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: If Eric and Shelley were fighting tenant eviction, why did T-Bird and his crew show up with a list of complaints about the conditions of the building?

Answer: Top Dollar (the main villain played by Michael Wincott) sent them over there to talk them. He sorta explained at the end. He 'believed' that he owned the building. I think he said something along the lines of: "Hell, nothing in this area happens without my say so." I guess Eric and Shelly's complaints were going to attract attention with the authorities and Top Dollar did not want that.

XIII

Question: Why were the dwarves names changed for this movie? I was trying to find a correlation of each dwarf to the original dwarves, but couldn't. It seems like it was changed for no reason.

Answer: There are no "original" names for the dwarves, they are unnamed in the fairy tale. If you are referring to the names they had in the Disney movie, well, those were inventions by the Disney people. It might not even be legal to use them.

Ioreth

Question: It's now clear why Angus is found in the circle of stones, even though he was afraid to enter it in the first place. There's one part of that matter I don't quite understand, though. Why is he afraid to enter that circle in the first place? Is there something in that circle frightening him? Is there a special effect?

Answer: The stone circle is like a gateway to the spirit world, something slightly supernatural. Angus senses this, and it makes him freak out.

Ioreth

Question: Why did Bane take blood from the professor on the airplane at the beginning?

Answer: He needs people to believe that the professor is dead. He therefore takes some of his blood and puts it into the body they're carrying with them, so that there'll be evidence that the professor died in the crash.

Tailkinker

Answer: We find out who River's parents are later, but, eh, spoilers.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: They have not.

Captain Defenestrator

Question: Maybe I wasn't paying attention but Hammond (the man on the phone) and Hauser himself tell him about a key, which he finds in the piano. When did he use this, and why did they make such a big deal about it, mentioning it twice, he would "know how to use it"? How did he know the safety deposit box (number 10549) Hauser and Hammond never said this.

Answer: First off, they made such a big deal about it because it was the key to a more involved message from Hauser and they wanted to make sure that he knew it was important. But regarding the safety deposit box, after the phone message from Hammond, Quaid got a text message that told him a bank name and a box number.

Garlonuss

Answer: Early in the movie, Quaid says he wants to learn how to play the piano.

Question: Could someone as overweight and unhealthy as John Candy's character really have lived in Jamaica? I would have thought the extreme hot weather conditions would have been rather dangerous for someone in his shape.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: It may not be the wisest place to live, but that doesn't mean that he's physiologically incapable of living there, even relatively long term. It's pretty dangerous being that size anywhere in the world, as Candy's sadly premature demise illustrates; living somewhere as warm as the Caribbean probably wouldn't make the situation significantly worse than it already is.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Most likely a coincidence. It's a common Middle Eastern name.

raywest

Question: When the Swat team leader is trying negotiate with the guy in the Mayor's office, he says to him "Hey no problem Miller. Let the mayor go. We'll even throw in a Blaupunkt". Could someone please explain what a Blaupunkt is? I've never heard that word and its not in my dictionary.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Blaupunkt is a major manufacturer of car stereos. Miller wants a car as part of his ransom demands, so the SWAT team leader is playing along with those demands telling him that they'll make sure the car he wants is fitted with a really cool stereo.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: In the Special Edition, when Vader makes contact with Emperor Palpatine after bringing the ship out of the asteroid belt, It is Palpatine that informs Vader that Luke is the son of Anakin Skywalker, to which Vader replies, "How is that possible?"

Question: Why did Poe get back onto the plane when it left Carson city? I know he stayed on after the first stop cause Cyrus wouldn't let Baby-o off and Poe needed to get him his insulin shot. But he got his shot in Carson city and Poe had no reason to get back on (seemed even more ludicrous after he tied the plane up.but anyway).

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Poe is an ex-Ranger, and he wants to stop the criminals. Also he wanted to save the cops inside the airplane.

Anastasios Anastasatos

Question: What exactly was the point of Daggett? He funds Bane's endeavors with the promise that he will take over Wayne Enterprises, Bane sabotages the stock market to make Wayne go broke, and then, almost immediately after doing this, Bane kills him. Why even have Daggett in on the scheme if the (supposed) plan was to have Miranda Tate take over Wayne Enterprises?

