Split (1)

train · 95.7k rows

source stringlengths 620 29.3k	target stringlengths 12 1.24k
Why was Harry so good at Quidditch? Okay, we know that Harry Potter was unusually good at Quidditch. Why? Most of his other unusual abilities, we have explained, but this one hasn't really, to my knowledge. <Q> Part of it is purely physiological skills (reaction time, hand-eye coordination, balance, spacial orientation...	so on top of whatever he inherited from his father (McGonagall mentions in Book 1 James was an excellent quidditch player), the instincts Harry had immediately upon getting on a broom in the Sorcerer's Stone to chase Malfoy were born from his experiences as a very young child.
Has the TARDIS been in cloaked-mode before? In season 6 episode 1, The Impossible Astronaut , The Doctor cloaks the TARDIS, rendering its external appearance invisible. Is this the first time the TARDIS has shown this capability? <Q> It's not the first time, but not by much. <S> The End of Time , David Tennant's la...	I don't comprehend how this question could go unanswered, or hold an correct answer for such a long span of time: The TARDIS has been made to be invisible, on one prior occasion:
Book about a man who's cut in half & placed in suspended animation I remember reading a book fifteen to twenty years ago that had the following charactersitics: The main character was a man who at some point lost the lower part of his body (legs & pelvis) He was placed in suspended animation / cryogenic sleep at one...	The Godwhale by T. J. Bass (1974).
How could the saucer section of the Enterprise sustain warp velocity without a warp engine? In the first TNG episode the saucer section is separated at warp speed. But how is that possible? Memory Alpha says that the saucer section quickly loses speed, but wouldn't it just drop out of warp as soon as it leaves the wa...	As for how it remained at warp, I believe the only explanation is the warp field being extended beyond the ship for some distance, within which the saucer could maneuver at warp speeds, before moving beyond it and dropping out of warp.
Is the method of colonizing Mars in Red Mars realistic? How realistic is the method of colonizing Mars in Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson ?Specifically, the part in the beginning, with a 4 person crew to visit the planet first, sending crews, etc. Really I only care for the first visit and the 100 colonists, until ...	The whole purpose of people going to Mars was profit and is very difficult to make a profit even if you would harvest pure diamonds.
In what city or town is Kvothe's Inn located? In the Kingkiller Chronicles ( The Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear ), by Patrick Rothfuss , what city or town is Kvothe's inn located? <Q> According to Wikipedia , When Chronicler wakes, he is at the Inn in Newarre, and at once claims to recognize Kote as Kvoth...	It's likely in Newarre.
Why didn't Jack O'Neill retire? Stargate SG-1 starts with O'Neill being pulled, reluctantly, out of retirement. At the time, he's one of very few people to have been through the Stargate, and his experience is direly needed. As of Stargate Universe, SG-1 is scattered to the winds, the Stargate project is quite mature ...	His sense of responsibility just doesn't allow him to pass it off to someone who wouldn't be as qualified, thus risking Earth's security, as well as the safety of all the SG-teams. Well, before the season one there had been completely nothing military could offer Jack that he would have liked.
What is the first appearance of Elves in fantasy? Elves are a common appearance in many worlds in Fantasy. From Tokien, to Harry Potter, to Dungeons and Dragons, and Eragon. Many works feature Elves in some way, all with many common characteristics. But, I'm kind of curious, what's the earliest book that featured Elves...	Elves played a central role in Tolkien's legendarium, notably The Silmarillion.
What do the Q really look like, are they even human like? Or corporeal? Ok, I think this will be my last Q related question, for a while... well maybe not. It is known that Q can morph, or whatever he does, to other creatures including a human form. What's Q's originally alien form? Does anyone know, or is it one of t...	While Quinn stated that the Q were once not unlike humanoid lifeforms, Q (the being) implied that the Q never came in to existence, but rather always were.
What fuel/resources are used to power engines in the Star Wars universe? What kind of fuel or resources are used to power most engines in the Star Wars universe? They often reference engines as "reactors". Fusion, fission, something fantasy? Is there a waste product and if so what? Obviously the Death Star reactor gene...	However, Hypermatter was not the only fuel: TIE fighters' ion engines "utilized internal fusion reactions to produce a stream of highly-charged particles that were forced through the engine's exhaust port at nearly the speed of light"
Is John Carter Immortal? In Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars novels the John Carter character seems to be immortal, never aging after some point. He can't remember experiencing a childhood and several generations of families referred to him as "Uncle Jack" and watched the family members grow old and die as he stayed y...	Yes, John Carter is immortal (Burroughs at one point refers to him as "the unaging Virginian) Carter's extended lifespan works out quite well on Mars, where the inhabitants live for as much as a thousand years, with those lucky enough to survive that long in Mars' warlike civilization show almost no signs of aging unti...
What was guarding the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone before the mirror of Erised? So, we know that the Mirror of Erised was the ultimate guardian to the Stone in the first Harry Potter book, but we also know that it wasn't there until about the New Year. The Stone was there for perhaps 4 months before that. Was it ju...	As far as the mirror, there's no evidence , but Harry himself says he suspects that it was placed in room for him to find (and therefore was employed as a defense prior to that) in the end of HPSS: I like to think that guarding the stone was constantly being updated and changed, since Dumbledore was aware that somethin...
