Question: What exactly are midichlorians?
Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
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Question: If Snape never wanted the Philosopher's stone, why did he attempt to enter the chamber on Halloween (when Fluffy injured his leg)? Quirrell later says that Snape stopped him from trying to get the stone on Halloween, so there should have been no reason for Snape to try and get past Fluffy.
Answer: Snape was heading off Quirrell and trying to protect the stone.
Question: Is Grifter supposed to be the Flashpoint time line version of Robin? And if so, which Robin in particular?
Chosen answer: No. Grifter is Cole Cash. A character originally created for Wildstorm, a comic company that later became an imprint of DC.
Question: Why is it that BumbleBee still can't talk?
Chosen answer: It's not 100% clear if it's his "natural" voice at the end of the first movie or just the radio, but the other movies imply he's either able to talk but prefers to use the radio, or that his voicebox was only partially repaired, and still malfunctions.
Question: Are Gru's car and plane thingy the same thing? They look alike, but I don't know for sure.
Answer: I don't think so. When Vector steals Gru's shrink ray, he uses it to shrink the plane. This is before Gru meets the girls. He uses his car to drive the girls to Vector's house and then some, while the plane is still shrunk. We know the plane is still shrunk at this point because near the climax of the movie, we see it return to its normal size. So, the car and plane can't be the same thing, since one was its normal size and the other was miniature.
Question: At the start of the film, Michael says that he doesn't want anything to do with the family business. However at the end of the film, he is the don. I've been wondering where exactly does he change his beliefs in the film. Mates have told me its when Vito dies, but I believe its either after the hospital (when Vito is shot the first time) or after Michael's wife in Sicily dies. Are any of these true?
Chosen answer: It is a gradual process and it happens long before Vito Corleone's death because Michael had already taken over as Don. Michael was deeply affected by his father being shot and nearly dying. Michael changes and will now do anything to protect his father, and in the hospital tells him, "I'm with you now." Michael kills Sollozzo because he knew his father would never be safe while Sollozzo lived. His first wife's death certainly had an effect, but it really is when his brother Sonny, the heir apparent, is murdered that Michael's path is cemented. He also knows that Don Corleone cannot live forever, and with Sonny gone and Fredo being incompetent, the Corleone empire will collapse once he dies. To ensure the Corleone empire stays protected and in tact, Michael takes over as Don with the idea he'd make the family a legitimate enterprise. He and his father (now retired) then plot to murder the remaining mob heads. Don Corleone had never wanted Michael, his favorite son, to join the family business, knowing what it would do to him. Ultimately, there was never anyone else capable of succeeding Vito Corleone.
Answer: Michael's decision is between love and power. These are the two roads of life and you can only go down one, as an ancient Roman said. At the start of the film, his road is obviously love. There's no single moment when he abandons this path - indeed, you can argue that the whole film rests on his gradual, incremental abandonment. The process begins shortly after his father's shooting. In terms of cinema, we first see the process unfolding when he's sitting out in the yard, thinking things over, just before being called in to the telephone. (Notice how, in the next scene, Clemenza mocks love.) Shortly thereafter, Mike is with Kay in the hotel and he's distancing himself from her emotionally. Then comes the hospital scene and "I'm with you now" to his father. He notices his hands are steady during the cigarette lighting. He's well on the path now. Then comes the sock in the jaw and the killing. Now, to be sure, the interlude in Sicily suggests that he is wavering somewhat in the direction of love rather than power - the expression of his face, while they're dancing, suggests that he perhaps might, at this point, opt for love. But then, in rapid succession, he is informed of his brother's murder and his wife is blown to pieces. His fate is sealed.
Question: Why wasn't Calhoun's previous husband not turned into a cy-bug after he got eaten? I thought the cy-bugs turned into anything they eat, or at least something like it?
Answer: While the Cy-Bug may have turned into Calhoun's fiance, it would not matter as she fired upon it, and killed it. Another issue is, he never existed. It was just a back story. The character never lasts beyond that.
