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: Is the gravitational force in Pandora the same as in Earth? The humans are seen walking in the same way they walk on Earth.

bharath

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.

AJ Aneres

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?

Answer: It's Jade, the stripper Stu married. She's sneaking out because she wants to surprise them with coffee.

MoonFaery

Answer: She also added that she was being quiet to not wake them up. She went to get them coffee and when she returned everyone was gone.

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.

Tailkinker

Question: 1. Is it or is it not Robin Williams who does the voices of Ramon and Lovelace? I am seeing conflicting information on imbd.com that says that it was, in fact, Robin Williams. Then on the cast and crew page, it says that Dan Castellaneta did the voice of Ramon. What gives? 2. I heard something to the effect that the scene with the sea gull/albatross, who was voiced by Steve Irwin, was deleted because he had died before the movie was released. I also read/heard that he did the voice of one of the elephant seals, too. Which elephant seal was he? 3. And finally, in the "Boogie Wonderland" scene, the Hispanic penguins sing/rap something in Spanish. What are they saying?

freedomchild67

Chosen answer: 1. Check the end credits in the movie, both Lovelace and Ramon are voiced by Robin Williams. Dan Castellaneta did the voice in the Happy Feet video game. 2. It is true that there was a scene with Steve Irwin as a seagull that was taken out, it's on the DVD. He is the elephant seal that says something along the lines of "One day you're swimming, next day, fun food."

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?

Carl Missouri

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.

Twotall

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".

XIII

Question: What happens to the girl that had Kim's jacket? Is it assumed that he just left her in the hotel?

Answer: It's never stated, but it's likely Bryan had made arrangements with his friend (the hotel manager) to help her return home once she recovered enough from the drugs.

raywest

Question: If the ark was loaded with one male and one female of the same species, wouldn't there be genetic defects in their young (several generations later, I mean) as siblings would mate and produce offspring with each other? This certainly occurs with humans, so is it the same with animals?

Answer: Yes the same holds true for animals as well (there was a PBS special years ago about an inbred lioness trying to fit in her pride). We only see one Ark being loaded but the other Arks may as well be loaded with animals to prevent genetic defects from happening.

dablues7

Question: Is Aragog smaller in this film, than in the Chamber of Secrets?

Answer: Yes, much smaller. I'd estimate that the Aragog in Half-Blood Prince is about one third the size of the spider in Chamber of Secrets.

raywest

Answer: Yes. They needed to make the effect that his body has dried out and has no life.

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?

raywest

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.

Myridon

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."

Bishop73

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.

odelphi

Question: I actually have two questions about this film. Firstly, does Rambo actually kill anyone in this film? Dennehy doesn't die and he didn't kill Galt so was there anyone else? And secondly when Rambo arrives at the cliff face, why didn't he simply run to his right or left? The police were only coming at him from behind (and even if one of them came from the side, Rambo could have used his skills to get past him). So why did he feel that going down the cliff was his only option?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: No he doesn't kill anyone. He didn't know if he was surrounded or not and if he did encounter one from the side they might have shot him.

Grumpy Scot

Rambo killed Galt, albeit indirectly and unintentionally. In the US, "manslaughter involves causing the death of another person in a manner less culpable than murder." Rambo was responsible for throwing a projectile that struck the helicopter, causing the pilot to lose control resulting in Galt falling to his death.

But if Galt had been buckled in, he'd have lived. He was behaving recklessly. Yes Rambo's rock was involved, but that's two steps removed from Galt's death. Rock thrown -> pilot overreacts -> Galt falls because he wasn't strapped in properly. Galt's own behaviour and the pilot's reaction are more at fault than Rambo. This isn't a court, by most reasonable standards Rambo didn't kill Galt.

Question: Anybody know what kind of gun Captain Love used in the movie? Just curious, because I have tried to find some information on that gun.

Budoshi

Chosen answer: Captain Love uses a Colt 1876 Buntline with a 16" barrel. This is an anachronism, though, as the movie is set in 1841. He should have been using a Colt Patterson, which came about in 1836.

LorgSkyegon

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.

GalahadFairlight

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.

greengirl

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.

Tailkinker

Question: From what I understand in this movie Michael Myers is some psycho kid that grew up to kill again. How is he surviving direct gunshots? Is he somehow bulletproof? I don't get it.

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: In the original "Halloween" movie series, the Michael Myers character is evil personified. He is SO evil, in fact, that he is bulletproof and killproof. He survives all attempts to destroy him much like Jason Voorhees in the ALL the "Friday the 13th" a series.

CCARNI

Yes, but that is because of all that cult of Thorn crap that is revealed in part 6, The Curse of Michael Myers. In Rob Zombie's version, Michael seems to be a "normal," as in human, kid.

But the cult storyline wasn't in their wheelhouse when they made the original. Michael would have had to been a regular child before the murder of his sister. He wasn't regarded as super human in the first two movies. In the original and Rob's remake, Myers survives being shot multiple times.

Answer: He is still a human, but in John Carpenter's version he can't die because of the curse, and in Rob's version though, he's practically a tank.

Question: What's the use of those sharp poles the Trojans put on the beach before the Greeks land? They're too large to be of use against infantry, and the Greeks don't use cavalry, and wouldn't be likely to use cavalry to storm the beach even if they did.

Answer: They didn't know the Greeks weren't bringing cavalry. The Greeks did use them and sometimes brought them by sea. It was there to stop a cavalry charge and to break up fighting formations.

LorgSkyegon

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?

Carl Missouri

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).

MovieFan612

Fiona also says "it talks", after he "saves his ass."

To be fair, she was locked in a castle for the majority of her life, so she wouldn't know that donkeys would be able to talk.

And yet he wasn't the only one surprised by it; watch the scene again and Fiona was surprised, too.

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?

curiouskid

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: When Helen and Madelin are fighting with the shovels, Helen whacks off the end of Madelin's shovel, and then Madelin throws the stick through Helen. How did they achieve this effect?

curiouskid

Chosen answer: CGI, just like any other difficult effect.

Grumpy Scot

Question: I'm not sure if this is an actual mistake or a question: when Andy is escaping, we see him climb down something before he leaves the prison, (scaffolding, I think) and he is wearing boots or shoes of some kind. How could he do that since he left his shoes in the shoebox for the warden to find? The warden's shoes were safely tucked away in the plastic bag Andy had attached to his foot by the rope. It wasn't like he could carry a spare pair when he went to the warden's office to close up for the night.

Answer: Either prisoners are given more than one pair or Andy obtained another. He does have a lot of pull at the prison. Getting another pair of shoes would be trivial for him.

Grumpy Scot

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