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: Who has higher authority, Vader, or Admiral Tarkin? It seems like they have equal authority over the galactic empire. Shouldn't Vader have authority over Tarkin? Vader is supposed to be the Emperor's second in command.

Answer: Vader and Tarkin are assigned to totally different jobs. I think of it sort of like if the head of the CIA were visiting a huge army base. Vader appears to be focused on thwarting the rebels (at this point mostly through intelligence gathering and identifying spies) while Tarkin supervises the construction of the Death Star, and since Vader's current mission is about the Death Star plans their assignments intertwine for the time being and it's like two departments working together. Vader may well have more favor with the Emperor, but he'll defer to Tarkin while he's in his jurisdiction, so to speak.

TonyPH

Answer: Vader isn't second in command of the Empire; he's the Emperor's apprentice, albeit a very powerful one. Vader isn't in the "chain of command" so to speak. He's more of a tool the Emperor uses.

Answer: Tarkin is the commander of the death star and thus the supreme leader of the Empire's armed forces. Vader is more of a specialist, high in rank but not in charge of the military by himself, but probably successor of the emperor unlike Tarkin. You could see it as Tarkin being Heinrich Himmler and Vader being Joseph Goebbels in terms of hierarchy.

lionhead

Question: Okay, so here is something that always bothered me, although I really like the Elves at Helm's Deep: how in Arda did they get there so quickly? Elrond and Galadriel decide to send the Elven army to the Hornburg during the telepathic conversation-scene, in which there's also footage of the Uruk-hai marching towards Helm's Deep, because, indeed, they have already departed. The Elves that Elrond and Galadriel send are from Lothlórien, they are Galadhrim, and they arrive at Helm's Deep quite some time before the Uruks do, despite a) Lothlórien being significantly further away from Helm's Deep than Isengard, and b) leaving after the Isengard army did. Just, how? I am not buying some random Galadhrim army just happened to be nearby, as it doesn't make any sense for them to be, especially considering the fact that Sauron was attacking Lórien at the time, so you'd think they'd be needed there. I am also not buying Galadriel teleported them or something, because if she could do that, she could have just teleported Frodo to Mount Doom. I know this is probably just something the film makers didn't think through, but can someone think of a plausible excuse?

Answer: Well the Galadhrim have horses, which they send away after arriving at Helm's deep so you don't see them. They didn't come walking like the Uruk army.

lionhead

Answer: She's heard of him, she is just surprised to hear his name when asking what Sirius Black is doing here.

lionhead

Question: The doctor is asking the mother questions about E.T. near the end. One of the questions he asks is "are the children okay?" The children are right there. Why does he ask her?

manthabeat

Answer: He's asking if the kids have any symptoms they aren't completely aware of themselves or they might be dishonest about.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: I don't understand this, if Donkey's true love is the dragon, why did he turn into a steed instead?

Answer: He turned into a steed. The director said that she turned into a Pegasus.

Greg Dwyer

Answer: The potion says that both the one who drinks the potion and their true love will "be fine" So Donkey and Dragon were both changed. Although we don't see her until the end It is said that she turned in to a Pegasus.

Question: How did making contact with aliens bring an end to poverty, disease, and war? Even after the Third World War, there still would have been millions of people who wanted wars on earth, and they would find ways to commit attacks that would start wars on earth, and get away with it, by pretending to help bring an end to wars, poverty, and disease, by secretly stealing alien technology, and by attacking homes, and destroying replicators once every citizen on earth had one, and by telling the aliens to leave earth and never return, and they would have been no way to catch everyone who wanted wars on earth.

Answer: By realizing that humanity was not alone in the universe, it gave them hope and something new to strive for, leading to a change in behavior.

Greg Dwyer

Answer: The Vulcans introduced the human race to subspace scanner and transporter technology, enabling instantaneous communications, surveillance, deployment and security enforcement planet-wide. Thus, the vast majority of mankind's tribal squabbling was eliminated.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: Why did Jonas steal Bill and Jo's idea? I remember the movie very fondly and I don't think it ever explained why he did.

