Questions tagged [behind-the-scenes]
Referring to things that happen "behind the camera", the real-life reasons for how/why a TV/film/book/comic turned out the way it did
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Is there a reason USS Discovery's registry number (NCC-1031) may be similar to Enterprise's (NCC-1701)?
It seems to me more than coincidental that USS Discovery and USS Enterprise have similar registry numbers (1031 vs 1701).
Now, I'm not really expecting there to be much of an in-universe explanation ...
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Why did they make another prequel?
Star Trek: Discovery, the first new Star Trek television series in 12 years, debuted last week. As with a number of recent Star Trek efforts, this is a prequel to the Original Series, occurring ...
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How were the celebrity aliens in Men in Black chosen?
This question asked which real-life celebrities were shown to actually be aliens in the Men in Black movies, and now I'm wondering how they were all chosen to be portrayed as such. Were any of them ...
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What is the Hound singing?
I came across this behind-the-scenes video from Game of Thrones. What is the song Rory McCann singing? Is it a modern "pop" song or some folk song?
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How is the Game of Thrones series being made when there are no new books by Martin to base it on?
How is the Game of Thrones TV series made, when there are no books written by Martin yet to base it on?
I've read all of the books and watched all of the episodes, but I don't get it. Season 7 is ...
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Was Michael Dorn (Worf) not allowed to fly during The Next Generation? If so, why?
On Michael Dorn's Wikipedia page, there's the sentence:
A member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association,[9] Dorn enjoys flying. He was not permitted to fly while on The Next Generation, but ...
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Were there any other serious contenders for the role of Mr. Wednesday?
When I read the book, I imagined Mr. Wednesday looking quite different from Ian McShane, the actor who plays him in the TV episodes - more wolf-like, leaner, a tad smoother, suave-like, sort of. ...
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Is the Leigh Brackett first draft of the script for Star Wars episode 5 available?
After the success of the original film, Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write Star Wars II with him. They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a ...
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Why wasn't the Second Doctor's regeneration shown on screen?
At the end of The War Games, the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) was last seen spinning away into the void, crying, "Stop! You're making me giddy!"
The next aired episode, Spearhead From Space, at ...
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How was the plot of the Harry Potter series developed?
When reading the Harry Potter series, I couldn't help but notice: Harry destroyed Tom Riddle's diary with a basilisk fang, and later in the series we find out that its poison can be conveniently used ...
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What is the difference between "to scry it and to scry on it?"
The acknowledgements at the end of Eragon have the following shoutout:
Artie Bennett, the doyen of copy editing and the only man alive who understood the difference between to scry it and to scry ...
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How many times has the in-production Robotech live action movie changed director already?
A Robotech live action movie was first announced in 2007. Since then, they changed company, and a different director was announced more than once. Yesterday, I saw the new of an Argentine "Andrés ...
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Did Gene Roddenberry find Noonien?
Recently, I read that Gene Roddenberry purposefully placed the name Noonien into his Star Trek works as he was trying to contact an old friend of his, Kim Noonien Singh. Khan Noonien Singh and Doctor ...
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Was Imperial Navy based on Imperial Japanese Navy?
It is said that George Lucas took inspiration from WW2 when he created his Star Wars universe. Did he create Imperial Navy bassed on IJN from WW2 ? Let's look at some ...
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Who was behind the Eleventh Doctor's first ever 'Geronimo'?
Just after regenerating, the Eleventh Doctor has a few lines.
DOCTOR: There's something else. Something important. I'm...I'm...I'm...crashing! Ha ha! Woo hoo hoo! Geronimo!
This is from the ...
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Why was a different actress than in the TV series cast as Daisy Adair in the Dead Like Me movie?
The short-lived but much loved series Dead Like Me went on for 2 seasons and was later made into a movie, Dead Like Me: Life After Death.
All of the actors were the same as in the TV series, with the ...
