Questions about specific movies, TV and more
This page is for questions relating to a specific title. If you have a more general question, please check out the general movie questions section. Click the button below a question to answer it or click "edit" to correct a spelling mistake. Ask your questions here, and hopefully someone will answer soon. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.Question: Why does Christine unmask the phantom at the end of singing "Past the Point of No Return"?
mhambling@hotmail.comQuestion: After what seems like several hours of conversation between the crew and "Jerry", did the letters J and E occur in the text before the sentence "Don't call me Jerry" appeared and Dustin Hoffman realised the translation was wrong? I haven't watched the film a second time but surely we see words that contain J and E and still make perfect sense?
Chosen answer: It's been a while, but as I remember it, this is explained better in the book. If I remember it correctly, since the translation program was made by Harry, he subconsciously added a section that simply mistranslated "Harry" to "Jerry". That doesn't mean every H became a J or anything like that. It only affected that word.
Garlonuss
Question: When the Ghostbusters went on trial, did they CHOOSE to waive their right to trial by jury and be tried by the judge? Given the obvious bias of this judge against them, if I were them, I would certainly not have waived my right to a jury trial.
Chosen answer: Violating a restraining order is regarded as Contempt of Court, and thus is not subject to trial by jury.
Captain DefenestratorThe One With The Mugging - S9-E15
Question: When chandler comes in and asks "Guess what?", Joey replies "Monica's pregnant?". Monica says "Really, okay lets get past the moment". What is this referencing?
Shadow5Chosen answer: It's not "referencing" anything. It's a joke that Monica excitedly thinks she might be pregnant due to Joey's remark, when the truth is she's not, and knows she isn't, so wants to move on quickly to spare her embarrassment.
BradQuestion: I am aware that this is not a mistake (possibly a deliberate one) but I just had to ask: As Warner is about to say "I want to break up" and Elle thinks he is proposing, she says "I do". Assuming he was going to propose, wouldn't her answer need to be "Yes" in response to "Will you marry me?" which is the proper way to propose?
Chosen answer: Maybe she was getting a little ahead of herself, already picturing the ceremony. It was (supposed to be) the happiest moment of her life, and she might be understandably flustered.
Question: What exactly was Dennis Nedry's plan overall? The shutting down of the command building's doors makes sense but shutting down all the park fences always struck me as a really pointless risk, especially considering he then proceeds to drive through the very areas he just disabled. Was he trying to create a distraction to cover his abrupt departure (in which case are we to infer he was actually willing to leave his boss, his colleagues and several visitors stranded with the dinosaurs?) or did he simply not have a safer means of smuggling the embryos off the island?
Chosen answer: Twofold. He had to shut down the fences because they contained the exit gates so he could leave to get to the docks, presumably because he didn't have the time to override the individual doors as he happened upon them. Secondly, it also serves as a massive distraction so that he's highly unlikely to be chased by anyone from the park (Dinosaurs not withstanding!). He had to shut down security features on the island to access the embryos, to navigate through the park, and cause a distraction. All security ran on the same power. He was meant to only be gone for 5 minutes. That was what he had planned.
GalahadFairlightQuestion: Right at the beginning of the movie, one of Rob's men sniffs at and even takes a bite out of a piece of a cow pat and can estimate the tinkers head start.How is that possible?
Chosen answer: Cow patties leaving the cow and plopping on the ground leave a distinctively odor and start to harden up after a certain length of time. It isn't to hard to speculate that, since these are cattlemen by trade, they would have a systematic way of knowing how long it would take for a cow pie to harden & lose it's odor. Example: they would know that a cow pie left out for 2 days would lose half it's odor & become semi-hard but still have a mushy center.
CCARNIQuestion: Forrest reveals (in the voice over) that Jenny was taken from her father's home and sent to live with her grandmother. He indirectly indicates that Jenny was sexually abused by her father. My question is who would have reported the abuse to the police so that Jenny could be removed from the situation? And where would her sisters have gone assuming they were also sent away and, like Jenny, were minors?
Chosen answer: It's never explained. Perhaps the grandmother or a teacher reported the abuse. It's possible the abuse was never reported, maybe Jenny simply asked her grandmother if she could move in with her. Maybe there was no proof that the other girls were being abused, or they didn't want to leave, or they were moved to foster families or other relatives.
Answer: It doesn't matter who reported it to the policeman. It doesn't have to happen on the same day. And regarding Jenny's sister, there was never a sister. When the policeman send the kid to her grandmother, it was only Jenny. The 'sister' word was from the voiceover of Forrest who didn't really understand what kind of misery happened. The 'sister' was Jenny's privates. Her father touched them improperly.
Question: How exactly did Rafiki know Simba was alive?
Eyexpress333Chosen answer: Rafiki is a bit of a msytic or a shaman; a quasi-magical character. He was able to smell Simba on the wind that we followed from one to the other.
PhixiusAnswer: Rafiki just knows because he's wise.
Chosen answer: The hearse seen was custom built for the film, and was destroyed as seen in the film. other Jaguar hearses have been built, but they all have been custom built.
MasterOfAllQuestion: Why did the Jackal pick up Douglas at the gay bar? How did that fit into his plan?
Chosen answer: A couple of reasons. Douglas was a presidential aide, and could be giving Jackal information about the president and family's movements, even without meaning to. Secondly, he needed to be near DC to carry out the assassination attempt, and since the FBI et al were looking for him since they knew he had entered the States, having a place to live without having to go to a hotel where it is likely the staff would have been notified to be on the lookout for him gave him some anonymity.
