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: In the opening credit sequence, were the vines growing inside the statue of the woman supposed to hint at the fact that Bond's child was growing inside of Madeleine?

Answer: While it's open to individual interpretation, vines symbolically represent connections, strength, growth, and continuation. It could very well represent Bond's progeny. There was also some DNA symbolism/imagery in the opening sequence that further hints at that.

raywest

Question: Why was Bond too quick to conclude that Madeline had involvement in his attempted murder by SPECTRE? Did he think he could not trust Madeline all because his trusting of Vesper nearly got him killed, and so the past was coming back to haunt him?

Question: How was Bond able to get Madeleine pregnant after the sadistic torture he endured at the hands of Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, where that was supposed to disable his ability to procreate? Also, why did Madeleine insist that her child was not Bond's?

Answer: There's no explanation, but there is much Internet speculation that, without being too graphic, believes Bond's injuries were probably treatable and less extensive than was shown, leaving him fertile. Also, movies often change, minimize, or ignore previous plot points in order to fit the current narrative.

raywest

Question: I know that originally, Cal was supposed to kill Fabrizio with an oar, and this scene was even partially filmed, but it was abandoned. Why was it scrapped?

Answer: This was cut, and Fabrizio's death scene was re-edited because James Cameron felt Cal was turning into a cartoon villain by that point.

Ssiscool

Question: The guy who took the picture of Brian as a kid - was he an opportunist who sold the photo to the magazine? I have a hard time imagining they would be prescient enough to know to send one of their own photographers to the scene of the fire.

Answer: Local photographer could have been monitoring emergency calls. A fire is a big visual, and the photo sold to a wire service or Life directly.

Question: Was there really someone named Irv Britzer in the 1972 games that cheated and cost the USA the gold medal? If not, what really happened in 1972? Because I am thinking that in the scene where he goes to the Alliance and says 'go ahead, disqualify me, banish me, do whatever you want, but do it to me', it seems that if they had, they would have still been disqualified because they would have been without a coach.

Answer: Irv Blitzer was a character created for the film. His real-life counterpart is Howard Siler, who was a successful U.S. Olympic bobsledder and coach and was the man who coached the Jamaican team. However, unlike Blitzer, Howard Siler did not cheat and leave the sport in disgrace. He coached the Jamaican team because he found them to be dedicated athletes and was annoyed by their representation in the film as happy-go-lucky goofballs. None of the characters in the film existed in real life, the film is loosely "inspired by" the story of the first Jamaican bobsled team.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: At the end, at Paul's house, how was Clarice able to use the phone when the cord was cut off?

Question: What exactly was somatic reconditioning? What was supposed to happen to the rebellious Kryptonians during their "300 cycles of somatic reconditioning"? And why did the Council banish them to the Phantom Zone when Zod and his followers could have just died anyway from Krypton exploding?

Answer: From the context of the trial and sentencing, somatic reconditioning seems to be akin to forced rehabilitation. They would be held in custody while their brains would be subjected to treatments designed to reform them. I get the impression that 300 cycles is A LOT of reconditioning, probably bordering on punishment. The Council was still in denial about Krypton exploding and Zod posed an immediate threat, so they wanted to get him off Krypton as soon as possible.

A Closer Look - S7-E23

Question: In Dan's office, there's a framed picture of a woman (on the wall next to the window, seen when being interviewed). Who is she? Dan's mother was played by Jeannette Nolan in one episode, but I can't tell if that's a picture of her.

Bishop73

Show generally

Question: Are alleys common in Texas neighborhoods? And are they normally big enough that cars can drive by in two directions? I only ask because they are rare in my part of the US.

Answer: I'm not sure if I'd call it common, but from my experience living in Texas, I do know of plenty of areas that have alleys between houses. They're generally not marked one-way, so cars can travel both ways, but they're also generally not divided into a two-lane road. Arlen is a fictional town meant to be a suburb of Dallas and modeled after Garland. Just looking at the map of Garland, I can tell you alleys seem common in the neighborhoods, but I've never been there personally.

