It's probably never really touched at all, but do we know how the Norse people knew so much about the Asgardians? They know the names and exploits of dozens of Asgardians, their births, their relationships, their wars and ultimately Ragnarök. At the very least, it seems like a massive breach in Asgardian security. Even with all this information, the Norse people would not really pose a threat to Asgard due to the vast technological superiority of the Asgardians, but still, any enemy of Asgard could grab a random Norse man or woman and learn pretty much everything there is to know about Odin, Thor and the rest of the lads. How did they, and in turn we, learn so much detailed information about them? I'm more than happy to accept an answer from any canon: comic, animated or MCU Answer In Thor , we hear an exchange between Thor and Fandral that includes the line; This isn't like going to Earth, where you summon a little lightning and thunder and the mortals worship you as a ...

In the book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince , Professor Trelawney says this: “If Dumbledore chooses to ignore the warnings the cards show —” Her bony hand closed suddenly around Harry’s wrist. “Again and again, no matter how I lay them out —” And she pulled a card dramatically from underneath her shawls. “— the lightning-struck tower,” she whispered. “Calamity. Disaster. Coming nearer all the time . . .” Professor Trelawney did make a real prediction here. She mentions the lightning-struck tower and a nearing calamity related to it. Later that day, we see that Dumbledore dies in the same lightning struck tower. Doesn't it seem that Sybill Trelawney is taken lightly more often than necessary? Answer Sybill is the great-great granddaughter of a genuine Seer, Cassandra Trelawney. Cassandra's gift has been much diluted over ensuing generations, although Sybill has inherited more than she knows. Half-believing in her own fibs about her talent (for she is at least ninety pe...

Does the Predator simply repeat what Dutch has just said "what the hell are you?" Or is it asking him the same question back?

In Slytherincess' wonderful answer she explains that The soul piece cannot live without a receptacle to hold it; if there were no receptive person to latch onto, the piece of soul would presumably die. If this is true, and from Hermione's quote on that answer that seems almost certain, how did Tom Riddle from the diary-horcrux expect to 'come back'? Did he expect to permanently possess Ginny? Or was he expecting to form his body back a la the real Voldemort with a potion? None of these options seem plausible, yet Riddle seem a) confident he could come back and b) aware of his limitations. Answer JKR opined that if Harry didn't save Ginny, the real Voldemort would have gotten stronger. I read that as the diary soul fragment would somehow rejoin the main soul fragment. From http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=17 : Q: In 'Chamber of Secrets', what would have happened if Ginny had died and Tom Riddle had escaped the diary? A: I can’t answer t...

In Star Trek: Generations , the actor Tim Russ plays an unnamed bridge officer (probably tactical/operations, as he's monitoring the ship's hull and systems integrity) on the Enterprise-B in the prelude. No pointy ears or eyebrows, so I must assume this character is not Vulcan and therefore not the Tuvok character that this same actor portrays in Star Trek: Voyager. Was there ever an in-universe explanation given for this actor's appearance as someone other than Tuvok? Obviously any such explanation would be a retcon, as Generations was released a year before Voyager and so Tuvok's character didn't exist. But was there even an attempt, or is the role just dismissable as a human who happens to look similar to a notable Vulcan?

For Star Wars: The Force Awakens , they built a (multiple?) practical BB-8 prop. They brought it to D23 last year, where they showed it rolling around, doing the basic movement you see BB-8 doing in the film. But in the film, we see BB-8 having compartments containing tools they deploy as needed. Were these compartments part of the practical BB-8 prop, did they have specialized BB-8s that were used in these scenes, or were these parts of the film accomplished using some kind of SFX in post-production? How much of the film was accomplished via the practical BB-8 prop? Answer Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz were the so-called vocal consultants for the droid, and Dave Chapman and Brian Herring were the puppeteers. There were a total of 7 different droids used in filming, who each had their own separate purposes (they varied in physicality) and even had their own nicknames, such as "bowling ball", for fast shots, or the the "wiggler", for close up shots that showed small...

