Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Which Python sings the song "Christmas in Heaven"?

Season 4 generally

Question: Strangely, unlike seasons 2 & 3, there's no option to branch the deleted scenes back in to season 4 and on disc 7, the first deleted scene is under the heading "Season 4 Director's Cut Promo". Is this really as black and white as it seems or am I missing something? Has anyone heard any rumours, or facts, that Fox is planning to release Season 4 Director's Cut in the near future?

Chimera

Chosen answer: The "Director's Cut Promo" on Disc 7 is just that: a Season 4 promo, in the form of a prequel that bridges Seasons 3 and 4. The context of "Director's Cut" that we normally think of has nothing to do with it.

Cubs Fan

Question: I know this film is supposed to be set in 2004-2005, but does anyone know why the clothes and some of the music seems to be quite old (like 20-30 years ago)?

Answer: The reason the styles and such are so out of date is to signify that the town where "Napoleon Dynamite" takes place is a very small town that is out of touch with current fads and trends. The aged styles also serve to create a sense of nostalgia to the majority of the viewing audience.

Sarah Van Winkle

Napoleon dynamite is set in 2004 but, like some other commenters have said, many of the town's inhabitants are way behind the times, Uncle Rico living in 1982 and proudly proclaiming it, Deb living in the early 1980s with her side ponytail, and the faculty at the school being with a lot of the town's backwardness by playing 1984 songs "Forever young" and "Time after time" at the school dance. However, some of the other townspeople are much more updated with their styles such as Summer and her friends dressing and acting much more up to date, because they're the cool kids who have been able to keep up with America's more modern trends than a lot of the town's being stuck in the past. Also, Summer and her friends may've also travelled like to Los Angeles or some other bigger city more than the others and have been more exposed to the modern world. And because they're the cool kids, they've cared more about that. Alot of the rest of the town, Rico, Deb, school faculty, Napoleon's family, etc., they've either not learned or not cared about getting modernized, probably some of both.

Answer: Shopping for Napoleon's "tuxedo" at a thrift store would explain the old clothes. As far as the music goes I think we all have listened to music from the 80'-90's at one point.

Question: I don't understand the opening. What was the object that Zod broke in half, and why was it so important (considering it had a guard standing near it)?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: We're never told.

K.C. Sierra

Question: When Pippin and Merry collide with Frodo and Sam in the corn field they seem to be acquainted with Frodo but nothing more than that. Yet they still end up going with him on the journey. I didn't quite understand why they chose to do so, are they better friends in the books?

Answer: In the book, Frodo's departure is much less rushed - it takes him several months to depart rather than leaving the same night. Merry and Pippin, being among his closest friends, help him pack and so are with him right from the start of the journey. In the film, the timeframe has been considerably compressed for dramatic reasons, so things are much less organised - as such, it became necessary for Frodo and Sam to encounter Merry and Pippin along the way. They're still intended to be friends, but the depth of that friendship is less clear.

Tailkinker

Question: On Scene 20 of the DVD, if you immediately pause it (just before the camera starts to pan up the outside of the hotel), you can see a shadow in the first window that looks like it's E.T. I can't find anywhere else online where this is mentioned. Is this my imagination? Or might this have been done intentionally?

Answer: I have looked at this about a dozen times, and I think it's just a shadow that resembles E.T. I can't imagine why it would have been done intentionally.

wizard_of_gore

Question: If it's such a hi-tech factory, why is Doris still using an old fashion typewriter when they wave to her?

Answer: Perhaps she prefers the old style typewriter. Besides, the film seems to be set in a parallel time where modern items and more antique items exist quite happily side by side.

Mad Ade

This is further shown by the fact that there don't seem to be any phones.

Question: Do the individual aliens have cloaking abilities? It seemed at that the dogs were reacting to something that the people could not see. Were they smelling cloaked aliens? Were they going crazy to protect their human owners and that was misinterpreted as an attack on the people? I thought they are walking around at least invisible at times to do their work without detection. I may be wrong on that.

Answer: The aliens were not cloaked, not invisible. They had a chameleon-like ability to change their appearance to match their background. Recall the alien's fingers turning plaid when he held the boy. They seem to be that green color when not camouflaged. The better senses of the dogs did allow them to detect the aliens. However, one of the effects of alien presence noted in the movie was a change in personality; that is what happened to the dogs.

scwilliam

Question: What car does Johnnie B drive?

Answer: Its a late 90s/early 2000 Mercedes Benz S500 or S600.

