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: In the Ultimate Edition DVD, after the T-1000 has 'regrouped' after the liquid nitrogen death, his hands and feet take on the pattern of whatever he touches, for example to yellow and black stripes on the rail or the floor pattern. Why does happen and why was it left out of the movie? It's actually the reason John recognises the fake Sarah as an illusion.

Answer: It's one of several things that were cut from the original theatrical release for time reasons; James Cameron likes longer movies than studios like to release. The constant morphing indicates that whatever computer mechanism controls the T-1000 has been damaged: it is no longer able to choose what it copies but copies everything it samples to some extent. From a critic's point of view, this isn't necessary for John to recognize his mother because it's more interesting and intuitive if he "just knows".

Phoenix

Question: Yoda always makes a huge deal about Anakin's age in Episode 2, being too old to start training as a Jedi. Yet in Episode 5, he barely hesitates before training Luke, a full grown man. We are made to think that even a young boy is a lost cause, so wouldn't a man be impossible to train? Unlike Anakin, Luke had never displayed any Force characteristics (except for piloting in the Battle of Yavin).

Answer: In Episode 1, he's clearly reluctant to train Anakin at all, obviously sensing something that troubles him. The age issue may have been something of a smokescreen, but it is clear that Jedi training starts at a very early age - Anakin is well past that age already. With training Luke in Episode 5, what other choice does Yoda have? If the Emperor and Vader are to be brought down, it's pretty much Luke, Leia (who obviously has the same age issues) or nobody.

Tailkinker

Question: Why was the choice made to create an original story rather than base the movie directly on the game? While there are game references and little details, much of the story was original material. Almost everyone I know is very angry that the games were disregarded so much.

Answer: It was original for two reasons. 1) there are so many games - RE, RE2, RE: Nemesis, RE 0, RE Code Veronica - that it would be impossible to pick one game to base the movie on that all the players of the series would approve of. Theoretically, making it original prevented gamers from complaining that they picked a bad storyline. The constant references to the different games were supposed to placate your friends. 2) the director naturally wants to add some of his own style to the movie, not just copy what was already done in a game.

Phoenix

Question: Before Admiral Greer shows up to tell Jack about Sean Miller's escape, where were the Ryans planning to go?

Answer: The movie never clearly says. It was some event that required tickets, as the mom runs back into the house to get them. And it was something Sally really wanted to go to, but it is never clear what the event was.

Question: I can understand how zombie saliva can spread the disease, but how can scratches spread the disease?

Answer: If the scratch itself draws blood and the zombie which inflicted it had his own (or another's infected) blood or saliva, the victim then becomes infected too.

Question: What exactly is the experiment all about?

Answer: To test the bond between children and their parents.

Question: Does anyone know the calls of a bosun's whistle? Does it mean "get on it" or are there certain tunes for certain calls, etc.

Answer: The boatswain's calls are to tell the crew what time it is, or what to do. So, there are different calls for different things. Two good pages to check out are http://www.btinternet.com/~fourthgill.seascouts/bosuncall.htm and http://home.usaa.net/~crowmax/bosun.htm.

Question: I need this answered. My wife and I saw The Forgotten movie tonight, and we noticed MAJOR MISTAKES. We literally saw microphones hanging over their head dozens of times. Let me repeat that...DOZENS OF TIMES. I have to know if this was on purpose, because on the net some say they saw the same thing and others said they never noticed it... It happened so often it was distracting... DOZENS OF TIMES.

Answer: When movies are made the actual picture captured onto the film is larger than what is intended to be shown in the theater. The projector in the theater is supposed to be adjusted to not show this portion of the film, however occasionally the projector gets out of whack and you get to see all the trash at the top or the bottom that wasn't supposed to be there. Sometimes when a movie is "panned and scanned" to fit TV screens some of this trash also accidentally sneaks in. It's the cinema's fault, not the movie.

Myridon

Question: What is Gollum? I thought he was supposed to have once been a hobbit but what happened to him?

Answer: He was indeed a hobbit, probably of the Stoor sub-race. After the finding of the Ring, he fell under its influence and he took it. The Ring kept him alive, prolonging his life far beyond the norm (he's around 500 years old at the time of the films). His physical change is related to the Ring - the precise mechanism is unclear, but it's most likely due to repeated exposure to the wraithworld that parallels our own; wearers of the Ring are transported at least partially into that world, rendering them invisible in ours. The same process happened with the kings who became the Nazgul.

