Tailkinker

Question: Why doesn't Leia see Yoda, Anakin, and Obi-Wan's ghosts at the end of the movie (if she does, she doesn't seem to have much of a reaction to it)? I know she hasn't been trained yet, but when Luke was on Hoth (in Episode V), he was able to see Obi-wan's ghost before he had any training, and he heard Obi-wan talking to him during the attack on the first Death Star.

Answer: The precise mechanism is somewhat unclear at this point, leaving us with no particularly good answer, but there are undoubtedly possibilities. Even in the first film, Luke has had a small amount of training with Obi-Wan; it's not much, but it could be enough to allow him to see them. Leia's had nothing at all, so possibly she's simply not capable of it. Alternatively, the 'ghosts' may simply have chosen to appear only to Luke for reasons of their own; two of them wouldn't be recognised by Leia anyway, making it a bit pointless to appear to her.

Tailkinker

She didn't really look TBH. She went over to Luke, hugged him, then brought Luke back to the Ewok party.

Answer: She doesn't see them. Her focus is on Luke staring off and daydreaming during a massive celebration.

Answer: Try to imagine what your reaction would be if you suddenly came upon three ghosts out of nowhere. Ghosts, mind you - glowing apparitions of dead people beyond the grave right there before your eyes! Regardless if you find such things scary or not, it would probably be quite a shock, require lots of explaining, and certainly kill the celebratory mood for the time being.

TonyPH

Question: Questions about the ring-wraiths: In the scene where the hobbits are hiding under the tree, Merry tosses his pack a few feet to distract the ring-wraith following them: we see that the ring-wraith is fast, so how can this possibly allow the hobbits time to escape? If the ring-wraiths can't be killed by any living man, why are they so scared of Aragorn that they run off from Weathertop and leave the ring that was nearly in their grasp? We see that ring-wraiths can go into water with their horses in the scene where they are chasing Arwen and Frodo, so why don't they follow the hobbits on the ferry?

Answer: (1) The Nazgul goes off to investigate the noise, giving the hobbits more than enough time to run in the other direction. Do bear in mind that the Nazgul doesn't actually know that they're there, so he's not going to be looking back - he's focused on whatever he heard elsewhere. (2) It's only the Witch-King who "no living man can kill", not the others. And even if they can't be completely destroyed by Aragorn, he can still injure them enough to immobilise them, leaving them stuck. Far better to escape and leave themselves with the possibility of catching up later, than getting badly injured and allowing the Ring to get away. (3) They don't follow the hobbits on the ferry because the Brandywine river is deep and they'd simply get swept away. When they're chasing Arwen, that particular river is very shallow at that point, allowing their horses to pass largely unhindered (at least until Arwen does her thing).

Tailkinker

Answer: There's no definitive answer to this one, however, the key to the bodily disappearance appears to be the training that Yoda refers to at the end of the film, when he makes reference to Qui-Gon having found his way back via the Force. There's no indication that anyone other than Yoda and Obi-Wan have ever studied this, so, in all likelihood, no, Windu's body didn't disappear.

Tailkinker

Question: When Darth Sidious tells the Neimoidians that he will make their next move legal (at the beginning of the movie), don't they think that comment is strange, unless they know that he is also Senator Palpatine? They don't seem to wonder how he can make something legal.

Answer: They know that he's a powerful individual with some serious connections. While they obviously don't know his true identity, they clearly feel that he's capable of manipulating the Senate to that extent. While a degree of curiosity as to how would be entirely understandable, a general unwillingness to look too closely into the doings of a Sith Lord is also entirely understandable. They'd undoubtedly be curious, but either none of them are brave enough to ask Sidious, or they've learned from experience not to do so.

Tailkinker

Answer: It's a question of appearance. Sidious needs to discredit the Jedi, make it appear as if they've turned against the Republic so that he can use their clone troops to eliminate them without major public outcry. He can't let the Seperatists take them out; it would have the potential effect of making them martyrs, plus it would effectively mean letting the Seperatists win the war, which would jeopardise his political position. Tyranus's public persona is the leader of the Seperatist movement, so he could hardly be used to lead the clone troops; the public would never accept a supposed change of heart of that nature. Nor could Tyranus simply eliminate the Jedi himself - he's powerful, but not powerful enough to single-handedly take them all out. Sidious ultimately needs an apprentice who can be seen to be loyal and who can lead the clone troops to eliminate the Jedi without awkward questions about said loyalty. Either way, Tyranus is out of the question; with Sidious' plan coming to fruition, Tyranus is no longer useful to him, except in that his death can be used to bring his successor closer to the Dark Side. Anakin, who fits the required role perfectly, is the one that Sidious has really been waiting for to help him finish the job.

