Question: How is that powerful telepath Professor Xavier can use Cerebro to find mutants on the other side of the world, yet he does not pick up on Mystique running all over his house in some guise or another? Or Jean Grey, for that matter? Surely they would sense the foreign brainwaves.
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: At the beginning, when Frodo and Sam capture Gollum, when they have the rope around his neck, Gollum screams "It burns us! It freezes!" What does he mean by that? Is the rope just annoying him, or is it actually causing him some sort of pain? I mean, it can't be choking him because the rope isn't tight around his neck. What does the book say about this?
Chosen answer: The rope is elven made, it seems that anything the elves made causes him pain. In the extended edition, he almost chokes when he tries to eat Elven lembas bread. Sort of a metaphor that he's so foul that even the fair can harm him rather than help him.
Question: Tolkien never gave any age for Legolas but Peter Jackson did (I think it's 2100 years or so). Where did he get the idea for Legolas' age? Was it just arbitrary or was it based on other evidence (like that Legolas is obviously a younger elf- younger than, say, Elrond or Arwen)?
Answer: We know he must be older than Arwen as she is the last elf born in Middle Earth. She is around 1657 at the beginning of the War of the Rings.
Question: In this movie, Saruman says that orcs were elves once, and were mutilated by the dark forces, but when reading the book I saw no evidence of this. What exactly is the origin of the orcs?
Answer: Orcs are believed to be corrupted elves, but it happened so long ago that they wouldn't mention it in the Ring trilogy. It would most likely be discussed in The Silmarillion.
Answer: In the books, Treebeard says something about Trolls being corrupt Ents, just as Orcs are corrupt Elves.
Question: Han wants to leave the Rebel base on Hoth so he can pay Jabba and not have to worry anymore about all the bounty hunters that are after him. Seems like a reasonable thing to want to do. But why does everyone act like he's quitting the rebellion all together? What's to keep him from coming back after he gives Jabba the money? Even if they have to leave Hoth before he could make it back they could have told him where he could find them.
Answer: The Rebellion was in a pretty shaky situation at the time. They needed Han to be there full time, which is why he stayed with them so long even with bounty hunters coming after him. When he decides to leave, it's assumed they all feel they may never see him again, because the Rebellion may be wiped out, or Han could be meet some terrible fate at the hands of Jabba the Hutt, or even the Empire without the Rebellion to look after him.
Slouching Toward Bethlehem - S4-E4
Question: I know the name of this episode is a Biblical reference because of mention of Bethlehem, but what exactly does Slouching Toward Bethlehem mean, I haven't seen the episode in a while but I think it is only mentioned when Lorne says "Do the words Slouching Toward Bethlehem mean anything?" Which doesn't explain much.
Chosen answer: It's a line from the W.B. Yeats poem "The Second Coming" - "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" - sort of a beast/anti-christ on the way sort of thing.
Question: Does anyone know if they are releasing a DVD of this film? It's been 6 months or so since the film was originally released, and usually, the film is on video 2 months or so after.
Answer: Yes! It is released on September the 6th.
Question: How were the scenes that show the car repairing itself filmed? The film was made before the latest computer graphics were around and I would like to know how those effects were done.
Chosen answer: Hydraulics and wires were set up inside the body to pull the panels in and crumple them. Then the film of this happening was simply run backwards.
Question: I know that Jennifer Beals is not exactly a big star right now, but I was still surprised to see her in such a tiny role...does anyone know if she originally had a bigger scene that was cut?
Answer: Jennifer Beals' role is a bit of a misdirection towards the viewer, a little like Janet Leigh in "Psycho". It misleads the viewer into beleiving she might be crucial to the plot.
Question: One of the trivia contributions says Quentin Tarantino cameos as one of the more "unfortunate" members of the Crazy 88. Exactly which one is he? Or, at what time does he appear on screen?
Answer: He's a dead body lying on the floor when The Bride walks away from the carnage... hardly recognizable because he's wearing one of their black masks.
Question: What was that first body in the woods that looked like Muffin? It couldn't have been Muffin because she shows up at the end right?
Answer: It never really says what the body is, but I'd assume it were a rabbit or some other small woodland creature. It can't be Muffin because, like you said, Muffin appears later on.
Question: I've seen this movie three times and there is still something that I don't understand. What exactly is Michael Myers curse supposed to be and why does this curse involve him killing his family and their friends?
Answer: According to the official Halloween website, it is called "Curse of Thorn." You can read about it here: http://www.halloweenmovies.com/site/thorn.htm.
Question: I am wondering if anyone could tell me about the wigs always worn in these sort of movies? Like the big curly one the governor wears and the military men. Does anyone know how this came about? In courtrooms today they are still worn. Also the governor's wig is brown to begin with, then after the 8 years has passed, he now wears a grey wig, is there any reason for this?
Chosen answer: In the 18th and early 19th century, it became fashionable for men to wear wigs. This was for the practical purpose of hiding their own poor hair (due to poor diet and lifestyle) but it also became a symbol of status. Namely, the better quality of wig you wore, the higher your social standing. The brown to grey change is because wigs changed colour to match the natural greying of the real hair.
Question: The early versions of the M16 had severe problems with jamming. There may have been several causes; instructions issued that the rifle was "self-cleaning", improper ammunition design, improper magazine design (therefore in a later stage 18 rounds instead of 20 were used in the mag). It is not necessarily a mistake, certainly not by the filmmaker, but there are several writers mentioning serious casualties amongst fighting troops specifically because of jamming M16 rifles. Why does this book/film not even include a hint of that problem which surely must have existed at that time and place?
Chosen answer: There is no definitive information on this topic, and although factually accurate, a technical problem with a weapon was probably not enough to build an entire sub-plot, and would not hold the interest of the moviegoer. There were enough casualties without having to take into consideration weapon malfunction.
Answer: The M16's used in this battle were second generation M16A1's easily distinguished by the forward bolt assist on the right hand side of the rifle. The original M16 had no bolt assist and the jamming was caused by a different propellant that made the weapon very dirty.
Question: Can someone please tell me how this movie ends? Neither ruinedendings.com or moviepooper.com have it listed and I'm going crazy.
Answer: He's being chased by hundreds of brides, but his friends get Renee Zellweger to meet him. He climbs up a fire escape ladder, and spots her in the crowd. She climbs to meet him, and they get married right then and there, with the priest using a megaphone to say the vows. The time reads exactly 6pm, or whatever the deadline was.
Question: What is the tattoo on Owen Wilson's upper left arm? It must be real because it looks like he had the same one in his other movie, "The Big Bounce".
Chosen answer: Owen Wilson's tattoo is a shamrock with the word "Lucky".
Question: Who were the unidentified shooters that killed Richard Walsh and Scott Baylor?
Answer: You answered the question yourself. They were unidentified. They were probably some kind of Delta Unit or even hired goons, but they aren't mentioned again.
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Answer: It's hard to find something that you're not looking for. They weren't keeping an eye on the school grounds.
Myridon