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: When Elektra goes back to her old house, she uses the gas stove to blow up the bad guys. She also turns on the bedside lamp. Is someone really paying the electric and gas bills after all those years? I'm assuming she didn't call Con Ed to reup right before she went to the house to fight.

Answer: Elektra's father was a wealthy shipping magnate and could afford to maintain the electric and gas bills for a house that the family hadn't visited in years.

Answer: After. They met at Reese's 21st birthday party and subsequently worked together in Cruel Intentions. They wed on the 5th of June, 1999, which was after Cruel Intentions was completed.

Hamster

Question: All the easter eggs mentioned in the Matrix Revisited section are not really easter eggs on my version of the film. Is this because I own the American version, and the easter eggs are on the UK version? All so, The Matrix trailer is not included in my version, even when I try the easter egg mentioned in the Matrix Revisited section it does not work. Can somebody tell me where I can see the trailer?

Answer: I also own the American version and I have the easter eggs. It could just be your specific copy that does not have them. And if you happen to have the Ultimate Collection I'm pretty sure you can see the theatrical trailer for it there. Or you can search for it online and you'll probably find it.

Sir William

Answer: He certainly would have told Gandalf about it. Whether he told the other members of the Fellowship is unclear, but the book details a meeting between them where they discuss their various adventures - it seems highly likely that he would have told them then, or allowed Sam to tell the tale for them both. Certainly his love for his compatriots would mean that he wouldn't lie to them about what happened.

Tailkinker

Question: Is the airplane captain supposed to be the "Gyro-captain" from "Mad Max 2"? (a.k.a. "The Road Warrior" in America) This would explain why Max says "You." when he first sees him, but I still do not know, as they say at the end of Mad Max 2 that no one ever saw him again.

Answer: The airplane captain is not the "Gyro-captain". Max says "you" in Mad Max 2 because he saw him earlier in the movie. In Beyond Thunderdome, it never says who or what happened to the real airplane captain.

Mark English

Question: What kind of plane did Varrick use in the chase in the end with molly? could someone please answer this?

Answer: That is a Boeing 'Stearman' biplane.

Answer: That's the standard British pronounciation.

Moose

Answer: His first name is "Sod Off". Blackadder asks him in series 3 where this came from, and he replies "Well, when I was a kid, living in the gutter, I'd go up to the other kids and say 'Hello, I'm Baldrick'. And they'd say, 'Yes, we know. Sod off, Baldrick.'"

Shay

Question: In the shot where John Ryder is in the van and uses a metal like object to unlock the handcuffs. When Jim Halsey was to be talking to John in prison, they are holding hands. I was wondering if Jim could've put the metal object into John's hands, so that John could escape and Jim could kill him himself? As like a kind of getting back at thing for all that he had to go through.

Answer: What you see him playing with is a link on the chains around his waist - note chains, not handcuffs. We know he's a resourceful guy, and just before he escapes, we see the two guards playing cards, with the shotgun loosely on one's lap - based on what we know about the configuration of the truck, John would have easily been able to leap forward and grab the shotgun while we see Jim driving up to the truck. John then shoots the guards with the shotgun we now know he just grabbed.

Question: The news reporter fish sounds very familiar to me, is she an actual play on someone?

Answer: Katie Couric, who is a reporter on NBC's Today Show and Dateline NBC, voices the character of "Katie Current" in the US version.

kernssk

Question: When Bond first enters Zukovsky's casino, there's a tune playing on a saxophone in the background. Can anyone make out what tune it is? It sounds really familiar.

Answer: It's a variation on the "standard" James Bond theme.

Chosen answer: The rocket has been rigged to burn the athmosphere if the rocket reachs 100km - the boosters will fire and destroy life.

Dr Wilson

Chosen answer: His Nokia phone has a video recorder on it. He simply records the display on the camcorder with his phone.

XIII

But the video on his phone was too clear, not like he recorded the video on the camera but like he downloaded directed to the phone.

Answer: Even if he'd been able to copy the video onto his phone, we see him running through water under the pier. There would've been water damage to the phone, rendering it useless.

Season 5 generally

Question: As the series was cancelled towards the end of filming, with only a few episodes left to do, does anyone know what changes were made, either to tie up loose ends, make the show go out with a bang, or similar?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: Hardly any. As Joss Whedon had to fight fairly hard just to get a season five at all, he was aware from the start that cancellation was quite possible. As such, he designed the season as if it was the last one, but with the possibility of using it for a launchpad for a season six, should they have been given one. The only likely alteration was that, had they received a sixth season, the death of a major character in the final episode would probably not have occurred, or at least his fate would have been left ambiguous, to allow the character to return.

