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: I have 3 questions. 1) How come Obi-Wan lied to Luke by telling him that Darth Vader killed his father? 2) Why didn't Obi-Wan tell Luke that Leia was his sister? And 3) Why does Obi-Wan act like he doesn't know Leia?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: 1) Obi-Wan doesn't view this as being a strict lie. He states in Return of the Jedi that what he said about Vader betraying and murdering Luke's father is technically true, from a certain point of view. He keeps the details hidden to keep Luke from falling to the dark side the same way Anakin did. 2) The identity of Leia was kept secret to protect her from the emperor. Obi-Wan only tells Luke of her identity when Vader begins directly targeting Luke's friends to goad him into a confrontation. By this point there is no reason to keep the secret from Luke. 3) Because he doesn't. Obi-Wan was present at her birth and that's the only contact they've ever had. Leia specifically describes Obi-Wan as someone who once helped her father and nothing more. He knows her secret but he doesn't really know her personally.

Just commenting on your last answer. Leia didn't know that Darth Vader was her father and neither did Luke. However, Obi Wan did fight with Bail Organa, her adopted father so it could make sense either way.

Chosen answer: Because Han Solo had been established as a cunning, roguish antihero. The scene as it originally played out shows that Han is not afraid to get his hands dirty when facing danger. The altered scene is an awkward attempt to make it seem like Han is acting completely in self defense rather than as an assertive tough-guy, and in the process takes away part of the character's charm. In short it makes Han seem less "cool". It must also be pointed out that the Special Edition changes were met with very strong fan backlash almost unilaterally, Greedo shooting first is just seen by some as a perfect example of why the changes were unnecessary.

Answer: In the original, Greedo doesn't even fire a shot. The film established Han as more ruthless, and the antihero, for killing Greedo in this way. In the special edition, Lucas altered the film so that Greedo fired first (and in a later version both shoot about the same time.) Any changes to original releases is often met with criticism for a number of reasons, especially by adults who watched the film as kids and remember it certain a way. Another example of this is when E.T. was digitally changed so the police were holding walkie-talkies instead of guns and was met with such criticism that even South Park made fun of it. However, ultimately, Greedo shooting first changes the character of Han, who becomes less proactive and more reactive and less of an antihero. And it raises the question of how could Greedo miss at such close range? Given that the film already has stormtroopers with terrible aim, it seems like another cop-out to let the good guys win.

Bishop73

Question: If this movie is a sequel to the first Evil Dead, how come it only shows Ash and Linda driving up to the cabin and not the other friends? Also, why does it show Ash playing the recording and not Scotty, like in the first film?

Answer: Sam Rami could not get the footage of Evil Dead to use in the sequel, so he remade the movie in a shortened form for the beginning. Since Linda was the only original character other than Ash to come back he included her in the recap but deleted the others as not to waste time. An in universe answer could be that trauma of losing his friends made Ash block them out and rewrite history in his head, except for Linda who comes back to haunt him in the movie so he is forced to deal with it.

Chosen answer: Even though Charlie did not want to stay with his Dad for Christmas Eve, he did want to stay at home with a family member, fragmented as it was. Eating Christmas Eve dinner at a Denny's restaurant was not his idea of a Christmas dinner at home with family.

Question: When Kelly shows Chuck the map on the dining room table she shows him where he was rescued by the ship and where "his island" was located. How was it determined exactly where the island was?

Duderino Lebowski

Answer: The dining room map scene conveys a more important message than the location of the island. Kelly had dedicated the entire dining room to charting all activity and information related to Chuck's possible location. Think about it. She has a husband. She has a family. Yet a main room in their house is dedicated to tracking Chuck. Then look at Chuck's expression when he comes to realise this fact. He is amazed and taken back a bit while Kelly acts like it's perfectly normal. Clearly Kelly is still in love with Chuck.

