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.

Show generally

Question: One of the trivia points is that the etch-a-sketch in Joey's apartment always has a picture on it linked to the show. Are there any examples of this?

Answer: Some of the things shown on the MAGNA-DOODLE are shown on this website http://members.home.nl/rody.klaassen2/STUFF/magnadoodle.html. Reportedly, they were drawn by Paul Swain, the best boy (a crew member), and though some of them had something to do with the show, some were inside jokes for the crew.

Question: What happened to Notary Hardenbrook? He just vanishes after the scene in the notary building where Ichabod finds the will, and there is no more mention of him in the film.

Answer: He hanged himself. It's mentioned in the kitchen scene where Baltus notices his wife's cut hand.

Grumpy Scot

Question: In Vietnam when Forrest is introducing the other men in his group telling their names and where they are from, all the soldiers names are names of cities. This was obviously done on purpose but why?

Answer: When people from different places are put togther into groups they usually giver eachother nicknames, this is particularly true in the military, and a lot of times your nickmane would just be where you are from, if you do not have some other characteristic, or your name does not rhyme or sound like some other word.

pross79

Answer: The nicknames are given to Forrest's troop mates are given in a racial way or by how they act although they are not from that city. For example Dallas had a farmers tan and always had a pack of smokes referencing to chuck Norris in one of his films taking place in the same time period and same helmet that was filmed just outside of Dallas and was also filmed there.

Question: Is it true that Bill is responsible for the murder of Oren-Ishii's parents?

Answer: Yes, it's confirmed it in a post-release interview.

Grumpy Scot

Parallel Universe - S2-E6

Question: At The End of this episode Lister, Rimmer and the Cat are finding out whether Lister is pregnant or not. When Rimmer reads the pregnancy test he says "Oh excellent news, I'm going to be an uncle." Why does he say this if he is to of no relation with Lister? (as far as I know).

Answer: It's quite common for male friends of the family to be referred to as "uncle" by the children, even if they're not actually related in any way - I have at least three old friends of my parents who I refer to in these terms. Rimmer may be stretching the point with the 'friend' thing, but that's what he's referring to.

Tailkinker

Question: How did Donnie actually travel back in time, I just didn't understand this.

Answer: He returned to the place he started the film at. He somehow knew that that is the place he had to be to catch the wormhole express back in time.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: Why shouldn't he care about his opinion? As Mel says in another episode "My opinions are as valid as the next man's!" Maybe Flanders knew he was smarter then he looks and wanted to have a strong voice on his side.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Question: In the first battle (The Last Alliance) just before Sauron is destroyed, you see a close up of some solders, Men and Elves. One of them looks like Legolas, is that him in the battle?

Answer: Nope. Had Legolas been present, they would undoubtedly have given his character greater prominence than just one closeup. Tolkien never gave Legolas a specific date of birth, but the implication is that he was not born at the time. Peter Jackson has also mentioned an assumed age for Legolas that backs this up.

Tailkinker

Question: This has already been asked, but who is the black kid that reads about the Grim? Someone said it was Dean Thomas, which is what I thought, but you can see the original actor for Dean Thomas in a few scenes IN ADDITION to the new kid.

Answer: This is NOT Dean Thomas, who is played again by the same actor from the first two HPs. This is just a random Hogwarts student. No special reason he was put in this film (no conspiracy theories!), just as an extra. Remember, there are students at the school whose names are never mentioned in the books. Check out IMDB, there are 2 kids, listed as Boy 1 and Boy 2. He's got to be one of them.

angi

Question: When Sam rips open the web on Frodo's face that Shelob made, what are those little black spots on Frodo's face?

Answer: Dirt. You try crawling through swamps, up mountains and through a spider's cave and not get dirty.

Question: Someone submitted in the trivia section that there's a shop in Knockturn Alley where the entire set of Harry Potter books are in the window. I couldn't find them. Are they really there? I think if they are, they might be the British version of the books, and I have no idea what they look like.

Answer: Yes they are there, and yes, they are the British versions of the books. This page has pictures of the British covers: http://www.bloomsbury.com/BookCatalog/subject.asp?Category_id=28.

Show generally

Question: How come SG-1 or any other "SG" team don't bring a DHD from a different planet back to the SGC and then they could hook it up to dial faster?

