Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Why were the preliminary trials for the Chunin exam done as single elimination? It would not really cause the best of the best to be chosen because when two strong Ninjas fight (like Gaara and Rock Lee) one has to lose, while when two weak ninja (Sakura and Ino) fight, one gets to go through, only to be guaranteed failure. How is that fair?

Answer: Out-of-character, because single elimination is the most exciting format for the viewers of the anime. In-character, a possible reason is that the failure of single elimination to correctly identify the second and lower places was only recognised relatively recently - there is an essay by Lewis Carroll (yes, that Lewis Carroll), describing the problem in detail, written in 1883. Ninjas were around in about the 1300's, so it probably hasn't been discovered yet. Of course Naruto's history might not match real history but if you depart from reality then there can be no answer but the out-of-character one.

Moose

Question: What are the meanings of the random French words that Del uses throughout the movie? When Percy is chasing the mouse, he calls him a dumb something. (I don't want to put it here because it might be profane.) And when talking about who will take care of Mr. Jingles, referring to Dean's son, he says "He just a boy, n'est-ce pas?"

Answer: In the example you gave he says "He's just a boy, isn't he?"

Phixius

Question: When Willy Jack picks up the girl on the side of the road (after leaving Novalee at Wal-Mart), why doesn't he want her to put the last of her bags in the backseat?

Answer: I assume he wanted the backseat empty to do dirty business with her.

Answer: I think he motions for her to put them in the backseat simply because nothing else will fit in the trunk. I'm sure that it's safe to assume that he and Novalee had placed all their belongings in there already, so there wasn't much room left.

Answer: There were stolen items in the trunk. The officer rattled off a list of items "same exact items stolen" from a store. He probably didn't want her to find it.

Actually those "stolen items" were stolen by the girl he picked up, she wanted to go "anywhere but here" because she had robbed the store (hence why she had all that loose cash).

Answer: Honestly, I thought it was because he assumed it was dirty laundry since it was in a trash bag. No one wants smelly clothes in the backseat smelling up the car.

Question: What are the other inmates on death row for?

Answer: Wild Bill is condemned for murdering people during a robbery. John is there for the twin girls. In the book, Arlen Bitterbuck was there for murdering a man over a pair of boots and Del was there for arson, rape and murder.

Question: I didn't completely understand when V asks for Evey's help and says he needs someone with theatrical abilities. Then it shows the scene where Evey comes in as the woman for the priest. When she is warning him about V, is she acting or is she really trying to get help from him? I figured it was real because she didn't go back to V, she went to Gordon's house.

Answer: The "acting ability" V needed was to convince the priest that she was there "for" him. The confession and warning were real and not planned by V. That's why he abducts her later, so she'll lose her fear and won't be tempted to do something like that again.

Phixius

Question: What exactly is Frollo's position of authority?

Answer: He's a judge.

Phixius

Answer: More specifically, he is the Minster of Justice, the highest judicial position in France at the time.

Show generally

Question: Why do the characters in this show, and other animated shows, always wear the same clothes and have just a few different outfits (ex: Marge's regular green dress and her Sunday dress)? Wouldn't most fans be able to recognize the characters even if they did wear different clothes in each episode?

Answer: They do this to make it easier to draw the thousands of cells they need to make a cartoon.

pross79

Show generally

Question: In one episode, Tim's mother says that she raised five boys. Three of those are Tim, Jeff, and Marty, but what do we know about the other two? There's another episode where Randy mentions his uncle that doesn't talk to their family anymore.

Answer: Tim's other brothers are named Rick and Steve. They never appeared on the show, and were only mentioned in passing.

Cubs Fan

Question: There's a scene in this movie that I've never understood. When Ron Kovic is in the VA hospital, there's one scene where he wakes up in the middle of the night, and looks up and sees something, and screams. What did he see that made him scream?

Answer: He doesn't see anything. He hears his blood dripping back into the makeshift machine the doctors have set up and realizes it isn't working properly. In the previous scene he was told that if they couldn't get the machine to work, he would never walk again.

No, in the previous scene he was told that if they couldn't get the machine to work, he would lose his leg. He was already told he would never walk again.

