We've seen guests do pretty much whatever they want to hosts, but what happens should things get ugly between paying customers? Could one complain to management? Would the instigator be kicked out/blacklisted/whatever? Answer This was answered in interviews with showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. In short, any hosts in the vicinity would seamlessly intervene in any situation where a guest was liable to hurt another guest. Q. William is told he can’t get hurt in Westworld. But what about being hurt by another guests? What’s to keep a guest from stabbing him thinking he’s a robot? Is there a safe word? Joy: We talked a lot about the rules of the park. A lot of it isn’t made explicit in the series but there’s something called the Good Samaritan Reflex within the hosts. So say you’re in a bar fight and some guy has a knife and maybe there’s even another guest that you didn’t know and he thinks you’re a host and he’s gonna stab you in the back. In that instance, a good Samarita...

I'm trying to identify a 70s (I think) young adult sci-fi novel. The protagonist is a peasant in a culture established offworld. The culture has sunk to a basic agricultural level. The planet they are on doesn't have the required raw materials for tool use. His community is forced to pay a levy to The City (or something). Despite warnings to the contrary he travels there to confront the regime - and find out the truth.

People had to move their entire city towards the (horizon?). They traveled over all terrains--water, mountains, deserts. As they traveled they remained the same height. If they slowed down or sped up their bodies would get longer or shorter. I read it at least 20 years ago

As the title says: Where is Hufflepuff's common room located? Canon or JKR answers only, please. I'm not interested in Wiki/Wikia sources. Answer Note: JKR has provided two conflicting answers to this question; one is presented here and the other is presented below . The Hufflepuff welcome letter states: the entrance to the common room is concealed in a stack of large barrels in a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor. Tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of ‘Helga Hufflepuff’, and the lid will swing open.

I'm wondering if it is mentioned anywhere whether or not the Captain's Yacht from the Enterprise-D ( the Calypso ) is warp-capable? I understand that it is described as a large, fancy shuttlecraft, and we see in the shows that even small shuttles are warp-capable, but I'd prefer to not guess here. We can probably "safely assume" that it is warp-capable, but I'm wondering specifically if anyone has a reference in any "canon" material from the shows (including for example Okudagrams) that speaks to this? If there is nothing like that, then is there any "quasi-canon" or non-canon stuff that mentions it?

Q: Will there be, or have there been, any “late blooming” students in the school who come into their magic potential as adults, rather than as children? By the way, I loved meeting you, and hearing you speak, when you came to Anderson's in Naperville. I can hardly wait until you tour again. JKR: Ahhh! I loved the event at Anderson’s. It was one of my favorites. That is completely true. No, is the answer. In my books, magic almost always shows itself in a person before age 11; however, there is a character who does manage in desperate circumstances to do magic quite late in life, but that is very rare in the world I am writing about . ( src: Barnes and Noble interview with J.K.Rowling, March 19, 1999 ) Who was JKR referring to in “there is a character”? Clearly, it not a student; so the most obvious guess of "Neville Longbottom" is wrong – both due to “no” answer regarding the question itself, and the fact that Neville bloomed in his 6th/7th year, well before you can leg...

I've been trying to figure this one out for years. I read a book as a teenager (so around 15-20 years ago), where a ship lands to assist another ship or a colony who have succumbed to a sickness/plague. The twist of the story is the other ship is full of vampires, who have lured the rescuers there in order to convert them/feed on them. The planet they were rescuing from may have been Mars. I'd much like to read the story again, but I've never been able to find the book at my parents house, and have completely forgotten the author.

In the first Matrix movie, it seems pretty clear that the reality of the matrix is identical to 20th century earth. Heathrow airport is mentioned, several companies and references to earth as we know it are seen and in general I thought the movie worked largely because we, the audience, could maybe accept we were living in a simulation. This is never stated explicitly in the first movie however and the second movie perhaps implies that the matrix is just one big urban city with touches of 20th century earth, rather than an accurate simulation of 20th century earth. Is there any evidence either way or is it open to interpretation? Answer From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_City_%28The_Matrix%29 The revelation that the Matrix films and games take place in a single megacity was surprising, as there were several references to other places and cultures throughout the series. This gave rise to the speculation that the Matrix contains only one city, wherein the names, media, and language...

