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: When Conan is learning how to use a sword, why did the teacher slap Conan in the face and then kick the other student in the chest?

Answer: Like an Army Drill Sargent, he was berating them for not doing it better. Toughening them to become the best they could be.

Also, the other student laughs at Conan's punishment, so the teacher kicks him to teach him some humility.

Show generally

Question: On every planet SG-1 travels to, plants are the same color as those on earth. Shouldn't plants have different colors on different planets?

Answer: The Aliens choose planets that were similar to Earth. They possessed human beings, so they needed worlds with vegetation and atmosphere. In the original movie, their race was dying and humans were the only ones who could give them eternal life - they took many inhabitants as slave labor.

Answer: There have been times where plants are different color, but generally speaking, green is evolutionarily better at capturing the best amount of sunlight energy for photosynthesis. Thus, plants evolved to have green chlorophyll on other planets as well.

Bishop73

Answer: Planets with Stargates were chosen because of the similarities to Earth.

That's ridiculous. Stargate command would never choose a planet based on similarities to earth unless it would to make sure it was safe to travel to.

Stargate command had nothing to do with where the Stargates were. The answer is saying those that placed the Stargates throughout the galaxy chose Earth-like planets. More accurately though, inhabitable planets, which tend to be similar to Earth.

Bishop73

The Ancients put the Stargates on planets, and since their physiology was very similar to modern Earth humans, it stands to reason that they only chose to put planets which could support a similar lifeform. Hence, why most planets or moons resembled Earth at some point in their history.

Huh? First of all, you're trying to surmise what a fictional agency would do. Second, SG-1 and other SG teams frequently visited both Earth-like planets and planets with toxic conditions.

wizard_of_gore

Stargates were placed at worlds that were similar to Earth, this mostly due to the ancients establishing themselves on Earth over 50 million years ago and finding planets to colonize from there. Some worlds may have become inhospitable over the millions of years after the stargate was built though. It is quite possible all these planets were seeded with life from Earth and planets close to Earth's appearance, hence the same vegetation and animal life.

lionhead

Question: How did Honolulu know that it was the castaways on that boat hut so fast? How did all those people get to greet them get there so fast?

Answer: When the Coast Guard chopper found them they radioed ahead, that they found the castaways that went missing all those years ago.

Question: When Chucky pops out to surprise Andy in his apartment towards the end (while Andy is still holding the bat), what does Chucky say?

Answer: When he jumps out, he screams a generic "Ahhh!" and then quickly shouts "Surprise!"

TedStixon

Question: How does the blue core memory end up in the dump?

Answer: Because Riley didn't want to remember it.

This Side of Paradise - S1-E25

Question: All crew members left the Enterprise and Captain Kirk was alone on the ship - how was he able to beam down to the planet and then back up to the ship? No one was on board to manage the transporter.

Answer: In other episodes of Star Trek it was shown the Transporter could be operated automatically: set the coordinates, hit the "energize" button (there is a timer to give the person beaming down time to get to the transporter pads), then get to the transporter pads before energizing.

Scott215

Question: When Peggy comes home, her mom is talking to a strange man. Mom says that was nobody. Who was it, and why does mom say nobody?

Answer: He was a pawn shop owner or jeweler. She was getting quotes to sell her jewelry.

I assume that her father is made bad financial decisions because of the car. It doesn't show mom is bad but it shows mom has a lot of hidden secrets the cigarettes in the basement. Awesome mom didn't sit down at the table and Peggy pushes her to sit. One time her mother says to her even though she wants her to go on the date she weirdly says stand up to him stand up to him now. Do we assume that is abusive?

Question: During La Mans, it shows Shelby taking a stopwatch from Ferrari's pit and dropping a nut on the floor. Is there any indication Shelby ever cheated during a race like this (whether at Le Mans or somewhere else)? Like, was he ever caught or accused of cheating? I get there's a lot of artistic licensing taking place in this film, so I understand if it was made up, just curious if it was based on anything from Shelby's life.

