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: Why do the Dursleys try to stop Harry from going to Hogwarts? It seems as though they would be happy to get him out of their house (except for summers).

Answer: Petunia and Vernon despise wizards and swore they would 'squash the magic out of him' (which obviously can't happen) when they took him in. They would rather have Harry around all the time and for him not to be a wizard than to allow him to go to Hogwarts where he would learn magic and be happy (It says in the books that the two things that Vernon Dursley despises most if magic and making Harry happy).

kristenlouise3

Why don't the Dursleys try to get Harry back if they don't want him to be at Hogwarts?

Because on the other hand they are glad to be rid of him.

lionhead

Why do they despise making Harry happy?

Because they despise the fact he and his parents are wizards.

lionhead

Or as Petunia states in the book "as soon as they had you I knew you'd be like them. A freak" The Durselys are very middle class who consider themselves high class. The fancy car, expensive house, private school for Dudley etc. And being associated with an outcast would in their eyes seriously hurt their social standings.

Ssiscool

Answer: Vernon and Petunia are very concerned with appearances and maintaining a "proper" lifestyle. The books describe how they want a perfect lawn. Vernon judges men by the cars they drive. Petunia keeps the home very clean, etc. They hope to ignore the Wizard world and force Harry to live like a Muggle. In addition to that, Petunia was jealous of her sister. She wanted to separate herself from the Wizard world as much as possible. When Harry begins attending Hogwarts, she can no longer do that.

Question: Why does the Red October take the difficult way through the canyons? Is it faster/shorter? If so, how can the Dallas be at the end of the canyons and wait for Red October? The Dallas might be faster, but would it not have to take a considerable detour in order to avoid detection by the Red October?

Answer: It's red route 1: Almost all Soviet subs were detected by the SOSUS net between Greenland, Iceland and Norway. To break that contact they'd run through the canyon, too dangerous for US subs to follow. The catch is that after years of watching, US subs learned the exit to that route, and would run to the end and wait, hoping to pickup the contact again.

Answer: Red October is taking the deeper route ostensibly to deter pursuit, but in reality, it's so that once the plan goes through and they "scuttle the ship" it will be in waters too deep to make a search for the wreckage (that won't be there) practical.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Do some Hogwarts students arrive at school before others? I ask because of the choir singing in this movie, on the first day of the term. Wouldn't they have needed at least a day to practice the song?

Answer: All the students arrive on the train, but it is feasible they took part or all of the afternoon on the train to practise. They also could have met a few times over the summer.

kristenlouise3

Question: When Lucius arrives at Hagrid's house, he says that he "called" the school and found out that Dumbledore was with Hagrid. Would Hogwarts have a telephone, seeing how a lot of Muggle technology is shunned in the wizarding world?

Answer: He did not mean that he called on a telephone. It is possible he used the floo network to communicate with the school, but in this instance, he means that he "called on" the school, or more precisely, called on Dumbledore to deliver bad news. To "call on" someone or something, means you go to see them in person.

raywest

Answer: Her dad's name is James, and her mom's name is Ann.

Question: Does anybody know why the name of the ED-209 was changed to ED-260 for the RoboCop cartoon (and, I believe, the toy line)?

Answer: According to Wikipedia the ED-260 is an upgradeable version of the ED-209.

Question: In the answer to another question here, it says that Dumbledore wanted the other teachers to keep Remus' werewolf condition a secret. Wouldn't Severus get into trouble for trying to teach the Defense Against Dark Arts class about werewolves?

Answer: Snape is clever enough to know how to circumvent getting into any serious trouble, though Dumbledore probably was displeased by what he did. Werewolves were a standard part of the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum, though, when subbing for Lupin, he decided to cover the subject weeks ahead of schedule in the hopes a student would recognize that Lupin was a werewolf without it being him directly giving away the secret. Of course, it was Hermione who figured it out, though she kept that knowledge to herself until it became necessary to reveal it.

raywest

Chosen answer: When looking for clues to the identity of the killer, he comes across a code with the numbers, 903 472 568. He quickly realizes that Noone is the killer because in the code there is "No one".

