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: Was Arnold Epstein drafted into the army?

Answer: No.

Show generally

Question: When Sam reads someone their rights why does someone else tell him he's saying it wrong? This happens few times in different episodes.

strikeand

Chosen answer: Sam is using the modern wording of the right-to-silence caution prescribed by legislation such as the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. In the 1970s, the wording would have been different, if it was used at all.

Sierra1

Question: Before Voldemort destroys the shield around Hogwarts, Bellatrix appears to be saying or trying to do something to the army behind him. What is she saying/doing?

Answer: It's not known what she was doing. Any answer would be a guess.

raywest

Question: When the older Dawson is in the house at the lake cleaning it up, Amanda shows up. They make love and the next morning he has made breakfast, with coffee, fresh orange juice and bread. They were miles away from anything - how did he get all that food there?

Question: Sirius says that Snape already knew a lot of curses when they started at Hogwarts. How could Snape have been practising outside of school if he was underage?

Answer: It was never said he was actually practising. Like Hermione, he learned much about magic by extensive reading. Snape, unlike Hermione, was born into a wizard family and could also learn much by observing others. Also, J.K. Rowling later explained that wizard children could not always be monitored if they used magic or not, because the adults in the same household would also be casting charms and spells. The "trace" put on under-aged wizards could not specifically identify individuals while they were in their homes.

raywest

Chosen answer: In the pub Danny demonstrates using a ketchup packet to simulate stabbing himself in the eye. Later in the film he returns Nicholas Angel's notebook, hiding a ketchup packet in it. He stabs the pocket with the notebook, causing the ketchup to leak and simulate blood.

Question: When Evil is walking down the alley, why did Jerry chase after him? Evil didn't believe in the existence of vampires, so he wouldn't have been a threat to Jerry at all.

Answer: Peter's odd behavior at Jerry's house made Jerry suspicious. When he discovers the shard of the mirror on the ground he finds out why Peter was spooked: Jerry doesn't cast a reflection. Jerry then decided that Charley's friends must be dealt with. In Ed, Jerry sees something which would lead him to believe Ed would make a good servant. Jerry turns Ed into a vampire and sets him against Peter while he himself deals with Charley and Amy.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Shug and Celie found the hiding place in the floor in the bedroom looking for the letters. They found naked pictures, money, and of course the letters from Nettie. There were also some vials of something. What was inside of the vials?

Just4cee

Chosen answer: They appear to be illegal drugs.

raywest

Answer: Colognes.

Question: After Anakin is finished killing everyone in the Mustafar complex, there is a scene where he is outside on some sort of balcony, looking out at what appears to be an eclipse in the sky. I think this is intercut with Obi Wan visiting Padme and telling her about Anakin turning to the Dark Side and asking if she knows where he is. As Obi Wan leaves, with John Williams' highly emotional 'Anakin's Dark Deeds' score reaching it's climax, it cuts back to a very emotional looking Anakin, and as it pans in on his face, you see tears running down his cheeks. Why?

Answer: On the Blu Ray commentary, it is explained that this is to show that even at this stage, there is still good in him and the struggle and suffering raging within him as his conscience knows what he's doing is wrong. But he can't stop either, as he's convinced this is the only way he can save Padme from certain death - Palpatine has seduced and twisted his mind with promise of unlimited and great power including helping him discover the secret of Immortality only ever achieved by one Sith Lord previously, Palpatine's own master, Darth Plageius.

Question: During the dance with the skipper and his wife while at the Dutch girls' school, there is a cat on the serving table. Was the cat supposed to be there?

Answer: No.

Question: Sounds a bit weird to me that there would be a direct flight from Christchurch to Kathmandu in the beginning of the movie?

Answer: I did an Internet search, and every flight from Christchurch to Katmandu has at least two stopovers. However, the film takes place about two decades ago and there is no readily available information on flight paths for that time.

raywest

Answer: Butch the breakdown truck must have pulled Gordon's tender all the way up the rails so the breakdown train can reach it and also Butch helped to get Gordon close to the winch.

Answer: Ropes and a winch.

Show generally

Question: Does every episode have a chalkboard and couch gag (or variation on it)? When I watch reruns sometimes it goes into the show after the words "The Simpsons" come through the cloud and I can't tell if they cut out the intro or if there just wasn't one.

