When answering this , I ran across this tidbit, which was quite interesting but, sadly, un-cited: The Blast-Ended Skrewt is a hybrid creature bred by Rubeus Hagrid in the autumn of 1994, by crossing Manticores and Fire crabs (src: HP Wikia ). [citation needed] (src: DVK) Was this actully sourced from canon or made up by wikia writer? If so, which level? (HP book? FB book? JKR? movie? game?) I don't recall Hagrid ever mentioning how he ontained the skrewts; Fire Crab wikia article didn't mention Skrewts at all; and Manticore Wikia contained the same - and equally uncited - tidbit: Rubeus Hagrid somehow managed to acquire Manticores, and got them to breed with fire crabs, creating the hybrid Blast-Ended Skrewts. This is especially strange since Manticores are supposedly sentient . Answer To add to DVK and Mac Cooper 's answers: In Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them ; there is a section regarding Controls on Selling and Breeding which states: The 1965 Ban on Exp...

In Harry Potter's early years, when he's taught the 'Wingardium Leviosa' spell, the spell require some wand movement. If you get the movement wrong, the spell will not work or it will malfunction. But in some cases there's no sign of wand movement: they just point-and-say the spell to cast it. This is especially true in the films. Does every spell require wand movements? Answer When Harry reads "Levicorpus" from the Prince's book, there's no mention of wand movement instructions. He just points the wand at Ron and bang, it works like a charm (or curse...) @KeithS has mentioned that Harry does in fact make an upward movement when using Levicorpus . So instead I'm going to quote other spells: From The Goblet of Fire , when Moody is showing the unforgivable curses to the students: (rough translations) Moody pointed his wand and whispered: -Imperio! Then, Pointing back at the spider, whispered: -Crucio! And, Moody lifted his wand [...] -Avada Ked...

I read a book in middle school that I've been looking for, for years. If I was to guess, I'd say maybe 60s-70s. I'm 34 now, so middle school would have been 1996-98. I can't remember much of the story, but it's about a teen boy and girl running from people who wanted to put them in working fields or a labor camp, maybe. It's set in a dystopian future, I think. While in the working fields, the people are in a dream state, where they believe they are happy, but in reality they are forced to work. At the end of the book they ultimately escape, but the twist is that they are dreaming and were in the working fields (or maybe just the boy was?).

We know that Voldemort finds out about the Elder Wand by torturing Ollivander when even the borrowed wand (Lucius Malfoy's) fails to kill Harry. We see that Voldemort instantly becomes fascinated by the prospect of possessing the Elder Wand. Ollivander tells Voldemort that he had heard a rumor years ago that Gregorovitch used to have the Elder Wand. He then tracks down Gregorovitch, and using torture and Legilimency, he finds out that it was stolen by "a thief". After that, through Harry's visions, we see him pondering over the identity of the thief which makes it clear that he wants it desperately. When Harry arrives at Godric's Hollow, and Voldemort fails to kill him there again, he finally finds a picture of that thief in Bathilda's house and finds out that the thief is Gellert Grindelwald. Then Voldemort visits Nurmengard to talk to Grindelwald, and at the same time Harry, Ron and Hermione are caught by snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor. The entire, slig...

Reading the Ice and Fire books, I keep on coming across the term Hedge Knight (and, also, the apparently pejorative, Hedge Wizard). What specifically does the prefix Hedge refer to? Answer A Hedge Knight is an individual who has been dubbed as a knight, but does not owe his allegiance to any master. I guess Hedge Wizard is about the same. George R. R. Martin actually uses the term The Hedge Knight for the title of one of his short stories. Update: I'm not too up on medieval history, but the idea of a roving knight doesn't crop up too much from what I remember - so I think it is something in-world. I certainly haven't seen Hedge Knight used outside of Martin's works.

