Question: Why was the original trilogy always titled episodes 4, 5 and 6, when the prequel trilogy wasn't even planned?
jimba
23rd Feb 2021
Star Wars (1977)
Answer: It is true "Star Wars" was not originally called episode IV, but Lucas always had the idea of doing a sequels. His original script became too big for one film, so he took the first third of the script (Act 1) and turned it into "Star Wars." However, since the film gave no context or background information to the audience (we're basically just thrown into the action), Lucas took the opportunity when "Star Wars" was a success to plan on creating prequels.
Https://drbeat.li/album/Bücher/The_Secret_History_of_Star_Wars.pdf (pdf of "The Secret History of Star Wars"). And here is a quote from Lucas "The Star Wars series started out as a movie that ended up being so big that I took each act and cut it into its own movie...It was like a big script. It was way too big to make into a movie. So I took the first third of it, which is basically the first act, and I turned that into what was the original Star Wars."
13th Jan 2010
Star Wars (1977)
Question: Two questions: In the bar, Obi Wan's lightsaber is purple, not blue. Is there any particular reason for this? Also, the trivia section for this movie mentions a scene with Han Solo and Jabba the Hut that I have never seen before in the movie. Can somebody explain where the scene is and what happens in it?
Answer: The different color is likely due to the lighting of the cantina. The scene with Jabba is in the remastered version of the film and takes place as Han and Chewie are preparing the Falcon for takeoff. Han tells Jabba that he'll have the money to repay him as soon as he gets back from the job of taking Luke and Obi-Wan to Alderaan and Jabba tells him that if he doesn't, he's going to have to send Boba Fett after him.
Lucas filmed the scene during the production of Star Wars but dropped it because he didn't have the technology at the time to replace the stand-in with Jabba the way he wanted. Later during the remaster, now equipped with the right technology, they added Jabba and included the scene in the film.
8th Jan 2021
Back to School (1986)
Question: I have always been curious about one thing in this movie - when Thornton was taking the oral examination, if he answered all of Dr. Barbay's questions right, why did he only get a D? How did Dean Martin not question that?
Answer: We don't know that he answered all the questions right, just that he answered the last one right. Based on Barbay's upset response to that correct answer, it is likely Thornton was at the edge between a wrong answer giving him an F and a correct answer giving him the D he got.
Answer: It should also be noted he got all D's and just 1 A. So it wasn't just Barbay that gave him a D.
11th Jul 2019
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Question: Did Professor Hulk bring back the original Infinity Stones with the Blip?
Answer: No, his snap simply restored all the people Thanos' snap eliminated. They discuss it before he snaps. Tony reminds him to not try to do anything other than bring the people back.
We don't know that's all he did. Considering the Ancient One's warning that removing a stone for one's universe could have disastrous affects on that universe. One would think he would return the stones.
She was talking about removing them from the timeline, nothing about destroying them. According to the comics when the stones are destroyed the powers they represent will be made physical again in a different way. This does not happen when they are removed completely, since the power inside (the energy) cannot be reassembled again.
Destroying the stones almost killed Thanos. Hulk would not have been able to bring back half the universe and the stones with no further impact.
We do know. As stated in the answer, Tony and Hulk specifically discuss ONLY bringing the people back. Since it's stated in the film, we can say with certainty that's all he did.
As stated in the film, he also tried to bring Natasha back who wasn't one of the half Thanos snapped away, so while unlikely, perhaps he did try more.
23rd Oct 2020
Cinderella (1950)
Question: Near the end of the movie, the grand duke calls the footman to bring him the glass slipper, so he can try it on Cinderella. But Lady Tremaine trips the footman, causing the slipper to fly and shatter. Then Cinderella reveals she has the other slipper. The grand duke tries it on her, and find that it fits. I have a problem with that because how did he know the glass slipper Cinderella had was the same size as the one that broke?
Answer: Cinderella's entire outfit was magically created by the Fairy Godmother. Not only was the spare shoe Cinderella had in her possession identical to the other one, it likely would be charmed so that she is the only one who can wear it. It's similar to young Arthur being the only person who could pull Excalibur from the stone because he was the true king. No other woman who attended the ball wore glass slippers. If they had, they'd be able to also produce the spare shoe as proof.
Answer: Add in that how many possible glass slippers could there possibly be? It would be an incredibly uncommon type of shoe that would be amazingly difficult to make.
Answer: Probably because it looked the same to him, and he had been handling it a lot for all the trying-ons, plus how many people have glass slippers in their closet? But you are right it heavily suggests she is the person, not proves it. But then again how many women's feet would it have already fit? He should have found many matches long before getting to Cinderella. Cinderella can't be the only woman in the kingdom with her size foot.
