Tailkinker

Question: When Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn are leaving the troops to go summon that ghost army in the mountain, all of the troops and even Eowyn think he is abandoning them. Why does he not explain where he is going? If he would have told them that he was going to summon a great army to help it would have done a lot for their morale. What does the book say about this?

rstill

Chosen answer: The Dead who live under the mountain are feared and hated by pretty much everyone - note Aragorn's reaction when Elrond first suggests recruiting them. The Rohirrim will be well aware of all the tales - if Aragorn were to tell them what his mission was, they'd likely consider him to be insane. Better for them to think that one of their leaders has to go on some unspecified mission than for them to think that he's actually nuts. Besides, Aragorn has no idea whether the Dead will actually choose to fight - he seems reasonably convinced at first that they won't, and he's not likely to be alone in that opinion - most of the Rohirrim would probably consider him to be a fool for even contemplating it - also not exactly great for morale.

Tailkinker

1st Mar 2005

Smallville (2001)

Answer: In the comics, Krypto is a dog from Krypton who was used as the passenger in a test launch by Jor-El, Superman's father, before he launched the actual rocket taking his infant son to Earth. Krypto's capsule was involved in a mishap, sending it out of Kryptonian orbit and eventually found its way to Earth where he linked up with the young Clark Kent. Like any native of Krypton, Krypto has superpowers on Earth. In Smallville, the dog is a standard Earth dog who has been experimentally injected with kryptonite, giving him super-strength for a limited period of time, who escapes and links up with Clark (who suggests the name Krypto, ostensibly because of the dog's cryptic origins). It doesn't take too long for the dog's strength to fade, and the Kents decide to keep him, although they ultimately name him Shelby, after a dog that Martha Kent had in childhood.

Tailkinker

1st Mar 2005

THX 1138 (1971)

Question: The number 1138 gets referenced in many later Lucas-related projects. What, if any, is the original significance of the number?

Answer: It's been widely suggested that Lucas based the title on his telephone number at the time. The first three digits corresponded to T,H and X on the keypad - the last four were 1138.

Tailkinker

1st Mar 2005

Finding Nemo (2003)

Chosen answer: Nigel is a pelican - he appears to be modelled on a Brown pelican (although that particular species is not actually native to Australia).

Tailkinker

Question: What exactly is a Witch King - where did it come from and why is it there?

Answer: The Witch-King is a name given to the Lord of the Nazgul, leader of the kings corrupted by the Nine Rings. The title "Witch-King of Angmar" refers to a time in the middle of the Third Age, around 1500 years before the War of the Ring, when he founded the northern kingdom of Angmar to oppose the kingdoms of the north, which were populated by Aragorn's ancestors. The specific title "Witch-King" alludes to the fact that the Nazgul leader was a powerful sorceror - whether he was before he fell to darkness, or whether he learned his skills from Sauron is unclear. What his mortal name was is unknown.

Tailkinker

1st Mar 2005

Blade Runner (1982)

Question: I'm aware that there is debate on whether or not Deckard was a replicant, but as I was watching the movie, I couldn't see any clues as to why anybody would think this. Did I miss something obvious? Why do people think this?

Answer: The two most notable hints are as follows. The first (which is only in the Director's Cut) is that after Deckard dreams of a unicorn, Graf makes an origami unicorn and leaves it at Deckard's apartment. Some people interpret this as suggesting that they're aware of the memories that have been given to Deckard to prevent him realising his true nature. The second hint is that replicant eyes glow in certain lights - at one point in the film, Deckard's eyes can be seen glowing in the same fashion. Ridley Scott has stated on several occasions that, as far as he's concerned, Deckard is a replicant, but he does concede that they deliberately left it as somewhat ambiguous - the viewer should decide for themselves.

Tailkinker

Answer: Rachel asks Decker at one point if he had ever taken the replicant test himself, and he doesn't answer. Even though the movie itself doesn't seem to stress the point, in the book on which the movie is based "Do androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", the question of whether the protagonist detective is an android is the main theme.

Question: When Gandalf is resurrected he says "I had been sent back, until my task is completed". What is this 'task'?

Answer: To advise and guide the races of Middle-Earth in their fight against the powers of evil.

Tailkinker

Question: Who built the 'winding stair' and why would they build it?

