Question: There is said to be a curse on the Defence Against The Dark Arts teaching job, something like the professor will die within one year of teaching that subject. In a previous question somebody stated that Professor Quirrell was only starting to teach that subject the year that Harry started Hogwarts. But during the feast after the first years have been housed, Harry asks Percy Weasley who "that man" (Snape) is. He tells him that it is Snape, Professor of potions and then goes on to say "Everyone knows Defence Against The Dark Arts is what he really wants. He's been after Quirrell's job for years" This implies that Professor Quirrell has been teaching that subject for years. How is Quirrell an exception to the curse?
Super Grover
5th Sep 2010
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
5th Sep 2010
The West Wing (1999)
Question: I'm watching all of West Wing in order. I thought I remembered the scene of the drunk Ainsley meeting the president occurring before she's actually introduced to the audience in the TV program and subsequently hired. In which episode does the drunken dancing occur? Thanks for the help.
Chosen answer: We're first introduced to Ainsley in season 2, episode 4, 'In This White House', during Sam's appearance on the show Capital Beat, where as Josh puts it, "Sam's getting his ass kicked by a girl (Ainsley)." Then later, during the same episode Leo hires Ainsley. It's not until episode 13, 'Bartlet's Third State of the Union', that it comes to Sam's attention that Ainsley still hasn't met President Bartlet, even after she's been working there a few months. Later in this episode, when Sam goes to Ainsley's office he finds her wearing a White House gym robe (she had sat on the bench's wet paint just as CJ had earlier), drunk, dancing and singing. A moment later President Bartlet shows up at her basement office and that's when Ainsley first meets him. Priceless.
15th Jun 2010
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Question: After Harry gets Slughorn's memory, he watches it with Dumbledore. Dumbledore says "This is beyond anything I imagined" after the viewing. But then he goes on to say that he's been hunting for the horcruxes. I don't understand his remark when he's been finding and destroying them, since he must know what they are. How else can you look for something if you don't know what it is? (01:50:20)
Chosen answer: Dumbledore did not know that Tom Riddle was planning to create seven Horcruxes, which was more than he expected.
16th Jun 2010
Hairspray (2007)
Question: One of the lines in "Without Love" states that "Without love, life is Doris Day at the Apollo". What does that mean?
Answer: First I need to explain that the Apollo Theater, an amazing music venue, is in upper Manhattan (NYC), in the predominantly black neighborhood of Harlem. The movie 'Hairspray' takes place in 1962, and at that point in time very few white musical artists had performed at the Apollo (between 1950s and early 60s), and those who did were famous rock-and-roll musicians, such as Buddy Holly and the Crickets (1957). Now as for Doris Day, by 1962 she was a lovely popular American actress/singer, who, as the saying goes, was "as white as white bread", and to imagine someone like Doris Day appearing on stage at the Apollo Theater is an amusing incongruity and just not quite right. So the words "without love, life is Doris Day at the Apollo," means life would just not be right at all without love.
Thank you. My director is making our cast look up stuff we don't know. So as Penny I felt like I needed to know so thank you for cleaning that up for me.
I hope you have fun playing Penny, and that your entire cast and crew enjoy putting on your stage production of Hairspray. Break a leg, sweetie.
2nd Jan 2010
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Question: When it is mentioned that Ilia is Deltan, a couple of the male Enterprise crew members (Sulu in particular) look very interested when they hear that. Why? Also, why was it necessary for her to say that she has taken an oath of celibacy?
Answer: Deltans exude an intensely potent and effective chemical substance known as pheromones, which act as signals arousing an intense sexual reaction in other species (in other ST material it's inferred that its potency is so extreme that a non-Deltan risks insanity in a sexual encounter with a Deltan). Upon entering Starfleet, Deltans must swear "an oath of celibacy" so as not to influence or take advantage of crewmembers. That is why Lt. Ilia stated that her "oath of celibacy" was on record.
19th Aug 2009
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Question: Who killed Frank Bryce? I doubt that was Voldemort, because he doesn't have a body at that moment.
Chosen answer: Oh, but it IS Voldemort. He is small like a hairless, feeble child, but he has a body nonetheless. When Nagini tells Voldemort, who is sitting in the chair (beside Barty Crouch Jr), that Frank Bryce is in the corridor, he tells Wormtail to step aside before he himself performs the Avada Kedavra with his own wand. We see Voldemort's entire body as Wormtail drops him into the cauldron with the 'rebirthing potion', which gives him the new adult form.
