Are there any known clear discrepancies between the main 7 Harry Potter books and the supplementary books? ("Quidditch Through the Ages", "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and "The Tales of Beedle the Bard") I am excluding differences between contents of the tales and the main books, that can (and usually are, in Dumbledore's own words) explained due to them being - well, tales. Inspired by reading this question Answer Okay, these are mostly nitpicks, but they are discrepancies nonetheless. I’ve found a handful between Quidditch , Beasts and the main books, but none based on Tales . Apparently JK Rowling didn’t start writing Tales until after all seven main books were finished, so it seems reasonable that there are less discrepancies there. Inconsistent dating In Philosopher's Stone , both Hermione and Harry read a copy of Quidditch : At breakfast on Thursday she [Hermione] bored them all stupid with flying tips she’d got out of a libra

Some 20+ years ago, I’ve read a SF novella written by an American author, and I’d like to re-read this book. The story goes like this: a farmer unearthes, while plowing his field, a sarcophagus with a man in cryo-sleep in it. Since it’s known what to do, he unfreezes the man and discovers that the guy is from the 20th century. While driving to the next city, the unfrozen man discovers that things seem off: for instance, the mph gauge shows a ridiculous speed, while it still feels the same as travelling felt in the 20th century. Shortly after, his benefactor reveals to him that only about 10k or so remain with an IQ above that of a slab of concrete, and that this part of mankind retreated to Antarctica. The unfrozen guy proposes a solution to the problem by coming up with a disguised plan that suggests mankind to move to Mars. People begin moving there, write postcards, and over time, more and more become convinced that it’ll be great moving to Mars. In the end, it turns out that they’v

In Ant-Man, it's (briefly) explained that the Pym particle reduces the distance between molecules, allowing a person to shrink while retaining his mass and strength. Much of the movie is consistent with this explanation. For example: While ant-sized, Ant-Man falls from the edge of bathtub onto a tile floor, cracking the tile as though with the weight of a full sized human. He falls from a rooftop onto a car, denting the roof. He punches full sized humans, and they respond as though hit by a real punch. Another character, while tiny, is hit by a speeding toy train. The train is knocked aside as though it hit a full sized human. But then there are things that appear totally inconsistent with "mass stays the same": Ant-Man is constantly running and climbing around on surfaces (air vents, ant tunnels, etc.) that couldn't possibly support the weight of a 200 lb man on a footprint the size of an ant. The toy train, when expanded to the size of a real train, is heavy enough

It is possible for a wizard to be chosen by two wands, this makes me wonder if the reverse is true. Can two or more persons having similar qualities be CHOSEN by a single wand ? Moreover, is it necessary that a wizard would be chosen by a wand at all? What if the wandmaker hasn't created that particular wand by that time that would choose him. Update: If the wandmaker makes a wand specifically for a child, how can he be sure that the wand would choose him/her at all. At such a young age, how can a wandmaker make an idea about the child's specific qualities and temperament?

We were just discussing, in the SF&F chat room here, that James Doohan was missing a finger, but there's no reference to this and I remember watching the series over and over, whenever I had the chance, up through the 90s. I don't remember ever seeing anything to tip me off that he was missing a finger. Are there any shots in any episodes of the original Star Trek where it is clear he has a missing finger? Answer James Doohan lost a finger on D-Day at Juno Beach. It's unclear as to where Montgomery Scott lost his... Here is a still shot of Scotty's right hand from the 1967 TOS "Cats Paw" episode and another from 1967's "The Trouble with Tribbles." You can also see his right hand clearly at 19 mins 10 secs (Star Date 3498.9) in the 1966 "Fridays Child" TOS episode .

In the extended cut of "Batman vs. Superman", Clark Kent can briefly be seen reading an article about Batman branding criminals. The article goes on to explain that criminals branded in such a way were being attacked and/or killed by other criminals inside the prison system. I don't understand why the brand would attract this sort of attention, however. If anything, I'd think it would give these prisoners a certain status among their fellow criminals. Unless it's because the other guys fear The Batman that much - enough to harm the ones he singles out? Why would the Bat-Brand mark attract violence from other criminals, and has such an example of Batman's "victims" being ostracized in the criminal world appeared before in the comics? Answer (Quoting my answer from the Movies SE :) Apparently this is somewhat explained in the Ultimate Edition : The theatrical cut made a big deal about Batman branding criminals with a red-hot bat-symbol branding iron