Answer: Tolkien never addresses the question of who built it - one candidate would be the Gondorians, who were responsible for the construction of both the Tower of Cirith Ungol and Minas Morgul (then named Minas Ithil). The stair could have been used as a stealthy method of moving between the two, although the presence of Shelob, who was present before either was built, would complicate matters. Probably the most likely candidate would be Sauron's forces, at some point during the Second Age, as a method of moving between the two passes through the mountains.

Tailkinker

Answer: As seen in the Extended Edition, their primary reason is to talk to Saruman and to find out what he knows. While they would know by that point that the Ents are up to something - the appearance of the Huorns at Helm's Deep (Two Towers Extended) would tell them that - it's not likely that they'd actually know that the Ents had attacked Isengard. They might strongly suspect that something had happened there, but it's not likely that they actually knew for certain.

Tailkinker

Question: In the Fellowship it shows Isildur dead in the water from some arrows and then the Ring falling into the water. In the RotK it shows Deagol picking up the Ring in the water. Where exactly is this?

Answer: This takes place in an area referred to as the Gladden Fields, which is where the Gladden River meets the Great River Anduin (the river that the Fellowship travel on by boat), some distance to the north of Galadriel's realm of Lorien.

Tailkinker

28th Feb 2005

The Matrix (1999)

Question: Is it ever explained how Morpheus knows that Neo is the one initially? In the beginning all we know is that they are looking for each other, what happened before then?

Nick N.

Chosen answer: It's never explained. From what we do know, it's clear that Morpheus and his group have been observing Neo for some time, as they presumably do with potential new recruits. While Neo was too old to be a recruit, it seems likely that Morpheus saw something during that time that convinced him that Neo was the One, leading him to break the rules regarding age and extract Neo from the Matrix anyway. It's also possible that the Oracle gave him some relevant information when she told him that he would find the One - not a name and address, obviously, but something that Morpheus ultimately recognised in Neo.

Tailkinker

Answer: Old-Biff first comments on the flying DeLorean "I have not seen one of those in 30 years", then he sees what he believes to be two McFly Jr.'s and gets even more suspicious, next he spies on Doc and Marty having an argument about the almanach and how Doc is opposed to time travelling for personal gain! What else does he need to know? And lastly: We're talking about a time machine here! Old-Biff could have stolen it, kept it for how ever long it took him to figure out how it works and returned it at leisure. We don't even have any proof for the days he picked to departed from 2015 or to arrive in 1955. The only verified date is his return from Nov 12 1955 06:38 pm.

Chosen answer: He doesn't, but it's hardly difficult to work out - the date setting readout is pretty obvious. Biff presumably set the date, then just accelerated the car until the time circuits kicked in.

Tailkinker

Answer: It's a plot hole. Biff couldn't have known or suspected the DeLorean's time-travel procedure, which necessarily included Biff setting the precise 1955 destination with no previous instruction. Biff just suddenly "knew" how to operate a time machine. He also changed the timeline by going back to 1955, so there's no way he could have returned to the "normal" 2015. But he does.

Charles Austin Miller

It's not totally impossible that Biff knew how to the time dial worked. He wasn't suspecting what it was, he knew it was a time travel machine and thus knew what the dial was for and possibly being technically educated knew how to use the time dial.

lionhead

We know from the first movie that Biff, by age 48, was waxing cars for a living in 1985. He hardly had a "technical education" and it's doubtful he acquired a technical education by age 78 in the year 2015. It was established in the first movie that he had become a timid underachiever.

Charles Austin Miller

Alright I agree, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. But he has lived for 78 years by then, till 2015. Even though he has no clue on how the flux capacitor works, he doesn't need to, all he needs to do is work the time circuits, a simple keypad system which even shows which display shows which time. For someone from 2015, it's not so hard to figure out.

lionhead

Answer: He could have taken however long he wanted to figure it out, as long as he returned it to the exact time he took it from. We don't actually see him time travel with it when he takes it, so, for all we know, he could have taken it to his house and taken the few hours/days he needed to figure out how to use it.

