Question: Judging by Maximus' appearance and the fact "Tangled" is set in Germany, is Maximus a Hanoverian or a different German breed?
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Answer: The Hanoverian breed of horse was first bred at the State Stud at Celle in Lower Saxony. This was established in 1735 by George II, who was both the King Of Great Britain and the "Elector" (or ruler) of the state of Hanover. But, while Tangled is set in a land that might have some resemblance to pre-modern Germany, it also appears take place much earlier than 1735. Therefore Maximus cannot truly be a Hanoverian. However, staff at the Celle State Stud used native German horses when breeding the first Hanoverians, so there might be a distant "family resemblance" between Maximus and the Hanoverian breed. Most (but not all) Hanoverians are dark coloured. Another thread in an earlier question about Tangled says the artists originally coloured Maximus black. However, Tangled is a fantasy film. Maximus can communicate with people in a much more meaningful way than any Hanoverian (or any other breed of horse). So maybe Tangled should not be regarded as wholly accurate in equine matters.
Question: Pete Astudillo is in the first scene when Selena was at the Houston Astrodome on February 26, 1995. He left the Dinos in 1993. I watched the original video of that same concert and another guy was on stage her, not Pete Astudillo. Was this a mistake or did they just keep it uniform for the movie?
Answer: Pete wasn't in that concert but since Freddy wasn't available for the movie... Pete filled in for him.
Answer: Pete left in 1993 to pursue his music career. Selena then hired Freddy who was part of the Barrio Boyz. Selena sang a song with them called Donde Quiera Que Estes. Thus when Pete left, Freddy became a part of the Dinos along with Don who also appears in the film next to Pete Astudillo.
Question: If all of the staff knew that Gilderoy Lockhart was a fraud, then why would they let him teach at Hogwarts?
Answer: One of the running bits throughout the series was that no Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers lasted longer than one year. Few wanted or would apply for the job. Professor Snape always wanted it, but Dumbledore would not consider him, ostensibly due to his dark history, but also for other reasons. Lockhart was the only other applicant for that year and he was better than nothing. The extent of Lockhart's fraud wasn't known yet.
Question: Why was Han Solo ever promoted to general, given that he typically ran from a fight?
Chosen answer: First off, he didn't always run from a fight. He was a prominent member of the Rebellion and excellent pilot and underworld contact. Second, he was one of the heroes of the Battle of Yavin and several other battles. This is going to get him influence. Third, a general needs to be someone with the courage to run away and not keep after a lost cause, especially as outgunned as the Rebels were.
Question: The Dark Lord Darth Vader has no military rank, he only answers to the Emperor. So, why do admirals give him orders that he obeys?
Chosen answer: Tarkin is a Grand Moff. He is in command of the Death Star. He has full authority on board the station, so Vader obeys him. In reality, they are of fairly equivalent rank, but Vader's respect for Tarkin allows him to follow his orders.
Question: During the final fight between Anakin and Obi Wan, at one point Anakin has Obi Wan in a choke hold and seems to mouth something as he is pushing down further. Is he just doing that as he's exerting more force into the hold, or does he possibly say something, and if so what does he say?
Answer: He is making sounds as he is exerting force. He doesn't say anything.
Question: In "Empire Strikes Back", when Vader reveals that he is Luke's father, he tells Luke to search his feelings and sense the truth. Luke is able to do this after a limited amount of Jedi training. How come Anakin calls Padme a "liar" on Mustafar, despite spending more than half of his life (at the time) as a Jedi? Shouldn't he have known that she was telling the truth?
Answer: By the time Anakin calls Padme a liar, he had begun his descent into the Dark Side and was becoming much darker as a person. As soon as he saw Obi-Wan, he immediately jumped straight to the conclusion that she had lied to him without putting any real thought into the scenario, so the likely explanation is that, in his anger and darkness, he did not really bother to sense her feelings and he just assumed that she brought Obi-Wan to Mustafar to kill Anakin. If he was much more calm and spent a few seconds to sense her feelings a little, it would have been more likely for him to discover that she was telling the truth, but by that point, he was much closer to the Dark Side for him to do that.
Question: Both the movie and book make it seem like Harry did a merciful act by sparing Peter Pettigrew's life and trying to take him to the Dementors instead. It even created a life debt that made Peter hesitate to kill Harry later on (during the "Deathly Hallows" events). But having your soul removed by a Dementor is supposed to be a fate worse than death. How has Harry been merciful at all?
Answer: It wasn't about his being merciful. Harry knew that Pettigrew needed to be alive long enough so he could exonerate Sirius Black by confessing his part in the crime. Sirius had been wrongly accused.
Answer: In the book Harry spares Peter's life to take him to the dementors, because he didn't think his dad would want his two best friends to be murderers.
Question: Ashley wrote a report to cover up an arson fire - why?
Answer: She was bribed to write the incident up as a tragic accident. Kramer, before his death, had found out she took a bribe (and probably not her first one) and instructed Hoffman to take her with the others.
