Answered 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: If Christof didn't want Truman to escape on his boat, rather than trying to kill him with huge waves, why didn't he just leave the water completely flat? With no wind Truman would not be able to reach the edge and leave, but he still would've lived.

Answer: He'd been hoping the waves would discourage Truman and make him turn back. It's a lot easier to agitate water than it is to calm it, so by the time he saw it wasn't working, even if he's thought of that, it would have been too late.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: When Mystique was disguised as a girl named "Grace" was this supposed to be her normal human side (except with a different name), or was she just transforming into someone else?

Answer: Just a random transformation.

MasterOfAll

Question: When Eddie was running back to the Symbiote, why didn't Peter just web pull him back? He was able to web pull Aunt May back when she was falling from the building during the bank robbery scene of "Spider-Man 2."

Answer: Not enough time.

MasterOfAll

Question: What was the whole purpose of Nightcrawler trying to assassinate the president?

Answer: In the first X-Men movie, the proposed "Mutant Registration Act" was called off. William Stryker, who was anti-mutant, wanted to force the issue by having a mutant kill the president, to show how dangerous mutants are. Nightcrawler was brainwashed by Stryker to attempt this.

Bishop73

Question: Does the escape sequence at the start of the film take place before the events of Firefly, or was River captured after Firefly, and the opening sequence is her and Simon being rescued by Serenity?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: It is backstory, before the events of Firefly. So why does the agent only start looking for them after the events of Firefly? Mostly to give the movie a plot for audiences unfamiliar with the show.

Kenneth Brown

Answer: To add to the other answer, the reason the "Operative" has only just started looking for River is answered in a comic book that was released entitled "Serenity: Those Left Behind." (The comics are all supervised by Joss Whedon, and are officially considered canonical.) In the comic, which takes place between the series and film, the "Blue Hands" from the show make their move and try to capture River, but are thwarted and killed. That's when the Alliance sends in the (much more dangerous) Operative, leading to the events of the film.

TedStixon

Question: In the flashback of Vito Corleone's return to Corleone, Sicily with his young family, his wife is shown holding a baby in a bonnet in several scenes. On the train he is talking to an older child and calling him Michael. Who is the baby?

Answer: The baby would be Connie Corleone, sister to Sonny, Fredo, and Michael. She was the youngest child, though Michael was the youngest of the brothers.

raywest

Question: Why does Bellatrix accuse Dobby of defying his "masters"? Surely she would have heard from Narcissa, Draco, or Lucius that he no longer serves the family.

Answer: That would hardly matter to Bellatrix. She would look at Dobby as an inferior being who was fit only to serve wizards. She likely considers him to still be the Malfoy's possession, despite Harry's freeing him. Most wizards see their race as "masters" to all house-elves and other non-human sentient beings, regardless of whether or not they were free.

raywest

Question: In the credits at the end, there is a Volturi scene where Aro reads a message written by his receptionist "Swwwweet Bianca." He points out that she spelt Carlisle's name incorrectly, then he gestures to the guards, to take her away and kill her. Of the note, he says, "First, it's the spelling, then the grammar." What does this mean? (What does he mean by "then the grammar"?).

Answer: He's merely justifying why Bianca should be killed. While reading the note, he notes that she misspelled "Carlisle", then surmises she'll also make grammar errors. Aro does not tolerate imperfections, has little regard for human life, and most likely intended to dispose of her.

raywest

Question: After Capt Miller gets briefed on his new mission to rescue Pvt Ryan and enlists Upham for the mission, there is a long shot of the beach. What are those Zeppelin-like things that are floating around, tied to the ground? What are they good for? (00:39:50)

Answer: These were barrage balloons, commonly used during the war. They are used to stop low level bombing and low level fly bys by enemy fighter planes. The cables attached to the balloons are designed to cut through the wings of the aircraft and to bring them down, so any pilot would have to fly above them, and the balloons would also restrict the view from above.

Question: When Michael Palin is thrown into the fiery pit, he is either saying Yeeeoohhhhhhh or Yelllowwwww (meaning that was his favourite colour). Despite watching it many times, I'm still not sure which one it is...so does anyone know?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: It's kind of both. He says "Blue", then realises he got it wrong and starts to say "No, yellow!" but then screams as he is thrown into the pit, so it's like "Blue. No, yell. Ooooooohhhhh!"

