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: What do the characters in this movie mean by 'hook up'?

Answer: Hooking up is to get together for sex or a relationship.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Why didn't the aliens take over earth for their own means millions of years earlier? And why send machines millions of years before any humans or life that could be considered a threat?

Answer: The aliens needed human blood to grow their blood vine, for future colonization. Precisely why they waited perhaps millions of years to create the harvest of human blood, because there was enough humans now to grow an acceptable crop for colonizing us.

Answer: It's not known when the aliens sent the machines-the 'millions of years' comment was just one bystander's speculation. The machines could have been sent well after humans evolved and for whatever reason, the aliens did not journey to Earth until much later. Obviously, humans were never considered a threat-just an inconvenience to be eradicated after being used as fertilizer to re-foliate Earth. Because we don't know who the aliens are or how their society and technology works, many questions will remain unanswered.

raywest

I've read that they buried the tripods on earth before us and that they made us they sent a meteor containing the key ingredients for life and that they were waiting for enough humans to collect their blood and use it.

Question: After Napoleon realizes Uncle Rico told Deb about the breast enhancer stuff, what type of fruit does Napoleon throw at Rico's van?

Answer: Palmelo grapefruit.

Answer: It's either an orange or a grapefruit.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Why is "1138" supposedly hidden as a uniform number?

Answer: The number 1138 appears in five of the six Star Wars films - it's only missing from Return of the Jedi. It's a reference to an early film directed by Lucas, entitled THX-1138.

Tailkinker

Question: After the sand-people knock Luke to the ground and later scatter. Obi Wan reaches Luke's arm for a pulse and then touches Luke's forehead. Could this be taken that Luke was dead and Obi Wan returned him to the living?

Answer: I doubt it. It's a common thing to do when facing someone with an injury; check for a pulse, and place a hand on the forehead. I don't know why, it just seems to be a common thing to do (at least, for people who aren't fully trained that is). I personally think that he's either sensing his force power, or he's just overcome with compassion, either for Luke (remember, Luke is the whole reason he's been on that planet for 20-odd years), or perhaps remembering happier times with Anakin (maybe he sees or "feels" a resemblance between them). It can be interpreted as a sign of compassion, anyway.

Gary O'Reilly

I always assumed he was just using The Force to heal whatever injury Luke might have had (concussion, et.al).

Answer: Most likely he was using the Force to heal his injuries; we see him also do this to Padme after Anakin nearly kills her. The ability to Force Heal is heavily utilized and explained in Episode IX, after seeing it used multiple times by Rey and Ben Solo.

Shawn M. Milburn

Answer: It is in pre-production with a theoretical release date of June 2008. More info on IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462538/.

Jane Doe

Answer: It is a play on the "Myocardial Infarction," the medical term for a heart attack.

Guy

Question: Whats the music playing when Austin is running around the hotel because he has realised he is single again?

Answer: It's called "Soul Bossa Nova", by Quincy Jones.

Grumpy Scot

Question: There's a HUGE rumor that's been going around since Return of the Jedi came out: There's actually three more scripts (besides the prequels). Is there, in fact, a Star Wars: Episode VII, Episode VIII, and Episode IX? If so, what are they about?

Answer: While planning Star Wars, Lucas had a vague notion of doing a long series of movies inspired by old serials, then dropped that idea in favor of just one. When Star Wars became a phenomenon and sequels became feasible, Lucas revisited the idea. He thought of three trilogies along with some stand-alone "in-between" stories for a total of 12 films. By the time of The Empire Strikes Back's release, this was pared down to the 9 mainline films, going by interviews with Lucas and the cast at the time. By Return of the Jedi, Lucas had decided to end the saga there, with the option that he could revisit the first three at some later point. It's unclear if Lucas ever had any specific story ideas for the proposed sequel trilogy, and they never had any scripts. Producer Gary Kurtz suggested in an interview they would've been about Luke's twin sister (not Leia), though many fans are skeptical about just how much he would know about them. Of course since this question was asked a sequel trilogy was written and released.

TonyPH

Answer: This was long a long-standing rumour, but George Lucas always denied it. He allowed various authors to cover the history of that time period in book form - if he'd had any serious intention of doing films set in that timeframe, he wouldn't have done that. Since that time of course Disney took over the franchise and has announced new films, but entirely separate from the previous "expanded universe" of the novels, and not involving any ideas George Lucas may have had in the past.

Tailkinker

Answer: I'm not sure how old this question is but it is a sequel trilogy. Episode VII : The Force Awakens is about a scavenger and former stormtrooper teaming up the Resistance to attempt to defeat the new First Order and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo). Episode VIII : The Last Jedi is about Rey finding Luke Skywalker who is in exile hoping that he would be left alone, and he tells the story of how he tried to murder his nephew who in retaliation, turned to the dark side. Episode IX : Rise of Skywalker is about the return of Emperor Palpatine and recovering Sith Wayfinders that will lead them to Exegol and kill him, with Billy Dee Williams returning as Lando Calrissian.

Answer: The release of the DVD was delayed because of legal issues over the Eric Stoltz footage, which was eventually removed. Stoltz can, in fact, be glimpsed in the final film: in the scene where Marty jumps into the DeLorean to escape the Libyans, that's actually Stoltz.

