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.

Question: Someone else submitted a question about a falling cow being put in one scene, and they were told that someone was probably just joking with them. I've also heard that rumor, before ever finding this site, so I'm wondering if anyone else knows whether a cow was really put in the background of any scene.

Answer: No. It is not true. There is an urban myth surrounding a falling cow sinking a Japanese trawler, but is complete non-sense. I think you have been misinformed by someone getting the stories mixed up. Check out http://www.snopes.com/critters/farce/cowtao.asp.for more info about the falling cow.

bacupboy

Answer: In one of the sinking scenes you see a person falling from the ship into the water in the foreground. It happens very quickly and right in front of the camera but it's definitely a person.

Question: Whatever happened to the 2 cops from the beginning that were in the March hare pursuit vehicle? We never see them again after the beginning. Did they die when their car overturned or what?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Yes, they died. One of the other MFP officers says after the crash that "they're wasted".

Question: What's the title and the author of the painting that is covered with the mirror when Ruth dies?

Answer: The title is "Cherry Ripe" by the 19th century pre-raphaelite author John Everett Millais.

Show generally

Question: Does anyone know which episode it was when Steven decided to grow a beard, or why he decided to grow one? I never watched the show in order and still can't figure out why he suddenly has one in the second half of the show's run.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Steven Keaton (Michael Gross) did not grow the beard for an episode. He grew it between season 1 and season 2 as a character he was playing in an Off-Broadway play. When the show began taping for season 2, it was decided to have him keep it. It never was a plot point on the show.

jairodrigue

Question: Why, when he gets shot, does he put duct tape on his abdomen over his shirt? Shouldn't it be under?

Answer: Not really, imagine how painful the duct tape would be to remove from the bare skin around a wound. Putting it over the shirt still applies the pressure needed but with out the adhesive skin contact which would cause more problems later on.

Mad Ade

Question: Jessie is using a car design program from the Supra. Does anyone know either what the program is or where to get it?

Neon_Turbo

Chosen answer: It's not a real program, just some CGI. As well as when the pictures of "what it could look like" show up. Those are existing pictures of the car.

Question: Can someone tell me why the Emperor's terracotta army become invincible when they cross the Great Wall? It is never explained.

Answer: It has something to do with the curse that was placed on him. similar to the consequences of the first film.

MasterOfAll

Answer: The sign said $30,000.

Chosen answer: $25,000. Given to the Griswalds by Sid Caesar's character just before he passed away.

Question: At the end of the forest battle, Megatron stabs Optimus right through the back and chest, then blasts a hole in the same spot. Later, Sam merges the Matrix of Leadership with Optimus's chest. Where exactly does he put it? The logical place would be to unite it with his spark, but his spark is gone. Furthermore, Optimus then gets up to reveal that the hole in his chest is gone. Does the Matrix harbor the same regenerative abilities as the All Spark?

Answer: There are 2 possible scenarios: First, is that Optimus wasn't really dead, he only went into status lock, in which the spark is active, but the body is inert. So the Matrix rebooted Prime back to normal. Or the second possibility is that the Matrix did in fact regenerate his spark. In the cartoons, the Matrix was a kind of gateway to the Transformers afterlife - so it is possible it brought Prime back from the dead.

Midnight - S4-E10

Question: Is there any information on the entity shown in "Midnight?" It seems interesting enough to have some depth to it. It seemed to be bad in nature. It also seems to have been exactly what the woman that was possessed was afraid of.

Knever

Chosen answer: No, no information is avalible for the identity of the entity.

Repo_Man

Question: Why is Medusa able to turn the lady in the garden to stone and why is Annabeth afraid of her? Per Medusa's curse that Athena put on her she can't harm women.

Answer: Medusa is still pretty scary, and Annabeth may not know about Athena's curse.

raywest

Happy Birthday, Baby - S3-E18

Question: During the opening credits of this episode Dean is shown as being in this episode but he was not actually shown. Is there a reason why he was shown in the credits for this episode even though he was not in it?

Jenzzyuk

Chosen answer: So long as Dean was a regular on the show, whether he appeared in a particular episode or not, he was featured in the opening credits' montage. Once the character was phased out, they stopped showing him in the opening.

Phixius

Question: Why did the drillers have to go through all the rigorous medical tests if the NASA doctors were going to pass them anyway, after most of them failed? According to the movie, Harry and his team were the best drillers on the planet, so it didn't seem like NASA had any other option considering the time constraints.

Answer: True, they failed to meet NASA's strict requirements. But the tests would at least determine if they could concievably survive the journey, if not maintian optimal health, etc. None of them lost consciousness for any extended periods in the course of the examinations, so they were passed.

