingly, Lysette Anthony, who played Lyssa, also was dubbed over by American actress, Lindsey Crouse, because it was thought she had a more "mature-sounding" voice. Presumably, the filmmakers felt a different voice better fit the character Coltrane played.
Answer: They were inexperienced actors, it was their first movie roles and didn't have formal vocal teachings.Robbie was said to have a very gruff, deep and thick accent, while Lysette was too high pitched.
This was not Coltrane's first movie and Anthony had been in TV movies and miniseries.
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Answer: In the letter Marty gets, Doc says he's been living in 1885 for the past 8 months. It's dated September 1. Marty in 1955 finds out that Doc dies one week after he wrote the letter (Sept 7th), not one week after he got to 1885. Marty then goes to Sept 2, 1855, one day after Doc wrote the letter.
Bishop73