Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 March 14

= March 14 =

Harrington
Is actor Desmond Harrington related to Al Harrington (actor); neither article suggests a connection. Astronaut (talk) 01:51, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Checking them both on the IMBD I strongly suspect no. For 2 reasons - 1) Al Harrington's name is a stage name (though Desmond Harrington's could be too?) and 2) Their birth places are significantly different (thoguh obviously people can move between having children and relations don't necessarily live close to each other). ny156uk (talk) 15:59, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Wolf 359
Was the name "Wolf 359", used in the Star Trek Battle of Wolf 359, used as an homage to Wolf 359 (The Outer Limits) ? StuRat (talk) 09:13, 14 March 2011 (UTC)


 * It is a reference to the star, Wolf 359 (which you linked), that is named after Max Wolf. -- k a i n a w &trade; 12:24, 14 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Right, but there are billions of stars, and the same one being used by two different US sci-fi TV shows seems like quite a coincidence, unless there is something about that star that makes it "special". Perhaps being the third closest solar system to ours is enough ? StuRat (talk) 13:21, 14 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I believe that star system was chosen because it was close to Earth and suggested immediate peril for Earth (a founding member of The Federation and home of Starfleet HQ) should they lose. The plot of the Outer Limits episode seems unrelated except for the title.  Astronaut (talk) 12:47, 14 March 2011 (UTC)


 * It has been used several other times in fiction as well, some of them predating the Star Trek episode. In Star Trek, it's close to Earth, but not too close (like the Centauri system, which already had other things associated with it in the Star Trek universe), and it has a cool name (unlike the second-closest, Barnard's Star). Adam Bishop (talk) 13:36, 14 March 2011 (UTC)