I could swear that I got this answered once via the TVTropes YKTS forum, but all I can find is my failed query. It's a Sci-fi novel, involves the last member of an alien race saying that a particular child will be a savior of the galaxy. Everyone assumes that this means that he will be able to transcend the teleportation limits (if I recall correctly, they could teleport up to some amount, say 22 kilograms, but the moment they added a gram more, it failed). His father was a former football player and it was referenced a few times that he used a football carry for the baby with the head in one hand and the rest of the body on one forearm. The parents were killed by some sort of extremists and the boy was tested for his teleportation abilities and they found that he couldn't transcend the limit. And... that's about all I remember. I read it in middle school, I believe, so that means it was definitely published before 2000 and likely before 1994. Answer It's from Kevin O...

I believe this was part of a short story, or a novella. Automated transportation is the current technology. Vehicles must be automated and human control has been outlawed for safeties sake. The protagonist observes the scene as he is flying from point A to Point B: There is a stretch of concrete road, maintained by an underground group of outlawed car enthusiasts, and they are in the midst of (recklessly) racing these automobiles against other human drivers despite the dangers and in defiance of the law. It is a brief scene, and has little to do with the overall story, so I'm having a difficult time recalling just which book it was a part of. Likely read it in the 1980's. Answer I think this might be a scene from Flatlander published 1964 by Larry Niven, which was published in the Beowulf Shaefer compilation Crashlander published in 1994. At one point, Beowulf's friend Elephant takes him to see and join in where crazy rich guys race lovingly restored vintage automobiles...

I rewatched the Stargate movie recently, and it got me wondering about what I've been missing with regards to the TV series that have been spun off. I enjoy reading people's opinions on which series is better, but I'm curious about what I'll be getting myself into when I start watching the episodes. Is there any link between the movie and the shows, other than the namesake? Answer There's a loose link. Some variation on the events in the movie preceded the first episode of SG-1. There have been several jokes that suggest that the O'Neil in the movie isn't the O'Neill of the show, however, the O'Neill of the show was on Abydos. The planet Abydos is on the other side of the universe in the movie, but is in the Milky Way in the show, relatively close to Earth. The Abydosians spoke a variant of Egyptian in the movie, almost everyone in the galaxy speaks English in the shows, and the Abydosians get more proficient in it each time they appear. The Starga...

In the film Star Trek (2009), Spock said Nero captain of the Romulan mining ship waited 25 years for him to arrive (in which were only seconds for Spock). So what did Nero and his band of misguided Romulans do for 25 years while being in a big ass mining ship in a time zone clearly not meant for them? Also as a side question, how did Nero know Spock would arrive at that point and that time? Answer To summarize, they were captured by Klingons shortly after the battle with the Kelvin. Then during his time on a Klingon prison planet, which was planned to be Rura Penthe (the same planet Kirk and McKoy were imprisoned on in The Undiscovered Country ), they determined when Spock would arrive. They escaped in time to show up when Spock arrived, and they promptly captured him. It's unclear where the Klingons kept the Narada , which would have been a pretty big boon to their engineers. (There are Klingon engineers, right?) From Memory Alpha : Nero spent the next twenty-five years awaiting...

What is the difference between the anti-bioterrorism organizations in the resident evil universe [BSA,D.S.O,TerraSave]?

There’s a sci-fi story whose title and author escape me. Two beings, not human but not inhuman, clearly a couple, not young, are living contentedly in a splendid but not ostentatious (I’m just trying to capture the flavor I remember) dwelling and can see over a broad valley. A ravaging army appears one day across the valley moving towards them. They have a vase of crystal flowers and they pluck one. The army stops. Time is frozen. Contentment abides. The bloom wilts, the army stirs and a new flower is plucked. Repeat. Finally the blooms are gone and we switch perspective to the invaders who find a pair of dried out husks. Anyone know the name of story and/or author? Any help will be appreciated, thanks.

In Iron Man 2, when the armed forces analyzed Tony Stark's Mark II armor, why didn't they build an army of them? Before anyone says they knew how to operate it, but not how it worked, remember that they modified it quite a lot when they turned it into War Machine, so they obviously must have figured out how it works...

