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.

Question: Why did the Dementors attack Dudley?

Answer: Dementors are blind and can only sense a human by feeling their emotions. They were sent to attack Harry but couldn't tell the difference between him and Dudley so both were attacked. They don't care about collateral damage and are all too eager to suck up someone's emotions or soul.

lionhead

Answer: His decision to retire wasn't related to this film; it just happened to be his last. He was working on other projects (mostly writing), and wanted to focus on those. He didn't "officially" announce his retirement from acting until 2008.

Answer: As the other fine answers indicated, it was multiple reasons. An additional one was his health. Hackman said his doctor told him his heart wasn't healthy enough to withstand the stress and physical rigors involved in filming movies.

raywest

Answer: It was said, that he got tired of doing movies where everything and everyone explodes and dies a bloody death.

Question: What's making the birds go insane and attack people?

Answer: It is never explained, probably because it would ruin the mystery of the film to spell it out.

If you are a Hitchcock fan, you pay attention to dialogue. They mention quite often that it started Melanie's arrival, of which she brought 2 caged birds. The rest is implied.

Answer: None of the characters knew why the birds attacked, or the reason it was confined to the one town of Bodega Bay. The incident was so isolated that the outside news media was barely aware it was occurring or knew its severity, so there was no investigation into it at the time. Alfred Hitchc0ck's explanation was that the birds were rising up against humans to punish them for taking nature for granted.

raywest

Question: Is this film accurate to how rabid dogs behave in real life?

Answer: Not really. Rabies has a wide range of behavioural symptoms, and it's rare for a rabid dog to display what's called "furious rabies," whereby they become more aggressive. And even then, they wouldn't become single-mindedly determined to terrorise two people in a car. It's much more common for a rabid dog to get slower/lethargic as paralysis sets in, eventually leading to coma and death. You can find more info here: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/rabies-in-dogs.

Answer: Carol Anne Susi played the character in both appearance and voice. Susi passed away in real life on November 11, 2014, which is why in the show Mrs. Wolowitz also passes away.

Bishop73

Question: In Rocky II we're told Rocky suffered an eye injury, a detached retina. However, in this film that's suddenly no longer an issue. What happened in between?

Answer: A detached retina can be fixed with surgery, and since Rocky is now well-off, we can assume he did just that.

Question: How could whoever made Rita a ranger not tell she was evil? Did she become corrupt over time like those who possess the ring in Lord of the Rings?

Rob245

Answer: Rita was a part of Zordon's original team, but she betrayed them in her search for the Zeo crystals. She even killed the original members of Zordon's team until only Zordon's remained.

The Queen's Justice - S7-E3

Question: When Jon Snow and Davos visited Daenerys on Dragonstone, at some point, Varys runs in and whispers to her. Then she said something in Dothraki to a Dothraki who was there. What exactly did she say? The subtitle is missing here. Other foreign lines were included but not this. (00:17:35)

Bunch Son

Chosen answer: According to the Dothraki Wiki (!), she says: "Idriso jin mahrazhis gacheshaan mori. Ti morea chek, vosma vitihiri mora." = "Escort these men to their rooms. Treat them well, but keep an eye on them."

Sierra1

Question: Is there any particular reason the ghosts are still there after Tangina has declared the place clean, other than these are just the biggest, baddest ghosts on the block? I'm fine with that explanation but I always wondered if there was more to it.

TonyPH

Answer: Tangina may have believed the house was "clean," but the dark spirit she called the "Beast" was more powerful than she realised and was preventing the other spirits from moving on. The real estate development that the Freelings' house was built on was supposed to be a former cemetery. However, no-one, including Tangina, knew that the bodies were still buried there (the developers had only moved the tombstones) and was why the spirits were angry.

raywest

Question: When Professor McGonagall acquires a Nimbus 2000 for Harry, that's pretty much the state-of-the-art broom, and very expensive (given no-one else has apparently got one, and only the wealthy Malfoys can afford the next-gen 2001's in the second film). It seems unlikely for a teacher, or a school, to buy an untried first year a state-of-the-art broom when the school is generally muddling along with old cast-offs that he could have used. Who paid for Harry's Nimbus 2000?

Answer: Prof. McGonagall personally bought the Nimbus 2000 as an anonymous gift for Harry, though he knew it was from her. The Nimbus 2000 may have been too pricey for Hogwarts to buy for all four Quidditch teams, but it was not beyond what most wizard families could afford for their own children. Lucius Malfoy was rich and could afford to buy the entire Slytherin Quidditch team the more expensive brooms, which he provided as a bribe for Draco being made the new Seeker. Up until then, all teams used school brooms, though some individual players may have had their own. It's unclear what the rules are about what brooms can or cannot be used.

raywest

Show generally

Question: In one episode, Nash sees that the hood to his 'Cuda is missing. Sometime later, he sees the hood in a display window of a store and proceeds to tell the proprietor that it was stolen from his car. The end of the episode has Nash buying the hood back. 1. What is the name of this episode? 2. Why didn't Nash arrest the proprietor for receiving stolen property? 3. Why did Nash buy the hood back instead of simply taking it with him?

