Question: Does anyone know why they changed Jimmy's last name to 'Markum' from 'Marcus' (which it is in the books)?
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: Throughout the film you can see that Tank, played by Dave Power, has funny-looking thin black scars on both cheeks. Was this a makeup effect for the character (and if so, why did they do it), or does the actor really have these scars on his cheeks (and if so, what from)?
Answer: The scars you see on Tank's face are fake, pure makeup. They wanted the character to have a gritty look.
Question: Someone mentioned in the Trivia section that 'The Temple of Doom' is set before 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. Could someone explain how and why that is, and possibly where there is evidence of that?
Answer: For one thing, it says right at the start of Temple that it's 1935. At the beginning of Raiders it says 1936. What more evidence do you need?
Question: In Star Wars: A New Hope, Obi-Wan tells Luke that he and Anakin Skywalker were very good friends, as well as teacher and student. Now, lack of actor chemistry aside, in this movie, Obi-Wan and Anakin are still very firmly in the role of Master-Padawan, as it should be, and therefore rather formal with each other. My question is, are they speeding up the timeline of how things happen in this movie? It doesn't seem like they're allowing enough time for things to occur as we supposed they ought by the time the first movie begins. It's hard to believe this Obi Wan and Anakin became good friends- it seems they barely tolerate each other.
Answer: Quite often when you lose someone who you spent so much time with, you often remember the relationship as being better than it was. Having said that, we didn't see their relationship for the previous 10 years, and we don't know what will be happening in the next few.
Question: Near the end, when Lex and the Predator are trying to kill the Alien Queen, Lex says "Got it." when she hooks the Queen's chain to the water tower. When she says it, there is a Spanish subtitle on the bottom of the screen for the only time in the movie. Why is this?
Answer: I think there was a malfunction in your theater. I haven't seen any subtitles in the film yet.
Question: Does anyone know if Noah knew all along that the elders were dressing up as the "monsters?" I think he did, and that he thought it was just a game. Is that why he laughed and clapped every time the bell went off and they had to hide? Perhaps the elders didn't hide this from him because he was simple-minded and couldn't talk. So, when he went after Ivy in the woods, he thought it was all for fun. Does anyone else agree with this?
Answer: When the Elders found Noah missing, they referred to a costume that had been hidden under the floorboards. My guess is that at some stage Noah found that costume and may have figured out that it was a game then. I doubt if the Elders realized this until he went missing. Also, given that Noah had already stabbed Lucius, I don't really think that he was joking when he went for Ivy in the woods.
Answer: Noah had figured out shortly before the movie begins that the monsters were a hoax made by the Elders, having found a creature suit in the "punishment room." This can be seen early when everyone is eating. They hear howling from the woods (it's actually sound devices in a big tree deep in the forest that create sounds from the wind), and Noah simply laughs at it. He probably thought it was all a game, never understanding the true purpose of why the Elders created the hoax. During the Covington Woods quest, he most likely went to kill Ivy. Recall the "daring game" played by the children. We learn that creatures imitate their victim before they attack. Noah does the same to Ivy. She snaps her cane, and the creature also snaps something. She throws a rock, he does the same. Noah was actually smarter than we think. He was THE creature, the usurper of the Elders' hoax. So, he tortures Ivy mentally first before trying to kill her. He was kinda sadistic (he also massacred the livestock).
Question: What is the song played at the end of this episode?
Answer: The song is "I don't like Mondays", originally recorded by the Boomtown Rats. This version is sung by Tori Amos.
Question: In this movie, Saruman says that orcs were elves once, and were mutilated by the dark forces, but when reading the book I saw no evidence of this. What exactly is the origin of the orcs?
Answer: Orcs are believed to be corrupted elves, but it happened so long ago that they wouldn't mention it in the Ring trilogy. It would most likely be discussed in The Silmarillion.
Answer: In the books, Treebeard says something about Trolls being corrupt Ents, just as Orcs are corrupt Elves.
Slouching Toward Bethlehem - S4-E4
Question: I know the name of this episode is a Biblical reference because of mention of Bethlehem, but what exactly does Slouching Toward Bethlehem mean, I haven't seen the episode in a while but I think it is only mentioned when Lorne says "Do the words Slouching Toward Bethlehem mean anything?" Which doesn't explain much.
Chosen answer: It's a line from the W.B. Yeats poem "The Second Coming" - "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" - sort of a beast/anti-christ on the way sort of thing.
Question: Does anyone know the alternative endings for this movie? I can't wait until the DVD. Was this the ending the M. Night Shyamalan wanted in the theaters?
Chosen answer: According to Shyamalan, the ending we saw was the only ending created for the film. He has stated numerous times that the rumors of any alternate endings were untrue.
Answer: The only "alternate" ending was one of the movie ending with Ivy climbing over the wall. There was a stolen script, and M. Night Shyamalan didn't want the movie spoiled by it being leaked, so he added everything after that originally intended ending.
