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: Did Dorothy really go to Oz or was it a dream? Because, in return to Oz at the end, she sees Ozma (the good witch in her mirror) or was that just her imagination/a dream too?

Answer: In the film it's left ambiguous. At the end it's strongly implied that she was dreaming. The characters she meets all look like people she actually knows. In the original book, she actually went to Oz.

Answer: Return to Oz was not a direct sequel to the 1939 film. One was developed by Disney and the other by MGM. Return to Oz is actually an adaptation-fusion of the second and third Oz books, that contains elements from the 1939 film (like the Ruby slippers and the Oz/Kansas counterparts) because that's what people are most familiar.

Question: When Richie wakes up Frank, he tells him about the gypsies that are camping in a specific area and to give him a call the moment he sees them. Since Richie already knew where the gypsies were at, why use Frank at all?

Answer: Because the Gypsies were not there, they were away. He wanted Frank to sit and watch for their return and let him know they were back so he didn't need to sit and do it himself.

The_Iceman

Question: Before dinner, when Rose is telling Jack the name of people who are gathered downstairs, she points out a man who has a wife who is Rose's age, and says that his wife is in "delicate condition", that she's trying to hide it, and it's "quite the scandal." If the couple is married, why does the woman want to hide her pregnancy?

Answer: At this time, and particularly in higher society, most personal matters concerning women, and particularly a pregnancy, was considered something extremely private. This would be never be discussed openly with strangers. The man in question is John Jacob Astor IV, and the woman is his second wife, Madeleine, who was 29 years his junior, hence the possible source of the "scandal."

raywest

Madeleine actually survived the disaster and went on to have the child.

Ssiscool

Answer: At the time, it was a big scandal surrounding John Jacob Astor's divorce then marriage to Madeline, even his grown sons were in opposition. It wasn't until after the sinking that the sons met with her in support.

Question: When Mark went to get Pathfinder he took about a 30+ days round trip. We didn't see him have to recharge the batteries like his 50 day trip to Aries IV. Why didn't he need the same equipment eg. Oxygenator for the Pathfinder trip?

Answer: No we didn't see him recharge, doesn't mean he didn't stop. He would have to recharge. He didn't need the big 3 because the trip was not as long, and he was able to make do with air filters, and his water supply.

Question: We see the Constructicons use the military's Allspark shard to bring Megatron and a few other Decepticons back to life. Two things. 1) Why does the Allspark bring Megatron back to life if it's what killed him in the first place? 2) If it works on Megatron, why doesn't Sam use his Allspark shard to revive Optimus Prime?

Answer: Because that is what the allspark does. It healed Frenzy from the first film. It killed Megatron cause he was not capable of taking all the power. As for your second question, that has 2 answers, first, and most importantly, he didn't have it. Secondly, it wouldn't have enough power.

There is also another possibility. It is possible that Sam considered using shard of Allspark to revive Optimus but was afraid that it would cause some negative side effects. Considering the series of negative events related to this shard of Allspark (it turned kitchen equipment into an evil robots, not to mention that Sam inadvertently absorbed its energy before) there would be no doubt that Sam would be skeptical about using it.

Question: Why wasn't Carl put back in the retirement home at the end? A court order is a court order.

MikeH

Answer: He was. In the series of images we see him surrounded by old people.

Chosen answer: Who's to say he wasn't? The film ends after he takes Russell to his award ceremony, so we won't know.

Question: At the end, the Dean has been arrested for bribery. Would the student who exposed him (Wang?) not have been expelled for accepting the bribe and abusing her position and shutting down a frat house?

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: No. Because it could be viewed more as extortion than a bribe.

Question: Daniel hates being a farmer and wants his father to sell their farm, but when J.P. Stiles offers Daniel's father money to sell, why didn't he convince his dad to accept?

Answer: Because he knows his dad is not going to sell no matter what he says.

Question: Why did Sophie have blood on her mouth before The Bride cut her arm off? And why didn't she try to fight back or run away? Why didn't anyone else try to stop her?

MikeH

Chosen answer: Just before that, we saw her in the bathroom, oblivious to the Bride's presence, and the Bride about to get the drop on her. It's safe to assume that the blood on her mouth was a result of whatever the Bride did to her off-screen between that moment and when she presented her to O-Ren. It's hard to "try to fight back or run away" when your assailant is brandishing a katana and is literally the deadliest person in the world with that weapon. And plenty of others tried to stop the Bride...she just killed them all.

Question: Why was only one officer (Captain Willard) sent to assassinate Colonel Kurtz? Isn't it very unlikely for a captain like Willard to be able to kill a powerful and influential and "insane" colonel like Kurtz?

L0gical

Chosen answer: Kurtz was protected by political connections and his military record from being relieved of command, and the Montagnard people whose village he was in were considered American allies, so they couldn't just send a force in to kill him or relieve him of command, but an individual assassin. (The US Government's "official" policy is that they do not engage in assassination, which is why "this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist").

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: He was seriously injured during a rescue mission, the result of the accident and his injuries also left his mind unstable and he began a descent into madness. While not a lot of detail is given, you can compare it to war veterans who experience shell shock or PTSD.

Bishop73

Question: Does anyone know, or have any idea, what the policeman was referring to when the reporter asked for the bank information and he replied, "On one condition"?

