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: What is the name of the bearded dragon kind of character in Rango who says, "What do you think, Sheriff?"

MazyFerret5

Chosen answer: Do you mean Waffles? He is a horned toad.

Chosen answer: A "bog roll" is another term for toilet tissue. The soft just refers to its texture.

raywest

Show generally

Question: Has the Doctor's real Gallifrey name ever been mentioned? And why does he call himself the Doctor?

Answer: No, his real name has never been stated, although one previous nickname from his early years ("Thete", short for "Theta Sigma") was mentioned by Drax, another Time Lord. Nor has his reason for adopting the pseudonym of The Doctor ever been fully explained. The name appears to be a personal choice rather than something given him by others - the Master tells him at one point that it was sanctimonious of him to choose a name that identifies him as "the man who makes people better". Several incarnations have claimed to have studied a number of different disciplines (including medicine) at various points in his existence, making it also possible that he could genuinely hold at least one academic doctorate, which could be a potential factor in his choice.

Tailkinker

Question: I submitted a mistake about the road sign at the end of the film that shows how many miles to Chicago and that there would not be such a sign in Vegas. My question is what was the point of adding that into film? And also I think it is safe to assume that the Griswolds booked a flight back to Chicago (round trip). If they did it doesn't seem like they would've had time to cancel it since they didn't know until the end that Rusty won the 4 cars. So wouldn't they have lost more money that way as well?

Answer: Clark sold the plane tickets to continue gambling.

Answer: A sign saying how many miles home is a common film making technique. It's not meant to be realistic. Considering the Griswolds won enough at keno to recover their losses and at least $120,000 worth of cars, I can't see them getting too upset over the airfare which is likely less than a thousand dollars.

Grumpy Scot

So they did turn in the ticket and got the money? I know they drove off in the cars Russ won.

Answer: They live in Chicago. I think it was just a nod to the number of miles and who knows what could happen to them on the way home.

Answer: Don't forget that Clark gambled away their plane tickets. He needs to drive the 4 new cars Rusty won to Chicago.

Question: In the scenes in the home of Annie's Mom (Jill Clayburgh), she has sketches of singers. When they are sitting on the couch, is that a sketch of John Lodge of the Moody Blues behind the couch? Thanks.

Answer: Rick Springfield and Willie Nelson.

billpepper

Question: Even though I have seen the movie five times, I still don't understand Holmes when he is explaining how Lord Blackwood survived the hanging, without any pulse. Could someone explain it to me?

IreneAdlerfan21

Chosen answer: Blackwood took a chemical toxin that slowed the body's functions down to a very low level, far enough that he would appear dead even to the trained examiner. Watson pronounced him dead, then his body was placed within the prepared tomb. At some point after that he returned to normal function as the toxin wore off.

Tailkinker

Answer: He survived the hanging because there was a fish hook near where the knot of the rope was that Blackwood was hung by.

Question: Why doesn't Gaston go off with one of the three blond women who fancy him instead of chasing after Belle, who he can see is not interested in his advances?

Answer: Either he only wants what he can't have (Belle) or the women who fancy him are not the type he would consider suitable as his wife and the mother of his children.

raywest

Answer: Gaston wants to marry a girl as beautiful as he is so he doesn't want anyone else but Belle.

Question: After Snape escapes when Harry reveals himself to him in the Great Hall, Voldemort uses his powers to speak to everyone and tells them he wants Harry. Just before he speaks the room gets dark and a few students start to scream. Did they sense something was happening before anyone else and why wasn't anyone else screaming. I know that later when Voldemort summons Harry to the Dark Forest, Hermione covers her ears.

Answer: They scream because the room growing dark startled them. Hermione covers her ears in a vain attempt to muffle what Voldemort is saying; it's something she doesn't want to hear and in her highly stressed and fatigued state she resorts to ineffective measures to "hide" from what is happening.

Phixius

Question: When the 2 brothers leave the elevator with the cart with Yen in it, the camera zooms in on the waiter's uniform on the floor. Why? Someone asked before 'wouldn't Benedict have seen them change in the elevator'. What I want to know, is why would they leave evidence in the elevator and it never be revisited for the rest of the movie? Seems very strange. Could a part of the movie be missing?

parabri

Chosen answer: They leave the stuff there because there is no other place to put it - they can't be seen with it and Yen is in the cart. And Livingston already had control over the security cameras. He would just have to turn them to video while they were in the elevator.

