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.

Show generally

Question: I was younger when the show ended, so I have mostly watched re-runs and I am wondering: were Monica Reyes and John Doggett generally well-received by the show's fans, seeing how they were sudden new characters in a series that already had established favorite/popular characters (Mulder, Scully, Skinner, etc.) for the past seven seasons?

Answer: From what I remember, yes they were generally well recieved...I think it's because they didnt try to replace Mulder or Scully, and the evolution of Scully being the believer and Doggett being the non-believer just as Scully used to be, with reyes being the in between.

tattoojunkie

Question: How is Ryce supposed to have got out of the room at the party when Beethoven causes the front of the house to collapse? Taylor fell in the water holding the key.

Answer: Although a little dangerous she could have lowered herself down to the level below her and just walked out the house.

tattoojunkie

Question: Is this film in the public domain? Thanks.

Answer: No, it's owned by Film Preservation Associates.

GalahadFairlight

Question: If Sidious was trained by Plagueis, how/when was he able to get involved in a political career? Was he already an adult when Plagueis met him?

Answer: Very few details have been released regarding Palpatine's early life, how he apparently escaped the notice of the Jedi Order and came to the attention of Plagueis instead. His apprenticeship apparently took "many decades", suggesting that he was recruited as a child. However, under Naboo law, public service is mandatory between the ages of 12 and 20, so it is possible that Palpatine was already in service when recruited, and chose to continue his political career in order to further the goals of the Sith. Even if recruited at a younger age, Palpatine was reportedly of noble birth, making it relatively difficult for him to simply drop out of sight to train as a Sith full time, so he may simply have decided (or been instructed by his master) to continue with his life in an outwardly normal fashion, while being trained covertly in the Sith arts.

Tailkinker

Question: Is there any significance to the pantyhose that the team gives out being encased in plastic eggs?

Knever

Chosen answer: L'Eggs was a famous brand of panty hose that came inside plastic eggs. That's the joke.

wizard_of_gore

Question: Saw the film once in the movies and now on DVD. Still can't figure this out. Bond follows Camille to the dock and watches from a distance as Dominic talks to General Medrano about using Camille, then killing her. Then Camille (not knowing her fate, only knowing that she wants to kill the General) leaves on a boat with Medrano. As the boat leaves, Bond suddenly realizes that he must get Camille away from the General and goes through a series of very dangerous moves on the water to kidnap her away from him. The question: why? Bond could not possibly have heard Dominic's remarks about killing her. Bond's sudden decision to steal Camille away from the General makes no sense.

BocaDavie

Chosen answer: Remember just before that scene? Bond gets in to the car with Camille (Camille thinks that Bond is Slate) and looks through that attache case and finds a picture of Camille, with a gun, and tells her "I think someone wants you dead". So Bond and Camille both knew that Dominic was planning her death, but she had to go through Dominic to get to General Medrano.

RLN

Question: When Will says, "Well, I haven't quite figured that part out yet," is he answering Achoo's question or referring to his botched attempt at sheathing his daggers? I'm inclined to believe that it's the latter; it seems to fit both of them.

Knever

Chosen answer: The latter - he hasn't figured out yet how to sheathe his daggers without cutting his belt holding up his pants.

Zwn Annwn

Question: Since Umbridge ordered the dementors to attack Harry in the opening of Order of the Phoenix, why isn't she punished or otherwise held accountable after it's revealed that she is responsible for the attack?

Blaine

Chosen answer: It was never actually proved that Umbridge ordered the attack, and it is basically her word against Harry and the other students. Also, the Slytherin students would back up Umbridge's claims. The Ministry does not believe anything Harry or Dumbledore says anyway, discounting their claims that Voldemort has returned, that Sirius Black was innocent, that Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) is still alive, etc, so it's unlikely they'll believe that Umbridge was involved in dementor attack.

raywest

Question: There's a line in this movie - I think - in which Obi-Wan mentions that Yoda was his master. But wasn't Qui-Gon Jin actually Obi-Wan's master?

padfootrocksmysocks

Chosen answer: Yoda isn't mentioned in this film - you're actually thinking of The Empire Strikes Back, but I know the line that you mean - Obi-Wan refers to Yoda as "the Jedi Master who instructed me". While Yoda was not "his" master (as you say, that was Qui-Gon), his description is technically accurate - Yoda is a Jedi Master and, as we see in Attack of the Clones, appears to take responsibility for training the young Jedi hopefuls, the younglings, as they're referred to, so would undoubtedly have had a hand in Kenobi's training at some point.

Tailkinker

And he was instructed to complete missions by Yoda.

Chosen answer: Because unlike everyone else, they know EXACTLY where it is! They are their friends, of course they know how to get to the turtles' home easily.

Carl Missouri

Question: What was the point of the crazy soldier who shoots the black thieves and later gets shot dead by George Kennedy? Why was he so nutty, and quite frankly what purpose did he even serve in the film?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Before he put the uniform on, he was a complete nobody, having the respect of no-one. Now that he's in uniform, he demands that people should respect him, and coupled with the powers of Martial Law (where looters can be shot on sight), takes the lack of respect too far and shoots them.

GalahadFairlight

Answer: The chosen answer doesn't answer the question at all. It's called a amulet. It burns hot in God's presence which is why Dean and Sam use it later in the series to find God.

