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: How much truth is there to the claim that if the G.I. Joe movie had been released first then Optimus Prime would not have died in this one?

Answer: The reason for this is the intent of both movies (G.I.Joe and this one) to kill off the old group and bring in a new group for younger kids. You noticed how most of the dead are from the old cartoon. The backlash was so bad that the G.I.Joe movie was changed to not kill off anyone (if you watch it you can see where characters were meant to die but the show was changed at the last sec to keep them alive. If G.I.Joe was release 1st then they would have died and if the same backlash happened you would have seen no-one die in this one.

Answer: In the UK we don't have G.I Joe, only action force so thats your first problem, and secondly the UK comics built up to the Transformer movie without no mention of G.I Joe story lines which may have appeared in the US.

Brian Boulnois

Question: When Marlin discovers Mr Ray has taken his class to the Dropoff, he says "why don't we just fry them up and serve them with chips". American "Chips" are not the same as British "Chips." Is this dialogue only in the UK video release that I have, and if so, what is in the US version?

Answer: Even though "chip" as french fries instead of crisps is not an "American" term, we still use it as a description for "fish and chips." There is actually a Fish and Chips stand about a mile from my house and my mom even worked at a fish and chips stand when she was in college. So, it says that on the American version of the DVD as well.

wolfchild

Answer: There's no reason one can't serve actual potato chips with a meal, loads of American restaurants do, some even go so far as to house-fry fresh ones instead of out of a bag.

dizzyd

It's just a saying as "chips" also refers to "fries." It's not technical.

Chosen answer: Nobody knew, not even the writers, until at least halfway through the season when they were writing the end. They wanted to keep all options open.

Nick N.

Show generally

Question: What do the terms Attending and Resident mean? They mention them on the show e.g.'ER attending'.

Answer: A resident is a person in the second year of their internship. Kind of low on the totem pole. An attending is someone who has gone through med school and their internship and has the right to practice medicine in that facility. In charge of the residents and med students. Go to http://www.erheadquarters.com/doctors_chart/medical_education.htm for more info.

Kaitlin Schwartzel

Question: How did they film the Coat Room shoot-out scene?

Answer: It was a real shot, with ropes and wires that held the actors upside down. There was a large amount of people in the back holding them upright, it's in the special feature.

Kirill Ostapenko

Answer: Odometer. It's the thing in the car that measures how far you've gone. It's a joke on how many guys she's been with.

Kaitlin Schwartzel

Question: Most tsunami are caused by earthquakes underwater that trigger a huge wave. However, there are no earthquake-causing fault lines anywhere near New York City. So what caused the tsunami?

Answer: That's not a tsunami - it's a catastrophic rise in sea level caused by the disruption in the ocean's balance. Same basic effect, different cause.

Tailkinker

I say it's a storm surge.

Show generally

Question: In the title sequence (series 1 and 2, anyway), at one point the theme music has a squeal over the top of it and there's a shot of Buffy (or possibly Willow) holding her hand up against a blast of light. What episode is this from?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: If this is the bit I think it is, it's from the episode "Witch" - the person in the shot is actually Catherine Madison, the villain of the episode. The shot used in the title sequence is different from what's seen in the episode - possibly an alternate take.

Tailkinker

Question: Neo knew the Oracle wanted to contact him because Bane and the other guy got that disk out of the Matrix. Well, how did that guy get a fake object from the Matrix into the real world? I know there is a corrected mistake for it, but the answer doesn't make sense.

Answer: The disk is not really a disk, just as nothing in the Matrix really exists. The people don't wear real clothes; they don't have real weapons; each of these items exists only virtually; they're created by the Matrix, and they look and feel and seem real, but they are not, they're computer code. Therefore, the 'disk' doesn't need to come out of the Matrix into the real world; only the computer code needs to be downloaded, just as always happens when people move from the Matrix back to the real world. There have been other examples of this; if you've seen the Animatrix short, The Final Flight of the Osiris, a large part of the story involves someone trying to drop off a 'tape' at a certain point, within the Matrix, to be picked up by another ship. Obviously, they won't pick up something physical; they'll download the information, which is represented in the Matrix by the tape.

