At the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , we learn that who we thought was Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody, was actually Bartemius ("Barty") Crouch Jr, who impersonated him through the use of Polyjuice Potion, for the entire book. We've never met Mad Eye Moody. He fooled us all — the readers — just like he fooled Dumbledore , an old friend of Moody's, so he must have imitated the real Mad-Eye quite well. He may have been acting out of character when he punished Draco by turning him into The Amazing Bouncing Ferret (although that's not certain); it probably wasn't out of character for him to teach the Unforgivable Curses to fourth years . What was completely out of character, and what tipped-off Dumbledore in the end, was how he separated Harry from the rest just after having returned from the graveyard, with the dead body of Cedric Diggory in tow. From what I remember, in the subsequent books, the real Mad-Eye Moody doesn't seem much differe...

As depicted in the film, Gandalf appeared to be shaken and in fear of the Balrog of Morgoth, even just as Saruman mentioned it. Why was this so? Did they have any previous encounters? Answer Why would Gandalf be afraid of the Balrog? Well, it's a Balrog. It's a fearful thing. :) More seriously, though, the Balrogs were terrifying beings, even for Gandalf and others of his level of power. The Balrogs are Maia as well, just as Gandalf and the rest of the Istari are. See here from the Valaquenta, the second book of the Silmarillion: For of the Maiar many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into his darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukar, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror. Not only are Balrogs on the same scale as Gandalf, they were beings of terror and fire to begin wit...

I thought the name was "The X Factor", but none of the suggestions I get when I use that title are correct. 1-armed man starts off on Earth. He's one of those stories you hear like mother that gets adrenaline rush and can lift truck off of kid, but he's able to climb some cliff with just the 1 arm. Aliens hear about his "x factor" and kidnap him, restore his arm, and place him on a ship with other aliens. They need whatever his X factor is to provide them some extra strength in a battle. He has to go through combat to work his way up on the ship he's put on.

What's the movie with people living on Mars, the atmosphere I think having a problem, since in the end the atmosphere gets restored(?) cleaned(?) or something, by the guy placing his hand on a stone engraving of a hand of an alien/martian which is something with three fingers I think? I watched this on HBO sometime 2007 I believe. Answer This is Total Recall (1990) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. You can see the four -finger device in the image below. It starts an air reactor, saving a group of people who're being suffocated by the evil Cohagen.

I think this grim little short story is by Lester del Rey, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure it was published in the 1940s/50s. The story: Earth's very last starship is coming home after searching the galaxy for life. Exploration began with high hopes due to the discovery of a Martian civilization which, for reasons unknown, died out. The crew of this last starship, however, has discovered what the Martians discovered; life is a freak that exists on only Earth and Mars - there is no life anywhere else in the Universe. The Martian race lost its will to live after that, and now it seems the same is going to happen to humanity.

When McCoy altered the past, the entire Federation vanished. Meaning that this was a very critical event. Temporal Agents were supposed to keep eyes on timeline. Whenever timeline was altered and Temporal Agents failed to prevent it, it was due to advanced tech of other factions in Temporal Cold War. 31st century tech could escape detection of Temporal Agents, but not 23rd century tech. In fact, McCoy didn't even try to escape detection. Why didn't Temporal Agents stop McCoy? When Temporal Agents failed to prevent timeline change, they at least tried to undo it. But, in McCoy's case, they never even appeared to undo changes. Why?

There are some works of fiction which treat other works of fiction as canon (for example, the race of E.T. in Star Wars). Are there any works of fictions (from a different author, of course) which are treated as canon in the Harry Potter universe? I think some fairy tales might border on this, but only the species of creatures, not the plotline, so they shouldn't count, unless persons or events are also canon. Answer To some degree, The Arthurian Legend . Although I'm not sure it can be solidly classified as "a work of fiction" in the way the OP likely expects, as it is a legend and not a modern work. According to Pottermore, Merlin apparently has existed in HP canon (and belonged to house Slytherin). This implies that the Arthurian Legend is, to some extent, linked to HP canon. Of course, we know that Merlin's character from the legend itself does not fit with the HP definition of magicals and whatnot (Merlin was said to be a cambion, which is not explicitly s...

