In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...

Lots and lots of characters in the Harry Potter books have alliterative names (Severus Snape, Peter Pettigrew, Godric Gryffindor, Stan Shunpike, to name but a few). Is there a complete list of such characters? OK, this is a list question, but it has a finite scope: I want a list of all characters in the 10 books - the main series, Fantastic Beasts , Quidditch Through the Ages , and Tales of Beedle (not counting films, fanfics, or whatever else is out there) - whose first and last names begin with the same letter (to make clear what definition of 'alliterative' I'm using). Answer Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Dudley Dursley Minerva McGonagall Poppy Pomfrey (full name in book 3) Piers Polkiss Marlene McKinnon (full name in Book 5) Bathilda Bagshot Vindictus Viridian Quirinus Quirrell (full name from pottermore) Dedalus Diggle William Arthur (Bill) Weasley (full name in book 7) Gellert Grindelwald (full name in book 7) Bertie Bott Gregory Goyle Morag M...

I was wondering what the average lifespan of a human (not in a red shirt!) is in the 23rd Century (TOS)? Answer As per a quick search on Memory Alpha : The average Human life span had gradually increased during their history. the average life spans during the 22nd century was about 100 years (ENT: "Observer Effect"). This average age was still roughly the same during the 2250, but had risen to 120 by the mid-24th century. However, at some point in history the average lifespan for Humans was only 35, and by 1999 it had become higher than a millennium earlier. (ENT: "Similitude", VOY: "11:59"). Leonard McCoy had by 2364 reached the age of 137. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"). So the average human lifespan had increased from what we currently have today by the 23rd century. For more information on other specie's lifespans, click the link I have provided to Memory Alpha.

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.

I'm looking for a book I read in the 90's...it was about an experiment a couple decided to do on their child to make him smarter. I think the child ended up being too smart or something but I remember it getting kind of scary...his brain got bigger and bigger. I know I'm being vague but I was really young when I read it and it was way too advanced for me but I'm trying to find it!

In the books, I recall some small, unspecified number of giants escaping South. In the HBO series, Wun Wun is the only giant we see escaping from Hardhome and passing through the wall (and wow does he look tired and existentially unhappy). Book canon seems to be that giants were made extinct South of the wall long ago, and I do not recall the HBO series addressing that. Is there enough canon material to determine whether the giants are now below a minimum viable population in the books, the HBO series, or both?

Do I just not understand the concept of the hive mind entirely? My understanding is, its one voice that controls and orders all the drones in all unimatrices. It seems implausible (at least to me) that one voice, one mind, could control an entire collective.. how would a ship on the other side of the quadrant be instructed by the hive mind that also controls a cube on the opposite side of the quadrant at the same time? And all the mini tasks that a ship requires to operate, or are these tasks done individually by a hive mind directly on that ship? Answer You are falling into the caterpillar's dilemma; there's too much to control, so it seems that there is no way to control it all, when the answer is simple -- Don't bother. Think of the Borg Queen (or any 'lead' Borg) as the brain, specifically, the Super-ego. It's the part that does the 'conscious' thinking, and decides on major courses of action. The individual borgs, on the other hand, have very litt...

Why did Dudley have to have his piggy tail surgically removed? Why wasn't the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad dispatched to remove the tail and modify the Dursleys' memories? After Uncle Vernon insults Dumbledore one too many a time, Hagrid retaliates by giving Dudley a piggy tail: He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley – there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal and next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig’s tail poking through a hole in his trousers. [...] ‘Shouldn’ta lost me temper,’ [Hagrid] said ruefully, ‘but it didn’t work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn’t much left ter do.’ Philosopher's Stone - page 48 - Bloomsbury - chapter 4, The Keeper of the Keys So Hagrid's magic didn't work right. Dudley subsequently ...

I'm just wondering whether the DeLorean time machine has any restrictions on how far into the future or how far into the past it can travel. Inspired when I was considering an earlier question of mine it struck me that the earliest we actually see the DeLorean travel to 1st of January 1885 - the time circuits may have defaulted to that date because that was the earliest date (i.e. 100 years from when it was made and 70 years from when it was in 1955) that the DeLorean could travel to. Yet, we see in the beginning of Back to the Future that Doc suggests the time machine could travel to witness the birth of Christ (the date he uses is 25 December 0000). So, my question: is there any evidence to suggest there are any restrictions on how far into the future or past the DeLorean can travel to? Answer Well, the controls are 4-digit year. Because Y2K wasn't realized as a problem back then :) So, presumably, even if the Flux Capacitor could take you anytime (as per @N_Soong's a...

