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.

Answer: It was typical for marriages to be announced in the print newspapers, just like births and deaths. They are public notices.

raywest

Question: Does anyone know the song that the string quartet was playing in the museum and who composed it?

Answer: String Quartet in A Major, Op. 55, No. 1, by Joseph Haydn.

Question: Does anyone know the correct or approximate number of Vampire offspring featured in the movie? This includes any on screen, off screen, or any offspring that were killed during the end of the film.

Joshua Stroupe

Answer: There's no way of knowing. Only that being with three women for four hundred years, it could be anywhere in the billions. Especially when their seen after Dracula used the Frankenstein Monster to give them life.

Question: Adding to similar questions, how is it that neither Annabelle or Dr. Trent are not surprised Trent was invited by Frederick? They would have to know Frederick is aware of their plan to kill him. Why do they go through the whole movie as if this isn't a problem? (01:11:40)

DrLoomis1978

Answer: They didn't know for sure he knew, if he did know, Annabelle thought she knew all of Vincent's tricks to out smart him.

Answer: Because the Sheriff wanted to kill everyone, leaving no witness. Remember the old saying, "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend."

Question: What happened to King Herod after his soldier falls to his death and both Thaddeus and Rufus reform?

Answer: He continued ruling with an iron fist. The prophecy of the blessed child was forgotten until Jesus came forth.

Question: Jim and Michelle had been dating since the end of Jim's first year of college. Isn't it strange that in all that time he hadn't met Michelle's parents until the day of the engagement party? Jim and Michelle went to the same high school, so her parents must have lived reasonably close by.

Answer: As I remember, there was a scene where someone says, "Michelle's parents are flying in for the wedding."

Answer: They brought the dogs and said they had been cooped up in the cars for hours when Jim's parents asked how their trip was. So it would make sense they drove.

Answer: The voiceover in this episode says this is a first draft of "Streetcar", meaning other, more improved and streamlined versions are coming up. Obviously, "Deb" and "Debbie" were rejected in the final draft of "Streetcar" in favor of "Stella" which was the joke.

Scott215

Answer: He is yelling out names of people he has met...he does this at parties.

Question: Towards the end, after the Police Lieutenant says that they should wait and hear what Herr Sesemann has to say about the Grandfather, Heidi runs to the Grandfather and Fraulein Rottenmeier is last seen standing looking worried. What happened to her? Did she go to jail?

Answer: It's obvious that she loses her position as the governess after what she's done, but I doubt she does any hard time. In the book, Fraulein Rottenmeier has no real malice towards Heidi, and in the 1968 TV movie, she even becomes a love interest with Herr Sesemann at the end.

CCARNI

Question: The ship is hit by a solar flare. But in that case shouldn't Earth advise them about the solar flare incoming? It is supposed that the Sun is constantly watched for solar flares, in case a human mission is en route. Shouldn't mission control on Earth be watching for any unusual solar activity to advise the crew? And they could warn them with time because radio waves go faster than solar flares.

Answer: The ship is not hit by a solar flare, it is hit by a gamma ray burst. It is a completely different, much more violent phenomena.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Why did Doug kill Harry when he saw the tear roll down Melina's face? It seemed like it proved something to Doug.

Answer: The tear proved to Doug that the pain Melina felt when she couldn't bring herself to kill him was genuine. It also showed him that Melina was in actual fear of her life, that she was struggling to get through to him and Harry's pleas were a success. When she sees him begin to raise his gun, she fears she will be killed and sheds a tear. Doug believes that this is too real of an emotional response to be faked or just be a figment of his imagination.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Paul lived to be an old old man because John touched him. Did Melinda live to be an old women since John healed her of cancer? Nothing was ever said about her but Mr. Jingles lived to be an old mouse.

Answer: John Coffey only transferred "a piece of myself [himself]" to Paul, intentionally and Mr. Jingles, unintentionally. Paul didn't have that power after John cured his UTI and Mr. Jingles didn't have it after John cured him from the attack by Percy. The movie is very clear about that.

