Whenever people transport in Star Trek, we hear a distinctive sound which seems to be unique for each Trek series. In-universe, where does this sound come from, what produces it and why is transportation followed by this sound? Answer WARNING: This answer contains speculative conclusions Here is a list of canonically known components of the transporter: Annular confinement beam Biofilter Gravitational compensator Heisenberg compensator Molecular imaging scanner Particle lock Pattern buffer/multiplex pattern buffer Phase discriminator Phase transition coil Primary energizing coil Site-to-site transport interlock Targeting scanner Transporter console List copied from memory alpha First of all we can deduce things, that do not make that sound: Since this sound appears not only in transporter rooms but also on target sites where there is no transporter equipment, we can safely assume that it is not produced by the machinery inside the transporter room. So we're looking for things out...

I finished the first book recently, and am watching the movie. It threw me that the navigators look like they do in the movie. I don't remember them being non-humanoid, and if they were I missed it. So, in the novels, are they? And if so, where is it first mentioned? Please avoid spoilers. Answer The appearance from the movie (assuming you are talking about the David Lynch version ; I haven't seen the others) is not inconsistent with the books. They are human, or, rather, they were. But they don't look it now, and you would be hard pressed to prove it to anyone who didn't know their history. Keep reading, it's explained in the later books. As far as I can tell, it's only alluded to in Dune (Paul mentions his intent to spot a Navigator, only to be scolded by Leto); but in Dune Messiah, it's made quite clear. In Dune: “I’m going to watch our screens and try to see a Guildsman.” “You won’t. Not even their agents ever see a Guildsman. The Guild’s as jealous of...

What are the catchphrases of the eleven (at the time of this posting) Doctor incarnations in Doctor Who? For example I know of a few: Chris Eccleston (9th Doctor): Fantastic! David Tenant (10th Doctor): Allons-y! , I am so sorry Et cetera. Does anyone have a list of all of the doctor's catchphrases over the years? Answer This is what I have so far ( taken from here ): List by Doctor Number: (William Hartnell): Hmmn. Hmmn. Hmmn. (Patrick Troughton): When I say run. (Jon Pertwee): nothing comes to mind except Whomobile (Tom Baker): Care for a Jelly baby (Peter Davison): nothing again except for Cricket & Celery (Colin Baker): got nothing (Sylvester McCoy): nothing again (Paul McGann): Who am I? (Christopher Eccleston): Fantastic (David Tennant): - I'm sorry, I'm so sorry - Allons-y! (Matt Smith): - fezzes/bow-ties/ [random articles of clothing] are cool - Geronimo (Peter Capaldi): - Shut up. Shutity shut up. Another list from the above link : 1st Doctor Who? Come alo...

In this question some users pointed out that the Hulk cannot age or ages really slow in relationship with normal people, which makes him an immortal. But my question is this: Can he die in a battle? Answer The simple answer is yes, but it varies how it is possible. In the one-shot comic " Hulk: The End " written by Peter David, Hulk is almost invincible. He survives a nuclear holocaust when no one else does. Although, Bruce Banner is not invincible. He dies and hulk realizes he cannot transform without dying also. From the synopsis: Suffering a painful heart attack, Banner realizes how much his punishment resembles that of Prometheus, the Last Titan; condemned to stay forever alive even while animals devour him, speculating that the Hulk's suffering is Earth punishing him for humanity's sins as the embodiment of the nuclear wars that destroyed Earth. As he dies, the Hulk's persona arises in his mind. [...] The next morning, the Hulk somberly sits outside the ca...

I am searching for a book that I first read back in elementary school, in the 1970s. The book was illustrated, and around 100 pages. It concerned astronauts in a war with these aliens that were skeletons, or bone men if I remember correctly. The bone men had uniforms, but didn't need air to live on the moon, and the astronauts were able to fight them using magnetism, and could fire at them with ball bearings or hammers. I'm sure it was a part of a series of books that were science fiction for kids, and as I read these back in the 70's, maybe published in the 50's or 60's.

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday , I wanted to make a Star Wars version of the famous phrase: One fish Two fish Red fish Blue fish "Sith" kind of sounds like "fish", so I've got One Sith (Vader) Two Sith (Sidious and Vader) Red Sith (Darth Maul) Blue Sith (?) A "Red Sith" would probably be Darth Maul, but I can't think of a "Blue Sith". Canon is prefered but Legends is OK too. Answer You can always go with Sidious' hologram. It's canon. You could also use Maul's hologram. That would be even funnier since the red and blue Sith would be the same person.

