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: After Otho and the Deetz family are attacked by the Beetlejuice snake why do they stay in the house instead of fleeing immediately?

Answer: They're still convinced that they can make money off the house and ghosts that inhabit it. The promise of wealth can make people do strange things, including ignoring signs of clear danger. So they're remaining in the house in hopes that it can eventually make them a lot of dough.

TedStixon

Show generally

Question: How is it possible the doctors at Arkham can keep being fooled by the likes of Poison Ivy, Two Face, The Riddler, etc., who're only pretending to be cured? Surely they could tell when they're faking.

Rob245

Answer: The problem is that you're trying to force real-world logic into a series with heavy sci-fi/fantasy elements and broad storytelling. Would a real-world psychologist be able to tell when someone is faking? Possibly. But that doesn't make for fun storytelling, especially for a fantasy-heavy series aimed predominately at children. This is one of those cases where the audience is merely expected to suspend their disbelief for the sake of entertainment. And I can tell you that as a kid who watched this show when it first aired in the 90's, I personally never even thought about it.

TedStixon

Question: I have a few questions about the different groups in the film. 1. I looked up 17th Feb, or February 17th Martyr's Brigade, on Wikipedia, and I noticed that an ally that was listed on Wiki was Ansar-Al-Sharia. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Ansar-Al-Sharia the current ISIS/ISIL that we're fighting today? 2. Was the group the soldiers were fighting in the film ISIS? 3. Who was the group of soldiers that saved them all at the end of the film?

Answer: Ansar-Al-Sharia isn't ISIS; it was disbanded in 2017. The group the soldiers were fighting weren't ISIS, they were February 17th Martyr's Brigade. The soldiers at the end were Tripoli GRS reinforcements.

The Hunt - S10-E23

Question: Kate says she wants to take a year off for her new baby, Hotch says her job is still there, but we never do see her again. Possibly a way of just writing her out due to Jennifer Love Hewitt being pregnant in real life? Also the character not being well liked?

Answer: The official explanation was that Love Hewitt was written out at the end of Season 10 was because she was pregnant. She was still pregnant when Season 11 began filming and unable to resume the show then. After giving birth, Love Hewitt wanted to focus on being a full-time mom and chose not to return. When the series was rebooted on Paramount+, she was already cast in another show. However, Love Hewitt's departure may have have been prompted by fans disliking her character, even though producers claimed viewers had accepted her by the end of the season. This allowed her a graceful exit.

raywest

Question: Spoiler Warning: when Tam is killed in the space station by the water flooding out of the vents, and then freezing her when the air lock breaks, it is simply stated that the water was from condensation. However even on a space station that big I don't see how that much condensation could have built up in such a short time to be able to flood an entire air lock room. So my question, is is it supposed to be that the water was actually coming from the other Shepard space station? The other Earth news cast they managed to pick up showed that the Shepard station from that universe had crashed into the ocean and was drowned. So was the water in theirs supposed to be sort of moving through a dimensional portal linked between the space stations, so that they were getting ocean water from the crashed Shepard into theirs? Or was it really just an insane amount of condensation build up?

Quantom X

Answer: In my point of view they use water to cool the particle accelerator. Using the vents to vent out the water once they are ready for another test. My guess is the water came from there. But I like your idea of it being ocean water crossing with the parts of the station from the other dimension. I didn't hear anything about condensation though, and I just watched it.

lionhead

Question: Is there an artist and title of the steamy mellow song played when Lewis and Betty start to have sex on the "moon" in the funhouse? Is it a real song or was it just made for the movie only?

Answer: First, Lewis and Betty are not "having sex" - he is raping her, and the writer and director later described it as "not excusable" (https://decider.com/2019/07/26/revenge-of-the-nerds-rape-scene-regret/). Second, the song you hear is "Right Time for Love" by Jill Michaels and Pat Robinson. It was not written for the film.

Question: Were Katherine and Sebastian's parents even still together? And where were they? I'm guessing the movie was set in the summer and they were wealthy, so had taken off for a long holiday.

Answer: We the audience are never told one way or the other where the parents are. But according to Katherine, Sebastian's father is diddling the maid (or something). Meanwhile the mother, either one, is either, a) dead, b) in rehab or c) as you say on a permanent vacation.

