Rooster of Doom

29th Aug 2006

Scrubs (2001)

Show generally

Question: Why is it that Carla always wears different coloured scrubs, she's always in red, pink, purple, orange etc. Also, how is it that her scrubs are the same but in different colours yet other nurses throughout the show sometimes wear a floral top, which Carla has never worn?

Answer: In many hospitals these days, your scrubs are entirely a matter of choice. The hospital will provide you with a limited number of pieces in a specific (uniform) color, if you desire, or you can provide your own. If Carla chooses to keep a collection of matched tops and bottoms in various colors, or if the other nurses choose to wear floral patterns (and she doesn't), that's entirely up to them.

Rooster of Doom

23rd Nov 2005

The Fly (1986)

Question: Why exactly does Brundle experience a feeling of euphoria and strength after his teleportation? Why doesn't he turn into the Brundlefly immediately?

Answer: Brundle's just had all of his atoms separated and then joined back together with a massive influx of electrical energy; certainly that would generate some sort of sensation in cells that have never experienced it before. No reason to believe it couldn't manifest as euphoria and strength. As far as the transformation: Brundle's cells have been put back together with fly DNA in them, but with very little actual fly material, initially. It's reasonable to expect that as his cells die off and regenerate in the usual ways, they are replaced not by human ones, but by human/fly hybrids. As this happens, he becomes gradually more fly-like.

Rooster of Doom

14th Jun 2005

The Score (2001)

Question: Why does Norton lie and say that he "has company" and then make De Niro wait longer during the robbery? Sure, Norton double crosses him later, but wouldn't making his partner wait put both of them in danger of getting caught since it delays them and increases their chances of getting caught?

Answer: Norton already has an advance plan to prevent himself from getting caught. The delay is both to fluster DeNiro, and to prevent him from having enough time at the moment of the double-cross to come up with an alternate to handing over the prize without getting caught himself.

Rooster of Doom

13th Jun 2005

Das Boot (1981)

Question: I know practically nothing about submarines, so this seemed a bit strange to me. When there's that huge storm, why do they keep staying at the surface, only going down for an hour at a time?

Answer: U-boats also travelled much faster on the surface...about 18 knots, vs only 8 knots or so beneath the surface.

Answer: Because that's what the U-boat was designed to do. Unlike modern nuclear boats, they didn't have the capacity to stay submerged for long periods - basically just as long as the air lasted; there wasn't atmosphere control equipment. They would 'snorkel' near the surface, recharge the batteries with the diesel engines, and then dive for a few hours at most before having to come back up and repeat the process.

Rooster of Doom

18th May 2005

Family Guy (1999)

Answer: This is a reference to one of the oldest prank-call jokes known - young people calling up a tobacconist's and asking if they have "Prince Albert in a can," (Prince Albert being the name of a moderately famous brand of loose tobacco). If the shop owner replies positively, they then say "Well you'd better let him out, he's suffocating!" or the like.

Rooster of Doom

31st Mar 2005

Down With Love (2003)

Answer: No; Holly Palmer and Michael Bublé.

Rooster of Doom

30th Apr 2005

Sahara (2005)

Question: In the scene where the three main characters are in the Texas and are being bombarded , Dirk claims that the plates are 2 feet thick. They then discover the use of armor-piercing shells. Does he mean 2 inches? I believe the boat would sink if they were indeed 2 feet thick.

Answer: While Dirk seems to be exaggerating slightly, there were certainly many classes of WWI and WWII battleships that had armor in excess of 18" thick in places. They floated just fine - in fact, they were notoriously difficult to sink.

Rooster of Doom

29th Apr 2005

Club Dread (2004)

Question: Why do they have a girl on the cover of the DVD holding a knife behind her back (and I'm sure it's Penelope) when the killer is a guy?

Answer: Fairly standard misinformation tactic. You'd prefer they revealed the actual killer on the cover?

Rooster of Doom

29th Apr 2005

28 Days Later (2002)

Question: I didn't understand the rationale of Jim releasing the infected soldier Mailer into the mansion, since he knew the women were still inside, unprepared and unarmed. Anyone got a good reason why he did it?

Answer: He also knew that the women were in an interior room, upstairs, with the door(s) closed; and that Mailer was much more likely to encounter/eliminate the other soldiers who were downstairs and mobile first. He was probably gambling - correctly, as it turned out - that he'd be able to make it upstairs and either rescue the women or eliminate Mailer before they were harmed.

Rooster of Doom

29th Apr 2005

General questions

Why exactly are film ratings in the US voluntary instead of legally required like in many other countries. I know that in countries like England, Australia and NZ they are legally required for any film/video that will be shown, sold or rented in that country. Also why do studios submit their films for ratings if they are voluntary? I find it peculiar especially for controversial films like Showgirls for example, as the NC-17 rating kills any chance the film has at the box office when they could just leave it unrated and avoid all the stigma it attaches to itself?

Lummie

Chosen answer: For one thing, the US is a place in which the sociopolitical climate has always favored liberty over governmental control. Certain issues - drivers' licensing, for instance - obviously require intervention; movie rating is not seen as one of them. This is probably also compounded by the fact that the MPAA and similar bodies are hugely wealthy and powerful, and can afford a lot of lobbying to prevent any such legislative requirement from coming to pass. As far as actually getting the voluntary ratings - it's nearly suicide to NOT get one. The number of films that have generated any significant financial success without being MPAA rated is effectively zero. It seems as though the bulk of the movie-watching public WANTS to be protected from certain levels of 'indecency.'

