Question: What is Valchek's last sentence in the show as he is being promoted to commissioner by Nerese Campbell? Looks like a joke, but no subtitles and it is pretty difficult to hear.
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Question: Does anyone think that Meg, Madame Gerty's daughter is a love child with the Phantom?
Answer: It is conceivable, I suppose, but extremely unlikely. The role of Madame Giry (the correct spelling) in the opera house, and her relationship to Erik (the Phantom) and Christine Daae differ somewhat between the book, the stage musical, and the 2004 film. But never is a romantic connection between Madame Giry and Erik, past or present, even implied. She functions more as a knowledgeable intermediary and is more or less employed by the Phantom to represent his interests to the Opera House administration, even though she had never seen him, but had only heard his voice. Also, if Meg were his daughter, it wouldn't make sense, given his personality, that Erik would have absolutely no apparent relationship with her. Further, given the dramatic payoff that could be added to the story by revealing that Meg is the Phantom's love child, it is all but inconceivable that such a relationship would be salient in the mind of author Gaston Leroux, but that he would never make it explicit. Ultimately, anything is possible. But in the absence of any evidence to support the theory, I would say it's a pretty clear bet that Meg Giry has no blood relationship to the Phantom.
The theory of Meg being the Phantom's daughter would not be at all an explanation as to why he is not interested in her as he is with Christine. This would only make sense if you were implying that he was a pedophile which I can tell you that he most likely is not because in the short song ("I have brought you to the seat of sweet music's thrown...") between 'The Phantom of the Opera' and 'Music of the Night' he says "You have come here for one purpose and one alone. Since the moment I first heard you sing, I have needed you with me to serve me, to sing..." This shows that he brought Christine to his lair because of his attraction to Christine and her talent or whatever (but absolutely not because he is attracted to young girls), the talent which Meg lacks is shown due to her mother's reaction/attitude/actions when Christine goes up to sing 'Think of Me' - in the movie, she looks at Meg and touches her hair, giving her that look of disappointment on the DL; in the theater version, after the performance, she scolds Meg (and the other ballerinas), speaking to her as if she were somewhat unworthy or not as good as Christine. I hate to ever use Love never Dies references to back up my statements when discussing tpoto, but I am sure that Madame Giry would not allow Meg to have affection towards the Phantom neither seek equivalent attention from the Phantom as he gave Christine if you understand what I'm saying. Like Meg was crazy obsessed with winning the Phantom's attention.
Question: Why would Blackbeard take so long to stop the mutiny? Sure he gives the ones responsible their punishment, but if it really bothered him or made him angry enough, then why not come out sooner, or be more angry? He seemed pretty calm during this scene.
Answer: He took his time because he knew the mutiny would fail because has complete control over his ship. Better to make sure he knew who he couldn't trust.
Question: Benny gave a hat to Smalls to replace the fish hat. What team and what year was the hat?
Answer: It's a blue hat with a yellow/gold capitol "C" for the logo, which doesn't correspond to any major league teams. It could be a minor league or school team hat. Benny refers to it as his "old" hat, so he may have replaced it with the Dodgers hat he's wearing.
Question: What year is this film set in? The clothing and architecture don't make it clear. Is it meant to be timeless?
Chosen answer: Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Suess as we know him, published most of his books between the late 1930's and the late 1980's. "The Cat in the Hat" was first published in 1957. Dr. Seuss' works generally tell the stories of fantastical characters in imaginary places, meant to be timeless. Illustrations and animated adaptations show buildings and objects with unusual proportions, odd shapes and bizarre functions. The live action film of "The Cat in the Hat, " however, is rooted to reality by its decidedly human child protagonists in an ordinary house in an ordinary neighborhood. The production design, costume design and set decoration of the 2003 film seem also to have the goal of achieving a certain timelessness. No date reference is given. However, there a decidedly stylized quality of 1950's-1960's suburban architecture and design, complete with its generic forms, chimneys, picket fences, and colors such as yellows and avocado greens, reflecting the common decor of the time. Similar to the 1971 TV short, which seems to provide a reference point for the design aesthetic of the film, nothing appears exceedingly futuristic nor rooted in period styles like victorian or colonial. I have also posed your question to Rita Ryack, the film's costume designer, whom I found on Facebook. If she sees my questions and decides to respond, I will add her insights to this answer.
