Question: When the fellowship meets Haldir in the woods of Lothlorien, the scenes are radically different between the standard and extended editions of the movie. In the standard version, Gimli says "These woods are perilous, we must go back", and Haldir says "you cannot go back, come, she is waiting". On the extended edition, Aragorn has to practically argue and plead with Haldir to let them go forward. Why such a difference? I understand that this is a "extended" scene on the extended version of the movie, but the fact that Haldir makes them go forward on the first DVD, and Haldir saying they can't go forward on the extended version seems to contradict one another.
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Question: Did James Cameron ever express how he felt about judgement day occurring at the end of this movie, considering he chose to have nothing to do with this production.
Answer: James Cameron has stated in interviews that this film has nothing to do with him. So basically as far as he is concerned, judgement day never happened and life went on as usual. If the makers of T3 felt judgement day should happen, then that is their decision, as it is their film now. James has told his story, others can tell theirs.
Question: How come Numbar uses a microphone with a Z on it, since on all of his posters he has a froofy looking person (In no way resembling Selena) and Selena is the supposed goddess of the moon, and the festival is on the moon, wouldn't he have an S?
Answer: There was a "find the hidden Zs" contest on the website for the movie. The Z on the microphone is part of the contest.
Question: The dad says Fenton is a demon, but demons were only people who have killed other people in their past, and Fenton hasn't killed anyone yet. It is later in the movie he kills his dad, so how did his dad know he was a demon?
Chosen answer: Paxton is obviously mentally deranged so he can call anyone a demon and find a way to justify it.
This answer is entirely incorrect. If you watch the film, you realise that it is only Fenton's belief that his father is insane. In the reality of the film, everything his father has told him is true. He is in fact a "demon killer." Since there is no explanation in the film as to what actually makes someone a demon, it's safe to assume the angel knew Fenton would grow up to become a serial killer. The father refused to believe his own son would be a demon, and so tried to force him to "see" the truth.
It really isn't "in the reality of the movie" - it is in the dad's psychotic mind (his warped sense of reality). What sane father, for example, would subject his children (preadolescents at that) to chopping people up with an ax, have them help dig graves and bury those killed, lock his 12-year-old son in a "dungeon" with no food and only one cup of water a day, check on his son after a week but nail the door closed again for another (apparently long) period of time? And I don't think Fenton became a serial killer - Adam was the serial killer (maybe of demons in his warped mind). The father seemed to assert that Fenton was a demon because he was not supporting him in killing people ("destroying demons"). Why didn't the father view Adam - who could be viewed as killing his own mother during childbirth - as a demon? Adam, being younger and more impressionable, agreed with the father but was also told they were like "superheroes" - what young kid could rationally discern the difference?
The cartoon shown on TV ("Davy and Goliath") offers additional evidence that the father was not destroying demons. "Davy" asks his father about God, and his father tells him that "God doesn't make you do anything" and wants you to decide. Even IF God or the angel sent someone a list of demons to destroy, it would be up to the person to decide whether or not to destroy the people. I know that the purported acts of the people that were killed were revealed when the dad (or Adam) put his hand (s) on them, and that viewers were then supposed to believe that they really were destroying demons, but the view that they were just hallucinating is still valid.
I think the movie allows the viewer to make his/her own conclusion - is the father really destroying demons or is he a cold-blooded murderer? There is sufficient reason to believe the father had a psychotic breakdown or something similar and, instead of destroying demons, was a serial killer. There was no evidence of any others being chosen by God to destroy demons, no indication that the world was coming to an end, and no reason to murder the sheriff who was leaving and said he didn't believe one bit of what Fenton told him about the killings. Besides, wouldn't God protect the father from the sheriff if He protected Adam from being detected by the FBI agents and cameras? For what it is worth, I disagree with the comment by Jason below and think your view is more accurate.