Question: Joan wilder is a successful author with a nice apartment and is financially well off. So why wouldn't she pay Jack the $500 he originally wanted for his help? Given her situation, I didn't think it was too much to ask.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: She's lost in Columbia and doesn't have access to money beyond what she has with her. She doesn't want to give him everything she has because she doesn't know when she'll be able to get more.

Answer: Could be two different reasons. One, she has shown not to care much for the orphans so she didn't care whether Annie knew or not. Two, at the very end it is shown she does have some care for the orphans, shown when she thinks Annie will be killed, so perhaps she had enough heart in her not to break Annie's hopes of her parents coming back to get her.

Answer: Although her parents were poor, they were trying to save up enough to bring Annie home. Her parents' belongings did not have a whole lot in them, but probably enough where Miss. Hannigan would have stolen it for herself along with whatever other small valuables she could hawk. The broken locket wouldn't sell at the pawnshops.

Question: Given that the Quarter Quell is held every 25 years, the first and second Quarter Quells would have killed off 23 of the previous 24 winners each time. Hence, even if Quarter Quell winners are still eligible (and still alive) for the subsequent ones, the maximum number of available contestants for the 3rd Quarter Quell rises to only 26, which is far too small to guarantee 2 contestants from each district, let alone exactly 1 of each sex. How can they get 24 contestants for the Quarter Quell games?

Answer: This is explained in the books, but not in the movie. Each Quarter Quell had a different twist. The first Quarter Quell, the citizens had to vote on who the tributes would be. The second Quarter Quell (which is actually the Hunger Games that Haymitch won), four tributes were reaped instead of the usual two.

Question: This is a two part question. When Zorin is flying over the mine in his zeppelin, he sees Mayday coming out of the mine with the bomb, and looks really shocked when it blows up, killing her in the process. But a few scenes before, he was quite happy to just leave her to drown in the flooding mine, so did he really love her and was just shocked that she had killed herself or was it shock because she removed the bomb from the mine and ruined his plan? I'm asking since Mayday tells Bond that Zorin told her he loved her (when they're both trying to escape from drowning in the flooding mine), so was Zorin lying to her or did he actually love her?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: Zorin is a psychopath. He may have meant it when he told May Day he loved her, or he may have just been telling her what she wanted to hear. Either way, when he thinks she'll drown in the mine as well, he doesn't consider it worth scrapping the plan just to save her. Once she escapes and has the bomb, he looks shocked partially because she wasn't killed but mostly because she's chosen to sacrifice herself to thwart his plans, something that a self-interested psychotic personality can't comprehend.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: How did John get away from killing Crow? I know it was a set up and perhaps he didn't willingly pull the trigger, but still it's a homicide.

Answer: The police are already conducting a manhunt to find him. As such they didn't attempt to decode the information from the pre-cogs so they don't know specifically where the crime will take place. John was originally decoding the information but when his name appeared he discarded the information and didn't tell the other police.

Answer: Based on what we were shown during the scene, it was clear that John did not kill Crow but Crow forcefully pulled the trigger on himself while the gun was still in John's hand. John said "Goodbye, Crow." as he was intending to leave the hotel room, not because he was saying goodbye to a man he was about to kill. Likewise, Crow said "Anderton, wait!" not because Crow was pleading for mercy but because Crow was asking John to "wait, don't leave yet, kill me first!" So it was not a homicide. John was innocent. Plus, Agatha was watching the whole thing. We can presume that she testified to the truth of what she saw - Crow pulling the trigger on himself. Furthermore, John was key in fighting for Agatha and the Twins' newfound freedom by bringing down the system. Likewise, it's only logical to assume that Agatha too helped and assured John's own.

Question: After Anna tells Marshmallow that they won't come back, what does she cut the rope with?

Answer: She grabbed Kristoff's knife, as it was hanging from his back. Watch closely as they're being dragged up, and you'll see it hanging there.

Lily Harrison

Question: The airport scene where Alex is talking to the ticket attendant she says something about his arrival being the same as his birthday? Please explain?