Are the Na'vi mammals? In AVATAR the Na'vi are not placental mammals and breasts were for cinematic appeal. So are the Na'vi mammals at all? <Q> The classification system we use for Earth flora and fauna can't be applied to the flora and fauna of Pandora, as they are not from the same ecosystems. <S> Completely sep...	No animal that didn't evolve on earth (or at least from a species that originated there) can be a mammal.
Why do the Cylons cause a holocaust? Why do the Cylons bother to destroy the Humans? What's their reasoning? They could have just as well populated the rest of the universe and left the puny humans alone, destroying the humans should have been noted as a waste of time. Why did they choose to get involved? <Q> One captu...	She says that the Cylons believe that the humans just did not deserve to live.
How did Baltar's and Caprica-Six's illusions communicate? In the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, we learn that Caprica-Six and Baltar have a shared illusion. The illusions are not each other's consciousness being kept by some Cylon link, they are actual people from the future who appear identical to Baltar and Capric...	There is only one logical conclusion and that is that they are Angels of God there to guide two civilizations to a new beginning and the start of a new cycle.
Why does Earth have two stargates? How come Earth has two Stargates, and why does one of them get "priority"? <Q> In essence one wormhole from one planet can be established. <S> Only one address exists, one point of origin. <S> The first one to receive the connect signal gets activated, which is why the Antarctica star...	It seems that the presence of ANY DHD (including homegrown versions, like the SGC's) gives a gate priority over one without a DHD, though the method of detection is unclear.
Is Stargate (movie) based on a book? From what I can see in the IMDB page of the movie, the writing credits are given to Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. Was it based (even loosely) on an existing book or is this an original script which gave birth to a book afterwards?In the latter case, is the book just a transcrip...	Stargate the movie is very, very loosely based on the book Stargate by Pauline Gedge .
Where did the concept of Adamantium come from, and is it used in other Sci-Fi works outside of X-Men? I'm interested in the alloy that gave us Wolverine's claws. I want to know where the idea came from, how was the name determined? Was it just completely random? Where did the concept come from? Who thought of it? And w...	Adamant and the literary form adamantine occur in works such as the Aeneid, The Faerie Queene, Paradise Lost, Gulliver's Travels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Lord of the Rings, and the film Forbidden Planet, all of which predate the use of adamantium in Marvel's comics. The noun adamant has long been used to desi...
Who is the eye patch woman? In season 6, episode 2 of Doctor Who , ( Day of the Moon ), we see a character that suddenly appears but is never seen again in this episode. Amy briefly saw a woman with an eye patch looking through a small window in a door. This woman looked off-camera and said, "No, I think she's just ...	The entire season is going to turn out to be a premonition dream in a mental hospital, and the 'eye patch woman' is a mental health nurse.
Are all Gallifreyans able to regenerate? I saw in an question that Susan Foreman might not be a Time Lady. This made me think if she would regenerate like the Doctor. Are all people from Gallifrey Time Lords? I remember an episode where there were people who seemed to live outside of the Time Lord world. Do they all re...	My suspicion is that regeneration is something that the Time Lords developed themselves as a technology. As far as I can tell, All Time Lords have the ability to generate.
Is Jane of the Ender series immortal? In Orson Scott Card 's Ender series ( Speaker for the Dead , Xenocide , Children of the Mind ), is Jane immortal? Once she moves into her human body, does that mean she will be subject to aging as normal humans are? If her body dies, will her aiua move into the mothertree netwo...	If she is scrubbed from all networks, or at least reduced to very few machines operating on said networks, then she will die.
In the Goblet of Fire, what was the point of S.P.E.W.? In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare) was created. How did its creation drive the plot of the book forward? To me, it doesn't seem to drive the plot in any way. In fact, the movie removed it entirely. What w...	The major effect it had was to give Hermione a reason to go to the kitchens (to talk to the house-elves there).
Would more DNA be stored in mosquitoes than bones? In Jurassic park, Dinosaurs are resurrected by DNA stored in mosquitoes, who had sucked dinosaur blood. Is there any particular reason why more DNA would be stored in a mosquito than in a bone or similar device? <Q> There's a real-life basis for that: mosquitos trapped...	DNA in exposed bones decays too fast (a few million years at most) to be recovered from a dinosaur fossil.
What are the origins of natives in Avatar movies? What are the origins of natives in Avatar movies (long height people with tail, and blue color). Either literary/art origins, or explanations for evolving this way. <Q> Blue body was from the character Lord Rama from Ramayana . <S> the long tail is from Hanuman . <...	The height must be the result of the lower surface gravity on Pandora compared to the Earth.
Why would the Bifröst Bridge in Thor be able to destroy other worlds? I was under the impression that the Bifröst Bridge is just a bridge (wormhole) between the 9 worlds, and yet in the movie it can be used as a weapon. <Q> The bridge output an enormous amount of energy, and when turned to full power, that energy was a...	It is, in effect a black hole (as we see when Thor and Loki are hanging off the remainder of the bridge) so if focused properly, say into a small enough point, the gravitational pull needed to warp space would be devastating.
