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: When the pirates have Will in the cave and are just about to lift the curse, why does Jack stop them and make them go out and fight when they can't die? Isn't he on the 'good' team?

Answer: Jack sends them out into combat so that, when Will lifts the curse, they'll be unprepared for it and almost totally at the mercy of Norrington's men. Had he let them continue lifting the curse on their terms, they'd be aware of their new mortality and would be more prepared for a possible battle on leaving the caves. Plus, of course, Will would be dead, which Jack would prefer to avoid.

Tailkinker

Question: When Streep and Rossellini talk about the potion, Rossellini says "Or as one of my clients simply said -- 'I vant to be alone, yah.'" and Streep replies "No" She's not!" -- Who are they talking about?

Hamster

Chosen answer: It's a reference to Greta Garbo who abandoned Hollywood shortly after WWII.

Grumpy Scot

Question: What year or period is the film (and the books for that matter), set in? Eg. a certain year, or a period, eg. 80's 90's?

Hamster

Chosen answer: Like the books, it's really up to your imagination. Mr. Poe mentions a fax machine, yet all the cars are pre-1970's models. There are car phones, but they are ridiculously old fashioned. Did anyone really ever have reel-to-reel tape players in their cars? The books give the same aura of occurring at no specific time (a blacksmith shop and a computer repair shop on the same street, telegraph machines and advanced computers both existing). It's up to you as a viewer and reader to decide.

Question: Is Merry in love with Éowyn? In the Extended Edition, the first scene with Merry and Éowyn on Disc 2, the things he says and how embarassed he seems to get, make it seem that way.

Answer: I think it's more that he's embarassed to be speaking so frankly and personally with a royal lady than anything else.

Krista

Question: At the end of the film, Is Kiril trying to kill Bourne because it is his mission, or is he doing it simply out of bitterness that he failed the first time?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: It is clear that Gretkov expects Kirill to finish the job he failed the first time around, since Gretkov contacts Kirill after he found out that Bourne was still alive. To quote the movie: Kirill: You told me I had one month off. Gretkov: You told me Jason Bourne was dead.

Andreas[DK]

Also, I question if he was trying to kill Borne. He had a clear shot and hit him in the shoulder. These are trained assassins. No way he doesn't kill Bourne with one shot there. It doesn't make sense that he's a bad shot assassin.

Question: There is a Nicholas Flamel mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. He's on the list of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion (he's the 8th one, 1398-1418). I was just wondering if Nicholas Flamel was a real person and, if so, who was he? If he was alive at the end of the 14th century, then, if he were still alive today because of the magic of the Sorceror's Stone, he would be about as old as Hermione says he is.

Answer: Nicholas Flamel was, indeed, a real person, he did indeed research the Philosopher's Stone and his wife (as mentioned in the Potter story) was indeed called Perenelle. He travelled widely in his research, supposedly seeking the understanding of a mysterious book that he had acquired. On his return, he used his unsurpassed knowledge of alchemy to become very wealthy and became known as a philanthropist, donating large sums to hospitals and churches. As an interesting aside, his tomb in Paris is empty. One theory is that it was ransacked by people in search of his alchemical secrets. Of course, if he did manage to create the Philosopher's Stone, and it was widely believed at the time that he had, then there may be a far more interesting reason why his tomb remains unoccupied.

Tailkinker

Question: This is for ALL THREE movies, how many of Arwen's scenes actually happen in the books?

Answer: Practically none of them. Arwen appears in about two scenes in the Fellowship of the Ring and is mentioned in a third - she has no dialogue at all. She is never mentioned in The Two Towers. She shows up at the end of the Return of the King to marry Aragorn. She then has one scene (the only one where she says anything), where she tells Frodo that he would be allowed to go in the West if he so desires and also gives him the jewel that, in the film, she gives to Aragorn. When the filmmakers said that they beefed her role up a bit, they really weren't kidding. One of the appendices to the book does contain a section called "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen", which goes into those parts of their relationship that occur both before and after the events of the main storyline. For obvious reasons, she shows up in that rather a lot.

Tailkinker

Question: I've seen ROTK Extended and the disappearing horses at the Black Gates still has no logical explanation. Does anyone have a good explanation as to how or why the Host Of The West dismount?

