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: How is it that the heroes are able to "broadcast their pirate signal and hack into the matrix", but the machines are unable to hack the "codes to Zion's mainframe computer"?

Answer: It's a range issue. It's specifically mentioned that, in order to tap into the Matrix, the ships have to rise to "broadcast depth". Zion's too far down for signals to reach it, so the machines can't hack their systems.

Tailkinker

Question: Was any explanation ever given for why V's signature flower was changed to the Scarlet Carson for the movie when in the graphic novel it's the Violet Carson (keeping in tone with his obsession with the letter V)? It doesn't seem to serve any plot significance so I'm rather puzzled why they felt a modification was necessary.

Answer: The Violet Carson is an uncommon rose, and the requirement to frequently require a rose in a state of perfect bloom meant that production crew were required to purchase hundreds of roses during the course of production. As such, they chose to go with a more common rose, the Grand Prix, which they renamed to the fictional Scarlet Carson to tie the name in to the original. There's also the point that the Violet Carson is named after a real person, a British actress who passed away in 1983. Her family might well not appreciate having her name prominently associated with a serial killer anti-hero in a major Hollywood movie.

Tailkinker

Question: Has there ever been an explanation given as to what purpose the fire belching towers seen in the initial opening scene of Los Angeles serve?

Answer: The suggestion in the future Bladerunner universe is that the planet is so over populated, that you have living areas and industry all in the same areas, hence the towers with fire.

GalahadFairlight

Answer: Each of them has unknowingly crossed him in some manner. So he pulls them together into a group, uses them as pawns to help him eliminate the man who can identify him, then, once that's done, he cleans up the loose ends by taking them out.

Tailkinker

Answer: We cannot assume that the suspects crossed Keyser in any way as we cannot assume any of the story is true, therefore it could be because they crossed him or simply because they know his face.

Answer: When a vampire consumes human blood, their irises turn varying shades of red. The more blood consumed, and the more recent since it was drunk, the brighter the shade of red. When a vampire consumes animal blood, their irises turn to a topaz color which varies in shade similarly to the irises of a human-blood drinker. In either case, when a vampire goes for extended periods without feeding, their eyes turn darker and darker until they appear black.

Phixius

The One With The Halloween Party - S8-E6

Question: I don't get Joey at the party. I understand that he's dressed as Chandler with the preppy jumper and jeans but what I don't understand is the 'I'm Chandler blaaaaaargh' or 'I don't sound like that blarrrrrrrrgh'. Why is he 'blargh'ing?

Answer: He's imitating Chandler (not brilliantly) who makes noises like that, most often (and most similar to that one) when disgusted by something. For example, he does that when he realises Joey isn't wearing any underwear under all his clothes during "The One Where No-one's Ready."

raywest

Chosen answer: In the end.

Question: I have some doubts about this movie and Casino Royale: What was the exact relation between Le Chiffre and Greene? For what I understood, Mollaka, the airport guy (I think his name is Carlos) and Dimitrios all worked for Le Chiffre, right? So, Le Chiffre owed money to Mr. White's organization (Quantum) and Mr. White killed him. I think this is it, although I'm not sure. Any explanation would be appreciated.

Answer: I think you've got it pretty much right. Greene is one of the members of Quantum, along with Mr White and numerous others. Le Chiffre appears to have been his own man, working as a private banker for various organisations, including Quantum, who, in addition to using his services, would introduce him to potential new clients. Mollaka and Carlos were both freelance operatives employed by Le Chiffre through his associate Dimitrios to take down the prototype aircraft as part of his efforts to manipulate the stock market. When Le Chiffre lost the money through taking too many risks with it, Quantum came to the conclusion that he couldn't be trusted, so Mr White took him out of play.

Tailkinker

Question: Just saw the movie tonight and loved it, the music especially. I have two questions in one. First, why is it again that Edward and the other vampires glitter in the sunlight? I'm sure they explained it, but I'm hard of hearing and our theater doesn't have very good speakers. Secondly, what is the name of the first song that plays when the credits are switching to the water shimmering in the background? I came in early and heard it once, then stayed during the credits to hear it again.