Question: At the end, Zoil refers to Paul as 'Short Round.' I know that Short Round was the nickname of the kid in the movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But why did Joil refer to Paul as the kid's nickname?
Question: I am confused by Darth Vader's attitude in this movie. In Episode V, he asked Luke to join him and get rid of the Emperor. He seemed quite confident and happy about this idea. Now, in Episode VI, he tells Luke that he "must" obey his master, that the Emperor is Luke's master now, etc. Why does he now want himself and Luke to be the Emperor's servants?
Answer: There are a few possibilities. One is that Vader's proposal was always a ruse - note that even the Emperor offers himself as bait to tempt Luke to turn. Another is that Vader's plan was genuine but he abandons it after Luke rejects his offer. Afterwards Luke's resolve has only gotten stronger, and at that point the only hope to turn Luke to the dark side will require the assistance of the Emperor himself. In either case it's probably best to see Vader's demeanor here as an extension of his final scene in The Empire Strikes Back, where we last see him quietly retreating in disappointment.
Answer: Vader was always the emperor's servant. In ESB, he was ordered by the emperor to turn Luke. Vader (as a Sith) was attempting to convince Luke to follow him (his father) so that they could overthrow the emperor. Once that failed, he could no longer keep his plan a secret from the emperor. Vader most likely suspected the emperor planned to replace him with Luke anyway.
Question: Four questions; One, why the hell would Angelica be dressed and acting like Jack, and how could she think she could pull him off? Second, wouldn't Angelica and Blackbeard find it suspicious that Jack keeps asking questions about the Fountain of Youth? He claims that he's been there, and yet they don't find it weird that he's asking about something he's supposedly seen? Third, how was Syrena gonna save Phillip when she drags him underwater? Is there an undersea hospital or something? Fourth, why did Jack leave Angelica on an island by herself? I never understood that.
Answer: Angelica merely wanted to create the "illusion" that it was Jack Sparrow in order to shanghai a crew for her father's ship to search for the Fountain of Youth. They would be more willing to follow Jack Sparrow than Blackbeard. Most had never seen the famous Jack Sparrow in person and were half-drunk most of the time, and likely wouldn't notice the deception. Angelica and Blackbeard may have been suspicious about Jack, but he was their only means to finding the Fountain. The mermaids appear to have magical powers that would allow Syrena to save Phillip, possibly by transforming him into a merman, though this is never explained. Although Angelica claimed to love Jack, he did not trust her motives, and that was why he left her on the island. Jack knew Angelica had the ability to escape. He would not leave her to die.
Question: Near the end when Indiana and Marion are tied to the post and the Germans are about to open the Ark, Indiana closes his eyes and tells Marion to close her eyes so they can't look. But how did he know when they should open them again? He wouldn't know the Ark had been sealed again afterwards unless he took a risk and opened his eyes to see.
Chosen answer: The events were quite loud. Once the noise had stopped, and the sound of the ark slamming shut had been heard, he slowly opened his eyes to check it was definitely safe.
Question: Nora goes out with Julian. She asks him where he wants to eat. He doesn't speak. Nora stares at him over sunglasses and says, "Food. Manja." What does manja mean?
Question: Who was the father of Widow Winship's child?
Answer: The father of the widow Winship's unborn child was Peter Van Garrett, the wealthy landowner who was the second victim of the horseman, killed in the field after jumping from the coach when he saw the headless body of his son, Dirk Van Garret atop the coach.
Question: What does Depp try to signify (if anything) with the facial tic of open mouth jaw popping?
Answer: The tick signifies Shooter's attempt to "come out." In the beginning, Mort complains of a jaw ache before the first appearance of Shooter and at the end, when Shooter takes over Mort, the ticking of the jaw indicates that Shooter is the personality with control, not Mort.
Answer: It's from grinding/clenching teeth. Due to anxiety and stress. The biting down and clenching your teeth will leave your jaw soar and tenses. He's opening and stretching his jaw to relieve the tightness. I had the same thing first year of college.