Who was the first writer/movie director/artist that came with the idea of the zombies we see in movies nowadays like Resident Evil, World War Z, Walking Dead? In general: the idea of a person seemed dead but that walks and just bites people and then turn them into zombies as well. It seems very widespread now, but I don't know where does it came from. Was it a book, a movie, a computer game? Was Resident Evil (as far as I concerned, the first one to introduce this type of undead? Answer At least in film, the first "modern" zombies, the literal dead walking again (as opposed to voodoo and other drug and / or hypnotic states) appear a couple years before Night of the Living Dead. A Hammer film from 1966, Plague of the Zombies , was the first film to show corpses rising out of their graves , digging through the earth, to walk again. While this is the herald of the modern "truly-dead" zombie, it wasn't until 1968 and George A. Romero that the idea of the ...

I read this story many years ago and now can't remeber who wrote it or even what it was called. The story was about a group of elite humans who had access to a headdress that allowed them to control another human, even if they were thousands of miles away. They could use this ability to commit crimes, etc. I think the cover may have been yellow like those published by Gollancz.

In Westworld (2016) we see this vast area of land that is the stereotypical 'western' locale with scrubland, some prairie, a few nice buttes, and so on. On top of one of the larger mesas is a complex that houses the maintenance crew and developers. They even mention in casual conversation about rotating back home. Is Westworld located in some sort of giant holodeck like building, or is it in a remote locale? (I was thinking something Jurassic park like since it's written by Michael Crichton). Answer At https://www.discoverwestworld.com/#explore you can see a map. It is definitely a real place, with a sea on the western edge, not a holodeck type of simulation. The map is labeled "Topology survey of the park, commissioned under the command of the United States Government." I have heard speculation that it is anything from somewhere out west, to an artificial island, to Mars (with the talk of rotating home and all), but other than dialog and the map, we don't ...

This was read 40 years ago, in America, from an elementary school library. It is a children's story about astronauts discovering hostile living skeletons on the moon, possibly pirates. The astronauts kill the skeletons with air.

In The Walking Dead , the outbreak starts in an unknown year, but we know that Carl had to have been at least ten and the show has been going on for six years now and then by the time it's season six Carl is a teen. So my question is how long has everything been happening for? Answer We don't know, and the aging of regular characters - especially Carl - is probably not the best way to guess, but we get a ballpark estimate by looking at Judith. Carl has been played by Chandler Riggs throughout the series, so the producers had no way to slow down the actor's maturing. With Judith, however, the producers have been swapping out babies on a regular basis to make sure the character ages slowly. So far, 16 babies have played Judith. In most of season one, all of season two, and part of season three, Judith had been conceived, but not born. She was conceived either by Shane and Lori while Rick was in his coma, or by Rick and Lori immediately after he found Lori and Carl. By seas...

Was it a requirement at Hogwarts that a teacher could only head the very same house which was their house when they were a student? As we know from this answer, Minerva McGonagall was a Gryffindor herself and Filius Flitwick was a Ravenclaw himself. And of course we all know that Severus Snape was a Slytherin. So this raises the question, was this a prerequisite for the position, or just a preference or coincidence? Answer J. K. Rowling has a relevant quote in the FAQ on her old website : If a teacher is head of a house, can we assume that they were sorted into those houses when they were students at Hogwarts? Is that also true for the house ghosts? So was Snape a Slytherin? Yes, if the teacher is Head of House you can indeed assume that they were pupils within that house. So Snape was very definitely a Slytherin and yes, the same is true of the house ghosts. This doesn't completely answer the question, because it might only apply to the heads of house we meet in the book. See a...

