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 Ripley attack the hive near the end of the film? Firstly, she had Newt with her, she knew that the planet was going to explode, she had little time to get out, and if she hadn't attacked the hive, the Alien queen wouldn't have gone after her. Ripley utterly hated the Aliens, but she is intelligent and Corporal Hicks had earlier praised her tactical thinking - attacking the hive was foolish.

Answer: In her haste to escape, Ripley accidentally entered the egg chamber and found her only exit routes blocked by xenomorphs. Correctly suspecting that the queen was intelligent, Ripley assumed a threatening posture, and the queen cautioned the other xenomorphs to back off, clearing a path for Ripley to leave. However, Ripley also suspected it was a trap and that she would be quickly ambushed by the xenomorphs when she tried to flee. Ripley thought this was her last living act; so, she defiantly blasted and burned the egg chamber, taking out as many eggs as possible before her death. As it happened, the ensuing chaos allowed Ripley to escape the egg chamber.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: One of the eggs had started opening and presumably more would also begin hatching and the newly-born facehuggers would pursue and infect Ripley and Newt. That was when Ripley torched the nest. Even if Ripley had not burned the eggs, the alien queen would have chased them, wanting bodies to incubate more creatures.

raywest

Answer: Like the Queen would let her just leave. Ripley knew they would come after them, more host bodies.

No I don't think so, the queen was in the process of laying eggs through a large tube and was being protected by her warriors, so in order to chase Ripley she had to tear herself away from the tube. She did this because she was furious about what Ripley had just done and wanted to get revenge.

Answer: Ripley wasn't there by accident; she had to rescue Newt. Newt was stuck in some sort of sticky goo, so Ripley had to make her way through the nest of eggs to get Newt. Newt was being held prisoner by the queen who saw her as prey for her offspring, so Ripley got on her bad side when she destroys the nest.

Answer: I would imagine Ripley did do a bit of tactical thinking, she probably made a logical guess that if she destroyed the nest, the Queen would likely want to get revenge personally rather than getting her "minions" to do it. Fighting off one Queen would be a lot easier than fitting off a few dozen Xenomorphs.

Question: What happened to the time machine prop used for filming?

Answer: I read several years ago that it is in storage on the Warner Bros. lot.

Sierra1

Question: In the making of the movie, there's this song being sung by one of the slaves girl's at Jabba's Palace, that's also featured in the original "Star Wars Battlefront II" in the assault mode. What is the song in question?

Answer: The song is called "Lapti Nek." It was the song Max Rebo Band performs in the original theatrical cut of the film, and was replaced by "Jedi Rocks" in the special editions.

Sierra1

Question: Why didn't Strange heal his hands and continue being a surgeon?

MikeH

Answer: Medically, he could not heal his hands. He spent his entire fortune trying to return to being a surgeon through experimental procedures. Once he completed his training to become a sorcerer, he realised there was more to the world than he realised. The Ancient One correctly stated that he was a surgeon for his own ego; he wanted to prove he was the best and helped people for that reason only. By joining the sorcerers he was given a greater purpose and chose this over returning to his former life.

His hands were healing, just not quickly enough for his needs. This was showing his egotistical attitudes.

Answer: For now, he is still in the midst of studying the mystical arts that he has not yet mastered and may not be able or interested in returning to his former profession at this time. He has also assumed the role as caretaker of the New York Sanctum, and is dedicated to helping protect Earth (along with the London and Hong Kong Sanctums) from threats by the other dimensions.

raywest

Answer: Yes it ran away because Layla hurt its feelings.

Question: What's the name of the song that's playing when Ana's in the bathroom line and drunk dials Christian?

Answer: It's called Tribe by Theophilus London.

Season 6 generally

Question: Some episodes towards the end of season 6 feature different end credits with a Warner Brothers logo but in some repeats they replace them with the normal credits - why?

Dan23

Answer: Because that show was first created by Warner Bros, not CW.

Question: Why wasn't the Consul concerned with Lee's whereabouts after the explosion and before the Foo Chow incident?

Answer: He knew that Lee was very resourceful and could take care of himself. Consul Han's main concern was the safety and return of his daughter Soo-Yung.

Question: So who turned out to be A. Friend? I just got lost on that issue. (04:53:00)

Answer: It's a little confusing. Stephanie Kaplan, who was promoted to replace Meredith at the end of the film, had a son named Spencer. Spencer worked as a research assistant to a Professor Arthur Friend (A. Friend) at the University of Washington. Stephanie was feeding clues to Tom via her son, who had access to Prof. Friend's computer and email account. Prof. Friend was supposedly on a leave of absence and unaware his email was being used.

raywest

Answer: He doesn't at first because she already has a Cynthia doll of her own. But later when the doll goes missing she gets the new Queen of the World doll. But Spike ends up digging up her which she had buried and gives it back to her so Drew just decides to take the doll back to the store because she had her doll back.

Why can't Drew just let her keep it instead of returning it, even though she wanted it so much like she said to him earlier, so she can have them both?

Trainman

Answer: Because she already had a Cynthia doll of her own. It also depends on how much the doll costs some dolls when they are brand new cost a lot of money.

Question: Before Scar 'betrays' the hyenas by saying that they were the real enemy, (Shenzi, Banzai and Ed are shown to have overheard), what were they doing up there in the first place before they overheard Scar?