At her wedding , Daenerys received a chest containing three dragon eggs. These were given to her by Magister Illyrio Mopatis, the man who helped arrange the marriage. Was it part of a plan? As... ...she managed to hatch the dragons. Answer We do as of yet not know. In his conversations with Tyrion, he does not seem to have placed much faith in Dany, but it is impossible to say with any certainty, due to the secretive nature of Illyrio and Varys. I would assume he did not know, just as he did not forsee that Dany would hijack his ships and start a crusade in Slaver's Bay.

Re-watched Return of the Jedi (1983 non-“Special” version). Near the beginning of the duel between Luke and Darth Vader on Death Star II, just after Luke kicks Darth Vader down some stairs, Darth Vader recomposes himself and says the following after Luke turns off his own lightsaber; video clip below: Obi-Wan has taught you well. Okay, Luke was clearly taught by Yoda during the events of The Empire Strikes Back . The audience knows that and only Luke, Obi-Wan and R2-D2 seem to share that knowledge of Yoda; past that utterly nobody else seems to know about Yoda. So it’s pretty clear that Darth Vader had 100% no knowledge of who Yoda was/is or even if Yoda is still alive. But still, even with Yoda’s guidance Luke was clearly underprepared and overpowered in The Empire Strikes Back . So given the fact that Darth Vader clearly knows that he killed Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi during the first Star Wars film and he also clearly knows how raw and rough Luke’s skills were during The Empire Strike...

I don't remember the story exactly but I know it has to do with an experiment or discovery that made a group of children extremely intelligent or telepathic. I don't exactly remember the plot all the way but I remember the military got involved causing a conflict and the group ended the conflict by placing themselves 1 second in the future of the resolve of the world. The area they did it in was in a remote forest and the area became an orb because of the time change. Thanks

Okay so there is this book I am craving to read but I cannot remember the title, author, or any of the character names. All I remember is that it is a series and the first book is a about a boy who is a mage/magician and helps a dragon escape by shrinking the dragon down to fit between the cage bars and the Dragon Queen rules from inside her egg and clams that the human mage will help save them from someone/something. All I remember from the second book is that there is a girl with a dragon living inside her and the main character from the first book has to get it out of her before the dragon takes over her mind. I can say I read it about five years ago. It was written in American English. All I can say for plot points is that I think it was the dragons trying to fix their relationships with humans after some horrible event that was caused by the villain happened. I think a war perhaps.

My question is pretty much summed up in the title, but I'd like to add a little more to it. If all four of them had the exact same recollection of the truth (Wormtail being revealed as the true killer) - why didn't they extract their memories and put them into a pensieve? I mean sure, memories can be tampered with, but we have learned that even skilled wizards (such as Slughorn) are not able to modify their memories without it being apparent. It would be very hard to believe that four people, three of whom were underage wizards, were able to modify and perfect their memories to all be the exact same recollection of the events that happened in the Shrieking Shack. So then why did they not all add their memories to Dumbledore's pensieve for the ministry to view so that Sirius' name could be cleared?

Long ago (15 years?), I partially read a novel which I really liked. I don't remember the title or full plot of it. I would be grateful if some one can identify it from the limited plot below: Three (or four) teenagers are taken from their worlds (or different places on earth) to a strange world full of trolls, gems, powers etc. Each one gets attracted a particular colored gem which gives them a particular power. They keep going forward battling all obstacles to achieve some vague objective. Answer This is the Diadem, Worlds of Magic series of books by John Peel. 3 teenagers leave their own worlds (via portals) to travel to a central world Gems give them powers (levitation, communication, earth, and shape-shifting, etc) Trolls are a regular feature Battling and whatnot. Originally published in 1997, approx 17 years ago.

So why can people and other objects just go in the one direction while radio signals can go both ways? Is that ever explained or is it just fact? Answer When matter (e.g. a human) enters the gate, it's converted to energy, that energy is transmitted via the wormhole between the gates, and the receiving gate converts the energy back into the matter it originally was. However, the wormhole can carry electromagnetic energy without conversion. This means radio waves can traverse the wormhole. When a gate dials out, it then takes in matter and transmits it, the receiving gate will not receive matter and transmit it, so it's a one-way affair. This prevents messes that would happen if a person were to be stepping through a gate at the same time someone was coming out from the other side.

