Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: How is the "no fighting on holy ground" rule enforced? I really can't see a guy like the Kurgan, who seems to have no sense of honor to speak of, following the rule willfully, unless there was some severe punishment for breaking the rule.

Answer: What the punishment is isn't shown in this movie, but since even the Kurgan follows it, it must be high. In Highlander 3 we see that fighting on holy ground at least destroys the weapons they are fighting with (although only Macleod's for some reason), it's possible the ultimate penalty is given when an immortal kills another immortal on holy ground. A good guess is the penalty is death.

lionhead

Answer: The "No Fighting on Holy Ground" is considered a sacred rule. Like being quiet in church, a funeral or any religious service. If any immortal would break this rule he was not be honorable and not subject to any of the other rules. Like fighting one on one and using hired thugs to capture an immortal holding him down to take his head.

Question: At the end of the movie, it is not Dana Carvey getting run into by the car, but it is a stunt double, as he has a different style of hair than Carvey. However, even after the take with the car accident, the stunt double is still seen lying on the road in front of the car, even after the take has already finished with the accident. Why does the stunt double need to be there in place of Carvey, being that there is no danger to Carvey in this situation?

Rollie55

Answer: Either consistency with the prior accident shot, or else simply that stunt performers and stand-ins are cheaper than stars, and are often utilised for shots where the main actor doesn't *need* to be physically present - shots from afar, behind, etc. For example the multiple mistakes in the widescreen versions of Friends where it becomes clear the person at the edge of shot who in the original versions was just seen as "the back of Monica's head" for example. Wasn't actually Courteney Cox but a stand-in: https://www.moviemistakes.com/picture174481.

Jon Sandys

Question: After Laurie stabs Michael in the chest when he attacks her in the closet, she turns her back on him and lays down for a rest. This happens after she saw him survive getting stabbed in the neck with a knitting needle, so why would she be so certain he's dead? Why not either make certain he's dead by, say, taking the knife and stabbing him in the head, or just get out of there?

Answer: Because you might not die from a wound in the neck. So she thought a knife to the chest was enough to kill him.

Rob245

Answer: After publicly disagreeing with the producers' decision to fire Richard Donner, they reduced her role to nothing more than a cameo.

ctown28

Question: Why didn't Harry simply refuse to take part in the Tri-Wizard tournament? Even though his name came out of the goblet, he could have said no.

Answer: No, he had to participate because the goblet of fire forced him into a "magical contract." The goblet itself is probably partially sentient and would punish anyone who didn't participate after being selected by the goblet. How this works exactly is never explained, but the tournament judges were pretty clear that he had no choice but to participate.

lionhead

What would have happened to Harry if he broke the contract?

Broken magical contracts usually resulted in death; a good deterrent for not breaking them. Keep in mind, however, Harry (in the book at least), like many students, very much wanted to compete in the tournament despite the danger, but initially couldn't because he was underage. He still wanted to compete, despite knowing the selection process was rigged.

raywest

It's never explained.

lartaker1975

Question: How did Eddie survive his first encounter with Pennywise when he was in the school shower room?

Answer: Pennywise likes to build up the fear of his victims before killing them. He allowed Eddie to escape.

lionhead

We're All Crazy Sometimes - S4-E11

Question: A woman is on a breathing tube and she is in a coma. She later undergoes an operation and wakes up due to a dopamine inflow. She is talking normally although she still has the breathing mechanism (albeit not connected by a hose) in her neck. How can she talk normally with that tube still in her?

toroscan

Answer: That's a tracheal tube. Most people can talk perfectly normal with tracheal tubes. Check out Mattie Stepanek for one of the most famous examples. He had a tracheal tube for most of his life and never had problems with speech.

Got it. Many thanks.

toroscan

Question: It is revealed at the end of the film that Gordon is in fact the true Fester. However, all the photos and Gomez's home movie show young Fester as being completely bald. Then how did Gordon manage to have a full head of hair which he had to shave off in order to initially pose as Fester?

Answer: Presumably when Fester was lost in the Bermuda Triangle, whatever supernatural forces caused him to lose his memory also made him grow hair. This gets reversed at the end of the movie when he's zapped by lightning, restoring his memories and destroying his hair follicles as well.

Answer: I guess we assume he always shaved his head.

Brian Katcher

Show generally

Question: I've been told stargate Atlantis was cancelled because it was too expensive to make. Is this true?

Answer: True, and the reason is complicated. Production costs were rising and it was announced that Season 5 would be the last, but there was to be a direct-to-DVD movie after the series ended, with more movies to follow. The movie was never made, and while there were later discussions about a revived Season 6, the MGM studio was undergoing financial difficulties, eventually going bankrupt. The project, after numerous failed attempts to negotiate with other production companies, was eventually shelved.

raywest

Question: Why does Owen visit Nicky at the hotel where he stays with Jess? And why does Nicky get tensed as though they are strangers?

Answer: Because Owen is really Nicky's father, Owen. He was making sure he stayed focused on the con job, not his girlfriend. That's why Nicky was tense, like a stage play you're supposed to remain in character not matter the situation.

