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.

The Sins of the Father - S2-E4

Question: It shows the birth of Queen Victoria's 1st son, then the death of Prince Albert's father, but his father died 29th January 1844 and Prince Albert wasn't born until 6th August 1844, how is that possible?

Answer: There seems to be some confusion here. The first son born to Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, was also named Albert (later known as King Edward VII), and was born in August 1844. Prince Albert, Sr.'s father, Ernest I of Germany, died the same year his grandson was born, but the timing of his death would have no bearing on when Albert Jr. was conceived and born. Prince Albert, Sr., Victoria's husband and Albert Jr.'s father, died in 1862. (Victoria's husband was always known as Prince Albert, never as "King Albert" which may explain the confusion.)

raywest

Answer: Actually, I have read that Prince Albert Edward was born in November 1841 and that Prince Albert's father died in January 1844. The timeline is grossly off.

Answer: Pregnancy takes 9 months. Late January to early August is only a little over 6. Albert was conceived before his father died.

Question: When the raptors were in the kitchen and one of them chased Tim into the freezer, how did its feet slip on the ground?

wolfpackalpha

Answer: Because there was ice on the ground.

Greg Dwyer

Answer: The island's power had been knocked out by the tropical storm causing the walk-in freezer's contents to melt and cover the floor with slushy water and ice chunks. Earlier, Ellie and Hammond were seen eating the melting ice cream.

raywest

Answer: The ground was visibly covered in ice. One possible scenario is that the people in the kitchens were in a hurry to get to the boat, so they dropped the ice by accident and just left it there.

Question: What symptoms would Victor experience whilst being tied to his bed?

EK8829

Answer: Symptoms from being tied to a bed for a year are most notably bedsores (decubitus) and muscle athropy. As a result someone's body will become weaker and less resistant to infection.

lionhead

And the Wiener is... - S3-E5

Question: When Meg came back home to announce that she's a flag girl Stewie replies by saying "now you can be somewhere else when the boys don't call." I don't get it - can someone please explain it to me?

HEK_98

Answer: It's long been a running joke that Meg is unpopular; Stewie meant that now Meg will be busy with her flag girl duties rather than at home where presumably no boys will be calling for her.

zendaddy621

Answer: There is an old stereotype that people on the flag team, or (at some schools) the "color guard", were not good enough for the cheerleading team. "Losers", "dorks", etc. Meg thinks that joining the flag team has finally made her popular, but Brian and Stewie are aware of the stereotype. Stewie is saying that nothing much has changed; she simply has a new activity, where she will be the same "loser" type.

Answer: Judging by what we see on screen, Doe did not torture Victor, apart from cutting off his hand. It's torture enough to spend an entire year by yourself in an empty apartment, without any stimulation whatsoever, unable to move, and at the mercy of a religious lunatic.

Show generally

Question: Would it be realistic for someone with Martin's injury to need a physical therapist for eleven years?

Answer: No, and it's outright stated in the show that Martin doesn't need her around after a few years, but the Crane family (Niles especially) are very fond of her, and want to have her around. Daphne, too, has become very attached to the Cranes and is reluctant to leave.

Answer: Daphne also cooks and serves meals, handles some errands, cleans, does laundry, etc. She is basically a housekeeper in addition to being Martin's therapist.

Azalea

Answer: Harry probably believed Whiskey told the Golden Circle where they were since none of them were followed. Then there is also that Whiskey shoved the antidote out of Eggsy's hand he started to suspect he did it on purpose.

Answer: While nothing is ever presented on screen to show which side he was on, there would be offscreen time to show evidence where Harry might have suspected him.

Question: Even though Harry didn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire, why did all the students (especially Ron) think he did? Did any of them see him do it?

Answer: People thought Harry put his name in the Goblet for more attention and fame, and thought he already had enough. Ron was grumpier at Harry because, according to Hermione in the books, he was jealous of Harry's fame.

Specifically, Ron is jealous of Harry because Ron has five older brothers, and feels that he must compete for attention at home. Harry is yet another person who gets more attention/recognition than he does.

Answer: It's something which some more formal / conservative couples do, possibly just as a byproduct of having kids and using a consistent reference.

Question: When Nick goes to the restaurant when it is closed for the day and night, and Nick has tried to explain everything to Joanna, then she has to answer the phone, why does the camera zoom in on a pair of sunglasses at the far end of the bar?

kh1616

Chosen answer: It's not the sunglasses. It's the matches. Nick is acting as though he is coming closer to Joanna to get a pack of matches, which she then notices he already has. She realises that he is trying to eavesdrop on her conversation, and although she was previously buying his apology her demeanor changes drastically once she is finished with the phone call.

Oh my gosh, thank you! One of my favourite movies, yet I didn't get this scene.

Answer: They are zooming in on the lighter not the sunglasses. He approaches her to pretend he needs matches in order to overhear who she is speaking with, she notices the lighter and that he didn't need to move from his seat, he already had a way to light his cigarette.

Question: It is said that in the original script, Julie the babysitter was meant to be Freddy's pawn, and even though they removed that part, there are still elements in the film that point fingers at her. What are some of these elements?

JohnShel91

Chosen answer: Mostly just very subtle hints. In the beginning when she arrives right around the same time that Heather gets a call from the psycho-stalker, suggesting a possible connection. And the fact she's alone with Dylan many times during the film, as she could be subtly manipulating him to act out.

Question: What were the last lines of the movie?

