Question: When Kara's shown putting on her Linda Lee disguise for the first time, how does she do this?
Answered 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.
When You Hit Upon a Star - S4-E17
Question: In this episode, when Will (Will Smith) is in the limo with Michelle Michaels (Stacey Dash) there a bunch of people drinking champagne, so the question is: is the woman sitting next to Will's left Whoopi Goldberg doing an uncredited cameo? And if not, who's the actress?
Answer: No, it's not Whoopi Goldberg herself, just like that's not Prince or Ray Charles. The limo is filled with celebrity impersonators, but they're all uncredited and I could find out who played them.
Question: How accurate, bar the dancing obviously, is the Portobello Road presented in the film compared to how it could/would have looked in the real August 1940?
Answer: Don't know what it was like in the forties, but we were there in 2010. Wonderful place to visit. So animated. Not only were their vendors, but there were Street entertainers as well. What I found amusing was before you get to the part of Portobello Road where there were these vendors, you had to go past the stately homes with gated grounds. Expensive cars with pull into the drives. Wouldn't happen here in the United States.
Question: Assuming people knew, how did Marston avoid trouble for living with two wives?
Answer: Though it may be considered immoral and socially unacceptable, particularly during the film's 1940s time frame, it is not illegal to live with multiple people in a sexual relationship. It is only illegal to be married to more than one person at the same time. Marston was not a bigamist. He was legally married to his wife, Elizabeth. They engaged in a consensual polyamorous (not polygamous) relationship with Olive, who was not married to Marston.
Question: Is it me, or do all of Ardeth's Egyptian dialogue lines end sounding the same way, despite completely different words being used to make his sentences? Is there a reason for this or something that I'm not picking up on, or is there no reason at all?
Answer: The script writers chose to truncate (shorten) the Egyptian words as they were often quite long which made for slow and clunky dialogue. The familiar sounds from Ardeth are simply due to the truncation limiting the variety of words being spoken.
Answer: He repeats two phrases most often: "yalla" and "imshii", which are modern colloquial Egyptian Arabic. Yalla is "let's go" or "go quickly" or even "let's begin". You hear the prison warden yell it before he jumps into the water during the boat fire, much as one would yell "Geronimo" at one point in American history. Imshi or imshak/ik is the verb "go", so either I go or you/we go.
Question: Gary Busey (Angelo) is supposed to be keeping an eye on the bank, the one that he and Johnny Utah expect the Ex-Presidents to rob. Instead, he is reading Calvin and Hobbes comics and not watching the bank at all. As a result, he doesn't see the Ex-Presidents pull up and enter the bank to rob it. Why was he not doing his job? Is he simply an idiot?
Answer: Probably not an idiot, but perhaps a big disappointment to FBI higher-ups. Having Angelo distracted was designed to make the movie more exciting, but there's a good chance this could have happened (and does happen) in real life. Stakeout work is typically long and boring, and may be non-productive because the agents can't know with certainty if/when (or where) the robbers will show up. After years/decades of conducting boring stakeouts where no-one came or robbers arrived after several hours, agents' experiences may lead them to believe nothing is going to happen right away - it will be a long wait. A false sense of security leads to slacking off, and opportunities for robbers to be more successful increase. While it might be required that FBI agents give their undivided attention on the job - no matter how boring - it is unrealistic to expect that all agents stay alert at all times. Reading comics to pass the time isn't impressive, but being able to laugh is a stress reducer.
Question: How was Harry able to remain in business? Surely the word would get around quite quickly that the cars he sells fall apart within days.
Answer: Harry was a seasoned con artist (synonymous with "used car salesman?) who would be able to come up with rational, believable, convincing stories (lies) to explain whatever gripe a complaining customer has, placing the blame on anyone/anything other than the dealership. Used cars, typically sold "as is" or with a limited warranty (30 days) fall under "caveat emptor" - let the buyer beware, so there isn't really much expectation for buying a problem-free used car. All complainers would be dealt with in a way that manipulates them into believing Harry was acting in their best interests and went above and beyond other remedial actions offered by used car sales people to their customers. An exceptionally good case of "making things right" is broadcasted to the public to portray a positive image. Used car dealerships, in general, are known to be questionable or shoddy businesses. Also, many people don't take the time to investigate a car dealership's reputation so don't know their risk.
Question: Why did Mitch want Slim (and Gracie) to remain a part of his life if he has no qualms about neglecting and cheating on her with countless other women. Why does he have such standards?
Answer: Mitch wants to be in control. He will not tolerate Slim leaving him - he wants to be the one who leaves, if and when he chooses. I think that is also why he threatened to plant drugs and portray Slim as a drug user, so he can have full custody of Gracie. He would want to control where Gracie lives, and whether Slim could be with her.