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...

One of the main plot points in Chamber of Secrets is Ron's malfunctioning wand: Ron was having far worse problems. He had patched up his wand with some borrowed Spellotape, but it seemed to be damaged beyond repair. It kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and every time Ron tried to transfigure his beetle it engulfed him in thick gray smoke that smelled of rotten eggs. Unable to see what he was doing, Ron accidentally squashed his beetle with his elbow and had to ask for a new one. Professor McGonagall wasn’t pleased. Since cracking a wand seems like a very easy thing to due, and considering that Hogwarts is made of kids, an age group not known for their responsibility, why doesn't Hogwarts have a stash of backup wands for the students? Please don't answer that Hogwarts doesn't carry backups, because they do carry backup spellbooks (HBP) and backup brooms. Answer (so, I edited this to include the other theories I started to develop in comments. PMar's answe...

SF short story I read as a kid in Galaxy or similar mag, I read it in late 60s/early 70s but story may have been older. A guy is transported, via some means which I don't recall, into Asgard at the time just preceding the beginning of Ragnarok. He is an engineer or scientist and understands the principles and technologies of manufacturing atomic weapons and heavy artillery and instructs the Norse gods in how to create the weaponry, which is then used by the Norse gods to win Ragnarok.

I am basing this on the assumption that trolls in the Potterverse require at least somewhat regular eating. They are said to have a fondness for human flesh, and presumably creatures of that size don’t just exist on nothing. When Harry and Hermione get past McGonagall’s protection of the Philosopher’s Stone (the chess set), they are met with Quirrell’s protection, a giant troll (thankfully knocked out). So if we’re assuming that the troll has been in this dungeon-like place for the entire school year, ever since the Stone was moved there—then who has been feeding it? The obvious answer would be Quirrell himself, since it was his protection—but that doesn’t add up, for at least three reasons: Quirrell had to do the whole hooded-stranger-with-a-dragon’s-egg tap-and-dance to figure out how to get past Fluffy, so obviously he wouldn’t have been regularly getting past him to feed the troll. When Quirrell does get to his troll on his way to the Stone, he injures the flying key charmed by Fli...

When Voldemort cast Avada Kedavra against baby Harry, he didn't realise what was going to happen. He made a total of 7 Horcruxes, including Harry, but only 6 were made deliberately, despite his talk about 7 being the most powerfully magical number. So was he still in the process of making his Horcruxes when he went to kill the Potters in Godric's Hollow? (This question was inspired by: https://www.potterforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=55164 )

In the Star Trek Universe where did the Q come from? I mean before they were Q in the Q Continuum? In Star Trek Voyager you learn that the race is somewhat intolerant of individualism (in the episode of the Q Civil War) but Q also suggest they have always been Q. Is that statement true, have the Q always been the Q? or were they a race that evolved into omniscience? Answer They are a race that became sufficiently advanced. They're likely one of the first races, and their technology advanced over a very long time. It's entirely possible that they then traveled time and wiped out evidence of their prior existence, and began living outside of time. If the Q existed at the beginning of time (thanks to time travel) and still exist at the end of time, and can visit any point in the timeline, it's not inaccurate to say they "have always existed and will always exist", despite there being a time (in THEIR timeline) when they did not exist as they are. Also, I don't ...

Howard Lovecraft had a pretty vivid imagination, but did he ever draw out or see others drawings of his creatures from his Cthulhu mythos? If so is there some authoritive, or widely accepted set of drawings? These are some that I found, but I have no idea if these are 'accurate': Answer Cthulhu as drawn by H. P. Lovecraft and a sculpture based on drawing from Lovecraft. the Elder sign shown below (the "leaf" one, not the "eye" one) was drawn by Lovecraft in a 1930 letter to Clark Ashton Smith.

Given the recent popularity of questions regarding various portrayals of Superman (as Asian or African American ), I noticed that I don't remember ever hearing about an Asian Batman. I know of the popular Bruce Wayne, an African-American one and even a Russian one, but has there ever been an Asian portrayal of the Bat? (Excluding the whole Chinese Justice League which is a more recent addition). Answer Yes! There are at least two (and a debatable other). Robin Annual #3, "The Narrow Path" (1994) features a Japanese Robin trained under a Bat Ninja (not to be mistaken with the 2018 animated Batman Ninja , who's from Gotham). Unfortunately, this ninja only appears (and dies) in this issue, so not much is known of him. Granted, his armor is more reminiscent of those of the samurai, but he's described as a ninja. Batman of Shanghai (2012) would also qualify. It was made by a Chinese animation studio, Wolf Smoke, and was included in the DC Nation shorts . It also f...

