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 one of the Orca scenes, when Quint shot a line and barrel into Jaws from the rear of the boat, the barrel then had to travel over the boat and almost hit Brody in the head. If you look closely, you can see his glasses getting ripped off by the barrel. Was this staged or an actual near-miss, just inches from his head?

Answer: We cut from Hooper fighting to untie the cleat, to the shot of the barrel launching past Brody's head. At the start, the camera has Brody in profile. In stop motion, you can briefly see that he's wearing the arms of his glasses on the (outside) of his ears - so they're not hooked to his face. He looks over his right shoulder (toward the approaching barrel) then whips his head left, toward the camera, and slings off his glasses, for a great effect.

My American Girl - S3-E1

Question: I'm not sure I've got the right episode, but I believe it's the episode after Dr. Cox clogs Dr. Kelso. When JD comes to work Dr. Cox is mad at him for referring to him as Dr. Cox in front of patients. Why is he angry over that?

Answer: In this episode Doctor Cox tells J. D. That "When they find out my actual name, they tend to page me with questions when they realize just exactly how inept you really are." He doesn't want the patients to know his name because it allows them to page him, which he finds annoying.

Question: This is a two-parter: 1) Why was the guy killing all of the kids, and 2) How exactly did he do it?

Answer: He was trying to perform a human sacrifice. He mentioned to the doctor when he was tied up that three thousand years ago, there was a massive sacrifice where the world flowed with the blood of children and animals. Now the planets were aligned again and it was time for a new one in order for the people of his craft to control their environment.

Zorz

Answer: Because he was an evil mastermind. He implanted lethal microchips in the tags of Silver Shamrock masks so when the commercial aired on T.V. on Halloween night, it would take a deadly effect on the kids wearing the masks while watching the commercial.

Question: Does anyone have any idea in what country Pai Mei's home and training facility are supposed to be?

Answer: Pai Mei's home and training facility are located in China, which is likely why he shows so much disdain for the Bride's talents in the Japanses art of the samurai.

Question: Why did script writer Brandon Boyce change the ending of the story? In Stephen King's book, Todd Boyden commits suicide but he doesn't in the film.

Answer: He didnt commit suicide in the book, he took his rifle to a fortified spot alongside a highway, and began shooting at cars. The police killed him. The film seems to tone down the story a lot, so I guess the only answer is they didn't really want to end it in such a violent way.

RJR99SS

Answer: The director, Bryan Singer, was quoted as saying, "I told [King] the ending reads so beautifully. I could never measure up to it; I would have killed it." It also gives a darker ending to most people, since Todd gets away with everything rather than being shot down by the police.

Question: Was Roman just playing dead in the coffin or was it a dummy? Hard to believe that he could be pretending because Gale checks his pulse.

Answer: No it was Roman. There is a technique you can do where if you apply pressure on the correct artery you can stop the pulse. EXTREMELY dangerous though.

Question: I heard that Max Cavallera from Sepultura provided all the yells and the shouting for the rock. Is this true?

Answer: Yes. According to IMDB 'Max Cavalera' was the voice of The Scorpion King, who was played by The Rock.

Hamster

Answer: Don Cheadle is uncredited despite having a major role. This is due to a dispute over his billing. Cheadle wanted above the title billing alongside George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt. When he was refused, he refused to be credited at all. Cheadle received above the title billing in Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007).

Answer: He didn't want a credit for his part, he would prefer it was uncredited. As far as I know he has not given a reason.

Question: When Dark Helmet says that there are two sides to every Schwartz, is this an obscure reference to something else, besides the obvious light side and dark side of the force?

Answer: "There are two sides to every sword" is a common saying.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: There doesn't seem to be any reason as for Statham's cameo, however one theory comes to mind. A number of years before Statham started starring in Hollywood films, he made his break in the hit low budget "Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels". Apparently Tom Cruise was one of the major Hollywood people who loved the film and was keen to do an American remake of the film. Possibly he wanted to try and work with him and the cameo was a perfect opportunity. Playing a "Transporter" of sorts would seem an apt role.

