Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 105 Trivia Quiz

Answer: to explore with an eye to colonisation

The planet Nova is spotted by Earth's telescopes. The film's narrator (Marvin Miller) explains, "Earth had a new neighbor; a new planet had moved into our solar system." The US Congress meets and decides that, given the proximity of this new planet to the Earth, it should be explored and assessed for possible colonization.

A geologist, a medical doctor, a zoologist, and a chemist are chosen to make the trip in a spaceship which is built using advanced 1960 technology. On the first of October, Nova will be closest to Earth so this is selected as the launch date.

Answer: Cosmic Warrior

In "The Cosmic Man" (1959), John Carradine plays a space alien who comes to Earth on a mission of peace. In "The Cosmic Monsters" (1958), Martin Benson plays Mister Smith, a space alien on a mission to stop dangerous experiments on Earth. "Space Master X-7" (1958) is a satellite which collects and returns a "blood fungus" to Earth.

"Cosmic Warrior" is a song written and performed by Kid Cudi in 2016. "Cosmic Warrior: The Beginner's Guide for the Modern Soul Seeker" is a 2018 book by Bridget Brady Pattee who styles herself The Cosmic Warrior. "The Cosmic Warrior" is 2020 a graphic novella written by Jon Del Arroz and illustrated by Cloves Rodrigues. "Cosmic Warrior #2" and "Cosmic Warrior #3" are mixed-media collages by John Kowalczyk. There does not appear to have ever been a 1950s feature-length science-fiction or horror motion picture by this name.

Answer: It was not killed; it was blinded.

The crew thought that the legs of the crab-rat-spider-bat monster were trees. When Dr. Ryan whacked it with a machete to get a sample of its bark, it took umbrage. Chief Jacobs' freeze-ray rifle had no effect on the creature so he shot it in its eyes and blinded them.

The crew said the monster was forty feet tall. It was actually a 15-inch-tall marionette made of latex, stay-foam plastic and monkey fur.

Answer: Chester Morris

Chester Morris (1901-1970) played Dr. Carlo Lombardi in "The She-Creature" Lombardi is an occultist, a hypnotist and a practitioner of the Black Arts. The producers originally cast Edward Arnold to play this role, opposite Peter Lorre as Timothy Chappel and Mike Connors as Dr. Erickson. Arnold died before filming, Connors became unavailable and Lorre threatened to fire his agent for agreeing to have him play this part. Chester Morris was then signed to play Lombardi, Tom Conway to play Timothy Chappel, and Lance Fuller to play Dr. Ted Erickson.

This role was very much outside the typical characters portrayed by Chester Morris who was well known for playing Boston Blackie in the Columbia Pictures movies of the 1940s.

Answer: Elmer Bernstein

The score for "Robot Monster" was composed by Elmer Bernstein (1922-2004). He was not related to Leonard Bernstein. Before he composed scores for major motion pictures ("The Ten Commandments" (1956), "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), "The Great Escape" (1963), "Animal House" (1978) and "Ghostbusters" (1984)), he did several scores for B-movies such as "Cat Women of the Moon" (1953).

Answer: Val Lewton's movie "Cat People" (1942)

Although not credited as such, Alfred Shaughnessy's "Cat Girl" (1957) was a very unofficial remake of "Cat People" (1942). Val Lewton (1904-1951) was a novelist as well as a movie producer and screenwriter. He produced "Cat People" for RKO in 1942. Lewton also produced "The Leopard Man" (1943) and "The Curse of the Cat People" (1944). One might discern a theme.

Answer: Ottawa is destroyed.

Once the missile enters an Earth orbit, its arc describes the path from the Bering Strait, over Ottawa, to New York City. It travels five miles above the surface at about 4000 miles per hour. The temperature of its exhaust is one million degrees. This incinerates anything over which it passes. Attempts to shoot down the missile fail. Ottawa is destroyed.

The narrator solemnly intones, "Ottawa is gone. Boiling cauldrons of steam, molten lava, twisted girders, desolation. New York has five minutes."

Answer: directing

Edward L. Cahn (1899-1963) went to work for Universal Pictures in 1917 while he was still a student at UCLA. He grew into directing and made the "Our Gang" comedies from 1939 to 1943. He directed numerous other serials and many B pictures. His filmography includes "The Giant of Norway" (1939), "Creature with the Atom Brain" (1955), "Zombies of Mora Tau" (1957), "Invasion of the Saucer Men" (1957), "Curse of the Faceless Man" (1958), "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" (1958), "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake" (1959), and "Invisible Invaders" (1959).

Answer: Stannjold and the land of the Grimaults

The story in "The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent" begins somewhere in ancient Scandinavia. The time is "the days when the world was young and the gods had not abandoned the race of men." The proud (and good looking) women of the village of Stannjold set out to find their proud (and well muscled) men who have been kidnapped and imprisoned in the land of the (mean and ugly) Grimaults. Shooting took place at Cabrillo Beach, Bronson's Canyon and Iverson's Ranch, standing in for the Nordic lands of antiquity.

Answer: The Old-Testament Book of Genesis

Genesis 6:11-12 says, in the King James Version, "And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." This passage immediately precedes the description of Noah's Ark and the Great Flood. God's decision to wipe out (almost all of) humanity was based on the wickedness which He perceived throughout the world. No such moral motivation is suggested by the prologue to this movie; the collision of the worlds is a random uncaused event.