Brenda Horne Elzin

Answer: Actually, Paul does mention Melinda as one of the people he has lost along the way. No mention is made of how long she lived, but I would assume that John simply cured her tumor, and she lived the rest of her life as a normal woman.

jshy7979

Answer: Yes she lived for very long and ailment free. But you gotta know Elaine was already much older than Paul was, so even though she lived very long, Paul outlived her. He specifically mentioned her, saying something in the lines of "eventually I even outlived Elaine."

lionhead

I think you are confusing Melinda and Elaine. Elaine is the woman Paul is recounting his story to, she is considerably younger than him and yet he outlives her. Melinda is the wife of the warden who John Coffey heals. It is not said how long she lives but since Paul specifically mentions his long life being a curse for his role in John's execution, we can assume she was not particularly long lived as he was.

BaconIsMyBFF

Yes, of course. Melinda. I got the idea that the people who John Coffey heals have long life without ailments. Paul and the mouse are the living proof of that, so why not Melinda? I meant to say Melinda was I think already older than Paul when she was healed by Coffey (although the actress was 40 when this film was made) and thus her life was extended, but less so. She may have died even after Paul's wife, even though he mentions her first. It's still probably been a while though.

lionhead

Melinda's fate after John heals her is never mentioned. Paul believes he has been cursed with long life as punishment for his role in John's execution. That to me indicates that Melinda didn't live a particularly long life. If she had Paul would have no reason to believe he was being punished.

BaconIsMyBFF

Besides Mr. Jingles.

lionhead

Paul mentions Melinda by name when recounting the people that he lost along the way. "Hal and Melinda" are the first names he mentions.

jshy7979

Answer: It would appear, based on what Paul says, that only he and Mr. Jingles were gifted (cursed?) with long life. Paul specifically mentions outliving his family and friends and is shown outliving Elaine as well. Paul speculates that his long life is punishment for his role in executing John, but he says nothing of why Mr. Jingles lives for so long.

BaconIsMyBFF

Paul says that he believed that what happened to Mr. Jingles was an accident. Meaning he was never supposed to have a long life but, during Del's execution, a small bit of John's healing power accidentally went into Mr. Jingles.

Question: When Sam meets the subway ghost, he is told that the subway ghost got pushed onto the tracks. As Sam leaves, he stops in front of a subway billboard for some kind of huge company. After he looks at it, he turns to where the subway ghost was with a shocked look on his face. What was on the billboard that made Sam react that way?

Answer: The poster is an ad for Market Security Bank & Trust, the bank that Sam (and Carl, who had him killed) worked for. Seeing the poster gave Sam an idea how to use Oda Mae and his knowledge of the bank to expose Carl's criminal activities.

Sierra1

But how is the subway ghost connected to the billboard?

The subway ghost has nothing to do with the poster.

Question: Kimble's wife suffered from severe head trauma. Wouldn't his defense attorney demand her 911 transcript be stricken, as her serious brain damage could have caused her to say anything?

Brian Katcher

Answer: His attorney could have done that, but I doubt such a strategy would have been successful, for two reasons. First, proving that she was just "saying anything" would be difficult at best, given that she wasn't just spouting random nonsense...she was speaking directly about what had happened. The prosecutor would have pointed out that she had been coherent (i.e., in control of her thoughts/speech) enough to a) dial 911, b) stay on topic, c) relay information, and d) name her killer (or so they believe). And second, given this high burden of proof, going with "this murder victim was just babbling as a result of the brain damage she suffered when she was brutally clubbed to death" probably wouldn't have gone over well with a jury.

Answer: I'd say this was a definite plot hole. Basing Kimble's guilt on a dying, brain-damaged woman's incoherent mumbling was unrealistic. His guilty verdict in real life would never have happened this way.

raywest

Answer: Angie was not a character in the first Diary of A Wimpy Kid book and was made specifically for the first movie, as told in the audio commentary of DoAWK. Chances are fans disliked the character.

