What is the difference between subtitles and closed-captions? Over here in England we don't bother with c-c's, but I've noticed that a lot of my R1 discs have subtitles in some languages and c-c's in others. Also, on some discs the 'subtitle' button will display the c-c's but on others it won't. In those cases how do I display the c-c's?
Xofer
25th Mar 2005
General questions
1st Mar 2005
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Why didn't the elves let everyone go to the undying lands? That way no one would die from Mordor's armies. In fact everyone would be happy there.
1st Mar 2005
Ocean's Twelve (2004)
Question: I'm really bad at remembering faces - was just wondering if the guy who Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon meet, and eat with - and play the weird phrases game, is also Le Marque - so technically, did CZJ met her father unofficially, (before Pitt introduces him) when she was interrogating him?
Answer: Le Marque and Matsui (the weird phrase guy) are played by Albert Finney and Robbie Coltrane, respectively (so no, she never met him before).
12th Feb 2005
Urban Legend (1998)
Question: In the party scene there is a guy talking about a scream in a song which is actually a woman being murdered. Does anyone know the full story or any more details about this urban legend?
Chosen answer: The song is 'Love Rollercoaster' by the Ohio Players. All the details on this story can be found at Snopes website http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/roller.htm.
22nd Jan 2005
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Question: Not from the movie, but there were two books actually printed that were mentioned in the harry potter books, called 'Quidditch Through the Ages', with the claimed author of Kennilworthy Whisp, and 'Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them' by Newt Scamander. My question is do these people exist or did J.K Rowling write these books as well, but since they were supposed to be Harry's schoolbooks did she use different names? Also, what exactly does IMBd stand for?
Answer: Yes, J.K. Rowling wrote both of those books; she used the pseudonyms to make the books more realistic (as opposed to just being a HP spinoff). IMDb stands for Internet Movie Database, probably the premiere site online for movie information (http://www.imdb.com).
22nd Jan 2005
Moulin Rouge (2001)
Question: Is John Leguizamo's character supposed to be the Toulouse-Lautrec (the painter) or a person from the same time period who happens to have the same name as the painter?
Answer: He's supposed to be the actual person.
Question: When the evil Count Olaf disguises himself at Captain Sham, how did he end up with the peg leg? To get the children's money, did he literally cut off his own leg to be rid of the identifying tattoo on his ankle and also create a more effective disguise?
Answer: Of course not. It's common practice in theater (and movies) to simply tie the lower leg to the thigh and attach a peg at the knee.
Question: Since its mentioned in most of the other Star Wars films, where is the number 1138 mentioned in this one?
Answer: When the snowspeeders are searching for Han and Luke, the leader says for Rogues 10 and 11 to search sector 38. A bit of a stretch, but there it is. Also, during the duel between Luke and Vader the fight sequence begins with one exchange of strikes, then one more, then three, then eight.
2nd Jan 2005
Family Guy (1999)
Question: I know that Seth MacFarlane does many voices, such as those of Brian, Peter, Stewie and other generic sorts of voices for background characters. I just wondered if anyone knew which of these voices was his own, or the closest to his own. He seems to use the "Brian" voice the most.
16th Nov 2004
Lost in Space (1998)
Question: What did John said to the spider Smith after he said, "Remember the Proteus," and what did he mean by that?
Answer: He meant (as he says shortly after) that the spiders on the Proteus (that infected Smith) eat their dead/wounded, so when spider Smith's egg-sack is ruptured, the babies eat him.
12th Nov 2004
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)
Question: I know that Monty Python usually played female roles themselves, but they had actors such as Carol Cleveland to fill roles when necessary. My question is, aside from Ms. Cleveland, who else, if anyone, played a recurring role as "extra"? I hope that makes sense.
Answer: Ian Davidson, Connie Booth and Lyn "Mrs. Idle" Ashley appeared quite often, as did the Fred Tomlinson Singers (whenever a male chorus was required).
27th Oct 2004
Matchstick Men (2003)
18th Oct 2004
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
28th Jul 2004
Final Destination 2 (2003)
Question: One trivia entry says "Look at the title Final Destination 2. Wouldn't that be kind of an oxymoron." What exactly does this mean?
Answer: If it's the "final" destination, then it is, by definition, the last one, so you couldn't have a second one after that.
22nd Jul 2004
The Simpsons (1989)
Tree House of Horror V - S6-E6
Question: Homer travels back in time and causes changes by what he does in the past, like stepping on a bug. I once saw a movie with the same basic plot: some people travel back in time and are told to be careful not to disturb anything, but when they return to their time everything has changed. In the end they discover it was because they stepped on a butterfly. Does anyone know the name of this movie?
Answer: I'm not sure if this is the one you're thinking of, but an episode of "Ray Bradbury Theatre," called "A Sound of Thunder," dealt with a similar matter: a group of hunters travel back in time to hunt dinosaurs, only to find things have changed when they get back because someone stepped on a butterfly.
6th Jul 2004
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
2nd Jul 2004
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Question: Is the doctor Spider-man visits the Lizard Man?
Chosen answer: The Lizard (not Lizard Man) is Dr. Curt Connors, Peter's professor, or at least, he will be. Dr. Connors, if you remember, has no right arm; he becomes the Lizard (in the comics, anyway) trying to use reptile DNA (or something similar) to replicate reptiles' regenerative powers (since some reptiles, like skinks, can regrow their tails).
23rd Jun 2004
Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Question: One of the trivia entry's mentions something about Go-Bots, who are they?
Answer: Go-Bots were transforming-vehicle toys from around the same period, competition for (or rip-off of, depending on your opinion) the Transformers.
21st Jun 2004
Van Helsing (2004)
Question: If Van Helsing is the Left Hand of God, wouldn't he, the mighty archangel, be too powerful to be affected by a werewolf curse? And wouldn't he be able to crush Dracula without the extra powers?
Answer: He probably lost some powers and became more human (thus being affected by the curse), all of which will probably be explored in a sequel.
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Chosen answer: Closed-captioning is for the hearing-impaired, and thus displays things like sound effects (ie *doorbell ringing*) and musical notes on either side of the dialogue to represent singing, whereas subtitling is usually just a translation of the dialogue. As for displaying the c-c's, it probably depends on the DVD in question, though some TVs and DVD players have built in c-c settings which can be turned on to access the captioning.
Xofer