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: Why doesn't the King enjoy seeing his nephew (the Prince's cousin) when he arrives near the beginning of the film to congratulate the Prince?

Answer: For the same reason everyone else is unhappy to see him: He's getting on their nerves!

Ioreth

Question: In the beginning of the movie, why were the hijackers shaving their chests and genital areas? Is this some kind of religious ritual?

Answer: Muslims are supposed to remove their pubic and armpit hair at least every 40 days. It is part of being clean and they would want to be as clean as possible while committing an act on behalf of their religion.

Myridon

Question: Is there such thing as "Baby Sign Language" in real life or was it made just for the film?

Answer: There is definitely such a thing. There is a theory that teaching babies and toddlers sign language, allows them to communicate their needs, which they cannot do verbally. This allows them to be less frustrated and, hopefully, less cranky.

wizard_of_gore

Answer: The baby in this movie was selected because his parents had taught him to sign. Therefore it was useful to the movie.

lartaker1975

Answer: It's based on a song called "Swingin' the Alphabet" featured in the Three Stooges episode "Violent is the Word for Curly". The song starts "B A Bay, B E Bee, B I Bicky By, B O Bo Bicky By Bo, B U Bu, Bicky By Bo Bu". The song then can be repeated for each consenant "C A Say, C E See, ...". At the end of the episode, "Three Blind Mice" is heard - the Three Stooges theme song.

Myridon

Answer: He simply has an absurdly low tolerance for alcohol, and whiskey is not a wise choice if this is the case. It helps set up the joke when Marty asks the bartender, "How many has he had?", and he replies by telling Marty, "Just the one", as we are meant to think Doc has been in the bar all night drinking away his sorrows.

Jazetopher

Question: Is it true that there are acres of computers under the DoD? And that they scan for key words? Can anyone confirm that?

Jason Riley

Chosen answer: If there are, it is kept secret. But there is ECHELON http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON which is able to listen in on most forms of electronic communication.

Andreas[DK]

Question: What song is that in the beginning? mainly piano music, I'm sure i have heard it in another movie somewhere but my mother says she's never heard it anywhere before.

Answer: It's a song by Nina Simone entitled "Sinnerman". It was also used in an episode of Scrubs and (in a remixed form) in the film Cellular.

Tailkinker

Answer: The music at the beginning, mostly piano, is by Bill Conti and is called Glider. It is used again during the Glider flying scene later in the movie.

Show generally

Question: What is the name of the theme song of Roswell? I think it's something called "Here I am", or "I am what I am".

Answer: It's called "Here With Me", performed by Dido. It can be found on her album "No Angel".

Tailkinker

Question: What is the song called that Marty plays in the "Enchantment under the sea" dance?

Answer: "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry, hence the bit where the lead singer Marvin Berry phones up his cousin Chuck during the song.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Without talking to the producers, it's impossible to be sure, but it's possible he was gonna be killed off early, or only appear in a few episodes. As the show developed he developed into a more stable character and became a regular cast member.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Question: How did they film the scenes where real historical figures (President Clinton, for instance) made speeches and comments they didn't make in real life?

Answer: They used real footage and used careful editing to make it appear as if they were talking about the events of the film.

Tailkinker

Answer: "I Could Have Danced All Night" from the musical "My Fair Lady".

Tailkinker

Question: It's clear from the film that the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance is a ballet-only or ballet-heavy institution. So why would Alex, with no ballet training (sorry, but you can't "wing it" when dancing en pointe) and whose dance audition is nothing like ballet, even audition there? And why on earth would any dance company take someone whose dancing ability, great though it might be, doesn't match their style? Philadelphia and New York have plenty of dance institutions more suited to Alex's dancing style - why doesn't she go there to audition?

Answer: It states early in the film that Alex went to the ballet and was enchanted by it and started her love of dancing. Her girlhood dream was always to be a part of the conservatory and dance the ballet's one day. Her going to the conservatory was to LEARN that building on her knowledge. Besides, normally she wouldn't have gotten an audition with her lack of Point training, but for Nick's intervening.

Boobra

Question: When McCord takes Lincoln and Jordan to the train station, it looked as if is said "Yucca" at the entrance, indicating that the cloning facility is outside of Yucca, Arizona. However, I checked Arizona in my road atlas (one from 1999, and I'm from Massachusetts, just so you know, and have never actually been to the Grand Canyon State). Was I confusing this for Yuma, Arizona, or is Yucca a real place?

Answer: It is a real place. http://www.roadsidethoughts.com/02/c02_7206400.htm.

pross79

Question: Why has the Subway logo been removed from Happy's T-shirt during parts of the concluding match? Note, I noticed this on the television version.

manthabeat

Chosen answer: Probably had to do with some sort of legal issue between the Subway Corporation and the television station the movie was airing on.

Phixius

Question: Can someone clarify where Richard Branson makes his cameo in the film? Despite knowing beforehand he was in it I could not spot him in the film. I know he played the shuttle engineer, but can anyone be more specific?

KingofallSamurai

Chosen answer: He plays the co-pilot of the shuttle - if memory serves, he's sitting on the right side of the shuttle and is seen during the conversations between the NASA pilots and NASA command, prior to the plummet back to earth.

Thisbe

Question: Is it really true that when you use a silencer the bullet slows down and is not as strong as if you did not use a silencer?

Jason Riley

Chosen answer: Sometimes. A suppressor, known commonly as a silencer, works by reducing the sound of firing by manipulating the escaping propellant gas, and sometimes by reducing the velocity of the bullet. It all depends on the type of suppressor that is used.

Jazetopher

Question: This is a very open-ended question which I doubt anyone could provide a definitive answer for, but isn't it extremely convenient for the plot that the author character (played by Dean Stockwell) is able to figure out more or less everything despite the absurdity of the situation?

enter_a_uh

Chosen answer: That's just it....if he had not been on the plane, then the story would not have evolved the way it did, and we would be given a different set of events. He writes mystery novels, and it is fairly realistic that he would have figured out most of the events as they unfolded, as he likely uses similar bizarre situations for his books, and is familiar with the strange and unusual.

Jazetopher

Chosen answer: According to the legend of "The Spear", it is indestructible.

Nick Bylsma

Answer: The copyright information provided in the answer is wrong. Although there's a lot more to it, works published before 1978 are protected for 95 years (28 years for the initial term and 67 for the renewal term). "My Blue Heaven"'s copyrights were renewed in 1953 and 1957. Works published after 1977 are protected for the life of the artist plus 70 years. It should be noted that the movie "My Blue Heaven", starring Betty Grable, came out in Dec 1950 in which the song was sung during the credits, which would have been during the Korean War (not that I'm saying that's the reason for its use).

Bishop73

Answer: My guess is because Fats Domino's version was #17 on Billboard's charts for 1957. It helps identify the time period. And, I think, at the time copyright laws only protected material for 25 years after release so the song was free to use. Now, material is protected for 75 years.

Rlvlk

The Korean War was fought between 1950-53. The song didn't exist yet.

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