I think the main character was a prince or high born person, who one day wakes up and looks in the mirror and his hair is turning white, I think his skin bleaches out too... His servants notice and try to sneak him out, but he ends up being put into a compound with others with the same affliction. Are they dead? There were lots of chases in the novel; running and hiding; learning to survive in the compound... I remember being disappointed with the ending (or maybe just hungry for more) and thinking that there must be another book coming. But I forgot the book title and don't know the author so I can't track down any sequels ;) Read it at least ten years ago. Any help is appreciated! Answer This sounds an awful lot like Elantris , by Brandon Sanderson Raoden , the prince of Arelon, is transformed into an Elantrian at the beginning of the book. After the Reod, Elantrians got dark splotches on their skin and their hair falls out, and cannot die or be killed (except by drastic me...

At the end of The Matrix Neo finally see the code and that makes him able to deal with agents easily, always faster, etc. But why is that? Earlier we learn that there is just too much information in the Matrix for the deck computer to decode real-time. Thus the crew watch it in code form. It sounds like reading an .avi movie in a hex editor. The way they say their lack of decoding power sounds like that if they had the faster computers they would probably watch the Matrix decoded. Are there facts that prove or disprove this assumption? In the end how does 'code view' help Neo? Does it actually mean less /filtered information or something else? Where is the difference coming from? If it's just a symbol/metaphor, what does it symbolize?

In the Last Jedi movie, there is a scene where her spaceship is taken down, Princess Leia is thrown into outer space, and seen floating there, frozen. However, she manages to survive this, while any ordinary human being couldn't. How did she manage this? Is this done by using the Force? Answer This is explained more now post Rise of Skywalker As explained by Luke Skywalker Leia underwent full Jedi training soon after the events of Return of the Jedi. She stopped the training just before her final test but over the years we can believe that she continued honing her skills in the force. She also led Rey’s training so she is experienced enough to teach about the force. This explains how she was able to manipulate the force in order to survive.

After reading Snow Crash, I have to wonder if any of the premise or main/supporting plot points are backed by any science, or even plausible based on our current understanding. For example: The whole idea of a metavirus, the metavirus coming from outside of earth, the nam-shub, being able to program humans with with a primitive base language, a biological virus being implemented as code, hackers being susceptible because of certain pathways...etc. Little seems to actually be based on science, even at the time it was written. Was it just speculation to further the plot or is there something to it? Answer No, not by any current science nor science at the time. Most of Snow Crash is made up of very interesting pseudo-science or promising (in 1992) proto-science . As to the idea of a human "base language" - the search for a "universal language" has been a common theme of myths , occult groups , pseudoscience , and pre-analytic philosophy since time immemorial. The r...

In A Storm of Swords , Sam encounters Coldhands who leads them through the Wall via the Black Gate. He appears to have once been a Ranger of the Night's Watch, though it's clear he's now dead, and this is confirmed by Leaf in A Dance with Dragons . He kills pretty indiscriminately both men of the Night's Watch and wights. Has this been addressed in A Dance with Dragons and I missed it? Is there speculation? I have my own thoughts as to who it might be, but I'd be curious to know if anyone else has a legitimate answer to this. Answer There is speculation on who Coldhands is, as described here and here , for example. I'll discuss the The Last Hero and Benjen Stark theories. And also a theory of my own. The Last Hero is the person from Old Nan's story about the Last Hero who went out into the cold north with a squad of men, and was hounded by the Others, seeing his friends, his horse and even his dog die. I believe she tells him this story right after h...

In Star Trek, it seems like they take forever to build ships. It takes months, if not years to make them. So why not just build gigantic replicators in space, then replicate the ship (excepting non-replicatable objects like the warp core)? This would presumably come with a huge energy cost, but would save massive amounts of time. Answer With regards whole ship replication, there are notes in the Next Generation Technical Manual . It states that replication of an entire ship would take too many resources/too much energy. The behind-screen notes say this is for dramatic effect as the viewer would care too little for the fate of the ship if they can just replicate a new one in minutes. From Construction Chronology (P17): Given the existence of matter replication devices (like the show's "food replicator" terminals), a very logical question is: "Why can't they just replicate entire starships?" The real reason is that such an ability would allow us to create en...

