Question: Why does Dobby only attempt to save Harry from the dangers that will happen at Hogwarts this year? If he knows that Lucius Malfoy is planning something, why not go to Dumbledore and try to save everyone at the school?
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: Are Palpatine and Dooku's real first names known? They're not Dantius and Jard - those are "fanon" names made up by fanfiction writers. See http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dantius_Palpatine and http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jard_Dooku.
Answer: Dooku's first name is currently unknown, however from the book Darth Plagueis we know that Palpatine's first name is Sheev.
Question: Why exactly did R.K. Maroon want to sell his studio? A scene in the movie shows a news reel of him shaking hands with a Cloverleaf corporate man. A full explanation would be appreciated.
Answer: Maroon was simply greedy and Cloverleaf offered him a lot of money to sell, provided Acme sold his part too. Spoiler alert: Maroon was only trying to frame Acme (with the Jessica Rabbit patty-cake pictures), not kill him. However, Judge Doom turned out to be the owner of Cloverleaf and by buying out Maroon and Acme, he could get rid of Toontown (he hated toons). So Doom was willing to pay Maroon a lot of money (and when that didn't work, turned to murder).
Question: Why is this film called Brazil?
Chosen answer: Because of the reoccurring use of the song "Aquarela do Brasil" by Ary Barroso. The song's common English title is "Brazil". And at the end, when Sam is sitting in the chair, he starts to sing "Brazil".
It's Not Easy Being Green - S5-E16
Question: How could Bobby and the rest of Mr. McKay's class have showed up at Strickland Propane without Hank knowing? Surely the students would not have been allowed to go on a field trip without a parent's permission. If Peggy had signed a form at some point, she mostly likely would have mentioned to Hank that Bobby would be at his workplace.
Answer: Peggy is a substitute teacher. She may have been teaching at the school the day the permission slips were sent out and Bobby could have just walked to her classroom, had her sign it, and taken it back to his teacher and both just forgot to tell Hank when they got home. ("There are ways" is my point).
Question: I would really like some insight on a burning question I have had since seeing this movie as a child in 1978, when it came back around in theaters in eastern Canada, where I grew up. Not knowing much about American history in school, I didn't know at the time that there even was a Devil's Tower, or that it had been made the first US National Monument in 1906, and as such would have been famous to all American citizens. I still remember loving the psychic element in the film where our heroes agonize internally about the strange mound shape seen only in their heads, to be finally rewarded and deeply relieved with news footage later in the film which solidified their visions into something tangible and concrete (igneous rock actually!) Thus, as a boy knowing nothing about the tower in Wyoming, this part of the film played perfectly into the fantasy for me-it sold me all the way. But why or how did this work for Americans at the time the film was new? In the film, we are to believe that our adult heroes knew nothing of the tower before their initial close encounters, and were shocked to discover that it actually existed. Again, for me, Devil's Tower was an absolutely incredible and awesome choice, and made me love the film all the more for it. But I would like to know how Americans felt about it during the film's 1977 and later 1980 re-release? Was it just as awe-inspiring for them as well, or was it more like: "Duh-you're driving your family crazy making models of a natural rock formation everyone knows is less than 90 miles away from Mount Rushmore?" I would really appreciate an answer, because for me, the tower's news-footage "reveal" was a huge moment in the film, and really does provide the kick-start that launches the entire third act of the film. For American audiences, why was it not the same as if Roy had struggled to attach a garden hose under a hastily-built plywood model with a hole in the middle, because the aliens implanted a vision of "Old Faithful" in his head?
Answer: Devil's Tower really is out in the middle of nowhere, and in one of the least populated states (it's "only" 90 miles away from Mt. Rushmore, but it's an incredibly boring 90 miles of mostly empty plains) so it didn't make for a convenient tourist attraction like other landmarks and thus didn't garner as much fame (it's actually much more famous nowadays, thanks to this movie). That said, the movie seems to have cleverly provided two separate "reveals" for this plot turn: those familiar with Devil's Tower will recognize it when Richard Dreyfuss knocks the top off his sculpture, giving it the distinctive "flat top" shape; then, only minutes later the rest of the audience will discover it along with the characters during the news broadcast. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this was set up deliberately keeping in mind the landmark's status of "kind of famous but not really THAT famous."
