Welcome to Post 2 of 7 this afternoon!
4) SUMMER MEGA-QUIZ 2022!
The summer sun is shining, the days stretch seemingly to infinity, and again do we enjoy backyard barbecues, farmer’s markets, an afternoon poolside, or boating on the lake. We relish the vibrant street festivals, outdoor concerts, a cold one quaffed with friends on a downtown terrace, or a weekend away in the country. We catch the summer’s blockbuster sci-fi movies, in some rural communities, perhaps at an old-fashioned drive-in theatre on a warm evening! We delight in a day at the beach, and dive eagerly into a good beach read! Yes, summertime…and the livin’ is easy…
With that vibe in mind, we offer on this fine afternoon a little light fun in the form of a trivia challenge, our Summer Mega-Quiz 2022! Can you answer all 50 of the following SF/F-related questions? Good luck, and, of course, play fair; no resorting to Google or another search engine for the answers! You can ask a friend for help, however, as long as your friend’s name isn’t Siri or Alexa!
1) Fill in the blank! These SF/F titles are missing a single word: Infinity ______; Dinosaur ______; Blood ______; and Steel ______. What is that missing word?
2) Star Wars (1977) famously opens with this text: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
Identify the post-apocalyptic film that opens with these words appearing on screen:
What you are about to see may never happen…
But to this anxious age in which we live, it presents a fearsome warning…
Our story begins with… The End!
3) A landing party from the U.S.S. Enterprise is about to beam down to this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
4) In what city was the first Worldcon held?
5) Who painted this iconic War of the Worlds scene for the cover of Amazing Stories’ August 1929 issue?
6) Rocketship X-M (1950), Zombies of Mora Tau (1957), Invaders from Mars (1953), and How to Make a Monster (1958)—with regards to casting, what do these SF/F films share in common?
7) In which U. S. state is set the giant-crocodile horror/comedy film Lake Placid?
8) Cressie, Ponik, Old Ned, Ol’ Slavey, and Mussie are the names of what?
9) What was the first novel written by “King of Horror” Stephen King?
10) Kirk and Spock are about to materialize on this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
11) Pertaining to science fiction, what do rock stars Mick Fleetwood, Iggy Pop, and Tom Morello have in common?
12) Appearing in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” and providing the voice of both the Gorn captain in “Arena,” and the puppet presented as the menacing face of cherubic commander Balok in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” name this original-series Star Trek guest star.
13) In Star Trek, what is the name of the planet Ardana’s city-in-the-clouds?
14) In The Andromeda Strain, both novel (1969) and film (1971), what is the code-name given to the special, secret underground laboratory set up to contain and study dangerous microorganisms?
15) In season three of Netflix’s time-bending superhero series, The Umbrella Academy, principal protagonists Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Vanya (soon to become Viktor) find themselves in an altered timeline, one in which, rather than The Umbrella Academy, another superhero team came to be created by their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves. What is the name of this team?
16) Who were “Ace” Morgan, “Red” Ryan, “Rocky” Davis, and “Prof” Haley?
17) Who was the 1943 Worldcon’s Guest of Honour?
18) Name the seasoned character actor who played Lieutenant-General Edward Considine in The Giant Claw (1957).
19) A Captain Kirk-led landing party from the Enterprise is about to beam down to this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
20) Identify the actress in the black dress, here playing a bit-part in a classic Star Trek episode.
21) Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, dressed in local attire so as not to attract undue attention, are about to beam down to this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
22) Earth’s president, Kier Gray, seeks to exterminate a race of much-hated superbeings in which classic science fiction novel originally serialized in Astounding Science-Fiction, September through October, 1940?
23) Red or blue, which colour pill does Neo choose to take in The Matrix (1999)?
24) Name the seasoned character actor who played Dr. Albert Stern in Kronos (1957).
25) In what town does Dr. Miles Bennell practice medicine?
26) The colonization vessel Leonora Christine, crewed by 25 men and 25 women, her destination the nearby star Beta Virginis, is featured in which hard science fiction novel?
27) First presented in 1973 to Jerry Pournelle, The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer is no longer called the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer! 2019 Campbell Award-winner Jeannette Ng described Campbell as “a fascist” during her acceptance speech at the 77th WorldCon, adding “pulling down memorials to dead racists is not the erasing of history, it is how we make history.” Her words prompted discussion and debate within the science fiction community, and in response, the award was shortly thereafter renamed. What is it now called?
28) In what city was the 6th Worldcon held?
29) Name the co-creators of the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
30) An Enterprise landing party is about to materialize on this very spot, within an area having an Earth-like environment on an otherwise inhospitable world! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
31) Name the seasoned character actor who played Dr. Thurgood Elson in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953).
32) In what city was the 31st Worldcon held?
33) Identify the fantasy/adventure film that opens with this epigram:
And the prophet said:
“And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing.
And from that day, it was as one dead.”—Old Arabian Proverb
34) Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, on an emergency medical mission, are about to materialize on this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
35) Charlie Jane Anders’ debut novel, All the Birds in the Sky (2016), is described as a love story and mélange of science fiction and fantasy. Who are the tale’s protagonists, one a witch, the other an engineering whiz and gadgeteer?
36) Name the four Federation starships that engage the M-5 computer-equipped Enterprise in simulated war games that quickly become all too real in the classic Star Trek episode “The Ultimate Computer.”
37) This Star Trek guest star is, perhaps, best known among cult-film aficionados, at least, for which genre role?
38) Identify the film that opens with the following axiom:
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”—Old Klingon Proverb
39) In what city was the 67th Worldcon held?
40) When the lunar dust-cruiser Selene becomes trapped beneath the fine powder of the moon’s Sea of Thirst, a rescue mission is mounted to save her passengers and crew. This story is told in which Hugo-nominated hard science fiction novel?
41) Which was the first science fiction novel selected to become a Reader’s Digest Condensed Novel?
42) Human-angel hybrid Aaron Corbett, Starfleet’s Captain James T. Kirk, vampire Stephan Salvatore, and werewolf Lucas “Luke” Cates—what do these genre characters have in common?
43) In which city is based author Laurel K. Hamilton’s vampire hunter, Anita Blake?
44) Name the seasoned character actor who played Brigadier General John Hanley in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).
45) Tarnsman of Gor (1966), Avengers of Gor (2021), Quarry of Gor (2019), Marauders of Gor (1975)—as regards point of view, which of these titles does not belong?
46) What coastal town is haunted by the murderous ghosts of the clipper ship Elizabeth Dane’s crew 100 years after the vessel was deliberately and deviously lured onto the rocks by the town’s founders, and wrecked with all hands lost?
47) Released as Monster in Europe and Japan, this 1980 American sci-fi/horror movie starring Doug McClure is about slimy sea-creatures that hunt the women of a seaside town for the purposes of mating! The film is better known domestically by its North American title. What is that title?
48) How many novels currently comprise author John Norman’s Chronicles of Counter-Earth?
49) She Who Became the Sun; Light From Uncommon Stars; The Galaxy, and the Ground Within; Project Hail Mary; A Master of Djinn; and A Desolation Called Peace—what do these novels have in common?
50) “Achronos,” Old, “Tideline,” and The Sand—what do these SF/F titles have in common?