Tailkinker

Question: Why do Darth Sidious and Nute Gunray care about getting the queen's signature on the treaty? Nute already allowed the Trade Federation to be on the planet illegally, so why doesn't the Federation just continue their occupation whether the treaty gets signed or not?

Answer: They can continue their occupation, but, without compliance from the elected head of state of Naboo, that occupation is illegal, and thus could face opposition from the Senate, leading to potential sanctions, up to and potentially including a military response to remove them. With Amidala's signature on the treaty, bringing Naboo into the Trade Federation properly, their occupation of the planet becomes entirely legal, allowing them to continue unhindered by Senate sanctions.

Tailkinker

Question: Is is true that Mace Windu's lightsaber has the letters BMF on it somewhere?

Answer: Reportedly so, yes; the prop department replaced the activation plate stud with a small plate with these letters on it, in reference to Jackson's Pulp Fiction character. Sadly, the authorised replicas available do not include that particular feature.

Tailkinker

28th Mar 2007

Frasier (1993)

Answer: According to Wikipedia (so add the usual disclaimer), Frasier is six years older than Niles. Daphne's age is never stated - if we were to make the assumption that she's the same age as the actress who plays her, then Daphne would be three years younger than Niles.

Tailkinker

Wikipedia does say Daphne was born in 1969.

Dan23

16th Sep 2007

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Question: I heard that there were going to be six Spider-man movies. Does anyone know if that is true?

Answer: No, it's not. Or, at least, it's not planned that way at the moment. The stars were contracted to do three movies; those contracts have now expired and, while Tobey Maguire has indicated that he would do a fourth if the script was good, there is, as of 2007, no apparent movement towards making a fourth film. While the franchise has been very successful, so Sony would undoubtedly be interested in continuing, as things stand at the moment, there are no concrete plans to do six in total.

Tailkinker

Question: I read that Bail Organa was going to have a female aide/assistant in this movie, but George Lucas wanted her removed because the actress who played her posed for Playboy magazine. Was her name still in the credits, or are there any scenes where they forgot to or couldn't remove her image?

Answer: The character that you're thinking of wasn't an assistant to Bail Organa, but was a Senator named Bana Breemu, who was working covertly with Organa, Padme and several other Senators to persuade Palpatine to attempt a diplomatic solution to the war. While Bai Ling, the actress who played Breemu, did pose naked for Playboy, Lucas has always denied that this was the reason for the cuts, stating that the subplot involving the group of concerned Senators was cut from the film several months prior to her Playboy appearance. The deleted scenes in question were included on the DVD release - if Lucas was really that concerned about her Playboy appearance, he could easily have left them out.

Tailkinker

Question: When Dooku asks Obi-Wan to join him, does he really want to destroy the Sith, or does he have another plan?

Answer: Of course he doesn't want to destroy the Sith - he is a Sith. He's using disinformation to distract Obi-wan, put him off-guard and make him look elsewhere for Sith involvement. If he does persuade Obi-wan to join him, then he gets a possible mole inside the Jedi Order and somebody who he might influence into a potential apprentice. If Obi-wan doesn't, but manages to escape, then he'll have the Jedi Order off balance trying to deal with the new information. If Obi-wan doesn't escape and dies in the arena, then Dooku's lost nothing by giving him information.

Tailkinker

He also wants to overthrow Palpatine at some point, as is the Sith way, so turning Obi-Wan would give him an ally in his own plans against Palpatine.

Question: Obi-wan tells the Gungans that they are connected with the Naboo people, and that what happens to one will affect the other. How are the Gungans useful to the Naboo people?

Answer: Put simply, the two exist side-by-side on Naboo. Inevitably, choices made by one group will have an effect, major or minor, on the other, and if the two do not work together, this will invariably lead to friction between the races. While the details of what each group can bring to the arrangement remain unclear, what is undeniable is that the two races, and thus the planet itself, will be enhanced if the Naboo and the Gungans pool their efforts and collaborate.

Tailkinker

13th Sep 2007

Family Guy (1999)

Show generally

Question: When the show makes jokes about scenes from other shows or movies (such as when they show TIE Fighters from Star Wars, which sound just like the ones in the movies), do they have to get some kind of permission to do the scenes or use the sounds?

Answer: Not generally, no. As long as the use isn't too extended, copyrighted material can be used for the purposes of parody. This wouldn't necessarily exclude the makers asking out of courtesy, but there's no legal requirement to do so.

Tailkinker

Answer: Star Wars loved their jokes so much early on in the series they gave Family Guy staff exclusive rights to all the sounds so they could make the best parody possible.

Question: Both David Bowers and Jerome Blake play Mas Amedda in this movie. Are there any noticeable differences in appearance between each actor playing him?

Answer: No. The make-up required for the character is extremely comprehensive, covering the entire face in prosthetics. As such, any differences would be hidden by the make-up.

