"Snakes! Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?" Quiz

Answer: Marion

Marion Ravenwood was played by Karen Allen. Marion was a tough and independent character and was the daughter of Indie's mentor. Indie and Marion were reunited in middle age, in the fourth film of the series, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008).

"Raiders of the Lost Ark", was set in Egypt, where Indiana was trying to find the Ark of the Covenant before the evil Nazis did. He located the chamber where the Ark had remained hidden for centuries. He and Sallah, his sidekick, peered into the chamber, then came the famous sequence:

Sallah: "Indy, why does the floor move?"
Indiana: "Give me your torch .... Snakes! Why'd it have to be snakes?"

The Ark was guarded by an astonishing number and variety of snakes, including many not considered native to Egypt, such as pythons, boa constrictors and garter snakes. Unfortunately for Indie, the Nazis were right behind him and lowered him into the chamber to find the Ark. Marion was dropped in after him. Fortunately she landed on Indie.

Snakes are not generally noisy creatures but sound effects were needed for the scene and the snake sound effects were created by fingers running through cheese casserole and sponges sliding over cement.

Answer: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989)

This film featured Sean Connery as Indiana Jones' father. The film opened with a short prequel, showing Indiana as a teenager. He was shown nonchalantly handling a snake early in the film. Shortly after, there was a chase scene across a circus train. Indie fell into a container of small snakes, possibly garter snakes and, as he got up, an enormous (and very unrealistic) snake reared up at him from a tub of water. After this, he wasn't quite so carefree about snakes. The main storyline of the film was Indiana's quest to find the Holy Grail before the Nazis did so. He was aided by his father, who had spent his life studying clues to the whereabouts of the grail. The film also explored the somewhat difficult relationship between father and son.

I have always wondered what circus act involved hundreds of garter snakes and a fake anaconda.

Answer: Los Angeles/Hawaii

"Snakes on a Plane" was released in 2006. Samuel Jackson starred as FBI agent Neville Flynn, who was given the task of escorting an important murder witness from Hawaii to Los Angeles. The mobster behind the murder discounted traditional methods of silencing the witness and instead arranged for hundreds of deadly snakes to be released onboard the flight.

Jackson's agent originally demanded that the title be changed, as he couldn't possibly star in a film with such a ludicrous title, although presumably he was ok with a ludicrous plot. Jackson demanded the title be reinstated, saying "We're totally changing that back. That's the only reason I took the job; I read the title."

Answer: Nagini

Lord Voldemort was Harry Potter's nemesis throughout the series. He was an evil wizard who killed Harry's parents when Harry was a baby. He also sought to kill Harry, as he believed Harry was the boy mentioned in a prophecy of his downfall. Nagini was a Horcrux, i.e. she housed part of his soul. He and Nagini could communicate with each other. In the books she was described as a large green snake and was certainly venomous. However, the films depicted her as a reticulated python and pythons are not venomous. I suppose the inconsistencies can be forgiven in a film series which was based in a fantasy world.

"Nagin" is a loose translation from Urdu and Hindi meaning "female snake". Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" features a large cobra named Nagaina.

Answer: Jennifer Lopez

"Anaconda" was a delightfully silly film with a surprisingly starry cast. Besides Ms Lopez, it also starred Eric Stolz, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson, Jon Voight and Ice Cube. It was one of those films that was panned by the critics and loved by viewing audiences.

A "National Geographic" crew were sailing down the Amazon River, looking for yet another lost tribe - surely there aren't many more to find? They ran into a decidedly odd snake hunter (Voight). Instead of doing the sensible thing and fleeing in the opposite direction, they took him on board their boat. He then hijacked them - turned out he was looking for a giant Anaconda. Did he find it? Of course he did.

Not only was the anaconda the biggest ever seen, it also seemed to have a severe case of PMT and was highly aggressive. Instead of fleeing at the sight of humans, it proceeded to hunt down and swallow most of the cast.

Answer: Live And Let Die (1973)

I suppose if the bad guys had chosen a more sensible way of trying to kill Bond, we would have been denied a highly entertaining film series. True to form, rather than shooting/stabbing/poisoning him, the villain arranged for a snake to be released in his room. Bond spotted the snake while looking in the mirror, ignited the top of a handy aerosol can with a cigar and incinerated the snake.

"Live and Let Die" was Roger Moore's first outing as James Bond. It was chiefly set in the Caribbean and New Orleans and shows our hero trying to destroy a "Mr Big" of the drugs world.

Answer: Black Mamba

The film also starred Klaus Kinski and Sarah Miles. A gang planned to kidnap the son of a wealthy family. The boy collected snakes, but a mix-up resulted in him being sent a deadly Black Mamba instead of a harmless black snake. The Mamba escaped and slithered round the house picking off the bad guys. Despite some fairly silly scenes (the part where a character opened the drinks cabinet to find a very unrealistic looking snake in there springs to mind) there are some genuinely suspenseful moments.

Somewhat ironically, Kinski had turned down the chance to play a Nazi in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as he thought the script was moronic, and "Venom" offered more money.

Trivial fact - Black Mambas are not black, but rather a drab olive brown.

Answer: Kaa

"The Jungle Book" was loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's books. Mowgli was a young boy brought up by wolves. Shere Khan, a tiger with a hatred of man, had returned to the jungle and sought to kill Mowgli. Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther were friends of Mowgli's and attempted to return him to his own people in a village.

Kaa appeared as a comedy villain in the film. He was an enormous python, whose attempts to eat Mowgli always ended in failure. In Kipling's original stories, Kaa was a friend and mentor to Mowgli, in much the same way as Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther.

Answer: Terry-Thomas

Viewers of Disney's "Jungle Book" could be forgiven for experiencing a sense of deja-vu when they saw this film. Sir Hiss, a sycophantic servant to the wicked Prince John, was a smaller version of Kaa from "The Jungle Book". Other "repeated" characters included Little John, a bear voiced by Phil Harris, who also voiced Baloo, and a pair of vultures. Terry-Thomas also provided the singing voices for the elephants in "The Jungle Book".

In "Robin Hood" the eponymous hero was a fox, who constantly outwitted the dastardly Prince John (a lion) and the Sheriff of Nottingham (a wolf).

Answer: Snakes On A Train

"Snakes on a Train" had an even more ludicrous plot than "Snakes on a Plane".
A woman was cursed and snakes hatched inside her body and ate their way out. She gathered the snakes in jars and caught a train to Los Angeles, where a wise man would be able to lift the curse. Naturally, the snakes escaped. Some fans of the "so bad it's good" school of film making might think this one sounds tempting but trust me, it isn't and you will never get that ninety minutes back.