In books there are several sellswords companies, among them two fighting for Daenerys: Second Sons and Stormcrows. Daario Naharis is one of three co-captains of Stormcrows, Second Sons are under command of Mero. In the TV show however, there is one company, Second Sons, under Daario Naharis command. Why was this change made? If the main goal was to simplify things a bit, why didn't scenario writers just remove Second Sons from the show? Why merge them, by keeping Stormcrows plotline (Daario Naharis killing the other two co-captains etc.) and Second Sons name? Answer The name change may be due to the similarity with the Stone Crows , a hill tribe that Tyrion encounters in Season One. This would be consistent with other name changes by the show, such as changing Asha Greyjoy to Yara Greyjoy to make the name less similar to Osha the Wildling: David also confirmed reports that producers are working on changing the name of Theon Greyjoy’s sister, who in the books is called Asha. “We’...

Trying to identify a story of a robot suspected of murder on a fairly small planet. The planet was initially uninhabited. The robot suspect and the man killed were part of the same visiting expedition. Investigators have strong suspicions on the robot but also reservations since robot is not supposed to harm people(ala Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics). The solution turns out that the man had shot himself (by accident) by discharging his weapon and the bullet having traveled around the planet hitting him. There was also the explanation for the robot's reluctance to be completely truthful to the investigators based on Laws of Robotics. I imagine the author could be Asimov himself. (EDIT: I've gone over descriptions of his robot stories and no match could be found). EDIT2: There might have been a romantic/jealousy angle to the story as there were two+ more astronauts (male/female) in the expedition. They were suspects too but robot was the most likely(if not for the Law of Robotic...

In Star Trek 4, an unknown space probe travels to earth, "EMP"-ing everything on its way and almost destroying the planet by trying to talk to whales. Are there any informations (extended universe) what that probe was or what it actually wanted? In the movie, it is simplified as the probe saying "hi", and after a short smalltalk, it goes away again, restoring the damage it has done. Consider the following: When Kirk and his crew arrived in the past, they received the song of whales via comm. The signal was send from San Fransisco. Signals from earth travel at light speed max. The signal was send in 1986 and the probe arrived in 2286, meaning 300 light years of distance for the signal to travel. That is not much in interstellar travel, and well within Federation Space. If we assume the probe traveled with light speed, the "home" of the probe must be withing 150 light years. In the movie, it seems to be moving at less than warp, so it might be underway even ...

Right from The Philosopher's Stone to The Goblet of Fire , as far as the magical community was concerned, "The Boy who Lived" had lived while Voldemort had been defeated. It's understandable that Voldemort had created for himself quite a reputation as a evil wizard whose very name made people shudder. But once he was "dead and gone" , why worry? Surely, his name wasn't "taboo" at that time. The Death Eaters couldn't track the people who said his name openly. Answer A few things to consider: Voldemort may have been defeated, but he still had a following of loyal Death Eaters, including a number of witches and wizards that were almost as evil and powerful as he was (that's paraphrased from one of the later books, though I can't recall exactly which, and don't have the books on hand to even begin searching for an exact quote). Not everybody believed he was gone for good. Dumbledore, some of the Death Eaters, and likely other kno...

In Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 2 "Stormborn" we see that: Euron Greyjoy raids Yara Greyjoy's fleet, and manages to capture the current ruler of Dorne; Ellaria Sand, as well as her daughters, two of which are killed in the raid, and one is captured along with Ellaria and Yara. In the following episode we see that: Euron gifts Ellaria and Tyene (her surviving daughter) to Cersei, who are then quickly imprisoned and tortured. This presumably leaves Dorne without a current ruler, at-least until another steps up to take power. However, this does not necessarily mean that this kingdom doesn't have any current military power. Do the events mentioned above totally negate the potential power of this kingdom, or would it still benefit Daenerys to ally with what's left of this kingdom? Also, given the current situation, who, if anyone, is next in line to take power in this kingdom. And, would this person be likely to ally themselves with Daenerys?

