Question: Kind of a long question but please bear with me. In one episode, Catherine and Vince have to rescue a boy who was being chased by a man who murdered his father. The boy claims to have a letter from his father detailing a crime that occurred and how he was killed for betraying the man. The end of the episode has the boy reading the letter out loud in court. The judge asks to see it and after a quick look over, he gives it to the man who was after the boy. When the man looks at it, there's nothing on the paper but squiggly lines. The judge then has the man arrested for murder. Why would the judge do this? There were no witnesses. All they had was the word of a boy and a piece of paper with nothing but wavy lines on it. No real evidence was presented to the judge at all.
Super Grover
30th Nov 2016
Beauty & the Beast (1987)
7th Mar 2016
Stuck On You (2003)
Question: What is the song playing when Walt gets drunk?
Answer: "It Never Rains in Southern California" performed by Pete Yorn.
29th Dec 2015
The Simpsons Movie (2007)
Question: It says in Guinness world records 2013 that one of the scenes parodies Star Wars. Which scene?
Answer: It's at the end of both The Simpsons Movie and Return of the Jedi, during the celebrations, and it's not actually a scene parody. At the end of The Simpsons Movie, when Homer and Bart show up and the crowd gathers around them, we see Carl happily shaking his fist, and after Bart's dog shows up, when it cuts to the wideshot we see Carl raising his arm way up (as if he were showing something zooming up to the sky). At the end of Return of the Jedi, after Lando hugs Chewie, we see Lando shaking his fist in the background, and then in closeup raising his arm way up as he's explaining to Chewie what happened.
21st Feb 2015
The Andy Griffith Show (1960)
Question: In what episode was the tune that became the theme for Mayberry RFD originally used? I remember it was B/W and had something to do with a bank robbery and the old guard Acer.
Answer: The episode with the bank robbery and old guard named Asa is from season 3, episode 13 "The Bank Job," but the music can be heard much earlier than that. The theme music for Mayberry RFD is named "The Mayberry March" and a few bits here and there can be heard in several episodes of season 1, such as "Bringing Up Opie," though, in season 2, episode 4 "Mayberry Goes Bankrupt" about half a minute of the music is heard while Frank's house is being renovated.
1st Oct 2015
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Question: What is the restaurant Annie and Walter are sitting in that looks out onto the Empire State Building?
Answer: That would be the Rainbow Room which is located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (Annie rushes out the door and gets into the taxi), the iconic skyscraper in Rockefeller Center.
1st Oct 2015
Emergency! (1972)
Question: When the guys are hanging off the roof does anyone else see a white wire attached to the sign?
Answer: Yes, there's a thin cable secured to the sign's bottom mounting bracket which leads upward to the crane arm, and can be seen in quite a few shots at various angles. It's reasonable to presume that this cable which is secured to the crane was part of the sign's mounting process to the two wall brackets before the winds caused the accident, the premise of this rescue. For this reason it really can't be noted as "stunt wires being visible" or something like that.
21st Aug 2014
Jaws (1975)
Question: Who came up with the idea of calling the shark Bruce?
Answer: Bruce Raymer, who has been Steven Spielberg's lawyer for over 40 years, has the distinctive honor of being the namesake of the mechanical shark models, which were all nicknamed Bruce by Steven Spielberg.
1st Nov 2013
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)
The Avatar and the Firelord - S3-E6
Question: At the end of Sozin's story, he says that he wiped out the Airtemple, and we see one burning. But it isn't one of the four they visited during the three seasons. The Western Airtemple hangs from the cliff, the Northern and Southern both are on one solitary peak and it doesn't have the distinctive bridges of the Eastern Airtemple. Is it ever explained or shown which one it is in Sozin's story?
Chosen answer: When Sozin says "So I wiped out the Air Temples," we are indeed seeing the three mountains of the Eastern Air Temple burning, with the two bridges being gone in this shot (S3-E6). This does conflict a bit with the image we see of the Eastern Air Temple, with the two bridges intact, when Aang and Appa fly to that Air Temple seeking Guru Pathik (S2-E19). This may possibly be considered a mistake, but the fact is that when we are seeing the burning of the Eastern Air Temple it's from the point of view of Zuko, who is merely reading from Sozin's autobiographical account, and envisioning everything he's reading, which in his mind includes the bridges having been destroyed.
2nd Dec 2013
The Andy Griffith Show (1960)
Question: Who was Ralph Henderson?
Answer: In S3 x E11 Convicts-at-Large, there is a character named Big Maude Tyler, who is the leader of three female escaped convicts. Andy listens to the radio as the news announcer says that Big Maude's aliases include Clarice or Annabelle Tyler and also one amusingly named Ralph Henderson.
5th Sep 2010
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
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?
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.
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.
Answer: Voldemort gave the order, and Wormtail cast the killing curse with Voldemort's wand. That is why Cedric comes out of the wand, as it was the wand that killed 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 touches Danielle's hair and does not maintain his distance, which prompts her to take his sword and threaten him; yet even with a blade at his neck, lecherous Le Pieu still attempts to pull her close.
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.
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Answer: (Episode 1x19 "Everything is Everything") It's not a regular court or judge, it's a Gypsy "kris" (court) to determine a new judgement for the boy, Tony, and it's headed by Milo, who is the Gypsy King. Milo had two sons, elder Eric (Tony's dead father) and Vick (Tony's uncle), who framed Eric for theft from the family business, and it was Milo (he didn't know the truth) who held the earlier "kris" which declared Eric, his wife and son, Tony, to be "marime" as if they're all dead and had them banished from the community. Then Tony's parents were in a fatal car accident in Chicago, and before Eric died he told Tony the truth about how and why Vick framed him. Now at the new "kris" Tony has the chance to speak to prove his father's innocence, and tells everyone that Vick lied and stole the money, then framed his father because Eric had been next in line to be the Gypsy King. Milo tells Tony that his word isn't enough for a verdict and he must show proof. Tony tells his grandfather that Eric gave him a letter, while on his deathbed, in order to clear his name and punish the guilty. When Tony pretends to read the letter (remember, we learned Tony can't read), he starts out as if the letter was written to his father, Eric, and cleverly pretends that it was written by Vick's accomplice from the theft (Vick's friend sitting behind him, who also works at the body shop), admitting to the frame-up. As Tony keeps "reading" we see Vick turn around to his accomplice and say, "You fool!" for the letter's admission of guilt, and then the accomplice replies loudly, "I didn't write no letter... You said nobody could prove nothin'!" for everyone to hear. So after the truth has come out, Milo shows Vick the letter which only has squiggly lines on it, just so Vick understands that even though the letter wasn't real, he and his accomplice still admitted their guilt for the theft, and now they will be "marime" as if they're dead and banished from the community. Vick did not murder Tony's father, and he's not arrested.
Super Grover ★