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: What is the song that is played during Truman's high school dance, when he sees Sylvia get replaced?

Answer: It's a cover of T-Rex's Twentieth Century Boy, performed by Big 6.

William Bergquist

Question: How can Data miss the "Phoenix" after locking on the quantum torpedoes just by delaying pressing the button for a second. They were locked on, after all.

Answer: Data's quite intelligent enough to have caused the torpedoes to miss - the most likely circumstance is that they were never actually locked onto the Phoenix, but he altered the display to make it appear as if they were. He then deliberately fired them along a trajectory that would look like the correct one until the last minute, giving him time to get into position to break the plasma tanks.

Tailkinker

Question: Did Vincent die from wounds sustained during the shootout in Annie's office, or was he mortally wounded only during the final exchange of fire on the train? At first it seemed he was hit in the office (he *was* knocked down from an impact), but he managed to chase them around the subway for quite a bit with no noticeable effects. In the train, it looked like all of Max's shots hit the door, but I may be wrong.

Answer: Max's shot in Annie's workplace only skimmed the side of Vincent's head - not really that bad an injury, but enough to snap his head around, sending him to the floor. Vincent does indeed die from the wound sustained during the final exchange of fire. While at least one of Max's shots hit the door, from the damage seen, he's not trained with guns, so the bullets would be quite widely spread - obviously one got past the doorframe to hit Vincent.

Tailkinker

Question: In the answer to another question, this DVD was supposed to be coming out on September 6th. But I still can't find it at my local video store. Is my town just to small to have bothered ordering it in (I live way out in the sticks) or is it not being released for general hire in Australia? (PLEASE answer, I missed this at the cinema and, as a devoted fan of Simon Pegg, Dylan Moran and British comedy in general, am desperate to get a hold of it).

Answer: September 6th was the release for it on DVD in the U.K. not Australia. Its release in Australia for DVD is scheduled for the 9th of March. An Australian online rental company can be found here: http://webflicks.com.au/user/movieDisplay.php?movie_id=17716.

Lummie

The Secret Box / Band Geeks - S2-E14

Question: Someone wrote that the song Spongebob sings at the end is part of a real song, "Wings of the Wind." But when searching for this songs' lyrics at Google, they don't include the lines Spongebob sings. On other websites, the song is identified as "Sweet Victory" and the singer was David Glen Eisley. Could someone please clarify this?

Answer: The song was Sweet Vitory by David Glen Eisley. Not Wings of the Wind. Wings of the Wind might have been a remake that didn't include the part you were talking about.

Answer: This question has been answered and it takes place in the school year of 2004-2005 as it states on Napolean's school ID in the beginning credits.

Toolio

Question: Are the characters in this movie based on actual people? Is it a true story or a fictional story that was entirely possible?

Answer: The movie was written by Tom Hanks and some what reflects the music industry during that time period. It is not about a real band, but shows how a lot of bands were treated at the time and how quickly you can rise and how you can fall even faster.

Bruce Minnick

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

Question: In the scene where Steve & Jimmy are being chased by the 2 alien fighters, Jimmy says "I'm gonna try something" and his plane rises up. Steve shouts "Jimmy, you cant fake at that speed". Jimmy's plane begins to turn to the left and drift sideways before he eventually gets shot down. What maneuver was Jimmy trying to do & why did he start to have trouble breathing when he attempted this?

Answer: He doesn't say you can't "fake" at that speed. He says you can't "bank" at that speed. Steve and Jimmy are flying at close to the speed of sound. At that speed, banking an F/A-18 would cause very bad things to happen to the pilot and airplane, including incredibly high g-forces which would make it difficult for Jimmy to breathe.

Guy

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

Question: I don't understand the significance of the monolith or the starbaby. Can someone explain it to me?

Answer: As author Arthur C. Clarke explained it, the first Monolith (the one seen at the beginning of the film and then buried on the Moon) was a space probe from an incomprehensibly more advanced alien intelligence that resided inside a star elsewhere in the cosmos. The Monolith's objective was to seek out lifeforms that had potential and "tweak" their neural evolution, causing them to evolve toward intelligence. In the case of Mankind on Earth, once the modification was made, the Monolith probe retreated to the Moon and waited 4 million years for Mankind to reach it. When Mankind reached the Moon, the Monolith sent a signal to the next phase of the experiment, which was another Monolith in orbit of Jupiter. When Mankind reached the Jupiter Monolith in a matter of months, the Monolith acted as an interdimensional portal to the other side of the universe, transporting the evolved human specimen to its creator (that resided within a star). The creator intelligence found the specimen (Dave Bowman) to be of acceptable quality and rapidly evolved him to the next level, a Star Child. The Star Child is a "godly" evolution of Mankind. The Star Child chooses to instantaneously return to its home planet (Earth), where it stops a nuclear war.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: The monolith is a monitor placed by the aliens to track the progress of developing civilizations. When humanity found the monolith on the Moon, that signaled a certain level of technological advancement. The starbaby is the evolution of the astronaut, as the symbol of humanity, from "Earth-bound" to a true child of the universe, turning his back on the Earth and looking toward the stars.