The Death Star's weapon was made with kyber crystals, the same material used to make lightsabers. How many lightsabers could be made with the quantity of kyber crystals that were used to create the Death Star I? Answer The first Death Star contained multiple large kyber crystals. We can see what they look like in this still from the unfinished episode Star wars: Clone Wars - In Search of the Crystal Assuming it has 8 in total (one for each energy beam ) and that they're each as large as the one that Obi-Wan and Anakin intercepted (about 6ft x 4ft x 4ft), we can make some calculations. A kyber crystal shard needs to be about 1 inch x 1/3 inch x 1/3 inch to use in a lightsaber or approximately 0.00000147 cubic meters. Assuming the larger crystals can be subdivided into individual crystals without losing much material, the answer is that a crystal that's 2.7 cubic meters could make around 1.8 million lightsabers. Multiplied by eight, you could make something like 14 million...

Okay, I have a vague memory of a kids TV series that I caught when I was way too young to understand it, and now my brain is eating itself trying to remember what it was called. Below you will find a list of all of the things that I remember about it to help identify it: It may have been an American production, but I remember it had a different look and sound to it. It was most likely a Canadian or British show, but it may have also been Australian (this one is the least likely to me, but I do not want to rule it out). It had to have been made somewhere between 1988 and 1998. It looked like it was aimed at the 12 to 15 year old demographic (but I'd widen this area to between 9 and 18 to be safe) A giant space baby was absolutely involved (that is something I am certain of) The space baby may or may not have worn biker gear The space baby apparently held some leadership role with its species It may have featured a Volkswagen van that was also a spaceship (Although I am iffy on that ...

It's well known that Severus Snape was, in one way or another, a Death Eater since he was at Hogwarts. He hung out with the likes of Avery and Mulciber who became well known Death Eaters, he joined Voldemort right after he left Hogwarts, and he basically became Voldemort's right hand man until the very end. However, in his time as a Death Eater did he ever kill anyone? We know that he was a Death Eater for around 3 years before Voldemort fell; Lily and James died at 21 and they were the same age as Snape, so it would have been 3 years since they left Hogwarts. Then after Voldemort came back in book 4, Snape would have been a Death Eater again for around 3 years. That's a total of around 6 years of Death Eaterhood with Voldemort. So, in either of these periods, did Snape commit murder as part of his job as Death Eater? I'm not counting a certain death at the end of book 6 for reasons which are obvious if you've read book 7. Clearly it's much more likely he killed...

In episodes IV: A New Hope and VI: Return of the Jedi we are shown ships landing in Death Star 1 and Death Star 2 landing bays seemingly exposed to the vacuum of space, and yet non-suited Imperial personnel are seen standing on deck (for example in about the 3rd minute of Episode VI). How does this work in-world? If there are some kind of shields, what happens to them when the ships cross the threshold? Why don't we see de/repressurization? What, in short, is the deal?

Many Federation citizens, particularly those in Starfleet, seem to be openly hostile to the Ferengi and appear to have strong prejudices against them. For example, when two Ferengi narrowly escape a doomed shuttle, Riker tells Worf to give them quarters "not too close to mine." He hadn't even met them, or spoken to them, but was still keen to keep them away from where he lived. Others seem to automatically assume Ferengi will be trouble, too. Is this not prejudice in the literal sense? Is it not bias against their entire race?

As we all know, Aerys Targaryen commanded Jaime Lannister to kill his own father, Tywin Lannister. To which, Jaime refused and killed Aerys instead. Did Tywin ever know about Aerys' command? How did Tywin feel about Jaime killing his king? Tywin Lannister was one to use underhanded tactics when they were necessary, but would he go so far as to honor someone killing their king when they were fully sworn to them under a life-long oath? If Tyrion weren't stunted, or if he had another son, would he still treat Jaime the same, post-Kingslayer or would he begin to resent him for his actions?

