Question: Anybody who puts their name into the Goblet and is selected is bound to a magical contract to participate in the tournament. Since Harry never actually put his name into the Goblet, shouldn't that void the contract?
Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
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Tiger Left, Tiger Right - S2-E6
Question: The episode first aired October 1964. How could a Ford Mustang be seen in the episode if that car wasn't available until April 1965?
Answer: Production vehicle models aren't in sync with the calendar year. The '65 Mustang began production in March 1964 and first sold in April 1964, before it was "introduced" the following year. I don't know which model was seen in the episode, but the 2+2 fastback was sold in September 1964. The 1964 film "Goldfinger" uses a 1965 Mustang as part of Ford's product placement. Basically, in the 1930's, FDR ordered automakers to release vehicles in the fall of the preceding calendar year "as a means of facilitating regularization of employment in the industry." Now, automakers can release new models as early as Jan 2 of the preceding year.
Question: Was Ralphie's family poor? Their house and furnishings seem pretty low class, but they never seem stressed about money, and they have a fairly extravagant Christmas.
Answer: They weren't poor and appeared to live a fairly comfortable middle-class life within their modest means. They could probably afford to splurge a little on Christmas. People who went through the Great Depression during the mid-20th century tended to hang on to old items, even if they could afford new ones and, unlike today, had lesser interest in material possessions. My own parents grew up in that era and rarely bought anything new, no matter how dated or worn. Also, situations (like holidays, social gatherings, special events, etc.) tend to look a bit exaggerated in movies and TV for visual effect.
I've also noticed this among my family members who grew up in the '60s through the '80s. They don't buy new things if the older ones are just fine. Since the late 2000s, it's more common for people to think that possessions and decor need to be "updated."
Question: Before the squirrel incident with the second tree, Clark places two gifts under the tree. He then picks up an opened gift and appears to hang two items on the tree. What is he putting on the tree? This is immediately before Aunt Bethany says "What is that noise?"
Answer: It was the underwear he saw at the store earlier in the film.
Question: Military personnel at NEADS twice describe American Airlines Flight 11 as a Boeing 757, despite the fact that it was actually a 767. Is this a mistake made by the film or was this miscommunication that occurred in real life? (00:23:09 - 00:24:58)
Answer: Real life.
Question: The 'shooting off sparks in the maze' at the end feels particularly clumsy...was the book the same way? Like, if this is all magic, why would the maze not be able to recognize who shot off the sparks, and make sure that person was ejected from the maze? Otherwise, it seems like you could use this to sabotage a competitor (e.g, if Viktor knew Cedric was coming around the corner momentarily, then he could shoot up sparks and run away, so that Cedric would be in place to be sucked up by the maze).
Answer: In both the book and movie, the contestants sent up sparks. However, all were pre-warned of the dangers and that they were pretty much on their own upon entering the maze. In the book, the maze is filled with hazardous objects and creatures that each contestant had to overcome. In the movie, the hedge itself is the danger, and it appears Voldemort (aided by Barty Crouch, Jr.) manipulated it to ensure that Harry reached the middle while it sabotaged and controlled the other competitors. Therefore, the maze would not protect the contestants. The four were unaware the maze was corrupted and were so focused on winning that they ignored the dangers. All were determined to continue as long as they could.
Question: When David is detained in that room, under armed guard, how exactly does he escape? You know, he found a tape recorder and tampered with that keypad entry system?
Answer: He got the door to open with the copied sounds off the tape recorder, then shorted out the door's entry system, walked out slowly while the guard was coming on to the nurse. David then got on the bus after certain NORAD employees who were not familiar with him mistook him for a tourist.
Answer: The keypad that controlled the door used an analog tone-based system, much like old analog telephones. The control system for the door listens for which tone is produced by the button press, and if it hears the correct sequence of tones, the door opens. That's why David feigned having to use the restroom; he was running the tape recorder that was hooked up directly to the system in order to get the guard to input the correct code so that the correct tone sequence would be recorded, which he then played back, tricking the control system into thinking he had pressed the correct buttons on the outside.
