Question: Why doesn't Styles just carry a fake ID when he is trying to purchase the keg of beer? Although they aren't foolproof, its a bit smarter than resorting to bribery or using a fake gun.
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 did the treasure chest given to them at the end have "Deus Ex Machina" written on it?
Chosen answer: "Deus Ex Machina" means "God out of the machine." It's from Greek plays, wherein a god would appear at the end of the story to solve a problem. Nowadays it basically means that a totally new plot element appears out of nowhere and solves everything. It's an easy (and cheap) way out.
Question: Why does Harry's scar hurt when he looks at Professor Snape for the first time? Obviously this is to arouse suspicion around the teacher, but later, when it gets revealed that someone else was really the host of You-Know-Who, *that* is when Harry's scar hurts again...although Harry looks at that person numerous times - even talks to them, and nothing happens all those other times. What's up with all this?
Chosen answer: Remember how You-Know-Who is on the back of someone else's head? Well, it is You-Know-Who in the hall who causes Harry's scar to hurt - you can see 'someone else' is facing away from Harry so You-Know-Who would be able to make his scar hurt.
Question: Why does the TV repairman chastise Bud's date for taking an apple off the tree to give to Bud? Even though it's a humorous biblical reference, it doesn't make sense that giving a fresh piece of fruit to someone would be inappropriate in Pleasantville.
Chosen answer: The repairman wanted things to stay the same in Pleasantville, and Bud's date was supposed to be dating Whitey, not Bud. The repairman doesn't like that Bud is changing Pleasantville.
Question: In at least one scene of the NYC mayor's office/residence, the flag on the other side of her desk from the U.S. flag appears to be the flag of Mexico. Is this correct?
Chosen answer: That's the flag of New York City - see http://flagspot.net/flags/us-nyc.html. While it does look similar to Mexico, the Mexican flag is green, white, and red instead of blue, white, and red.
Question: Did that animal in Crematoria's prison (during the "feeding") have his eyes change (start glowing) after his contact with Riddick? I thought maybe I had missed something, but it looked like he/it had eyes like Riddick's after.
Chosen answer: The animals appear to be somewhere between a minor-class mimic of their surroundings and emotionally-triggered chameleons. As a sympathetic gesture towards Riddicks' dominant nature, it may have been altered purposely, or it was the animals' native eye color, when unstressed.
Question: Why was the ship that stopped in the front of the library empty? Did the crew abandon ship? Or was there something more sinister?
Chosen answer: Hard to tell why, it was not depicted. During heavy storms, most people would be on call, attending watches in the engine room and bridges. They probably died during the storm (several causes, as such heavy trashing, being swept away, the cold) etc., but their bodies were not shown, as it was irrelevant to the plot.
Question: I am told that the film is satirizing Catholicism, what aspect it is satirizing?
Chosen answer: Many different aspects. For example, George Carlin's character portrays a grandstanding Cardinal who postures for the public. Rufus claims that, as a black man, the Church chose to ignore his role in history, as well as the fact that Christ was black (historians say this is more than likely, but it has never been acknowledged by the Church). The Mooby scene can also be seen as an analogy of the modern Church, obsessed with appearances and maintaining its image more than with the worship of God. Even at the climax, the action that solves the movie involves euthanasia of a terminally ill man, an action that the Church strongly believes is unethical for dogmatic reasons rather than Scripture. There are many more, too many to list here.
Question: I understand that Faramir and Aragorn are both Rangers, but what is a Ranger as depicted in the "Rings" trilogy?
Chosen answer: Not as simple a question as it sounds, as, while Faramir and Aragorn are both described as Rangers, they're actually different types of Ranger. Faramir is one of the Rangers of Ithilien, a Gondorian group who specialise in using guerrilla tactics against the forces of Sauron in the land of Ithilien, between the Anduin river (which runs through Osgiliath) and the Mountains of Shadow that form the western border of Mordor. Aragorn is the current chieftain of the Rangers of the North, who came into being after the fall of the northern kingdom of Arthedain, ruled over by Isildur's descendants. After the loss of Arthedain, the people survived in the wild as the loose-knit organisation known as the Rangers. The two groups are related - both originate from the Dunedain, the long-lived descendants of the survivors of Numenor - but have been seperated for around 3000 years.
Question: How does Smeagol over time becomes the hideous-looking Gollum? Did the One Ring radically changed his appearance? Also, what kind of Hobbit was Smeagol?
Chosen answer: Smeagol was believed to have been a Stoor, a branch of the hobbits known for being quite large and strong (by hobbit standards). His mutation is because of the Ring - precise reason unclear, but almost certainly related to the fact that it has prolonged his life far beyond a normal hobbit span (Gollum is around 580 years old when he dies, easily five times the normal lifespan)- note that Bilbo, who, while old, is still within a normal hobbit lifespan, looks physically normal. Smeagol, through use of the Ring, has been influenced by the wraithworld, in exactly the same manner that the kings of men who were given the nine rings ultimately became the Nazgul - in time, he would presumably have become a wraith-like being like them. Gollum's current appearance may be some intermediate stage.