I found this quote: No spell yet devised enables wizards to fly unaided in human form. Those few Animagi who transform into winged creatures may enjoy flight, but they are a rarity. The witch or wizard who finds him- or herself transfigured into a bat may take to the air, but, having a bat’s brain, they are sure to forget where they want to go the moment they take flight. Quidditch Through the Ages - Page 1 - Scholastic Edition at this place: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/7783/13716 Since it is from a reputable user I doubt the quote is wrong However, this raises the question, does changing into an animal also change one's level of intelligence into that animal? The way the Animagi in the books act in their animal form sort of indicates that they keep their human level intelligence (for example, Rita Skeeter, in terms of intelligence, should have been on the lowest end of the scale when transformed, but still she is able to find out information as a beetle, as well as remember...

Andorians come from Andoria (or Andor) Vulcans come from Vulcan Romulans come from Romulus Breen come from Breen Betazoids from Betazed Cardassians from Cardassia The list goes on and on (with a few exceptions, like Kronos). And then you have humans (terrans) which come from third planet in the Sol system called Humania, err Terra, err Earth. Why the lack of creativity in planet names for other species? Answer Nearly every species that controls their entire home world/system is named after said home world/home system with the notable exception of two: the Klingons and the Humans. So it's natural to ask, "okay, if they were going to make an exception for two, why not all of them?" However, it's much easier to explain if we ask the converse first: why are Klingons and Humans treated differently? Qo'noS wasn't established as the Klingon home world until Star Trek VI . Before that, the only canonical mention of the Klingon homeworld was in " Heart of Glory ...

In A Game of Thrones , chapter 4 (the first Eddard chapter), we hear Eddard and King Robert talking about sending Lysa Arryn's son, Robert Arryn to be a ward of Tywin Lannister. Eddard is relieved that Lysa had declined: Ned would sooner entrust the child to a pit viper than Lord Tywin, but he left his doubts unspoken. Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word. - AGOT Chapter 4 What "old wounds" is Ned thinking about here? In the next Eddard chapter we learn that Ned distrusts Tywin for ordering the murder of Rhaegar Targaryen's children. But the way Ned thinks of Tywin in the quote above makes me think the wounds are deeper and more personal than that. There is obviously enmity between the Starks and Lannisters after the events of A Game of Thrones but what happened to cause enmity before AGOT ?

The camera shows the back of the craft as Bishop takes off, but you don't see any sign of the queen holding on or moving up the ramp. Answer UD-4L Cheyenne Dropships have three landing skids; one rear and two fronts. The loading ramp descends (facing) forward of the rear and between the two fronts. The personnel stairway lowers on the port side, which we see is no longer extended once Bishop begins his take off and then gets stuck. Prior to this he's hovering adjacent to the landing pad, during which he's only a few feet directly above it. The entire time, the ramp is not extended but all three gear are. Looking at it from behind, we can see that she stowed herself inside the bay of the rear landing gear. She never goes up nor comes down the loading ramp or the stairwell. The camera does not show the back of the craft or the aft landing skid when the front left one gets caught, which we are too busy looking at . That is when she has an opportunity to climb up the rear on...

In the DC universe, i.e the main DC continuity,has it ever been mentioned whether Batman knows that Clark Kent is actually Superman? Answer Yep. Depending on the continuity, they've known for a very long time. Let's not forget that Batman is the world's greatest detective and Superman has x-ray vision. Superman #76 JLA: Trinity War Adventures of Superman #440 Justice League: War [embedded content] Justice League: Animated Series [embedded content]

I know that when Lily sacrificed herself for Harry, Voldemort could no longer touch him and any attempted Avada Kedavra on Harry by Voldemort would rebound onto himself, until, of course, he took some of Harry's blood and put it into himself. Now Harry and Voldemort share Lily's sacrifice and protection and also share Voldemort's soul since Harry is a Horcrux. When Voldemort tried to kill Harry in the Forbidden Forest, Harry was kept alive by his own blood which ran through Voldemort's veins. When Harry then challenged him a second time, Voldemort's killing curse rebounded onto him yet again since the Elder Wand won't kill its master. But Voldemort shouldn't have been able to die since Lily's blood sacrifice lived in him and Harry should never be able to die either... shouldn't they both be immortal? I don't get it, someone help!

