Question: When the shark attacks the helicopter why isn't the shark sliced in half when the rotor blades hit the water?
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: Was there any reason why the subway ghost was angry at Sam for being in the same train with him?
Question: Why did they always get in and out of the passenger side of the car on the Andy Griffith show?
Answer: Back in the 50's and early 60's it was a law that you had to get into and out of your car from the sidewalk side, so I assume they were following that procedure.
Answer: I found this online, as apparently others wondered the same thing. It is only one explanation but it seems plausible: (paraphrased) It could be equipment-related. Getting in on the passenger side can be shot as a locked-down tripod shot. Getting in on the driver side means the guy has to walk around the car, requiring at minimum a pan/tilt/zoom and probably a dolly shot to make it look good (they didn't have Steadicams back then, so any time the camera had to move, a dolly track had to built for it to roll on). That would add expense and time to what was really just an establishing shot. This was a low-budget TV show, and it was cheaper to shoot it that way.
Question: How was Jason able to find out where Alice Hardy (the girl who killed his mother) lives?
Answer: It's possible that there was a media blitz of her being the sole survivor of the massacre, including where she was residing. Jason may have been a psycho, but he might have enough intelligence to figure it out.
Question: Why would Nino come to visit her every day when she knows she is being watched?
Question: Is Chop Top the same character as the deranged hitchhiker from the first film?
Answer: No, the hitchhiker was killed in the first movie when he's hit by a truck. His corpse is the body that Leatherface uses as a puppet during the opening scene. (He's nicknamed "Nubbins.") Chop-Top is supposed to be one of Leatherface's other brothers. According to director Tobe Hooper, Chop-Top was away in Vietnam during the events of the first movie.
Question: How were the visual effects for the scary images in the tunnel accomplished?
Answer: Simple, movie projectors screened on the walls, all around them like a kaleidoscope.
Question: Why did later seasons have many of the episodes take place in New York?
Answer: The storyline was that Jessica was teaching classes in New York. However, after so many seasons and as ratings declined, it was probably to freshen up the series with a different locale, introduce new characters, and have a greater variety of situations in which Jessica could solve murders. It was already unbelievable that so many people could be murdered in the small town of Cabot Cove. Being in a large city like New York makes it a tiny bit more plausible.
Question: What was Lindsey referring to when she called Coffey "Roger Ramjet"?
Answer: Roger Ramjet was a 1960's American cartoon character who was extremely patriotic, but dimwitted.
Answer: She's comparing the overzealous, gung-ho Coffey to the 1960s cartoon character, Roger Ramjet, a frenetic, extremely patriotic, though not particularly bright American-hero guy. He worked for the U.S. government and routinely saved the world, using energy pills that gave him brief increased strength.
Answer: Dudley Do-right, Inspector Clouseau or Maxwell Smart, only in a '50's space cartoon, that's Roger Ramjet (I imagine Buzz Lightyear is the nearest pop cultural successor).
Question: What kind of disease did Tommy (one of Johnny's friends) succumb to?
Answer: It isn't said specifically, but Tommy does mention that "it's in here now" while pointing to his head. This suggests some sort of cancer has spread to his brain.
Answer: It's implied to be a combination of brain damage (Johnny suggests this to Miguel earlier) and cancer that spread to the brain. In real life the actor suffered kidney and liver failure and died not long after.
Question: Why does the Chief fake being deaf for much of the film?
Answer: It's better explained in the novel, where the Chief is the narrator. Essentially, he played deaf and dumb, so he'd be left alone by the Nurse and the staff; seeing what they did to the other patients, he figured the less he was noticed, the better. In this way, he is privy to a lot of the seedier goings-on, since they don't think he can hear what they're saying or tell anyone what he's seen.
Question: Why does General Ross keep trying to kill Hulk?
Answer: The Hulk is a giant brute who smashes everything in his path when he is angry. In Ang Lee's "Hulk," General Ross, played by Sam Elliot, explains it to his daughter.
Answer: Because he feels the Hulk is a threat to all life on Earth, and particularly his daughter's close relationship with Bruce Banner puts her at risk when Hulk enters the equation.
Why does Ross think the hulk is a threat?
Because the Hulk is nearly mindless and goes on destructive rampages with high risk of collateral damage.
If that's the case, what's the problem with the way general Ross judges the hulk?
Question: How accurate is this film in relation to the actual Battle of Thermopylae?
Answer: It's based on Frank Miller's comic 300, rather than Herodotus' recounting of the actual battle. Almost nothing is accurate beyond Leonidas leading 300 Spartans to the Hot Gates and fending off Persians until Ephilates (not a hunchback) exposes the goat path. Xerxes is certainly not a tall Latino man, the Persians never used elephants, rhinos and explosives or mutants and Leonidas' former co-king actually sided with the Persians after getting kicked out of Sparta. In addition, 1000 Thespians also stood beside the Spartans and also died besides them. The Persians also did not have an 'inside man' in the Spartan government nor did they pay off the Ephors to tell Leonidas not to march; in reality it was a religious festival so the army had to stay home. Gorgo was also an accomplished wrestler and charioteer and would not have been raped so easily, especially by a politician.
