Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Show generally

Question: Did all six actresses get along with each other during the show's run, or was there some bad blood between some of them?

Rob245

Answer: The original three (Jackson, Fawcett, Smith) apparently got along. It's well documented that Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd (Fawcett's replacement) often clashed. Jackson had a reputation of being the most difficult of all the Angel actresses, and Jacklyn Smith the nicest. Smith and Ladd are close friends to this day. There's nothing reporting that Shelly Hack or Tanya Roberts had any issues, though both were only on the show for one season each.

raywest

Answer: Yes, she did. Fairly typical for actors to wear wigs for their characters, especially sci-fi/fantasy ones. It just makes wardrobe/hairstyling faster, more efficient, and consistent.

raywest

Question: What would have realistically happened to Mike at the very end, when his jacket got caught in the airplane door?

Brittle Fingers

Answer: Chris Farley weighed over 300 pounds. His jacket would have torn long before the plane took off.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Serafinowicz apparently hated working on "Phantom Menace" because it paid poorly, he was given limited direction, and he felt Jar Jar Binks was a racist caricature upon watching the film on release.

TedStixon

Also, Serafinowicz was annoyed that he wasn't invited to the film's premiere and had to pay for his own tickets and travel expenses.

Question: When Gozer says, "Choose your destructor," Peter Venkman then says, "Whatever person or thing we think about, that's what'll appear to destroy us. If we think of J. Edgar Hoover, he'll appear to destroy us." Why then didn't a giant J. Edgar Hoover appear?

Answer: This question was huge in 1984 after the movie came out. The running theory was that Ray had already thought of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man before Venkman said his line. The delay in Gozer saying the choice was made was because she was determining if it was a viable choice.

Answer: Agree with the other answer but would add that Gozer specifically said to "choose." Venkman citing J. Edgar Hoover as an example was not an actual choice. Meanwhile, Ray silently decided on the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and the choice was made.

raywest

Question: At the end of The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies, Bilbo lied to Gandalf and said he lost the ring. In this movie, how did Gandalf know that Bilbo still had it?

Answer: Gandalf knows the ring's insidious power and its seductive ability over most people. Bilbo is not known to be a liar, and Gandalf is acquainted enough to tell when he's being untruthful.

raywest

Question: How did the CIA find out about the plot at Ft. Knox from the note Bond put in the "late" Mr. Solo's pocket after he was crushed inside the car and brought back to the farm to be "separated from the gold"?

Answer: This is actually addressed in the movie itself. When Felix asks James: "What made her call Washington?"

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: Bond had asked Pussy Galore to contact the CIA, which is what she did.

raywest

Question: In the part with the Harry Potter book, how did Andy copy two books from the original copy, also put the book's cover in one hour and deliver it to the twins on the train? How did she know the time of departure or what train? Also, why didn't she connect herself, the designer of the book cover? Her boss said that they know everybody in the business. Also, Andy said that author J.K. Rowling couldn't help, why is that?

Answer: The whole comic point was Miranda assigning Andy an impossible task just to fire her. Of course, IRL Andy could never have accomplished it, but it shows her resourcefulness in thwarting Miranda. The premise is, Christian obtained the unpublished manuscript from the graphic artist designing the U.S. book cover. Andy then rushed to a nearby photocopy shop to get it express-copied. The photocopies were bound with simple plain covers. Miranda was being sarcastic that Andy "knew" everyone in the business. The HP book publications were such a top-secret, high-security operation that Andy facetiously implied that even J.K. Rowling could not help her. Christian saying "one hour" was just a generalization. Also, Andy would know the twins' nanny, so a quick phone call would provide their travel plans so she could arrange a messenger service to deliver the copies.

raywest

Question: Maybe I missed something but why didn't Julie go to the police anyway? They might've believed her. The other thing is, once revealed just what sort of sentence do you think Courtney would receive? Maybe a year in juvie followed by several years in state prison?

Rob245

Answer: It's a common trope in movies and TV shows that when someone unintentionally kills somebody, the person panics and can't think straight. The movie "I Know What You Did Last Summer" is a good example. Since the girls were scared of what they did, they were most likely afraid they wouldn't be believed that it was an accident. As for Courtney, her sentence depends on not only what state the death occurred in, but it also depends on the circumstances of Liz's murder; i.e. was it intentional? Was it an accident? Was there intent? After that, how many months in juvie and then state prison would be determined by again, the state it happened in and the circumstances behind the death.

Question: During the hilltop tornado scene, Preacher mentions "the cone of silence." What exactly is that?

Answer: In the context of the movie, I believe they're referring to a moment where it appears everything is over, but is about to start up again. In real life, the term is evidently a term for a specific area that weather radars can't necessarily pick... usually very close to the radar since being overhead would mean they're outside of the radar's angle.

TedStixon

Answer: In the TV series "Get Smart", there was a device called the "cone of silence." It's used so that no one could hear private conversations, but it never worked properly. It was most likely a cultural reference.