I think the movie was very early 70s, think Columbo or MacMillan and Wife. It was about a future private investigator. He had some quirks for example he still drove a 70s era VW Beetle and he hated technology. The investigator had a voice activated typewriter, which was just an IBM Selectric typewriter with cheap mike attached. thanks Answer I believe this is the movie "Computercide" from 1982. It is a bit later than you listed, but has the scene with the typewriter and microphone. The following Site shows it at timestamp 4:07. From IMDB "The year is 1995 and Michael Stringer is the only private eye left on Earth. One day, he is assigned by a woman to investigate Eden Isle, a complex for people who want a perfect life started by an industrialist named Korter. Interestingly, Korter is found on a beach and is 20 years younger than he was before. When he gets into the complex, he is caught in a web of mystery that he might not get out of. " I remember Donald Pleasen...

This answer: Why did Gollum ever take off the ring in the first place? - had a quote related to how Gollum lost a ring that said Only a few hours ago he had worn it, and caught a small goblin-imp. What exactly is a "goblin-imp"? I don't recall any mention of imps in Tolkien. Answer One of the dictionary definitions for imp is: 2 b : a mischievous child : urchin Not a lot is known about the reproductive methods of Goblins/Orcs, but one can probably assume they are born young. A year later: Re-reading The Hobbit , I came across a reinforcing quote. Later, just after Gollum discovers the ring is missing, he tries to figure out when he might have lost it. (Emphasis mine.) "My birthday-present! Curse it! How did we lose it, my precious? Yes, that's it. When we came this way last, when we twisted that nassty young squeaker. That's it. Curse it! It slipped from us, after all these ages and ages! It's gone, gollum."

The series "Enterprise" takes place a century before the events of TOS. Are the things that happened in Enterprise considered canon or would they be a spin-off series of sorts? The specific events I'm speaking of are the temporal cold war, and the storyline of the Xindi wanting to destroy Humanity on behalf of the Sphere Builders. Is anything that happened during Enterprise considered part of the Star Trek canon or have the creators of Star Trek chosen to pretend it never happened? Answer There's no particular reason to believe Enterprise is non-canon. It was created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, who were at one time showrunners of The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager . In-universe, we can connect Enterprise to almost every other definitely-canon Star Trek property: TOS: The fourth-season Enterprise two-parter "In a Mirror, Darkly" is a sequel story to the TOS season 3 episode "The Tholian Web" , and a prequel to the seas...

This question has been in Meta to discuss whether it's a fit or not for well over a week, without response, so I will just post it and see what happens and change it if someone feels it's not a good fit for the QA format Unmasked spoilers ahead This question doesn't make any sense without knowing the movie, so I didn't mask spoilers, as it would render the whole thing useless. During Arrival we learn that there is a sort of magical (for lack of a better word) writing system that, when learned fully, allows you to perceive time in all directions, as a whole. The more Louise learns of the language of the aliens, the more she can travel or rather experience time and draw conclusions from events that have not happened yet to change her behaviour in the past. This revelation leads us to wonder whether all that will happen has already happened (in the sense of inevitability, or fixed fate) My interpretation is such that because Louise experiences Past, Present and Future (o...

In The Two Towers , while the Ents were attacking Isengard, the survivors of Saruman's routed Orc army attempted to flee into the strange forest that suddenly appeared near the Helm's Deep battlefield. They were set upon and destroyed by Fangorn's angry trees. How did the forest destroy Saruman's Orcs? Answer The trees in question were Huorns, though exactly what Hourns are isn't conclusively proven - we were only given Merry's speculation. He suggested that they headed off to deal with the Orcs 'But, though I could not see what was happening in the dark, I believe that Huorns began to move south, as soon as the gates were shut again. Their business was with Orcs I think. They were far down the valley in the morning; or any rate there was a shadow there that one couldn't see through. Merry described them in more detail: 'It was the Huorns, or so the Ents call them in "short language". Treebeard won't say much about them, but I think t...

