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: Did that officer who Vader attempts to choke, throw up on the table afterwards? I can't tell if that's vomit or just some buttons on the table, but as I haven't watched the film in some time, any help would be great.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Every person on the table has a monitor in front of them, and what you see is a yellow button or some kind of mouse or joystick that glows.

Anastasios Anastasatos

Question: During the 'interrogation' scene, where Bond plays the word association game, the interviewer says the word "Skyfall," which elicits a fairly negative response from Bond. At this point, the audience still doesn't know exactly what Skyfall is. My question is, now that we know, why did they use this word on Bond? Exactly what kind of reaction were they looking to get?

Answer: The name Skyfall is the name of his parents estate in Scotland. Obviously this would be in his file. Given that the doctor is trying to determine Bond's psychological state, its very likely that he would try to ask about his childhood and the death of his parents. He was trying to see what Bond would do when asked about that part of his life. Bonds reaction to the word is probably the reason why the doctor puts 'unresolved childhood trauma' in his report.

roboc

Question: I was hoping someone could clear this up for me. Did ET really die and somehow return, or did he simply fake his death to fool the authorities?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: First, it is hard to know whether he actually died and was revived, or possibly got so close to dead that the scientists simply assumed he had died and called it. But it was not a ploy. His link to the flower reflects his dying condition. As he died, so did the flower.

Garlonuss

Question: Even though she was more focused on trying to transform her mother back into a human, is it possible Merida was able to apply the same magic to her brothers? If so, then how?

Answer: By reconciling the rift with her mother, the brothers (who were under the same spell) were transformed back when Elinor was.

MovieFan612

Question: When the ship goes under and Rose and Jack enter the water, when Rose comes up to the surface there are hundreds of people around her. My question is all of those people are obviously frantic and thrashing around so does that help them live longer or are they speeding up their death from hypothermia by doing that. Could it be some sort of adrenaline rush?

Answer: They are all panicked. If you want to survive in a cold sea, you have to reduce your movement and keep your hands close to your body, or find someone and hug, but not everybody is trained for these situations.

Anastasios Anastasatos

Question: Heres something that never made sense to me. I could see how Marty's great-great-grandfather Shemus could resemble Marty (so Michael J. Fox plays him), but why would his great-great-grandmother Maggie McFly resemble his mother when this is his father's side of the family?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: This has been covered before. Men tend to be attracted to women who remind them of their mothers, so the McFly men would be attracted to a certain "type" throughout the years until we get to George meeting Lorraine.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: He feared them, for one thing, but also felt loyalty to Frodo, who showed him kindness. Gollum, torn between his good and evil nature, was eventually overpowered by his desire for the ring.

raywest

Question: Towards the beginning of the film when Brock and his team are searching for the diamond. They go through what where Rose's, Cal's and Ruth's rooms. They also pass the bathroom and Bodine says "Looks like someone left the water running" My question is how could he tell that? And how could that've happened? When the passengers start going up to the deck Ruth tells the maids to go back and turn up the heaters believing she will return to the room and maids aren't shown again.

Answer: It was a sarcastic remark. The "water left running" flooded the Titanic and caused it to sink. He didn't mean that someone literally left the water running.

shortdanzr

Answer: What they mean by "the water running" is that the Titanic is fully underwater, where Brock is using sarcasm to say the Titanic is flooded.

Chosen answer: The show, at the time, was suffering badly in the ratings, mainly from a poor time slot, which put it directly up against a highly popular soap opera. The series was also going through something of a bad patch anyway - Colin Baker had proved controversial as the sixth Doctor, leading to his eventual dismissal from the role, a prior eighteen month hiatus had lowered public interest, and a number of issues behind the scenes were deemed to have had a detrimental effect on script quality. While things arguably improved somewhat in the final couple of series with Sylvester McCoy's seventh Doctor, the damage was done and, although pre-production work had already started on the next series, the decision was taken to suspend production.

Tailkinker

Question: When Lenny calls the first time, Vincent looks at Annie's business card in the mirror and gives Max a look. Does this imply that Vincent knows that this is his last target? His conversation with Max about whether or not he should call Annie suggests otherwise, but I was curious.

Brad

Chosen answer: Vincent already knows that Annie is one of the targets on his "hit list." He was probably just surprised that Max had her business card.

raywest

Question: At the end of the movie, why was the Marquis being led to his execution?