Answer: Marshall's line was, "Why do you fight it so hard, Earl?" Earl Brook's was, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time and enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is and not as I would have it, trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will, that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen."

My Favorite Orkan - S5-E22

Question: When this episode first came out, I vaguely remember a scene in the beginning where Ralph runs into Arnold's and yells to the people inside something like, "There's a flying saucer outside!" and no one believes the normal-joking Ralph. Then Richie comes in behind him and yells the same thing, and then the people all scream and flee in a panic, believing Richie. In all years of syndication/reruns, I have not seen this part at all, but remember this part as a kid when this episode was brand new. Did such a part ever exist? (Near the end of the episode, Howard mentions the flying saucer people thought they saw was a weather balloon so I'm figuring so).

Answer: When it was originally broadcast there was a different ending. A new ending was added when the show was rerun to set up the Mork and Mindy series.

Answer: Yes, the ending changed but this was in the beginning of the episode where the question lies.

Question: At the beginning, Robert Angier (the Great Danton) travels to Colorado Springs to see Nikola Tesla. When Angier meets Tesla's assistant, Alley, it's obvious that his arrival was not expected. Angier then explains that Tesla had built a machine for Angier's colleague (and Angier wants to purchase the same or similar machine). However, when Alfred Borden gave Angier the "Tesla" clue, it was a complete ruse to waste Angier's time and money and throw him far off the much simpler secret of The Transported Man trick. Tesla had never built such a machine for Borden and had never attempted to build a teleportation device before. So, why did Tesla just agree to build the mysterious machine without questioning Angier's "colleague" remark? Was Tesla colluding with Alfred Borden? And why?

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: Tesla was not colluding with anyone...he built Borden a simple machine that created lightning effects. So Borden thinks Tesla is just a red herring, and he has no idea Tesla can actually build a teleportation device. Tesla, however, takes on the challenge, and ends up inventing the cloning machine. He doesn't think anything of the remark about Borden because he did, in fact, build a machine for him...just not the one Angier is thinking of.

Question: Why did Upham tell the soldiers to drop their weapons instead of shooting them? Why did they surrender instead of shooting him? And why did he then let them go?

MikeH

Answer: Upham was not a hardened war vet like the men in his squad. He seen Steam boat Willie shoot Miller which made him furious because of how desperately he tried to save Willies life at the Radar tower so he felt betrayed and guilty for not listening to his squad so he finished the job he didn't have the heart to do before by killing Willie. He let the others go because he didn't have a problem with them. The surrendering Germans knew the Americans were inbound after tank was destroyed so they gave up immediately.

Chosen answer: He was alone and probably couldn't have shot them all before being shot himself. However, he was in a perfect position to make them surrender as none of them wanted to be the one to get shot for aiming their rifle at him. He didn't let them go, he told them to start walking in one direction as his prisoners.

lionhead

Show generally

Question: Why doesn't the military just give the Stargate to the army or the marines corps instead of the Air Force? Ground combat just isn't the Air Force's way. They don't understand ground combat nearly as well as the army or marines. If the Air Force has more scientists and engineers, why not just transfer some of them to the army and marines corps?

Answer: To start, it was the original film that had the Stargate under control of the Air Force. In the film, the Stargate was housed at an Air Force installation. And Jack O'Neil (in the show it's O'Neill) was a Special Operations Colonel, who just happened to be from the Air Force. At the time the Air Force had control of the Stargate, its purpose was unknown, so it seems just to be the writers picking a military branch. Later, especially in the show, once the Stargate's function was known, it makes sense the Air Force would continue to be in charge since they are the branch that handles space. In fact, their mission statement is "fly, fight, and win in air, space, and cyberspace." In the film, the Stargate could have been determined to be an alien relic, leading to the thought it came from space so the Air Force should be in charge. It should be noted, during the show, the producers maintained a very good working relationship with the Air Force (2 Chiefs of Staff appeared in the show). Since they had this relationship, the writers and producers may have just kept the Air Force in charge.

Bishop73

Question: I have two questions. First, Did the disaster start as shown in the movie? Second, did the explosion look like what we saw in the movie?

Answer: The disaster started as a gas blow-out followed by a massive explosion on the oil rig, visible from 40 miles away. Eleven people were killed. Two days later, the burning rig collapsed into the sea, which severed the wellhead at a depth of over 4000 feet. If anything, the movie underplayed the disaster.

Charles Austin Miller

Actually, according to history vs Hollywood the real life explosion was equally as bad as what's shown in the movie.

Question: Who got the main roles in the musical?

Answer: The lead roles went to Gabriella and Troy with Sharpay and Ryan as their understudies.

Question: Something I've always wondered about trains in the old west on these unfinished railroads, and this movie brought it to my attention again. It shows the track still being built, and it's a single track for one train, no second track along side it. That being said, before the track was finished there is a train going down it one way at the beginning of the movie with passengers. When the train is taken over and forced to steam ahead out of control, it goes off the end of the track and crashes. Well if this hadn't happened, how would the train have gotten back? It is a one way train, on an incomplete track and stopping at a station to drop of passengers and supplies. How would the train have turned around to go the other way again?

Answer: There are stations in between the ends of the line that allow the train to unload passengers, unload cargo, hitch new cars, and turn to go in the opposite direction.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: So if you can't hear the bell you don't believe in Santa, therefore if the parents can't hear (ie. don't believe) and Santa brought the presents who do they think bought them?

Answer: Each likely assumes the other (or another relative) brought them.

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.