The Sith were not mentioned in the theatrical versions of the original Star Wars trilogy. However, Darth Vader was identified as "a Dark Lord of the Sith" as he made his first appearance in the novelization (officially authored by George Lucas, but actually ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster). It also seems to imply that Vader's masked, mechanical appearance may not be unique to him, but may be instead be shared by all the Sith. So who came up with the name "Sith," Lucas or Foster (or someone else)? And what was "Sith" conceived of meaning, when they were first named, ca. 1976? Answer The Sith were mentioned in the opening crawl of George Lucas's original Rough Draft , started during the winter of 1973 and completed in May 1974. THE STAR WARS Until the recent GREAT REBELLION, the JEDI BENDU were the most feared warriors in the universe. For one hundred thousand years, generations of JEDI perfected their art as the personal bodyguards of the empero...

I probably read this in the early 90s, it's set in a middle ages type of environment and the main character starts off as a priest who is seduced by a demon near the start of the story. Consequently he goes to hell and what with one thing or another eventually overthrows the devil and becomes the ruler of hell I really can't remember a whole lot more than that.. anyone got any thoughts?

If I can apply enough force to my enemy's neck to choke off his air supply, that same amount of force can be applied to their carotid arteries and render them unconscious instantly. A vastly lesser force could explode a blood vessel in their brain. Why is telekinesis not an instagib weapon in Star Wars?

In the older Spider-man comics (although it pops again every now and then) he is almost always drawn with webbing in his arm pits as part of his costume. Have these things been given any function in Spidey canon? Answer The Spider-Man costume was created by seminal Spider-Man artist Steve Ditko. The webbing under Spider-Man's arms had no particular purpose, other than ornamentation. Unlike Spider Woman's underarm webbing which actually helped her fly, Spidey's webbing was just for visual effect. The webs were something Ditko liked and continued to do on and off for years. They were drawn so large, for a time they looked like wings and even other artists questioned if they could have another purpose. When John Romita started drawing Spider-Man after Ditko left he drew the webbing smaller and smaller and eventually left them off, altogether. If you have never had the pleasure of reading Amazing Fantasy #15, first tale of Spider-Man, no fears True Believer, you can read it h...

When Voldemort came to kill the Potter family James and Lily realize he is there with a little bit of time to spare. James provides a momentary buffer and Lily is in the room with Harry. Why did she not grab Harry and apparate away from Voldemort? Answer Besides for the debatable reason of not having a wand as mentioned in the accepted answer, there is a more basic reason why she could not have Apparated. In Deathly Hallows when the trio went from Shell Cottage to Gringotts, we have the following description: All three of them glanced back at Shell Cottage, lying dark and silent under the fading stars, then turned and began to walk toward the point, just beyond the boundary wall, where the Fidelius Charm stopped working and they would be able to Disapparate. So we see that you cannot Disapparate from within the confines of a Fidelius Charm. As the Potters house in Godric's Hollow was similarly protected by the Fidelius Charm, it would have been impossible for Lilly to Disapparat...

In The Force Awakens , a new government, called the Republic, has come to power, and is providing support and assistance to the Resistance. At one point, we see what appears to be the Senate building and the seat of power of the Republic, which the First Order completely destroys, along with it's 4 moons/other planets. Do we know the identity of the planet where the new Republic government is being run from? Answer According to the wiki , Hosnian Prime is the Capital of the New Republic, and the whole Hosnian System is what we see destroyed in the movie. Their was "chatter on D'Qar when they're planning the Starkiller raid that it was the 'Hosnian System' that was destroyed." This is based on both reference in movie, as well as a new book The Force Awakens Visual Dictonary

In the end of Superman Returns , Superman entered the hot magma below the artificial continent to lift it up. Why wasn't Superman's costume burned up due to the tremendous heat of the magma? I think, Superman's powers aren't automatically inherited by his costume. Answer His suit is made from the blanket which he was wrapped in when he first landed on Earth. It's alien properties make it nigh indestructible. Additionally, the faq on imdb for the movie states: In the original Superman movies, based on the silver age comic book superhero, Superman's costume was woven from blankets that arrived with him in the rocket that brought him from Krypton. Under the Earth's yellow sun, they became invulnerable, just as he does. And from the wikipedia of Superman Returns : The film serves as an alternate sequel to Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980). So the explanation for the suits invulnerability was already given in the previous movies.