I'm looking to find an old science fiction story that I read in an anthology many years ago (probably in the 60s) called 'What Time Is It?' It's about a group of high-school or college age boys that hop into their professor's time machine and wind up in the past fighting Indians and then hop into the future where all the cars are tear-drop shaped. The story is very simple-reading, but I've not found it anywhere since. Ideas, anyone?

I was recently reminded of sci-fi short story which I read quite some time ago (several decades, possibly) which was entirely a monologue. The narrator is talking to two professors and it's revealed that they stole something technical from him. Either the secret to time travel directly or something that could be extended into time travel. During the story it becomes clear that the narrator has learned to manipulate time travel to such an extent that he was able to alter events so that he could not only win over his rivals, but in such a way that they'd be psychologically identical, so he could gloat over their downfall. The resolution, according to my memory, was the narrator had taken over the religious order the rivals had created, and done so in such a way that the rivals were now seen as heretics and the story ends with the populace showing up with torches and pitchforks to take down the rivals. Answer This sounds like "The Winds of Change", by Isaac Asimov, co...

Kind of brought to my attention by this answer . The poster mentions non-humans, which implies that there are humans in the Star Wars universe. However, since it happened "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away", how could there be any humans in the Star Wars universe? Are there "humans" in Star Wars there just because it was easier to make the movies that way? Other shows such as Star Trek are about the future of humans, so it's easy to understand the existence of humans in those storylines. However for Star Wars it just doesn't make sense. It also seems odd that they'd go around creating all these different species and then just leave the main characters as humans. I guess another possibility is that the humans in star Wars eventually populated Earth, but then what happened to all the technology?

Illustrated book about space tourism. It was a shortish book, but with large illustrated pages, about a future space cruise through the galaxy visiting a number of outlandish planets. The one illustration I've been able to find was by Richard Clifton-Dey, called Behemoth's World .

Short story I probably read in the 70’s. Civilization is wiped out, but a robotic Mickey, Donald, and Goofy which were intended for theme park use wander the desolation and have philosophical discussions. I recall that Goofy spouts Marxist ideologies because he was intended for Disneyland in China. Answer This may be a duplicate of Trying to identify a short story about Disney characters in a post-apocalyptic world where the answer of " Heirs of the Perisphere " by Howard Waldrop, published in 1985 in Playboy, was put forward. A sample is available for free currently on Baen Books. The custom-order jobs were animato/mechanical simulacra. They were designed to speak and act like the famous creations of a multimillionaire cartoonist who late in life had opened a series of gigantic amusement parks in the latter half of the twentieth century. Once these giant theme parks had employed persons in costume to act the parts. Then the corporation which had run things after the cart...

In LOTR: The Two Towers , Gimli and Éomer have the following dialogue: Gimli: Give me your name, Horse-master , and I shall give you mine. Éomer: I would cut off your head, dwarf , if it stood but a little higher from the ground. That seems like a bit of an overreaction on Éomer's part. The People of Rohan are known to be master equestrians and are often referred to as Horse-Lords which admittedly is more flattering than Horse-master. The H-word strikes again in LOTR: The Return of the King when Gandalf goes to Isengard with Théoden and the fellowship. Saurman uses the same " insult " for Théoden King, among many others. Saruman: A man of Rohan? What is the house of Rohan but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek and rats roll on the floor with the dogs? Victory at Helm's Deep doesn't belong to you, Théoden Horse-Master ! (Scornful emphasis at Horse-Master). You are a lesser son of greater sires. The King looks upset but ignores Saruman and continue...

Who first noticed that ST:TOS red shirts were an endangered species? Was it one of the fans or in a forum? Subsidiary question: did the producers ever talk contemporaneously about the phenomena?

I had the luxury of watching Buffy and Angel when they were on television, when it was impossible for me to mess up the viewing order. Now that I'm introducing it to some friends (and we're coming up on the beginning of Angel) I have no idea when I should watch what episodes, to ensure everything makes sense. Does anyone know (or have a reference to) a good viewing order for watching Buffy and Angel at the same time? Answer Angel series 1 began alongside Buffy series 4, and to watch "as aired" you should alternate from that point, starting with Buffy. However, there isn't so much crossover that you need to; in general if you want to watch in 'spurts' then one DVD of 3-4 episodes at a time will work fine; even 6-7 in later series. There are a couple of crossover points to watch out for, though. As Buffy aired first, all crossover episodes should be watched Buffy, then Angel. A complete list: (Bx.y is Buffy, series x, episode y. Ax.y is Angel.) Buffy seri...