Tailkinker

Season 5 generally

Question: In the previous 4 series, Angel's had no sexual contact (once when someone else possessed his body, but that's different). In this series, he has a drunken/mystical encounter with Eve one night, and later he and Nina start to go out, and definitely have sex at least once. I realise his curse applies to perfect happiness rather than just sex, but is there any reason he started getting some in this series, whereas he pretty much swore off it completely in the previous ones?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: Previously Angel has had somebody around who had a very serious level of feeling for - Buffy originally and then Cordelia - and it was having sex with those that unleashed Angelus (even if it was only a hallucination in the case of Cordelia). With everything else going right, it was enough to disrupt the curse. In season 5, Angel's stuck in a position that he's really unhappy with (the whole Wolfram & Hart thing); all is not perfect in his world. He's dating Nina, but doesn't appear to have the same level of feeling for her as his previous love interests - combine that with his concerns about his situation, and he's intelligent enough to realise that he's not going to be perfectly happy any time soon, even if he does enter into a physical relationship. With Eve, the situation was even simpler - he doesn't trust her in the slightest, plus he's under a mystical imperative anyway. No chance of attaining perfect happiness under those conditions.

Tailkinker

Question: What is Bob's real movie name? Nathan names him Bob, he's listed as "The Silent Samurai" in the credits, and the director refers to him as Nathan's guardian in the commentary, but is there another name that he's known as?

Chris Moyer Grice

Chosen answer: No one in the movie ever calls him by name and all credits indicate him only as "The Silent Samurai."

Question: Is it true that Lee was able to steal enough money from her victims to buy a house (or even just put a down payment on it?) I would assume she could only use cash, and it seems unfeasible that she'd be able to acquire that much cash from people's wallets without murdering hundreds of them.

Krista

Chosen answer: In the story it shows she does not kill every man. It is possible she had sex with multiple men without killing them and got more money (but maybe not that much) than just what she stole from the men she killed.

Answer: They never bought a house. They lived in cheap hotel rooms where Tyria Moore (Selby's real name) worked as a chamber maid.

Rob245

Question: I can't understand why Sonny hauled Sandy off the dance floor during the dance finale. Sure Sonny was a bit of a jerk, but he idolized Danny and would never disrespect him. Also there was nothing to suggest that he and Cha-Cha were friends. I never truly understood.

Gavin Jackson

Answer: Watched that scene again now and I just think it was poor writing (in what's still a classic film regardless). How none of the judges noticed that Cha Cha took another girl's (Sandy's) place even after she'd already been "tapped out" is another huge plot hole. Plus a lot of people in America were watching the dance on TV and it's not mentioned by anyone after this scene. 35 years later and that scene still bugs me (haha).

Answer: I agree it plays a bit strange, but I always chalked it up to Sonny wanting Danny to win the dance competition and Sandy, although not bad, admits she's not on Danny's level, while Cha-cha is "the best dancer at St. Bernadette."

Also, he was drinking and upset so not thinking.

Answer: He's fall-down drunk, that's why. He's drinking during the entire dance.

Krista

Answer: It was because they were going to moon the cameras, they didn't want to embarrass Sandy since she would've been offended if it happened when she and Danny were dancing.

Answer: When he's pulling Sandy away he is also yelling to Danny "Go! Go! Go!" So I was also wondering like if Cha-Cha told him to do that and they just failed to add that into the scene.

Chosen answer: It's so Cha-Cha can go with Danny. You can see Cha-Cha giving Danny the eye. So Sonny took Sandy away for Cha-Cha's benefit.

Answer: Because in real life Olivia was late for work, as a result Annette had to take Olivia's place because she was her understudy.

Answer: He is so upset about Marty liking Ed Byrnes, he just drinks all night.

Answer: I think it was because Sonny was drunk and wanted Sandy to talk to Marty for him since she dumped him for Vince Fontaine at the beginning of the dance.

Answer: It's a terrible moment in the story because it exposes Danny as being thoughtless. After already burning Sandy once (at the pep rally) you'd think he'd be mindful of not doing it again. This time, though, he humiliates her in front of the entire school, as well as on television. Unsure how Sandy's sitting with him in the next scene at the drive-in only slightly miffed. Imagine how this plays as a story to their children: "Hey, kids, did I ever tell you about how your dad embarrassed me in front of everybody?" I guess it's meant to be partly motivation for Sandy to change her image and outlook in order to keep Danny, but it's a terrible message (even back then). She's nothing but thoughtful and considerate, and Danny repeatedly treats her badly, but she decides she needs to reinvent herself. (Danny's makeover doesn't count given it lasts about three minutes.) It would've been better had Danny and Sandy came second because of Sandy's dancing, and that could've played on her mind.

Answer: Well my theory is maybe since Sonny wants a girl, Cha-Cha promised him a date with a girl if he agreed to her plan.

Question: When Jack Crawford is explaining to his team about the Tooth Fairy's note to Lecktor, there is, very prominently in the foreground, what looks like a paperweight on his desk. What exactly is it, and why is it so important as to be in the foreground? (00:43:20)

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: It's the plaster cast of the Tooth Fairy's teeth made from the bite impressions he left on past victims.

Mobrien316

Question: This applies to the TV series as well as the Movie. How are the "watching the movie" segments filmed? Are they literally sitting in front of a large screen? In some of the TV episodes, Joel/Mike is seen pointing to something on the screen. And do they film each segment as one, or is it cut into different takes?

Gary O'Reilly

Chosen answer: They sit in front of a big screen -- or rather Joel or Mike sat. The puppeteers crouch down below the row of seats and hold up special black puppets to project the silhouettes. They did do takes for segments of the movies. I imagine it would be painful for the puppeteers to crouch for 90 minutes!

Carl Fink

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