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: Why are the people so proud of having built Jaegers with obviously obsolete technology?

Answer: Simple: because in a mere 14 months (as was said by Pentecost) they managed to build an effective weapon against the Kaiju.

Friso94

Answer: Modern tempered glass was developed and patented in the early 1900s and was in general use by the 1940s. It would have been routinely used by businesses at the time Irving was breaking out store windows when he was a boy.

raywest

Question: When Bilbo is inside the mountain, after he wakes Smaug he puts the ring on to hide. After a few moments Smaug says something about Bilbo having something gold but more "precious." Bilbo shudders and takes the ring off as if in pain. Does this imply that Smaug knows what The Ring is? Does he know how truly powerful it is, and the history of it?

Answer: You would have to assume so. Dragons are incredibly ancient creatures and powerfully magic, Smaug would probably have been alive around the time of the rings creation, and even if he didn't know about the history he could have sensed the magic in the ring. But I doubt that he cared much for it other than owning it, as he wouldn't be able to wield it.

Question: When John's voice is heard on the radio, what is he saying?

Answer: Sorry Mikey.

Question: Was Logan's healing factor completely removed by Viper or just slowed down a lot? In the funeral fight scenes and on the train he was shot and stabbed multiple times, yet he was only slowed down. It seems if the healing factor was at 0% he would have bled to death right after. (Especially after a shotgun blast to the abdomen at point blank range) And is the healing factor back at 100% now even after the grandfather sucked a bunch of it out?

Answer: The healing factor was only reduced. Like you said, had it been removed he would have bled to death and every time he used his claws he would be bleeding from his hands. It is not revealed if it is at full strength at the end of the film, but it is likely it will return to full strength over time.

Question: Who exactly are "the new founding fathers"? It never actually says. I read an internet post that said they were not singular people, but a collection of multi-national companies that took over the government after a near nation wide collapse of the US.

Answer: The only information the original script offers is the company that took over the government, their name is "Arcon". Other than that, there is no other specific name nor is there an answer to what kind of company Arcon really is.

Question: Why is Bruce Willis mad when the gun rig was off by 3 mm when Devlin later says that the rig is actually meant to be off by 100 bullets until one hits the target?

johnsonson

Chosen answer: He's upset that the sights are off because he needs it to be as accurate as possible. Richard Gere was not referring to the accuracy of the gun, he was referring to the firing rate. "It could send off 100 bullets before the first one hits the target." They'd all be on target, it just fires that quickly.

Question: I have two questions. 1 - Is the woman who was hit by the car one of the personalities? And 2 - If she is,why did his psych have her hit by a car and still live for a few hours? I assume she is one due to the numbered key she had when she died.

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: She is indeed one of the identities. This is proven, as you said, by the fact that she has a numbered key. To answer your 2nd question the psych doesn't dictate what order and when the identities are killed. That is all played out in the killer's mind. The psych is only forcing them to interact with one another in hopes that Rivers will start killing them off. This is shown in the scene where Cusack tells Amanda Peet that she has to be the one to escape. His identity is certain hers isn't the killer but he is uncertain of which identity is. If the doc was already aware of which identity the killer was, and had control over how fast they died, he could have killed them all in a plane crash and left only the innocent identity alive. Rivers assumes she hangs on a couple of hours and then perishes, and since she is a figment of his imagination she does so.

oddy knocky

Question: How did Elsa and her subjects find out about the duke's intention to kill her, giving Elsa the reason to banish him?

Answer: The duke was the strongest opponent of Elsa from the start, calling her a monster and noting how dangerous she was the second he saw her ice powers. Later, his guards (who Elsa had already seen at the ball and were dressed in his colors) showed up at her ice castle and actively attacked her, trying to kill her even as their own lives were in danger. She could naturally assume they were following his orders and that he wanted her dead.

Question: Why does the newspaper Harley hands Tony in the garage have the date of Dec 2013? I thought these events took place six months after New York?

Mzurich

Chosen answer: The Battle of New York was never specified to take place in 2012, we just know that the film came out then. Based on the newspaper we can assume that the battle was in June 2013, rather than some time in 2012 as many would have previously assumed.

Question: Does Danny's ability to "shine" have any connection to Jack's insanity and the events that occur in the hotel?

Answer: Effectively, Danny's shining is what brings the hotel to life. Because he has such an incredibly powerful shine about him, all these weird ghost things in the hotel are able to materialize and reveal themselves. These weird ghost things are always present to some degree, and those people with a small degree of shine get glimpses of them - like Dick Hallorann. (It's not quite made clear in the movie, but Dick saw the woman in room 237 in the book). However, Danny's shine is so great that he gives these forces enough life to appear to those without any shine, people like his father and mother. As it's the hotel that's slowly driving Jack crazy, and the hotel gets its power from Danny's shining, then I'd say there's definitely a connection between Jack's insanity and Danny's abilities. In the movie, it's not as clear as it is in the book, but Jack is effectively possessed by the hotel. He's not a flawed drunk with an anger problem who loses his mind because of isolation. He's a flawed drunk with an anger problem who's doing the best he can, until the forces of the hotel get inside his head and make him lose it.

If Danny's shining is what brings the hotel back to life, does this mean that all the previous "Jacks" had a son or daughter with the shining too?