Question: Did Lloyd get any money when he traded the van for the hog? He states he "traded the van for it, straight up" but in the previous scene Harry stated they didn't have enough money to get Aspen or get home. How were they still able to afford to get to Aspen?
Answer: Presumably the minibike (hog) would get better gas mileage, so the money they did have for gas would get them all the way to Aspen.
The Father, the Son and J.C. - S6-E5
Question: After Jimmy Carter leaves, Cotton says something like "hen-pecked by the oh-peck." What does he mean?
Answer: He says "henpecked by OPEC." OPEC is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Henpecked is an insult, usually about a man whose wife is constantly ordering him around and belittling of him, and implies the man is too weak to stand up to her. Cotton is saying Jimmy Carter was too weak to stand up against OPEC. Jimmy Carter often is blamed for the 1979 energy crisis.
Question: When George is in the alternate reality, what happened to Martini? Although an explanation is given for the other characters, there is no explanation for what became of him.
Answer: It's not mentioned in the film, but based on the storyline of the film, George most likely helped out Martini with money at some point to help him start a business (his bar). Without George being born (the alternate world), Martini most likely didn't have the funds now to start the business so Nick bought the bar instead and Martini either was unemployed or did something else with whatever money he had on his own.
Answer: In a deleted or unfilmed scene, George finds the grave of Martini and his family who died in a house fire in their Potterville slum.
Question: Does anyone know if ships actually have "rev limiters" as shown in the film? Phillips had to keep ringing down to the engine room whenever he wanted to throttle the engines up a notch. I was always under the impression that marine engines that are used on boats are designed to be at max revs all day long?
Answer: Ship engines are run at a maximum optimal speed. The engine could go faster, but by doing so, fuel consumption could increase unnecessarily and/or you may have too much cavitation as the water flow is greater than what the propeller is designed for. But in an emergency, the engineers could make it go a bit faster than the maximum setting allowed by bridge control.
Question: Would Claire's sushi, handed to her by her Dad in the morning, still be a fancy treat after sitting at room temperature for five hours?
Question: Jake and Lexy mentioned that they did "a billion hours of community service." Why do they have to do community service?
Answer: They were blamed for the death of Jake's foster brother, which was deemed a terrible accident, and they were sent to the reform school as a punishment. Presumably, when they had to leave the reform school given what happened, they were instead given community service as punishment.
Question: Why doesn't Roy ever kill Vic? The last we see of him, he is sitting in the back of the police car. It seems odd that the person who actually killed Roy's son is allowed to live. Granted he is in police custody so it would be difficult for Roy to get to him, but I'm sure the filmmakers could have come up with some creative way to make it happen.
Answer: I think you answered your own question - Vic was in police custody. A regular coroner is likely not going to be able to kill someone who is being held for murder. Additionally, in a more meta behind-the-scenes sense, I would assume they also didn't show Vic getting killed because it could potentially be too much of a hint/hat-tip towards the killer's identity. We already saw the Roy the coroner disturbed by Joey's body, so having Joey's killer get murdered would probably give away the twist that Roy was the killer.
Question: It's been stated that the wand chooses the wizard. Why then, is Voldemort able to use Lucius' wand if the wand chose Lucius as his wizard?
Answer: A wizard can use any wand, but it will not perform as well as one that "chose" them. For example, although Voldemort could use Dumbledore's "Elder Wand", it resisted his commands because it was unknowingly (to Voldemort) aligned to another wizard after Dumbledore's death (first Draco and then Harry). By contrast, when Harry captured Draco's wand, it changed its allegiance to him and performed well. If Draco had merely been given his wand back, it would not have worked as well for him as before.
Answer: The selection process was corrupted by Barty Crouch, Jr, who cast an exceptionally powerful "Confundus" spell on the Goblet of Fire. The Cup was somewhat sentient and wrongly sensed that Harry was a student from a (non-existent) fourth school who'd entered his own name, even though someone else submitted it. Once a name was entered, a student was magically bound to compete in the tournament.
raywest ★