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.

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Question: When Dick brings allegedly dirty dishes in hoping Nina can get someone at college cafeteria to wash them are they not clean as they can be and when she drops them, they remain in the box, next shot, they are on the floor.

Answer: This seems to be a mistake entry, not a question. And this mistake has already been submitted.

Bishop73

Question: In the short story, Fred Evans (from the assurance company) fatally shoots Mort while Mort tries to kill Amy. Amy marries Ted. Does anyone know why this was changed? Has Stephen King commented on it?

Answer: One reason was that the filmmakers wanted a more "realistic" ending. In the story (SPOILER ALERT), it is revealed that Shooter is in fact real, a supernatural manifestation borne from Mort's mind (à la The Dark Half). To keep the film grounded, it was changed in the film to Shooter being all in Mort's mind, a symptom of his split personality disorder.

In addition to your answer, I think the movie version makes the audience feel more sympathy for Mort. Amy is more "at fault" for having the affair with Ted. In the book, Mort considers how the marriage had issues before Ted. He wonders if his relationship with Amy never really "existed" anyway.

Answer: Movies often change details to achieve a different effect and/or add an element of surprise. In this case, it was to streamline the ending, giving it an unexpected dark twist and a sad fate for the victims which erases any sympathy for Mort's situation and his mental illness. Movies tend to like shock value and more gruesome scenes. It also leaves open whether or not Mort will ever be proved guilty.

raywest

I know that movies often have changes from the books - it's why I asked the question in the first place. I was wondering if anyone knew the specific reason behind this particular change.

Show generally

Question: Has Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt or Arturo ever found out what caused the Slider to malfunction?

Answer: It didn't malfunction. If I remember correctly, Quinn forgot to enter the coordinates to go home into the device.

lartaker1975

The device (timer) didn't open up a vortex to their home world because they opened the vortex up too early, before the timer hit zero. They were on a frozen planet and didn't think they could survive 5 hours and Quinn didn't realise that's what his double was warning him about. The vortex expanded to engulf Rembrandt because Quinn added too much power into the vortex to allow 3 people to slide.

Bishop73

Question: What was the candy the Gryffindor boys were eating that made them sound like animals?

Answer: They are simply referred to as "Sound-producing sweets" https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Sound-producing_sweets.

Ssiscool

Question: Omi never lost her Christmas spirit, so why did the toys in Krampus' bag attack her?

Answer: Krampus was specifically conjured by Max losing his spirit. Krampus came to claim his family - including Omi - to essentially punish him for it. It doesn't matter if Omi never lost her spirit in the present... that's not why Krampus came.

TedStixon

Question: What sickness does the king have, which he apparently succumbs to at the end?

Answer: King Edward I died of dysentery.

Question: Who attacked Stratton and his mate in the bioweapons plant, and why?

Answer: The sophisticated battering ram that Street created is aptly named Key to the City.

Super Grover

Answer: Then I would say it was about the overall color theme for the wedding. Viola immediately took over planning every detail for the wedding, even choosing what color she liked, without any input from the bride (Charlie). Viola was deliberately provoking Charlie to stop her from marrying her son.

raywest

Answer: If you mean the peach-colored mother-in-law dress, it was specially made for Viola to wear at the wedding. Instead, she showed up wearing a long white gown. It is NEVER socially acceptable for any wedding guest to wear white. That color is only for the bride to wear. It is her special day and no-one is ever supposed to do anything that takes attention away from her. Viola purposely wore white to disrupt the wedding.

raywest

I meant the peach photo album at lunch and the peach dress. I know about anyone other than the bride wearing white. Did Viola or Charlie say they didn't like the color peach?

catnipsmile

Question: Why did Gabriel and his men go to Woodlawn? I thought he hacked into the servers and was downloading the data over the internet so how did the Warlock trace him to being at Woodlawn?

Answer: When they started the fire sale, all the data is downloaded as backup. By being at Woodlawn Gabriel and his team can download the back up. Thus eliminating the need for a constant internet connection.

Ssiscool

Question: What does Sarah's Mom (in the picture) say to her while she's laying on the floor after Nancy cuts her wrist?

Answer: She says "Don't be afraid".

