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: Why did the elders leave to start their own town?

Answer: The elders, who had met at a grief support group, had all lost a loved one from a violent tragedy. Edward Walker, who was immensely rich, suggested starting the isolated village as a means to escape modern societal violence.

raywest

Question: The title - what does it mean/refer to?

Answer: In the film, it's a phrase used to describe the job of an air traffic controller. They're responsible for maneuvering the airplanes around in the skies. "Tin" refers to the airplanes and they're moving, or "pushing", them around. I tried to find if this was a real reference or phrase used in air traffic controllers prior to 1999, or just made up for the movie. It seems it's a phrase made up for the movie (but I can't say for certain as I have no experience in that field).

Bishop73

Question: The villain is driving off with Morgan Freeman running right behind him with a gun in his hand. Why didn't Freeman try and shoot the tyres? (01:10:00)

oobs

Answer: Shooting out of the tires on a fleeing vehicle is not a viable, realistic strategy. It is a movie cliche akin to shooting out a padlock or saving a hanging man by shooting the rope. It is not something people do in real life and it is therefore realistic that Morgan Freeman wouldn't attempt to do so in this film.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: I don't get it. When Peter and Aunt May are at the bank discussing savings with the teller, Aunt May suddenly kicks the teller. What was the point of that?

Answer: May says she's giving piano lessons again to try and convince the bank teller she's making enough money to refinance her home. Peter absent-mindedly says "You are?", which reveals that May may have been telling a fib. She was trying to kick Pete to signal him to not say anything, but accidentally kicked the teller instead.

TedStixon

Question: What happened to the one Native American that Governor Ratcliffe shot? I know he went back to the village for treatment but what happened to him afterwards? Did he die?

Answer: This is a question the movie chose not to answer. It could be assumed he died as the Powhatans did not have the knowledge to treat gunshot wounds. However, there were cases even as far back as this time of individuals being able to survive gunshot wounds as long as the bleeding could be stopped and infection didn't spread. As the Powhatans did know herbs in the land to treat infections and did know how to mend bleeding; it is also possible he lived though he would have walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

Evolution of the Daleks (2) - S3-E5

Question: When the Daleks sabotage Human Dalek Sec and the Doctor's treatment to turn the dead human bodies into Dalek-Human hybrids, why does the Doctor not help Dalek Sec escape along with the other human prisoners? If he truly believed that Sec had changed (becoming less Dalek and more human), enough to voluntarily help him with the hybrid formula, then why not try and get him out as well?

Dinner Date - S2-E10

Question: When Melissa Gilbert yells "daddy" and runs towards the ambulance to see her father, starting to go down the porch steps. Then we quickly see her father being loaded into the ambulance, then the camera returns to Melissa. She's down the steps entirely and starts to run to her dad and runs right into Roy's arms. He doesn't bend down to hold/hug her at all, she goes right into his arms as though she's the same height as Roy. There is a wall aside of the steps but she's nowhere near it when Roy hugs her. How is she the same height as Roy?

Answer: There's actually a YouTube clip of this. There's a couple of things to consider. First, when Melissa runs towards Roy, he does bend down a little and then picks her up. I also noticed both actors are filmed from the waist up. When Melissa is running to Roy, she is taller than what she'd normally be. It looks like she might be running on an unseen raised platform. This would be done probably to make it easier to pick up Melissa, and also to frame the actors in the scene so they are more head-to-head, and both are more visible. Otherwise, Melissa would be much lower in the shot.

raywest

Answer: The movie doesn't give an answer, since it doesn't really matter in the context of the story. But in all likelihood, the family will continue to reside in the mansion, at least for the time being. Winston loves the Supers, so he'd probably be more than happy to let them stay there.

TedStixon

Question: Did everyone in the alternate timeline die in the end? It looked like they did.

Answer: They didn't die. Like Shrek, they were just transported back to the original timeline but in the minds of their original selves as well except for Shrek who signed to contract that brought them there.

Question: After the skull is placed on the body, what did Marion notice about the eyes?

Answer: Smoke started coming out of them.

lionhead

Answer: I've read that the opening scene of "Endgame" with Clint and his family was originally going to be in this film. Ant-Man's inclusion seems doubtful since the post-credits scene for "Ant-Man and the Wasp" takes place at the same time as the climax for this film and Ant-Man is on the other side of the country doing his own thing.

Phaneron

Question: Why change Ra's group's name to League of Shadows? League of Assassins sounds better.

Rob245

Answer: The group has often gone by different names. For example, it was the Society of Shadows in Batman The Animated Series.

Question: Robin Hood and Little John steal Prince John's bags of gold by a rope being pulled by Alan-a-Dale. I have a problem with that because there were a lot a bags of gold tied to the rope. Wouldn't that add a lot of pounds to the rope's weight, making it difficult to pull?

