3, 2, 1...Blast Off! Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel

Jenny Miles (AKA Bo Derek) did just about everything else but come in through the bathroom window - she certainly found her way into songwriter George Webber's middle-aged head in this funny film. Dudley Moore did a fine turn as George, smitten from a distance by the alluring Jenny.

He was so taken, he follows her to Mexico (these days he would be called your basic stalker) and chaos certainly ensues. "Bolero" was heard everywhere at the time the movie became a hit as it was the resounding, sensual theme that followed this peculiar 'romantic' endeavor.

It was such a phenomenon that a movie named "Bolero" was later released, hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the music and especially Derek. It bombed and Bo's acting skills, shall we say, didn't measure up to her measurements.

Answer: She wasn't really an alien. Seven Of Nine was born a human until those rascal Borgs got a hold of her and complicated everything.

Actress Jeri Ryan would never be confused with that other actress Irene Ryan (who played a very dissimiliar creature as Granny in "The Beverly Hillbillies"). That said, Seven Of Nine was born Annika Hansen to two very regular humans who, by pure crappy luck, were abducted by The Borgs who "assimilated" the whole family. Eventually Annika was mostly restored to humanness after a procedure that removed 82% of Borg hardware from her personage, thus freeing her from the Borg collective mind.

This done through the neutralization of the upper-spinal column neurotransceiver, which I'm sure happens all the time, or maybe not! She retained a few metallic parts which were deemed necessary to keep her alive which is why she had that distracting eye.

Answer: If you join our family for dinner there are several things it is perfectly all right to 'pick'. You may pick the topic of conversation as long as it is tasteful and of the same variety one might hear on "The Brady Bunch". Noses and ears are off limits.

The sudden death of John Ritter put the brakes on this very enjoyable show when he died from an "aortic dissection" in 2003 at the age of just 54. They tried to keep it going, working the family's loss into plot lines, but it mostly stopped being funny and soon went off the air.

There really were 8 official rules (all of which are listed in the Trivia section of the show's page on imdb.com) and they were hysterical to read, in an 8-simple-rules-I'd-never-actually-say-but-you-know-I-mean-them-anyway style. Two noteworthy others dealt with showing up for a date in ridiculously baggy pants and/or taking the daughter to places lacking parents, policemen or nuns. Nose picking, however, never made the list.

Answer: William Somerset and David Mills

Somerset was just inches away from retirement when along comes this stomach churning case and a go-getting young upstart with whom he was partnered to solve it. 1995's "Se7en" was all about a serial killer who killed his victims in a systematically themed way, one each for every deadly sin - he made one fellow eat himself to death for the sake of 'gluttony' and so forth.

It was a hellish tale, beautifully photographed and acted, but very unsettling nonetheless. The performance by Freeman as Somerset was awesome.

He did his best acting without saying much since it was all clear on his face and mannerisms. The 30 years of human depravity had taken a strong toll and this final crime spree had to be one of the worst of them. Gwyneth Paltrow played the unfortunate young Mrs. Mills and Kevin Spacey played the villain...which begs the question: does Spacey ever play anyone remotely normal?

Answer: 'Six' LeMeure was nicknamed after the number of beers consumed by her parents on the night she was conceived.

Such trickery. "Blossom" was the one who really liked the hats, but her best buddy Six followed suit and had one on quite often. Also, later on, the show made it seem that her name did, in fact, indicate her birth order (although the gender of her siblings was never revealed). Truth is, it being a family show and all, they thought it best not to glorify the notion that young Six was the result of a good beer buzz so it never was mentioned after that initial airing.

The show ran only from 1991 - 1995 (it seemed longer, didn't it?) and Jenna Von Oy played Six with Mayim Bialik doing the honors as "Blossom".

Answer: Five Easy Pieces

Robert Dupea was a strange bird, more or less, in "Five Easy Pieces". The character was born into culture and money and had great promise as a concert pianist but decided to skip all that, roam aimlessly, work in oil fields and impregnate live-in waitress girlfriends. Was this part tailor made for someone like Jack Nicholson or what? As we follow Dupea he receives a phone call from his sister informing him that their father is dangerously ill and he ventures home to see him.