The xenomorph inner-mouth is pretty unique, I don't think I've ever seen it or anything similar in any real creature. Do we know if Ridley Scott found inspiration for it anywhere in nature or did he think it up completely from scratch? Answer H.R. Giger actually came up with the second mouth, not Ridley. I have read interviews with Giger where he describes the second mouth as being added to evoke male oral rape. Some of Giger's paintings show that in a much more obvious manner (warning, NSFW!). Much of the xenomorph original design was based around the feelings Giger wanted to evoke with it, such as having no eyes.

Do Muggles have to know a pathway/portal exists at Platform 9 3/4 to pass through it or can they just go through accidentally? Answer We can divide this into two parts: When the Hogwarts term is starting Other days I would guess that if the Hogwarts term is not starting, the platform is closed. I don't have any proof, but given the care and caution, the wizards give about muggles, it sounds likely. It is also supported by the Pottermore quotation in the following part of the answer. Conclusion 1: In most of the days in a year, nobody can go through When the Hogwarts term is starting, it is not that clear. To cite Pottermore : There are usually a number of plain-clothed Ministry of Magic employees on hand to deal with any inconvenient Muggle memories that may need altering at the start and end of each Hogwarts term. I.e. if the muggles would go through accidentally, they wouldn't remember anything from that. So even in that case, it is not that dangerous. I didn't find ...

In the Harry Potter movies, was their a specific owl, or owls that played Hedwig? What are their name/names and in what movies did they appears? Answer There were actually at least eight different animal actors used to portray Hedwig throughout the Harry Potter movies, but Gizmo seems to have been the primary animal actor. This article about animals in the HP movies explains : Seven were needed to play Hedwig, the owl Hagrid purchased for the young wizard prodigy: named Gizmo, Kasper, Oops, Swoops, Oh Oh, Elmo and Bandit. This other article mentions an eigth - White Terror Of The North. Why he was not mentioned in the other article is not clear, but he did not appear in The Sorcerer's Stone . He starred in all the Harry Potter movies but the first This same article mentions that there were nine owls used, but does not identify the others by name. He was the more enthusiastic of the 9 owl actors that played Hedwig The book The Animal Movies Guide mentions that Gizmo was the prim...

If you go back to Attack of the Clones , Anakin and Obi-Wan sensed that poisonous alien worms were about to kill Padme. Back in Revenge of the Sith , the Jedi could take on the legion or if there were too many, they could at least escape. Answer The Jedi at the temple were at a massive disadvantage. The most capable Jedi were offworld fighting leading the Clone Army and those that were left on Coruscant were the young, the elderly, a few guards, various Temple staff (librarians, mechnanics, slicers and such) and a few members of the Council who weren't in the building when the attack happened. Once Order 66 was enacted, the Jedi were systematically gunned down across the galaxy over the course of just a few minutes. Those that remained alive seem to be suffering from some sort of Force-related shock at the change in the balance of the Force from light to dark. On top of that, the Clones aren't actually malevolent, merely following their orders dispassionately: With the Jedi O...

Now to the question... During the scene where Cersei sits on the Iron Throne and is "sworn in" we see her escorted by seven members of the Kingsguard. Now this is what I would expect as that is the correct number. However, I have no idea who they are ! [embedded content] The books pay more attention to detail in this area, but the show is also diverging and outpacing in this regard. We can see that a few of the names are not possible on the show. I have listed the names from the books and given why the reason they could not be members on the show in bold. Ser Jaime Lannister, Lord Commander - Stripped of title Ser Loras Tyrell - Dead and also was never a KG on the show. Ser Osmund Kettleblack - Possible, but not mentioned by name Ser Balon Swann - Possible, but not mentioned by name Ser Meryn Trant - Dead Ser Boros Blount - Possible, but not mentioned by name Ser Robert Strong (aka Zombie Mountain) - Confirmed I know it can be confusing mixing the books and shows, but the qu...

