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.

Answer: Yes. It's a wig. Haviland Morris is a redhead.

Ray

Ok thank you.

Question: Was Niko Zoe's long lost father who wasn't actually dead?

Answer: No. ZoƩ's father was murdered by Victor. Nico was just a thief who was there to help her.

Bishop73

Question: At the hospital, Pi says "I thought he was going to hit me again but Mother started pounding on him with her fists, screaming, "Monster, monster!" She yelled at me to go to the raft." Then, he says some words, like "Ni bbola!" It's probably Hindi. What does this mean?

Bunch Son

Answer: His mother speaks Tamil, and I think she said "Nee poda", which I think means get lost, go away, or something like that.

Sierra1

Question: When the hyena first showed up in the lifeboat, Pi was like "Hari?" or something similar. I've never read the novel. Is the hyena's name actually Hari? I mean, did Pi use to call the hyena Hari back at the zoo? Like Richard Parker for the Bengal tiger and Orange Juice for the orangutan.

Bunch Son

Question: Spoiler alert: this question gives away much of the first "Psycho" movie. In the original Alfred Hitchcock "Psycho" we witness Norman Bates murdering Janet Leigh/Marion Crane and Martin Balsam/Milton Arbogast, and very narrowly missing killing Vera Miles/Lila Crane. At the end of the movie we discover that Norman Bates had murdered his mother and her lover ten years previously. We are also told that he had killed two female guests at Bates Motel. Norman Bates is therefore guilty of six murders and one attempted murder. In Psycho II we find out that, after his crimes were discovered, Norman Bates was placed in a secure psychiatric institution for the criminally insane. This does seem plausible. But with such a criminal record, would he ever be released from incarceration?

Rob Halliday

Answer: Norman was found "not guilty" by reason of insanity. Therefore, once he is deemed to be no longer a danger to himself, or to others, and is released from the mental institution, there is no crime he can be sent to jail for (i.e. he has no criminal record for the murders). I haven't done enough research to tell you if a serial killer in recent times has ever been found not guilty by reason of insanity and subsequently been released, but there are numerous accounts of people being released from mental institutions after committing murder that are then considered free.

Bishop73

Answer: When Pokemon evolve sometimes their personality changes. If a pokemon's will is strong enough they can keep their original personality but in most cases some traits of the personality become stronger, like stubbornness. I think the joke is that he has a short fuse, since he has a burning tail.

lionhead

Or it could be that Charmeleon's skill level exceeded that of Ash and thus did not respect him.

There is also another reason. Namely, Charmeleon are much more aggressive than Charmander in nature.

Question: How did both Akeem and Semmi get a job at McDowell's without Akeem's parents noticing? Also, wouldn't Mr. McDowell have noticed in doing Akeem's pre-employment background checks who Akeem really was vs finding out when the parents arrived? (00:44:08 - 01:29:34)

jm1138

Answer: How would Akeem's parents know what they were up to? They think he's taking an American vacation, and in the pre social media days, it was hard to keep track of people. As for McDowell, what sort of background check did you expect him to do on a fast food employee in the 80s? McDowell seems like a guy who would cut corners anyway.

Brian Katcher

There aren't exactly a lot of people lining up to work at McDowell's, so Cleo gives the applications a once over and hires them on the spot. I'm in my 40's and I've had plenty of jobs that didn't even call my references, let alone perform a background check.

Answer: He probably does. In the book, it is explained (after Larry is a dog again) that everyone in the town works for Dr. Murkin. He could be a realtor who lives in another town/city, however, I doubt that Dr. Murkin wants many "outsiders" around.

Answer: He repeatedly warns him against using the universal remote for bad purposes. However, Seth, blinded by remote's abilities, completely ignores and disregards Tony's warnings and uses the remote when and how he pleases, which eventually turns against him.

Answer: The book says that some couples would move away because they were upset when the children turned back into dogs permanently. Not necessarily because they didn't want dogs. It was too difficult for them to own the dogs that had served as their children for years.

Why can't they tell their friends that they're moving? Without telling them it made them confused.

Trainman

The "parents" probably want to leave in a hurry and be done with the town. Even if the "children's" friends are confused. And they know that the other children could turn back into dogs soon, anyway.

Answer: They were couples who couldn't have children and were part of an experiment where dogs were turned into humans. Once Lily and Manny turned back into dogs they left the project because they didn't want dogs.