But who killed Cedric? Is it still Voldemort or Wormtail. I know Voldemort gives the order but Wormtail has the wand.
Yeah that's always very confusing but the idea is that since Wormtail did it on orders by Voldemort, it was with Voldemort's wand and that Wormtail basically was a slave of Voldemort so Voldemort killed Cedric. Womrtail hasn't really got a will of his own anymore, including the point he is choked to death with the magical hand Voldemort gave him (in the books).
Wormtail did it on Voldemort's orders, so technically it was him.
11th Aug 2009
Friends (1994)
Question: In which episode does Janice say something like, "Your heart calls out to me like a foghorn. Janice! Janice!" I've been trying to find it for ages.
Chosen answer: That would be from season 1, episode 14 "The One with the Candy Hearts". At Central Perk, the precise line Janice says to Chandler is, "You seek me out. Something deep in your soul calls out to me like a foghorn. Jaaanice, Jaaanice. You want me. You need me. You can't live without me. And you know it. You just don't know you know it. See ya!"
12th Aug 2009
Ever After (1998)
Question: When Danielle is in Pierre Le Pieu's castle, and he takes her hair and says, "I had a horse like you once, very stubborn it just needed to be broken" what did he mean by this?
Answer: He compares Danielle to his horse, who was a "Magnificent creature...stubborn...willful." Horse breaking means to get the horse to comply and to submit to the humans who handle it, many times by awful violent means, in order to break their stubbornness or willful behavior. Le Pieu has put Danielle in shackles and tells her that she belongs to him, and that he wishes she would reconsider his offer, to which Danielle states that she belongs to no-one and she'd rather rot than be his (with the obvious implication of what that means). When Le Pieu uses the horse analogy to further infer his disgusting intentions, he then touches Danielle's hair, and she realises that he is not maintaining his distance, which prompts her to take his sword and threaten him.
5th Aug 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Question: What was the reason for adding the attack scene at the Burrow during Christmas? My friend and I can't find a way to fit this scene in with the rest of the movie, as it does not happen in the book. It's obvious directors love to add scenes that aren't in the book, but something of this impact, it's just flying right over my head.
Chosen answer: In the book we are told of attacks by Death Eaters within the Wizarding community. In the film, when Arthur and Harry enter the shed, Arthur explains that they're all being followed and most days Molly doesn't leave the house. The filmmakers chose to expound on this by means of an attack by Bellatrix and Greyback, and the attempt to terrorize the family the viewers hold dear, the Weasleys.
12th May 2009
Star Trek (2009)
Question: Nero destroys Vulcan, because he believes Spock caused the destruction of Romulas. In the movie, 'The Journey Home' when the Enterprise crew go back to find the whales, the movie starts off with the crew on Vulcan with the stolen Klingon spacecraft, also Spock is talking to his mother as he regains his memories. How can that happen if Nero destroys Vulcan and Spock's mother dies in that event? Also, in 'Star Trek Nemisis' the movie starts with scenes on Romulas, but it was destroyed, how can that be?
Chosen answer: As elder Spock speaks to Kirk, it is mentioned that in the 'real' timeline George Kirk actually lived for many years, long enough to see his son, James, become Captain of Enterprise. It is in that timeline that 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' and 'Star Trek: Nemesis' occur. There are numerous changes to the 'real' timeline, including the fact that James never knew his father. As to the "how", when elder Spock tells James of his failed effort (120 years in the future) to save Romulas from being obliterated by a supernova (after the events of Nemesis), he explains that it results in the black hole that transports Spock (in his ship) and Nero (in his ship, the Narada) into the past - which changes the timeline.
2nd Feb 2009
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Question: What does Lord Beckett mean when he says to tell Davy Jones, "To give no quarter"?
Chosen answer: In this case it implies showing no mercy or clemency, to leave no one one alive and take no prisoners, no offer to retreat for the enemy, the Black Pearl, which Cutler Beckett knows would surely make Jones very happy.
29th Dec 2008
Independence Day (1996)
Question: On IMDb, the cast list includes Kimberly Beck, from Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter as playing the character listed as 'housewife'. Where exactly can I find her character in the movie?
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.
9th Jan 2009
Independence Day (1996)
Question: What's with the President when he meets Dr. Okun, he acts like the doctor smells a lot or something?
