"Time Not Important; Only Life Important" Quiz

Answer: Luc Besson

Luc Besson was born in Paris, France on the 18th of March 1959. Intent on a career as a marine biologist, a diving accident in his seventeenth year forced a change of plan. Always keen on writing, art and photography, Besson decided to pursue a career in film. Of his best known works, 'The Big Blue' and 'The Fifth Element' were both written whilst Besson was still at school.

In 1997 Besson was awarded the Cesar Award for best director for 'The Fifth Element'. Since this date Besson has enjoyed further success at the box office with the 'Taken' series of films featuring Liam Neeson, 'The Transporter' starring Jason Statham and 'La Femme Nikita' which featured his wife at that time, the actress Anne Parillaud in the titular role.

Answer: Mondoshawans

The film opens with Professor Pacoli, played by British comedy actor John Bluthal, examining a series of what appear to be hieroglyphs discovered inside an ancient Egyptian temple. A priest accompanying the professor has a secret; he is the keeper of the knowledge of the Supreme Being and a secret chamber containing four sacred stones. The Mondoshawans, an alien race encased in cumbersome environmental suits, arrive on Earth to remove the stones for safekeeping just as Pacoli realises that he has discovered a weapon of great power. The Mondoshawans leave a key to the chamber with the priest and promise to return with the sacred stones in three hundred years at a time when the Earth is prophesised to be under threat from a force of great evil.

Fans of British television comedy may recognise John Bluthal from his role as parish clerk Frank Pickle in the BBC television comedy series, 'The Vicar of Dibley'.

Answer: Grappa

Just moments before the Mondoshawans arrive at the temple, the priest accompanying the archaeological team poisons a goatskin of fresh water, intending to kill the professor and his entourage and keep the existence of the sacred stones a secret. The professor escapes death by discarding the poisoned water declaring that water is unbefitting of such a discovery.

The professor's young American assistant Billy, played by actor Luke Perry, has a bottle of grappa in his luggage and the professor demands that they use this liquor to celebrate their success.

Answer: She falls through his taxi roof.

Does Bruce Willis ever wear anything other than a vest? The story leaps to a time three hundred years later with the Earth, under threat of destruction, and a Mondoshawan craft carrying the sacred stones approaching our planet. As they prepare to enter the Earth's atmosphere they are attacked by two Mangalorean fighters and destroyed.

After being regenerated from the DNA contained in Mondoshawan remains by scientists, the Supreme Being escapes from a government laboratory, closely pursued by the police.

After finding her way to the outside of the building and with no means of avoiding capture, she jumps from a high ledge rather than be taken back to the laboratory. As she plummets downwards through streams of aerial traffic she eventually lands on, and falls through, the roof of Korben Dallas' taxi.

Answer: Leeloo

Leeloo, the Supreme Being, is a perfect, childlike female and, with a full name like Leeloo Minaï Lekatariba-Laminaï-Tchaï Ekbat de Sebat, it's no surprise that it was abbreviated!

Milla Jovovich was born in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on the 17th of December 1975. She began her modelling career at the age of twelve when she appeared on the cover of an Italian fashion magazine and by the year 2004 Jovovich was the highest paid model in the world. Jovovich's break into film came in 1988 when she made her debut appearance in the made-for-television film 'The Night Train to Kathmandu' and later that year appeared in her first feature film 'Two Moon Junction'. Her breakthrough film, 'The Fifth Element', helped in some part by the fact that she had become the film director's second wife. Since 2002 Jovovich has starred in the role of the heroine Alice in each feature film in the video-game based film franchise 'Resident Evil', a franchise that has become the most successful film series in the genre of all time. In recent years Jovovich's career has diversified and she has enjoyed success in the fields of music and fashion design.

Answer: His mother

The mood is lightened on three occasions during 'The Fifth Element' when Korben Dallas receives unexpected and unwanted telephone calls from his mother complaining about her lot in life. In the first she complains that Dallas has been ignoring her and never calls, in the second she complains about her son's good fortune and finally, in the film's closing scene in which the Earth President is visiting Dallas and Leeloo at home, she is passed to speak to the President, doesn't believe that she is speaking to the world leader and calls him stupid...

Come to think of it, I have a mother a little like that.

Answer: Shape-shifting

It's certainly not good looks and charm as the Mangaloreans are an aggressive and bad-tempered race of aliens! They use their shape-shifting abilities to confuse their opponents, however the ability to take on the appearance of other species proves to be difficult and tiring to maintain over long periods of time.

In a later scene, a Mangalorean attempts to fool the staff member at an airport check-in desk into believing that they are human. Fortunately, they are prevented from boarding the transport ship as security equipment at the check-in desk detects and shows them for what they really are; a dangerous alien species.

Answer: Ian Holm

Ian Holm has enjoyed a career that has lasted for more than sixty years. Born in the county of Essex on the 12th of September 1931, Holm graduated from RADA, The Royal Academy for the Dramatic Arts in 1953. By 1960 he had become an established member of what was to later become the Royal Shakespeare Company. During his career he has appeared in a variety of diverse roles; he first came to prominence in 1965 for his role as Richard III in the BBC dramatisation 'The Wars of the Roses'. Over the following decade he built his reputation in a number of historical roles with productions such as 'Mary, Queen of Scots' and 'Young Winston', the story of the early life of the great war leader, Sir Winston Churchill. Now Sir Ian Holm, he was knighted in 1998 for services to drama, he will be familiar to cinema goers for his roles as running coach Sam Mussabini in the 1981 film 'Chariots of Fire', as Ash, the synthetic human in the 1979 sci-fi horror 'Alien', and more recently in both the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy and 'The Hobbit' series of films in the role of Bilbo Baggins.

