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: When Brad Pitt and the Prince fight outside Troy and Pitt is the victor, is there any reason why they began with spears and then when they went, they used their swords? How come they didn't just use their swords to begin with as you see in many movies of the same genre?

Craig Bryant

Chosen answer: Homer describes the fight as having taken place in The Iliad using spears, not swords - they threw spears at each other in turn, and with Athena's help Achilles (Pitt) struck Hector (Bana), killing him. The movie uses swords to make the fight visually more exciting, but features spears as a nod to the original.

Shay

Also in those days the spear was the primary weapon that was used to fight with. The sword was always a secondary or back up weapon. This is often misrepresented in movies.

Question: Sati is the daughter of two programs..I really don't understand how two programs can mate. How's it possible?

Answer: Some Matrix programs have become so sophisticated that they are self-aware and much like humans. Keeping with that, Sati's "parents" wrote her using some of their own code, thus, she is their daughter.

Grumpy Scot

Question: How come there were suddenly dead Greeks lying on the beach, apparently killed by plague? Was there really a plague or what happened?

Answer: In The Iliad, there was a plague sent by Apollo about 9 years into the war in revenge for Agamemnon keeping Chryses as a slave - her father was a priest and prayed to Apollo for vengeance. There's no real explanation given in the movie (since they've essentially written the gods out of it). They could well have faked up some bodies to look like that as an explanation for their sudden departure to the Trojans.

Shay

Question: I don't get the Michael Jackson scene where he goes out the window, and Charlie Sheen finds his body (which doesn't look real) and then something is running in the bushes. Does anyone know just what exactly is going on there?

Answer: It was an alien in a Michael Jackson skin. He shed it and ran off into the bushes.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Were any of O.J. Simpson's scenes cut due to his then-impending murder trial?

Answer: According to the IMDB, the only scene cut out was an extended version of Norberg and Ed's visiting Dreben near the beginning of the film. So you can assume the rest of Simpson's scenes were left in.

Answer: O.J. Simpson's murder trial wasn't then pending. This movie came out on March 18, 1994. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered on June 12, 1994. In fact, O.J., Nicole and their kids attended the premiere of Naked Gun 33 1/3 together.

Question: When Bruce is killing Quint (and in every shot of Bruce thereafter) there's a whole lot of white stuff around the shark's teeth that doesn't seem to be just his gums. What is that white stuff? It looks like he's chewed on lots of paper or something...

Answer: It's supposed to be flesh from whatever he ate before. Like when you eat chicken and a piece gets stuck in your teeth.

Question: When first entering the church, Father Francis wonders about the weapons depicted pointing down. What is the significance of where the weapons are pointing?

Answer: Weapons on statues in conventional churches point upwards in veneration. The weapons here are pointing downwards in an offensive gesture.

Question: Can anyone tell me why the Predators didn't scan the 'token' human survivor or the last dead predator to see if either were infected with an Alien? Especially when the Predator was not wearing his face mask which would serve as protection against this infection.

Ronald Cornish

Answer: When they emerged from the underground pyramid unscathed, the Predators assumed they were not infected. Any Predator, young or old, would have been taught to self destruct rather than be caught or killed. As seen in the previous movies. Lex was given the mark of a warrior, they assumed she was taught their code of honor.

Chosen answer: Given the speed with which the chestbursters emerged from the other humans, it seems likely that these have been engineered by the Predators to emerge as quickly as possible. As such, they probably assumed in Lex's case that, were she impregnated, it would have emerged before that point. As for their fallen comrade, it may well have simply not occurred to them that one of their number would be foolish enough to get himself impregnated. Even proud alien hunters can make mistakes.

Tailkinker

Question: Can someone please explain what the whole deal was with the "The music stops" dialogue? I don't understand what it had to do with Lothose, and as to why he never killed her (despite her just sitting there on his lap while he talked)?

Azureth

Chosen answer: If she listened to the silence (didn't pay attention to what Lothos was saying), then she would be able to ignore what gave him the ability to put her in a trance, and she could then put up a good fight. As to why he didn't kill her when she was just sitting there: for some reason bad guys always have to have the last word (explaining their scheme, what-have-you). Chalk it up to Bad Guy Stupidity.

MoonFaery

Question: I wasn't sure which Disney film to ask about this, as it occurs in many (Alice in Wonderland, Fox and the Hound, Lady and the Tramp etc.) - But in many of the Dinsey films, most of the time many of the characters don't cast a shadow. Is there a reason for this? Or maybe would it be considered a mistake..?