scwilliam

In both the Arthur C. Clarke story and in the movie, the Star Child does not "turn his back on Earth"; quite the contrary, as soon as Bowman transforms into the Star Child, his first impulse is to instantaneously return to Earth, which he does just in time to stop a nuclear war. In essence, Bowman becomes the guardian of Earth.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: In 3001: The Final Odyssey, Clarke makes clear what many already suspected: The Monolith was malfunctioning by the time it tweaked human evolution. It increased human aggression in order to assure human survival, but this was a hasty move, which saddled humanity with a never ending series of destructive conflicts. Kubrick also hinted at this in a later movie. The Monolith appears in Full Metal Jacket, presumably inspiring the soldiers in the Vietnamese War to solve their problems by killing, just as it had inspired the fighting hominids millions of years before.

The monolith from 2001 does not appear in Full Metal Jacket. There is a tall burning building in the background during Cowboy's death scene but it takes a hell of a stretch of the imagination to see it as a monolith. It's just a ruined building. Kubrick himself confirmed this in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine - it's combination of coincidence and wishful thinking.

Question: Where did the nomads get ammo for the guns and gas for their motorcycles?

Answer: They bought/robbed or traded for them with other nomadic tribes or in the cities.

Grumpy Scot

Question: At the beginning of the film, Tony and Jack have a short conversation about "putting it all in commercial papers" and the "Deutsch mark." I have no idea what they're talking about, what does all of that mean? Could someone sum up what they were talking about?

Answer: The doorman has been collecting tips over the holiday season. Jack (being a high-flying business-man) has advised him to invest all the money in a particular type of financial instrument ("commercial papers" - probably company bonds). However, he has also advised him to keep the money there only until the exchange rate between the US dollar and the German currency falls (the Deutschmark was the German unit of currency at the time of the movie). Presumably, Jack anticipates that the investment will rise in value until the Deutschmark falls against the dollar so he's tipping the guy on how to make the most out of his investment.

Question: Who is Maddy? She is listed as a character on imdb.com (4th billing after Ruby) and I don't remember this character from the book or the movie. Maybe I am losing my mind, but I think I would remember a character more important than Ruby's dad.

Answer: She is the old lady with the goats.

pross79

Answer: He's supposed to be the actual person.

Xofer

Question: I'm not sure if this could be a plot hole or not, but did Jonathan Rivers ever come under suspicion in any of the deaths that he happened to encounter?

Answer: The cop thought he was a suspect, Rivers knows this because when the officer asks him if he is going home whilst at the hospital, he replies with "I'm not leaving town, if that's what you're thinking."

Migster

Question: Are there any official names for the elephants (other than Dumbo and Mrs. Jumo)?

Answer: All the elephants are credited as "Elephant." The only difference is "Matriarch Elephant."

Sol Parker

Question: Does anyone know what year Dr. Lanning (the character) was born in? It tells you when Spooner is in the cafe on the TV, but I just can't make it out.

Answer: 1971.

Answer: The TV shows 1971-2035 not 1921-2035.

Yep, if you watch it in HD it's clear as day.

lionhead

Answer: According to the TV in the bar he lived from 1921 to 2035.

Andreas[DK]

Question: Why was it the end of the world? what caused it to be the end of the world, and why did it change simply because donnie changed it so he died when he should have? how did the actions caused by him being alive amount to the end of the world?

Answer: The "end of the world" refers to the end of the alternate universe Donnie enters when Frank summons him out of bed at the beginning of the movie. The alternative universe will only last until the airplane engine is returned to the normal universe and Donnie dies. Donnie sets in motion events that lead to the airplane engine falling through a portal to the normal universe, and when it finally returns he defaults to his place at the exact point when Frank summoned him out of there to guard the engine.

Phoenix

Question: I've read somewhere that Reflector appears in the movie, but I have yet to find him. Could anyone help me out?

Answer: One of the Reflector robots does indded appear in the movie, very briefly. As the Decepticons regroup after Blaster sends the communication to Moon Base 1, there is a shot from behind showing the Decepticons coming in, then a few more come in and transform to their robot modes. If you look when Dirge comes in, Reflector is in front of him. This is the only part of the film Reflector is in, so this character was either captured by the Autobots or destroyed, as he is not seen on Astrotrain when the Decepticons retreat.

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