Answer: A cherry

Zorg and the Mangaloreans are conspiring with the evil entity threatening to destroy the Earth and all humanity. Whilst questioning Father Cornelius as to the whereabouts of the missing sacred stones, Zorg pours himself a drink into which a cherry is added. Zorg takes a large gulp of his drink but accidentally inhales the cherry which begins to choke him. Cornelius is tempted to allow Zorg to die and mocks him in his misfortune, but his good nature gets the better of him and he strikes Zorg sharply on his back, dislodging the cherry and saving Zorg's life and, in turn, his own life.

Answer: Gemini Croquette

'Start Your Day the Healthy Way' says the slogan on the box of Gemini Croquettes, the breakfast cereal in Dallas' refrigerator. The Earth government fixes the competition in order that Korben Dallas, a recently retired officer in the Earth's defence forces, can travel to the Fhloston Paradise resort on a mission to retrieve the sacred stones entrusted for safekeeping with the alien entertainer Diva Plavalaguna.

Answer: In orbit around the planet Fhloston

The Fhloston Paradise resort is an enormous orbiting vehicle in the form of a cruise liner which, for the majority of the time, is in orbit above the planet Fhloston. Dallas and Leeloo travel to the space resort where it had been arranged that they will receive the sacred stones that have been smuggled aboard.

By the time Dallas and Leeloo arrive at Fhloston Paradise, Leeloo has been studying human history and culture and has learned of many of the more unpleasant aspects of the human nature, characteristics that will cause her to later question whether the human race is worth saving at all.

However, events conspire against them and things do not go as smoothly to plan as they had wished for.

Answer: Chris Tucker

Stand-up comedian and actor Chris Tucker was born on August 31, 1971 in Atlanta, Georgia. Making regular appearances as a stand-up comedian of the US television comedy series 'Def Comedy Jam' during the 1990s, he made his cinematic debut in the 1994 film comedy 'House Party 3'.

This was followed with a role in the 1995 film 'Friday' for which he was nominated for three MTV Awards; Best Breakthrough Performance, Best Comedic Performance and Best On-screen Duo, the last of which he was co-nominated for with the rapper Ice Cube. Surprisingly, Tucker was nominated in 1998 for the 'Razzie' Award for the Worst New Star for his performances in both 'The Fifth Element' and for his role in the action comedy 'Money Talks' in which he starred alongside Charlie Sheen.

Despite this however Tucker is perhaps best known for his role as Detective James Carter in the 'Rush Hour' film franchise with his co-star, the multi-talented Hong Kong Chinese actor and martial arts expert, Jackie Chan; by 2006 his appearance in 'Rush Hour 3' had made Tucker the highest paid actor in Hollywood earning a fee of twenty-five million dollars for this role alone.

In recent years Tucker has become involved with the charitable foundation that bears his name today.

Answer: From the body cavity of Diva Plavalaguna

During a fire-fight in the theatre on board Fhloston Paradise, Diva Plavalaguna is shot and mortally wounded by a Mangalorean warrior. Before passing away she indicates that the sacred stones have been smuggled aboard, secreted within her body cavity. Dallas carefully removes the stones as the diva takes her last breath and escapes from the foundering vessel with Ruby Rhod, Father Cornelius and the seriously injured Leeloo who had been shot and wounded by Zorg. David had been instructed earlier by Father Cornelius to travel to the temple chamber and await their return with the sacred stones. Zorg is killed shortly afterwards in a huge explosion that destroys Fhloston Paradise; an explosion caused by a device left on board the resort by the Mangaloreans.

Answer: Jean-Paul Gaultier

Many of the costumes featured in 'The Fifth Element' are eccentric to say the least. Jean-Paul Gaultier was born on the 24th of April 1952 in the suburb of Arcueil to the south of Paris. For an artist with no formal professional training he has enjoyed a long and successful career as a designer; he presented his first collection in 1976 and rapidly became regarded as the bad boy of French fashion design through his use of unusual models which included old people, tattooed and pierced models and those with 'fuller' figures - and sometimes a combination of all of them! Undeterred Gaultier continued to employ his own unique techniques which garnered him both the respect and criticism of his peers and a great degree of popularity with the public. Gaultier was also the designer responsible for the costumes, notably the golden cone bra and corset set, that caused outrage in some circles during 1990 at the start of Madonna's 'Blond Ambition' world tour.

In recent years Gaultier's designs have been influenced by nautical themes as can be seen in many of the television adverts promoting his fragrances.

In addition to 'The Fifth Element', he has designed the costumes for a number of films, most notably the Peter Greenaway film 'The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover' and 'The City of Lost Children' directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Answer: David

"Wind blows, fire burns and rain falls" whispers the badly injured Leeloo into Dallas' ear as she contemplates within herself whether or not humanity is worth saving. After positioning the stones upon their plinths they fail to activate and the team believe that all is lost. David, exasperated, leans forward toward the stone in front of him and sighs. To his astonishment the stone begins to open although he is initially unaware as to how this happened. Once they realise that the passage of David's breath over the stone displaying the symbol for air activates it, they set about working on the others; the water stone, by dripping beads of sweat from a handkerchief upon it, the earth stone by placing a handful of sand upon it and the fire stone by placing a lighted match on its top.

As soon as each stone is activated and Dallas convinces Leeloo that humanity is indeed worth saving, powerful beams of light project towards the figure of Leeloo in the centre of the chamber; this beam of divine light then bursts forth from her mouth and flies off into space where it finally destroys the evil sphere and saves all life on earth.