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: Can someone tell me why the Emperor's terracotta army become invincible when they cross the Great Wall? It is never explained.

Answer: It has something to do with the curse that was placed on him. similar to the consequences of the first film.

MasterOfAll

Answer: The sign said $30,000.

Chosen answer: $25,000. Given to the Griswalds by Sid Caesar's character just before he passed away.

Question: At the end of the forest battle, Megatron stabs Optimus right through the back and chest, then blasts a hole in the same spot. Later, Sam merges the Matrix of Leadership with Optimus's chest. Where exactly does he put it? The logical place would be to unite it with his spark, but his spark is gone. Furthermore, Optimus then gets up to reveal that the hole in his chest is gone. Does the Matrix harbor the same regenerative abilities as the All Spark?

Answer: There are 2 possible scenarios: First, is that Optimus wasn't really dead, he only went into status lock, in which the spark is active, but the body is inert. So the Matrix rebooted Prime back to normal. Or the second possibility is that the Matrix did in fact regenerate his spark. In the cartoons, the Matrix was a kind of gateway to the Transformers afterlife - so it is possible it brought Prime back from the dead.

Midnight - S4-E10

Question: Is there any information on the entity shown in "Midnight?" It seems interesting enough to have some depth to it. It seemed to be bad in nature. It also seems to have been exactly what the woman that was possessed was afraid of.

Knever

Chosen answer: No, no information is avalible for the identity of the entity.

Repo_Man

Question: Why is Medusa able to turn the lady in the garden to stone and why is Annabeth afraid of her? Per Medusa's curse that Athena put on her she can't harm women.

Answer: Medusa is still pretty scary, and Annabeth may not know about Athena's curse.

raywest

Happy Birthday, Baby - S3-E18

Question: During the opening credits of this episode Dean is shown as being in this episode but he was not actually shown. Is there a reason why he was shown in the credits for this episode even though he was not in it?

Jenzzyuk

Chosen answer: So long as Dean was a regular on the show, whether he appeared in a particular episode or not, he was featured in the opening credits' montage. Once the character was phased out, they stopped showing him in the opening.

Phixius

Question: Why did the drillers have to go through all the rigorous medical tests if the NASA doctors were going to pass them anyway, after most of them failed? According to the movie, Harry and his team were the best drillers on the planet, so it didn't seem like NASA had any other option considering the time constraints.

Answer: True, they failed to meet NASA's strict requirements. But the tests would at least determine if they could concievably survive the journey, if not maintian optimal health, etc. None of them lost consciousness for any extended periods in the course of the examinations, so they were passed.

Phixius

Question: Toward the end of the movie, one of the gang members visits a barber shop and picks up a small bag of cut hair swept from the floor. I cannot remember any follow-up to this scene showing how or where this cut hair was used. I have asked several people who have seen the movie and no one seems to know what happened to this hair. Was there any follow-up to this scene or did I blink and miss the part that shows what they did with it?

Answer: The bag of hair from the barbershop was used to throw off the police when they search the getaway car later. In other words they will find all the scattered hair and have the wrong DNA. This is what they do after the second heist. They never used one at the end since the cops already knew who they were.

Gavin Jackson

Question: What was the meaning of Larry meeting a woman that looked just like Amelia Earheart? The woman says that she isn't related to Amelia, so I'm confused about why it was done.

Answer: Larry was smitten with the wax figure of Amelia Earhart and when he sees the woman in the museum who looks like Amelia (and who was played by the same actress who portrayed Amelia), his infatuation and attraction were understandable.

MovieFan612

Question: In the virtual reality bar, a man comes up to the operator with a request. On television I've seen this line as, "I want to kill my boss." But I remember the line being much less family friendly in the theater. Was this line changed since the move left theaters, or am I mistaken?

Answer: You are not mistaken. Movie scenes are filmed multiple times, often with small changes to the dialogue, actors reacting differently, and so on, to see which one works best. However, some more adult scenes that are appropriate for a movie theater or certain cable channels are also filmed with a more family-friendly version that can be edited into the film for later TV viewings. This eliminates having to "bleep" out offensive words, dubbing in non-offensive words, which sounds unnatural, or otherwise chopping up or cutting scenes entirely due to nudity. This method is less distracting and makes for better viewing. A good example is the TV series, "Sex and the City." The show actually filmed many racier scenes in two versions, one for the very adult-oriented HBO, and also tamer scenes that eliminated all nudity and offensive dialogue for later syndication to general cable channels while keeping the overall content intact.

raywest

Question: How did Will not recognise Viloa in her boy disguise? Even in disguise, you can clearly see it's her, and she didn't sound like a boy.

