Question: What exactly is the 'Ring of Fire?'
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Question: How can hyperspace work without hitting or going through stars? The Spacecrafts don't turn, so how does it work? This is a problem with most movies with a hyper drive scene.
Question: Obi-wan ordered the people on the ship to "send no reply" when the cries for help were being received from Naboo ("It sounds like bait, to establish a connection trace," he explained). That being the case, how did Darth Maul know they were on Tattoine? Darth Sidious even asked him, "Are you sure your trace is correct?" or something like that.
Chosen answer: As a Sith, Maul has methods of tracking that would not be available to non-Force users. When Obi-wan ordered them not to reply, they're not aware of any possible Sith involvement - his precautions would be secure against technological means of determining location, but not against a Sith Lord.
Answer: It is stated in the novel that they did send a brief response. I see no reason why they could not have defied Obi-Wan's advice and done the same off screen in the movie.
Question: Does anyone remember how Kenneth (Ving Rhames) got cut? I thought he was bitten, but he never died so I must have missed something.
Chosen answer: He got cut fighting the zombie in the water fountain at the mall's front door, on a piece of metal that was part of the fountain.
Question: Several times, when the family is at a baseball game, the announcer will say something like, "Oh, Doctor, we've got a good game...". What's the "Oh Doctor" part about? Is that something that really happens, or a joke?
Answer: That announcer is a parody of veteran baseball announcer Keith Jackson, who is know for saying "Oh doctor" quite often in his commentaries.
Question: When Strider meets up with the Hobbits at Bree, how does he know that they are looking for Gandalf? Or that Gandalf's not coming? Or about the ring and the Nazgul?
Answer: Because Gandalf told him about them. He doesn't know for certain that Gandalf is not coming - his words are "You can no longer wait for the Wizard, Frodo. They are coming." In other words, he knows that Frodo is in danger because he carries the Ring, and so they cannot wait for Gandalf to show. As for his knowledge of the Ring, his eyesight is keen and quick enough to see what it was that Frodo inadvertently threw up in the air when he fell to the floor in the common room, and the results when it slipped onto Frodo's finger. He would have guessed the rest.
Question: What's the extent of 'Blink's' powers? I know he/she(comic) never sleeps so he doesn't get knocked out by the 'tranquilizer' but what else can he do?
Answer: There's nothing to link the character seen in the film to Blink the comic character - the fact that he's seen using his powers by blinking is tenuous to say the least, particularly as the comic Blink doesn't do that. Blink the comic character has the ability to open teleport gates, and seems to able to use those gates to physically disrupt solid objects. She has lilac coloured skin and does sleep. The character seen in the film bears no resemblance to any X-man seen in the comics - he appears to be entirely an invention of the film makers.
Question: Why is Tweek always so nervous and jumpy?
Answer: His father owns a coffee shop, and in the episode where the Starbucks ripoff is moving in, it shows that his parents give him coffee all the time. So it's just the effect of the caffeine.
Question: During the ending sequence (with the Alpha) the Red October is running on the screws instead of the caterpillar. Now, we know the "reactor leak" was fake...and we know that the caterpillar was working normally (right after Ramius says "let us turn South" you see the Red October dive over a canyon wall with the screws not moving hence the caterpillar running). Wouldn't it have been wiser to run on the caterpillar during the ending?
Answer: The caterpillar drive was inoperable. The reactor leak was staged by the defecting officers, but the sabotage to the caterpillar (by the undercover KGB agent posing as the cook) was real.
Chosen answer: No, (mentioned in the book, not the film), the caterpillar can only drive Red October at a little over 1/2 her top speed. Speed is far more important than silence at this point.
Answer: The caterpillar was repaired but later after the crew exited screws were on and caterpillar was operation. The Russian fleet was still on there tail you still should be on silent drive. Movie shows them running on normal propulsion. Possible movie boo boo. Makes no sense.
The Caterpillar is not silent, it just does not sound like a sub. This is how the Dallas was able to track Red October even when it was running on the caterpillar. The Dallas just need to know what it sounded like. Presumably The Alpha knows what to listen for so speed would be important.
Question: In the scene where the main characters are talking about their peculiar behaviours i.e.- "Stokely, since when did you start liking boys" and "What, Delilah, you haven't gone without hairspray and contacts since birth". Can anyone please tell me what Delilah means when she says to Casey- "And Casey, since when did you become Sigourney Weaver?" I have never understood what it means but I think it might have some reference to the movie "Alien".
Answer: That's exactly right. Weaver fought aliens in all the "Alien" movies.
Question: I didn't quite understand the ending. Was Angela fooling Roy the whole time, or did she decide to after she met him? Were Frank and Angela working together?