The duty of chief engineer has been emphasised as one of the most important ones in the Star Trek franchise, in all its adaptations. In The Next Generation, La Forge took over the task in season two. But who was the chief engineer in season 1? I found no mention of that anywhere. Is the season 1 of TNG the only one in the whole Star Trek series where the role of the chief engineer is less emphasised? Answer As far as I know, they had a series of Chief Engineers. E.g. "The Naked Now" (S1E03) had Sarah MacDougal . Memory Alpha lists the sequence as "MacDougal; Argyle; Logan; Lynch; La Forge". The fan speculation was that they did it to try and NOT have a "This is the new Scotty" comparisons. Memory Alpha tries to hand-wave it away with talking of "Multiple simultaneous chief engineers, possibly one for each shift", but that sounds like rationalization without a canonical source. And yes, S1 of TNG was the only one where there was no main-charact...

Several passages in War of the Gifts would imply that socks are worn in Battle School: But even as a joke, it was a gift, wasn't it? Santa Claus was giving gifts all over Battle School within days. It was more than just gifts. It was stockings. Nobody could say who started it, but after a while it seemed that the giving of every gift was accompanied by a stocking. Rolled up, hidden inside something else, but always a stocking. Nobody hung the stocking up in hopes of getting it filled, of course. It was the other way around- the stockings were being given as part of the gift. And the recipient of the stocking found a way to wear it, whether it fit or not. Dangling from a sleeve. On a foot, but not matched with the other sock. Inside a flash suit. Sticking out of a pocket. Just for a day, the sock was worn, and then it was given back. It was the stocking more than the words now that said, This is from Santa Claus. "Swollen?" "I don't know yet," said Wiggin. ...

I would like to know what combination of ingredients resulted in the formation of Proto-Adamantium?

This (and others eg: this ) answer states that Frodo claiming the ring alerted Sauron immediately of its position, which makes sense: How else would Sauron realize where the Ring and Frodo were at that exact moment. And it also explains why Sauron did not know where the ring was beforehand. However there is a problem with this: Why did Sauron not find out about where the ring was when it was in Gollum's possession? Gollum obviously claimed the ring as his own (he even dreamt about becoming Gollum the Great, unfortunately I'm not able to find the passage in the books). In addition Bilbo claims it as well (right before he leaves it for Frodo), without alerting Sauron (Sauron learns about the Shire from Gollum, not through some form of comunication with the ring) Is there an in canon explanation, or have I simply misunderstood something? Answer Joseph R's answer is a good one -- by wearing the Ring, Frodo did make himself more noticeable to the Ringwraiths nearby, but no...

Is Georges Méliès' film A Trip to the Moon (1902) the first science fiction film ever made? Or are there any SF films before it? I've searched and researched, on and off since I first saw it in a college film class, but have never found one that was earlier. Are there any that predate it? Answer The first sci-fi short movie made as sci-fi is clearly A Trip to the Moon . There are two earlier pieces that have sci-fi elements in them: La Charcuterie mécanique from 1895 - a mechanical butcher. The Clown and the Automaton from 1897 - a circus performer producing an automaton that grew in size. But you are asking about sci-fi movies, and A Trip to the Moon is the first short movie ever using this theme all the way through. Wikipedia references:

Near the end of Star Wars IV: A New Hope , we see four spacecraft flying from the Death Star just moments before it explodes. As you can see, there is the Millennium Falcon crewed by Han and Chewbacca, a pair of X-Wings which has to be Luke and Wedge, and then in the bottom corner, we see a Y-Wing. Who is this pilot and did he have any screen time to justify him actually existing in this moment? For as far as I can tell during the first trench runs, they were conducted by the Y-Wings and all of them seemed to have been destroyed during their run. So as I asked, who is flying this ship and how did survive to this moment? Answer Wookieepedia indicates that Keyan Farlander is the pilot of the Y-wing fighter seen leaving the Death Star alongside Luke, Wedge and the Millennium Falcon. This seems kinda thinly sourced, however. For the main attack on the Death Star, Farlander was temporarily reassigned to Gold Squadron and flew a Y-wing in the battle (src: X-wing Collector's CD-ROM: T...

In the films of Lord of the Rings, in the flashback to the battle where Isildur takes the ring from Sauron's hand, why was Sauron reaching towards Isildur, thus allowing him to cut off Sauron's finger? This is the scene, skip to 3:54 to see Sauron reach down towards Isildur. But why? Surely he knew that, even with a broken sword, Isildur would try to kill him. Answer In-universe, Sauron was most likely reaching for Isildur to choke him and burn him to a cinder, as seen in this official concept-art picture from the "Art of the Fellowship of the Ring" (note the smoke rising from the body). Out-of-universe, we can be reasonably confident that the idea was simply to have Sauron be in a credible position to have his fingers chopped off. Note that in the earliest storyboards, Sauron overbalanced after striking at Isildur with his mace, however since the entire purpose of this scene (according to Peter Jackson in the commentary track) was to establish Sauron as a very c...

