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: What caused Brent's ship to crash?
Casual PersonQuestion: Did that bounty hunter in the bar ever realise that he was in fact talking to Billy the Kid... Prior to being shot?
Gavin JacksonChosen answer: He may have. When Billy started whistling, the bounty hunter's face changes. He continues to speak to Billy in a dismissive tone, but does eventually pull the trigger (although Billy had unloaded the pistol). Hard to believe he would just shoot some mouthy kid in a bar.
10:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. - S1-E12
Question: The episode is titled 10:00pm-11:00am, Kiefer Sutherland also says it in the intro. Is this an error?
Chosen answer: No, it's right. The miniseries wasn't a complete renewal of the original series, but instead was promoted as a 'limited-run' series. Since it only covered twelve hours instead of twenty-four, the final episode skips over the eleven hours after 11:00 pm and picks up in the last few minutes between 10:00 am and 11:00 am.
Cubs FanQuestion: How does Ben Hildebrand die? Only his skeleton is shown in while Billie removes the parasail. He would not have been killed and eaten by a dinosaur because his skeletal remains are still there, and he wouldn't have been strangulated as he was talking to Eric as per the video.
Chosen answer: While the movie doesn't explain this, it most certainly wasn't a dinosaur (since a carnivorous dinosaur would eat him). However, in Jurassic Park Adventures: Survivor, he dies from internal injuries due to the rough "landing".
Bishop73Answer: Raptors.
Answer: Compisigthus or compies would have done the trick.
Question: What ever made Snape suspicious of Quirrell? He couldn't have known that Voldemort was attached to Quirrell, or even that Quirrell supported Voldemort, because he surely would have reported either detail to Dumbledore. Then Dumbledore would have stopped Quirrell. So it isn't clear why he guessed, correctly, that Quirrell let the troll into the school or tried to kill Harry during the Quidditch game.
Chosen answer: In the 7th book when Harry is looking into Snape's memory in the pensieve, Dumbledore mentions, "Keep an eye on Quirrell." This shows Dumbledore was suspicious of Quirrell and how Snape knew Quirrell may be up to something.
Question: When Hal Jordan goes on his kamikaze mission against Aquaman's sub, why does he have to use the alien ship that Abin Sur crashed in 8 years prior? Why not a stealth jet or something? Doesn't seem logical that the government would send a top secret, highly valuable alien space craft on a suicide bomber mission. And Hal was told from the start it was a suicide mission. So why send that ship to be destroyed?
Quantom X
Chosen answer: Because it was the only ship fast and agile enough to get even as close as it did to the sub.
PhixiusQuestion: When Boobie hurts his knee after going back in when Comer can't find his helmet, wasn't Comer the third string running back? Why couldn't they have kept Boobie's backup in there? On top of that, there was only a minute and some seconds left in the game and Permian was up 42-7. Couldn't they have just taken a knee instead of trying to run another play? The game was out of reach, and there was no need to run another play.
Question: Near the beginning of the movie, how could the first-year students' luggage have been brought to their dormitories if it wasn't yet known what houses they would be in?
Chosen answer: The first-years' luggage is likely brought all to one area, then transported by the house elves once the sorting is completed.
Greg DwyerQuestion: The Harry Potter Wiki website says that Hermione was born in 1979, if this is true then why is she starting school at age 12 instead of 11, especially with her being such a good student?
Chosen answer: The Harry Potter Wiki says Hermione was born on September 19, 1979, the Hogwarts year begins in August which would make Hermione still 11 years old when she begins Hogwarts, she would then become 12 years old the following month. She still began Hogwarts at the same age as all of the other students, not a year later.
Casual PersonQuestion: There seem to be a very, very large number of apes descended from the original lab escapees. What kind of population growth must the ape colony have had to have so many apes in 10 years?
wjhChosen answer: The apes that were in the colony would not have to have been descended only from the lab apes. The end of the first movie shows the liberation of other apes from zoos in the area. As the virus had spread world-wide, it's logical to assume that all apes would have been infected as well, including these liberated apes. That's only staying within the fictional universe of the movie, because in reality there are only about 25 non-Human apes in zoos, 0 ape sanctuaries, and 0 apes living in research facilities, in the San Francisco area. It's also illegal to keep apes as pets in California (I'm assuming this includes Humans.) At least according to Nina Shen Rastogi. http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2011/08/23/the_rise_of_the_planet_of_the_apes_a_fact_check_how_many_apes_li.html.
Question: The Hogwarts letter states that the recipient has been "accepted" into the school, so are there other magical schools for those who aren't chosen for Hogwarts?