Answer: We never see the cyborg after her fiance was eaten. Just a shot of her firing away.
Question: Gandalf would not give the ring to a powerful character for safekeeping, because the character was apt to forget to protect it or misplace it. The character was supposed to so powerful even Gandalf was leery of him. What was that character's name, please?
Answer: Tom Bombadil, who is not named because he's not in the films.
Question: When Cal goes down to where the Steerage passengers from the Titanic are, on the Carpathia, is he looking for Rose? And if he is, then 1) how does he know she is alive?, and 2) why would he care if she was, considering he got angry because she chose Jack over him, and had attempted to kill them whilst still on the Titanic?
Answer: He was going down there on the off-chance that she was alive, and probably looking in steerage in particular, because he was anticipating that if she had survived alongside Jack, then they would, together, have boarded the Carpathia as steerage passengers. And that if Jack were in fact dead, he might be able to 'reclaim' her.
Answer: Cal was looking for Rose simply to recover his precious Heart of the Ocean.
I think he wanted Rose back, partially because of pride. He still felt a need to "win" by keeping her. As he said to Jack: "I always win...one way or another." If he could find Rose and still marry her, then the deceased Jack would "lose" after all. Also, Cal is a wealthy, upper-class man with a certain social image. Proceeding with the wedding would be ideal.
Answer: Cal was looking among the steerage survivors to see if Rose was among those who'd been rescued. If she was alive, he assumed (correctly) that she'd probably be there rather than with the first class passengers. Cal, despicable as he was, really did love Rose, and he'd still have wanted to marry her. He did not attempt to kill her while still on the Titanic. In the heat of the moment, he was aiming only for Jack, wanting to permanently eliminate his rival and reclaim his fiance.
Answer: He was hoping that she might still be alive because, as said in a commentary, he still had feelings for her. Because of this, maybe he was taking a chance on either them or just apologizing for his actions; you can be the judge.
Question: When reaching Elsa's ice palace, Anna asks Kristoff and Olaf to wait outside the palace while she goes in to find her sister. Yet, Olaf follows Anna in to meet the Snow Queen, and then Kristoff comes to defend Anna as Elsa strikes her in the heart with her magic. While Kristoff and Olaf were supposed to wait at the front door, Anna and Olaf follow Elsa up the stairs and into another room. How did Kristoff figure what might happen in that room? Why doesn't Kristoff or Olaf wait at the front door like Anna asked them to anyway? Also, when Kristoff tells Anna not to throw a snowball at the snow monster, why does she act calm and suddenly do the opposite of what Kristoff says?
Answer: Olaf follows Anna into the castle because a) the minute he agreed to wait was over, and Olaf takes things LITERALLY, b) he was eager to meet Elsa, his creator, in person (hell, who wouldn't) ? c) he's a very impulsive person and probably just acted on impulse. Kristoff went into the castle mainly out of concern for Anna - a lot of people are just not quite convinced Elsa would never hurt her sister. Besides, people tend to not obey orders but act on their free will. Snowmonster snow fight: Anna acts calmly so that Kristoff will let her go, convincing him she won't throw the snowball and taking the first chance to do so anyway.
Question: Is there going to be a Spider-Man 4? And if so, who would be the villain?
Answer: At one point in time, Sony was set to make "Spider-Man 4" with director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey MacGuire and Kirsten Dunst. However, Raimi was unable to find a script he was satisfied with after many months of working with different writers, and he was having issues with the studio attempting to force the film into a 2011 release date, which he felt wouldn't give him the time he needed to make a quality film. Thus, he and the actors dropped out and the studio instead opted to go ahead with a reboot, in the form of The Amazing Spider-Man.
Question: The Pharaoh tells Moses that he won't ever have to worry about being a ruler the way Ramses does. But if Moses is considered the Pharaoh's son, isn't he also in line for the throne?
Answer: The position of Pharaoh would be passed from father to eldest son. Ramses is the older of the sons, so he will inherit the throne, not Moses.
Answer: He's not really Pharaoh's son at all. Even though he was raised Egyptian, he soon finds he's Israelite.
