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 they get away from the men that say the brothers are worth 200 pesos, they run across the military and one of the brothers is shot and the other runs. After the brother that was left behind shoots himself, the lead soldier cuts off his head in a single swing with his sword. But he has one of those thin swords you always see the commanders and stuff holding during those times. Would he have really been able to remove the Brother's head in one swing like that with such a flimsy sword?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: It would depend on four things: the sharpness of the sword, the strength of the steel used to forge it, the strength of the man swinging it, and the luck to slice though one of the ligaments between the victim's vertebrae, but theoretically, yes, it's possible to sever a head with a single sword blow.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Why in the world does Peter try to help Harry after their first fight? Was he hoping to defeat Harry and try to tell him what happened to his father afterwards? Even more, why is it Harry, of all people, to whom Peter goes for help with taking on Sandman and Venom after he gladly fought Harry for the second time? If, as Harry tells him on revealing himself, Peter knew he would eventually have to fight Harry, why didn't he jump ahead and find a new friend after Harry found him out? It doesn't make any sense.

Answer: Peter doesn't know anyone else with superpowers or gadgets that he could call on to help with this fight. He'd tried to tell Harry earlier about his father and knows that Harry's just acting out of misguided rage and guilt and still hopes to set things right between them.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: This is a fictional universe. For whatever reason, the animators chose to refer to the sultan using that honorific. Also, what you're referring to relates to European royalty and not the Middle East.

raywest

Question: Are there any battleships still in service within the U. S. Navy, or have they all been scrapped or turned into floating museums?

Answer: No. The last battleship was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and decommissioned in 2006.

MasterOfAll

Question: Supposedly JK Rowling has said that Nagini is the snake who Harry meets at the zoo, but if so, why does the zoo snake talk in a male voice?

Answer: JK Rowling has never said they were the same snake. Rowling makes it clear in the book that Nagini is some type of venomous snake while the snake in the zoo was a constrictor.

Greg Dwyer

Question: Does the art museum catch fire from the lava even though they tried to stop it by putting a bus against it?

Answer: Lava is extremely hot. It heats the air above and around it to such a degree that it can reach the flash point of various items.

Greg Dwyer

Question: When President Business is watering the town with the antidote for The Kragle, how are he and the water bucket flying above everyone?

Answer: There's not actually a reason. Don't forget, this is just played out in a father and child's imagination. The father and child are just imagining the story as they go along,.

Casual Person

Answer: According to the Star Wars Wookipedia, death sticks were a mild hallucinogen primarily sold on Outer Rim worlds, but could be found in abundance on Coruscant. Originally developed in the illegal pharmaceutical labs of CoCo Town, they were relatively cheap and were smuggled into the clubs of cities by dealers. The cilona extract offered euphoria in exchange for a horrific outcome, producing a twisted version of reality enhanced by bright colors. With each dose, the user's life was shortened, and the successive dosages took away larger chunks from a lifespan. With each successive dose, the desire for a harder reaction increased. It was thus very difficult for a youth to shake off their addiction without medical assistance. The death sticks came in two forms: Liquid form or injected.

Casual Person

Question: In the end of the movie, what does Vitruvius mean when he says "I liked Emmet before it was cool"?

Answer: The "it was cool" part means how Emmett saved the day and how his sacrifice made a good final battle. He's basically saying, even before Emmett made himself a hero, he still liked him anyway.

Casual Person

Season 8 generally

Question: In Season 5, the Doctor states his age as nine hundred and six years old. In a voice-over for Season 8, he states that he's lived for over two thousand years. Granted, he's a Time Lord, but how could he make such a grievous error in his own age?

Movie Nut

Chosen answer: He has not made an error, he probably is 2000 years old. He may have been 906 in season 5, but remember, at the end of season 6, he is 200 years older, 1107 years old and in season 7 episode 3, the Doctor stated he was 1200 years old. Plus, he also in "The Time of the Doctor", he lived at that village for several hundred years. It may have been only 4 years for the audience, but it has in fact been over a millennia for The Doctor.

Casual Person

Sometimes when the doctor says things about himself people say that he is known for lying.