Bishop73

Answer: Wayne Pygram appeared briefly in "Revenge", and with no dialogue. It was a cameo role, and he was cast because he resembled the late Peter Cushing, who played Tarkin in the original Star Wars trilogy. For the character's expanded role in "Rogue One", an actor was needed who not only had a similar physical appearance to Cushing but could emulate his voice, vocal inflections, facial expressions, mannerisms, etc. This was achieved by using a live actor combined with CGI. Actor Guy Henry was cast, presumably because he was best suited to recreate Cushing's role.

raywest

Question: Why didn't Tina use her powers to revive her mother?

Answer: Maybe she was in too much shock to think about it at the time.

Rob245

The Law Club - S6-E7

Question: After Harry "cuts off" Bull's head, he and Dan step outside the room. You see a lady, who looks like a cleaning lady, walk into the room. Was there a deleted scene where she reacts to seeing Bull's head in the basket?

Bishop73

Ocean's Three and a Half - S7-E7

Question: In Stewie's music video, there are scenes that seem to be a reference or parody of other music videos, like the part made from Lego being from a White Stripes video. What are the other references and which part are original (i.e., made up)? Like, I don't imagine there's a music video where someone's nipples become faces, but maybe I'm wrong. Is there another music video that uses pencil drawings because it doesn't feel like A-ha's video?

Bishop73

Question: I know that scenes in this movie weren't filmed in chronological order. Which scene was the first one to be shot and which scene was the last one to be shot?

Answer: I only found general info, but the first scenes filmed were of the Titanic passengers boarding the ship. Also, early on was the scene of Jack sketching Rose in the nude. I'd guess the Titanic sinking was filmed at the end of the shoot.

raywest

Question: Why did the government want to control the populace by creating millions of clones of them?

Trainman

Answer: The government's intent was to create completely controllable and compliant clones to do whatever they wanted them to do. Their plan did not work out, however.

raywest

Question: Was it ever revealed in this film, or in either of the sequels, what crime Joey was actually in prison for?

Answer: In film, no (or at least not that I saw). But USA Today released a special "front page wrap" for Oct 22, 2015 with some changes to the movie prop. For example, they expanded the article of Marty Jr.'s arrest, which for the prop was just repeated paragraphs (as newspaper props often have). On the side of the paper under Newsline (which as far as I can tell wasn't part of the original movie prop) it says "Parole Denied Again for Joseph "Joey" Baines, 61, currently serving a 20 year term for racketeering at Folsom Prison. Baines, originally from Hill Valley, has spent some 2/3 of his life behind bars. This is his 12th consecutive parole hearing to end in denial." In the comic book "Back to the Future: Time Served", by Bob Gale, he writes that Joey wanted to join Biff's gang. Biff had Joey break into Doc Brown's mother's home to steal money from her. Joey was caught and arrested for stealing $85K. Since Joey refused to give up Biff, he got a longer sentence.

Bishop73

Batgirl Returns - S3-E8

Question: How did Catwoman know where Barbara's school was? And how did she know that Barbara is Batgirl? And knew where to leave her note for Barbara to meet her at the pier?

Question: When Riley and Cole miss the hit on Hooker, and it's given to Salino, Cole's still looking. Wouldn't he see Hooker with Shaw?

Answer: If he did, it likely wouldn't matter. Neither he nor Salino know about the main plot, they're just on an assignment to kill the grifter who worked with Luther. Even if they saw Hooker with Gondorff, they'd have no reason to suspect anything or to report it to Lonnegan or anyone else; they're only interested in the hit.

Thanks – makes sense.

Question: How did the guy know Maddie couldn't access the neighbors' WiFi and call for help? Yes, it was password protected, but there was no way he could've known she didn't know the password. If I go round my friends, I have their WiFi password. If they come round mine, they have mine. It would make sense that at some point in time, the two neighbors would've shared their details with each other.

Answer: It was probably an assumption. I doubt most people know their neighbour's WiFi password. I don't know any of my neighbours' passwords, regardless of how well acquainted we are. That's different from friends who are visiting from some distance away from their home WiFi signal. Even if a neighbour is in your house with their own electronic device, they would still be close enough to their own Internet service to get a signal.

raywest

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