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: In the scene where Mulan is watching her father practicing with the sword, he cries out in pain and drops the sword, I don't get it...What happened?

Answer: He's old, ill, and weakening. He can no longer do the fighting he once could, those moves now cause him more pain.

Jack's Revenge

Question: Does Jamie leave her at the end, after seeing her kissing outside, or will he always be there with her without her knowing it?

Sereenie

Chosen answer: I've always assumed that Jamie does indeed leave, going on to wherever he's going on to. My read of the story is that Jamie has come back to help her move on with her life (whether he knows that himself is unclear). As she has begun to move on, he himself can now go to whatever awaits him.

Tailkinker

Question: You can't have a gun in school, but you can put a guillotine in your locker?

Answer: It was a flare gun. I very much doubt that this is something that the faculty are aware of. Brian was obviously caught with the flare gun because it went off in his locker, whereas Bender has not been caught with the guillotine in his locker.

Scrappy

Answer: Well, a guillotine isn't something that goes off like a flare gun. Since teachers never check their students lockers, no-one knew that Bender had one in his.

Question: How exactly did Casper die? I know he said something about it getting too cold out and him getting very sick but they never make it quite clear. Is it hypothermia?

leyesalot82789

Chosen answer: It was most likely Pneumonia, which was very deadly before the discovery of antibiotics.

Donald Jenkins

Answer: Jill Mullan.

Donald Jenkins

Answer: Haviland Morris.

Season 5 generally

Question: I'm sure I've seen the actor who plays Nox before. Is he the same guy who played the Vampire that Buffy encounters in Conversations With Dead People in Season 7 of BtVS?

troy fox

Chosen answer: Yes - Jonathan Woodward (http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm0940950/).

Jon Sandys

Question: When the titles are running at the end, just after the headlines have stopped, the screen goes to black and the first title you see is "Taj Mahal". Obviously, I know what the Taj Mahal is, but why is it mentioned in the titles?

Answer: Taj Mahal is also the name of a blues singer who had a cameo role in the film (The Gatekeeper). He may have demanded a higher billing than the regular acting credits.

Moose

Question: What is parfey, which is supposedly the most delicious thing on the whole damn planet?

Answer: It's parfait. It's a cold dessert made of layers of fruit, ice cream, flavored syrup,sometimes cake and whipped cream. While I wouldn't call it the most delicious thing on the whole damn planet, they are pretty darn good.

Grumpy Scot

Actually, that's the American version. Originally it was a French dish made with cream, eggs, sugar and syrup to create puree.

Answer: Shinzon was always intended to be much younger than Picard - the whole point is that he's a Romulan project that was ultimately abandoned - he hasn't gone through the accelerated aging process. Patrick Stewart could not have convincingly played a version of his character who was that young. And Tom Hardy does bear a distinct resemblance to a young Patrick Stewart if you look properly.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: This may sound like a stupid question but It happens a lot in the Simpson's and Friends shows. What are the purpose of clip shows?

Answer: Clip shows are time savers and budget stretchers. They allow the producers to create a "new" show without having to spend the time and money filming (or animating), editing, and scoring the whole thing from scratch if they feel that their budget is getting spread too thin or their deadlines are getting too tight.

Garlonuss

Question: What exactly does NOC mean? It's never established in the movie.

Answer: "Non-Official Cover". Operative who work for the CIA but are not formally recognized or connected (in case a mission goes bad - he would be on his own). Same thing from The Recruit.

Nick N.

It's never stated verbally, but it's visible on computer screens on several occasions.

Question: Towards the end of the film, Dr. Evil kills number 2 yet number 2 is alive in the next two films. Why? I've been told there's an alternative ending on the DVD that changes this. Is that true?

Answer: Number 2 doesn't get killed. It is obvious from the attempt to kill Mustapha that the fire/chair thing is faulty, this is demonstrated in the second film by the fact that number 2 has a large burn scar on his face to show that he wasn't killed, just burned.

Kara

Question: What exactly is this "life force" Neo sees after Bane blinds him?

Answer: It is the connection he has to the Source. Like when he sees the Machine City and the Sentinels.

Kirill Ostapenko

Question: Why does Rose say "artists need good light don't they?" when they enter her stateroom, even though she hasn't actually asked Jack to draw her yet?

Answer: She probably had already asked him (he had all of his material with him after all); she just hadn't yet specified *how* she wanted to be drawn.

Sereenie

Question: Why does Rose get Jack to draw her if she is only going to give it to Cal to make him angry?

Answer: You answered your own question. That is her only reason. She is showing Cal all that he will never get and that, obviously, someone else (of a lower class!) will.

Sereenie

Answer: The answer by Sereenie isn't totally wrong, but I think there is a bit more meaning. Cal is a wealthy, powerful, controlling man. By giving him the drawing, Rose is showing him that she deceived him. It's also a sign of her choosing a life with Jack instead of him. He is probably not used to being rejected by many women (due to his wealth and social status) – he does the rejecting. And it's especially insulting that Rose prefers an unstable life with Jack, a low-income drifter type.

Question: At the end of the movie, did both Alex and Carter die by the sign?

Answer: Carter was the only one killed by the sign, as shown when officer Burke from FD2 looked up Alex Browning after the pile up.

Answer: No. In Final Destination 2, Clear explains that Alex was killed 3 months later.

DirrtyGrrl

Question: When Neo and Morpheus cross the road at the very start of the "women in the red dress" training programme scene, the short man with the glasses at the centre of the crowd crossing toward them looks up at Morpheus and nods at him. Has this anything to do with the plot or is it a genuine mistake?

Answer: Hasn't got anything to do with the plot, but neither is it a mistake. The simulation is meant to be realistic and plenty of the people in the crowd interact with Morpheus and Neo (bumping into them or moving out of their way). A nod to someone you're passing on the street isn't in any way unusual.

Phil C.

Question: Does Padme not age or something? Anikin has aged ten years between the first and second movie, but she looks the same. Please explain.

Answer: She does age (she's human, just like Anakin) but the changes in her appearance are much more subtle. This is only natural; the change in appearance from an eight-year-old boy to an eighteen-year-old young man would be much more dramatic than, say, from a sixteen- or eighteen-year old girl to a twenty-six or twenty-eight-year old woman.

Phil C.

Question: Where did Sam get the potatoes for the "coney stew"? Not having enough food is a big issues for the hobbits yet it seems he has more than enough ingredients to make a stew with the rabbits that Gollum brings to him. And, if he just dug up the potatoes, why is running out of lembas bread such a tragedy?

Nick N.

Chosen answer: Sam didn't "get" them anywhere at all. He says, "What we need now is a few good taters," implying that he wishes he had some - but he doesn't.

Phil C.

Question: When Jean 'hears everything' at the museum, she hears a man yell "to the shelter" this suggests that she can hear all the way to Washington D.C. with her incoming increase of powers. My question is can the Phoenix hear the future? If you watch with the subtitles, you see as she's looking around, it says WOMAN- THEY'RE GONNA KILL HIM the voice is of Rogue in the scene where she bobby and john are in the tunnels after Logan closes the passage way.

Answer: The Phoenix Force is a primal force of the universe and Jean is tapping into it. As such, she's heading for a point where she really doesn't have any limitations - in the comics, Phoenix destroyed an entire star system. A degree of precognition doesn't seem remotely out of the question.

Tailkinker

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