According to the book, they didn't necessarily leave because they didn't want dogs. They were too upset when the children turned back into dogs.

Question: How was John able to communicate to Billie where he'd pick her up when she left the apartment dressed like a man? Their phone was tapped so he had to tell her somehow. Also, in the beginning, who was the woman with the little boy who asked John to take them with?

Question: Did they use blue screens for this movie? I was watching it recently, and certain scenes looked like the distant background was fake, such as the nighttime scene when Captain Von Trapp confesses his love for Maria in the gazebo, the trees in the far background look superimposed, but I can't tell if that's because of the lighting.

Phaneron

Answer: Although bluescreen was used at the time, it was a photochemical process and not that reliable. For the scene you're describing, it was likely shot in a studio with a painted background. For more expansive night scenes, they shot them "day-for-night." They would be shot on location during the day with the image darkened and filtered to look like night.

Answer: In that era, movies didn't have computer-generated images and instead used a rear-projected screen of a previously filmed location. The actors would be in front of the screen to make it appear as if they were in some different location. The actors were posed in a way that the audience could not tell they were in front of the screen.

raywest

Question: How would they have gained access to the command ring from the main ship? The main ship arms are spinning anti clockwise and the command ring is spinning clockwise, so they're out of sync. The command ring also appears to be spinning faster.

Answer: With difficulty is the answer! Question is why are command ring and engine room spinning in different directions, to make this an issue?

Answer: To spin the ship on its axis, you have to spin it against something. You can use side rockets to push it against the thrust of the rockets, or you could push it against a core rotating in the opposite direction. The conservation of momentum, with the right balance of mass between the inner core and the outer spirals, will make the two parts rotate one against the other, without carrying fuel for the rockets.

tsahi

Question: At first it seemed Cheyenne didn't know harmonica man, but later in the movie they help one another once to get the $5,000 from Cheyenne's bounty. Then Cheyenne rescues harmonica man from the train. And finally Cheyenne didn't want harmonica man to see him die they were leaving together I just think they knew each other and this was planned?

Answer: They formed an alliance, Cheyenne wanted to know why he was being framed for the massacre of an entire family by Henry Fonda and Harmonica seemed to know everything.

The Darling Baby - S5-E12

Question: Why is it when they were on the show the Darling sons never spoke? Would they be paid more if they did, or was this some sort of joke?

Rob245

Answer: It was a joke. They were supposed to be dumb hillbillies.

Both. According to later interviews with both Andy and the Dillards band (the real name of the band that played the parts of the Darling children, of which Charlene (Maggie Peterson - Mancuso was also a member) the reason the Darling boys never had any lines was because they would've had to have been paid if they spoke. In return for appearing without lines or pay, Andy promised to get as much of their music onto the show as possible which, he did. This obviously gave them a lot of exposure.

Question: Why did Alison give Max his phone number back?

Answer: It was her way of saying "No" to any future invites from Max. Also, she wanted the turndown to send a message to Max that it was final, and that way was to return the phone number.

Scott215

Thank you.

Answer: He was a drunken, careless and inconsiderate guy, who never took responsibility for anything. If that's the way he treated his girlfriend, how would he treat the baby.

Thank you I always wondered that.

Show generally

Question: Is it really possible to get a fingerprint off the handle of a gun as seen on the show?

Answer: Yes. Fingerprints can be obtained from most places, including the inside of latex gloves. This makes getting a print off a gun child's play.

Ssiscool

Unlike the show, finding a fingerprint on a gun handle is rare. Most gun handles have textured surfaces that don't allow fingerprints to form.

Question: When Katniss goes in for her individual assessment, Peeta is exiting the room after finishing his and he seems to be in a daze while walking out, almost seemingly pretending not to acknowledge Katniss walking in. Was that intentional as to not give any hints to Katniss about what he did (painting Rue) too early or to not raise any kind of suspicion to Plutarch et al watching?

Answer: There's no definitive answer to this. It appears that Peta is non-verbally signaling to Katniss that there is something ahead she might react to rather than pretending not to acknowledge her. There is no reason why he would not acknowledge her or be concerned about raising anyone's suspicions. He and Katniss are supposed to be engaged, so it would be expected that they would have this type of connection and communication.

raywest

Question: Why is it that Julie throws a drink in Michael's face? I thought she wanted a guy to say those things to her the night Michael was Dorothy.

Answer: What she said was a fantasy - big difference between saying that in conversation and actually having it said to her.

Thank you.

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