Science Fiction Trivia

[ffutures]

The eponymous Captain Scarlet, of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons fame...?

Definitely, and have a MBP for choosing the first one I thought of when I set the question! Though he isn't exactly his old self given that he's now x-ray opaque and regenerates...

low hanging fruit. Spock... startrek movie something ( ok its 2,Wrath of Khan ) . dies at the end , genesis devise get shot at nebula. creates aplanet and Spocks body is launched at it...
Star Trek 3 Spock body resurected and reunited with his "spirit"trapped on McCoy...

Another good one, and have an MBP for an obvious one that I somehow DIDN'T think of when I set the question!

Coming down to the wire - one to go, and no more Mass Effect, Marvel, Supermarionation, or Trek! There are at least two from one very well-known canon universe that haven't been mentioned yet, and billions from another.

[Wildeblood]

Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who/Torchwood. Really just an imitation of Captain Scarlet, but... well, there's no "but" really, I just feel the need to write a few words more. That's enough.

[ffutures]

Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who/Torchwood. Really just an imitation of Captain Scarlet, but... well, there's no "but" really, I just feel the need to write a few words more. That's enough.

And we have our fifth answer! Have a MBP for giving me the other one I thought of when I was setting the question! He and the Doctor were the ones I hinted at in the last clue. Regeneration may not count, but The Doctor has been killed and bought back to life several times by other means, including one story in which he was repeatedly killed and bought back over millions or billions of years.

Since you gave the fifth answer it's your turn to set the next question. I point the poisoned chalice projector in your general direction!

[Wildeblood]

Since you gave the fifth answer it's your turn to set the next question. I point the poisoned chalice projector in your general direction!

Wut!? I was just passing by. Nobody told me.

...initial shock fades...

I have memory issues. I can't even remember what the movie I watched last night was...
...It was Atlas, with Jennifer Lopez, maybe that's why I couldn't remember it at first. (Not recommended.)

Is there a particular format you are expecting?
Am I expected to read the preceding 497 pages, to familiarize myself with what has already been asked?

P.S.

Am I expected to read the preceding 497 pages, to familiarize myself with what has already been asked?

Nah, stuff that idea; I'm only four pages in and I've already had enough. It's not just the inevitability of Whovians and Trekkies taking over every conversation, it's also the rapidity.

[RockDoctor]

low hanging fruit. Spock... startrek movie something ( ok its 2,Wrath of Khan ) . dies at the end , genesis devise get shot at nebula. creates aplanet and Spocks body is launched at it...
Star Trek 3 Spock body resurected and reunited with his "spirit"trapped on McCoy...

Almost completely unrelated (it has been one of those weeks!), would a fruit hanging any lower actually be a peanut?

[ffutures]

low hanging fruit. Spock... startrek movie something ( ok its 2,Wrath of Khan ) . dies at the end , genesis devise get shot at nebula. creates aplanet and Spocks body is launched at it...
Star Trek 3 Spock body resurected and reunited with his "spirit"trapped on McCoy...

Almost completely unrelated (it has been one of those weeks!), would a fruit hanging any lower actually be a peanut?

No, I think it'd probably be the Doctor, he's the real low common denominator for this one.

[spud42]

Almost completely unrelated (it has been one of those weeks!), would a fruit hanging any lower actually be a peanut?

no, peanuts grow underground therfore do not hang at all... lol

[Nite Owl]

The definition being that Vegetables grow in the ground while Fruits grow above ground. Would that not make The Peanut a Vegetable? By this definition The Tomato is a Fruit and The Potato is a Vegetable. However, does any of this apply to anything defined as a Nut? Would The Coconut be a Fruit while The Peanut is a Vegetable? Then there is the case of The Pea. Grows above ground so would it be a Fruit? But wait, there is another category, The Seedpod. Would The Pea be a Seedpod and therefore would not fit into any of the above categories? Where do Leafy Greens like Lettuce, Arugula, and Spinach fit into all of this? Who knows, perhaps a Botanist or a Horticulturalist. You would probably find such arguments of exact definition amongst them as well. Happy Gardening.

[Nite Owl]

This is related to my previous post's attempt at humor. A quickie, single answer question, while we wait for a proper entry.

Name the TV show that had an Anthropomorphic Vegetable as an adversary for a single episode.

Two of the major stars of the show got written out of the next several episodes as they could not stop laughing at and commenting on how ridiculous the script and the concept were. Google if you must but it should be part of every elder sci-fi geek's knowledge base. Well, at the very least, that knowledge should hold true on this side of the pond from whence the show originated. There are some VERY FUNNY clips of the episode on YouTube which will be linked to once a correct answer is given.

