Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: During the dance with the skipper and his wife while at the Dutch girls' school, there is a cat on the serving table. Was the cat supposed to be there?

Answer: No.

Question: Sounds a bit weird to me that there would be a direct flight from Christchurch to Kathmandu in the beginning of the movie?

Answer: I did an Internet search, and every flight from Christchurch to Katmandu has at least two stopovers. However, the film takes place about two decades ago and there is no readily available information on flight paths for that time.

raywest

Answer: Butch the breakdown truck must have pulled Gordon's tender all the way up the rails so the breakdown train can reach it and also Butch helped to get Gordon close to the winch.

Answer: Ropes and a winch.

Show generally

Question: Does every episode have a chalkboard and couch gag (or variation on it)? When I watch reruns sometimes it goes into the show after the words "The Simpsons" come through the cloud and I can't tell if they cut out the intro or if there just wasn't one.

Bishop73

Chosen answer: The original opening of every episode of "The Simpsons" does include a chalkboard gag and a couch gag. Your Fox-TV affiliate may air the episode with portions of the opening and/or other segments of the show edited in order to make room for additional advertising, local station identifications or promotions for upcoming programming on that station. This is often done to television program episodes in syndication.

Michael Albert

Answer: So, The Simpsons intro has 3 gags: the chalkboard gag, couch gag, and billboard gag. The show itself has variations of its opening, with different lengths to fit the length of the rest of the episode. The Couch Gag is the most common gag, and the Billboard gag is the least common because of these variations. And to answer your question, yes, sometimes the episodes don't even have an intro.

Question: Why was the relic being shipped to the Field Museum in Chicago via boat? What would be the point of sending the relic to the United States and then placing it on a boat and shipping it to Chicago by way of the Illinois River? In the book, the museum is instead located in New York, so it makes sense for the shipment to arrive by boat from South America, but there would be no possible way to get to Chicago straight from South America by boat, so the relic had to have been on land at one point. Placing it on a boat just seems like a contrived way to have the monster kill the crew members and create a mystery for the police as to how it happened.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: Cost of shipping would be much cheaper. However, the Mississippi River System is connected to the Illinois Waterway, which continues to the Great Lakes Waterway. This means Chicago is connected to the Gulf of Mexico (which is accessible to South America). There would be no need to ever be on the road.

Bishop73

Chosen answer: She was upset that Mr. Sir was making a big deal about Stanley supposedly stealing his sunflower seeds. The Warden is only in it for the treasure and doesn't care about the boys. Mr. Sir bothering her about a minor theft is irritating to her.

Brad

Answer: He was angry.

Question: How much did C loan to his friend and had to chase him for it?

Answer: $20; C gave up trying to collect after Sonny convinced him that it wasn't worth the effort since the "friend" wasn't really that close to C in the first place.

zendaddy621

Question: I never really understood what the motive was when Clyde murdered his cellmate. Why did he do it? What did this act have to do with the plot of this movie?

Answer: To make sure he was placed in solitary confinement. The warehouse that he owned and operated out of that was next to the prison also had a tunnel connected to every cell in the solitary wing. Clyde needed to be in one of the solitary cells so he could leave the prison whenever he needed to unnoticed, which also served to make it look like he had an accomplice on the outside.

Phaneron

When Nick is talking to a spook later in the movie, he is quoted as telling Nick: "That cell-mate that he killed, you think that was random? No. That's a pawn being moved off the board. Anyone who had anything to do with that case, he's gonna be coming after you." Just as all deaths played roles in Clydes game, as the audience we are led to believe this inmate played a role, but were never given any resolution as to what significance it was. Not a big deal in grand scheme of things, but unexplained.

I don't know if you just didn't read the answer thoroughly or if you didn't pay close attention to the movie, but Clyde killing his cellmate was far from being unexplained. He can't leave the prison if he's in a regular cell with the general population, so he kills the cellmate in order to get placed in the solitary wing, because every solitary cell is connected to the tunnel in his warehouse that is next to the prison, which allows him to leave whenever he needs to.

Phaneron

Whatever It Takes - S4-E6

Question: In this episode, Cuddy gives House crap about lying that he was working for the CIA. Exactly how did a CIA helicopter land on the hospital roof, and the hospital's dean not notice it?

Answer: She would have No Reason to know it belonged to the CIA. If she did know he went off in the helicopter, all she would know is that it wasn't an ambulance helicopter.

Greg Dwyer

Question: Is it true that if the monarch wishes to abdicate (even in the exceptional circumstances as presented in the film) it can or could only be done by an Act of Parliament as happened with Edward VIII? In other words, The Queen can't just sign a piece of paper and end of discussion?

Neil Jones

Chosen answer: Abdication does have to be agreed by Parliament, however the monarch could refuse to sign any new laws should the abdication be turned down. This would effectively prevent the government from operating as a result. As a general rule, the monarch agrees to sign laws, and the government would respect the wish of a monarch to abdicate.

