Question: Why do they sometimes put "La" in front of Carlotta's name? I'm sure it's something to do with the Italian/Spanish language but I took the class a long time ago.
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Question: What's the relative timeline of this movie? It's stated that it starts in the year 10,191 but there don't seem to be any other dates besides that.
Answer: The entire DUNE universe is much more complicated than any movie. For a relatively useful timeline, see www.smirnov.demon.co.uk/Arrakis/timeline.htm.
Question: The enemy is referred to as "tommies". Why do they call them that?
Answer: Tommy or Tommy Atkins is a term for a common soldier in the British Army. It is particularly associated with being used by the Germans during WWI, but may have been around as early as 1743 - see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommies.
Question: If Vader wants to kill the current Emperor, and become emperor himself, why does he not let Luke kill him? I am thinking he needs the Emperor to convert Luke to the dark side.
Answer: You are correct. Vader wanted to kill the Emperor but as a Sith he would need an apprentice. He wanted his son Luke to be his new apprentice, but he knew he needed Luke to kill the Emperor in order to completely turn to the Dark Side.
Question: Why would they use real leeches? Isn't that a danger to the actors?
Answer: Leeches are not dangerous, just disgusting. While fairly easy to remove, leeches will fall off by themselves when they are full. They are not known to transmit any diseases though the wound can get infected just as any other scratch might.
Question: In the courtroom scene, the first question Eric Idle asks Michael Palin is "You live at 46 Horton Terrace?", to which Palin replies in the affirmative. A few questions later, Idle says "You did say 46 Horton Terrace?", Palin says he did, and Idle says "Got him.", he bangs a small gong, and the courtroom (and the studio audience) laughs uproariously and applaudes. I do not get the joke here. The address is the same in both questions. I have watched this scene many many times and am still at a loss. Can someone help me?
Answer: Eric Idle bangs the gong because Michael Palin said 'Yes' - They're playing the 'yes-no' game, where the idea is to answer questions without using the words yes or no. At the time there was a quiz show called Take Your Pick, the first round of which was the 'yes-no' game - contestants had to answer questions for 60 seconds to pass through to the next round.
Question: Something I never quite figured out when watching the film was what the shields in the corridor were for? The shields that separate Darth Maul from Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan during the fight. There are dozens of them and all they seem to do is benefit the fight in the film without having any real purpose.
Chosen answer: According to "Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode I" by Kristin Lund, they are "laser doors which lock into position in response to potentially lethal power outputs that occur intermittently during plasma activation process" (the fight takes place in a plasma energy processing plant). There are six laser doors in deference to an ancient Naboo legend in which Chaos is held back by six inpentrable gates. As you say though, they're really just a plot device to add dramatic tension to the duel!
Question: What is the title of the music played when Lucy Liu and co. are walking down the corridor in slow motion before the massacre begins?
Answer: It's a really great piece of music, and it is called "Battle without honor or humanity" and is made by Tomoyasu Hotei. Track no. 9 on the Kill Bill Vol. 1 Soundtrack.
All the songs are aptly named for the scene!
Question: Why does Norton lie and say that he "has company" and then make De Niro wait longer during the robbery? Sure, Norton double crosses him later, but wouldn't making his partner wait put both of them in danger of getting caught since it delays them and increases their chances of getting caught?
Answer: Norton already has an advance plan to prevent himself from getting caught. The delay is both to fluster DeNiro, and to prevent him from having enough time at the moment of the double-cross to come up with an alternate to handing over the prize without getting caught himself.
Question: During the fight scene with Dooku, Obi-Wan is knocked down and Anakin stops Dooku from delivering the fatal blow. My question is this: when Obi-Wan picks up his lightsaber and throws it to Anakin, Dooku is standing right over him, why not just reach up and stab Dooku and end it all right there? Is there any reason for him not to do this?
Answer: What, you don't think that Dooku would sense that coming? He's a powerful Sith Lord, considerably above either Anakin or Obi-Wan in power at that time - he'd easily be able to sense it coming and deflect it. Obi-Wan would know that - better to give his lightsabre to Anakin to give his uninjured cohort a more formidable attack.
Question: Is Keaton really as bad as Kujan says? Did he really kill all those people and set up all those deals? He didn't seem so bad to me.
Answer: While mostly accurate, there is one non-applicable element to the Chosen Answer on this one: everything Kujan says about Keaton is not part of Kint's fairy tale, as he is in the real world.
Answer: What we're seeing in the film is a Keaton who's trying to reform, inspired by his relationship with Edie Finneran. Kujan has no particular reason to lie about Keaton's earlier exploits and it certainly seems from what's said in the film that Keaton was a major criminal in his time. True, many of these statements are taken from Verbal's tale, so they cannot be taken as being definitive, but they must contain a reasonable element of truth or Kujan, who is clearly familiar with Keaton's file, would have picked up on it.
Question: What exactly is the significance of the narrator calling all the addresses that are in the information folders from his house after Tyler leaves? Was he trying to warn them of an impending danger?
Answer: After he realized Tyler's true nature at the hotel, Tyler made many phone calls. Jack called the same phone numbers and realized that they corresponded to the buildings mentioned on the Project Mayhem folders. He had to confirm this, so he called a couple different buildings. He tried to tell the building operators that something was up, but they're already assisting Project Mayhem and could not be dissuaded. In desperation Jack went to the police...
Question: What exactly is or was the "Shadows of the Empire?
Answer: "Shadows of the Empire" is essentially Episode 5.5: the story of what happened between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". It was a multimedia project created by Lucasfilm in 1996, with a novel, comic series, computer game, RPG sourcebooks, toys and even its own soundtrack - everything except an actual movie.
Question: Rachael made a copy of the videotape that kills people and gives it to Noah to watch. That means there are now two killer videotapes. Even though at the end of the film when she destroys the original, why didn't she destroy the copy that she made? With both tapes destroyed there would be no way for Samara to come back and kill more people. Granted Rachael still would have been killed, but she would also be saving a lot of lives.
Answer: Rachel is safe, since she has passed the tape on, but Aiden now needs to pass it on. If Rachel destroyed both copies, Aiden would have no way to do this, and would die. Also, based on background material, doing this wouldn't stop Samara: she can regenerate the video, either the same way the original one was created, OR at any point when somebody who has previously passed the tape on appears on a video camera.
Question: In one scene, Hugh Grant and his crazy roommate are talking, the roommate says something about Pandora's Box. He then goes on, "I knew a girl called Pandora, never got to see her box." I understand the no seeing box joke but what is 'Pandora's Box'? I've heard it mentioned before.
Answer: It's a tale from mythology. Details can be found here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora's_box.
Question: When we see four astrodroids fixing the ship trying to get past the blockade one of them is R2-D2, but out of curiousity, what are the names of the other three?
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Answer: It is a common practice to refer to an operatic diva as La, e.g. Leontyne Price as La Price and sometimes you'll even hear Barbra Streisand called "La Streisand".
Myridon