In the Legends continuity, we first see a "Forcesaber" in the Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi series, which takes place about 26,000 years before the Battle of Yavin.

We see our first true lightsaber in Star Wars: The Old Republic , appropriately titled the " First Blade .

" It was much older than the Republic (founded approximately 25,000 BBY), but its exact age is unknown.

In regular canon, the first lightsaber we see is Qui-Gon Jin's (by a split-second) in The Phantom Menace.

Legends

According to Wookieepedia - 15,500 BBY if considering just the technical aspects if not total practicality By the time of the Duinuogwuin Contention around 15,500 BBY,

Jedi studies and researches with "frozen blaster" technology yielded success; they developed a method to generate a focused beam of energy that arced in a circumferential path back to its source, creating a controlled energy circuit and leading to the first portable high-energy blades.

However, these preliminary lightsabers were highly unstable and inefficiently guzzled energy from a belt-mounted power supply; they could only be used for a brief duration before overheating.

As a consequence of these flaws, the first lightsabers were little more than ceremonial objects, seldom worn, and much less utilized.

Source:

The New Essential Chronology (2005)

As Legends canon is accepted, the date goes back a very, very long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away).

Protosabers , mentioned in Nathan's answer, were certainly an early (circa 15,500 BBY, as he stated) design of lightsaber -- but they were based on an even earlier design.

The Rakata Empire created the Forcesabers , lightsabers essentially fueled by Dark Side Force energy.

Their non-Rakata Force users ("Force Hounds") would construct their own Forcesabers and attune special focus gems to their own Force signatures, like the Jedi in later millenia.

The Rakata themselves used forcesabers in a force pike configuration.

However, the Forcesabers were created thousands of years before

The Tho Yor Arrival (circa 36,453 BBY), which itself marked the beginning of the proliferation of Force usage.

The Jed'aii descendents of those taught in the Tho Yor pyramid ships would attempt to use Forcesabers only at great risk -- the Dark Side influence of the sabers made them highly corruptive.

This, in turn, spurred the development of the aforementioned Protosabers which, being powered by a power pack rather than Dark Side Force energy, did not corrupt the user.

Considering only EU novels and stories, if you look at the book timeline page, the first novel has no lightsabers, but the second one, Star Wars:

Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories , says on page 3 "The half smirk was a memento from a Jedi Lightsaber swipe years earlier...".

so this book, which is just a collection of short stories, is the first chronological reference to lightsabers.

The stories in this collection take place between 5000 BBY and 2975 BBY.

The next reference after these short stories is in the novel The Old Republic: Revan .

As for canon material, Phantom Menace is the first instance at the year of 32 BBY.

See other responses for Legends canon.

For Abrams's canon, this may be explained in the upcoming movies since Luke was in search of the first Jedi Temple.

Question: Where do we first see/read about a lightsaber in the Star Wars universe (EU and Legends count)?    I mean this from an in-universe chronological perspective, not publication/release order.  It’s a simple question, but I've searched some existing question and answers on here and a few other sites online (yes, including wookieepedia...) but have not found anything useful yet.

When did lightsabers first appear in the Star Wars timeline?

There are mentions of "Forcesabers", an early type of Lightsaber, many thousands of years before the Battle of Yavin, however, the first appearance of a Lightsaber appears to be either in The Phantom Menace, which is set 32 years before the Battle of Yavin, or in the film Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Opinions vary wildly, with some contributors identifying a time 26,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, for example, whilst others place the date as recently as 2,975 BBY. Clarification may come in future movies.

For Abrams's canon, this may be explained in the upcoming movies since Luke was in search of the first Jedi Temple.

About 26,000 years before the Battle of Yavin.

About 15,500 BBY, following Jedi research into frozen blasters.

First came the Forceblasters 36,453 BBY and then lighsabres were developed from them 15,500 BBY.

Between 5000 BBY and 2975 BBY, according to the EU novels and stories, in which the first mention is made in Lost Tribe of the Sith.

The Abrams's canon side may be explained in upcoming movies as Luke was in search of the first Jedi Temple.


Karen Wynn Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle Earth

This contains the map of Frodo's journey with all the key locations marked from the book.

Here is a sample picture of Frodo's journey towards Weathertop, each day is marked on the map.

It also contains Bilbo's journey from the Hobbit, with Frodo's overlaid in brown to show differences in route and time taken.

If memory serves other events including those from the Silmarillion such as Beren and Luthien's journey into Angband, the Westward migration of the various tribes of Men and the Host of the Valar coming East to finally deal with Morgoth.

As to whether these are artistic or interesting, this will be personal opinion

but I think they are very well drawn, with enough of the flavour of the maps that Tolkien drew.

Stylistically I think it compliments Tolkien's work and is a good visual aid when reading the books.

I have also found the information very interesting, and there is a lot of it too.

Take a look at The LotR Project

This is an online and interactive map of Middle Earth and my personal favorite.

It shows the route each major character took.

It also marks the location and dates of events that took place during the travels.

The website also contains a very, very detailed family tree if you're interested.

The project was made by a super fan who also went through all the notes J.R.R. Tolkien left behind.

Not just the published works.

(Will look for the source)

Journeys of Frodo by Barbara Strachey.

I bought this book over 30 years ago when I was a young lad.

It plots Frodo's journey day by day as well as the other members of the company of the ring.

Lovely book for a Tolkien fan.

Each map contains the campsites, eating places, and various other stops that Frodo used on his journey to Mordor.

The book is now out of print so would have to be picked up second hand.

Here are some pictures of the maps

How about the official board game map?

The yellow dotted line marks Frodo's path.

I don't know where it stands as canon (higher than some fan-made, higher than all fan-made, utter baloney, etc.), but if you're looking for a single map with the whole journey and critical locations marked, this is your map.

Just ignore the arbitrary region markings.

I had the same question whilst writing an essay where I thought it'd made a neat frame of reference, and then I found this absolutely wonderful interactive map, that allows you to plot pretty much every single path any single character takes throughout the trilogy (and the Hobbit, too), as well as look at timelines, events and a whole lot of other useful and just fun stuff.

Also, the map is absolutely stunning.

Oh, and also, it has a map of Beleriand, too.

http://lotrproject.com/map/beleriand/#zoom=3&lat=-758.33903&lon=1528.48291&layers=BTTTTTTTTTT Hope you enjoy playing around with these two :)

Question: Everybody loves the maps of Middle Earth. But has anyone ever plotted on the map of Middle Earth, Frodo's journey throughout the Lord of the Rings? Seeing as the book gives us a description of where he travels.   What about including some of the other characters? It would be interesting to see the extent of his journey. There are a few basic maps, but nothing very artistic or interesting.

Is there a map of Frodo's journey during the Lord of the Rings?

Yes, Frodo's journey through Middle Earth has been mapped out, and one example of this is Karen Wynn Fonstad's "The Atlas of Middle Earth". This also contains other character's journey's, such as Bilbo and Beren. Other examples include The LotR Project, an online website, and "Journeys of Frodo" by Barbara Strachey.

There are a number of publications that give a detailed and well-illustrated view of the journeys, and relevant maps can also be seen online or on the official board game.

You could try Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle Earth, which shows the journeys of both Bilbo and Frodo as well as other features.

Try the online LotR project which has an interactive map with a wealth of features, including the journeys.

Try the Journeys of Frodo by Barbara Strachey which provides a detailed view of the journeys day by day.


Almost certainly There's an entire essay devoted to the subject of lembas in History of Middle-earth , imaginatively titled "Of Lembas"; in it, Tolkien writes: The Eldar say that they first received this food from the Valar in the beginning of their days in the Great Journey.

For it was made of a kind of corn which Yavanna brought forth in the fields of Aman, and some she sent to them by the hand of Oromë for their succour upon the long march.

Now this corn had in it the strong life of Aman, which it could impart to those who had the need and right to use the bread.

History of Middle-earth XII

The Peoples of Middle-earth Part 3:

"Teachings of Pengolod" Chapter XV: "Of Lembas" Although "magic" in the Tolkien Legendarium is a difficult thing to pin down, "the strong life of Aman" certainly sounds magical to me.

Lembas may seem like magic to us, but the elves would have seen it as simply natural.

Clarke's Third Law is Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke Hazards of Prophecy:

The Failure of Imagination Elves don't use "technology" the way we do, but they use their advanced understanding of the natural world to create things that seem impossible (and therefore "magical") to us.

While staying in Lothlórien (where the Fellowship is given a supply of lembas), Sam has a conversation with Frodo and says: '

It’s wonderfully quiet here.

Nothing seems to be going on, and nobody seems to want it to.

If there’s any magic about, it’s right down deep, where I can’t lay my hands on it, in a manner of speaking.'

‘You can see and feel it everywhere,’ said Frodo.

Well,’ said Sam, ‘you can’t see nobody working it.

No fireworks like poor old Gandalf used to show.

I wonder we don’t see nothing of the Lord and Lady in all these days.

I fancy now that she could do some wonderful things, if she had a mind.

I’d dearly love to see some Elf-magic, Mr. Frodo!’

The Fellowship of the Ring: The Mirror of Galadriel Galadriel joins them and takes them to a garden on the slopes of Caras Galadhon to show them the Mirror of Galdriel.

When Frodo is unsure about looking in it

Galadriel says: ‘And you?’

she said, turning to Sam. ‘

For this is what your folk would call magic, I believe; though I do not understand clearly what they mean; and they seem to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy.

But this, if you will, is the magic of Galadriel.

Did you not say that you wished to see Elf-magic?’

The Fellowship of the Ring: The Mirror of Galadriel

It seems to me that the elves (or at least Galadriel) understand that we view their more advanced creations (lembas, the Mirror of Galadriel) as "magic", but do not consider them in that light themselves.