Are there languages for which postures are very important? Many speculative fiction works have languages that depend to a great deal on the postures of the people communicating. Some examples are the language of the Adem in Patrick Rothfuss' The Wise Man's Fears and the language of the Khai in Daniel Abraham's Long ...	So...yes, there are most definitely real-world languages that use postures for communication. :D
Is there an older Doctor Who series? I just started to watch Doctor Who, and the episode was said to be the 1st season. The actor playing the Doctor is this guy: I discovered people in other questions on the site said something about a 2005 reboot. Is this the first one, or is there an older series? <Q> David Tenna...	That actor is Christopher Eccleston; he played the ninth Doctor Who, and was the first Doctor of the recent relaunch (I wouldn't call it a reboot, since they are generally continuing where the older series left off, although plenty certainly do) of the series.
Why were there no Hogwarts Quidditch games in Goblet of Fire? Why were there no Hogwarts Quidditch games in Goblet of Fire? Was there an official explanation from Dumbledore that the school games are cancelled due to Triwizard tournament and if so, why? <Q> There was an official explanation, at the beginning of the yea...	Dumbledore announced that there would be no Quidditch over the year, just before announcing the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Number of Jedi after Order 66? How many Jedi survived Order 66? Was Master Yoda the only one or are there any more who disappeared into the shadows? <Q> According to the Star Wars wiki , there were fewer than 100 surviving Jedi after the order, but it was only the start of the Great Jedi Purge . <S> For roughly 19 ye...	The Force Unleashed is not strict canon, but it does indicate that a number of Jedi survived the order, as your character is required to hunt down a number of Jedi hiding in various locations.
What happened to Jon Snow's direwolf? I noticed that when Jon Snow left Winterfell with his uncle to head to the Wall, his direwolf was nowhere in sight. In fact, I don't recall seeing it since they found the pups by their dead mother. In general, the direwolves seem to have less of a presence in the show than they d...	The animals playing the role of the direwolves proved to be very hard to control on camera.
Why does the SGU Destiny gate vent? In Destiny, the Stargate vents and flashes when it closes. I don't think I've seen this happen to any other gates. Are there any reasons why this is the case? <Q> According to the Stargate Wiki, the CO 2 vents (that's what vents after the gate closes) appears to be superfluous. <S...	It could also be that the stargate is full of pure CO 2 during the active wormhole, and that it's vented out after the wormhole closes, for the same reasons as above.
Does the intro sequence to the Game of Thrones TV series have any meaning? The intro to Game of Thrones episodes includes a model mechanical world sprouting up buildings at Kings' Landing, Winterfell, and other key locations. Does this have any significance other than something cool to look at? <Q> George R. R. Martin...	It appears that the title sequence was originally intended to be used as transitions to indicate the movement of the plot to different parts of the world.
Does each season of Game of Thrones roughly equal a book? Does each current Game of Thrones season roughly equal one A Song of Ice and Fire book? And do we know which future seasons will cover which books? I am planning to read the first book after the TV show has finished depicting the events in the first book. I...	I remember reading somewhere that this is indeed the plan: each season is roughly equivalent to one book.
In Doctor Who, how does River end up in prison? We know she'll end up there because: she kills a very good man. I really don't want to think it's the Doctor, but it does cross my mind all the time. She won't tell the Doctor, so it's a very, very good man they both know. <Q> In the events of "Let's Kill Hitler", we...	Officially, it's because she killed "a very good man". I also think she stays in jail because she promised the doctor she would (she says "I have a promise to keep.") Maybe the doctor wants her there so he can easily find her.
In the Dune universe, how do the sandworms enlarge the desert? In Chapterhouse Dune and in Hunters of Dune, it is clear that the Sandworms are causing the desert area to grow and take more and more of the surface of the planet. However, the sandworms need desert-sand to be able to move (as implied by their name). Do th...	Sandworm movement results in friction-erosion of basin bottoms and solid objects in the sand.
Did Skynet evolve out of Andy Good's AI Chess computer, "Turk"? In Terminator The Sarah Conner Chronicles , we find out about an AI Chess computer invented by Andy Good. Did Myles Dyson use any of Andy's code when he invented the Neural Net CPU ? <Q> One of the things TSCC provided was that there isn't a single futu...	Most likely, despite Sarah Connor's efforts, the TSCC hostile Skynet is operational due to Miles Dyson's work on the Neural Net CPU, rather than Andy Goode's work on the Turk.
What special powers did the Dwarf rings give their users? I think it's fairly well explained what powers were given to the One Ring, Elves, and Humans, but the dwarf rings are little explained in the series. Why were these rings important, or what kinds of powers did they give? <Q> The Dwarves used their Rings to estab...	The only power over [Dwarves] that the Rings wielded was to inflame their hearts with a greed of gold and precious things, so that if they lacked them all other good things seemed profitless, and they were filled with wrath and desire for vengeance on all who deprived them.
Why do Jawas always wear hoods? Even indoors. What do they look like? What are Jawas supposed to look like under their heavy clothes? <Q> The long and hard answer: <S> Jawas look like "gaunt, rodent-like creatures, with shrunken faces and yellow eyes". <S> And for the robes, those are used much like the ones from Dun...	They wear the cloaks to hide like camouflage as well. The short and easy answer: because those make for cheap, quick costumes.
