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.

Blink - S3-E10

Question: The main premise of 'Blink' is that the Doctor and Martha are stranded in the 1960s. The Doctor is immortal, so wouldn't he have caught up with the present day eventually, to sort out the problem with the Angels?

Answer: Well, technically the 60's are recent enough that both Martha and the Doctor would live through to the present day, but that's hardly an ideal solution, particularly for Martha, who probably wouldn't relish the idea of explaining to her family and friends why she's suddenly in her eighties. So, yes, technically speaking, the Doctor could just sit around and wait, but that's not really the Doctor's style, is it?

Tailkinker

Question: Are the events in this movie going to be considered canon for the time between Episodes II and III, or will the events in the Clone Wars TV show be considered canon, or both (if the events in the movie possibly take place after those in the show)?

Answer: Canon in the Star Wars universe is a somewhat complex term as it has several levels ordered in a hierarchy of precedence. Facts stated at a certain level are considered as canon, unless contradicted by something at a higher level of canonicity. The uppermost level of canonicity are the six live-action films. Lucas has stated that the television episodes (which include the Clone Wars movie, which can be considered as the first episodes of the TV series) are to be considered as the next level down in canonicity, so below the films, but above any other releases (books, comics and so forth). So, basically, yes, they're to be considered canon, except in any case where they contradict something established in the live-action films.

Tailkinker

Question: Not related to movie. Did Christian Bale get work done on his teeth? In Batman Begins, his teeth were quite crooked and his jawline was quite distinct. In this movie they seem straight and perfect.

Answer: Yes. definitely. His teeth look much straighter in this movie.

Answer: Her date of birth is unrevealed. What little is known is that she was found as a child (precise age unknown) by a Jedi who crashlanded on her homeworld of Rattatak somewhere around 40BBY (precise year unknown). Realising her Force potential, he took her as his Padawan and trained her for some years, only to be cut down by a local warlord before he could finish, leaving her to seek vengeance on the warlords who had conspired against him, precipitating her fall to the Dark Side. It's difficult to determine her precise age from all this, but if we assume that she was ten when she was found, and that was in 40BBY, then Asajj would be 28 at the outbreak of the Clone Wars. So figure on anywhere in a range a few years either side of that.

Tailkinker

Answer: He told Ras that he could not kill him, but he didn't have to save him. Had he allowed Joker to die, Batman would have been directly responsible per the fight that preceeded Joker going off the building. Batman will not kill, therefore he had to save him.

bladerunner

Question: When Dent first meets Alfred at the fundraiser, he says, "You've known Rachel her whole life?" Alfred replies, "Not yet." Was this an intentional attempt to foreshadow Rachel's death?

Answer: Principally it's intended as Alfred making a small joke, but it's certainly an ironic one given subsequent events. As for the precise intent, the only ones who could confirm that are the scriptwriters.

Tailkinker

Question: When the Joker's body is brought to Gambol, Joker awakens and pushes away two approaching thugs. Are these the same two thugs being held at gunpoint on the ground by the Joker's henchmen? Also, what does the Joker do to Gambol? Gambol falls from Joker's grip as if he's dead, but the Joker's knife was held to Gambol's cheek, not his throat? I have no doubt that the PG-13 rating opens this to interpretation.

Answer: Gambol is clearly killed, likely having had his throat cut while the camera was on the others in the room. Had we seen the actual cut, the film would have been stuck with an 'R' rating. As for the two thugs, it's a bit vague - I thought it looked like the Joker stabbed them, meaning the two on the ground are two others, but everything happens a bit too fast to be sure.

johnrosa

Question: In the trivia section, there is this entry: At the beginning of the film, the Nazi who gets thrown into the portal lets out a Wilhelm scream as he disintegrates. Can someone please tell me what a Wilhelm scream is?

Answer: The Wilhelm scream is a distinctive scream with relatively high pitch that was originally used in a film called Distant Drums back in 1951. Since then, it has become a frequently used stock sound effect used in movies and TV shows.The Wilhelm scream was popularised in modern film by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt, who has made a point of using it frequently in the films that he works on - he dubbed it the "Wilhelm scream" after a character called "Pvt Wilhelm", who emits one of the screams in a 1953 film called The Charge At Feather River. Other sound designers have also started to use it as well, leading to the scream now being one of the most recognised stock sound effects in cinema. A more detailed history of the scream can be found here.

Tailkinker

Question: Why wasn't Amanda's face shown in the flashbacks of her first day at the school?

Answer: The filmakers decided to forego showing Amanda's face early on to give her grand entrance at the party more impact.

Question: Two questions: First, why didn't Dent kill the Joker in the hospital? Okay, he left it up to chance with a coin flip. But the coin was double-sided! So after all the agony, and all the crime busting Dent has been through and achieved, why let the Joker live? Secondly, and this is a pretty major thing, how is it the Joker knows every move that either Batman or the Police/Commissioner Gordon, etc., makes or has planned? It literally seemed like no matter what Batman did, the Joker correctly predicted his move and was already one step in front of the Batman. That seems a little ridiculously impossible to me, unless the Joker is one smart smart con man. Anyone else realize this?

Answer: Harvey's coin isn't identical on both sides any more. One side is pristine, one side is damaged (scratched and scorched), so it's truly a fair coin flip now. Joker persuaded Harvey to leave it to chance - the coin came up undamaged so Joker lives. As for predicting their moves, that's precisely the point - they are predictable, because they live their lives according to rules, laws and ethics. Joker, as an agent of chaos, has the edge over them because he doesn't. He's smart enough to know that people react in predictable ways in particular situations. So it's not that he has some mystical ability to know ahead of time what people will do, he just anticipates the most likely course of action and prepares something to counter that course of action ahead of time.