There are several important factors that show the father (and son) are actually fighting demons: The "help" they frequently receive, like ALL of the surveillance tapes not showing Adam's face when he's hunting a demon (This can hardly be dismissed as coincidence, as they all look fine except wherever Adam's face would be visible), the FBI agent at the end who inexplicably can't describe Adam and doesn't recognize him when they meet again, the fact that the victims are stunned after the father or Adam touches them with a bare hand to reveal their sins, etc.
I'm aware of all of those things, but videotapes used to do that - maybe if the FBI agents tried fixing the alignment his face would show. Adam looked different to me, too - his hair looked redder than when he was at the FBI office. Of course victims would be stunned and scared when a lunatic grabbed them. I do understand what you are saying, but I still don't think it is enough. Surely there were far more "demons" out there; the number of killings was relatively small. And, again, Davy said that God doesn't make anyone do anything - He wants the person to decide.
The point with the video tapes is that they say ALL of them are like the one, with the image only messed up across his face, and only when his face is visible. I suppose this is just an agree to disagree issue. You don't see these things as enough, while I see them all combined as more than enough. Interesting discussion of a good movie either way.
I was thinking of writing something like that to you! And now I can agree with something you wrote!
Question: Is there any indication that we will see Sam put the Ring on to hide at Cirith Ungol, as he does in the book, in the extended version?
Answer: It would appear to be unlikely. The way that they dealt with Sam taking the ring it would appear that they wanted to let the audience think that the orcs actually had taken the ring from Frodo, not that Sam had it. If they were to show Sam using the ring, that whole thing would be undermined.
Question: Can anyone explain to me the game everyone is playing in the scene where Michael comes to pick Lanie up for their first date? He obviously understood it and made suggestions but I can't figure out what they are doing.
Chosen answer: It's a drinking game and can be played with just about any kind of list. You go in a circle and name off parts of the list, ie. in the movie they are naming Good Times plots. When it's your turn you have to name one or you have to do a shot of liquor.
Question: What is the meaning of all of the images that Samara made in the hospital? The rocking horse, the hardware, the weird people, etc; and what is the significance of the spinning up-side-down chair in the video? I know she had a chair in her loft, but why is it spinning upside down?
Answer: Every image that Samara created was made with her mind and was relevant to everything that happened with her time with the Morgans. All of the objects are odd and disfigured thus the spinning chair. The hardware was there because of Mr. Morgans constant use of hammers etc. in and around the farmhouse.
Question: Is the name Roger Bannister significant? Roger Bannister was the first man to run a four minute mile, is this a coincidence?
Answer: He was the first man to run a sub 4 minute mile,but there doesn't appear to be anything more than coincedence.
Question: What is the music playing when the two brothers, Wendy and Peter are flying over London at the beginning?
Answer: It is the main theme that all the music was based on for the whole movie. The title of the song is 'Flying' and was composed by James Newton Howard. It is available on the soundtrack as track 2.
Question: What's the meaning of the Mexican war cry when they charge towards the Alamo?
Answer: It is Viva Santa Ana meaning "Long live Santa Ana." Santa Ana was the leader of the army.
Question: How does Sammael get across the world? If whenever you kill Sammael, two shall arise, it would be impossible to kill them?
Answer: Not if you collect all the eggs and destroy them, as was done in the movie. That way no more Sammaels can hatch. As for transportation, the freaky bald dude probably took care of that.
Question: What is Sauron's army chanting as they approach Minas Tirith? Not the Grond bit, earlier than that. It sounds like four syllables being repeated.
Answer: It is just an orc war chant. I'm not sure that anybody knows quite what it means.
Question: Why is the game series this is based on known as 'Resident Evil' in some countries but in others it's called 'Biohazard'? Does the name swap also apply to the film?
Answer: The game was originally called 'BioHazard' in Japan, but because of copyright problems with the band Biohazard, was named 'Resident Evil' in the US and Europe. However most hard-core gamers call it 'BioHazard' no matter where they live. For more info, check out http://faqs.ign.com/articles/378/378719p1.html.
