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: When the boy enters the train car the other kids are heard singing the polar express song. How could they have learned it?

Answer: They likely were taught it before the boy boarded the train. We should assume that the same magic making the train appear without being seen by others and to travel to the North Pole is also at work here, perhaps allowing the children to be able to learn the song quickly.

raywest

Answer: Alternatively, it could just be a song they all made up.

Question: Chased by agents, Trinity chooses to jump out the window. With no reason to think she can be rescued, the fall will kill her. Why would she do that?

Answer: The script just says "With no choice left, Trinity dives through the window." I think she was pretty resigned to the fact she was going to die and just wanted to go out fighting as long as possible, with the very small possibility that she would survive the fall somehow.

Sierra1

Question: What does Olaf mean by asking, "Who's the funky-looking donkey?" Was he referring to Krisftoff? Olaf initially mistakes Krisftoff to have the same name as Sven and does not learn his real name until he meets the trolls. Why doesn't Krisftoff or Anna correct him about Kristoff's name?

Answer: It's a joke. He asks who the funny looking donkey is, meaning Kristoff. Everyone assumes he's talking about Sven.

Answer: Elaine's co-worker Sam, played by Molly Shannon, in the episode "The Summer of George". Raquel Welch does this too in the same episode.

Sierra1

Question: Do magical folk generally live longer than Muggles? Considering that Minerva is described as having black hair, even though she is old enough to have taught Harry's parents, and Dumbledore is more than one hundred years old (according to the Harry Potter Wiki).

Answer: Yes they do, though Dumbledore is considered quite old even by magical standards. Members of the magical community reach their middle age in their 80's or so, but also maintain their virility much later into their lifespan, relatively speaking, than muggles do.

Phixius

Question: How did a starfish get on Gru's head while Lucy and Gru were underwater in the car?

Avh1

Chosen answer: The car is always shown in shots from the front so we can't see if the boot had a leak.

boss of epicness

If the boot had a leak large enough to admit the starfish it would have filled with water and Gru would have drowned.

Chosen answer: The hand movements you refer to are called "time setting." The purpose is to maintain the beat of the song, and keep the singing on track, particularly in the old back-woods churches where there had rarely been instrumental accompaniment. It also has the added benefit of enhancing the energy of the musical experience for the participants. I am not certain if the denomination of the church was ever explicitly stated, but it was likely Pentecostal.

Michael Albert

Question: Which one of the lord's ships do the triplets stow away on?

Answer: Based on the fact that the ship they are on is in the middle and Lord Macintosh's ship was in the middle, it's fair to say they were on Lord Macintosh's ship.

Chosen answer: His first name is never given. I've done an extensive Internet search and there is no reference to it at all. It is not unusual for a character to be referred to only by their first or last name.

raywest

Nessuno (Nobody) - S1-E9

Question: Why does Giovanni Sforza not prove he is not impotent? Was he in fact not able to perform in front of others or find the woman undesirable? I know historically he agreed to the annulment; but why? Was this scene historically accurate?

Bishop73

Chosen answer: The Borgias arranged Lucrezia's marriage to Giovanni Sforza for their own political gain. When Giovanni was no longer considered useful to them politically, they sought to end the marriage. Eventually, Giovanni reluctantly agreed to admit to impotence in exchange for keeping Lucrezia's dowry, which normally would have reverted back to the family in the event of an annulment. Divorce was rare at that time, and being unable to consummate a marriage was one grounds for an annulment. In the series, when the Borgias convene the College of Cardinals to have Giovanni prove his potency by performing with two overweight and unattractive prostitutes, he refuses because he is humiliated. The historical facts are mostly accurate, though the part about the prostitutes is probably fiction.

raywest

Chosen answer: It revealed that Bond was likely falling in love with her, so either they were "tears of joy" and she was emotional at this revelation, or she was actually quite upset as she had feelings for him too and was about to betray him by stealing the money for Quantum.

Sierra1

Answer: Or she didn't need him for the password after all. Which means she could have kept him out of the whole thing.

Question: In the scene when the Mad Hatter is "fixing" the rabbit's watch, the Hatter exclaims "It was!" before the rabbit states that the watch was an unbirthday present. Is this on purpose? Or an editing mistake?

Answer: Actually, the White Rabbit sees his damaged watch, says "Oh! My watch". THEN the Mad Hatter says "It was!", then the White Rabbit says that it was an unbirthday gift. So the exchange of dialogue makes sense.

CCARNI

Question: After the cop comes to take Deckard to see Captain Bryant, they get in a police car and the screen says Purge, as mentioned in a trivia entry, just before taking off. Why does it say purge before lifting off the ground?

Quantom X

Chosen answer: "Purge" is another word for "liftoff". It also means "to purge", as in to expel something, in this case the engine fuel necessary to raise the cop car into the air.

CCARNI

Question: When Roy and Leon are trying to get answers out of Chew, why does Leon start rubbing eyeballs on Chew's neck and head? (00:30:45)

Quantom X

Chosen answer: To scare him. Leon's a psychopath.

CCARNI

Answer: Eyes are a major theme in the film and Chew created artificial eyes, one of which is placed on his shoulder as a strange and threatening token of his handiwork.

Answer: "Here We Go" by the boy band, NSYNC.

CCARNI

Question: What is the trailer both were watching on TV while they were having some snacks in bed in the Aspen hotel room?

Answer: It was a commercial for Pacific Bell. A telephone company.

Question: When the girls first meet Aquamarine, they scream after she shouts 'BOO' to them. But the two girls already knew that Aquamarine was there, so why did Hailey and Claire scream?

Shadow5

Chosen answer: They are in complete shock that they are seeing an actual live mermaid. And for the mermaid to talk to them just made them even more shocked.

Question: During Clu's "Toast" to his army, there is a closeup of one particular program that has been converted. For some reason, this looks like Gem to me, even though the impression is that she died in the End of Line club (though if the sequence happened in real time, there was plenty of time for them to escape the club before it blew) Is it supposed to be Gem, or another significant program, or just a cool shot showing Clu's reflection in the visor of the program?

oldbaldyone

Chosen answer: There's no indication that it's anyone we'd know. I'm pretty sure the shot was simply placed there for the visual it creates.

The Big Bang - S5-E13

Question: If all the stars have gone out, then how come it is light out when Amelia and her Auntie Sharon are going to the museum? If all the stars had gone out, it would have been dark, since the Sun is a star.

Shadow5

Chosen answer: You are correct, the sun was erased with every other star in the universe.The thing keeping the Earth warm and light is the TARDIS, which exploded and is now exploding at every moment in history.

Question: Which music is the band playing while Jack hands Rose a note inviting her for a party at the 3rd class, by the end of the dinner? It is a piano and violin music.

Answer: "Valse Septembre" by Felix Godin.

Michael Albert

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