23rd Oct 2020
Beetlejuice (1988)
Question: Why do Adam and Barbara always hide when Otho, Charles and Delia enter the attic? The only person who can see them is Lydia.
Answer: Probably a combination of habit and uncertainty. They don't know what the rules are of being seen since at least one person can see them, so to be cautious in case something changes they still hide.
9th Oct 2020
In the Line of Fire (1993)
Question: When he was looking through the seating chart, how did Frank know that Boothe was James Carney at the presidential dinner?
Answer: Frank had reviewed and was familiar with the list of the attendees since he was concerned about an attempt, and when he looked at the faxed list of new bank accounts, the name Carney jumped out at him.
Answer: John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln.
Not the question. "Booth" is just a pseudonym used by Mitch Leary (John Malkovich) at the beginning of the film, until Frank and the FBI figure out his real identity. Your answer is right insofar as that's why Leary called himself "Booth." But the question is, how did he immediately connect Leary with the name James Carney on the seating chart.
When he spoke with Sandy Riggs, the organizer of the event, Sandy Riggs said, "Be right back, Mr. Carney." Then when he read the name James Carney on the guest list, he made the connection.
30th Jun 2020
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
12th Mar 2020
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Question: Doc is quite a resourceful and clever guy. Why didn't he set to work on repairing the flying circuits which would have enabled them to use Mr Fusion to reach 88mph, instead of the engine?
Answer: Mr fusion only powers the flux capacitor. The engine is needed to get the car up to 88mph whether flying or not and the only way to get the car any power is by the use of petrol, which didn't exist in 1885.
At the beginning of the movie, when 1955 Doc reads the letter that 1985 Doc sent to Marty, he reads that the lightning bolt activated the time circuits and at the same time destroyed the flying circuits. Because of this, the Delorean will never fly again.
These answers are correct. Plus, to the original question: as clever as Doc is, keep in mind he got the flying conversion done in 2015. Definitely no way he would have been able to repair something so futuristic with 1885 tools at his disposal. He couldn't even get gas.
Yet just a few years later he had built from scratch a flying time-traveling locomotive, all with 1885 tools and parts.
There's no indication he built the flying train in 1885. It's suggested he had been time traveling with his wife and kids and says he's already been to the future. Whether this is in the DeLorean or the train it's not clear, but the dialogue suggests he's been to the future in his train with the family and could have modified his train to fly with future technology.
7th May 2020
Back to the Future (1985)
Question: I have a question and this has bothered me for years. How did Doc know the exact date and time to wear a bulletproof vest by reading Marty's letter? We see what Marty wrote and it says "The night I go back in time" before he puts it in Doc's pocket but it never said the exact date or time of when the terrorists would attack Doc after Marty came back in 1985?
Answer: The answer is right in your question. The letter states "The night I go back in time." Doc helped Marty get back to 1985 at the exact date and time that he left. He set this date and time in the Delorean. We know that Doc has a penchant for remembering dates as one of the ways Marty proves he's from the future is that Doc told him the exact date and events of when he got the idea for the flux capacitor.
Answer: Doc sees the video tape recording of the first part or the test so would know it was after that time, so he took precautions to protect himself from that point forward. Knowing it could be at any time from the test till later, he wore the vest to the test, and presumably would have continued wearing it after the test if that wasn't when it happened.
28th Apr 2020
Wonder Woman (2017)
Question: If Amazons are immortal and never age then how can Diana grow up there?
Answer: It would be more accurate to say they grow to a certain age then stop aging. Similar to the elves in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
Answer: They may never grow old, but they are not immortal since we see some die.
Answer: Diana is unlike the other Amazon women, so her physiology differs. In mythology, Amazon women were demigods - half human and half god. Diana's mother, Hippolyta, crafted her from clay and Zeus gave her life. Diana grew from an infant into adulthood, then, like the other Amazons, becomes either immortal or long-lived.
Answer: Thank you both.
28th Apr 2020
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
12th Mar 2020
The Terminator (1984)
Question: How did the Terminator know how to drive a car? Obviously Kyle would know how as they were still using cars to fight Skynet, but the Terminators used more advanced machines so wouldn't have ever needed to drive a car.
Answer: They have a vast data repository which would include how to drive a car, after all, they are supposed to blend in, so if the rebels are driving vehicles, then the terminators would also need to be able to. Also note that when the terminator reaches the bar, he has a full catalog of motorcycles in his data banks, showing he does have the info about vehicles.
7th Sep 2009
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Question: When Hermione says 'I thought I just saw. Never mind' what did she think she saw?