I'm reading through Dune right now and I'm a bit confused on the specifics of the weaponry in the book. It never seems to go into great detail and it makes some of the action scenes a bit hard to picture. What I understand is that las guns are like plasma or lasers or something? And body shields stop projectiles, but cause massive explosions when they come into contact with las weaponry, correct? I've also played Dune 2000, a Real-Time Strategy game released in the late 90s, set in the dune universe. Infantry use "machine gun" like weaponry, and tanks use projectile explosives, but it uses a similar engine and very similar units to the previous games the company (Westwood) has created (infantry almost identical, tanks similar too). So, I'm not sure if this is an accurate depiction. It would also be handy to know what kinds of weapons they're using. Are they automatic? Semi-auto? Do they have long rifles for sniping? Is there variation at all? Do they have ...

My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford . - Draco Malfoy Ron's parents seem educated, so I wonder whether wizarding world has devices of birth control: Dragon Bladder condoms (Plastic is muggle thing) Contraceptive Potion Sterilization Charm etc. Anything from the canon?

The Elves had quite a lot of time to do what interested them. They liked the stars, which is (among mortals) a good starting point for geometry. It is also said about the Noldor, that they always searched more suitable names for things they encountered or imagined, so I can imagine them playing with abstract concepts. Is there any evidence that the Eldar developed mathematics? (Other than simple integer counting.) Edit: The answers so far covered the everyday math, they had to have to accomplish their other works, quite well. So my second question is: Is it possible, that they studied more advanced mathematics not for purpose, but for challenge and intellectual exercise, and for its beauty? (It is said in the Silmarillion, that: "(the Noldor) delighted in building of tall towers." They didn't do it for watchtower, fortification, display of power, lighthouse, or any other purpose, for which towers are normally built on Middle-earth, but they enjoyed their beauty, and love...

The Q are almost all-powerful (but not all-knowing). There seem to be other species which are sort of sub-Q, such as Guinan, who is very knowledgeable, but not all-knowing (consider 'Time's Arrow' where she didn't know if she should tell Picard about the past or not). What about the Traveler, though? According to Memory Alpha, the Traveler: had the ability to alter space, time and warp fields with the power of his mind. He could phase out of time and dimension and move between planets and starships. This is pretty close to being all-powerful, so is it possible that The Traveler could become all-powerful i.e. a Q (by 'become' I mean could it evolve into a similar species with the same abilities as the Q without the intervention of the Q?) Answer There are beings who are more powerful than or similar in power to the Q, such as the Douwd and Nacene . Novels establish other beings such as (*) that exceed them in power as well. It seems likely that the Traveller,...

We know that the Targaryens have two Valyrian Steel Blades. And asoiaf wiki entry on Valyrian Steel lists the two blades under those who have unknown fates. Is there any canon where we could at least infer what happened to those two blades? Specifically, when was the last time these blades were seen in the canon, worldbook? EDIT: Also, do we have reason to believe that there would be a momentous event that at least one of them will be found and the one who wields it will play a big badass role in the fight agains the Others?

This is a fairly long SF story, probably a novella. I read it in the 80's in Spanish in a multi-author collection book. It's probably much older, maybe from the sixties. I remember lots of details about the story but I can't remember the author or the title. The title might have been "A Midnight Summer Dream", "A Long Summer's Lost Love" or something like that. I'm positive that the title included the word "Summer". Maybe I'm way off with the title and that's why I can't find any information about it. The protagonist is a contemporary lone inventor creating a new type of radiotelescope that by his calculations should be revolutionary, but can only catch local stations. He climbs into it to see if he can find a defect, slips and falls in. The world fades around him and he finds himself to a cave in the distant future. His mind has been projected ages into the future, and has been captured by a machine that serves as an oracle...

Back in the early 2000s I was given a VHS that had a compilation of anime. One particular I remember very fondly. A vampire and his apprentice fighting other supernatural creatures. At the end of the episode, a human pleads with the vampire to turn him because he doesn't feel like he belongs. The vampire refuses and in the human's attempt to convince the vampire, he falls to his death from atop a building.