When I was a kid I watched a movie on TV that I never knew its name, it was an old animated movie. I think it was an European very rare movie because of the style of the animation, drawings but above all the plot. The story as far as I remember something like this (it may be not accurate as I was pretty young in that time and I watched it only once so very few images remain in my memory): The story lives inside a magical world of faeries and dwarves or gnomes, there is a very bad guy (Sauron like) that kidnaps the main character's girlfriend or wife or some important relative. Then this dwarf starts his journey to get to the bad guy's fortress and rescue his beloved one. At some point the protagonist comes to the land of the fairies so they will help him to find the path to the bad guy's lair. He discovers that he is somehow related to the fairies, maybe one of his ancestors was a fairy or something like that. Everything looks very linear and predictable until now, but the ...

In the miniseries the first time we hear about FTL jumps (Adama ordering the jump to Ragnar Anchorage), there's an exchange on how dangerous it is ("we could end up in the middle of a sun") and after the jump they actually clap. So it seems like jumping is a big deal, but not much later it turns out that random civilian ships jump all around, and giving the impression that it is very routine to jump for a lot of ships. So what's the deal with that first jump? Answer It appears that the major concerns are: That the Battlestar Galactica hasn't used its FTL engines for over two decades; That none of the current crew have been on board long enough to have used the ship's jump engines for real (although they've obviously drilled and trained for it); The danger of jumping without a networked nav computer to do the calculations and transfer those results to the engines. Interestingly, the original script made a much bigger thing out of the length of time since...

Was the original release of Empire Strikes Back called Episode V in 1980? Or was this added in a later re-release? Did the original opening crawl actually start out with Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back or just Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back or maybe even Star Wars Episode II The Empire Strikes Back ? Answer Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was the only live-action feature length Star Wars film to ever be released without an episode number or subtitle. Per the Wikipedia entry for Star Wars (Film) The film was originally released as Star Wars, without "Episode IV" or the subtitle A New Hope. The 1980 sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, was numbered "Episode V" in the opening crawl. When the original film was re-released on April 10, 1981, Episode IV: A New Hope was added above the original opening crawl. In early interviews, it was suggested the series might comprise nine or twelve films. The film was re-released theatrically in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982,...

It seems that by the time of the Deathly Hallows, there is clear evidence that at least some order members and order allies using lethal force: "I shall expect you and the Slytherins in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, also," said Professor McGonagall. "If you wish to leave with your students, we shall not stop you. But if any of you attempt to sabotage our resistance or take up arms against us within the castle, then, Horace, we duel to kill." ‘Harry, the time for Disarming is past! These people are trying to capture and kill you! At least Stun if you aren’t prepared to kill!’ However, many people on here ( Why doesn't the Order use unforgivable curses in case of life threatening situations? ) have talked about the Order being above using Unforgivable Curses, and there is evidence of this as well - In the battle in the Department of Mysteries at the end of OoTP, as far as I can remember (don't have my book with me) none of the Death Eaters were killed, alt...

As one of the "speedster" superheroes, the Flash moves really fast. What does he do when he runs fast? For the sake of this question, "What would the Flash's tracks look like in damp sand?" , let's say Wally West, Flash #3 , runs a best effort marathon over damp sand in a solo race against you. You complete the race in a far distant 2nd place. You notice that you can see his footprints as you follow along. Does DC ever address what evidence gets left behind when the Flash wants to get someplace ASAP? Would the Flash leave a trail of millions & millions of incremental, teeny, tiny, little steps at super speed, the same number of footsteps as an average human running the same distance (except he'd take those steps faster than you can blink), or would his stride allow him to leave tracks that are incredibly few and far between while he vibrates by at see-through speed? Or does he change his style along the way? How does he run? What would the Flash...

I read this story many years ago as a teenager. It is set in an overpopulated near future. A man and his pregnant wife are at home in their small apartment. Suddenly an public announcement is made on the TV, that an asteroid (?) is going to hit the Earth. The government has prepared deep underground shelters for just such an emergency, but there are only limited places in the shelters. To be fair, tickets will be made available and everyone will have the chance to get one (can't remember how). Anyway, the protagonist goes out in search of tickets. So does everyone else, and mass panic, rioting and bloodshed follow. Somehow, after much tribulation, he manages to get a ticket. He returns to the apartment exhausted and traumatised, but at least he knows that his family will be guaranteed safety. Then there is another announcement on the TV, saying the whole thing was a government hoax, to reduce the population. This tips the man over the edge, and he shoots his wife. The story sounds ...

