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.

Answer: 1PHL07.

Ssiscool

Question: When Julius and David are in the White House on their way to meet the President, Julius is mentioning he should have worn a tie. He then said he looks like a "schlemiel". What did he mean by this? What is a schlemiel?

SAZOO1975

Chosen answer: Essentially a shlemiel is a clumsy bungler or an inept person according to the Yiddish on-line dictionary. It's saying since he is not wearing a tie, he looks inept or dopey in that situation.

Zwn Annwn

Question: When the main characters are using the subway to move through the city, shouldn't they be electrocuted by the tracks? I thought subway tracks were electrified.

Answer: If the power is out, the 3rd rail would not be working either.

pross79

Chosen answer: We never know. Based on what happened to the girl behind the white screen, it looks like it. But we are just left to assume so. It is never clarified.

SAZOO1975

Question: At the part where Peter cheated and got "devolved," he says that he was TEN spaces away, and then he says that he tried to win by dropping the dice so that they landed on TWELVE. Why would he want to roll a 12 in order to move 10 spaces?

Chanteuse66

Chosen answer: Most games don't need you to roll the exact number of spaces left in order for someone to win. By rolling twelve he gets to move his ten spaces & has won. I'm assuming it's easier for him to roll two sixes than anything else.

Question: The deadline for finishing the ark is September 22nd. Is there any particular reason why this date was used?

Answer: The Biblical new year began on the autumnal equinox, which falls on or around that date. The ancient Hebrews strove to get all their work done before the end of the year, to prepare for the High Holy Days that followed.

Question: Did they ever get rid of the Decepticon Virus that shut down everyone's communications?

Answer: Presumably. They never say, but it stands to reason that, if nothing else, the Autobots helped them remove and eradicate it.

Phixius

Question: I may have missed this in the movie but where were the fully grown aliens to come from if the humans were not there? The predators knew the pyramid was under the ice so surely the could tell there were no humans to incubate the baby aliens. Even if they couldn't, when the predators got to the surface wouldn't they communicate with the mothership that no-one was about (if the team weren't there, I mean)?

Answer: The Predators would have a decent idea of the capabilities of Earth technology; they can hardly have missed all the satellites floating about. They relied on somebody detecting the pyramid's systems powering up and on curiosity to lead a team there to investigate. Which, as we see, worked perfectly. How they got humans there in previous centuries isn't clear. In 1904, handily there was a whaling settlement nearby; prior to that, who knows - possibly they abducted worthy humans from elsewhere and brought them there.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: We don't know. This will probably be covered in an upcoming sequel.

Twotall

Answer: He means that is is covered by a "grandfather clause", where someone in charge lets you have an exeption to the rules, using an older rule instead. In Westmoreland's case, he had had a cat before they were disallowed in prisons, and so the warden makes an exeption in his case. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clause.

Twotall

Answer: I'm guessing you're referring to the episode "Trapped in the Closet" (ep. 9-12). While it is true that Jillette had a part in the decision to make the episode, Matt Stone and Trey Parker had parodied scientology before, and had been thinking of doing a full episode for some time. Jillette only convinced them to stand up for what they believed in, which is poking fun at anything and anyone.

Twotall

Question: Lando mentions that he is made a general due to what he did at the battle of Tanaab. Does anyone know anything more about this battle, or more specifically, what Lando did that was so outstanding?

Twotall

Chosen answer: The Battle of Taanab occured about five months after the destruction of the first Death Star when a group of pirates attacked the relatively undefended agricultural world of Taanab. With the planet's small defence fleet massively outnumbered, Calrissian, who was on-planet visiting a casino, bet his fellow patrons that he could defeat the pirates and took his freighter into the fight. Hiding his ship in an ice ring surrounding Taanab's moon, he waited until the pirate fleet was in range, then ejected his cargo, a large number of Conner nets, large electrified nets designed by the military to immobilise ships. With much of the pirate fleet incapacitated, Lando rallied the Taanab defence fleet and eliminated the remaining pirate ships with very few losses. The impressed Taanab government offered him a commission in their armed forces, which he turned down, but he became a hero to the population, a reputation which apparently led to his commission as a General by the Rebel Alliance.

Tailkinker

Question: In the trailer for Radio (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0316465/trailers-screenplay-E18624-314), at the 1:23 point, some very distinctive music begins. This same music was used in one of the trailers for Forrest Gump. Is there a connection between the two?

Jeff Swanson

Chosen answer: Probably not. Many trailers re-use distinctive music from older trailers they are not related to.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Show generally

Question: In the first episode of the second series, there is a mix of "Everybody's Free" by Rozalla. I have 4 mixes of this track, and it's not one of those. What is the name of this mix? Was it made especially for the show?

Gary O'Reilly

Chosen answer: It is a remix by Aquagen.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquagenhttp://venturebrosrave.ytmnd.com/Go Team Venture!

Rlvlk

Question: What's the song playing when Dewey escorts the band to the auditions?

Answer: "The Wait" by Metallica.

ChiChi

Question: After the 10 years is up and Will can stay on land, what happens to his heart? Does it somehow go back into his chest, does he not need it anymore, or is there some other explanation?

Answer: Will can't stay on land after ten years. He can go on land for one day every ten years. His heart stays in the box because he is still the captain of the Dutchman until someone stabs his heart and replaces it with their own.

Phixius

Question: How much time has passed between the ending of the first movie to the ending of the third?

Answer: About a year passes between the first two films, with a gap of a few weeks between the second and third. So no more than about fifteen months total , unless you include the after-the-credits scene in World's End, in which case add on another ten years.

Tailkinker

Question: In the final scene of the film Richard Gere and Diane Lane have their SUV stopped at a traffic light, and I've noticed that there's a police station directly to their right. This could have very well been a coincidence, but maybe it's not? Does anyone know if it signifies anything pertaining to the plot, for example, the dilemma of Richard Gere turning himself in vs. their decision to flee the country?

Answer: That's exactly what it is meant to portray. If I remember correctly, the SUV's left turn signal is on as well, which only reinforces that idea that they have a choice to make. Right, turn himself in, left, flee the country.

Guy

Nope, just watched it and there is no left turn signal.

Answer: The light stays green for a while, but the car never moves. Then it turns red. To me, that suggests that Edward realises he has to stop the insane world of commandment-breaking that he and Connie are living in. One of my favorite movie endings.

Question: Does anyone know the latest news on a possible Goonies sequel? After researching on the internet, the latest I can find is a Youtube interview in November 2007 with Josh Brolin, confirming that it was going into production - however, the same source suggests that he was only joking.

Answer: While most of those involved in the original have shown great interest in the possibility of a sequel, at this particular point in time, Warner Bros, who hold the rights to the original film and any possible sequels have not given any indication that they like the idea of doing one. It's possible that this might change at some point; DVD sales of the original movie have been very good, which could obviously catch the eye of an executive or two, but at the moment there's been no apparent movement towards a possible production.

Tailkinker

Question: Can anyone tell me exactly how much the American remake follows the original Japanese film? I have seen all of the Japanese movies, but only a bit of the American remake, and for some reason, I am having trouble finding it at local video stores.

Answer: It follows it fairly closely, but removes some Japanese cultural references. All of the names are changed, the psychic powers of some characters are removed, and all references to "sea goblins" are gone. Samara is a young girl (not a grown woman like Sadako) and speaks to victims on the phone, rather than the phone call only having strange noises. The lead character is more heroic and investigatory and there are more special effects (for example, the victims' bodies are deformed).

Moose

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