The plot of Heaven Sent works because the Doctor works out the clues from the previous loop. How did he work out that everything would reset at the end of the first loop without any clues from a previous loop? What did he do in the first loop to set up the second (and subsequent) loops?

Gandalf the Istar was about 2,000 years old and had the appearance of an old man. That is a lot of time to be walking the earth. A lot for a 'human' brain to take in. The Istari seem to have some human failings: Saruman has greed and lust for power, Gandalf seems rather fond of pipe weed. Do these mortal weaknesses extend to forgetfulness? Forgetting things would seem to be a bit of a disadvantage to someone so old. There are a couple of times this seems to occur: In Moria, Gandalf gets to a junction and says "I have no memory of this place at all" This could just be as they are disorientated in the darkness. When discussing the other wizards Gandalf doesn't know the names of the blue wizards (this may be just in the films, and a reference to them being unnamed) Do the Istari in their earthly forms forget things?

Every HP fan knows Harry's boggart was a Dementor. Dementors can make you relive your most fearful memories. Harry's was exceptionally fearful/tragic. That's why he was so affected by them, and maybe the reason why they turned into his greatest fear. But that's before his classes with Lupin show him how to cast an effective Patronus against Dementors. Once Harry knows how to ward off Dementors, is he still afraid of them? He practically sent hundreds of them fleeing with his Patronus across the lake. So, if he were to meet a boggart after that, would it still turn into a Dementor? Couldn't find anything relevant on the net. Wondering if there's anything canon to answer this. If not, I'm gonna ask JKR this whenever I meet her. :D Answer In addition to the more philosophical points raised by others, there is hard evidence that Harry's boggart remains a dementor after Lupin's lessons in Goblet of Fire. When Harry is in the maze he encounters a boggart...

Dumbledore tells us that DADA professor job at Hogwarts was cursed - no teacher lasted for more than a year - ever since Voldemort was denied the position. "Oh, he definitely wanted the Defence Against the Dark Arts job. The Aftermath of our little meeting proved that. You see, we have not been able to keep a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for more than a year since I refused the post to Lord Voldemort." - HBP . Is it known from canon what year that event happened? In other words, how many years was the job cursed for? (we know the curse ended in Year 7, after Voldemort's death, with Carrow being the last 1-year-termer). Answer According to the Harry Potter Lexicon , it is estimated that Voldemort cursed the Dark Arts position in 1957: 1957 (Y-23) [Voldemort] resurfaces and applies to teach [Defence Against the Dark Arts] Ten years after the death of [Hepzibah Smith], [Voldemort] returns to [Hogwarts], where Dumbledore] refuses to grant him a teaching job. He...

The events surrounding the free peoples of Middle Earth lie largely within what we call Europe. Many continents lie beyond Europe, as we should be aware by now. Most of those are under Morgoth and later Sauron's sway - the Easterlings come from various parts of Asia, while Oliphaunts come from Africa and I believe the Middle East. In these lands where Morgoth/Sauron's domination is complete, were they directly ruled by their dark lords, to the level of involvement as Palpatine had with his Galactic Empire, or were they effectively "free and self-governing until called upon"? In other words, was Morgoth/Sauron involved in governance?

From my earliest watching of Star Wars, I remember distinctly that Ben Kenobi's home on Tatooine wasn't a Tunisian domed house that we know from the movie, but a cave cut out of the rock itself. The establishing shot was one of the Petra caves, looking something like this After decades of talking to people and being greeted by blank stares, I casually brought it up to a guy who remembered the same thing. Given the n^2 versions of Star Wars out there, was there a version of a New Hope that had this alternate "Kenobi's Home" or is this a bizarre and rare shared halucination? Answer Editing and montage makes you think that Kenobi lives in a cave It is a well known fact that editing saved "New Hope" from being a very poor movie, maybe even worse then "Last Jedi" :D Unfortunately some things had to be cut, so we have a story with very sharp transitions in some parts, and Kenobi's house is one of them. First, there is a part where old Ben save...