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Wouldn't the 2001 Monolith know/suspect that teaching apes how to use tools would lead to war?
The movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey shows a Monolith uplifting apes by teaching them to use bones as tools. One tribe of apes use the tools as clubs to kill another tribe to gain access to a watering ...
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Why was Wonder Woman's costume updated but then immediately reverted to the old one?
A Wonder Woman costume fan art I posted in chat reminded me of an old question I'd asked here: In what arc or continuity does Wonder Woman's costume have leggings?
In Wonder Woman #41 (which is ...
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Star Trek TOS, in S3E19, is Leonard Nimoy actually playing the piano?
In "Requiem for Methuselah", there is a scene where Spock surprisingly knows how to play the piano. He perfectly plays a waltz while Captain Kirk and Rayna dance.
My question is, during the ...
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What was the story reason behind making Carnelion IV so far behind?
In the canon Star Wars comic, Obi-Wan & Anakin, the Jedi pair travel to the planet Carnelion IV, where a distress signal has been sounded. The planet is ravaged by war, with its most advanced ...
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Why is part of Darth Vader's breather missing after he is unmasked in Return of the Jedi?
When Luke removes his father's mask near the end of Return of the Jedi, he removes just the top part. He leaves the part that goes from Vader's neck to his chin. That part sticks a few inches out from ...
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Where in Yosemite Valley was the shot of Kirk nearly hitting the ground filmed?
As we know, an early scene in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was shot in Yosemite Valley:
Kirk is supposed to be climbing El Capitan. I don't imagine for one second ...
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Why was a young actor in age makeup cast in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries, rather than an older actor?
In the first scene, the mid-sixties looking Armistice Officer is played by then 31-year-old Ryan Robbins. The part has no lines and the character never appears again (though the actor appears again ...
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Why does (almost) everyone in the crowds in the training Matrix wear only black and white?
In this exposition dialogue between Morpheus and Neo, (almost) every person is wearing only two colors. Black and White. No blue, no green, no aquamarine. Even the things they carry are black and ...
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Was Darth Vader originally intended to be an alien instead of a human in a suit?
I got into a discussion today with somebody about whether Darth Vader was originally supposed to be human. We didn't find an answer, so we're hoping you can.
Is there any very early reference to ...
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In what ways would this draft of The Philosopher's Stone have "changed everything"? [closed]
Some years ago JK Rowling uploaded an early draft on her old website with the following caption:
"Very Early page of Philosopher's Stone written around 1991 and showing plot-line that was abandoned....
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What inspired the toxic blood?
I had always assumed that the green and highly toxic alien blood in The X-Files was inspired by the yellow and highly acidic alien blood in Alien.
However, I was recently told that X-Files creator ...
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What's with all the Tatooine/deserts in Star Wars?
Nearly every Star Wars movie so far has either prominently featured Tatooine itself or another desert planet with significant similarities to Tatooine:
I - Tatooine
II - Tatooine again
III - no ...
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Was the ground really "much too rocky" for R2?
In A New Hope, C-3PO says to R2-D2:
Where do you think you're going?
Well, I'm not going that way.
It's much too rocky.
- A New Hope script
Later we see the place where R2 has wandered, and ...
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Was Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso) considered for the role of Rey?
Let's face it, they look similar enough and have similar accents.
And Jones seems to have received critical acclaim for Rogue One.
And you'd better believe Disney took the job of casting the ...
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What is the significance of Aragorn's forehead gestures?
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn notably makes a gesture where he places his hand on his forehead when he appears to be emotionally overwhelmed.
He does ...
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Are there any tools or code for analyzing Arrival logograms?
I've read in several places that Mathematica was used in some of the analysis of the language used in Arrival.
Do the logograms carry any actual meaning as a language, and if they do, are there any ...
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What is the battle song from "Star Trek Beyond" and is there any significance to it appearing in "Star Trek" of 2009?
