42
votes
What's the most recent specific historical element that is common between Star Trek and the real world?
The International Space Station...in the opening credits of Enterprise.
Construction started 1998 and completed 2011.
Certainly latest 2009 as, per Wikipedia
The truss and solar panels are also a ...
40
votes
who are all you zombies? a (mangled) quote from a 1980s(?) science fiction story
That's " '—All You Zombies—' " by Robert A. Heinlein. 1960, available to read here
The main character (a time traveler) winds up being his own father and mother, and says, just before the story ends, ...
35
votes
Accepted
Beethoven driven mad by voice from future
This must surely be The Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and Other Lost Songs, a short story by Carter Scholz, first published in Universe 7 in 1977.
As you recall, investigators use a mental ...
29
votes
Wouldn't giving the Grays' Sports Almanac to Biff change the outcome of the games after 1955?
Remember that when time travel causes changes in Back to the Future, there's a "ripple" that adjusts the timeline, and it even affects people and objects that have been displaced in time - for example,...
21
votes
What's the most recent specific historical element that is common between Star Trek and the real world?
The latest people referenced that match our reality were George W. Bush and Tony Blair, shown in the ENT episode Future Tense:
This was part of a historical database that included Bush's 2003 State ...
20
votes
Does time move slower inside Lothlórien?
This is a holdover from earlier drafts
Originally, Tolkien was planning to have time inside Lothlórien either move slower or come to a complete halt. He later decided it was more effort than it was ...
19
votes
What's the most recent specific historical element that is common between Star Trek and the real world?
Films
I'm not sure you could strictly describe the creation of a music track as an historical event, but nuKirk playing the 1994 song Sabotage (by the Beastie Boys) on his Nokia phone would have to ...
18
votes
Did Harry, Hermione and Ron see Buckbeak die?
If I remember correctly, they did not see Buckbeak executed, in the book or in the movie. They were watching from the top of a hill, so they couldn't see clearly; what they actually saw was the ...
18
votes
Accepted
Is there a difference between timelines and universes in the MCU?
The Sacred Timeline apparently isn't a single timeline, but rather a bundle of timelines all flowing in the same general direction. See this answer to another question for a more detailed explanation, ...
16
votes
Accepted
Do Judy and Peter remember anything from the events in Jumanji?
No; Peter and Judy do not remember the events of the movie, as they do not remember Sarah and Allen.
As previously mentioned, there is a clear distinction between the surprise of Sarah and Allen, who ...
16
votes
What is the timeline for The Lord of the Rings trilogy?
Tolkien himself made a very detailed fourteen page Synoptic Time-Scheme
This is kept at Marquette University, at shelfmark Mss-4/2/18/1a-8a. A complete transcript of the time scheme has been published ...
16
votes
Accepted
If the TVA exists outside of time, why are there still nexus events?
One important thing to keep in mind is that a creator simply cannot make a story that exists out of time.
For instance, take a look at this scene from the trailer:
MOBIUS: Loki, I’ve studied every ...
14
votes
Accepted
Did Harry, Hermione and Ron see Buckbeak die?
The film script indicates that not only do we (the audience) not see the execution, but that the trio can't see it either. Their eye-line was obscured by a stand of trees.
The crows SHRIEK ...
13
votes
Accepted
Story ID: Lafferty? Conversation about a condensing/telescoping past
The setting is Barnaby Sheen's house in Tulsa, not a Greek taberna, and Napoleon is not mentioned, but I believe you're thinking of R. A. Lafferty's 1974 short story "And Read the Flesh Between ...
12
votes
Accepted
Timeline of events in/around 32 BBY
I've made a flowchart ordering the events whose relative order we know. Explanation of the ordering follows.
Canon
The canon version of events is the more straightforward one, and was recently ...
11
votes
When, exactly, does Justice League (2017) take place?
Somewhere between April 21, 2016, and late August, 2017
Throughout the movie, there are several elements that can be dated. Some of them definite (give or take a week), some of them speculate a bit. ...
10
votes
Accepted
When did multiple Enterprises meet after flying into an anomaly?
You are referring to All Good Things, the final (two-part) episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The episode revolves around an anomaly that grows backwards in time, as witnessed by Captain ...
10
votes
Accepted
Do Heptapods have a life expectancy of more than 3000 years?
We have no way to know the heptapods life expectancy from the movie. There might be many reasons why they know 3000 years into the future.
Their language might confer them more powers than Louise ...
10
votes
Timeline of the Harry Potter movies
1881 or 1882
Dumbledore is born.
Dumbledore is forty-five in 1927, which would mean he’s either born in 1881 or 1882. Simply subtracting his age from the year gives 1882, but if his birthday is ...
10
votes
Why did Harry Potter take place in 1981?
The first Harry Potter book is set in 1991. There's no deep thematic reason for that year. It's just the year when J.K. Rowling started writing the book. Harry Potter himself was born in 1980 but ...
9
votes
Accepted
When does Westworld take place?
We know it's set in the "21st Century", thanks to an inadvertent spoiler from showrunner Jonathan Nolan. Beyond that, the specific year hasn't (yet) been revealed.
"None of them [the hosts] ...
9
votes
What is the canonical age of Xena when she first appears on Hercules: TLJ, and by the end of her own series?
From Steve Sears (Xena writer):
We actually discussed this at an early time in the series. I think we decided that Gabrielle was around seventeen and that Xena was in her early twenties. As the ...
9
votes
What happened to Chekov's confiscated phaser and communicator in Star Trek: The Voyage Home?
I recall reading part of a novel where these items were recovered by the resourceful Gary Seven, presumably to be destroyed as anachronistic.
The stranger’s hand still rested on the handle of a ...
9
votes
A novel about converging timelines
This could be Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer, which features a man who travels through time to correct the problems caused by other time travelers.
In one scene, the lead character sees his own body (...
8
votes
When does Westworld take place?
It takes place in the year 2052.
Here is the full-timeline:
http://www.businessinsider.com/when-is-westworld-taking-place-2016-12
8
votes
Accepted
What happens to everyone else when Cage resets the day?
It depends entirely on which theory of time travel the story is operating under, something that may, or may not be explained in the original source. However, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume ...
7
votes
What is the timeframe for Dune 2000/Battle for Dune?
They simply don't fit to the same time frame, if anything they are "alternative history". While you could be generous with Dune II saying that it takes place some time before the first "Dune" book, ...
7
votes
Wouldn't giving the Grays' Sports Almanac to Biff change the outcome of the games after 1955?
He probably did not have to keep betting on sports outcomes.
This is explained at "Biff Tannen" museum where Marty watches a clip about Biff's rise to fortune.
[Narrator] See Biff's humble ...
6
votes
Were there two Death Stars in construction at the same time?
Based on the new continuity of Rogue One (rogue-one) the (retcon) answer seems to be no. Consider the following from the film
We watch Death Star I being completed. It's obvious the project is well ...
6
votes
Is the Concept of the Multiverse Unique to Superhero Comic Books?
In science fiction the idea is fairly common, and there's a whole genre called alternate history which plays around with the multiverse idea--some stories take place entirely in a history different ...
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