Question: What was the explanation for Princess Leia changing from an American accent to a bad British accent and back to an American again during "A New Hope"? Was this simply a case of bad acting and sloppy editing, or was Leia actually mocking Tarkin's British accent (which doesn't seem very dignified for a Princess)?
Chosen answer: In-universe, the accent Tarkin has (and that Leia starts with) is the Coruscanti accent. The one she uses later is an Alderaan accent. In reality, Carrie Fisher had been living in Britain for a while before production started and had picked up a slight accent, which she lost as production continued.
When You Wish Upon a Weinstein - S3-E22
Question: After Lois says she doesn't want to hear another word of this and leaves, Peter does what looks like sign language to Chris, who does a sign back. Did they actually say anything in sign language, or was it just another goofy bit? If it was real, what was said?
Chosen answer: Peter signs to Chris "She won't have to hear another word because luckily we've mastered American Sign Language" and Chris replies in sign language with "Ha-ha-ha-ha."
Only the second question was answered and not the first. Did Chris and Peter actually use sign language or was it another goofy bit?
How do you think this person managed to tell you what they said in sign language, so yes I would assume that it was real, that is how someone was able to translate this for us.
Question: When Harry sees into the past of Dumbledore's meeting with young Tom Riddle, Tom admits that he hurts people if they are mean to him. Since Tom openly admits this with obviously no guilt or remorse, why would Dumbledore take him to Hogwarts to learn magic instead of leaving him at the orphanage?
Answer: Leaving an untrained young wizard, who obviously has some behavioral issues and has no idea he is magical, alone in the Muggle world would be extremely dangerous. Dumbledore does not yet know that Riddle will become evil, but like any teacher, he wants to give a troubled youth an opportunity to find a new path in life.
Question: In the hotel fight scene with Ms. Perkins, she takes what I think is the bottom end of her jacket and bites down on it. Any idea why? Just curious.
Answer: She is setting up the choke move she uses on Wick seconds later. She places the strap to her jacket in her mouth so she can reach it when she spins around. She then wraps it around Wick's neck and tries to strangle him with the strap.
Question: Why did Harry and Ron bring Lockhart with them to the chamber of secrets? Did they really think he'd be any use? Especially after they found out he was a fraud?
Chosen answer: They couldn't leave him alone after finding out he was a fraud or he would tell the other teachers and lie about them and have them in detention before they would be able to enter the chamber themselves. They were in a hurry to save Ginny so they needed to bring him with them.
Question: Why did Vader cut off Luke's hand? It seems like a strange thing to do right before you request that someone join you.
Answer: The intent was to disarm Luke and end the fight and prevent Luke from gaining the upper hand (no pun intended). As seen at the end of the film, Luke received a new prosthetic hand that was nearly as proficient as his real one. There is also a bit of symbolism here. Vader had been severely mutilated by Obi Wan many years before, resulting him becoming more machine than man. As Palpatine later attempts to sway Luke to the Dark Side, Luke's lost hand serves to remind him that he could easily become a monster like his father.
Question: Why were there so many attempts to kill Rayna when she was the only one to know where the nuke was? Who were those assassins working for?
Answer: It's never fully explained in the movie, but it seems more likely that Rayna simply had a lot of enemies and people we're trying to kill her for various motives, but not to steal the nuke. For example, the guy who tried to poison her seems to do it out of spite for Rayna. The steward on the plane seems more intent on kidnapping Rayna to get what she's selling (although the pilot before dying says "Stan and I already sold it...", so he may not be after the bomb). Karen Walker, who was a double agent who sold Rayna the CIA names, is more likely trying to kill Susan to avoid being found out and not Rayna. Although if Karen was trying to kill Rayna, she may have already discovered the bomb's location, through various means.
Right, when in the basement, to make Susan believe him, Fine asks her "Did (or didn't) Karen try to kill you?" And Susan realises he had sniped Karen and her driver to save her from being killed by Karen.
Question: Despite both his parents having blue eyes, how come Nate has brown eyes? Is there a scientific/logical explanation for this?
Answer: That's one possibility. Or, the boy could have been adopted by the parents. That would fit with much of the theme of the film and one of the actors is a father through adoption. As adoptive parents with blue/green eyes and a child with brown eyes, we chose to believe it was a subtle nod to that situation. Also, the parents seem pretty convinced a baby brother isn't coming. Perhaps there were fertility issues that contribute to that confidence and led to creating a family through adoption. I think that's a better story than a remote scientific possibility. :).
Chosen answer: Yes there is a biological explanation for two blue-eyed parents having a brown-eyed child, and it does happen. It's a bit more complicated than high school genetics' dominant/recessive gene explanation. Eye color is determined by 2 genes, HERC2 and OCA2. Both genes are required for pigment to form (i.e. brown eyes), HERC2 being the key. People with blue-eyes can be carriers of one or the other, thus the offspring of 2 blue-eyed parents can end up receiving both required genes for brown eyes.
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Chosen answer: His breed has never been confirmed, but he does have enough similarities to a Hanoverian that it's possible that's what he is.