Untitled Griffin Family History - S4-E27

Question: When Peter talks about his ancestor that was a silent movie star he mentions that they called World War 1 International Civil War 2 or something like that - I don't remember the exact wording. What is the joke here?

Answer: The line was International Civil War 2. When WWI happened no one called it that (especially since they didn't know a 2nd one would happen), it was referred to as "The Great War". America had already fought their own Civil War and the joke is really just calling it Civil War II, only it was international.

Bishop73

Question: Why, during the folk festival, does Max make a point of telling the audience that Captain Von Trapp will be going to fight for the Third Reich after the festival is over and not mention that he is doing so against his will? Wouldn't this make the audience (most of which know The Captain or at least know of him) believe that he is joining the war and not being forced into it? Would it not have been better for Max to say The Captain is being taken against his will to fight a war he doesn't wish to be part of, if only to try and save the Captain's reputation?

strikeand

Chosen answer: Max announces that Captain Von Trapp will be leaving Austria to join the forces of the Third Reich as rationale for the encore of "So Long, Farewell, " during and after which the family makes its escape. Recall that the chief representatives of the Third Reich in Austria are sitting in the front row. As such, it would be unwise for a capitulating Max to overtly irritate them, or to incite their wrath and suspicion toward the Captain at that moment. Meanwhile, Captain Von Trapp has pretty much done his own public relations job by singing his "love song" to Austria, "Edelweiss, " and encouraging the audience to join in with his words, "I hope you all share this love, and that you never let it die." I think his sentiments are clear, and he gets his message across that he is displeased with the turn of events in his country. Everyone in the audience has just lived through Hitler's Anschluss, and most were acutely aware of the pressures brought to bear on Austrian patriots like Captain Von Trapp. His reputation was probably not tarnished.

Michael Albert

Answer: It's obvious it's against his will and all the audience understand this. Everyone understood that fighting for the Nazis (an occupying army) was not something you would choose. Plus there are those officials waiting to 'escort' him. Herr Zeller is not happy because he knows Max is saying this to clarify the family's situation and gain the audience's support and understanding.

Question: One of the orderlies is now a patient in the future. Why is this?

Deezul

Question: When Nicky Shivers is being held hostage, De Niro is about to belt him in the face with a metal pipe and make him fall into a hole. This most likely would have been fatal. But De Niro has a change of heart and walks away. Then Nicky sardonically comments "Well geez, that was pretty painless." Given that he was just spared from a painful ending, why would he make such a smart-alec comment?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: That's how he dealt with facing certain death and then not being killed. Some would be silently grateful as you suggest, others wouldn't. Everyone reacts differently.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: I have two questions. Firstly after beating up the guy in the hotel kitchen, Frank returns to the room and tells Delaney that he is quitting. Why was he so ticked off? And secondly, if Nicki was the one who hired Portman to kill Rachel, why did Portman kill Nicki and why did he try to molest Rachel in the bedroom?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: I think he was ticked off because he was being so personally affected by Rachel. He talks about being disciplined. He tries to keep emotions away from his job, but he liked Rachel. Also, Rachel at the time was angry with him, but also showed a lot of disregard for her own safety (as you remember, when he got back it was just after she and Tony went shopping without telling Frank). So yeah, I think it was frustration for the overall situation. To answer your second question, from the conversation with Frank at the lakeside house, Nikki had asked around at a club she went to, but she herself didn't hire Portman. Someone named Armando did the hiring.

Meg Charnley

Chosen answer: It's a play on words. Instead of eggs Benedict, he says Megs Benedict.

Ssiscool

Answer: It's because the sauce Carter drinks is the same sauce they put on eggs Benedict, so when he puked on her she was covered in the sauce.

Question: How come Sadness was the only one who could change the emotion of the memory orb? Don't we sometimes look back at things we thought we were scared of or sad about, and laugh at them? How come the other emotions can't change them the way Sadness can?

Answer: Sadness can change the memories because of Riley's current situation: she has left the home she loved to move to a new city. This makes her happy memories more susceptible to being changed to sad memories. As she remembers things that used to make her happy they now make her sad because she hasn't accepted her new house as home yet. Presumably under the right circumstances the other emotions could do the same thing, just not all the time.

Question: What exactly did Shane do to Bernie?

Answer: If you're talking about in the past, he actually didn't do anything. Shane was going to tease/hurt Bernie with the stick, but Bernie grabbed it. Shane then lied to the zoo about Bernie attacking him which led to Bernie being moved. Although prior to Griffin kicking Shane's ass, Shane ended up cutting Bernie in the face.

Bishop73

Answer: No. One or the other would have mentioned it in an interview by now. Likely, they stopped just short and posed so Leroy Neiman could paint them.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: He must have ridden in an Eaton's store elevator while he was in Canada at some point. For some reason, this elevator reminds him of it. The show's original concept had Solo being a Canadian, so this may be a minor nod to that fact.

raywest

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