Related to Why do Star Trek vessels always approach each other on parallel planes? , but on a larger scale. The premise of Star Trek: Voyager is that the ship Voyager is stranded from Earth on the exact opposite side of the Milky Way. The series moves forward as they move around the disc of the galaxy in a rough semicircle. Why couldn't they simply point Voyager to Earth and go over/under the center of the galaxy? Wouldn't they then be able to use our supermassive black hole to slingshot them there and shorten the journey? Answer No. They couldn't simply point Voyager toward Earth and go over or under the center of the Milky Way Galaxy . Our galaxy, while lacking the usual galactic bulge common to spiral galaxies, it has instead, a highly radioactive region due to a galactic collision in the distant past. This bar-like region would make any path through the core of the galaxy very dangerous. Voyager's flight plan was as direct a path as they could take. The black ho

I do recall a few instances throughout the series/books where they describe the armies of the White Walkers, but as far as I can recall I was under the impression that the vast majority would be comprised of wights, rather than White Walkers themselves. Are there descriptions or discussions that take place that give any insight to how many actual WW there are? We do see how one is made in the tv series, but with the age at which that occurs I am lead to believe there is either an age acceleration process that infants also undertake (they have all looked ancient as shown in the tv show) or they are taken somewhere to grow up and don't get enlisted in the army until they are 'of age', or something similar. Answer The official script for Season 7 Episode 7, "The Dragon and the Wolf", has been released because it is up for an Emmy. In that it mentions that there are hundreds. EXT. EASTWATCH, NORTH SIDE OF THE WALL Emerging from the frozen coastal forest, the ARMY OF

I read something online that got me thinking about this. Why didn't Voldemort suspect Snape had defected from the Death Eaters and was now working for Dumbledore during the events of *Philosopher's Stone? Voldemort was possessing Quirrell's body and his head was protruding from the back of Quirrell's - in other words, Voldemort was with Quirrell constantly during the events of Philosopher's Stone , presumably overhearing whatever Quirrell himself heard. Snape cornered Quirrell more than once (Halloween, when Quirrell let the troll in, and the night Harry broke into the Restricted Section over the Christmas holidays to look for information on Nicholas Flamel) and openly threatened him against working for Voldemort and pressuring him to declare his loyalties to Dumbledore. This obviously revealed Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore to Quirrell, and presumably Voldemort, and I can't think of a reason why Voldemort wouldn't have been able to hear Snape strong-armi

I am trying to remember a book I read a while ago. It is about a boy who lives in some sort of special mathematical conclave that only opens its doors to the outside world every few years. An alien spaceship is discovered orbiting earth and the boy, along with a few others, travel to space to take over the ship.

The entire question is in the title. Instead of apparating they use the floo network instead. Is floo arrival more impressive than appearing out of thin air? Or maybe that's the point ... it's less frightening? Answer For the same reason Dumbledore stated here: “Professor, why couldn’t we just Apparate directly into your old colleague’s house?” “Because it would be quite as rude as kicking down the front door,” said Dumbledore. “Courtesy dictates that we offer fellow wizards the opportunity of denying us entry. Of course, the Prime Minister is a Muggle. However, the same courtesy is extended.

In this scene of Star Wars: The Force Awakens we can see that Rey is freeing BB-8 which was captured by a Teedo. That Teedo was a scavenger and he captured a droid which could make him wealthy. Why would he let Rey free BB-8? What did Rey say to him in the alien language (since it's not captioned in the film)? Answer She didn't tell him anything to convince him. She simply intimidated him, and he did not do anything while she released the droid . But earlier, she told him to halt what he was doing: At least until she understood the particulars of the confrontation she was witnessing, it was only right to call it to a momentary halt. “Tal’ama parqual!” Motion ceased as both the Teedo and BB-8 stopped wrestling and turned to peer up at her . “Parqual! Zatana tappan-aboo!” Making an effort to simultaneously control both its heavy-headed mount and its captive, the Teedo yelled back through the mouthpiece of the goggle-eyed helmet that covered its reptilian cranium. Its attitude w