After re-watching the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who I was wondering at what point in time David Tennant's doctor was along his own timeline. He mentions to the rabbit that he is 904 and he recognises Bad Wolf because of Rose. So at when, according to his companions, does the Doctor get married to Queen Elizabeth 1 and meet his past and future selves, and then what time does he go back to in the TARDIS? Answer It's presumably at some point between the specials The Waters of Mars and The End of Time , because at the end of The Waters of Mars he's standing in a snowy street on Earth and suddenly sees a vision of Ood Sigma standing there, then at the beginning of The End of Time the TARDIS materializes on the Ood homeworld, and looking at this transcript , here was the first bit of dialogue between them: DOCTOR: Ah! Now, sorry. There you are. So, where were we? I was summoned, wasn't I? An Ood in the snow, calling to me. Well, I didn't exactly come straig...

During the course of the Lord of the Rings , many people suggest using the One Ring against Sauron, for example Boromir, who proposes using it to defend Gondor. Likewise, more knowing characters such as Gandalf and Elrond are diligent to explain that using the Ring against Sauron himself is foolish and destructive. However misguided Boromir's ideas about the Ring may have been, I'm intrigued: How did he think the Ring would have helped him protect Gondor? How did Boromir envision using its powers? Answer Letter 246: It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power. In the case of Boromir, this is exemplified by his statements at the Breaking of the Fellowship; for example in his words to Frodo: The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner! This, however, is totally consistent with Tolkien's statement in his letter (above) in that it is an "imaginati...

The Galaxy class star ship typically had a complement of just over 1000, made up of officers, enlisted crew and civilians. But what would the standard ratios be for these groups? (officers and enlisted may be combined for a single "crew" count) I had assumed for years that the "crew" complement was only around 200-300, with the rest being civilians, but I cannot seem to locate any official numbers to confirm or deny this assumption. Additionally, what is the maximum capacity of the Galaxy class? Memory-Alpha lists it as 3000, Memory-Beta at 15000 (evacuation limit), and Yesterday's Enterprise quoted 6000 troops (presumably in addition to standard crew). Answer Galaxy Class Starship From the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual MISSION OBJECTIVES FOR GALAXY CLASS PROJECT Standard crew complement approximately 1000 humanoids. Sufficient space for 200 additional crew for specific missions. Maximum staffing would place 3 crewmen to each quarters for ...

In Justice League: War, we see Cyborg's origin and he immediately joins the Justice League. However, he is quite young. In certain comics, Cyborg is known as a founding member of the Teen Titans. My question is - does Cyborg leave the Justice League and join the Teen Titans? Is he an active member of both teams? How is it that he is equally represented as an prominent member of both teams?

What was the typical dose of spice that an off-worlder might take to experience its beneficial and euphoric effects? I don't mean someone like Piter DeVries, who obviously over-dosed, but a common person like Dr. Yueh, who commented that though the first taste reminded one of cinnamon, it never tasted the same twice. Answer This is covered in the end-notes for the novel Dune. Melange could cost as much as 620,000 solaris for ten grams although, presumably it was usually much much less expensive. Typical dosages for an addict (like Piter) could be as much as 2-3 grams per day. Given that a Solari appears to be roughly as valuable as a US dollar (a few will buy a small doll or rent a taxi, a few hundred will engage the services of a prostitute for an hour) it can be assumed that a wealthy individual with an income of a million-plus solaris a year might be able to afford a decagram of spice annually, using less than one gram per month (or possibly giving themselves a few larger do...

As the title suggests, can a replicator replicate a (presumably slightly smaller)replicator? If it could, could it replicate a better replicator? One that works at the quantum level, like the transporters? Answer Yes. In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Call to Arms ", Sisko mines the entrance to the Bajoran wormhole using self-replicating cloaking mines . Each mine contains a replicator capable of producing another mine, that also contains a replicator.

Reading ' The Man Whom the Trees Loved ' by Algernon Blackwood, I find myself wondering if this is a case of parallel evolution, or whether JRRT was influenced by this material in working up the Ents. Are there any notes that indicate that he was aware of this story? Answer There is no mention of Algernon Blackwood in the Letters , and neither in the HoME , Unfinished Tales or The Silmarillion . Tolkien seems to suggest that the main inspiration for the Ents would've been George MacDonald's walking tree spirits (if there was any significant inspiration) with the idea of them going to war taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth. Shakespeare, however, did not inspire them as a character but motivated their actions (marching to war). Tolkien himself was never sure of interpretations to his work, and "found it amusing" to find interpretations: The Lord of the Rings as a story was finished so long ago now that I can take a largely impersonal view of it, and find ...

