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: What did Beck mean when he said "I'm thinking of earlier times"?

Answer: He speaks of the times when he and others weren't forced to become traitors and are about to die. Times when they believed in Germany.

lionhead

Question: Why did all of the officers and high-ranking officials put out their cigarettes when Hitler's plane landed at the airfield?

Answer: Hitler was fanatically anti-tobacco: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/the-nazis-forgotten-anti-smoking-campaign/373766/.

Brian Katcher

Answer: They are supposed to stand at attention when he arrives and salute when he walks past them. It is considered bad form to salute the Führer (or any leader) with a cigarette in your mouth or hand.

lionhead

Question: The pure-blood extremists, such as the Malfoy family, don't want Muggle-born children to attend magic schools. However, wouldn't this cause Muggle-borns to be out in the world, accidentally doing magic, without supervision? For example, the things that Harry did before his eleventh birthday.

Answer: Yes, but the pure-bloods don't care what happens in the Muggle world. What damage they do in the Muggle world, they don't do in the wizarding world. They don't want Muggle-borns to be called wizards; they think they are too weak to train in wizardry. If they stay in the Muggle world, they don't have to deal with them.

lionhead

Answer: Agree with lionhead's answer, but would add that without wands or proper training on how to use them or knowing the different spells, charms, and incantations, Muggle-born wizards' magical abilities would be limited. The pure-bloods would consider them generally powerless.

raywest

Answer: In the "Deathly Hallows" book, the Ministry of Magic, now controlled by Voldemort, has a statue that depicts a witch and wizard sitting on mounds of Muggle bodies. Some of the extremists might want to exterminate Muggles or force them into servitude.

Question: How could Harry survive the explosion that happened right next to him? This explosion should have torn off his right arm and completely destroyed the right side of his face. How is it possible that he was merely disfigured?

Answer: The Goblin formula makes him more durable.

Answer: It depends on the pumpkin bomb being used. There may have been many different types of pumpkin bombs.

High Noon in Mayberry - S3-E17

Question: When Luke Comstock called Andy to let him know he was coming over, why did Andy choose not to keep himself armed in the event Luke's intentions proved sinister? Andy had no way of knowing ahead of time if Luke was coming back to seek revenge on him. Barney even said that the person matching Luke's description was seen carrying a shotgun. Luke was armed, so Andy should have been just in case Luke tried anything.

Answer: I don't agree. Andy held and appeared ready to use a rifle in several episodes.

Answer: Throughout the show, it is established multiple times that Andy doesn't use firearms. (At least not for police work.) He has the ability to de-escalate most situations without resorting to force or the threat of violence.

Question: When Harriet, wearing her orange pants and covered in blue paint, took her socks off and held herself up over the bathtub, looking down at the water, why did she just let herself fall (practically dive) into the bathtub instead of simply sitting in it to wash off the paint? Falling into it no doubt splashed water all over the floor.

Answer: She was upset and being dramatic. People do silly things when they're upset. She wasn't focused on the water that was going to come out... she was focused on just being sad and let herself fall in. It's like how sometimes people get mad and throw their controller if they lose a video game... logically, it could break the controller or make a mess, but you're mad in the moment and don't care.

TedStixon

Question: In the later scene where the two Asian gang members are being interrogated to discover who hired them, they jokingly say something to each other in their own language, the translator cop makes some smug comment back, and then reveals to Steven Bauer that their employer was Lauderdale. Is anyone able to translate what was said during this little exchange?

Gavin Jackson

Answer: More than likely, it was probably something made up and meaningless. But of course, we would never know because it's Vietnamese. The best you can do is have a Vietnamese person view that part of the film and get them to translate it if it was actually a real sentence being spoken, which I doubt.

Asspen - S6-E2

Question: Where is Liane Cartman during this episode? The Stotches talk about Butters' friendship with the other boys, including Eric, and they want to be friends with the other parents. But his mom doesn't come to the gathering at the Stotch house, nor does she go on the Aspen trip.

Answer: Maybe she simply couldn't come to the Stotch house or go on the trip, either. She might have been working, on a date, etc. Also, the other parents are couples. She may not like being the "seventh wheel" or "extra wheel" sometimes. Especially not on an overnight trip.

Question: What is the type of green dress that Sabine wears?

Answer: Crochet.

Answer: There appears to be a number of reasons. When Scheider signed onto the project, there was a different director and a script that he liked. He disliked the changes and had creative differences with new director Szwarc, who he felt spent too much time filming scenes with the kid actors.

raywest

Question: The moment the United Nations van bomb goes off, you can see what appear to be tracks on the rooftops of the buildings. Those look to be the kind of tracks that they maneuver moving cameras on when they film. What are those really?

Answer: Those are track systems for window washers. A cart on the track suspends the window-washing scaffolding over the side and can be moved over the track for a thorough clean.

TedStixon

Question: How did the UN bombing kill King T'Chaka, but leave T'Challa only somewhat hurt? Since both were nearest the windows and, therefore, roughly equally nearest all the flying glass and shrapnel when they got caught in the bomb blast, wouldn't it have been enough to kill them both?