Is there any hint that the MoM or anywhere else got support in combating voldemort the first time around? Or is everything completely UK-centric? I can't remember anyone in the second war being specifically sent from europe to help, even though we see international wizards in book 4. But I don't think all the events of the first war are covered in the books. So are other bodies like the MoM involved in the first war, or was it isolated in the UK?

I'm wondering where and why the zombie outbreak began? Answer The cause of the outbreak is not known. It has been made fairly clear that the initial source of the virus is not currently something that either the comic or the show are planned to address, as this quote from an interview with show producer Glen Mazzara indicates : Will determining the cause of the outbreak be something that the group, now that they know they're all infected, spends time on? Mazzara: Robert has not been interested in addressing in the comic book, and I'm not interested in addressing in the show. That being said, if it leads to new story -- if there's something that's important that we get out of it -- I'll be the first one to write it. But right now the cause of the zombie outbreak seems irrelevant. I always want the show to play like a horror movie every week. If you define what caused the outbreak, that puts us in a world of science fiction, and this isn't science fiction t...

The show that used to be on tv where half the world was in perpetual night and the other half was in perpetual day? I think there was a wall that went around the world so that the people on the night side couldn’t enter the day side.. and.. that’s all I remember about it. It was on either in the late 80's or early 90's. I don't remember much since I was really young when it was on.

It was a feature, not an episode. Rented it repeatedly on VHS from a place near my house. This was around 1986. It was a live action hero-vs-baddies, and looking back, it was pretty Power Ranger-y in costuming. There may actually have been more than the one main hero - like a team - but I'm not sure. (I feel like I remember a scene where the guys "suited up" and maybe there were 3 of them? Might've only been the one. Also seem to recal the suit the hero(s) wore were mainly white and silver.) Full head mask when suited up, too. Also, there might have been something going on with a volcano? Just a silly movie, but I wonder if anyone remembers it. I'd watch it again, if I knew the first place to look for it. Cheers! Update: It's not Ghostbusters.

We know that Ancalagon was killed by Earendil , but how exactly was he killed? Ancalagon was so incredibly massive and Earendil was just a dude in a ship with some Eagles. This image ↓ isn't canon but it probably isn't far from Ancalagon's in-universe size description where he's said to have destroyed 3 giant volcanoes just by falling on them. Answer There is no canon answer to this. As you point out, literally the only description we have of this is that Before the rising of the sun Eärendil slew Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon-host, and cast him from the sky; and he fell upon the towers of Thangorodrim, and they were broken in his ruin. ( The Silmarillion , Chapter 24, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath") However, consider the power of the Silmaril that Eärendil wore: And the wise have said that it was by reason of the power of that holy jewel that they came in time to waters that no vessels save those of the Teleri had known...

I was watching The Avengers last night (26th April 2015) on 7Mate on Australian Television. When I first saw the film in the theater I didn't know who Thanos was or the meaning behind the post-credits scene, but now knowing I was expecting to see it in a new light. After the credits however there was a different scene. The Avengers (including Thor) were in a restaurant, possibly in New York given its state, eating burgers... that's it. No Thanos, no dialogue, no nothing. Then I remembered Iron Man 3; post-credits I was expecting maybe a hint of Ultron, however it was just Tony lounging back as if he was having a therapy session (he interrupts the guy who tried to explain he wasn't a therapist). This got me wondering, do all the Marvel Films have a second post-credit scene which doesn't have any hints to future films? If so, why even have it in there? Answer There's a pretty solid list here that you can refer to. In short, the latest films in the MCU series seem t...

