Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: I haven't been able to figure out why Anakin's eyes are shown turning yellow in this movie, when he is on Mustafar. Dooku's eyes were always brown and Asajj Ventress often has blue eyes in Clone Wars media, although she uses the Dark Side. I don't think it could be a question of Dooku not giving himself over to the Sith as much as Anakin, because he did kill/order others to kill several Jedi and other people in Episode II and the Clone Wars books/shows. Are the color-changing eyes just something that happens temporarily when someone first accepts the Dark Side?

Answer: This seems to be a side-effect of heavy immersion in the Dark Side of the Force, although apparently not one that affects all users. As you point out, neither Dooku nor Ventress are shown to display this change, although Anakin's eyes do change after his massacre of the Seperatist leadership, then again prior to his immolation on Mustafar, after Obi-wan defeats him, and Darth Maul's eyes appeared to be permanently changed, possibly as a result of his total immersion in the Sith ways from a very early age. A number of other users of the Dark Side are depicted or described in Expanded Universe materials as having their eyes change temporarily during heavy use of the Force, including at least two of Anakin's descendants, but it seems not to be a universal trait of all Dark Side users.

Tailkinker

Question: Maybe I missed it, but did the McAllisters even bother to call home? I don't remember them calling the house at all. Why wouldn't that be the first thing they do? Kevin seems to be pretty independent for his age. He might have not answered the door, but I'm sure he would have answered the phone.

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: They did but the power and phone lines were down due to a tree branch that had fallen on them the night before the family left. A flight attendant on their plane mentions that attempts had been made to call the McAllisters' home but "the phones are still out of order".

Jeff Swanson

But how did he call the police at the end if the phone lines were down.

That was several days later. Clearly the phone lines were repaired over the course of the film.

The film takes place over 3 or 4 days.

Ssiscool

After the storm the lineman tells them the power has been restored but the phone lines are "a mess" and that it would take several days to get them fixed. They were out initially, and then in various stages of repair afterward.

Also explains calling for a pizza.

Ssiscool

It's ridiculous though that the phones are apparently working by the time they land (Kate's SIL calls everyone on their street). Yet none of them try the house again.

Answer: That is also how Kevin was able to order his cheese pizza from Little Nero's.

zredman

Answer: The phone lines were fixed by the end of the movie. Remember, this takes place over the course of several days.

Answer: It's also possible they don't think he's at the house still since the cops did attempt to stop by and see if he was home, but received no answer after ringing the bell. Or they did try to call and left a message, but Kevin may not have thought to check the phone messages if he was out of the house and didn't expect anyone to call. He also didn't want anyone to return until the day prior to Christmas, by which point the mom was already en route and the dad and remaining kids had a plan to come home on Christmas morning.

Answer: The next day, after the cop shows up to check the house, while the Wet Bandits are in the house next door, the phone rings and the answering machine picks up, allowing Peter to leave a message. If the next-door neighbor's phone is working, wouldn't it only make sense for Peter to immediately call his own house? Even if Kevin hasn't returned home from shoplifting a toothbrush and doesn't answer the phone, Peter should still be able to leave a message on an answering machine and most likely keep calling over and over until Kevin answers the phone.

Question: Where exactly are Humungous and his men getting their gas from? Given the amount of vehicles they have, it would take a fair amount of fuel to run them. But there is no explanation as to where they are getting it.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: The same way Max did until finding the fortress- scavenging, and when possible, attacking other vehicles like they attacked Max at the start of the film. They take what they can find.

johnrosa

Answer: The answer could be referenced to the first movie "Mad Max." In that film it shows some members of the outlaw gang, though not necessarily the ones in "Road Warrior" stealing gas from a tanker by jumping onto the back of it and filling cans; apparently the driver of the tanker unaware. "Road Warrior" was a continuation of "Mad Max."

michael g

Question: Why does Kevin scream when he slaps the aftershave on his face? He didn't shave so he doesn't have any cuts, so it wouldn't burn at all.

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: Kevin did shave his face. His skin is sensitive from his first shave so the alcohol in the aftershave makes his face sting. Hence, the screaming.

Shannon Jackson

Answer: The high alcohol content could hurt/sting a very sensitive (such as a kid's) skin even without cuts or abrasions.

Question: When we first see MIB headquarters, K says that the little destructive energy ball thing is "a little practical joke by the Great Attractor." As far as I can tell, the Great Attractor is just a gravitational anomaly, so how could it play practical jokes?