Hamster

Chosen answer: It is the style of the artwork. Similarly, it is not a mistake that each individual hair is not drawn, the eyes are not really proportional to the head, etc.

Myridon

Question: In the film's trailer, I saw several scenes and special effects that were not in the final cut. Does anyone know about these shots? I am assuming they were cut close to the films release to cut back on time.

Answer: There didn't seem to be any special f/x that were in the trailer that weren't included in the film itself. The only shots that were certainly not in the film was the opening shot that shows the aliens watching one of the Galaxy quest shows and when the narrator introduces Sigourney Weaver where she is showing off her chest (which is a deleted scene on the DVD). Your explanation of why they are not there is the most likely reason they were cut.

Lummie

Question: At the beginning when the werewolves begin attacking people at Club de la Lune, what is the song being played as people run for the door and who plays it?

Answer: The Hardest Head by Skinny Puppy.

That was the second attack scene song. When they force themselves to change. The first song they play at the first attack when Saraphine first changes. That song is not on the soundtrack and I can't for the life of me find it even years after the movie. No idea what its called.

Show generally

Question: I recently read in a magazine that Lisa Kudrow had to wear a wig for an entire season because of a dramatic haircut that would not suit her character. Is this true and if so which season?

Answer: In Season 6 Lisa Kudrow had a short bob, and as this would not suit her character (couldn't possibly have a short-haired hippy) so they added hair extensions to the end of her hair. Her real haircut at the time was shown in The One That Could Have Been, part 1 (and 2). In Season 9 episodes she wore a wig, as she dyed her hair brown for her part in the movie 'Wonderland'.

Answer: If you look at the clip when Lisa Kudrow won her best supporting actress in 1998 she has a mousey blonde short bob.

Question: Was the film always intended to be in black-and-white? If not, roughly when was the decision made? And what was the reason, was it artistic, to get an elderly feel to it or to take focus off blood and gore?

Answer: Documentary footage of this era was in B&W, this gave the movie a more authentic feel and was intentional from its inception.

Answer: To Spielberg, the black and white presentation of the film came to represent the Holocaust itself. Spielberg stated, "The Holocaust was life without light. For me, the symbol of life is color. That's why a film about the Holocaust has to be in black and white."

Question: If Umbrella "programmed" Nemesis to do its bidding, why didn't they do the same to Alice? It would seem she would be a loose cannon that would need to be controlled.

Answer: It appears Alice was an anomaly in the Nemesis project, perhaps this also prevented her from being controlled.

Question: On the PAL version (just released), how do you get to the Audio Commentary?

Answer: Some copies of the DVD have been accidentally released without an Audio Commentary. If you can't find it on yours, it's likely you've bought one of the defective copies. You're best off returning into to the store you bought it from and exchanging it, or writing to the distributors themselves and getting it replaced.

Question: Could someone please explain the ending to me. Telly passed the test by not forgetting and ended up in the park. So, did she go back in time? If she did go back in time, are we to assume the events of the the film never took place (i.e. the female cop dying)? Also, were the government agents helping the beings? Were they aliens or something else? Any information on this would be appreciated.

Answer: Okay first of all, Telly didn't pass any test. The whole thing was an experiment in testing the strength of the parent/child bond. Second, no she did not travel back in time, she simply traveled back to her neighborhood, where everything was as it would have been, had the children never been abducted. Lastly, no the government agents were not aliens, and they weren't exactly helping the beings either, but rather they were minimalizing the damage, as to not have a full on "Independence Day" invasion. Oh also, neither Alfre Woodard (the cop), Dominic West, or the governemnt agent, were killed, they were simply abducted.

Question: Why does Sam refer to his old gaffer while killing the orcs guarding Frodo?

Answer: Sam's fighting to protect those that he loves - Frodo (directly, through his rescue attempt) and the Shire in general and his father (indirectly, through their whole quest to destroy the Ring). The whole "that's for so-and-so" thing seems quite in keeping with his mood at the time.

Tailkinker

Question: In the end when the credits are playing, after Enya's song "May It Be", another girl sings. Who is it and what is the song called?

Answer: It's a boy called Edward Ross singing 'In Dreams'. It's on the soundtrack CD at the end of track 17 'The Breaking of the Fellowship'. The 2 songs are reversed in the film and CD.

Richard Penna

Show generally

Question: In the UK at least, new box sets have just been released of all 10 series (3 discs per box). Does anyone know if these are double sided or single sided discs? The original DVDs were double sided, which always seemed stupid.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: They are double sided. Four episodes per side on 3 discs gives 24 episodes which equal one season.

tw_stuart

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.