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: After Jar-Jar talks about giving emergency powers to Palpatine, who is the bald-headed person that is standing with Palpatine and Mas Amedda?

Answer: That would be Sly Moore, an Umbaran who serves as Palpatine's senior administrator. According to Expanded Universe materials, she was one of very few who knew that Palpatine was a Sith Lord and received some Dark Side training to enhance her species' natural ability to influence the wills of other sentients.

Tailkinker

Question: Does the scene where Anakin arrives late to the meeting (when Obi-Wan tells him he has to spy on Chancellor Palpatine) take place right after Anakin talked to Yoda about his dreams? I'm wondering if there was a small time span because it seems like Yoda should have been there if the Jedi Council was discussing the assignment. However, if Anakin arrived right after talking to Yoda, Yoda should have also been late getting there.

Answer: You're assuming that Yoda was meant to be at the meeting. Not all meetings involve all members of the Council. Had Yoda been intended to be present, in all likelihood the meeting would have been delayed until the Grand Master arrived, whereas Anakin's absence would be less of a big deal.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: In the episode with Uncle Earl in it, what happened at the end when Miley tried to help him out of the chair?

Answer: He falls and breaks the chair, landing on the deck.

Dedderbot

Question: At the end of the movie, Wonka tells Charlie and his grandfather that they do not get the lifetime supply of chocolate because they drank the bubble juice and floated to the ceiling, thus breaking the rules. Charley then places his share of the everlasting gobstopper next to Wonka and all of a sudden, Wonka is very friendly and gives Charlie the entire factory. Did I miss something?

SAZOO1975

Chosen answer: It was a test. Even though Wonka was being a jerk to Charlie, Charlie gave the Everlasting Gobstopper back. By refusing to sell its secret to Slugworth, even though the Buckets were very poor and Wonka was rude, Charlie proved himself an honorable, honest person and a worthy heir to the business. Wonka was happy for Charlie.

Phixius

Question: In the scene where the shark enters the pond, Brody's son and some friends are trying to tie a knot in a rope, a man in a small boat paddles up to them and says something right before he asks if they are ok. It sounds like he is saying "fellas make it thin, fold it in sheets". I've watched Jaws a 100 times and I still can't quite make out what he says. Any idea?

Answer: He says, "Hey fellas! Fellas! The sheet! Make it fast! 'Sheet' is the nautical term for the ropes used to control a sail. Each sheet has its own name as well, for instance the halyard is the sheet that raises the sail. Basically, he was telling them to hurry up with their knot.

Phixius

Only The Good... - S8-E8

Question: When this episode was written, did the writers know it would be the very last show? I ask because, apart from the Grim Reaper scene at The End, it doesn't seem to be particularly 'big' or 'climatic' as you would expect the last episode of a long running series to be.

Answer: No, the intent was not that it would be the final episode. At the time, the aim was to follow the eighth series with a full-length movie, before returning to television. Unfortunately, despite many attempts, there have always been problems with obtaining the necessary financing, so the series has never been continued. While the possibility of a ninth series has been discussed on many occasions, no progress has ever been made.

Tailkinker

Question: What is the song playing when Tony is working on his hotrod and then Pepper walks in and turns it off?

Answer: It's called "Institutionalized" by The Suicidal Tendecies.

dablues7

Question: Could somebody answer why Shanti's look was changed, not to mention her personality?

Answer: New animators had a different idea of how she should look and act; it is the same in almost every Disney sequel.

Disney-Freak

Show generally

Question: I know this show is from the time period when a lot of couples had two beds in their room. Just out of curiosity, when did it become acceptable to show a couple's bedroom with a single bed on TV?

Answer: According to Snopes.com, there is no definitive answer, but the mid-1960s is the most verifiable date with "The Munsters" being cited as the first, although others claim "The Brady Bunch" showed the first couple seen in a double bed. An early TV show from the late 1940s titled, "Mary Kay and Johnny" is also thought to have shown the married couple's bedroom as having a double bed, although probably not with them in it. However, this was when TV was aired live, and there are no surviving episodes, only anecdotal accounts.

raywest

Something that is funny is that in the movie "A Christmas Story," they show the parents having two twin beds in their bedroom. In a real situation, they should have shown them having a double bed. Lucy and Ricky had twin beds pushed together in an early episode, which would have been pushing television boundaries in that time.

