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.

Answer: It was never revealed what caused Frank's death.

raywest

Answer: No. Anakin was aware of only one child. The first time he learns about Leia's relationship to Luke (and thus to himself) is during his lightsaber battle with Luke in "Return of the Jedi."

Cubs Fan

Question: What is the origin of the magic cupboard?

Answer: The cupboard isn't magical. It was found by Omri's brothers in the alley behind their house and given to him for his birthday. The magic comes from the key, which Omri's mom gave to him after seeing the cupboard. It originally belonged to either her grandmother or aunt, I forget which. In the books, Omri is able to use the key in other objects (like a trunk) proving the key has the magic, not the old cupboard.

Kaitlin Schwartzel

Question: When Reed, Sue and Ben see Johnny on TV, they see that he has a four on his uniform. Sue asks where it came from and at this point a brief glimpse of a four is also on Reeds uniform but then he quickly hides it giving the indication that he put one on his uniform as well as the others. If Reed only wanted to find a way of getting rid of their powers, then why would he place a four on his uniform? He didn't want to use his powers to help people at all. He only wanted to find a way to cure himself and the others.

Answer: From the look on Reed's face, I assumed he checked to see if he had the patch on his suit as well. He sees that he does and in order to hide it from the others in fear of Ben and Susan thinking he was involved, he hid it quickly and did not mention it.

T Poston

Question: Now, I may be missing some big symbolic thing here, but what exactly did the tanks and the jets represent, or where they just mistakes or something?

Answer: There are many "current" images added in to convey an up-to-date parallel of what was happening. The planes & tanks were to show the power of the Roman government. Also the merchants sinning by selling in the temple are selling postcards, prostitution, drugs, & even machine guns in the movie. It was to give something modern for viewers to relate to. The guards carry guns as well as the roman spears of the time. The modern "anything goes" in the sexual area is clear in the modern version of Herod's escapades.

Answer: It is worth mentioning that those tanks were called "Centurions" - a clear reference to Roman army.

Death Lives - S3-E6

Question: This may sound a bit stupid, but why do a all the animals start making noise when Death walks into the pet store?

Answer: This references the concept that animals are more tuned in to see supernatural things (ghosts, demons, and apparently Death). In many movies, you see animals acting strange when something supernatural is about to occur.

Andreas[DK]

Question: After the tour guide takes the bad head count when they all get on the boat, you can see him counting them all again. Why didn't he notice right then that 2 people were missing? Also, the diving company was missing 2 scuba tanks and they didn't notice?

Answer: The whole idea with the movie was the bad count. Nobody knows why he counted wrong.

Mortug

Answer: He counted wrong because the man that begged to go back in and the other person accompanied him in the water were already counted for before going back down last minute so when he saw two people coming back up he tallied 20 people.

Show generally

Question: In the episode where Lorreta cheats on Cleveland, who was that Guy in the Orange Afro Wig(?) who kicks Peter in the "nuts"? Is he from a show and, if so, which one?

Answer: Family Guy writer and voice of Cleveland, Mike Henry, has an online show called "Kicked in the nuts" where he dresses up exactly as the character in the episode. Check out http://www.kickedinthenuts.com/.

Andreas[DK]

Question: Why didn't Tiger go with Fievel after he released him from the cage and Warren T. Rat threw him out of the Maulers?

Answer: Warren T. grabbed Tiger and told him he was fired.Tiger did eventually leave some time after that though.

Question: Does anybody know any information about the - I think it is a scar - on Dr. Evil's face. How did he get it / what happened? Or is this never explained?

Hamster

Chosen answer: There is never an explanation given for the scar. I assume it is meant to be the same scar as belonged to Blofeld (the head of SPECTRE) from You Only Live Twice, and played by Donald Pleasence. Dr. Evil is essentially a parody of Blofeld.

Soylent Purple

Question: I think this might be a mistake, but before I list it as that, I should ask first. In the extended edition Aragorn and Gimli save the day by hacking Gothmog to death, then he yells "Legolas." and Legolas jumps up on the oliphaunt and after over a minute of the oliphaunt riding, he then kills it. Gimli is now somehow in front of Legolas when he says "That still only counts as one." How did he get from the Gothmog battle, to when Legolas finishes with the oliphaunt? It's probably well over a mile that the oliphaunt marched, so Gimli couldn't have caught up, and it couldn't be that he said that later on when they were together, because Legolas turns his head as in "Look what I just did" right after he rides off the trunk.

Answer: When Legolas is riding the Oliphaunt, it changes direction (turns around) and heads back the way it came. You can tell by the "direction" the the ghost army is moving.

