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: Did Lana actually like Joel or not? She said that the night on the train was not simply a diversion while Guido and Vicki raided his house. However, she was still involved with them, after claiming that she was done working for Guido. She and Vicki "quit" when he first appeared at Joel's house.

Answer: Lana liked him, but was not in love with him. The whole Guido house raid was his way of getting what's owed to him, when Joel stole all his business. At the end of the movie, Lana and Joel walked and talked about him going away to college, with no expectations about one another continuing their relationship.

Show generally

Question: Why does River walk around barefoot so much? There are even a couple times, such as in the episode "Bushwacked", where she goes off the ship barefoot.

Answer: Story-wise, I believe it's sort of a tactile thing for her. She has a very childlike mind and is often seen wandering around touching and examining things. Being barefoot would be an addition to that, as she could be feeling the ground beneath her constantly. Behind-the-scenes wise, the actress apparently just prefers being barefoot, so she had no problems doing this. (Also, and this is more rumor than anything, but a lot of people believe series creator Joss Whedon has a foot fetish and often finds ways to have cast members be barefoot, similar to Quentin Tarantino. And this doesn't seem surprising since in only 14 episodes, "Firefly" has a LOT of scenes displaying barefoot women.)

TedStixon

Question: What was the reason why that one soldier's wife made a tape of her cheating on him with someone else and sending it to him? Did she suspect him of cheating on her, so she wanted to get revenge?

Answer: Nope. Some people are just evil like that. Most of the time, the service member marries young; immaturity on the part of the spouse, coupled with the resentment of the deployed person being away and "not taking care of their needs," results in the Jody scenario. Funny thing is, this is so common. Everybody in the military has heard of or knows someone this has happened to, almost exactly like the movie.

kayelbe

That makes sense. Another question was, do we ever learn of what happened? Did he divorce her upon returning back to the States after she left him for her neighbor?

Question: Janis says, "Of course, all the Plastics are in the same gym class." All of them are in junior year (correct me if I'm wrong), so is there some reason why they shouldn't be the same class?

Answer: There's a difference between class and grade level. Typically in high school, a gym class (i.e. P.E.) is offered almost every class period for each P.E. teacher. Say a school has 4 P.E. teachers and there are 6 class periods in a day, that's probably about 14-16 classes for the students in the school to be a part of. So for all the "plastics" to be in the same class means they would have had to plan it that way.

Bishop73

Another possibility, along with Bishop73's answer: At my high school, we were supposed to take one gym/P.E. class before graduating. If this school is the same way, then the Plastics might have purposely taken their gym class in the same year. Another sign of how "exclusive" their trio is, and how much Gretchen and Karen follow Regina's lead.

Question: Why would Einhorn kill Roger after finding out that Einhorn used to be a man? Roger didn't know that Einhorn used to be Ray Finkle, only that, as Ace put it, Roger found Captain Winky.

Answer: We don't know that's all Roger discovered, and even so, that could have been the start of Roger figuring out the truth. Einhorn didn't want to take the chance.

Question: Why didn't Billy and Stu kill Billy's father? They killed Sidney's mother for having an affair with him, which caused Billy's mother to leave town. Why not blame Mr. Loomis also?

Answer: One problem is that they killed Mrs. Prescott the year before, so they were probably 16 or 17 years old. If they had killed Billy's father, after his mother walked out on the family, he might have been required to live with an adult guardian somewhere. It would ruin the plans that he and Stu made.

Answer: In addition, we find out in the third movie, Roman planted the idea in Billy and Stu's mind. Roman didn't care about Hank; he was really after Maureen since she abandoned him and wanted revenge.

Torie White

Question: Randy says that the police would save time if they watched "Prom Night". I saw that movie a while ago, but I don't understand what he means. Can someone explain?

Answer: Did you watch the remake or the 1981 original? In that version, these mean kids terrorise a girl and cause her to fall out of a third-story window and die. They take a vow of secrecy and leave, then the shadow of a person appears before the dead girl. At the prom, a mysterious stalker taunts and kills the group of kids, one by one. The police, at first, believe a local child molester did it but died in a car crash. They reopen the case and arrive at the prom to see it was the younger brother of the murdered girl who discovered her body and sought revenge.