Den Mitchell

Chosen answer: Alex's birthday is 9-25-82. The arrival time is 9:25.

Answer: Wrong. He was born on September 25 and the departure time was 9:25.

Question: I know this question is somewhat subjective, due to unknowns such as location, but can anyone hazard a guess as to what kind of punishment/sentence Pitt would be likely to get after shooting Spacey? Bearing in mind the unusual situation and that he is otherwise a model citizen.

Answer: Based on my extensive legal training (that being watching just about every episode of "Law & Order" in syndication), I would say Brad Pitt, Detective David Mills, is guilty of manslaughter. It is clear that the execution of the defenseless John Doe without benefit of trial in a court of law is, by definition, illegal. If prosecutors were to proceed to indictment, it would likely not be for the crime of murder. More likely, the charge sought would be "voluntary manslaughter," defined as killing with intention to kill or to cause serious harm, but with mitigating circumstances that reduce culpability - in this case, extreme emotional distress. Given these particular circumstances, however, Detective Mills would have an excellent chance of being found either not guilty, or not guilty by reason of insanity at trial by a jury of his peers. It is also quite likely he would not even be prosecuted given the extreme circumstances under which the killing occurred. However, a State's Attorney or District Attorney should pursue charges, as a clear violation of the law has occurred, regardless of how sympathetic or understandable the context.

Michael Albert

The District Attorney has wide discretion and can refuse to prosecute. If the DA does not think there is sufficient evidence to get a conviction if the case were to go to trial (no prima facie case), the case will be dismissed. (That's how prosecutors are able to attain such high conviction rates.) This case would not be likely to be prosecuted, regardless of the evidence. However, IF the case went to trial, the defense attorney would probably start by asking for a dismissal. If that didn't work, the defense attorney would most likely assert that, under the circumstances of the case, it was an excusable or justifiable homicide and the defendant is therefore NOT GUILTY.

KeyZOid

Answer: According to the "letter of the law" Mills would be subject to a reasonably lengthy prison sentence. I'm thinking Murder 2 or Voluntarily Manslaughter. In an academic vacuum he should be looking at 25 years minimum. However, with the extreme nature of the circumstances I could definitely see a prosecutor (and general public) go very light on Mills as it's not exactly a difficult situation to imagine the stress Mills was under at the moment. Historically the legal system was a pretty forgiving when it comes to acts of revenge in cases of intimate offenses. In the real world the cops simply would have fixed the scene and Mills would have walked away scot-free and probably been back to work on Monday lol.

Question: At the end of the movie, when you see Mike in the corner, as Heather gets knocked down, the camera starts to go blurry. During the last few seconds, it almost looks as though there is another person, laying in front of the camera. Is this Josh, or is it just the film being affected by the light/blur?

Answer: Yes, that is Josh after he has been killed, he fell to the ground, slumped in front of Heather.

Question: Were any other instruments besides a violin recovered as artifacts from the Titanic wreckage?

Answer: There are several on-line references to the recovery of musical instruments salvaged in a steamer trunk belonging to one Howard Irwin, in addition to some playing cards, a diary, and a bundle of letters from his girlfriend Pearl Shuttle, who had died of pneumonia one year earlier. It was first thought that Irwin, a musician and professional gambler, had boarded the ship under a false identity. There was no record of him being among the passengers, even though a ticket had been purchased for him. It turned out that he had stayed ashore but his trunk had been brought aboard the ship by his friend Henry Sutehall, who was among the victims of Titanic v. Iceberg. I have searched extensively (because you piqued my interest) for more detail regarding exactly what instruments were said to have been found, but I have uncovered no specifics.

Michael Albert

Question: How did Carolyn get out of the cave and make it to the ship without being killed?

Answer: She had a jar of the light bugs that kept the creatures away.

lartaker1975

Question: What is the make and model of the car that belongs to the McFly family, that Biff wrecks and had towed to the McFly house at the beginning of the film - not the 1941 Ford that 1955 Biff owned.

Answer: The wrecked car towed back to the house was a '78 Nova.

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