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 significance do the melted hats have on the field outside scientist's lab?

Jason Riley

Chosen answer: They weren't melted. They were duplicated hats and they were there because the transportation machine Tesla was working on worked more like a fax machine instead of a mere transporter, creating a duplicate in another location.

Phixius

Chosen answer: No. I'm sure something similar could be created, but it would not have the same properties as shown in the film.

Phixius

Chosen answer: No, Dr. Hill was not a Satan worshiper. He was just Rosemary's first obstetrician, referred to her by a friend. However, her neighbors, the Castevettes, later convince her to instead go to their friend, Dr. Abe Sapperstein, who is a warlock.

raywest

He simply didn't believe what she told him so he called her husband to come get her.

Question: I read in the trivia section that something falls out of a tree while the letters "Gone with the Wind" go across the screen. I watched the movie and it's true, but does anyone have any information about it? (Was there any controversy? What was the object? Did they try to edit it out? etc.).

Movie_Freak 1

Chosen answer: It looks to me like a bird flying from the tree to the ground. Nothing controversial there and no reason to edit it out.

ChiChi

Question: There's an all black band playing at an all white school in the 50's - is that likely?

AidanN

Chosen answer: Why not? Even though segregation was in effect, we never see them do anything but play on the stage. They even take their break outside, away from all the white folks at the dance. They are never shown using any of the "white" facilities, or fraternizing with any of the students. In fact, when they are "on break" at their car, it is behind the building, where there are no other cars, or even any people, anywhere around at all.

Jazetopher

Season 1 generally

Question: Who is the mother of Pompey's children? His new wife can't be their mother, since they are too old compared to Niobe's son who's an infant when the show starts. And they can't be Julia's children, since Pompey is worried Caesar might kill them, and Caesar wouldn't murder his own grandchildren.

Answer: According to wikipedia, Pompey's children are all from his third wife, Mucia Tertia. Julia is his fourth wife. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey#Marriages_and_offspring.

Myridon

Question: What religion were the first class passengers practicing in the church scene? If it were Catholic, it would be in Latin in 1912.

Answer: The services on board a ship are all non-sectarian so that all who wish to worship can come.

Boobra

Question: Which is the true ending, the one where the three of them are calling the chopper down of the one where Jim dies?

Answer: The one where all three signal the aircraft is the *original* ending. Since it's all subject to the writers' fancy, I suppose it's impossible to say which it the "true" ending.

Phixius

Question: In the scene where Jack is getting shot at by British soldiers, there's a shot of him running and waving his hands around in front of him. I keep thinking that he's "deflecting" the bullets with his hands, but I know that's not possible. So, what exactly was jack doing?

Answer: He's not doing anything except running. Jack Sparrow (as Johnny Depp has created him) has rather exaggerated and somewhat effeminate physical movements, including staggering when walking and flailing his hands about, especially when running. He does the same thing while being chased by cannibals in "Dead Man's Chest."

raywest

Question: As the dads are getting into the Shark car, they say something like, "too bad he wasn't playing with. yeah, that was cherry" well that's what it sounded like. Anyone know what they're saying?

Answer: As wayne enters the car he says, "Too bad Adam wasn't playing with the Splittin' Image, huh? That was cherry", to which his brother replies, "Yeah, but the Twin Mill was Faster."The Twin Mill and Splittin' Image are two popular Hot wheel cars that debuted in 1969.

Question: When Brooke's friend is giving her children a bath, one of them starts eating soap and the mother tells her to take it out of her mouth. She then says something like "Wait until you're twelve". What does she mean by this?

Answer: What I took away from that statement was that she was refering to a punishment for using "bad" words. Since children tend to exercise that right at any age, she was just picking a random age.

Dedderbot

Question: During (I believe) the first stadium scene, the girls from Fleur Delacour's school are doing something looking akin to the Macarena. What are they doing and why?

Answer: They are simply cheering on their schoolmate (Fleur) by performing a chant that is probably specific to their school - just like cheerleaders do at sports games. It's like doing "The Wave."

raywest

Question: In the scene where the bad guys catch Rita and Roddy on her boat, her ruby falls from her pocket. Shouldn't it have broken down or at least have some scratches?

Answer: Not really, when you consider it's a fake so it probably very light, and only falls an inch or two (given the height of the average rat).

Show generally

Question: How is Naruto able to easily create dozens of shadow clones when he needs to, but will sometimes struggle to create just a few.

Answer: In-character, he's not very good at Bunshin No Jutsu, so it's unreliable. Out-of-character, it's a classic plot device shared by hundreds of anime that people who're not generally too great can do spectacularly well when it really matters.

Moose

Question: Does anyone know the name and location of the buildings used for exterior shots of the Professor's university? Is it an actual campus or some other facility?

Answer: According to the IMDb, the University of California, Los Angeles (often just called UCLA) was used as a primary filming location, with some other shots taken at Mayfield Senior School in Pasadena, California.

Tailkinker

Question: When Benji Dunn is guiding Ethan through the streets via satellite to find his wife at the end of the film, Ethan is on a silver phone. Does anyone know the make and model it was? I've been told that it is a Bang and Olufsen but I can't find it.

Answer: It's a Nokia N92. Nokia had promotional tie-ins with the film, and all the phones in the film were made by them.

Sierra1

Question: What happened to the movie that Chris was shooting. It just disappears from the script after Burke Dennings dies?

????

Chosen answer: It's never explained. Presumably shooting was suspended during her daughter's "illness," or they were able to continue filming around her absence.

raywest

Question: Who put the cross under Regan's pillow? It couldn't be the demon. (01:12:35)

????

Chosen answer: Burke Dennings, that's why he was murdered.

According to William P. Blatty, it was Karl who put the crucifix under Regan's pillow.

Question: This is pertaining to the dice game where the crew were betting their years as part of Davey Jones's ship. Did anybody understand how the game worked. What was the purpose? What was the deal with the numbers they were calling out?

SAZOO1975

Chosen answer: This is a real game called Liar's Dice, specifically the Common Hand variation. The idea is to predict, or pretend to predict, what will appear when the dice are finally revealed; for example, a call of "six fives" is a claim that, when the dice are revealed, there'll be six (or more) fives showing. Each player, however, can only see their own set of dice, so must guess what the other players have, based on what bids they make. The game proceeds with each player having the choice to either raise the bid to a higher level, or challenge the preceding player's claim. Once a challenge is made, the dice are revealed; if the challenged bid is shown to be correct, the challenger loses; if it's shown to be false, then whoever made that bid loses.

Tailkinker

Question: To my understanding, the creatures only come out when the 'darkness' comes. But in the scene where Rose and Cybil run into the acid-vomiting zombies, there was no 'darkness'. Am I misunderstanding something?

Answer: In the games at least, the monsters are present even when the darkness isn't there - they could be a sign to indicate that the darkness is coming. It's not until the darkness comes that they are bombarded with them, and the most fierce creatures come out (in the case of the film, Pyramid Head - though he appears in the second game where there isn't a 'darkness' per se).

Sam Johnson

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