Tailkinker

Question: What sort of fabric is Neo's trench coat made of? I would guess wool, but can anyone be more specific?

Answer: It was a custom-length black wool garbardine coat. In an interview with the costume designers, they stated a need for a lighter fabric, but still light and sleek for the actors to wear. About half of Morpheus's crew wear black wool gabardine when they jack into the Matrix. The rest use PVC, leather, or a combination of both.

Question: Where can I find the lyrics to the version of the song, "Hot, Hot, Hot" in the movie?

Answer: Find it here: www.osierra.com/index.php?p=63&c=1.

Question: How did the Thin Man survive the explosion in the first movie? And if he is such an "angel," then why was he attacking Lucy Liu?

Answer: Creepy Thin Man has a talent for surviving otherwise sure deaths, like exploding, crashing in motorcycles, etc. As for attacking Alex, I guess he's just a weird, creepy guy. Maybe he only likes Dylan?

Answer: He was wasn't attacking her, he was defending himself from her attack. When she naturally assumed he was there to kill them. When he killed the bad guy sneaking up behind Alex, she realised he was a good guy.

Question: Why does Obi-Wan freely admit he is a Jedi, when he is supposedly in hiding from Vader? He sure made no secret of his last name.

Answer: It's a very large galaxy - Vader's hardly going to track down some old hermit living out in the middle of nowhere on a backwards planet based purely on a surname that, for all we know, might be quite a common one, and remember that nobody knows him as 'Obi-wan', only as Ben. The only person that he admits to being a Jedi to is Luke, who's not going to go running to the Empire to turn in a man who was a friend of his fathers. Everyone else seems to regard him as a crazy old hermit, not a Jedi Knight or anything like that. Okay, he cuts loose with his sabre in the Mos Eisley cantina, but (a) he's about to leave the planet anyway and (b) it's not as if he had a lot of choice. By the time that Vader might hear about it, he'll be long gone.

Tailkinker

Question: Why does Thomas Reynolds want the telecommunications security and privacy act to be passed into law so bad that he has a congressman killed? To advance his career?

Answer: Yes, and to increase the importance of his agency.

David Mercier

Question: At the end, when Mad World is playing and it shows the FAA people talking, is one of them Jon Stewart? He isn't listed in the credits, but I am quite sure of it.

Answer: It's not Jon Stewart. I saw the guy you were talking about but you can see his chin is a bit longer than Jon Stewart. Added to that he is not credited or uncredited on the film's listing on IMDB.

Lummie

Question: Why does Nicholas Cage keep doing things 3 times? He opens the door, unlocks it, and a few other things three times.

Answer: His character has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The primary trait of OCD is that you do things over and over, often for a set amount of times.

Xofer

Question: When David is flicking through the channels on the TV, I am sure you can see a guy standing to his left, just on the other side of the curtain. (If you look behind his head, you may be able to see his mouth and nose.) Can anyone tell me if they see this too, or am I wrong?

Answer: There is nobody there. The only thing behind David's head is a poster of an actor.

Question: Why is it that we never see the Blair Witch? Also the cover is very convincing that this is a true story. Is it?

Answer: The Blair Witch does not exist. The reason you didn't see is it is an abstract concept. What you can't see is scarier because you make her up in your own mind. It is a complete hoax of a story. The three actors have been doing many other acting jobs since, especially Heather and Josh.

William Bergquist

Question: Does anyone know why Lucy's father, Marlin, took pictures of the mural she painted before he and Doug painted over it with white paint in preparation for the following day? I can't think of any reason he would document that because Lucy was going to paint it again anyways.

Answer: Why wouldn't he want to preserve a record of all his daughter's art works whether she painted over them or not?

Myridon

Answer: Because she draws something different every day and he wants to keep each one in some way.

Question: There is something I have always wondered about spoofs: Do they actually get permission from the makers of the films they spoof?

Answer: Nope. Parodies aren't usually covered by copyright laws as they are generally considered to be as example of fair usage, provided that it can be demonstrated that the copyrighted material was used in a manner that is considered to be a commentary, ridicule or criticism of that material.

Tailkinker

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