Its virtues cannot be explained with science.

From Letter

#210 We are not exploring the Moon or any other more improbable region.

No analysis in any laboratory would discover chemical properties of lembas that made it superior to other cakes of wheat-meal.

JRR Tolkien's letter to Morton Grady Zimmerman

Aside from the mystical perspective in the other answers, we can try to think up what lembas would be made out of if humans would make something like it.

According to this site , an adult male who is active (like Aragorn marching) needs 3000 calories per day.

According to this site , fat has the highest calorie count per gram, that is 9 per gram.

I can't post any more links, but I read that fat is slightly lighter than water.

This means that, unless one lembas cake is bigger than about one-third of a liter, it cannot store enough calories for Tolkien's claim, leaving aside anything else you need.

I always imagined it as way smaller than that, though I don't know of a quote by Tolkien stating that.

I also didn't imagine lembas to be just globs of fat...

The general tone of Elven 'technology' in Tolkien is that any magical element is rather subtle and more to do with the way that their whole culture approaches craft and knowledge than a simple case of magic bread +2 healing bonus.

Clearly there are plenty of examples of modern sports nutrition and military rations which could be considered analogues of lembas

and it's certainly not beyond all reasonable credibility in its properties.

For example in the Seven Pillars of wisdom by T E Lawrence (of Arabia) there is an account of Arabs using breadcrumbs mixed with almonds, sugar and butter as a trail food.

In fact this sonds a lot like marzipan (maybe marche pain >

>> walking bread).

It's certainly credible that a handful of fat, ground nuts and carbohydrate could keep you going for a day at a push.

Question: I always had the feeling that Lembas bread was magical and that's what helped it be so fulfilling; however I've recently started to think that it was most probably just highly nutritious, and I had probably associated it with magic since it was Elven-related.  Is there any evidence that Lembas bread is magical?

Is Lembas (Elven bread) magical?

There is evidence in Tolkein's writing that Lembas bread is ineed magical. However, it would be fair to say that, what might seem magical to us, would seem perfectly normal to elves.

Lembas certainly has properties which we humans would describe as magical but for elves it was a natural product.

Lembas is almost certainly magical because, for example, it is made of a special elvish corn which has a property described as the "strong life of Aman".

We might regard lembas as magical but for the elves it was something natural, as in the case of many elvish things.

The powers of lembas cannot be identified scientifically.

The magical element in elvish products like lembas is more subtle than most forms of magic and is more like a kind of craft.


Because there was no need to.

We might guess that the attack occured very close to the hospital wing, since McGonagall and Dumbledore quickly thought that Colin wanted to visit Harry: "Another attack," said Dumbledore.

Minerva found him on the stairs."

"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," said Professor McGonagall.

"We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."

What is more, they might have not had their wands with them.

Dumbledore claims he was on the way to the kitchen for something to drink, he didn't need a wand for that: "

Yes," said Professor McGonagall.

"But I shudder to think...

If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate - who knows what might have--

" Finally, some pure speculation.

Maybe Dumbledore insisted on not using magic for the traces not to be erased.

We learn in the Half Blood Prince that every use of magic leaves some trail.

Dumbledore was standing in the middle of the cave, his wand held high as he turned slowly on the spot, examining the walls and ceiling.

Yes, this is the place," said Dumbledore.

"How can you tell?"

Harry spoke in a whisper.

"It has known magic," said Dumbledore simply.

It is possible that Dumbledore wanted to return to the stairway that night and further investigate the place, looking for some clues.

Dumbledore might be old, but he certainly isn't physically infirm.

Someone capable of swimming a hundred yards in "icy water" would certainly have the strength to lift and carry a small boy several tens of feet.

‘Then take off your Invisibility Cloak – there is no need for it now – and let us take the plunge.’

And with the sudden agility of a much younger man, Dumbledore slidfrom the boulder, landed in the sea and began to swim, with a perfectbreaststroke, towards the dark slit in the rock face, his lit wandheld in his teeth.

Harry pulled off his Cloak, stuffed it into hispocket and followed. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

First of all, we know that human levitation is possible and known.

In The Prizoner of Azkaban, we see Sirius Black use Mobilicorpus on Snape's unconcious body to levitate it away from the Shrieking Shack, bumping his head intentionally along the way.

It is safe to assume that between Dumbledore and McGonagall, one of them should have known the spell, though we (the audience) had never seen it at that point in the series.

Getting back into the tunnel was difficult.

Lupin, Pettigrew and Ronhad to turn sideways to manage it; Lupin still had Pettigrew coveredwith his wand.

Harry could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnelin single file.

Crookshanks was still in the lead.

Harry went rightafter Sirius, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; hekept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling.

Harry had theimpression Sirius was making no effort to prevent this.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Second, the source and nature of Colin's curse was unknown, and so they would have likely sought to err on the side of caution.

Any magic performed on him could have caused further damage to him , or to the caster.

Since the Hospital Wing was so close, they would have wanted to get Colin into Madame Pomfrey's expert hands as soon as they could without exacerbating the situation.

My third thought is a bit more speculative, but keeping their wands free (not being used on a continuous spell) means that they would have been able to defend themselves against whatever attacked Colin .

This argument is a bit more difficult to defend as their hands would have been occupied, but wand in hand while carrying the boy would have still afforded them the ability to cast a shield charm.

Casting Mobilicorpus could have made their reactions a tad slower.

Lastly, in situations of high stress, many wizards resort to muggle practices .

Harry Potter and George Weasley get in a fist fight ( muggle dueling ) with Draco Malfoy after a quidditch match when Draco insulted both of their families.

It is possible that the situation with Colin Creevey was dire enough that thought of spell casting was forgotten in the need to rush him to Hospital Wing.

Compassion and respect Expanding on my earlier comment, and to draw from other answers, we can all agree that Dumbledore and McGonagal are arguably two of the most magically gifted wizards at Hogwarts.

Both fully capable of performing magic that would render having to lift a child a simple task.

However, they are also teachers .

They have a responsibility for the safety and health of the students, and would be expected to care for one who is ill, injured of unhappy.

Yes, they could have levitated Colin, but IMO if they knew he was safe to hold, then they absolutely would have carried him because of their duty of care as his teacher and responsible guardian.

In addition to the available excellent answers, there are two more points I would like raised:

First, it's a matter of respect for someone affected by an unknown (at the time) effect who may not come back from it.

We know that to a degree doing things "the muggle way" is used as such, as when the Weasleys do their chores that could easily be solved with magic.

Valorum in the comments has another excellent example of this: "Harry refuses to use magic to dig Dobby's grave", which in particular is at quite analogous to the scene in question.

Secondly, as the magical effect is in fact unknown there is no telling how it will interact with other magic.

This treatment is a precaution more than anything else.

Could I just point out that it's probably a bit of a surprise to anyone if they find anyone unconscious (or petrified) on a normal evening.

Not everyone is always 100% logical.

I mean, if I found an unconscious person in a warehouse I probably wouldn't think "I'll load him onto that handcart over there".

Especially if, as everyone else points out, he was probably very close to the infirmary already.

Question: When Colin Creevey gets petrified in  The Chamber Of Secrets , Harry sees Dumbledore and McGonagall bringing him in the hospital wing.  He describes them as if they were carrying a statue.  Why would Dumbledore and McGonagall, pretty old (and thus physically weak) but pretty skilled wizards, resort to the inconvenience of carrying things like petrified people by hand instead of using magic to lift them?  Using magic would seem both safer for the carrier and for the carried.

Why would Dumbledore and McGonagall carry Colin Creevey with their arms?

There is no clear answer to this question, but there are some potential reasons why this may have happened. Firstly, there was no need to use magic and not everyone always behaves in a logical way in emergency situations. Secondly, although Dumbledore is old, he is not necessary infirm and is perfectly capable of carrying someone to the infirmary. Finally, it's quite possible that they were only travelling a short distance, so there was no inconvenience in physically carrying Colin Creevey.

Age was not an issue as we know Dumbledore was physically strong, and perhaps the use of magic would have been risky at that time, either in terms of making them more vulnerable and easily detectable or harming Harry.

There was no need to use magic as the attack occurred very close to the hospital and anyway magic might have left detectable traces.

Dumbledore is physically strong despite being old - as we see when he swims a hundred yards in icy water. So no problem to carry Harry.

There are scenes where levitation is used so it would certainly have been an option, but maybe they were afraid of being more vulnerable in the middle of performing the trick. Perhaps they were also too stressed to think of a magic solution and so did it the muggle way.

They did it out of compassion and respect and also the responsibility they felt for the safety and health of their students.

There are a number of times when muggle ways are used - e.g. when Harry is burying Dobby or the Weasleys are washing up. Also, the magic might have had side effects.

The decision to carry Harry could just be an example of irrational behaviour - no-one acts logically 100% of the time.


Couldn't you go as Charlie Weasley?

Your cosplay group's excuse for you not being there could be, '

Oh, Charlie wanted to make it, but he's off in XX country to catch a rare glimpse of YY dragon.'

etc

Nicholas Flamel.

There aren't many living characters who are given names but never appear.

Of those, I'm guessing you want a character who has some name recognition; someone who might make people chuckle when your friends tell them why you aren't there.

For that, my recommendation is Nicholas Flamel.

Eloise Midgen

She's mentioned a few times: "

Well - you know," said Ron, shrugging, "I'd rather go alone than with - with Eloise Midgen, say." Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , chapter 22

She's also mentioned as having accidentally chopped her nose off, while trying to curse her pimples off.

You can make up a name and add a 'Weasley' surname to it, pretending to be Ron's cousin or distant relative.

This is what Harry did in book 7.

Kenneth Towler.

He's a student of Fred's year who came out in boils during their OWL year because Fred put Bulbadox powder in his pajamas.

