Question: Why aren't the four hobbits given a hero's welcome when they return to the Shire? The fellow who greets them seems less than impressed that they just saved Middle-Earth. Do the Shire folk not know about what went on? Do they ever learn of it?
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: Does anyone know whether the African Prince in the opening sequence was actually Drew Barrymore herself in disguise, or whether it was an actor who was replaced by Drew in the revealing scene ("I think you mean crazy bitch"..."Damn I hate to fly" etc...) Thanks.
Question: Why did the police officer give Miranda the keys to outside/his car when she was trying to escape the mental institution? And why didn't he tell the other police officers that she was there?
Answer: The security guard you're talking about is friends with Miranda, and felt sorry that she was being treated the way she was. He was just helping her out, and didn't tell the others because of it.
Question: Is there any reason why Samuel Jackson's character got a purple light saber? I know bad Jedi used to have red and good Jedi blue or green, but what about purple?
Answer: Sam L. Jackson asked Lucas if he could have a purple saber, and Lucas said yes (so the story goes at least). I suppose Jackson just wanted to be different. It could also possibly be explained in-universe that Mace Windu uses a fighting style that borders dangerously close to the dark side (it's in the starwars.com databank if you wish to look it up), so his saber is a mix of Blue (light side) and Red (dark side) to signify this.
Question: Marie teaches Debra to make something called Canopys (I'm not even sure that's how you spell it). Can someone tell me what Canopys are and give me the correct spelling? I assume it's some sort of Italian appetizer or dish.
Chosen answer: A Canapé is a cracker or a small, thin piece of bread or toast spread with cheese, meat, or relish and served as an appetizer.
Jellyfish Hunters / The Fry Cook Games - S2-E16
Question: In "Jellyfish Hunters", when Mr. Krabs keeps saying "More" to Spongebob to get more jellyfish, there are several pictures of Mr. Krabs saying this. There is one quite disturbing picture of what looks like a mutated and rotten Mr. Krabs. Can anyone please explain what it's supposed to mean, or is it just some random joke?
Answer: More likely a random joke. Commonly in Spongebob they use awful looking pictures of the characters as a joke usually about their appearance. In one episode Mr Krabs talks about how Squidward and Spongebob are some of the finest crew mates he's ever had and then you see them looking horribly dressed, with almost mutated faces and nothing close to impressive as Krabs states. The entire show is primarily made up of visual jokes like these.
Answer: I have a better answer. This image is known as an internet meme, something [either a phrase of any actions] that are popular all over the internet.
The image became an internet meme AFTER the episode aired. It's not fan art or a meme that was subsequently used in the show, so the question of what is the reference or joke has nothing to do with it being a meme.
Question: Where is the film set and where can I read up about the true story?
Answer: The film was inspired by an incident at St Crispin's Reef, a dive site on the Great Barrier Reef in 1998, when Tom and Eileen Lonergan was left behind by their diving boat after an error was made during the headcount. They were never seen again. More information can be found at http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200310/200310_mysteries_2.html.
Question: In the Chamber, right before the Basilisk blasts out of the water, Tom Riddle says something about Lord Voldemort returning. As he says this, he holds out a hand in front of him and stares at it. Is there a reason for this?
Chosen answer: As it states in the film Tom Riddle is Voldemort; as he was at school, and he put the memory of himself into the diary. Whilst in the chamber he is taking the life out of Ginny Weasly to bring himself back and get voldemort back to full power again. So as he pulls the power out of Ginny he is becoming more than a memory and therefore solid - this is why he is looking at his hand, he's watching himself become solid and real again.
Question: What was the deal with Magneto switching the metal squares in Cerebro around? They said Prof. X just needed to concentrate on a certain group of people, and the 'little girl' was telling him to concentrate on the mutants and then the humans, and we already saw he could switch between them without aid so why was rearranging the plates necessary?
Answer: He could switch between them in Cerebro. In Cerebro 2 (built at Alkali Lake), the plates had to be moved to find/kill one or the other. Stryker deliberately set it up that way so that Professor X couldn't hurt any humans (like himself or his troops) if he came to his senses in the second Cerebro.
Question: There is a scene in the movie in which Arnie disguises as a woman to pass the entrance control in Mars. Moments later, the mask he's using starts to malfunction and he has to take it off. When he's doing that, we can see that the man who's playing Quaid is not Arnie but a stunt double. Why did the director choose a stunt double to replace Arnie in a scene that's not risky at all?