Rooster of Doom

17th Apr 2005

Constantine (2005)

Question: This will sound stupid but I got really confused towards the end. If Gabriel was an angel, why was she helping the son of the Devil? And why did Lucifer send the son back to hell, then cure Constantine - I thought he wanted Constantine to go to hell?

Answer: Gabriel had become a turncoat because she was sick of seeing unworthy humans receive preferential treatment from God. Lucifer sent the son back to hell as a warning not to try and usurp Daddy's position. He then cured Constantine because he could see the Gates of Heaven opening to receive him after the selfless act Constantine performed there at the end. Lucifer assumed that if he removed Constantine's cancer and let him stick around on Earth longer, Constantine would continue to make poor decisions and ruin whatever chances he'd earned toward getting into Heaven. And as such, eventually, Lucifer would get his revenge on him.

Rooster of Doom

1st Apr 2005

Reindeer Games (2000)

Question: This film is called something else in the UK (Deception) because Reindeer Games isn't a phrase used in the UK - what does Reindeer Games mean?

ania hill

Chosen answer: Originally from the line in the Christmas carol "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," it has come to mean both (a) any activity from which one is intentionally excluded and (b) tricks undertaken with the point of irritating or harassing the subject - as in: "Oh, they want to play reindeer games with me, do they? Well, I'll show them."

Rooster of Doom

21st Mar 2005

Saw (2004)

Question: My gripe is why did the doctor cut off his foot to get to the phone/gun? He was of mind enough to use his shirt to tie around his leg - why not use his shirt to retrieve the phone/gun. Also can't mobile phones set to receive only still make calls to directory enquiries and emergency services?

Answer: It is doubtful there can be a precise correct answer to this, unless you happen to be the screenwriter. However, it can be presumed that the doctor resorted to the skills he had down cold, almost automatic, as opposed to attempting any further creative problem-solving because he was at his wits' end, in a very traumatic situation. He knows how to tourniquet and amputate.

Rooster of Doom

Answer: Dr Gordon had been mentally abused for close to 8 hours by this point. As the situation got more grave he resorts to more drastic (and quicker) methods to try and win his game to save his family. We are shown throughout later films that FBI agent Hoffman (who doesn't appear on screen until Saw 3) is working with Jigsaw at this point already, so has access to high end tech. Enough to manipulate a phone's abilities.

Ssiscool

Answer: So he could escape.

The question wasn't why he cut off his foot. It was why he didn't use his shirt to retrieve the gun.

21st Mar 2005

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Question: What exactly does the title of this film mean? Is there even an answer to that?

Sir William

Chosen answer: It is a reference to a class of fast-paced, sensationalistic, and frequently exploitive stories published in cheap magazines from the 1920's through the 1950's. They were called 'pulp' because of the cheap quality of the paper they were printed on, as opposed to the 'slicks' which were more like full-color magazines of today.

Rooster of Doom

3rd Feb 2005

Friends (1994)

Answer: Tenure: the status of holding one's position on a permanent basis without periodic contract renewals. It is frequently granted to professors at universities, and is a valued commodity as you then know you will continue to have your job as long as you like, unless you do something egregious. Escrow: monies put aside, into a third party's hands, to be delivered only upon fulfillment of specific conditions. It ordinarily comes up in the process of buying a house - you place money in escrow to show good faith and the ability to pay your mortgage, and the builder only gets it upon completion of the home.

Rooster of Doom

3rd Feb 2005

Easy Rider (1969)

Question: When George is killed by the hoodlums in the middle of the night one of them appears to be wearing a hat similar to the one worn previously by the prejudice guy in the restaurant. Are they supposed to be one and the same?

Answer: Correct: it is the same group of bigots, who has tracked them down in order to beat them.

Rooster of Doom

Question: How did their Auntie know about all the things that would happen to them? I.e. the fridge could crush them, the cooker could catch fire, the door handle could splinter into 1 million pieces etc?

Answer: It wasn't really a matter of *knowing* that those things would come true. She was a paranoid elderly woman, given to flights of fantasy about awful things that MIGHT happen, however unlikely. The joke is that all those things did occur in exactly the way she described, which is why the kids were so shocked.

Rooster of Doom

22nd Jan 2005

The Incredibles (2004)

Question: Why was the password "kronos" written in the underwater cave? And how did Mr Incredible know that was the password?

Answer: It was written there because Gazerbeam had used his powers to carve it into the wall before he died; that's why Mr. Incredible had to align his point of view with the dead man's. When he got to the password screen, he just assumed - correctly, as it turns out - that Gazerbeam would have found it out, and used his last dying moments to leave it behind for someone else to use.

Rooster of Doom

22nd Jan 2005

Robocop (1987)

Question: Would Emil really be able to walk and talk after taking the bath in the vat of toxic waste?

Answer: Well, considering we don't know the exact composition of the toxins, that's impossible to answer with any certainty. What is certain is that stranger things have happened. One known case had a man, in the presence of police, attempt suicide by cutting his own throat with a knife. He was very effective, nearly severing the spinal cord in one stroke. The surpising bit is that before collapsing, he was able to advance on a heavily-built police officer and force him backwards down a flight of stairs. So virtually anything is possible.

Rooster of Doom

6th Jan 2005

Memento (2000)

Answer: Because if he admits that his wife was the diabetic, then that opens the door to the possibility that it was HE who killed his wife with an overdose of insulin, and not Sammy Jankis. He can't face that possibility, so he simply denies that she was ever diabetic.

Rooster of Doom

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