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: Why was the start of Kill Bill 2 in B/W? It wasn't to tone down on the violence (as there is none), so why?

Hamster

Chosen answer: It was just a Tarantino stylistic (most likely as it's a flashback). Just one of his many homages (as many kung fu movies did the same).

Gavin Jackson

Question: Can someone explain the whole thing about the dart being shot into Beatrix's leg by Bill. What did it do?

Hamster

Chosen answer: It was a truth serum so Bill could make sure Beatrix would tell him the truth when he asked her the three questions.

moviemogul

Chosen answer: The cartoon is called "Heckle and Jeckle" about two magpies and their misadventures.

Tobin OReilly

Chosen answer: Yes it's true. Also Kevin Costner was considered, before David Carradine got the role.

Gavin Jackson

Question: How long is there between Episodes II and III? There were ten years between I and II, and around 20 between III and IV, but the entire Clone Wars saga happens between II and III, so how long was between them?

Answer: Approximately three years.

Tailkinker

Question: How do Han Solo and Chewbacca end up together?

Answer: After the end of the Clone Wars and the creation of the Empire, the Wookies were enslaved, ostensibly as punishment for helping Jedi fugitives. Chewbacca worked as a slave for some years, before being rescued by Han Solo, at the time a cadet at the Imperial Academy and acting entirely against his orders. Solo was kicked out of the Academy and vanished into the life of a smuggler, accompanied by Chewbacca, who had sworn a life-debt to his rescuer.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: She appears in most of the groupings of the Senators, discussing the changes in the Republic, but she is seen first in the group following Palpatine into the auditorium.

scwilliam

Question: In this film, two Jedi show they have the power to block Force Lightning: Mace Windu does it using his lightsaber, and Yoda does it unarmed. Given this, is there any reason why Yoda would not have taught this to Luke in Episode 6, especially since - having fought him - he would know that Palpatine had that power? Even if Luke wasn't as powerful as Yoda, he still could have done the Mace Windu version since he had his lightsaber with him.

Moose

Chosen answer: Yoda's got his work cut out condensing what would ordinarily be a lifetime of Jedi training into, at most, a few months, so it's hardly unsurprising that he wasn't able to cover everything. That being said, it's quite possible that Yoda did explain the lightsabre technique for blocking the Force lightning, but Luke doesn't have his lightsabre available to use - he throws it away when he tells the Emperor that he's a Jedi like his father was (after he cuts off Vader's hand). When he's subsequently being hit by the lightning, he's in too much pain to focus enough to pull his sabre back.

Tailkinker

Question: What is the song that Violet is dancing to in her room called? (01:03:50)

Answer: According to IMDB, it is called "His Eyes" and is performed by Pseudo Echo.

Hamster

Question: In Return Of The Jedi when Ben is discussing with Luke about Leia being his sister, Ben says, "When your father left, he didn't know your mother was pregnant. Your mother and I knew he would find out eventually, but we wanted to keep you both as safe as possible, for as long as possible." This doesn't match up with what happens in Episode III because Vader knew that Padme was pregnant, just not with twins, and Ben and Padme had no time to discuss how to keep them safe. I ask this as a question rather than a mistake in case I am missing something.

Answer: Obi-wan never says anything of the sort (although that line's in the novelisation, but only the movies are regarded as canon). What he says is "To protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born. The Emperor knew, as I did, if Anakin were to have any offspring, they would be a threat to him. That is the reason why your sister remains safely anonymous." He never mentions what Anakin may or may not have known at all.

Garlonuss

Question: If Luke Skywalker's identity is to be kept secret, why is he left on Anakin Skywalker's home planet with people Anakin knew and is distantly related to, and with Anakin's surname, which is not the same as Owen and Beru, the couple who take Luke in? Wouldn't it be possible, however remote, that Vader (Anakin) might figure out his son is alive? Is this ever explained?

Answer: The simple answer is that there's no way that Anakin would ever figure it out, not that he would ever have it drawn to his attention in the first place. Firstly, he believes that he killed Padme on Mustafar, making the survival of their children impossible, as she was nowhere near any form of medical facility that might have saved the babies. Secondly, he's hardly going to be dropping in for family visits - he pretty much cut off all ties with his past when he became a Sith Lord. Anakin's not going to be paying attention to the doings of his stepbrother (who, to the best of our knowledge, he only met once, at a painful time that Anakin's not going to be particularly interested in revisiting) who runs a small farm on a backwater planet. Imperial Intelligence aren't going to pay any attention either - there's no indication that Owen and Beru lead anything other than quiet lives, and the appearance of an adopted child isn't going to raise any eyebrows. Even the surname's not going to attract attention - Vader's previous identity of Anakin Skywalker from Tatooine is not going to be common knowledge, so nobody's going to make the connection. Besides, Vader and his master have other priorities; they have an Empire to run and a resistance movement to deal with - it's highly unlikely that Anakin ever gave his stepbrother another thought.

Tailkinker

Question: Is Padme's line "This is how democracy dies" or "This is how liberty dies"? I've seen both in news reports and on Google. I saw the movie on the 27th of May and it was definitely liberty, but my friends say that on opening night, it was democracy. The scripts I've found online say liberty, but some news articles say democracy.

Answer: It's definitely "liberty". From memory, the only time the word democracy is used is when Obi-Wan's talking to Anakin before they fight - his line's something like "you're meant to be loyal to the republic! To democracy!"