Answer: The vampires in Twilight glitter because they are not "typical" vampires. The author wanted to address the sunlight issue in a different manner than the "normal" vampire lore, so she created her own vampire mythology in which instead of vampires being harmed by the sun, their skin reflects it back in an odd, and beautiful way. The second song in the credits is "Leave Out All The Rest" by Linkin Park. The third song is "Decode" by Paramore. I posted both because I couldn't remember which song played during that part of the credits.

Question: How was Greene at the end found with 2 bullets in the back of his head? He was in the middle of the desert. He couldn't have shot himself twice, right?

Answer: As he was shot in the back of the head, it is clear that somebody tracked him down and shot him.

pinkwafer

Question: Is that a real opera? If so, what is it?

Answer: Tosca, by Puccini.

Tailkinker

Question: When Apollo 13 launches, there is a lot of white stuff that look like shingles (I don't know how else to describe it) that fall off the space craft as it is rising. What is it?

Answer: It's ice that condensed on the side of the rocket. The fuel has to be kept at low temperature, leading to the rocket being extremely cold.

Tailkinker

I get it. The fuel needs to be kept at low temperatures. Otherwise the rocket would overheat, and explode.

The fuel does not have to be kept at low temperatures. The ice "shingles" form on the outside skin of the Saturn V that surrounds the oxidiser tanks. The oxidiser is liquid oxygen, which liquefies at −182.96 °C, cold enough to freeze atmospheric water vapour into ice.

The answer to the question states that the fuel has to be kept at a low temperature.

Then the answer is wrong. The fuel of the Saturn V (kerosene) was kept at ambient temperature whereas the oxidiser (liquid oxygen) was kept at near cryogenic temperatures. Look, this isn't rocket science! No, wait, yes it is.

Then why is the ice there?

It forms the skin of the Saturn V that encloses the oxidiser tanks. The liquid oxygen in the tanks is so cold (−182.96 °C) that atmospheric water freezes into ice and is dislodged when the Saturn V is launched.

Ever noticed a wet can or glass of a cold drink in the summer? That's humidity from the air condensing on the cold surface of the glass. Now imagine if that can or glass were about 300° BELOW 0. That same humidity would condense and freeze. It being Florida in July, very humid, lots of condensation turning to ice. It didn't happen to the Space Shuttle because the tank was covered in that brown foam to insulate it like a styrofoam cooler.

Question: In the scene where the hypertime QT agents are in Zak's house, one of them gets sprayed with liquid nitrogen, bringing him down to normal time. But, if he is in normal time, wouldn't Zak's mom and sister see him? Don't you think they would call the police after seeing a stranger in their house?

Brad

Chosen answer: Probably, but it's not essential to the plot so there's no reason to show it.

Knever

Answer: These are top agent like figures who likely don't want many people knowing what's going on. Those still in hypertime probably carried the normal-time agent out of the building before Zak's mom found him.

Question: Which shuttle takes off first and which one is the one that is usually farther ahead than the other?

Answer: Freedom takes off first, closely followed by the Independence. This is why when the Independence crashes on the asteroid it first overtakes Freedom on the way down.

WelshMadman

Question: This might be a daft question, but what exactly is Denethor's problem? From the Extended Version of "The Two Towers" to when he dies in "The Return of the King", I just get the impression that he's being an a** for no apparent reason.

Answer: Denethor is basically a grim and humourless man, largely brought on by the early death of his beloved wife, thirty years before the events of the film. In many ways an intelligent ruler, he nevertheless commanded the city under the continued stress of the threat of Mordor, a power that built throughout his reign as Steward and this took a great toll on the man. In the books, Denethor repeatedly used a palantir to gather knowledge from afar; this allowed Sauron to tap into his psyche and sap his will, casting him deeper into a state of fear and paranoia. Ultimately the loss of his beloved son and heir, Boromir, sent him over the edge, leaving him as the bitter and rather twisted man that we see during the events of "The Return of the King".