Phixius

Question: Toward the end of the movie, one of the gang members visits a barber shop and picks up a small bag of cut hair swept from the floor. I cannot remember any follow-up to this scene showing how or where this cut hair was used. I have asked several people who have seen the movie and no one seems to know what happened to this hair. Was there any follow-up to this scene or did I blink and miss the part that shows what they did with it?

Answer: The bag of hair from the barbershop was used to throw off the police when they search the getaway car later. In other words they will find all the scattered hair and have the wrong DNA. This is what they do after the second heist. They never used one at the end since the cops already knew who they were.

Gavin Jackson

Question: What was the meaning of Larry meeting a woman that looked just like Amelia Earheart? The woman says that she isn't related to Amelia, so I'm confused about why it was done.

Answer: Larry was smitten with the wax figure of Amelia Earhart and when he sees the woman in the museum who looks like Amelia (and who was played by the same actress who portrayed Amelia), his infatuation and attraction were understandable.

MovieFan612

Question: In the virtual reality bar, a man comes up to the operator with a request. On television I've seen this line as, "I want to kill my boss." But I remember the line being much less family friendly in the theater. Was this line changed since the move left theaters, or am I mistaken?

Answer: You are not mistaken. Movie scenes are filmed multiple times, often with small changes to the dialogue, actors reacting differently, and so on, to see which one works best. However, some more adult scenes that are appropriate for a movie theater or certain cable channels are also filmed with a more family-friendly version that can be edited into the film for later TV viewings. This eliminates having to "bleep" out offensive words, dubbing in non-offensive words, which sounds unnatural, or otherwise chopping up or cutting scenes entirely due to nudity. This method is less distracting and makes for better viewing. A good example is the TV series, "Sex and the City." The show actually filmed many racier scenes in two versions, one for the very adult-oriented HBO, and also tamer scenes that eliminated all nudity and offensive dialogue for later syndication to general cable channels while keeping the overall content intact.

raywest

While I completely agree that this has happened repeatedly in many movies, this question is asking if it had happened in this particular movie with this particular scene. Which, according to my memory of seeing it in the theater, there was no change to this scene.

jshy7979

Answer: I believe you are mistaken. I've checked the DVD and the guy says, "I want to kill my boss." Rufus Riley (the owner of the bar) looks taken aback for a second. Given that Rufus had just been talking about people using the bar for sex (and shown someone in a pod doing that), he'd likely not be surprised by someone saying they wanted to use it for sex. But saying they wanted to kill a specific person might give him reason to pause.

Question: How did Will not recognise Viloa in her boy disguise? Even in disguise, you can clearly see it's her, and she didn't sound like a boy.

Answer: In real life, Viola, of course, would be recognized as a female in disguise. However, in literature, film, opera, etc, it often is necessary to employ what is known as a "suspension of disbelief." That is, the author expects the reader or audience to know something is impossible, unlikely, or completely unreal, but they have to accept a certain premise in order to allow the plot to unfold. We go along with the idea that no one realizes Viola is actually a woman, so that we can enjoy the overall story.

raywest

Question: What's up with Percy (the midget)? He was with Dr. Parnassus decades ago, when he won a bet with the devil to win the heart of a woman he craved, but he hasn't aged a day since. Or was that another midget and Dr. Parnassus has a tendency to pick midgets up to live in poverty by his side, and these two just happen to look identical? Both were obviously played by the same actor (Verne Troyer) and some make-up would easily disguise this, so I'm guessing this is intentional.

Answer: Percy's backstory is never touched upon, but he certainly appears to have been with Parnassus for a substantial period of time, longer than his visual age would suggest. Possibly he himself has done his own deal with the Devil, or some other power, to extend his life, but, if so, the film never elaborates on it.

Tailkinker

Question: Instead of going under water and trying to poison Jaws in the shark cage, couldn't he have been harpooned with the poison from the boat just as easy?

mozeus5

Chosen answer: As mentioned in the movie, the posion was in the needle and the shark's hide was too tough for the needle to penetrate. Hooper had to go in the water so that he could get the needle into the shark's mouth, where the flesh was less tough.

Kevin Howard

Question: I know most movies have a disclaimer at the end of the credits saying that no animals were hurt during this movie, etc., so I have to ask this: did Percy stomp on a real mouse? I'm only asking because the after-death twitching that the mouse did was VERY realistic. (I've trapped many mice in my home so I know what I'm talking about - only I don't stomp on them.)

Answer: When we first see Mr. Jingles get stomped, that is an effects shot done by ILM. In the next shot when Percy removes his foot and you see the mouse twitch a little, that is a puppet. Director Frank Darabont confirms the effects shot on the commentary, and there's a feature on the Blu Ray that shows it in detail.

Phixius

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