Bishop73

Answer: Technically, neither of these incidents would be considered cheating in the classic sense. Stealing the stopwatches would be just that, stealing. It's likely that some other members of a team like Ferrari had back up stopwatches. Dropping the lug nut in the Ferrari pit would just be a mind game to put doubt in the minds of the pit crew as to whether they got all the lug nuts on the wheels. Neither of these incidents would affect the performance of the race car. It was mischief, not cheating.

This doesn't answer the question at all (and seems like someone's trying to correct this thinking it's a mistake entry). I said "cheating like this" for the 2 examples I gave, because it's cheating (by definition) but not necessarily breaking La Mans rules. Plus I also asked about actual accusations of cheating.

Bishop73

It's called gamesmanship, how is dropping a lug nut to make the Italians think they had forgotten one cheating? Now if he had taken the lug nut so it delayed their pit stop or so it wasn't put on at all that's a different story. You seem like you never competed if you think those things are cheating.

And stealing a stopwatch is gamesmanship too? The question is was this based on anything. I've never competed in LeMans, but in a majority of sports there are rules against deceiving the other team (for example a balk). Seems like you've never played sports.

Bishop73

Question: When Pluto sneaks in the trailer and orders the other mutants to set Bob on fire, Ethel exits the trailer. How come she didn't notice Pluto on her way out?

Roman Curiel

Answer: Pluto puts his hand over Brenda's mouth and Ethel doesn't bother to look over.

Question: The Spartans come across a village destroyed by Persians, and not long afterwards they arrive at the Hot Gates where they see the Persian army arriving by sea. Granted I wasn't paying full attention, what's going on with the geography?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: The village was destroyed by a Persian scouting party. The emissary talking to the Spartans at the Phocian wall told Dienekes that the hills were swarming with scouts. It would make sense that they had a large party going ahead of the partial army on the ships.

LorgSkyegon

Question: Regarding that move Hawks does where he lifts his fingers and adjusts then in a different position in order to get the advantage and win, a) what is the significance of doing this (what exactly is he doing) and b) is this even legal in a real arm wrestling tournament?

lartaker1975

Answer: It's a regrip to get leverage. Yes it's legal. The best arm wrestler in the world Devon Larratt does it with perfection. Usually works only in a strap match.

Question: When the Evil Stepmother wakes up Danielle (who is hungover, from being with Henry and the gypsies the night before), and asks Jacqueline to boil water, why? And what was done with it? Nothing was ever explained about the boiling water. I don't believe Evil Stepmother had Jacqueline boil water to make their breakfast with. She wouldn't have relented that easily. The very next scene has Danielle getting water from the well, looking fine.

Shipper

Answer: It could be a daily chore and for a variety of reasons such as providing the step-mother and step-sister hot water for their morning wash; sanitizing drinking water, making tea, etc.

raywest

Answer: Near the beginning of the movie after Danielle comes back from whipping apples at Henry, the stepmother and sisters are having breakfast. At the beginning of the scene Marguerite says, "I wanted one four minute egg, not four one minute eggs and where in GOD'S NAME IS OUR BREAD!" Therefore the boiling water was probably to make hard boiled eggs for their breakfast.

Answer: I think the boiling water part was to actually boil water for the breakfast.

Disagree. She isn't the type to relent and tell Jaqueline to boil water, for their breakfast. The tone that the evil stepmother uses, suggests some specific use of the boiling water to punish Danielle, somehow.

Shipper

Answer: Disagree. The Stepmother says it, in too resolutely a manner as if she has a specific purpose for the boiling water. As if it will be used as a punishment on Danielle, somehow. Btw, it can't be related to the whipping, either, as that doesn't happen till a few scenes later. Script error?

Shipper

Probably not a script error but something explaining this may have been edited out post-filming. It's typical in movies that filmed scenes are later deleted entirely or partially edited during post-production for a variety of reasons-to cut down the film's running time, speed up the action, etc. As a result, it often leaves small plot inconsistencies.

raywest

Question: What is surrounding the famous Jell-O mold? Is it shredded carrots?

Answer: The red "garnish" around the Jell-O mold looks like ribbons of sliced tomato that was cut in a spiral pattern.

raywest

Answer: If it is the Jell-O mold that Aunt Bethany brings, it's cat food.

Cat food is in the Jell-O mold, but it doesn't look like cat food around the Jell-O.