Sierra1

Answer: There are (or were) clips of the Eric Stoltz footage on YouTube.

raywest

Answer: Director Robert Zemeckis has said that the Eric Stoltz recordings were never deleted or destroyed, even though they had the chance to do so, and intends to have the footage go out in its entirety in the future. However, so far the best we've got is about 30 seconds of footage with no sound. And even if the full footage does make the light of the day, it's not like we have a full movie with Stoltz as Marty. At most, we'll probably have 30 or 45 minutes. And Eric Stoltz DOES actually make it into the final cut of the film. When Marty punches Biff (Thomas F. Wilson) in the cafe, the shot they use is actually Stoltz punching Wilson, not Michael J. Fox.

Answer: There's also the scene where Marty is driving the Delorean in an attempt to escape from the Libyans. A close look at the driver reveals that it's Eric Stoltz.

Answer: Yes, in the final film. When Marty punches Biff in the cafe there is a quick shot focused on Biff. If you put it on extreme slow motion the hair is darker, unlike Fox's brown hair and a slightly different skin tone, unlike Fox's bright skin.

Answer: It's because their characters Toad and Sabretooth both got killed during the final fight of X-Men 1 (Toad was hit by Storm's lightning, Sabretooth fell off the statue of liberty).

nightline

Question: I didn't really get the beginning. How did Mort know the exact room where his wife was? And when Mort came in, why was Ted mad, shouldn't he be ashamed? After all, Amy WAS Mort's wife and he was sleeping with her. And when Mort was in the car and telling himself not to go back, was that another proof showing he was kinda psycho?

Answer: Mort followed Ted and Amy to the motel and watched which room they went into. Ted's reaction was a mixture of emotions: anger, shock, fear, shame, etc. It was a highly charged situation and considering Mort burst in screaming with a gun threatening to kill them, Ted's reaction seems normal under the circumstances. Mort talking with himself in the car is a subtle clue to the audience that his personality has more than one facet to it.

raywest

Ted had also convinced himself that Amy's marriage was already over when he met her. He later says this to Mort. So, by Ted's reasoning, he might feel that Mort had no right to be in their hotel room.

Question: How was the Witch King able to destroy Gandalf's staff? He was a powerful wizard, it doesn't make sense to me that a Nazgul could do that.

Answer: The "Witch King" is just that: A Witch King. Before he became a Nazgul, he was still a mightly wizard in his own right, and a feared King in his own time (note that the only reason Merry's sword hurts him is because, when it was made, it was made specifically to attack him, showing that at some point people had feared him enough to put magic into weapons against him). As a Nazgul, his powers can only have increased. As a side note, in the books, Gandalf and the cheif nazgul never actually meet in combat, they see each other and prepare for it, but the Nazgul is driven off when the Rohan charge without them actually fighting.

Gary O'Reilly

Question: In the extended edition, they talk to Saruman in his tower, why was this cut out from the theatrical release? It's such a necessary scene.

Answer: Because it disrupted the flow of events. Saruman's the enemy from film 2 - spending several minutes at the beginning of film 3 dealing with him accomplishes nothing. He provides no critical information and we don't need to see his death scene - the Ents have him contained at the end of film 2 and that's it for him. Ultimately, while it's a good scene, it's not required for the overall plot and takes up time that could be better used.

Tailkinker

Question: What was Paul doing with the Listerine in the bathroom after the sex scene?

Answer: He was making an attempt to disinfect his lower private parts so he wouldn't get the "fever".

William Bergquist

Used Karma - S6-E13

Question: I don't understand how Phoebe can turn the fireballs the swarm demons threw back on them. She doesn't have an active power like telekinesis which can be used like this. Could someone explain it to me?

Answer: She uses her ability as an empath to tap into the demons power and use it against them. She did this for the first time in Valhalley of the Dolls to make Piper feel the loss of Leo.

Summermusic27

Chosen answer: It's suggested in the books that Yoda settled on Dagobah because of the Dark Side cave near his home. The presence of a nearby source of Dark Side energy effectively camouflaged his own presence, preventing the Emperor and Vader from locating him.

Tailkinker

Additionally, in the Clone Wars show Dagobah is where Yoda must travel to begin his force-ghost training with Qui Gon's disembodied spirit, which is presumably part of the reason he returns.

Question: Why didn't Sam die after being stabbed/drowned/chopped in half? I have no idea.

Answer: This is a joke referring to the numerous slasher movies where the killer survives all most anything and still comes back. Like when the killer is killed of in the end of the movie but then reappears in the sequel.

Andreas[DK]

Question: Does the ray that hits Drefus at the end kill him, or does it just turn him invisible?

Answer: Just Invisible. Besides the fact that his eyeball and eyelid remain intact and in the same position, he returns in a full, visible form (possibly in a film logic borrowed from Looney Tunes cartoons) in the next Panther film.

Question: Why didn't the filmmakers use the original movie's ending where Willard gets eaten?

Answer: Pure marketing. The original ending was the shot of Ben in the window, but test audiences thought the movie was too dark already. The rest of the end was filmed months later, with Willard stabbing a bean bag.

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