Zombies are always after human beings. How do Zombies differentiate between a zombie and a human being? Why don't zombies eat each other? Answer It appears to be related to their sense of smell. In "Guts" (season 1, episode 2), Rick and the group cover themselves in the guts of walkers in order to disguise their scent, and it seems to work. They only get attacked when rain washes away their disguise. It's reasonable to assume walkers won't attack any moving creatures that smell like them.

I recently watched the brilliant speech from The Rings of Akhaten again. For those who haven't seen it or don't remember it: I walked away from the last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time. No space. Just me. I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a mad man. I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I have lost things you will never understand. And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze. So come on, then. Take it! Take it all, baby! Have it! You have it all! Some of these I understand: I walked away from the last Great Time War. Clear enough I marked the passing of the Time Lords. Again makes sense, given he "killed" them. I saw the birth of the universe...

Outside the Moon are found tiny ships left by an alien race. volunteers get in them and press a button which cause the ship to "warp" to a distant location in the galaxy, then push another button to return. I believe they get a share of what they find. Sort of like Stargate with space ships

At least in the film version of Return of the King , Frodo and Sam run out of water while trekking across Mordor, apparently having been unable to refill their water pouches in the tower or at any other point past there. We know that the orcs eat regular food, but are they ever shown drinking anything besides orc draught? Answer Yes. Sam asks the same question, of whether orcs eat and drink or just live on foul air and poison, and Frodo gives him the following answer: "No, they eat and drink, Sam. The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don't think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them; and if they are to live at all, they have to live like other living creatures. Foul waters and foul meats they'll take, if they can get no better, but not poison. They've fed me, and so I'm better off than you. There must be food and water somewhere in this place." -- The Return of the King , Book VI,...

Having been a bit of a lurker recently I've noticed a rise in the terms, 'Doylist' , and 'Watsonian' when referring to opinion based replies or to describe character thoughts, feelings and reasoning behind actions. The most recent version of this can be found in the comments on this question here :- The TARDIS is quite capable of making up her own mind. She's sentient, sapient, and emotionally bonded to our protagonist. She is perfectly aware of what the Doctor is leaving behind. She is giving him her support. In addition to and along with the mementos, she is also leaving behind the very same thing as the Doctor. That's as much Watsonian explanation as I need for the obvious Doylist symbolism. – Gary Botnovcan 19 hours ago The question here being, what do these terms mean precisely? Answer Watsonian or in-universe commentary restricts itself to making statements that are sensible within the story's reality. Watsonian explanations are things like ...

it seems that with some exceptions (couple of shops/eateries in magical villages, Gringott's Bank, newspapers and Hogwarts are all that come to mind), a lot of wizards/witches the magical world seems to be employed in some way by the Ministry of Magic. Is there a good estimate (either based on exact character count, or actual calculation based on a plausible model) of how many wizards/witches work for Ministry of Magic (either head count, or as % of adult population )? Answer The absolute minimum is 500. From book 4 (p.93, first Am. ed.), regarding the quidditch world cup stadium. Seats a hundred thousand... Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. So there must be at least enough employees to keep the government running with 500 missing. I'd say that it's unlikely the government could function (to the extent that it ever does) with under, say, half. So that would be around 1000. JKR has said the wizarding population is around 3000 . With 1000...

In Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, it's shown that Supergirl's cellular structure is much more dense than Superman and that Supergirl is supposed to be much more powerful. Why is it then that she gets hurt much easier than Superman and she's not as quick or strong? Answer Although Batman says her celluar structure is a "shade" denser and that "she metabolizes sunlight more efficiently," Superman has been on Earth for many years, whereas she has only just arrived. She hasn't had as much time to absorb radition from Earth's yellow sun as Superman has. Batman also says "bottom line, she might be more powerful than you"+ There is no guarantee that she is or will be. +Emphasis added

In the movie "The Green Mile", John Coffey heals the prison guard Paul using his special power. He then opens his mouth and hundreds of "flies" appear buzzing away. What are those flies supposed to represent? Answer The flies are a physical manifestation of disease and evil that J ohn C offey has sucked out of the body. (I'd have preferred them to fly away rather than dematerialise.)