Please bear with me as I've never read any of the LOTR books or the Hobbit, only seen the movies so far... But when the sunlight fades and the dwarves think they've lost their only chance to enter Erebor using the secret passage and the key, they turn around to head home. Why is it that the dwarves would be unable to enter Erebor the way they did years ago, using regular doors to get inside? I'm assuming that's how they entered Erebor years ago? Answer The Mountain did indeed have a main entrance, which the Dwarves called "the Front Gate". However, the point of the Dwarves bringing Bilbo was that, as far as they knew, the dragon was still alive and active. This could have posed a problem for their entrance: ... We none of us liked the idea of the Front Gate. The river runs right out of it through the great cliff at the South of the Mountain, and out of it comes the dragon too—far too often, unless he has changed. ( The Hobbit , Chapter 1, "An Unexpected...

There was a series of Lego Star Wars episodes that aired on Cartoon Network a few years ago - "The Padawan Menace", "The Empire Strikes Out", and "The Yoda Chronicles". While these episodes are indeed full of the classic Lego Star Wars humor (Yoda did not likely sit on Mace's lap and say "An awkward, this moment is"), does the larger theme of events have any place in Star Wars canon? Answer The Lego Star Wars series is treated as a licensed property and as such, totally non-canon. Although it and the Family Guy specials can be found on the official Star Wars site, it is important to stress that the studio does not consider it in any way canonical, indeed there are multiple instances (Yoda meets the droids before ESB, for example) that flatly contradict the events of the films. Michael Price, senior writer for all six of the recent animated features stated this in an interview for Club Jade; Michael: That is actually incredibly freeing —...

According to this answer , a time lord can only be "created" on Gallifrey: The title and distinction belongs solely to those beings from the world of Gallifrey who have been indoctrinated, trained and introduced to the Time Vortex via a particular set of rituals, instruction and guidance So does that mean that there can be no more new time lords since Gallifrey is in a time lock? Answer Short Answer: According to the definition given above (the generally accepted definition of a Time Lord at this point ), no there can not, for two reasons: There cannot be any more being from the world of Gallifrey. There is no one left to indoctrinate/instruct/guide them. (I am making an additional assumption here that the Council of Time Lords must be involved in this indoctrination, and they are obviously not around.) Longer Answer: There is nothing to prevent The Doctor from attempting to start a new tradition of Time Lords. The natives of Gallifrey became Time Lords because of their ext...

I'm looking for the name of a science-fiction novel/series, which I read sometime between 2001-2005. The only things I can definitely remember: There are "pleasure bots" (there's a name for them in the book, but I forget), actually very life-like, that are stored in some sort of case when not in use. (Sort of like the ivory dittos from "Kiln People", but these are more-or-less autonomous, if a bit empty-headed.) No one is really sure where these androids came from, but at some point in the book (or later in the series) it is revealed that they were created by a woman scientist-type (who might have been the protagonist in an earlier book in the series) for the purpose of population control, and to reduce violence against women. I think the woman scientist is near-immortal, or can time-travel; unless I'm getting different works mixed up, this pleasure-bot scheme is one of several interventions she performs across centuries, if not millenia. Answer This c...

In WALL•E, it's established that the 5-year spaceship has been keeping people alive for 700 years. Also, it's clear that (at least before they all left the Earth), the garbage problem was never solved. We even see the Axiom itself keeps throwing garbage to outer space with the help of the WALL•As. So, if they keep constantly throwing and throwing garbage, how can they keep living? What's all their food made of? Answer The short answer is that the ship is quite literally cannibalising itself, along with the passengers . We know from the " All Aboard the Axiom " special feature that the ship's population was originally around 600,000 however by the time of the Wall•E film, there appears to be dramatically fewer passengers on board the ship. This is confirmed in a couple of graphics from the " History of BNL " featurette (from the Wall-E bluray) which show the before/after populations (in binary), starting at around 700,000 but declining to less than ...

In the earlier films it is said that Jack bartered for the compass from Tia Dalma. However, in the newest film during Salazar's flashback it shows that the captain of his ship is wounded and hands the compass to Jack. So how did Jack get his compass and why does this feel like a discrepancy in the plot?

Has the first name of Emperor Palpatine been mentioned in any Star Wars work?