Answer: The condition was that any serious leads that could lead to 'the voice's' location be kept confidential giving him the 1st chance to make the arrest, i.e., kill The Voice 1st.

Answer: The most likely condition is that it was for absolute assurance that "The Voice's" picture would be published, which she seemed to protest, and was even later harshly threatened to stop, but she did anyway. And / or to divulge Crecy's intentions of acting on the information once provided, furthering their investigation, which is also supported by their expectation of his arrival at the Barrio, and their delay in action until such time. They not only were not surprised of his arrival, or actions, they were waiting for it.

Answer: She had to divulge Crecy's phone number so that they can trace him. Or the condition is that she has sex with him. Opinion is divided.

It couldn't be so she would have sex with him since while he was saying on "one condition" she was putting her clothes back on from where they had just finished having sex.

Answer: Yes, but the sex was so great, why not relive the experience?

Show generally

Question: In a few episodes, notably "Jewpacabra" and "Le Petit Tourette", Kyle is literally saving Cartman's life, which, as shown in "Le Petit Tourette", Cartman thanks him enormously for. But if Kyle's done these things for him, then why does Cartman still rip on him for being a Jew? And why doesn't Kyle remind Cartman of the fact that he's saved him numerous times and he should be grateful instead of mean?

Answer: Simply put, Cartman will ultimately never stop being a selfish, spoiled brat no matter how anyone treats him or what they do for him.

zendaddy621

Also, the boys go to the same school; they see each other around town, and their parents know each other. So, for the time being, it's easier for Kyle to grudgingly tolerate Cartman's behavior. As Mr. Garrison says in one episode, "Just because you have to tolerate something doesn't mean you have to approve of it."

Question: When Richard accidentally pulls a coin out of his coat pocket, he sees that it's a penny and he is sent back to his own time. After being weakened upon his trip back to the future, why, after what was likely several days to get his full strength back, wasn't he able to return to the past? His mentor told him returning to his own time would leave him weakened but, given enough time to get it back, he could have gone back to the past again.

Answer: He was no longer able to put everything out of his mind, which was a requirement to successfully time-travel. He was distraught and unable to focus enough mentally. He stopped eating, and as time went on he became weaker and weaker.

Question: I understands that all the 10 characters at the motel actually exist inside Malcolm's head, and the fact that their date of birth are same (i.e. 10th May) is to support this. My question is: if Malcolm's head was able to come up with 10 different names of the characters, then why wouldn't he come up with 10 different date of birth as well?

L0gical

Chosen answer: The date of birth is significant because that's the day the identities were "born" in his mind. It's not that he couldn't come up with different dates, it's that his child's mind saw them all as being "born" on that day.

Question: When Michael says to Tom, "if history has taught us anything, it's that you can kill anyone." Who is he referring to?

Answer: No one in particular. He was simply meaning that many historical figures who were extremely powerful (Julius Cesar for example) were assassinated. He means that no one is untouchable.

The_Iceman

I disagree. I think he was referring to when he assassinated that police captain and the Turk and everyone in the room told him it was impossible.

Answer: She puts it away and it's never seen again for the rest of the movie.

Show generally

Question: The original couch changes skirts somewhere along the line. The new skirt is beige (does not match the overall material like the original) and appears to be a couple of inches taller than the original. I surmise either Rosanne or John have back issues and the couch legs were increased so to raise the level of the seating. What was the reason?

Answer: Clearly, the only person who could truly answer this question would be a set designer for the series, or someone else directly connected to the series who would have this kind of detailed information. I looked on IMDb.com and Cheryl Lanner is credited as set designer through 1997. I quickly found her Facebook page, and I directed your question to her. After some time, Ms. Lanner has replied as follows: "I decorated the last season 1/2 but after 9 seasons the sofa just plain got worn out and had to be repaired from 8 years of usage. There was a board put on the sofa but as I've said, it was due to so much usage. If they had back problems I was unaware of them, but you can be assured that if that was the problem it would have been fixed immediately. Take care Michael!"

Michael Albert

Answer: One episode of season seven has a moment when Dan hops over the couch and breaks one end of it. The board was probably added so they could keep using it like nothing happened.

Question: At the very beginning of the movie, Ben refuses to fire on anyone even though he was under orders to do so. I can understand him being court-martialed for this but, why would they alter the video to show him killing innocent people with orders not to? And why send him to prison for allegedly killing innocent civilians?

Answer: They needed a scapegoat, someone to blame. The government controlled the people through violence, but at the same time tried to convince the people the government was fair (i.e. Runners who made it through were given their freedom when in fact they never left the arena alive). The people at Bakersfield were still massacred (that part wasn't made up) by the government in order to control the riot, but just not by Ben. But people would just riot more if they knew the government ordered their killing, so the footage was faked to make people think Ben acted alone and against orders. And to continue the ruse, they convicted him to appease the people and prevent them from rioting.

Bishop73

Question: I am watching "The Naked Gun" on the IFC Network, and during one of the commercials they asked a trivia question about the movie that I never saw answered. The question was, "Which famous comedian contributed a scene or gag for the movie", and the choices were Mel Brooks, Steve Martin, and one other name that I do not remember. Does anyone know the answer to this question? I can not find any information about it anywhere. Thank you.

Hawk

Chosen answer: Mel Brooks. When Frank is undercover as the ump, one of the batters hits Frank in the face with the bat. This was a suggestion Brooks had made.

Bishop73

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