Answer: What President Whitmore is reacting to is Dr. Okun's rather eccentric look, to put it mildly - his long hair, out-of-style pants and eyeglasses, etc... Even Dr. Okun comments that they don't get out much.
24th Dec 2008
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
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.
16th Dec 2008
Cars (2006)
Question: After the opening race, Lightening has to make the obligatory appearance in the Rusteeze tent. When the spotlight comes up on him, there is about 5sec of silence and then you hear one of the cars yell something out that sounds like "free bird". What is he actually saying?
Answer: "Freebird" is exactly what he is saying. "Freebird" is the name of a song by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, that was recorded on their first album in the early '70s. By the mid-'70s that song title took on a life of its own, and since then people began shouting "Freebird" at not only the Skynyrd concerts, but also at other concerts, sporting events and any other live performances.
6th Nov 2008
Sydney White (2007)
Question: What is the whole deal with the black guy who sleeps all the time? And Sydney was sneaking in changing the time on the clock. I can't quite get the gist of that. Please help and thanks in advance.
Answer: When Sydney arrives at the Vortex, she is told that Embele is a Nigerian transfer student, who is still jet lagged despite the fact that he has been in the U.S. for about three years already. She decides to take matters into her own hands to help him. Every single day she adjusts the time on his alarm clock, so each day he is a bit closer to the actual local time. Then after about a month or two, his body has slowly adjusted to the proper time, which allows him to function normally, instead of sleeping all the time.
15th Sep 2008
General questions
There was a movie out a while ago that is similar to Death Race, but it featured Ice T., and it was about all the criminals that got locked in a building and they had to kill each other to be the last one out the building. I remember one scene well. They had just gotten there and all these guns fell from the ceiling onto a table and that was the beginning of the movie. Does anyone know this movie?
Answer: The movie is called 'Mean Guns', released in 1997.
11th Sep 2008
Camp Rock (2008)
Question: What song does Demi Lovato sing in the Easter Egg that wasn't in the movie?
Chosen answer: Demi wrote a song for her castmates and the crew of Camp Rock, which she performs for them on the last day of the shoot, when principal photography wrapped on 10-6-07. The line, "We'll never be too cool for Camp Rock 3" got laughs, just before she was overcome with emotion by the last verse.
11th Sep 2008
General questions
It seems that whenever they try to make a TV show from a movie the show never lasts. I can think of two shows that were successful (M*A*S*H and Buffy The Vampire Slayer). Does anyone know if there are any other shows that have lasted more than one year? Thanks.
Answer: There were/are many successful TV shows, both live-action and animated, that were/are adapted from or inspired by films. To start with, two spin-offs of TV's M*A*S*H and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are Trapper John and Angel. A few others that that come to mind are: The Odd Couple, In the Heat of the Night, Highlander, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which just started its second season. For a more concise list see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_movies_made_into_TV_shows.
24th Aug 2008
General questions
I once saw a movie where a bunch of strangers were locked in this building, Then a whole bunch of guns and weapons were dropped onto a table. The objection was to make it out of the building alive and win a reward. The less people that made it out alive the bigger share the winners had to divide. I remember Ice T was in it.
Answer: The movie is called 'Mean Guns', released in 1997.
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.
Chosen answer: Firstly, yes, there is said to be a curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching position, but the teachers do not "die within one year of teaching that subject" as a result of it. You see, Voldemort applied for the DADA position twice, once after Tom Riddle's graduation from Hogwarts and was refused, then years later as Lord Voldemort, and was refused again by Dumbledore. After Voldemort's second refusal to the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching post, no DADA teacher held the position for more than a year due to a curse that Voldemort placed on the position. Dumbledore stated "You see, we have not been able to keep a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for more than a year since I refused the post to Lord Voldemort." When Snape first became a teacher at Hogwarts, he requested the Defence Against the Dark Arts position, but was denied it and made the Potions Master. Then every year, as each of the subsequent DADA teachers left the school, Snape reapplied for that position, but was denied year after year. By the time Harry came to Hogwarts, Professor Quirrell, who held the position of the Muggle Studies teacher for some years, had been made the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor after his year off (traveling to Europe, where Voldemort got hold of him). So when Percy says, "He's been after Quirrell's job for years" it means that for many years Snape has been after the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, which is Quirrell's new teaching position that term.
Super Grover ★