Question: How does the zombie infection start?
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Question: The appendix mentions Merry having a son, but no name is given in the family tree. Why is his son not included in the family tree when he is mentioned elsewhere in the text, and what was his name? Did Merry have any other children as well?
Answer: Tolkien never gives the name of Merry's son, which is probably why he's not on the family tree, nor does he tell us whether he had any other children. As to why he doesn't mention this, why should he? It's not as if they're important characters. There's a lot of information that Tolkien doesn't provide - understandable, given that he's produced a history of a fictional world that covers many thousands of years, that he wouldn't be able to include everything. Minor details, like the names of people who never actually appear in any of the stories (Merry's son, Aragorn and Arwen's daughters, Legolas' mother and so forth), were simply left out in favour of more important items.
Question: The writers made a very deliberate attempt not to refer to "Santa Claus" by ANY proper name (St. Nick, Father Christmas, etc.), does anyone know why?
Answer: In the Official Illustrated Movie Companion, it was stated that the presence of Father Christmas was very odd, and that they considered having Aslan give the Pevensies their presents. But since Andrew Adamson wanted to stay true to the story, they kept Father Christmas in there, but changed it so it was less blatant.
Question: In the scene where Shaun gave all the zombies 'the slip', David asks Shaun how he lost them. My question is, why does David act so suspicious towards Shaun when he asks him that?
Answer: Given that Shaun's plan to go to the pub has so far managed to expose them to a considerable degree of risk, it's not unreasonable that David might be rather skeptical when Shaun claims to have simply given the zombies the slip.
Question: Can anyone explain why, in the books, the chief of police is named Fenris Ulf, but in the movie (along with the 1988 BBC version) his name is Maugrim? Scarier sounding?
Question: In a trailer for this movie that was shown in theaters we see Jack and film crew shooting a scene on the shore of the island when Jack tells Ann to scream and while she does, we hear Kong's roar. However, in the movie that scene is missing. We get to see Ann screaming while Kong roars when the film crew encounters the natives for the first time and one member gets shot by an arrow. What's the deal with that? That cannot be the deleted scene as if it was like in the trailer, the movie would have a totally different plot?
Answer: Trailers often have scenes that don't make the final cut of the movie. There was a shot in the trailer for Lord of the Rings III where Merry tells Pippin, "We will see the shire again." That scene did not make the final cut of the film either (not even in the extended edition). It's not unusual (although the Kong example is a fairly extreme one: such an elaborate set-up).
Question: Were the airport scenes shot on location at Bangor and LAX airports? If so, I'm curious as to find out how they achieved the effect of no-one being there. I mean, is it possible to desert a whole airport for filming? I would have thought that to be rather impossible, to close the airport whilst shooting. Any help?
Chosen answer: Yes, they were at those locations.Filming with nobody around is possible, either by shooting indoor scenes at night, when the terminals are closed, or outdoor scenes on unused sections of the airport. If maintenance is going to close a runway (or a whole terminal) for a week, a film company can rent the space (at a price of course!) to keep it closed a few extra days for filming.As well, many shots can be established in real locations, but followed by filming on sets built to replicate parts of the real locations.You could film a whole movie's "setting" in an afternoon by taking select shots, then spend a couple of months in a studio on closeup shots which don't require the large, real, backgrounds.
Question: What does the "pop, six, squish, sisarow, lipshits." or whatever it was? I didn't catch it too good, but what did it mean? It was in the "He had it comin'" song. (I know the pop refered to the gum, six was about his six wives and Lipshits was the name of the boyfriend.) What were the other two?
Chosen answer: Each sound had a significance in the story told by the convict. "Pop" was the sound of the chewing gum. "Six" was the number of wives. "Squish" was the sound of her husband "running into" her knife ten times. "Uh-Uh" was the response from the one who was asked "did you do it?" Cicero was the name of the hotel where Velma killed her husband and sister. Lipschitz was the name of the boyfriend who went to "find himself."
Question: At one point, Walt is reading out loud from a Green Lantern comic book in Spanish. The only two words I caught were "polar bear". What does the whole Spanish quote translate to in English?
Answer: Green Lantern Kyle Rayner and Wally West (the Flash) are in the arctic to recover an alien ship that was hidden there by the original Green Lantern and Flash. A polar bear rears up behind him and he scares it away with a ring created giant flaming monstrous Santa Claus. Just before he does it, he thinks "Won't Wally look smug when he finds out I wound up as polar bear food."
Question: I was wondering if in the books, or in any other literature/discussion about the story, whether Professor Kirke is Mr. Tumnus' father? They certainly looked like each other in this movie and it seemed to be implied during the scene in the credits.