Jon Sandys

Question: I know that an regular alien comes from a face-hugger, but how do they make a queen alien?

Answer: There are a couple of methods according to the novelizations and movie supplements. None are "official", but they all make sense. 1. A queen can lay a "queen egg" if she needs to. 2. When enough drones are hatched, they will sense the need for a queen and one of them will spin a cocoon and transform into a queen over a few days. 3. When a hive reaches a certain size, a few aliens (they where called "nurses" in the books) would hatch and feed a substance into certain eggs causing the facehugger to carry a queen embryo. As the aliens are based on certain types of wasp, originally, these methods are all pretty logical.

Grumpy Scot

Question: What exactly is the difference between the former US hockey style and the 'hybrid Soviet/Canadian' style that Brooks implements? What is different about how they actually play the game. All Brooks ever says in the film itself is some vague stuff about flow, creativity, and keeping options open. The special features expand on this a bit: circling within positions and being ready to come out of your position if an opportunity presents itself. Is this it, or was there more to it?

Answer: You've pretty much got it. The big difference is that with the traditional North American style of play (at that time), everyone had stayed in the section of the ice indicated by their position. For example, if you were a left winger, you stayed on the left side and moved straight up and down the length of the ice as play progressed, staying in your own little zone. The Soviets, however, were given the freedom to move around the whole playing area, constantly weaving, circling in and out of their positions, and anticipating where their teammates were going to be as they made their passes (as Kurt Russell explains during the film footage he was playing for the team). This freedom of movement meant that each player would have more passing options when in possession of the puck. This system therefore also required that the members of the team become very cohesive and know each other on a deep personal level on and off the ice so that each player, knowing the styles, habits and strengths of each teammate, could anticipate where each teammate would be and make the pass accordingly. At the meeting at the beginning of the movie, Russel explains that "team chemistry" is the most important prerequisite for learing this new "hybrid" style of play. And we see examples of it later in the movie when players are calling out their teammates' nicknames before passing the puck (e.g., "I'm with ya Buzzy!" or "Rizzo! Rizzo!").

Matty Blast

Question: Strange question, but I was wondering why the soldiers were using what looks like a Vietnam-era M60 machine gun. Wouldn't they be using the newer version of the gun the M60E3 (which looks different than an old M60 - most notably the fore grip), which was reportedly lighter and easier to use? Also, the M249 SAW (FN Minimi) is carried by a few soldiers and I've been told that this much-more-reliable gun replaced the older weapon entirely.

Answer: At the time of the battle, not all units had gotten or were going to get the M60E3 which was mostly issued to Special Forces units. The M249 SAW has neither the range or power of the M60. It is designed to provide extra firepower to a squad and it will only supplement the M60E.

Grumpy Scot

Question: I was wondering if there were any plans to bring out a special edition DVD of Shaun Of The Dead, or should I just buy the normal version rather than wait?

Answer: The regular DVD has four commentaries, outtakes, deleted scenes, assorted featurettes and a number of other extras ranging from the mundane to the utterly bizarre. Hard to imagine that they've got anything left that could be added to a future special edition. I'd just go for it, if I was you. And I did. Even though I'm not you. Just in case you were worried.

Tailkinker

Question: I first saw this film on TV in Britain a few years ago and the song "Exit Music for a Film" by Radiohead played over the end credits. Everytime I have viewed it on television since then, another song from the soundtrack is played at the same point in the movie. Could the change possibly be because its become an expensive song to use as they have become a more high-profile group?

Answer: Whatever songs are in the movie were licensed for distribution by the film production company for a fixed price. It is impossible for there to be later fees somehow incurred on the production company just because the group is more popular. However, it's conceivable that Radiohead only allowed their song for use in cinemas but not television.

Question: Why in the world would Lothar's tether be long enough for him to slam into the gondola at the bottom of the Zepplin? If the Hindenberg is 135 feet at it's widest point, half the circumference of a cross section is ~212 feet. Even if it was a Goodyear blimp (50 feet), the cable would have to be at least ~78 feet in length. That is really long. Also, what is Lothar made of to survive that kind of impact?

Answer: The tether was designed to allow Lothar to be lowered from the zepellin and recovered later without requiring it to land (very tricky for an airship) hence it was hundreds of feet long.

Question: When we first see Marcellus he has a plaster on his neck. Anyone know why?

Mortug

Chosen answer: Some would say that it's a plot device to show that Wallace sold his soul to the devil (the devil removes the soul through the neck) and the contents of the briefcase is his soul. The real answer is that Ving Rames had a small cut on the back of his neck that was caused by shaving his head. Quentin liked the look of the plaster and they left it on.

RJR99SS

Question: During the SEAL team raid on the rock, they are using two "decoy choppers" which fly towards Alcatraz. What is the point of this? Wouldn't it be easier to just have the transport chopper fly all the way to drop zone under radar coverage?

killin_kellit

Chosen answer: Alcatraz is small enough and out in the middle of the bay that any lookout in a high point could see and hear a chopper, no matter where it approached from. The idea of the decoys was to split any enemy fire received. The whole insertion of SEALS was absurd, in a real situation like that, the SEALS would have been inserted by submarine or used dive motors to pull themselves to the island.

Grumpy Scot

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