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: At the end of the film, Joan Crawford/Blanche lies on the beach, brutalized and starved by Bette Davis/Jane. Does Blanche then die, or will Blanche continue to live? For that matter, Jane is still alive, (although probably insane), so what will happen to Jane?

Rob Halliday

Answer: Blanche's fate is left ambiguous, so it's impossible to say if she survived or not. It is not revealed in the original novel. Jane would most likely be institutionalized, seeing as she is suffering a complete break from reality at the end of the film.

Question: Why did Mikey lose it when he noticed that the border patrol officer was watching them? He had no problem with K and the other agent seeing him.

Answer: K and his partner both knew about aliens living on Earth, and made it their duty to make sure no one else knew about it. When the trooper saw Mikey in his real form, and Mikey spotted him, he attacked the trooper in an attempt to kill him, probably to ensure that the trooper wouldn't be alive to expose them. Since K and the other agent were already aware of Mikey, as they had dealings with him before, Mikey didn't attack them.

Question: Since Rachel's husband and friend were revealed to be bad guys, was it the husband who left the gate unlocked? (Instead of Rachel).

Shipper

Question: What was the soundtrack when Bourne was searching for Neski and Hotel Brecker? Could not find it anywhere.

Question: Kind of a weird and random question, but is there any significance to when Colonel Tavington takes off his helmet in the church?

Answer: It's unknown, but even though he enters the church on horseback to intimidate the people inside, he may believe it's respecting God. It may also be something that a military officer automatically does when indoors. Also, men usually remove their hats once inside a building, mostly as a curtesy. A hat is protection for the outdoors, so once inside, no real reason to keep it on. He may be more comfortable talking without the chin strap, or he wants to be seen by the people he is threatening. It could be any number of reasons.

raywest

I've done a bit of research about the "not wearing a hat/helmet indoors" rule, since I've been curious about it before. People actually can't agree on single original meaning of this. One popular belief is that keeping your hat on makes it seem like you don't want to stay there long. It's polite to act like you are in no hurry and would love to stay a while. Or, keeping a hat on might create a feeling of distance, as if you want to be emotionally/mentally separated from the others.

Beyond a Joke - S7-E6

Question: Who actually placed the bomb on the Simulants' ship? All three of them were together the whole time, and Kryten had been stolen.

Question: What is that moving "thing" on the dinner table, after crowning Dani as the new queen? It looks like a living, breathing blob.

Answer: Some of the food props were meant to have a grotesque nature to them and not a real dish. I believe what you're asking about was made using a HÃ¥rga cake in the crude shape of a person. But the moments of the flowers and food in the scene were meant to represent a drug-induced hallucination.

Bishop73

Question: How could the murderers possibly have known which swimwear Arlena would be wearing and have exactly the same costume?

Answer: They didn't. They dragged her into a small enclave and stripped off her bathing suit. The wife put it on and pretended to be Arlena sunning herself.

Question: Why didn't the NSA agents look for the floppy disk with the film when installing the wiretaps? (00:35:00 - 00:39:00)

Answer: Because MGM owned the rights to the "Our Gang" trademark, when the early films were re-released and new series started, the name was switched to "The Little Rascals" (for example, the 1982 cartoon) and that's what most people know them by. After that, it gets tricky with which companies own which rights, and King World Productions has some of "The Little Rascals" distribution rights.

Bishop73

Question: Just out of curiosity, but if the rotating fan would be jammed in a fish tank in real life and the tank would get dirty, would the fish still be able to breathe? Especially if it took a day or two to get the filter fixed? Could they even survive in a filthy tank? I hope this makes sense since I don't know how these things work, nor have had one in my life.

Answer: Algae is just a natural plant and isn't harmful to fish. It even adds to the overall tank health, though most aquarists prefer a "sparkling clean" look. What is dangerous is if the aeration in the tank is cut off. The fish will quickly suffocate. Goldfish are hardier and can survive longer, but tropical saltwater fish would likely die within a few hours.

raywest

Season 1 generally

Question: Was wondering why no explanation is ever given as to how and why Rust's weird ass, very detailed philosophy of space and time - with the crushed metal time disc and rotational electrical souls going around it forever etc. etc. - somehow is the exact same thing, right down to specific details, that at least three of the freaks, throughout this series, espouse. The underling freaks may espouse it because the main freak believes it - but we see Rust just arriving at it in his own mind.

roy sandefur

Question: With such an advanced ship and a crew of highly trained specialists, why would they need the services of a human cook? Wouldn't an automated chef do the same work and save the resources required for such an unnecessary position?