Question: Help me out if I'm wildly off: The Ugandan gangster attacks LeChiffre in his hotel, who Bond later kills. LeChiffre then continues with the game and panics when Mr. White demands the money. I was under the assumption that LeChiffre only owed money to the gangster and therefore needed to win the game to pay him back. Why does he continue with the game after the gangster is killed?
BradChosen answer: Le Chiffre operates as the banker for Mr White's entire organisation. The Ugandan is only one of many individuals and groups for whom Le Chiffre provides financial services; killing him does little to solve the problem of the missing money. Plus there's the question of trust - if Le Chiffre can't keep the money safe, then Mr White's organisation have no use for him and, as we see in the movie, will readily eliminate him. Le Chiffre's desperate to recover the money to prove his trustworthiness and save his own life.
TailkinkerQuestion: After touring the cinema, why does Goebbels become so angry when someone mentions Lillian Harvey. Who is she?
Chosen answer: Lilian Harvey was a British-born actress who made her career in Germany. While under Nazi scrutiny for having too many friends in the Jewish community, she'd helped a Jewish friend escape the country before escaping herself and performing for Allied troops. So yeah, Goebbels hated her. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilian_Harvey)
Captain DefenestratorQuestion: Why does the train where the action takes place have the locomotive as the last car? When two trains pass each other at one moment, the others locomotive is at the beginning.
BillcowChosen answer: Trains that shuttle back and forth on shorter stretches don't usually turn around at the terminus. They simply go "backwards". So, in one direction the loco is in the front, on the way back it's at the end of the train.
IorethQuestion: What happened to Special Agent Starling and why isn't she in Red Dragon? And how come the new agent didn't know who Hannibal Lecter is (recognition), when nearly the whole of America (let alone the FBI) had heard/seen at least a picture of him?
Chosen answer: Red Dragon is a prequel to Silence of the Lambs. The events took place while Clarice Starling was still at the FBI academy. At the very end of the film, Chilton tells Lecter that a woman (Starling) from the FBI wants to meet with him. Also, when Special Agent Will Graham first met Dr. Hanibal Lecter while investigating another case, Lecter had not yet been convicted of any crime. Therefore, no one knew him to be anything other than a noted psychiatrist.
raywestQuestion: This is actually for Doctor 1 but I couldn't find it anywhere. I heard it somewhere that they were going to do only 10 series, but when Doctor 1 fell ill they put in the idea he can regenerate. Is this true? Also is this why a lot of the later episodes were destroyed?
Shadow5Chosen answer: The show was intended to be ongoing, with no particular plan as to how many series might be involved. But you are indeed correct that William Hartnell's failing health was the principal factor that led to the concept of the regeneration being introduced, with Hartnell himself suggesting Patrick Troughton as his successor, a suggestion that was taken up. This is not, however, why many episodes from that era are missing. At the time, it simply wasn't standard policy to keep episodes indefinitely after transmission, due to the limitations in storage space, and thus many early episodes were simply wiped.
TailkinkerQuestion: I'm no expert on apes so can someone tell me if the conversation in sign language that Caesar has with the orangutan is possible? We know that apes can be taught to sign and hereby communicate basic concepts and identify objects. But the orangutan, which has not had the benefit at this point in the film of the mind altering drug, communicates that humans do not like smart apes and, by extension, it has kept its ability to sign secret. This is complex behaviour that requires the ape to understand human motivations and decide to deceive its captors. Is this possible?
Chosen answer: It's not necessarily a sign that the orangutan understands human motivations. It could be, and probably more likely *is*, a sign that the ape has shown its intelligence previously during its stay in the habitat, was abused by the humans as a direct or indirect result, and was subsequently conditioned to play dumb.
PhixiusQuestion: Mearing says that the Xantium brought the second wave of Autobots. Which wave does she mean? Because so far, there have been three waves: Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide, Bumblebee and Ratchet, Sideswipe, The Twins, Arcee, Chromia, and Flareup and lastly, The Wreckers, Brains, Dino and Wheeljack. Which one didn't arrive by ship, and how did they arrive?
Friso94Chosen answer: Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide, Bumblebee and Rachet all arrived on Earth via separate pods which carried them in Transformers (2007). Sideswipe, The Twins, Arcee, Chormia and Flareup are wave one, introduced into Revenge Of The Fallen. The Wreckers, Brains, Dino (Mirage) and Wheeljack are wave two, introduced in Dark Of The Moon.
Aidan2011Question: Does Emmanuelle Mimieux know of the Bastard's plan to blow up the cinema and do the Bastards know that Emmanuelle Mimieux is going to burn it down, or are the plans not connected at all?
Chosen answer: They're unconnected. As happens often in Tarantino's films, their storylines are completely separate until they intersect at that point.
Captain DefenestratorQuestion: What exactly is Matthew's gag wit? Name an episode and a line where he uses it. I really want to know.
Shadow5Chosen answer: There's a behind the scenes feature on a Friends DVD that shows an example: In "The One After Vegas"(Season 6 premiere), Chandler's line was originally "I don't think they're as much dating as they are drunk." Matthew Perry thought the line wasn't funny and came up with the alternative seen in the episode: "I don't think they're as much dating as they are two bottles of vodka walking around in human form."
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Chosen answer: Because at that point, as unlikely as it seems, pretty much everybody else thought that was still Piangi (whom the Phantom killed just before replacing him). Since Christine has been used as a lure, she had to show the others that he was there.
Sereenie