What is the backstory of the Doctor Who story The Satan Pit? Is there any backstory to the 10th Doctor episode The Satan Pit other than what is revealed in the episode itself? There are many gaps in the story, such as: What is the beast? Satan? If he is just a creature, what is his race? Why lock it up, rather th...	I guess the Disciples of Light created the field around the planet and the mechanism that would destroy the planet should the Beast physically escape.
Children's science fiction show with two robots on a planet of junk I've been trying to remember the name of a British children's science fiction show from (I think) the 80's. The show revolved around two robots who lived on a planet made up of junk. I think the robots were also made up junk, one of the robots was bi...	CP & Qwikstitch was a British kids show from 1985 about two robots from planet Junkus Minor, where all the broken machines from the galaxy ended up. The special is also known as Runaway Robots! They were made up of old machines; one was bipedal (and had irons for feet) and the other one was dog-like and moved around on...
What effect would the One Ring have on other people? We know that for hobbits, the One Ring makes them invisible. But, at least according to the movie, Sauron was not invisible when he was wearing the ring. What effects would the ring have on other types of people: Dwarves, Elves, magic users, or any other interesting ...	It can do many things, though for most people it only extends their lives and turns them invisible. Having not read the Simarillion or any other Tolkien works outside of the trilogy & The Hobbit, I believe the effects of the ring are similar no matter who wears it.
Why did the Tollan get wiped out? In SG-1 we met the Tollan. They never went through a 'Dark Age' after being transplanted from Earth, and are thus at least 200 years ahead of us, technologically. In their first appearance they demonstrate technology which allows them to pass through solid objects, a palm-sized devic...	The Tollan were wiped out when Anubis, half-ascended and still bearing incredible knowledge of Ancient technology, arrived with ships that had been upgraded with said Ancient technology, rendering them impervious to the Tollans' ion cannons -- the only defense they had against attacks from orbit. So it is quite possibl...
Why are newly animated Transformers always evil? In the Transformers film series , common household electronics like cellphones, radios and blenders are often turned into Transformers when they come in contact with the AllSpark energy. Why are these new Transformers always evil, trying to shoot everything around them?...	In the film we see that the "All Spark, Matrix" or whatever is really called turned whatever machine it touched into a killing bot!
Was the pianist in Gattaca an "in-valid"? Was the pianist in Gattaca a "valid" or "in-valid"? Is there any evidence, in universe, or in RL interviews with the director/producers/cast, to say if the pianist was considered an in-valid or as one of the genetic elite? Here's what I have thought of so far: Argument for...	I don't think there's anyway to know, really, since we know absolutely nothing about his background. If the pianist had been a true in-valid, he would probably have never been allowed near a piano because people would have assumed that he wasn't intelligent enough or talented enough to play it.
What happened to Anubis's host? Anubis was a goa'uld who ascended with the help of the ascended being Oma Desala. I'm wondering, then, what happened to Anubis's host. We've seen that when others ascend, their clothes are left behind; would the host be similarly left behind? Or would the host have ascended along with A...	I always figured that Anubis' host died or ascended independently of the Goa'uld, and that it was Anubis the Goa'uld who returned, taking human form, like a residual self-image.
Is anything known about the Doctor's brother? In the 10th Doctor episode Smith and Jones when Martha asks the Doctor if he has a brother, he says No, not any more. It seems like if there had never been any mention of a brother, and no plans to introduce (a history of) one, a simple "no" would have worked for the...	The Doctor's brother, Irving Braxiatel has quite a storied history IF you have listened to any of the audio products/broadcasts of the Dr Who Series. I'm pretty certain that there has never been a mention in the series about a brother.
What happened to the Cybermen in our universe? In the new Doctor Who series the Cybermen come from an alternate universe and an alternate Earth. In the old series the Cybermen came from our universe. So what happened to them? <Q> The Cybermen were last seen in the Silver Nemesis serial (this one is quite famous, beca...	It seems likely the alternative Cybermen in the new series have melded with the Doctor Who universe ones.
In series 6 of Doctor Who, when did the Amy swap happen? In the series 6 episode of Doctor Who , The Almost People , we learn that there had been a swap at some point. Amy at some point was swapped with a Ganger, a duplicate of her made of the Flesh. After the swap happened, the Amy Ganger kept seeing the eye-pat...	It was before the season began because Amy saw Madame Kovarian before the Silence took her.
Do Asimov's other works fit within the Foundation timeline? I know that the Elijah Baley , Galactic Empire and Foundation books share a common timeline, but I don't know if Multivac , Lucky Starr , Nemesis , The Gods Themselves , Fantastic Voyage and others fit in the same universe or not. Is there another ...	Asimov did, after all, write around 500 books, many in contradictory universes, so it would be too much to expect them all to fit in.
What is the context of the quote "With great power comes great responsibility"? Without a doubt, this is one of the most famous quotes from Spiderman. I think that in the movie, it's Uncle Ben who says it. However, was the quote also present in the comics? More importantly, what was the context of the quote, since AFA...	It's attributed in later canon to Uncle Ben, both shown as Ben speaking it to Peter in the car, and also Peter in narrator mode (especially in the cartoons) mentioning it in internal monologue, usually in the form of, "As Uncle Ben said, 'With great power comes great responsibility.'
