Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: I recently saw a photo of the Liberty Bell, and the Independence Hall tower is visible through a large picture window right behind the bell. Wouldn't Ben have been directly in Ian's sight when he (Ian) was facing the Liberty Bell? Wouldn't a man running across the roof next door have drawn his (and others') attention?

Answer: Not really. Ian was concentrating on the Bell, trying to figure out the riddle. He could easily have missed Ben (or assumed he was some kind of maintenance worker) under the circumstances.

Grumpy Scot

Question: I don't understand the scene where Alice and Dan break up at the end, and why Alice says that she "would have" loved Dan forever. Did she do this because he tried to trick her into revealing that she slept with Larry, when he knew about it all along?

Answer: When Dan breaks it off with Alice as she cries she tells him the truth. She tells him that it's normally the other way. That she is the one that is supposed to break it off with him. So when they get back together she finally has her chance. Before she was the one that left broken. This time she knew she just wouldn't be. She would be able to walk away and not feel it. Alice doesn't seem like she truly needs anyone. And she lies about herself because she wants the control. Dan had the control over her.

She leaves Dan because she wants him to not care. For it to not be about his ego.

Answer: I think that 'Alice' is at odds with who she really is. Her identity crisis plays out in the way she constantly reinvents herself by changing her appearance. She can not sustain a real relationship with Dan, because she constantly role-plays. I think this is the significance of her lying about her real name. In a moment of truth with Larry, she reveals that she is "Plain Jane", implying that she can only feel special and lovable, and 'in love', when she is playing a role. Dan's narcissistic need to know whether or not she really slept with Larry prompted her regular pattern of breaking off all of her relationships when they get too real.

Answer: In a nutshell Alice broke up with Dan because she knew Dan wouldn't be able to get over the situation with her sleeping with Larry. The statement about loving him forever was more that she loved him but his insistency on knowing the real truth was never going to change. It didn't really have anything to do with tricking her as she had already revealed she didn't want to be with Dan. The fact that he had had to hear it from her probably confirmed her feelings he wouldn't be able to get past the affair.

Lummie

He said to her something like he wanted her to lie to him.

No, it was Anna he wanted to lie, about having slept with Larry to get him to sign the divorce papers. This was the scene at the theater/opera, whatever it was. He says "try lying for a change it's the currency of the world."

Season 6 generally

Question: If Jack and Graem are brothers, why has there never been any mention of their relationship before, even in passing? And I'm talking beside the fact the producers didn't make them brothers until season 6.

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: There really wasn't any need for us to know he had a brother before - for all we know, he could have more than one brother but the need for us to know isn't there...just like there isn't any mention of his mother - who, for all we know, could be the mastermind criminal behind everything. Bear in mind over the near 10 years in the show's time that have elapsed over the 6 seasons, we've only spent 6 days in Jack's company - no reason his brother would have come up.

Sam Johnson

Question: After the burglar comes in and is carrying on a running monologue as he continually enters and exits, he says something about it being time to hand over the ammonia bottle to a younger man. I don't understand the reference about the ammonia bottle - could someone enlighten me?

Chanteuse66

Chosen answer: I have the script/play and the reference is merely a part of a continuous ranting dialoge that the burglar is riffing on about being so digusted in being a burglar that he laments quitting the 'job' and "handing over the ammonia bottle" to a younger man. Passing on the 'family business" as it were. The ammonia bottle refers to what burglars use in their trade.

CCARNI

Question: What significance do the melted hats have on the field outside scientist's lab?

Jason Riley

Chosen answer: They weren't melted. They were duplicated hats and they were there because the transportation machine Tesla was working on worked more like a fax machine instead of a mere transporter, creating a duplicate in another location.

Phixius

Chosen answer: No. I'm sure something similar could be created, but it would not have the same properties as shown in the film.

Phixius

Chosen answer: No, Dr. Hill was not a Satan worshiper. He was just Rosemary's first obstetrician, referred to her by a friend. However, her neighbors, the Castevettes, later convince her to instead go to their friend, Dr. Abe Sapperstein, who is a warlock.

raywest

He simply didn't believe what she told him so he called her husband to come get her.

Question: I read in the trivia section that something falls out of a tree while the letters "Gone with the Wind" go across the screen. I watched the movie and it's true, but does anyone have any information about it? (Was there any controversy? What was the object? Did they try to edit it out? etc.).