The Horned Rat is the God of all Skavens in WarHammer Battle, and is a minor Chaos God compared to the 4 main Chaos God. WarHammer Battle and WarHammer 40k are two separate universes, but they have a very similar mythology, with many gods in common. Though there is no "skavens in space", has the Horned Rat ever been mentioned as a minor Chaos God in 40k (in a Codex, or a novel, or any official material) ? Answer Nope As you point out in your question, there are no skaven in space. A chaos god gets all of it's power from it's worshipers, and there are no skaven to worship it so the Horned Rat just couldn't exist in 40k. And to my knowledge, there has been absolutely no mention of it in any of the army books or fluff. I've always assumed that the numberless tyranids were the 40k equivalent of skaven, since the burrowing rat men probably wouldn't translate to space very well. In the fantasy universe at least, it's arguable that the Horned Rat is the mo

So at the end of Season 5 of Game of Thrones, Stannis Baratheon dies (probably). Suppose that Tommen is discovered to be the son of Cersei and Jaime, due to The Spanish Inquisition! Umm, I mean, the meddlesome High Sparrow and the faith militant looking for muck to stick to the current royals. Also, suppose Gendry is unknown to the general public. Now, by the laws and customs of the 7 kingdoms, and assuming you're not a Targaryen loyalist - who's next in line for succession? Also, more specifically, Are there some distant Baratheons (third-degree cousins or something) who might fit the bill? All of Robert's brothers are dead, and he has no cousines, and IIRC also no second-degree cousins. Answer It depends, but thanks to the Noble Houses constantly intermingling amongst one another, we'll likely be able to trace the ancestry back far enough to produce an heir, hopefully . In Westeros, they follow the Primogeniture rules of succession [1] ; which means that the Heir m

It is stated that there was a Night Queen long ago in The Age of Heroes . How and why do they call her the Night Queen? Is it due to the reason that the Night King and the White Walkers are seemingly always together? Or is the Night Queen also capable of ruling and commanding their undead troops. How was she coined as the Queen of White Walkers? Also, is there any mentioned part in the books or show that revealed the true identity of the Night Queen - when she was still alive, breathing and not a mundane creature? Answer A Song of Ice and Fire The Thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch proclaimed her his queen after he named himself king. So, while "Night's Queen" is never a title explicitly given it can be easily inferred that the queen of the "Night's King" would be called that. The gathering gloom put Bran in mind of another of Old Nan's stories, the tale of Night's King. He had been the thirteenth man to lead the Night's Watch,

This is from the movie, Blade Runner 2049 . Why would Niander Wallace want replicants to reproduce? As a businessman, his goal is to make money by selling replicants. If replicants can reproduce, then humans can breed them. If humans can breed them, then humans don't need to buy them from Wallace. The same goes for Eldon Tyrell whom Wallace hints also had an interest in getting replicants to reproduce. He does say he wants to expand the offworld colonies to more than just 9 worlds. And he needs millions of replicants to do that. But why not just build more replicant factories on the colony worlds instead of building them to breed? And considering that if replicants start breeding, they will naturally mix and match their genes. Their offspring might not be genetically programmed to blindly obey orders from their owners, the humans might get a replicant revolt on their hands within a generation. This will be a problem since replicants are physically stronger than humans and many are

In the Back In Black story arc (right after the Civil War ), I understand that Peter's probably never been this angry before, but wouldn't Fisk (Kingpin) have anticipated an epic beatdown? The way he carried himself (confidence, putting on his suit) before the fight inside the prison, you'd have thought that one of the most well prepared criminal masterminds would have had a trick up his sleeve rather than take on a rage-driven Peter in a fight. I was almost expecting him to let Peter know that there's another sniper with Mary Jane in the cross-hairs in the middle of the fight. Nopes, that didn't happen. Fisk actually wanted a fair fight against a person who far outclasses him in the strength and agility department. What followed was probably the worst beatdowns Fisk ever experienced (including the ones against Daredevil ). Have previous encounters (where Peter is known to always pull his punches) given Wilson Fisk such a false impression? Or is there something mo

Many years ago, mid to late 1960s I came across a science fiction book in the local library. It is one of the first science fiction books I ever read, possibly even the very first. I have no idea who wrote it, what the name was or anything else, but I do remember parts of the story line. If anyone there knows this book and can furnish me with some info on it, I would like to try finding a copy. The story starts with some sort of accident in a laboratory doing research on extreme cold. They experience a power surge in the cooling machinery and generate some sort of odd field that nobody can explain, the theory is that they somehow managed to create some sort of 'negative molecular motion'. For some reason they call in a juvenile delinquent girl, I think the name was Gail, and she is supposed to investigate this phenomenon. She manages to learn the trick, but decides that she doesn't want to tell her supervisors about it, so she fakes a trance. They doctors quickly catch on t