Chosen answer: Every wizard child is accepted to Hogwarts. It's merely the school's way of formally wording the letters to new students. For Muggle-born wizard children or ones like Harry who never knew he was a wizard, the wording may be slightly different. There are other schools of magic, but not in England. As seen in HP and the Goblet of Fire, there is also Durmstrang and Beaux Batons, among others. Also, not all English wizard children attend Hogwarts. Some study in another country or at home, though most go Hogwarts. Muggle-born wizard children are not forced to be trained in magic.
raywestQuestion: The other night me and some friends were arguing whether or not the shot that Brody makes to blow the tank up to kill Bruce was possible, or would it be too hard to make?
liezanderChosen answer: It would certainly be very difficult, with the shark moving and hitting the tank while slightly underwater. But it wouldn't be impossible.
Greg DwyerQuestion: I have two questions. Firstly I read that Liev Schrieber makes an appearance. Does anyone know which one he is? Secondly, given how much Hunt admired Jake, why didn't he warn him that the gang had a new leader and that he risked death by going back due to his betrayal? Seems odd to me that he said nothing.
Gavin JacksonQuestion: Why is no credit given to Jack Lemmon?
Chosen answer: There are many reasons that known actors appear in movies and are uncredited. Cameo appearances often go un-credited. Actors sometimes do a cameo if they are friends with the director or the other stars. It can add an unexpected surprise for the audience. There are also contract and payment issues if an actor receives billing in the credit. Jack Lemmon, who was the narrator for the story, may have preferred not being credited. He was certainly a big enough star that if he wanted to be listed in the credits, he would have received proper billing.
raywestQuestion: In one of the very first scenes set in one of the plantation slave huts, Solomon is struggling to sleep. He is sleeping on the floor squashed amongst many other slaves. During this scene, what looks like a white youngish woman encourages him to touch her. A little earlier we see her sitting on the porch of the slave hut eating alone whilst the slaves are eating. As far as I could tell, she doesn't appear again in the film. Who is she? Does she play a greater role in the book? Was there more of a story here that ended up on the cutting room floor?
Chosen answer: It was a fellow slave. As to whether or not she has a greater role in the book I can't say, but I interpreted the scene to demonstrate how far removed from his former life Solomon had fallen; rutting on the floor in front of everyone else like an animal.
PhixiusQuestion: Why at the end, after the Predators have appeared before Danny Glover to give him the pistol, do they camouflage themselves again? Being that they're on their own ship, and no hunt is in progress... Camouflaging themselves just seems like the special effects technicians wanted to indulge themselves one more time before the end of the movie.
Paul WestonChosen answer: It could be a precaution to keep him from attacking them once their backs are turned.
Captain DefenestratorQuestion: When the dwarves are in Mirkwood, Thorin tells Balin he told Thranduil to... then a string of dwarvish. What does the dwarvish mean?
Annabel KeeleyChosen answer: According to linguist David Salo who worked on the languages for the LOTR and Hobbit films, he says "îsh kakhfê ai-'d-dûr-rugnul" meaning "May my excrement be poured upon the naked-jawed (ones) " - the naked-jawed ones being the beardless elves.
Sierra1Question: How is it that Rodan flew supersonic speeds but you only see him flap his wings to take off? Also how did he leave a vapor trail at high altitude?
Chosen answer: The movie was made in the 1950s when special effects barely existed and were primitive at best. This is also a Japanese-made movie, and their film industry, at that time, was far less sophisticated than Western movies. Audiences then were expected to employ a "suspension of disbelief" while watching a Sci-fi movie, accepting that what they were seeing was implausible or crudely done, but it told the story. Audiences know that Rodan could not have taken off at supersonic speeds merely by flapping its wings or left a vapor trail at high altitude, but just accept that it adds to the overall illusion of what is supposed to be happening.
raywestQuestion: Another entry says "… his name is in the rip portion of the credits." What is the "rip portion of the credits"?
kh1616Chosen answer: The closing credits for both Kill Bill moves included a short list of deceased directors, writers and actors, under the title "R.I.P.", meaning "Rest In Peace": Charles Bronson, Chang Cheh, Kinji Fukasaku, Lo Lieh, Shintaro Katsu, William Witney, Sergio Corbucci, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Leone, and Lee Van Cleef.
THGhostQuestion: I have 2 questions. When Billy takes the mogwai to his science teacher to demonstrate how they multiply, is it Gizmo that he drips the water on? Or is it one of the first five? Also what happens to him when he changes into a gremlin? Is it safe to assume that he ended up joining with the others? I don't recall the movie ever explaining what happened to him when he escaped through the air vent.
EnchantressChosen answer: It is one of the first five. You can easily tell after he drops the water on it, the 2 gremlins are on either side of the box communicating with each other. They show them both and neither is Gizmo. As for what happened after it escaped in the air vent, it never shows so we assume it joined the others.
lartaker1975Join 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.
Chosen answer: It's never explained. The ship had gone through a time warp and that may have rendered it inoperable once it arrived at the new time destination.
raywest