Answer: The ending is set during the French Revolution. The Marquis is going to be executed because he is an aristocrat.

raywest

Question: When Hobbs realises that Dom and Brian left him with an empty vault, Hobbs has a flashback of Leo and Santos loading the real vault onto a truck. My question: was that really a flashback (did he really see it take place and forget?) or was it like Dom's image of Letty's death when he and Mia are at the crash site in Fast Four and not 100% accurate, since he didn't know what Letty's killer looked like yet?

Answer: Hobbs doesn't see that scene, though he probably does guess part of what happened - ie. that they swapped the vaults. The scene is played as a reveal for us, the audience, to show us how the vault that is supposed to be full of money is now suddenly empty.

roboc

Question: During the fundraiser, Bruce Wayne points at Dent and says, "He is the face of Gotham's future." However after the blast, Dent becomes Two Face. Did Nolan suggest that after the events of the movie, Gotham is going to be like Two Face, i.e. good and evil together?

vicvil

Chosen answer: That's the sort of question that will no doubt form the basis of a thousand college essays. Yes, the line could be a remark on a split Gotham, with good and evil in equal measure, its also a foreshadowing of Dent's fate to become TwoFACE in the FUTURE.

roboc

Question: Although Shreck's death makes the situation moot, why would Batman risk revealing his identity to Selina right in front of Shreck if his intention is for Shreck to go into police custody? Surely Shreck would have revealed Batman's identity had he survived.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: It has always been in Batman's character to do everything it takes to save lives, any lives, no matter what. In Batman forever, during the circus scene, he immediately jumps to his feet and reveals who he is to Harvey Dent when Dent threatens everyone at the circus with a bomb (even though the noise of the crowd means nobody hears him, his intention was clear). At this point in the movie, Bruce cannot think of any other way to get through to Selina and show her that there is another choice besides revenge and murder. He's trying to save her from herself and save Shreck from her, giving up his identity and his secret is something he simply decides is worth it. That's who Batman is!

roboc

Question: Can inverting a plane completely upside down and then turning it 180 degrees truly keep it from going down in a sharp nosedive and "gliding" to safety? Seems rather far-fetched but made for a very interesting exciting movie focal point.

Tricia Webster

Chosen answer: Popular mechanics wrote an article covering this. In short, inverting a passenger jet is certainly doable, but the specific chain of events seen in the film are more of a stretch. Possible, but...challenging, to say the least!

Jon Sandys

Question: I don't get why Mills gets arrested for killing John Doe. Yes, the killing was motivated by revenge, but Doe was a serial killer, so surely it was a justified death. Can anyone explain this to me?

Brad

Chosen answer: Doe was in police custody, being escorted by Mills and Somerset, to say nothing of the other units involved. He was not a physical threat to either, and thus his execution (no other word works to describe what happens) cannot be legally justified under any definition of the phrase. Mills killed a defenceless prisoner in his custody with multiple witnesses - there is simply no justification for what is essentially a murder. He would likely get off with a lesser charge, given the situation and his grief, a temporary insanity defence would likely work, but that doesn't lessen the fact that he did it. His arrest is absolutely warranted.

Tailkinker

Question: The woman making the announcements in Grand Central Terminal in Superman: The Movie sounds a lot like the Mother computer. Could someone confirm this?

BocaDavie

Chosen answer: No, it isn't the same woman. Mother was voiced by actress Helen Horton, who is not credited for any role in Superman, although, coincidentally, she did appear in Superman III in the minor role of Miss Henderson.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Because Kathy's supposed to be disguising her own voice to sound like Lina would if she could sing. The studio is trying to fool the public into believing that this is Lina's voice, even though she can't sing and sounds terrible when she speaks. Actress Jean Hagen, who played Lina, was a singer in real life, and she actually dubbed her own voice.

raywest

Question: What did VOX mean when he said that to find the Morlocks' lair, that Alexander would have to follow the breathing?

Answer: He's referring to the sound that the Morlocks' machinery makes from underground.

raywest

Question: Why does Jack say 'nervous' to Rose while they're in the car about to have sex? It's like they've planned it?

Answer: Whether or not it was planned, the first time can be awkward. They are also in a less than ideal situation, knowing that Cal will seek retribution if he finds out.

raywest

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