During the Reaver scene in the pilot episode, Inara pulls a syringe full of something, that she seems to be willing to use on herself. What was in that syringe? Answer This question was answered by Joss and Morena Baccarin (Inara) together once and for all in the broadcast "Browncoats Unite" on the Science Channel on Nov 11, 2012. "This is what I loved about the show is it wasn't just all exposition, explaining everything about what was going on. She had this sort of magic syringe. She would take this drug. And if she were, for instance, raped, the rapist would die a horrible death." Basically, the drug would kill anyone who had sex with her. Essentially, all of the reavers would have died as a result as they "Rape you to death, eat your flesh, and sew your skin into their clothing. And if you are very lucky, they do it in that order". So it means that Inara would have most likely survived, and the reavers would not have.

In the original timeline, I haven't seen a federation starship other than USS Voyager on the surface of a planet, whether it was capable of landing or not. In Star Trek Into Darkness , it was displayed that Enterprise was kept underwater on a planet. My Question: What was the point of bringing Enterprise to the surface, which enabled a couple of chances for violation of the Prime Directive? Why couldn't observations be done with Enterprise in orbit? Answer After decades of technobabble accreting, the Star Trek universe is surprisingly resilient to plot holes. Technobabble is the gaffa tape of scriptwriting, it can fix and hold anything together. Here is an "in-universe" explanation for the submerging: In the event of the volcano erupting with a lot of ash, the dust of a Nibiru volcano and its electrostatic potential would cause ionic interference ( 1 ) with the confinement beam, leading to deadly pattern degradation in the transporter signal. Communication with crew

I read this book about 6-8 years ago, and it was already slightly old at that point. The key parts were that the characters were all from Earth (America, if I remember correctly - one character internally monologues about remembering exactly how many steps it takes to get to a specific beach from his house, and while I don't remember the beach name, I remember thinking it was American) and woke up in a fantasy world, scattered about, and not remembering where they come from for quite a while. Each abductee is wearing a bracelet with (what I remember as) polyhedral dice, although they aren't named that I think I inferred it from the description, and at some point they start using them as a form of magic. They find out that they were all abducted by a wizard so they go to find him. I can't remember what happens next, other than that eventually they find him and in a later book in the series (that I only saw the blurb of) they go back to his castle. I think the book might be c

So JJ Abrams announced a few days ago that the new villain Kylo Ren is NOT a Sith. I kinda don't believe him, because this is the same guy who said Cumberbatch wasn't playing Khan, even after filming on that one had already begun.... But anyways, this got me thinking about how this character would have realized that they have the Force. Which got me thinking about midichlorians. Do only Jedi and Sith know about the midichlorians? Or do they show up on doctor scans? Are there doctors in Star Wars and do they scan for midichlorians (or even know about them)? Would they show up as some kind of weird infection or parasite? Like, "What's wrong with me, doc? I can move objects with my mind!" Doc says, "No idea, but you're covered in microscopic lice!"

There are lots of Muggle technologies in existence which can find and map hidden structures precisely. e.g. ERT (Electrical Resistivity Tomography), BOTDR (Brillouin Optical Time Domain Reflectometry), Underground Radar, Seismic Imaging - MASW (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves) etc. Talking about restriction on electricity, I believe the restriction can by lifted by the headmaster. If not, some of the techniques can work without electricity. Sometimes, all you need is ideas, not Muggle devices. e.g. vibration can be created by a wizard and a non-electric device can measure deviations in reflections. All you need is experts in the domain. Lots of hidden sections of pyramids were found even when electricity wasn't in existence. Talking about International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy , it doesn't need to be told that Hogwarts was a wizardry school. It could easily be disguised as a Muggle castle. And, as a last line of defense, there was always memory charm. Why didn't

We know that Voldemort knew that Grindelwald was not killed by Dumbledore, as he himself killed Grindelwald. We also know that Voldemort knew that Dumbledore was the last person to wield the Elder Wand with its full allegiance because he killed Snape in an attempt to inherit that allegiance from him, who he assumed inherited it from Dumbledore. Now Voldemort is no idiot. Following this chain of logic, based off of what he knew, he must have realized that Dumbledore didn't gain the wand's allegiance through murder as he never killed Grindelwald, so why did he feel the need to kill Snape in order to win the wands allegiance for himself? Surely he must have known that disarming him would have been enough. Was he so blinded by his desire for the wand that he was willing to try anything? Or was he so pressed for time that he didn't fully consider the matter? I can't imagine the latter to be true as Voldemort himself said to Snape before killing him that he considered the mat

