In Heaven Sent, all the rooms reset to some initial state after a while. The fireplace room has dry clothes. Is that its initial state? It is of course implied that those dry clothes belonged to the previous Doctor clone, but if a room resets itself, then there shouldn't be any clothes there. Does this mean that the clothes the Doctor finds are not actually from his previous clone, but rather, placed there by the designers? Did they actually anticipate he would jump into the sea? Clara's painting is "extremely old". This reinforces the idea that 7000 years had passed. But if the room resets itself, shouldn't the painting be restored? Perhaps the "old look" is in fact the initial state of the painting, but this would imply that the castle designer purposefully made it old, which would bear the question: why?

In an episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series, Agent Victoria Hand said to Agent Ward that no agent was that important to the system (At the time, Agent Coulson had been kidnapped and his team was trying hard to find him). However, during the events of the Avengers movie, Agent Coulson was impaled and killed by Loki . We later learn in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that Director Fury had him revived via a classified project. Why was Agent Coulson so important to Director Fury? He was just another Level 8 agent. Answer Per the season 1 finale, we have an answer. Coulson is one of the few people Nick Fury trusts. In addition, he was crucial in the formation of The Avengers, which (per S1E20) T.A.H.I.T.I. was meant to resurrect, so using it to revive Coulson wasn't entirely outside the purview of T.A.H.I.T.I. Then, per S1E18? Fury set May up to be Coulson's monitor, in case he started showing some of the side-effects of procedures.

I read this story sometime between 1989 and 1991 in a SF&F magazine (Asimov's Science Fiction? The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction? Amazing Stories?) and I've looked for it for years, in archives, online, etc. with no success. Can anyone help, please? It takes place in the future. A neurosurgeon uses MRI scans to map out a person's neural map. Upon finding cancer or clots, he programs nanobots to enter the body and clean up the disease. His ex-wife, whom he still loves, comes for treatment. When she leaves, he experiments with showing his photograph to the simulated retina and finds where it lights up in the simulation. Seeing a blocked neuron, he programs the nanobots to destroy her cancer and to re-establish contact to this cluster by reconnecting the block. After her surgery, she falls back in love with him, but after a while, discovers the manipulation and leaves him. To forget about her, he scans his own neurons, finds her cluster, and programs nanobots to

In a previous question it was asked how many of the crew spoke Mandarin. But how many actually read Chinese as it was used in almost all broadcasts and navigational displays?

Juvenile Sci-Fi novel, at least 30 years old, trying to resurrect based on a fond memory. An Earthman, hitman I believe, is captured by an alien. The hitman sneaks "tapes" for machine based learning (card playing, martial arts, operation of alien machines eg Mark V hovercar?), outsmarting the unsuspecting alien while becoming incredibly intelligent. He then goes to the stars and some mayhem ensues. Ending involves him determining that his "helper" is a previously kindapped (Neanderthal) Earthling, finding out that he had unknowingly split his intelligence into two halves, and reuniting both halves of his intellect. Any ideas? Google was not helpful despite numerous attempts. Thanks! Answer Sounds a lot like a Keith Laumer novel The Ultimax Man. I remember the part about a mental being that helps the protagonist out being a neandrathal kept around for thousands of years. A review from GoodReads: *Minor hoodlum Damocles Montgomerie, whisked from the path of a speedi

I think I read this online in the last ten years, so after 2005 or so. In the story, everyone is online, I think 24/7. People are jaded and always looking for new experiences. The protagonist (or at least narrator) is a woman, I want to say in her 30s (or at least appears as that age), who is considered to be an expert in the area of torture ceremonies. I want to say that her appearance is of her being scarred and twisted by her experiences, although I don't know if that had to do with her meatspace body, or was simply how she portrayed herself. The only other bit of plot that sticks out in my head was that early in the story, someone (it was a male, and she was thinking of him as being incredibly young) challenges her with a scenario to prove himself, and she was idly commenting how he went for horrific disfiguring torture too early, and tried to compensate by going directly to rape, but that she found his efforts banal. Answer I think you are thinking of The Metamorphosis of Pr

Clearly not every marvel movie is part of the MCU. Off the top of my head, there is: Tobey Macguire Spiderman 1, 2, and 3 Andrew Garfield Spiderman 1 and 2 Fantastic Four and Rise of the Silver Surfer New Fantastic Four Deadpool The bagillion XMen movies Hulk ( Not "The Incredible Hulk") So if all of these Marvel movies aren't part of the MCU, why are the Iron Man , Thor , Avengers , Captain America and other series part of the MCU? I can think of a couple reasons they might not count. For example, both Spiderman series and the original Hulk don't count because they have new versions of the same character. But this doesn't explain all of them. Another reason I thought of is that a movie doesn't count as part of the MCU until it clearly establishes a continuity with the world of Iron Man and The Avengers. This would explain for example, Deadpool, XMen, and Fantastic Four. But this still doesn't explain a couple of things. For example, Ant-man had no shar

