Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: For the original, the sequel and the remake, what materials did the crew use to create the blob and how did they get it to move?

Answer: In both the the 50's original and 70s sequel, the majority of the Blob effects were created using a thick silicone gel colored with red vegetable dye; its movement was essentially controlled by gravity, just letting the goop run downhill and angling the camera to provide the illusion that it was moving horizontally, vertically, or straight at the audience. The original film also employed a large barrage balloon (or weather balloon) covered in the colored silicone goop for shots where people are actually consumed by the Blob. The 1972 sequel additionally used a preposterous rotating spit covered in red plastic, mounted in front of the camera, to provide the Blob's point-of-view as it steamrolled toward its victims. The 1988 remake used much more sophisticated practical effects such as robotics, latex prosthetics, pneumatic tentacles, et cetera, which were directly inspired by John Carpenter's 1982 special-effects-heavy horror flick, "The Thing." For the last couple of decades, there has also been talk of a major CGI reboot of "The Blob," but it has yet to materialize.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: How many letters of marque are there and how exactly they work? The governor said when freeing Elizabeth that there was only one and it was meant for Jack, but Will agreed to the deal with Becket anyway, and he tells Elizabeth that this is going to save them both.

Tdjdbidndjdnd Bfjndkdnje

Chosen answer: In the movie it is explained that when a person receives a letter of marque one become a privateer in employment of country the letter was received from. This person is no longer seen as a pirate, a criminal. Anyone accused of piracy could be cleared of their charges when obtaining a letter of marque so that's why Will said it would save them both, as both were accused of piracy and arranging a letter for both of them would save them from the death penalty. In actuality however, a letter of marque was granted to a ship, not a person.

lionhead

Question: 1955 Doc doesn't believe there is going to be rain and neither does the weatherman as a matter of fact. Why then do we see everything wet long before the big storm?

Answer: One of the running gags in the BTTF movies is the dependability of weather forecasts. Obviously, in the first movie, the 1955 weather predictions were completely wrong, and it had already showered even before the big storm. In the second movie, weather forecasts of the future had advanced so much that storms were accurately predicted down to the second.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: That's known as a "wet down" and has become a running gag of itself. It can be seen in many movies, even if there's no rain involved. A movie set can be wet down to improve the visual appearance and help the lighting, the dull grey concrete will turn dark so anything else will stand out, especially at night, and it also disguises shadows of booms, cranes and the likes.

Episode #1.1 - S1-E1

Question: Lady Grantham did not want electricity in the bedrooms, but near the end of the episode doesn't she turn out a light at her bedside while Lord Grantham blows out a candle?

Answer: It's possible it's a paraffin lamp. My grandparents have these for power cuts - There is a thick wick which can be raised or lowered by turning a little knob. This can make a brighter flame or cut it out entirely. The flame is covered with a glass tube and, for fancy versions, a lampshade fits over the top.

Question: Why did Suge Knight hate Jerry so much? They didn't even talk to each other at all in the movie.

Answer: Suge Knight saw Jerry as a threat, and rightfully so. He had control over E and the others, and knew far more about the business than he did. Which meant he had power, something Suge wants complete control of.

MasterOfAll

Question: What did Jameson mean when he said to Hoffman "I'll give you ten percent off. Ah, make it five percent?" What's Hoffman getting a percentage off of?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: Jameson is referring to giving Conway's department store a discount for moving their advertising in the "Daily Bugle" from page 6 to page 7...then page 8, in order to accommodate a story about Spiderman on the front page ("with a decent picture this time!"). He's telling Hoffman to give them a discount to appease the major client. But, in a moment of poking fun at Jameson's cheapskate tendencies, he immediately changes the offer from a discount of 10% to 5%.

Michael Albert

Answer: Because he knew he was dying, his job was done, and he could do no more.

Answer: His life for her life is why he surrendered - he knew he was dying and that was the only way to make the child safe again and reunite her with her mum.

Yeah but he had the voice brother and wife to exchange with Pita. So why he made a deal with the voice that wouldn't kill the voice but him even though he had the upper hand.

Answer: Some would say he gave his life for a life. To be redeemed in the afterlife for killing so many people in the CIA.

Answer: He held the wife, brother, and children of 'the voice' at gunpoint. He was certainly was in a good bargaining position to trade them for the girl without having to give up his own life. I understand he was seriously wounded but he could have attempted that trade and made his way to the ER.

Answer: Yeah but when "The Voice" and Creasy were speaking over the phone they made the life for a life deal. Give back Pita for "The Voices" brother. So it still makes me wonder why Creasy still went with them in the end and died.

Answer: If you're talking about during his performances, it's a 2000 Buell X1 Lightning. He's also seen on a Harley-Davidson Sportster, I believe, when jumping through the ring of fire. If you're talking about his other bike, it's a Harley-Davidson Panhead.

Bishop73

Sorry. I should have been more specific as I'm not familiar with motorcycles. The one that turns into the HellCycle.

The HD Panhead is what turns into the Hell Cycle. But the Hell Cycle itself was a custom made piece, built from the ground up, but modeled after the Panhead. So there's no specific make and model, that I know of, for the custom made Hell Cycle itself.

Bishop73

Thank you.

Question: When freeing Sirius Black, then flying around the School, why did they whoop and holler and make so much noise if they were trying to be secretive?

