Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: This has confused me ever since I heard who Balin was in the movie. While Gimli doesn't necessarily look young in Lord of the Rings, his cousin Balin in the Hobbit looks much much older than he does, and not to mention the Hobbit was 60 years prior to the events in Lord of the Rings. There must be a huge age gap between the two or perhaps Balin's white hair has no significance on his age? And for that matter, what are the life expectancies on dwarves, they are pretty much the only races in Tolkien's creations that I've never really heard. Judging from their contrasting age appearances in the movies he would seem to be about 100 years older than Gimli?

ofordgabings

Chosen answer: While the most common usage of the word cousin is to describe the children of siblings, known as "first cousins" who would be of the same generation, "cousin" actually covers quite a wide range of relationships, which can readily cross generations. In this case, Gimli's father Glóin is Balin's first cousin as their fathers, Gróin and Fundin, were brothers. Gimli is therefore Balin's first cousin once removed, making the age difference between them (113 years, to be specific) quite reasonable. Dwarves in the Tolkien stories generally live to around 250 years old, with correspondingly longer generations than humans.

Tailkinker

Answer: He brought the Borg to the Alpha Quadrant and showed them that it was full of worlds waiting to be assimilated. Guinan's homeworld was their first stop, and they assimilated everyone and took over the planet, leaving The Survivors of her race without a home. Q is ultimately responsible for that.

Captain Defenestrator

By the time Q takes the Enterprise to meet the Borg, Guinan already knew who they were and they had already destroyed her world. Therefore the above answer can not be right. I believe Guinan is much more than she appears, and her people have had encounters with the Q in the past. It is these interactions, that obviously were not pleasant, that fuels her distrust.

oldbaldyone

That's what the above answer is saying. Q brought the Borg to the Alpha Quadrant (not Earth) and the Borg destroyed Guinan's home world in the late 2200's, which is why she hates Q. Although she met Q in 2160 and they both saw each other as enemies right away.

Bishop73

Question: Is it known if there is still an ongoing feud between Peter Jackson and Christopher Lee? I ask because they had a well documented falling-out after the original LOTR trilogy, stemming from Jackson cutting Lee's character Saruman from the theatrical release of ROTK. In this movie, there's an odd part where Galadriel and Gandalf have a telepathic communication, basically ignoring Lee as he is delivering his lines. This happens more than once and I found it to be unintentionally comical.

Answer: While Lee was unhappy about being cut from the theatrical cut, the character's restoration in full to the Extended Edition, generally deemed to be the definitive version of the movie, went some distance towards settling the issue; most allegations of an actual feud between them are considerably exaggerated, mostly by irate Lee fans. While Lee did ask Jackson for assurances that he wouldn't be cut out this time, assurances that Jackson was more than happy to give, given the key nature of his scenes in The Hobbit, any feud between them is long gone. After all, Lee could easily have just refused to appear if there was a real issue there. He didn't.

Tailkinker

Question: During the Tango de Roxanne scene, it seems that there is a lot of tension between Nini and the Argentinean. Also, when he yells at Christian for falling in love with Satine, it is almost as if he is speaking from experience. Is this because he is actually in love with Nini or is it just a part of the song itself?

Answer: It's just part of the song.

Phixius

Question: A voice-over says "Log-on and get inside access on your favourite drivers. For an additional cost, you can tap into the closed circuit camera INSIDE the driver's car", but Carl/Frankenstein has his mask OFF while he's driving & isn't the audience meant to be kept in the dark about who Frankenstein actually is? He's meant to be the most popular character/racer, so everyone would then know his true identity.

aat666

Chosen answer: The camera being inside the car could be pointed out the windshield so you can see what the driver sees. It doesn't have to be pointed at the drivers.

rswarrior

Question: How does the mob (from the past), know exactly when a Looper has let his target run? A Looper wouldn't turn himself in, so how does the mob know almost instantly when a target hasn't been killed?

Answer: I saw no indication that the mob knew "almost instantly". The whole day had passed before they came looking for Seth. What likely triggers their suspicions is the Looper failing to show up to turn his bars in for cash.

Phixius

Answer: If you watch the movie he only saves half the bars. you see there are 4 bars on the body, but he only turns in 2.

Answer: But Joe doesn't cash in, he stacks up all his money.

Question: Does anyone know where the Winter Park, Florida scenes were actually shot? Because that was sure not Winter Park.

Answer: Atlanta, Georgia.

Question: What are we supposed to believe at the end of the film? Or is it deliberately left ambiguous? My mum had this theory that Pi made up the animal story to escape the reality of his ordeal. What do you think about the ending?

Answer: It's completely up to the viewer to decide. There's no right or wrong answer.

Question: It is stated that once Vanellope crosses the finish line, she is no longer a glitch, but she still glitches even then since she retained that power. Also, she couldn't leave her game due to her glitching power. However, she is seen at Felix and Calhoun's wedding which means she is out of her game then. Was that possible then? If so, then how?

Answer: What Sour Bob says is that once Vanellope crosses the finish line the game will reset and King Kandy's damage to the game's code will be undone. After that happens Vanellope can still glitch because she learned to control it before crossing the finish line; it's no longer an involuntary side-effect of damaged code, it's something she just knows how to do. Likewise, her newly repaired code allows her to leave the game when she wishes.