Brad

Chosen answer: Because they needed somebody to be the fall guy. For Tate to take control, somebody needs to take Bruce Wayne's majority share out of the picture and the highly ambitious Daggett is the perfect candidate. They use him to further the plot to remove Bruce from his position, while Miranda cultivates Bruce's trust, positioning herself as the person that Bruce would turn to for help. Daggett's hostile attitude would alienate him from the other board members, whereas Tate, carrying Bruce's seal of approval as his nominal successor, would have a much easier time. They used Daggett to do the dirty work, then took him out of play, allowing Miranda Tate to step in unopposed and, importantly, still trusted by Bruce.

Tailkinker

Question: Has there ever been a canon answer as to whether or not the Space Jockey's ship was destroyed in the explosion at the end? Something from Cameron or another of the film's writers? Comic adaptations and novelizations aren't canon.

Grumpy Scot

Chosen answer: No, there hasn't, although an upcoming computer game, "Aliens: Colonial Marines", which is set post-Aliens, includes action set on the derelict ship. While obviously of dubious canonicity, as there are as yet no official statements to the contrary, the ship can currently be considered to have survived the detonation of the atmosphere processor. Should a future film provide further information on the subject, the status of the ship can be reconsidered canonically.

Tailkinker

Question: In the flashback scene of Bane inside the prison, why were prisoners attacking Bane?

Answer: Bane is acting as a protector for the young Talia, keeping her safe and ultimately holding off the other prisoners while she escapes. As for what a bunch of male prisoners might want with a young girl, well, it's not going to be nice.

Tailkinker

Question: While it is generally known that Marni Nixon sang the part of Maria in the movie, I'm fairly sure Russ Tamblyn did not sing Tony's part. Who covered that?

Answer: Some of Tamblyn's vocals were dubbed by actor/singer/dance Tucker Smith, who was also in the original Broadway production of West Side Story. Smith also appeared in the movie version, playing a character named Ice.

raywest

Answer: James Howard Bryant dubbed Tony in the 1961 movie. Bryant said in an interview that Richard Beymer (Tony) always gave him accurate credit, because he was such a nice guy. George Chakiris (Bernardo) was the only one of the main characters (Tony, Maria, Anita, Bernardo, and Riff) whose voice was not dubbed. This was because Nardo didn't have many singing lines, except in the song America.

Question: How did the Joker convince Harvey in the hospital to become bad? I know he talked him into the whole creating chaos in the world thing but that scene confused me. Also, when did we find out that some of the cops were corrupt? Did they help tie up Rachel or something along those lines? Sorry I just got confused with those plot lines.

Answer: Harvey's basically lost it already, driven insane by the death of Rachel and his own injuries. The Joker basically just tells him that order, having rules, hasn't brought him anything but pain, that maybe he should let things get a bit more chaotic, go with random chance rather than regimented rules. In his deranged state, Harvey goes along with it. As for the cops, Harvey knows that both he and Rachel were being escorted home by members of Gordon's team, only to both wake up surrounded by bombs. Fairly obvious from that that there are some bad apples in the bunch.

Tailkinker

Harvey also worked for Internal Affairs. He states earlier in the film (and Gordon confirms) that he had investigated many people on Gordon's team. He knows many people on Gordon's team are dirty, but as the DA, he can't do much about it without proof.

oldbaldyone

Question: Bane has a nifty facial device that apparently keeps him alive. When Batman damages it a bit, Bane looses power, nearly faints even. Bane is a beefy fellow, but how does he eat?

Answer: The mask doesn't actually keep Bane alive, it feeds him a constant stream of pain-killing gas in order to stop the excruciating pain from his injuries preventing him from functioning normally. When the League of Shadows rescue him from the prison, Bane appears to simply have his face wrapped in bandages, and certainly would have no access to a constant supply of painkillers in that environment. With this in mind, it seems safe to say that he is capable of removing the mask, it's just highly unpleasant for him to do so. Most likely when he wants to eat, he simply mentally prepares himself, takes the mask off and puts up with the pain long enough to finish his meal.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: A meal in the 80s would have cost 4 or 5 dollars. A bus ticket would have been around 50, or more, depending on where he was going.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: To make them both suffer the pain they have inflicted on their victims.

Rydersriot87

Question: In Episode II, Anakin jumped out of a moving speeder while he and Obi-wan were pursuing the bounty hunter who put the poisonous insects in Padme's bedroom. Other Jedi do similar falls in the Clone Wars movie and series. So why did Mace Windu die from being pushed out of Palpatine's office window?

Answer: Anakin hadn't just had his arm cut off and been electrocuted at full force by a Sith Master. Windu's in phenomenal pain and is likely barely conscious; in no condition to focus the Force enough to survive the fall.

Tailkinker

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.