Answer: A variety of reasons. For one, he'd probably want to keep his daughter close. Other reasons: abuse is about power and control. He controls Slim while she maintains the house, tends to his needs, raises his child, while allowing him to casually cheat with other women whenever he wanted and without any commitment. Their relationship also becomes a sick game to him in which he challenges Slim to try to end their relationship.
Question: How did Antiope know Diana cheated? Why allow her to compete in this contest if she wasn't allowed to train, at first, in the previous movie?
Answer: The competitors had to light up the cloth banner beacons using their bows and arrows. Diana finished the course but missed one blue beacon by taking the cave shortcut, so the general grabs her and disqualifies her.
Answer: In the first movie, Diana was much younger and unready to start combat training. In the second movie, the flashback scene takes place some years after that, and Diana has since grown and been in training. During the competition, there were observers along the entire course to ensure that everyone followed the rules, attended to any mishaps, etc. If anyone cheated or failed to complete the required tasks, it would immediately be reported to Antiope.
Question: After losing his temper on TV, Bruce is being thrown out of the building because he was fired. Why, later in the movie, would Bruce be allowed back in since he no longer works for the news studio?
Answer: They most likely called him and invited him back in to get the scoop. Before another network gets him.
Question: I know that Boba was the only clone of Jango that wasn't modified. But was he the first Jango clone ever created?
Answer: Yes, Boba was the first clone of Jango Fett. This is confirmed in the Topps Star Wars Card Trader trading card series which includes canon details on many Star Wars characters.
Question: Where is the electricity coming from? Surely all power plants would be out of commission after more than a year. Gas powered generators would be too noisy and alert the creatures.
Answer: There are shots in the film in which we can see solar panels attached to the roofs of the buildings, so this is where it comes from.
Question: Why did Jenny's grandmother take Jenny into her home, but not the sisters?
Answer: Some possibilities are: either the sisters' situations were discovered before Jenny's, and they are already there (or living with someone else), or the sisters are older and moved out on their own. We never hear of the sisters living at the house during the film so it's hard to pinpoint the actual situations with them.
Question: Malcolm keeps giving Francis the phone number to call his girlfriend but why does he need it to call her? Why doesn't he use the number at school to call her?
Answer: Francis is only allowed to talk on the phone at school for three minutes a day. I think the code gives him free access to talk to his girlfriend.
Question: Who played the actress who tried to return the song bird?
Sylvia Sidney plays Mrs. Verloc. The Poster is asking about the actress who appeared in one scene in the bird shop.
Question: When Teabing's plane arrives in London, Robert and Sophie have exited the plane. When the police check the plane it is empty - what happened to Silas who was on the plane with them?
Answer: Teabing's butler Remy Jean, frees him, claiming to the mysterious "Teacher."
Question: It is not clear, nor inferred who leaked the location of the witness for the hit. Could it have been Chalmers? Chalmers could have run his prints, and belatedly realised he was duped by the witness posing as a real mob insider.
Answer: As Renick returns to the waiting taxi at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, a footman incorrectly identifies Renick as Ross and immediately phones in the sighting as well as the taxi's company and number to his Organization contact. Renick stops the cab near a phone booth to call Chalmers who presumably identifies the hotel that is Renick's destination. Since Renick is working for Ross, it's likely Renick then calls Ross to tell Ross where he's to be kept. Early the next morning Renick releases the safety chain on his hotel room door because he is expecting Ross, using Chalmers' name at the desk, to arrive and facilitate Renick's escape from protective custody - - not realizing Ross has given the hotel's name to the hitmen Ross has paid to kill Renick in an attempt to convince the world Ross is dead.
Answer: Most likely Ross, he told the hitmen where to go. Once the decoy was killed everyone, the mob and the police would believe he was dead. He was safe to leave the country.
In the hospital, Bullitt seems to imply that Chalmers was responsible for revealing Rienick's location. It seemed that, even though he needed him to testify, Chalmers, for some reason, wanted him killed.
Question: The timeline in the past is 4 days 7 hours (something like that) and only 1 version of themselves can exist at any time. So if Doug (present) went back and died in the explosion, Doug from the past came to meet Claire. Happy ending, right? So does this mean that due to Doug (present) ceasing to exist, Doug from the past has only 4 days 7 hours to live? I mean, this sacrifice of himself for saving 500+ people doesn't look bad.
Answer: It's never explained, she could have changed at super speed. In Superman II, when confronted by the super criminals at the Fortress of Solitude, Superman did a disappearing and reappearing act. So did the criminals. It might be a similar thing.