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: Following up on the answered question about Rose being Cal's "wife in practice", was sleeping together before marriage socially acceptable among that class of people at that time?
Chosen answer: No, contrary to what movies lead us to believe now, it was highly inappropriate for intercourse before marriage until about after World War I.
Question: Right after the opera scene when Willis is getting the stones his shirt has sleeves. When he exits the opera house his sleeves are ripped off and he has blood on him. Was there a deleted fight scene?
Chosen answer: Korben's shirt is fine before the fight with the aliens who walk back into the theater after Ruby shoots the hostage one by accident. A deleted or not filmed fight sequence occurs in which Korben and Ruby both get their shirts ripped up and gain several small wounds. The point where we see Korben shoot the three on the balcony is after he's taken care of the ones in the theater.
Question: In the scene where McClane kills the first terrorist,why doesn't he just shoot him? He wastes bullets and risks his life by fighting him. He's got a gun on him at point blank range,it would've been so much easier to just shoot him.
Chosen answer: As it is said during that scene, John is a cop, he won't shoot unless its neccessary. He is smart enough to try get information first. You can't get any information from a dead terrorist. Then when he tries to use force, the struggle eventuated. John actually didn't mean to kill him, he just so happened to be holding onto the right part of his head as they were rolling down the stairwell.
XIIIThe One In Vegas, Part 2 - S5-E24
Question: When Joey is talking to his 'hand twin' in the bathroom he says "...And you know NASA's gonna want to talk to us." If he does in fact say NASA, then what does he mean? Why would they want 'hand twins'? Thanks.
Chosen answer: It's just one of the nonsensical things Joey says, it's not as if NASA would really want hand twins. He just thinks they might because NASA researches a lot of stuff.
LuMaria 1The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker - S3-E8
Question: Which year does Timmy visit in the 80's?
Chosen answer: 1986.
Question: In my copy of Shrek 2 the ugly stepsister has a very grumpy voice but in the real movie she has a different voice but why?
Chosen answer: The Ugly Stepsister's voice was performed by different people, specifically chat-show hosts from the country in question - so, in the US release, it's Larry King, in the UK release, Jonathan Ross and so on. Your DVD is presumably a different version to the one that you saw at the cinema.
Tailkinker
She Used to Be My Girl - S16-E4
Question: At the end of this episode when Marge was imagining what life would have been like if she was a reporter, what did she mean by the "miracle on ice that never happened" and why did she scream afterwards?
Chosen answer: The Miracle on Ice is when the 1980 USA Ice Hockey team defeated the USSR in the semifinal round and was deemed a huge upset worldwide. The reason it was a miracle is the Russian team was highly favored, having defeated the U.S. in a preliminary game by a huge margin, and this game with them was just a precursor for the Russians to get to the championship game. She screamed because now the US hasn't won.
Tobin OReillyQuestion: Why does Berger tell Sheila and her friend, that he needs $250 to bail his friends out? The bail was $50/person an there's only 4 of them in jail.
Chosen answer: He wanted to give Claude his $50 back.
Chosen answer: Because if he admits that his wife was the diabetic, then that opens the door to the possibility that it was HE who killed his wife with an overdose of insulin, and not Sammy Jankis. He can't face that possibility, so he simply denies that she was ever diabetic.
Rooster of DoomQuestion: Can someone please tell me why Peter Jackson cut out the chapter in the book about the hobbits rebelling against "Sharkey". I can understand it in the theatrical version (time restrictions) but he had all the time in the world for the extended version and he still didn't put it in. I thought the Hobbit rebellion was the best part of all the 3 books.
Chosen answer: The climax of the tale, from the film-making point of view, is the destruction of the Ring and the fall of Sauron. Having the movie go on for at least another hour after that (which would be required for the Scouring of the Shire) simply wouldn't work. Practically all the scenes that have been added into the Extended Cut are scenes that were cut from the theatrical film - i.e. they were filmed with their inclusion in the theatrical release in mind. Given the amount of work that they had to do, to then film a long, complex sequence (which would require a lot of effects work, as it features multiple battles between men and hobbits) purely to be included in the Extended Edition would not have been possible.
TailkinkerQuestion: When Phoebe's mom died she went and lived on the street. But why? I am sure they had a house. Why would someone take it away from them? And what about her Grandmother?
Answer: Any answer would be a guess, it's never explained. But she mostly likely ran away from home and lived on the streets and later reconnected with her grandmother.
Answer: According to Phoebe her mother had severe mental problems. It could be that had a house but lost it because of it, they lived on the streets and sometime later after her mother died she went to live with her grandmother. They could have lived with her grandmother, but the mother's mental problems drove her out. Either way Phoebe would want be with her to take care of her.
Question: Is the plot to this film about Nameless wanting to assassinate the king, or about the love between Flying Snow and Broken Sword?
Chosen answer: It's mostly about Nameless' assassination attempt, but there is a subplot in the different flashbacks developing the relationship between Snow and Sword. Not much of an arc to that one, though.
PhoenixQuestion: The mouse was deliberately put in a parcel without airholes. How did it survive?
Chosen answer: It survived because it's funny. Just like it survived everything else the brothers tried to do to it.
Grumpy ScotQuestion: I was wondering what the title of the piece of music that plays in Love Actually when the little boy is running through the airport, and when Jaime asks Aurelia to marry him. I also heard in during The Aviator trailer. It's a really beautiful piece, and I've love to know the title.
Chosen answer: I can't remember if it really is the same song, but the song that plays when he asks Aurelia to marry him is the 'Portugese Love Theme' by Craig Armstrong.
Answer: The music playing when he's running through the airport is "Prime Minister's Love Theme" by Craig Armstrong.
Question: Question about the Director's Cut of the film. The scene where Brett is looking for Jones has been altered slightly - when he looks up at where the water is dripping from, you can actually see the Alien hanging motionlessly from one of the chains. Has Ridley Scott given an explanation as to why he added this new dynamic to the scene? It's easy enough to speculate why, but a link to an 'official' explanation would be appreciated.
Chosen answer: According to the commentary on the DVD, Ridley didn't add this scene to the original cinematic release because he thought it revealed the true horror of the Alien too soon in the film. The scene is quite early in the film and he thought revealing the fully matured Alien at that time would reduce the viewer's fear.
I had watched Alien several times before I noticed the Alien hanging there.At this point the Audience have no idea what the Alien looks like, they're looking at pieces of science fiction equipment put in by the production crew that they can't relate to, so for all they know the Alien could just be a piece of kit hanging there.
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.
Chosen answer: Ray Charles is the singer who performs this version of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" - this is not on the original movie soundtrack, but you may be able to find a Ray Charles album where this song is included.