I am trying to find a book of short science fiction stories that contains a short story about an astronaut crew that land on a moon or planet and one astronaut on an EVA (spacewalk) on the surface discovers a crew of three aliens next to a crashed ship. One of them injured. He sends them back to his ship sacrificing his spot aboard for them. I believe the story is called "The Samaritan".

During the events of Age of Ultron , "Veronica" is mentioned a few times. It is eventually revealed that "Veronica" is The Hulkbuster suit. Is the name "Veronica" a reference to an existing character or device in the comics or any other Marvel media? Answer If so, it was entirely unintentional. Instead, Joss Whedon claims that it's a reference to the Archie comics, where Veronica and Betty are the two competing love interests for Archie's attention: "You know, I just decided to call it Veronica because he used to be in love with a girl named Betty and Veronica is the opposite of that," Whedon said, obviously referencing Betty and Veronica, who compete for Archie Andrews' attentions in Archie. From: "Avengers: Age of Ultron Features an Archie Comics Reference" , comicbook.com

I think this was a classic "golden oldie" hard sci-fi novel or novella published at least several decades ago. I recollect: An accident or crew mutiny causes the ship's ramjet or similar engine to not "turn off" or something. So the ships continues accelerating towards c . As the outside universe "speeds up" they steer the ship to edge of galaxies and/or the universe itself to lower the gas density to something that their ramjet and (energy?) shielding can handle. The universe experiences a big crunch, but apparently their ship is outside the area of effect and spirals both the contraction and then the new big bang; slowing down in some fashion (new physics? crew fixed the ramjet? temporary deceleration?) in the new universe enough for a couple of the remaining crew to escape pod from the ship to a conveniently habitable planet. But I don't recall the name of the book. Answer Sounds like Poul Anderson 's novel Tau Zero . (A shorter version wa...

Even though it is not a human language per se and that one had to be gifted to be able to speak to snakes, why didn't Parselmouths teach others Parseltongue, at least in Slytherin house at Hogwarts? Ron spoke Parseltongue from watching Harry speaking it in Chamber of Secrets . Hence Parselmouths aren't the only ones who can speak Parseltongue and be understood. Answer Parselmouths are rare There are very few confirmed Parselmouths during the events of the Harry Potter books. Harry himself, Voldemort, the Gaunts (Voldemort's relatives) - I think Dumbledore was said to be able to speak Parseltongue as well, but I may be making that up. That's a very, very small number. Dumbledore had enough problems finding Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers to fill the position, I imagine it would have been even worse trying to find a Parselmouth to fill a teaching position as well; there are considerably more witches and wizards who know about (fighting) the Dark Arts than are ...

I haven't read the books; I've only watched the TV series. Are there any civilisations in A Game of Thrones similar in appearance to Japanese or Chinese cultures (race, buildings, clothes and others cultural aspects)? The show features a few sets of non-Caucasians: Dornishmen tend to have olive skin and dark hair, with blondes being rare in that region. Their accents on the TV show seem to suggest a Middle Eastern or Mediterranean culture. We have also seen the Magnar of Thenn and his people being portrayed as a Slavic or Russian folk. Answer I am not exactly sure what you are looking for but the closest civilization shown so far may be the Dothraki, who according to GRRM : The Dothraki were actually fashioned as an amalgam of a number of steppe and plains cultures... Mongols and Huns, certainly, but also Alans, Sioux, Cheyenne, and various other Amerindian tribes... seasoned with a dash of pure fantasy. So any resemblance to Arabs or Turks is coincidental. Well, except to t...

In Avengers: Endgame , we can see Thanos claiming to have destroyed the Stones: NATASHA ROMANONFF : Where are the Stones? THANOS : Gone. Reduced to atoms. BRUCE BANNER : You used them two days ago! THANOS : I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am... inevitable. Avengers: Endgame He had reduced them to atoms but, is there any canon information about how he actually did it? He used the Stones against themselves but, did he use some special mechanism? Answer He used the Infinity Gauntlet with the Infinity Stones in it to destroy the Stones. Not only is this the way he uses to use all the Stones at once but we have physical evidence that this was the case. When the Avengers go to Titan II in hunt for Thanos after they detect the Stones are used again we see the toll it has taken on Thanos. We see now, his left arm has been amputated or destroyed, probably when the Gauntlet was destroyed, destroying the Stones. And we als...

