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 what the joke is about Matt Damon always calling out his name? Is it supposed to be a reference to something?

Answer: I read an interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone where they said that they had not intended for it to be that way but that when they made the Matt Damon puppet, it looked so retarded that they thought it would be funny to just have him be retarded in the movie and only say his name. They said it was nothing personal against Matt Damon.

Question: When Aragorn throws an apple to Pippin which hits him in the head, Merry says Pippin's name in an annoyed tone. Why does he do that?

Answer: As in "Pippin! Wake up and watch what's going on around you!"

scwilliam

Question: What exactly is the baby's power, shown at the end of the film?

Answer: It's the power to morph into anything/anyone. Kind of like Mystique from X-men. However, in the animated short Jack-Jack Attack he not only morphs, but displays other powers (zero gravity, etc.) so he must have several powers.

Question: When Althea visits Larry in jail, she holds up a small notebook for a split second with something written on it. Does anybody know what it said?

Answer: It says "Can you guess where my finger is?"

Answer: It says, "Larry, where is my finger?"

Question: Wat keeps threatening to "fong" people. Is this a medieval term or did Alan Tudyk just think the word was funny?

Answer: In the commentary, Alan says that it means to kick someone. But the cast also thought it was funny.

Bobbert

Question: As Rameses is getting dressed by his servants, Nefretiri stops one servant and takes a sword from him. The shot then cuts to Rameses getting dressed and then Nefretiri comes to give him the sword. What exactly did she do with it: did she stab her dead son (who is placed on that statue), or did she do something else?

Answer: I have always thought she stabbed her dead son. It's obvious she does something with it other than just give it to Rameses.

She doesn't do anything other than give him the sword. She's trying to dramatically convince Ramses to kill Moses. In countless stories, one character will tell another character to kill someone while handing them a weapon.

Answer: She gave the sword to Ramses and told him to bring it back with Moses' blood on it.

Answer: She didn't do anything with it. She took the sword so she could help dress her husband herself.

Question: How did the people behind the film achieve the effect of making the actors look like ghosts. I truly have no idea.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: For the most part, the actors playing the ghosts were shot separately on blue-screens, and then comped into the scenes. (By removing the blue background through a process called "color keying", and placing them over the scenes) They were simply given a blueish glow and made semi-translucent to complete the effect. It was pretty cutting edge back in the 90's, but nowadays, it'd be very easy to make the exact same effect using a simple program like Adobe After Effects.

TedStixon

Question: Is Miss Hannigan Annie's actual mother? I know she says that her real parents were killed in a fire but there seems to be overwhelming evidence that this is a lie. Any thoughts, references, that might clear this up?

synthetikrose

Chosen answer: No, Miss Hannigan is simply a cruel, manipulative orphanage matron. Annie's parents did indeed die in a fire.

LuMaria 1

Question: Is any of the back story concerning the hood and Tintin's father from the tv series itself and does Tintin ever develop telepathic abilities in the tv series as in the movie?

Answer: The backstory in the TV series is that Kyrano (Tintin's father) and the Hood are half brothers, giving the Hood the ability to control Kyrano by hyponosis, by staring at a statue of him in his jungle palace. And no, in the TV series Tintin never develops telepathic abilities.

Question: What tune is Thumper whistling after launching a ball on the table of the frat boys? Is it from a song?

Answer: He whistles "Rock-A-Bye Baby" in order to menace the frat boys.

LuMaria 1

Question: What exactly is the relationship between Merry and Pippin? I know they are cousins, but other than that. They seem to be regarded as a unit but Merry seems to be annoyed by Pippin all the time and not too happy to be around him. What kind of relationship are they meant to have?

Answer: They're best friends, partners in mischief and so forth. Merry probably started out acting in an older brother-type capacity (being eight years Pippin's senior), and, as we see, still frequently gets exasperated by the younger hobbit's actions, but neither would ever choose to be without the other.

Tailkinker

Question: There is a red headed kid that has several small lines in the movie, primarily in the beginning. He plays 1st base once or twice. Who is he, and why wasn't/isn't his role in the movie as big as all the other kids?