Gimli was allowed to go to Valinor despite not being a ring bearer. Is this explained in detail or just with the one line "for his love for Galadriel"? Answer There's not much detail about this aside from what's said in Appendix A to Return of the King: We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Glóin's son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But it is said that Gimli went also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and it may be that she, being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him. More cannot be said of this matter. And Appendix B: Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf . And when that sh...

Throughout the Inheritance Cycle , Angela plays a frequent, mysterious role. There are some vague hints as to an interesting back story, including: Saphira makes mention of her as a person with a "Young body, old mind" She indicates that she might be quite old. The Elves have considerable respect for her, for reasons which are never noted. She seems to have considerable power, but not as much as King Galbatorix. She seems to know things she shouldn't, such as how to protect herself against Elva, what was going to happen to Eragon at the end of the 4th book before he had mentioned it to any but a VERY few trusted people, etc. Solembum, the werecat, seems to trust her a great deal, but doesn't seem to know why. So, what is her back story? Answer As Christopher Paolini mentions in the appendix of the final book, Inheritance, this is left as an open question that may or may not be answered in future books, if any... He jokingly suggests we ask Angela Paolini herself, fo...

Rita Skeeter's Witch Weekly article states that Love Potions are banned at Hogwarts. Love Potions are of course banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate. (Goblet of Fire, Chapter 27, Padfoot Returns) Obviously Skeeter has been known to print the odd untruth in her time. I wonder if this one of them. There certainly seem to be plenty of Love Potion-brewers and -users at Hogwarts: Gilderoy Lockhart encourages students to ask Snape to brew a Love Potion for them. Molly Weasley brewed a Love Potion as a student. Romilda Vane repeatedly tries to dope Harry during Half-Blood Prince . Slughorn brews Amortentia, "the most powerful love potion in the world", in front of his sixth-year Potions class. The Weasley twins brew the "best range of love potions you'll find anywhere." These are banned by F...

The opening shot of A New Hope features a fight in space between the rebel ship, the Tantive IV , and an Imperial Star Destroyer. I understand why the Tantive IV would be (uselessly) firing at the Empire's ship since the Rebels were running for their lives. But why would the Star Destroyer shoot at the Tantive IV ? A misplaced shot could destroy the ship altogether. Indeed, at one point they hit the middle of the ship, causing an explosion. It's my understanding that the Empire was trying to recover the stolen Death Star plans, not destroy them. They wanted to recapture the plans, detain the crew and probably torture them for information on the Rebellion. This is reflected in Vader's commands. VADER: Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans and bring me the passengers. I want them alive! Since they were going to capture the Tantive IV in their tractor beam anyway why risk destroying the ship and its precious cargo? Answer The goal was to di...

When he was just a professor, Dumbledore taught Transfiguration. As Headmaster what was he doing all day? In the 6th movie he was diligently looking for Horcruxes, but what about the other times? When Fred and George pass the Maurader's Map to Harry they note that Dumbledore is pacing in his office. "He does that a lot" one of them says. Did Dumbledore just endless pace in his office as Headmaster, afraid to leave it for fear someone would know that he produced no work? Sure, every year he had to go find a new DADA teacher, but most of those it seemed he did through correspondence. Horace Slughorn was the only one that seemed to resist. Dumbledore's 6th year may have been the only one where he earned his paycheck. Answer Apart from being Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore was also the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, as well as the Founder and Leader of the Order of the Phoenix. Duties within t...

There was a show (in color) in either the 1970's or 1980's. The episode I'm trying to find had a man (I seem to remember him working in a deli or butcher shop) whose father had died in WWII when his troop ship was sunk. Somehow the son got a radio that was broadcasting as if it was WWII. The son radios a warning to the troop ship. The next morning, he goes to the shop and his father is there! Somehow, his warning had gotten though and saved his father. The son is overjoyed. Then, outside, the morning newspaper is dropped on the corner...by someone dressed in German military uniform. The newspaper name is something like "Cleveland Beobachter". His father was saved, but Germany won WWII. I've looked through episode guides of all the sci-fi anthology shows I could find, but no luck. I'm certain it was from an anthology show, as it certainly was not from a serial. Does anyone happen to remember what this episode and show was?