I'm trying to remember the name of a story, I think the author was Larry Niven, but it might possibly be from Heinlein's "Future History" series (but a check of the stories included in the Future History indicates it's not in there), about a man whose commute is stopped because a criminal has to be 'adjusted'. In this case, the criminal was a hit-and-run driver who left his victim untreated on the roadside, and was sentenced to suffer in the same manner. So his leg was carefully broken and he was left, untreated and in pain, on the side of the road in the same place for an hour. All the time ambulances were standing by, and every effort was made to ensure that the criminal did not suffer unduly - but that he did suffer, in a manner as close to the suffering he inflicted on his victim. Answer That scene is from Heinlein's The Number of the Beast . (And not, as I originally claimed, Job: A Comedy of Justice .) The Bible affects their penal system, aga

Force speed is a light side power that many Jedi, including Padawans are capable of. In Episode I , Qui-Gon uses it twice (once to outrun droids and once on Jar Jar's tongue), Obi-Wan uses it once and Anakin uses high speed reflexes for the entire duration of the pod race with no formal training. According to this in-universe publication the power has a high drain and requires a longer recovery period than other powers. And then of course there are hilarious drawbacks such as this . But why wasn't this power used in the following scenarios (and many, many others): The Redshirt Jedi who accompanied Windu to arrest Palpatine, before they were summarily dispatched to the Nether. Qui-Gonn, to avoid a lightsaber through his gut. Yoda, to avoid flying senate seats. By Windu, who is supposedly a notable practitioner. Answer I am not certain when you think the examples you quote should have used them. Generally to start using the power the jedi must be running. In the movies the p

It's a well-established part of canon that humans in the 23rd+ century Star Trek universe work to better themselves and the rest of humanity, and have largely done away with the profit motive. It seems reasonable to conclude that all software development at this time is effectively free and open source, though the exact distribution mechanisms would of course differ greatly from the present day. However, I'm wondering if this applies as well to military technology used by Starfleet (ie the LCARS computer system employed in the 24th century and beyond). This seems like a minimalist system which changes very little and is vulnerable to hacking/tampering - this smacks of a proprietary non-free model, which clearly is out of place in the ideals of the Federation. I personally imagine LCARS to be something like a fork of a common kernel/set of components which Starfleet retains control over. It would, after all, be benficial to standardise the fleet on one OS to ease maintenance. Ha

The Wikipedia page on Mantis (the character from Guardians of the Galaxy) says that she has appeared in both Marvel comics as Mantis and DC comics as Willow because her creator "took her with him". After leaving Marvel Comics, writer Steve Englehart carried Mantis' tale through two other companies before returning to Marvel. In DC Comics' Justice League of America #142, she appears as Willow. Asked where she came from, Willow replies, "This one has come from a place she must not name, to reach a place no man must know." (Mantis refers to herself as "this one"). Are there any other examples of a character appearing in both Marvel and DC comics? Especially if it's because the original creator has switched companies but still wants to utilize the same character, even under a different name?

I was just wondering if Dumbledore is gay? The portrayal of his character in the movie gave me that impression. Is there any canon information about his sexual orientation? Answer Yes, JKR has always thought of him as gay. However, sexuality not being the main topic of HP, this was not explicitly stated within the story.

In the Goblet of Fire , Harry is cut in the arm by Pettigrew. When Dumbledore learns it, he's extremely worried and wants to check Harry's arm. Why? When Harry told of Wormtail piercing his arm with the dagger, however, Sirius let out a vehement exclamation and Dumbledore stood up so quickly that Harry started. Dumbledore walked around the desk and told Harry to stretch out his arm. Harry showed them both the place where his robes were torn and the cut beneath them. "He said my blood would make him stronger than if he'd used someone else's," Harry told Dumbledore. "He said the protection my - my mother left in me - he'd have it too. And he was right - he could touch me without hurting himself, he touched my face." For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore's eyes. But next second. Harry was sure he had imagined it, for when Dumbledore had returned to his seat behind the desk, he looked as old

