Question: Despite both his parents having blue eyes, how come Nate has brown eyes? Is there a scientific/logical explanation for 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.
Chosen answer: Yes there is a biological explanation for two blue-eyed parents having a brown-eyed child, and it does happen. It's a bit more complicated than high school genetics' dominant/recessive gene explanation. Eye color is determined by 2 genes, HERC2 and OCA2. Both genes are required for pigment to form (i.e. brown eyes), HERC2 being the key. People with blue-eyes can be carriers of one or the other, thus the offspring of 2 blue-eyed parents can end up receiving both required genes for brown eyes.
Question: When Barry refers to the stop sign in his room he says "The stop sign where she wanted to go left and I wanted to go right, so I got nervous, went straight." As he was talking about Lainey, soon after Murray says "Well, let's get in the damn car. And bring the stop sign. We got to put it back. It's a serious crime." Is Barry's quote some kind of sexual innuendo, or is it that he actually, accidentally drove into it because of Lainey?
Answer: Not a sexual innuendo at all. Barry drove into it because he couldn't make a decision to either go his way or Lainey's way.
Question: At the beginning of the film, Belle shows her new book to the sheep at the fountain, and you can see the writing is all in French (because the film is set in France). That being the case, why is it in the extended version of the film, when Belle is teaching the Beast to read, they're reading Romeo and Juliet in English?
Answer: The book is from the Beast's library. The library may very well have books in all different languages including English.
Question: In this episode, at the end Queen Elizabeth comes in shocked and demands "Off with his head" showing she hates him or he has done wrong by her. But the episode where he does do wrong by her was never shown before his regeneration. I know he could have done it in his spare time but Matt Smith's Doctor says some things about her too (for example he says "Liz the first is still waiting in a glade to elope with me") showing that he has seen her since he regenerated. Basically I'm very confused and wondering why they didn't make the episode showing why she was so despised with him and then later explaining why she wanted to elope with him.
Chosen answer: In "The Day of the Doctor" (set between "The Waters of Mars" and "The End of Time, Part One"), the 10th Doctor marries her and never comes back. That'll make a good enough reason.
Question: Peter initiates a cutaway when he says: "he's a bad man, like Jodie Foster." In the cutaway, Jodie Foster is making out with a woman, who then exclaims that her husband has come home early, to which Jodie replies, "don't worry baby he had to find out sometime" in a deep, mannish voice. She then farts. I don't get the joke. Why is she a man?
Answer: Jodie Foster had long been rumored to be a lesbian who refused to come out of the closet; the cutaway joke was a poke at this notion.
Question: Why didn't the studio use the camera on Truman's clothes, which is functional later while he is at sea, to locate Truman during or following the basement disappearance?
Answer: There is never any indication that there are any cameras on Truman's clothes. When Truman is at sea, we only see shots of him from the perspective of cameras located (conveniently) on, around, or above the boat. Personally, I always wondered why the director, Christof, would have invested to put not just one, but multiple cameras on a boat where, due to his fear of water, Truman was least likely to be. But, as with many of these questions, the answer is that such plot devices serve to advance the cinematography and the story.
My thought on the boat cameras is that they were on there from when he used to go boating with his father.
It is not the same boat.
Truman had a camera on him when he confronted his wife in the kitchen and she said, "do something."
Question: Since Harry knew about Dexter's homicidal tendencies, why would he train Dexter on how to kill people who got away with their crimes instead of taking him to a psychologist?
Answer: Two reasons. First, as a cop he knows that there are lots of murderers walking around free due to flaws in the system so he uses Dexter's "urges" to right the wrongs in the system by taking out people who have no right to walk around free. Secondly, by taking him to a psychologist he runs the risk of having him committed and he doesn't want that for obvious reasons, so he figures it is best to channel his urges to what he considers a greater good.
In addition to the earlier answer, in the last season (8th) of the show, we are introduced to Dr. Vogel, whom Harry had been discussing the situation with Dexter as well, and it is shown on-camera that Harry describes what Dexter has done (killing)... So, technically he did consult a psychologist/psychiatrist, just not having Dexter and her actually meet. But Dr. Vogel was aware of whom it was and how to intercede.
Question: Hunter, as a stork, and Toady, as a pigeon, are both birds of flight. So why don't they use their wings to fly? Why would they need to use a helicopter (Hunter) and flying machine (Toady)?
Chosen answer: For the same reason people take cars even though they can walk. It's faster and doesn't require using up your energy.
Question: Did Dorothy really go to Oz or was it a dream? Because, in return to Oz at the end, she sees Ozma (the good witch in her mirror) or was that just her imagination/a dream too?
Answer: In the film it's left ambiguous. At the end it's strongly implied that she was dreaming. The characters she meets all look like people she actually knows. In the original book, she actually went to Oz.