Bishop73

Chosen answer: The original opening of every episode of "The Simpsons" does include a chalkboard gag and a couch gag. Your Fox-TV affiliate may air the episode with portions of the opening and/or other segments of the show edited in order to make room for additional advertising, local station identifications or promotions for upcoming programming on that station. This is often done to television program episodes in syndication.

Michael Albert

Answer: So, The Simpsons intro has 3 gags: the chalkboard gag, couch gag, and billboard gag. The show itself has variations of its opening, with different lengths to fit the length of the rest of the episode. The Couch Gag is the most common gag, and the Billboard gag is the least common because of these variations. And to answer your question, yes, sometimes the episodes don't even have an intro.

Question: Why was the relic being shipped to the Field Museum in Chicago via boat? What would be the point of sending the relic to the United States and then placing it on a boat and shipping it to Chicago by way of the Illinois River? In the book, the museum is instead located in New York, so it makes sense for the shipment to arrive by boat from South America, but there would be no possible way to get to Chicago straight from South America by boat, so the relic had to have been on land at one point. Placing it on a boat just seems like a contrived way to have the monster kill the crew members and create a mystery for the police as to how it happened.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: Cost of shipping would be much cheaper. However, the Mississippi River System is connected to the Illinois Waterway, which continues to the Great Lakes Waterway. This means Chicago is connected to the Gulf of Mexico (which is accessible to South America). There would be no need to ever be on the road.

Bishop73

Chosen answer: She was upset that Mr. Sir was making a big deal about Stanley supposedly stealing his sunflower seeds. The Warden is only in it for the treasure and doesn't care about the boys. Mr. Sir bothering her about a minor theft is irritating to her.

Brad

Answer: He was angry.

Question: How much did C loan to his friend and had to chase him for it?

Answer: $20; C gave up trying to collect after Sonny convinced him that it wasn't worth the effort since the "friend" wasn't really that close to C in the first place.

zendaddy621

Question: I never really understood what the motive was when Clyde murdered his cellmate. Why did he do it? What did this act have to do with the plot of this movie?

Answer: To make sure he was placed in solitary confinement. The warehouse that he owned and operated out of that was next to the prison also had a tunnel connected to every cell in the solitary wing. Clyde needed to be in one of the solitary cells so he could leave the prison whenever he needed to unnoticed, which also served to make it look like he had an accomplice on the outside.

Phaneron

When Nick is talking to a spook later in the movie, he is quoted as telling Nick: "That cell-mate that he killed, you think that was random? No. That's a pawn being moved off the board. Anyone who had anything to do with that case, he's gonna be coming after you." Just as all deaths played roles in Clydes game, as the audience we are led to believe this inmate played a role, but were never given any resolution as to what significance it was. Not a big deal in grand scheme of things, but unexplained.

I don't know if you just didn't read the answer thoroughly or if you didn't pay close attention to the movie, but Clyde killing his cellmate was far from being unexplained. He can't leave the prison if he's in a regular cell with the general population, so he kills the cellmate in order to get placed in the solitary wing, because every solitary cell is connected to the tunnel in his warehouse that is next to the prison, which allows him to leave whenever he needs to.

Phaneron

Whatever It Takes - S4-E6

Question: In this episode, Cuddy gives House crap about lying that he was working for the CIA. Exactly how did a CIA helicopter land on the hospital roof, and the hospital's dean not notice it?

Answer: She would have No Reason to know it belonged to the CIA. If she did know he went off in the helicopter, all she would know is that it wasn't an ambulance helicopter.

Greg Dwyer

Question: Is it true that if the monarch wishes to abdicate (even in the exceptional circumstances as presented in the film) it can or could only be done by an Act of Parliament as happened with Edward VIII? In other words, The Queen can't just sign a piece of paper and end of discussion?

Neil Jones

Chosen answer: Abdication does have to be agreed by Parliament, however the monarch could refuse to sign any new laws should the abdication be turned down. This would effectively prevent the government from operating as a result. As a general rule, the monarch agrees to sign laws, and the government would respect the wish of a monarch to abdicate.

Answer: The line was International Civil War 2. When WWI happened no one called it that (especially since they didn't know a 2nd one would happen), it was referred to as "The Great War". America had already fought their own Civil War and the joke is really just calling it Civil War II, only it was international.

Bishop73

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