Ken Hogan

Chosen answer: That red headed kid is Regi Tower, played by now-screenwriter and director Scott Firestone. Several of the boys had very minor roles, so Regi wasn't really an exception. His character did not appear in either of the sequels to The Bad News Bears.

Question: As Peggy Sue and her friends walk down the school hall, she glances up and sees a Mylar balloon. While it is intended to remind her of the reunion, I wondered if Mylar balloons were available in 1960?

scwilliam

Chosen answer: It was meant to be an anachronism. When she is talking to Richard later in the film, Peggy Sue says "I am a walking anachronism", meaning she is in the wrong time for what she knows. The balloon is a physical anachronism, being something she brought back to the past with her from the reunion.

Question: At the end of the movie, Data says something out loud as Willie's ship is sailing in the distance. When he says it, it is subtitled in Chinese/Cantonese. What does he say?

Toolio

Answer: After he says "Wow!" he then says "He is a big strong man."

Chosen answer: He says 'WOW' this is seen in the DVD version with the english translation to what he is saying.

Question: How does Brodie know Dante and Randall?

Answer: Brodie and Randall are cousins - they share the same cousin Walt and the same Grandma.

Answer: He must shop at the Quick Stop regularly, it's only a minute or two from the comic shop (I've been to both.)

Grumpy Scot

Question: Can someone explain how all the special effects were done, such as the electronic blasters rays, and the sound effects? As the film was from 1956 there were no electronic keyboards then and the sounds are very futuristic.

Answer: Many of the sound effects use an electictronic instrument called a theremin which was invented in 1919. You may hear it used more musically in The Beach Boys song "Good Vibrations." The visual effects would have been animated composites as used in Star Wars and Ghostbusters.

Myridon

Question: When Marty returns to 1985, we see that the "Twin Pines Mall" sign has changed to "Lone Pine Mall," but then Marty sees himself travel to the past. Wouldn't we see it alter the instant the DeLorean vanishes, not before he goes back (because technically, he hasn't changed the past yet)?

Answer: This is a time loop type of question that could be argued for a lifetime. Basically, he did already change the past in the "universe" the movie is set in, so seeing the sign is correct.

Grumpy Scot

Question: In the boggart scene, is all of the scene filmed in the mirror? To begin with, when Lupin says, "Fascinating, isn't it' the camera comes 'out' of the mirror, and at the end of the scene, the camera comes 'out' again when Harry is staring at the cupboard, so was it all filmed in the mirror?

Answer: The opening shot behind Parvati Patel, as Lupin muses, "Intriguing, isn't it?" is actually the reflection, note the stairs on the left leading to Lupin's office. The camera then pans into the mirror and it is then the real world, so to speak, for the entire scene, note the stairs again and more importantly Harry's scar. When the balloon Boggart re-enters the wardrobe, the camera pans back into the mirror and this is once again the reflection as Lupin dismisses the class.

Super Grover

Question: When Danny Glover was taking pictures of Cary Elwes home, didn't he wonder who the stranger was peering out from the window? And since he didn't know who the man was, why didn't he follow up or call the police? Also, how could photos from Glover's camera be so quickly developed, and then somehow put into the toilet in the sewer room?

Answer: The pictures found in the toilet were taken by Adam. They were probably taken from his dark room (where he developed pictures) when he was kidnapped. Glover doesn't know Zep, but Glover says something along the lines of, "Does he know someone's at home with his wife?" Meaning he may have thought that she was having an affair.

Question: In the cave when Barbossa is about to kill Will and Jack stops it, Will says: "You've been planning this from the beginning" Has he? Or is this all an elaborate ruse to double cross the pirates? Are they working together both in the scheme or not?

Answer: It seems reasonably clear from the look that Jack gives Will as he says "Wait to lift the curse... until the opportune moment" that he's planning the double-cross at that point, with the aim of getting the majority of the pirates out of the cave and into a place where they'll be left at a massive disadvantage once the curse lifts. Will's not really in on the plan, but he seems to get what Jack's up to and plays along, hence the "you've been planning this from the beginning" stuff.

Tailkinker

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