Question: Bond is very picky about having a martinti, shaken not stirred. If he drank a martini that was stirred, not shaken, would he be able to tell the difference?
Tailkinker
29th Jul 2004
Dr. No (1962)
Answer: Shaking also causes more melting of the ice resulting in a milder, if watered down, taste suited to Bond's sophisticated palate.
Answer: We tried that as well on several times and on many various evenings. There is a serious difference.
29th Jul 2004
Spider-Man (2002)
Question: How did webs come out of his wrist at the beginning in the cafeteria if he didn't do the gesture?
Answer: The gesture isn't to create the web, it's to actually shoot them. As such, if another method of drawing them forth is available, the gesture isn't needed. The fork's managed to get stuck to the exit point for his webs - we see what appears to be a small patch of a weblike substance, so presumably it's slightly sticky. Peter then pulls the fork, and in doing so is pulling the webs out from the spinnerets - so no need for the gesture in this case. When he then webs the tray on the next table, if you look closely, he's doing the correct gesture.
29th Jul 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Question: Did Aragorn grow up with the elves? If so why? I seem to recall a deleted scene showing him talking about his mother and her being buried in Rivendale.
Answer: Aragorn was indeed brought up at Rivendell. His father, Arathorn, was slain by orcs when Aragorn was only two years old, so his mother, Gilraen, brought him to Rivendell and placed him under Elrond's protection in order to keep him safe until he came of age. Gilraen died in 3007, just over a decade before the War of the Ring, and was buried in Rivendell - her grave is seen in the Extended Edition of the film.
28th Jul 2004
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
Question: Who becomes the Enterprise's new first officer since Data's death? I know about the deleted scene which shows a new first officer meeting Picard, but since it was deleted I assume it never actually happened. The only person I can think of is Worf but does anyone know for sure?
Answer: It's unknown, and, with no TNG films on the horizon, will most likely remain that way for some time. Without information to the contrary, it's probably reasonable to assume that, despite the scene being deleted, Commander Martin Madden (the new first officer seen in that scene) does indeed take the position.
28th Jul 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Question: Do any elves (obviously apart from Legolas) survive the battle for Helm's Deep?
Answer: During the ride forth, there's what appears to be another elf in the group, only really visible in the shot on the causeway - originally, this was Arwen, but there's been some work done to alter her - still looks like an elf, though. Other than that, it's not specifically shown, but there were certainly other survivors who remained behind, presumably to hold off the Uruk-Hai while the woman and children escaped into the mountains. It seems very likely that there would have been some elves among that number.
28th Jul 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Question: On maps for middle earth, what is beyond the right edge of the paper? Is it land, and if so, why aren't the places mentioned? If it's water, then where does it go?
Answer: Middle-Earth extends into the east for a considerable distance. The Easterlings live there, often referred to as Men of Darkness, who fought for both Dark Lords in their times. As such, most people chose not to go there, so it's rarely discussed in the chronicles of the Western lands. Even the well-travelled Gandalf never entered those lands, although Saruman did, along with two of the other wizards (who ultimately remained there). Aragorn visited briefly, and Sauron used the lands as a refuge for some centuries. The elves originated in the East, and it's likely that some still live there, as do four of the seven dwarven tribes.
26th Jul 2004
Cube (1997)
Question: Anyone who has the Cube DVD, is it really true that if you put the DVD disc upside down in your player, that there is another film on it?
Chosen answer: Having just tried it with my copy (Region 1), no, it doesn't appear to be true.
Answer: I have heard that you can often have a short film by the same director on the other side of the DVD.
Simple way to tell is if there's printing on top. For a DVD to be double sided, both sides will have the same blank shiny surface. Any writing, like the name of the film, etc. will render the top level unreadable.
24th Jul 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Question: When the fellowship enters the Mines of Moria, they see all of the dead Dwarfs on the ground, and Legolas says "Goblins", and draws an arrow. What are Goblins, and why are they never shown in the movie?
Chosen answer: Actually they are shown in the movie. Goblins is simply a term used for the smaller breeds of Orc that tend to inhabit the subterranean places like Moria. They tend to be somewhat more intelligent and cunning than their larger siblings, to compensate for their lesser strength - a trait that Saruman and Sauron took advantage of when creating their warrior Orc breeds, the ones referred to as Uruk-Hai. Despite their physical and intellectual differences, all three, Orcs, Uruk-Hai and Goblins, are the same species.
24th Jul 2004
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Question: Now i don't know much about missiles and such, but in the scene where the Israeli fighter jet is carrying the nuclear warhead, and is then shot down, well wouldn't the bomb blast that destroyed the plane also detonate the nuke attached as well? correct if i am wrong.
Answer: Nope. A nuclear detonation requires a highly specific sequence of events to occur within the bomb - an explosion nearby wouldn't come close to producing those conditions. The construction of a nuclear bomb requires components to be placed in a highly specific configuration - damage to the bomb would disrupt that configuration and make it effectively impossible for the bomb to go off.
22nd Jul 2004
24 (2001)
Day 3: 12:00 P.M.-1:00 P.M. - S3-E24
Question: Why exactly was Jack crying at the end of this season?
Answer: I would think that the sheer emotional stress of what he's gone through that day would be quite enough to provoke a few tears.
22nd Jul 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Question: I am confused as to an event when the Rangers are in Osgiliath. Why one of the Nazgul (possibly the Witch King himself) would be within a few feet of the One Ring, and allow himself to be driven off by an arrow shot into the Fell Beast. After seeing the One Ring, he flew off....I doubt that Sauron would have understood.