As a teenager I read a story about a great tree that sat upon the eroding cliff of an alien world. A party of human explorers arrived upon this world, and one of their number, a man of intellect, but physically weak, is endowed with special powers by the tree shortly before it dies. At the moment the conscience of the man and the tree combine, the tree urgently told the man, "Alien, I die soon." I've never forgotten that line, and would like to read this story again. What is the story's name and by which author ? Thank you. Answer The story is "Hybrid" from "Galactic Odyssey" by Keith Laumer. The book is actually available from Baen's Free Library if you want to re-read it, though I would urge you to buy it to support Baen. Deeper still, a secondary system of roots clutched the massive face of the bedrock; sensitive tendrils monitored the minute trembling in the planetary crust, the rhythmic tidal pressures, the seasonal weight of ice, the f

During the classic Star Trek episode "The Changeling" Kirk and crew transport NOMAD on two occasions, once to bring it on board and once to put it outside of the ship so it can be destroyed safely. Why did they not just dematerialize it, and then not rematerialize it, discarding the contents of the transport buffer?

In the film Days of Future Past it is explained that only the person that is sent back remembers the other timeline, and Kitty Pryde herself does not remember the other timeline. Given this, everytime Kitty were to use her powers, it would be the first time in her timeline. Therefore how could she possibly Know anything about her abilities Learn to control her ability Learn the limitations of her ability

In the show they often allude to the history between Guinan and Picard but, to my knowledge, there has never been anything more than allusions. What exactly happened that created this bond between the two?

This was in the alternate universe/fantasy/horror genre. It was set in somewhere like Appalachia. The premise was that there were men with supernatural powers who were essentially sociopathic and needed to be controlled. The villages used their powers, but they each had a "keeper" who essentially controlled access to them and their powers. In this story, the keeper of one of these witch men was dying of an incurable disease. The story is told from her point of view. Answer "The Promise of God" by Michael F. Flynn, published among other places in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirteenth Annual Collection ed. Gardner Dozois. Question is duplicated here but the correct answer wasn't accepted: Story identification: woman trained to control powerful psychic

Like full blooded Vulcans, the hybrid Spock is driven by the urges brought on by pon farr. Can hybrid Vulcan/Humans reproduce, or are they like horse/donkey hybrids on Earth, physically willing, but biologicaly unable to create offspring? Answer In the Star Trek novel "Yesterday's Son", Spock discovers that he fathered a son with Zarabeth when he was stranded in the past in the 'All our yesterdays' episode. So a male hybrid produced by a Vulcan male / Human female can be fertile with humans. http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Yesterday%27s_Son

This is a follow up to this question Logan takes place in 2029 in Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and other wilderness locations. Besides the obviously sci-fi elements (cybernetic mutants and their weapons, medical technology, etc, for example, which in the X-Men universe are not necessarily futuristic) what else is there in the appearance of film that would indicate that this is 12 years into the future? This is a question about production design -- the appearance of things, people, and settings, indepedent of the story elements. I.e. we agree it takes place in the future; the question is about what visual elements there are that were influenced by that story element -- and, for the purpose of this question, that are different than present day real-world things.

I thought I knew a decent amount about Iron Man and The Avengers in general, but I've no idea who that Irish woman was in Iron Man's suit in Age of Ultron. It really sticks in my mind because she had an especially stupid Irish accent. I'm Irish and it even annoyed me. So in-universe, who is she and why did Tony Stark choose to give her an Irish accent? Answer The alternate A.I. Tony uses after Jarvis was "unavailable" is F.R.I.D.A.Y. voiced by Kerry Condon This appears to be a reference to the Comic Book Earth 616 timeline. Instead of hiring a sectary Tony creates a "Girl Friday" A.I., who . . . when neglected, eventually turns against Tony For more information on F.R.I.D.A.Y see this http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Friday_(Earth-616) Regarding Kerry Condons stupid Irish accent She's Irish, born and raised in Tipperary. I actually recognised her voice as the Irish girl that turned up in an episode of the Walking Dead. A strong regional accent like th

My question is relatively simple. I would like to know what the first alien species to make its way to Earth is in the recorded and unrecorded history of Doctor Who . Answer The first aliens to appear on the show were the Gallifreyans, the Doctor and his granddaughter Susan, in the first episode. Assuming, however, that you mean the earliest in Earth's history, that would probably be Scaroth, the last of the Jagaroth , from "City of Death." The explosion of Scaroth's (cool-looking spherical) ship led to the creation of the first life on Earth. EDIT: And since the question no longer excludes the Racnoss (as it did originally), then the answer is (of course) the Racnoss, since the whole planet coalesced around them originally.

