Question: During the fight scene with Dooku, Obi-Wan is knocked down and Anakin stops Dooku from delivering the fatal blow. My question is this: when Obi-Wan picks up his lightsaber and throws it to Anakin, Dooku is standing right over him, why not just reach up and stab Dooku and end it all right there? Is there any reason for him not to do this?
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: Is Keaton really as bad as Kujan says? Did he really kill all those people and set up all those deals? He didn't seem so bad to me.
Answer: While mostly accurate, there is one non-applicable element to the Chosen Answer on this one: everything Kujan says about Keaton is not part of Kint's fairy tale, as he is in the real world.
Answer: What we're seeing in the film is a Keaton who's trying to reform, inspired by his relationship with Edie Finneran. Kujan has no particular reason to lie about Keaton's earlier exploits and it certainly seems from what's said in the film that Keaton was a major criminal in his time. True, many of these statements are taken from Verbal's tale, so they cannot be taken as being definitive, but they must contain a reasonable element of truth or Kujan, who is clearly familiar with Keaton's file, would have picked up on it.
Question: What exactly is the significance of the narrator calling all the addresses that are in the information folders from his house after Tyler leaves? Was he trying to warn them of an impending danger?
Answer: After he realized Tyler's true nature at the hotel, Tyler made many phone calls. Jack called the same phone numbers and realized that they corresponded to the buildings mentioned on the Project Mayhem folders. He had to confirm this, so he called a couple different buildings. He tried to tell the building operators that something was up, but they're already assisting Project Mayhem and could not be dissuaded. In desperation Jack went to the police...
Question: What exactly is or was the "Shadows of the Empire?
Answer: "Shadows of the Empire" is essentially Episode 5.5: the story of what happened between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". It was a multimedia project created by Lucasfilm in 1996, with a novel, comic series, computer game, RPG sourcebooks, toys and even its own soundtrack - everything except an actual movie.
Question: Rachael made a copy of the videotape that kills people and gives it to Noah to watch. That means there are now two killer videotapes. Even though at the end of the film when she destroys the original, why didn't she destroy the copy that she made? With both tapes destroyed there would be no way for Samara to come back and kill more people. Granted Rachael still would have been killed, but she would also be saving a lot of lives.
Answer: Rachel is safe, since she has passed the tape on, but Aiden now needs to pass it on. If Rachel destroyed both copies, Aiden would have no way to do this, and would die. Also, based on background material, doing this wouldn't stop Samara: she can regenerate the video, either the same way the original one was created, OR at any point when somebody who has previously passed the tape on appears on a video camera.
Question: In one scene, Hugh Grant and his crazy roommate are talking, the roommate says something about Pandora's Box. He then goes on, "I knew a girl called Pandora, never got to see her box." I understand the no seeing box joke but what is 'Pandora's Box'? I've heard it mentioned before.
Answer: It's a tale from mythology. Details can be found here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora's_box.
Question: When we see four astrodroids fixing the ship trying to get past the blockade one of them is R2-D2, but out of curiousity, what are the names of the other three?
Question: Before the last battle between the Predator and Dutch you see them both preparing for themselves and their equipment for battle. Why does the Predator shine his laser on his knives which makes them glow red? What's this supposed to do?
Answer: He's sharpening them.
Not Sharpening but Tempering as the lasers heat up the wrist knives thus making them stronger.
Question: Is there any truth to the breathing fluid used in the high pressure suit? Is that a technology actually used and is it really possible to breath and survive like that?
Answer: The technology does exist, yes. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_breathing for details.
Question: Why does Yoda seem so "childish" when Luke first meets him in the swamp? I mean in comparison to Episode III when he seemed much wiser. Is there any reason for this?
Chosen answer: Yoda was testing Luke. Luke was looking for a great Jedi warrior and expected to find this great man or creature, not a short, little, funny, "weak", creature. Yoda knew Luke must get past preconcieved ideas and conceptions of what it takes to be and become a Jedi. Luke failed this initial test.
Answer: It's a trope popular with many of the Asian films (and some fantasy books) that inspired Lucas' original trilogy. The powerful master is often encountered first as a seemingly harmless (or meaningless) person only to unveil themselves later to the protagonist's surprise. In many respects, it's like Obi-wan's first appearance in A New Hope.