Beau Peterson

Chosen answer: They were still high enough in the air where there was little chance of being heard or if they were, it would be muffled. Also, they're kids. They are not always capable of restraining their emotions or enthusiasm when they should. It is also a means to heighten the scene's mood (enthusiasm and success) and show the audience what emotions the characters are feeling at the time.

raywest

Question: Where was David Mann actually going? And where from? As in, which states? He seemed to be travelling for hours even before he met the truck and seemed to have a long way to go yet.

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: The movie opens with him in downtown Los Angeles, California, so he's probably from there or somewhere in Southern California. He's heading to Bakersfield, California, which is north, about 2 hours away. In the short story, he's heading to a client in San Francisco. However, in the film he gets off the main freeway running from LA to Bakersfield (IH-5) and takes Highway 14 towards Canyon Country.

Bishop73

Question: How is Biff from the future able to use the time-machine? He has to: 1) Turn on the time circuits, 2) Set the time destination, 3) Accelerate to 88 MPH, 4) Know to add matter to Mr. Fusion.

Answer: It isn't overly complicated. Once the time circuits are switched on (something you can probably figure out by fiddling with buttons) there is a big section labelled "destination". Logically you would input the day you want to go to. He could then take off and just start driving fast - he wouldn't need to know it has to be 88mph, but the fact that it's built into a car definitely implies speed is necessary. He lives in the future where Mr Fusion exists, so adding stuff to it would just be logical to him.

Question: Why did MI6 shoot at Bond after he refused to give them his gun? Surely it's not worth killing one of their agents over. And why did M say there's too many people? There was nobody around.

MikeH

Chosen answer: At that moment, he was not one of their agents; M had just stripped him of his licence to kill and suspended him. So he was, essentially, a rogue agent about to escape...of course they were going to try and stop him. M stopped them because 1) they were in an MI6 building in the middle of an American city and gunfire would have drawn unwanted attention (perhaps giving away the location to enemy agents), and 2) unlike the faceless security forces trying to shoot Bond, he had a personal relationship with Bond and didn't want to see him injured or killed.

Question: At the end when Betsy is in the cab, it seems like Travis says hello ages after she got in. So it seems like that scene is imagined. Is it?

MikeH

Chosen answer: No, it just seems that Travis had no idea what to say to Betsy and after a while, a simple hello is all he could manage.

Dra9onBorn117

Question: In the movie Danny McKnight is built up somewhat as being the guy who seems to almost ignore some of his surroundings. Many times he's shown just casually walking around exposed with bullets flying past him. Did he or would anyone in any sort of battle like this actually behave in that way?

andyog88

Chosen answer: In the book it does say how Danny walked around the gunfire in that way.

Question: I was wondering why the man and woman in the last trap didn't use the woman from the bathtub to give the pints of blood? They could have carried her into the room because the door stayed open for about forty seconds.

Michelle Ferris

Chosen answer: Assuming the woman in the bathtub was able to be moved safely the amount of blood gained from her, while still being helpful, would probably not be enough to save the final two survivors from self harm. Without the heart pumping blood you would only get the blood that was in her arm at the moment. You would have to lift her or raise her so gravity would get other blood moving to get enough. Which the final two possibly could have done, but stress of the situation clouded their judgement.

Season 6 generally

Question: How does Chris still have his powers when he travels to the past, but the witches did not when they went to the past?

Answer: With Chris being from the future (and being half-witch, half-whitelighter), he must know about the fact that his aunts can't use their powers in the past. Therefore, he would think to write an advanced spell so that his powers can be used.

THGhost

Answer: Also it's stated only one in a time period can have the powers. The pasts' Chris isn't around at the beginning to have access to the powers and then when he's conceived he doesn't show signs of having powers yet.

Answer: It was a different spell, you can see that from episode Chris-Crossed, the charmed ones did not drew anything when travelled to their past. It's also explained from the conversation from Phoenix and Chris.

Question: When Dom and Bryan return to Dom's house after the police chase, Vince sees Bryan and asks Dom why he brought the "buster" there. What did Vince mean by calling Bryan a "buster?"

SAZOO1975

Answer: "Buster" is a slang term for someone who thinks they are cool but are not. It's kind of like saying "wannabe." It can also be generally used to simply describe someone uncool, without the pretense. In this context it is most similar to "dork." Either applies in Bryan's case, at least in Vince's eyes.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Because Brian busted his car in the race.

Chosen answer: Calling him "buster" implies that he was the one that got them all busted. Like being a "narc" or an informant.

Don't think this would apply. He's first referred to as buster when he walks into the Toretto household by Dom after the first race. Before he reveals he's a cop to Mia and then later to Dom while calling an ambulance for Vince.

Question: Why didn't Gretchen and Karen stay friends? (at the end of the movie it shows Gretchen sitting with a different group of friends) I thought Regina was the only one they didn't really like.

Answer: Gretchen had simply found a new group of friends with the Vietnamese girls; just because she and Karen no longer sat together in the cafeteria didn't mean they were no longer friends at all. As Cady said in her closing narration, the "Plastics" disbanded at the end of the school year because they had all found new things to belong to: Regina was now a star player on the school's lacrosse team, Cady stayed with the "Mathletes", Karen started giving the school weather report, and Gretchen, as mentioned before, hung out with the Vietnamese girls. The four remained on friendly terms, though.

zendaddy621

Chosen answer: No, they were not having an affair. He just liked her.

raywest

Question: Who were all the skeletons that the Mother sees toward the end of the film? It's never explained. Also, what room was that?

Answer: It was The Gold Room. The skeletons are simply those of past guests: we never learn their identities.

Not the Gold Room. It's the lobby area you see earlier in the movie when they first get there and Jack is sitting in a chair reading a magazine.

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