It is said that he had a greater lifespan than any other Dwarf awoken in the First Age and was praised by other Dwarves as the eldest of the Dwarven race. Did Tolkien ever specify how many years he lived? Answer I don't think Tolkien specified his age but we can nevertheless calculate an upper limit. From the Apendix A of LOTR, section III Durin's folk: There he lived so long that he was known far and wide as Durin the Deathless. Yet in the end he died before the Elder Days had passed, and his tomb was in Khazad-dûm; but his line never failed, and five times an heir was born in his House so like to his Forefather that he received the name of Durin. So we know that Durin awoke Mount Gundabad in the Years of the Trees (I think this is better than calculating the time he spent in sleep after his Creation) and we also know that Durin died in the First Age. From the Annals of Aman and The Grey Annals (History of Middle Eearth X and XI) we know that one year of the trees is roughl...

In the Superman IV: The Quest for Peace movie, Nuclear Man liked Lacy and kidnapped her. When Superman rescued her she was already in outer space. How did she survive? Is this something to do with super powers of Superman and Nuclear Man? [embedded content] Answer There is no way she could have survived, and there isn't any in-universe attempt to even try and explain how it happened. While Superman does display a few new abilities here (some kind of telekenesis w/ the Great Wall and the police officers), they don't explain how Lacy was able to breathe, nor how she survived in the near-zero pressure environment without protection. Out-of-universe, this is just another example of the poor quality of this movie, which has been widely acknowledged by just about everyone who worked on it. In this case I haven't even heard of any rumored missing, deleted, or rejected elements of the story that would have explained this problem (though it's likely that a more thorough write...

In the movie, we find Killmonger orders the elders to burn the rest of the Heart Shaped Herbs so that no one else can become a Black Panther. How will they be able to regrow the Heart Shaped Herb? Is there a similar arc in the comics alinging with the Black Panther Movie story line?

Couldn't Vader save his son and continue being a Sith Lord? Couldn't he have let Luke go and basically become the Emperor and have the Galaxy to himself? I don't think killing the Emperor to save your son will automatically convert you to the light side. Enlighten me. Answer The point of being on the Dark side is that you're motivated by "dark" emotions: Anger. Possessiveness. Powerlust. Saving Luke was the direct opposite. Vader is in a constant struggle between his Dark Side tendencies and the remnants of Anakin pulling towards the Light Side - we see this in the new Disney canon book "The Sith Lords", where Vader saves a little girl from being killed by Darth Sidious . (mind you, in the end Palpatine wins and that little gesture leads to her entire village being killed - by Vader, on his orders).

I’m looking for a fanfic I must have read >5 years ago. It was a long novel and was part of a trilogy set without horcruxes starting from where OotP finished. Harry & Ginny pairing. Some facts that I remember, I’m hoping they’re a from the same story Harry was ‘professor Potter’ teaching DADA whilst studying Harry had a toy horntail dragon that he could control with his mind to practice There was a doctor from st mungos called Dr Stone who healed Harry often There was a big focus on the power of love magic. There was a test for non verbal magic and users of love magic would score 100 Harry was a Phoenix animagus and later in the story Luna was too.

In the books, Dumbledore was wearing a ring on his finger, giving him a curse in the 6th book. My question is: did he have to wear that ring on his finger? Couldn't he, like, chain the ring and wear it as a medallion, as the trio did with the locket in book 7, so that he wouldn't get cursed? It just makes me wonder whether there was a canon reason for that, or whether Rowling just had to make a reason/excuse to rid of Dumbledore faster. Answer Of course he did not have to wear it... but that doesn't mean Rowling had him wear it "just to get rid of him". Dumbledore also knew the stone set in the ring was the Resurrection Stone. This was his one great curiosity/weakness/fear (depends on how you look at it). Dumbledore was tempted by having at least a chance, no matter how small, of bringing his family back. He explains this much to both Snape and Harry. "Why did you put on that ring? It carries a curse, surely you realized that. Why even touch it?" ......