Phixius

Question: When Ralph is trying to help Vanellope learn how to drive, he claims he knows how to drive since he flew the plane. Vanellope reminds him that he crashed the plane. How does she know that happened? Did she actually see Ralph crash the plane before she first appears? (01:48:00)

Answer: When Ralph enters Sugar Rush, the plane is seen crashing into several candy trees and Vanellope herself is sitting on a candy tree at the time. Also when Ralph is ejected out of the plane, he sees the medal only a few trees away. Vanellope is on the same tree as the medal so she would have seen Ralph ejected out of the plane, which means she knew Ralph crashed the plane.

Casual Person

Question: Throughout the whole movie, why does Jasmine have such hostility toward Jafar? The scene where Aladdin was captured by the guards on Jafar's orders, she seems angry that Jafar had a stranger taken from the market place. In the scene of Jasmine's and Jafar's first appearance together, she confronts him angrily asking Jafar about the arrest. When his reply was justifiable she is still upset with him. And in the scene where the Sultan, Jafar, and Jasmine are all in the room discussing the incident, Jasmine says she wants to get rid of Jafar. (00:23:20 - 00:41:15)

Answer: Because Jasmine sees Jafar for what he is; a lying, manipulative, power-hungry villain.

Phixius

Answer: Also, Jasmine reveals in that first scene that Aladdin's arrest wasn't justifiable. Jafar told her he had him arrested for kidnapping her, to which Jasmine reveals that he didn't kidnap her; she ran away. Then Jafar reveals that he had Aladdin executed, which can seemingly only be done upon approval from the sultan. Jasmine loathes him so much because he allowed for the death of an innocent boy without checking with anyone first.

Jafar didn't have to check with the sultan to execute someone before. The sultan came up with that rule to avoid future confusion.

lionhead

Question: Where did Harvey get the gun that he threatens Schiff with while interrogating him after Commissioner Loeb's funeral?

Brad

Chosen answer: I don't recall that it is specifically shown on film where Dent got the gun, but in the chaos of the shooting at memorial service and all of the police officers present it probably would not have been too difficult for Dent to find a gun, or take one from someone.

Answer: He's Gotham's DA, he would likely just carry a gun at all times for his own protection.

Question: Some people think Ginger is Sarah's sister, but I have always thought she was just her close friend and roommate. Who's right?

Gavin Jackson

Answer: Ginger is Sarah's roommate and best friend.

Chosen answer: No mention is made of her being Sarah's sister. If she was, at some point in the other films, it would have been mentioned.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: When M comes out to tell Moneypenny off for the errors in the paperwork she did, and discovers that she authorised a search for Bond, is he angry with her for doing it or does he sympathise with her? I know it's a stupid question, but I've never been able to work it out.

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: It's meant to be a bit of both - he is angry she is failing her professional duties but is also worried on a personal front for Bond too. This is also seen earlier at Hemingway House, when Bond resigns and escapes. Although previously M has told Bond plainly to quit his vendetta with Sanchez, when Bond escapes, M says "God help you, 007" - ie. at the same time he sympathies with Bond. So basically he is angry on the surface, but he too is also sympathetic with Moneypenny.

swordfish

Question: Why did M send Bond back out into the field if he didn't pass all the tests? She stated he wasn't allowed unless he passed every test, so why did she say he could when the tests stated he's not fit enough?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: Because she believes that people are more than just the sum of their test results. Regardless of what the tests show, she still believes that Bond is the best person for the task ahead, that his skill, experience and tenacity will allow him to rise above a few bad test scores and get the job done anyway.

Tailkinker

Question: Who was responsible for Lester's murder? Many of his family and friends had a motive but at the time he was killed, they were all somewhere else.

Answer: Frank, Ricky's father, killed Lester. He thought Lester was gay, a secret he's been keeping about himself for a long time. When Lester spurned his kiss, he was humiliated and enraged.

Phixius

Question: How exactly does Batman acquire the "Clean Slate" that Catwoman has been looking for the whole movie, and from whom? Daggett suggests that it's a little too good to be true, so is it even real?

Answer: Daggett suggests that it's too good to be true because he believes that it doesn't exist; that it was in development, but it never worked. From what we see in the movie, however, it seems that that's a cover, that Bruce obtained the "Clean Slate" in order to keep it out of the wrong hands. Exactly how he did that is unclear - most likely he covertly bought up the company developing it, Rykin Data, moved all the project materials to somewhere secure, paid the developers handsomely to sign strict confidentiality agreements, then let Daggett buy the company to find that the "Clean Slate" wasn't there, leading him to believe that it was simply a gangland myth.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: This is an instance of the Doctor interfering, albeit indirectly, with his own timestream. He sends the invites to his younger self, Rory, Amy, River and the older Canton because he knows, from his memories of those events occurring, that they are the ones who get invited. It's a somewhat circular situation, but that's time travel for you.

Tailkinker

Question: Each film in this trilogy had its own theme. According to Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins was "Fear," The Dark Knight was "Chaos" and "Escalation." Did he ever say what the theme for The Dark Knight Rises is? I've heard it could be "Redemption" or "Pain."

Answer: Yes, the theme for The Dark Knight Rises is pain.

Question: How does Bane kill Daggett? Did he break his neck? That doesn't seem likely though due to the screaming that can be heard. Did he suffocate him?

Answer: He did break his neck. You can actually hear a cracking sound when it happens. As for the screaming, you can actually still be alive for a few seconds, the screaming only lasts for a couple of seconds as well.

Casual Person

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