Spoilers for The Last Jedi : Just before Snoke is slain, he narrates Kylo Ren's thoughts/feelings (saying things like "he turns the lightsaber towards his enemy" and so on) we see the Skywalker lightsaber being manipulated through the Force to point towards and then slay Snoke. My question is, do we know for sure who was using to Force to use the Skywalker lightsaber in this scene? It could have been A) Kylo Ren was turning igniting the Skywalker lightsaber with the Force. Snoke assumed the thoughts/feelings he was sensing were directed at Rey but they weren't. Or... B) Snoke was so preoccupied with Kylo's thoughts that he wasn't paying any attention to Rey's thoughts. Rey takes advantage of this and uses the Force to turn and ignite the Skywalker lightsaber to slay Snoke. This option is reinforced by the fact that 1) the Skywalker lightsaber then zooms into Rey's hand, not Kylo's. 2) after the ensuing scuffle, Kylo Ren reveals that he hasn...

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , Percy argues with Ron when he catches Ron and Harry in a corridor at night, and tells him, "Five points from Gryffindor." However, in Order of the Phoenix , it states that members of the Inquisitorial Squad, "unlike prefects," can take points from the houses. Was Percy bluffing? Or is this just a small inconsistency in the books? I prefer to think that Percy just wanted to pretend, since he loved the feeling of power and authority, but I don't know of any other explanation. Answer J.K. Rowling web site's official FAQ #40 Q: Can prefects take points or not? A prefect took points from Gryffindor in the Chamber of Secrets, and then there was a reference to prefects not being allowed to dock points. What are the rules? Answer: Ron got it wrong in 'Phoenix', from which we deduce that he hasn't been a very authoritarian prefect thus far; he clearly hasn't been taking points from anybody. http://harryp...

From what I can remember of the movie, it features an increasingly isolated loner building or inheriting a machine in his Attic that starts bringing back monsters from outside reality when he turns it on . I think it was from the early 80s and it had a Lovecraftian vibe to it. The movie is like 'The Fly' in that it features a story that slowly descends into dark horror. Does anyone have any clue what I'm talking about? I'll try to add more details if I can remember anymore. Answer It was From Beyond , the 1986 film based on HP Lovecraft's story of the same name. They released an unrated director's cut for this film as well.

I read this set of stories in the 80's. What I recall is this: A planet where the ruling caste was made up of humanoid women. These women would, as almost pubescent girls, go out into the wilderness with only a spear and attempt to kill an animal in a life or death struggle. When it happened, they would burst open a DNA packet in themselves that caused them to rapidly mature, their skin to become bronze colored, and give them some kinds of other "powers", I think over fire. They were called "Bahronas", I think. The population of this planet was primitive, but they were in contact with an advanced humanoid species, I think of actual homo-sapiens, who were there observing and advising them. The advanced species wasn't allowed to intervene, just advise and watch. The main character was a castaway boy, crash landed on their planet and stranded. He became friendly with the ruling family of Bahronas and entered their confidence. We find out through the course of t...

Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakens has received an official novelization from Alan Dean Foster. What significant differences to plot points, characters, etc, are there between the novelization and the movie? I'm looking for things that could make a big difference (in and/or out of universe), not costume differences, slight differences in character descriptions (hair style, eye color, height, etc), or the like. Answer Missing scenes in the script/film Han discusses BB-8's map on the Falcon and mentions that he can actually recognize a nebulae on it . This implies in the books that he knows the general area where the map points to (leading to obvious question of, why do we need the rest of the map in R2D2?). We don't get that in the film or the script. Leia discussing with her envoy sending her to Hosnian Prime. It doesn't change the plot, but it offers a major clarification into the political situation between Republic and Resistance. Differences In the film...