I watched a version of the movie that had added scenes, not necessarily an alternate ending, and have been trying to find it ever since. It had, for example, a scene where Ivy finds huge chimes hanging in the forest that give voice to "those we don't speak of." Any info on that?
Question: How were the scenes that show the car repairing itself filmed? The film was made before the latest computer graphics were around and I would like to know how those effects were done.
Chosen answer: Hydraulics and wires were set up inside the body to pull the panels in and crumple them. Then the film of this happening was simply run backwards.
Question: Maybe I am being too analytical, but why do the villagers wear yellow robes? Taking into consideration the colour wheel and the red robes of the "things," wouldn't it make more sense to wear green as the safe color because green is the opposite of red?
Answer: They used the color yellow to represent caution, the red color means danger it does not have to do with the color wheel, but it is more psychological.
Answer: It would probably depend on the colourings available to the villagers. Maybe it was easier to make yellow dye and paint than green. Also, if green was a safe colour, then the 'creatures' wouldn't have been able to walk on any grass and there wouldn't have been as much fear of them entering the Village.
Answer: Red attracts colors. Planes, onlookers. If they are trying to keep a low profile in the forest, avoiding red is a good idea.
Answer: Plot wise, there was no practical reason for yellow being used because it was just part of the elders' scheme to "sell" the fake beasts story to the younger villagers. The youngsters were conditioned from childhood to believe that red attracted the creatures, and the village was protected as long as no-one wore or displayed it. The "safe" yellow color was probably an arbitrary choice by the elders, though it is also associated with "caution." From a movie-making perspective, the color choice probably had to do with what visually worked best on film. Green or blue would blend into the forest and meadow background, while yellow stands out, making the characters more visible.
Answer: Blood! Red was the bad color because it was the color of blood. Remember, all the elders were trying to avoid violence. The father in the movie was a psychologist. It just makes sense, knowing what he knew of society, to use red and yellow (being caution) as cultural guidelines.
The father was a history professor.
Answer: Just a word about this: opposing green to red makes sense only if you think about light. If you think about paint for example it would be yellow... kinda (actually 3 primary colors blue, red and yellow / 3 primary "light colors" blue, red and green).
Answer: I would think yellow is a color of passive/yielding to notify the "beasts" they are inferior to them.
Question: Tolkien never gave any age for Legolas but Peter Jackson did (I think it's 2100 years or so). Where did he get the idea for Legolas' age? Was it just arbitrary or was it based on other evidence (like that Legolas is obviously a younger elf- younger than, say, Elrond or Arwen)?
Answer: We know he must be older than Arwen as she is the last elf born in Middle Earth. She is around 1657 at the beginning of the War of the Rings.
Question: At the beginning, when Frodo and Sam capture Gollum, when they have the rope around his neck, Gollum screams "It burns us! It freezes!" What does he mean by that? Is the rope just annoying him, or is it actually causing him some sort of pain? I mean, it can't be choking him because the rope isn't tight around his neck. What does the book say about this?
Chosen answer: The rope is elven made, it seems that anything the elves made causes him pain. In the extended edition, he almost chokes when he tries to eat Elven lembas bread. Sort of a metaphor that he's so foul that even the fair can harm him rather than help him.
Question: After the Ring has been destroyed we see the reactions from the Fellowship members. Pippin is kneeling on the ground, sobbing Frodo's name. Is he crying out of joy because Frodo succeeded or is he crying because he thinks Frodo died in the process?
Answer: Probably both. It's something he would have very mixed emotions about.
Question: What exactly are District and Division?
Answer: A division is within a district, much like a city is within a county, or a state is within a nation.
Question: What do the frogs stand for? Is it a biblical reference, or could the screenwriters just not think of a better way to wrap up?
Answer: It's much debated the exact meaning, but it's kind of a reference saying that seemingly impossible things do happen. As we see later in the film, people stuck in similarly impossible situations might just have a chance of getting out of them.
Question: I was wondering if anyone knew where I could find the Gollum's song video clip, NOT the one with Two Towers clips in it, there's another proper video clip with a guy and a girl running away from a man with a knife which I found once by chance and can't find it anymore. Does anyone have a link to it?
Answer: I think I found it. Here's the link: http://www.drawntothefire.com/general.html.
Question: I've seen this movie three times and there is still something that I don't understand. What exactly is Michael Myers curse supposed to be and why does this curse involve him killing his family and their friends?
Answer: According to the official Halloween website, it is called "Curse of Thorn." You can read about it here: http://www.halloweenmovies.com/site/thorn.htm.
Question: Can someone please tell me how this movie ends? Neither ruinedendings.com or moviepooper.com have it listed and I'm going crazy.
Answer: He's being chased by hundreds of brides, but his friends get Renee Zellweger to meet him. He climbs up a fire escape ladder, and spots her in the crowd. She climbs to meet him, and they get married right then and there, with the priest using a megaphone to say the vows. The time reads exactly 6pm, or whatever the deadline was.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: 9 times out of 10, a character's name is changed to avoid legal action, ie, there may be only one man in the US named Jimmy Marcus who might complain that a character is named after him.
Grumpy Scot