Question: In the first chapter Frank Bryce overhears Wormtail and Voldemort's plans about killing Harry. Voldemort tells Wormtail "Come Wormtail, one more death and our path to Harry Potter is clear." A couple pages later it is mentioned again... "One more murder...my faithful servant at Hogwarts...Harry Potter is as good as mine." Whose murder/death are they talking about?
Question: Why do people at first suspect that Harry is lying about Voldemort's return? Didn't they believe that he defeated Voldemort at the end of the first two movies?
Answer: Up until the end of Order of the Phoenix, there was no actual proof that Harry had ever confronted Lord Voldemort. It was only Harry's word and also Dumbledore's. It was only after Fudge and others saw Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic that they were finally convinced. Harry, being a child at the time, had been considered a less than reliable source and was considered by many to be an attention-seeking liar, caught up in his own celebrity as "the boy who lived." Dumbledore had a reputation of being a somewhat-eccentric crackpot who had lost his touch with age. While some found him credible, most simply wanted to believe that Voldemort was dead and would never return. It is typical of how the public reacts to crisis. Until there is definitive and irrefutable proof, they simply will not take a few people's word. Even then, there are still skeptics.
Question: Why did the parents of so many Hogwarts students actually allow them to return to school this year, thinking that Snape murdered Dumbledore (they don't know that Dumbledore wanted Snape to kill him) and Voldemort is in control of the place?
Answer: In the books it is actually stated they are required to attend, not optional.
Answer: It is complicated and the movies glossed over much of how Voldemort plotted his gradual take-over of the Ministry of Magic and also Hogwarts. His followers were placed in key Ministry positions, and began changing laws and regulations. Voldemort also manipulated the news media (The Daily Prophet) using propaganda to sway public opinion. During his rise to power, the Dark Lord remained hidden from public view, making it difficult for the general public to realize what was going on or identify who was behind it. Once the take-over was consolidated, it became a law that every magical child now had to attend Hogwarts. That way, not only would they be indoctrinated into the new order, it was also a means to identify and cull any Muggle-born children. Of course, most Slytherins willingly sent their children to Hogwarts, despite the changes. Also, the general public did not know the exact circumstances of Dumbledore's death, discrediting Harry's account because he was being painted as an attention-seeking liar. By the time most people realized what was happening, they could do little about it.
Question: For the DVD release, the cover has the words LIVE DIE REPEAT in large letters while EDGE OF TOMORROW is in a very small print. Why? Was there a title change?
Answer: Warner Brothers decided to re-brand the film due to its poor performance at the box office. They felt the title let it down and hoped the new name (using the tagline) would help DVD sales.
The Patrol - S1-E8
Question: Why did Liebgott tell Webster that Malarkey was getting a battlefield commission?
Answer: To mess with him. A lot of the "regular" soldiers didn't respect or even like Webster early on because he was a college boy. That dislike and lack of respect was deepened when Webster took what they perceived to be an extended stay in hospital after being wounded when many of their other comrades - Popeye for example - left hospital early to get back with their friends to fight.
He couldn't leave hospital early because he was in England. The wound in Band of Brothers was perceived a lot less serious than it was, and a lot of easy men were happy to have him back, especially Luz.
If you read the literature around Band of Brothers, you'll find that Kenyon Webster was perceived as a slacker in the sense that, while not precisely a coward, would never volunteer to put himself in harm's way. He only did as told and nothing more. So, regardless of the reasons why he really couldn't go back to Easy, his friends were predisposed to feel he was slacking off at the hospital while they were risking their lives.
Question: What happens to Bobby Dagen after he fails to save his wife from being incinerated?
Answer: We are never told or shown, but it could be speculated that he was trapped in the building or died from his injuries.
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Chosen answer: Midi-chlorians are an intelligent microscopic lifeform present in the bloodstream of all sentient beings within the Star Wars universe. The higher the midi-chlorian count present within a being's bloodstream, the more Force-sensitive they are, making them a likely candidate for Jedi (or Sith) training.
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