Answer: The movie is really 2 parallel story-lines with history repeating itself. In 1920s Jack visited the same hotel with his wife and son, they got stuck there due to snow storm along with rest of hotel crew (which leaves early in a hurry in 1980s). The director has carefully changed background score on things which were not present in 1920s when Dick is showing the facilities to Danny and his mother (like food cold storage). In the 80's version, Danny, Jack and Dick are the ones who have the power to shine or see scenes from the past in the same place. But as Dick says, its like reading a book and has no physical presence in current world. Whenever Dick is talking to Danny, it happened exactly the same way in 1920s, except replace the secret of shining with the secret of cannibalism around the hotel. Jack's insanity is just a repeat of his past, in the 20's the job of being the butcher (of human flesh) got to his mind and he started behaving weird. In the hotel lobby, replace the sound of heavy typing on the long table with sharp knife falling on human flesh. Red carpet depicts the blood and body parts all around the floor in 20s.

Question: If Severus Snape could probe Harry's mind during the private lessons in this movie, why didn't he know certain other things about Harry in the previous movies/books - such as the fact that Harry really did *not* steal gillyweed from his stores (for the second Triwizard Tournament task)?

Answer: There are two possible answers to this question. A) Snape was so convinced of Harry's guilt that he felt it would be a waste of time to use Legilimens. B) It takes a lot of energy to properly use Legilimens so Snape decided it was not worth his effort to find out if Harry was telling the truth about trivial happenings around the castle.

kristenlouise3

Show generally

Question: The original couch changes skirts somewhere along the line. The new skirt is beige (does not match the overall material like the original) and appears to be a couple of inches taller than the original. I surmise either Rosanne or John have back issues and the couch legs were increased so to raise the level of the seating. What was the reason?

Answer: Clearly, the only person who could truly answer this question would be a set designer for the series, or someone else directly connected to the series who would have this kind of detailed information. I looked on IMDb.com and Cheryl Lanner is credited as set designer through 1997. I quickly found her Facebook page, and I directed your question to her. After some time, Ms. Lanner has replied as follows: "I decorated the last season 1/2 but after 9 seasons the sofa just plain got worn out and had to be repaired from 8 years of usage. There was a board put on the sofa but as I've said, it was due to so much usage. If they had back problems I was unaware of them, but you can be assured that if that was the problem it would have been fixed immediately. Take care Michael!"

Michael Albert

Answer: One episode of season seven has a moment when Dan hops over the couch and breaks one end of it. The board was probably added so they could keep using it like nothing happened.

Question: Originally all 6 crew members were initially going down to check on Mars oxygen level (including Carrie Ann Moss) but she had to stay behind to manually orbit the 5 guys out. How were they all planning to make it back to their spaceship if she had tagged along in the first place?

Answer: The ship (Mars-1) was hit by a solar flare that damaged several systems including the launch system (which is why Moss Bowman had to stay behind to launch the MEV [Mars Entry Vehicle.] manually). The MEV's guidance system was also damaged, causing it to crash and resulting in further damage. So all going well, Bowman and Santen would have piloted the MEV there and back, but due to the flare they had to find another way back to the ship.

Sierra1

Question: Was Mrs. Collins' son ever found?

Answer: No. He was murdered at age nine. The movie uses creative license to bring up the suspicion that he could have somehow survived to create a dramatic hope in the end. Moreover, the killer was very unstable and retracted his testimony more than once. There is no solid proof of the boy surviving the killings. The police even found partial evidence of Walter Collins at the burial site. See the Wikipedia article for more information.

Earthling

Question: When Bill asks Rufus why they didn't land in the San Dimas of tomorrow, Rufus said it's because they had to dial one number higher. Could someone please give an example of this?

Answer: Hard to give an example without knowing for sure how it works, but the best guess is say the number was 555-1234 then it may be 555-1235 or 666-2345. Just a guess.

MasterOfAll

Question: When Ambassador Standish fires his gun, causing himself to burst into flames, what happens to the bullet fired at Lord Blackwood from, what appears to be, roughly 20 feet away?

Answer: The gun was modified to where it would not fire a bullet. It remained in the barrel.

MasterOfAll

Question: Except for Remus Lupin in this movie, it seems as though the Hogwarts teachers do not use the Hogwarts Express. How do they arrive at and leave the school?

Answer: There's a variety of ways that wizards can travel including magical vehicles (like the motorcycle that Hagrid drove), broomsticks, port keys, or riding flying animals (like a hippogriff or the threstrals). They could also use floo powder if their fireplace was connected to the floo network like Umbridge had in her office. The other teachers can certainly travel on the Hogwarts Express, and some probably do but just aren't shown. In the book, "Half-Blood Prince", Professor Slughorn rode the train and some teachers live at the school year round.

raywest

Answer: They can apparate whenever they want (as seen in Half Blood Prince).

Some can Apparate, but it's tricky and uncomfortable. In one of the books, Arthur Weasley mentions that many wizards don't like to Apparate. They prefer other ways to travel. Broomsticks, port keys, etc.

Plus you can't apparate into Hogwarts. They would have to apparate into Hogsmead and travel to the school.

Ssiscool

Question: Just after Ripley finds out from mother "crew expendable", she has a run-in with Ash, but he doesn't hurt her - she hurts him - so why does she have a bloody nose?

kh1616

Answer: The reason for the nosebleed was a deleted scene from the film. Ripley, in her attempt to escape from Ash, opened a hatch into a corridor which had been previously damaged by the alien (also a deleted scene) and wasn't supposed to be used. She suffered depressurization and retreated back and closed the hatch before looking for another escape route. That is what caused the nosebleed.

Chosen answer: Some people are prone to bloody noses without actually being physically hurt. Extreme emotional stress or physical exertion can trigger it by breaking small blood vessels in the nasal passages. She could also have bumped her head at some point off screen and had a delayed reaction.

raywest

Question: Has anyone ever tried zooming in on the various photographs on the walls of The Overlook, other than the final scene one? I bet Kubrick has placed crazy details in those too.

Answer: The pictures in Danny's room are pictures of bears. Going along with the motif of bears throughout the film.

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.