Question: When Kevin is shooting Buzz's Starting Lineup figures down the laundry shoot with the BB gun, who are the two figures left of the spatula? I know the one on the far right is Larry Bird, and I believe next to Bird is Walter Payton.
Phaneron
27th Dec 2019
Home Alone (1990)
18th Dec 2019
General questions
I saw a made-for-TV movie in the early to mid 90s, in which a man holds a daytime talk show host and her audience and crew hostage because his daughter previously appeared on the show and ended up committing suicide afterwards, for which he blames the host and wants her to admit fault and will then execute her. Does anyone know the title?
Chosen answer: It was a 1997 TV Movie titled Murder Live! David Morse (St. Elsewhere) played the distraught father and Marg Helgenberger (Species) played the obnoxious talk show host.
17th Dec 2019
Spider-Man (1994)
Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 9: Blade the Vampire Hunter - S2-E11
Trivia: This episode was somewhat of a blueprint for the film "Blade." In the original comics, Blade was a regular human being that was immune to vampire bites. In this episode, he is a half-vampire with all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses, except for the thirst, which he keeps at bay with a serum. These traits carried over into the film. The character of Abraham Whistler also did not originally have a comic book counterpart, he originated in this episode.
11th Dec 2019
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Question: When Jar Jar is used as a patsy to suggest granting Palpatine emergency powers, why does Palpatine immediately accept the proposal and order the creation of the army? Isn't the Senate supposed to vote on the proposition first? It's not much of a democracy if one Senator's proxy can just unilaterally grant the Supreme Chancellor emergency powers.
Answer: They did have an immediate vote, the means of which we don't see. It would seem that the floating platforms in which each delegation sits has a device that allows for voting. Even if that isn't the case, Palpatine could read the room and recognized that nearly everyone was cheering after the motion, so it was clear the motion would pass.
Answer: From what I understand, but I could be wrong, the Senate as a whole was already pretty much willing to grant Palpatine these powers as it was. But as was so eloquently put in front of Binks, "But what senator would have the courage to propose such a radical amendment?" Followed up by "If only Senator Amidala were here." Given the context of this, I gather that, like I said, the Senate was already poised to grant these powers to him, but nobody was brave enough to be the one to risk their career to speak up and officially suggest, or request this. Thus, when Binks was manipulated into doing so, everybody was set to just go with it and be relieved they didn't have to suggest it. I could be completely wrong on this, but this is how I interpret it.
11th Dec 2019
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Question: Why does Darth Maul just stand there and watch Obi-Wan flip over him and then bisect him? As a Sith, Maul had plenty of time to react to what Obi-Wan was doing, and his training means he shouldn't have been surprised by it either.
Answer: It was meant to be very fast. It couldn't be so fast that the audience would have no idea what was happening, so we wind up with an awkward scene where Darth Maul literally watches Obi-Wan flip over his head. He never even notices that Obi-Wan has Qui-Gonn's lightsaber. He seems quite shocked that Obi-Wan was even able to get above him at all.
Answer: In the book, The Life and Legacy of Obi-wan Kenobi, it actually talks about this a little bit. Darth Maul wasn't expecting this move, and it caught him by surprise. Obi-wan was hanging on for life down below, and to Maul's mind there wasn't a way he could really get back up, much less armed. One thing to consider is the fact that Darth Maul is actually pretty weak in using the Force compared to most other notable Force users. He's mostly a martial artists, and a damn good one to, having extraordinary combat ability to the point he can fend off a Jedi Knight and a Padawan at at the same time. But his actual strength in the force is weak, where he's only able to lift/push small objects or do a Force jump. He didn't predict, or "foresee" Obi-wan's move. Nor could he sense that Obi-wan was moving the light saber on the ground next to him, and would never have guessed that not only Obi-wan would Force jump out like that so suddenly, but also grab a saber at the same time and go for a swing.
I remember at least two books - which may not be canon now - describing Maul as prideful. It seems like he was quite skilled in fighting, as you say, but he underestimated opponents.
Answer: I always saw it as Maul didn't realise Kenobi was going for the lightsaber at the same time and the whole move was suicidal from Maul's point of view. His lack of reaction is him being stunned by what he sees as Obi-Wan just jumping in front of him to be attacked.
11th Dec 2019
Star Wars (1977)
Question: Out of the numerous (and mostly unnecessary) changes George Lucas has made to this film over the years, has he ever given any reason as to why he has never fixed the appearance of the lightsabers in the film, or updated the awful CGI Jabba the Hutt? Those have always stood out to me as the two most glaring weaknesses in the visual department.
Answer: He has not. He has only ever generally commented on the updates to the 90's Special Edition re-releases having scenes updated to fit what he always envisioned but was limited by budget and technology. The additional changes that have been made since the films were released on Blu-Ray and now Disney Plus have gone without comment. To your point about the lightsabers, they have been improved on the Disney Plus version of the film. The colors are more vibrant, and they now have a more noticeable sparking effect with clashes in the Obi-Wan/Vader duel.
11th Dec 2019
It Chapter Two (2019)
Question: When Eddie takes a face full of projectile sludge from the leper, is there any significance to the song "Angel of the Morning" playing, or was it just a random attempt at a joke?
Answer: I think it's more of an attempt at a silly joke, juxtaposing the insane imagery with a tender song. But I've also seen the suggestion that it was an Easter Egg/reference to the book "The Langoliers," in which the song is mentioned. (And given the "It" films have some general Stephen King Easter Eggs referencing things from his other books, that makes sense).