What does an arakh look like? I keep imagining it as one end scythe and the other end sword. Though, I couldn't imagine the practicality of using such a weapon. Are there any pictures or concept arts depicting what GRRM thought an Arakh should look like? <Q> I do not recall any detailed description, but I would assume ...	You're not alone in describing an arakh as half-sword and half-scythe. What I do recall from the books is that arakhs are always described as very sharp.
TV movie about a man scared of a figure seen in mirrors There's a short TV movie I remember seeing as a kid that I thought was really scary and have never found out what it was. Can anyone help naming it? I remember seeing this on television approx 15-20 years ago in the UK, but I'm sure it was an American made. It wa...	Nobody else can see the monster, even when they look into the same mirror at the same time as Jordan. There was a Kiefer Southerland movie in 2008 called "Mirrors" which sounds similar.
Movie where something in the water on a farm makes the family go crazy The movie revolved around a small farm where something happened to the water and crazy things started happening. The plants and animals started growing worms inside of them and the people started going crazy. I specifically remember the mother sew...	That's essentially the plot, but it sounds like it's been altered considerably. The Curse , aka The Farm , was a 1987 film adaptation. In this movie an underground storage tank leaks due to an earthquake.
Why was Jabba immune to Luke's powers of the Force in Return of the Jedi? Jabba the Hutt: Your mind powers will not work on me, boy. Why was Jabba immune to Luke's powers of the Force in Return of the Jedi ? <Q> The Jedi mind trick only works on the weak minded. <S> Jabba was not easily influenced. <S> Watto ...	Jabba was a Hutt, this is why he's immune to Luke's efforts. Essentially, to manipulate thoughts, a Jedi forms the thought that they want the other to have, and 'pushes' it into their mind. Luke never stood a chance. He can do this because he's highly trained and experienced, and the thought is simple: "I heard somethi...
How come River Song knew about the events of Demons Run before they happened? When Rory goes to get River Song from her cell, she refuses because she reads her diary and knows she only appears at the end. How does she know this?/How is it written in her diary? Even though she's meeting the doctor in the opposite direc...	River has lived through the events - as the child.
Is Magneto's power magnetism or can he manipulate all metals? I just watched the third movie and humanity ends up using plastic to counter Magneto. That made me wonder why they didn't use non magnetic metals? Is he able to manipulate non magnetic metals and has this been used against him? Similar to how Storm can m...	He could create magnetic fields and control metal.
What's the difference between the Light side and the Dark side of the Force? We know that Dark side is linked to emotion like fear and anger, but the interesting point here is the between line the two side of the force. As an example, what make Mind tricks a "acceptable" force power for a Jedi? How could you hurt some...	It is the desire of the person using the Force that can be considered "Light" or "Dark".
Why are some muggles allowed to know of the magical world? Throughout the series, there are many muggles which we see that know about the wizarding world, and no effort seems to be made to stop them. All of them seem to fit into the mold of family of wizards, but let me just make a list of the ones we know about. The...	The relatives are unlikely to say anything if they are explained that "outing" wizarding world will have bad consequences for EVERY wizard, their wizarding family members included.
How was this character killed without Avada Kedavra? It seems that the only officially known way to instantly kill someone with a curse was "Avada Kedavra". So, (spoilers): considering that was definitely NOT what Molly Weasley used to kill Bellatrix Lestrange at the end of Battle for Hogwarts, how did she kill Be...	I believe that Molly used some sort of body binding curse, but it could have been a curse of her own creation, or simply a spell she did not even know and cast out of anger, the spell that made her explode was most definitely reducto and not diffindo .But
How could Dumbledore lose his wand in the astronomy tower? In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince , Draco Malfoy casts Expelliarmus against Dumbledore, causing his wand ( the Elder wand ) to fly over the ramparts. As it was the Elder wand, the wand should have won him the battle. It should not have gone from his ...	Rowling has also said that the Wand responds to power; given that it's somewhat sentient, the Wand may have chosen Draco over Dumbledore, because Dumbledore demonstrated that he chose protection over power, whereas Draco was obviously power-hungry.
What does House Greyjoy's motto, "We Do Not Sow", mean? What does the motto of House Greyjoy, "We Do Not Sow", in the TV series Game of Thrones mean? It seems to be missing a noun, to me. Is it something like, we do not sow discord ? Or we do not sow , we reap the whirlwind ? <Q> One more literal meaning could ...	The Greyjoys, and all of the Iron Islands, are seafarers who've traditionally survived by plundering all along the shores of Westeros. Another interpretation here: If you look back into history and our own middle ages, to sow had connotations of servitude, as those who would sow were the lowliest peasants, locked into ...
What is the difference between a phaser and a disruptor? What is the Star Trek "physics" difference between phaser and disruptor technologies? It seems that only Star Fleet possessed 'phased energy' technology while all aggressive aliens in the Star Trek universe possessed disruptor technology. Why is that? <Q> Phaser ...	I gather phasers and disrupters are similar in action in that they both cause a targets matter to transition out of normal space, this is most noticable when a hand weapon is used, whether disruptor, or a phaser on a high setting.
Is Hal fearless at the end of Green Lantern? During the climactic battle between Hal and Parallax, Parallax grabs Hal and starts to feed on him. Parallax, being a creature that feeds off fear, would have some sort of fear-based component to the feeding process. He gets partway through feeding off Hal, and then Carol ...	Hal does, indeed, feel fear.