I only saw the Rogue one movie in the theaters yesterday, so I don't remember the exact wording, but in the movie, during the attack on Sarif, the Alliance commanders discuss the possibility of calling a jedi friend. If i'm not mistaken, they refer to that person as "she". Who did they mean? Leia? Or someone from the Rebels series? Answer I think two parts of dialogue are being confused here. I'm going to paraphrase here because I can't remember exact quotes. But I'm fairly certain the conversation goes as follows: "What about your Jedi friend, can we get a message to them?" Something is said about the Jedi friend has been in hiding since the Purge and Bail implies he's sending someone (We know from ANH this is his daughter, Leia). Mon Mothma replies "Can we trust her?" Bail replies "With my life" From this and what we know from how A New Hope starts I think it's safe to say the Jedi in question is: Obi-Wan Kenobi...

Once there are ships that can take them to the Undying Lands, what is the motivation for the Elves to stay in a war-torn, darkened land full of Men and Orcs and other undesirable creatures? We know that Elves could become wraiths if they stayed in Middle Earth, so something would have to be of value to them enough to outweigh that risk. Their purpose as the Firstborn was to show Men the way and prepare Middle Earth for them, but many of them are not doing that. So what then are they doing? What's keeping them there? Sailing into the West seems like an all around better deal for them and I can't find any discussion of a motive to stay. Answer This is addressed in Tolkien's Letter 131 : There was nothing wrong essentially in their lingering against counsel, still sadly with the mortal lands of their old heroic deeds. But they wanted to have their cake without eating it. They wanted the peace and bliss and perfect memory of 'The West', and yet to remain on the ordin...

I'm planning on re-watching the currently-released 5 Marvel films prior to seeing The Avengers . Have Marvel released any sort of official viewing order? Captain America: The First Avenger seems like the hardest one for me to place in order with the rest. It takes place prior to the other films, but has the greatest number of references to the other films. So should it be watched first, or last? The rest of them are relatively clear, as they're chronological in the order they're released, with the possible exception of The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2 happening at the same time. Answer I would say order of release. Or in-universe chronologically. You'd get the same story and it would just be your preference if you liked it better in a different order. Personally I would go the order of release.

I remember watching a tv series back in 2008-2009 where theres a group of young girls and boys. They fight monster that come to the city and that comes in their way. I kinda remember the name as Monster Warriors , but I can't find the tv series. I remember there was an episode of it where there comes a giant worm inside a mall and these guys fight it. Not sure if it was a movie though, but I lean more on the tv series side. Answer You are right about its name. from Wikipedia : Monster Warriors is an original Canadian television series which aired on YTV in Canada and also on Jetix since April 2006 in the United Kingdom. It was created by Wilson Coneybeare and produced by Coneybeare Stories Inc. The series concluded its run on July 26, 2008, with a TV movie titled Monster Warriors Finale on YTV. The wiki also mentions the monster described: Worm – An earthworm that eats subway trains. This episode is called The Terror Underground .

Daenerys has Varys on her side who is some kind of master spy. She also has Bran who can scout for her easily. She was up in the sky from where she should be able to see Euron's fleet where they were hiding before she was in range of the scorpions (if the ships could shoot at her, she should be seeing them as well). She has a strategist Tyrion who knows about the existence of this dragon-killing weapon when Bronn attacked her during Battle of the Gold Road. How is it believable that Euron could ambush Daenerys so easily? Answer The official answer is that Daenerys forgot about Euron and thus was easily ambushed. Please watch the Inside the Episode for the full justification of this baffling writing.

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone it says: "No problems, were there?" [Dumbledore asked] "No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around . He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol." [Hagrid said] Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning. Sorcerer's Stone - page 11 - US Hardcover How did Dumbledore - who I'm guessing dispatched Hagrid to go and survey the scene at the Potters' home in Godric's Hollow - know the Potters had been killed? Neither Dumbledore nor Hagrid were the Potters' Secret Keeper for the Fidelius Charm. How was Dumbledore alerted instantaneously that James and Lily had been killed, in order to be able to send Hagrid to the scene quickly enough that...