Joey221995

Answer: They were probably going to help Scar defeat Simba by jumping on him since he couldn't see them but after overhearing what Scar said decided to kill him. It's really speculation but, that's just one of many different possibilities.

Question: What kind of fruit was it with the juice inside which Rafiki cracks open at the beginning, and near the middle of the movie when he discovers that Simba is alive?

Joey221995

Answer: It's suppose to be the fruit of the Baobab tree. Although there's no seeds in it when he cracks it open.

Bishop73

Answer: No they are announced to be siblings in the second season finale.

Question: Since they are all friends why did Julie get mad at Courtney when it was just a accident that she swallowed the jawbreaker? Then when Courtney came out with a plan to keep everyone from going to jail Julie stabbed her in the back.

April Rose

Answer: Because Courtney killed her she intended for her to suffocate because she wanted to be queen.

Question: The whole point of the trick is to persuade the police that Liz was murdered after having sex with a random stranger. The police decide to accept this suggestion. Why do they accept this, when they know that a woman pretending to be Liz's mother called the school to say Liz wouldn't come in - ie. the police know that a woman must have been involved, yet they decide it was just a man who did it?

beckhamsfauxhawk

Answer: They have no reason to follow up the call or never did all they know is that she was at home.

Question: When Marty suggests (in 1985A) that they go back to 2015 to stop Old Biff from taking the almanac in the first place, Doc says no because it'll be 2015A instead. When Old Biff went from 2015 to 1955 to give himself the almanac, when he came back to 2015 again, it was still the same one he left because Marty and Doc are just getting Jennifer out of the new McFly house when he returns. So what's the difference? If Biff can go from 1955 to 2015, without it becoming 2015A, then why can't Marty and Doc do it from 1985A?

Answer: There is a deleted scene on the DVD that answers this. You will notice that when Biff returns to 2015 it appears as if he is dying, on the deleted scene when Marty and Doc leave 2015 you see Biff vanish which suggests the "ripple effect" of Biff giving the Almanac to his younger self places everyone in an Alternate 2015 which Biff is no alive to see so is erased from existence. I have seen somewhere a suggestion Biff was shot in 1996, chances are with Biff gone by 2015 Hill Valley may have been a more peaceful city again. Hilldale was a run down suburb in the original 2015 and could have been the same in an Alternate 2015, we never saw inside any houses at that point to answer where Marty may have lived in an Alternative 2015 but perhaps in Switzerland.

Answer: The implication is that Biff returned to 2015 before the consequences of his younger self's actions took effect. Biff would have returned to 2015 immediately, as he wouldn't want to risk Marty and Doc discovering that he had stolen the DeLorean. By the time Marty and Doc travel back to 1985, the consequences of Biff's actions have solidified.

Phaneron

True, because young Biff from 1955 has to wait for his 21st birthday in 1958 to legally gamble, as explained by the newspaper Doc and Marty inspect in the bad alternative of 1985.

Answer: The reason Biff arrives like that is because Lorraine found out that he murdered George and shot him.

Where did you get that from please?

lionhead

If you have the DVD or Blu-Ray, watch the deleted scene of Biff vanishing and turn the commentary on. Bob Gale confirms that Lorraine had discovered that Biff murdered George and kills Biff in retaliation.

That info is reported to be from the audio commentary to a deleted scene, published on the official DVD. Since the scene has been filmed, it might even be considered canonical (as opposed to ideas from the drafting stage of the script which, ultimately, were abandoned).

Are those tidbits of information, such as this DVD commentary track, considered canonical?

Question: When John was healing Melinda, why did the house shake so violently but, when John healed Paul and Mr. Jingles, the Green Mile didn't shake at all?

Answer: Possibly because of the power required to heal her tumor being greater than what is required to remove a bladder infection.

Answer: Also, the Green Mile is brick and iron, the house Coffey healed Melinda in was just a wood house in 1935. Not as stable, in the Mile the lights got brighter or exploded when he used his powers. But the house doesn't have that much electricity and all that power had nowhere else to go so it shook the house, but that's just my opinion though.

Question: What type of insects fly out of John's mouth after he heals somebody?

Answer: They are said to be flies, representing the evil leaving him Eg.Satan is often referred to as 'the lord of the flies'.

Answer: They aren't insects. They represent the evil leaving him.

Question: Does Uncle Ben exist in this universe? I ask cause he's not mentioned by name but I thought I recognized him being referenced.

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: According to the writer of the film, yes Uncle Ben existed in this universe. When Peter mentions that Aunt May has "been through a lot lately" that was supposed to be a subtle hint at Ben Parker's recent death.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: The trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home shows Peter using an old suitcase with the initials "BFP", most likely standing for Benjamin Franklin Parker. While not directly referenced in this film, the sequel may well clarify the situation.

Jon Sandys

Answer: It is never explained and is considered by many to be a major flaw in the film. Presumably Satan wanted to torture Jericho, he definitely seemed to enjoy tormenting him throughout the film.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: It's not explained why he didn't kill him then. Any answer is speculative, but the obvious one is that Jericho is the main protagonist in the story and the plot needs to be allowed to play out in a contrived way to provide a satisfying conclusion. Abruptly killing off the character would end the story.

raywest

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.