Answer: DHD's only work on the planet the gate is on. They aren't interchangeable between gates.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: As the previous answer, plus there'd be the problem of as soon as they disconnected the DHD from its Stargate, the Stargate would shut down as the DHD provides the power to open a wormhole (although under special circumstances such as a black hole power can be drawn from the dialled gate instead).

Question: Neo seems to understand enough about bending the rules of the Matrix that he can take on 100 Smiths and walk away with no damage whatsoever. Why then does he bleed when taking on the Frenchman's goons?

Answer: Smith doesn't use any cutting weapons, whereas it is a blade that cuts him in the Cheatau. Remember, that sword was swung at full force, enough to cleanly chop off a person's hand, and Neo is only scratched.

Nick N.

Question: During the film's opening, when we see Rings of Power being given to the Nine, they all have characteristics that suggest that they were all leaders in the race of Men. This is continued later in Bree when Aragorn states that they were 'great kings of men'. Can someone explain what makes the Easterling, Khamul, a 'great king of men'?

Answer: Easterlings are men, and Khamul was presumably one of their kings. Simple.

Tailkinker

Question: We know Professor Lupin is a werewolf, but is he also an animagus? If so, does he change into a wolf or something else?

Answer: No - he's a werewolf, nothing more. His friends, Sirius, Peter Pettigrew and James Potter all became animagi so that they could help him, but he himself is not one.

Tailkinker

Question: Is there a reason why Uma Thurman's handwriting is so clumsy? I was thinking it would have something to do with her getting shot in the head.

Answer: Maybe it does or maybe she just has bad penmanship.

Tobin OReilly

Question: I am very confused about the incentives for killing these people was, why these people in particular were killed, and in general what was going on.

Answer: The incentive is the ownership of the lands and property held initially by Peter van Garrett, the older man killed at the start of the film. Van Garrett and his son are killed first, then the widow Winship when it becomes apparent that van Garrett married her, making her a possible inheritor. Once Ichabod arrives in town to investigate, it becomes necessary to remove witnesses to these events, so that they can't give him clues to what's really going on. Jonathan Masbath is killed because he witnessed the marriage and the change of will - he would be able to testify to both. The midwife and her husband were also aware of the situation - due to the widow Winship's pregnancy - so they were eliminated as well (their son was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time). Magistrate Philipse was consulted by the widow regarding the legal status of her unborn child, plus he was actively trying to help Ichabod, so his elimination became necessary. Once the van Garretts were out of the way (plus any inconvenient witnesses), the land now belongs to the van Tassel family. Balthus van Tassel is killed first - Katrina is his first-named heir, with his wife as the second. With Katrina's removal, the wife, Mary, inherits. As she explains in the film, her reason for this is that her family originally lived on the land, only to be evicted. Acting as the van Tassel family nurse, she arranged the death of van Tassel's first wife, Katrina's mother, then seduced Balthus into marrying her, thus placing her in the line of succession - she then proceeds to use the Horseman to eliminate everyone above her in that line.

Tailkinker

Thank you for this explanation. Very detailed.

Answer: Before the magistrate's death, he and the other town elders were arguing and he was packing and seemed to be leaving town, and then being stopped by Ichabod. I like to think that he was trying to escape, and that's why Lady Van Tassel had the Horseman kill him.

Show generally

Question: There's probably an obvious answer to this but is there any actual in-show significance to the 'Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs' song heard at the end of every episode? I ask mainly because I remembered there was one show in particular where Frasier unintentionally scars Lilith emotionally and pretty much cements the end of their relationship over a misunderstanding about scrambled eggs. Were there any similar conflicts over a tossed salad?

Answer: In the last episode, they explained that Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs is a metaphor for the mixed-up people to whom Frasier dispenses his radio psychiatric advice.

Question: What did they do with the model of Titanic after they were done filming?

Answer: There were many different "models". There were many miniatures, CG models and the full scale model down in Rosarita Beach, Mexico. The full scale model was disassembled by crew. Many other "regular folk" who knew about it, went to Mexico to grab what was left. Occasionally, various pieces come up for auction on EBAY.

Lynette Carrington

Question: Even if Karl and Sarah don't get together at the end, I couldn't see what exactly was stopping them?

Answer: It's because of the complications that Sarah was having with her troubled brother. Apart from that, who's to say they don't eventually get together?

Hamster

In the follow-up short film (the Red Nose Day special) we learn she eventually gets her happy ending with a man played by Patrick Dempsey.

Answer: The end of the movie is not the end of the story.

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