All Questions
73,372
questions
4
votes
2
answers
116
views
Book about these two kids finding a sulfur smell on their campus, then magically leads to a magician and about elixirs
I’m looking looking for a book about these two kids finding a sulfur smell on their campus, then magically leads to a magician and about elixirs. I read this as a kid in 24 now. I believe there could ...
- 212k
1
vote
0
answers
14
views
Does anyone remember a short film from the Bay Area called The Tower?
When I was a kid in San Francisco - circa 1984 or so - my mother took my sister and me to a sort of underground artists collective party. There was a band playing there called The Lizards maybe, and a ...
- 104k
11
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Original source of the term "Siaynoq"?
Re-reading the Dune novels, and I remembered an old question:
What is the source of the term "Siaynoq" as found in God Emperor of Dune?
Most of the non-english terms in the Dune universe come from ...
- 11
7
votes
2
answers
139
views
Obscure sci-fi illustration book showing speculative alien life forms on other worlds
This book has to have been published in the early '90s or before.
It was an illustration book showing speculative alien life forms on other worlds. I checked it out from the library at school every ...
- 115k
1
vote
0
answers
59
views
How does 'Wunderwaffen' end?
How did the series “Wunderwaffen” end?
Issues 1 through 16 are online, but the remaining two are only in French.
- 457
0
votes
0
answers
29
views
Faster than light in the Metroid universe
I'm a big fan of the Metroid prime games. I was reading about the technology in that universe and found I couldn't find anything on how they achieve faster than light travel. Is there anything saying ...
- 113
3
votes
1
answer
53
views
Bradbury story about immortal kid? [duplicate]
I am pretty sure RB wrote the story wherein other kids notice he is too good throwing a baseball for his apparent age and I loved this idea that it is other kids, through observations of mundane ...
- 667k
24
votes
1
answer
598
views
Science fiction story where a human is searching for immortality and meets an alien that has been searching for thousands of years
I'm trying to identify a science fiction short story I read long ago (I'm 71). The story goes like this:
A human is waiting at a spaceport for his flight to leave. He has been going all around the ...
- 21.3k
6
votes
1
answer
258
views
CGI sci-fi cartoon/animated series in which good guys and bad guys engage in 'dogfighting'/pursuit with high speed crafts along canyons of the planet
Looking for a late 1990s or early 2000s CGI sci-fi cartoon/animated series of which I can clearly remember the following:
Human protagonists.
A sequence in which good guys and bad guys engage in '...
- 61
2
votes
0
answers
86
views
How did Bathory overpower the goddess?
In Castlevania: Nocturne, the so-called Vampire Messiah, Erzsébet Bathory, is said to have extraordinary powers, even relative to most vampires, due to having drunk the blood of the Egyptian goddess ...
- 114k
7
votes
1
answer
169
views
Hopeful sci-fi book where humans are immortal, and both they and crabs love mathematics
I remember reading about this book in a blog post one time. There’s a group of people on a spaceship who are immortal, who spend 5000 years proving a mathematical theorem, simply because they can. ...
- 1,862
8
votes
1
answer
801
views
Many species in the galaxy survive by hibernating or thousands of years, Those that do not hibernate never advance. BUT one is
While reading (another question about hibernation races) I recall this story, and while it might be the one the other OP is asking, I think its different.
EDIT:I read this within the last year or two. ...
- 667k
3
votes
1
answer
77
views
Is the “probability storm” concept that split Scott and Hope into multiple versions adapted from the comics?
Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne face a strange phenomenon in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: a “probability storm” that splits them into multiple versions (“possibilities”) of themselves based on “...
- 875
1
vote
0
answers
25
views
Young adult/children's book of adventure and mystery where the bad guys are Illuminati
I read this book when I was young, so the book should be intended for this audience. I don't think it is very old, I would say it was published after the 2000s. I read it in Spanish; I don't know the ...
- 104k
3
votes
0
answers
35
views
Anime series about a teen girl, a guy with glasses and a swordsman who become friends and fight to save the world
In episode one, a young teen girl is doing rhythmic gymnastics and trying to fight, but her grandma or grandpa tells her that girls can't fight and she gets mad. Later, she meets two kids her age; one ...
- 104k
10
votes
1
answer
19k
views
What do the horns on Loki's Helmet represent?
In avengers and Thor: Dark World, Loki is shown in a helmet with some huge horns on it.
I was wondering what the significance of the horns on the helmet. I was thinking it was due to his longing to ...
- 1
-3
votes
0
answers
49
views
Preservation of Hippocampus in the Human Brain Science Fiction Novel [closed]
Can "Preservation of Hippocampus in the Human Brain" be a good Science fiction novel for producing Science fiction movies and documentaries?