Answer: A 1964 Dodge Dart.

FordGuy

Answer: Don't know if it's confirmed but that's believed to be Heath Ledger's Dodge Dart that he had at the time.

Question: I recently saw Ghostbusters 2 on Spike TV. when the broadcast came to the point where Winston is pulled into the river of slim, before Vigon and Ray, I noticed the river of slime looked odd. It was as the river had been shrunken down, or the Ghostbusters were enlarged. Am I crazy? If I am not, then why would they make such a trivial alteration?

Answer: SpikeTV didn't alter the movie except for editing for time and content. The scene you saw was in the original film and the way the river looked was a combination of two things, the camera angle and the poor special effects of the time.

moviemogul

Question: I remember seeing a mini series about the Ripper when I was younger, in which Mary Kelley had a new young prostitute (Ada) "under her wing", just as in this film. Did Ada really exist, and if so are there any evidence that might support that she was murdered in Kelley's place?

Answer: Kelly regularly spent time with several other prostitutes, as we see in the film, but there's no particular evidence that Kelly was acting in a sort of mentor role to any of them. There is, however, evidence that Kelly did share a room with another prostitute, so the fictional 'Ada' may have some small basis in fact. However, none of the reports of Kelly's murder give any indication that there was any doubt about the identity of the victim.

Tailkinker

Answer: Not specifically. There is an earlier episode where they hint that they broke up so that they could remain friends because they were better as friends than as people romantically involved.

Zwn Annwn

Question: No kids in the whole school go into the girls toilet because of Moaning Myrtle. Clearly even Dumbledore would know about this. Not judging Dumbledore, but wouldn't he have asked Myrtle at least 50 years ago when the chamber was re-opened after Myrtle died?

Answer: Myrtle doesn't know anything Dumbledore doesn't already know. He already knew the Chamber was opened. He knew the kind of monster that was released. He just didn't know where it was, and Myrtle couldn't have helped him with that. (Also, there's no evidence that Dumbledore never questioned Myrtle. She just didn't have a lot of information, when you think about it).

K.C. Sierra

Question: First, let me say that the aliens being affected by only the "contaminants" in the tap water seems to be wrong. Two reason: 1)The Indian vet mentions that they don't like water, and 2) the aliens were avoiding areas with large bodies of water nearby. My question is this: wouldn't humans, who are over half water, be toxic to the aliens? Even if they processed the humans with different equipment and took precautions to avoid blood or body fluids, wouldn't carrying off a sweaty person burn the aliens? Seems like a dangerous harvest.

Answer: It could be that they are affected by the chlorine in the tap water (humans are affected by chlorine to, just look at Mustard Gas) to a greater extent then humans. The vet is only speculating about the landing sites. And while it is true that humans are mostly water, it is saline (i.e. salty like sweat) and has different chemical properties to pure H2O.

Soylent Purple

Well water does not contain chlorine.

Question: On the time traveling train there is the initials E.L.B, does anybody know what this stands for?

Answer: ELB are the Doc's initials - his name being Emmett L. Brown. Earlier in the film these initials were also seen on a plank of wood in the mine indicating to Marty where the time machine had been buried for 70 years.

Chimera

Answer: In the comics, he was known as (quite simply) Rico Dredd. Everyone knew Joe and Rico were clones and brothers right from the start, but they changed this in the movie to give it a little extra suspense.

Twotall

Question: Donnie's purpose was to ensure that that the engine fell into the primary universe by sending his mother and sister on the plane. Why was it so important that his mother had to board the plane? Wouldn't it have gone down without her anyway?

Answer: No they didn't have to be on the plane and it would have gone down without her but Donnie and his sister had to have the party for the remaining events to work. In burning down Cunningham's house, Kitty would have to stay behind and help Cunningham. This would ensure Donnie's mother would therefore leave and the remaining events could occur.

Lummie

Question: Can anyone explain why, in the books, the chief of police is named Fenris Ulf, but in the movie (along with the 1988 BBC version) his name is Maugrim? Scarier sounding?

Answer: The original name was actually Maugrim. It was changed to Fenris Ulf in early american publications. For more information, look here.

Garlonuss

Question: What was the point of the dialogue between Butch and Etta when she wonders if they might have been a couple? There are no other moments in the film where she seems to want Butch more than Sundance so why bring it up for no reason at all?

Answer: It's to show how Butch and Etta care about each other as friends and that Etta is not just someone Butch has to put up with because she's Sundance's woman. A strong bond unites the three of them.

raywest

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