Life On Mars Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Fifth Element

The ranga (ginger haired - in this case orange) Leelo (played by the exquisite Milla Jovovich) steps onto a ledge dressed in little more than, what appears, strips torn from a bed-sheet in this Luc Beeson 1997 sci-fi action thriller. If that is not enough to make a young man breathless she then leaps out into thin air and lands in the middle of Korben Dallas' (Bruce Willis) flying taxi-cab. Leeloo is a humanoid that has been constructed from the recovered hand of the eponymous fifth element, a vital cog in the fight against the "great evil".

This evil turns out to be a giant ball of black fire that appears every 5,000 years with the purpose of destroying the Earth. Leeloo and Dallas are then thrown together in a quest to bring the five elements together and save the world. I should also mention Gary Oldman who delivers an over the top performance as Zorg, the great evil's henchman. "The Fifth Element" served to re-unite Oldman and Beeson, having previously combined forces in Luc's 1994 film "Leon: The Professional".

Answer: Battle Beyond the Stars

The peaceful folk of the planet Akir are farmers and they're being threatened by Sador, a space tyrant played by John Saxon. They send a young man named Shad (Richard Thomas, cashing in on his success as John-Boy in the TV series "The Waltons") to hire a team of mercenaries to protect them. Sound familiar - welcome to what could be termed as "The Magnificent Seven" in space.

Seven mercenaries are recruited, one of whom is Saint Exmin, played by the gorgeous Sybil Danning wearing a costume made up of less cotton than a hand towel. She is from a race of Valkyrie warriors, who live by the creed "live fast, fight well, and have a beautiful ending", and seeks to prove herself in battle. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and produced by Roger Corman, this 1980 space romp also bears other similarities to the aforementioned John Sturges directed film. Like the 1960 western it also stars Robert Vaughan playing an assassin with a price on his head - very much like his character, Lee, in "The Magnificent Seven". George Peppard plays the laid back Space Cowboy who is well armed with a series of one-liners, similar to the Steve McQueen character, Vin, in the western. Peppard was originally considered for the McQueen role.

Answer: Predator

In 2001 the Brisbane Lions contested the Australian (Rules) Football Leagues Grand Final but went into the game as undisputed underdogs. They would go on to win the match convincingly. One of the motivational tools that their coach, Leigh Matthews, used was the above line by Arnold Schwarzenegger's character "Dutch" Schaefer.

John McTiernan directs this 1987 thriller that sees Schaefer and his team of six elite Special Forces operatives on a rescue mission in Central America. Here they are hunted and picked off one by one by an advanced extraterrestrial that has within its armoury cloaking abilities and thermal imaging sensors. The film certainly won't make you think too hard, however, it is one of Arnold's better early efforts. Apart from that classic line, which ranks up there with Darth Vader's "No, I am your father" ("Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back" - 1980) as one of the most iconic lines in science fiction films, the film is one of the first in Schwarzenegger's basket that makes him seem physically vulnerable in a life and death struggle. It also boasts one of cinema's best alien death scenes.

Answer: Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

So much has already been said about George Lucas' 1977 classic "Star Wars" and its tale of a young man caught up in the struggle between the Imperial forces and the Rebel alliance and his discovery of the ways of the Force, that it doesn't bear repeating here.

However, the scene that gets most die-hard "Star Wars" fans on their feet occurs in the cantina at Mos Eisley where the bounty hunter Greedo confronts Han Solo (Harrison Ford). We hear one shot and Greedo falls down dead. The 1997 special edition re-release of the film tells a different tale.

There are two shots with Solo, supposedly, firing in self defence. I don't care about the argument as to who shot first though I do reckon that if it was Greedo, then he was a terrible shot, missing Solo from point blank range. How he ever made it as a bounty hunter I'll never know.

This is a rollicking good yarn with great characters, exotic locations and a perverse sense of humour. A great example of this is Greedo's death scene - Greedo is shot, the band stops playing and everyone in the cantina goes quiet.

The bartender shrugs and everyone goes back to doing what they were doing, as if nothing had happened.

Answer: Cat Women of the Moon

"Cat Women of the Moon" is a 1953 Arthur Hilton directed effort that skipped B- and C-movie status and went straight to D-movie. A group of astronauts, mostly men, land on the moon where they discover a cave containing a race of women whose history goes back two million years. The women, dressed in black tights, perform some kind of interpretative dance routine that makes them look like stand-ins for a Robert Palmer video. Suddenly the men stop thinking with their brains. Simply irresistible... absolutely no guys! Can't you see that these cats are evil and they're using their telepathic abilities to control your minds so they can steal your space ship, fly back to Earth and take it over?

This is one of those films that is so dreadful that it is hilarious and it also produces one of the worst lines in cinema history. Astronaut Walt is chatting to the lunar babe Beta "You're too smart for me baby - I like 'em stupid".