22
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Why are all the Q named "Q"
Why do all of the Q in star trek call themselves Q? It makes for confusing episodes, like the ones in VOY when there are 3 Q on their ship.
But not only is it confusing, I think it is rather ...
3
votes
2
answers
873
views
Manhwa where a baby female lead tries to run away because she thinks she’s not from her clan
So the main character has a pink hair and she’s still a baby. Her real clan is dragon, but her animal form looks like a lizard so she tries to run away.
In the latest chapter she helped a purple-...
- 1
7
votes
1
answer
113
views
Anime series with live-action segments, time travel, dinosaurs and spaceships
I am looking for a series. I saw it somewhere online in recent years, but from the style I would guess it was made in the 90s.
I saw it in Japanese language, without subtitles, so my understanding of ...
- 104k
34
votes
2
answers
73k
views
What was the origin of the famous movie quote "all out of bubble gum"?
In John Carpenter's They Live we hear the famous line
I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all outta bubble gum.
It obviously made it into the general vernacular, but was ...
12
votes
0
answers
233
views
Short story: Ship's computer corrupted by crew epidemic of madness
This is a short story I read in an anthology - it feels like a 1960s or '70s story. Crew on a spaceship are going crazy due to a communicable disease and being locked in the brig/medical bay, with the ...
- 33.3k
10
votes
0
answers
137
views
Short story - advertiser using mind control dart device
I read Jerry Oltion's "Scents of Compulsion" about advertisers using scents to cause compulsive behavior related to whatever the smeller happens to be thinking of (usually but not always the ...
- 33.3k
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Post-apocalyptic story published in Asimov's in the 1980s; main character named Georges - travels in time on highways (on foot)
I'm looking for a story published in the 1980s, in Asimov's magazine. The story featured a character named "Georges" (last name starting with "M" - possibly Mordreaux - though that ...
- 33.3k
5
votes
2
answers
185
views
What is the title of a trilogy set in a steampunk dystopian era where the main character is male and has a metal arm
The main character is very poor and lives with his dying mother. He cannot afford a metal arm until he gets hired by someone in the government to help him get elected. He works as one of his ...
- 212k
13
votes
1
answer
4k
views
How do Banthas survive on Tatooine?
As far as I can tell from their appearance, they're pretty much like woolly mammoths: Long shaggy fur, slow moving and high fat content. This type of biology would be better suited to planets like ...
- 113
1
vote
0
answers
68
views
Book about a 13 year old boy who befriends a computer hacker
I am trying to find the title of a novel I read in grade school back in either 2001 or 2002. The book is about a 13 year old boy who befriends an older man that happens to be a computer hacker. Here ...
- 104k
-3
votes
0
answers
61
views
Is listing a mutant's abilities to be matter and energy manipulation, and Polymorphy too overpowered? [closed]
I wanted to create a hero-type mutant character that has the following power list:
Matter Transmutation (Matter Manipulation)
Cryokinesis (Matter/Energy Manipulation)
Pyrokinesis (Energy Manipulation)...
- 32.2k
8
votes
1
answer
93
views
Science fiction novel about a group of genetically engineered young adults that lived in a "pod" or family group
I'm looking for the name of a science fiction novel from the late 90's or early 2000's.
The plot revolved around a group of genetically engineered young adults that lived in a "pod" or ...
- 33.3k
-5
votes
0
answers
38
views
What is the scientific term for gaseous or gas-based lifeforms? [closed]
Gaseous or gas-based lifeforms have appeared in very few fiction such as the following;
"Praxa", The Maracot Deep by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1929)
"Ai", one of the "Five ...
12
votes
1
answer
812
views
Short story about a phantom hot rod the police can't catch
I'm looking for a particular short story about a hot rod that speeds along the back country roads at night, and the local sheriff's department keeps setting up these ever more elaborate traps to catch ...
- 49.3k
20
votes
1
answer
1k
views
story ID question: planets in interstellar space run on "slow speed" with people awaking for a few years, then sleeping for centuries
The book is no more than ~15 years old, and may have been reviewed in Boing Boing.
Set far in the future, civilizations on rogue planets in interstellar space (or perhaps orbiting brown dwarfs?) have ...
- 33.3k
-1
votes
1
answer
177
views
In the movie Elysium, was the locution used by the CEO to ask the robots to kill significant?
Have not seen the movie in a while but the CEO (who had interacted with Jodie Foster's character earlier) tells the robots something like, “I am being followed by a man and I would like him dead.”
I ...