Answer: In real life, Viola, of course, would be recognized as a female in disguise. However, in literature, film, opera, etc, it often is necessary to employ what is known as a "suspension of disbelief." That is, the author expects the reader or audience to know something is impossible, unlikely, or completely unreal, but they have to accept a certain premise in order to allow the plot to unfold. We go along with the idea that no one realizes Viola is actually a woman, so that we can enjoy the overall story.

raywest

Question: What's up with Percy (the midget)? He was with Dr. Parnassus decades ago, when he won a bet with the devil to win the heart of a woman he craved, but he hasn't aged a day since. Or was that another midget and Dr. Parnassus has a tendency to pick midgets up to live in poverty by his side, and these two just happen to look identical? Both were obviously played by the same actor (Verne Troyer) and some make-up would easily disguise this, so I'm guessing this is intentional.

Answer: Percy's backstory is never touched upon, but he certainly appears to have been with Parnassus for a substantial period of time, longer than his visual age would suggest. Possibly he himself has done his own deal with the Devil, or some other power, to extend his life, but, if so, the film never elaborates on it.

Tailkinker

Question: Instead of going under water and trying to poison Jaws in the shark cage, couldn't he have been harpooned with the poison from the boat just as easy?

mozeus5

Chosen answer: As mentioned in the movie, the posion was in the needle and the shark's hide was too tough for the needle to penetrate. Hooper had to go in the water so that he could get the needle into the shark's mouth, where the flesh was less tough.

Kevin Howard

Question: I know most movies have a disclaimer at the end of the credits saying that no animals were hurt during this movie, etc., so I have to ask this: did Percy stomp on a real mouse? I'm only asking because the after-death twitching that the mouse did was VERY realistic. (I've trapped many mice in my home so I know what I'm talking about - only I don't stomp on them.)

Answer: When we first see Mr. Jingles get stomped, that is an effects shot done by ILM. In the next shot when Percy removes his foot and you see the mouse twitch a little, that is a puppet. Director Frank Darabont confirms the effects shot on the commentary, and there's a feature on the Blu Ray that shows it in detail.

Phixius

Question: Why was Kim funny about Edward? She didn't like him at first.

Answer: Because he's got scissors for hands. It just took her longer to get used to him.

Phixius

Answer: In addition to what Phixius wrote, Kim's mother invited a stranger to live with the family, without consulting the rest of them. That would be awkward enough without Edward's circumstances.

Question: First question: Who would win, theoretically, Superman or Hulk, in a fight? Second: When Eric Bana changes into the Hulk, you don't see the emphasis on the eyes changing first as you saw in the TV series The Incredible Hulk. Why was this?

mozeus5

Answer: 1. Theoretically, the Hulk would be able to win. Superman draws his power from the sun and the more energy he expends from things such as using heat vision or fighting, will weaken him. The Hulk's power comes from his own rage. Even though the Hulk can lift 100 tons, the angrier he becomes the stronger he gets making him powerful enough to eventually lift anything heavier than 100 tons. If Superman were to fight the Hulk, he would slowly wear himself out but the Hulk would keep on fighting. 2. The only time Bruce's eyes are seen changing are at the end of the movie when some South American militia are stealing medical supplies. After Bruce tells the leader of the group that he just made Bruce angry, Bruce's eyes turn green.

Chosen answer: 1.) Superman, especially if he decided to use tactics like stranding the Hulk in space. 2.) Artistic licence.

Xofer

Question: After the Expo, when Hammer confronts Vanko as he takes away his bird and pillows, he says that he now has some Stark technology. What is it and how did he get it?

Answer: He is refering to the suit Rhodes took from Stark's house.

sadie

Answer: Mark 2.

Chosen answer: It is stated in the commentary that Sam Rockwell wanted his character to have a spray tan, making his hands an orange color.

sadie

Question: When Clint gets inside the firefox in the hangar and starts it up, the guards don't think to shoot out the tires while it's in the hangar?

mozeus5

Chosen answer: There was just an explosion in the hangar and in the resulting confusion none of them were sure why it was moving. To get it away from the fire is not unreasonable. Also, the Soviet military is not big on showing initiative. Unless told to disable it, none of the guards would risk severe punishment for damaging a valuable aircraft.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: Gordon did talk about his son (who was then about 3-years-old) to Bud Fox in Wall Street, but that does not mean he only had one kid. He may have had another child that wasn't mentioned. It's also possible that Gekko's wife was pregnant at the time he was indicted.

raywest

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