Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: At the very end of the movie, Michael Caine states that the audience wants to be fooled as a dead Angier is shown in a water tank. What does this mean?

Answer: It means exactly what he says - the reason that illusion shows are successful is that the audience, whether they admit it or not, want to be fooled by the illusions that they see. They don't want to see what lies behind it.

Tailkinker

Question: Why is the right field foul pole named after Johnny Pesky?

Answer: Popular Boston Red Sox lore credits the nickname to pitcher Mel Parnell who later became a sportscaster. Pesky had only 6 homers in Fenway Park and all were hit near the right field foul line pole, but never off the pole. The pole is only 302 feet from home plate. The left field foul line pole is named after player Carlton Fisk.

ChiChi

Question: How do the Death Eaters escape from Azkaban when it is very tall where the explosion happened/spell hit, and they don't (or shouldn't) have their wands?

Answer: Quite simply, someone else caused the explosion from the outside. Or for that matter, seeing how the Dementors have changed sides, it is not unlikely that someone was allowed to come in to Azkaban and break the Death Eaters out.

Twotall

I think that Voldemort was the one who caused an explosion from the outside.

Question: Why wasn't Harry punished for using the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix? The ministry obviously keeps tabs on underage wizardry. Wouldn't there be serious repercussions for using an unforgivable curse?

Answer: The Ministry can keep track of magic being cast, but appear unable to determine who actually cast it - for example, when Dobby uses magic at the Dursley's house during the events of the Chamber of Secrets, Harry is blamed for it, as he's the only known magic-user at that location. At the Ministry, there are something like a dozen adult wizards involved in the fight, including a considerable number of Deatheaters. The Ministry know that a Cruciatus curse was cast, but would have no way to know who actually cast it, letting Harry off the hook.

Tailkinker

Answer: He has always been in favour of using much stricter discipline at Hogwarts, even talking warmly about medieval punishing methods. Umbridge introduces and enforces the sort of rigid regime he wants, one where the school will be free of pranks and rule-breaking, something he hates with a passion (since, as caretaker, he often has to clean up the mess afterwards). Hence, he is very much in support of Umbridge.

Twotall

Question: If only Harry and Luna can see the thestral creatures, then how do all the others fly them when they go to the ministry without falling off, due to not seeing where they can hold on?

Answer: They have to feel the Thestrals with their hands to know where and how to climb up, and then simply grab hold of whatever they can and hang on for dear life. It is said to be a very confusing and scary way to travel!

Twotall

Question: Specifically HOW would Pai Mei have taught the "five point palm exploding heart technique" to the Bride? We all know she trained with him for months. Bill (and the film generally) makes that very clear. Could someone simplify this for me?

Answer: It is obvious they practiced this on anything but a live person. See the look in her eyes when she completes the move on Bill? She's like, "yes, OK, it works" even though I'm sure she implicitly trusted Pei Mei, she had never seen the technique on a real person. So likely they would have used anything from a piece a wood to a dummy. Also she trained with Pei Mei for years not months. Remember Bill telling her not to sass back at least for the "first year or so till he warms up to her" - they had lots of time together.

Answer: The same way he would have taught her any other dangerous or esoteric techniques. Most likely, he would show her the precise way to position the fingers, precisely when and where to strike and then have her practice until she could do it correctly in an instant. In addition, a training aid such as a dummy would also help her know exactly how much force to use, as well as letting Pai Mei judge whether or not she did everything correctly and correct any flaws. But it really is impossible to do anything but speculate on this, as techniques like this and the teachings thereof are deliberately not shown to the general public (if they even exist, that is), and so the only ones who know how to teach this will not give away any hints or reveal any special training methods they use.

Twotall

Answer: They're part of the mechanism that Galactus uses to extract the life-force from the planet.

Tailkinker

Question: During a break in the card game Bond slips something into Le Chiffre's inhaler - but I don't recall anything coming of it later. What did he slip in and what was the significance of that?

Answer: It's a tracking device he can use to find Le Chiffre at all times. He uses it whilst in the hotel lift to determine that Le Chiffre is on the 4th floor of the hotel and which room he is in.

Tailkinker

Question: What kind of car is Bumblebee before he gives himself a "makeover"?

Answer: Bumblebee in his first form is a 1975-77 era Chevy Camaro. After he scans his "makeover car" he becomes a 2009 Camaro Concept car. He stays the same make and model he just upgrades the year and style.

dablues7

Proshai, Livushka - S3-E2

Question: In the credits a character is shown as "2 to 5 / 7 to 9". Who is this character and what is the significance of her name?