Show generally

Question: How can Flanders afford stuff like a huge boat and a motorhome if he doesn't make a lot of money?

Answer: From time to time he has explained his above average income has come from a variety of reasons. First of all he has mentioned from time to time of other business ventures he has been involved. At one time he was doing advertisements when he shaved his moustache and another he was trading in religious website store. Secondly the Leftorium that he runs has had his highs and lows which would explain why he can sometimes afford more expensive items. Thirdly he seems to be quite clever when it comes to saving and business. For example he showed Homer about the Mega Savers course that showed about how to buy more expensive items at lower prices.

Lummie

And he was once a successful pharmacist. He says so when he burns his tie announcing the Leftorium.

Question: So what was so important about those specific 1000 souls in the contract?

Answer: It wasn't the souls themselves, it was the fact that there were so many on a single contract. By stealing it, the ghost rider robbed Mephistopholes of not one, but one-*thousand* souls.

Phixius

Question: I'm confused about the ending. Aquamarine didn't find romantic love, but she did find friendship love with Claire and Hailey. However, doesn't Aquamarine's father already believe in family or friendship love? He obviously cares about Aquamarine, since he was angry when she ran away, and he and her mother named her after a "rare and precious gemstone".

Answer: Many people treat their children like possessions. You would be angry if your TV disappeared, but that doesn't mean that you love it like it was your child.

Myridon

Answer: I think her father's anger was more specific: she refused to marry the boy that he wanted her to marry, as was their custom. He probably agreed to the deal - her finding love in three days - because he expected her to fail anyway. Then she actually made some progress by developing a friendship with two humans. Apparently this made an impression on her father, even if she didn't find romantic love.

Pilot (2) - S1-E2

Question: We know that Cindy the flight attendant ends up with the "tailies." It took about a minute or two for the plane to break apart from the first time turbulence hit. The bathroom was near the front of the plane. We know this because when Charlie went with Jack and Kate to look for the cockpit, the bathroom was not very far away. How was she able to reach the back of the plane so quickly after pounding on the lavatory door when Charlie was snorting his heroine when the really bad turbulence hit?

Answer: She could have lost her balance and thrown to the floor when the plane was broken apart she was probably sucked into the tail.

Boobra

Question: Was the part at the camp actually filmed at the actual camp?

Answer: No, it wasn't.

Tailkinker

Season 5 generally

Question: What happened to Evelyn and Amy after Henderson's people find them at the motel and shoot the EMT's? Do they kill them?

Answer: From what I remember, we don't know, but to me, it's implied that Henderson does kill them.

Cubs Fan

Question: When Tracy finds her mom's boyfriend's clothes in the laundry, what is she talking about when she says that her mom promised her and Mason something?

Answer: Her mom had promised that her boyfriend was only coming for dinner and was not going to stay with them anymore, and when Tracy found his clothes in the laundry, that shows that he stayed the night and that she had broken her promise.

john reisenauer

Answer: That was what I hope was only a phase of the way things were in California at that time. Many kids who had parents who liked to be modern and be friends more than parents to their kids had them call them by their first names.

papajim

I've watched episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," made in the 1950s-60s, where some characters sometimes referred to parents by first names. Although, the characters were adults, so maybe it was acceptable for full-grown children? I guess it just depends on the specific relationship and what a parent wants to be called.

Answer: This was part of Topanga's weird phase. She specifically mentions in one episode that addressing her father as "Dad" would make it hard to tell him apart from the other dads in the world.

Phaneron

Question: What aquarium was used for the scene with Mumble dancing for the little girl?

Answer: Sea World in Orlando, FL.

wizard_of_gore

Question: In the West Wing, the Beast covers the rose and says "Do you realize what you could have done?" to Belle. What would have happened if she had touched the rose?

Answer: She could have inadvertently knocked more petals off, giving the beast less time to break his curse.

Phixius

Answer: Though it isn't mentioned, another part of the curse could be "if you touch it, it dies." Perhaps that's why it's covered by the bell jar.

Answer: Nope, Jennifer Aniston doesn't have children, it was all prosthetics although it did look really good.

jackie_pq

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