In Middle-earth, Elves were born as Elves, Hobbits as Hobbits, and so on. Were the Wizards born as Wizards, or were they young men that somehow evolved as they matured into Wizards? Answer Like Raphael says , Tolkien's wizards, called " Istari " by the Elves, were not men but lesser deities (Maiar) of the same kind as the Balrogs and Sauron himself. That means that yes, Gandalf is essentially the same kind of "creature" as Sauron or the Balrog from Moria! The Istari weren't always in Middle Earth, but were instead sent by the Valar to help Men (presumably against such perils as Sauron and other servants of Morgoth ). Gandalf succeeded in his task; Saruman failed. I don't know if there are traditional "wizards" in Tolkien's world, but I suspect there can't be. Magic in Middle Earth is hinted to be not really magic, but the "natural" properties of each type of being. Not something you can study and become proficient at...

At the very final scene of the second season of Game of Thrones, something weird happens. Sam notices a White Walker along with an army of wights, all heading his way. Since he can't run, he hides. But when we see the White Walker, it seems that he and Sam look at each other. And for some reason, the White Walker doesn't kill Sam. And even if he didn't really see him. It was my impression that they could sense humans in their vicinity. Surely Sam would have set these internal alarms of the icy CGI warrior. So how is Sam alive at all??

I read this in at least two different short story collections (American, in English). It was probably originally published in the late 80's or very early 90's, when I first read it. The story concerns a young man with psychic powers who can influence other people's minds. He's either injured or ill, in some kind of distress in the beginning, and is rescued by a middle-aged woman who runs a home for unusual people. She is an ordinary person with no powers, herself. The other residents include a sentient radio, a very young girl with firestarter powers, an elderly Spanish-speaking gentleman whose powers somehow keep the world from coming to pieces, and a shapeshifter who lives in the attic. This last being, Toby, is compelled to take the shape of whoever the person it is with most desires. The woman who runs the home has been working with it to try and help Toby develop an identity of it's own, but it is still very vulnerable and mostly stays shut up in the attic. At ...

Are there any canon references to adamantium conducting electricity? (I started thinking about this after reading How vulnerable is Wolverine to electricity? ) Answer According to Einstein's theory of special relativity, Yes. Yes, I just invoked Einstein and relativity in response to a question about a comic book character. Here's why: From multiple interactions between the Wolverine and our good friend Magneto, we know that the adamantium laced throughout Wolverine's skeleton is ferromagnetic . (How do we know it's not paramagnetism or diamagnetism instead? Because both of those forces are too weak to be felt, let alone to allow Magneto to manipulate someone as strong as Wolverine; that leaves only the one option (well, also ferrimagnetism, but the two are so closely related we can pretend it's a subset of the former). 1 ) According to Einstein's special relativity, magnetism cannot exist without electricity, and electricity cannot exist without magnetism. Th...

I have read all seven Harry Potter books, and The Cursed Child 1 , but I've only watched the first two movies. Do I have to watch all eight movies in order to fully understand the significant plot points found in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ? Is there anything that I'll miss by not having seen them? 1 Waste of money, that. Answer Will you miss much if you don't see the movies? Not really. Will you miss much if you don't read the books? Most definitely. The main story line of this series of movies Rowling is writing is under the surface in Fantastic Beasts. Although it is a fun movie and it seems the plot was straight forward, that is clearly not the case if one has knowledge of the books in hand. This movie is setting up Grindelwald's back story and leading up to his fight with Dumbledore. That is the main purpose of this second series of movies. If you haven't seen the original Harry Potter movies you will be perfectly fine. As @gallifreian comm...

I'm trying to remember the name of a sci fi short story I read back in the 80's or 90's. The story could have been based in the 50's, 60's or 70's. The main character of the story was a bank cashier, a not too smart man that wasn't particularly good at his job. He had trouble with numbers and would give wrong change etc. Somehow he received some sort of brain implant or computer augmentation. It wasn't via surgery and I seem to recall it may have been via some other dimensional being? The device may have been called an "X-" something or other and may have been a prototype but I'm stretching here and I could be wrong. A side affect of the implant/computer was blinding headaches until he reaches some sort of evolutionary plateau. He got better at his job was promoted to higher positions etc. In the course of this it seemed he was becoming almost a God and I remember him evolving or altering a woman to join him. There was his concept of beauty...