This is my understanding: Before Ilúvatar created Eä , he created the Ainur, who were with him in his Timeless Halls . At Eä’s creation, some of the Ainur chose to enter the world and be bound to it. Of the Ainur who entered Eä, the fifteen most powerful were called the Valar (or fourteen plus Melkor ). The others were called Maiar. The Valar and Maiar cannot leave Eä until the end of the world. I don’t know whether they gave up any other powers. From the Ainulindalë , about the Valar being more powerful than the Maiar: And the Valar drew unto them many companions, some less, some well nigh as great as themselves. Later in the Ainulindalë , emphasis mine: Thus it came to pass that of the Ainur some abode still with Ilúvatar beyond the confines of the World; but others, and among them many of the greatest and most fair, took the leave of Ilúvatar and descended into it. But this condition Ilúvatar made, or it is the necessity of their love, that their power should thenceforward be conta...

In the 90's I read a book about two children (I think they were siblings, boy and girl) who climbed a tree. At the end they found a door to another world. After some time the (fantasy) worlds switched to another one. Once they got stuck in a world, because the world went on traveling and therefore the door couldn't be reached anymore. They met many curious individuals during their adventures. It's a completed novel for kids. I've read it in German, but I can't remember if the author was a German one, so it might've been available in English as well. It was a fairly thick book. EDIT: After some thought I remember a pancake kind of person Answer I'm pretty sure you're thinking of The Faraway Tree , a series by English author Enid Blyton. Books in the series include The Enchanted Wood and The Magic Faraway Tree . The "pancake person" was probably Moon-Face, named for his round face that looks like the moon. In the first novel in the series, Jo,...

From the script : Alarms sound throughout the hidden Rebel base. In the control room, a controller urgently gestures for General Rieekan to check a computer scan. CONTROLLER General, there's a fleet of Star Destroyers coming out of hyperspace in sector four. RIEEKAN Reroute all power to the energy shield. We've got to hold them till all transports are away. Prepare for ground assault. Rieekan exits hurriedly. [...] VADER What is it, General? VEERS My lord, the fleet has moves out of light-speed. Com-Scan has detected an energy field protecting an area around the sixth planet of the Hoth system. The field is strong enough to deflect any bombardment. VADER (angrily) The Rebels are alerted to our presence. Admiral Ozzel came out of light-speed too close to the system. VEERS He felt surprise was wiser... VA...

In the story I'm trying to recall, everybody on their thirteenth birthday (?) is assigned by some kind of brain analysis method a profession and given some kind of pill (?) that instantly (?) grants them the required knowledge and skills to start working immediately. Some professions are more sought after than others, especially in view of the olympic (?) games regularly held on a profession-by-profession basis. The protagonist, however, is turned down from this system and dismissed with some general reason and has to work his way to adulthood the boring old way: studying from books. Eventually he rejects from his status as a "special" student and goes on the run, hiding from the teachers and envying the normal people. Eventually, it turns out that the protagonist was actually smart enough that being spoonfed premade information was a waste. What he actually was assigned to was advancing the bundles of knowledge themselves, as well as being front line in the technologica...

After the Avada Kedavra curse rebounded from Harry onto Voldemort, Voldemort disappeared. I'm curious as to why so many key players believed Voldemort was still "alive" somewhere, his powers decimated, but, under the right circumstances, able to return to full power. It seems the witches and wizards in chapter one of Philosopher's Stone , The Boy Who Lived , were happy to believe that Voldemort was gone forever. Why didn't everyone believe Voldemort had died, rather than just disappeared? Was it the lack of a body? Or were there other reasons? Here's a couple of quotes from Philosopher's Stone if anyone wants to review them. Otherwise, just disregard. ‘A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You- Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?’ ‘It certainly seems so,’ said Dumbledore. ‘We have much to be thankful for.’ Philosopher's Stone - page 13 - Bloomsbury - chapter...