Answer: Doc and Marty Were keeping a detailed log via the camcorder, making it easier still.

dizzyd

Yeah old Biff didn't watch the camcorder.

lionhead

28th Feb 2005

Mr. Deeds (2002)

Chosen answer: Helicopter performance is dependent on a number of factors, including air density. As altitude increases, air density decreases and the performance of the helicopter falls as well. At the height of Mt Everest, the air density has fallen to a sufficient degree that most helicopters would be unable to function (few helicopters are capable of functioning above 20,000 feet, nine thousand feet lower than the summit of Everest).

Tailkinker

3rd Feb 2005

Gladiator (2000)

Question: I wonder, in what year is the movie set?

Answer: According to the opening text, the initial battle takes place in the winter of 180AD.

Tailkinker

Question: In an earlier question someone asked about Brego and said it was Eomund's horse. Eowyn says that it was her cousin's horse. I thought Theodred was her cousin not Eomund. Is that true?

Answer: You're correct - Theodred, who rode Brego before his death, is Eowyn's cousin. Eomund is her late father, who married Theodwyn, King Theoden's sister.

Tailkinker

5th Feb 2005

Collateral (2004)

Question: Max rambles a bit sometimes. But why does he say "I'm collateral anyway" in the scene after Vincent shot the Jazz player?

Answer: By this point, he's pretty much figured out that Vincent's going to kill him at the end of the night - given the lengths that Vincent goes to to prevent people from seeing his face, he's hardly going to leave somebody who could easily identify him alive. The term 'collateral damage' is used to describe individuals who are killed as the result of targeting somebody else - like a civilian standing near a military target who's killed by a bomb aiming at that target. Max isn't the target of Vincent's hits, but he knows that he'll end up dead anyway.

Tailkinker

Can I just say it took me ten times watching this to catch that.

Also the name refers to the fact Vincent was going to use Max to to blame the murders on him no matter what, if the night failed and he didn't kill his targets he'd suicide Vincent and blame it on him, risk management, protecting his identity even from his employers since a dead killer is "clean" in terms of the law investigating it. Kinda like the job was a loan, and Max was a house, if he lost the job he'd forfeit Max as a contingency. Basically Max was always going to be his "Collateral" if he failed in his killings or succeeded, Collateral Damage if he succeeds, Employment Collateral if he failed, and if Detective Fanning showed up 5 minutes earlier or if the body didn't fall out the window, the whole movie wouldn't have happened as it did since the witnesses would have been locked down, and he'd end up suicide an unsuspecting Max in an alleyway somewhere upon failure. I love the title, it's so provocative, the meanings behind it for Max, Vincent, and the story.

3rd Feb 2005

Corpse Bride (2005)

Question: What is the song played in the trailer for this movie at www.apple.com/trailers?

Answer: "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg.

Tailkinker

3rd Feb 2005

Ocean's Twelve (2004)

Question: When Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts and what's left of the gang go to the museum, several people tell Willis how much they liked him in "that one movie". Then they add something like "I knew it when she didn't speak to you in the restaurant". Are they referring to an actual movie?

Answer: The Sixth Sense. They mean that they figured out the true nature of his character when his wife doesn't directly acknowledge his presence in a restaurant.

Tailkinker

Question: Beatrix has been in a coma due to a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Is it even possible to give birth to a child in this condition? I'd guess it wouldn't survive after the gunshot trauma.

Answer: There have been a number of well-documented cases of women giving birth while in a coma after serious accidents - in rare cases, the birth has even been natural rather than by Caesarian section.

Tailkinker

Answer: Something else to consider is that when Beatrix is shot she says its Bill's baby and it shocks him and throws him off his game. So he didn't blow a chunk out of her head, just grazed her perfectly to put her in a coma. So she lived...barely...and the baby was delivered by caesarean.

Question: This entire expedition is just that, an expedition. It's not a hunt for Aliens or Predators, so why do Max Stafford and his team bring machine guns into the Pyramid? What are they expecting to find that would cause them to shoot? I've never heard of an archaeological team or a drilling team, for that matter, ever having to refer to projectile weaponry during an excavation.

Answer: Remember that they find the pyramid because of detecting a heat source - which implies that there's something down there, either something living or a technological source, that's created that heat, as spontaneous fires are something of a rarity in the Antarctic. Essentially, they have little or no idea what they might encounter down there, so it makes sense to cover all the possible scenarios, including the possibility of encountering a hostile force.

Tailkinker

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