Answer: Return to Oz was not a direct sequel to the 1939 film. One was developed by Disney and the other by MGM. Return to Oz is actually an adaptation-fusion of the second and third Oz books, that contains elements from the 1939 film (like the Ruby slippers and the Oz/Kansas counterparts) because that's what people are most familiar.
Question: When Richie wakes up Frank, he tells him about the gypsies that are camping in a specific area and to give him a call the moment he sees them. Since Richie already knew where the gypsies were at, why use Frank at all?
Answer: Because the Gypsies were not there, they were away. He wanted Frank to sit and watch for their return and let him know they were back so he didn't need to sit and do it himself.
Question: Before dinner, when Rose is telling Jack the name of people who are gathered downstairs, she points out a man who has a wife who is Rose's age, and says that his wife is in "delicate condition", that she's trying to hide it, and it's "quite the scandal." If the couple is married, why does the woman want to hide her pregnancy?
Answer: At this time, and particularly in higher society, most personal matters concerning women, and particularly a pregnancy, was considered something extremely private. This would be never be discussed openly with strangers. The man in question is John Jacob Astor IV, and the woman is his second wife, Madeleine, who was 29 years his junior, hence the possible source of the "scandal."
Answer: At the time, it was a big scandal surrounding John Jacob Astor's divorce then marriage to Madeline, even his grown sons were in opposition. It wasn't until after the sinking that the sons met with her in support.
Question: When Mark went to get Pathfinder he took about a 30+ days round trip. We didn't see him have to recharge the batteries like his 50 day trip to Aries IV. Why didn't he need the same equipment eg. Oxygenator for the Pathfinder trip?
Answer: No we didn't see him recharge, doesn't mean he didn't stop. He would have to recharge. He didn't need the big 3 because the trip was not as long, and he was able to make do with air filters, and his water supply.
Question: We see the Constructicons use the military's Allspark shard to bring Megatron and a few other Decepticons back to life. Two things. 1) Why does the Allspark bring Megatron back to life if it's what killed him in the first place? 2) If it works on Megatron, why doesn't Sam use his Allspark shard to revive Optimus Prime?
Answer: Because that is what the allspark does. It healed Frenzy from the first film. It killed Megatron cause he was not capable of taking all the power. As for your second question, that has 2 answers, first, and most importantly, he didn't have it. Secondly, it wouldn't have enough power.
There is also another possibility. It is possible that Sam considered using shard of Allspark to revive Optimus but was afraid that it would cause some negative side effects. Considering the series of negative events related to this shard of Allspark (it turned kitchen equipment into an evil robots, not to mention that Sam inadvertently absorbed its energy before) there would be no doubt that Sam would be skeptical about using it.
Question: At the end, the Dean has been arrested for bribery. Would the student who exposed him (Wang?) not have been expelled for accepting the bribe and abusing her position and shutting down a frat house?
Chosen answer: No. Because it could be viewed more as extortion than a bribe.
Question: Daniel hates being a farmer and wants his father to sell their farm, but when J.P. Stiles offers Daniel's father money to sell, why didn't he convince his dad to accept?
Answer: Because he knows his dad is not going to sell no matter what he says.
Question: Why did Sophie have blood on her mouth before The Bride cut her arm off? And why didn't she try to fight back or run away? Why didn't anyone else try to stop her?
Chosen answer: Just before that, we saw her in the bathroom, oblivious to the Bride's presence, and the Bride about to get the drop on her. It's safe to assume that the blood on her mouth was a result of whatever the Bride did to her off-screen between that moment and when she presented her to O-Ren. It's hard to "try to fight back or run away" when your assailant is brandishing a katana and is literally the deadliest person in the world with that weapon. And plenty of others tried to stop the Bride...she just killed them all.
Question: Why was only one officer (Captain Willard) sent to assassinate Colonel Kurtz? Isn't it very unlikely for a captain like Willard to be able to kill a powerful and influential and "insane" colonel like Kurtz?
Chosen answer: Kurtz was protected by political connections and his military record from being relieved of command, and the Montagnard people whose village he was in were considered American allies, so they couldn't just send a force in to kill him or relieve him of command, but an individual assassin. (The US Government's "official" policy is that they do not engage in assassination, which is why "this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist").
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: That's one possibility. Or, the boy could have been adopted by the parents. That would fit with much of the theme of the film and one of the actors is a father through adoption. As adoptive parents with blue/green eyes and a child with brown eyes, we chose to believe it was a subtle nod to that situation. Also, the parents seem pretty convinced a baby brother isn't coming. Perhaps there were fertility issues that contribute to that confidence and led to creating a family through adoption. I think that's a better story than a remote scientific possibility. :).