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: I know the first film had dialogue references to chapters of the book, such as "A Shortcut to Mushrooms" and "A Long Expected Party". Did this film have any such references?

Answer: Not really, no. The chapter titles of The Two Towers tend to be relatively factual, like "Helm's Deep", which, while obviously said during the film, can hardly be considered a specific reference to the chapter title. The closest is probably Aragorn calling out "Riders of Rohan" when they encounter them on the plains - there is a chapter with this title (adding "The" to the beginning).

Tailkinker

Question: I know the first film had dialogue references to chapters of the book, such as "A Shortcut to Mushrooms" and "A Long Expected Party". Did this film have any such references?

Answer: Nothing so precise. Like the Two Towers, the chapter headings in the Return of the King tend more to the simple, like "The Siege of Gondor", "Minas Tirith", or "Mount Doom". These do come up in dialogue, obviously, but can't really be considered as references to the chapter titles in the same way as with the Fellowship of the Ring.

Tailkinker

Question: Lupin said he recognised Harry because of the eyes, but apart from the eyes, Harry looks like his father. Shouldn't Lupin recognise him as the son of one of his best friends?

Answer: This is a plot hole. Harry is often told, "You look just like your father, except you have your mother's eyes." or some variation of that. Because of this, there really isn't a logical explanation as to why Lupin wouldn't immediately recognize Harry as his best friend's son.

Question: What was that first body in the woods that looked like Muffin? It couldn't have been Muffin because she shows up at the end right?

Answer: It never really says what the body is, but I'd assume it were a rabbit or some other small woodland creature. It can't be Muffin because, like you said, Muffin appears later on.

Question: What exactly is the purpose of the inoculation-scar looking thing on the Necromongers neck, if it doesn't keep Vaako and his wife from plotting overthrow of the Lord Marshall, or help suss out the existence of the other remaining Furian?

Rooster of Doom

Chosen answer: They say it in the film, it is one pain that helps to ease another. It is like an initiation and a branding all in one. It is the Mark of the Necromonger.

Question: What's the relative timeline of this movie? It's stated that it starts in the year 10,191 but there don't seem to be any other dates besides that.

Answer: The entire DUNE universe is much more complicated than any movie. For a relatively useful timeline, see www.smirnov.demon.co.uk/Arrakis/timeline.htm.

scwilliam

Question: One of the trivia entry's mentions something about Go-Bots, who are they?

Answer: Go-Bots were transforming-vehicle toys from around the same period, competition for (or rip-off of, depending on your opinion) the Transformers.

Xofer

Question: How does Sammael get across the world? If whenever you kill Sammael, two shall arise, it would be impossible to kill them?

Answer: Not if you collect all the eggs and destroy them, as was done in the movie. That way no more Sammaels can hatch. As for transportation, the freaky bald dude probably took care of that.

Question: What if they were to destroy the Matrix, then all the humans would be free but the problem is where would billions of human beings go? Zion, the last city, can't hold them all and they can't live in the tunnels or above the earth's crust because there is no food or water there. The whole war doesn't seem to be well thought out and seems like a big plot hole on the Wachowskis part.

Answer: The inhabitants of Zion seem to have little problem with killing off dozens of 'real people' during their constant gunfights inside the Matrix. This suggests that they would be willing to sacrifice the bulk of humanity. Remember, it's supposed to be difficult for adults who spent their entire lives in the Matrix to survive being suddenly removed from it anyway.

J I Cohen

Question: I know that Jennifer Beals is not exactly a big star right now, but I was still surprised to see her in such a tiny role...does anyone know if she originally had a bigger scene that was cut?

Answer: Jennifer Beals' role is a bit of a misdirection towards the viewer, a little like Janet Leigh in "Psycho". It misleads the viewer into beleiving she might be crucial to the plot.

Answer: Pretty much any fairy tale where somebody gets offered wishes by a genie or other similar character. It's always three wishes (and, nine times out of ten, the last one gets used to undo the damage caused by the first two).

Tailkinker

Question: Are there any Easter Eggs on the normal (not extended) DVDs of any of the three films?

Answer: No. All of the easter eggs are on the extended edition of the films.

Question: What do the castle guards pour on Mongo's head that gives him the foamy hair style and eventually causes his arms to break off?

Answer: Steamed milk.

Paul Plesser

Answer: According to the filmmakers, Dragon turned into a talking Pegasus.

Question: Is the name Roger Bannister significant? Roger Bannister was the first man to run a four minute mile, is this a coincidence?

Answer: He was the first man to run a sub 4 minute mile,but there doesn't appear to be anything more than coincedence.

Answer: This was actually one of many errors in Transformers, the Constructicons MUST have been built on Cybertron, the only transformers genuinely built on earth were the dinobots, reason being Vector Sigma has to give personalities to each and every robot, else they end up like the dinobots, very simple and dumb. For reference watch the episode "The Key to Vector Sigma" which introduces the Stunticons and Arielbots - both Megatron and Optimus Prime have to go to Vector Sigma to get decent personality traits installed, prior to this the new robots are controlled by remote controllers and have no AI.

Question: I read somewhere that Dolph Lundgren, who was Grace Jones' boyfriend at the time, has a small part in the film, however I can't spot him. Can anyone tell me who he is?

Answer: He plays a KGB agent helping General Gogol. It's real "blink-and-you-miss-him" stuff.

Tailkinker

Question: Did any of the actors know how to play their instruments? Because sometimes Harry Shearer seems to know what he's doing on the bass, particularly during 'Big Bottom' but the two leads sometimes look as though they're playing air guitar.

Answer: The actors are all good musicians - it's them playing.

Tailkinker

Question: When Morrow bites off Eboshi's arm, the wolf's head has been somehow cut off her body. When the Forest Spirit took her life away, the head was attached. How did the head become detached?

Answer: You can see part of the ooze flowing across Moro's neck, thus it gets severed.

Question: I read that the character of Arwen is different in the film adaptation than from the books (including "Fellowship of the Ring"). In what ways? Second, did director/screenwriter Peter Jackson gave a reason why he expanded Arwen's presence in the film adaptation? Was it done for marketing purposes as some fans had claimed?

megamii

Chosen answer: Well, Arwen in the books really doesn't do a great deal - she's an extremely minor character. The first reason for increasing her role was simply to remove some of the myriad other characters from the book - for example, the elf Glorfindel, who, in the book, is the one who brings Frodo to Rivendell, then never appears again. Considering the sheer number of characters in the tale, it makes a certain sense to combine them occasionally. The second reason, and why they chose to use Arwen at this point, is that it fleshes out her character a bit, giving us a glimpse of her strength and power and allowing us to get a better glimpse at her relationship with Aragorn, making it clearer why he would love her. It has also given the tale another strong female character, which, yes, isn't bad for marketing purposes, but that consideration wasn't the primary reason for doing so.

Tailkinker

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