Question: Is the airplane captain supposed to be the "Gyro-captain" from "Mad Max 2"? (a.k.a. "The Road Warrior" in America) This would explain why Max says "You." when he first sees him, but I still do not know, as they say at the end of Mad Max 2 that no one ever saw him again.
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Answer: Based on both Wikipedia and IMDb, it is the same actor.
Question: Were Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippee married before or after this film was made?
Answer: After. They met at Reese's 21st birthday party and subsequently worked together in Cruel Intentions. They wed on the 5th of June, 1999, which was after Cruel Intentions was completed.
Question: Why did they change the geography of Hogwarts (Hagrid's hut, Whomping Willow, etc.) if it would just annoy people?
Answer: They didn't do it with the assumption that it would annoy people; like anything, they knew some people would like it and others wouldn't. But that was one of the things they decided could be changed when Alfonso Cuaron took over as director. His vision was different from that of Chris Columbus, and it was now Cuaron's movie.
Question: There is an entry saying, 'At Roman's birthday party, Roman and Jennifer go off alone to find a missing room and end up in the basement. Later, Gale is looking for Roman and goes straight to the basement. She calls his name and gets no answer, but is adamant that he is in the basement and continues down to find him. Why would she think he was down there if she had no idea where he went?' What is this all about, because I don't understand it?
Answer: It's pointing out how ridiculous it is that Gale goes looking for Roman in the basement. She has absolutely no idea where he is, and they're in a large enough mansion - if she called his name and he didn't answer, then there's no reason to think he's down there (since he has no reason, as far as she knows, to hide from her). However, she needs to go down to the basement for the sake of the plot, so she does so even though there's no real reason for it.
Question: This film is called something else in the UK (Deception) because Reindeer Games isn't a phrase used in the UK - what does Reindeer Games mean?
Chosen answer: Originally from the line in the Christmas carol "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," it has come to mean both (a) any activity from which one is intentionally excluded and (b) tricks undertaken with the point of irritating or harassing the subject - as in: "Oh, they want to play reindeer games with me, do they? Well, I'll show them."
Question: This applies to the TV series as well as the Movie. How are the "watching the movie" segments filmed? Are they literally sitting in front of a large screen? In some of the TV episodes, Joel/Mike is seen pointing to something on the screen. And do they film each segment as one, or is it cut into different takes?
Chosen answer: They sit in front of a big screen -- or rather Joel or Mike sat. The puppeteers crouch down below the row of seats and hold up special black puppets to project the silhouettes. They did do takes for segments of the movies. I imagine it would be painful for the puppeteers to crouch for 90 minutes!
The robot puppeteers laid down on the floor and the human host deeply reclined in front of a piece of plywood cut in the shape of the seatbacks. There were TV monitors playing the raw cut of the film in front of them with their lines on a teleprompter. The theater screen itself was simply a giant green screen which had the movie video added to it in post production. Search for "Last Dance RAW" for a few behind-the-scenes and some in-theater excerpts from the last TV broadcast episode.
Question: How does Gandalf break Saruman's staff? He just says 'Your staff is broken' and it shatters. Saruman is head wizard of the Istari, therefore more powerful than Gandalf.
Answer: All the power of the wizards come from the Valar, and it is they who take it away from Saruman, working through Gandalf. Besides, it was never clearly defined who was the most powerful of the two. Saruman was the leader, yes, but Gandalf had Narya (the Ring of Fire) from the start and was perceived by Cirdan as the wisest and truest. When Gandalf dies and returns as Gandalf the White he is given far more power than Saruman ever had, since his quest is nearing the end and he had been the only one to see it through.
Question: What are the differences in ages between the Friends? On the episode "The One Where They All Turn Thirty" Ross comments at the end that they are ALL thirty - but he and Monica are brother and sister. Surely they can't be the same age?
Answer: He means that they have all turned 30 by this point in the series - this episode flashes back to all the 30th birthday stories. Ross & Chandler were in the same college class and Joey states that he is 28 during the second season (TOW Joey Moves Out). Monica and Rachel were in the same high school class, and were seniors when Ross was a college freshman, implying a 1-2 year gap. The run from oldest to youngest is: Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, Ross, Monica, Rachel.