What happened to Yoda? In the prequels and Clone Wars, Yoda is a spry and agile 870 year old. In just a short amount of time in Yoda-years he becomes feeble and decrepit, then suddenly dies. What makes a Yoda suddenly (in Yoda-years) become sickly and weak? <Q> Yoda is OLD. <S> In his fights in the prequel trilogy, h...	The unbalance in the force caused him to become agile and sick.
Does John Ringo actually endorse the political views expressed in Troy Rising? I recently read John Ringo's military sci-fi series, Troy Rising , and some of the political views expressed by characters were ... surprising, to put it politely. Some of these include: Well, even if Earth loses most of its Islamic popul...	Based on this interview on the Michael Ventrella website, I think that it's reasonably obvious that Ringo's views are largely the same as those expressed by his characters:
Why was Star Trek: The Next Generation cancelled? The standard reason for a TV show to get cancelled is when the ratings drop. Was that the case for "The Next Generation" too? What exactly is meant by "low ratings": is it absolute numbers, or relative to other shows, or relative to the production costs? Ratings are no...	Cancel this high cost show so fans will want movies and newer shows, which in turn will have a higher profit margin as well as drive the franchise forward.
Book has spacegates that a person can walk across I am trying to identify the name of a book that involved a civilization that utilized spacegates to instantly travel across space, literally stepping from one world to another. In the book, a family home could have different rooms located throughout the galaxy and the p...	Probably not what you are thinking of, but in the Ringworld books, the Puppeteers used teleporters called 'stepping discs' - you step onto it
Book or short story about an empty city with deadly traps Many years ago I read a book or story where a group of people discover a dark city - maybe on another planet - which appears devoid of life but is in very good condition. As they gradually explore the city one of the them falls into a trap and is cut to pieces b...	Once the city captures and kills the human astronauts, the humans' corpses are used as automations to finalize the city's creators' revenge; a biological attack on the Earth. Sounds a bit like Robert Silverberg 's The Man in the Maze but only a little bit.
How did Ender kill this character? In Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game , one of the characters in the story is killed in a physical confrontation with another one of the characters. It's not clear to me what actually caused the character to die. Ender ends up killing Bonzo on accident What is the cause of death? ...	A severe blow to the head can kill, but so can a kick to the groin. My own read of it is that Bonzo was knocked out by the initial blow, due to a combination of frontal-lobe trauma as the forehead was accelerated into it, pain from the shattered nose, rapid blood loss from the adrenally increased blood pressure, suffer...
Can spaceships really explode in space? Take for example the opening of Revenge of the Sith . We see spaceships fighting with other spaceships using laser canons and missiles. Then when one spaceship is destroyed, we see fire and heavy black smokes coming from it. Does that mean in space, fire can still burn, even ...	Chemical explosives will also explode in space since they function by breaking weakly bonded chemical components; no oxygen is necessary. Yes, not all explosions require oxygen as a fuel.
Why can't muggles see magical creatures? My friend at work proposed a question to me a few minutes ago: If the witches and wizards cloaked themselves from Muggles with their spells and it's said that only witches and wizards can cast spells, how come magical creatures like ogres, dragons, unicorns, etc aren't witnesse...	Muggles can see some of them - but wizards work to hide those.
Why are all Federation starships similar in design? All Federation starships I have seen have a very similar configuration. Is there any in-universe explanation for this? I know this configuration comes from human ships like the NX-01, but why was it kept for the federation after it was formed? why not follow a Vulcan...	In-Universe, the Federation has a standard design for their warp engines, and they use a technology for power and warp travel which is somewhat different than other species use. The necessities of their design compel them to build their ships along a standard model (saucer + nacelles).
What is the source of Gaara's abilty to control sand? In Naruto , there is a character named Gaara, who possess the ability to manipulate sand to block attacks, elevate him on a platform of sand, and use in damaging attacks (such as 'Sand Tomb', which crushes his opponents in a 'fist' of sand). How can Gaara control ...	Gaara could manipulate any sand but it was easiest if he was manipulated sand that was already infused with chakra. The power was given to Gaara by her mother Karura by a jutsu which took her life.
Where can I find SF reviews? What are good places on the web to find reviews of SF books, movies, etc.? A good review site: explains why one might or might not like a work, not just listing synopses offers many reviews to choose from makes it easy to search for the works you may be interested in provides ways to ...	Movies Large collections IMDB indexes just about every movie and carries user reviews. SF Signal is an SF news site that runs a few book book reviews (maybe 2 per week), but their daily roundup includes links to reviews on other sites.
When did the red shirt careers change to yellow shirts in Star Trek and why? In the original Star Trek engineers and security officers wore red shirts but in ST:TNG engineers and security officers wore yellow shirts and command officers wore red shirts. Was it ever explained why there was a uniform color change? <Q> I...	Out-of-universe, what I've read in various places suggests that it was due to colour-tests with the actors.
How does Mjolnir determine 'worth'? Consistently across the Marvel version of Thor's various incarnations only the 'worthy' may lift Mjolnir, his enchanted hammer. The inscription reads, " Whosoever holds this hammer, be he worthy, shall posses the power of Thor. " In the movie, of course, a large part of the story i...	What Odin considers worthy I guess is just up to his personal opinion and can probably change with his emotions or what have you.