The Star Trek universe is a pretty large universe with its end hardly in sight. I know one should stay away from a list when asking questions, but many Star Trek-ies want to know what I'm asking. I want to know: What are all the current productions (film work, ie... Series, Movies, Short Films, etc.)? And are there plans for another production? Such as one containing more time travel? My Current Knowledge is, Star Trek (orginal), Star Trek 2-7, Star Trek Original Series, Star Trek TNG, Star Trek DS9, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek The Animates Series, Star Trek Enterprise, and the new Star Trek movie. Let me know what I missed, please. Answer Currently CBS is just planning on continuing the new movie franchise. They're working on a sequel to the J.J. Abrams movie from 2009. That's all they're planning for TV/movies. There are many Star Trek books that have been, and continue to be, published as well. I don't believe there are any plans for more Star Trek animated TV

In Westworld (2016) Arnold, the park co-founder has the host Dolores kill him after killing the other hosts. What was his motivation for suicide? I assume he was acting of sound mind and chose suicide rationally rather than resulting from mental illness. You can bring all of them back, but not me If he believed the hosts were conscious and wanted to end their perpetual suffering, wouldn't he be better suited to ensure the complete destruction of the hosts while alive? Rather than suicide, couldn't he just have quit the park or refuse to build any more hosts? If he died, the only person who believed the hosts were conscious was gone and Ford would have free reign.

I've been watching DS9 a lot lately and I've noticed that the Bajorans use the Emblem of the Bajoran People extremely regularly. Aside from being a common design for jewelry and insignia, they're used in architectural ornamentation, window design, and so forth. I joked that they used it like medieval inhabitants of andalusian Spain. Memory Alpha didn't provide me with more than that name, but it's used often enough and is distinctive enough that I'm curious if it has a deeper meaning.

Correct me if I'm wrong but in the movie the main character due to relativity spends 60+ years away from the rest of the world. When thay start the journey they take the robots with them. 60 years later that same model and type of robot is able to interface with a new and improved Ranger craft?? Seems to me that the only reason that the spacecraft isn't smaller/sleeker is so that it can accommodate a robot of that particular make and model. Is this a deliberate hole in the plot by the writers ( so that our hero doesn't go off into the sunset alone ) or is it an oops moment? EDIT: What I'm asking is: Is this a deliberate hole in the plot by the writers? How can a robot that is 70+ years interact with a new craft? For 1 I'm interested in real life answers if any exist (post-movie interviews, script edits etc.). For 2 I would like in-universe if possible. Answer To answer your questions: No. It's not plot hole, therefore it's not an intended plot hole. There&

In the short story Something more from Sword of Destiny why did Geralt drink the black gull to hallucinate in the first place? What was his goal? Answer At first I thought he drank it for helping heal his wounds, but then his dialog with Visenna (ostensibly his mother) suggests that this was not the reason: "Later", she continued and pulled his shirt up to his neck, "a blood poisoning was added to it, like it's usually the case with bite wounds. It was slowed down. Of course a witcher elixier? That hepled much. But I don't understand why you took hallucinogens at the same time?" So they didn't directly help with healing his wounds. It might be, as a comment points out, that he took them as painkillers. But I think there is even more to this idea and it's something else that Visenna says: As part of this sympathy, a friendly advice, or if you want, an advice from the healer. Stop taking hallucinogens, Geralt. Hallucinogens don't help. Against

In the movie, Newt reveals that the beast attacking New York was actually an Obscurus, which he explains is a burst of dark power that manifests in witch or wizard that represses their magical power. Now, he goes on to explain that The oldest known Obscurial was 10 years old, but they're usually younger. If this is true, why then did Harry Potter or Hermione Granger not develop an Obscurus? They were not even aware magic existed until they were 11. My only thought would be that they didn't actively repress their magic, just didn't know what it was. I don't know if there was any more detail given in a companion novel, Pottermore or the book itself, but on the wiki it made no mention of details other than was given in the movie. Are there any additional rules that would explain why this doesn't happen more often? Answer Neither of them were suppressing their magical power Newt is quite clear about this in the script; an Obscurus only develops when magic is intention

The Ancient One explains: "The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time, remove one of the stones and that flow splits." As we know, post Avengers: Endgame , (all instances of) the Infinity Stones are destroyed (see this question: What is the status of the Infinity Stones post Avengers: Endgame? ) What does this mean for the flow of time? In particular, does this mean the rules of time travel are different in the MCU depending on whether you travel to before the destruction of the stones in 2018, or after? Answer The Infinity Stones weren't destroyed, only reduced to their atoms, and so everything carries on as it did before the events of Avengers: Endgame , nothing has changed. Natasha: Where are the stones? Thanos: Gone. Reduced to atoms. Bruce: 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 If we take the second t