We all know how to blow up the first Deathstar : Fire a couple of proton torpedoes into the thermal exhaust port. It's ray shielded, so only torpedoes will do. To do this, the Rebel pilots had to fly down a VERY long trench, where they were vulnerable to fire from any TIE fighters to the rear. In fact they were so vulnerable that most of the pilots on this run were blown up once the Empire forces started responding to the attack. This battle is in space, so the fighters can, if necessary, come to a dead stop and hold their position while firing. Also, when Luke fired his torpedoes, they took a 90 degree turn and went straight into the port. So the torpedoes didn't have to be fired from in the trench. We also didn't see any gun emplacements firing at the fighters from near the exhaust port, but if there were, the Rebels could have targeted them and taken them out or ran interference to make it hard for the towers to fire at a fighter targeting the exhaust port. (They were al...

Wikis say that the Tesseract came to Earth accidentally. How exactly, did it come to Earth? Answer The opening sequence of Captain America: The First Avenger , combined with the historical information at the start of Thor provides the answer. ~1000 years ago, Asgardians fought the Frost Giants on Earth as part of a cross-realm war. During a later war (or perhaps later battles in that same war), roughly 600 years ago the Tesseract was lost on Earth. It was found by humans and hidden away in Norway. At the start of Captain America , the Red Skull finds the Tesseract and makes use of it to power HYDRA's weapons. In the end, it's dropped into the Atlantic ocean, and recovered by Tony Stark's father, Howard Stark. SHIELD held on to it in modern times, unable to unlock its secrets. Then it was discovered by Loki (Thors Brother) who wanted its power and the Avengers had to stop him. And when they were done it was brought back to Asgard.

In this answer DVK says, that " Lily's protection magic was triggered by her choosing to die to protect Harry ". Has she got or knew anything, that would let her believe, that her sacrifice will save Harry? Or was it -- like JKR says in an interview mentioned by Slytherincess -- something, that any normal mother would have done for her child (no magic or mystery involved)? Answer Zero canon evidence that Lily had any idea her sacrifice would protect Harry. Lot's of circumstantial evidence to say she didn't. No one knew No-one in the world, save Dumbledore, understood how Harry survived. This suggests that there is little or no research or documentation on this effect, since surely someone else would have looked into it and discovered the truth? Old magic Voldemort himself describes it as "old magic", the implication being that it is far beyond the realms of what we could call "ordinary" wizards. He was the second most powerful wizard of the...

On the Tom Riddle page of the Harry Potter Wikia , I found that Harry Potter is listed as a distant cousin under the 'Family Members' section. Is this true? If yes, please provide proper citations from canon. Answer And then it came to Harry in one shining piece, the memory that had stirred at the sound of the name "Peverell": a filthy old man brandishing an ugly ring in the face of a Ministry official, and he cried aloud, "Marvolo Gaunt!" "Sorry?" said Ron and Hermione together. " Marvolo Gaunt! You-Know-Who's grandfather! In the Pensieve! With Dumbledore! Marvolo Gaunt said he was descended from the Peverells!" Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , chapter 22 This is referring to the scene in chapter 10 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince , where Harry and Dumbledore take a stroll down Memory Lane in the Pensieve and observe this scene with Voldemort's grandfather. His voice shook and he could feel the color in his fac...

The Jedi can control objects with the mystical power called the Force without touching them. In the movies you can see, that the Jedi or Sith are moving objects really fast and really well controlled from one place to another. Now I'm wondering, why did Jedi or a Sith never use the Force to fight with a lightsaber, or with more lightsabers, or even to control other weapons like a laser gun without touching them? I imagine a Jedi or a Sith with 4 lightsabers around, all of them are floating in the air, controlled by him and the Force. Would this even be possible? What is the force really able to do? Sean Duggan: Or, as mentioned in *Kid Dynamo", why don't they just yank the supports out in a building and let that crush the people inside (or at least force them to devote a lot of effort to keep from dying)? Admittedly, Dooku did use something like that when he forced Yoda to divert his attention to the pillar. Answer A great deal It’s possible to control the trajectory of ...

