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.

Chosen answer: Which trailer? There have been two. The teaser used some original music scored by Robert Etoll, plus bits from Danny Elfman's score for the first film. The full trailer uses, in order, tracks called "Burn the Clock" (Adam Freeland), "Lacrimosa" and "Orch and Choir Rise" (both Immediate Music), "Switchback Instrumental" (Celldweller), a bit from "The Last Samurai" by Hans Zimmer (referred to as the "Ronin" cue), and finally a bit from "Plunkett & Macleane" by Craig Armstrong (referred to as the "Hanging" cue).

Tailkinker

Question: I was wondering about the title change from "Leon" to the "Professional". Was the title only changed in the U.S. and if so why?

Answer: According to IMDb.com the title was only changed in the United States and the reason why was maybe audiences would find the title, "The Professional" more appealing than "Leon."

Tobin OReilly

Question: What exactly is the deal with the handcuff/hand cutting scene at the end? Even though we see Clarice wince in pain, we see her with both her hands later. Are we to assume that Hannibal cut off his own hand and that's why he was wearing the arm sling on the plane?

Answer: That does appear to be the most likely interpretation of events, yes. The only other possibility, which seems considerably less probable, is that Lecter does know some way of disabling handcuffs with a hard strike - one that still caused significant damage to his wrist, resulting in the need to wear the sling.

Tailkinker

Answer: Hannibal being an accomplished surgeon could have wielded the cleaver to remove a finger or two thus enabling the handcuffs to be removed. He does mention "above the wrist or below" in the scene, thus below the wrist could mean fingers only.

Question: Why did the Wachowskis kill Trinity in Reloaded, bring her back to life, and kill her again in this film? The Architect said no matter what Trinity was going to die, so Neo should have just gone straight to the Source in Reloaded and destroy it.

Answer: Neo had no concrete reasons to believe the Architect. He was madly in love (yeah, tell me you would have let your true love die if you knew you could save her!) with Trinity and unwilling to let her die without at least trying. And the directors must have thought it would play more tragically to save her only to lose her later.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Why the heck does Eric keep Tyrannosaur urine in the truck?

Answer: He keeps the T-Rex urine with him, so he can repel off things like velociraptors, and other dangerous carnivores.

Chaz1003

Question: When Grant finds out that Billy stole the velociraptor eggs, the room they are in has broken windows. Why is this?

Answer: The Pteranadons broke them attacking the Site B crew before evacuation.

Grumpy Scot

Answer: Site B was devastated by a hurricane that would also have destroyed most glass windows on the compound.

Answer: 1: it's been abandoned for several years 2: lack of maintenance 3: bird cage, they most likely broke through.

Answer: Because Silent Bob is fat. Lunchbox refers to A. he eats a lot or B. he is shaped like one.

Grumpy Scot

Question: This is very absurd but some of my friends strongly think that Sam is a closet homosexual, and that his relationship with Frodo is more than loyality and friendship. They claim that Sam speaks of Rose Cotton as a way to "keep up with appearances." Can anyone tell me that Sam is not a homosexual?

megamii

Chosen answer: Sam ultimately marries Rosie and has thirteen children. Unless your friends still regard that as "keeping up appearances", in which case it's the most heroic case ever recorded, they're wrong. His love for Frodo is merely great loyalty and friendship, nothing more.

Tailkinker

Question: Is there a romantic relationship between Galadriel and Gimli? Also, it seems foolish, but is it true that Galadriel seems to have some sort of infatuation with Frodo? She seems pleased (by her come-hither looks) that Frodo is coming with her to the Undying Lands in the Grey Havens scene.

megamii

Chosen answer: Galadriel and Gimli? Bizarre mental image. Um, no, there's nothing going on there. Gimli does fall for her beauty, true, and she's flattered, but there's nothing else there. Do bear in mind that Celeborn, her husband, is around as well. No, she doesn't have an infatuation with Frodo either - her initial rapport with him would be down to them both being Ringbearers. Come-hither looks at the Grey Havens? I don't really see those - what I see is that she's excited about returning to Valinor, the land where she was born, and that she hasn't seen for seven thousand years. Nothing to do with Frodo going along, or any desire for hobbit lurve...

