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.

Show generally

Question: Is it really possible to get a fingerprint off the handle of a gun as seen on the show?

Answer: Yes. Fingerprints can be obtained from most places, including the inside of latex gloves. This makes getting a print off a gun child's play.

Ssiscool

Unlike the show, finding a fingerprint on a gun handle is rare. Most gun handles have textured surfaces that don't allow fingerprints to form.

Question: Why is it that Julie throws a drink in Michael's face? I thought she wanted a guy to say those things to her the night Michael was Dorothy.

Answer: What she said was a fantasy - big difference between saying that in conversation and actually having it said to her.

Thank you.

Question: Later on in the film, Matt says to Gabriel that it would take him months to download the data unless he eliminated the congestion and then realises that the fire sale was to do just that... Kick everyone off all the networks so that Gabriel can use all available bandwidth. But Gabriel hacked into the Government the night before, which triggered the servers at Woodlawn to download the data as a backup. If it would have taken months to download the data BEFORE the fire sale, why were the Woodlawn servers able to download the same data in less than a day?

Answer: In the film they mentioned that utilities, transportation systems, and communications were what was causing the congestion. Yes, Woodlawn already began the download process the night before when the FBI got hacked, but by the time Gabriel had began his download from Woodlawn, he was already in the process of eliminating the congestion causing the download to hasten. Once the Power station was blown up it gave plenty of time to free up an entire 1/3 of the country's bandwidth to complete to download. Also it was not less than a day. They visited Warlock the next night and the final events didn't happen until the proceeding day.

Question: Would it really be possible for an ape as large as Kong Kong to climb up the Empire State Building as shown in the movie?

Answer: I assume you mean, could the building take his weight, not whether an ape would really have the ability to climb a building (if that's what you mean, then it's definitely yes...apes are great climbers). Assuming Kong is proportionally as heavy as normal-sized gorillas, which tend to be in the area of 160kg (~350lbs), then he weighs over 80,000kg (89 tons, give or take). The average human weighs about 62kg, so that's about 1,300 humans, and the capacity of the ESB is over 13,000. So, assuming the building is mostly, or even half, empty while a giant gorilla scales it, the building could handle his weight.

Keep in mind, though, that the weight allowance for the building assumes people on the floors of the building, not climbing on the outside. The outer structure of a building isn't designed for massive creatures climbing on it. While the building as a whole would likely survive, there would be significant damage as Kong would be breaking windows and pulling stone off it as he made his way up.

Show generally

Question: Is Cersei Lannister based on Lady MacBeth and Agrippina the Younger? Both were ruthless and ambitious with Agrippina being the mother of Nero. Cersei, mother of Tommen Baratheon. She, on the show, pushed for her son to become king as did Agrippina, so was inspiration drawn from her and Lady MacBeth?

Rob245

Answer: Thank you.

Rob245

Answer: She appears to be a composite of many historical queens and fictional characters, including Lady MacBeth and also Queen Margaret of Anjou, who was married to King Henry VI of England.

raywest

Question: This is actually a question to all of the books and movies, Why did Voldemort wait for the end of the school year to attack Harry Potter? Except, of course, in this movie, where Harry drops out of Hogwarts.

DFirst1

Answer: I agree with the other answer, but it is also a matter of plotting. Rowling has carefully structured each book to cover one school year at Hogwarts, usually starting with the summer break ending and the students preparing to return to school. The ensuing events cover the next nine months, with the story building up to the end-of-the-year climax, just before students part ways to return home for another summer. This formula allows for a continual timeline with only short breaks in-between major events. Otherwise, the story's momentum would slow down and much exposition would be needed to fill in gaps.

raywest

So basically, it's plot armor. Besides the main antagonist of the story is Voldemort so therefore he should be in the climax where it deals around him except in the third film/book. This answer makes me think that Voldemort really cares for Harry's education. ;-)

DFirst1

Answer: He didn't plan all these attacks except for the Goblet of Fire one. It took so long for Quirrel to get the stone, it took Voldemort's soul in the diary that long to influence Ginny and take control of her, it required the triwizard tournament finals to attack Harry. All these things just took till the end of the school year to happen.

lionhead

What about in Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince?

DFirst1

In Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince he was gathering strength, both personally and his army. In Order of the Phoenix the story is more about trying to convince the wizarding world that Voldemort is back and Voldemort trying for as long as possible to not draw attention to himself so it's easier to recruit, get stronger, etc. He is also busy with the prophecy, trying to get to it without exposing himself (thus using Harry to do it), knowing it is the key to his survival. In Half-Blood Prince Voldemort wants Dumbledore dead before he goes further with any other planning. Initially Draco is ordered to do it but he takes almost the entire schoolyear to do it, until he eventually manages to get deatheaters enter the school. It's not planned by the villain, but makes sense to have an entire year at Hogwarts continue each and every time. Until eventually Voldemort starts his coup.

lionhead

In Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort didn't want to reveal himself as most of the Wizarding world didn't believe he was back. As such he used his Death Eaters to try and take the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries. He only arrived at the Ministry late on as it was an optimal chance to kill Harry, Fudge seeing him wasn't intended. In the Half Blood Prince, Voldemort was afraid of fighting Dumbledore and the only way he could duel him personally would be to attack Hogwarts which would be unwise. Again, he used his Death Eaters or in this case Draco Malfoy to try and assassinate Dumbledore.