[Wildeblood]

This is related to my previous post's attempt at humor. A quickie, single answer question, while we wait for a proper entry.

Name the TV show that had an Anthropomorphic Vegetable as an adversary for a single episode.

Lost in Space. Dr Smith got temporarily turned into a carrot, in an episode variously described as "stupid". (Various people were unanimous in their description.)

And I'll pre-empt the obvious follow-up question: Star Trek Voyager, series 2, ep. 15 "Threshold".

I don't know how long this "Let's have five examples..." practice has been going on, but I'm temporarily stopping it with this question, because I can't think of five OTTOMH. I can recall two or three, two are novels. I'm sure there are many more examples, so if anyone wants to list fifty-five movies and TV episodes, please do.

Anyway, the question is, name a story (in any format) featuring one or more black holes performing some function between the narrative extremes of passing reference ("What if we fly too close to a black hole?") and main focus of the protagonist's problems. Black holes are doing something, not merely being mentioned as existing, but the story does not involve space-farers trapped in a black hole's gravitational embrace, fighting their apparently inevitable doom.

[RockDoctor]

Name the TV show that had an Anthropomorphic Vegetable as an adversary for a single episode.

If it wasn't Red Dwarf, it should have been. Rimmer revealing his inner self - as a soil-dwelling noxious fungus. (episodes 3, 7, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, Series 3, 4 and 5 consecutively ...)

name a story (in any format) featuring one or more black holes
Black holes are doing something, not merely being mentioned as existing, but the story does not involve space-farers trapped in a black hole's gravitational embrace, fighting their apparently inevitable doom.

OK, one of the "Man-Kzin Wars" Novellas set in Niven's "Known Space" has the protagonists off hunting a missing ship with Joe Random tiger (a Kzin), and an astrophysicist (father of the obligatory nordic sex-interest character). Turns out the odd astrophysics signal they saw was a black hole of very small size radiating away merrily in the X- and γ- bands. An incomplete "micro Dyson sphere" partially surrounds the BH, producing the intermittent signal which the astrophysicist noticed. The Kzin wants to turn it into a weapon. Well, he would.
"Inconstant Star", by Poul Anderson

[Nite Owl]

Going with the most obvious answer of all time.

THE BLACK HOLE

As to my previous obligation.

https://youtu.be/sMVa7QF4UXo
https://youtu.be/4rziexyFlIo
https://youtu.be/I_KdE_zBCE4

[RockDoctor]

Going with the most obvious answer of all time.

THE BLACK HOLE

And this cross-over of replies (I haven't checked the times ; but I assume a cross-over) is precisely why we had the "Five answers that fit <pattern>." style of challenge. not that there is anything magical about the number "5".

RockDoctor squares up to NiteOwl ... I propose weapons of the chisel of precision sampling against the .... talons of mouse-impalement ; NiteOwl chooses. Does someone want to propose a third option, and the "rock-paper-scissors" ordering.

High Noon Wednesday?

[Wildeblood]

Going with the most obvious answer of all time.

THE BLACK HOLE

And this cross-over of replies (I haven't checked the times ; but I assume a cross-over) is precisely why we had the "Five answers that fit <pattern>." style of challenge. not that there is anything magical about the number "5".

RockDoctor squares up to NiteOwl ... I propose weapons of the chisel of precision sampling against the .... talons of mouse-impalement ; NiteOwl chooses. Does someone want to propose a third option, and the "rock-paper-scissors" ordering.

High Noon Wednesday?

Not so fast. You assume your answers are acceptable, but I reject them. I asked for examples of stories with black holes performing some function between the narrative extremes of being just a passing reference and being a main focus of the protagonist's actions. I'm asking for stories with gratuitous inclusion of black holes, that could be easily written out, but not so easily as just a passing reference that could be written out with one paragraph. IOW, stories from the time when black holes were shiny and new and authors were shoe-horning them in to stories where they didn't need to be.

1. is a black hole.
2. is not the main story.
3. is more than just a mention.

[ffutures]

The Heechee series by Frederic Pohl (Gateway and sequels). The big mystery of the first part of the series is what actually happened to the long-vanished Heechee aliens - it turns out that they are hiding in the black hole at the centre of the galaxy, hoping that humans and other primitive life-forms will take out another group of aliens who are making drastic changes to the universe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heechee_Saga