Lummie

Question: Does anyone know what the monster thing is at the end of the film? When the screw driver thing comes out of the ground.

Answer: He called himself the Underminer. Looks like the supers coming out of hiding has brought the super-villains back too.

Answer: Sometime between seasons 3 and 4.

MoonFaery

Question: Why, when Shrek pushes over the potion, do the two birds in the cage become dancers and two guys turn into Cogsworth and Lumiere (from Beauty and the Beast) while almost everybody else in the room turn into doves?

Answer: They are jokes making reference to Disney films.

Grumpy Scot

Question: What's the name of the song being played when Eddie Griffin is showing Dizzy around the jail grounds and teaching him how to fight?

Answer: "Dark Side" by Wheatus.

Question: So what happen to the two guys at the end of the movie? Are there any stories about them in the PC game or an alternate ending or something like that?

Answer: The Game shows Child's frozen body where we last saw him in the movie (Whether he is a thing lying dormant or not, we never find out) There is a comic book series that continues where the movie left off, where MacCready and child's are rescued by another research team on a ship. And it is discovered that Childs was in fact a Thing, spawning a whole new generation of things among the team.

Can you tell me what comic book series that is? I'd like to read it.

lionhead

The comic series is called The Thing From Another World, just like the original movie from the 50's. It was published by Dark Horse comics. Besides some decent artwork, especially on the covers, the series isn't very good and actually contradicts the movie in a few areas.

BaconIsMyBFF

Thanks! I read it, it's not bad.

lionhead

Answer: No one knows what happened. They had no transport and couldn't make radio contact, so very likely they froze to death. If one or both are Things, then they just went dormant until rescue shows up. There is nothing in the game or on the DVD that answers this for sure. BTW It's very hotly debated amongst Thing fans, that Childs is a thing because you cannot see his breath in the cold. (It's very difficult to tell if you can or not because of the scene's lighting).

Grumpy Scot

Answer: Just to add to the other answers, I actually saw an interview with Keith David recently where he explained that it was purposely shot to be ambiguous. They shot two different versions of the scene - one where they played the scene as though neither was the thing... and another where they acted more suspicious of one another. And they built the scene out of the footage they had. He also debunked the popular fan theory about how you couldn't see Childs' breath being a hint... he explained that the way the scene was blocked, the air around him was slightly warmer than it was around Kurt Russell due to the fire and the debris around them - hence you just couldn't see his breath while you could see Russell's, who was about 5 or so feet away. (Not to mention you can actually see a little bit of his breath once or twice.) It wasn't a conscious decision to try to hint that Childs might be the thing. The scene really is just meant to be super ambiguous and unexplained.

TedStixon

Answer: She also appears in the episode 'Bart Gets Hit By a Car.' Bart sees her in Heaven, complete with tire tracks on her body.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Snowball 1 appeared in an episode where they talk about how Lisa first got her saxophone. The cat appears in a flashback scene where Homer has stolen an air conditioner and the house is ice cold. Snowball 1, white coloured, slowly walks through the scene, with icicles hanging from her.

Question: In the scene where The Bride is trying to get Hattari Hanzo to make her a sword she mentions a "former" pupil and he changes his mind, writing on the window Bill. What did Bill do to upset Hattari Hanzo?

Answer: Bill used Hattari Hanzo's teachings for evil, instead of belief and self defense.

Question: When Shaun says that it's ridiculous to say the word zombie, is it a joke to the fact that no one seem to use the word in other zombie movies?

Answer: Possibly, but maybe they just have that line because it's funny in itself.

Question: Why does Bob Wolverton have a psychology manual in his car when he's a children's psychiatrist?

Answer: Even experts in a given field occasionally like to consult a text on the subject.

Tailkinker

Question: What's the name of the song that the inmates at the asylum are dancing to?

Answer: "(Not Just) Knee Deep" by George Clinton And The Funkadelics.

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