STP

Question: Who is Arwen's mother and where is she? Is she alive?

Answer: Arwen's mother is Celebrian, daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn. Around III 2510, about five hundred years prior to the events of the film, she was captured by orcs in the Redhorn Pass (the pass of Caradhras that the Fellowship fail to cross) and tortured. Rescued by her sons, Elladan and Elrohir, and healed by her husband, she chose to sail into the West.

Tailkinker

Question: How does Gollum get into Moria after the gates were destroyed? If there is another way in, why didn't the Fellowship use that after Gandalf couldn't open the doors?

Answer: Gollum was already in Moria, hiding out after escaping from elven captivity. Note that Gandalf tells the Fellowship that Moria will take four days to pass through, then, later, tells Frodo that Gollum's been following them for three days. At that point, they're very close to the exit, so Gollum must have picked up their trail after they entered Moria - ergo, he was already there.

Tailkinker

Question: What was the little ball of light coming out of Sirius's mouth when the dementors were around him?

Emily

Chosen answer: It's supposed to be his soul.

Xofer

Question: In Shelob's tunnel, right before Frodo lights Earendil, he says something in Elvish. What did he say? The only word I caught was Earendil.

Answer: He says, "Aiya Earendil elenion ancalima" which translates into, "Hail, Earendil, Brightest of the stars."

cullothiel

Question: When the Terminator is repairing himself his right eye is damaged yet when they show him in the mirror cutting it out it looks like it's his left eye that's damaged (judging from what the reflection we see would entail). Is this a legitimate mistake or am I mixing things up here?

Answer: No, his left eye is damaged the entire time. Watch carefully; it never switches to his right.

Deidra Goins

Question: What does Judas mean when he calls Christ a "jaded Mandarin"?

Answer: Judas is accusing Jesus of being an worn out public official, someone that perhaps has to be ousted out of office.

ChiChi

Answer: I dont think there was, it was just another guest star appearance.

-Gyro-

Question: Why was only the Northern Hemisphere covered in ice? We see in the first scene of the film that Antarctica was affected too, so why didn't the Southern Hemisphere enter a new ice age too?

Answer: Unlike the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere is mostly covered by ocean. Large water masses have a moderating influence on temperature, and are less prone to freezing.

Back in the Red (1) - S8-E1

Question: When Hollister enquires about what a female of Cat's species is like he responds that she's good in bed and then adds 'especially if you play the piano'. How does the piano reference figure into the joke?

Answer: A cat has six nipples. The joke is that rubbing/feeling them all would be similar to playing a piano.

Gary O'Reilly

Question: During the visit to the Oracle, she says "It looks like you're waiting for something" ... "Your next life, maybe". It is pointed out that if you die in the Matrix, your real body dies also, and that the machines "liquify the dead to feed the living". How does reincarnation become possible with these facts?

Answer: The Oracle knows that Neo has the potential to become the One, but has not yet fulfilled that potential. Whatever makes the rebirth of the One possible is not linked to the One's physical form, because there is no physical remnant of the original or other Ones, yet Neo is still born. Disconnect yourself from this idea that the physical body of an individual is key to its mind's reincarnation.

Phoenix

Answer: Maybe she was foreshadowing that Neo is actually going to be killed by Smith, then brought back to - his next - life by Trinity. When Smith unloads his gun into Neo, his heart stops for a while, which can be taken as he is dead. Then he immediately wakes up in his "next life" from Trinity's love. Note that as Neo gets up from the floor, his "chosen one" powers also fire up. Perhaps this resurrection (next life) was the thing he was supposedly "waiting for."

Dangar

Question: I was just wondering why Aragorn didn't claim his throne in Gondor earlier? we know he went of to be a ranger but why didn't he become king? is it because he was afraid he would turn evil?

Answer: It's not so much becoming evil that he fears, but that Isildur's weakness may run in his bloodline, leading him to fail at a critical moment. He questions his worthiness to lead the world of men.

Tailkinker

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