The Air Nomads have their set of toys, and Korra showed impressive skill in other areas than waterbending. However the case for all of the others would likely be different. So my question is is there any evidence of the other Nation's Avatar selection?

So in the climax of The Philosopher's Stone , we see Harry and the Gang pass through some challenges to stop Quirell retrieving the stone; one of these challenges is chasing down a flying key. Conveniently, Hermione checks off the challenges and their progenitors: “We’ve had Sprout’s, that was the Devil’s Snare – Flitwick must’ve put charms on the keys – McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive – that leaves Quirrell’s spell, and Snape’s…” — Chapter 16, Through the Trapdoor However, that the keys were charmed (and not transfigured) seems at odds with what we see of Charms and Transfiguration in the series. Charms are shown to change how objects behave, rather than adding to their appearance; as worded on the Harry Potter wikia : Charms are distinguished from transfigurations in that a charm adds or changes properties of an object; it focuses on altering what the object does as opposed to what the object is . On the other hand, Transfiguration is shown to add or tran...

I've tried so hard to reconcile what I find to be a fairly blatant flaw in my favorite show... In the episode "Normal Again" Buffy claims to have been sent to an institution when she first told her parents she was a slayer (before the beginning of the series). However, if this is true, it's hard to imagine Joyce reacting in the way she did when Buffy 'came out' in "Becoming, Part 2". One would imagine she would have more of a "Not this again" reaction as opposed to the utter shock and denial she showed. I'd love some hard facts on this, but I'll gladly accept some good fanwanking theories! Answer My theory is that, since the inclusion of Dawn retconned the timeline, we don't know how the actual events of Buffy pre-S1 or even S1-S4 really played out. The inclusion of Dawn must have had an effect, thus maybe changing the fact that Buffy went to an institution in the "Dawn" timeline and not in S1-S4 timeline. That's...

What is the fastest that we have seen Jay Garrick travel in any continuity? I'm interested in the issue number and page (image if possible) that he actually travels at his top speed rather than a quote saying "because of this power he can travel at this speed".

I'm trying to identify a movie I watched back in the early-to-mid 80's on cable, most likely HBO or Showtime. In the movie, aliens visit a small town. The visit is witnessed by two children - a local boy and a girl whose parents had stopped in the town while on a road-trip. Years later, the now-grown girl returns to the town and she's a reporter (I think) investigating a weird rash of cattle mutilations in the area. The now-grown boy is the town sheriff or deputy, and is also investigating the mutilations. It turns out that a local man is behind the mutilations. He was abducted or changed when the aliens visited 25 years ago, and now works for the aliens by cutting up the cattle using a glowing rod of some kind. The rod resembles a lightsaber blade but you can hold it. Unfortunately, I don't remember the actors involved, but these three main characters were all Caucasian. The main two leads were around 30, with the local man being older. The town was in the Southwest, I...

It is established in Deathly Hallows that Polyjuice Potion is meant for human transformations only: ‘Wha’ was tha’ about?’ roared Hagrid. ‘I’m sorry, Harry, but I had to check,’ said Lupin tersely. ‘We’ve been betrayed. Voldemort knew that you were being moved tonight and the only people who could have told him were directly involved in the plan. You might have been an impostor.’ ‘So why aren’ you checkin’ me?’ panted Hagrid, still struggling to fit through the door. ‘You’re half-giant,’ said Lupin, looking up at Hagrid. ‘ The Polyjuice Potion is designed for human use only .’ Deathly Hallows - page 63 - Bloomsbury - chapter 5, The Fallen Warrior And it's established Fleur Delacour is part Veela in Goblet of Fire : [Ollivander] twirled the wand between his long fingers like a baton and it emitted a number of pink and gold sparks. Then he held it close to his eyes and examined it carefully. ‘Yes,’ he said quietly, ‘nine and a half inches ... inflexible ... rosewood ... and contain...