Who or what was Silas from "The Graveyard Book"? Having read "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman recently did make me wonder who or what was Silas' beside the obvious - Nobody's guardian. <Q> According to Neil Gaiman's website Q&A : <S> Q: What is Silas in THE GRAVEYARD <S> BOOK? <S> A: <S> Silas is a Very Impo...	Silas is definitely a vampire.
Why didn't the Bifrost Bridge connect to Scandinavia? In the Thor film, the Bifrost Bridge connects the nine realms. The bridge connects to Earth in New Mexico. Shouldn't it connect to somewhere in Scandinavia? The people in that region are the ones who worshipped the Asgardians, so logically those people were exp...	Honestly, there's no in-universe reason given.
How did Voldemort get his body back? In the first book it seems that Voldemort has been reduced to nothing but a ghostly wisp. But IIRC by the fourth book he somehow has a body that is carried around by Wormtail. In the first book he needs someone to inhabit, by the fourth, he can't really move around, but he does have...	I think the creation of the rudimentary body has a connection with the horcruxes, as we saw in the 7th book, the part of the soul that is in one horcrux is like Voldemort's rudimentary body in book 4.
Pre-80s movie with an alien monster who looks like a rock This has been bothering me for quite a while. This is a movie I saw as a kid back in the 80's, but it could easily have been produced in the 70's (I vaguely remember actors with 70's hair). I'll try to list everything I can remember. Crew of a spaceship lands ...	After two groups of astronauts are mysteriously killed following the discovery of strange artefacts on the martian surface, the crew of the SC-37 go in to try and find out what happened. I have searched for this one several times before, but I think Google has hit triumph once more: I believe it is The Killings at Outp...
Why is Lord Eddard nicknamed Ned? I became a Game of Thrones fan a couple of months ago, and I'm passionately reading the first book, after watching the whole of season 1. But there's one question that I didn't find an answer to, neither in the series nor in the book; why is Lord Eddard's nickname Ned? Shouldn't it ...	It has been used since the 14th century, and may have had root in the medieval affectionate phrase mine Ed , which was later reinterpreted as my Ned .
Are the dwarf runes from 'The Hobbit' just a script or does it have a language? In the book 'The Hobbit', the map that the dwarves have has writing in what is the dwarf runes. The script is simple enough as the foreword includes some tips and each letter can be substituted roughly for a letter in the English language. ...	The Dwarf-runes in the Hobbit actually don't come from any of Tolkien's pre-existing works, but are instead Anglo-Saxon runes. Yes, there is also a language.
Have any movies been based on Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series? Have any movies been produced based on Isaac Asimov's Foundation series? If not, why not? <Q> As explained on the Wikipedia article , there has not been a movie. <S> The reasons why a movie has not been made for a book or series generally (including thi...	Right now, the rights for a Foundation series of films have been given to Roland Emmerich and he plans to get to development on them after his next movie.
What is the order/timeline for Neal Asher's "Polity" novels? I just finished Brass Man by Neal Asher . I'm hooked and have a couple of questions on the "Polity" novels: Is there a preferred order to the novels (publication? internal timeline? other?) <Q> I have uploaded it here: <S> For the reading order, I woul...	Neal Asher's web site has a link to a graphical representation of the order of the books.
How was the invisibility cloak actually made? Following the thought process in this question , it mentions that typical invisibility cloaks (which lose their properties over time) are created with a Disillusionment charm. How then, could Harry's "perfect" invisibility cloak be made? <Q> Initially the reader is le...	More likely than not, they discovered some sort of powerful magic which has since been lost.
Practical value of the Resurrection Stone After seeing this question it occurred to me to ask a similar question of the Resurrection Stone. What exactly is the practical use of an object that creates images of the dead that only you can see? Is it purely for emotional value? Or did I miss something important her...	That being said, even if the Stone can’t actually summon the spirits of the dead, it can still be used to break boredom or loneliness, as a sounding board or to help you make decisions or draw conclusions from the data you know (subconsciousnessly) but can’t process for some reason.
Was Harry Potter killed and then brought back to life? In the last movie, Harry was struck by the Avada Kedavra spell cast by Voldemort. Really, he should be dead. But obviously he was not dead because when Narcissa Malfoy (Draco's mother) asked about the life/death of her son, there was a pause hinting that Harry was ...	Voldemort, as a result of destroying his soul shard in Harry, was also knocked out - Harry Potter wiki, "Tom Riddle" article, "Final battle and death" section What is not clear is how Potter comes back as neither the book nor the movie make any attempt to explain it.
Why were there so many spells cast in the movies without saying the words to the spell? From my memory of the last Harry Potter movie I saw, I've seen many wizards cast spells without saying the spell at all. During the final battle in Hogwarts, many wizards just swung their wands and their enemies were knocked out. I...	It's explained in Book 6 that, when a wizard attains a certain level of mastery of magic, they can cast spells without the words. As regards the "cheating" part, the primary goal of these verbal spells is to yield a momentary advantage in a duel due to the surprise. My impression was that they had the characters say th...