Answer: This is a lightweight, unsophisticated 1950s sci-fi movie with little thought to scientific accuracy. Space travel wasn't possible at this time and most people had little knowledge of what that would entail. Screenwriters just "improvised." The movie was meant as pure entertainment with a humor-infused plot. The "cook" is just a comic-relief character.

raywest

Question: Since Gondorff and Hooker left the fake betting parlor less than 5 minutes after Doyle and Snyder left, wouldn't they have been found out if Doyle and Snyder hung around for 5 minutes? Especially since there probably wasn't a police siren to be heard. Also, there would be no news on the parlor shooting, which would raise Doyle Lonnegan's eyebrows. Finally, Snyder knew the bar where the cons hung out and where the money was going to be split.

Answer: 1) Why would Lonnegan and Snyder "hang around"? Snyder was told to get Lonnegan away fast, and Lonnegan believes two people were just killed... Lonnegan is loath to abandon his money, but he realises he needs to leave. He is telling Snyder about the money, so he may be hoping Snyder can get it back for him once it's safe to do so. 2) There wouldn't be any sirens yet, the shooting happened seconds before they left. Someone would have to hear the shots and call the police for sirens to be heard. Even so, Lonnegan (and Snyder) have no reason to expect sirens, as this is apparently an FBI raid and so law enforcement is already on the scene. 3) News of raids gone wrong (i.e. one where there are unintended deaths) would likely never make it to the news. This was the 1930s, much easier to bury a story, especially one like this that happens in an illegal betting parlour with no press attention. 4) What of it? If he shows up they hide everything and just act like they're having a drink.

4) What of it? If he shows up they hide everything and just act like they're having a drink. - How on earth could two dead men "just act like they're having a drink"?

Didn't realise you were talking about Gondorff and Hooker. They didn't go to the bar. Gondorff was planning to leave town immediately and Hooker voluntarily gave up his share.

Question: Does anybody else remember at the end when they're playing Trivial Pursuit and the Russians get it wrong, the girl tipped it over and says, "You lose, we get the Ukraine"? I saw it the other day, and it said, "You lose, we get Eastern Europe." Why/when was the change made?

Question: Just out of curiosity and I'm sorry if this seems like a dumb question, but was Freddy possessing Dylan, or was Dylan just going "crazy" from lack of sleep? Or was Freddy somehow using Dylan to get into the real world outside of Heather/Nancy?

Answer: The way I understand it is: Freddy is dead. He was possessing no-one. From what I've read, there was some form of evil entity using Freddy as a figurehead to get into our realm. So if anyone was possessing anyone at all, it was the evil entity.

ChristmasJonesfan

Question: Why isn't one dead pigeon, dog, or other wildlife shown in the streets of New York? And at the end, the three survivors walk away and a flock of birds flies off. Where did the birds come from? It's doubtful they were underground or in a shelter.

Answer: If some humans survived, then animals could as well. Birds, being able to fly, could have escaped the radioactive cloud before it became inert. For the rest, IMHO, this is a 1950s, low-budget movie. Cheap production values, little attention to detail, and no CGI made for a "no frills" set design that lacked realistic things like dead animals or human corpses. There were also stricter rules and standards about what could and could not be shown in movies. Showing rotting corpses may have been considered unsuitable or distracting. It could also be argued that the filmmakers wanted to create a visual image that humanity is restarting from a "blank slate."

raywest

Question: When they were hanging out in the empty swimming pool just before the sniper card game challenge, Hondo sings something. What were the words?

Answer: Hondo was (and always will be) a United States Marine, and served in Vietnam (late '60s, early '70s). I believe what we hear Hondo sing is just a snippet of Hondo's old marching cadence, "Hambone, hambone, have you heard?" (00:42:25) which itself is taken from songs with different variations of Hambone lyrics.

Super Grover

Show generally

Question: Whenever Clark uses his X-ray vision, why does he lower his glasses? Lowering them when he uses heat vision is understandable but there's no need to do it when Clark uses X-ray vision.

Answer: I don't recall if it was ever mentioned in an episode, but it's possible that the frames and/or lenses of his glasses are lined with lead, the one compound his X-ray vision can't penetrate. Speculative, of course, but it likely would have been done at a point in his youth when he wasn't in complete control of his powers.

Cubs Fan

I think the other answer has good speculation. I would add it could also just be an "acting gesture" that Dean Cain utilizes as part of his Superman character and not because there's any practical reason. That way, the audience immediately recognizes what he is doing.

raywest

Question: What's up with Stanley seeing Sam and Mary Lou's apparition come into view and disappear while he was on the bus approaching the camp? Was that some kind of almost prophetic hint to Stanley as to the true nature of his trip to Camp Green Lake being to find the treasure and thus avenge Sam by doing so?

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.