If the Doctor spoke his name then they would know that it would be safe to come through, but all this time they must have grown more TARDISes or could have shared them and as soon as they come through they all escape to different time periods and places, Gallifrey would be completely abandoned so there wouldn't be anyone to be killed and the Daleks would all leave as soon as they realise there's no point attacking the place. Since no other race has mastered time travel like they have, they can all agree to rendezvous at a time when the Daleks are extinct (like around the year 100 trillion) and plan to rebuild their civilisation (or make the final sanction at the end of the universe, there's nothing alive anyway). The citizens of Christmas could also be saved as the Doctor can fit them all into his TARDIS.

In the original Terminator film, the eponymous villain procures a pair of dark glasses in order to hide his damaged eye socket and red eye . In T2: Judgement Day, the T-800 makes a great show of stealing a pair of glasses from the biker bar owner, despite having no eye damage to cover. So why did he take the guy's glasses? Answer The Terminator wears sunglasses to create a parallel when Sarah wears them later: James Cameron (writer / director / producer): We wanted T-800 to change, and we wanted Sarah to change; she starts out one way, becomes fixated on that, ends up becoming more of a machine that he does. We wanted the two of them to change characters as the film went on: she becomes the Terminator while he becomes a human being . And it's partly through the Terminator's transformation that she understands what humanity really is. Mali Finn (casting director): Jim Cameron's movie ( T2  ) does have all of those special effects but still is a character driven piec...

After reading this thread about using the transporters for surgery; it reminded me of a time when Dr. Crusher says something to the effect, "Even with our advanced technology, we still don't have a cure for the common cold." [can someone help me find which episode this is?] But the transporter beam gets "scrubbed" through the buffer to remove parasites, pathogens, etc. So my question is this: Why don't they send someone with the sniffles through the transporter to remove the cold virus?

When Disney took over Lucasfilm, and announced the creation of new movies, current Extended Universe works were deemed to be non-canon. Interestingly though, there seem to be a number of plot points within The Force Awakens that seem very similar to events that took place in the EU (renamed "Legends" by Disney). The son of Han Solo and Leia Organa trains as a Jedi with Luke but turns to the dark side. (Jacen Solo in EU). The name 'Ben' is used for a descendent of Anakin Skywalker (in EU this was actually Luke's son, not Han/Leia's). Luke's Lightsaber that he inherited from Anakin turns up again despite seemingly being lost at Bespin (in EU Luke encounters a clone of himself, cloned the hand he lost fighting Vader and wielding his lightsaber. Luke later gifts this to Mara Jade). A stormtrooper becomes disillusioned and runs away after being ordered to kill civilians (In the EU novel Allegiance four stormtroopers run away and become vigilantes for the same...

I have heard many times that the Vulcan "Live-long-and-prosper" hand gesture was created by Leonard Nimoy based upon the hebrew letter "shin", as used in Jewish ceremonies. William Shatner is also Jewish. Did this shared background of the two most prominent actors on the show (sorry, George Takei!) have any other influences on the show, aside from the salute (limited to the original television series)? Answer Aside from the shin gesture, nothing distinct , although Nimoy claims judaism shaped his influences on his character. The show's creator made it clear that he wanted the show to be non-religious. Although Roddenberry was raised as a Southern Baptist, he instead considered himself a humanist and agnostic. He saw religion as the cause of many wars and human suffering. Brannon Braga has said that Roddenberry made it known to the writers of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation that religion and mystical thinking were not to be included, and that in R...

The HBO series Game of Thrones and the book series it's from, A Song of Ice and Fire , offer no examples or suggestions that the world is set in a hollow world. But the television show's opening credits strongly suggest this very thing. Has there been an official word about the shape of the Song of Ice and Fire world? Answer It is not hollow, it is round just as our world. For example note the sunset in episode 1. The books also makes it clear later that the world is round since people take ship voyages around it.

In Guardians of the Galaxy , The Collector implies that Groot is his own species (he says something like: "I have never met a Groot before") but as far as I can tell there is no evidence for Groot being a recognized Marvel race outside of the GOTG film. Is it possible that Groot is of the H'ylthri species? H'ylthri are an other-dimensional, sentient plant race. Their bodies are vegetable fiber with few vital organs, making them difficult to injure. They possess superhuman strength to an unspecified level, can control other plant life, and extend both tangling vines or poisonous barbs to knock mammals unconscious. They can grow humanoid doppelgangers with the originals' personality and memories Or is Groot one of a kind like Rocket? And if so how did The Collector recognize him?

