Question: What's the deal with R2-D2's 'short circuit' after he's shot while trying to override the shield generator's doors? Did the blast cause him to go haywire or is he having a panic attack?
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: When Bella is bitten by James, Jasper also comes and rescues her - by killing James - but how is it that Jasper does not react to Bella's blood? Is it because of "heat of battle?" I also think of New Moon, where she only had a paper cut (but he still freaked out).
Chosen answer: There's no definitive answer. Most likely it was because the conditions between the two scenarios were very different. When the Cullens saved Bella, Jasper was intensely focused on defeating James, exerting all his energy into killing him. He would have gone into battle knowing there could be bloodshed. He may also have not been "hungry" at the time, therefore, less affected by the scent of blood. At the birthday party, Bella cutting her finger was so totally unexpected that it caught Jasper by surprise, and he instinctively reacted to it. He still struggles with being a "vegetarian," and is constantly watched by the other Cullens.
Question: Something that's bugged me ever since becoming a Star Trek fan: Why do none of the ships featured in this or any other Star Trek series have seat-belts or some futuristic equivalent for their bridge crews? Practically every time, for example, the Enterprise comes under heavy attack, consoles and panels start exploding and crew members are thrown from their chairs and shown flying through the air. To me this seems a very obvious oversight.
Answer: The ships have inertial dampeners, they don't really need seatbelts. And consoles aren't really supposed to be exploding. When the do, would you really want to be lashed in place so your face and torso take the full force of it?
There is a deleted scene in Star Trek nemesis where Captain Picard captain's chair get a seat belt and he makes a comment about them.
Question: Is the gravitational force in Pandora the same as in Earth? The humans are seen walking in the same way they walk on Earth.
Chosen answer: No, it's not the same, it's a little bit lighter, as mentioned by the Colonel early on in the film. That's part of why many of the creatures are so tall and lean there. Lighter gravity wouldn't really affect the way you walk - astronauts on the moon hopped around due to the bulky spacesuits.
Question: While in Italy, the Anglican pastor tells a joke, and the punch line is about an American seeing a "yellow dog." Exactly what is he referring to?
Chosen answer: The joke is: The American girl asks her father "What did we see in Rome?" The man says "Rome was where we saw the yellow dog." Explanation: Americans can tour the Eternal City and all they will see that is memorable or of interest to them is a dog.
I don't get it. It doesn't make sense.
What part doesn't make sense? Rome is filled with better things than a dog. To put it another way, it would be like if you went to one of the greatest sporting event live with on-field/court-side/ring-side tickets and when asked about the event you said "I thought the nachos were good."
It's a crude joke about Americans. It doesn't have to make sense. It's a joke that highlights the sense that Americans are crude, illiterate, with no culture. They believe a yellow dog (a common dog in the US) was the best thing to see.
Question: In the beginning of the film, who is the girl in the pink dress who is leaving the trashed hotel room right before the guys wake up from their night, and, why was she sneaking from the room?
Question: On the IMDB Trivia page, it says that little of Terry Jones' script was kept past the point where Sarah eats the peach. I have two questions concerning this: 1) Who wrote the rest of the film? and 2) Why was some of his material removed?
Answer: As with any film, there are often numerous rewrites of the script as the writing process progresses, and it's not at all uncommon for different writers to be brought in to tweak plot points, enhance dialogue and so forth as the script is honed towards the point where they have a finished product that they can shoot. Who ends up with the eventual credit is a highly complex and somewhat arcane process, involving judgement calls on who has contributed what towards the final script. As such, Jones' script being heavily rewritten after a certain point is nothing particularly unusual, but what amounts to standard practice in the movie industry - presumably it was felt that his script subsequent to that point lacked punch in some way, leading to another writer being brought in to revamp it. Other writers known to have worked on the script include screenwriter Elaine May, childrens author Dennis Lee and the film's director Jim Henson. There may well have been others.
Question: Is Aragog smaller in this film, than in the Chamber of Secrets?