Bishop73

Question: When Clark was locked in the attic, watching old home movies, are they clips from real black and white movies and just edited together to make it like Christmas was like when Clark was young?

movielove

Answer: No, they were made for the movie. It was obviously young Clark and younger Uncle Lewis in the clips.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Kenny Baker stated that there was never an actual feud between them, though they were never good friends. Baker said Daniels never seemed to get along well with anyone on the Star Wars set. Daniels has since said that he didn't want to respond to Baker's comments.

raywest

Question: Why is the rescue pilot helicopter such a selfish person? He complains about working over lunch, refuses to embark on a search-and-rescue mission without hiking his rates, and even extorts desperate townspeople trying to evacuate on his helicopter for all their money. Why was he such a greedy and insensitive egotist?

Answer: Because the character is written to be the stereotypical antagonist whose sole purpose is to create the obligatory plot conflict. This was such a silly, unrealistic, and all-around bad movie, that the two-dimensional villain guy fits right in. I live in Washington and remember when Mt. St. Helen's erupted. Dante's Peak, which was based on it, was nothing like the real-life event.

raywest

Answer: This scene is cut from most adaptations (the 1935 and 1984 movies being two of the only ones that include it). It is most likely cut because it doesn't directly involve Scrooge, and only serves to show what happened to Belle after she broke up with Scrooge. Since it doesn't directly involved Scrooge, it was probably deemed worthy of cutting to bring down the runtime.

Answer: Probably to make the movie's overall length shorter and not every movie version is going to be the same. It is common for films adapted from books to cut scenes and characters or otherwise streamline the plot. Disney family films particularly have shorter, simpler, and age-appropriate story lines, designed for kids who tend to have briefer attention spans. A shorter run time also means the movie can be shown more times per day in theaters during the busy holiday season, increasing profits.

raywest

Question: Why did John send the elevator down to floor 31 and then floor 30 with the body inside it? Wouldn't it have been better to send it straight to floor 30?

Answer: He sent the elevator down and stopped it halfway between floors so he could get on the top of the car. Once he's on top of the car, he won't be able to hit the button for the 30th floor, so he has to hit both buttons before he gets on top of the car.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: I always thought of it more of a last resort thing. His plan was to get on top of it, but if he ran into issues he had time to get out. If he sent it to floor 30 and found out he couldn't stop it or anything to climb up on top, the baddies would have got hold of him. By sending it to 31 and then 30, if he found out he couldn't stop it then he'd just be able to get out on floor 31 instead meaning the baddies wouldn't catch him.

Question: If the guy at the reception desk knew that the only ones left in the building were on the 30th floor, why did he tell John to use the screen?

Answer: Most large companies, particularly hi-tech or multinational ones, require visitors to check-in, especially afterhours. By having John search for Holly's name, it can be verified that he actually knows someone who works there, that there is an actual employee with that name, and otherwise assess whether John is a legitimate visitor. This scene's real purpose, however, is for plot exposition. John learns from the monitor that Holly now goes by her maiden name (Gennero) rather than her married surname. We see John's annoyed reaction to learning this, which sets up a later confrontation between him and Holly over their troubled marriage.

raywest

Answer: Any answer is speculation; but a simple explanation is he may have forgotten the only people left were there for the Xmas party until John mentioned the 30th floor. The guard also seems fairly proud of their new high-tech touchscreen system so he might have just had John use it to show off how nice the building is.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Most likely he just wanted to showcase a nifty (by 80s standards) piece of technology to a visitor.

Jukka Nurmi

Answer: The party was on the 30th floor and John was asking for a specific employee, his wife. He had no idea where she was exactly.

Question: I was watching this movie last night, and I noticed there were a few people of color in Lake Town. The vast majority of people shown in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films are white, so are there any particular places in Middle Earth where people of color might be more prevalent, at least according Tolkien's writings?

Phaneron

Chosen answer: People with brown skin come from the land of Harad, to the south of Gondor and Mordor. Really black people probably exist south of it, but is unknown to the people of Middle-Earth. Any land east of Rhun is just as unknown, it's possible people of colour came from there and settled in Lake-Town.

lionhead

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