Question: I am positive I remember a scene in Annie from when I was little where they took her shopping and then another scene maybe with the shopping packages piled in the car. I can't find this anywhere now. Did I dream this?

Answer: I pretty sure I've seen that scene too, when I first saw the movie, but haven't seen it in broadcast airings. They always edit scenes for time. When they air "Scream 3," they cut out the scene where Patrick Dempsey says, "All I know about movie trilogies is in the third film. All bets are off."

Question: During the mink fight scene, Buddy pulls Dave up and falls backwards. Was this scripted?

Question: Why was Linus with them when they went to steal the pinch if he was just supposed to sit in the van and do nothing?

Answer: It's not explicit in the film but it would have been prudent to bring someone to stay in the van and act as backup in case something went wrong.

The Junk Mail - S9-E5

Question: When Kramer is at the post office, Newman tells his co-worker to take her three-hour break, and she walks away. Is she really going to take a break for three hours?

Answer: This is probably riffing on a stereotype that postal workers are lazy, and taking a break for three hours is not unusual for them.

Sierra1

Question: When Karl and Hans shoot all the glass in the office, why didn't they follow the blood trail left by John and then kill him?

Answer: Karl wanted too, but Hans said, "Forget him, we got what we wanted." The detonator caps, to blow up the of the top building. They were on a tight schedule, to use the explosion, killing the hostages, leaving the police to think the terrorists were killed. Despite everything McClane did, they still thought of him as an annoying distraction, not worth their effort to find him.

Question: At the end of movie there is a 2 story building with a porch and a small boat or canoe next to it, Where is that building?

Answer: It was an abandoned boat house, a storage place for marine equipment. Oars, nets, fishing gear. Since it was winter, the hit man knew nobody would be there.

Question: After Frank survives the Buxton fire, John rings his mom and goes through to her voicemail. The next day he tries again and gets through to a Deli (obviously because his mom has been killed and therefore someone else has what would've been her phone number). How did this work exactly? His mom died a long time ago from his perspective, one day isn't going to make a difference since it happened in the past. Can anyone explain this or is it a plot hole?

Answer: There are 30 years separating Frank and John, but it seems that the timelines are parallel and unfolding at the same time. Example: if something happens on October 10th 1969 at noon for Frank, any repercussions from that will unfold for John at October 10th 1999 at noon. We see evidence of this when Frank burns the desk, when he survives the fire, when he shoots Jack's hand off, etc. After Frank survives the fire, he comes home and has a conversation with John. After they talk, John calls his mother (Julia) and gets her answering machine. Then, keeping in mind this is happening in a parallel sense, young Julia in 1969 saves the life of her killer, setting in motion a new future in which she is killed. It is then when a sleeping John in 1999 starts getting memories of his mother's funeral. So, when he called and got her machine earlier, she had not yet saved her killer's life in her timeline. After she does save his life, John wakes up and tries to call her, but gets the deli instead.

jshy7979

Answer: John calls his mom, which goes to voicemail, before he uses the ham radio where he ends up talking to his dad. At that point, the timeline hadn't changed, his mom was still alive and his dad still died when he was a kid. The timeline changes (along with getting new memories) after his dad decided to listen to John's advice and make different choices.

Bishop73

Question: When McClane crashes the bicycle into the bad guy, as he's trying to get back up airport police hold a gun on him and ask him for his ID (allowing the bad guy to get away) The airport police was with the janitor who let John into baggage area in the first place. He could've collaborated with John' story and confirmed he saw his ID previously but instead he just stands there smiling. Why would he not tell the airport police they've got the wrong person straight away?

Answer: As Captain Lorenzo explains (in very colorful language) what McClane does is improper. He has no authority to order the janitor to let him in an employee-only area by flashing a badge from the LAPD. All the janitor knows is that some cop (not airport police) showed his badge and asked to be let into the baggage area, which should sound suspicious to airport police right off the bat. It is likely they intended to detain anyone they saw in the baggage area, including McClane, and confirm their ID. The airport police officer apologizes once McClane's badge is found (off-screen) and gives it back to him, saying "Sorry, officer. Had to check." Even after all this Lorenzo suspects the men were simply stealing luggage and castigates McClane for getting into a shoot-out and killing a man on a hunch, especially since he has no jurisdiction in the airport.

BaconIsMyBFF

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