"Kenneth Towler came out in boils, d'you remember?"

"That's 'cause you put Bulbadox Powder in his pajamas."

"Oh yeah.

I'd forgotten. . . .

Hard to keep track sometimes, isn't it?"

Order of the Phoenix, Chapter

12 Professor Umbridge

As for the Irish team members, you could be Aidan Lynch, who was pretty battered after the World Cup and not likely to be anywhere.

Or you could be any of these known players: Captain: Darren O'Hare (Keeper)

(mid-1900s)Captain: Aidan Lynch (Seeker) (1994)Chaser: Troy (1994)Chaser: Mullet (1994)Chaser: Moran (1994)Beater:

Connolly (1994)Beater:

Quigley (1994)Keeper: Barry Ryan (1994)

May I make two more suggestions?

Gwenog Jones - captain of the Holyhead Harpies.

Appeared only once, during Slughorn's party and that was just a mention.

Tom the barman from the Leaky Cauldron - Don't see him hanging around anywhere either.

He has a place to run.

Question: A group of friends of mine is doing a group Harry Potter cosplay and we're trying to work out who is going to be who to avoid clashes. I'm not going to be at the event in question, so was thinking I could "go" as a character who never actually appears in person in the books. I'm thinking someone's older brother who is off working for the entirety of the series, or something similar. People with a more encyclopaedic knowledge of Harry Potter than me, any suggestions?

Looking for a named Harry Potter character who never appears in person

There arent many living characters who are given names but never appear. However, potential characters that fit this description could be Nicholas Flamel, Eloise Midgen or Kenneth Towler.

You could go as Charlie Weasley, Nicholas Flamel, Eloise Midgen, a made-up Weasley or Kenneth Towler.


Homecoming refers to the high school dance Peter attends in the film

(I haven't seen the film yet

so I'm trying to avoid spoilers for myself and others.)

A homecoming dance is a common high school tradition, and Peter, as a high school student, attends one during the film.

It is featured as the setting for the final act .

This is what the film's title refers to.

This was addressed in an interview with the chairman of Sony Pictures, Tom Rothman.

[Homecoming is] relevant to the story because it takes place in high school and there is a scene — that I guess I can give a little thing — at ahomecoming dance.

I’ve actually seen the dailies of it because wealready did

the high school shooting of it in the first couple weeksand it’s fantastic.

But it’s also a homecoming to Marvel.

And ahomecoming to the cinematic universe that Spider-Man belongs in.

Soit’s a pretty unprecedented deal between two studios, but we’re reallyproud of it.

And all I can tell you is, those guys at Marvel — I thinkthe technical term is — they know their sh-t.

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’

Title Explained By Sony Head Tom Rothman

To add on to the previous answers, the homecoming dance is a major plot point in the film: At that critical scene, he makes the decision between his love interest, Liz, and stopping Vulture from his criminal activities.

But it's worse than that, because Vulture, not to be clichéd or anything, turns out to be Liz's father.

(To break the cliché, though, Liz doesn't know of either her father's or Peter's alter egos.)

It's because of that homecoming dance that Vulture finds out who Spiderman really is.

I'm sure someone out there is still trying to connect homecoming to the Winter Soldier command words: Longing, Rusted, Seventeen, Daybreak, Furnace, Nine, Benign, Homecoming , One, Freight Car.

Good morning, Soldier.

The beginning of the movie has Peter return home after Spiderman's huge debut into the world of superheroes, both fighting with and against Avengers at the airport (Captain America : Civil War).

Instead of his world being completely changed, everything is essentially back to normal.

Before being drafted by Tony Stark, he had already been a bit of a minor vigilante and he returns to that when he fails to receive the "Avenger" missions he wants and expects.

At the end of the movie, he comes full circle and returns home again.

He rejects Tony's offer to become a full-time Avenger and returns home to be the friendly neighborhood Spiderman.

The Homecoming Dance came across to me as simply being a play on the word "Homecoming" rather than being the reason for the title.

Using any other semi-formal or formal dance would have made no change to the story.

Another reason, in addition to the blatantly obvious ball, mentioned by others, is that after being fired from the "internship" with mister Tony Stark, he is welcomed back to Avengers at the end.

And don't forget the cliffhanger with aunt

May after coming home at the end ...

Also it could mean coming back to his roots (school, ordinary things, less superheroing) ... or all of the above.

Question: The out-of-universe reason looks obvious. Marvel celebrated the fact that it can work with Spider-Man again after it sold its movie rights to Sony.  But, if you look at other movies in MCU, names viz. The First Avenger, The Dark World, Ragnarok etc reflect in-universe things. What does  Homecoming  signify in-universe?

What's the in-universe relevance for the name of Spider-Man: Homecoming?

The word "Homecoming" refers to the high school dance that Peter attends in the film. It could also be a reference to Spiderman returning to his roots.

The word Homecoming in the title refers to a number of things - Spiderman's return to the Marvel stable, Peter's return to his home neighbourhood and Peter's attendance at an actual homecoming dance.

The title refers to the high school tradition of the homecoming dance, as Peter attends one of these in the film.

The title also refers to Spiderman's homecoming to Marvel.

The title refers to the way Peter returns home after rejecting Tony Stark's offer to become a full-time Avenger and how life then returns to normality for him.


The Shadows effectively lay dormant for the thousands of years between wars.

It is revealed that the Icarus awoke the Shadows when it visited Z’ha’dum.

So there wouldn’t have been any technological advancement in the intervening years.

In addition to Darren's correct answer, one of the themes of Babylon 5 is that the societies of the Vorlons and the Shadows have stagnated.

They have spent so long concentrating on winning the galaxy through the actions of the younger races that they no longer focus on much else, so it is plausible that they haven't improved their technology much.

Valorum's comment on your question is also plausible — the Shadows could have hit a technological plateau.

While modern aircraft don't look like the Wright Brothers' original flyer, they are actually similar in many ways.

And modern aircraft do look substantially similar to aircraft made in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

It's also possible that the Shadows simply like the mutant spider-crab look of their ships.

Perhaps the technology has improved over the years, but the technology and the appearance are independent.

Despite technological improvements, modern passenger aircraft are constrained in appearance by aerodynamic requirements, so they all look broadly similar.

If there's no restriction (no need to be aerodynamic in space), the ships can be shaped however they like, and they like that look.

Maybe they even do change the appearance, but the younger races don't notice that shorter or longer legs are in this season because they're too busy being slaughtered.

(I'd better post this answer before I get any sillier.)

(Note that this entire answer is somewhat speculative.

The first paragraph is drawn fairly closely from what we see and are told in the show, the rest not so much.

It should be taken as a supplement to Darren's answer that is drawn entirely from the show itself.)

I was going to just comment, but I can't yet...

In his comment, Valorum mentions the concept of technological plateau.

Dranon further notes that one of the themes of B5 is that the Vorlons and Shadows have both stagnated.

What I wanted to add to this was the connection between these two things, as well as one additional point: The Shadows are repeatedly referred to as "the oldest of the First Ones.

" This makes them billions of years old.

After so long, 2 things will be true: For a race that is billions of years old, it's highly unlikely there is any further technological advancement available to them.

One of the things we note is that while the Vorlons use normal hyperspace jumpoints/jumpgates, the Shadows do not - they simply "shift" in and out of hyperspace without opening jump points.

They're way beyond even the Vorlons - even after a few thousand years dormant.

There's just no technological room left for them.

And even if there is, they are SO OLD that they are simply going to change very, very slowly.

Lorien later says that he was waiting for them on Zha'Ha'Dum for millions of years.

These races do not do things quickly, and for such races, even 10,000 years is the blink of an eye.

It's reasonable to think that over the few thousand year period we are talking about, they simply haven't changed at all.

May I contribute that AFAIK

both Shadows and Vorlons used organic, living ships that didn't rely on technological innovation in a usual sense.

It definitely takes more than a thousand years for biological evolution to take place.

So, with the masters in hibernation (someone already mentioned it), there would be no way for these ships to change.

This was sort of an obvious explanation ... less obvious would be that neither Shadows nor Vorlons actually wanted to evolve any more themselves.

They wanted the younger races to evolve as quickly as possible, so they'd be released from their role as guardians.

All they wanted was to join the other "first ones" beyond the rim.

Their conflict with each other was about ways to speed up evolution around them!

The answers here are good, but there is something else to consider: the overall goal of the Shadows.

At the end of the day, if the Shadows wanted to just kill everyone, they could do that.

They could have whipped out their Death Clouds and went on a rampage across the galaxy way back at the beginning of the series.

But they didn't.

And not just because the Vorlons would have in turn whipped out their planet killers.

It simply wouldn't further their ends.

What the Shadows wanted was to encourage wars, "kick over the ant hills", and so forth.

To teach the lower races by getting them to "evolve" to evade destruction.

Past a certain point, being

that kind of force simply doesn't require improvements in technology.

So long as you have weapons that can one-shot the enemy's best ships, you're doing OK.

If the younger races have become stronger, just add more ships.

And if things go sideways, you always have those Death Clouds to fall back on...

Question: In the episode "Matters of Honor", Delenn was asked to identify a Shadows ship. She later remarked to Sheridan she has never seen one but it fits the descriptions from the Last Great War which occurred thousands of years ago. With technological advancement, how can ships thousand of years ago look similar to ships thousands of years later? Don't the Shadows advance with time? Can you imagine today's Boeing planes looking similar to the first plane made by the Wright brothers 100 years ago?

Why do the Shadows ships look similar after several thousand years, given that technological advancement should have made ships look very different?

The reason that there has been no change in Shadows ship design over thousands of years is possibly because the Shadows effectively lay dormant between wars. As a result, there wouldn't have been any technological advancements. It's also possible that as a race they are so old that there simply are no more technological advancements left for them to make or that they simply like the way their ships look.