Answer: The show is "Rip Off." Season 5 Episode 11. The "Cuda" hood is a subplot. A separate storyline for recurring character, Boz Bishop. Nash is busy trying to catch a robber/con artist.

Question: What song is playing when Will dumps Gwen?

Answer: Voices carry.

Question: Eddie reveals that he's not even a direct descendant of the original staff but was actually adopted. Why would the Darkness still try to kill Eddie even though he had no ties to the staff or institute?

Answer: The Darkness thought he was lying to save himself, everyone killed had the seven deadly sins. Greed, Lust, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Wrath and Pride.

Question: Were the "four horsemen" fakes? If not, how did they get the nukes inside them in the first place?

Answer: They were most likely fakes, they just built the statues around the nukes. Like making a parade float containing a small motor for it to move.

Question: When Cutter says, "Have you ever played roulette?", how did Cutter know Charles' and Vincent's names? On the phone with Charles, he mentions both names.

Answer: I just rewatched it this morning. When Rane is trying to persuade Sheriff Biggs that he means business, one body (presumably The Captain) is thrown out of the plane. Just before the passengers are released, we see a quick shot of yo ambulances. One has 3 full occupied body bags in it. Therefore, it's implied the other two are in the other ambulance. This takes place before the FBI guy gets there. The fact that he tells Rane, those guys you killed were my friends" means that at some point they were identified by name. He could've found out numerous ways (Washington told him, briefing, the paramedics, Biggs, etc).

Answer: Everyone knows Charles Bane as the world's most dangerous terrorist. Plus, flight attendant Marti kept him informed of what was happening and who was involved. When they went below, Vincent introduced himself and explained he was not one of the terrorists.

Answer: Most likely from Juno Skinner. When Harry approached her in Washington, he gave a business card, his cover identity, which most likely contained his phone and address numbers.

In all fairness, any guesses I would have would be strictly speculation. But this is likely not the answer. As we saw in the movie, Harry's fake job came complete with a phone number and a fake secretary, who Helen knew by name. If Harry went through those lengths to hide his identity from his own wife, surely there would not be any clues on a fake business card that could lead a terrorist to him. Even Juno herself mentioned that Harry "checked out OK."

jshy7979

Question: How did Lauren know what hotel Pacino was in? Pacino never told her or her mom where he was going, as far as I remember.

Answer: When Pacino is comforting his wife at the hospital, she says "She chose you. She picked your place." Guess the implication is he had been staying there for a long time and both Justine and Lauren knew where that was. Best explanation I have been able to find.

Examination Day - S1-E14

Question: At the end of the episode, Dicky's parents are called and informed that the government has killed him? Why did they do this?

Answer: They live in a totalitarian state where people who are deemed too smart (and therefore a threat to the authorities) are done away with. That's the point of the test, to eliminate potential troublemakers.

Brian Katcher

Answer: It's the opposite - not smart but dumb. The voice said he failed to get a perfect score, less than one hundred percent.

Quote: "We regret to inform you that your son's intelligence quotient has EXCEEDED the government standard, according to section blah blah blah of the New Code." As in the original short story, they were eliminating intelligent people.

Brian Katcher

Where can I find the short story?

It's in the compilation "100 Great Science Fiction Short Stories" edited by Isaac Asimov.

Brian Katcher

It's by Henry Slesar and a quick Google search will show you some online copies. It's only two pages.

Brian Katcher

According to Wikipedia, it was first published in the February 1958 issue of Playboy magazine; it may have been reprinted elsewhere since then.

zendaddy621

Question: When Wanda uses her powers on Tony, he sees his friends lying dead on the ground. Later, Tony says that what he saw was something that was actually going to happen? Why would Tony believe that the deaths of the other Avengers is something that would actually come true? Wanda was very good at messing with his mind so, she could have made him believe that their deaths would occur.

Answer: What Wanda did was to amplify Tony's existing anxiety about failing to protect his friends and the world. He was probably already having dreams and thoughts to that effect before encountering Wanda - when she used her powers on him, the resulting vision was so vivid, but in keeping with his previous fears, that Tony was convinced it was an actual premonition of the future.

Sierra1

Question: Is the food fight scene completely imaginary, or are the Lost Boys actually able to will food into existence by imagining it? I always thought it was the latter growing up and we as the audience didn't see it until Peter, as the audience's proxy, saw it for himself, but any YouTube videos I watch about this movie all seem to think all the food was just in everyone's collective imaginations.

Phaneron

Answer: Neverland very much runs on "If you believe, it will happen" which is what Tink means during the meal when she says "If you don't imagine yourself as Peter Pan you won't be Peter Pan." So by the rules of Neverland, as soon as Peter believed it was real it was then real. The dinner was trying to teach him to believe as, in Neverland, if you don't believe it then it won't happen.

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