I think I read this c. 1987. It would've been in a paperback SF short fiction anthology, likely with other stories by more famous authors (Heinlein, Asimov, the usual suspects). As I recall, the name of this story's author was not familiar to my young self at the time. The anthology was probably not a best-of for a particular year; I believe it was more of a thematic all-time deal. The story's very simple. (Spoiler alert; it's hard to summarize this one without spoilers.) It narrates the perceptions and experiences of the probe as it ventures farther from its point of origin (Earth, I assume). Nothing really happens; planets and galaxies and their ilk drift by. As the endless journey unfolds, other probes from other civilized planets end up in the same trajectory as our hero. One by one, they accumulate; the story ends with a convoy of them probing onward into an unknowable (but achingly lonely, to my young reading self) future... My Google skills have not been adequat...

The question came up in the comments of this question: Does Voyager ever answer a distress call from anyone good? The mentioned question was about the fact, that very often when Voyager responds to a distress call, the people who issued the distress call were either already dead when Voyager arrived or turned out to be evil / antagonistic towards Voyager. According to the current answers there are about five episodes were Voyager actually encounters good people when responding to a distress call. So the question came up, how often did Voyager respond to a distress call and the person / people who set the distress call turned out to be malicious?

From the chapter called Lothlorien in the Fellowship of the Ring, we get the following from Haldir (emphasis mine): ‘But we have heard rumours of your coming, for the messengers of Elrond passed by Lórien on their way home up the Dimrill Stair. We had not heard of - hobbits, or halflings, for many a long year, and did not know that any yet dwelt in Middle-earth . You do not look evil! And since you come with an Elf of our kindred, we are willing to befriend you, as Elrond asked; though it is not our custom to lead strangers through our land.' What does he mean when he says that the Elves did not know that any hobbits yet dwelt in Middle-earth? From what I understand of the history of Hobbits, they first appear in the vales of Anduin, which is not all that far from Lothlorien. Furthermore, I think it highly unlikely that they would have ever found hobbits outside Middle-earth. This line has always perplexed me somewhat, so what did Haldir mean? Answer "Yet" means "...

In Goblet of Fire Chapter 12 we see that Dennis Creevey starts at Hogwarts that year: “Hiya, Harry!” It was Colin Creevey, a third year to whom Harry was something of a hero. “Hi, Colin,” said Harry warily. “Harry, guess what? Guess what, Harry? My brother’s starting! My brother Dennis!” By all accounts, then, in Order of the Phoenix (one year later) he should be in his second year. Yet in Chapter 16 of Order of the Phoenix we find him in Hogsmeade for the first D.A. meeting (my emphasis): First came Neville with Dean and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with (Harry’s stomach did a back flip) Cho and one of her usually giggling girlfriends, then (on her own and looking so dreamy that she might have walked in by accident) Luna Lovegood; then Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson, Colin and Dennis Creevey , Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, and a Hufflepuff girl with a long plait down her back whose name Harry did not know...

Moaning Myrtle said she made sure Olive Hornby was haunted by her memory of finding Myrtle's body until Olive's dying day. Olive had to seek help from the Ministry of Magic in an effort to be free of the spirit, so the Wizards there knew a witness (Myrtle's ghost) to the 1943 murder had become available. After the Ministry of Magic exorcised Myrtle, she was relegated to Hogwarts, generally haunting the same stall in the same lavatory she died in. The powers that be knew where she was What does JKR say about why no one at the Ministry of Magic, or any of the Hogwarts Professor's, asked Moaning Myrtle about her death? Answer J.K. Rowling hasn't said anything about why no one at the Ministry of Magic questioned Myrtle in her own murder. I don't think Myrtle would have been able to tell them much. Basically, she was in the loo crying, she heard a male voice and a strange, kind of made up language, and when she popped out of the cubicle to tell whoever it was to GO...