It is all speculation, but the lack of advancement in the Shadow spaceships could be due to them lying dormant for years, stagnating, hitting a technological plateau or maybe - after being in existence for billions years - they have simply exhausted the potential for further technological development.

The Shadows have not advanced because they were lying dormant all the time.

The Shadows have stagnated or hit a technological plateau.

As the Shadows are billions of years old it is possible that they have simply exhausted all the possibilities for technological development.


That particular style of spacedock is used a few times.

In each case the footage has been recycled from Star Trek III.

Starbase 74 (in orbit of Tarsas III)

Starbase 133 (in orbit of an unnamed blue planet)

Lya Station Alpha

(in orbit of an unnamed blue planet) Starbase 84 (in orbit of an unnamed yellow planet)

Jupiter Station Jupiter Station , even if very likely smaller than the gigantic Spacedock-type starbases, seems large enough to have some internal docking space, at least for the smaller starship classes.

Starbase 173 Starbase 173 's design was based on the much smaller Orbital Office / Regula I stations, but it was evidently larger, here you can compare it to a Galaxy-class Starship: Starbase 375 Starbase 375 , with a design similar to the previous one, is shown here surrounded by various Starship classes.

Even this one seems large enough to have some internal docking area.

Unnamed Prison Base

The same design is used also for an unnamed prison base , that seems to be even larger than the previous ones:

Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards is a dedicated fleet yard in orbit around Mars.

It's not explicitly a starbase, but otherwise appears to meet your criteria and does contain structures that would commonly be called a starbase in that it's a large installation in space.

There are some different perspectives in

The Next Generation and Voyager where the fleet yard appears on screen.

Here's Geordi LaForge during the TNG episode " Booby Trap " where he creates a holographic representation of Utopia Planitia and his girlfriend the Galaxy class designer Leah Brahms.

You can see through the window a shot of a Galaxy class ship under construction in what appears to be an expansive and enclosed space compared to the typical spacedock we've seen in other episodes and films.

In the Voyager episode " Relativity ", we actually get a wide shot of the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards as a whole.

Here, we see our typical spacedocks in the foreground, but there are some much larger stations in the background, including the station that is presumably the basis of the holodeck program that LaForge ran in "Booby Trap".

Starbase 47 , from the Vanguard novel series, is a large starbase that lies in the Taurus Reach, a narrow band of space between the Tholian Assembly and the Klingon Empire.

It is also of the 'enclosed' kind, capable of holding up to four Constitution class starships inside.

In extended canon (as in spec books and such), there are at least all these shipyards in addition to those mentioned above.

They would all have repair capacity as well as construction and living quarters at a minimum.

Some repairs take a very long time or require external life support so it comes as standard.

Assuming that we are talking about prior to the arrival of the Borg which would destroy a number of these.

Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards, Acamar Prime Shipyard, Aldea Prime Shipyard, Altair Prime Shipyard, Andoria Prime Shipyard, Antares Ship Yards, Barcon Prime Shipyard , Barisa Prime Shipyard, Beta Antares Ship Yards, Bolarus Prime Shipyard, Calder Prime Shipyard, Centauri Spadeworks, Cestus Prime Shipyard, Copernicus Ship Yard, Deneva Shipyards, Denocet Prime Shipyard, Dytallix Prime Shipyard, Earth Station McKinley, Erabus Prime Shipyard, Finnea Prime Shipyard, Galor Prime Shipyard, Gavor Shipyards, Gibraltar Shipyards, Idran Prime Shipyard, Invernia Prime Shipyard, Iyaar Prime Shipyard, Janus Prime Shipyard, Ledonia Prime Shipyard, Meldrar Prime Shipyard, Merak Fleet Yards, Minos Prime Shipyard, Morena Fleet Yards, Moriya Prime Shipyard, Nausicaa Prime Shipyard, Oyarsa Prime Shipyard, Proxima Maintenance Yards, Qualor Prime Shipyard, Riverside Shipyard, Salazar Shipyard, San Francisco Fleet Yards, Tau Ceti Prime Shipyard, Taurus Prime Shipyard, Tellar Prime Shipyard, Tessen Prime Shipyard, Tranquility Base, Tri-Rho Nautical shipyards, Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards.

Now the manufacturing is out of the way, lets look at internal ship accommodation.

If we move to starbases with internal docking like Earth's one, you'll find that it's a 'cookie cutter' external design that is scaled up or down to fit needs (according to the Tech Manual) called the Spacedock-class.

Designated classes will tell you what does what.

Starbase 2 for example is a K-class with a general design that looks like this:

Note 3 arms coming from the centre.

This is Starbase 343, but like all it bears K7 markings as DSS K7 was the first of it's design.

K-class still can dock cargo ships internally, but hasn't got the space for a ship like the Enterprise or even Akira class.

It will happily take quite a few Sabres inside though, or 2 trade vessels.

Part of the reason that trade ships were long and thin were to fit into K-Class and other smaller starbases.

Back to the Spacedock-class, there are only 5 built.

Every other one is a military installation that flat-out OP's anything but a direct armada assault.

40 phaser banks huge result capacity and ability to hide a large fleet etc etc.

Earth one doesn't have guns because politics but you already know that.

Finally, it was said earlier that the space dock at earth was grown in size for video after new bigger ships arrived...

well officially, the doors are resized on all Spacedock-class bases whenever a larger warship is made.

For a long time these were the only non-shipyard facilities that could internally dock warships.

Anyway, the full list is as follows: Lya Station AlphaSpacedock, EarthStarbase 74Starbase

84Starbase 133As for other classes a few come to mind:

The Sigma/R1 class starbase would have docking facilities for cargo ships internally.

You don't actually see any of these until the 24th century and are refitted to Sigma class, but the R1 class of the 23rd was visually the same allegedly.

Note that the Nor class has 3 'stalks' and the Frontier has 4.DS9 is a Nor-Class Starbase which had many clones too, as it was originally called the Terok Nor under Cardassian possession.

There is also the Elvok Nor and Empok Nor which are almost visually identical.

It's replacement was a Fed Frontier-Class staircase which again is one of the only other large military installations the Fed have possessed.

There appears to be at least 2 in orbit around Earth.

However, this image is from the non-canon game: Star Trek Timelines .

Question: In the Star Trek universe, there is a massive star base (one that can house several ships inside of it) orbiting around Earth.  Is this the only one of it's kind in the Federation, or do other planets have similar stations near it?  I understand that there are ones like K-7 and DS9 that have ships that dock, but I mean large enclosed ones that is similar to the one around earth.

Did the Federation have any large starbases orbiting other planets?

It is possible that the Federation had other large starbases orbiting other planets. The Jupiter Station, for example, should have had enough space for some internal docking space. Similarly, Starbase 47, from the Vanguard novel series, is a large starbase in the Taurus Reach.

There is no definitive answer on this regarding starbases specifically, but it looks like Jupiter Station and Starbases 173, 375 and 47 were big anough.

No clear answer to this question, but it looks like Jupiter Station, Starbase 173 and Starbase 375 were big enough to house

Yes - Starbase 47 is big enough to hold up to four Constitution class starships inside.


Much as I hate the horrible pink slimebaby

it's worth mentioning Alien:Resurrection.

When the captured xenomorphs kill one of their number in order to use its corrosive blood to escape the cell.

I'd argue that this shows they are capable of advanced tactics and understand their environment and its weaknesses.

I'm willing to concede that it's no guarantee that they understand the concept of electricity...

but I think we can safely say over the series that the xenomorphs are not animals as Hudson would mean it, as they possess cunning and intelligence.

That they'd understand that destroying cables means the lights go out, it's not that far fetched.

Ordinary xenomorph drones are shown to have an understanding of cause-and-effect, as demonstrated in

Alien: Resurrection

when first they slaughter one of their kin to escape their confinement, then turn the liquid nitrogen that's been used to control them against their captors.

However I do not believe that understanding extends to lights and electrical wires, because the drones have not demonstrated this "ability" at any other time in the series, even at times when it would have been extremely useful/advantageous to do so.

While they can see that pressing a switch performs an action, they have no way to know or intuit that said switch is connected to the light by a wire and that the wire is what makes it all work.

It is true that the drones have, at the time of Aliens , been alive for far longer than most xenomorphs in the series, and as such they could have observed humans performing maintenance-related work involving wiring and drawn the association from there.

In Resurrection it is possible drones could have been exposed to an experiment that e.g. put two simple circuits next to each other, then broke the wire of one to demonstrate that the light goes out - but of course that occurs after the events of Aliens .

In my opinion, the lights going out on the Marines is due to one of two things:

Hadley's Hope was already pretty smashed up from the desperate battle between the colonists and xenomorphs.

The power supply in that sector could have been quite literally connected by a thread that just happened to part at that moment, or was parted by the drones encroaching on the Marines' position.

Interference (directly or indirectly) by the xenomorph queen.

Queens have consistently been demonstrated to be far more intelligent than their drones (for example the queen from Aliens was able to control the elevator and stow away on the dropship),

so it's no long stretch to consider that the queen either sabotaged the power at the most opportune time, or instructed one of her drones to do so.

The second feels like the most likely explanation, and the unofficial wiki seems to agree with this assessment.

So yes, the xenomorphs did intentionally cut the power, but it was most likely the queen and not the drones responsible for doing so.

In the Alien vs Predator (1999) video game, many of the Alien levels had you intentionally and methodically sabotage things to disable power or get access to targets.

If that is considered canonical I would say it shows they do.

Also remember that the main reactor in the Terraforming plant was about to blow.

Was this the main power for the whole planet?

Unknown, but it was connected to the base for monitoring.