I was watching Star Trek Beyond the other day, and couldn't help but notice that the song that plays during the final space battle, sounds exactly like the song playing during the car chase and crash ...
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Does the number 327 hold any significance to George Lucas?
In A New Hope, the number of the docking bay used to hold the Millenium Falcon is 327. In The Empire Strikes Back, the number of the Cloud City landing platform used is also 327. In Revenge of the ...
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Was the original Star Wars film originally called "The Star Wars"?
I have heard that the original film was to be "The Star Wars" and somewhere along the line they dropped "The".
One person says they have seen a windbreaker or T-shirt in a Star Wars collection that ...
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Did anyone at LucasFilm acknowledge specific cases of borrowing from EU/Legends?
We know that Lucasfilm officially stated that they would use Legends/EU materials as (re)sources for new Disney canon:
Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of ...
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Did "Yesterday's Enterprise" enjoy a particulary high budget?
I am just watching said episode. With all the additional sets (new bridge, Enterprise-C) and special effects, this episode must have been quite expensive. On top of that, we see several additional ...
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Star wars reference in Voyager's Caretaker
I just noticed Netflix has added Voyager, and watched the first episode for nostalgia's sake.
It starts with an opening crawl describing a political situation including plucky rebels. The crawl then ...
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Was Gene Roddenberry directly influenced by Logical Positivism when he came up with Spock?
As a student of philosophy, it's hard not to notice the similarities between a school of philosophy know as Logical Positivism and Vulcan Culture.
See the following definitions:
logical ...
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Is there any TARDIS driving system defined by the creators of the show?
In Doctor Who (I only saw the new series) we can often see Doctor do some strange moves with all the buttons, levers and screens. The only thing that is certain to me is that the big main lever is ...
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Was Professor McGonagall's age changed to reflect the casting of Maggie Smith?
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Professor McGonagall is described as having black hair which would imply that she was at most middle-aged. Other characters of age were given grey or white ...
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Who is responsible for the scene involving Bruce and Barbara in 2016 "The Killing Joke"?
I was very surprised to see a
given that it was the genius Bruce Timm directing the movie, with legends such as Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reprising their parts.
The scene seemed a bit off from ...
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Did Steven Brust at one point claim he was receiving threats from Organized Crime familes?
I was answering a story-identification question which I think is about the Vlad Taltos series and a memory popped into my head of my brother commenting that the delays in the series had been claimed ...
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Who painted Data's paintings?
Several times in ST:TNG, we see Data painting. While I don't rule out the possibility that these paintings were done by Brent Spiner, I suspect they were either created for the show by someone or ...
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Is it true that Robin Williams was turned down from being Hagrid because he wasn't British?
The Harry Potter movies famously had a British only cast edict. Was this the reason why Robin Williams was turned down to play Hagrid in the movie or was something else at play?
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Did JKR's original plan for the ending of the Harry Potter saga include a breakup between Harry and Ron?
I saw a post once, which claimed that Rowling had actually planned a different path for the events of the Deathly Hallows.
JKR was forced to abandon these plans because of the fan pressure.
Has ...
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What prop was inserted into Rogue One because of George Lucas?
Rogue One director Gareth Edwards revealed in 2016 that, while on a tour of the props department, George Lucas expressed interest in a particular helmet that was then inserted into the film:
Edwards ...
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Is there a signficance to shuttle name SW-0608?
In the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, there is a cargo shuttle with an Imperial ID of SW-0608. Is there any out of universe significance to this designation?
For instance, one would assume "SW" = ...
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What was the actual relationship between George Lucas and Richard Marquand?
In item #43 of this list states, as an "inside secret," that Richard Marquand was fired from Return of the Jedi and that Lucas had to take over directing duties to finish the movie. I did find ...
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Was Constantine's appearance based on Sting?
Is there any evidence for this? I have encountered a person on a forum who claimed this to be true, but he failed to supply any proof. While I can notice some similarities, is this claim actually true?...
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