Chosen answer: Sam gave it to him as a Christmas present, though it was originally intended for his father. When John didn't show up for Christmas Sam gave it to Dean. This was shown in a flashback in "A Very Supernatural Christmas".

Question: During the course of the movie, Magneto is shown to be using a form of flight in the presence of metal, such as the train and Statue of Liberty. Could he perhaps, be able to sustain flight without the presence of metal, such as manipulation via the Earth's magnetic field? Also, what are the limits of such flight?

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: It is never fully explained in the movie, however in the comics he is shown to be able to use Earth's magnetic field to engage in high speed flight.

Show generally

Question: Whats the deal with Michael Rosenbaum? Did he leave the show? I find it strange that he is nowhere to be seen in the show or in the opening credits. If that is the case, is it known why he left? Or is this just some plot device to build suspense?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: He simply chose to leave the show. He wanted to move on; seven years is a long time to devote to a single project, so he felt it was time to move his career onwards. As a result, the character of Lex, which they'd taken as far as they realistically could anyway, was written out of the show. It's certainly not out of the question that he could make a guest appearance in a future storyline, much as Kristin Kreuk, who also left the show at the end of season seven, did in the middle of season eight, but so far this has not occurred.

Tailkinker

Question: I still don't understand the purpose of the little boy Armand has with all the bite marks.

Answer: Because his blood tastes really good. The vampires keep him around like a bottle of fine wine. They are careful not to kill him or turn him into a vampire. He must be treated very well in return as he is clearly loyal to Armand, rescuing him from the fire later.

Grumpy Scot

Question: What is the actual likelihood that a decorated serviceman, with no prior criminal record (we know this because if Poe had any priors he wouldn't have been in the Army) would actually get prison time for killing two men who attacked himself and his girlfriend? Seeing as there were witnesses (said girlfriend and bartender) I find it hard to believe he would have gotten more than an extended period of probation. A prison term, even a year or two, seems severely harsh considering the circumstances.

dablues7

Chosen answer: Zero. As you said, he was attacked and there are witnesses that he tried to avoid the fight and the killings were in self-defense. It is an extremely weak plot hammer to get Poe onto a plane full of criminals. It's foolish as well. The writers could have had Poe framed for a crime then exonerated and put in the same situation much more believably.

Grumpy Scot

It's in Alabama. People are put in prison here for much less.

First, Poe is a federal prisoner, not subject to State laws or legal procedures. Secondly, he is not in Alabama. During a conversation with Billy Bedlam we hear that he is incarcerated in the "Q" - prison slang for San Quentin in California. It makes you wonder why a Federal prisoner is in a State prison, but that's another type of mistake.

Would it really be considered self-defense, though? After he beat the guys to the ground he could have just stopped and walked away, but he didn't. He kept beating them until they died.

He is defending his wife against two armed assailants, and use of lethal force is allowable. No DA in the United States would even think about pressing charges, knowing full well a grand jury would throw them out in a second.

Question: In the meeting at the beginning, after Padme is attacked, Mace says that their intelligence believes that angry spice-miners attacked her. Why do their intelligence people think that?

Answer: Presumably there's been some disquiet among the spice-miners for some reason - better working conditions, better pay, could be a lot of things. Apparently the intelligence services feel that things have got heated enough that the spice-miners might try open rebellion by attempting to assassinate their Senator.

Tailkinker

Question: I never understood why the officer who is disrespectful to Vader in the meeting (on the Death Star) calls the Force an "ancient religion". If I remember correctly, at the moment, Vader only mentions the Force, not the Sith or Jedi. Since it has only been 19 or 20 years since the Jedi were defeated, wouldn't the Force still be something that a lot of people, around age 35 and older, could remember and have knowledge of?

Answer: Following the Force has been going on for millenia - "ancient" by any standards, so his description is hardly unreasonable. Yes, there will be plenty of people old enough to remember when the Jedi were around, but that doesn't mean that they're under any obligation to show respect for it, particularly as the public perception is that the Jedi died as traitors. Motti regards Vader with contempt, seeing him as a throwback, clinging to an ancient, outdated and reviled superstition. Hence his disrespectful and insulting attitude.

Tailkinker

I believe Palpatine also took steps to discredit the idea of the Jedi as superhero with Force powers (pretty sure I read that at some point). If Motti had never seen a Jedi in action before, he might have bought into those ideas and not considered the Force to be a real thing, or at least not what it is was said to be.

Question: Why, near the end of the film, does Caleb start writing numbers which are supposed to be predictions of future events, when the world is going to end?

Answer: Great question. Probably writing predictions for the "new" world.

Paul Van Scott

So did someone decode the list? Just for s* and giggles :).

Answer: I think Caleb started writing the numbers so he could tell his father the coordinates of the location he needed to take the children in a last ditch effort, since the girl whom originally wrote the numbers didn't complete them. He un-"knowing"-ly made the same mistake and interrupted him again.

Question: Instead of waiting for someone to inject liquid iron into themselves, could Magneto manipulate the small amounts of iron that are already present inside a person?

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: It's unlikely. Most of the naturally occurring iron atoms in the human body are tied up as part of the hemoglobin molecule - it's unclear whether Magneto could affect it under those circumstances. The amount of iron is also extremely small, at most a couple of grams, which really isn't much to work with. Mystique's escape plan gives him a lot more to work with, in a much purer form.

Tailkinker

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