Question: In this movie we see a shot of a mechanical arm placing Darth Vader's helmet onto his head. But in ROTJ, removing Vader's helmet & mask made him die according to Luke. Is this because in ROTJ it was his helmet *and* his mask being removed, while in ESB it was just his helmet?
Chosen answer: Removing the mask alone would not make Darth Vader die. He stil had breathing help built into his suit. Vader was already dying when Luke took his mask and helment off in ROTJ, due to injuries sustained by Luke and the Emperor's force lightning. Anakin (Vader) just wanted to see his son Luke with his own eyes, before he died.
Question: Something I wasn't quite sure of was about Padme's death. Now I know throughout the film Anakin senses that she will die and must rescue her, but was her death a certainty or more a result of Anakin's turn to the dark side? I ask because I know the Jedi can sense the future, and was wondering if it was meant to be a vision of what was going to happen with his descent to the dark side.
Chosen answer: The future is not always set in place, according to Yoda, especially when clouded by the Dark Side. As Anakin's fears for Padme increase the more dependent he becomes on the Dark Side to try and stop the events of Padme's death in his dreams. What he didn't see was that he was indirectly responsible for causing her own death by turning to the Dark Side. Although Padme could have survived injuries caused by Anakin's force grip, her will to die rather than live without him is what caused her death.
Question: What happens to the clone army between episodes III and IV? I assume they are not the same as the Imperial forces in the original Star Wars movies (unless they got new ships, uniforms, etc.).
Chosen answer: You assume incorrectly, I'm afraid, it's the same army. Their equipment has evolved over the twenty-year period between the films, as you would expect to happen. The main change to the ground forces is that the stormtroopers from episodes 4 to 6 are conventionally recruited troops rather than clones (which may account for their apparently decreased effectiveness) - very few, if any, of the original clone troopers would still be alive, given the levels of combat that they've seen and their accelerated aging process. The only faction where only the original clones remain is the 501st Legion, otherwise known as Vader's Fist. They were the clones who helped Anakin overthrow and destroy the Jedi Temple.
Question: I know practically nothing about submarines, so this seemed a bit strange to me. When there's that huge storm, why do they keep staying at the surface, only going down for an hour at a time?
Answer: U-boats also travelled much faster on the surface...about 18 knots, vs only 8 knots or so beneath the surface.
Answer: Because that's what the U-boat was designed to do. Unlike modern nuclear boats, they didn't have the capacity to stay submerged for long periods - basically just as long as the air lasted; there wasn't atmosphere control equipment. They would 'snorkel' near the surface, recharge the batteries with the diesel engines, and then dive for a few hours at most before having to come back up and repeat the process.
Question: In the battle of Hoth, when Han and Leia are at the command center, we hear a voice saying "Imperial troops have entered the base" but this happens before General Veers has destroyed the power generator. How is it possible for them to enter when the shield is still up?
Chosen answer: The shield prevents ship from landing close to the base and stops any orbital bombardment; it's not designed to prevent actual entry to the base. As such, the Imperial Walkers were landed a long way out, then they simply walked in under the shield, much as the probe droid did earlier. The ground troops simply came in with the walkers, disembarked and entered the base - the shield wasn't in their way.
It got corrected on the 4K release.
Question: One thing I'm unsure of in the transition between episodes III and IV involves R2D2 and Obi-Wan. In Episode IV. Obi-Wan says "Strange, I don't remember owning any droids" when he meets C3PO and R2D2. Now technically yes, he never OWNED the droids, and he has been in hiding for 19 years, but after all, he and R2 went through in the past, you'd think he'd be more pleased to see him. He barely even recognises him. Any theories anyone?
Answer: Actually it was Anakin whom R2 accompanied during the events of the new trilogy. Obi-wan spent most of his time with R4-P17, and that was (as you've said) because he was essentially part of his cruiser, not because he owned him. So upon seeing R2 that many years later, it's understandable that he would not strike him as a droid he ever "owned."
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: What, you don't think that Dooku would sense that coming? He's a powerful Sith Lord, considerably above either Anakin or Obi-Wan in power at that time - he'd easily be able to sense it coming and deflect it. Obi-Wan would know that - better to give his lightsabre to Anakin to give his uninjured cohort a more formidable attack.
Tailkinker ★