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.
You Can't Win 'Em All - S4-E22
Question: I recently saw this episode for the first time in a few years and one scene seemed altered. When Cindy was asked about which side an egg would fall from a rooster, she said "neither side cause roosters don't lay eggs." For many years her answer was "neither side cause roosters crow...HENS lay eggs." This did not appear edited but was there more than one version produced which explains the difference in her line?
Question: Which grandparent doesn't like candy?
Answer: All of the grandparents like candy. But grandpa George doesn't like the way it is being used in the contest and he also doesn't like the children who end up getting the tickets.
Question: Who does the Joker get on the bus with after blowing up the hospital? Weren't those the people who just evacuated? If so, they definitely would not have waited there for him or let him on.
Answer: He does indeed get on a bus with several people who were evacuated. The bus also contains his henchmen and is driven by one. He makes his escape by hiding in plain sight (as one of several buses that evacuated civilians from the hospital). The passengers of the bus then become the hostages in the high rise scene.
Question: When the fake Professor Moody is in his office with Harry, revealing everything he did, Dumbledore charges into the room with Professors McGonagall and Snape. All three of them are prepared to attack when they enter. How did they figure out that something was wrong?
Answer: When it was noticed that Harry was missing during the commotion surrounding Cedric's death, someone in the crowd saw Moody leading Harry away and tipped off Dumbledore. Dumbledore knew that the real Moody never would have taken Harry away like that without telling anyone. Also, Snape is a legilimens (able to read minds) and would be able to "hear" Harry and Moody's thoughts.
Answer: If we look closely at the scene where fake Moody takes Harry away, Fred and George are looking at them. It is quite likely that they informed Dumbledore who instantly became suspicious.
Answer: Adding to the other point, you wouldn't take a child who mentioned Voldemort's return away without the inquiry so Dumbledore must have realised that Moody was trying to get Harry away from the situation.
Question: How exactly did Harry and Ron make up after arguing for a while?
Answer: It was somewhat gradual. Ron came to realise that he was being unfair to Harry, but was too proud to make the first move in making up. First he tipped off Harry about the dragons by way of Hermione and several other students. During the celebration in the Gryffindor Common Room, while everyone is celebrating Harry's retrieving the dragon's egg, the squealing noise it makes propels Ron to finally react and talk to Harry.
Question: When Chucky confronts John, he say he "prepared" for it, meaning he made the voodoo doll himself, but then he says John shouldn't tell people where he hides them. Was this a mistake during production?
Chosen answer: This isn't a mistake. John made the voodoo doll himself. When Chucky said he was "prepared" for it, he meant that he was prepared to do whatever it takes to get information from John about his being wounded. Even killing him as we see.
Question: How does Stryker know that Charles Xavier is the world's most powerful telepath? They only met during the 70s and Charles never used his powers in his presence.
Answer: As shown in Days of Future past, Trask was able to identify Magneto and Mystique, as well as their mutant powers. Trask could have found Charles Xavier at any given time, or Stryker possibly researched him. Stryker did work for Trask after all.
Question: When Carl and Ellie are married, why are there only a few wedding guests for the groom and why the long faces while the guests for the bride are so excited and celebrating the wedding?
Chosen answer: Carl and Ellie have two dramatically different personalities. Carl is more conservative, more reserved, a tender heart covered by a tough exterior which Ellie is able to break through, but which seems to recalcify after she dies. Ellie, on the other hand, is the sweet free spirit, rambunctious and adventurous. Throughout the film, each one conforms to the other until they ultimately blend into one beautiful unit. I think the makers of the film were trying to show that their respective personalities were a product of their upbringing, and reflected in the reactions of their families - hers larger, more fun, and more "hick" (we hear gunshots, for Pete's sake), and his more reserved, formal and patrician.
Question: What are the seven seas? And why is it a "big deal"?
Answer: The "Seven Seas" is an ancient phrase that came to refer to all the world's seas and oceans, although it was more of a figure-of-speech than an actual description. Beginning in the 19th century, the term generally came to mean the seven oceans: the Arctic Ocean, the North Atlantic Ocean, the South Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the North Pacific Ocean, the South Pacific Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. Supposedly, a sailor wore a gold earring after having sailed on all seven oceans (and also for sailing around the Horn), which was a considerable maritime feat in pre-modern times.
Question: The end of the movie shows the older brother giving the necklace back to her, but it never shows when she lost it. Am I missing something?
Answer: You haven't missed anything. After the successful CPR, Blake is still wearing the two heart necklaces, but a considerable amount of time passes between then and when Ben gives them back to her, so we can presume that the necklaces had fallen off at some point in between. Since Blake had taken it upon herself to wear her sister's necklace with her own, the two chains could have been clasped together (which I've done myself), as if one.
Question: Before this year, why did Snape repeatedly apply to teach "Defence Against Dark Arts" if the position was cursed (in the fifth book, when Dolores Umbridge questions him, he admits that he applies every year)? I understand that he really wanted to teach the subject, but everyone knew that the position was cursed. Why put himself in danger, no matter how much he wanted the job?
Answer: There was never any explanation given in the books or the movies as to why Snape continually applied each year. He so coveted the position that most likely his ego was such that he believed his skills and abilities were superior enough to overcome any curse. Also, it was never specifically known that Voldemort had cursed the position. Dumbledore only surmised that he did because from the time Tom Riddle (Voldemort) first applied and was turned down, it was from that point on that no instructor lasted more than one year.
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.
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.
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: 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.
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.
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?
Answer: I watched this episode (well, only the part in question, once I found it) three times. Once on Hulu, once on YouTube (poor quality), and once on VCR tape a friend had made years ago (pretty grainy). All three times, Cindy replied the same way, and it doesn't quite match either version you submitted. The line is, "It won't roll off at all, 'cause roosters don't lay eggs." But I could totally hear, in my mind, the line you suggest in Cindy's voice. Cindy was sort of known for being a little snotty. Throughout the series, particularly in later seasons, a number of her lines took on the kind of mocking "not-this...THAT" prosody that this kind of utterance calls for. I wonder if you might be confusing her intonation from another line in another episode for this one. But assuming you are remembering correctly, then there must have been more than one version, as I also saw no hint of editing - not even a change in camera angle.
Michael Albert