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: What does the term "grey dawn" mean?

Answer: There's no specific meaning. Metaphorically, it would mean that it is the beginning of something that is dismal, is going to be long and difficult to achieve, or may not end well. Basically, it's a "bad omen."

raywest

Question: Why did Elinor throw Merida's bow in the fireplace? What happened to the bow when it was fished from the fire?

Answer: Merida had rebelled against her traditional female role and defied her mother by slicing the tapestry with a sword. As retaliation, Elinor angrily threw Merida's bow into the fire. The bow was fished out before any substantial damage was done to it, and Merida was still able to use it. Historically, wooden weapons (bows, spears, etc.) were often crafted with a process called "fire hardening" to dry out the moisture and make the wood stronger. The flames may have had this affect on Merida's bow.

raywest

Question: Are we to assume that it was the mysterious caller who double-crossed the pizza delivery man and slit his throat?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: Yes. He'd paid for the pizza, so the pizza man would either have seen his face or accepted his credit card. Either way, he's a loose end that has to go.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: What is the plot of this movie exactly? Sorry, but once they discussed Immobliare, I was confused as to what the movie was about.

Answer: Michael is trying to divest the family of all ties to organized crime. Internazionale Immobiliare is an international real estate concern and owning it would legitimize the family. Michael is attempting to buy out the Vatican's 25% of the shares in it to gain controlling interest, but the other families either want in on the deal or want to steal it out from under him, forcing him back into his old criminal ways.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: If the beach house is in the Hamptons, why is the sunrise from the west?

Answer: It's probably just a movie inaccuracy. For whatever reason, probably technical, economical, or for artistic considerations, the scene could have been staged and shot during sunset rather than sunrise. Oftentimes, scenes are not actually filmed when and where they are supposedly set. Locations are often substituted for ones that are more private, more scenic, have easier physical access, are in a less expensive economic region (such as Canada), and so on.

raywest

Question: Near the end, Dr Shaw is seen lowering something to the ground. It looks like a body - is it, or what is it?

Answer: Shaw is lowering David's android body from the alien craft to the ground. She is taking it with her to find the Engineers. David's detached head is stowed inside her utility bag. Presumably she will reassemble him during the journey.

raywest

Question: Has Samantha's birthday ever been officially said? She says she looks the same as she did that summer and all that shows is that she doesn't have a tan left. People are still wearing tank tops, dresses, skirts, shorts, etc. throughout the movie. It appears to be early to mid September but nobody says anything in the movie. Does anybody know?

Answer: Her birthdate is not mentioned. Regarding the weather and how the locals dress, it depends on where they live. California, for instance, has a fairly warm climate much of the year, so it would not be unusual to see the people there wearing summer-type clothing in early Autumn.

raywest

Answer: The brother is constantly wearing Chicago gear. I'd bet Chicago. You can lose your tan in one month. That's a long time to a kid back in school. Plus the dance they go to is called the New Faces dance which may be a beginning of the school year.

I did a little checking on the movie production. According to the Wikipedia entry for this film, "Sixteen Candles was filmed primarily in and around the Chicago North Shore suburban communities of Evanston, Skokie, and Highland Park, Illinois during the summer of 1983." The summers in this region are usually quite hot and humid which may account for why the cast was wearing lighter clothing throughout the film, even though it was supposedly taking place in Autumn.

raywest

Question: When Nikki came to see Terri, he laid his hat and coat in the chair - no package. Later, he went to the chair and got the package that contained the scarf. Was the package placed there at a later time?

Answer: This sounds like a movie mistake rather than there being a reason in the plot for it to happen.

raywest

Show generally

Question: I'm trying to find out in which episode this happens. Reed and Malloy are driving when they get a call to be on the lookout for a red convertible. In the rear window of their squad car you see the exact car described in the radio call. It passes them, then is seen in front, but neither of them comment on it and it's not referenced later. Not sure if it was a poor choice of stock footage or a gag, but what episode does it happen in?

Answer: This is from Season 1, "The Long Walk." After Malloy and Reed responded to a "211 in progress", the partners later search the area and question a man walking his dogs, and it's this man who tells them the young guy they're looking for drove off in a red convertible, so Reed radios in the added information and clears them. Later, when the partners are driving along, Reed brings up the topic of the criminal's convertible, and while they're discussing it we can see through the squad car's rear window that a red convertible with its black top up changes lanes, and in Malloy's closeup just as they're talking about how the criminal's convertible was likely stolen, we see the red convertible passing Malloy to his left. That's all we see of this red convertible.

