Question: About 20 minutes into the movie Darth Vader says "I am sure Skywalker is with them" but later the emperor says to him "I have no doubt this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker" and then Vader says "How is that possible" so I am just wondering 2 things: 1) is that part of Vader's plan to overthrow the Emperor? and 2) if the emperor is more powerful than him and Luke, how does he expect Luke to help him overthrow the Emperor? Surely the Emperor could destroy him since the Emperor is more powerful than both Luke and Vader.
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Answer: At the time Vader knew Luke was his son but did not tell the Emperor this. He was faking his reaction to make the Emperor feel like he was one step ahead of him.
Question: How did Argus Filch get a job at Hogwarts? Even though his father was a wizard, he had no magical abilities. Wouldn't that have made it impossible for him to even go to Hogwarts?
Answer: His job could be done without magic, and in addition to that, Dumbledore felt sorry for him.
Question: When Iracebeth takes Mirana back in time to when a young Mirana ate the tarts and lied about it, why would the adult Mirana continue to deny having eaten them?
Answer: The way I interpreted the scene is that Mirana subconsciously altered her own memory to convince herself that she had not eaten the tart to avoid the guilt of the resulting accident. This is a real phenomenon, so it's perfectly plausible. If my assumption is correct, this scene shows Mirana realizing for the first time that she is in fact responsible for everything that has happened since due to a single lie she told.
Answer: I don't think she was actually denying it at that point, just reciting the answer she knew she'd given originally.
Question: What is the name of the Christmas Tree farm they went to to get their tree?
Answer: They didn't go to a Christmas tree farm. He took them to a huge forest to get one most likely because it would be easier to get one free then to pay for one.
They went to a tree farm. After running off the road and jumping the snowbank the wagon crashes through a sign that says "Trees." Clark then says, "We're here...and we made good time too." The humor is Clark forgoes a normal "farmed" tree for the "wild" monster he takes home.
False. They may have run over the tree farm sign, but they absolutely did not harvest a tree from the tree farm.
Answer: They never went to a tree farm. Even though there is a sign that says "Trees", there is no employee there to greet them or even discuss how much the tress cost. Plus, trees on a tree farm are usually smaller and are always lined up in a row. The trees seen by the Griswold's are extremely large and are scattered about like what would be seen in a regular forest which is where they went.
They are never shown in the "store" area of the tree farm, so you can't say that there is nobody working there. They jump the snowbank, it shows them gathering themselves in the car, and the next scene is in the wilderness. It's a small, rundown tree farm, but it is a tree farm business, with a plowed parking lot, garbage cans, lights, other customers, etc. These tree farms usually had pre-cut trees for purchase, but you could also walk out and cut down your own for the "experience" if you wanted to. As someone who has walked a couple miles to get a Christmas tree in December in Minnesota, I can say with absolute certainty that this is accurate.
Answer: It was a tree farm (the car literally flies through a sign that says "Christmas Trees"). There's a deleted scene after they crash and walk to find a tree. Realizing that they didn't have a saw to cut the tree, the family walks to the lot attendant (an odd man, reclining in a lawn chair, wearing a Santa jacket and hat) to ask to borrow a saw. There is a conversation between them where Clark is told that they don't supply saws, but he gave him a shovel. THIS explains how the tree got dug out of the ground. You can actually see a picture of this scene on an old DVD cover.
Question: Kind of a long question but please bear with me. In one episode, Catherine and Vince have to rescue a boy who was being chased by a man who murdered his father. The boy claims to have a letter from his father detailing a crime that occurred and how he was killed for betraying the man. The end of the episode has the boy reading the letter out loud in court. The judge asks to see it and after a quick look over, he gives it to the man who was after the boy. When the man looks at it, there's nothing on the paper but squiggly lines. The judge then has the man arrested for murder. Why would the judge do this? There were no witnesses. All they had was the word of a boy and a piece of paper with nothing but wavy lines on it. No real evidence was presented to the judge at all.
Answer: (Episode 1x19 "Everything is Everything") It's not a regular court or judge, it's a Gypsy "kris" (court) to determine a new judgement for the boy, Tony, and it's headed by Milo, who is the Gypsy King. Milo had two sons, elder Eric (Tony's dead father) and Vick (Tony's uncle), who framed Eric for theft from the family business, and it was Milo (he didn't know the truth) who held the earlier "kris" which declared Eric, his wife and son, Tony, to be "marime" as if they're all dead and had them banished from the community. Then Tony's parents were in a fatal car accident in Chicago, and before Eric died he told Tony the truth about how and why Vick framed him. Now at the new "kris" Tony has the chance to speak to prove his father's innocence, and tells everyone that Vick lied and stole the money, then framed his father because Eric had been next in line to be the Gypsy King. Milo tells Tony that his word isn't enough for a verdict and he must show proof. Tony tells his grandfather that Eric gave him a letter, while on his deathbed, in order to clear his name and punish the guilty. When Tony pretends to read the letter (remember, we learned Tony can't read), he starts out as if the letter was written to his father, Eric, and cleverly pretends that it was written by Vick's accomplice from the theft (Vick's friend sitting behind him, who also works at the body shop), admitting to the frame-up. As Tony keeps "reading" we see Vick turn around to his accomplice and say, "You fool!" for the letter's admission of guilt, and then the accomplice replies loudly, "I didn't write no letter... You said nobody could prove nothin'!" for everyone to hear. So after the truth has come out, Milo shows Vick the letter which only has squiggly lines on it, just so Vick understands that even though the letter wasn't real, he and his accomplice still admitted their guilt for the theft, and now they will be "marime" as if they're dead and banished from the community. Vick did not murder Tony's father, and he's not arrested.