Question: Do Julie and Fern not realise when they expose Courtney, she'll probably expose Julie for having been there when Liz died and Fern for knowing about it but accepting their bribe?

Rob245

Answer: Probably not, but if Courtney did tell the police everything and they questioned Julie and Fern, chances are that both girls would deny all of it.

Question: It's been a long time since I've seen this movie - what powers did Dave get?

Answer: I'm not sure this is the whole list, but I remember him having super speed, enhanced reflexes, telekinesis, precognition, and invulnerability.

Question: After the priest is impaled during the killer storm, the autopsy reveals he had the 666 birthmark on his thigh – what does this mean? Was he a child of the Devil too? Did he spend his life fighting against this knowledge and that's why he had his bedroom covered in Bible pages? Any explanation is welcome.

Jen Hen

Answer: The priest you're talking about is Father Brennan. After he became a priest, he would meet Father Spiletto and become a Satanist. Basically once Satan accepted him, Brennan developed the 666 mark. He was present when Damien was born. It was only later in life when he was suffering severely with health issues that he decided to warn the Thorns about who Damien really was in hopes Christ would forgive him. At that point, he was afraid evil spirits would get him, which is why he covered his walls and windows in Bible pages.

Bishop73

Thank you! It has always bugged me.

Clueless - S2-E15

Question: I'm very confused about something and please correct me if I'm wrong. Vincent and Charlotte both got herpes because he was on a toilet seat. After Charlotte found out how she got herpes, why did she take her ring off, put it on Cuddy's desk, and then leave the room? Clearly, Vincent was also shocked to find out how he got it and he probably never meant for it to happen.

Answer: Getting herpes from a public toilet seat is practically impossible. House made up the idea that's how one of them got it, and even Cuddy tries to correct him. Vincent thought the idea was plausible but Charlotte thought the idea was ridiculous. So House concluded that the husband cheated on his wife and got herpes from another woman and then gave it to his wife. Vincent was happy with the idea that he got it from a toilet seat because it "gave him an out", meaning an excuse to use instead of admitting the truth that he cheated.

Bishop73

Question: What was Rick trying to do when he ended up going inside the T-rex using a stick?

Answer: He was trying to knock him out.

Question: Where did Big Boy go off to? When the "food court" drops out of the sky, the Chupacobre gather, the Velociraptors join in the feast, then a male and female Rex appear. The latter dinos then catch wind of Marshall's urine drenched body and begin to chase the trio. When the party splits up, Big Boy chases Marshall and rips off his back pack. At one point both dinos are on a course to corner him on a hill. He then runs to the clothing display and back out, narrowly escaping death via the female Rex, but only after Holly has a near heart attack fearing Marshall has been killed. He runs away into the stretch limo and at that time we see the two dinos trampling the vehicle while Marshall miraculously escapes over 200 yards away in 3 seconds or less. Marshall runs down hill toward Will and Holly and instructs them to set the catapult as Will yells, "Take her that way." We never see the male Rex again until much later in the movie. When we do see him know it's the same Rex because he has the laser pointer in his teeth from Marshall's back pack. Where did Big Boy disappear to when he was supposedly on the hunt for Marshall by scent, and suddenly vanished? Was it a tachyon blast that took him to another dimension?

Answer: The Sleestack had captured him.

Answer: There seems to have been two different revolvers used, but both shot .38 specials.

Bishop73

Show generally

Question: My sister insists an episode exists where pirates arrive on the island looking for a long-lost buried treasure. She swears she remembers the pirates kidnapping Ginger and trying to make her tell them where the treasure was. Does anyone remember this?

Answer: There was an animated version of "Gilligan's Island" on the CBS Saturday Morning lineup in the 1970s. I don't remember the episodes, but maybe that's where the episode is from.

Answer: This could be Season 3, Episode 17, "Court Martial," where Gilligan dreams about being an admiral whose ship gets boarded by pirates Captain Hook, Long John Silver, and Captain Kidd. (https://gilligan.fandom.com/wiki/Court-Martial)

ctown28

She says that is not the episode she remembers. She said the pirates arrive on the island, don't find the treasure, kidnap Ginger, and hold her in a cave until she tells them where the treasure is. Appreciate the help though.

Question: When Burke walks up to Kimberly's car, why does he eyeball Dano in the backseat suspiciously before addressing Kimberly?

Answer: It's likely that Burke could smell the weed they had been smoking.

Manky

Question: How does Mike not know about Cerberus? Wouldn't the Secret Service be informed about what that is, since they are the ones who guard the President and the other code holders with their lives?

Answer: This of course is not explained in the movie, but there are two possibilities: One is that this project was on a need-to-know basis, and the Secret Service agents will do their very best to protect their charges, even at risk of losing their own lives regardless of Cerberus being a thing or not. The other possibility is that Cerberus was implemented after Mike was taken out of the Presidential protective detail.

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