Sci-Fi Spaceships 2 Quiz | Entertainment by Themes

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Launched in 1997, this classic saucer-shaped spaceship became hopelessly lost after being sabotaged by a fiendish (and cowardly) scientist. Which ship is this?

Answer: Jupiter 2

For several years the Robinson family and their saboteur were "Lost In Space" in their earth-built flying saucer, Jupiter 2. In 1998 the Jupiter 2 was brought to the big screen in the movie adaptation of "Lost In Space". Although the ship's saucer-shape was gone, the Jupiter 2's ascent stage, the Jupiter 1, would have been instantly recognizable to any fan of the '60s TV show.

2. This ship was sarcastically named by its hired crew once they discovered the deceptive nature of the "peaceful" exploratory equipment their two-headed alien employer had given them: nearly every single tool could easily be used as a devastating weapon. It was soon obvious that their mission to explore an extraordinarily unique world was not quite as innocent as it originally appeared. What nickname was this ship given?

Answer: Liar

In Larry Niven's "Ringworld" our heroes are hired to "explore" the titular Ringworld. When it's realized that just about all their equipment--from laser flashlights with highly adjustable power settings to digging tools that can violently disintegrate solid rock--can be used as weapons, the crew nicknames the ship "Liar".

The full name they give the ship is actually "Lying B-----d", but this is a family-friendly quiz.

3. This ship's experimental transwarp drive made it the "Great Experiment". However, the more complex the system the more likely it is to malfunction. It only took the removal of a handful of components from its computer to turn it into a drifting hulk. What starship is this?

Answer: Excelsior

In "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock", Captain Kirk and his crew wouldn't have made it very far in the stolen Enterprise with the Excelsior nearby. Fortunately for our heroes, Scotty's assistance on the transwarp project gave him easy access to the Excelsior's computer.

4. This troop ship carries its crew of Colonial Marines to a grisly fate on the Xenomorph-infested moon, LV-426. They can't say that the civilian they brought along as their expert didn't warn them. What warship is this?

Answer: Sulaco

In "Aliens", Ellen Ripley, the lone human survivor of the alien's rampage aboard the Nostromo in "Alien", accompanies a squad of Colonial marines to find out what has happened to the colony settled on the moon LV-426. Unknown to the ill-fated colonists, but well-known to the company that founded the colony, LV-426 is where Nostromo's crew found the first alien.

The troop ship's name comes from Joseph Conrad's novel "Nostromo", which takes place in the fictional town of "Sulaco".

5. This ship was the first to successfully employ an "infinite improbability drive". This drive allowed the ship to pass through "every conceivable and non-conceivable point in every conceivable and non-conceivable universe simultaneously". The ship was very likely to take you somewhere you didn't expect to go and might even cause you to arrive as a different species. What unpredictable ship is this?

Answer: Heart of Gold

Heart of Gold, the heroes' starship from Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" sports the fastest drive ever devised. The drive tends to have strange side effects, as seen in the 2005 film adaptation when the roughly spherical Heart of Gold arrives at its destination in the form of a large ball of yarn. According to the third book of the Hitchhiker's series, "Life, the Universe, and Everything" the Starship Titanic utilized some of the earliest infinite improbability technology, which caused it to suffer "Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure" on its maiden voyage.

6. This 19,000 meter-long warship was destroyed when a 9.6 meter-long starfighter crashed into its bridge, causing it to lose navigational control and to collide with a moon-sized space station. What unfortunate ship is this?

Answer: Executor

The Executor, Darth Vader's flagship from "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back", is destroyed in "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi". After losing its bridge deflector shields due to Rebel attacks, a small A-wing fighter loses control and crashes into the Executor's bridge. The damaged warship soon crashes into the nearby Death Star, leaving behind a miles-long tongue of flame.

7. This Soviet-built spaceship was sent to Jupiter to determine the fate of an American expedition sent there nine years before. Shortly after discovering the fate of the American ship, this ship is forced to flee when Jupiter is transformed into the star Lucifer. Which exploratory ship is this?

Answer: Alexei Leonov

In Arthur C. Clarke's "2010: Odyssey Two", the sequel to Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey", the Alexei Leonov is sent with a joint Soviet-American crew to determine the fate of the Discovery, lost in orbit around Jupiter in 2001 {although the novel "2001: A Space Odyssey" has Discovery exploring the region around Saturn, the movie adaptation and all of Clarke's subsequent novels place the action around Jupiter).

In Jupiter's orbit, the crew of the Leonov face the same alien-built monolith that caused the mysterious disappearance of Discovery's pilot, Dave Bowman. Bowman, now transformed into an energy-being by the aliens, warns the Leonov crew that the aliens have plans for Jupiter and its moons.

These plans involve the transformation of Jupiter into a star, making Jupiter's system of moons into a small solar system.

8. This ship, originally built to battle a race of cyborgs from the Delta Quadrant, eventually saw front-line service against warships operated by vicious genetically-engineered warriors from the Gamma Quadrant. The ship's pulse-phasers and quantum torpedoes made it one of the most heavily armed starships in the fleet. What ship is this?

Answer: USS Defiant

"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" saw the advent of Star Trek's first Federation-built warship, the USS Defiant. The Federation, being a peaceful organization, only constructed starships whose primary purpose was peaceful exploration. However, small-scale (but devastating) invasions by the cybernetic race, the Borg, and the later conflict with the Dominion and it's genetically engineered Jem'Hadar soldiers convinced the Federation of the need for dedicated warships.

9. In the 2200s, this United Planets Cruiser is sent to the site of a colony lost twenty years prior. There they find a scientist and his daughter, the colony's lone survivors. The rest of the colonists were killed by a mysterious unseen creature; a creature that is starting to prey on the spaceship's crew. What spaceship is this?

Answer: C-57D

In "Forbidden Planet", the only survivors of the doomed colony found by our heroes are the bitter scientist, Morbius, who wants to be left alone, and his daughter, Altaira, who has grown up knowing only her parents. Father and daughter are served by the scientist's curiously advanced robot, Robby, who appears to be equipped with technology far beyond that known to humanity.

As it turns out, the planet had at one time been home to the now-extinct Krell civilization. The Krell's technology served their society well until the invention of their most advanced machine; a machine that could give form to a being's thoughts.

10. For millions of earth-bound fans, this starship existed only as a series of cheap sets and a small filming model on a long-canceled TV series. However, the series' extraterrestrial fans, unaware that the show was fictional and with more advanced technology at their disposal, build their own fully functional replica to defend themselves against an aggressive species. What starship is this?

Answer: Protector

In the movie "Galaxy Quest" (a spot-on parody of "Star Trek") the intrepid cast of the titular TV series are brought aboard a real-life starship patterned after the show's NSEA Protector. The aliens (called Thermians) have seen all the episodes of "Galaxy Quest" but have mistaken them for historical documentaries.

In an effort to defeat the hostile alien who destroyed their homeworld, the Thermians build their own version of the Protector and enlist the help of their heroes to command it. The Thermian-built Protector is so true to the TV series that it even includes nonsensical equipment that appeared in the show solely for dramatic effect such as an autodestruct that goes to the last second no matter when it's shut off and a hallway with "choppy crushy" things.

Source: Author wilhelm33

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor JuniorTheJaws before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Sci-Fi Spaceships 2 Trivia Quiz

Even more name-the-spaceship questions from books, movies, and TV. Once again, the titles have been omitted for an extra challenge.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>