Tailkinker

Question: This question probably is insignificant but I was just wondering - why didn't Rachel want to be with Bruce, and choose Harvey over him? Did she love him more and not love Bruce anymore? And did she really die at the end? I know she probably did but I thought maybe there was a chance she survived? Thank you.

Answer: Bruce has a darkness to him - she says in the first film that she can't be with him while Batman exists. Then Dent appears on the scene and has the same drive for justice that she and Bruce do, but goes about it in a much more open fashion - it's not that she doesn't care about Bruce any more, it's simply that Dent is a man that she can be with, which Bruce isn't. Then, when Bruce fails to hand himself in, letting Dent pretend to be Batman instead, she feels that Bruce is in the wrong and that basically ends it for her - she still cares, but it pushes her into finally making her choice to be with Dent. As for her death, there's no indication whatsoever in the film that she survived the explosion.

Tailkinker

The Ember Island Players - S3-E17

Question: Is there an inside joke or added meaning to the names that worked on the "play"? The "surprisingly informed cabbage merchant" is obvious, but besides that.

Answer: The pirates are from the episodes "The Waterbending Scroll" and "The Waterbending Master" (They're the ones Katara stole the scroll from). The traveling musicians are from "The Cave of Two Lovers. The prisoners of war likely refer to the Kyoshi Warriors, the men of the Southern Water Tribe, and possibly Bumi and the other citizens of Omashu.

Answer: It all depends on how you land. Maroni landed on his legs, which would break them, but wouldn't necessarily be life-threatening. We don't know how Dent landed - he could easily have just broken his neck on impact or something.

Tailkinker

Question: When the Princess Nuala asks Abe what he's wearing early in the film, Abe answers "It's a breathing apparatus". But he only dons the mechanism twice in the film, and rarely wears it outside where the microbes in the air can kill him! Why even wear it?

CCARNI

Chosen answer: Why not wear it? It's clearly something that's useful to him, even if it's apparently not particularly essential. It may simply just make him more comfortable, like a human wearing a scarf in cold weather - allowing him to breathe the water that he prefers rather than air. There's never any mention that Abe can only survive for a limited time out of the water; equally, there's no suggestion that he's particularly vulnerable to atmospheric microbes. It's part of his equipment that he uses when he wishes to, that's all.

Tailkinker

Question: Doc Brown shows up at the end of part three with his wife Clara, his two boys, and a time-traveling, hovercraft-converted train. How did he build it? There was nothing in 1885 that could even begin to help him build another time-machine! And don't tell me that he used Marty's 'hoverboard' as parts, because that doesn't wash.

CCARNI

Chosen answer: Time machines don't actually exist, so who are we to say whether or not the parts to build another time machine are available? Doc Brown is an inventor. Doc had the knowledge of how to build a time machine having built the original machine into a DeLorean, Doc also appears to have had a few years to come up with a way of building a time machine into a train, given that he now has children who appear to be around 5 years old. Plus, remember that the fridge in Doc's shop was much bigger than a modern fridge, and a steam train is way bigger than a DeLorean.

Blair Howden

Answer: Doc's consistent problem was finding high-energy power sources for his inventions. But, actually, materials and technology did exist in the late 19th Century to construct extremely high-energy components. If Doc Brown had contacted electrical geniuses of the day (such as Nikola Tesla, who was already working in high-energy physics, radio and and X-ray technology in the 1890s), he could have certainly acquired the materials to reconstruct the Flux Capacitor and back-engineer hover pads for his time-travelling locomotive. As we saw earlier in the film, he was quite capable of back-engineering 1980s electronics using 1950s components (when he repaired the DeLorean).

Charles Austin Miller

Question: As Phoenix is using the computer stand on the street and accessing Edgar Friendly's info, a box pops up on the screen with a phrase and then Phoenix's name at the end. What does that box say? I've tried pausing it and watching in slo-mo, but its picture is blurred on my screen.

Answer: The box reads, "You have accessed secure mailbox facilities for...Simon Phoenix."

Question: I have a question about the car chase scene. How is it possible that a van of this size is able to catch up to a Viper? As far as I know that car can reach 60mph in less than four seconds.

Answer: Yes, but when you're driving through streets crowded with people and other vehicles you can't just stand on the gas pedal or you'd wreck the car. The van can catch up because the Viper can't drive at its top speed.

Phixius

Question: In the Joker's last scene, he has Batman pinned underneath a bar and asks, "Do you know how I got these scars?" Batman replies "No, but I know how you got these" and he shoots those blades of his into what I thought was the Joker's face. But later, when the Joker is hanging upside down, his face doesn't appear to be any different than usual. Did Batman shoot the blades into another part of the Joker's body, or was I completely oblivious to the Joker's new wounds?

Answer: If you slow down the footage, Batman's blades don't hit Joker's face...but the remote control in his hands to prevent him from blowing up the boats.

Paulie Larson

Answer: As of 2014, King of the Hill finished with 11 season, putting it 6th among longest running US animated shows (with at least 3 animated shows already in 9th or 10th season.) In terms of episodes, it's 3rd with 259 episodes, behind The Simpsons and The Bugs and Tweety Show, with South Park nearing that number.

Bishop73

Question: Was the possibility of putting Asajj Ventress into the movie ever considered?

Answer: No, but before the character of Count Dooku was developed, the Art Department for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones developed a female Sith as the film's villain, as seen in concept art by Dermot Power in The Art of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. Since Dooku replaced her as Sidious' apprentice, she was put in to the animated series.

POKER

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