My fiance just asked me if replicators got their matter by dereplicating human waste, and I realized I wasn't sure. Even after researching the matter, I can't find any concrete information. So where does the matter come from? Is it from recycled human waste, or is there some sort of energy-matter conversion involved? Answer Assuming you're referring to TNG (onwards), Federation starships carry a feedstock of raw materials that can be easily converted into the widest possible range of substances by the replicator systems. Before this, starships (like the Enterprise NX-1 and Enerprise NCC-1701) used reclamation systems to process waste water back into potable water. There's no indication that any of the ships we see processed solid human waste back into food. Per the TNG Technical Manual In order to minimize replicator power requirements, raw stock for food replicators is stored in the form of a sterilized organic particulate suspension that has been formulated to st...

In the movie Independence Day (1996), there is a romantic subplot featuring David Levinson (played by Jeff Goldblum) and Constance Spano (played by Margaret Colin), leading to one of my favorite bits of dialog from: Julius Levinson: There was a lot of love there. David Levinson: Love was never our problem. In the movie Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), many actors from the first movie returned, and Jeff Goldblum was one of them. But Margaret Colin did not return. I'm actually interested in both the in-universe explanation and the real-world explanation. Do we know either one? Here's what I have found: an interview with Jeff Goldblum where he says there is an in-universe explanation but he doesn't say what it was. a Wikia page that says the character was killed in a car crash during the events of the novel Independence Day: Crucible . Is that novel canon with the movie? Answer She ded. According to the novel Independence Day: Crucible she was killed in a car acci...

(Forgive me, I'm not a comics expert.) We have the enchantment by Odin on Mjolnir: . Whosoever holds this hammer, if (s)he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor. So that means there is a power, separate from the original Thor, called The Power of Thor that Mjolnir confers. This is bolstered by the fact that we have the new Thor, Jane Foster who also wields the Power of Thor and goes by the name Thor. So: Did the original Thor already exist at the time Mjolnir was forged? Was the power named after the man or the man after the power? Did first Thor ever have any other true name? (For real, not an alias on Earth.) Answer The very short answer is that both Thor (Odinnson) and Thor ("the power of") are both named after the elemental power of lightning rather than one being named after the other. In the Thor Annual #11 we see the events leading up to the birth of Thor. We learn that Thor was born and named long before the creation of Mjolnir and that his name literal...

At the very end of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace movie, Mace Windu and Yoda had this conversation: Mace Windu: There is no doubt. The mysterious warrior was a Sith. Yoda: Always two there are....no more...no less. A master and an apprentice. From this conversation, it's clear that they had no idea about the other Sith (They were surprised to see one Sith). They were just using their knowledge of Rule of Two to guess that one other must be alive. In Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith , Yoda told Palpatine Darth Sidious. I thought, Yoda discovered Palpatine's Sith name from security hologram (he watched at Jedi Temple). But, in the last episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Lost Missions (Unfinished season 6) , Yoda called Darth Sidious by his name. How does Yoda know the name of Darth Sidious? Has Yoda encountered Darth Sidious after the events of TPM? Answer I think the answer is just that Dooku told Obi-Wan the name in Attack of the Clones , and Obi-Wa...

Being that Tolkien was a Catholic, I wouldn't be surprised if he made Eru three different people, but I can't think of any references to it. If so, who are the three persons?

I couldn't figure this one out. Has anyone? I know it's about anti-matter and some kind of reactor, but what is it supposed to be doing? Answer The matter-antimatter reaction is just the energy source for the work it has to do. The energy created by the reactor is used by the warp nacelles to build the warp field: this deforms the space-time-continuum. So the spaceship itself isn't accelerating; the warp field makes the ship "falling" into the direction it should go. This has some side-effects, as moving in a direction other than straight forward is highly discouraged because of the damage done to the ship's hull. You may picture it as if there would be a strong gravitational force in front of the spaceship which drags it through the room. As you can see, the time-space-continuum in the front of the ship is compressed, where in the back it is stretched. In the light gray area the normal room isn't altered. As a side-effect a observer outside of the warp ...

