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: How did chief survive getting hit by a train, and falling down, and only ending up with an injured leg?

Answer: He fell into the water so he could have very easily broken his leg on something in the water like a rock.

Question: Is it true that the Jamaica bobsled team performed poorly at first during training as shown in in the film?

Answer: The real Jamaican team performed poorly throughout the Olympics and did not finish.

Greg Dwyer

Question: I know Patton really did slap a soldier named Bennett. I have two questions. Firstly, is the dialogue in the scene where Patton slapped Bennett accurate? Secondly, was Bennett really a coward?

Answer: The entire slapping incident is surprisingly accurate, including the second slap knocking off Bennett's helmet. The dialogue is not verbatim but the scene is accurate in spirit. By today's standards Bennett would not be considered a coward. He suffered from what we call today post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During Patton's time PTSD was called "shell shock" or other terms and was not treated with the same compassion as today. Patton himself did not believe in the concept of shell shock and thought men like Bennett were simply cowards.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: John McClane wraps a fire hose around his waist, and uses it to jump 100 feet until the coil catches the lip of the building, the hose catches him. Wouldn't that have seriously injured him, given the inelastic materiel which fire hoses are made of, and the fact that he was not wearing a safety harness?

Answer: In reality, yes tying a fire hose (or any rope strong enough to hold your weight for that matter) around your waist and using it as shown in the film could cause serious injury. It was worth it to try, however because staying where he was would have meant certain death when the bomb explodes.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: How did Sauron take the form of a fiery eye? Isn't he powerless without the ring?

Answer: Most of Sauron's power was poured into the One Ring, but not all of it. Sauron cannot take a true physical form until the ring is returned to him but he can still use his power to form the eye to keep watch over Middle Earth.

BaconIsMyBFF

Is the eye actually his true form?

If by "true form" you mean the form he originally took when he was created, it is unlikely. Sauron was a good, just, and respected being prior to being corrupted and likely wouldn't have such an evil appearance in his original form. It is important to note, however that the Eye of Sauron takes on a much more physical form in Peter Jackson's film that it does in the books. In the books, the eye is a red light hovering over the tower that has the vague appearance of an eye. The films makes the eye look like an actual, literal eyeball that moves and seems to have a personality.

BaconIsMyBFF

I meant has the eye been his true form ever since he lost the ring?

Sort of, yes. Sauron's spirit existed in a non-corporeal form and eventually built enough strength to form the eye.

BaconIsMyBFF

No, his true form is seen at the beginning of the film.

Question: How does Sauron know Frodo has the ring? He doesn't even know who Frodo is.

Answer: He doesn't. He only knows that someone named "Baggins" from the Shire has the ring. He learns this from torturing Gollum. He sends the ringwraiths to the Shire to search for it, and they sense it enough to figure out who has it.

Why do the wraith have to find it if they can sense it?

The wraiths at this point aren't powerful enough to simply know where it is by sensing it. At this point they can only sense it when they are close and it is put on. Once Frodo put it on, they knew who he was and where the ring was.

lionhead

Question: Why did the Apollo 13 spacecraft need a parachute? They were landing on water not solid ground. It's easier to survive a fall when landing on water, so why would they need a parachute if they were landing on water?

Answer: Spacecraft re-enter Earth's atmosphere at extremely high velocity (thousands of miles per hour). Atmospheric friction slows the spacecraft descent somewhat; but, without parachutes, the Apollo spacecraft would still reach the surface traveling at hundreds of miles per hour. Landing in water at such high speed would be like hitting concrete, which would of course be instantly fatal. Hence the necessity of multiple parachutes. The Apollo program (and all early U.S. manned space programs) chose to land in the ocean for two reasons: 1) It was easier to track spacecraft re-entry from horizon-to-horizon at sea without visual and radar obstacles, and; 2) It was faster and easier to position several Navy vessels in the general splashdown location, then deploy helicopters to rapidly retrieve the astronauts and their spacecraft.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: Why did the warden hate the fact that Doc painted a picture of him? Did he think he was mocking him?

Answer: The portrait was deliberately done as an unflattering caricature to mock the warden, thus offending him.

raywest

Answer: There is no specific reason, the warden took away Doc's paintings. When he was in Doc's cell, retrieving his nail clippers, he saw the portrait of himself and had an amused smile, meaning he though it was pretty good.