11th Dec 2019
Spider-Man (1994)
Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 12: Ravages of Time - S2-E10
Revealing mistake: The shot of the Lizard whipping his tail at Silvermane and destroying a wall is recycled footage from the Lizard and Spider-Man's battle in the sewer from the first episode in the series.
10th Dec 2019
Spider-Man (1994)
Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 11: Tablet of Time - S2-E9
Audio problem: When Smythe is saying "Now I've got you!", his mouth movement does not match the words whatsoever. He even opens and closes his mouth several times on the word "now" alone.
10th Dec 2019
Spider-Man (1994)
Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 11: Tablet of Time - S2-E9
Continuity mistake: When Dr. Connors starts transforming into the Lizard after being blasted by the robot, the sleeve of his lab coat magically becomes tattered at the same time his hand transforms. Subsequent shots also alternate with his sleeve being tattered and pristine as well as his hand being reptilian and normal.
10th Dec 2019
Common mistakes
Factual error: An oft-repeated myth in movies, usually in the science fiction genre, is that humans only use 10% of their brains. The truth is that humans use all of their brains, even when asleep.
9th Dec 2019
Spider-Man (1994)
Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 6: Morbius - S2-E6
Factual error: When Morbius is comatose at the hospital after reverting to his human form following his battle with Spider-Man, he is still wearing his trenchcoat, pants, boots, etc. The hospital staff wouldn't leave him in his outfit, they would dress him in a hospital gown. On top of that, he isn't even hooked up to any monitors.
9th Dec 2019
Spider-Man (1994)
Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 7: Enter the Punisher - S2-E7
Other mistake: Spider-Man and Detective Lee both comment on the skull on the Punisher's shirt when they first see him. However, the Punisher is wearing body armor that covers most of his chest and abdomen in this scene, so there's no way they would know that he has a skull on his shirt.
4th Dec 2019
Spider-Man (1994)
Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 11: Tablet of Time - S2-E9
Factual error: When Peter is walking Alissa home, the traffic signal at the intersection they stop at goes from red to yellow to green. Not what US traffic signals do - they go straight from red to green.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Not entirely true; although they are rare and may no longer exist now, I've seen traffic lights that followed the red, yellow, green pattern as recently as the mid-1990s.
Interesting. What state (s) did you see this in? I'm assuming going from red to yellow was to encourage cars to cautiously enter the intersection in case someone was running a red light?
Traffic lights in the UK do this - it's more to give you a second to get ready, in gear, etc., then as soon as the lights turn green you can go. Otherwise you get no warning of when the lights are about to change.
In Illinois; as I said, such traffic lights are rare, but they did exist at least as recently as the time this episode of the series aired, and they may still possibly exist in larger cities such as New York City.
This traffic light set-up (red to yellow to green) still exists today in the UK. From what I understand, it is to alert the driver that the light will be turning green imminently and to prepare themselves to put their car in gear, as manual cars are still pretty common in Europe. I'd wager this light cycle was phased out of North America due to the abundance of automatic cars today. Could have been different in 1994 though.
It should be noted that traffic lights that go from red to yellow before going green keep the red light illuminated so that both red and yellow are lit up. However, that's not what happens in the scene. I've never seen a traffic light operate the way it's shown. And Massachusetts still has traffic lights that go from red to yellow, however, when red and yellow are lit up together, this allows for pedestrian crossing.
4th Dec 2019
Star Wars (1977)
Question: Do magnetically-sealed rooms serve any purpose other than repelling blasters?
Answer: Outside the convenience as a plot device, it could also be explained as a way of preventing inadvertent damage caused by compacting something explosive. Remember, it's not just the door that was magnetically sealed, but the entire compactor.
Answer: It could be a security measure to keep anyone/anything from opening the doors, or it could be a way of preventing anything from escaping the room (clearly live things get in there).
30th Nov 2019
Joker (2019)
28th Nov 2019
South Park (1997)
Question: What is the name of the song that the band plays at the beginning of the announcement of Hat McCullough's release from prison? It's a pretty common song used in films and television, but I've never heard its name. I tried to use the Shazam app on my phone to identify it, but no luck.
25th Nov 2019
Orphan (2009)
Trivia: In a real life case strikingly similar to the plot of this film, it was revealed in October 2019 that an Indiana couple in 2010 had adopted what they believed to be an 8-year-old Ukranian girl whom they later discovered to be a sociopathic young adult with a form of dwarfism, whose age they estimated to be anywhere from 16 to 30.
27th Oct 2019
X-Men (1992)
Trivia: In 2019, the creator of a 1980's Hungarian TV series called "Linda" filed a lawsuit against this show, alleging that the theme song to "X-Men" is a ripoff the theme song to "Linda." Despite airing in another country, the creator of "Linda" stated that the creators of "X-Men" had visited Hungary in the late 80's and rubbed shoulders with members of the Hungarian film industry. Interestingly, despite "X-Men" being far more popular globally than an obscure Hungarian TV show, its creator said he was unfamiliar with "X-Men" until 2017.
22nd Oct 2019
Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
Question: Why does Pinhead kill John Merchant? Obviously he's angry that Merchant tried to activate the new Elysium Configuration to suit Angelique's desires, but he did so under duress, and as far as Pinhead knows, Merchant is the only one that can keep the portal between Earth and Hell permanently open. Was Pinhead just hoping that Merchant's son would one day continue his father's work and he could force him to complete the configuration?
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Chosen answer: Yes, Walter Payton. The other two are Babe Ruth and Steve Largent.
Bishop73