Tailkinker

13th Sep 2007

V for Vendetta (2005)

Question: Why would High Chancellor Sutler blame Creedy if V was not captured by November the fifth and not one of the other members of the Regime.

Answer: Because Creedy is the head of the secret police and therefore he's the one with ultimate responsibility for catching V.

Tailkinker

13th Sep 2007

The Prestige (2006)

Question: Couldn't Angier have kept the one clone alive and simply dropped him below stage each time he did the trick. Did he really have to keep killing them?

Answer: Yep. He's tried working with a double before, and it backfired on him badly. Plus there's the obvious danger of the secret of the trick being revealed if there are multiple copies of him running around - every time the trick is performed, another Angier is made, which becomes a delicate situation after the 4th or 5th performance. Besides, Angier himself would have to be the one dropping below the stage, leaving the clone, up on the balcony, to receive the adulation of the crowd - he hated that before and would be unlikely to want to repeat the experience. Plus the trick would be too easy - he believes firmly that Borden doesn't use a double and wants to have a trick that beats him; to simply work with a double wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

Tailkinker

Question: Recently I watched the movie with commentary of amongst others Carrie Fisher. I noticed that she didn't have any comment about the scene where Harrison Ford puts his hand on her breast. Did she ever made a comment about that in a magazine or in an interview? Did Harrison Ford?

Answer: Coincidentally, in the time since this question was first posted, Carrie Fisher revealed that she and Harrison Ford were having an affair. While this may not necessarily have anything to do with the incident asked in the question, it adds the possibility that mentioning it would have been too close to an uncomfortable subject she hadn't yet admitted.

TonyPH

Answer: I've never seen anything on the subject. Seriously, though, why would either of them comment on the incident? It was an on-set slip-up that made it into the film, nothing more than that and, to be blunt, hardly unusual. In all likelihood, neither really remembers the incident among the many slip-ups that both have undoubtedly experienced in their lengthy careers.

Tailkinker

Question: This question was asked and answered but the answer was unsatisfactory so I am asking the question again. It was asked if it was common for the President and General Grey not to know about area 51 and the answer was given that because of plausible deniability, the President would not need to know about area 51 until the aliens arrive. This answers the question for in the movie but what about in real life? Wouldn't the 2 most powerful people in charge of the military (The President and The General) in real life be made aware of area 51? I can understand if the president is not made aware but I find it hard to believe the General wouldn't know about it.

SAZOO1975

Chosen answer: General Grey is listed as being Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which does not make him the second-in-command of the military - that position rests with the Secretary of Defense, who, as we see in the film, does know about Area 51. Grey, as Whitmore's primary advisor on all matters (not to be confused with the President's Security Advisor, who, in all likelihood, would be aware of the installation's existence as it would fall directly under his area of concern), would need to be covered by plausible deniability just as much as his boss would. As such, Grey holds what is very much a need-to-know position - with regard to Area 51, he doesn't need to know.

Tailkinker

Question: So on the newspaper clipping you can see the it said Jill Valentine got suspended for her partners death, Leon Kennedy. But was this supposed to happen because you play as Leon in Resident Evil 4 and Wesker says that he survived Raccoon City outbreak. So why wasn't he in this movie?

Movieman123

Chosen answer: The films, while incorporating elements of the game plots, are under no obligation to maintain any continuity with them. They can tell the story in the way that they want to, without having to worry about the game storylines. If they didn't want to use a given character, they're entirely within their rights to kill them off or ignore them completely.

Tailkinker

Answer: I've played all the games in from a game standpoint Jill Leon Claire and Chris were protagonist of the first three sets of games for actually but the movies didn't even make Jill a protagonist which turned out pretty well considering Alice. The protagonist character Alice was a very good incorporation I believe to the entire movie timeline. But I don't believe in the events that took place in between the movies like they were unexplained. And I would have been at least made Leon Moore Manor character doing later and I would have been at least made Leon a main character during the later movies instead of just making him a side character that you see for about 5 minutes and then he disappears.

30th Aug 2007

Transformers (2007)

Question: Why do the transformers blink and move their mouths when talking? Obviously this is unnecessary for robots, and I found it quite annoying. Is there any rationale behind this?

Rosco

Chosen answer: They're metal-based lifeforms, not just "robots". Presumably the blinking and mouth movements serve some purpose, we just don't know anything about Transformer physiology to know why it's necessary. They're also designed, by their nature, to take on the characteristics of things around them (as proved by how their forms change quite radically from the bland appearance they have when they first land). This generally applies to other machines, but it's not entirely unreasonable to speculate that, in the case of the Autobots at least, they might also configure themselves to take on certain human mannerisms, to better interact with the humans that they need to deal with.

Tailkinker

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