Answer: Yes, "the Great Attractor" can refer to a specific anomaly in the Centaurus Supercluster, but that is a far cry from saying that the term can only refer to that specific anomaly. It is completely possible for a high-tech prankster and/or performer to use the name "the Great Attractor." It's like saying "the Boss" when referring to Springsteen. The term means a manager over a group of people in a place of work, but he can still use it as a stage name.

Garlonuss

Chosen answer: He was offered an extremely lucrative deal to play Gandalf, but turned it down as he didn't want to spend eighteen months in New Zealand making a film that he stated he "didn't understand".

Tailkinker

Question: When the Death Race is being aired, it describes it as having 100 different angles, including angles from inside the driver's car, but Jason Statham's character, imitating Frankenstein, has his masks off, and doesn't have a face "ruined by crashes so he has to wear a mask". Surely if anyone viewed this angle, they could see it wasn't really Frankenstein at all?

JonTheRandom

Chosen answer: The cameras INSIDE the car are facing out. So that the viewers see what Jenson and Case see, not looking at Case and Jenson.

Ssiscool

Show generally

Question: I remember an episode where Moe picked up a hitchhiker in his car, then asked the man if he had seen some movie. When the man said no, Moe told him something like "Then this will all be new to you" and then drove down a scary-looking road. Does anyone know what part of what movie he was referring to?

Answer: He's referring to Misery, a book/film where a writer gets injured and then kidnapped by a rather overzealous fan.

Gary O'Reilly

Answer: It's With or Without You by U2.

Question: Hammond gets Grant and Satler to go to Jurassic Park by saying he will fully fund their dig for 3 years. Since Grant says he isn't going to endorse the park, does he still get the grant money? In other words, was the grant dependent on Grant and Satler visiting the park, or on their endorsement?

zephalis

Chosen answer: Hammond's proposal appears to be that Grant only had to visit the park and render an honest opinion about it, although Hammond is confident Grant will endorse it. It was never actually revealed whether or not Hammond continued funding Grant after his refusal to endorse the park (which was sarcasm). However, since Hammond agreed with him, it seems likely he would probably fund Grant's dig in appreciation for everything Grant did (saving his grandchildren) and also to compensate Grant for nearly getting him killed.

raywest

Question: I have wondered this for ages. Laurie went over to the Wallace house because she thought they were all playing a prank on her. So when she found the bodies in the bedroom, why did she never assume that this could all just be a practical joke set-up? How did she know straight away that it was the real thing?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Because it was too graphic and elaborate for her to think it might be a prank. Not to mention that there was probably a very distinctive smell to the room.

JC Fernandez

Question: What are the military ranks of Tucker, Watts, and Halsey? It's stated that Sharpe & Davis are Colonels, and Lev is a Colonel in the Russian military. Gruber is referred to as Sergeant, but so far, the ranks of the last 3 weren't mentioned.

Darthbane2007

Chosen answer: It is not mentioned in the movie. However, we can assume that Tucker and Watts are mid-grade officers. They would be below the commanding colonels, but above ensigns because of their flight status. Likely they are lieutenants or captains.

LorgSkyegon

Answer: They're introduced as "Nasa Pilot Watts" and "Nasa Pilot Tucker", they're likely civilians. There are civilian Astronauts in the Space program. There's even wings for a civilian pilot.

Show generally

Question: I'm really confused about Jason Earles' age. IMDB and Wikipedia say he's 32, but his resume and the Houston Chronicle say he is 19. So where are people getting the information he's 32? Has Jason Earles actually stated his age somewhere? Help me out here, please.

Answer: Many actors and actresses tend to be quite secretive about their ages, probably to try to fend off being automatically dismissed for possible roles as too old or too young or even just because they consider it to be nobody's business but their own. Earles appears to be one of these; as a result, reports regarding his age tend to conflict. However, as a rule, public records can generally be accessed to give a reasonable idea of their true age. He is, for example, listed as an alumni of Rocky Mountain College, from which he graduated in 2000, unless he graduated at the age of ten, that rules out the idea that he's only nineteen, realistically putting his age at at least thirty years old. A name search engine on the internet turns up a Jason D Earles who lived in Billing, Montana, near the college in the right time period, with a listed birth date of April 1977 - an individual with the same name and birth date also has a listing for California, where the actor currently lives. Other information available online also tends to point to a likely birth year of 1977. While Earles and his agent have every right to fudge his age as it appears on his resume for professional purposes, most of the verifiable information suggests that he is indeed currently 32.