Sierra1

Answer: There was once a published Script. It was Yellow. The joke was he died because he changed his mind mid-answer.

Answer: The record is the song, "Merry Go-Round Broke Down, " known to most of us as the "Looney Toons" theme. That was Judge Doom's first clue that Roger could be around. We don't see who started the record playing, but it was probably the eponymous rabbit, himself. If so, he would have left his scent on the record, which the supremely evil Judge Doom could have picked up by sniffing the vinyl.

Michael Albert

Show generally

Question: What was the name of the redhead woman with the kilt on, with Wille? (She only appeared once).

Answer: She has no name and was the Female Groundskeeper at the Shelbyville Elementary School in the episode "Lemon of Troy". She was basically a female version of Willie, even down to having the same type of insults: "Slow down, ya sidewalk-surfin' cube gleamers!"

I don't think that's who the submission was referring to. There was a different woman who looked nothing like Willie.

Question: Did Creasy really shove C-4 up Fuentes' arse, or did he just attach it to the gas tank of the car?

Answer: If the c4 enema were true, the explosion would have been blood and guts and smaller than the fireball depicted. Maybe the filmmaker thought that too realistic and gave the viewer the explosion that is more palatable.

Answer: Creasy explained to Fuentes that he used a suppository dispenser popular with drug mules to load the C-4 into Fuentes. And Fuentes had to have known what happened to his corrupt policia federale in the car and what happened at the rave, so he knew for certain that Creasy was authentic. Fuentes knew that his life was in jeopardy. As such, he tried to talk his way out - "Hey, take it easy", "I'm sorry about the girl", "I'm a professional." He tried to threaten his way out - "I'm the Presidente of La Hermandad." Fuentes was trying to buy time, to talk his way out of his impending enema. He needed enough time for Creasy to free him and for him to extract the C-4. And Creasy knew that, which is why he replied, "I wish you had more time."

Chosen answer: This is a fairly US-centric gag. In Archie comics, the titular Archie has two competing love interests: Betty and Veronica. Given the Hulk/Banner's history with Betty Ross being able to calm him down, Tony Stark has named the containment system/Hulkbuster armor "Veronica".

Question: Why is Loki immune to death? He is repeatedly blasted, beat by Thor, and smashed by the Incredible Hulk.

Answer: While Loki is not immortal, he's just as powerful as Thor, and many mortals would consider him a God as well. Loki is actually a Frost Giant taken in by Odin, but is just as invulnerable to many attacks. There may also be an element of magic involved in his survival as well.

Bishop73

Question: Does anyone know if that was really Liz Taylor's old house as they mentioned in the movie?

EMTurbo

Chosen answer: Sadly no, it was was designed by architect David Fowler for his mother in 1963, not for Liz Taylor in the '50s as stated. It has since been torn down.

Question: It appears that the boomerang would have had to spin in the opposite direction to kill the blonde guy the way it did. Am I looking at this the right way or is my limited knowledge of aerodynamics totally backwards?

Movie Nut

Chosen answer: The filmmakers obviously didn't research the intricate logistics of aerodynamics of how a boomerang is thrown. It simply looked cool leaving the kid's hand and killing the blonde guy the way it did.

Dra9onBorn117

Question: How much water would actually be needed to cover the entire earth?

Answer: About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water. The website How Stuff Works suggests that the oceans hold approximately 326 million trillion gallons of water, or about 96.5% of the liquid. By extrapolation, one could estimate that 100% of the earth would require about 459 million trillion gallons of water. However, there simply isn't sufficient water in the ice caps and other water bodies to float Noah's Ark. The water over the land masses would not be as deep as the waters of the oceans, which would suggest a lower number is possible. However, if there is truly NO land on which to set anchor for the denizens of Waterworld, then there would have to be sufficient water to cover the mountains of the world. That amount would be astronomical.

Michael Albert

Question: At one point, Aunt Cass mentions an 80-year-old woman wearing something inappropriate for her age. What exactly is Aunt Cass implying there? What kind of outfit is she suggesting the old woman is wearing?

John Ohman

Chosen answer: Something that is probably showing a lot of skin. Something someone in their teens or early twenties would be seen wearing.

MasterOfAll

Question: What made Pyro want to immediately kill his friend Iceman? I know that he is now a full member of the brotherhood and all, but doesn't he still care for his friends like Rogue and all?

Answer: Pyro didn't consider them friends. They are his enemies in a war.

MasterOfAll

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