Your explanation (and the other answer) helps makes the overall plot more understandable. The French scientist, Lacombe, mentions that there were probably hundreds of people who were implanted with the Devil's Tower image in their minds. As pointed out, it is not a particularly recognizable landmark, which would explain why many never made the connection to it.
Answer: "Devil's Tower" is, indeed, a national landmark. However, it isn't one of the most famous, nor most iconic. It isn't nearly as widely known as, say, the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River, Niagara Falls, or the landmarks you mentioned - Mount Rushmore and Old Faithful Geyser. But, as you stated, its imposing form does fit so nicely into the aura of the film's alien encounter. Devil's Tower isn't something everyone knows by shape. And for those of us who do, it doesn't require much suspension of disbelief to posit that the characters in the film wouldn't have put it together prior to the news footage.
Question: The trap in which Robert Neville got caught could not have possibly be set by some over aggressive mutants. Installing such a trap would have required not only human abilities (which Robert Neville said they completely lack) but also a lot of patience, advanced planning and the use of tools. The level of aggressiveness shown by the mutants excludes any possibility that they could be patient enough to set such a trap. For me there was no doubt in my mind that the trap was either set by: 1. Robert Neville himself, and then he forgot due to a deteriorating mental state 2. Another survivor from New York who wanted to catch animals or mutants for whatever reason. How likely does it sound that the trap was set by another survivor?
Chosen answer: The point the movie makes (and is backed up more in the alternate ending) is that Neville was wrong about mutants. They DO have the ability to plan and use tools and other higher thought process abilities. So they did set the trap for Neville. Neville thought they were monsters, when it was he who the monster. He just did not realise his presumptions about them were wrong until the end.
Answer: All possible yes...but again as Neville surmises in Matheson's novel the infected ones are mutating too.
Question: Why would Dr. Lanning's perfectly good house need to be demolished right after he "committed suicide?"
Chosen answer: It didn't. Destroying the house (and any potential evidence) was part of the cover up.
Question: Since I have never been in the military this is confusing. Does it make any sense that The President, a former fighter pilot, as well as General Grey would not know about Area 51? I find it hard to believe that Captain Steven Hiller would know about Area 51 but the 2 most powerful men in the U.S. would not.
Chosen answer: Hiller didn't know what Area 51 was, he just knew there was a base nearby, because he flew over it in battle. Recall his exchange with Russell Casse in the desert when they were picking him & the alien up; Casse said there's no base on the map, Hiller said it's there, he just flew over it. The base isn't named at that point by either Casse or Hiller.
Question: In the scene where the Surprise is becalmed, at the very start as the camera zooms out it shows that the ship is flying a line of signal flags. What is the message that they are trying to send? I tried looking it up, but I didn't have any luck.
Answer: The signals that were contemporary to the setting of the film were Sir Admiral Home Popham's "Telegraphic Signals or Marine Vocabulary." However, it appears that there is no clear signal actually being sent. For reference see Nelson's signal of "England expects that every man will do his duty" during the Battle of Trafalgar. By Pope's coding, one is supposed to signal in groups of hoisted flags, beginning with a red/white diagonal signaling the start of a message, and a blue/yellow diagonal signaling the end. Individual flags stand for numerals and the groups of numerals match phrases or letters within Pope's codings. For example a lone "3" signal represents the letter "C" while a set of signals sending "416" stand for variations of "Instruct-ed-ing-ion-s." The best I can make from the film (the yellow colors of the flags appear to be washed out due to post-processing), is that they begin a signal then send "392" ended with a "substitute" flag. Possibly standing for "impossible-ility" while the section on the Main seems to indicate "602" or "part-ed-ing-ition" without a "Finished" flag. For reference here is a link to a scanned original copy of the 1803 Edition of the Codes: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433008120291;view=1up;seq=1 And a link to a PDF that has the 1806 version with drawings of the flags: http://3decks.pbworks.com/f/Admiral%2520Home%2520Popham%2520Telegraph%2520signal%2520book%2520Final%2520edition.pdf.
Question: Why does Maggie's mother and sister call her Miriam?