In TNG episode "Conspiracy": TROI: Data, it's just not the same. Have you ever been for a real moonlight swim? DATA: One can swim in moonlight? TROI: How about you, Mister Worf? WORF: Swimming is too much like bathing. Also in TNG episode "Cost of Living" Worf looks miserable in the mud baths but I just assumed it was mud baths but not baths in general. Is it just Worf or do all Klingons hate baths? If it's all Klingons do they not bathe at all? Is that dialogue from the "Conspiracy" episode enough to deduce that Worf does not like baths or not bathe? Answer Marc Okrand, in his excellent " Klingon for the Galactic Traveler ", describes bathing (in the sense of submersion in water) as an "occasional undertaking" and one that is largely avoided. This suggests that most Klingons agree with Worf. The verb {HaH}, though once restricted to this form of food preparation, is now often used in the more general sense of "soak, dren

During the movie, we learned that Ego tried to reproduce the Celestial gene by having a lot of children and then having them delivered to him. I am not sure if Yondu was contracted for all of them but he definitely delivered at least a few of them since he broke the ravager code and got banned for dealing in kids. My question is: why did he stop with Peter? Was Peter the last one on the contract or did he keep on delivering some but just not Peter? Also, why didn't Ego seek out Yondu to get his kid back? I don't think this was touched on in the movie. This was slightly mentioned here ( What code did Yondu break? ) but that is not answering my question. I think Yondu said it was because he could get to places where the Ravagers could not since he was a kid but that would have been true with all the others kids he abducted for Ego. Answer Michael Rooker (Yondu) says the following in an interview with comicbook.com "It was a gig," Rooker said. "I was to pick up t

What is the name of an old Robert Silverberg story where there are colonies of people who have died, who don't interact well with the living. A curious journalist tries to get answers by infiltrating, is of course detected, and is killed so he can finally stop pestering them and fit in. I think there was an epigram from T.S. Eliot.

I read a fantasy novel years back. I honestly don't remember much of the plot (it was SEVERAL years back) but I remember the magic system that was used. It was possible for an individual to grant portions of their physical and/or mental powers to another person. For example, a person could grant his/her sight to someone else and spend the rest of their life blind (or with exceedingly poor vision) while the recipient would see twice as well as anyone else. In the book there were whole cities devoted to enhancing the nations army, or a specific person, etc. Anyone have a thought what this book or series is? Answer Could be " The Runelords " series of books by David Farland. One reviewer has this to say: In Farland's world, there exists a magic that allows one person to take a physical or mental quality from another . For example, a common man can grant his strength to his Runelord, living out his days as weak as a baby, while the Runelord becomes twice as strong. No

When I was in middle school I read a short story about a self-driving car that becomes self aware and locks a family inside. It drives the same circuit endlessly and stops at the same service station at regular intervals. The car is upset by the carelessness of the family: cigarette burns and spills, etc. It would have been published prior to 1991. The story is told through the pov of a man who sees the car around the same time every year. I would love to teach it with my current middle school class. If you know the title of the story, or the author, please post a response.

In The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, we see in Bilbo and Frodo and, to a more extreme extent, Gollum, all bearers of the one ring, that they become extremely possessive of the ring and do their best to maintain ownership of the ring. This seems contrary to what you would think of a ring that is trying to get back to its master ; if the current possessor of the ring wants to keep a hold of it, surely that's going to hinder the ability of it to return to Sauron! My question is, then, considering the ring wants to return to its master, why do current possessors of the ring feel such a strong desire to keep it? Answer The Ring is a Ring of power, and it increases the desire for power in those who wear it; this effect is amplified in direct proportion to the wearer's innate desire for power. This effect is a reflection of Sauron's own personality. A Brief Biography of Sauron: Sauron wasn't always evil. He began his life as a Maia, essentially an angel, and of

Early Numenoreans spoke Quenya as per learning it from Elves of Beleriand and then later on in the Second Age Numenoreans created their own language: Adunaic which differs from Elvish. Is Adunaic supposed to be what is later known as Common tongue or was it a different dialect? Answer I need to establish one thing first: The Common Tongue is not English The Common Tongue is another of Tolkien's constructed languages , more properly called Westron. From Appendix F: The language represented in this history by English was the Westron or 'Common Speech' of the West-lands of Middle-earth in the Third Age Return of the King Appendix F I "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age" Adûnaic is an ancestor of Westron, but they are distinct languages Again from Appendix F: In the years of their power the Númenoreans had maintained many forts and havens upon the western coasts of Middle-earth for the help of their ships; and one of the chief of these was at Pelargir near

