Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: If Monk is afraid of germs, then why does he keep touching things that could possibly have germs on them like parking meters or books?

Answer: Notice also that in the opening credits scene when he is touching parking meters her also wipes his hand on his clothes each time he does it.

Answer: That's the thing about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It's not something rational. He just has to touch things like that. It's not something he can rationally think through. However, since part of his disorder includes an obsession with cleanliness, he also has an assistant walk around handing him wipes periodically. It's like when he gets a cold and uses both a humidifier (because that's what you use when you're congested) and a dehumidifier (to counteract the effects of the humidifier). He may spout rationalizations after he does something, but his compulsions exist outside of any rational thought whatever.

Garlonuss

Chosen answer: It's not. The lizard in question places its own eggs in existing bird's nests.

Garlonuss

Question: What happened to Radagast? One minute he's running away from the Orcs, but then the Orc is standing on a stone and then Radagast disappears for the rest of the movie.

Casual Person

Chosen answer: We are never told, but given his confidence in his rabbits and the fact that he is a wizard of equal power to Gandalf (even if he has gone a bit odd), we can presume he escapes. Radagast doesn't appear in the book, his presence was pretty much invented for the movie, however he does appear very briefly in the first book of the Lord of the Rings (though not in the movie), so as far as the overall story goes, he must survive.

roboc

Question: Why does this movie have so many differences than the book? Why don't they want to follow the actual story line according to the book?

dinieland

Chosen answer: Any book-to-film adaptation will require changes, because what works on the page will not always work cinematically, for any number of reasons. Given the length of some books (the Order of the Phoenix clocks in at well over 700 pages), there's no realistic way that everything could possibly be fitted into the length of a movie, and thus it regularly becomes necessary to eject certain subplots entirely, condense certain events, combine characters or whatever else might be necessary to tell the basic story successfully within a two hour timeframe. As a result, many cinematic adaptations can contain significant deviations from the original book, but ultimately tell what amounts to the same core story. This happens with most of the Potter films, particularly those based on the longer books, but ultimately the main storyline remains intact, even if they take a slightly different route along the way.

Tailkinker

Question: This may seem like an obvious one, but why wouldn't Alice just let herself get bitten by a zombie to get her powers back? (Preferably, an answer more intelligent than, "for plot purposes").

Friso94

Chosen answer: She wasn't cured of the disease. The virus has already merged with her DNA. They simply suppressed her extra-human abilities. She's still immune, but getting reinfected would do nothing for her.

Garlonuss

Question: What is the hospitaler inserting into his mouth as he squats near the creek?

Answer: I thought it was cotton with oil of clove for a bad tooth.

Answer: The answer is a "miswak," a dental hygiene twig used, and still used, for cleaning the teeth.

Chosen answer: Nope. It was deliberately left vague.

Brad

Question: Where did Kim learn how to drive stick-shift? Is her dad that paranoid to prepare her for driving a stick-shift car?

lionhead

Chosen answer: Hardly paranoia, as such, more just giving Kim options. Kim has a noted interest in travelling abroad; cars in Europe are far more likely to be manual transmission than in the automatic-dominated US, and thus, by teaching her to drive a manual car, Mills may have made it easier for her to, say, drive a hire car on her travels. Manual transmission cars also tend to get better fuel mileage, are usually less expensive, certainly give you more control and are, in my opinion at least, more fun to drive, so there are some practicalities involved as well. Really the question is why wouldn't anybody at least learn how to drive a manual car, even if they usually end up driving an automatic.

Tailkinker

Question: SPOILERS: After young Joe shot himself, shouldn't he have disappeared? Seeming as the whole reason he's at the farm is because of old Joe, but if old Joe never existed to set certain events in motion in the first place, I don't see why young Joe's body would have just stayed there after he shot himself.

gobylo

Chosen answer: Because he still went to the farm. His body was there. He killed himself there. Plus since we don't know how the events would occur with real time travel (if possible), speculation about this can't be made.

shortdanzr

Chosen answer: Amongst the many complaints people have about Jar-Jar is that he seems to be portraying an old stereotype of an ignorant black person. Lisa is probably commenting on this.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: It's not so much that they're necessarily competing (indeed, the Doctor would be appalled to think that they were), it's really just that Amy has, at this point in the series, rather conflicted feelings about the Doctor and Rory. While on the verge of marrying the dependable everyman Rory, she feels an attraction to the Doctor, his exciting life and offbeat ways. As a result of this episode, she comes to realise that she does truly love Rory.

Tailkinker

Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie - S4-E6

Question: Homer bans Bart from ever watching "The Itchy And Scratchy Movie". But what exactly is the audience meant to think about this? Is the audience meant to think Homer did the right thing or Homer did a severe thing and the audience wants Bart to watch The Itchy And Scratchy Movie?

Chosen answer: Like many great episodes of the Simpsons, this one does not give us a good or bad guy. Rather, it's examining a family dynamic; parents want to protect their children, children want to prove their maturity. Just like in real life, no one is being especially unreasonable, they're just butting heads by each trying to do what they think is best.