Answer: I'm not sure which person you're referring to here specifically, but the meaning is someone who makes a habit of constantly going to funeral calling hours (normally 2pm-5pm and 7pm to 9pm) for morbid entertainment or gossip purposes (elderly ladies, for example).

Ryan Grubb

Answer: In "Proshai, Livushka", she's the person talking to Meadow in the hall, while Tony watches, and says to Meadow, "I'm so sorry about your grandmother." She also appears and is credited in s03e05, "Another Toothpick" and s03e13, "Army of One." In s06e18 "Kennedy and Heidi", one of Tony's men points her out (although refers to her as 3 to 5, 7 to 9) and when someone asks why they call her that, he says "she never misses a wake." Although in this episode, Marie Donato is not credited.

Bishop73

Question: Is one born with a deranged tear duct or is it acquired? Also, why does Le Chiffre have a clouded and faded iris, is that part of the disorder? Can he even see out of that eye? The scar above and below his eye must also be related, or could someone have inflicted it upon him?

Jason Riley

Chosen answer: It is possible to be born with this affliction, but his injury to the same eye suggests he wasn't.

Phixius

Question: Why doesn't Adam kill Kate? Is it because at the start of the movie she said that she would dance with him later or simply because she is his girlfriend?

Answer: He doesn't kill her because she was the only nice one, whereas her friends( Paige, Lily, etc.) were all mean to him at the beginning.

cameron_eats_lemons

Answer: Plus, Kate was his biggest crush. She was the only one who didn't testify against him and blame him about what happened with Dorothy too.

Question: How would Pai Mei have taught the 'five point palm exploding heart' technique to Beatrix?

Answer: She trained with him for a long time.

Answer: She had strength, courage and determination. No matter what he put her through she never flinched. He felt she was worthy of learning.

Question: What exactly was in the envelope that Costigan hands to the therapist? Was it the tapes that Frank had recorded of himself?

Answer: That, and other evidence of Matt Damon's guilt.

pross79

Question: Why does Lorraine suddenly call Marty by his regular name not Calvin Klein, did I miss something?

Answer: During the scene where Lorraine sees Marty's underwear and assumes Calvin Klein is his name, Marty tells her most people call him Marty. She still thinks his name is Calvin, but she tries to make him happy by using his preferred "nickname".

The Siege (1) - S1-E19

Question: It was said earlier in the show that the Atlantis crew did not have enough power to dial Earth. Earth Control had no idea of the fate of the Atlantis crew until they sent the video package telling them what was going on, then Earth Control sent reinforcements to help out. My question is; if Earth Control was able to send reinforcements to Atlantis to help out, why could they not send a crew to check on the status of Atlantis? They knew the Atlantis crew made it in the 1st episode.

SAZOO1975

Chosen answer: Because the ZPM allowing them to dial Atlantis was being used at the Antarctic defense outpost. They couldn't risk making Earth vulnerable to attack from Anubis by depleting it with repeated dialing to the Pegasus galaxy. Once they knew Atlantis was in serious danger, they had no choice.

Grumpy Scot

ZPM from Antarctic was depleted in first dial, dial in Siege was done via ZPM from Egypt (SG-1: Moebius Part-1/2).

Question: In the scene where Lovell's wife is watching an interview of Lovell, he is asked if he can recall a moment when he experienced fear. Lovell proceeds to talk about a time when he's in a fighter jet and gets lost. Is this story a real life experience of the real Jim Lovell, or did they make it up for the movie?

Answer: It's a true story. I read it in Lovell's book Lost Moon. Great book.

William Bergquist

Question: This is really bugging me: why is Gabriella suddenly wearing a red dress during the last song when everyone else is still in the same clothes?

Answer: Right after they finish the chorus, when they start the next verse, you can see Gabriella taking off her Scholastic Decathlon uniform on the right side of the shot. Her red dress is inside. (She might have done that because Troy took off his jacket in the first song that they sang together).

Answer: Gabriella was actually wearing a pink shirt and a floral skirt when singing with Troy for callbacks but then is magically wearing a red dress at the game shortly after. However, Kelsi and Taylor are both wearing different outfits so perhaps they changed or the game was rescheduled due to the technical issues?

Question: Why did Bootstrap Bill attack Norrington and betray Will and Elizabeth's escape, when he seemed, to all pursuits and purposes, to be on their side?

Answer: He didn't mean to betray Will and Elizabeth's escape, he did want to help them. But he had been on the Dutchman for so long that he was becoming part of the boat and couldn't help what he was doing.

JCT05

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