Question: In the beginning sequence when Riggs is in the cube with water pouring in, it is leaking through the bottom. Why does he just not pull the rubber gasket from around his neck and allow the water to flow out?
Question: How did it end, because I missed that part in the movie. Does Sarah die or did her sister die in the forest?
Answer: Sara spends much of the convoluted ending of this film in the midst of vivid hallucinations. Eventually, Sara dies, accidentally, at her own hands. She cuts her own wrists during a delusion where she believes she is cutting away the grasping fingers of her father's ghost. As she is dying, her body is dragged under the forest floor by Japanese "yurei." (ghosts). Her spirit remains to haunt the forest, lunging at Michi, the search party's forest guide, in the final frames of the film. Meanwhile her sister, Jess, has been rescued alive.
Question: Why do the Predators care about the PredAlien so much? I know it wiped out a few of them and is a monstrosity of a hybrid. However, why did they have it locked up on the ship? There is no way it got to full size (taking a few months I assume) or crawled around as a baby without a single Predator noticing. It must have been locked up, but if it's so bad, why keep it alive?
Answer: They were not keeping it alive. Once it birthed it went somewhere to hide until it grew to full size. Much like in every other Alien film, the predalien grows to full size remarkably fast. It usually takes less than a day in most situations. Once it grew to full size it began slaughtering the Predators and proved to be more than a match for the average Predator. They were most certainly not keeping the predalien alive purposefully, they had no idea it even existed until it began killing them.
Chosen answer: The predalien, like all other alien species, is a trophy. They were probably keeping it alive so they could hunt it later.
Question: Why didn't the Predator who gets attacked by the face-hugger know? He must have known what had happened to him when he woke up, shouldn't he have killed himself? Or at least let his fellow Predators know before resuming the mission? I understand he needed to stop the Aliens reaching the surface, but surely he should have known or done something.
Chosen answer: The predators are proud creatures, and stubborn. He probably knew but couldn't be 100% sure. He only just killed an alien and marked himself with this trophy, making him victorious in his quest. Killing himself or telling his mates he is incubated right after that achievement is not in a predator's nature.
Additionally I think he would have told the other predators if he hadn't been killed by the alien queen. Before reaching the surface he was probably not in a position to remove the creature from his own chest. Maybe he thought that he would make it to the surface and get it dealt with when he is back in the ship. Instead things took another turn and the alien queen killed him before telling the adults. To be fair, scanning any surviving warriors left after battle, knowing what these creatures do to reproduce, would be a good standard procedure for the predator race in my opinion. But they apparently don't.
Question: Is there a significance to Jane choosing Alice Ayer's name? As on the plaque she died to save 3 lives. Is this meant to draw another parallel comparison of her saving these 3 characters (Anna, Larry, Dan)?
Answer: A possible parallel is that she sensed a chance to "save" Dan from his life, which he seemed to be bored with at the time. Overall, though, she probably looked for a female name and chose one at random. She preferred keeping some secrets from Dan, never trusting him fully.
Answer: She chose the first name she remembered when Dan asks her name. She did not say her real name because she wants to be somebody else, possibly because Jane came from NY to escape a life she had there and wanted to reinvent herself.
The question is about why she chose that particular name, not why she is hiding her real name.
Question: Is it normal to bleed when playing drums?
Chosen answer: No, it is not normal to bleed while playing drums, as callouses develop on a drummer's hands through constant practising and playing. But, if a drummer plays hard enough and fast enough using the same drum sticks, friction between wood and skin can develop and rupture toughened skin. In the context of the film, the drummer is being pushed beyond his limits by the music conductor. Additionally, he is pushing himself to be better, so the bleeding is a consequence of that drive for excellence.
Question: Where does Frankenstein go / what happens to Frankenstein at the end? He just seems to go off into the middle of the ocean on a tiny raft.
Answer: It's unknown where he's going but it's plausible he's going to find a place he can live alone and as far away as possible from people who would judge and fear him.
Answer: In the original novel by Mary Shelley, "Frankenstein," The Creature leaves Europe and settles in the Arctic. Not saying that that's what happens in the "Van Helsing" universe for sure, but I think the raft certainly nods in that direction.
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Chosen answer: As he's trying on his new hat, Valchek says, with a smile, "fits like a glove!"