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: In the final scene with Bourne and Landy, we find out Bourne's real name is David Webb. As this scene was only added after previews, was the audience originally going to find this out?

Answer: The original final scene, Jason walking through the snow, was described as "dismal". Something slightly more upbeat had to be added, paralleling the happy ending of "The Bourne Identity".

scwilliam

Question: In the scene where Fannie is having trouble giving birth as the baby is breeched, how does Azeem deliver Fannie's baby?

Answer: While it is never explicitly shown, it is implied that Azeem performed a Cesarean Section.

Guy

Answer: It was never revealed what caused Frank's death.

raywest

Question: Does Magneto understand that his special radiation machine kills normal humans or not? He ignores Storm when she tells him she saw Sen. Kelly die. Is his plan to make the world leaders mutants so they'll become sympathetic to the mutant cause, or is it to just kill everybody?

Answer: No, he doesn't realise that it ultimately kills them. His entire aim is to turn the world's leaders into mutants, thus getting them onto his side. If he killed them, he'd simply put new leaders into office who now had even more of a reason to hate mutants, which really isn't going to help matters. When Storm tells him that Kelly died, he simply asks her if she really saw what she thinks she saw - a certain degree of denial, but one that's understandable. After all, he wouldn't want to think that all his planning was for naught.

Tailkinker

Answer: Magento didn't care if the Senator died. They either become mutants or they die. Either way he considers it a win win situation.

Question: When David is starting to turn into a werewolf, he sees his entire body starting to change. So why is it that when he is talking to Alex the next morning he can't remember it happening and the last thing he remembers is reading a book?

Answer: Traumatic events have a tendency to disrupt the memory - people who have been involved in a car accident, for example, often have no memory of the events leading up to the accident, even though they would obviously have perceived those events at the time. The physical and mental stresses of the werewolf transformation have clearly disrupted David's memories in a similar fashion.

Tailkinker

Answer: No, despite more than enough clues and close calls. Peggy and John Redcorn are the only ones who have come close to telling Dale that Joseph is not his real son but both Dale and Joseph have never found it out.

Lummie

Question: Does anyone know anything about the word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" Who made it up, how they came about to making it up etc.

Hamster

Chosen answer: For a good explanation, go to The Straight Dope: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msupercali.html. It will give you pretty much everything that is known about this odd word.

Richard Welty

Answer: Earlier in the episode, Horatio tells Mac that Penrod was seen in Tribeca getting his leg set, only to bolt when he learned a nurse wised up the cops. Caine and the NYPD probably got Penrod's address from the hospital.

Cubs Fan

Question: Why are the implants called ZOE? Does it stand for something?

Answer: The movie provides no answer as to why the device was named "ZOE." However, one should note the word "Zoe" is actually a greek word for "life." Since the ZOE implant records someone's life, this sounds like the most logical answer to why it was named ZOE. On a side note: The first device to display moving images was called the "Zoetrope", the similar name could have had further influence as to why this implant was named ZOE.

Kelsey H.

Question: After seeing 'Gladiator' I looked up a few pictures of Tommy Flanagan (Cicero, Maximus' friend) and in all of them he has a noticeable mark on the side of his face. Is this a scar or a birth mark or something? Could someone please tell me?

Answer: He received that scar when he was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant outside a pub.

Myridon

Question: When Stiller is trying to flirt with the one lady at her house he says "Freakinare" or something. Whatever it is, what does it mean?

Answer: I think you may be mishearing "freaky naughty", which is pretty self-explanatory.

Nick N.

Question: Can someone please explain what a snuff film actually is? I've heard that they don't exist, and they are just a rumor, but can someone clarify all this?

Answer: A snuff film is a movie where someone is actually killed on film, where the intention is to sell the movie afterwards. There are several other instanses where people are shown murdered on film (news reports, the Zapruder film, dictatorships documenting executions, etc.), but if the purpose of making the movie is not commercial, it is not a geniune "snuff" film. FBI experts and other law agencies state that they have never seen a genuine "snuff", and that it is most likely just a rumor, especially since the concept of someone willingly selling evidence of their own crimes to strangers and remaining undetected for 30 years, is highly unlikely. See http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_258.html for more details.