Dan23

Answer: He can't actually remember his precise age. He's almost certainly over a millennium older than he claims, but even he doesn't remember the real number.

Question: In the scene where Helen tries to shoot the bad guys and drops the gun down the steps and the gun is firing by itself shooting everyone, one of the bad guys has a hold of Harry, Harry says one word to the guy that makes him let him go before they both get shot, what is it Harry says?

dan coakley..

Chosen answer: He just exclaims, "Shit!" It's not what he says that makes the henchman let him go, it's that they both realize that if they don't find cover they'll both likely be shot by this random, firing Uzi.

Question: Is the "singing" by the monolith heard by the characters or just the movie audience?

Answer: As is the case with all non-diegetic sound in films, the characters do not hear it.

Answer: Aside from the piercing radio signal transmitted on the Moon, the Monolith makes no sounds or "singing" whatsoever. Intending this film to be as scientifically-accurate as possible, director Stanley Kubrick deliberately and correctly opted for total silence (no sound effects) in the vacuum of space. He knew, of course, that dead silence is a sure way to lose audience attention, so he commissioned an original musical soundtrack (but never used it). Instead, Kubrick chose to use an eclectic variety of classical symphonic and more modern choral compositions as his "guide music" during production and then as the actual soundtrack of the film. Interestingly, there's no music at all in scenes with dialogue, and no dialogue in scenes with music. As for the "singing" that you mention, you're probably thinking of composer György Ligeti's "Atmosphères" and "Lux Aeterna," which Kubrick used to achieve a mournful, eerie, otherworldly feeling in some scenes. To be clear, this music was not supposed to represent the Monolith "singing"; no characters in the film heard the musical soundtrack, as it was intended solely to set the mood for the audience.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: What could possibly have made Teasle think that it was Rambo who killed Gault? Teasle was fully aware that Rambo was injured and unarmed and that Gault was in a helicopter trying desperately to shoot him (against orders). So how the hell did he come to that conclusion?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Rambo essentially admitted responsibility, when he tried to make peace with the officers as he stood near the body. As well, we can assume the chopper pilot reported the incident - while he may not have seen Rambo, rocks don't throw themselves at helicopters.

DavidRTurner

Answer: In Teasle's mind, anything that happened after Rambo escaped would be his fault - he put in motion the sequence of events that lead to everything happening. Additionally, he isn't exactly in his right mind with all this.

Question: Would it be possible to create dinosaurs in real life the way they create them in this film?

dan coakley..

Chosen answer: No. There are a number of reasons why this is not possible, including the fact that DNA simply doesn't remain preserved for that long. See http://www.iflscience.com/technology/could-jurassic-park-ever-come-true for more details.

Answer: While wardialing every number in Sunnyvale, California to find the game company's number, he found a number that led to a back door into the WOPR.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: What happened to Hermione's cat Crookshanks? He's not seen at all at the start of this movie. I can't remember if it's mentioned in the books what happened to him; the movie doesn't seem to mention it either.

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: The last time we see Crookshanks is at the Weasley house. They likely left him there.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: I don't understand what the device was that Cage and Rita had to steal. How exactly does it find where the Omega's real location is?

alamchop

Chosen answer: Basically, it reverses the psychic connection from the omega seeing all the alphas, to an alpha seeing the omega.

MasterOfAll

Answer: Bill and Lucy were arguing over one of her lines, in part due to a misunderstanding, but it blew over - Bill Murray has said "I feel very warmly for her now." He stated that he didn't want to return for the sequel due to someone involved in both productions, but beyond it not being Lucy Liu, he's never clarified who.

Question: What is the thing in the background at 00:31:23? It looks like a tentacle or worm but I really don't know. I've scoured the internet looking for information but I can't find anything relating to the subject. It seems this hasn't been brought up anywhere. I'd greatly appreciate an answer. Thanks in advance. (00:31:23)

Eric Lambert

Chosen answer: It's a Leviathan, the same kind of "flying worm" seen later in the final battle.

Friso94

Question: What does Dr. Evil's son really say instead of "Why don't we just call it Operation Buttcrack"?

Answer: In the uncensored version, he says, "Why don't you just call it Operation Ass Cream, ya ass?"

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