Question: When McClane ejected from the cockpit of the military plane, why didn't Colonel Stewart and his men shoot him while he was in the air? These men deliberately crashed a commercial plane killing innocent civilians and by doing this, it's obvious that they are ruthless, so why wouldn't they try to kill their main enemy when he is at his most vulnerable? (With the weapons the soldiers had, McClane was still in range to be hit.) Can someone explain this for me?
Answer: Because the police were moments away from arriving at the scene. They needed as much time to get away without being tracked. Every moment counts. And a target rocking about a few hundred feet in the air doesn't seem to be such an "easy target".
Question: Why did Elle kill Budd? Was it really just to get her hands on Kiddo's sword? or was it more to it? As poor as he was seems like she could have just offered him a small amount of money for it. Why kill him?
Chosen answer: The way she talks to Budd as he lies dying, seems to indicate that she has disliked and hated him for years, plus the fact that she feels that he was not "worthy" of killing Kiddo (seeing how Kiddo was a fantastic warrior, while Budd is an alcoholic hick). However, it would be difficult for her to get close enough to kill him earlier, as he would not buy any excuse why she just came visiting. But when Budd actually invites her over, she gets a chance to get back at him, and in the same while take the credit for killing the Bride and retrieving her Hanzo sword for Bill. Vengeance and personal gain in one swoop.
Question: What do the curls on Navy officer's white wigs signify? Some have one curl on each side, while others have two, and so on. Are they an indication of rank?
Question: Why was Terry the one who arranged his and Lara's escape from Hong Kong? Of the both of them, Lara logically would be the one to do this, as she has the clout, money and contacts. Terry was imprisoned and disgraced prior to this and unlikely to have contacts/someone who would help him. Even if the contact was part of an Asian criminal world, Terry still wouldn't be able to do it as he was an enemy of the Shay-Ling.
Answer: Terry was specifically taken to Hong Kong because of his contacts and dealings with people there.
Question: When Ripley takes the gun and goes to see Newt, who is then under the bed, she puts the gun on the bed. But then the gun is in the next room when the alien is attacking. Have I just mistaken this and it was placed on the table, or is this a mistake? Thanks.
Chosen answer: Neither, it's a plot point. When Burke released the facehuggers into their room, with the aim of impregnating Ripley and Newt with aliens so that he could get them back to Earth, he took Ripley's gun and moved it outside the room before he locked them in, so that she couldn't use it to defend themselves.
Question: In a movie with talking ogres, pigs, mice, wolves, and all sorts of animals, why is everyone so surprised to find a talking donkey?
Chosen answer: Who is "everyone"? The only person surprised he can talk is the one human who is processing the fairytale creatures for banishment, and this was used as a plot device to highlight a joke (between him flying and talking).
Question: Is Fran and Steve's wedding being held on a weekday? City Hall is open for Mary and Missimo's wedding.
Answer: It may be an evening affair.
Chosen answer: It's possible. Some brides will agree to get married on a weekday in order to have it at the location they really want. Some places book way in advance and are hard to book.
Answer: Sometimes it is cheaper to hold a wedding on a weekday rather then the weekend.
Question: When Helen and Madelin have finished fighting and they asked Earnest to fix them, how did he fix the great big hole in Helen's stomach?
Chosen answer: He most likely filled it with something soft, then covered it. You'll notice the lingerie she is wearing completely covers her midsection.
Question: The ending seems to be shown as a happy one. They find land and head towards it. However, the earth was being cooked from the inside, so what happened? Did the earth just stop being destroyed?
Chosen answer: The intense solar activity ceased, thereby allowing the core temperature to return to normal and leave us with the new look continents.
Question: I was just wondering why, at the end of the movie, the name of the company changed from Colston to something like Ruiz and Hunt. I mean, Margaret's last name was "Tate" so her leaving shouldn't have caused a name change. (I apologize if the names are incorrect, I've only gotten to watch it once at a friend's house, so the movie isn't readily available for me to check).
Chosen answer: The building is named Ruik and Hunt, the publishing company is Colston, which is housed inside the building. The company never changed names.
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: The impact of the energy shot on Artoo's data-access arm has caused a short in his systems, so he's just going through an overload.
Tailkinker ★