Answer: Cavalry are most effective in situations where there's plenty of room to manoeuvre - in close combat, where the horses can't move too well, the riders can be pulled off their mounts relatively easily, which would put them at a enormous disadvantage until they could regain their feet (enough so that there would be an extremely high probability that they would be killed before they could manage this). Given the vast numerical superiority of the opposing forces and the fact that they were clearly going to be surrounded, it would make sense to dismount before the battle started. As to where the horses went, obviously the Host wouldn't want a lot of panicked horses getting in the way - they'd be extremely dangerous - so they would simply have designated a couple of riders to lead the riderless horses out of the combat zone before the army was surrounded.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: I know that Seth MacFarlane does many voices, such as those of Brian, Peter, Stewie and other generic sorts of voices for background characters. I just wondered if anyone knew which of these voices was his own, or the closest to his own. He seems to use the "Brian" voice the most.

Answer: The "Brian" voice is almost exactly like his own.

Xofer

Question: What exactly is the Mouth of Sauron?

Answer: In the books, a man, in the films, not particularly obvious, he holds a position of great power and importance in the land of Mordor, being the spokesperson of Sauron himself. Had Sauron defeated the forces of Middle-Earth, the Mouth (also known as the Leftenant of the Tower of Barad-Dur) would have ruled the western lands (in his master's name) from a reconstructed Isengard.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: "Bittersweet Symphony", by The Verve, from their album "Urban Hymns".

Shay

Question: Who is Shaggroth? I have heard his name mentioned, however he is not in the films, at least not that I recall.

Answer: In the film, the Uruk's name is Shagrat and he is played by Peter Tait. He and Gorbag, an Orc, fight for Frodo's mithril shirt up in the tower at Cirith Ungol.

Super Grover

Question: In the Extended Edition, Aragorn is looking into the Palantir and you see Arwen in it. Then the Evenstar on Aragorn smashes on the ground, does this really happen?

Answer: No, the Evenstar does not break. Aragorn wears it in later scenes, such as at the Black Gate. Sauron uses the Palantir to try to manipulate and scare Aragorn with the vision of Arwen dying. When the Evenstar, which represents Arwen UndÓmiel who is the Evenstar of her people, shatters, it adds to the emotional impact on Aragorn.

Super Grover

Question: At the end of the battle at Pellenor fields in the Extended Edition, you see Eomer weeping and holding someone dead. Who is it?

Answer: He holds Eowyn, his sister, who he believes to be dead, but she is not. Later, at the House of Healing Aragorn heals her, while Eomer sits nearby.

Super Grover

Question: What is the name of the song sung in the background, in the Extended DVD, at the houses of healing while Eowyn is being healed?

Answer: It's called Arwen's Song, Liv Tyler sings it. Here are the words: "With a sigh you turn away. With a deepening heart no more words to say. You will find that the world has changed forever. The trees are now turning from green to gold. The sun is now fading, I wish I could hold you closer."

Super Grover

Answer: Jaleel White played very nerdy, squeeky voiced Steve Urkle on a TV show Family Matters. He was a constant pain to neighbor Carl Winslow, a cop, and had a crush on Carl's daughter Laura. Because Steve Urkle was so clumsy, he always asked, "Did I do thaaat?"

Super Grover

Question: I may have missed this, but why does Frank tear the labels off bottles?

Answer: He was taking the labels off the bottles to make fake checks, using the logos as this is the one thing that he could not create on the checks. The MICR printer was only used to print the routing and account numbers and the emboss the checks.

Answer: He does it so he will have things in his wallet. As he has no identity of his own and steals or creates others, filling his wallet with labels is fulfilling a subconscious desire to be normal and have an identity.

Grumpy Scot

Question: I am completely confused about the ending of this film. I mean, the camera-geiger counter starts clicking showing the nuclear weapons are on the boat, but they are not, they are still being moved. And the weapons do get onto the yacht, but both parts of it explode right at the end. Wouldn't that destroy the bombs as well, eg. massive atomic explosion? It is probably just me, I am known to be slow, but can someone explain?

KingofallSamurai

Chosen answer: Geiger counters show when radiation, even faint traces, are present. Therefore, if nuclear weapons were there recently, it will register. The scientist told Domino he threw the detonators overboard so the bombs could not explode. Also, nukes are surprisingly durable. Being in a large explosion will not detonate the core, only a specific chain reaction will.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Answer: Yep he's right.

Question: Why does Carrie stand in front of her mirror and use her powers to break it? I just don't understand why she does this. Does she intentionally break the mirror?

Hamster

Chosen answer: She believes that she is ugly and unwanted. So her power subconsciously acts accordingly so she won't have to look at herself.

Grumpy Scot

Chosen answer: It's just something the kid came up with. He is not quite all there. It's just something that illustrates how odd the kid is.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: My guess is that they are characters of the Christmas story.

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