Question: When Marty is in the bar on the morning of the showdown, Seamus shows up saying something told him that he should be there, as if his future depended on it. Was he right? Did what happened that morning affect Seamus' future?

Paul Pepiton

Chosen answer: Seeing as how Seamus is one of Marty's ancestors and something significant to Seamus' future DID happen that day (Marty didn't get killed), Seamus was definitely right.

Guy

Nothing will affect Seamus' future. If anything happens to Marty, it doesn't affect the 1885 McFly family.

Marty is Seamus' future, so his statement is correct.

Question: I've heard that there are frames of some old films in the movie. Can anybody give me the exact times that they show up, as I can't find them. Thanks in advance.

Answer: The three hidden frames are showcased on http:www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F-7izRuv8k.

Brad

Question: Does anyone know the approximate timeline of the movie? I noticed shortly after Tony kills Frank (I think it was the scene when he meets with his lawyer), he and Manny walk near a billboard advertising the "all-new 1984 Corvette". The '84 Corvette went into production in March 1983, so I don't want to call it a mistake in case it is factually correct.

Answer: Early 80's is about right. That billboard wouldn't constitute a mistake either way. That same billboard could still be visible years after the car was released.

Phixius

Answer: They only have 45 minutes in any given episode, so they chose to limit the storyline to those events that the Doctor was directly involved in in the present day. We see that many of the events still unfold as before, just with less pleasant consequences - the Sontarans are still defeated, albeit at the cost of the Torchwood team, the hospital where Martha worked is still returned to Earth, but after everybody dies this time, after Sarah Jane Smith intervenes. Events shown in the historical episodes were presumably also resolved in some less effective manner, but well enough not to affect the present-day timeline to any great degree.

Tailkinker

Question: Anybody think that Tim Roth's character aping his way up the inside of the stairwell may have been inspired from his appearance as a chimpanzee in the Tim Roth version of "Planet of the Apes?"

Answer: Very likely, as Roth trained with the same trainer as he did for Planet of the Apes.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: Across the whole show, how come whenever Cartman uses the word authority, he says it as if it was spelled authoritAY?

Answer: He's doing a mock impression of a southern USA sheriff.

johnrosa

Question: This pertains to the special 2-disk dvd that has the alternate ending. In the alternate ending, Neville and Anna are driving on a bridge in his SUV. Didn't all the bridges get destroyed 3 years ago? Seems like a mistake to me.

Answer: Since the scene was deleted from the film, it can't be considered a mistake. It's an extra feature on the DVD, not part of the film itself.

johnrosa

Question: In "Last Crusade," there is meant to be this guy called Gestapo. I was wondering, who is Gestapo? I am interested as he is played by Pat Roach who played henchmen in the other films.

Answer: It is not a person's name, but an identification of what the character is. The Gestapo were Adolf Hitler's secret police in Nazi Germany. Pat Roach plays an un-named Gestapo officer.

raywest

Question: Who is Sparky? Trixie's constant presence already means the future family model is pretty weird, but, why is Speed's "operator" living as part of the family? Is he an employee of Racer Motors, or what?

Answer: They're a close-knit team. Sparky's a close family friend as well as an employee. It's rather like Race Bannon living with the the Quests as part of the family, even though he is employed by Dr. Quest.

Phixius

Question: At the end of the film there are a bunch of people in the lost city of gold. If the devices were busted up and didn't work any longer, how did they get the water out? Also, if there's not really a way in any more, how did they all get in?

Answer: You can see the hoses and pumps that were used to pump the water out. Now that the location is known, even though the entrance was blocked, they could gain entrance by drilling/blasting/tunneling/etc.

Phixius

Question: Although some of Bruce Banner's blood falls into one of the soda bottles when he's working in the factory, the movie never explains what happens to that specific bottle. Can we assume that it gets exported to the United States and someone eventually drinks it? Will this tie into the plot for the sequel?

Answer: This is explained in the movie, and it's where Stan Lee's cameo comes in. He is the person who drinks the contaminated soda, triggering a "gamma sickness" incident.

wizard_of_gore

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