Obviously, this is not the case as he would not have felt the need to take the painting, despite being an A-hole. The first answer is more likely correct, as he definitely felt mocked or ridiculed based on his actions.

Question: Does the ending mean that the policewoman gives up on her hunch?

Answer: No, she didn't give up. When "Smith" called Detective Atwood, she realised that it was a different voice (Brooks) and that the police may have fingered the wrong person. She was not the type who would let this go.

raywest

The Gold Rush - S1-E18

Question: In this episode, Hogan and company used gold bars disguised as bricks to replace the destroyed wooden steps. However, the next episode, "Hello Zolle", the steps are back to wood. Is this considered a Continuity mistake or was it cost a cost cutting measure?

Movie Nut

Chosen answer: It was neither of those. In earlier TV shows, it was typical that each episode was a self-contained story, and the plots and non-regular characters were rarely carried over from previous shows to the next. Any problems or situations were resolved at the end, even if some plot threads were illogically left unexplained. This allowed episodes to be aired in any random order. Today's TV series usually have ongoing linear timelines and continuous plots that are played out over multiple seasons.

raywest

Question: How old was Jenny when she died?

Answer: 36. (4 months shy of 37). Her date of birth was in July 1945 and she died in March 1982 according to her headstone shown in the film.

Chosen answer: The firm had landed the "Texas Tiller" account and had decorated the office to make the people from Texas feel "at home". They felt that in addition to the Texas state flag and horns on the wall that a confederate flag was in order too (since Texas did join the Confederacy).

Bishop73

Question: Is Lokar based on a real person?

Answer: No, he's a fictional character, but could be a composite of multiple people.

raywest

I don't what you mean by a composite of multiple people.

Taking plot-relevant characteristics, behaviour, roles, etc. of a few different real life people and putting them all into one new character. While technically fictional, he might share traits with real people.

Question: Who organized and ordered the killing of all the dons at the meeting where only a few come out unharmed. And why?

Answer: Don Altobello was behind the plot to assassinate the other Dons. The motive had to do with the Immobiliare deal that Michael had attempted to keep free of any Mafia involvement.

raywest

Question: Why is the cartridge for Donkey Kong 64 yellow instead of grey?

Answer: It's the color of bananas, which feature prominently in the Donkey Kong Country franchise.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: Because both of them are former Death Eaters who have the Dark Mark branded on their arm. Karkaroff's was getting stronger, so he kept trying to talk to Snape to get information if he had any, as he was convinced that Snape was still a Death Eater (as we saw in the book in the trial scene). Karkaroff was terrified of the prospect of returning to Voldemort, as he had betrayed several Death Eaters to the law when he was caught.

Question: How exactly did Stan know IT was a female and was expecting?

Answer: On the ground there were opaque eggs with moving objects seen inside, indicating that the spider creature was a female that had laid them.

raywest

Answer: It's never specified: somehow Stan just knew, perhaps through a vision or a nightmare.

Answer: It's never specified: somehow Stan simply knew.

Answer: Because when the Losers found It in its side form, only Stan saw its egg sac, writhing with soon-to-be-laid eggs.

Question: Is the bank teller the same actress shown on the parole board when Red is paroled?

Answer: No. Although IMDb lists the bank teller as Claire Slemmer, her list of credits does not include being on the parole board. The actress playing the board member is not even listed in the credits.

lartaker1975

Question: After Miles accidentally mentioned the rehearsal dinner to Maya, she asked him who's getting married and obviously (though not on camera), he told her Jack, thus starting a big fight with each other. Why did Miles tell her Jack instead of making up a random stranger he could say they knew since already slipping out info about the dinner? She would not have ever known, no fight would have taken place, and Jack would have saved face - literally.

Answer: Miles himself answers this question in the film. He tells Maya that he could have made something up, but chose to tell her the truth because he respected her and didn't want to lie.

Question: Why is the plasma coolant tank breakable? Why are there clear windows? What if a crew member accidentally hit it with something that could easily break the window and cause plasma coolant to spill out?

Answer: It's likely made of transparent aluminum so the crew can easily see its condition. Transparent aluminum has greater strength than materials we use for transparency. Remember, too, that it was Data who broke it. The rest of the crew wouldn't have the physical strength to break it.

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