Question: Where were the Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students during lessons? I never saw them in any and surely they weren't excused from their final year of education?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: It's not explained where they go during lessons but it is a safe bet that they don't sit in on lessons. Each school has their own way of teaching and subjects. So it's possible they may have had lessons with Karkaroff and Madame Maxine in their own area.

Ssiscool

Answer: The Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students slept inside their respective vehicles while at Hogwarts. The Durmstrangs arrived by ship and the Beauxbatons on the flying carriage, which in the book was the size of a house. In the movie, they probably would have enlarged the interior with an extendable charm (like the Weasley's tent at the Quidditch World Cup. As most of the visiting students likely didn't speak English well, classes would be probably be taught separately, inside their living quarters or a designated space within the Hogwarts castle.

raywest

I thought there was one line in the books about the Beauxbatons students rooming with the Ravenclaws and the Durmstrang students with the Slytherins-or were those just their table assignments for meals?

I'd say it was only for meals and maybe the common rooms. The Hogwarts house dorms had a limited number of beds. There may have been some unassigned ones but not enough for all the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students.

raywest

Of course with Hogwarts being host to one of the greatest sorcerers of all time along with plenty of other strongly magical wizards and witches there is the possibility of them putting a charm on the rooms to accommodate them.

Ssiscool

Question: Why does Kroenen turn that key on his body? I thought it would be to help increase his speed but, he is very fast without turning it.

Answer: The internal machinery that powers him is clockwork. It needs to be wound like a watch every so often. He releases most of the tension when he fakes his death.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: What happened to Cinna? It looked some men came into the room and started beating him up. But what happened to him after?

Answer: They don't show what happens to him in this film, but Katniss is told in "Mockingjay" that they think Cinna was killed during interrogations. Even in the books his death is unclear. In "Catching Fire" she sees him dragged away, bloody and unconscious. And then in "Mockingjay", Katniss tells the readers "Plutarch's sources believe he was killed during interrogation."

Bishop73

There is also a line where she asks President Coin at the end of this film (been a while since I watched these) where she bluntly says, "They killed him. Cinna. Didn't they?" And the response is a simple yes.

Ssiscool

There's also a scene in Mockingjay Part 1 where Effie is showing Cinna's costume drawings to Katniss. Katniss asks if Cinna is dead, and Effie says that he is, though she does not elaborate on how.

raywest

Answer: After running the marathon for Marshall with no training, he's allowed to ride the subway for free. While sat on the train, the muscles in his legs start to seize up after the marathon to the point it is painful to move his legs. This is why he can't move them. It's the same reason your body aches after a good session at the gym the day before.

Ssiscool

Answer: Barney ran a marathon without any training and over exerted his muscles. While he was able to walk after, later his leg muscles gave out and he couldn't move (or more likely stand). It is not uncommon when one works out too much to be sore the next day, even if they feel okay afterwards. Thus the saying "I'll feel that in the morning."

Bishop73

Answer: The movie doesn't show how long the effects of the Penance Stare last. I have Morbius #1, in which Ghost Rider uses his Penance Stare on Morbius, who recovers from it relatively quickly. I don't know definitively because I haven't read very many Ghost Rider comics, but the duration of the effects could vary depending on how much remorse the person already felt for their past sins, or how much their own super powers allow them to recover from it. From what I understand, the Penance Stare doesn't work on the Punisher, as he feels no remorse for the people he's killed. It also had no effect on Deadpool, as his greatest victim is himself and it actually caused Ghost Rider to revert to his human form when he tried it on Deadpool.

Phaneron

Answer: It depends on the person. The penance stare is used to torture the victim into reliving every bit of mean and sinful behaviour in their life time. So if the victim is older and committed more sinful acts, it will last longer than say a 20 year old who hasn't committed that many acts.

Ssiscool

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