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: In the scene where Vernita Greene and The Bride are talking to her daughter, right before she asks how old she is and again shortly after, on the DVD, what are the beeping noises in the background?

Answer: The bleeping is used to block out The Bride's name, an homage to the "man with no name" of old kung-fu's. Her name is revealed in Volume 2.

Nick N.

Question: Does anybody know how old Shelob is, is she older than Sauron?

Answer: Shelob's date of birth is not recorded, but is believed to be sometime in the First Age, which would make her at most seven thousand years old. Sauron is much older, having been around since the creation of the world.

Tailkinker

Question: When we see Jack and Judy (the nude stand-ins) in the scene where Judy takes her top off for the first time, one of the crew members hold a black object beside Judy first, and then Jack. What is he doing?

Answer: He is doing lighting checks to set the cameras properly.

wolfchild

Question: What did Claire do to get in detention? Andy taped the one guy's butt closed, Brian had a gun in school, the Goth just wandered in, and Bender pulled the fire alarm, but we never hear what Claire did.

Answer: She blew off school to go shopping, in other words she got caught cutting class. Her dad mentions it in the first scene when he is sitting in the car with her.

Jeanne Perrotta

Question: What is the point of the chinese girl? I've watched the film and can't quite figure out what she does with the plot, especially when Donnie grabs her face and says "Everything will be better for you".

Answer: Throughout the film, themes of alienation and disillusionment are prominent - an illustration of the alternate universe plotline. Cherita is that theme manifested in a very visible sense - people make fun of her, reject her, and she obviously doesn't fit in.

Phoenix

Answer: Cherita's seemingly small role has larger implications and can be used as a contrast effect to Donnie. Cherita liked (loved?) Donnie, but she could never be with him because they are from two "different worlds." But this does show that people with "mental problems" can be and often are attractive to others. Many teens feel alienated but for different reasons. Cherita and Donnie didn't fit in well. Cherita was teased/bullied by teenagers who went to a private religious school. Surely they have heard the expression "do unto others..." Why is this bullying behavior not viewed as mental illness while some other behavior is? Donnie told Cherita things would get better for her. After the teenagers graduate and mature, they will outgrow the behavior and the teasing should cease. Cherita doesn't need to change in order to have a better future. The same is not true for Donnie - he is not likely to outgrow his mental illness, and unless there are major changes in him, he will have no future.

KeyZOid

Question: I've seen the full-screen version of the film several times on television now, and I'm wondering why the very last shot before the closing credits shows the wide-screen shot compressed into the full-screen viewing area (making everyone look tall and skinny). Is it because all five characters wouldn't be able to fit, or is it because the closing credits are about to be shown?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: It's probably the former. Pan and scan isn't possible in a static scene like that one, of course. Just another reason why "fullscreen" is misleading.

Phil C.

Show generally

Question: Can someone PLEASE explain the ending? The whole show was pretty confusing, particularly why everything disappeared at the end, why people lost their memories, etc.

Azureth

Chosen answer: The show was originally planned to have a second season, but then it was dropped because of low ratings in Japan, thus the abrupt ending leaving everything unexplained and out in the open. Still, the show was so popular on TV in the US that The Cartoon Network decided to finance the production of the second season, which is right now coming out on DVD (I think the first three volumes are already out). This should end up tying everything nicely.

Sereenie

Question: In the KKK scene, Homer Stokes says "The color guard is colored." Did he mean this literally, like Everett was a black man, or did he mean that he was white (unlikely because John Goodman is white and so is he), or is he mistaking Everett for a black man because of his dirty face?

Answer: He mistook Everett for a black man because of his dirty face. It's the only way the line makes sense.

J I Cohen

Question: The scene in the movie with everything about Saruman is not true to the book, and even though there will be more scenes in the extended version, all this is not correct. Saruman's palantir and staff are actually taken by Gandalf, and Saruman is let out by Treebeard. Saruman later dies in the Shire, after the fellowship sees him on their way back home. Why is all this info being changed, couldn't they have put all this in the extended version? If all this was not filmed for the movie, why wasn't it?

Answer: The entire Scouring of the Shire sequence was never filmed. This was a deliberate choice by the film-makers to prevent the ending of the film from becoming overlong - the climax to the tale is, really, the destruction of the Ring and the fall of Sauron. The theatrical release of the film goes on for at least half an hour after that - to include all the necessary scenes would lengthen the ending of the film to probably around the hour and a half mark - the Scouring is a complex sequence - which is untenable in cinematic terms, even for an extended version. As such, in their version, Saruman dies at Isengard (apparently still at Wormtongue's hands) - this will be seen in the extended cut.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: When Charlotte won't believe that Stanford's boyfriend Marcus used to be a callboy, Anthony says "Wake up and smell the KY". What is KY?