Tailkinker

Answer: It is revealed in the sequel, Love Never Dies, that when the Phantom disappears he makes his way to Coney Island with Meg and Madame Giry. However, he does stay in Paris for a short amount of time (but it isn't known where) because on the night before Christine's wedding, she finds the Phantom and they make love, but then he flees because he felt ashamed of what he did. This is explained in "Beneath a Moonless Sky."

I was trying to figure this out but how does the song 'Beneath a Moonless Sky' hint where and when the two of them met? How did Christine find him if he left through a secret exit (mirror) after Christine returns the ring?

debbi.ee

Question: This applies to both Revolutions and the first Matrix film really - why do the machines have no security around the Matrix itself? In the first film, Morpheus and co. are able to fly near enough to extract Neo once he's been de-tanked, and in Revolutions Neo and Trinity fly right by it - do the machines not think Zion might ever try and disable their main/only source of power, thus beating them once and for all?

diesel123

Chosen answer: The vast majority of the machines live in one central "Machine City" which we see in this movie and is located somewhere in the middle east (The Animatrix:The Second Renaissance), the huge towers we see Neo in when he is first freed are scattered around the earth built on the remnants of the human mega-cities (New York/London/Tokyo/etc). This means that a) they are very very big and b) they are very spread out. The tower/cities are protected by Sentinel patrols (and possibly other defences) and the amount of damage one lone Zion ship can cause is insignificant at best and it's implied that the machines have control over the creation of new humans, so any pod-people lost could quickly be "manufactured" and replaced.

Sanguis

Question: I hope I'm not missing anything, but why do the machines allow Zion to be rebuilt each time the Matrix is renewed, the code returns to the source, etc. etc. and everything basically starts over? If people can consciously free themselves from The Matrix, fair enough, but wouldn't it just be easier for the machines to detach them, de-tank them and dunk them like they did to Neo? Otherwise they are in effect, re-creating their own enemies over and over again.

diesel123

Chosen answer: The machines use the humans as power so it stands to reason that they would want to hold onto as many humans as possible (even defective/inefficient ones). The Architect, in his enormous speech in Reloaded, states that the Zion "solution" was an acceptable (from the machine point-of-view) way of dealing with people who rejected the Matrix (less than 1% of the total pod-people population). Those freed would then free others who also reject the matrix (this is desirable for the machines as the disbelief could spread and result in more rejecting the matrix resulting in "crashes"). Once the Zion population gets too big the machines eradicate it and start again. So, yes, the machines are creating their own enemies, but strictly on their terms as part of the plan to keep the matrix going.

Sanguis

Question: The Phantom refers to himself as Christine's "angel of music" in the song called "The Mirror". How did he know that Christine thought her father would send her an angel? Did he know her father?

Answer: As shown in the movie, Christine has spent time praying in the chapel as a child. It would not be unexpected for a child of such a young age to literally speak to her dead father in such situations, mentioning his promise in the process, thus allowing the Phantom to hear about it. In the book, though, it is understood that Mr. Daaé and the Phantom knew each other. By sending his daughter to the Opéra populaire after his death, he might have wanted the Phantom to look over her.

Sereenie

Question: When Irina speaks to the Russians, is she really speaking in Russian? And could anybody translate anything for me, like in the warehouse scene?

msmall724

Chosen answer: Ok i found out thread on the indy forum with the translations: http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=15558&highlight=russian+translation.

msmall724

Question: Why was only one Agent sent after all the Smiths when the woman saw them all in the burly brawl? Couldn't the Matrix itself have turned as many humans as it needed into Agents and outnumbered the rogue Smiths? Or did they interpret one Agent being beaten by a Smith as meaning they would never win against him?

diesel123

Chosen answer: The Matrix only became aware of Smith after the one woman saw the fight, the woman was converted into an Agent and Smith then infected them. Other people nearby would also have been converted into Agents, but this occurred off-camera, as did Smith then infecting these people, the large influx of Smiths that occurs towards the end of the fight are the people who turn into Agents who then get infected by Smith.

Sanguis

Chosen answer: Because there was no real need for him to talk.

LorgSkyegon

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