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 Marty's recently purchased sports almanac drops out of its plastic bag, Doc says that he did not invent the time machine for financial gain. In Back to the Future's first Twin Pines Mall scene, Doc says that he'll get to see who wins the next 25 World Series. Can we assume Doc would not have tried to profit from knowing those results in advance?

Answer: It seems that, yes, we can assume that. Doc's very clear on the dangers of meddling with the timeline - it's fair to say that he's intelligent enough not to risk it.

Tailkinker

Answer: He never intended on betting on it, he just wanted to see who won the 25th world series.

Answer: It is probably Sodium Thiopental, know by the trademarked name, Sodium Pentothal, or Truth Serum. Thiopental is still used in some places as a truth serum. The barbiturate drugs as a class decrease higher cortical brain functioning. Since lying is more complex than the truth, suppression of the higher cortical functions may lead to the divulgement of the "truth."

pross79

Dear Mildred - S4-E7

Question: While writing to his wife, Col. Potter refers to getting a cup of Joe meaning coffee, why does he call it a cup of Joe?

Answer: The term actually comes from the US Navy and made its way into modern civilian jargon today. Its origin comes from the following: Josephus Daniels (18 May 1862-15 January 1948) was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. Among his reforms of the Navy were inaugurating the practice of making 100 Sailors from the Fleet eligible for entrance into the Naval Academy, the introduction of women into the service, and the abolishment of the officers' wine mess. From that time on, the strongest drink aboard Navy ships could only be coffee and over the years, a cup of coffee became known as "a cup of Joe".

Luna Negra

Show generally

Question: What is the episode and the season where Chandler and Monica get engaged? They share a bathtub together, and the other friends (sans Ross) do the "They don't know that we know that they don't know".

Answer: You are actually referring to three separate episodes from two different seasons. They share a bath in the season five episode "TOW all the Kissing" (2nd episode). The episode with the "they don't know that we know that they know" is "TOW Everybody Finds Out" (14th episode of season 5). They get engaged in the season six finale, a two-part episode titled "TOW the Proposal".

Question: Near the beginning of the film, Capote is talking about a story involving a gay black man being in love with a Jew. Since all the rest of his anecdotes involve real people and/or works, does anyone know which book he's talking about?

Xofer

Chosen answer: He is talking about 'Giovanni's Room' a novel by James Baldwin.

Question: When Fozzie is singing the National Anthem, why does he sing 'America the Beautiful', and not 'The Star Spangled Banner' (which is the National Anthem of USA)?

Answer: Fozzie did not mean to sing the National Anthem. He simply wanted to sing something patriotic, since he was so moved by the scenery.

Matty Blast

Show generally

Question: How does the ranking actually work? Winters seems to be promoted but keep the same title, is this right?

Answer: Winters was promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant during training (at Toccoa). He was promoted to Captain and Major during the war. 2nd and 1st Lieutenants are usually just called Lieutenant but, other than that, he was always referred to appropriately.

Zwn Annwn

Answer: A silent clock has been used 5 times thusfar: After Teri's death (Season 1), after George exited CTU for the last time (Season 2), after President Palmer was poisoned and fell to the floor (Season 2; Palmer's heavy breathing and heart beat are heard in the background), after Jack executed Chappelle (Season 3; a train whistle is heard in the background), and after Edgar was killed by the nerve gas (Season 5). The silent clock has traditionally been used during extremely emotional moments, and most often after a character has died.

Dandude776

Question: In the vet clinic, how did Kate know that John's pistol was fake? I'd like both the tell-tale signs she would have spotted, but also how she'd know to look for them.

Answer: She didn't know until she fired it and John got paint on him.

Garlonuss

Question: What characters are in Glasgow? The soundtrack says Glasgow love theme, and I don't know when it's there.

Answer: None of the movie is set in Scotland. That's just the name of the piece. The composer/performer Craig Armstrong is from there and that's what he titled the piece.

Myridon

Question: Does anybody know if there are non-credited cameos in this film? During the scene on the beach, where the girl meets the two dancers, I think I see a young Jean-Claude Van Damme in the crowd wearing a black spandex suit and the kid from Revenge of the Nerds holding a soccer ball.

