Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Did the Joker originally want to kill Harvey Dent during the convoy chase? If Dent had been blown up, the kidnapping scenario could not have happened, and Joker implies this was his "ace in the hole" plan. So what were Joker's intentions?

Answer: No, he definitely doesn't intend to kill Dent - at that point, he can't dismiss the possibility that Dent could be Batman, who he wants to keep alive because it's just more fun that way. The convoy chase is, at least, in part, designed to draw Batman out - Joker knows that, if Dent isn't Batman, there's no way that the Caped Crusader wouldn't intervene in a situation like that. If Batman doesn't show, then, in all probability, Dent is Batman and Joker can focus on him. Batman shows up, thus eliminating Dent from consideration, allowing the Joker to go to the next stage of his plan, the kidnapping scenario.

Tailkinker

Question: Does Joker really want to kill Batman at first? He says explicitly during the interrogation, "I don't want to kill you." Yet earlier he told the mob "It's simple, kill the Batman," and he says later (when he makes the threat on the hospital) that he's changed his mind. So did he want to kill Batman at first? And at what point exactly did he change his mind?

Answer: The Joker has his own agenda, which is basically the promotion of anarchy in Gotham City. With both the police and the mob gunning for him, that's going to be tricky to do. He can hardly ally himself with the police, so he tells the mob what they want to hear to get them off his back while he takes over. There's no particular indication that he ever really wants to kill Batman.

Tailkinker

Question: Batman talked about jumping out of an airplane to capture the money man in China. What happened to that scene? Did he do it off-screen, just to enter the country illegally?

Answer: Yes, just did it off-screen with the aim of entering the country illegally. Not really a terribly important thing to actually show - they mention how he intends to get in there, then we see him in Hong Kong, so we can assume that it went well. Showing it would just have slowed down the pace of the film.

Tailkinker

Question: If Bruce Wayne's penthouse was so safe, how did the Joker manage to bust into it during the fund-raising party? Also, if the penthouse was safe, why in the world did Alfred let the girlfriend just leave?

Answer: Wertz is shown at the door holding up his badge as the Joker bursts in. The implication (to the party guests and the audience at the time) is that Wertz was forced to use his police credentials to get past building security. We find out later that Wertz is dirty and probably was ordered by Maroni to help the Joker. Alfred lets Rachel leave because she insists that she is safe, since she was never the Joker's intended target.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: The Joker got in there during the chaos of a party; people are coming and going, guests, caterers, waiters - security is inevitably going to be compromised under such circumstances. Later on, when only Bruce and Alfred should be present, the place is much more secure. As for Alfred letting Rachel leave, what choice does he have? He can hardly keep her there against her will. Short of resorting to physical restraint, he can't stop her leaving and trying to do so, when she's already angry at Bruce for letting Harvey pretend to be Batman, would only annoy her further.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Most of the civilians from outside have been brought into the safety of the underground Area 51 facility. Just as the alien destroyer settles over Area 51, at timecode 02:10:10, when Connie, Major Mitchell and some others are the last to run in, they are joined by a blonde woman and her daughter, who scream, and they are the last ones to make it to the elevator. That woman is, I believe, Kimberly Beck.

Super Grover

Question: The money the Joker burns - why did he get it? I thought he wants to have the money for killing Batman. And he has neither killed him nor unmasked him. So why did the Mob give him the money? They knew that Dent wasn't the real Batman.

Answer: He stole it. He took Lau from police custody, found out where he stashed all the mob money and simply took it.

Tailkinker

Question: In the scene where Batman makes the semi flip over, and the Joker stumbles out of the wreckage, what kind of gun is he using?

Answer: That is a Smith & Wesson M76 Submachine gun.

Question: In the scene where Wayne and Fox are looking at the new Batman stuff. Wayne ask Fox if the armor will stop and dog attack and Fox asks if its for a Rottweiler or Chihuahua. Fox then says it will stop a cat. So does that mean that Catwoman will be in the next movie?

Answer: No. It's an off-handed jokey comment by Fox, don't read anything more into it than that. It is, of course, possible that Catwoman could appear in a sequel, but the simple fact is that Christopher Nolan gave no thought to a possible sequel while putting this film together, preferring to focus on the job at hand, and has only recently started considering possible story ideas for a third film that, at this point, he's not even committed to making. If Catwoman serves the story that he decides that he wants to tell, he'll include her, otherwise, he won't. But there's no point in looking for foreshadowing in The Dark Knight, because there really isn't any.

Tailkinker

Question: In the scene where random crewmen are being led to their assimilation, at about 00:40:55 there is a woman with flyaway curly hair being led by a drone, who bears a striking resemblance to Alice Krige, later to appear as the Borg Queen. Seeing as the Borg are cut off from the rest of the Collective, could it be that they chose an Enterprise crewman to be the "face" of the Borg? Or is this just a cameo on the part of Ms. Krige?

Answer: After reviewing the film it is definitely NOT Alice Krige. The woman bears some similarity but is much younger. Also, as we see in Picard's flashbacks, the Borg Queen was present at the events of Wolf 359.

Question: When Inspector Gadget is lying on the table with the Claw watching over him, Gadget says that Claw will never get away with this. Then Claw says, "I think someone's been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons", and then everyone looks up at the camera confused/surprised. Can any one explain what the joke is here?