Answer: He didn't steal their "idea", he stole their machine and method for getting sensors inside a tornado. He stole it because it was a good design, better than the one he had, and apparently Bill and Jo were too wrapped up in chasing twisters to patent it.

Answer: I don't think Jonas stole the their idea. In some scenes, Jo gives Jonas information on the weather. Without Bill around, it's quite possible Jo shared information with Jonas on how to build Dorothy. She didn't care about copyright because all she wanted to do/cared about was getting those things inside the tornado. Think of it like a surprise gift to all of meteorology.

First, Jo and Jonas aren't seen sharing information. Jonas had offered her info hoping to get some intel in return, but she denied sharing any. The most likely thing is that Jonas probably got word that Jo's team was developing this instrument pack and used his corporate resources to build a better version. If you look at Dorothy compared to DOT3, Dorothy looks like the type of pack that was built from scratch using random parts whereas DOT3 is a more refined version.

Question: When the brothers make their big entrance at the concert, why are the crowd silent - is that explained anywhere?

Answer: Because they were enjoying the show already-Cab Calloway just brought down the house with Minnie the Moocher, and they have no idea who these two are. So they have no reaction, and wait to see if the brothers are any good. And as we see, they quickly get back into it.

Question: Because the film has gun violence, some mild cursing, and a bit of drug use, should it have a PG-13 rating instead of PG?

Answer: There was a lot of complaints over the PG rating and many people felt the smoking should have made the MPAA give Rango a PG-13, or even an R, rating. The gun violence seen was not deemed intense, most likely since it was animated animals. Profanity is allowed in PG movies if they do not use "sexually-derived" expletives. It seemed the MPAA decided the film was not glorying smoking. The MPAA seems to allow tobacco use in a PG film if the film's setting is one where smoking for adults is the "norm", such as films set in the 50's where it was common for adults to constantly smoke, even at work (for example the film "Hidden Figures" was rated PG despite smoking being seen). Since the animals seen smoking in Rango are considered to be adults (it would be different if it were teenagers or children seen smoking) and smoking was common in the old west, it was granted a PG rating, although I was unable to find anything were the MPAA defended the PG rating status. (And while Rango is set in modern day, it's an homage to an old western were the animals in the town are living as if it's still the old west).

Bishop73

Question: In real life, can you really get away with anything if you have diplomatic immunity?

MikeH

Answer: In short, diplomatic immunity would prevent a host country (such as the United States) from charging a diplomatic agent or diplomatic staff member with any crime (if they've been granted immunity). However, the agent's home country may waive immunity if the crime is deemed serious enough or the home country can prosecute the agent themselves. However, the host country can still expel a person with diplomatic immunity from the country and ban them from returning. And while diplomatically immuned people have committed serious crimes in the past, diplomats are usually seasoned and respected civil servants in their countries and can damage their careers if they cause any embarrassment while visiting a host county and tend to comply with local laws and customs out of respect.

Bishop73

The host country can also ask the Diplomat to leave, and the Diplomat's country may also recall them. Https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2018-DipConImm_v5_Web.pdf.

Question: At Thunder Road, how old is the woman that starts the race? She looks about 50.

Answer: I believe you are asking about Cha Cha, who was played by Annette Charles. Annette was 30 (or about to turn 30 if her scene was shot before her birthday in March). It could have just been the make-up she was wearing that made her look older. And if it seems weird to use someone that old to play a high school girl, Olivia Newton-John was also 29 at the time of filming.

Question: Why is it necessary for Commodus to order the deaths of Maximus and his wife and son? Why and how is Maximus a threat?

Answer: After Commodus murdered his father, he demanded Maximus' loyalty, which the latter refused. This I think made Commodus realise Maximus was aware of his late father's wish. So he decided to get rid of the threat by ordering for Maximus execution including his family.

