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: We learned earlier that he took up the name Hancock after a 1930s nurse asked for his John Hancock when signing out. Why doesn't Mary tell Hancock his real name, furthermore why doesn't he ask her.
Chosen answer: It's not important anymore, him and Mary have been around for a long while and have probably changed their names many times to keep up with the times. Chances are her name wasn't Mary 80 years ago.
Question: There are two scenes in this movie where a man almost gets hit, first by a knife in the O'Connell's home, and the other in the museum, where he is shot at by a shot gun. In both scenes it's the same man, and he gives a kind of smug look before diving out the way to let someone else get hit. Any significance in this actor always surviving?
Chosen answer: Seeing as people almost get killed in just about every action movie, it's highly unlikely that there is any special siginificance to it here.
wizard_of_gore
Answer: It's a gimmick. Towards the end, Jonathan ends up doing the same thing to the same guy when the Pygmies stab him with a spear.
Question: How are the chandelier and troughs of oils that light the treasure extinguished? If they are left to burn out, there would be no oil left to relight them.
Chosen answer: You could do two things: let them burn out and refill them for the next people, or smother them and remove all the oxygen.
shortdanzrQuestion: Why did everyone have to leave the city? Two boats, one for citizens, one for criminals. Was the entire city rigged to explode?
Chosen answer: No, of course the entire city's not wired up. But the Joker's said that he's going to start killing people - would you stick around for that? Pretty much everybody wants out.
TailkinkerQuestion: Why were the aliens protecting the Predalien? My dad thinks it's because the Predalien helped birth them, but I seem to recall them protecting her before she impregnagated those women. Did I miss something?
BradChosen answer: The Predalien was a Queen, those aliens only exist because of her, so just like in Aliens, the drones protect the Queen.
GalahadFairlightQuestion: Does Nick Nack die? Did he suffocate in the suitcase?
Chosen answer: Likely not. He's still screaming that he'll get Bond as the junk sails away at the end. Presumably, either he and Bond came to an arrangement after the film or Bond turned him over to the authorities. At the VERY end of the movie you see Nick Nack is actually suspended high on the mast of the junk.
Captain DefenestratorQuestion: When the joker escapes the interrogation room he has a sharp object against his hostage's neck. Is it a shard of glass or a knife? It looks like a knife, but there was a shard of glass behind him in an earlier shot (that had magically appeared).
Chosen answer: It is indeed a piece of glass but it doesn't appear "magically." Batman smashes Joker's head into the glass window earlier in the scene. The glass shard came from the broken window.
GuyQuestion: Do the Jedi know that Count Dooku is called Darth Tyranus? They continue calling him Dooku, but in the later movies, Obi-wan and Yoda considered Anakin to be "dead" and wouldn't think of Darth Vader as being the same person as Anakin.
Chosen answer: No, they don't. At the beginning of this film they don't even realise that he's a Sith - they shoot down the idea of Dooku instigating the assassination attempt on Senator Amidala, describing him as a political idealist. While Obi-wan hears the name Tyranus from Jango Fett, he has no way to connect that name to Dooku. While they become aware of his connections to the Sith, there's no indication that they ever learn his Sith title, so they continue to use his normal name.
TailkinkerQuestion: If Ash's job was to get the Alien specimen back to "The Company", why wouldn't he have just advised Dallas to put Kane in hypersleep, claim that it was too advanced for him to handle and let The Company gather the specimen when they arrived back to Earth? The way it was done resulted in a failure to get the Alien back and cost lives.
Chosen answer: Ash tried exactly that, but Dallas overrode him. He was uneasy about putting Kane in hypersleep with a facehugger attached.
Grumpy ScotQuestion: Okay, I'm pretty sure I see Estaban in every episode, so why isn't he introduced in the title song? And his name (Adrian R'Mante) sounds like he's Spanish and so does his accent. Is this true?
Chosen answer: Esteban isn't in every episode of Suite Life. According to the episode count, he's only appeared in 39 episodes out of 88 whereas the twins and Moseby are the only characters to have appeared in all 88 episodes. With regards to Adrian R'Mante, the actor is American and the accent is part of the acting.
Neil JonesQuestion: After the Joker cuts a man's face for the first time, he brings some kind of stick out and breaks it into thirds. Then he throws it at the ground and states something about "tryouts". I didn't really understand that scene, can someone please explain it?
Chosen answer: He tells Gambol's three henchmen that there's an opening in his organisation. However, there's only one opening, so he's giving them the opportunity to prove themselves. Whichever one is left alive gets to join - he breaks the pool cue to give them a weapon to use against each other.
