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.
Slouching Toward Bethlehem - S4-E4
Question: I know the name of this episode is a Biblical reference because of mention of Bethlehem, but what exactly does Slouching Toward Bethlehem mean, I haven't seen the episode in a while but I think it is only mentioned when Lorne says "Do the words Slouching Toward Bethlehem mean anything?" Which doesn't explain much.
Question: Does anyone know the alternative endings for this movie? I can't wait until the DVD. Was this the ending the M. Night Shyamalan wanted in the theaters?
Chosen answer: According to Shyamalan, the ending we saw was the only ending created for the film. He has stated numerous times that the rumors of any alternate endings were untrue.
Answer: The only "alternate" ending was one of the movie ending with Ivy climbing over the wall. There was a stolen script, and M. Night Shyamalan didn't want the movie spoiled by it being leaked, so he added everything after that originally intended ending.
I watched a version of the movie that had added scenes, not necessarily an alternate ending, and have been trying to find it ever since. It had, for example, a scene where Ivy finds huge chimes hanging in the forest that give voice to "those we don't speak of." Any info on that?
Question: How were the scenes that show the car repairing itself filmed? The film was made before the latest computer graphics were around and I would like to know how those effects were done.
Chosen answer: Hydraulics and wires were set up inside the body to pull the panels in and crumple them. Then the film of this happening was simply run backwards.
Question: Maybe I am being too analytical, but why do the villagers wear yellow robes? Taking into consideration the colour wheel and the red robes of the "things," wouldn't it make more sense to wear green as the safe color because green is the opposite of red?
Answer: They used the color yellow to represent caution, the red color means danger it does not have to do with the color wheel, but it is more psychological.
Answer: It would probably depend on the colourings available to the villagers. Maybe it was easier to make yellow dye and paint than green. Also, if green was a safe colour, then the 'creatures' wouldn't have been able to walk on any grass and there wouldn't have been as much fear of them entering the Village.
Answer: Red attracts colors. Planes, onlookers. If they are trying to keep a low profile in the forest, avoiding red is a good idea.
Answer: Plot wise, there was no practical reason for yellow being used because it was just part of the elders' scheme to "sell" the fake beasts story to the younger villagers. The youngsters were conditioned from childhood to believe that red attracted the creatures, and the village was protected as long as no-one wore or displayed it. The "safe" yellow color was probably an arbitrary choice by the elders, though it is also associated with "caution." From a movie-making perspective, the color choice probably had to do with what visually worked best on film. Green or blue would blend into the forest and meadow background, while yellow stands out, making the characters more visible.
Answer: Blood! Red was the bad color because it was the color of blood. Remember, all the elders were trying to avoid violence. The father in the movie was a psychologist. It just makes sense, knowing what he knew of society, to use red and yellow (being caution) as cultural guidelines.
The father was a history professor.
Answer: Just a word about this: opposing green to red makes sense only if you think about light. If you think about paint for example it would be yellow... kinda (actually 3 primary colors blue, red and yellow / 3 primary "light colors" blue, red and green).
Answer: I would think yellow is a color of passive/yielding to notify the "beasts" they are inferior to them.
Question: Tolkien never gave any age for Legolas but Peter Jackson did (I think it's 2100 years or so). Where did he get the idea for Legolas' age? Was it just arbitrary or was it based on other evidence (like that Legolas is obviously a younger elf- younger than, say, Elrond or Arwen)?
Answer: We know he must be older than Arwen as she is the last elf born in Middle Earth. She is around 1657 at the beginning of the War of the Rings.
Question: At the beginning, when Frodo and Sam capture Gollum, when they have the rope around his neck, Gollum screams "It burns us! It freezes!" What does he mean by that? Is the rope just annoying him, or is it actually causing him some sort of pain? I mean, it can't be choking him because the rope isn't tight around his neck. What does the book say about this?
Chosen answer: The rope is elven made, it seems that anything the elves made causes him pain. In the extended edition, he almost chokes when he tries to eat Elven lembas bread. Sort of a metaphor that he's so foul that even the fair can harm him rather than help him.
Question: After the Ring has been destroyed we see the reactions from the Fellowship members. Pippin is kneeling on the ground, sobbing Frodo's name. Is he crying out of joy because Frodo succeeded or is he crying because he thinks Frodo died in the process?
Answer: Probably both. It's something he would have very mixed emotions about.
Question: What exactly are District and Division?
Answer: A division is within a district, much like a city is within a county, or a state is within a nation.
