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 one scene when the Orca is chasing after the shark so Quint can harpoon it a second time, Brody and Hooper are both smiling. What are they smiling for?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Adrenaline rush. Also, Hooper's thrilled to participate in the chase of the largest great white he's ever seen, while Brody's excited that they'll soon kill the shark that's claimed many of the lives he was supposed to protect.

Question: Why is the film called Trainspotting? Is it meant to be a drug reference or something?

Answer: Trainspotting is a hobby where participants try to spot and document as many different types of trains as they can, and as a group, reconstruct the routes and schedules of shipping and rail companies. It's a bit like bird-watching, but with trains. Irvine Welsh, who wrote the novel, has compared this hobby to heroin addiction, in that both seem pointless, confusing, and unpleasant to outsiders, but make perfect sense to enthusiasts.

They are called track marks, and heroin is called train. Train spotting, the needle marks that make tracks in your skin.

Answer: Train is sometimes used as another word for heroin.

michael g

Question: With all of Voldemort's horcruxes destroyed, why does his soul go to limbo? Bellatrix and other Death Eaters aren't seen there.

Answer: The horcrux is seen in the train station along with Harry because it is the "accidental" horcrux Voldemort created the first time he tried to kill Harry. From that point on, Harry and the horcrux had lived together as one entity. The killing curse cast in the forbidden forest sent the two to limbo, but the horcrux was too weak to return to life.

Chosen answer: Stewie himself has explained to Brian that of the immediate family, only Brian can always understand him. The others, especially Lois, seem to get a vague impression of how he is feeling but do not hear the words. Most other characters can understand him, whenever it's convenient or needed for the story. A few times his parents can understand him, for comedic purposes.

Answer: Yes, everyone can understand and hear him, no one other than other babies and Brian takes him seriously because of the fact that he's a baby. This was stated by Seth MacFarlane.

Answer: Chris understands Stewie as well.

Answer: According to the filmmakers, Dragon turned into a talking Pegasus.

Question: What is the name of the music that plays right after the mayor gives his speech at the clock dedication?

AdmRose

Answer: The song is called "Battle Cry Of Freedom" written in 1862 by American composer George Frederick Root during the American Civil War.

Chosen answer: The song (right after the mayor's speech) is actually "Nearer, My God, to Thee" of Titanic infamy, but with an upbeat tempo. This plays the moment the clock is engaged and ends after the photograph is taken.

Question: What exactly was Adam's plan the whole time? I don't fully understand it and even if I did, how does that make him the bad guy? Can someone please explain?

Answer: Adam wanted to turn the whole nation into vampires. And as head vampire, he would be the leader. Part of the plot line was vampires feed on slaves, so Adam wanted to keep slavery legal. During the course of the Civil War, Adam conspired with Jefferson Davis to send vampires to the front line to help with the war for the South, in return for claims to the North for his clan (although he would probably turn on the South afterwards).

Bishop73

Question: When Harry is recovering in the hospital wing after encountering Voldemort and Quirrell, Dumbledore says that the whole school knows what happened. So why doesn't anyone believe Harry's claim about the return of Voldemort later on, at the end of his fourth year?

Answer: Dumbledore did not mean that everyone was aware that Voldemort had returned. He meant that everyone knew something happened to Harry involving Quirrell, but not specifically what. Many people did believe Harry about Voldemort, others were skeptical, and some called him a liar. The Dark Lord's followers knew Voldemort was returning, but they had to keep this secret until the opportune time.

raywest

Question: What was Thor's intention when he struck the pod that created Vision, was it to stop the process or to add the final jolt of power needed to complete it?

Gary Stewart

Chosen answer: He was helping to bring The Vision to life. Not destroy him.

Question: At the end of the credits, we hear Johnny Depp sing "mama's little baby loves shortnin' bread." Is there any reason for this, or a tie-in to the movie I missed?

Bishop73

Chosen answer: An additional reference to the full dominant personality takeover of Shooter, everything gravitates South Mississippi.

Question: When Danny presses the button, the red spaceship moves onto a white space. Later in the movie, after accepting the astronauts' help, all three discover that the red spaceship is now on a blue space. How could it have gotten there? Neither Danny or Walter kicked the board and Danny never actually moved it from its original position since they had to deal with getting rid of the Zorgons.

Answer: If you are talking about the part where Walter says that Danny cheated and Danny says "someone must have kicked the board", you're right, no one did kick the board. After again being asked if he moved the piece, Danny says "maybe I moved the piece by accident." I think this implies that Danny cheated and moved the piece himself, which is why it was on a different coloured space.