TailkinkerQuestion: When the joker is caught by the police he does not talk to any of his henchmen regarding a revision of plans. Then how can the Joker have planned all along that Dent and Rachel get kidnapped and rigged to explosives - before unsuccessfully trying to kill Dent with a bazooka? Had Batman's tumbler not hindered the missile's trajectory it would have hit the side of the van, killing Dent - ruining the plan involving Dent and Rachel and the explosives. Furthermore the Joker thought Dent was Batman so he could not have anticipated the tumbler would take the hit from the bazooka and allow his master-plan to live on. And the Joker's plan to get caught also came down to Gordon, whom the Joker's plan could not have taken into account because he was believed dead. Everything in Joker's plan seems meticulously planned (i.e. knowing that police will call in a helicopter and that it will fly by exactly where henchmen are posted with wire-guns etc.) - but how can his plan be so flawless that it takes every implausible twist of events into account? Had these implausible twists not happened (so that everything is as it seems and Gordon is really dead, Dent is the Batman; Joker fires the bazooka into van killing Dent alias Batman) then isn't Joker's further plan completely ruined?
Chosen answer: He's anticipating, covering his options ahead of time. He knows that the police have access to helicopters, so he positions his henchmen along the route to take one down. He knows that he could get captured, so he arranges things to ensure his escape in that eventuality; kidnapping Dent and Rachel to distract the cops and sneaking the bomb in to allow him to break out. He doesn't need to contact his people to say that there's a change of plan, because his henchmen already have orders how to proceed in particular situations. None of this is implausible, none of this somehow relies on impossible foreknowledge. It's purely and simply the Joker anticipating possible outcomes (of which there are few variations - largely just success or failure) and planning ahead what to do if they occur.
TailkinkerQuestion: During Dooku's meeting with the other Separatists on Geonosis, why does one of the Separatists say, "The techno-union army," and then stop and make that weird noise?
Chosen answer: If I remember correctly, the Separatist in question is of a species whose vocal functions are incapable of making any sound resembling what we would call "human" speech. He wears a device that translates his sounds into a more discernible language. It needed an adjustment at this point, and you can even see him reach up and turn a knob.
PhixiusQuestion: Why does everyone laugh at Cody for having the superhero initials BM in the super hero episode?
Chosen answer: BM is a common abbreviation for bowel movement.
Grumpy ScotQuestion: During the end credits when they are fighting the school kids, and they do the slow motion kick with the doves/pigeons flying, are they paying tribute to John Woo or Charlie's Angels?
Chosen answer: It was John Woo's trademark long before a Charlie's Angels film was made.
GalahadFairlightQuestion: Why are Rick and Evie the ones requested to return the Eye? I know the General needs the Eye to revive the Emperor, but why have 2 mummy experts bring it? After all, he's raising a mummy emperor and army, wouldn't he be worried the O'Connells would interfere? Or is he wanting to get all 3 (parents and son) together so they can all be killed?
Chosen answer: He needed Evie's skill with ancient languages. She was one of the few people in the world who could translate what was written on the Eye accurately, and who could be easily persuaded to travel to Shanghai.
TwotallQuestion: Is Buddy left handed or right handed? I'm just asking this because during the movie he acts left handed and then he acts right handed.
Chosen answer: I can think of two possibilities: (1) he suffers from cross-dominance, where he uses one hand for certain tasks and the oppostie hand for others, or (2) he's ambidextrous (which is a rare variant of cross-dominance), which means he can perform tasks using either hand with equal adeptness.
Cubs FanQuestion: Does Batman ever read the letter that Rachel leaves him with Alfred? I know that Alfred reads it and later burns it, but I seem to recall a brief scene where Batman is seen reading the letter. Am confused.
Chosen answer: Alfred leaves it on Bruce's breakfast tray, then upon hearing Bruce's insistence that Rachel was going to wait for him, Alfred retrieved the letter before Bruce could read it and summarily burned it.
PhixiusQuestion: The protective suits Teyla & Sheppard put on to keep them from getting infected have a "helmet" piece that does not appear to have an airtight seal; the bottom of the hood just sort of lies on top of the body suit (it's not even tucked in). Is there some way they would be protected from the airborne virus even with what appears to be a very viable opening?
Chosen answer: Those are actually suits that protect from hazardous chemicals. They are cheaper for the prop department and look nearly the same as biohazard suits. A real biohazard suit would indeed have a helmet that seals to the neck.
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Chosen answer: Well, she is the most liked sibling, so she can probably get more out of her parents, or get money from both of them without the other knowing, or as we saw in the Gary Grills episode she can get money from people easily by telling them all sorts of stuff.