Answer: A popular brand of sexual lubricant. See http://www.k-y.com/index.jsp.

J I Cohen

Question: What happened to the pages of Colin's book when they fell in the lake? Did him and Aurelia get them back or did they give up?

Answer: I think they got most or all of them back, as evidenced by the scene where they are both shivering and wet in the house. "How can I repay you? I know, I'll name a character after you..."

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Question: I have heard a rumor that Gibson plans to produce both a prequel and a sequel to The Passion. Does anyone know if this is true or have any information?

Answer: There is going to be another movie; The Resurrection, which could shoot as early as the summer of 2018, the release date will be some time in 2019-2020. I previously watched this movie and felt it left on a cliff hanger, (tho I already know what happens in the end) I figured there has to be another one coming.

Answer: No idea about a sequel, though the only "prequel" idea I know about is the story of the Maccabees (the story of Haunakah (sorry for the spelling)).

Xofer

Question: When Neo and Trinity are about to take off in the Logos to go to the Machine City, and after she goes down to check the problem and Bane attacks her, she goes up the ladder and calls for Neo on the intercom. However, right after she got up the ladder Bane grabs her foot and she proceeds to kick him, knocking back down the ladder. Why didn't she use this chance to lock him in? You can't open it from below. Yes, he could still mess with the ships operations, however they could've gotten a gun, opened it up, and shot him; it'd be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

Azureth

Chosen answer: He would have still been able to open the hatch up. It's a maintenance room, not a "lock-up" room. Someone in this room would still be able to open it from the inside.

XIII

Question: At the end of Revolutions, Smith's body (or bodies I should say) is destroyed in the same manner it was destroyed at the end of the first film. But after he was destroyed the first time, he simply came back and started spreading. What's stopping him from simply returning the same way he did after his first "death"?

Answer: The answer to this comes from Reloaded. Smith says that after he died, he was supposed to go back to the source, to be deleted (this is clarified by the Oracle). However, he didn't and in effect became a virus in the system. When he infected Neo, who was connected to the source, the source destroyed him.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Chosen answer: Present day (ie early '80s).

J I Cohen

Question: Just to clear something up. Dietrich and Sasha are meant to be brother and sister, so what does the kiss mean? (In Dietrich's loft apartment, during the shootout, just after Dietrich is shot in the neck). Are they actually brother and sister, or is it a sham? Or does the "You look like you just f***ed your mother" joke to Castor Troy have hidden meaning (i.e incest?) Or is it just a last goodbye between siblings?

Answer: It's suggestive as even Archer in the interrogation room when dealing with Dietrich, said "I could talk to your sister again" as he knew it would strike a nerve. This in turn causes Dietrich to make reference to Archers dead son. There's definitely an unsettling under tone with the two.

Answer: Is just a good bye kiss between siblings, nothing more.

Dion Marui

Question: When Gandalf is talking Pippin to Minas Tirith, he says it is 'three day's ride, as the Nazgul flies', but how did he know that the Nazgul are now flying using the Fell Beasts to find the ring?

Answer: After Gandalf's resurrection, or whatever the right term is, according to the books, he was rescued from the mountain peak where he fought the Balrog by Gwaihir, the Eagle who helped him escape Isengard (and who subsequently shows up at the battle at Black Gate). Gwaihir is Lord of the Air and is going to be pretty well informed about anything that occurs in his realm. It seems extremely unlikely that he wouldn't know about the Fell Beasts, and, as it's a pretty significant piece of tactical knowledge, he would undoubtedly have informed Gandalf of this new development.

Tailkinker

Question: What is the song that is played at the end of the film. (When the credits come up.) (Starts something like: "A man down under . . . ")

Answer: It's 'Down Under' by Men at Work.

J I Cohen

Answer: According to the IMDB, the voiceover is provided by Steven Zirnkilton, who also provided the oppening voiceovers for the other Law & Order series, as well as for the 2003 revival of Dragnet.

J I Cohen

Question: How exactly do you cut the hard line? In the scene at the hotel where the walls turn to brick, a shot is shown of someone literally cutting a cable with a big pair of pliers, but how would that affect the Matrix?

Answer: The entry and exit points from the Matrix are always functional landline phones - we don't know precisely why, as the full details of how this works are never explained (the book "Taking the red pill" has some theories). As the Matrix largely follows the same rules as our reality, cutting the line to the phone will prevent that phone from functioning, and thus it cannot be used as an entry point.

Tailkinker

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