I watched the 1981 original, but as my question says, I had not seen it in a while. So, is Randy saying that the police should be investigating people who are directly connected to Sidney and her mother (Mr. Prescott, Billy, Sidney's friends)? Just as the killer in "Prom Night" was directly connected to a murder victim?

Sort of. Randy's mostly saying that the cops are wasting their time trying to track down the whereabouts of a missing suspect and that the killer is more likely to be hiding in plain sight among the victims' inner social circle.

TonyPH

Question: During the counseling session, the girl in the wheelchair tells another girl, "You're fat because I hate you." What does she mean?

Answer: Jessica (the girl in the wheelchair) was saying she didn't hate Laura for being fat, but that being hated by Jessica is what caused led Laura to overeat or, in some way, get fat. Sometimes, people with low self-esteem or stress binge eat to feel better and engage in other poor lifestyle choices that lead to obesity.

Bishop73

Answer: That's why he kissed Fred, after being called an ugly old broad. Scooby wanted to let everyone see this ugly old broad kiss a handsome young man.

Question: Why does Aurora go out into the forest barefoot? Doesn't she have shoes?

Answer: She has shoes. There's no reason given why she's not wearing them. She probably just likes being barefoot when in the woods.

raywest

Question: What caused Tom to start killing everyone?

Answer: He had a psychological disorder which was triggered by the attack from Harry Warden. If I recall correctly, he developed a split personality.

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: It was many factors. First, he was blamed for letting the methane gas leak, which caused the explosion and deaths. Then, having one of the miners attack him and his friends. All that would cause anyone to go over the edge.

Question: Why is Maude dressed like a viking maiden in the Dude's dream sequence?

Rob245

Answer: She looks like one of the Valkyries, a Nordic female spirit that guided brave warrior souls to Vallhalla. This may foreshadow Donny's death.

raywest

Question: Did the nihilists force that one's girlfriend to get her toe cut off?

Rob245

Answer: They don't appear to have; she's a nihilist too, and seems to have been in on it. The way they put it in their confrontation with the Dude and Walter suggests this: "His girlfriend cut off her toe", "She thought we would get a million dollars." Both expressions imply that she did it herself in the hopes of getting the ransom.

Question: At the end of the film, Kip shows Memphis the car he's brought him, and Memphis says, "It's Eleanor." How can it be Eleanor? Eleanor was grey with a black stripe down the middle. The car Kip bought was brown and rusty! Even if they'd have saved Eleanor from being shredded, it still wouldn't explain the change of color.

Answer: Eleanor refers to the type of car, a 1967 Shelby GT500, not the specific car they were trying to steal.

Bishop73

Answer: In the movie, the name "Eleanor" refers to the one car, a 1973 Ford Mustang (Internet sources say it was a redressed 1971 Mustang). Two different Mustangs were used for Eleanor, one for stunts, the other for close-up shots, which may account for the color differences. This seems like a movie mistake. The name "Eleanor" was later used for the customized, limited-edition Shelby Mustang GT 500 (a reissue of the 1967 Mustang) that was produced in 2000.

raywest

Question: When they send in the probe into the embarkation room, why do a group of base guards rush in and take aim at the Stargate?

Answer: Because they didn't know what was going to happen, they didn't know if someone or something was going to come out of it.

Question: Is it ever explained how Voller managed to survive his encounter with being hit square in the face and falling off the speeding train without a scratch? My thoughts were that he touched the spear of destiny earlier (focused on in a scene) and became immortal, but Indy said it was fake. Plus, Voller dies at the end in 217BC. He also seems to have aged little compared to Indy. Is that a plot point they dropped or forgot about or something?

lionhead

Answer: It was never explained and seems impossible that anyone could survive such an impact. My own thought was the scene was deliberately exaggerated to appear as if Voller was killed in order to fool and then surprise the audience when he later turns up alive. I also thought it looked as if he hadn't aged. Voller may have been much younger than Indy, possibly as much as 25-30 years. When Voller reappears in the 1960s, he looks more like actor Mads Mikkelsen's actual age. The film should have made him look younger at the beginning. There's a lot of "suspension of disbelief" here.

raywest

Question: Why did Alex offer up his chair to Nagata?

Answer: She meant he can't come with them on their time-turning trip because he is bedridden.

lionhead

Answer: Typically, the Joker is immune to the toxin. It depends on the writer, and in this story, that would seem to be the case.

BaconIsMyBFF

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