This does not work out well by any stretch of the imagination and the family dynamics explode in a hurry. Just to make it worse Robert takes up with his brother's fiancee! No, folks, this was not a comedy.

In fact it was a deadly serious character study. The "toast" scene was a hoot, though.

The server just would not bring him toast but suggested a chicken salad sandwich (on toast) instead. While not verbatim he told her to give him one of those. Skip the chicken, scrape off the mayonnaise, pitch the lettuce, charge him for the whole sandwich and bring him the darned toast. Clearly not aware of who she was dealing with the lady asked "So you want me to hold the chicken?".

He responded in the affirmative and, of course, proceeded to tell her exactly where she could hold the chicken. Don't worry, he could have been much ruder about it. It's actually a very very good movie, if I do say so myself.

Answer: The Shield

All of these shows had actors in them who finally became one of the members of the erstwhile "Fantastic Four". Ioan Gruffudd was in "Century City" but we know him now as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic much better. Jessica Alba from "Dark Angel" is currently near and dear to our hearts as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman. "Opposite Sex" introduced us to Chris Evans or the ever heroic Johnny Storm/Human Torch these days. Michael Chiklis, who plays the unorthodox cop Vic Mackey on "The Shield", is the thespian who has the alter ego of a large pebble in "The Fantastic Four". You might recall Chiklis from the show "The Commish" or the film "Wired" wherein he portrayed John Belushi as well. Stay tuned! "The Fantastic Four 2" is on its way to a theater near you...good, bad or indifferent as that may seem.

Answer: As a child she was forced to kiss her Grandmother's corpse which frightened the little girl senseless - literally!

Gosh, granted kissing a corpse is unpleasant for even an adult but that kid must have been a fragile little thing for sure to lapse into psychosis because of having to do it just that once. But that's what happened. Woodward was named Best Actress for her work in this movie which was rather daring for its time. Mental illness was not a common vessel for entertainment, especially when done in such a complex way. What a role, though, for an actress to grab. Being a saint, a floosie and perfectly regular all at once in the same body? Jane, the regular persona, emerged dominant in the end of things as one would expect.

This viewer was kind of rooting for Jane Black to win but that would certainly not have been a very nice ending. Also, all due apologies to Jerry Lewis 'grin'.

Answer: No

Needless to say, DNA testing was never a feature of this show. Had it been there would have been very little to do! We are left to forever wonder whether it was stressed out and stuffy businessman Michael (played nicely by Paul Reiser) or laid back and free thinking rock musician Joey (also played nicely by Greg Evigan) who sired young Nicole Bradford.

As it went the daughter got the best angles of two very opposite parenting techniques and we simply assumed she was a better person for that as time went. "My Two Dads" ran from 1987 - 1990 and never got moralistic about the fact that a woman can have unprotected sex with two men during the same time frame.

The story had more goodness and light in it than a fireworks display at Disneyland does.

Despite all that, it was pretty fun to watch. Another time when the teenager had a whole heap of better sense than most of the adults combined.

Answer: 'One Tin Soldier' from "Billy Jack"

Billy Jack, dressed in black while he 'walked tall carrying a big stick', emerged as a bit of a hero in the 1970s. You had to love the fellow, his being part Superman and part Supervigilante and all. Billy made his debut in "The Born Loser" in 1967 and was played by Tom Laughlin (in that movie he was up against marauding bikers and the film was relegated to drive-in theaters). "Billy Jack" (1971) toned it down allowing our hero to save a hippie-ish school from racism. The song, originally sung by the Canadian band Caste went nowhere in 1969. It was an enormous hit in 1972 for the combo Coven in '72, thanks to its inclusion in the film. It had to be that since Coven was never heard from again! Let's hope our imaginary astronauts don't suffer the same fate?

Blast off! We speed off into the wild blue yonder and are currently high up in that inviting sky. Let's enjoy the ride, shall we? I hope you enjoyed this Earthbound little quiz.