Super Grover

Question: Does anyone know where I can find pictures of Meatball the husky cat, preferably in his red hoodie, eating the crab cakes?

Krista

Chosen answer: Links to pics and video can be found: here and here.

Super Grover

Answer: It was never specified how long the curse had been in effect.

raywest

Question: Why are the eyebrows on Cassius, the master of ceremonies, so weird looking? Poking out and stuff.

Answer: It was part of his makeup. As the "ringmaster" or "M.C." of the games, he wanted to stand out and be noticed and remembered. The gladiatorial games were an extravagant entertainment spectacle that included participants who were similar to rodeo clowns, in addition to the gladiators themselves. Cassius was doing his part to be part of the show and maintain the spectator's attention.

Scott215

Answer: They're not a feature of the character; they are David Hemmings' natural eyebrows. Perhaps he likes them, since they seem to be styled with some flair in and out of the movie.

Question: Why did Gordo bring up the horse thing at breakfast?

Answer: Gordo was making a point to Norman that the crew of the "Fury" had seen some horrible things during the Battle of the Falaise Pocket. After wiping out an entire German army there, they were tasked with putting wounded horses out of their misery. The point was that Norman was not there, and did not experience what they had, so Norman could not judge the tank crew's actions.

Scott215

Gordo brought up the horse thing because him and the other (original) crew members were not happy with Don and Norman enjoying a nice, quiet meal without them. He even say's "You weren't there" meaning Don sharing this with Norman when he hadn't yet been through much war time like all of them had, together. They also say "We weren't invited", "Why weren't we invited." The horse story was to get at Don for not inviting them and sharing it only with Norman.

Ship in a Bottle - S6-E12

Question: Is Moriarty aware that he is a character on a TV show? If Reg is the only real character in Moriarty's holodeck simulation then why does Moriarty continue his ruse when Reg is not in the scene? To keep the viewer engaged? Was this an inside writers joke?

Answer: Moriarty's holodeck simulation was also created as a deception for Picard and Data, who are also real. Moriarty does realise that he is a holodeck creation based on a character in the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes novels. However, he was imbued with self-awareness when he was originally created by Geordi as a villain "capable of defeating Data" in the episode, "Elementary, Dear Data." Over time, he overcomes his own programming and achieves sentience, hence his desire to be liberated from the limitations of holodeck space.

Michael Albert

Question: I have 2 discs, which seem to be exactly the same, are they? Do I need to watch the second disc, to see different things?

kh1616

Chosen answer: Depending on which 2-disc set you bought, they should be the same, just a different format. The Blu-ray set comes with a Blu-ray disc (BD-50) and a standard DVD. The 4K Ultra comes with a BD-66 and BD-50.

Bishop73

Question: Can someone please explain War daddy's quote "Ideals are peaceful, history is violent?"

Answer: There are probably a number of ways to interpret the quote, to be debated in a different forum. He's just saying thoughts about how to make the world a better place are peaceful. Rarely do people see war as a means to bring about peace. but as history shows us, war and violence often occur as a result of wanting change. Think about the 60's Civil Rights movements. Ideally, all men should be treated equally and there should be no segregation, but opposition to this resulted in violence (and to the opposition, ideally it would be better if races kept to themselves).

Bishop73

Question: Why do they call the aliens Mimics when we never see them actually mimic anything?

dizzyd

Chosen answer: First it should be noted that this film is based on the Japanese novel "All You Need is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which is where the term "mimics" comes from and could be something lost in translation (they adapted to alien planet environments by mimicking the biology of the planet's life, not necessarily making themselves look like a certain species). However, in the film itself it, was said the aliens "mimic our every action", militarily speaking. This is of course because the aliens were resetting the timeline when an alpha died and knew what the military would do, but to the military (and news reporters) it looked like they were just copying our fighting style.

Bishop73

Question: Why was Jack not on the Black Pearl with Barbossa when it sunk? At the end of "At Worlds End", they have to go back and get Jack because he took a piece out of the map, so where was Jack?

Answer: There is nothing suggesting that they ever went back to find Jack. As soon as they realise that the map was stolen, the movie ends with Jack sailing alone with the map. Even if they did go try to search for him, they probably would never have been able to find him. At the start of On Stranger Tides, Jack is still searching for the Fountain of Youth and still has the map with him, so it is clear that he has not gone back to or found the Black Pearl yet, so he would not have been on it when it sunk.

Casual Person

Answer: It is shown on a news report that he was caught and arrested soon after.

Casual Person

Chosen answer: He said he wanted to see Luke with his own eyes rather than through his mask. He was aware that he was doomed and did not care about what would happen if he took the mask off.

Casual Person

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