There is nothing in the room that implies that she had dedicated a room in their house to Chuck's disappearance for the entire time. More likely, once he disappeared, she did whatever she could to try and find him. After the search was called off and they had a funeral, she probably packed away these items, only taking them out when new information was learned. once he was found, she probably took it all out again, anticipating he would eventually go there, or she just wanted to label on the map where he was and figure out how close they were to finding him. Ultimately, I would think a husband that has a wife that is SO obsessed with finding her ex-boyfriend for multiple years, to the point of constantly needing the search materials on a table out and visible to all - he would be insane to put up with that. At first, sure...but no way he is putting up with it for that long, taking up the only dining room table they have.

oldbaldyone

Chosen answer: The island's location could be determined by compiling pieces of information, including the dates and locations of where the plane crashed into the ocean, when and where the cargo ship found Chuck, and how long he was adrift to and from the island. Chuck, an experienced sailor, was obsessed with tracking time. He knew when he left the island because he had created an analemma, a type of calendar that charts star movement throughout the year, seen on the cave wall. Wind factors, weather conditions, and ocean currents would also be on record for those times and locations, and, depending on how long Chuck drifted on open water, his course could later be calculated by computer modeling and the island's (or its approximate) coordinates determined.

raywest

Also, I am sure that he was either shown, by FedEx or the freighter, a map of where the ship found him on the raft. After living on the island for so long; mapping it and trying to find any way to escape, he probably would be able to easily identify the island, especially after being shown a map with tide charts.

Question: I don't think this was ever addressed. Sykes had an alibi, that several people could vouch for him. Not that it's really important to the main story, but did the police ever find a hole in it or disprove it? Was it ever checked out, or is it just assumed that he lied?

Answer: It was never specified. Gerard, based on his years of experience, just had a gut feeling from Sykes' behavior that his story was not legitimate. He already suspected that he worked for corrupt medical executives.

raywest

Answer: I find it more of interest that Sykes said the police 'questioned him about the whole thing' during the initial investigations into the murder, presumably during Kimble's trial and before he was convicted. That was when Sykes said he was never in town that night and that 'at least fifteen people verified it'. Why would the police have been questioning Sykes in the first place when he was never a person of interest until Kimble broke into his apartment? That should have set off alarm bells for Gerard right then and there.

Kimble gave the police a description of the one armed man immediately after the murder. I'm guessing that description was pretty close to what Sykes looked like. The movie, during the scene when Sykes returns to his apartment after Kimble has been there, strongly implies that Sykes was a former Chicago cop who lost his arm in the line of duty. So, if you connect the dots, some of the Chicago cops would have at least known about Sykes' existence. Add in the fact that Sykes worked for a health care-related company, and that's more than enough to at least question him in my opinion. Now, when Sykes tells the cops that he was on a business trip and 15 people could verify he wasn't in Chicago, well, that pretty much ended any consideration of him being considered as the potential murderer at the time of Kimble's trial. The next assumption that has to be made is the Chicago police then questioned some of those 15 people, they confirmed the alibi, and that was it.

Show generally

Question: Having never seen the show, do any episodes show Charlie's face at all? Not just some of his face.

Answer: No, Charlie's face was never fully seen. In addition, Charlie was voiced by John Forsythe and he never even came to the set. Whenever we do see Charlie, it's a body double and not Forsythe.

Bishop73

Question: Why does the Thin Man always smell somebody's hair after he rips it off their head?

Answer: It's just a gruesome quirk. Every person has their own scent. He's savoring the moment of his kills.

raywest

Question: I can't remember if any of this part occurs in the book, it's been years, and this always bothers me. When Hammond takes them on the tour/ride with Mr DNA, the video is made specifically for his interacting live with his clone. What purpose would this serve since eventually the park would open to visitors and he obviously would not be able to host this tour every time?

Answer: It was a specially-made promotional presentation, specifically designed to appeal to Hammond's investors in the park and to gain professional endorsements.

raywest

The Wedding Show (Psyche!) - S5-E18

Question: I'm a bit confused so verification would really help. Agent Daly becomes smitten with Carlton so when he speaks to her in her office alone, she agrees to not audit Hilary if he sleeps with her. Carlton then produces a tape recorder with the entire conversation. He says that if she doesn't exonerate Hilary, he'll file sexual harassment charges on her. By threatening to sue Daly if she doesn't exonerate Hilary, isn't he in fact blackmailing her. Plus, aren't tape recordings considered inadmissible as evidence?

Answer: 1. He is blackmailing her, but her actions are essentially attempted rape, blackmail, coercion, corruption, and others. She would, at the very least, lose her job and would very likely spend years in federal prison and be sued. 2. Tape recordings are admissible under certain guidelines. Since Daly is acting under the auspices of a government employee in the discharge of her duties, she is not free from being recorded even under California law. The tape would be admissible if it was shown to be her on the tape.