Perhaps a huge surge from the plant caused the base breakers to blow.

In the final scenes, the entire facility is throwing all sorts of electrical emissions as the reactor goes critical.

That kind of activity could produce an EMP large enough to knock out a building.

No, they did not do it deliberately.

The xenomorphs do not attack for about three minutes after the power goes down, and only attack after being discovered and shot at.

Any element of surprise they might have been hoping for is completely squandered by taking so long.

They would have done better if the power had not been cut at all.

However, it is likely that they cut the power accidentally, rather than the power station failing, as the loss of power seems to be local.

The backup lighting is red, which for some reason exists even in the air ducts(?).

When Ripley & Co move on the lighting in the rest of the facility is much the same as before the power cut, with white lights everywhere.

The xenomorphs were in the overhead spaces, which is a logical place to put power cables and a logical place for xenomorphs to trip over them.

It can have a very easy explanation that is somewhat relatable to the real world: beasts simply attack everything that vibrates or emits warmth.

This behavior sometimes feels as if it is devilishly intentional, and this can be confirmed by any farmer who had to deal with mice in his shed.

But it is just a coincidence: all animals seek warmth, and predator animals seek sources of sound, while our technology tends to emit most of those at its weak points.

The only intelligent thing I can remember is their tendency to hide in escape vehicles right before they launch, and not to attack crew until they land.

In the trash comedy "Tremors" this behavior is displayed in detail: monsters leave a town without communication and vehicles because they stupidly attack everything that is warm or vibrates.

I figure deliberately.

If I am going to design a living weapon like the aliens, smarts would be a key ingredient.

The eggs were located in a spaceship and it would be prudent to have the spawn understand the concept and running of the ship.

Like the other poster said, a better example is the queen making the conscious effort to follow Ridley into space without revealing her presence in order to survive.

It she was just trying to get revenge, she would have attacked the shuttle immediately.

The same in Alien.

Question: In Aliens, the marines have fortified a position and are preparing for a last stand when the power suddenly goes out. Hudson appropriately asks, "How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!"  Later, we see that    the xenomorphs have crawled through the drop-ceiling.   Did the xenomorphs intentionally cut the power as a combat tactic, or did they    just kick something when crawling around?

Did the xenomorphs intentionally cut the power?

There is no agreement as to whether the xenomorphs cut off the power deliberately or even if they did it at all. It would not be far-fetched to suggest that they understood the mechanisms to cut the power, but there is no evidence to suggest this. The power outage could have simply been caused by something else, such as a power surge.

This is a matter of interpretation - there is evidence that xenomorphs possess sufficient intelligence to deliberately cut the cables but equally they may have severed them accidentally as they crept through the overhead space.

In Alien:Resurrection the captured xenomorphs kill one of their number to use its corrosive blood to escape their cell so they do possess intelligence of a kind and therefore they could have understood that destroying cables means the lights go out.

There's no way they could have understood that the lights would go out if they destroyed the cables - the power supply was probably hanging by a thread and then failed for other reasons.

The base breakers might have blown due to a power surge from the plant.

They did not do it deliberately - if they had have then they would've attacked immediately and not waited 3 minutes. Perhaps they just tripped over the cables and snapped them.

Perhaps they instinctively bit through the cables because they were warm - like a mouse does.

It was deliberate - they were designed to be a weapon so it is logical that they would be given enough intelligence to see something like this.


I believe you are thinking of the Rogue Wizard series, by Christopher Stasheff.

The timing is about right (1993-2001)

although the original book in the series was written much earlier (1979).

The protagonist's real name is Magnus d'Armand

but most of the time he goes by his pseudonym Gar Pike, in order to minimize the risk of his activities causing trouble for his family.

As you say, he wanders the galaxy protecting the innocent and overthrowing oppressors.

You might also remember his possession of various Psi powers, though he usually tries to avoid using them until it becomes absolutely necessary to do so.

In the first of the newer books, A Wizard in Absentia , Magnus is alone.

This is a prequel and comes first in terms of the in-universe chronology.

It is followed by the original A Wizard in Bedlam at the end of which he acquires a companion.

There are ten books in the series in all, and the storyline is concluded in The Warlock's Last Ride from the related Warlock of Gramarye series .

This could be the Stainless Steel Rat series, by Harry Harrison.

Those are very openly comic stories about James Bolivar DiGriz.

He is a former thief and now intergalactic super-spy for the Special Corps.

He starts off alone, but marries the villainess of the first novel and they become a team; their sons are also involved in some of the stories.

Jack Chalker's Four Lords of the Diamond series follows an agent whose mind is remotely implanted in a host assassin on each of four worlds of the Warden Diamond system.

In each book his mission is to investigate and overthrow the Lord of that world.

But each of his duplicates learns more about the corruption of the intergalactic government that he works for and each one deviates more and more from the mission.

The books are Lilith:

A Snake in the Grass (1981) Cerberus:

A Wolf in the Fold (1982) Charon: A Dragon at the Gate (1982) Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail (1983)

Could be Tuf Voyaging Haviland Tuf has a "seedship" and travels around and tries to help different worlds, at a cost.

This feels like the Death Gate cycle , where the first four books fit the theme of travelling between worlds (via magical gates rather than interstellar ships) and influencing the peoples there.

One world even involved a kind of communist uprising.

The latter books then tie the worlds together for a larger story.

Could it be E. C. Tubb's Dumarest saga?

The lead character is looking for Earth, and each book ends up on a new planet having adventures.

The first one is The Winds of Gath .

Wikipedia notes:

Gath is a world with a unique tourist attraction: a mountain-sized white noise amplifier.

With no indigenous economy other than the tourist slave labor trade, Dumarest struggles to break free from this dead-end world.

Dumarest becomes attached to the retinue of the Matriarch of Kund and unwittingly finds himself embroiled in the vicious and complex political intrigues of the Matriarch's court.

After some keen detective work from Dumarest and the ensuing deadly battle with the Cyclan, Dumarest prevails and escapes from the backwater planet.

Question: I don't remember much but I do remember that each novel takes place on a new planet where there was usually some sort of social upheaval/revolution happening and he helps the inhabitants overthrow their oppressors.  I think that in the first book he was alone but then gains a companion in his travels.

Science fiction series where in each novel, a man travels from planet to planet and helps the inhabitants in overthrowing their oppressors

It is not clear exaclty which book the question refers to, but there are several possibilities. The Rogue Wizard series by Christopher Stasheff features a similar storyline. Similarly, The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison and the Death Gate cycle also have plots like this.

There are a number of possibilities, including Christopher Stasheff's Rogue Wizard series, Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series and E. C. Tubb's Dumarest saga.

It could be Christopher Stasheff's Rogue Wizard series. There are 10 books in which the hero wonders the galaxy protecting the innocent and ooverthrowing oppressors.

It could be Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series, openly comic novels which follow the escapades of super-spy James Bolivar DiGriz.

It could be Tuf Voyaging in which Haviland Tuf has a "seedship" and travels around and tries to help different worlds, at a cost.

It could be the Death Gate cycle, where the first four books fit the theme of travelling between worlds (via magical gates rather than interstellar ships) and influencing the peoples there.

It could it be E. C. Tubb's Dumarest saga, where the lead character is looking for Earth and ends up on a new planet in each book.


I'm guessing she's referring directly to the Abrahamic Satan.

She doesn't believe in him because she knows he's just an idea resulting from the mental projection of The Beast, who is basically just an extremely powerful alien.

If miracles by Angels turned out to be the work of angelic-appearing aliens, I would say I don't believe in Angels because I know the true source (even if they are effectively the same).

I should note that when I say "Angels" I mean the bible ones, not the statue ones.

Because even in the episode "The Satan Pit", the Doctor refuses to accept that this being really is Satan.

I accept that you exist.

I don't have to accept what you are , but your physical existence, I'll give you that And from the end of the episode Rose: What do you think it was, really?

Doctor: I think...

we beat it.

That's good enough for me.

While he refers to having encountered Satan in Series 4, this seemed to be more for the purposes of showing off (like Sarah Jane referring to the Loch Ness Monster in Series 2) than him actually accepting the creature's identity.

To the Doctor, the Beast does not qualify as a supernatural devil-figure, not even if it might have been the entity identified as "Satan" in human Christianity, and not even if it might have been the root of all the evil on Earth or all the evil within Mutter's Spiral Galaxy.

A Time Lord's understanding is deeper than that, and her horizons are broader.

Gallifreyan science probably includes everything the Beast was capable of in its conception of "natural".

Also, she's been places where the local evil had nothing to do with the Beast.

Lots of them, I'd imagine.

This is an application of the converse of the oft-quoted Clarke adage that "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

If you appear to be a supernatural being even to

a Time Lord , you're probably indistinguishable from Cantor's Absolute Infinite .

The Doctors problem is with this philosophical framework.

Even if she knew for a fact the beast from Satan's Pit actually was the same one from Abrahamic Lore, and yes she's met actual magic wielding witches in The Shakespeare Code , her problem isn't about identity.

It's about labels.

"I don't like her, so she's either a witch I can hang, or an innocent soul I can save by drowning her now before she falls into Satan's grasp."

The Doctor is desperately trying to get them out of this incredibly convenient so-long-as-you're-in-power framework of thinking so that they can help her save the world from a muddy end.

The Doctor needs companions.

Ones that think.

Not ones that use labels as an excuse to turn off their brain.

So I don't think Satan is at the top of her list of fun famous names to awkwardly drop into a casual conversation with a witch hunting King James.

"Satan?

Oh I've met him.

He can get in your head and doodle on your face but mud's not really his style".

No.

Just no.