Question: Why is it when the big rocket leaves the atmosphere earth would die?
Chosen answer: The rocket has been rigged to burn the athmosphere if the rocket reachs 100km - the boosters will fire and destroy life.
Question: Is there actually an answer for the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
Chosen answer: There is no real answer. It is intended to be left unknown. See http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_266.html for The Straight Dope's answer.
Answer: At the time the movie was being made there wasn't one but today, the riddle officially has an answer. "Because Poe wrote on both of them."
Question: The back of the Goes Forth DVD cover lists Tony Robinson's character as 'Private S. Baldrick'. What is Baldrick's first name?
Answer: The closest we ever get to knowing his first name is in series 3, when he claims it's "Sod Off". Blackadder asks him in series 3 where this came from, and he replies "Well, when I was a kid, living in the gutter, I'd go up to the other kids and say 'Hello, I'm Baldrick'. And they'd say, 'Yes, we know. Sod off, Baldrick.'" The S in this series is likely a reference to that, but it's not addressed, and given this Baldrick is clearly different from the series 3 Baldrick, we can't draw a direct link.
Question: Andy Dufrense sent the accounting ledger to the Portland Daily Bugle, this is how they found out about the fraud schemes, but how did they find out about the murder of Tommy Williams? It was in the headline "Corruption, Murder at Shawshank"
Answer: The information about Tommy's death was in the letter that Andy sent along with the ledger. In it, he explained everything that was happening at Shawshank. He sent the accounting ledger as well because he knew that: a)without proof, the letter would be ignored and: b)that the fraud and corruption would be the only thing that would actually get the warden and Hadley arrested as there was no proof of Tommy's murder.
Question: What exactly are the types of frogs that can spontaneously change gender in a single-sex environment, that Grant was referring to?
Answer: To be exact. Grant is reffering to "amphibian DNA" most commonly found in species of West African frogs. It is the amphibian DNA that allows the frog to change gender. It is not specifically related to frogs only.
This type of behavior has been observed in survival situations. Unbalanced populations.
Question: How does Ryan copy the video from the camera on to his phone?
Chosen answer: His Nokia phone has a video recorder on it. He simply records the display on the camcorder with his phone.
But the video on his phone was too clear, not like he recorded the video on the camera but like he downloaded directed to the phone.
Answer: Even if he'd been able to copy the video onto his phone, we see him running through water under the pier. There would've been water damage to the phone, rendering it useless.
Question: Something that was bugging me, but maybe someone who knows more about guns can help: On Shang Tsung's ship, Sub-Zero freezes & breaks off the front of Sonya's gun. What good does this do? The firing mechanisms are towards the rear of the gun. She could have fired off a shot, just not a second one. Freezing the front only locks the slide, part of the barrel and return spring, right? A round must have been chambered, otherwise it would be really stupid for her to be wielding it the way she does. Sub-Zero was not far away, so the shorter barrel shouldn't be much problem. Sub-Zero wouldn't have been able to freeze the bullet, given how he couldn't' stop that icicle that kills him later.
Answer: Sonya's pistol looks to be a Glock, Model 17 or 19. It looks like the barrel was broken off up to about the front end of the trigger guard. If she fired it like that, the bullet would have significantly reduced muzzle velocity because the recoil spring is gone (it would be in the front part of the weapon that was frozen and broken off.) The remaining part of the slide wouldn't have any resistance working against it. Not only would that result in less pressure inside the chamber during firing, but it would also most likely send the slide back into Sonya's face if she pulled the trigger.
Question: Was First Blood not approved by any law enforcement or military? I noticed many types of military uniform mistakes, the stars on the trucks upside down, the flags on the police uniforms facing backward when the blue field should be forward. Usually, if a film can not get approval, they can not correctly show military or law enforcement items.
Answer: More than likely. After all, the movie portrayed both the local law enforcement and National Guard to be either intolerant jerks or incompetent morons. Hardly something they would approve of.
Answer: No, it's a myth that actors have to have permission to wear military or law enforcement items, and nor do they have to be displayed correctly.
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Answer: The airplane captain is not the "Gyro-captain". Max says "you" in Mad Max 2 because he saw him earlier in the movie. In Beyond Thunderdome, it never says who or what happened to the real airplane captain.
Mark English