Forgot to ask. Since Carlton's blackmailing Daly, couldn't he be facing criminal charges too?

Question: Any idea what compound he made in the lab before preparing to escape? It was the explosive stuff he tested.

Answer: Given its volatility, it was likely nitroglycerin. They would likely have the components in a scientific lab of that size and scope.

Question: Would the people who tried to kill Coleman Reese be prosecuted and convicted, given the difficult situation they were put into by the Joker?

Answer: Certainly they did break the law, and if the Gotham Police Dept. or the D.A. were so inclined, they could pursue convictions against them. However, it's probable that Commissioner Gordon and/or the new D.A., who understood the situation, elected not to prosecute.

Question: What would have happened if Eric would have just sat and chatted with John till the timer runs out? Would that mean that Eric would have won his challenge?

Answer: Yes. It is explicitly stated that all Eric has to do is sit and talk (i.e., control his violent temper), and the reward will be reuniting with his son. He fails.

Simply because he didn't listen properly... Jigsaw said "he's in a safe secure spot"

Question: What does the term "grey dawn" mean?

Answer: There's no specific meaning. Metaphorically, it would mean that it is the beginning of something that is dismal, is going to be long and difficult to achieve, or may not end well. Basically, it's a "bad omen."

raywest

Question: It's said on DCwikia that Flash was able to recover the real world, but with some small changes. What could they be?

Answer: In the comics, Flashpoint kick started The New 52. A full reboot of the DC universe which saw many changes including superheroes being active for only 5 years, Batman's sidekicks being trained at the same time, the Teen Titans being a rookie group, none of the character having significant others, Flash being the first and only speedster, and many other changes too great to list here.

MasterOfAll

Answer: Another change was that Barry discovered he was no longer in a relationship with Iris but that Patty Spivot was now his girlfriend.

Question: I've been wondering, after the events of this movie, what happened to the Clone facilities on Kamino? Did the Empire takeover them and use them for their own advantage to grow Stormtroopers instead of Clones? In the game "Star Wars: Battlefront II," there's a mission where the Kaminoans would continue using them to make Clones to fight against the Empire, which would later on be destroyed by the Empire, and in "The Force Unleashed II" game, the Empire would've taken over the facilities with Vader. I would imagine "The Force Unleashed II" game being more canon plot-wise, but I'm not sure.

Answer: It's never specified. Though, once all the ordered clones were deployed it's safe to assume the Kaminoans didn't make any more. Since they had shut down their production, taking over and starting a new batch would take too much time for the empire so instead they were probably left alone and the Empire initiated a recruitment program to reinforce its ranks.

Question: Why is Daniel so supportive of his son being "in love"? It's not entirely unheard of for future couples to meet during childhood, but Daniel actually refers to the girl as the love of his son's life; something that would be dubious to most parents when their child is not even a teenager.

Answer: He's simply going along with what his stepson thinks. He knows, as most parents do, that arguing with their children about whether they're "really" in love is pointless.

Answer: Daniel is so supportive of his stepson because he obviously loves him deeply, despite his own pain at just losing his wife, he understands his stepson is not only dealing with the extremely painful experience of losing his mother and also dealing with the pain of his first real crush. Daniel is a great Dad.

Question: When Linguini is presented to Chef Skinner for the first time, a cook says that Linguini is Rinatta's son, and which she is Gusteau's old flame. Wouldn't that have given them a clue that Linguini is Gusteau's son before Remy proved it?

Answer: Renata and Gusteau likely broke up before Alfredo was born and she never told him. If they parted company, they would not suspect it, especially since Alfredo looks almost nothing like Gusteau.

Show generally

Question: In the beginning of the "Star Wars" special, at the end of the opening titles credits, the narrator says "And none of this is canon, so just relax." Is he referring to it not being canon to "Star Wars", "Phineas and Ferb", or both?

Answer: Mostly it refers to Star Wars, but it applies to both.

raywest

Chosen answer: Felicia and Peter's friendship in this series was depicted as being on-again-off-again. At this point in the series they may have been on good terms. Plus Felicia is a wealthy socialite and Peter and Mary Jane's wedding was a big event due to Wilson Fisk paying for all of it.

Phaneron

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.