ChristmasJonesfan

Question: What is wrong with Ricky's mother? She always seems so distant and not in the right frame of mind, emotional abuse also maybe?

Answer: Whilst we, the audience, are never told what exactly is wrong with Ricky's mom, it could, as the previous member said, be any number of reasons. Depression, from being abused. Trauma from a history of a loveless marriage to a homosexual man.

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: Ricky's father is emotionally and physically abusive, and it's safe to say this is directed at his wife. A common response to abuse, especially sustained abuse over years of marriage, is to simply shut down, avoid engaging at all for fear of attracting attention/abuse. She also may be aware that her husband is (SPOILER ALERT) a closeted homosexual, which would be another motivation to be distant towards him.

Face Off - S4-E13

Question: Would Gus not die instantly from his injuries of that explosion? Instead, he has time to walk out, straighten his tie, traumatize the nurses, then die? Or is that all for the sake of good TV?

Answer: Definitely just for the sake of good TV; in reality, this would be instant death (or at least, very soon after, and no way one could just get up and walk). There's a featurette on the production of this scene, and Vince Gilligan addresses the liberties taken with reality here. He felt that since Gus was such an iconic character, he deserved an equally iconic death, hence the calm, cool, collected way he walks out of the room with half a face. Gilligan said he also wanted to briefly fake the audience out, as we see Gus walk out from his "unaffected" side first and assume he somehow survived the blast.

Question: When Steve Zahn is in prison, wouldn't his 6-month sentence be extended after assaulting an officer, not once, but twice?

Answer: He was thrown in the solitary confinement for another 3 months, which makes it 9 months in prison.

Question: Which Robin is it in this movie? It's hard for me to tell. His personality is kinda like a mix of Jason Todd and Tim Drake, but he talks a lot kinda like Dick Grayson and fights with a staff like Dick from Teen Titans. So I can't quite tell which Robin it is.

Quantom X

Answer: Tim Drake.

Answer: The 1st movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 Op. 13.

Bishop73

Question: Does anyone know the reason why Tarantino decided to show the events in this film out of order, with the sequence of Jules and Vincent trying to get the stolen briefcase back to Marcellus and the many mishaps they run across along the way shown at the end, even though chronologically that actually happens before Vincent takes Mia out for her birthday dinner, and before Butch's story where he tries to escape town with his father's watch?

Answer: Expanding upon the other answer, the scene in the diner between Vincent, Jules, Ringo, and Yolanda is the clear emotional and thematic climax of the film. Therefore, shuffling the linear progression of the film to put it at the end makes sense from a storytelling point of view. Ending it with Butch and Fabienne escaping (chronologically, the last event in the narrative) would not have worked as a final scene.

Answer: Tarantino felt that telling the stories in a nonlinear structure would make the narrative more engaging since it would keep the viewer on their toes. Basically because you have to really pay attention to what's happening and put it together in your head like a puzzle. I'd also personally elaborate that it changes the way you view certain scenes because it leaps back and forth in time. Ex. We eventually learn that Vincent is destined to die, so the way his scenes later in the film play out hits you in a different way then they would have if the film followed a traditional linear structure.

TedStixon

Question: How does Roman find Sidney's info for the crisis hotline? We never see him use Dewey's phone and I don't think it's possible he attacked Neil because Sidney would've found out about it.

Answer: But Roman is in police custody when the call happens and Kincaid has Dewey's phone.

Answer: Just because we never see Roman use Dewey's phone does not mean that Roman could not have used it to trace Sid. Also just because we never see Roman attack Neil does not mean he didn't. Though the phone way is more likely.

ChristmasJonesfan

They discuss who used Dewey's phone. He says only he and Kincaid used the phone.

Question: In the short story, Fred Evans (from the assurance company) fatally shoots Mort while Mort tries to kill Amy. Amy marries Ted. Does anyone know why this was changed? Has Stephen King commented on it?

Answer: One reason was that the filmmakers wanted a more "realistic" ending. In the story (SPOILER ALERT), it is revealed that Shooter is in fact real, a supernatural manifestation borne from Mort's mind (à la The Dark Half). To keep the film grounded, it was changed in the film to Shooter being all in Mort's mind, a symptom of his split personality disorder.