Answer: The Matrix Reloaded

"The Matrix Reloaded" (2003) sees the city of Zion on the brink of extinction as an army of sentinels is tunnelling towards them. It is estimated that they have a mere 72 hours before they will be attacked.

The original of "The Matrix" (1999) by the Wachowskis was exactly that, an original piece of work that, in itself, was a work of art; however, its successor, "The Matrix Reloaded" would take an endlessly circular route in a bid to explain itself and thus became mired in its own cleverness. This is best exemplified by the appearance of the Architect, looking like a Colonel Sanders wannabe, towards the end of the movie. He is a computer programme that designed and created and the Matrix and now sits eternally in an oval control room surrounded by thousands of TV monitors supervising it. He delivers a speech to Neo (Keanu Reeves) which, whilst it is profound, is also wordy, pretentious and mystifying. With lines such as "I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection". He endeavours to sound like a Bob Dylan styled prophet and comes off second best. So much so that he started to put me to sleep.

Answer: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Brad and Janet's car breaks down on an isolated stretch of road. They head for the only residence nearby and straight into the arms of the bizarre Frank-N-Furter. They encounter a mad scientist, the time warp, a man that has been "created", a man who breaks out of a freezer, a tragic love triangle and the most outrageous party in the neighbourhood. Tim Curry's Dr. Frank-N-Furter is one of the greatest monsters ever depicted on the silver screen.

He's a campy, flamboyant, perverse, lipstick and leather clad Lothario prepared to seduce either male or female targets at the drop of a hat.

Then we find out that he's really an alien from, of all places, the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania. How delicious. "Don't dream it. Be it".

Answer: Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

The original "Star Wars" trilogy provided us with a couple of memorable bands. The first to appear was Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes who were the house band at the Mos Eisley cantina, more formally known as Chalmun's Cantina. It is in "Return of the Jedi" (1983), where the Rebel forces launch a massive attack on the Death Star and Luke Skywalker confronts both his father, Darth Vader, and the Emperor in a final face off, that we are introduced to the Max Rebo Band. Figrin D'an and his combo may be playing in a drunken dive like the cantina but Max and his crew are playing for the universe's most dangerous gangster, Jabba the Hutt, where one wrong note could see them become Rancor fodder.

In my book that makes them the toughest band in the universe.

The band is first seen early in the film when R2-D2 and C-3PO are presented as tokens to Jabba. Here the band is a three piece playing "jizz-wailing" tunes but in the 1997 special edition they are expanded to a 12 piece combo.

Answer: Guardians of the Galaxy

"And then along came Groot
Tall thin Groot
Slow-walkin' Groot
Slow-talkin' Groot."

My apologies for stealing Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ("Along Came Jones" 1959) but, apart from indicating that Groot is a giant tree-like creature (technically a Flora colossus from Planet X) those words fit him perfectly. With just three words in his repertoire, "I am Groot", this slow-walkin', slow-talkin' stick man conveys so much and eventually steals the show from this much celebrated cast of superheroes. Sure you have the roguish smarts of Chris Pratt's Star-Lord, the glamour of Zoe Saldana's Gamora and the wisecracking brashness of the genetically engineered raccoon known as Rocket... yes I have left out Drax the Destroyer, (said in a slow deep voice) he's not very smart but can lift 'eavy fings... but it is Groot who provides the heart and the warmth within this group. In the end Groot sacrifices himself by encasing the team within his branches to protect them as their ship crash lands. In this scene he adds a fourth word to his repertoire as he whispers "We are Groot". Voiced by Vin Diesel he adds a new dimension to the idiom "speak softly but carry a big stick".

"Guardians of the Galaxy", directed by James Gunn, is a 2014 adaptation of another Marvel Comics superhero team. Tossed together by circumstance they end up having to rely on each other and end up saving the universe from Ronan the Accuser.

Answer: Blade Runner

When you think of great death scenes in the movies you conjure images of a creature popping out of Kane's chest (John Hurt in "Alien" - 1979), Marion Crane getting hacked in the shower (Janet Leigh in "Psycho" - 1960) or Bonnie and Clyde going down in a hail of bullets (Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty - 1969). They were all noisy deaths and very messy to boot. In comparison, the passing of Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) in "Blade Runner" (1979) is almost modest and serene. That is what makes it all the more powerful. He had just saved the life of the man who had been sent to kill him, Rick Dekkard played by Harrison Ford, and eloquently delivered his speech where he indicates that his passing will see his memories lost to all of time like tears in the rain. He is aware that he's run out time and he simply sits down and dies.

"Blade Runner", directed by Ridley Scott, focuses on a burnt out operative who agrees to one last assignment to hunt down a band of replicants, genetically engineered humanoids, that have defied their ban and escaped back to Earth.