- 14.5k
1
vote
1
answer
62
views
Manga where the female lead regresses and gets adopted again by a black-haired, red-eyed duke with three(?) sons
The female lead was adopted from an orphanage and treated poorly, then dies and regresses back in time to the day the duke comes to adopt her and gets adopted by him again.
The female lead has brown ...
- 1
2
votes
0
answers
33
views
Comic with aliens attacking in flying ships, protagonists finding mechs, glowing discs, a spherical spaceship, and an aquatic mech
I once had a short comic (maybe a promo of some sort) I read as a kid about aliens attacking in flying ships, and the protagonists had to find these mechs.
All I remember was that there were some sort ...
- 7,598
7
votes
1
answer
565
views
Story about a secret agent or spy with skill set by personas
This is a novel I've read in the 90's. I have a very dim recollection of most the below, so some of this may be dead wrong.
An operative/secret agent/spy has to complete one or more missions. When ...
- 862
8
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Why is there a Golden Gate Bridge and a road in "Star Trek: Picard" in San Francisco?
Why is there a Golden Gate Bridge and a road in Star Trek: Picard in San Francisco? What travels on this road? Shuttle craft with wheels?
- 8,005
41
votes
2
answers
13k
views
Was Daenerys actually trying to hatch the eggs?
I was reading @Aegon' s response here and I realized that I've never been clear on whether Dani was intentional in her pyre building to do blood magic and wake the dragons, or if she was just ...
- 3,193
4
votes
3
answers
458
views
80s or 90s cartoon series - Female protagonist has a large cat as a pet and collects crystals or gems
I'm hoping to identify a cartoon that I remember watching on TV as a child. This would've been around 1998, so I would guess that the cartoon would be from either the 90s or possibly the 80s.
It was ...
- 667k
8
votes
1
answer
382
views
1980s or early 90s horror movie featuring a sasquatch/bigfoot/yeti
I've been searching for this movie for many years now. I was born in 1989 and I was under 10 years old when I watched it on TV, so I assume it's a movie from the 80s or early 90s.
I'm gonna describe ...
- 104k
-4
votes
0
answers
71
views
Isekai manga in which the main character buys a house on a lake with his two wives
The main character (MC) buys house on a lake with his two wives. I believe the MC is a swordsman or summoner/ magician.
If I remember correctly I believe the elf has the ability to use guns
*it's not ...
- 1
35
votes
7
answers
17k
views
Prior to the start of Deep Space 9, why was Garak exiled and left on DS9?
At the start of the show, Garak's been exiled from Cardassian space, and was left on Deep Space 9. I don't think the reason for this exile was ever explained. It seemed to be a genuine exile, and ...
7
votes
1
answer
147
views
Short story where people can die and are revived in bed through high tech and need legal permission to die
I read this story in an American anthology, sometime between 1990-2010. A woman who likes extreme sports, such as dropping to Earth from near-orbit. As she falls, she burns up and dies. Then she is ...
- 23.4k
5
votes
0
answers
50
views
Story about a boy trying to rescue his brother from sasquatch-like creatures, and slowly begins turning into one
I read this book back in the 80s when I was a kid. I believe it was a fantasy/horror style anthology, which contained illustrations. It may have been a children's book.
One of the stories dealt with ...
- 667k
3
votes
0
answers
65
views
Book about a girl travelling to the center of a desert just to find out she herself is part alien
I remember this book I read years ago but only some details. I remember the premise was that the moon had stopped or was broken up. I remember specifically a city being destroyed. I think the story ...
- 21.3k
-4
votes
1
answer
498
views
What is Neville trying to say?
In OotP, Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Neville's mouth is injured, which prevents him from talking clearly. He mumbles several things, some are discernible while others are not. For example :...
- 13.7k
10
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Very old telefilm about an invisible monster
This is very very old, probably from the '80s, if not before. I happened to watch it several years ago and it is extremely probable it is a telefilm, part of some sort of series.
Unfortunately, only ...
- 21.3k
9
votes
1
answer
605
views
Identifying a super-soldier novel with half-moon symbol
Story is a YA book, involving a high-school super soldier.
Facts I recall from the story:
The super-soldiers were girls, IIRC all clones
Super soldier research project had a half moon as its symbol
...
- 212k
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What does this sentence mean in Stephen King's IT?
What does "He had put away nearly three sixpacks during the baseball game, and he was shagged." mean at the end of the paragraph?
Tom was nearly asleep when the phone rang. He struggled ...
- 212k
16
votes
2
answers
15k
views
Where do baby Smurfs come from?
I know that Smurf lore isn't restricted to just the cartoon, as there were also cartoon strips in newspapers, comics, & perhaps even other materials about Smurfs. I haven't had the good fortune to ...
- 1