Answer: The professor is not Tumnus's father. In the credits scene, the professor wants to get back to Narnia because he was there as a boy (in the book "The Magician's Nephew").
Question: What's the exact content (kind of food) of Hannibal's "lunch box" he carries on the plane?
Answer: According to the book (where this scene happens much earlier, by the way) it is an aromatic pâté de fois gras (goose liver pâté) with truffles, figs from Anatolia and a half bottle of St. Estephe cognac. There is also the mention of "fine bread", but no further details are given. Everything was delivered by the Parisian catering firm Fauchon.
Question: What is the name of the actor who plays Notre Dame player 75, last name Mateus? I can't find him in the credits. He's the guy who starts chanting "Rudy" during the Georgia Tech game. I know Al Snow aka Allen Sarven plays an uncredited Notre Dame player in the movie, but it is not him - I have seen pics of Al Snow, and he is NOT the guy. There is more than one uncredited Notre Dame player in the film. (I have posted this question before, and the reply was Al Snow, so please don't answer this unless you actually know who the actor is. Thank you.)
Answer: According to the Trivia section (as well as some web searching) it seems to be Peter Rausch, an ex-Notre Dame football player.
Answer: Peter Rausch had already completed his NCAA eligibility by the time the movie started filming. He can be seen wearing the number 75, starting the "Rudy" chant from the field. His character's name is "Steve."
Answer: His real last name is Mateus. He and several Western Michigan University football players were cast in the film. I know this for fact because I worked at Scott's iron Campus in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He and several of his friends were close friends with the owner and were in the restaurant almost daily. They also built a loft bed for me in the dorms.
Question: Why is it that the bullet bounced off Albert chest, and didn't pierce into his skin or anything, yet the knife blade was able to enter Dinah? I never understood why the bullet did no damage to him, yet the blade did.
Chosen answer: Because as time runs down, food loses its taste, drinks lose their fizz and the gunpowder in the bullet had lost most of its explosive force. It was unable to propel the bullet very hard. The knife still retained its edge as physical objects didn't break down.
Question: Are the creatures we actually witness, eating up the LAX airport, actually Langoliers? I have heard from friends who have read the book that they are not Langoliers. Also Mr. Toomy's description of them (he says they have legs and are hairy) doesn't hold up. Are they Langoliers? If not, what are they? And if not, why do the characters refer to them as Langoliers?
Chosen answer: The Langoliers don't exist, they are Toomey's version of the boogeyman. The creatures that "eat" the past are close enough to what Craig believes that he thinks they are the Langoliers. And it's as good as anything else to call them, so all the others adopt the name as well. No one could actually know what they are called as most people move into the future along with the natural flow of time and the few that do travel into the past are eventually killed by them.
Question: In the 'Remembering Z-day' scene near the film's end, where Shaun is watching clips of the zombie-outbreak aftermath where soldiers run in and shoot all the zombies, one soldier can be seen taking cover behind a tree as if in a firefight. Why would he need to take cover when he's battling slow-moving, melee-only zombies?
Answer: Soldiers tend to fight like they train. It becomes almost instinctive to find cover before firing your weapon.
Question: What are cowl flaps? What is their purpose?
Answer: Cowl flaps are used to adjust to volume of air that passes over the cooling fins of an aircraft piston engine. Under takeoff and landing these flaps are open to allow maximum airflow and under normal flight they are closed to maintain normal engine temperature.
Question: During the song "Knights of the Round Table" they sing the line: "Between our quests we sequin vests". What does this mean? (English is not my mother tongue.)
Answer: Sequins are small, flat, shiny ornamentations that are attached to clothing to give the garment a metallic look. The nights are saying that between quests, they sit arround sewing these items onto vests.
Question: Why does the film involve two Queen songs, one in the pub ("Don't Stop Me Now") and one in the credits?
Answer: Is there some reason why it shouldn't? They presumably chose them because they liked them and thought that they fitted well.
Question: The film is listed as "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" on the Internet but on the DVD it is called "Quest for the Holy Grail". This is also the only title I've ever heard it referred by IRL. Why are there two titles out? Which one is the correct one? And how come they changed whichever title came first?
Answer: The actual Terry Gilliam illustration credit in the film uses the Quest for the Holy Grail title just after the groups talks to god around 25 minutes in. Maybe they used the art from the film for the DVD image?
Answer: I have searched several online DVD retailers and other online sources and not found any mentions of a DVD with "Quest for the Holy Grail" as the title. All are called "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". There is a computer game from 1996 called "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail" though.
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Answer: It is deliberately never revealed, though when Shaun first goes to the shop we hear on the radio something about a satellite unexpectedly re-entering the Earth's orbit. This is a tribute to George Romero's zombie films, in which the cause of the infection was also never discussed.
Manky