Answer: The joke is that he is referring to the "Inspector Gadget" cartoon, in which the Claw never got away with any of his schemes.

wizard_of_gore

Question: Sometime within the film as Penny is putting up "Lost Dog" ads, she has a phone number on the paper as well. The phone number isn't a 555-5555 number either, and it might be for fans like in The Incredibles. If you can catch it, can you post it?

Answer: When Penny is printing "LOST DOG" flyers, the last 4 digits of the phone number on the copier are: 8423. This makes the number (877) 504-8423. 877-504-8423 is a number reserved by ABC for movies and TV series. Calling it will provide a short tape recorded message about how fake it is.

Question: Where and when were "We were made in Pairs"?

Answer: That was never answered in the movie, though she did say they were at least 3,000 years old.

pross79

Question: I couldn't understand it while watching the film: is the "U" In Victor Krum's name pronounced as an "Ah" (Kram) or as an "OO" (Kroom)?

Answer: Closer to the latter. If you pronounce it to rhyme with "drum", you'll be pretty close.

Tailkinker

Question: If for some reason a vampire bites an animal, but somehow he doesn't get to kill it, does the animal become a vampire-animal thing?

Answer: Stephenie Meyer said that the animal would be killed by the venom rather than transformed. This is also true of werewolves being bit by vampires.

Question: One of my co-workers said the first line in the show was, "Michael Renee was sick the day the Earth stood still". Could you give me the exact first line and what it means?

Answer: The first line to the lyrics of 'Science Fiction/Double Feature' is "Michael Rennie was ill The Day the Earth Stood Still, but he told us where we stand." That line is a reference to the 1951 film classic 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', which stars Michael Rennie as Klaatu, the alien from outer-space, who is shot at the start of the film when he tries to convey a dire message of goodwill to the humans. The rest of the song lyrics refer to other science fiction films including 'The Invisible Man' starring Claude Rains, 'King Kong' starring Fay Wray, and 'Tarantula' starring Leo G. Carroll.

Super Grover

Question: When we're following Forest Whitaker he looks up at the "shooter building" right before the shot fires, and he keeps saying "No, you shouldn't be there." Does he know who it is? And who was it? From what I gathered there was no one in the building, and the gun was fired by remote.

Answer: He assumed by the movement of the curtains that there must be someone up there, which of course the Secret Service should have cleared to make sure there was no-one there.

GalahadFairlight

Answer: He just sees the outline of a person, who I take to be the SS Agent checking on Barnes' suspicions about the curtain.

throcko

Question: As far as I understand it (I haven't read the books, only seen the films), with the One Ring Sauron can rule and control all the other rings of power. But why didn't/don't the other ring-bearers just take off their rings so that Sauron cannot dominate them? Weren't the other rings of power made by Sauron, too? And of what use is the One Ring to Sauron without the other rings, except that it contains a part of him, thereby making him somehow indestructible?

Answer: The Rings of Power were made by the elves of Eregion, guided by Sauron, posing as a mysterious and highly knowledgeable craftsman named Annatar. Each, however, had their own hidden agenda. Sauron's, obviously, was to make the Rings subservient to his own Ruling Ring, to give him great influence over the wearers while giving them power. Part of the magics of the Rings, however, was that that influence would not be perceived by the wearer, so they would simply accept the gifts, lured by the temptation of the power that it would grant them. The Elves, for their part, secretly made three more Rings using both Annatar's techniques and their own magics, resulting in three more powerful Rings. As Annatar's methods were used, these Rings were still slaves to the One Ring, but the additional magics meant that the bearers of the Three Rings became aware of Sauron's betrayal and removed them before his influence could take hold. Enraged at this treachery, Sauron launched a military strike on Eregion, obliterating the realm and taking the remaining Rings, giving seven to the Dwarves, whose nature proved resistant to the magics of the Rings, which did little more than increase their innate lust for gold, and nine to Men, whose desire for power led to them falling completely under his influence, ultimately becoming the Nazgul. Without the other Rings, the One Ring has no purpose - it was specifically created as part of Sauron's plan to covertly dominate Middle-Earth, by bringing the wearers of the Rings of Power under his control.

Tailkinker

Question: It is said that when a vampire drinks human blood, its eyes turn red. How come Edward's eyes did not turn red after drinking Bella's blood?

Answer: Edward was sucking out the venom James injected into her, not feeding on her blood. He did not take in enough of it to have affected his eyes.

raywest

Chosen answer: It's a Blackjack term. A "Five Card Charlie" is when the player Hits 3 times and doesn't meet or go over 21, thus having 5 cards in front of them. It's extremely rare, so there is a bigger payoff for the player than simply beating the dealer's hand. (It's also at the House's discretion whether or not to allow them as a win, thus the sign advertised that whatever gambling establishment it was taken from DID consider it a big win with appropriate payout.)

Captain Defenestrator

Question: What is the drug the characters use in the film? They inject it like heroin, but they snort it like cocaine. There's also the dialating eyelids, which occur when coke is snorted - so what is the drug in the film? And please don't base the answer on the IMDB.

Answer: Both heroin and cocaine are used in the film. Cocaine is used mostly by Marion, and also injected at least once but heroin can also be snorted. The route of administration stereotype does not hold to all drug users (except for alcohol, which can pretty much only be taken by mouth) The fact the prison guard says "He won't be putting any more DOPE in that arm" - dope is slang for heroin in New York, not coke - and the severe withdrawals as soon as the drug is unavailable suggests heroin is used by all three major characters. The pills used by Sara are preludin, dexedrine and diazepam (according to the novel which the film is based on) but I do not know what the "Blue" pill (the one she takes in the afternoon) is.

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