In the 1987 Robocop movie, Alex Murphy was shot by some gangsters. When OCP was making Robocop using Alex Murphy's body, was Alex Murphy still alive, or did OCP use his dead body to make Robocop? Answer Murphy was dead. When the doctors are operating on him, the line is Surgeon #1 - Ok, let's shock him to flatline, then quit. [They shock him] Surgeon #2 - No pulse! Surgeon #1 - I'm calling it [ medical slang for declaring the time of death ]. which tallies very nicely with what we see in the film's official novelisation A loud voice crashed through the fog. The dreams shattered. “I’ve got a straight line. Crash cart! 10 cc Adrenalin. Stand clear!” He felt cold grease on his chest. A surge of electricity slammed into his muscles. There was the ferret-faced thug. “Hit him again!” someone screamed. A sudden jolt conjured up the face of the Asian hit man. Another jolt. The farmboy. And another. The black man. And another. The high-foreheaded clown who blew his hand ...

During Rogue One, we saw that the Death Star was able to aim and directly target the city of Jedha. So why, an the end of the movie, did they not fire directly at the archive? They hit what seems to be a location far out in the water, next to the island. Answer I think it was because they didn't want to wait to get into ideal position. The Death star was rising from the horizon and positioning itself to attack. Turning huge battle station like that even for few degrees may take a long time (if we take into consideration the firing at the rebels base in ANH, where they managed to deploy a whole squadron and destroy the Death star before it could emerge from behind the planet). Tarkin knew exactly from previous attack what the blast radius is, and he probably didn't want to wait to get into position to hit the dead center of the target, when he knew he would hit the target anyway. (out of universe answer: so we get a more emotional ending)

I have heard that Anakin has a penchant for losing his lightsaber during the Clone Wars. So how many has he been known to have lost over the course of the war? Answers from both canonicities are welcome.

In WoT 13, Towers of Midnight, Tam is with Perrin and Rand at the same time. He goes to Rand, talks with him. At the same time, it is told him speaking with Perrin and crew. No mention of him being taken from Perrin's side by Aes Sedai. Because then Perrin would know all about what was happening in Tear from the Aes Sedai. No mention of Tam coming back either. It says Rand sent Tam back to Two Rivers. How was Tam in both places at the same time? Answer No, Tam's not really with both of them at the same time. That novel just does a terrible job of explaining where the various characters are in relation to each other's time lines. This isn't the first time, either; Crossroads of Twilight was almost entirely scenes that ran in parallel to the end of Winter's Heart . In Towers of Midnight , you need to pay attention to the times that Perrin "sees" Rand, either through his visions or, near the end, in person. That will give you a clue how far back you need t...

The only things about this book I can remember is there is male and female main characters journeying through an alternate/parallel universe. Along the way they meet various people, though the only character I can remember is named "Rupert of Murdoch" of some alternate spelling with sounds like that. Some of the names are a play on real-life people's names. It would have been a 1990s maybe late 80s book, and I think the author was male. I used to read this book often when I was younger but the title has slipped my mind :p

Batman clearly does a lot of research and development (apparently on his own in many timelines). The question has been posed before . Is Batman a scientist? Answer Yes, Batman is a scientist. But not all scientists are Batman. (Sorry, Homer.) From Batman (Bruce Wayne) at the DC Comics Database : Genius-Level Intellect: Batman is a brilliant, virtually peerless, detective, strategist, scientist , tactician, and commander; he is widely regarded as one of the keenest analytical minds on the planet. Given his lack of superpowers, he often uses cunning and planning to outwit his foes, rather than simply "out-fighting" them. [ emphasis added ]

In the movie, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, why don't Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan ever converse with Darth Maul? It seemed there were opportunities where they could have started a dialogue instead of swinging light sabers furiously. Why not ask him who he is, what he wanted? Was he a Sith? Did the Jedi assume that Darth Maul only wanted to fight them or was unable to communicate? In all the other episodes, we see plenty of conversation between Jedi and Sith. Answer If you're talking about the movies, the only time you see communication between Jedi and Sith are when they know each other. Such as Luke and his dear old Dad, or Obi-Wan and Anakin/Vader. While they do talk with Palpitane, that's before they know he's Sith or when they have enough they think they can take him in. From the start, when they see Darth Maul, he's on the offensive and ready to attack them. Their first encounter is on Tatooine and if Maul were interested in communicating verbally, he could...