I once read a short story about a man who was a scientist and it had an accident that cause him to be in a "frozen-state", in other words, he was resetting daily and thinking it was the same day of a given year. In the story, a journalist comes to have a talk with him and (I think) in the end he reveals him the truth, but it doesn't matter the man's suffering because by tomorrow he will have forgotten today. Help me to identify it, please? Answer "Invariant" , a short story by John R. Pierce , first published in Astounding Science Fiction , April 1944 , available at the Internet Archive . Does any of these covers ring a bell? "Dr. Green," I said, "the year is 2170. This is the twenty-second century." He looked at me baffled, but this time not with disbelief. A strange sort of terror was spread over his features. "An accident?" he asked. "My memory?" "There has been no accident," I said. "Your memory i...

During the first meeting between Neo and Morpheus in The Matrix , Morpheus states that if Neo takes the blue pill, "The story ends; you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe." Does this mean that the blue pill acts as a selective amnesiac? A program to make Neo feel as though he dreamed the meeting, similar to his experience of having a bug implanted by the Agents? Would it include something that makes him no longer of interest to the Agents? Since, technically, all that Neo has to do, if he refuses Morpheus' offer, is get up and leave the room, why have a blue pill at all? Answer I seem to be in the minority here but I don't think the blue pill itself does anything remarkable. It's a placebo, or possibly an ordinary in-Matrix sedative. I base this on two things. First, there is an elegance to it. Why would it be necessary for the blue pill to do anything at all? And if it is just a placebo, it's a perfect symbol for accepting the irr...

Were holodeck emitters on USS Enterprise-D able to create/maintain holographic matter (e.g. holograms of beings as opposed to replicated inorganic stuff) outside of the physical boundaries of holodeck room, such as outside the door? I'm ideally looking for answer based on technical manual etc..., barring that on canon material, excluding Cyrus Redblock in "The Big Goodbye". The question is inspired by a comment from @anyaMairead on Why was Cyrus Redblock able to briefly exist outside of the holodeck doors? - thus Cyrus is excluded since I seek to understand whether there's support in canon for explaining Cirus via emitters working slightly outside the door. Answer Using this technical explanation of the Holodeck's emitter field function, it makes sense that an image, a visual construct might be able to be seen leaving the holodeck the same way a ray of light might be seen leaving a room. But as soon as the construct leaves the holosuite room, they are likely...

In the short story "The Lesser Evil" (the third story in the collection The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski), Geralt becomes involved in a feud between the wizard Stregobor and the princess Renfri. Each of them asks the witcher to help them kill the other, saying it would be 'the lesser evil'. Geralt refuses to involve himself either way, until towards the end when he realises Renfri and her companions plan to murder innocent townsfolk at the market, and kills them all to stop this. Towards the beginning of the story, Geralt and Stregobor argue over whether Eltibald's theory of cursed women was true or whether the women such as Renfri were only victimised or righteously vengeful. Stregobor held that they were all monsters with an insatiable urge to kill, but Geralt said this was nonsense. In Renfri's case at least, she had good reason to hate Stregobor, so her desire to kill him doesn't prove that she was indeed a cursed monster. But in the end, who was ri...

Throughout the Legendarium, Tolkien uses "dwarves" as the plural for "dwarf". However, as this extremely smoothed Google Ngram search shows, "dwarfs" has always been the more popular choice: Etymology Online confirms that "dwarfs" was dramatically more popular pre-Tolkien: Old English plural dweorgas became Middle English dwarrows , later leveled down to dwarfs . The use of dwarves for the legendary race was popularized by J.R.R. Tolkien. So, why did Tolkien decide to use the non-standard spelling? Answer In Appendix F, Tolkien suggests that "dwarfs" has become associated with more childish stories, so his use of "dwarves" is meant to disassociate his race from the others (bold is my emphasis, italic is Tolkien's): It may be observed that in this book as in The Hobbit the form dwarves is used, although the dictionaries tell us that the plural of dwarf is dwarfs . It should be dwarrows (or dwerrows ), if singular ...