Question: At the very ending, now that Dennis is a vampire, can the sun harm him even if he is the son of a human and a vampire?
Question: In the Malfoy Manor scene, Bellatrix tortures Hermione, but all we see is "mudblood" carved on her arm. Because of her loud screaming, it is assumed that Bellatrix did something more to torture her, did she?
Answer: Nothing else happened. Hermione screaming loudly was because of Bellatrix carving the word Mudblood into her arm. Having someone dig a knife into their arm and carving a word into it would be pretty painful.
Answer: It is explained more in the book that they heard Bellatrix yelling Crucio, a spell to cause immense pain.
Question: What did John Doe do to Tracy before he killed her? He says that he "tried to play husband." What does that imply?
Answer: It implies that he may have raped her, but it's never said outright.
Answer: This is one of those moments in film and storytelling where leaving it up to the viewer's imagination is 10x's worse than showing anything on screen.
Question: How come Katniss still wanted to kill Snow after learning it was Coin who released the parachutes and killed all the children including Prim?
Chosen answer: Katniss keeps up the appearance that she wants to be the one to kill Snow so that she can be in a position to kill Coin. She still hates Snow for all he's done, but sees that he's dying anyway. She realises Coin is the greater threat, and will simply rule as Snow did.
Question: If Jack is a reincarnation, how does he not know Danny possesses the shining? The other ghosts, such as Delbert Grady, who have always been there, can see Danny's talent. If Jack has always been there, how come he can't see what Grady sees?
Answer: Jack is the same soul as the man in the 1921 ball photo, but that does not necessarily mean he retains their full memory. Jack also has the ability to Shine, but probably does not know how to use, or is even aware that he has the ability to Shine.
Question: Why is Brian trying to convince Peter to move on from Quagmire's pocket-dialed conversation when Brian and Quagmire hate other?
Answer: It is not that Brian and Quagmire both hate each other; it is actually just Quagmire who hates Brian, but Brian does not hate Quagmire. Brian tells Peter to move on from Quagmire's pocket dial because confronting him about it may result in him ruining his friendship and cause heartache for everyone involved.
Question: Why didn't the ape-keeper, Rodney, simply shoot Caesar? He was in the sniping platform, he was aiming the tranquilizer rifle, he had a clear shot, but he just lowered his rifle and fled when Caesar yelled "No!" for the first time. If Rodney had pulled the trigger, the ape rebellion would have been nipped in the bud.
Chosen answer: Rodney was against the cruelty that fellow ape-keeper Dodge displays toward the apes and was likely hesitant to shoot Caeser at first. When Caesar yelled "No!", Rodney lowered his rifle from shock. Caesar then starts running around chanting "No!", and because he's running around Rodney no longer has a clear shot, and then he panics and flees having just seen an ape speak.
Question: Ted (Lurch) Cassidy was a total of six feet nine inches tall. A number of times, especially in Season 2 Episode 6, "Cousin Itt's Problem", it seems the top of his head barely clears to top of the door jamb. Were the doors seven feet tall back then?
Question: Why was Meredith so enthusiastic to make Tom "lose everything"? All she wanted was for him to be transferred or quit so he didn't find out about the changes on the production line, but she is asking him to see pictures of his family and trying to send him to Austin which would be sold, instead of another place. The book even mentions that Meredith was the one who was aiming to sell Austin. Why not just transfer Tom to another place and job in Digicom?
Answer: She needs to heavily discredit him in order to cover up her own mistakes. She wants to transfer him to Austin and then sell it so she can do it quietly and without ado.
Question: The family's front door swings out rather than in. I know in places such as Florida, this is due to the hurricane weather so the door does not get blown in. However, in this movie, the family resides in California. We don't have front doors that swing outwards because we do not have hurricanes. Was this a mistake or was there a reason for the door to swing out?
Answer: Just because it's uncommon or even rare for an outer door to swing outwards, doesn't make it a mistake or even special.
Answer: It was probably (or close to being) a "revealing mistake" - how something was done for movie "convenience" or effect. It is much easier, faster, and dramatic if someone can run out of the house and immediately attack someone compared to having to take time to "open the door" (inward, like it is usually done).
Question: Is it possible that Mace Windu could've landed on a speeder after being thrown out of the window in Palpatine's Office?
Answer: The outside possibility that Mace Windu could have landed on a speeder or other vehicle does exist, given the fact that such vehicles were continuously passing by the window of Palpatine's office. However, Windu is officially considered to have been killed by falling to his death after Palpatine uses his Force lightning to send him through the window.
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Chosen answer: For the special editions George Lucas changed the scene to feature the same actor (Ian McDiarmid) as played the emperor in RotJ and the prequels. He also changed the dialog. In the original version, there is no comment from the emperor about Luke being Anakin's offspring. Instead it is left more vague and he is simply referred to as "the son of Skywalker", as at this point it is not known that Vader is in fact Anakin Skywalker. The change was made to tie the original film to the prequels, but as you point out, it only served to create a plot hole.