Answer: It's not a stunt double, it's a mannequin (fake head actually) of Arnie, used for the artificial head shot.
Question: At the beginning of the movie, Quaid has a friend at work (if my mind's not failing me his name is Harry) that tells him not to go to Recall because some person got lobotomised. Later, when Quaid is returning from Recall his friend stops him and tries to kidnap (or kill) him because Quaid "talked about Mars". I can't understand the role that this man has in the plot. Quaid told his wife that this man is a spy (I wonder how he knew that), and I'd like to know which side he seems to be fighting for (the Agency or the rebels).
Answer: It depends on whether you choose to believe the events of the film are real or in Quaid's lobotomized brain. If the events are real (i.e. Quaid is actually Houser with his memories blocked) then Harry is from the agency and is there to make sure Quaid doesn't say or do anything that would potentially break his memory block (like going to Recall). If you believe everything is in Quaid's mind after he goes to Recall, then Harry really was just his friend.
Answer: Harry works for the Agency the same way Arnie's wife did. While the wife watched him at home, Harry was to watch him at work. Harry told Arnie that story to keep him from going to Recall and to keep him from having to kill Arnie for bringing up his memories of Mars.
Question: Is the Bowie knife named after Jim Bowie because he invented it or because he became famous for using it?
Answer: There were several versions of the knife over time - the original was believed to have been designed by his brother Rezin Bowie, but the subsequent versions were Bowie's own designs. For more information, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowie_knife.
Question: How did Cameron Drake know his former literature teacher Howard Brackett was gay, if nobody, not even Howard himself, knew it?
Answer: He made an assumption, based on certain things he'd observed, which turned out to be true. Other people in town must clearly have had similar ideas about Howard - witness all the Streisand albums at his bachelor party - but Cameron was probably just the first one to voice it aloud. And it was just as well for Howard, because it set him on the road to discovering the truth about himself.
Question: How much of her own singing did Hilary Duff actually do in the movie?
Answer: All of the singing that Hilary Duff did in the film is her own. This is stated in the credits of the songs she did.
Question: I don't really understand Josh's comment to Mary Marsh on TV ("Lady, the god you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud."). Could someone please explain it to me?
Answer: It's in reference to the many televangelists and revival ministers usually associated with the right-wing that have been convicted of tax fraud (Jim Bakker and Tamy Faye being a more famous set). Occasionally, the more unscrupulous ministers have bilked millions from believers all in the name of God.
Question: Anyone know why the clone army is so small? I think the Kamino-guy says there are 200,000 ready and a million more on the way. China's army is almost twice that size. For a galactic war, troop counts in the billions would be necessary. And just one of those droid factories could probably pump out hundreds of thousands in a week.
Answer: Generally speaking, as technology improves, the actual size of an army in terms of manpower goes down. The clone army has not been constructed to fight a war on the galactic scale - it's more intended to be an elite fighting force for putting down planetary scale insurrections. The droid armies would certainly have numerical superiority, but they would lack tactical flexibility, plus have at least one potential flaw (as exposed in the Phantom Menace) - the clones can take advantage of that and should be able to defeat considerably larger forces.
Question: There are numerous mentions of the fact that Depp based his performance as Jack Sparrow on Keith Richards. But I'm sure I saw an interview/making-of programme where he said that Jack Sparrow was a combination of two real-life 'characters'; one was Keith Richards, and try as I might, I can't remember the other one. Did anyone else see this? Who was the other inspiration for Jack Sparrow? (It may have been another actor e.g. Orlando Bloom talking *about* Johnny Depp's influences etc.).
Answer: On Disc 3, Johnny explains, "Take something as solid as Keith Richards and combine it with Pepé Le Pew... I felt... he would resemble a modern day Rastafarian..." Pepé Le Pew is a Looney Tunes cartoon character, based on Charles Boyer's romantic character, Pepé Le Moko. Pepé Le Pew, however, is a romantic amorous cartoon skunk and he has a huge flaw - his 'odor', which he emits in a grand way.
Question: Does anyone know how long the war with the machines has actually been going on or what year it actually is in the real world?
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Answer: Few hobbits have ever ventured outside of the Shire and tend to regard Bilbo and Frodo with a certain amount of suspicion for having left for so long. In the novel, the Shire is attacked and therefore they would know about it, but since it is apparently unharmed in the movie they wouldn't care very much about what was going on in the rest of Middle Earth.
Shay