Planets in Fiction Trivia Quiz

Answer: Isaac Asimov

Trantor was the centre of the Galactic Empire in the various "Foundation" novels by Isaac Asimov, and is also mentioned in his earlier works. Like Coruscant in the "Star Wars" universe, Trantor was almost completely covered in cities, with only a single green space for the Imperial Family.

Answer: James Cameron

This is the name given to the fictional moon in James Cameron's blockbuster film "Avatar", inhabited by a humanoid race called the Na'vi. Pandora is the source of a rare but critical mineral called "unobtanium", and the movie revolved around the attempt by humans to exploit that resource.

Answer: Brian Aldiss

Helliconia is the central location in a trilogy of science-fiction novels of the 1980s by British writer, Brian Aldiss. Two races live on Helliconia, human-like creatures and phagors, the latter being white-furred humanoid beings with whom the native humans are in constant combat. Orbiting Helliconia is a space-station from Earth which sends streams of data about the planet and its inhabitants back to Earth.

Answer: H. G. Wells

Mars has been the setting for a number of science-fiction stories and movies, including Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" and Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land". But the best-known is probably H. G. Wells' story, "The War of the Worlds", published in 1897, in which invaders from Mars attack the Earth. Later, Orson Welles' radio production of Wells' story in 1938 created a great commotion in the United States - the documentary style of its production is said to have convinced many listeners that these events were real.

Answer: Christopher Stasheff

Gramarye is the planet created by Christopher Stasheff in his "Warlock of Gramarye" series. The first book, "The Warlock in Spite of Himself", came out in 1969 and was followed by a number of sequels and spin-off series. Gramarye had been settled by members of the Society for Creative Anachronism and when the main character, Rod Gallowglass, arrives, he founds a mediaeval world with kings and princes, witches and leprechauns, and by the end of the first novel has become the Queen's Warlock.

Answer: Gene Roddenberry

Vulcan is famous from its appearance in the "Star Trek" universe and its humanoid inhabitants who have renounced emotional feeling and embraced reason and logic. The most famous Vulcan is Mister Spock from the original series of the 1960s, played by the late Leonard Nimoy, but other recurrent characters include Spock's father, Sarek, and Lieutenant Tuvok, the security officer on "Star Trek: Voyager".

In the reboot of the movie franchise in 2009 the planet Vulcan was destroyed by a vengeful Romulan from the future.

Answer: C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis is best-known for his fantasy stories, "The Chronicles of Narnia", but in the early 1940s he published a trilogy of novels, known variously as the "Space Trilogy" or the "Ransom Trilogy". The second volume is set on Venus, called "Perelandra" in the novel. Lewis' hero, Elwin Ransom, a mild-mannered philologist with a strong resemblance to J. R. R. Tolkien, is sent to Perelandra (Venus) to prevent its "Adam" and "Eve" from being corrupted by a diabolical influence.

Answer: Marion Zimmer Bradley

Darkover is the setting for a brilliant series of novels and short-stories by Marion Zimmer Bradley and other writers. A space ship from Earth carrying passengers from Spain and the Scottish islands crash lands on the planet they will eventually call "Darkover".

The stranded colonists interbreed with a local humanoid race called "chieri" whose own psychic powers awake the latent mental abilities of the Earthfolk. When explorers from Earth establishes contact centuries later, they find a society ruled by the Comyn, those with advanced telepathic abilities.

Answer: George Lucas

Tatooine is the first planet we see and visit in the "Star Wars" movies, created and directed by George Lucas. It is a desert planet - the movie scenes were filmed in Tunisia - under the loose control of the Hutt family. Jabba the Hutt is mentioned in the first two films and appears as a character in "The Return of the Jedi". Part of "The Phantom Menace" is also set on Tatooine.

Answer: Anne McCaffrey

Anne McCaffrey, followed by her son Todd, created the world of Pern orbiting the star Rukbat in the Sagittarius sector. Settlers from Earth discovered to their cost that a neighbouring rogue planet, "the Red Star", would periodically approach Pern and allow a mycorrhizoid spore ("Thread") to migrate to and devastate their new home. Among the defencess adopted was to genetically modify local mini-dragons to much larger creatures whose fiery breath would destroy the Thread.

More than a dozen books comprise this series, known generally as "The Dragonriders of Pern".