Tailkinker

Answer: Because Halloween episodes are not considered part of the Simpsons' series continuity (not that the writers care much about series continuity to start with). I'm surprised that you singled out this particular Halloween episode. Remember the nuclear holocaust, aliens enslaving humanity, or Homer's head becoming a donut? None of them had any lasting effect on the Simpsons' universe either.

J I Cohen

Chosen answer: The Corsairs of Umbar are a piratical group, originally of Gondorian origin, whose founder, Castamir, was ousted as ruler of that land (he usurped the throne and had a vicious and cruel reign lasting ten years) some 1500 years before the events of the film. Since that time, they've held a great hatred for Gondor, fighting against them as much as possible. As a trivia note, forty years prior to the films, the Corsair fleets were all but destroyed by a devastating Gondorian attack led by a man named Thorongil. Thorongil was, in fact, Aragorn - he used this alias during his early life and his service to the lords of both Gondor and Rohan (as mentioned in the extended Two Towers film).

Tailkinker

Question: When Jess is being introduced to Mel in the locker room, Mel says to Jess "Welcome to the Harriers," then looks at Jules and says "Paints and decorators are in." It sounds like rhyming slang but I never heard that one before, what's she mean?

Answer: It's not rhyming slang, in this particular case. This is a phrase used (in the UK, anyway) to indicate that a woman is having her period.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Question: Was the Angel spin-off created because it was time for the character to be written out of Buffy but Angel was too good a creation to ditch, or was the character written out because people thought a spin-off would be a better idea?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: Joss Whedon claims to have had the idea for a spin-off series while watching David Boreanaz's performance in the late second season episode "I Only Have Eyes For You" - he began to feel that Boreanaz would be capable of carrying his own series. From that point on, taking Angel off to his own show was on Joss's mind and many of the events of the third season were written with this intention.

Tailkinker

Answer: The theme is a cover of The Smiths' 'How Soon Is Now' by a band called 'Love Spit Love'. The Soundtrack is available if you search around for it.

umathegreatstationarybear

Question: I know about Peter Jackson's cameo on the Corsair ship, but does he do another cameo in the film? I thought I spotted him for a second in the charge on the Pelennor Fields.

Answer: He's been very quiet about it if this is true, and he's generally open about his cameo appearances. It's unlikely, I think, Jackson didn't really have the time to throw himself in all over the place - he seems to have stuck to one cameo per film. There was at least one false report of an additional cameo in the Two Towers, which would imply an actor who bears a resemblance to the director - maybe the same actor was used in the Pelennor Fields shot that you saw.

Tailkinker

Question: Why does Mort Rainey want the screwdriver back from Tom Greenwald's head, and doesn't take his axe back too?

Answer: The screwdriver could be used as evidence to convict him if the body would ever be found. And he may have taken out the axe as well. It is not shown, but that doesn't mean that he didn't take it.

Nelleke Rietvink

Question: In the first movie (Fellowship), Galadriel says that she will 'diminish' and go to the west. What happens to the elves after they reach the Undying Lands. Do they lose their super-natural powers?

Answer: In Valinor, the elves will live with the Valar, their 'gods', in peace and tranquility. Elves don't really have supernatural powers - they have abilities appropriate to their species, which are strange to us, but not actually supernatural - these should remain the same. Galadriel will lose some of her abilities, yes, but this isn't because of relocating to Valinor, it's mostly down to the power of her Ring being lost. Whether those elves with magical abilities (spell-casting and so forth) will keep them is unclear - it's fairly questionable that they'd need them.

Tailkinker

Question: Are there hidden allegories (Christian, political, social, etc.) behind the stories of the Ring trilogy?

megamii

Chosen answer: None whatsoever. To quote Tolkien "As for any inner meaning or 'message', it has in the intention of the author none". He was strongly opposed to those who tried to read deeper meaning into the books.

Tailkinker

Question: Is it ever specified in this movie or in any of the books or biographies written about the Blues Brothers exactly where, when or how Jake dies?

rabid anarchist

Chosen answer: No. We only know that he died sometime during his jail term. There's no more explanation after that.

Gavin Jackson

Question: In the trivia section it says that the whole movie was dubbed due to bad weather conditions. Surely this cannot be correct: why would bad weather affect sound equipment when they are filming inside, e.g. at Edoras?

Answer: Any kind of rain on the roof or howling winds, etc. can affect sound, especially if it's a specially built structure and not on a sound stage. (Things like planes, trucks, and motorcycles cause problems, too.)

Krista

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