Stars of Stage, Screen, and Herpetology Quiz

Answer: Kaa

Kas is a giant snake who has the ability to hypnotize. In the 1894 book by Rudyard Kipling, Kaa works with Baloo (the bear) and Bagheera (the panther) to rescue Mowgli from a group of monkeys. Kaa is able to use the movement of his body to hypnotize the monkeys.

In the 1967 Disney film, Kaa is an antagonist to Mowgli. He attempts to hypnotize Mowgli with his eyes in order to meet him. In the movie, Sterling Holloway voiced Kaa and used a lisp that is emphasized in Kaa's song "Trust in Me". Of the other choices, Akela is the leader of the wolf pack and Hathi is an elephant.

Answer: Caravaggio

While the four turtles all have the names of Renaissance artists, the fourth turtle was Raphael, not Caravaggio. Raphael had the most aggressive personality of the four turtles and was often sarcastic. The characters were created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman and first appeared in comic books in 1984.

The characters have also appeared in several television series (both animated and live action) and feature films. Personally, I always suspected that Splinter gave the turtles the names of Renaissance artists to inspire them to do great things.

In the case of the turtles, these great things seemed to mostly be the kicking of the butt and the eating of the pizza.

Answer: James Hook

Tick-Tock the Croc and Captain James Hook were both characters in the 1953 Disney film "Peter Pan". Peter once cut off Hook's hand during a sword fight and fed it to a nearby crocodile. The crocodile found the hand so tasty that it has since attempted to capture and eat the rest of the pirate Captain. Fortunately for the pirate, the crocodile also swallowed an alarm clock that gives warning when the crocodile (now known as Tick-Tock) is nearby. James Hook would get his name form the large metal hook which would replace his missing hand.

The song "Never Smile at a Crocodile" would play in the movie when Tick-Tock appeared.

Answer: Curt Connors

Curt Connors has a somewhat tragic transformation into the Lizard. He was a geneticist who was studying certain reptiles and their ability to regrow certain limbs. He hoped there would be a way to use reptile DNA to give this ability to humans. When he injected himself with this DNA after his own arm was amputated, he did regrow his arm, but also found himself periodically transformed into a humanoid lizard.

There is a resemblance to Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde as Dr. Connors is generally a good person while the Lizard is much more villainous.

The character has appeared in several Spider-Man animated television series and video games. As for the others, Otto Octavius is Dr. Octopus, Norman Osborn is the Green Goblin and Roderic Kingsley is the Hobgoblin.

Answer: Neville Longbottom

Neville beheads Nagini with Godric Gryffindor's sword after pulling it from the Sorting Hat. Before this, Nagini had been the constant companion of Lord Voldemort. In the "Fantastic Beasts" prequel films, Nagini was shown as someone who was originally human but later transformed into a snake. Lord Voldemort would later turn Nagini into a living Horcrux in order to keep a piece of his divided soul safe.

At one point in the series, Nagini's venom is used to keep alive a temporary body for Voldemort.

Answer: He stands on their backs

Yertle, king of the turtles in the pond, is unhappy with the simple stone that is his throne. He decides he should be higher (literally) than other creatures and has the other turtles stand on each other's back so he can stand atop them all. His ultimate goal is to be higher than the moon.

When the turtle on the bottom, Mack, grows tired of this, he burps and causes the stack of turtles to fall. Yertle ends the story having fallen into the mud. Dr. Seuss later said that Yertle was meant to represent Adolf Hitler with his story being a fable against autocratic rule.

Answer: Mr. Twiddle

Wally Gator, voiced by Daws Butler, was the star on a regular segment on "The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series" (1962-63). While he lived in the zoo, under the supervision of Mr. Twiddle, Wally's goal was to live free in the outside world. Wally was usually seen wearing a porkpie hat and a collar (that was attached to nothing else). Ranger Smith would be more likely to interact with Yogi Bear. Mr. Peebles owned the pet shop where Magilla Gorilla lived. Beegle Beagle would interact with Grape Ape.

Answer: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

In Wonderland, Bill seemed to function as some sort of hired help. When Alice (in one of her growing phases) fills up the interior of the White Rabbit's house and blocks the entrances, the rabbit sends Bill to investigate via the chimney. Alice ends up kicking Bill out of the chimney. Later Bill is one the jurors when Alice is put on trial by the Queen of Hearts. (I suppose that if this trial had been more logical, Bill would have been excused from jury duty for knowing the defendant.) The character of Bill was created by Lewis Carroll for his 1865 novel.

Answer: Diddy Kong

Rattly first appeared in the 1995 video game "Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest". Rattly aided Diddy Kong in his quest to free Donkey Kong, who had been captured by King K. Rool. Rattly was one of several "animal friends" who could aid Diddy.

His unique ability was being able to jump to an extreme height. The game was highly regarded, popularly and critically, and was the second best selling game of 1995. Rattly would also later appear in the video game "Donkey Kong Land 2".

Answer: Bugs Bunny

Cecil's three appearances were in "Tortoise Beats Hare" (1941), "Tortoise Wins by a Hare" (1943), and "Rabbit Transit" (1947). All three cartoons involve a send-up of Aesop's fable of the race of the Tortoise and the Hare." It can be argued that Cecil defeats Bugs in all three of their meetings.

In the first two cartoons, Cecil is able to defeat Bugs (through cheating and trickery). In the third cartoon, while Bugs wins the race, Cecil has him openly admit in front of the police that he was speeding, leading the police to arrest Bugs. Cecil was voiced by Mel Blanc.