Voldemort wasn't afraid to fight Dumbldore in Half-Blood Prince, he was trying to kill Dumbledore whilst Dumbledore was protected by Hogwarts, he couldn't get to him. So he had Draco do it.

lionhead

He assigned Draco to do it as a consequence of what his father failed to retrieve, which is the prophecy.

DFirst1

Answer: Jennifer Lawrence was actually allergic to the makeup that was used on her in First Class. For the next two films, she wore a body suit instead. For Dark Phoenix, since they were just going to kill her character off anyway, I think they just decided to be lazy and went with a more minimal approach with her appearance, and didn't care that it looked different. I mean, the scene of Jean Grey being taken over by the Phoenix Force at the beginning of Dark Phoenix directly contradicts her having the Phoenix power at the end of Apocalypse, so it's not like the filmmakers cared too much about overall continuity in the series.

Phaneron

Wilson - S5-E6

Question: What exactly did Wilson die of? Was it because of the many dollops he did or was it a mystery?

Answer: It's not explained fully, but its shown that he is quite sick as he has been taking many dollops and that they were liquid (sorry for the graphic description but its explained in the show). Given those circumstances we can safely assume that Wilson has got some severe problems.

Ssiscool

Answer: It's a healthy, plant-based smoothie. Tony is drinking them in several MCU films.

Question: Why does Mystique lie there after being cured? She just waits to be re arrested instead of putting on a guard's coat and fleeing?

Rob245

Answer: She's just lying there because she's in shock of not only losing her power, but being betrayed by her only real friend in the world. She needs a moment to process what just happened. It's not unreasonable for her to be doing so - I'd probably do the same thing if my whole world fell apart in a single instance. It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but I also don't believe she's re-arrested. I think when you see her talking to the feds later, it's because she sought them out herself. (But I could be wrong about that).

TedStixon

Question: After Mystique's "cured" and talks to the Feds what do they do with her?

Rob245

Answer: In all likelihood she goes to prison, but there's a good chance she may have worked out a deal for a reduced sentence (or even possibly immunity) for informing on the location of Magneto's base camp and other information related to Magneto.

TedStixon

Answer: It's not just dog's he's scared of. In one episode he looks after his brothers cat and has the same flinching reactions when the cat moves. It's possible he has Wilson and later, Milson so he has some companionship and is not alone.

Ssiscool

Question: When Hunt dies why is it like they don't care? Or act as if it didn't happen.

Answer: Hunt is extremely obnoxious and having little regard for the other 4 who have died before him. They are simply giving him the same treatment he would have given them if it was someone else who died.

Ssiscool

Question: After Dom burns the money at the exchange house, what happened to the men and women who were in the place?

Answer: The one man is taken to Reyes to explain what happened and who did it. He is then struck across the head and killed. The rest of the works are either sent to a different safe house to continue working for Reyes or killed to ensure they don't have chance to talk to (non corrupt) cops about the illegal activities.

Ssiscool

Question: Why wouldn't Bambi's mother tell him that the Great Prince of the Forest is also his father?

Answer: Probably so he would not think he is superior to the other fawns and try to lord over them. She would have told him about his father when he was older. This is also a literary plot device by setting up a dramatic reveal at a crucial time (right after Bambi's mother is killed) that Bambi learns his father is the Great Prince. This has a greater emotional punch.

raywest

Question: Was Angela a part of the framing of Libby? Her living with Nick seems to either indicate that she either was or at least knew about it.

Answer: She was completely in on it from the beginning and helped Nick carry out his plan. They had been having an affair.

raywest

Show generally

Question: Since they had friends why couldn't the Stivics move in with them so they wouldn't have to put up with Archie?

Rob245

Answer: Yes, Gloria and Michael have friends, but when they got married they decided it was best to live *rent free* with Edith and Archie, while Mike was going to college. Living with friends rent free, for quite a few years, is not an easy thing no matter how close the friends are with them. Since the Stivics needed their money to pay for the tuition and its other costs, their living arrangement made it all easier to deal with. Hence the Archie and Mike scenarios.

Super Grover

Question: In the extended version, when Frank confronts Jimmy about his betrayal, why did he make Jimmy commit suicide instead of killing Jimmy himself?

Answer: Jimmy is drowning in massive gambling debt and has had to resort to selling everything of value he owns as well as steal money from evidence lockers to help pay his debt down. He has nothing to live for and is merely going through the motions of life, and coupled with his guilt over selling out Frank and getting his family killed, Frank concludes Jimmy needs to take his fate in his own hands.

Phaneron

Question: What is George's working status with Biff at the end of the film? George mentions in the beginning that Biff is his supervisor so I assume Biff is George's boss but at the end of the film it is implied that Biff seems to be working for George or is George still working for Biff, but Biff is no longer bullying George?

Answer: At the end of the film, Biff owns his own auto detailing company (probably a nod to the fact his car kept getting filled with manure and needed cleaning) and George is his customer. Although it seems Biff will still try to con people, but George stood up for himself to make sure Biff did the job correctly. Before the present changed, Biff was his supervisor that still bullied George into doing his work for him for an unspecified company.

Bishop73

Question: What did Al mean when he told Roger to keep his nose clean? I've heard this expression somewhere else but I just don't understand what it means.

Answer: "Keep your nose clean" just means stay out of trouble.

Bishop73

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