Answer: Angela was working with Frank the whole time, she wasn't actually his daughter. Roy's shrink (Dr. Klein) & Chuck Frechette (the money laundering guy) were in on the con as well.
If Chuck was also in on the con then why was Frank so beaten up? And why would they bring up the whole talk about the ashtray from the gift store and how the camera in there had seen Angela if Chuck was already supposed to know about it all?
Their whole plan was to get his vault password, how to get it? By making everything looks real. The death of Chuck -> Roy says he is the one who killed him -> His "daughter" is running because she is the main suspect -> Roy gives his password to the shrink so he can give it to his "daughter" That means Chuck, Frank, Angela, The fake police men, and the shrink are working together.
Question: At the end of the movie why does the main villain (the one who makes all the ransom calls) wink at Jackie Chan while holding him at gunpoint?
Answer: It doesn't have any real significance. Just his way of letting Lee know he's in charge and happy about it.
Question: The last 2 times I've watched the ending, the undersea life forms send out a massive tsunami to all continents to wipe us out, only to rescind it right when it is about to strike land. I never remember this being in the original version of the movie, although I was much younger then. Was this ending changed after it was released, or was it always there? And if it was changed, why did they go with the original ending, because this new one is much better?
Answer: The Tsunami only exists in the director's cut of the film. Due to the length of the film, James Cameron was asked to cut down the length. The ending has, effectively, two seperate strands, the tsunami strand and the 'human' strand of the core relationship between Bud and Lindsey. As losing the relationship strand would have left things hanging, the choice was made to remove the tsunami side of things. The director's cut allowed Cameron to restore his original vision, which, as you said, is a distinct improvement.
Question: In the Full House episode "Taking the Plunge", after Michelle comments how D.J. has broken up with Nelson twice, Stephanie tells Nelson something like, "Man I've heard of on and off again relationships but you guys should be related to the clapper." Then she claps her hands. What did she mean by that?
Answer: She's referring to The Clapper, a device you plug into any electrical device, such as a lamp or radio. When you clap your hands, it turns on. Clap again, it turns off. Popularized by the "Clap on, clap off, clap on clap off, the clapper" jingle in the commercials.
Question: In the scene where Lord Farquaad and the gingerbread man are talking, they start talking about the 'Muffin Man'. What is this all about?
Answer: It is an old children's fairy tale (just like almost everything else in the movie). For further information, check this website: http://www.kididdles.com/mouseum/m027.html.
Question: What's with the East Indian Trading Company? Norrington and Elizabeth mention it. I'm also figuring that the scars and the "P" brand Jack showed Elizabeth have something to do with it?
Answer: Basically, they were "THE" trading company in the 17th century. Most of the shipping of the world was either through them or one of their other holdings. For more information about the East Indian Trading Company, try this link: http://india_resource.tripod.com/eastindia.html. The story behind the "P" scar is that if a pirate was caught by a the EITC, they would put a "P" brand on their forehead, to let everyone know that they person was a pirate.
Question: Some people have said that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the "Rings" novels to make a point regarding 20th century society. What is it?
Chosen answer: The people who have said such a thing are incorrect. Tolkien stated that the work's inspiration was primarily linguistic in nature, and strongly disagreed with the meanings that other people saw in the books - the Ring as allegory for the nuclear bomb, et cetera. Tolkien's exact words, from a foreword to one of the editions of the books: "As for any inner meaning of 'message', it has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical....I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."
Question: What does Whoopi mean at the end when saying she is a 'headliner'?
Chosen answer: A headliner is someone who receives top billing for a show or concert. She is the main attraction, and probably has a lesser known band/act perform before her, or "open for her".
Question: I've never understood how the humans have such hi-tech technology. All of the hovercraft, APUs etc. How did they get them in the first place? The way I understand it is that the machines and the humans had a massive war at some point in the early 21st century (according to Morpheus) and, although the war is still going on now, the machines have effectively won. Humans forced into one city underground and the machines with all their...machines. I don't understand how the humans can use hovercraft, guns, etc. when surely they would have all had to have been made while they were in their little city.
Chosen answer: If you watch the Animatrix it explains the whole plot, half of the machinery was constructed in Zion, while all the hovercraft's are what remains from the day before the war, and the APUs look like they have been constructed in Zion and used for construction, the guns and ammo packs are mountable.
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Chosen answer: It's the name the fish have given to the volcano in the tank, a volcano which can be "turned on" to produce a stream of bubbles (which look like a ring of fire when seen at night through the red glow the volcano produces).
Phil C.
The ring of fire is what comes out of the volcano but they gave it a name that sounds Hawaiian, I'm assuming; Mount Wanhanaluki or something like that.
Aww. You missed another joke! It's Mount Wanahakalugi, or "Want to hock a loogie", ie. Spit.