Movie_Freak 1

Chosen answer: It looks to me like a bird flying from the tree to the ground. Nothing controversial there and no reason to edit it out.

ChiChi

Question: There's an all black band playing at an all white school in the 50's - is that likely?

AidanN

Chosen answer: Why not? Even though segregation was in effect, we never see them do anything but play on the stage. They even take their break outside, away from all the white folks at the dance. They are never shown using any of the "white" facilities, or fraternizing with any of the students. In fact, when they are "on break" at their car, it is behind the building, where there are no other cars, or even any people, anywhere around at all.

Jazetopher

Season 1 generally

Question: Who is the mother of Pompey's children? His new wife can't be their mother, since they are too old compared to Niobe's son who's an infant when the show starts. And they can't be Julia's children, since Pompey is worried Caesar might kill them, and Caesar wouldn't murder his own grandchildren.

Answer: According to wikipedia, Pompey's children are all from his third wife, Mucia Tertia. Julia is his fourth wife. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey#Marriages_and_offspring.

Myridon

Question: What religion were the first class passengers practicing in the church scene? If it were Catholic, it would be in Latin in 1912.

Answer: The services on board a ship are all non-sectarian so that all who wish to worship can come.

Boobra

Question: Which is the true ending, the one where the three of them are calling the chopper down of the one where Jim dies?

Answer: The one where all three signal the aircraft is the *original* ending. Since it's all subject to the writers' fancy, I suppose it's impossible to say which it the "true" ending.

Phixius

Question: In the scene where Jack is getting shot at by British soldiers, there's a shot of him running and waving his hands around in front of him. I keep thinking that he's "deflecting" the bullets with his hands, but I know that's not possible. So, what exactly was jack doing?

Answer: He's not doing anything except running. Jack Sparrow (as Johnny Depp has created him) has rather exaggerated and somewhat effeminate physical movements, including staggering when walking and flailing his hands about, especially when running. He does the same thing while being chased by cannibals in "Dead Man's Chest."

raywest

Question: As the dads are getting into the Shark car, they say something like, "too bad he wasn't playing with. yeah, that was cherry" well that's what it sounded like. Anyone know what they're saying?

Answer: As wayne enters the car he says, "Too bad Adam wasn't playing with the Splittin' Image, huh? That was cherry", to which his brother replies, "Yeah, but the Twin Mill was Faster."The Twin Mill and Splittin' Image are two popular Hot wheel cars that debuted in 1969.

Question: When Brooke's friend is giving her children a bath, one of them starts eating soap and the mother tells her to take it out of her mouth. She then says something like "Wait until you're twelve". What does she mean by this?

Answer: What I took away from that statement was that she was refering to a punishment for using "bad" words. Since children tend to exercise that right at any age, she was just picking a random age.

Dedderbot

Question: During (I believe) the first stadium scene, the girls from Fleur Delacour's school are doing something looking akin to the Macarena. What are they doing and why?

Answer: They are simply cheering on their schoolmate (Fleur) by performing a chant that is probably specific to their school - just like cheerleaders do at sports games. It's like doing "The Wave."

raywest

Question: In the scene where the bad guys catch Rita and Roddy on her boat, her ruby falls from her pocket. Shouldn't it have broken down or at least have some scratches?

Answer: Not really, when you consider it's a fake so it probably very light, and only falls an inch or two (given the height of the average rat).

Show generally

Question: How is Naruto able to easily create dozens of shadow clones when he needs to, but will sometimes struggle to create just a few.

Answer: In-character, he's not very good at Bunshin No Jutsu, so it's unreliable. Out-of-character, it's a classic plot device shared by hundreds of anime that people who're not generally too great can do spectacularly well when it really matters.

Moose

Question: Does anyone know the name and location of the buildings used for exterior shots of the Professor's university? Is it an actual campus or some other facility?

Answer: According to the IMDb, the University of California, Los Angeles (often just called UCLA) was used as a primary filming location, with some other shots taken at Mayfield Senior School in Pasadena, California.

Tailkinker

Question: When Benji Dunn is guiding Ethan through the streets via satellite to find his wife at the end of the film, Ethan is on a silver phone. Does anyone know the make and model it was? I've been told that it is a Bang and Olufsen but I can't find it.

Answer: It's a Nokia N92. Nokia had promotional tie-ins with the film, and all the phones in the film were made by them.

Sierra1

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