In addition to your answer, I think the movie version makes the audience feel more sympathy for Mort. Amy is more "at fault" for having the affair with Ted. In the book, Mort considers how the marriage had issues before Ted. He wonders if his relationship with Amy never really "existed" anyway.

Answer: Movies often change details to achieve a different effect and/or add an element of surprise. In this case, it was to streamline the ending, giving it an unexpected dark twist and a sad fate for the victims which erases any sympathy for Mort's situation and his mental illness. Movies tend to like shock value and more gruesome scenes. It also leaves open whether or not Mort will ever be proved guilty.

raywest

I know that movies often have changes from the books - it's why I asked the question in the first place. I was wondering if anyone knew the specific reason behind this particular change.

Question: When Alice goes to find Jerry in the mental institution and pays the guard to help her find him, she tells the guard to call the cops to tell them where she is as she gets closer to finding him. Why does she want them to know what she's doing? If she hadn't, Jerry would not have been shot.

Answer: Alice, being a lawyer and not a police officer or law enforcement officer, would need back up and or firepower to aid her in her rescuing of Jerry. If she had not had bothered with the authorities then she'd likely end up dead as well as Jerry getting shot. Remember that it was Jonas who shot Jerry and this would have happened whether the authorities had been called or not. (I think) also Alice is just one lone figure. Against a whole army of baddies.

ChristmasJonesfan

Question: If Violet knew that Roz was eavesdropping on some of the employees in the restroom, shouldn't she just confront her about it or let everyone aware that Roz was eavesdropping them and blab it on Hart?

Trainman

Answer: She does let people know, at least she warned Judy. But Roz is cagey (remember how she pulled her feet up so it looked like her stall was empty). As for confronting her, Roz was her supervisor and the boss' pet. If she told Hart that Violet was harassing her, it would go poorly for Violet.

Brian Katcher

Question: Why were Hesher and Nicole having sex? Had they become close enough to want each other or was Nicole really a prostitute like TJ accused her of being and needed the money? Or did Hesher just go around there and force the issue telling her he wanted her and forcing himself onto her?

Answer: She wasn't a prostitute...the broken mess in her and the broken mess in him needed sexual release. This was not a transaction or emotions...they were never going to be together, this was just sex.

Question: Is the timeline in this movie supposed to be somewhat non-linear? For example - in the scene where Karen and Gill go to Kevin's school to talk to the principal and psychologist, it is specifically mentioned that the new school year is 4 months away meaning it is approximately April since kids typically began school in August. Later, when Larry comes to visit and is talking to the dad in the garage, he mentions the Super Bowl (which you reasonably would have assumed they just watched) but that takes place in January. Plus, Larry's mom tells them that Cool (Larry's son) has just finished eating lunch. How? If they just watched the Super Bowl, it would be dinner since the game is always played in the afternoon. And despite being in "St. Louis" (we know they actually filmed in Florida), it never seems to be winter. The end is really the most confusing with the birthing order. We learned earlier in a scene that Karen is pregnant and is due in February. At some point around this time, we find out that Julie is also pregnant. At this point, Julie's mom Helen has just gone on her first date with Mr. Bowen (Garry's biology teacher) but the end, Helen is having a baby, Julie and Tod's baby barely looks a month old and Karen's baby looks to be about 4 months old. Did Helen marry Mr. Bowen immediately and get pregnant right away?

Answer: The movie is being told in a linear timeline. You have just about all the information right! I think the one thing you are letting throw you off is your assessment of the Super Bowl. You are surmising that they had just watched the game that day, but my assessment is that they are talking about the game from months ago (bearing in mind that Larry has not been around for years and has not seen his father since the last Super Bowl). My belief is the movie takes place in May. That would add up with Kevin's next year of school being 4 months away as schools usually start in September, and the math also works out with Karen's February due date. This would also explain your concern about the weather. As for Helen's baby, it is not made clear whether or not she married Mr. Bowman, nor does it really matter for timeline purposes, but they consummated the relationship not long after the first date and she got pregnant.

jshy7979

Question: After they blow up Madison Square Garden, as they are standing outside Godzilla makes an appearance after previously being assumed dead. How did it manage to get back to Madison Square Garden without being detected by anyone?

Answer: Everyone was so focused on the nest in the Garden, they all forgot about Godzilla.

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