Answer: Because Maggie's name was Mary Margaret Fitzgerald, Maggie for short. Her family was calling her "Mary M", with a thick Missouri accent.
Question: I noticed that during the whole film, when bullets hit the soldiers' bodies, dust comes out (even on a wet Omaha Beach). Why is that?
Answer: It is eiderdown that blows into the air when they get hit by a bullet. They used eiderdown because it was a very warm filling for their assault jackets. Eider is still rarely used in the manufacture of some sleeping pillows and quilts.
All Hell Breaks Loose - S3-E22
Question: Later in Charmed they bring the so called "cleaners" in episode 6-2 when Wyatt conjures a dragon and magic is exposed. Why didn't the cleaners appear earlier in this episode when Piper and Prue exposed magic?
Answer: That was a mistake in the series.
Also, the episode is called 'Babies First Demon' and this alone tells us that it's Wyatt's first time in the field (so to speak) and as the sisters say, they've done a good job of clearing up their own magical messes so far. Nobody really knows how advanced Wyatt's powers are, or will become. That's why the cleaners appear, to nip things in the bud. The Cleaners didn't want to chance that the sisters could clean Wyatt's magic up, just incase they couldn't. Therefore intervening themselves, just in case.
Answer: Because they wanted them to fix their own mistakes.
Question: What was in the hat box in the garden?
Question: Everybody seems to believe that the machines are not able or at least not willing to make use of the energy from the sunlight above the darkened sky. But I have some problems with that. Morpheus tells us about this when he is with Neo in the construct for the first time. But is Morpheus really 100% believable in that question? Isn't this just his version of the story? We can believe him that the humans darkened the sky (this is confirmed in Animatrix and visible on screen) and the machines created fields of humans as their source of power (he saw those fields himself). But maybe he's wrong? Could he really know for sure how much energy the machines need? Or that the machines don't use the energy from sunlight? Is there any point in the trilogy where the machines definitely do confirm this? For me it would make more sense for them to do so: using the humans would inevitably decimate the population with every generation. If we believe that the humans' "foods" are the liquidated dead this would hardly be enough for the whole lifespan of another human (and there's also energy drained from the machines). I don't say this wouldn't make sense for the machines, but sooner or later they will have to use another source of power if they want to live forever, so why not start with it now? They would have infinite energy and could control humanity at the same time. And as we see they are able to build any types of complex weaponry/flying guardians etc., it should be easy for them technically to get past the dust and use the energy somehow. Am I right with this or is there a better explanation?
Answer: Human bodies would not be 100% efficient and so energy generated would always be less than energy fed into the farm, so overall making energy losses for machines. The energy fed (dead bodies etc) is not usable by machines directly. Humans seems to be good for energy conversion as well as energy storage. So any excess energy from fusion can simply be stored away in the matrix. Hence the battery analogy (which needs to be charged to be useful).
Question: I don't know what breed Bob Lee Swagger's dog is. Could anyone possibly help me out?
Answer: The dog featured in the film as Bob Lee companion was trained by owner Drew Thompson. The dog's real name is Logan. He is a Bernese Mountain and English Mastiff X. Drew states that "he is easily the smartest dog I have ever trained".
Question: How did Anton find Llewellyn's home?
Answer: When Llewellyn returns to the site of the showdown for the second time, he leaves his truck parked in an obvious spot. Coming across the truck later, Anton prizes off a plate from Llewellyn's truck that has the VIN on it. This is likely how Anton later tracked Llewellyn down.
When Llewellyn is telling his wife she needs to go to Odessa, he says "tomorrow morning at 9am a man is going to call the courthouse about the registration of my truck. At 0930, he's going to come here looking for me" (or words to that effect).
Question: Why did Teddy growl in the helicopter when the trio arrived at Manhattan?
Chosen answer: It was dangerous for Mecha to go there; he was afraid for David's safety.
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Answer: Dobby overheard a plot that involved Harry. He had heard of Harry and his "greatness" and decided to help him for that. Going to Dumbledore would be for totally different reasons and a more direct "betrayal" of his family. Its not unlikely Dobby thought any other wizard like Dumbledore would tell the Malfoy's about his "betrayal", but not Harry. He also didn't know the entire school was in danger.
lionhead