Tailkinker

Question: When Frodo first calls Gollum "Smeagol", what is it that Gollum says in between Frodo's lines? They sound like riddles, or are they possibly pieces of songs from the books? If so, what songs are they and where are they found within the books?

Answer: "Cold be heart and hand and bone/Cold be travellers far from home/They do not see what lies ahead/When sun has failed and moon is dead." I believe it is based on a spell cast on the four hobbits by the Barrow-Wight, in the book "The Fellowship of the Ring."

Question: Jigsaw tells Detective Hoffman (While he is in the chair with a shotgun to his throat) that "Unlike you, I have never killed anyone. I give people a chance" In Saw II, one of the traps was a revolver behind a door, barrel aiming straight through the eye slot. There is no sign of this from inside the room, where the victim is. Person turn a knob on the door and the gun fired and killed them. How is that giving someone a chance or not killing them? He didn't give them an option beyond getting killed. This person didn't have any chance, unlike every other trap.

Answer: What fired the gun was not the knob turning, but the key turning in the lock, and the occupants of the room were specifically told not to use that key on the door. Had they just waited long enough, the door would have opened without anyone getting hurt.

Answer: Best part of this is not the fact that you point out this trap but there are a ton of Jigsaw traps that break his I don't kill code. Like Amanda's trap in Saw. No matter what either the drugged guy on the floor must die or Amanda must die either way someone has to die. Second showing in this is the Saw 6 opening trap, same with Saw 7. In both traps someone has to lose and die for the other to live. Actually all the Saw 6 traps are like that for the most part. Most of Jigsaw's traps are just listening to the way he tells you the rules and you'll survive.

The saw 6 traps were Hoffman's, not Jigsaws.

Ssiscool

Answer: From the beginning, Jigsaw has always been hypocritical and inconsistent. Every film has displayed this. You gotta remember - he's a psychopath. Even though he puts people into tests where they will likely die and even gives some people no option other than to die, he doesn't consider himself a murderer because he doesn't directly kill them. Also, in the scene in question from "Saw II", he does indeed give a warning to the group not to open the door (read aloud by Xavier) - they ignore him, hence the man who tries to open the door dies.

TedStixon

Question: At the beginning of the film, the Russians steal the body of the alien from the warehouse. Later in the film, after Indiana Jones gets the skull from the body of the conquistador, he gets captured by the Russians. Spalko pulls the skull out of the alien body and sets it on the table to do the whole "look into the eyes" scene. After that scene, and they escape the camp, the group is carrying around the skull from the conquistador in order to return it to the temple. So, what happened to the skull they pulled from the alien's body? Did they steal the body to get the skull for the sole purpose of having someone stare into it to experience the mental stimulation? Did they just ditch it afterwards?

Answer: There is no definite answer in the movie, but it probably ended up in a remote research facility in Siberia. Or perhaps Hruschevs' private collection.They stole the skull from the warehouse because they thought it was important in finding the alien vessel.

Question: When Asajj and Obi-wan are fighting and Asajj says "It will when the truth dies with you", why does she drag her lightsabers on the floor for a moment? I didn't understand the point of doing that.

Answer: It was likely just a scare tactic. General Grievous did basically the same thing in Episode III (although much slower).

Gen_Kelevra

Show generally

Question: I am watching a re-run of Desperate Housewives (not sure of which season) And I see that Edie has a son (Trevor) I did not know that. Here's my question(s) . Where was he this whole time? Who is his father? How did he come to live with Edie? And I don't see him on the current shows so Where is he now? Thanks.

Answer: Her son is Travers - they've mentioned in previous seasons that she had a son but you never seen him until now. he was staying with Edie because his father had to go out of the country for four weeks with "doctors without borders". Edie knew she couldn't give him the life he deserved and she never really wanted kids so she gave full custody to his dad. he's not in the current seasons because his dad's four week tour ended.

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