The linguistic point missed by the other (far more knowledgable) answers is that if I say "I believe in love" or "I believe in the power of love"

, I don't mean I accept the existence of 'love'

: I mean that I believe it love the capacity to transform people and their interactions, with far-reaching consequences cascading down timelines.

So by saying they're not a "great believer" in Satan, the Doctor conveys that whatever else is the case [mainly what @Parrotmaster wrote and its first comment by @BinaryWorrier, as well as the accepted answer], this Satan guy isn't as high on their list as say Daleks.

Question: In S011E08, the Doctor says, offhandedly, that she's "not a great believer in Satan."  However, in "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit," the Doctor met  the Beast , which, while not precisely the same entity as the one from Abrahamic lore, has the general physical appearance, possesses people, and basically calls itself Satan.    She also must have heard about its son, Abbadon, from Captain Jack Harkness.   Why, then, does the Doctor say this?

Why does the Doctor not believe in Satan?

There is no definitive answer to this question, although it's likely that the Doctor is referring to the Abrahamic Satan and believes Satan to basically be a mental projection of the Beast. To the Doctor, the Beast does not qualify as a supernatural figure.

The Doctor knows that the being claiming to be Satan is a powerful alien and she wants to break the hold he has over people and that is why she says she does not believe in him.

The Doctor says this because she does not believe in the Abrahamic Satan, as she knows he is basically just a powerful alien.

Because she refuses to accept that the being in front of her really is Satan.

Because the Doctor, as a Time Lord, has an understanding that is deeper and broader so she is not bound by traditional views.

The Doctor denies believing in Satan as a way of breaking Satan's philosophical hold.


As you say, in Stargate Atlantis Season 1, Episode 1 ( Rising ) the city-ship of Atlantis is submerged underwater, and is protected by a Shield which holds back the water.

However, in in Stargate Atlantis Season 2 , Episode 1 ( The Seige, Part III ) the shield is modified by Rodney McKay (and Radek Zalenka) so that it can also be used as a cloak, like a Puddle Jumper (however, Atlantis is unable to have both shield and cloak active simultaneously) SHEPPARD: We disappear.

CALDWELL:

Destroy the city, you mean? SHEPPARD:

No, we just make it look like we did.

WEIR:

How?

(Rodney clicks his fingers.)

McKAY

: We cloak it.

ZELENKA:

Yes.

Yes!

The Puddle Jumpers are equipped with cloaking technology which renders them invisible to the naked eye, and to Wraith scans.

If we just simply remove one of the cloak generators from the Puddle Jumper ... McKAY: I wouldn't say simply, but yes -- by interfacing a Jumper's stealth cloak generator with the city's shield, we should be able to render the city invisible.

( Transcript on Gateworld ) (Emphasis mine)

This is part of a plan to use a nuclear warhead to trick the Wraith into thinking that Atlantis has self-destructed It is also in this same episode that the Daedalus delivers the ZPM to Atlantis, meaning that it occurs before Stargate SG-1 Season 9 Episode 13 ( Ripple Effect ) (Kudos to Lightness Races in Orbit for tracking down the quote)

The team never had to "look for it" or "find it", underwater or otherwise.

They "found" it because they had its gate address and they dialed it from Earth's gate in Antartica.

They didn't know it was underwater until they got there and tried to look out of a window.

The gate system knew how to connect the wormhole to Atlantis's gate, even though the city was underwater at the time.

The ZPM is being used to keep the city underwater, which is why the Wraith cannot detect it.

That is the nature of the "cloak".

When the humans arrive, the city powers up, further depleting the ZPM, so it cannot maintain the power-hungry shield holding back the water.

It has no choice but to surface, which leaves it vulnerable to the Wraith.

Here's the conversation you're referring to: BLACK BDU MITCHELL: All that ZPM is doing right now is allowing one-way travel from the Pegasus Galaxy to Earth.

The billions of the lives that we save is worth more the inconvenience of schlepping back and forth on the Daedalus.

MITCHELL: We need that ZPM to cloak Atlantis.

If the Wraith come back and discover the city wasn't destroyed, they'll launch another attack.

If Atlantis falls, this galaxy is the next target.

( Transcript on Gateworld )

If this SG-1 conversation had taken place before Atlantis

the show had begun, when the city was on the ocean floor, Cam wouldn't know that the city existed let alone that it was being cloaked by a ZPM (which, as you point out, it wasn't).

In fact, this conversation takes place at least a year after the Atlantis expedition had already arrived (by Gate, which works regardless), during Season 2 of Atlantis , by which point the expedition was using the Moebius ZPM to periodically cloak the city using a ZPM following the events of "The Siege" : SHEPPARD:

Well, what if they thought we were gone?

TEYLA: Then there'd be no reason for them to stay.

SHEPPARD:

Exactly!

McKAY:

Exactly what?

SHEPPARD: We disappear.

CALDWELL:

Destroy the city, you mean? SHEPPARD:

No, we just make it look like we did.

WEIR:

How?

(Rodney clicks his fingers.)

McKAY

: We cloak it.

ZELENKA:

Yes.

Yes!

The Puddle Jumpers are equipped with cloaking technology which renders them invisible to the naked eye, and to Wraith scans.

If we just simply remove one of the cloak generators from the Puddle Jumper ... McKAY: I wouldn't say simply, but yes -- by interfacing a Jumper's stealth cloak generator with the city's shield, we should be able to render the city invisible.

CALDWELL:

That's all well and good, but I think if the city were to suddenly disappear, they might be able to put one and one together.

McKAY:

Which is why we fake a self-destruct.

Have the Daedalus beam a nuke right above the city's shield, and then detonate it.

While their sensors are blinded, we cloak the city; when the smoke clears ... WEIR: ... nothing but ocean.

[..] McKAY: I can confirm that.

They're headed for hyperspace.

Look, I'm gonna keep the cloak up for a while just to be sure, but, uh, I think they bought it.

( Transcript on Gateworld )

These events are chronicled by the first seasons of the show Atlantis .

The Stargate wikia has a chronology of how the episodes intertwine between the two shows (which mostly followed air order; remember, SG1 and SGA aired concurrently for a number of years).

In fact, in the episode of Atlantis ( "Critical Mass" ) that aired directly after "Ripple Effect" : WEIR: How long before they get here?

McKAY:

A day, maybe a day and a half, depending on if they need to make a hyperspace pause along the way.

We'll need to cloak the city again.

( Transcript on Gateworld )

A very timely reminder of what Mitchell was referring to.

If you really want a plot hole from that episode, try this !

scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1167/Lightness Races in Orbit

If I'm understanding the confusion right, you missed that Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis overlap chronologically.

Atlantis is discovered somewhere around the end of Season 7 of SG-1 and they ran in parallel for a couple years after that.

In short, the Season 9 episode of SG-1

you're commenting on takes place quite a long time after the Atlantis expedition left.

Question: In  Stargate SG-1  Season 9 Episode 13,  "Ripple Effect" :  There is a conversation about Atlantis. Cam says the ZPM is being used to cloak the city from the Wraith but when Stargate Atlantis starts, the expedition team finds Atlantis submerged in the ocean... I thought the Ancients hid the city under water.   Can someone explain this? Did I miss something or is this a plot hole?

How did Atlantis come to be cloaked when it was originally submerged when the team arrived in the city?

Atlantis came to be cloaked because in Season 1, Episode 1, Atlantis is submerged underwater and protected by a shield to hold back the water. Then in Season 2, Episode 1, this shield is modified by Rodney McKay so that it can be used as a cloak.

The shield can also be a cloak but not both at the same time and when the humans come they have the gate address and can find Atlantis that way.

Atlantis is submerged under water and protected by a shield but in Season 2, Episode 1 the shield is modified so it can be a cloak - but it cannot be both shield and cloak simultaneously.

The team never had to look for Atlantis because the had its gate address and the gate system was able to connect the wormhole to Atlantis' gate.

The humans have to surface when they no longer have the power to keep the shield holding back the water and after that it is vulnerable to the Wraith.


Simple: because that was a pretty lucky accident that probably is too risky to attempt to replicate.

Let me elaborate:

There are two comics that you should consider: How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When He Was a Little Boy Asterix and Obelix

All at Sea

The first one is a retelling that explains HOW Obelix felt in the cauldron when he was about 6.

The story is narrated by Asterix, apparently to the conventional readership, and tells that in childhood, Obelix was often bullied by other boys, until Asterix, to assist his courage, induced him to drink some of the magic potion that made the villagers invincible.

When they are interrupted in the act, Obelix falls into the cauldron containing the potion, and drinks it all , and is thereafter permanently under its influence.

As you can see, Obelix actually drinks the magic potion, not just "bathe" in it (so, sorry, no Achilles reference).

Now consider what happens in the second comic, Asterix and Obelix All at Sea.

In the story, Obelix actually manages to drink an entire cauldron full with the aforementioned potion.

The results?

First he gets turned into a stone statue, and then in a kid version of himself.

You may say that that effect was due to Obelix already having super-human strength when he drank the second cauldron...

but the same comic show the same destiny happening to Crustacius, a roman Admiral-

who never fell in a cauldron when young!

So, apparently, drinking too much magical potion in a single go may have dire consequences.

Based on the results, you may even say that it will have dire consequences most of the times !

This is somehow implied in multiple occasions during the series: every single time Obelix is given some magical potion (for example during the pyramid escape in Asterix & Cleopatra) Panoramix (or Getafix if you prefer his English name)

always try to give him as little potion as possible

(hinting he may already have feared that overdosing it may cause problems).

It is also worth noticing that even when Obelix originally fell in the magic potion that wasn't without side effects either: before the incident, Obelix is shown as being extremely pacifist .

While that personality trait may just originate from fear and the inability to defend himself, it is undoubted that he changes after gaining his characterizing strength.