Question: When John sees a group of SWAT guys head to the building, why does he react by saying, "No, no, no!" Wasn't having the police come to help exactly what he wanted?

Answer: As you may have noticed in the immediate run-up to this, he has been trying to warn them against taking direct action. He has tried to tell them that they are fighting heavily armed and highly trained terrorists who are well-prepared to handle a small group of policemen overtly entering through the front door. So, he was saying that because he knew the SWAT men were about to get hurt, or worse, in their idiotic attempt to, as Dep. Chief Dwayne puts it, "kick ass."

Answer: He may have wanted the police to be there, but not to simply storm the building in a spontaneous, all-out assault without fully knowing who and what they were up against, lacking a strategic, coordinated plan or considering all the dangers and risk to the hostages.

raywest

Answer: Because that's exactly what Hans wanted the police to do. By entering they were making his plan easier.

Ssiscool

Question: Why is Teasle so against allowing Rambo to come to town to get something to eat at the beginning? And what's with Galt being so harsh and brutal to Rambo when he's in prison, and then becoming obsessed with wanting to kill Rambo after he escapes? What is the character motivation for Galt hating Rambo so much?

Answer: Teasle considered Rambo to be a vagrant who might cause trouble and wanted him out of town. Galt is a sadistic, cruel thug with a badge who enjoys abusing others. After Rambo overpowers him and his deputies and then escapes, Galt is furious, and, probably humiliated, wants revenge.

raywest

Question: Why does Landa allow Shosanna to go free at the beginning instead of shooting her and killing her?

Answer: Because he's arrogant, and it's all a game to him. He figures he'll get another shot at capturing her, so he decides to let her go (maybe also out of recognition of her bravery), to continue the chase another time. Why not? She's one fugitive on the run, and he has time and the entire apparatus of the German state at his disposal.

Answer: It could be a compassionate act, though leaving her alive as the lone survivor after seeing her family killed is also cruel and inflicts life-long emotional pain. He may have also have had moral issues about killing a defenseless woman, even a Jewish one, or considered her too insignificant to bother with.

raywest

Question: Why does it take Taylor so long for him to figure out he's really still on Earth? Shouldn't the fact that the apes all speak perfect English be a dead giveaway?

Answer: This is an issue with the "Planet of the Apes" films. The astronauts never question why the apes speak English, why all animals (like horses) are identical to ones on Earth, the vegetation is the same, the star constellations have not changed, etc. You really just have to attribute it to a "suspension of disbelief" where we are expected to accept the premise that the main character does not work out the truth until the big "reveal" at the end of the film.

raywest

Answer: At the time, it was a standard film convention to have the characters speak the language of the country that produces the film. Sure, they could all speak "ape", but that would have been an added layer of complexity (and pre-production) that just wasn't done in Hollywood at that time. Even most WWII films had the Germans, French, etc, all speak English. But to give an in-film explanation: he's on a planet where apes evolved from humans just like him, so maybe he just assumed that English had evolved there, as well. In a universe as vast as ours, it's actually a statistical certainty that English has independently arisen on another planet.

Show generally

Question: TV Tropes says there's an episode where multiple tornadoes come down on Earl's hometown, one after another - anybody know what that episode was?

Answer: Sounds like s04e11, "Nature's Game Show."

Bishop73

Question: Watson gets absorbed into the Darkness, becoming a part of it, so how was he able to appear and open the attic window to let Sara and Eddie escape?

Answer: The Darkness was so focused on Sara and Eddie that Watson used his few seconds of freedom to help them.

Question: How did Hank's wife Janet survive all those years in the quantum realm?

Rob245

Answer: Hank asks Janet a question about the energy from her hands, and she hints that the quantum realm changes you: not just adaptation but evolution (or mutation!) which gave her certain abilities which may have helped her survive. It's also hinted that she was involved with/accepted into a civilization which existed in the quantum realm and you see a city in the distance as they depart.

Sierra1

Answer: The answer to pretty much any question beginning with "Has David Lynch ever explained _______?" is: no.

Question: How does Jake survive despite being seen eaten by the shark?

Answer: We never see Jake "eaten", he is merely shown being dragged underwater by the shark. Off screen, the shark simply let go of Jake and didn't kill him. In a movie full of factual errors and plot holes, this bit is actually somewhat realistic. Sharks typically do not eat humans, but will maul people on occasion and let go, presumably because they don't like the taste. How Jake survives underwater for minutes on end is not addressed. Originally, Jake was meant to be killed by the shark but for whatever reason, it was decided that Jake should survive and make a surprise appearance after the shark has been killed.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: His decision to retire wasn't related to this film; it just happened to be his last. He was working on other projects (mostly writing), and wanted to focus on those. He didn't "officially" announce his retirement from acting until 2008.

Answer: As the other fine answers indicated, it was multiple reasons. An additional one was his health. Hackman said his doctor told him his heart wasn't healthy enough to withstand the stress and physical rigors involved in filming movies.

raywest

Answer: It was said, that he got tired of doing movies where everything and everyone explodes and dies a bloody death.

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