Answer: T'Chaka is significantly older (implied to be at least in his 60s if not 70s), and thus his body is much more frail. Something that might not hurt or kill a younger, more able-bodied person can absolutely hurt or kill an elderly man or woman. (That's why it's such a big deal if an old person suffers a bad fall.) We also know for sure that T'Challa was under the influence of the "heart shaped herb" that gives him enhanced abilities by this point in time, whereas we do not know whether T'Chaka was still under the herb's influence. It's entirely possible that when T'Challa became the Black Panther, T'Chaka's powers were stripped, since there is only one Black Panther at a time.

TedStixon

Question: What was so wrong with Marty and Doc returning to the future and stopping Old Biff from stealing the DeLorean? If they stopped Old Biff from stealing it, he wouldn't be able to go back in time to give his younger self the almanac.

Answer: As Doc explained, they'd be traveling to an alternate future. A future where old Biff already has the almanac, and thus, the alternate old Biff wouldn't have a need to steal the DeLorean to give his younger self the almanac. (I believe there've been discussions on here about why did old Biff then return to the same future Doc and Marty were in instead of the alternate future, and it's implied he basically fades out of existence.)

Bishop73

Answer: To use Doc's example in the film, think of time as a linear straight line. Beginning at the point where the past was changed (i.e. Old Biff giving the almanac to his younger self in 1955), time would then continue linearly; therefore, traveling to the future from 1985-A would result in visiting the future of 1985-A. That's why Doc and Marty had to go back to 1955 to get the almanac back; once the anomaly was corrected (i.e. the almanac removed from where it didn't belong), the 1985-A timeline would vanish and time would resume its course the way it should in the original 1985 timeline.

Cubs Fan

Question: When is Nikko's name (leader of the flying monkeys) actually stated in the movie?

Answer: I don't believe it ever was mentioned. However, the character can still be credited in the cast list to differentiate him from the lesser flying monkeys. There could also have been a deleted scene where his name was mentioned.

raywest

Question: Ruth Meyers told Willy Jack that it would take two years to get his song on the radio. Why does it take so long, at least when this movie was filmed?

Answer: He's an unknown singer. It takes time to groom and refine a novice entertainer's raw talent, shape their image, build their career, book gigs, get a record contract, generate publicity, get a song recorded, and so on. Most radio stations are not going to play a random, unknown singer's song.

raywest

Show generally

Question: Has it ever been revealed what's under Double D's hat? If it hasn't, what is the best speculation?

Answer: Danny Antonucci thought it best to leave up to the viewers' imaginations where it'd be sure to be even more outrageous. My guess is one bad haircut.

Rob245

Show generally

Question: Throughout the series, Sarah has been shown to have excessive anger, as well as hostility towards her older brother. Is it ever revealed why she is so angry?

Answer: She's just a spoiled, bratty younger sister.

Rob245

Question: C3PO is talking to R2 and says "Scariff..." If they are at the base, how do they get on Leia's ship for her to give R2 the plans? I don't think she picked them up since she is being chased by Vader's ship.

Answer: Princess Leia is not being chased by Vader's ship until after the events of this movie. The entire fleet heads off to Scarif, and she picks up C3PO and R2 off-camera. At the battle on Scarif, we see the mothership get boarded by Darth Vader, and then we see the smaller ship make their escape. That ship contains Princess Leia and the two droids, which is subsequently being chased at the beginning of Episode IV.

jshy7979

Question: After Rizz brings Sandy to Danny as a surprise, Sandy runs off, and Danny looks at Rizz. Is it a look of being annoyed by Rizz, or is it "I'm sorry I hurt you before, I get why you've done this"?

Answer: He's hurt and he gives her a look of "You did this deliberately" - by bringing Sandy to meet him in front of the T-Birds, she blindsided him (and Sandy) and forced him to bring out his T-Bird persona during their surprise reunion. Obviously, that's not how he wanted his reunion with Sandy to go, and Rizzo is loving it. Rizzo is my fave character, but that bit is messed up. She may be doing it to get him back for using her as a one-night stand (before he met Sandy, not recently enough to have been the father of the suspected pregnancy like the other poster suggested). She may simply be doing it to spite Sandy because she dislikes her, and Danny is hurt and annoyed that she upset Sandy.

Answer: Personally, I've always wondered if Danny and Rizzo had a one-night stand, and that's the reason she's pregnant. She told Kenickie the baby isn't his.

No, Danny and Rizzo were an item at one point, but not at this time. Rizzo also tells Marty that it was not Kenickie's baby and "No, you don't know the guy," so none of the T-Birds could be the father.

Question: What was happening with the reaper's back when he was biting Lighthammer?

Answer: From what I understand, this is simply somehow part of the reaper's digestive process. As the "sacks" inflate on its back, oozy liquid is also being expelled. If I recall correctly, in one of the commentary tracks, it's explained that this is basically how the reapers "defecate." Once they've filtered out the nutrients from the blood, it is expelled as the oozy liquid. Presumably the sacks have something to do with this.

TedStixon