Answer: There's no way to accurately answer this because it's an animated film. The norms of real life do not apply here. The characters are cartoons, and they can do things that real humans cannot, such as easily lifting heavy loads.

raywest

Answer: I think the problem in trying to answer this question is "how much do the bags weigh?" How many coins are in there and how much do the coins weigh? Say a coin weighed 5 grams. 1,000 coins would weigh a little over 11 pounds. We see a character carrying 3 bags and a lot of other characters able to carry one bag, even while using a crutch. So I don't think the bags weighed more than 15 pounds and you never really see more than 20 bags on the rope and there's several characters pulling on the rope. To Raywest's point, too many silly things happen where the weight of the gold on the rope shouldn't be an issue, even if the bags weighed 50-100 pounds. Prince John's foot gets caught and they pull him and his bed to the edge. The Rhino's crash Prince John through the gate and brick wall and he's just fine. Robin Hood shoots an arrow that picks 3 characters up and pins them to a post.

Bishop73

Question: A few questions about this movie. Firstly, Syndrome's ultimate plan was first testing his prototypes on other supers, using the next had the last been defeated, and all leading up to the final face off with Mr. Incredible. What would Syndrome had done had Mr. Incredible denied the opportunity from Mirage of coming to the island to do the hero work as devised and everything he planned had been spoiled? Secondly, when Mr. Incredible was captured and held hostage in the round electric type of cell, did Syndrome plan for him to just hang there until he died? Thirdly, what made Mirage suddenly have a change of heart after all the working she's done with Syndrome and killing off supers in the past?

Answer: Syndrome's plan worked because even though the superheroes were retired a lot of them missed the old days and wanted to do real superhero work. This opportunity lured a lot of them to the island, including Mr. Incredible. If he hadn't gone there Syndrome would have found others. He kept Mr. Incredible locked up there until his plans of sending the robot were executed. Afterwards he probably would have killed him, perhaps by turning the robot loose on him again but this time in public. Mirage got second doubts when she realised Syndrome didn't care about her or the lives of innocents, I'm guessing a lot of information was kept from her and she simply thought Syndrome was after power and not petty revenge on superheroes.

lionhead

I'm a little confused about the second and third answers. We saw that Syndrome was trying to destroy the robot while mimicking it (really, using his remote) while he meanwhile had the Incredibles held hostage at his island. How would he have sent Mr. Incredible to the public to be killed by the robot if it were destroyed? Also, if Mirage thought the superhero revenge on Mr. Incredible was minor and the other supers he was killing were innocent, why did she decide to be his assistant and help him in the first place?

I'm sure his first encounter with the robot was just for show, letting the people think he beat it, without actually damaging it. The point was that the robot could not be defeated by any superhero and then everybody would flock to him and he could sell his inventions to make everybody "super" so superheroes will not be necessary anymore. It's somewhere along the lines of that anyway, I've never actually known what his actual plan was. The point was to make an unbeatable robot that only he could defeat by cheating, then sell his inventions to everybody. That I'm sure of. How he was going to take his revenge on supes to the next stage I don't know. Mirage wasn't innocent, she knew supes were being killed by the robot but she thought he did it for power. She also started to like Mr. Incredible I think. Once she realised he didn't care about her or literally anyone else she decided to betray him. Maybe she found out what real power is, and he didn't have it.

lionhead

Question: Corben and Leeloo fly to Fhloston Paradise planet in spaceship at hyper-speed (around speed of light). And the flight takes long enough for the spaceship crew to put passengers asleep. Let's say the flight at hyper-speed takes 2 hours. That means it would take 2 hours for radio signal originated from Fhloston to reach Earth. But 1) After Corben enters his hotel room on Fhloston he gets call from his mother who is on Earth. And they are talking over the phone in real time with no signal delay! 2) President and his cabinet - who are on Earth - are observing events on Fhloston via radio with no signal delay! How that might be? I realise that movie events take place in the future where new advanced communication technologies might be invented. But the speed of light is a universal constant that can't be changed or exceeded. So it would still take 2 hours (in our example) for the signal to be exchanged between planets. How come Earth and Fhloston communicate each other with no signal delay?

grrench

Answer: I think the issue here is that you are trying to apply real-world logic to an overly fantastical film. There's not necessarily a feasible or realistic explanation... but that's okay, because the film doesn't need one. It's just not that type of movie. And that's part of the fun of this film. It's a wacky, crazy movie. (Not to mention, instantaneous communication when there should be a delay is a pretty common trope in all of sci-fi.) You just gotta go with it. The best possible explanation I could give you is "futuristic sci-fi technology somehow makes it possible." But again, it's just not that type of film where it really matters.