Answer: Emperor Marcus Aurelius told his son, Commodus, that Maximus would be his successor and the next Emperor instead of his son. This angered Commodus and he killed his father before the Emperor could name his successor. Commodus then ordered for Maximus to be executed, partly out of hatred and fear that Maximus may have already been told that Marcus was going to name him as his successor. Out of jealousy, hatred, and anger, Commodus also ordered Maximus' wife and son to be killed. In real life, Marcus granted Commodus the rank of Imperator and made him co-Emperor before his death and there was never a question who the successor would be, plus General Maximus is a completely made up character and never existed in real life. So this hatred of Maximus and fear of not being Emperor was made up just for the movie, so it's hard to say exactly what threat Maximus may have been if left alive.

Bishop73

Killer Queen - S10-E16

Question: "Now we just need the 50 bucks. Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have named that star for Mort. Ugh! Just give me the money." I didn't understand that joke - can someone please explain it to me?

HEK_98

Answer: There are companies in real life that will let you name stars after someone as a gift (although the star name won't go on any official government registry). You pay a company (in Peter's case for $50) for this privilege and they'll send that you information where the star is located. Mort is then looking at the star named after him. But it's as useless of a gift as you can imagine since it doesn't really mean anything and you can't do anything with it and Mort knows Peter spent money to do it. Mort would rather have had Peter just give him $50 cash as a gift. One could say it's a joke about the stereotype that Jews love money, but in this case a lot of people would rather have money over a useless gift.

Bishop73

Foreign Affairs - S9-E17

Question: At the end of the episode we can hear a truck reversing with a signal beeping and drill whirring, gear grinding - what was going on with Joe and Bonnie?

HEK_98

Answer: It's just a joke about what an ordeal it is to move Joe around when he's not in his wheelchair.

Bishop73

Answer: It's an exaggeration of using electric sex toys because Joe can't have regular intercourse because he's numb from the waist down.

Answer: Joe and Bonnie are getting intimate here I believe. It's showing what an ordeal it is for Joe to have sex, since paraplegics basically can't.

Question: What song is sung at the Oscorp festival?

Answer: My Nutmeg Phantasy by Macy Gray.

Bishop73

Question: During the barrel water scene, Bomba is catapulted through the air and fights a bunch of orcs, he discards his barrel because it is all smashed up. Where did the extra barrel he jumps into come from? We never see extra empty barrels following the dwarves.

Tony

Answer: When they are all getting into their barrels from Bilbos plan an extra barrel can be seen in the bottom right screen but Bilbo did not see it possibly because he just didn't notice.

Question: What does Thomas mean by "There are some children who are pillars of flame that burn everything they touch and there are some children who are just pillars of ash that fall apart when you touch them. Me and Victor, we were children born of flame and ash."

Answer: He's basically saying that Victor is strong and standoffish and he is weak and sensitive.

Greg Dwyer

Question: Aside from the fact that 32 survivors were rescued, how many were there before the storm and how many died by the end of the movie?

Answer: 64.

Answer: The Pendleton had a crew of 41. 9 were lost during the rescue.

Bishop73

Question: Toward the end of the movie, when David walks into Linus' office and asks him if Miss McCardle has to be there. Doesn't Linus address her as Miss McCarthy?

Answer: I've seen this movie numerous times over the years. Linus always addresses his secretary as "Miss McCardle."

raywest

Linus does call her Mrs. McCarthy about 11 minutes before the end of the movie. I checked several times. It's true. It's a mistake.

Show generally

Question: In one of the episodes, Richie, while in basic training, tells Fonz how he put his friends and his platoon on report causing both his platoon and Fonz to be angry at him. Why would they react in a way? Richie's platoon was being insubordinate from the start and Fonz wasn't even in the army.

Answer: Whether he was right or wrong, the Fonz's belief is that you don't tell on your friends, even if they've broken rules or misbehaved. The platoon wrongly thought Richie would cover for them, no matter what they did. Richie felt differently, believing that it was his responsibility to be honest and report any wrongdoing rather than cover it up to protect his peers.

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.