It is now canon that Anakin's birth was a result (un-planned for) of an attempt by Darth Plagueis to create a life that would be a Sith weapon . 1) Is there any canon information regarding whether Darth Sidious knew this fact about Anakin (either before, or after turning him into Vader)? 2) If he DID know, was it before or after Anakin was found by the Jedi on Tatooine? 3) If after, was that before or after Anakin turned into Vader?

This story Starts out like the standard "Planet of the Apes" routine: Space voyagers from Earth get caught in some sort of warp and return to a recognizable Earth, but the civilization they knew is long gone. In this story, however, all macro biological life has disappeared completely, to be replaced by a wilderness of feral machines, many of them replicating the standard biological forms: amulatory predators/prey (analogous to animals), sessile energy accumulators (like plants), even sea "creatures". Some predators are able to use parts of their prey directly, although most incorporate some kind of smelter or other recycling feature that allows them to mine basic materials from prey. Explosives are part of the repertoire of prey defenses, hinting that some of this may have been kicked off by humans tinkering with autonomous machines meant for warfare. I think it was by a well-known SF author, like, say, Robert Silverberg. I believe it dates back to the 1980s, could...

I'm looking for a novel that I think was published before 2006; it was a great read. From what I can remember there was an aggressor alien species that came to earth and put the human race into something like castes to control them. They gave black people power and made whites more like slaves. This alien race were like giant grasshoppers or bugs and could jump high. There was another friendly alien race that befriended humans; they were very short and might have been a slave race. Humans taught them military tactics and tech, and both these friendly aliens and humans were able to defeat their mutual enemy.

In the fifth episode of season six of Game of Thrones , "The Door", Bran is "warged" into the past, viewing a scene in Winterfell from when Hodor/Wyllis was a child. Meanwhile, Whitewalkers are attacking the cave, and Hodor goes into fits similar to the last few times Whitewalkers have attacked. Eventually, Hodor's eyes roll back, which is our visual clue that Bran has warged into his body, and he starts behaving un-Hodor-like, standing up and taking action. It is apparent that Bran is now in control of Hodor's body. But, Bran is shown to still be warging/viewing the past (is that the same power? Is it something else?). So he seems to be both viewing the past and controlling Hodor's body at the same time. And then finally, Bran appears to - intentionally or not - also warg into young Hodor/Wyllis's body while in the past, causing the young version to seize and begin shouting the phrase heard by his older present-day self. So what actually happened he...

I was noticing that the two famous droids from Star Wars , C-3PO and R2-D2 have a four character alphanumeric name. Now, these are just two of so many droids out there, but I was wondering, in the Star Wars universe - do all droids have a four character alphanumeric name? If not, does the length or having an alphanumeric name as opposed to purely digits or characters have any significance? Answer We have at least one droid whose 4-letter title was just a fragment of a real long designation: Cassian had killed K-2SO (whose true designation was far longer and far grander, rich with meaning and history that described his factory of origin, the date and time of his initialization, and more) and brought him back both smaller and larger than he had been. K-2SO did not mourn for his old self, but there were times he grew wistful over what he had been. ("Rogue One" official novelization by Alexander Freed, Chapter 19) Pablo Hidalgo (Internet Content Provider for starwars.com) an...

If Voldemort's body dies, what process would he use to restore himself from a horcrux? His plans seem sloppy for the pains he had taken . For example, why create horcruxes from pieces of jewellery when they dont have the agency to seek out a new body by themselves? He needed Quirrel, a person with unlikely ambitions to seek him out to gain an useful body. When that body was gone, he needed Barty Crouch, someone with questionable agency (he could be imprisoned) to transport Harry and draw his blood. Nagini and the diary seems the only horcruxes with agency, the others are mostly inert. What plans were ever taken to restore Voldemort from his horcruxes? Answer If Voldemort's body dies, what process would he use to restore himself from a Horcrux? Just to be clear, the primary avenue is not to restore himself "from a Horcrux". While that's possible (see the section below on Diary), the main function of the Horcrux is NOT to "restored the body" - it's ...