TedStixon

Question: I don't understand Max's punishment. In the ending, Max says "a month in the hole", but his father tells him that birthdays, holidays, and summers are cancelled. He also tells his son that "the devil lives inside him", to no longer call him "Dad", takes away his electronics, locks him in his room, and says that he will always love him, but no longer likes him. So, is Max grounded for life or is it "a month in the hole"? Are his birthdays, holidays, and summers really cancelled? And does anyone else find this ending to a comedy actually depressing because of the way Max's father treats him in the end?

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: Max's dad probably over-reacted out of anger/rage over the drone and destroyed room and might have made changes after he cooled off. Plus, it was meant to be humorous. A "month in the hole" was immediately imposed; no more birthdays, holidays, summer, etc. would refer to after the month in the hole. Max's dad did not say he couldn't attend school-related events, such as the "Rock of Ages" show. Parents are supposed to give their kids unconditional love. A father can continue to love his son while disliking his behavior. Max's dad may have been unduly harsh (again, out of anger), but he still loves Max - which shouldn't be depressing. I don't think Max's dad said he was grounded for life, just grounded. However, Lucas told his parents that Max was grounded for life - an exaggeration.

KeyZOid

So, even after being grounded for a month, he can't celebrate his birthday or summer vacation?

Not necessarily. Max's dad said those things in the heat of the moment. Although it is possible that Max's dad meant what he said (at least at the time), it isn't probable. The severity of the punishment given to Max was a reflection of how angry Mr. Newman was. A proud and loving father who tells his son "I will always love you..." is more likely to forgive Max so that they can return to their good father/son relationship.

Answer: He is grounded for a month, although he cannot have birthday parties or summers or anything.

So, even after being grounded for a month, he can't celebrate his birthday or summer vacation?

Cody Fairless-Lee

It's entirely understandable that Max's dad is totally peed off with Max for what happened with the drone and accidentally thrashing the house and probably said a lot of what he did in the heat of the moment. To totally deny the kid a vacation is one thing (and makes sense considering the grounding is for a month as the time frame is around that time of year) but a birthday as well? What the dad probably meant was no birthday party (and no fun) for that year, its not like four years later and "we're not going on vacation this year because you did something stupid when you were 12."

Neil Jones

And Mr. Newman saying, "No more summers" is probably meant to be an exaggeration to get across to Max the authority he has over him and ability to stop him from engaging in fun activities. Similarly, Mrs. Newman said, "Winter is coming!" The restrictions they put on Max might make him feel as though there are no fun, sunny, carefree days. The parents obviously cannot CHANGE what season it is, but they can impose restrictions that will make him feel as though it is a different season.

KeyZOid

Question: When the gang kicked Scrappy out, how did he get to Spooky Island and learn about the Daemon Ritus?

Answer: It's never explained. We're just left to assume he was somehow able to.

Question: Why does Stu go along with Billy's plan? He's got nothing to gain. That and why kill Sidney? She can't help what her mother did with Billy's father.

Rob245

Answer: Stu is simply crazy. Probably brought down by Billy, sucked into his psychosis, sometimes that can happen if Stu is mentally unstable and easily manipulated. We don't know where his instability comes from, but its positive Billy has had a bad influence on him and brought him down this path of killing.

lionhead

Answer: To add to the other answer, Stu briefly mentions "peer pressure" as his reason for going along with Billy's plan. Sure, he's being slightly sarcastic when he says it... but I think that it's a hint to his motivation. He's already somewhat unstable (his hyperactive personality throughout the film backs this up), and I think the implication is that Billy gave him the final "push" that put him over the edge into full-on violent insanity.

TedStixon

Answer: Some people are influenced by a "leader" friend. They don't make many decisions for themselves. Stu apparently latched onto Billy at some point, and is willing to join him in the murders. There are real-life cases in which murderers had associates who obeyed them.

Question: When Philip was in the hospital there is a man in a black suit in the background who appears to be coming to see him but then did not approach them. Who was that supposed to be?

Answer: Watching the scene, the man has got a clipboard and is observing them. So it would be a safe bet that he is a doctor of some kind who is looking to see if Phillip is awake. Of course I could be wrong but from the 5 seconds or so he is on screen that's the best possibility.

Ssiscool

Answer: It appears to be an accordion folder rather than a clipboard. My guess would be that it's someone Philip used to take care of his financial situation.

LorgSkyegon

Show generally

Question: Why don't any of the bullies ever get in trouble for throwing slushies at the members of the Glee club?

Answer: The show is purposefully stylized and over the top. It is not designed to be an accurate, realistic representation of American high school. The idea that the glee club is so unpopular other students can literally throw garbage at them with impunity is an over-exaggeration of how glee club is considered "un-cool" compared to things like football. However, there is a second way of looking at it. The audience is simply never shown anyone getting into any trouble for throwing slushies. Just because we don't see it doesn't mean it never happened.

BaconIsMyBFF

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.