If an Animagus transforms to their animal form, can they pack their wand such that they get it back when they transform back to human form even if they travel far from where they have transformed? I don't recall any example in canon that would decide this. We see McGonagall untransform in Stone chapter 1, but we don't learn whether she has a wand with her. Neither Sirius nor Wormtail have had a wand of their own during the events of Prisoner, and we rarely see them transform in the later books. Sirius transforms during Goblet when he goes to the railway station, but does not untrasform until he returns to the Headquarters. Rita Skeeter presumably never untransforms in Hogwarts, because of the risk of getting caught. One relevant event is when Lupin transforms to a werewolf in Prisoner chapter 20: he drops his wand. However, Lupin was unprepared for the transformation at that time, and maybe he could have “packed” the wand if he prepares to transform. Besides, the rules could di

As it is stated in this question and its answer: Can a member of the not named clan ask for a trial of refusal to save his clan? the original trial of annihilation is still going on (as some of the original clan warriors managed to flee and were the so called minnesota (spelling?) tribe mentioned within the inner sphere. As the original trial is still going on and they usually win it by eliminating the other side that was part of the bid (or later upgrades) the question is...is it possible somehow by the no named clan to win the trial of annihilation (during the 3050s as example) and if so what would they have to do to do so? Answer The original Trial is not still going on because even though some Wolverines survived and fled and may have descendants out there somewhere, the official Clan position is that nobody survived and any discrepancies in body counts and whatnot are down to "bad bookkeeping" ( The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky , p13). So even though not all warriors w

The New York Times ran a story today featuring a recent interview that George did. He expressed disdain for The Force Awakens , but more interestingly, he mentions that he had been writing a seventh installment for the Star Wars series. Is there any information from other interviews or sources about what was going to be in his (thankfully never to be finished) script? Answer It's astoundingly unlikely Lucas' ideas for Star Wars 7, 8 and 9 will ever see the light of day. They were written as part of the negotiation with Disney for the sale of the Star Wars franchise and were ultimately rejected in favour of a script treatment written and supervised by Disney's own writers. As with any sale of Intellectual Property, these treatments are almost certainly covered by strict non-disclosure agreements on all side. 2008 interview with TotalFilm TotalFilm: Are you happy for new Star Wars tales to be told after you're gone? Lucas: I've left pretty explicit instructions

Of course we have not to think to much about most time travel stories, otherwise we will find inconsistencies and logical breaches all over the place. But what beside other things comes to my mind when watching legend of tomorrow is the following: Rip Hunter takes the main characters out of their timeline in 2016. In the future they meet friends (like Arrow) but they never meet themselve. In the future it seems that they disappear in 2016. But they seem not to be concerned about that could mean they never made it back to 2016. So if they succeed in their mission and return safely to 2016, this would change the futures they visited, because now they didn't disappear in 2016 and never came back. This kind of logic seems to imply, that things you do later that change the past (like returning to 2016) have not happened yet and the timeline does not respect it. Therefore the future where they met Arrow and where they all have disappeared in 2016. But if we look now at the case of Chrono

Ungoliant is thought to be a Maia, long ago corrupted by Melkor, but is not counted among the Ainur, as Tolkien Gateway states. There are other theories as to what she may be, but the most popular and likely is that she is of the Maiar; so, for the purposes of this question, let's assume that she is. So is Shelob, great spawn of Ungoliant, a Maia, assuming that her mother is? EDIT: Since there has been so much confusion, the key question here is NOT "What is Ungoliant?" The key question is truly and simply "If Ungoliant was a Maia, would Shelob also be?"

Possibly Related: What EXACTLY cause Voldemort's soul piece to split off when he killed Lily and tried to kill Harry? How Would Harry Breaking the Unbreakable Vow Have Affected the Piece of Voldemort's Soul? We know that apart from Harry and Nagini - all the other pieces of Voldemort's soul were enclosed in some container. So why did the soul that split when the Killing Curse rebounded attach itself to the only living thing? Moreover - since Voldemort had other Horcruxes to keep him from dying - why didn't it attach itself to Voldemort himself? We know that the piece of soul in Slytherin's locket put up a fight to leave the container. How then did the last piece leave Voldemort's body and attach itself to Harry's? Answer The piece of the Dark Lord’s soul embedded itself in Harry because Harry was the only living soul in the room. Disembodied souls naturally only would be able to stay in other living things. They’re only able to stay in inanimate objects wh