Even his usual over-the-top reactions to being called "fat" - "WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT" - seems to be something he developed after the incident.

At least I think we can assume Obelix appetite isn't a potion side-effect: based on the first comic, "How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When He Was a Little Boy", he was already somehow overweight before the incident

I have read all the Asterix comics, and most of them several times.

It is never stated directly why no others have followed Obelix's path, but there are some possible in-world explanations:

Obelix isn't very bright, and this could be a result of the overdose of strength potion, as could his obesity.

Few parents would want their children to become super-strong at the price of them becoming fat and stupid.

There may be some unknown long-term effects, such as sterility or early death from heart failure, and, following the principle of caution, parents refrain from exposing their children to this risk.

Apart from Asterix and Obelix, few of the Gaul villagers ever seem to leave the village's environs.

Since Getafix's potions generally are easily available in times of crisis, there is no need to dose up permanently, no more than there is a need today to wear combat armor all the time.

And then there is the obvious out-of-universe explanation: The stories wouldn't be fun if all the Gauls were super-strong all the time.

TL;DR: The universe of Asterix is not meant to be consistent.

The author of the Asterix comics did not set out to create a logically consistent universe.

His writing lends itself more to parody and one-time problems the heroes have to face.

Our tendency as fans of a particular story (and by extension, its universe) is to seek logical truths that we can use to envisage all kinds of scenarios that the original author did not intend.

Very few authors start off by first creating the laws of a universe, and then creating its characters and dilemmas.

An easy example of this I can quote from Asterix itself: in one of the comics (It was one where Asterix and Obelix where in Rome, I cannot remember which) the simplest outcome would've been to storm Caesar's palace and take what they needed to complete the quest; Obelix tries this route, but Asterix stops him, saying "these guards are a lot tougher than what you're used to at home" (who can imagine anyone standing up to Obelix??).

This tells us the heroes have to face certain trials, even with the help of a potion that makes its user invincible.

I loved these comics when I read them as a child.

And the fact that you cannot always depend on your "invincibility potion", taught me a lot :)

It's a moral thing.

Gauls are not to use the power of the potion for anything, but to defend themselves.

It mustn't be used to fight each other.

Getafix is very clear about that.

I think that is the answer.

And: it must be very annoying to have superpower in everydaylife.

Remember how often Obelix destroys doors and other stuff.

The Gauls stood up against the Rome because they choose to give themselves and their children the freedom to live their life the way they see fit.

Forcing them to become eternal warriors would go against anything they could ever want for anyone, maybe the kid you just forced to become an abomination would have liked to become a bard but now he crushes any Instrument he touches.

Question: Given that the effects of Getafix's potion are permanent on Obelix since he fell in it as a child, why didn't the Gauls throw all of their children in the potion? By doing so, in about 15 years they would have an army of super-Gauls with which they could easily annihilate the Roman army.  Is there any in-universe explanation as to why this isn't an option?

Why aren't there more Gauls like Obelix?

There is no clear reason why more Gauls did not bathe their children in the magic potion, but there are some plausible reasons that could be speculated. Firstly, it may simply be too risky, as there may be many associated side-effects, such as possibly sterility or herat-failure. Obelix is shown to not be too bright and overweight, both of which could be consequences of the initial potion overdose. Another reason could be simply that Gauls are simply not supposed to use the potion for anything other than defending themselves.

There are a number of reasons for this, including the risks (e.g. Obelix is first turned into a stone statue and later becomes fat and rather limited intelligence), also there is a moral rule in that Getafix says the potion can only be used for self-defense, and finally the Gauls were resisting Rome so that they could be free to live their lives as they saw fit and not in order to become eternal warriors.

Because throwing a child into the potion is very risky. Even tho Obelix's gains huge strength he first gets turned into a stone statue and then into a child version of himself and later on in life he becomes docile and very touchy about people calling him fat.

Obelix is not very bright and if that is a consequence of drinking the potion then maybe that is why other parents are wary of it.

It is a moral question, as Getafix lays down the rule that the powers are only for defense and not to be used against fellow Gauls.

The Gauls were standing up against Rome because they wanted freedom to live their lives as they saw fit - they did not want to become eternal warriors forever fighting.


It simply appears the be a standard design feature for spacefaring helmets.

Note that the same ridges (both over the ears and across the midline) appear on the helmet that Obi-Wan gives to Luke during Luke's Force training session on the Millennium Falcon, even though that helmet is probably of neither Imperial or Rebel vintage.

Out of universe, the similarity is probably due to reuse of the props—or at least reuse of the molds for making the props used in A New Hope .

The front face/eye coverings are different on the various helmets, and so are the paint jobs, but the main bodies of the helmets appear to have been cast the same way.

The helmet ridges first appear on costume designer John Mollo's sketches for the TIE fighter pilots' gear.

From there, the ridged design was expanded to be used for other pilots as well.

Out of universe, I believe the other answer has it covered.

But in universe, perhaps this can explain it:

That's a Clone ARC 170 pilot, seen in Revenge of the Sith.

Better pictures out there would reveal that their helmets look like a cross between the Rebel pilot helmet and a TIE Fighter helmet (and out of universe, was mentioned to be designed as such), having the open design and orange visor of the Rebel's and the lower life support tube design of the TIE's.

While I have no concrete in-universe answer, I would like to think this is a case of divergent evolution; as with the ARC 170 itself, which was discarded by the Empire but would eventually bite them back by serving as the X-wing predecessor, perhaps these helmets have been similarly discarded, and would eventually serve as the basis for the Rebel pilot helmet design.

Out of universe, they are both molded off of a Mohawk helicopter pilot helmet, where those ridges allow for the needed electronics inside the padded liner.

The Mic for the rebel pilot helmet is based off of that as well.

The TIE doesn't have a visible Mic due to the uniform faceplate that ties in with the Imperial Stormtrooper, modified to fit the helmet

It was cheaper for the studio to order dozens the same shape from the same mould and alter the outsides with fibreglass than to order 2 or 3 completely different mouldings.

Small quantities are expensive because of the tooling costs per mould.

Out of Universe: They were designed off the the Vietnam era APH-6B fighter pilot helmet.

The side ridges were the tracks for the "Rams horn" style dual visor.

A clear visor and a more reflective visor for sunny conditions.

The same design was used for the Tie Helmet, with the Storm Trooper molded mask added on front, slightly varied.

In universe: Both were based on a standard helmet design, as seen on the Arc Fighters.

TIE Pilots needed the full mask because the TIE was not pressurized.

Obviously, this was changed by the time of TFA, because Finn and Poe do not have helmets in their ride in a newer TIE.

As stated already, manufacturers we're playing both sides in the original civil war.

Question: After having prop replicas of a TIE Fighter pilot' helmet and the Red Five helmet in view at same time, I noticed that both have characteristic ridges going to the back (circled in red on the 2 pictures).Is there anything known on the reasoning behind that?

Why do the TIE Fighter pilot helmets have similar ridges as the rebels?

The in-universe answer to this question is that this appears to be a standard design feature for spacefaring helmets. Furthermore, manufacturers would likely have been supplying both sides in the original civil war. The out-of-universe answer is that this probably occurred due to reuse of props.

The unified design can be seen as a standard feature of all space helmets or (out-of-universe) as a cost saving measure by the studio.

It's a standard space helmet design feature - and out-of-universe it's cheaper to use the same design.

The design is based on a Mohawk helicopter pilot's helmet with various modifications.

The studio saved money by having all helmets from the same basic moulding.

The design is based on the Vietnam era APH-6B fighter pilot helmet.


As a Terminator its primary mission is infiltration and assassination.

While it probably can make itself into a big cat that can run faster, that wouldn’t be very covert.

Also, it needs physical contact with things to copy them.

We see it disguise itself as a floor in Judgement Day .

It wanted to stay hidden and then assume the form a guard.

And while it is difficult to destroy, it isn't indestructible.

Too much attention and the government would try to end it.

The T-1000 has no compunction about being non-humanoid (or at least not possessing the statistically usual number of arms, heads and legs )

when it suits its needs.

It forms stabbing and grasping tools that extend from its hands and arms.

It's perfectly happy to have four hands or form a new head.

It also performs superhuman feats such as running at 40mph , melting through walls and pouring itself in through ceilings but in the main it's operating human-scale machinery and weaponry (as well as acting as an infiltration unit)

so it's best off emulating a human most of the time.

I would imagine a lot of it has to do with its programming.

Don't forget - at the end of the day it is a machine, and therefore governed by its program.

It also comes from the future - so Skynet has a different observable world than the "present day" - which may factor in with the programming.

I would make an assumption that his runtime protocols would range something like this: Blend in as human Anyone who discovers you are not human, must be terminated Terminate primary target(s) Of course

this is wild speculation and conjecture.

Terminators are infiltration units - so the less attention they draw to themselves the better.

If I remember correctly, the T-1000 needs to transform into something in "its size" and need to use all its liquid metal.

He can't transform into something small because of that

and he can transform into something bigger if he can create holes in his shape

but he can't transform into something very big that need more liquid metal

then he have (without holes).

The out-of-universe answer is, of course, that the T-1000, as a villain, needs a face.

The face of Robert Patrick, to be exact.

It does take a different form on two occasions, but they're exceptions, and of short duration.

Once, the plot required it, obviously the T-1000 couldn't have killed and impersonated Janelle if it didn't look like her .

The other occasion with the fat watchman walking over the checkerboard floor was just, well... CGI show off .

Don't forget it's an early 90s movie.

CGI was super expensive, super awesome, super... cool.

Magic.

People watched Star Trek TNG and Black or White only because of the CGI back then.

Which, at that time, were not just "OK effects" but stuff nobody could even have imagined as being possible before.