Chosen answer: Well, for one thing, he's most likely having a hard time controlling the arrow-shot Fell Beast. Secondly, there's no evidence that he positively identified the Ring. He saw a hobbit, which he knows are of interest, but, as Sam intercepts Frodo before he puts the Ring on, has no way of knowing that he actually held the Ring itself. Given the level of resistance on the ground, it doesn't make good tactical sense to try and land the annoyed Fell Beast to chase after a hobbit.
22nd Jul 2004
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Question: During an outtake with the 3 aliens hanging from the roof of the car, one of them asks another if he made it into the first Toy Story movie. The other alien says, "On the letterbox (widescreen) copy." Is this true?
Answer: Um, this is a joke. Pixar reframe their films for full-screen releases, so as not to lose any of the action, so, in terms of aliens appearing, there shouldn't be any difference between the widescreen and full-screen versions.
29th Jun 2004
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Question: What is the name of the music that starts playing in the final trailer just after the narrator says "our last hope will be one of them"? Where can i get the music?
Answer: This is an excellent track called "Gothic Power" by Christopher Field - most famously used in trailers for the Fellowship of the Ring. It can be found here - http://www.slavelakewolves.com/multimedia/gothic_power.mp3.
18th Jul 2004
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
Question: Given that in the book she's lusting after Colin Firth, but the films star Colin Firth as someone else, does anyone know for sure what's being done? Is it someone acting the part of Colin Firth, or will it be another celebrity playing themselves? Given filming's probably finished by now, there must be a definitive answer...
Chosen answer: While there were rumours that a different celebrity was to be used - George Clooney was mooted - according to Renee Zellweger, that sequence is not in the film.
13th Jul 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Could anyone tell me who the big pig-like orc is who leads Sauron's armies against Minas-Tirith? I've read somewhere that he's a kind of incarnation of Sauron, but I'm not too sure.
Answer: His name is Gothmog and, no, he's not an incarnation of Sauron. He officially holds the title of Lieutenant of Morgul, a position of considerable power within Mordor, and acts as the second-in-command to the Witch King of Angmar. He's mentioned precisely once in the books and Tolkien doesn't even mention what race he's from - it was the filmmakers choice to make him an orc.
11th Jul 2004
Gangs of New York (2002)
Question: Can someone please explain to me why the audience and Amsterdam are supposed to hate Butcher so much and think he's a loathesome person? He killed Vallon during a fight, fair and square, and was nothing but respectful to his dead enemy. He almost seemed to have regretted killing Vallon. He didn't act like a worse scum than anyone else until quite a while into the film.
Answer: Well, rather obviously, Amsterdam hates him because he killed his father. I mean, wouldn't you? It hardly matters that the fight was fair and that Bill showed respect about it, Amsterdam's not exactly likely to turn round, say "oh, that's alright then" and walk away. William Cutting (or William Poole, as he was in reality) was a ruthless, vicious man, who pretty much stopped at nothing to cement his control of the area. Whether he was actually worse than many of the others is questionable, but the film is based on Amsterdam's view of things - in that view, Bill is the enemy and we're supposed to see him as such.
Answer: Because he's very racist. That's why the audience hates him. He's very racist.
Answer: Because he was a racist? Secondarily while others might have acted that badly in his situation he was the one with the power and therefore the one holding a city hostage.
11th Jul 2004
Gattaca (1997)
Question: In the scene where Vincent is just about to launch, the doctor testing him mentions his son. My brother seems to think that the doctor knows Vincent is not who he pretends to be because he is Jerome Morrow's father. Is there any evidence for this?
Answer: None whatsoever. The doctor seems to have worked out that Vincent is not who he seems to be from simple observational evidence. It's because of his son that he feels sympathy for Vincent and hasn't revealed that he's tricking the system.
Question: So just how far is it from Hobbiton to Mt. Doom? And even though they didn't exist then, if possible to tell, how long would it take say, a modern day aircraft to fly from Hobbiton to Mt. Doom?
Chosen answer: As the crow flies, it's approximately one thousand miles. This would be roughly a five hour flight in a Cessna light aircraft - a Boeing 747 at standard cruising speed would cover it in about an hour and a half.
6th Jul 2004
X-Men (2000)
Question: Does anyone actually know how old Wolverine is? When Jean is telling the X-men after his physical, she mentions that he may actually be older than the professor.
Answer: According to the comics (which may differ from the films), Logan was born James Howlett, in the latter part of the 19th century, most likely around 1890.
1st Jul 2004
Spider-Man (2002)
Question: Does Peter know that Norman is the Goblin before he takes his helmet off near the end of the movie?
Answer: It doesn't appear so, no. While he knows that Norman has been acting a little weirdly, it's a big leap from there to suspecting that Norman is the Goblin.
Answer: From his initial reaction I'd say not - he was shocked that the green goblin was indeed Norman Osborne after all he'd been fighting he's best friends father all along, so his look of confusion is understandable.
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Answer: Actually, yes, he would. The key to a vodka martini, Bond's preferred tipple, is that it should be served ice-cold. By shaking the drink, the ice cubes have a better chance to swish around the whole drink than they would if it was only stirred. It apparently also has the effect of dispersing the ingredients better, giving a different taste to the drink. In the spirit of scientific experimentation, some friends and I tried the drink both ways in a blind taste test a while back - it makes a surprising difference.
Tailkinker ★
If you shake it, it turns cloudy.