Why was the Narada drill at all necessary in Star Trek (2009)? This has been bugging me ever since I saw the latest Star Trek film... I am willing to accept an obscure substance ( red matter ) that creates singularities. I am also willing to accept the possibility of a device that can bore to the core of a planet and ...	They used the drill to put the red matter bomb far enough underground that the resulting black hole wouldn't evaporate due to lack of matter feeding in to it.
Scifi novel with extremely slow motion space battles I'd like to remember the name of a scifi novel that had a strong military theme with lots of political intrigue where the space battles were fought in slow motion due to some limitation of the ships not being able to go the speed of light or something. The pilots of...	Sounds a bit like the Dread Empire's Fall Series by Walter Jon Williams.
Story Identification - zombie movie on a ship I remember seeing part of a movie about a bunch of commandos or other "hard men" that storm a ship at sea only to be suprised by a hoard of zombies on the ship. What is that movie? This is driving me crazy... <Q> Hmmm, bad ships. <S> Do you mean <S> Deep Rising about a...	The Ghost Galleon (aka Horror of the Zombies, Ghost Ship of the Blind Dead, El buque maldito 1974) Zombie (1979)
What happened to Optimus Prime's trailer when he transformed into a robot? When (the original, G1) Optimus Prime transformed into robot mode, this trailer just seemed to disappear. When he went back into truck mode, there was his trailer again! I'm guessing this was to help the animation and story telling. But what wa...	Another theory produced by a Transformers fan is that the trailer is created each time by the creation matrix .
Did Harry Potter ever get food for his birthday? I seem to remember Harry Potter getting food for his birthday. What food(s) did he get and from whom? <Q> Food items <S> In Philosopher's Stone (As apporv020 notes in his answer ), Harry was given a large, sticky chocolate birthday cake with green iced lettering...	Mrs Weasley gives Harry a birthday dinner complete with a large beach ball-sized birthday cake decorated as a Golden Snitch . In Chamber of Secrets Harry receives nothing for his birthday because Dobby is intercepting Harry's mail. He doesn't receive food in Prisoner of Azkaban , unless The Monster Book of Monsters cou...
Why do Zombies in films generally have limps? I've noticed this trend that most, if not all, zombies in films tend to limp or walk extremely slowly. In fact, doesn't this take away from their "scariness" as they aren't fast and don't seem to be agile? Where did this stem from? <Q> I think the typical zombie walk trie...	Zombies are defined by single-minded pursuit of prey, with complete disregard for pain or injuries, as well as overall poor motor function. It seems that the limp goes back even to the very earliest movies and I don't think I can recall too many movies (I Am Legend being an obvious sample of the opposite) where they di...
Why is Starfleet allowed to arrest civilians on Earth? In "Homefront", after Joseph Sisko refuses to submit to a bloodtest, Jake tells his dad he needs to come to the restaurant because "Grandpa's been arrested". When Captain Sisko arrives, he finds Jake and Joseph arguing with the Starfleet officers who were supposed...	It's quite possible (and from the scale of their facilities we can see in several movies and series episodes this is likely) that they have far broader powers and responsibilities than mere space exploration and defence. Martial law isn't unheard of during wartime.
Why are trilogies so prevalent in Fantasy? Why are trilogies so prevalent in Fantasy? (I don't really recall trilogies outside genre-literature and even in genre, trilogies in sci-fi seem to be less prevalent). Can it be simply chalked down to Tolkein's influence? Or, is this because fantasy is set in some kind of myt...	I think the reason for the popularity of the trilogy structure in the fantasy genre is simply that fantasy novels tend to be long .
The Cold Equations - How could it happen? For those who are unfamiliar with Godwin's 1954 short story (which is included in a number of anthologies, including the book The World Turned Upside Down found here in the 'Best of Jim Baen's Universe CD), I'll include the Wikipedia summary: The story takes place entire...	The Cold Equations was written (as the strong urging of John W. Campbell) as a response to a kind of story that was popular at the time, one in which human characters face seemingly insurmountable problems, but manage to find a way to solve them at the last moment.
Why did Regulus Black change his mind? Regulus Black was a Death Eater, but he was also the infamous R.A.B., who was the only person besides Dumbledore to discover the Horcrux's, and to hunt them down (Or at least, one of them). So, why did he have such a change of heart, to trying to kill Voldemort? <Q> A bit from JKR...	It was Voldemort’s attempted murder of Kreacher that really turned him. I think maybe he just didn't realize what it really meant to be truly completely evil, as was required to be a death eater.
Why does Hermione say she hadn't used a memory charm before? After the wedding, Hermione has to use a memory charm on two Death Eaters, where she states that she has never done it before, but she knows the theory. However, she states that before she left on her adventure, she made her parents forget her, and move to Au...	Hermione used a Confundus charm on her parents, and bewitched them to think they were different people.
What happened to the Dursleys? As last seen, the Dursleys are forced to move by the ministry of magic, put into protective custody by the ministry. However, the ministry fell only a few weeks later, and there was evidence that it couldn't be trusted, even then. Are they still alive, and if so, how did they survive the ...	"Protective Custody" typically means they've shunted you into something like the Witness Protection Program, and your identity is secret even from most members of the government. As far as I know, there is no information about the life of Dursleys during the year preceding the fall of Voldemort.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.