Chosen answer: She thought she saw herself, which would have been impossible, if not for the Timeturner that Prof. McGonigall gave her. She saw a flash of the scene as it appears when she and Harry revisit that moment in time.
I have watched it several times and cannot see any part of Hermione behind the tree. What part did she see?
As we see later in the film, Hermione #2 is looking around the tree and a twig snaps, causing Hermione #1 to quickly turn around and catch a glimpse of Hermione #2 before she gets her body behind the tree. By the time the camera is showing that portion of the forest Hermione #2 is fully behind the tree so we don't see anything at that time, which is on purpose since the audience isn't supposed to know the movie's later events yet.
But when Hermione #1 turns around, what part of Hermione #2 does she see?
We don't see her, she saw herself.
But what part of herself did she see?
3rd Jan 2020
General questions
There was a TV movie about a high school student who plays hockey and gets killed during a game when the puck gets deflected and hits him in the head. When he goes to Heaven, he meets his angel guide but demands to go back to Earth. The angel agrees and places him into the body of a teenage female figure skater. He is then told by the angel that he can't tell anybody who he really is or look for his family and friends. If he does, his memory will be completely erased and he'll stay trapped in the body of the girl forever. He also eventually discovers that the reason that the hockey puck killed him was because the angel accidentally caused its deflection.
Answer: Ice Angel (2000).
11th Nov 2019
Ender's Game (2013)
Question: If Ender would destroy the planet in the simulation, why wouldn't he do it for real? The simulations are supposed to be practice.
Answer: For the same reason when you are playing a video game you will run people over, or shoot them without figuring out who they are. He thought it was the equivalent of a video game, i.e. not real, so he would potentially do things he wouldn't do if he thought it was real. This is the very reason the power structure put them into a real operation while leading them to think it was a simulation, so they would be likely to act when faced with a moral dilemma.
23rd Sep 2019
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Question: Thanos wields Thor's axe and tried to bury it into Thor's chest - is this because the axe doesn't require you to be worthy for it, or is Thanos strong enough to wield it without being worthy, or is he worthy to wield his axe and if so why?
Answer: Thor's hammer was enchanted by Odin in the first Thor movie only to be wieldable by a person who was worthy, but the axe was made later and had no such enchantment.
10th Jun 2019
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Question: Instead of telling Stark to turn the donut around why doesn't he use a sling ring?
Answer: The range of the sling rings hasn't been defined. They were in deep space at this point, so they may have been too far away for Strange to open up a portal on Earth for them to step through.
In Endgame, Strange opens at least one portal from across the galaxy. For example, we see the one opened from Titan that he, Spiderman, and the Gaurdians all come through. Unless his sling powers suddenly increased after the great purge, he should have been able to open a portal from deep space on the ship.
Answer: The Q Ship was travelling in some form of hyperspace. It would be reasonable to assume that the slingring could not work under those circumstances. When he does use it later, it is from the surface of the planet Titan.
And when they arrive on Titan his idea to protect the time stone changes. He instead looks at different time-lines.
Why would it be different in hyperspace? The ship has its own gravity.
By definition, hyperspace exists outside normal time and space. Depending on how the sling ring works, it may not be able access normal space.
5th Apr 2019
The Sound of Music (1965)
Question: Exactly how did the Von Trapps escape after their last performance "So Long, Farewell"? How did a Nazi officer not catch them?
Answer: In the movie we aren't shown what soldiers, if any, are behind the scenes that would be there to catch them, so they could have snuck by. In real life there was no escape necessary, the Von Trapps actually just climbed onto a train saying they were going to America to perform.
13th Dec 2018
The Karate Kid (1984)
Question: Why did it matter so much to Ali's father that Daniel's from Reseda?
Answer: Ali and her family are very well off and are from a nicer part of town. Reseda is a lower income area. It's a typical "wrong side of the tracks" situation. Ali's parents would be happier if their daughter dated someone more well off. The theme of "never judge a book by the cover" permeates throughout the film and this is one of several examples. Daniel is a kind, caring, honorable young man and where he lives has nothing at all to do with his character. Johnny, who Ali's parents are more approving of because of his social status, is controlling, manipulative, petulant, and violent.
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Answer: The original wasn't. It was just "Star Wars" when I saw it in the theater. In fact Lucas wasn't planning on any sequels when he made the first. After the first made it as a big success and drafts of a sequel were started, the second was first numbered as 2, but Lucas decided on a series with prequels, so the first became number 4, and so on. For a long time after 4-6 came out, people doubted if 7-9, let alone 1-3 would every be made. It was 16 years between the release of #6 and #1.
jimba