Question: When Charlie and Steve have their discussion about the gold and Charlie punches Steve in the face, Charlie takes several bills out of his pocket, puts them on the table, then leaves. What does he put money on the table for? It's not like he broke anything with his punch, and surely not to pay for Stella's meal, and especially not for Steve's meal either.
Tailkinker
23rd Dec 2005
The Italian Job (2003)
22nd Dec 2005
X-Men 2 (2003)
Question: I've never understood how, in the comics, Rogue kept the powers she "absorbed" from Ms. Marvel, yet with any other mutant/human she absorbs, the effect is only temporary (as in the films). Can anyone explain this to me?
Answer: The effect of her powers depends on how long she holds onto that individual for - usually she lets go quickly, so absorbs their powers and memories for only a short period of time. With Ms Marvel, Rogue had to hold on for much longer, as Marvel continued to struggle, ultimately resulting in the permanent transfer.
22nd Dec 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Has New Zealand ever taken advantage (by way of tourism) of the huge success of these films? I mean slogans like "Come to Middle Earth, come to New Zealand" just keep clicking into my mind.
Answer: They did indeed, even going so far as to unofficially appoint a minister, dubbed, inevitably, the Minister for Middle-Earth, to keep tabs on the effects on the economy caused by the increase in business and tourism.
10th Dec 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Question: In Mount Doom, why didn't Elrond stop Isildur from leaving or make him destroy the ring (i.e. throw it into the pit)?
Answer: Any hostile confrontation between Elrond and Isildur, as would be required to stop Isildur from leaving, would invariably grow into a fight between the remaining human and elven forces, something that Elrond would not want to risk. Better to let him leave, then monitor the situation, looking for a chance to get the Ring away from him safely.
23rd Nov 2005
Time Bandits (1981)
Question: On disc 2 of the special edition DVD, there were interviews with actors Brad Pitt, Amanda Plummer, Mercedes Ruehl and Madeleine Stowe. Were they in this movie and if so what parts did they play? Also, who played the Supreme Being in physical form?
Answer: None of them appeared in Time Bandits, but all four have worked with director Terry Gilliam (Pitt and Stowe in Twelve Monkeys, Plummer and Ruehl in The Fisher King) - presumably their interviews were about Gilliam generally. The Supreme Being was played by Sir Ralph Richardson.
22nd Nov 2005
Hulk (2003)
Question: When the Hulk reverts to Banner for the final time, while watching Betty walk down the stairs towards him, steam rises from him and water seems to drip from his hands. What's that all about?
Answer: He's having to shed a lot of excess cells as he reverts - it can't just vanish into the ether, so you'd expect to see something leaving his body as he shrinks.
22nd Nov 2005
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Question: Is there supposed to be some kind of trivia when C3P0 says the odds of surviving are 725 to 1, 3720 to 1?
Chosen answer: No, they're just numbers.
22nd Nov 2005
Batman Begins (2005)
Question: Is there a significance to the little boy? Is he from the comics? Or does he become a hero/villain when he gets older?
Answer: As the little boy is never given a name, it can be safely said that he's not intended to be of any larger significance than 'somebody who needs protecting'. If he was supposed to be somebody of importance to the Batman tales, they'd have included his name as a nod to the fans.
22nd Nov 2005
Family Matters (1989)
Question: Steve Urkel's middle initial is Q. What Does the Q stand for?
Answer: According to the IMDb, his middle name is Quincy.
19th Nov 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Question: We are told that the ringwraiths were once kings of men, I was wondering what men were they kings of?
Answer: In most cases, it's not been established. The only Nazgul to have been named by Tolkien, Khamul, was a king of the Men of the East (also known as the Easterlings), who fought for Sauron in the War. Tolkien also states that three of the Nazgul were of the Numenorean race but precisely who they were and where their realms might have been have never been revealed.
19th Nov 2005
Alien 3 (1992)
Question: How did the ox (or dog) get the alien inside of it? Did it get facehugged or something? If so, how did the facehugger survive the escape pod and come to land?
Answer: The facehugger came down in the escape pod and survived the crash - as has been previously established, they're tough little critters. In the theatrical release, we see the dog standing in the escape pod while it's being moved, with the facehugger moving towards it. With the Ox, the 'hugger presumably left the pod and impregnated the first creature that it came across.
Question: Sometime after Lestats death, Louis is told that a vampires' punishment for killing it's own kind is death. After Claudia and the vampire woman are found turned to dust, Louis begins killing some of the vampires in retaliation, so why didn't any remaining vampires go after Louis and give him the same punishment?