LorgSkyegon

Question: Why has Koslova got two bullet wounds on her abdomen? The Jackal only shot her once.

Answer: There are two blood spots close together on the front of her shirt. When she was shot, she was rolling and moving around on the floor and her shirt could have gotten twisted in such a way that blood was transferred to the other side.

raywest

Chosen answer: Nothing specific, the carving of mystical symbols is just meant to be a means of furthering his power.

Purple_Girl

Question: When Charles goes to meet the CIA to explain about mutation and mutants, he speaks to Agent Stryker, who is the father of William Stryker. William Stryker gave Logan adamantium which increased his powers. If Charles met William Stryker's father at a young age then how did he meet Logan also at a young age ?

Answer: Logan is around 100 years old at this point. He aged at a normal rate to his peak maturity, then his healing power kept him from aging any further.

Phixius

Chosen answer: No. Monica's middle name is never revealed other than the middle initial is E.

Question: Since the link on the answer to the original question is now broken, I will ask it again; What does Jessup mean when he says he wants Santiago to make 4-6-4-6 on his next proficiency report?

tinsmith

Chosen answer: The Marine proficiency and conduct report is scored from 0.0 to 5.0. Above 4.5 is classified as "Excellent", which is why Jessup wanted him at 4.6.

Question: What was the significance of the letters Elizabeth took from Beckett that he signed and what happened to them?

Answer: They are letters of marque which state Elizabeth and Will are released from the charges originally placed against them at the beginning of the film. Norrington steals the letters from Jack's jacket pocket and signs his name, thus clearing his charges. This is mentioned in the final scene between Norrington and Beckett. This is why Norrington can serve the East India Trading Company in the third movie.

Brad

Question: Is it ever explained how Beckett knew of Jack's compass? We know Jack had it in the first film when he used it to find Isla De Muerta and we learn a little later in this film that Jack got it from Tia Dalma. Could it be possible that Jack already had it when Beckett branded him as a pirate?

Answer: No, it isn't, although, as you so rightly say, Jack and Beckett appear to have a considerable history between them. Beckett presumably learned about the compass during those encounters.

Tailkinker

Question: Why do they simply kill dozens of people in the movie, but with him it has to be something long and drawn out, like poison in the hospital or drugs in the parking garage?

Answer: Because the killers need to make Liam Neeson's death look accidental. The police think Neeson is crazy, and is not telling the truth when he claims Liz is his wife. The police simply think that Neeson is mentally ill and so dismiss his stories and allegations as untrue. However, if Neeson is then found murdered, there is the possibility that the police think Neeson might have been telling the truth, investigate, and foil the villains' plot. Therefore, Neeson must be killed to stop him investigating - but he must he killed inauspiciously, so it looks like an accident, so as not to make the police suspicious. Thus the poison in hospital - hopefully it would be put down as a standard non suspicious hospital death. And the drugs in the car park at the end of the film are deliberately mentioned by Professor Rodney Cole as being essential in making Neeson's death look an accident. Cole says that Neeson will seem to have killed himself with heroin and so will not consider his death suspicious. So basically these elaborate ways of killing are in order to make Neeson's murder seem an accident and so not make the police investigate.

swordfish

Question: Shang's voice actor B.D. Wong is an accomplished singer, why was Donny Osmond brought in to sing Shang's song instead?

Purple_Girl

Chosen answer: Name recognition. Donny Osmond's popularity had recently resurged at the time this film was produced, and Disney wanted to cash in.

Phixius

Question: This is a question for all the films, what do wizard children who have lived with wizards and witches all their lives go to primary school because they must need to read and write?

Answer: They are typically taught "the basics" at home, as per Rowling.

Phixius

Question: This is the 6th iteration of Matrix and Neo succeeds in killing Smith by unbalancing the equation. But doesn't the equation get unbalanced when the previous 5 Neos don't succeed and die?

Answer: Smith's being "set free" by Neo is something new to this iteration of the Matrix. The previous iterations simply ended and began anew, as was the machines' plan.

Captain Defenestrator

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