Question: Why, on the cover of the video and DVD of Daddy Day Care, is there a dog when there is no dog in the film?
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: Which scene was the one Quentin Tarantino directed? Please don't mention actors because I'm lousy with names. Which part exactly was it?
Answer: Quentin Tarantino directed the scene where Dwight was having a conversation with Jackie-Boy's head.
Question: I'm not sure if this is a mistake or not, but shouldn't Greg be wearing a yarmulke during his wedding? He and his family are Jewish so why would he not be wearing one?
Chosen answer: Wearing a yarmulke is a custom, not a religious law. There are orthodox jews who don't wear them, as well, since it's a cultural thing.
Not so. Many Jews don't wear yarmulkes, but Orthodox male Jews do-as a religious law, not a custom.
Question: Did Frodo ever tell Gandalf and the others that it was really Gollum who (accidentally) destroyed the Ring?
Answer: He certainly would have told Gandalf about it. Whether he told the other members of the Fellowship is unclear, but the book details a meeting between them where they discuss their various adventures - it seems highly likely that he would have told them then, or allowed Sam to tell the tale for them both. Certainly his love for his compatriots would mean that he wouldn't lie to them about what happened.
Question: I've always wanted to know what Kris and the little Dutch girl were saying to each other.
Answer: Not sure of the dialog but here is the Christmas Carol they sing, the lyrics are: Sinterklaas kapoentje, gooi wat in mijn schoentje, gooi wat in mijn laarsje, dank u Sinterklaasje. The translation is: Sinterklaas good man, throw something in my shoe, throw something in my boot, thank you Sinterklaas. Actually not a Christmas carol but a song for another holiday earlier in December.
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.
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.
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: It's not known what Baldrick's first name is. Sod off is a way of telling someone to go away/get lost, so when the kids said, "We know. Sod off, Baldrick," they were essentially telling him to go away.
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: I can't understand why Sonny hauled Sandy off the dance floor during the dance finale. Sure Sonny was a bit of a jerk, but he idolized Danny and would never disrespect him. Also there was nothing to suggest that he and Cha-Cha were friends. I never truly understood.
Answer: Watched that scene again now and I just think it was poor writing (in what's still a classic film regardless). How none of the judges noticed that Cha Cha took another girl's (Sandy's) place even after she'd already been "tapped out" is another huge plot hole. Plus a lot of people in America were watching the dance on TV and it's not mentioned by anyone after this scene. 35 years later and that scene still bugs me (haha).
Answer: He's fall-down drunk, that's why. He's drinking during the entire dance.
Answer: Because in real life Olivia was late for work, as a result Annette had to take Olivia's place because she was her understudy.
Answer: It's a terrible moment in the story because it exposes Danny as being thoughtless. After already burning Sandy once (at the pep rally) you'd think he'd be mindful of not doing it again. This time, though, he humiliates her in front of the entire school, as well as on television. Unsure how Sandy's sitting with him in the next scene at the drive-in only slightly miffed. Imagine how this plays as a story to their children: "Hey, kids, did I ever tell you about how your dad embarrassed me in front of everybody?" I guess it's meant to be partly motivation for Sandy to change her image and outlook in order to keep Danny, but it's a terrible message (even back then). She's nothing but thoughtful and considerate, and Danny repeatedly treats her badly, but she decides she needs to reinvent herself. (Danny's makeover doesn't count given it lasts about three minutes.) It would've been better had Danny and Sandy came second because of Sandy's dancing, and that could've played on her mind.
Answer: He is so upset about Marty liking Ed Byrnes, he just drinks all night.
Answer: I think it was because Sonny was drunk and wanted Sandy to talk to Marty for him since she dumped him for Vince Fontaine at the beginning of the dance.
Answer: Well my theory is maybe since Sonny wants a girl, Cha-Cha promised him a date with a girl if he agreed to her plan.
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.
Answer: This dog belongs to the Klingon kid - he brings it in when it is Pet Day.
Kirsty Marshall