In 'The Walking Dead' universe how fragile are the walkers physically? How tough are their bodies/bones compared to living humans?

In Avengers film released this year, Loki when he first exits out of the Tesseract and enters Earth realm, the S.H.I.E.L.D operatives open fire on him and we see bullets just basically bouncing off him like he is impervious or something to our weapons. Does this mean that Asgardians are similarly god-like a la Superman or was this the direct result of him having the scepter that gave him some sort of a shield (or some other technological advanced defense)? Answer Given the Asgardians superior technology, (they are aliens, not gods ) resisting bullets seems almost child's play. In Loki's case, he most likely used a defensive "spell" to protect himself. Loki, despite his being only a fraction as strong as Thor, physically, seemed quite damage-resistant and was able to survive a physical confrontation with the Hulk . The average Asgardian may not be in Superman's league for overall damage resistance, but human handheld weaponry holds no fear for them. The Asgardia

Part of my long - running series of questioning TV Tropes. The TV Tropes page for Ambiguously Christian says this (emphasis mine): The Batman films from 1989-1997 take place in a Christian world, with a Jewish presence here and there (a kosher butcher shop appears in the 1989 film), but outright references to religion are few and far between. Batman Forever does have Bruce Wayne saying, in reference to his parents' deaths, "On the night of the wake, the priest's words brought no comfort" (which could simply be another example of Christianity Is Catholic), and both of the Schumacher films deal heavily in such Christian themes as guilt, forgiveness and salvation without mentioning Christianity itself. The 1989 film shows a medieval Gothic cathedral towering over Gotham City, but the inside suggests that no one has set foot inside it in years, if not decades. Batman Returns takes place entirely during the Christmas season, but the citizens celebrate Santa Clausmas - an

I remember reading the entire story online. The man ends up at an old bookstore that sells pulp scifi that his wife liked, realizes some of the titles are fake. The owner gives him a cryptic book and disappears (dies?). The book is (potentially portrayed as pseudoscience) about how we don't die, simply continue jumping into the least plausible reality. He gets into an accident shortly after, and the story culminates decades (much longer?) later, with an alien species finding/using him as a repository of information about our species?

Is the reason neither Yoda or Obi-Wan thought it a good idea to inform Luke that his father and Vader were the same person ever discussed? Were they hoping that Vader himself didn't realize this, and that it wouldn't come up? Or was there an explicit rationale behind hiding this fact from Luke? Wouldn't it seem risky to send Luke in blind, with the chance of him finding out without their support, considering how emotional attachment can be a door into the Dark Side? Answer If either Obi-Wan or Yoda had told Luke the truth, then Luke would likely have sought out Vader at the first opportunity. In A New Hope , let's suppose the conversation with Obi-Wan on Tatooine went like this instead: OBI-WAN: This lightsaber belonged to your father, Lord Vader. LUKE: Wait. Back up. My father is who? OBI-WAN: Darth Vader. LUKE: Say what?? That creepy evil guy? You're joking! OBI-WAN: Nope. Dead serious. The infamous Darth Vader who has captured your holographic princess...h

So, I've been rewatching Star Trek:TNG, and Miles O'Brien is there occasionally. He's a Chief in TNG, and he's a Chief in DS9. Now, I was in the Navy, and I've always assumed that rankings in the Star Trek universe were based on the Navy. But I find it difficult to think that in the 14 years (7 for TNG and 7 for DS9) that Miles would never have been promoted. Is there any in universe reason given for this? Answer According to Memory Alpha , he actually WAS promoted: Problematic Rank History The character of Miles O'Brien, and the exact rank he held in Star Trek, has a history of its own spanning the length of the character's existence. In thirteen years of the character's appearances, only in the last four was his rank established to be presumably Senior Chief Petty Officer (although this term was never directly used onscreen). Through various other stages of the character's development, O'Brien was referred to as a Crewman, a Lieutenant, and