Chosen answer: It is explained in the last episode of the series that the crack in Amy's wall is like a hole in time that's following her around, sucking in people and erasing their entire existence. When this happens, as it does with Rory mid season, Amy and everyone else who knew the person forgets all about them and their mind just sort of fills in the blanks in their past that that person would have filled. This is what happened to Amy's parents, they were erased from time before the Doctor met her, that's why he takes such an interest in her - she's the girl who doesn't make sense living all alone in such a big house. The events of the final episode set things right and restore her parents to existence along with everyone else the crack swallowed.

roboc

Does that mean the four clerics who were erased are also restored?

Question: Why is Gollum surprised when Frodo reveals to him that he intends to destroy the Ring? Didn't he know that since he was leading Frodo and Sam to Mordor that that was their goal?

Mueller

Chosen answer: Actually no, he didn't. He had no idea what they were planning to do in Mordor, and he didn't really care. Gollum is obsessed with one thing and one thing only, getting the ring back. He agrees to lead Frodo, partly because he's scared of the ring and is compelled to obey its current owner, but mostly because he's waiting for a chance to get it back. Maybe a sane person would have questioned Frodo's motives and realised his intention, but Gollum is hardly sane, is he?

roboc

Question: Why does Teddy have a cut with a plaster (band-aid) on his forehead throughout the film?

Answer: The bandage is a symbol indicating when and when not Teddy is caught in his delusions. When the bandage is on he is delusional, thinking he is the marshal finding out all the dark secrets of the facility. When the bandage is absent he is lucid and aware of his past crimes and his own delusions.

Wrong. It's on the whole movie until he takes a shower. The bandaid is off but yet that's the scene where he runs in the lighthouse thinking he's the Marshall still. Did you watch the movie at all?

Answer: He was in an altercation with the patient in ward C prior to returning to ward C and talking with him again. It was an injury sustained in the past due to that.

Scott McClure

Question: Are Colonel Mustard's parents dead or not? During the blackmail discussion scene in the study, Mustard says he lost his mummy and daddy in the war. Later, Mustard says Mr. Boddy threatened to send the pictures of him and Yvette in Flagrante Delicto to his parents.

Chosen answer: They're still alive. When he says it earlier, he's trying to explain away his money from black marketeering during the war.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: Moira's ghost form is unique because of the way she was treated when she was alive. To people who do not sexualize her and truly understand and view her for who she really (namely women), she is seen as an older woman. To people who objectify and don't care to see the truth (namely men), they see the young seductive Moria. It's a strong directorial choice to eventually show how Ben Harmen comes to terms with the truth of the house and himself.

Question: The Hobbit trilogy takes place 60 years before Lord Of The Rings, and it is shown that Bilbo takes the Ring from Gollum and escapes the Misty Mountains with it. What exactly has Gollum been doing for the past 60 years?

Casual Person

Chosen answer: It took Gollum a few years to summon up the courage to leave his cave to try to find Bilbo, but, unsurprisingly, he found that the trail had gone cold. Wandering in the hope of picking up the scent, he ended up on the edge of Mordor, where he encountered Shelob and became her servant, spying on her behalf, luring food into her lair and so forth. Eventually, captured by Sauron's forces, he gave up the names of Baggins and the Shire under torture, alerting Sauron to the existence and potential significance of Hobbits. He was freed, only to be captured again, this time by Gandalf and Aragorn who wanted to question him about the Ring before placing him in elven custody in Mirkwood. Escaping from there, Gollum hid out in Moria where he first picked up the trail of the Fellowship.

Tailkinker

Question: Why didn't Murphy tell his boss about Cochrane's plan to kill him? He tries to when he gets back, but notices some strange behaviour and walks off. Is it because he (a) doesn't trust the department and thinks the boss is in on it (b) doesn't think he will believe him (since Lymangood hid the proof) (c) decides to deal with it himself (d) just the writers' way of advancing the plot.

Gavin Jackson

Answer: Yes to A, B, and C.

Question: Spoiler: How did Bruce survive the explosion?

Chosen answer: It is revealed afterward that he had fixed the autopilot on his aircraft. At some point prior to the explosion he bailed out and the craft continued on without him, taking the bomb far enough away for him to survive the blast.

Phixius

It's not clear that he actually survived We did see him in the end but Alfred could have been imagining that Bruce was there It's up to us to decide if that is the case or not But it's not confirmed that he survived.

The Dark Knight Series has not been one to play with elements of imagination, or really leave things up to audience interpretation. I will relent that Christopher Nolan has a knack for this in some of his other movies. But here, things have remained pretty clear cut throughout the trilogy. We see that Bruce fixed the autopilot on The Bat, he basically delivers a map of the Batcave to Blake. And Alfred, being of sound mind and body, sees Bruce in a cafe at the end. Bruce survived.

jshy7979

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