Except, it never showed Danny moving the piece at all. When Walter moved Danny's piece back to the space it was originally on, the game shot out a card accusing Walter of cheating and tried ejecting him out of the house. If Danny had moved the piece by accident and therefore technically cheated, it kind of raises the question as to why he never received a card accusing him of cheating and ejecting him from the house as well.

I think the answer to this is in the card's text - "Caught cheating" I believe this implies that since Walter was observed physically moving a piece by the other player, that is what triggered the cheating detection. Nobody saw Danny move his piece, so he was technically not caught cheating in the moment. So, ostensibly, one may be able to cheat as long as they are not caught by the other player.

Knever

Question: If Doc doesn't want to know what's going to happen in his/the future, then why did he tape the letter Marty gave him in 1955, which he tore up, back together instead of throwing it away? Also why did he have it on him at the end to give to Marty, if he had no idea Marty would show up at Lone Pine Mall after coming back to 1985?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: It's not stated directly in the movie, but it's easy to infer that Doc Brown was subject to the one thing that just about all scientists fall victim to... Curiosity. You can guess that after Marty vanished back to the future, Doc became too curious to resist and assembled the paper back together to read it. In turn, this would give him the information he needed to save himself with a bulletproof jacket, and know the important of why Marty would go back in time when it is 85. And he would have kept the note on him because he DID know Marty would come back to that point. After all, he did send him back off 30 years prior, with the intent of going back to that very day. Doc is intelligent, and would have expected things to turn out that way given the unwritten laws of time travel and paradox.

Quantom X

But after this, it poses a new question. Wouldn't he have found a new power source instead so he won't be shot?

No, he is very careful about changing anything in the timeline. So after reading the letter he came up with the bulletproof vest so he could survive without changing anything about the events that led to Marty being sent back to 1955 in exactly the same way. That way he prevented a paradox.

lionhead

Question: What was the deal with all the agents' jackets having letters written on the back in luminous paint? Why did the killer do this?

swordfish

Chosen answer: Vince explains this. The letters spell out CROATOAN. There was an English colony on Roanoake Island, of which the entire population mysteriously disappeared, giving no trace of what had happened, barring the letters CROATOAN carved on to a tree.

Question: I don't really understand what their plan was in luring it into the pool. Did they think electrocuting it would kill it? Why would they assume that, when nothing so far has killed it?

Answer: None of their previous attempts worked, so they were willing to try any method they could think of to kill it. If electrocution didn't work, then they would know they have to keep trying and hopefully will find some lethal manner of eliminating it.

raywest

Question: After Amy has killed Mr Collins, as she's climbing off the bed, she puts her hand securely between her legs, like she is trying to hold onto his semen. Is that what she's doing?

kh1616

Chosen answer: That may have been what she was doing. Amy was attempting to make it look like she'd been repeatedly raped by Collins, so she was doing various things to herself, like using a bottle to self-inflict trauma onto her privates to look like forced sex.

raywest

Question: How is it even possible for Ultron to use Loki's sceptre to mind control the technician woman...considering that the sceptre came from Asgard and Loki is a god, whereas Ultron is a sentinel robot. Is this a goof?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Loki is only a god by our standards (commanding incomprehensible power, borderline immortal, etc.) The sceptre contains a mind stone that can presumably be controlled by any sentient being, and Ultron is most definitely that.

Answer: Jade breaks up with Beck because he was hanging out with another girl, which she didn't like.

MattHellstrand

Question: When the police go to Lisbeth Salander's old apartment - the one Miriam is living in - thinking Lisbeth lived there, so they can search the place, one of the policeman says, "How come the name-plate on the door says 'Salander'?" The other policeman says, "I have no idea." But they are there to search Lisbeth "Salander's" place! Can someone please explain to me why they are there if they don't believe it is the Salander place?

kh1616

Chosen answer: They are looking at the mail which is all addressed to Miriam Wu, and medicine in the bathroom cabinet which is prescribed to her. So they realise someone called Miriam Wu is living there (or Lisbeth is living there under that name), and wonder why the name plate still says "Salander".

Sierra1

Question: What the heck was Enid talking about with Warner at the party?

Answer: She was talking about the word "semester." Since it is similar to the word "semen," Enid says that the word favors males. She wants to change it to "ovester." Since that word is similar to the word "ovary," it would favor females.

Paul Christian Pepiton

Question: Where is the birthday party for Bill held? On whose estate?

Answer: The script calls it the "Parrish country estate", so it belongs to Bill Parrish and his family.

Sierra1

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