Question: What do the frogs stand for? Is it a biblical reference, or could the screenwriters just not think of a better way to wrap up?
Answer: It's much debated the exact meaning, but it's kind of a reference saying that seemingly impossible things do happen. As we see later in the film, people stuck in similarly impossible situations might just have a chance of getting out of them.
Question: I was wondering if anyone knew where I could find the Gollum's song video clip, NOT the one with Two Towers clips in it, there's another proper video clip with a guy and a girl running away from a man with a knife which I found once by chance and can't find it anymore. Does anyone have a link to it?
Answer: I think I found it. Here's the link: http://www.drawntothefire.com/general.html.
Question: I've seen this movie three times and there is still something that I don't understand. What exactly is Michael Myers curse supposed to be and why does this curse involve him killing his family and their friends?
Answer: According to the official Halloween website, it is called "Curse of Thorn." You can read about it here: http://www.halloweenmovies.com/site/thorn.htm.
Question: Can someone please tell me how this movie ends? Neither ruinedendings.com or moviepooper.com have it listed and I'm going crazy.
Answer: He's being chased by hundreds of brides, but his friends get Renee Zellweger to meet him. He climbs up a fire escape ladder, and spots her in the crowd. She climbs to meet him, and they get married right then and there, with the priest using a megaphone to say the vows. The time reads exactly 6pm, or whatever the deadline was.
Question: There's a line in the song "Don't cry for me Argentina" that I don't understand. It sounds like she's singing "though I'm dressed up to the ninth at sixes and sevens with you". What does this mean? If I've misheard, what is she actually singing?
Answer: Lyric is: "You won't believe me/ All you will see is a girl you once knew/Although she's dressed up to the nines/ At sixes and sevens with you"..... "Dressed up to the nines" basically means "all spiffed up" in formal clothing. "At sixes and sevens" is "to be confused". Not to be too literal, but Eva (an actress) is portraying herself as a poor Argentine girl (one of the working class people), dressed up for her role leading the country, but confused about the relationship with the people. As indicated in other lines of this song, she craves the love of the people, and needs to be seen as one of them.
Question: Who were the unidentified shooters that killed Richard Walsh and Scott Baylor?
Answer: You answered the question yourself. They were unidentified. They were probably some kind of Delta Unit or even hired goons, but they aren't mentioned again.
Question: How did frank escape out of the airplane? Is it actually possible, especially in the amount of time he did it in?
Answer: He removed the toilet panel, then squeezed through next to the toilet. This allowed him access to the landing gear. He did not actually squeeze through the toilet itself, as you'll see he is not wet, nor is Carl after having dove in after Frank.
Question: When Frodo first finds the ring on the floor of Bilbo's house, Gandalf makes Frodo put the ring in an envelope and then seals it. Why does Gandalf do this? Was it to protect Frodo from having to physically touch the ring? If so, why didn't Frodo just carry the ring in an envelope in all three movies?
Chosen answer: Gandalf tells Frodo to "Keep it secret. Keep is safe," when he puts the ring in the envelope. They want it packed away, out of sight and out of mind. When Frodo starts on his journey though, it's probably too risky to keep the ring anywhere but on his person. Otherwise it could get lost or stolen.
Question: What is the tattoo on Owen Wilson's upper left arm? It must be real because it looks like he had the same one in his other movie, "The Big Bounce".
Chosen answer: Owen Wilson's tattoo is a shamrock with the word "Lucky".
Question: I am wondering if anyone could tell me about the wigs always worn in these sort of movies? Like the big curly one the governor wears and the military men. Does anyone know how this came about? In courtrooms today they are still worn. Also the governor's wig is brown to begin with, then after the 8 years has passed, he now wears a grey wig, is there any reason for this?
Chosen answer: In the 18th and early 19th century, it became fashionable for men to wear wigs. This was for the practical purpose of hiding their own poor hair (due to poor diet and lifestyle) but it also became a symbol of status. Namely, the better quality of wig you wore, the higher your social standing. The brown to grey change is because wigs changed colour to match the natural greying of the real hair.
Question: Why does the female police sheriffs hat get bigger when she climbs into the car? Is it a joke?
Chosen answer: Yes, it's just a joke that her hat gets bigger throughout the scene, until it is so huge that it can barely fit into the car.
Answer: Apparently it's from the movie Signs?
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.
Chosen answer: It's a line from the W.B. Yeats poem "The Second Coming" - "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" - sort of a beast/anti-christ on the way sort of thing.
Myridon