Question: What did the girl cut her leg on when she was squeezing between the two taxis? It looked like it was cut on the edge of a license plate, but that would have made a horizontal cut, not a vertical one.
Answer: From what I saw the license plate rim was broken, exposing a sharp end. It looks like the moved her leg forward, the sharp peice cut into her leg and she moved her leg up which would create a near vertical wound.
Question: Is there a reason that Gollum's fingers-per hand constantly appears to change from six to five? I know that I am not seeing things, but one of the corrections says that this would never happen.
Answer: Given how Gollum was created, his fingers certainly should remain consistent throughout the films, and it's highly implausible that the SFX people would arbitrarily introduce another finger for certain scenes - it could serve no possible purpose and would detract from the reality of the character. The most likely conclusion is that the apparent change is illusionary - you yourself say that it 'appears to change', which lends itself strongly towards illusion as a possible reason. That being said, errors in rendering the character could result in such an error occuring, although it's an awfully specific thing to happen - rendering errors are usually much more random in nature - and it's surprising, considering the attention to detail required for such an important character, that nobody in the SFX department picked up on it, particularly if it happens on several occasions.
Question: Why did they decide to go with an older looking Armand? I thought the rules about vampire children would have seemed more apparent if the audience could see that he was one, so why the change?
Answer: The first problem was finding a child actor capable of playing the role - Armand is an extraordinarily complex character and it's highly questionable that a child actor could have played him to the requirements of the script. Secondly, there are some extremely homosexual overtones in the relationship between Louis and Armand (and, for that matter, Louis and Lestat) - while the film just about manages to get away with the relationship between Louis and Claudia, it's extremely likely that there would have been major problems with the censors and critics at any attempt to portray the relationship between Louis and a child Armand. The requirements of the story dictated that Claudia needed to be a child, but there's nothing that insists the same for Armand - hence the eventual decision to up his age.
Question: Is there some kind of time difference between Neverland and London or something? Because the children leave London at night but when they get to Neverland, it's around 2:20 (indicated when Smee tells Hook that spring isn't due until 3pm.).
Chosen answer: The whole point of Neverland is that time is different. The lost boys never age.
Question: When Frodo, Sam and Gollum reach Minas Morgul (The dead city), a massive green and white tower of light comes out of the city. (It frightens Gandalf, Pippin and the Gondorians back at Minas Tirith). What is it for exactly?
Answer: In the book, this happens in response to a similar signal (albeit red) from deep within Mordor (probably from Barad-Dur) - it seems to be a rather dramatic signal for the armies of Mordor to advance. In the book, Sauron's forces make multiple assaults - both Lothlorien and the dwarven kingdom of Erebor (in the north) come under attack - so a powerful signal, visible for great distances, would be required to ensure a simultaneous assault. Although the Barad-Dur signal is not seen in the film, the Morgul flare can still serve the same purpose of signalling the advance on Gondor. Plus, as you observe, it has the handy side-effect of scaring the hell out of the Gondorian forces - Sauron is a master of manipulation and psychology, so it's exactly the sort of thing he'd do.
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Chosen answer: The Elves of Lothlorien are not happy that the Ring has been brought to their land - their initial reaction is not to allow them to pass, just to send them packing. Ultimately, they relent and decide to help, allowing them into the depths of the realm, and the order is given to bring the Fellowship before Galadriel and Celeborn. This was cut from the theatrical release for time reasons, so we get Haldir insisting that they follow him immediately. In the extended cut, we see much more of the elven reluctance to let them pass and the effect that it has on the Fellowship - the scene where Aragorn has to argue their case to Haldir, while Frodo sees the other members of the group looking at him in what he feels is an almost accusatory fashion, as they know that it's the Ring that he carries that is causing the problems - enhancing Frodo's increasing feeling of isolation. Eventually, the order is given, and Haldir does indeed do an about-face, as he switches from telling them that they cannot pass to ordering the Fellowship to go with him.
Tailkinker ★