We have learned that the zombies in Plants vs. Zombies eat our precious plants because they hinder their way to get into the house. So the zombies themselves have no interest in eating the plants as such. This raises the question, why digger-zombies: would start walking away from our house as soon as they reach the last line. They've arrived just where they wanted to go. This how it looks after they reach the "finish line": Answer As per the Plants vs Zombies wikia Note that as it eats the plants from left to right, it never makes an attempt to get into the homeowner's house. This may be because when they stand up, their eyes are rolling so they may be confused and feel dizzy.

I vaguely remember a man and a woman whose names were those of gemstones, ruby, emerald or something. Particularly I remember them fighting with some ghosts, or invisible people, possible coming from other dimension. It was in full color, I think one of the actors was very known, he could be this guy but I'm not sure. Answer Definitely it was Sapphire & Steel

Related question here As you can see in the picture I've taken from this answer (below) R2D2 can be pretty clearly seen in the opening battle in Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (kudos Richard). My question: What is the out-of-universe reason for including R2D2 in a Star Trek film? Bonus question: although I doubt there is one, is there an in-universe reason provided for R2 being here? Answer The answer is simple: Because JJ Abrams can. From Yahoo movies : "R2's really been in all of the movies I've done, really for no other reason than I'm a huge fan, and when I was a kid I realized that R2 was also in 'Close Encounters,'" Abrams told us at last night's "Star Trek Into Darkness" Blu-ray release party. "Actually, I'm putting a 'Star Wars' character into 'Star Trek' as an homage to 'Close Encounters.' So there you go." People like R2D2 enough to put him everywhere : Steven Spielberg ...

In Futurama's first episode "pilot 3000" we are introduced to the idea that individuals were implanted with a career chip that labeled you with "your permanent career assignment" according to Leela. Ultimately, this would at least suggest (at least to me) that jobs were predetermined. Also, keep in mind that Leela also mentioned that you would shot into the sun if you didn't do your job which does give the suggestion that you are only allowed to do this job and nothing else. However, later in the series in the episode "Law and Oracle" we discover that you can legitimately move to a different career therefore giving the suggestion that jobs were not predetermined. My question is: Were jobs predetermined or were they not? Answer Well this is my personal opinion, which has no REAL basis in the series as such, never the less here we go: Lela does determine the job for Fry at that specific moment in time - I assume if Fry was to you acquire new life...

Throughout the Harry Potter series, we see that deceased Headmasters of the school get a semi-sentient portrait of themselves in the Headmaster's Office, at the service of the current Headmaster. Do all Headmasters get a portrait? What are the conditions of getting one? For instance, there are a couple of times when Dumbledore is temporarily deposed as Headmaster: Dolores Umbridge takes over the job in Order of the Phoenix , and Minerva McGonagall takes the job in Chamber of Secrets and Half Blood Prince . Will Umbridge and McGonagall have portraits in the Headmaster's Office when they expire?

I remember a TNG episode where some scientists said that warp drives were causing a lot of damage to subspace. At the end of the episode Star Fleet decided that warp speeds would be restricted to warp 5 except for emergency situations. Of course the next episode they were cruising along at warp 7. Is this ever mentioned again in Star Trek? Answer It was never addressed in canon. The episode to which you refer, "Force of Nature", occurred in the last season of The Next Generation at a time when most of the effort in storylines was geared towards Star Trek: Voyager and Deep Space Nine : the developers of those shows didn't particularly focus too much on the continuity issues introduced as The Next Generation was wrapping up. Indeed, even The Next Generation writers ignored or found ways around it for the remainder of the season. However, according to Memory Alpha : According to the unpublished VOY Season 1 edition of the Star Trek: Voyager Technical Guide, by Rick Ste...

I personally enjoy reading Heinlein, but the argument has been made to me that "All of his women are basically men." I have also heard it said that he basically tried to write forward-thinking literature (from a gender-equality perspective) and failed miserably. Can anyone back this up (or refute it)? Answer I was searching around for some well-cited academic analysis and/or non-fiction Heinlein might have written that could clarify his intentions and beliefs relevant to feminist criticism and came upon this question. I can't do much more than round out the perspectives on Heinlein's general portrayals (as being mostly positive) with some canonical examples that highlight some of the (arguable) negatives. I've edited this answer some over the years as I've read more Heinlein and to try to clarify the context of my answer. But I have taken it back to bare bones. This may make it easier to misunderstand, but as some misunderstandings are deliberate, there'...