XIII

Question: When Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were on the pirate ship, heading to Minas Tirith, the two-headed Orc commander said "Come on you sea-rats, get off your ships, there's knife work here needs doing." and then they jump off, he readies his scythe like he's going to attack. But if the pirates were on his team, why would he attack the three of them?

Answer: He sees that the three who jump ashore are NOT Corsairs as he expected, but a Ranger (evidenced by Aragorn's clothing and weapons), a Dwarf and an Elf. All of these are enemies of Sauron and the Orcs, so the Orcs' instinct would be to attack them on sight. At this point the commander has not realized that if those three were on board, then the rest of the fleet probably is not Corsairs either...

Twotall

Question: What evidence linked Black to killing the Potters? After the movie I didn't understand how everyone could have been so completely wrong.

Answer: Black was thought to be the Potter's secret keeper and only the secret keeper could have directed Voldemort to the Potters. There was a showdown on a street between Pettigrew and Black, after the Potters were killed, where many people died. Since Black was the only one to live, and they found only Pettigrew's finger, everyone assumed Black did the killing. No one knew that Pettingrew, along with Black, and James Potter, were animagi.

Rlvlk

Question: When Gandalf is talking with Saruman about the Palantir in Isengard, Gandalf says, "They are not all accounted for, the lost Seeing-Stones. We don't know who else could be watching." What is a Seeing-Stone? I don't think it's the Palantir.

Answer: In short, yes it is. The word "Palantír" itself means "Far sight", and the stones were used to witness events and communicate over long distances.

Twotall

Question: I read that this film was inspired by Lord of the Rings and that there are many similar elements between the two. Can anyone please tell me if this is true and also point out what the 'elements' are?

Answer: It's not true - other than both films dealing with quests, there are no real similarities.

Tailkinker

Question: I probably missed this, but why does Dina keep saying, "muskrat" to Jack?

Answer: Muskrat is a "code word" they use to remind Jack to keep his temper under control.

Myridon

Answer: Near the end, after Fiona turns into an ogress, Lord Farquaad orders the guards to get both Fiona and Shrek, and as the guards grab hold of the green duo we hear Lord Farquaad say, "This hocus-pocus alters nothing. This marriage is binding, and that makes me king! See? See? Don't just stand there, you morons... I'll make you regret the day we met. I'll see you drawn and quartered! You'll beg for death to save you!" After Farquaad nastily threatens Fiona, he continues to shout, "I am king! I will have order! I will have perfection! I will have..." and then he's eaten.

Super Grover

Answer: "Ugh. It's disgusting. Guards. Guards. I order you to get that out of my sight now. Get them. Get them both."

Nelleke Rietvink

Question: I've heard this movie contains subliminal images and messages. Is this true and if it is, what are they?

Answer: It is true. The director spliced in a few frames of later scenes in the film throughout the film to "help" the viewer figure out the ending. These frames went by so quickly, the viewers couldn't really see them, but the director thought that maybe the subconscious mind would pick up on these clues.

Question: Does any one know the Japanese golfer joke Uncle Vernon was telling at the beginning of the movie?

Answer: The joke goes like this, "A California business man, while in Japan for some business meetings and a few rounds of golf, arrived in Tokyo a day earlier than expected. Feeling lonely that evening, he employed the services of a beautiful young Japanese girl to be his companion for the evening. Although the Japanese girl spoke very little English and the businessman spoke no Japanese, their passion roared and in the heat of the moment she began yelling "Machigatta ana. Machigatta ana" Hearing this, the Californian believed he had pleased his female Japanese friend and soon afterwards went to sleep. The next day while playing golf with his Japanese business colleague, his Japanese partner holed his shot from 170 yards away. Wanting to impress his friend, the Californian began yelling, "Machigatta ana!" The Japanese business man turned to the Californian and with a confused look on his face asked, "What do you mean wrong hole?"

Answer: The punchline is actually quite vulgar, but you can read a copy of the joke at http://www.sugarquill.net/forum/index.php?s=1a43217a81cc245555ad6ac82d3bcc5b&showtopic=6214&view=findpost&p=225388.

Cubs Fan

Question: When the Ring is destroyed and all the bad guys fall into the earth, but the good army does not, how do they get on to other land when all around them the ground has collapsed? I'm guessing that the eagles pick them up, one by one, but I'm not sure.

Answer: After Barad-dûr, Sauron's Dark Tower, crumbles, the Black Gate falls into ruin and the area around it quakes and opens up. The Men of the West are surrounded by Sauron's army on all sides, but it is only the ground between the Men and the Black Gate that collapses, taking with it many in Sauron's army, but not all. The ground behind the Men of the West is still intact.

Super Grover

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