You see the same thing (villain face) in "Matrix" where every agent is Mr. Smith (and the few that arent, at the few, selected occasions, are all Mr. Jones and Mr. Brown).

Why do civilians who are taken over by agents need to look like Mr. Smith?

Well because Neo getting beaten up by the cat lady, or by a stinking hobo in the subway tunnel isn't nearly as "chic".

The hobo doesn't have the face of the villain.

In-universe, the T-1000 is a nigh-invincible war robot, but as we see in the movie, it's not bulletproof, nor indestructible.

So, avoiding being shot upon first sight is certainly not against mission parameters.

Plus, it has the concrete assignment of killing one particular person.

What's the single best approach to do that?

Well... get near the person in the form of a normal, harmless human, and then... just kill her.

Oh wait, it was the boy who was to be killed in that movie...

never mind, all the same.

Kill him .

Pulling off a "I am Megatron, Destroyer of Worlds, bow to me or die!" in the middle of L.A. neither helps avoiding trouble with local authorities, it also significantly reduces the likelihood of civilians being willing to help you find your mark, let alone your mark who knows about murderous robots from the future , staying where he is.

Really, there exist better strategies for not alarming everybody and their mother than appearing as an obviously non-human killer robot.

This answer is only within scope of T1 and T2.

It's also speculation, but logical.

Skynet is afraid to damage the timeline.

There is a reason it does not send 100 terminators all over the place.

There is a reason it does not try to detonate a nuclear weapon in a city to kill the targets.

Skynet is trying to make sure the future that happens is one where it's created.

This means stealth is the most important prerogative of the mission.

If the humans figure out there are robots attacking from the future, all AI research would be suspended.

Skynet would not exist.

Because of this

both the t-800 and t-1000 do their best to remain human.

Anyone that sees them as robots must be killed.

Doing something crazy like turning into a horse in the middle of the highway violates this prime directive.

In the end, changing the timeline is Skynet's downfall.

Question: If the liquid metal T-1000 can become anything it touches, why does it choose to be humanoid most of the time? Humans aren't very efficient; is there anything stopping it from becoming some other thing that can shoot more guns at a time and run faster?

Why is the T-1000 humanoid?

T-1000 chooses to be humanoid most of the time because its primary purpose is to infiltrate and assassinate. The less attention they draw to themselves, the better. This may also have a lot to do with programming. Additionally, the out-of-universe answer is that, as a villain, T-1000 needs a face.

The T-1000 was able to take any form but for the assassination mission to succeed its best chance was to blend in and avoid being noticed, so a human form made most sense.

The primary mission of the T-1000 was infiltration and assassination so it had to be covert and assuming human form was a way of achieving that.

It is quite willing to assume non-human forms when necessary - e.g. four hands.

It is a matter of programming and the fact that it comes from the future.

It has to transform into something the same 'size' - i.e. to use up all its liquid metal.

The out-of-universe answer is that a villain needs a face. That's why it rarely takes other forms. Also it could not have impersonated Janelle if it didn’t look like her.

The real issue is timeline - for example, if the humans had seen a robot was coming back from the future with deadly aims they might halt all AI research meaning the robot will never have existed.


There are a variety of devices to solve this problem, my first thought would be thimbles if you don't want to buy one, but I would encourage just getting such a device, there's both rotary and flat-board ones I've seen.

The rotary ones are thus:

I have used the palm of my hand to "finish off" a block of cheese.

If you apply the pressure with the center of your hand and raise your fingers up a bit, away from the grater, you will be able to safely push the cheese through the holes and crumble off the remaining bit without the risk of loosing your finger tips.

I find that corn forks (small forks for holding corn on the cob) works really well, and keeps your fingers away from the cutting edge of the grater.

Get gloves or thimbles .

I have encountered this problem several time as I make home made pizza and

the idea I use is thimbles.

But if you are a larger person you may need bigger thimbles and all the ones I use come in one size only(and that barely fits my thumb).

This plan is cheaper and may take less preparation and time.

The more fancy idea is the rotary grater thing(which makes to large grates, but I haven't used it often) which in my opinion is to expensive(but not as a one time purchase), but less notably from Is there a way to grate a block of cheese entirely without hurting one's fingers or knuckles?

are: Crumbling the cheese when it nears the end of the bar or whatever shape it is.

Leaving a very thin slice.

I will add to that answer and say cut the remainder slice up to the desired size.

These are awesome ideas that work awesomely since the pieces that are not uniform will probably not be seen.

Get a plastic grater.

These will be kinder to your fingers and though they are only 5.75 and similar prices you will probably have to buy more of them, due to the fact that they are plastic and plastic keeps less than metal and similar hardier products.

How about using bottle caps to cover the ends of the fingers?Or reverse the cap so it sinks into the potato (in my case) and use the protruding part as a handle?

Try cut resistant gloves like those from NoCry.

Inexpensive and durable.

Pick some scrap wood (preferably hardwood, about 1cm thick) and cut out a piece thats about 4cmx4cm, on one side make deep (2mm) grooves.

Clean them carefully so you don't get splinters in your cheese.

Then place the wood with the grooves down, perpendicular to the direction of movement, on the cheese

and you have a fine handle.

If something quicker is required use some leather thing you have.

The leather is sturdy enough not to fall into your food and thick enough not to cut your fingers.

Of course it can get holes while being applied.

I invented the SAFEGRATE kitchen tool for exactly your problem because I too would cut my fingers.

You can grate any sized food on any grater you already own.

Put the cheese somewhere it won't move (plenty friction, most chopping boards should be fine but if you were grating veg then you'd want to wedge it somewhere), and move the grater over it instead.

Much larger thing to hold, and hopefully much less chance of getting cut.

Question: When I am grating a block of parmesan cheese and the block becomes particularly small, I often fear that I will slip/the item will be completely grated and I will cut/grate my fingers. I've used rubber gloves as well but I'm concerned they are not thick enough. What is the best way to protect against this? Are there graters with built-in functions to prevent this? Or would a particular kind of gloves help?

How can I safely grate a small food item without cutting my fingers?

There are many ways to address this issue. One would be to buy some thick gloves or hold the cheese using thimbles, bottle caps or corn forks. Other options would include using a rotary grater or simply cutting the cheese with a knife once it gets too small.

There are many options for this - you could use gloves, thimbles or some kind of cheese gripping device to protect your fingers or you could use a device such as a corn fork to hold the cheese, or you could just crumble the last bit of cheese or wedge it in somewhere and then run the grater over it rather than running it over the grater.

There are many devices or you could use thimbles.

Use the palm of your hand to push the cheese through the holes without cutting finger tips.

Corn forks can be used to hold the cheese whilst grating.

Gloves or thimbles are a possible solution.

Rotary graters are a possibility but they can be expensive so you could just crumble the remaining bit of cheese or get a plastic grater which has less sharp edges.

You could use bottle caps to cover your finger tips.

Cut resistant gloves such as those from NoCry are an inexpensive options.

You could fashion some scraps of wood into holders for the cheese.

You could use a piece of leather to hold the cheese.

You could use the Safegrate kitchen appliance.

Wedge the cheese in somewhere and just move the grater over the cheese.


The fog comes from water condensing on the windshield or windows.

The problem is that the air inside the car is warmer and/or wetter than outside.

(e.g., https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1511 )

One of the faster ways is to lower your windows to lower the temperature in the car, and decrease the humidity by bringing in outside air.

This may not be particularly comfortable but it definitely works.

Since the fog comes from moisture inside the car a simple solution is to dehumidify the car by filling an old sock with kitty litter and placing it inside the car in an inconspicuous place like under a seat.

You might want to use an old pair of socks and double wrap the kitty litter.

Video from Huffington post of the kitty liter trick

But did you know there's a super easy way to beat motor mist?

Simply put some cat litter in a sock, leave it in your car

and you'll be on the road without delay every time.

If wiping leaves streaks, then there is something on the glass (oils from wiping with a rag that isn't perfectly clean etc)

so it will not get better until properly cleaned.

You need to really give your windscreen a good clean, and then use a product like Rain-X's window defogger (it's a window cleaner with something else that prevents condensation) - and it will last for months (possibly years - not sure) Also, using aircon helps to dry out the air in your car, reducing the problem.

Instead of using warm air to defog your windshield, use cold air - it is much faster.

Also, instead of putting on the air conditioner, switch it to windshield mode.

Prevent the fog by wiping the window/windshield by a cloth soaked in shampoo water or soap water!

This is just a temporary solution but it will be helpful sometimes!

Put a mains powered fan heater in the car for a few minutes before leaving home.

(Think about safety risks when doing this.)

Question: If I don't warm up my car in the mornings the windshield gets so foggy that I can't see.  The Heat/AC doesn't seem to help fast enough, and wiping the windshield leaves streaks.  How can I deal with this quickly so I can get back to driving safely?

What is the quickest way to defog car windows?

One fast way to defog car windows is to open the windows to lower the temperature and decrease the humidity in the car. You could also consider placing a box of kitty litter in the car to reduce the humidity. Finally, you might want to think about using cold air rather than warm air to defog the windows.

There are many possible solutions - you could lower your windows to equalise the temperature, keep an old sock filled with kitty litter in the car, clean the windscreen then apply a defogger, switch the aircon to windscreen mode on cold, wipe the windscreen with a cloth soaked in shampoo or warm the car with a mains-powered fan for a few minutes  before leaving home.

Lower your car windows to equalise the temperature inside and outside the car - not so comfortable but effective.

Keep an old sock filled with kitty litter to absorb the moisture.

Give the windscreen a good clean and then use a defogger like Rain-X.

Switch the aircon to windshield mode and use cold air.

Wipe the windscreen with a cloth soaked in shampoo.

Put a mains powered fan heater in the car for a few minutes before leaving home.