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: 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

Question: How exactly were the birds involved in the death of the Tripods?

Answer: They were not involved as such, but the fact that they were able to land on the tripods told Ray that the shields were down and the tripods could be destroyed.

Twotall

Question: How do they know that Gretkov must be arrested?

Answer: Pamela Landy and her team both talked to the Russian Minister of the Interior and went to Moscow. Surely it didn't take the Russians long to figure out who Abbot and Conklin's associate was...assuming they didn't already know.

scwilliam

Question: Why does the young red-headed nun, that doesn't sing very loud (can't remember her name), wear a different habit?

Answer: It is because she is not, technically, a nun yet. She is a novice, one who is in the "trial period" of becoming a nun, but who has not made the final vows to join the order.

Twotall

She doesn't wear a white cap in the second movie either, and she did her vows.

Question: In the scene where Shaun gave all the zombies 'the slip', David asks Shaun how he lost them. My question is, why does David act so suspicious towards Shaun when he asks him that?

Answer: Given that Shaun's plan to go to the pub has so far managed to expose them to a considerable degree of risk, it's not unreasonable that David might be rather skeptical when Shaun claims to have simply given the zombies the slip.

Tailkinker

Question: When Peter is in JJJ's office, while he is naming Doctor Octupus, the reporter says, "I heard Spider-Man was there" and he looks up at Peter. Did he suspect Peter of being Spider-Man?

Answer: He might not suspect that Peter is Spider-Man, but he knows that somehow Peter always seems to be where Spider-Man is in order to get pictures.

wizard_of_gore

Question: The appendix mentions Merry having a son, but no name is given in the family tree. Why is his son not included in the family tree when he is mentioned elsewhere in the text, and what was his name? Did Merry have any other children as well?

Answer: Tolkien never gives the name of Merry's son, which is probably why he's not on the family tree, nor does he tell us whether he had any other children. As to why he doesn't mention this, why should he? It's not as if they're important characters. There's a lot of information that Tolkien doesn't provide - understandable, given that he's produced a history of a fictional world that covers many thousands of years, that he wouldn't be able to include everything. Minor details, like the names of people who never actually appear in any of the stories (Merry's son, Aragorn and Arwen's daughters, Legolas' mother and so forth), were simply left out in favour of more important items.

Tailkinker

Question: What happens to all the clones at the end? Do they live? Do the sponsors get their money back? Does the government kill them all?

Answer: We saw them set free, so assume beyond that what you will. If we apply current reality to it, we can guess the sponsors lost their money, as the venture was entirely illegal to start with. The government would gain nothing killing them, so they likely would issue new Social Security numbers to them and start collecting taxes ASAP. If you must have a definitive answer to 'what happened next', you can always wait for a sequel.

johnrosa

Question: In the scene where Balian arrives at Jerusalem, at the peak where Jesus was crucified, as he sits there, is there a strange shadow of a man crossing in the background or did I see wrong?

Answer: When Balian thinks to himself, "God, what is it you want of me?" in the next shot it is not a "strange shadow" of just one man, there are a few people who walk from left to right or right to left. The cinematographic effects of this specific shot gives an ethereal quality to the movements of these people.

Super Grover

Question: What was the treasure? Because Casper says its just his baseball bat and glove, but then what does the note at the beginning mean that Carrigan and Dibbs find when the deed is thrown in the fire? Because it talks of treasure but its really only a baseball.

Answer: It was not Casper (now a ghost of 12 yr old boy) who wrote there was a hidden treasure at Whipstaff Manor. It was Casper's father, Mr. Mcfadden. The treasure in the box is an autographed baseball which used to belong to Casper, before he got sick and died. Mr. McFadden missed his young son Casper, so he invented a machine that can bring a ghost back to life. He considered Casper's baseball a treasure, because to him it is the greatest treasure there is - the baseball that belonged to his 12 yr old son before he died.

Super Grover

Answer: A machine that could bring dead people's ghosts back to life would be worth trillions of dollars. And that's why It was kept "secret" and hidden away from the rest of the world.

Chosen answer: The "H" stands for Hector. The "M" is never explained in the series.

dgemba dgemba

Blood Drops - S1-E7

Question: When the CSI crew are looking around the house after the murders, there are a couple of circles drawn in blood near a couple of the bodies, eg next to the father's body on the wall. I've watched the episode a few times now and still don't understand why she drew the circles. Can anyone help me out?

Answer: It wasn't the daughter that drew the circles, it was her boyfriend (he murdered the family). He drew the strange symbols in blood to throw off his scent by making people think it was a cult killing.

Question: Does Kiera Nightly's character ever split up with her husband and go to his best friend? They show her with the husband at the end of the movie, but it seemed to me that she really loved the best friend. I was sure she would choose him over her husband.

Answer: No, Keira Knightley's character is not in love with the best friend; her kiss is one of compassion and affection, not love. Richard Curtis mentions this on the DVD commentary - he says something about Juliet being the sort of girl who would be used to men falling for her and treating them gently and kindly, which is what she does here.

STP

Chosen answer: Since it was not shown, there can only be speculation. However, I would assume they used an elaborate pulley system, possibly with one or more of the rocks taking the Kong weight. There seems to be plenty of room on the deck for him and, with a lot of the ships load jetissoned, it would be lighter. Then it would simply be a case of securing him and making sure he didn't wake up... no problem with the amount of chloroform on board.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Show generally

Question: What are Betty Applewhite and her son holding Caleb prisoner in their house and why won't they allow him to be incarcerated?

Answer: The clues so far point to the fact that Caleb was accused of killing a teenaged girl. Betty could be hiding him because she knows that he will not be treated fairly or properly because of his learning disability. The exact reasons will most likely be revealed as the season progresses.

Steph_Jared

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