Answer: Firstly, it may not be widely known that he was responsible - he wiped out the theatre coven, other than Armand, who supports him, leaving no-one to tell the tale. Secondly, he has the favour of Armand, a known power in the vampiric world - to go after Louis would risk Armand's wrath, which would not be an appealing prospect to any would-be vengeance-seekers.
17th Nov 2005
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Question: If Padme is pregnant when she first greets Anakin, why wouldn't he be able to feel it? The scene that takes place later shows Padme with a big belly, wouldn't he have noticed?
Chosen answer: The film takes place over a considerable period of time, as Palpatine works on turning Anakin, Anakin grows increasingly dissatisfied with the Jedi Council, the search for Grevious goes on and so forth. There's enough time for Padme to have only had a relatively small pregnancy bump in the early scenes.
15th Nov 2005
Titanic (1997)
Question: Was Rose a real passenger on the ship. I know that there was a crew member called Joseph Dawson but was Rose a real person. If so, how did the real life Rose react to herself on screen?
Answer: Both Rose and Jack are entirely fictitious - the similarity of names with the crew member is purely coincidental. Many of the bodies that were recovered were buried in a cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia that is called the Titanic Graveyard. One of the headstones reads 'J Dawson'. When James Cameron learned about this victim having a similar name to one of the main characters, he said it was a purely a coincidence.
9th Nov 2005
X-Men (2000)
Question: Does Magneto understand that his special radiation machine kills normal humans or not? He ignores Storm when she tells him she saw Sen. Kelly die. Is his plan to make the world leaders mutants so they'll become sympathetic to the mutant cause, or is it to just kill everybody?
Answer: No, he doesn't realise that it ultimately kills them. His entire aim is to turn the world's leaders into mutants, thus getting them onto his side. If he killed them, he'd simply put new leaders into office who now had even more of a reason to hate mutants, which really isn't going to help matters. When Storm tells him that Kelly died, he simply asks her if she really saw what she thinks she saw - a certain degree of denial, but one that's understandable. After all, he wouldn't want to think that all his planning was for naught.
Answer: Magento didn't care if the Senator died. They either become mutants or they die. Either way he considers it a win win situation.
7th Nov 2005
General questions
Just before Christmas in 2004, on one of the British terrestrial channels was a programme about dragons. I think it was called 'Flight of the Dragons', but it wasn't the animation. It was about 2 hours long, and wasn't a movie. It was written as a spoof documentary about the discovery of a dragon's skeleton, and about dragons' evolution and lifestyle. It was really interesting, and had amazing computer-generated graphics, and I would like to know if anyone else has seen it, and whether it has (or will) come out on DVD.
Answer: Yes, I saw it; very good show, I enjoyed it immensely. It was called "The Last Dragon" in the UK - it was shown in the US under the title "Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real". It has been released on DVD in both countries under the appropriate title.
7th Nov 2005
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Question: When David is starting to turn into a werewolf, he sees his entire body starting to change. So why is it that when he is talking to Alex the next morning he can't remember it happening and the last thing he remembers is reading a book?
Answer: Traumatic events have a tendency to disrupt the memory - people who have been involved in a car accident, for example, often have no memory of the events leading up to the accident, even though they would obviously have perceived those events at the time. The physical and mental stresses of the werewolf transformation have clearly disrupted David's memories in a similar fashion.
3rd Nov 2005
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Question: Does anybody know why Zaphod has two faces and not two heads? In the book there are two separate heads and he never gets one cut off. Was this a deliberate choice by the filmmakers for a reason? Thanks.
Answer: It was a choice by Douglas Adams prior to his demise, largely to avoid the large amount of effects required to continuously portray a character with two heads. It was also probably prompted, at least in part, by his dissatisfaction with the second head used in the 1980's TV version, causing him to think of other ways that Zaphod could be portrayed.
10th Oct 2005
Lost (2004)
Question: I know that on most flights, the animals are stored in the bottom section with the luggage. If the plane crashed, how did Vincent the dog survive?
Answer: We know that the tail section of the plane was torn off in mid-air, which would have exposed the luggage section - luggage seems to have been scattered over a reasonably wide area, so it was presumably falling out from that point onwards. The most likely scenario is that Vincent's carrier was ejected before the actual impact and Vincent survived the fall to the ground (it seems that his carrier was damaged enough that he could get out).
6th Jul 2005
Love Actually (2003)
Question: Does anyone know of a website or other source that tells you how to mimic Hugh Grant's dance scene? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Answer: Watching the film would seem to be the best source. The moves don't appear to be terribly difficult and shouldn't be hard to work out.
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Answer: Actually, it almost certainly is to pay for Stella's meal. It's a point of principle - they don't owe Steve anything, so they won't even let him pay for the meal that she ate. He's the one who owes them, big time - paying for the meal makes the point that there's no debt of any kind going the other way.
Tailkinker ★