Answer: According to IMDB.com, the following actors were uncredited in this film: Michel Qissi, Passerby in first dance sequence - Lela Rochon, Extra in first scene - Kara Vallow, Break Dancer - Jean-Claude Van Damme, Passerby in First Dance Sequence.

Myridon

Question: What is the alternate ending for this film?

Answer: In the end they are both standing in her garden at the top of the building. He asks, "do you remember me?" She pauses for a moment and replies, "no." And then she walks away.

RLN

Show generally

Question: In which episode is it that Hawkeye sorts a lot of photographs of girls, for a soldier to send back to his girlfriend, who had cheated on him, making out that he couldn't remember which one was her?

Answer: The episode is 'Identity Crisis' from Season 10.

ChiChi

Question: Does anybody know what game the two guys are playing in Andy's apartment, the part where they are saying "you know how i know your gay?" Graphics-wise it looks like X-box, but they are holding N64 trident style pads.

Answer: The video game being played is Mortal Kombat: Deception. It is available for PS2, Gamecube, and XBOX. Based on the controller, I would say they are playing the Nintendo Gamecube version.

Jazetopher

Question: What make/model of car does the female Terminator steal from the nice lady? It's the scene where she's naked and the woman says "Oh my god, do you need help?"

Answer: The car she takes from the woman is a 2003 Lexus SC 430 Hardtop Convertible($42,000 new).

Jazetopher

Question: Did Reed and the others ever find out why The Thing was stuck in his form, while everyone else could turn their powers/changes on and off?

Answer: Thing was outside the station when the storm hit, therefore he got a much higher dose of the radiation than the others who were shielded inside. As a result, he doesn't have the ability to control his powers like the others do.

roboc

Question: In the last scene where all the people pull their masks off, we see Stephen Fry and the woman from the cell and the little glasses girl, all of whom were supposed to be dead. How did they come back? It's not Evey imagining them, because she's not seeing them, she's in a different place.

Answer: You don't have to be in a specific place to imagine that somebody else could be there. V did what he did for freedom and for the victims of the regime that he hated. It's entirely appropriate that Evey should imagine those victims standing among those who chose to rise up against the government.

Tailkinker

Question: What is the class Anna is taking throughout the film?

Answer: She is taking Jewish classes - she is planning to convert.

nightline

Question: Why is Betty Boop a black & white "Toon"? She makes the remark to Eddie that things have been tough since everything went to colour, but it was the development of coloured film that was different. Wouldn't "Toons" always have been coloured, but only filmed with the black & white film of the day? So shouldn't Betty Boop have also been a coloured "Toon", just like Mickey Mouse, who was also a black & white cartoon when he first appeared on film in "Steamboat Willy" in 1928, but is seen as a coloured "Toon" at the end of the film. Also if black & white "Toons" can become colourized, then why didn't Betty have this process done?

Answer: Toons are made of ink. There would have been no reason for them to be made of colored ink before there were colored films. The black and white and colored characters would have been played by different toons. Steamboat Willy doesn't look much like modern Mickey Mouse so it must be a different "actor" playing the role. Modern soap operas do this all the time - a brunette character goes away for a while and comes back as a blonde a foot taller.

Myridon

Mistaken Identity - S1-E6

Question: Carlton and Will are in the holding cell at the police station, singing a song about Moses letting his people go, when all of a sudden their burly cellmate starts singing the rest of the song in a very operatic manner. There is only one lyric I could pick up: "Tell the Pharaoh/Let my people GO.", but unfortunately the rest of the lyrics (or its title) are nowhere to be found on the Internet. What is the name of this song, and where could I possibly find the words to it?

Answer: This is very old and well-known African-American spiritual of unknown provenance. Louis Armstrong did a famous version "Go Down Moses". There is not an "offical" name but it is usually referenced as "Let my People Go" or from the first line "When Israel was in Egypt's land". If you search the web with either of these phrases and the word "lyrics" you will have hundreds of sites showing the full lyrics.

Luna Negra

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