Science Fiction Movie Classics Quiz

Answer: 2001: A Space Odyssey

"2001" tells the tale of a mission to Jupiter to investigate a mysterious artifact. Everything goes horribly wrong when the ship computer starts killing people.
In my humble opinion, it is impossible to understand the bizarre yet beautifully crafted final act of the movie without first reading Arthur C. Clarke's novel of the same name, written in conjunction with Kubrick's screenplay.

Answer: Alien

"Alien" follows the crew of a space freighter that picks up an uninvited guest, which proceeds to pick off crew members one by one.
The original title of the screenplay written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett was "Star Beast." I'm glad they changed it.

Answer: Mad Max

Gibson plays Max Rockatansky, an officer in the waning Australian highway patrol, who sets out to avenge the death of his family at the hands of a vicious motorcycle gang.
Mel's salary for "Mad Max" was only $15,000 (Australian)! They probably spent more on the cars he drove! And considering they were only Fords, that's saying a lot.

Answer: The Terminator

"The Terminator" tells of a killer robot sent from the future to murder the mother of John Connor, the someday leader of the human resistance against an army of machines.
OJ Simpson had been considered for the role of the Terminator, but apparently the producers thought OJ's public image was "too nice," and that viewers wouldn't find him believable as a "cold-blooded killer."

Answer: The Matrix

Keanu Reeves plays Thomas Anderson, AKA Neo, who is rescued from his machine-imposed dreamworld by freedom fighters who believe he is "The One," the savior who will free humankind.
Will Smith was offered the role of Neo, but turned it down to make "Wild Wild West" instead. Oops.

Answer: Independence Day

"Independence Day" tells the story of a fleet of mysterious alien ships that descend over Earth's major cities and proceed to annihilate the human race. All that stands in their way is a ragtag group, including an Air Force pilot, a drunken crop duster, a cable TV technician, and the President of the USA. Incredibly, they still manage to save the world. Who saw that coming?

Answer: Back to the Future

In "Back to the Future," Marty McFly is a high school loser who, thanks to some pesky terrorists, accidentally travels back in time in a DeLorean to 1955. He bumps into his parents before they'd met, and has to find a way back to his own time before his mother falls in love with him and changes the future forever.
Huey Lewis makes a cameo appearance as the battle of the bands judge who tells Marty McFly that he's "just too darn loud."

Answer: Blade Runner

"Blade Runner" takes place in 2019, when most of the world's population has fled to other planets to escape the radiation from a nuclear war. They take with them "replicants," androids who act as slave labor for the offworld colonists, but are illegal on Earth. Rick Deckard's job is to "retire" any replicants who attempt to return to Earth.

The Replicant Roy Batty, however, proves to be more than a match for Deckard... Although the movie was (loosely) based on the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?," director Ridley Scott had never actually read the book before. Well, at least he read the script.

Answer: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

In "Close Encounters," everyman Roy Neary witnesses an amazing event he can't explain, and becomes obsessed with finding out the truth behind the incident, no matter the cost.
This movie, released in 1977, was hugely successful, grossing about $300 million worldwide in its theatrical run. It was overshadowed a bit, though, by some other sci-fi film that had come out a few months earlier...

Answer: Star Wars

The one, the only, "Star Wars" put science fiction on the map in a serious way and made George Lucas think he was good at making movies. The movie was so successful that it spawned comic books, action figures, two more movies, a Christmas special, an Ewoks knock-off movie, several dozen novels, three *more* movies, bunches of video games... yeah, you get the picture.