Questions tagged [setting]
Questions about the background universe a work is set in.
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Did Sam Beckett (from “Quantum Leap”) ever jump into a period between 1993 and 1999?
In the original Quantum Leap, Sam Beckett comes from the year 1999 and leaps back through his own lifetime. Apart from the actual premise, the show features very few sci-fi elements and episodes are ...
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Why Prague and a Czech empire?
In the alternate history of the Bartimaeus series, one of the historically dominant powers in Europe (until the ascent of Gladstone in the 19th century) was a Czech empire centred in Prague. Its ...
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Why would there be dive shops in or near Denver?
Hugh Howey's novel Sand revolves around "sand diving" -- using a fictional mind-controlled method of vibrating the titular sand to allow the diver to sink into, move through, and "see&...
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How clear is the geographical setting of the Book of the New Sun from the text?
Gene Wolfe's four-volume epic The Book of the New Sun appears to be set in a far-future version of our world's South America. This is a fact that I only noticed by using my knowledge of fauna, as some ...
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When is "An Uncivil War in America" set?
The 2013 short story "An Uncivil War in America" by Thaddeus Howze describes the aftermath of a race war in the USA. It reads as pretty close to present day, but is there any indication when ...
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Is this "satellite photo" the only representation of the shape of Gilligan's Island?
From How many independent demonstrations of optical communications between ground and space have been successful?
As everybody knows, the pioneering work of The Professor and his serendipitous ...
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Does the Dungeons & Dragons Movie (2000) take place in any known setting?
Does anyone know if the Dungeons & Dragons movie from 2000 takes place in any established D&D setting like the Forgotten Realms, or does it take place in an original setting separate from any ...
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Was Lovecraft's "Shunned House" a real building?
"The Shunned House" is one of my favorite stories by H. P. Lovecraft, although that is probably a minority opinion. One of the things that is notable about it is the detail with which he describes ...
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Where does The Last Unicorn take place?
It occurred to me just recently while revisiting this story, that I've never considered where all this is happening. Although it's true that we as the audience are supposed to care more about the ...
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What is the status of human slavery in the WH40K universe?
It's pretty wide question, which, for sure, contains innumerable sub-questions.
For example, is it legal for planetary government to enslave distinguishable part of planet's population (not criminals!...
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Is the Craft Sequence set in our future?
Some fantasy works (e.g., the Shannara series) are clearly set in the far future of a world essentially indistinguishable from ours. There are a few hints that the Craft Sequence is one of these: in ...
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How functional is Deckard's apartment in "Blade Runner"? [closed]
After about a thousand viewings of "Blade Runner," combined with material like this, this, and this, I'm still struggling to make sense of some of the things I think I see in Deckard's apartment. ...
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When and where are the Daggers and Steele books set?
I picked up the first two books of the Daggers and Steele series by Alex P. Berg. It's a detective series with the main characters being homicide detectives. It's got definite fantasy elements with ...
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What novels or movies are set in these fantasy lands?
I recognize a few, but some I've definitely never heard of. And if they're on this map with the likes of Middle Earth and Westeros, I'm assuming they're pretty prominent in the fantasy world.
Can ...
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What is the first work to feature a planet that is one city?
Many sci-fi works have planets which are just one big city. (e.g. Trantor in Foundation and Coruscant in Star Wars)
What was the first work to do so?
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When does Starship Troopers take place?
Do any of the various versions and remakes of Starship Troopers give a dates as to when they take place?
I'm fine with answers from
The original novel
The anime
The film series
The RPG
The various ...
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Where do the freeways in Matrix Reloaded go?
One of the things that The Matrix Reloaded is famous for is the freeway chase scene:
My understanding is that the world within the Matrix is organized into a single, massive civic and ...
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Was Coruscant intended to appear in the original trilogy?
Was there ever a plan to show Coruscant in the original trilogy? If so, why didn't they show it on screen in the end?
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Do the Ninja Turtles live in sewage?
We know that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live in the sewer of Manhattan (in New York City). We know that those sewers handle the bodily waste of several million people. There is no possible way ...
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Are there any sci-fi novels with multiple human-colonized galaxies? [closed]
First of all, sorry for my English. It's not my native language.
All space-themed sci-fi novels I've read deal with human civilizations on the scale from Solar system to whole Milky Way galaxy. Are ...
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Why is Iron Man's origin in the film different than the comics?
I wonder how much Marvel tries to keep story-lines similar between the movies and the comic books. Lots of things are very different.
How come Iron Man's story is different from the comics, like ...
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When does the Vorkosigan Saga take place?
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is set in the far future. Is it ever established exactly when in the future most of the books take place?
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Science Fiction as a setting or genre?
Isaac Asimov was famous (in my mind) for writing detective stories that happened to be set in space. I am also a fan of Joss Whedon's Firefly series for separating the science fiction setting from the ...
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What stories are set in George R.R. Martin's 'future history' universe? (the setting for Dying of the Light)
Dreamsongs vol 1 lists the following in the intro to Section 3:
The Hero (mentioned)
Dying of the Light (first novel, mentioned)
Included in Dreamsongs Vol 1
A Song for Lya
This Tower of Ashes
And ...
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Is there a novel using a Dyson Sphere as setting? [closed]
In the ringworld-novels of Larry Niven the author uses a giant ring around the sun as setting. The concept that is going more extrem in this direction is a Sphere around a sun. That concept is called ...
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