Answer: Remember that even in the film, it's not really treated as a true story. It's Dilios telling a propaganda tale meant to boost the spirits of his fellow Greek warriors at Plataea.
Answer: According to the director it is 90 percent accurate. But in reality there are many things going on in this movie that are totally fantastical. One of the biggest problems are the costumes, diplomacy and tactical situation of the actual battle (the 300 did not in fact stand alone). Also, the movie includes elephants, which the Persians did not use in that battle, and certainly not rhinoceros. Also, Xerxes' portayal is completely fictional.
Question: How much material was added for Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies that wasn't in the original novel?
Answer: Quite a bit, though much of what was added was alluded to in the film as being done elsewhere, especially scenes with Gandalf. This was likely to pad the length, as the book is rather short (around a quarter the length of the Lord of the Rings). Galadriel, Radagast, Saruman, and the Necromancer are not seen in the books, though Radagast and the Necormancer mentioned. Azog is already dead by this time. Tauriel is a new character. Legolas is never mentioned, but as Mirkwood is his home, he was likely there. Dain Ironfoot is mentioned as there, but isn't seen doing anything except taking kingship after the death of Thorin. The White Council scene is also mentioned but not seen.
Question: Why was Lex Luthor absent in this movie? Not only he didn't appear but wasn't even mentioned. Did Gene Hackman refuse to reprise the role in this movie?
Answer: There were rumors that Hackman was angry with the Salkind Brothers (the producers) for firing director Richard Donner, though Hackman later disputed saying that. His explanation, though he may have been downplaying the real reason, was that he had a number of other movie projects at the time, and he also did not wish to continually play the same villain in an ongoing movie series.
Question: How did Hannibal Lector get that pen in his mouth when his whole body was under restraints?
Answer: When the curator of the insane asylum was in his cell, he had a pen and contract for him to sign. When he was called away, he forgot about it. Hannibal was restrained, when the curator left, the restrains were most likely taken off. That's when he grabbed the pen. He had only the metal clip in his mouth, which he used to pick the lock on his cuffs.
Question: Given the Tasks are the main point of the Triwizard Tournament, they're pretty poor spectator sports - one is an hour underwater and another is in a dark maze. So all the overseas students spend most of a year at Hogwarts to watch three short rounds of a competition, two of which happen out of sight?
Answer: This is better understood in the book. The students were not invited there solely to watch the Triwizard Tournament. It was also a year-long educational and cultural experience. Dumbledore revived the tournament in its original form for a specific purpose - his secret goal was to build an international wizarding community to help fight Voldemort, who he was certain would return and spread his evil beyond the U.K. Bringing the Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students to Hogwarts for the school year was intended to build lasting friendships and alliances and for them to work cooperatively. Also, the original competition was never designed to entertain a crowd. It was a dangerous, life-threatening event that tested competitors' courage and abilities under extreme conditions, That is hardly boring and would likely keep spectators engaged long enough to see if the champions survived, even if some events weren't entirely visible.
Not sure where that is in the books, other than it being a genuinely good strategy, but the original question does seem to have a point - if you're going to collate three communities to watch a very spread-out version of the Olympic Games, why select two games where the action is entirely invisible to the audience other than who eventually emerges from the lake/maze first? It's like staging the Indy 500 when the crowd can only see the podium and not the track.
It is part of the book's overall plot, and, in the movie, Hermione mentions its purpose is about "magical cooperation." I don't recall that Dumbledore personally selected the events. He revived the original TriWizard Tournament, albeit with safety modifications. The real answer, however, is that this is a book/movie. J.K. Rowling crafted the plot to make it exciting and suspenseful and to allow for Voldemort's ultimate plan at the story's end to unfold, hidden from Dumbledore, the Hogwarts staff, and Ministry officials, who, naturally, would intervene. Otherwise, how could Harry be captured, Cedric killed, Harry be part of Voldemort's resurrection, and the climatic duel with the Dark Lord in the graveyard take place? Sometimes facts/reality/logic, etc. are suspended for the sake of the story.
Question: Given the Triwizard tasks are the Main Events and huge spectator stands are erected to watch them... why are two of the tasks set up so as to be largely invisible to any spectators? If I'm from Durmstrang and I've failed to get selected, I spend a year at Hogwarts for the purposes of watching a classmate disappear underwater for an hour and, months later, go into a maze. It would be like camping out at a Super Bowl stadium for a year to watch three matches, two of which are held in the dark.
Answer: The students were there for more than just to watch the competition. It was a year-long cultural and educational experience centered around the TriWizard Tournament. Dumbledore's true intent in reviving the competition, however, was to bring international wizarding students to Hogwarts as a means to build lasting friendships and alliances to help fight Voldemort. This was an ancient competition, which had been banned because it was so dangerous. It originally wasn't designed as a spectator sport but as an extreme test of courage and ability. There are many types of competitions that people follow where they cannot watch/see the entire event, such as car and bike rallies, equestrian cross-country jumping, marathons, etc.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: The rotors break as soon as they hit the water.
BaconIsMyBFF