Twotall

Question: Does anybody know why Zaphod has two faces and not two heads? In the book there are two separate heads and he never gets one cut off. Was this a deliberate choice by the filmmakers for a reason? Thanks.

Answer: It was a choice by Douglas Adams prior to his demise, largely to avoid the large amount of effects required to continuously portray a character with two heads. It was also probably prompted, at least in part, by his dissatisfaction with the second head used in the 1980's TV version, causing him to think of other ways that Zaphod could be portrayed.

Tailkinker

Question: What does the Phantom eat and what does he spend his salary on? Presumably he can't just go to the shops etc with his mask on. If he doesn't leave the opera house where does he learn his skills like driving a carriage, who does he practice sword fighting with? Wouldn't his health suffer if he spends decades living in this damp cold rat infested place wading through lakes all the time? He even complains about it being cold himself at one point. Surely if it snowing outside his lair can't be warm but he's not wearing much.

Answer: First, it is established in the movie that he is dependant on Madame Giry and it is presumed she does his shopping for him. As for learning skills, it is established he is a genius and one can assume he is very well read. Additionally, for single handed skills, like driving a carriage, he can possibly go out at night to learn them. As for his living conditions, the human body adapts well to continuous conditions, it is how the people in Siberia can tolerate lower temperatures better than those who live close to the equator. Lastly, one can easily assume he has other (warmer) clothes that he wears off camera.

OneHappyHusky

There is a character simply known as 'the Persian' He has known the Phantom his whole life and would have taught him horse driving. In the book, the Phantom has a life before the opera house where he would have learned fencing and torture. Also, the phantom knows all the secret passages. When it's cold he leaves his lair and lives someplace warmer.

You're totally right but also, in addition to your mention of The Persian, in the book it is he that is the Phantom's only "friend" or whatever but in the movie there is no Persian exactly but the two Characters Madam Giry and The Persian from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston L. Are both combined as one, to be know as Madame Giry in the 2004 flim.

debbi.ee

Question: In the film they are referring to the Somalians as "skinnies". Can anyone confirm if this was the actual name used by Americans to call the locals in Somalia in the 1993 conflict?

killin_kellit

Chosen answer: My source is one of the real life members of the Black Hawk crew and he tells me that the Somalians were indeed regularly called "Skinnies", as well as "Smallies" and, unfortunately, the "N" word, too. He is not proud of this, but said in the spirit of truth and honesty felt this was the best answer to this question and hopes sincerely no-one finds this offensive. Additionally, the term "Skinnies" itself comes from Starship Troopers, a 1959 book that has become required reading for the modern US Military (and which was also made as a movie in 1997). The word references the alien antagonists in the book.

OneHappyHusky

Question: What is the origin of the magic cupboard?

Answer: The cupboard isn't magical. It was found by Omri's brothers in the alley behind their house and given to him for his birthday. The magic comes from the key, which Omri's mom gave to him after seeing the cupboard. It originally belonged to either her grandmother or aunt, I forget which. In the books, Omri is able to use the key in other objects (like a trunk) proving the key has the magic, not the old cupboard.

Kaitlin Schwartzel

Question: What is the translation of what the man yells at Jack and Rose, when they try to save his kid?

Answer: He calls Jack a bastard and an idiot, and then pushes him back and says "Go Away".

Migster

Show generally

Question: I know that on most flights, the animals are stored in the bottom section with the luggage. If the plane crashed, how did Vincent the dog survive?

Answer: We know that the tail section of the plane was torn off in mid-air, which would have exposed the luggage section - luggage seems to have been scattered over a reasonably wide area, so it was presumably falling out from that point onwards. The most likely scenario is that Vincent's carrier was ejected before the actual impact and Vincent survived the fall to the ground (it seems that his carrier was damaged enough that he could get out).

Tailkinker

Season 1 generally

Question: I was just wondering what those things are that Charlie wears on his fingers. He wears them in the first few episodes, and writes stuff on them, and stops wearing them at about episode 6. They look kind of like plasters. I was just wondering if anyone knew what they were?

Answer: I think they are exactly that - plasters...a bit like someone who would wear a wristband saying hope/fate or something like that.

Sam Johnson

Question: What's the song that plays at the very end, during the wedding dance?

Answer: "Now That We've Found Love" by Heavy D and the Boyz.

Stacey Kotlarczyk

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