Tabula Rasa - S6-E8
Question: Why did Anthony Head leave for some episodes of series 6? Was it purely a character/plot decision, or did he have other commitments?
Chosen answer: He wished to return to live in England with his family, so made an agreement that he would take a reduced role in the series.
Question: Whenever anyone wants to contact someone else from another part of the ship, they hit their badge and say (for example), "Picard to Engineering." In no episode ever is there an instance where we hear somebody call someone else who is not involved in the current scene. We should assume, therefore, that when communication like this is initiated, it is only heard by the recipient of the page. So the question is, how can the ship's communication system know ahead of time who the person is paging? In other words, if Picard says, "Picard to Engineering," what keeps sickbay from hearing his call? There can't be a time-delay (i.e., the computer does not make the page until it hears the entire page, and then directs it only to the intended recipient) because in many episodes we hear the reply right away. Can anyone explain this? Are we simply "lucky," in that we only hear pages made by or sent to people in the scene we're watching?
Chosen answer: Enterprise's computer directs the call to the aforementioned department. It is then answered by the ranking member of the department. For instance, if Engineering was contacted, and Geordi was in sickbay or off duty, the call would be answered by whoever was "officer of the watch" in Engineering. Mainly, it wouldn't do much for the show to say, "Picard to engineering", "This is engineering, go ahead." "Yes, I'd like to speak to Geordi about some more phaser power, please", "One moment, I'll transfer you."
There is a episode of Voyager where someone calls someone on their combadge and it gets rerouted to another station and someone else answers. Due to a communications error being fixed. The comm signal was rerouted.
Question: Could someone please explain to me the different ranks onboard the ship? Like there were the men in uniform, the kids in uniform, then the other guys who had no uniform?
Chosen answer: Traditionally aboard any type of Royal Navy sailing vessel you would have a heirarchy of officers. Beginning with the Captain (technincally not a real rank, Post Captain was the real rank. Post Captain meaning you had commanded a vessel three years or more and had shown yourself of distinction worthy of promotion), then going down through Lieutenants 1st through 5th. The younger boys were juinior officers, or non-commissioned officers, and thus had the lowest rank of any officer, Midshipman, meaning they had command authority in the event of the death of another officer or if it was bestowed upon them in the absence of a higher ranked officer. The non-officers seem to be a mix of ensigns and hired hands. There were also Marines aboard (guys in red and white uniforms), with their ranks usually including either a Lieutenant or Sergeant Major, his subordinates, and a number of infantry units, usually corporals or privates. The Marines were ususally at platoon strength or higher, meaning about 12-20 Marines. There were also what appeared to be Corpsmen (military doctors), but I couldn't really tell if the doctors on board were all civilians, or a mix of Corpsmen and civilians.
Question: I've got one question about Legolas' infamous jump on to the horse during the wolf-attack. Is it even possible to do something like that? How did they shoot that scene?
Answer: It's a computer-generated Legolas. While experienced riders are capable of some pretty amazing stuff, I'd imagine that what's seen would be impossible to do in reality - certainly not without throwing the horse off a lot more than seen here. But then, Legolas is an elf, so all bets are off on what he's capable of doing.
Question: Does anybody know why the actress Anita Barone was replaced by Jane Sibbett as Carol Willick after episode 1.1? I know this kind of thing happens all the time, but I wondered if there was a particular reason.
Answer: From tvtome.com: Anita Barone had auditioned for one of the three female leads in the show, but didn't get the part. The producers then offered her the recurring role of Carol. However, after only one episode as Carol, Barone decided that she was looking for a more full-time role and left to look for other opportunities, being replaced by Jane Sibbett beginning in episode 9.
Question: It shows in Reloaded that the Architect's room has hundreds of TV's in which to "Watch over" the Matrix. Why didn't he notice Agent Smith "Multiplying" earlier on and put an end to it before it got so out of hand?
Answer: Undoubtedly he tried. During the Burly Brawl, for example, an agent appears, but is turned into a Smith. It appears he has very little control over rogue programmes.
Question: After that George (the Eminem wannabe) has been thrown out the window at the rap-club he and a friend of his walk past a parked car. Under the car you can see two feet sticking out. I don't think it's a crew member, I don't see any reason for a crew member to lie there. Is this any kind of joke or what? Why do someone lie there? Can someone please explain?
Answer: It's just in the random nature of the films to have a dead body's legs sticking out from underneath a car.
Question: Why did Matthew Broderick not sing as Simba? (he does sing otherwise.)
Answer: It's possible that the songs written for the character simply didn't suit his singing voice. There was an additional song written for the film, to be sung by Mufasa (called "To Be King") - this was eventually cut completely for a similar reason, namely that it didn't suit James Earl Jones' (very good) singing voice.
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Chosen answer: Fake ID's are hard to come by. Its also difficult to make one look realistic by yourself.
Grumpy Scot
Styles is Mr. Popularity in a small town. Even if he did have a fake ID, chances are just about everyone knows who he is.