Top 10 Sci-Fi Films Trivia Quiz

Answer: Steven Spielberg

'Close Encounters' has it all: cute aliens with enormous heads, gigantic spaceships emitting rhythmic colors and sounds, and mashed potato sculpting. Featuring the acting of Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr and, interestingly, French new-wave director François Truffaut, this film leaves the audience wondering, are we truly alone?

Answer: Guy Pearce

Also featuring Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano, 'The Matrix' inspired its audience to question 'What is real?'. Director/brothers Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski went on to direct two sequels to 'The Matrix', both of which elaborated on their vision of a world beleaguered by a war between human beings and machines.

Answer: H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells' classic tale of an Earth invasion by the ever insidious forces of Mars was first made into a radio play by Orson Welles in 1938 (Halloween night) before being brought to the silver screen in 1953 by director Byron Haskin (Welles would have nothing to do with the movie version).

The story also inspired Tim Burton's 1996 film 'Mars Attacks!', an obvious send-up of this 1953 classic, not to mention that other 1996 blockbuster 'Independence Day'.

Answer: Klaatu

Michael Rennie portrays Klaatu, an alien being who has been dispatched to Earth to warn the people of this planet to cease their warlike activities or be destroyed. The film relies almost entirely on dramatic dialogue and the ominous presence of a metallic robot for its suspenseful mood, and largely dispatches with the need for special effects. Thanks to the expert directing of Robert Wise, the audience is effectively thrilled and entertained until the very end.

Answer: Connor

Sarah and John Connor are the targets of the terminators in the first and second films, respectively. In the first film, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the evil terminator, intent on eliminating Sarah Connor, a woman who will give birth to John Connor, leader of a future rebel movement.

In the second film, Schwarzenegger returns as terminator programmed to protect the pre-adolescent John Connor against another, more powerful cyborg. Like 'The Matrix', these films deal with the popular theme of 'man vs. machine'.

Answer: Solaris

Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem, 1972's 'Solaris' was directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and is the only non-English language film on the list. The story in 'Solaris' revolves around a psychologist who has gone into space to investigate some mysterious occurrences aboard a space station.

When this psychologist suddenly encounters his dead wife aboard said space station, the mystery truly begins!

Answer: Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver is among a cast which also includes Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. Directed by horror/sci-fi master Ridley Scott, 'Alien' was partially hyped by the fitting tagline 'In space no one can hear you scream'.

Answer: Lando Calrissian

I realize that this was something of a trick question, as Obi-Wan 'died' in the first film, but his character does indeed rise from the dead in 'The Empire Strikes Back'. Lando, however, is first introduced in the second film and does not appear in the original 'Star Wars'.

Notice that 'Return of the Jedi' is not listed? Neither are the later entries in the 'Star Wars' series for, I believe, very fitting reasons which I shall not bother to discuss!

Answer: Dr. Dave Bowman

Hopefully the quote, 'I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that' came to mind when you were considering the answer to this question. In another example of 'man vs. machine' we are treated to a psychological battle between Dr. Bowman and Hal 9000, an intelligent computer gone haywire. Magnificently directed by Stanley Kubrick, '2001' is a visually poetic version of Arthur C. Clarke's short story 'The Sentinel'.

The frighteningly calm voice of the psychopathic computer, Hal 9000, was provided by movie actor Douglas Rain. Who can forget the scene in which Dave shuts Hal 9000 down while the helpless computer voice sings 'Daisy'?

Answer: Replicants

Based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, 'Blade Runner' was directed by Ridley Scott. This expertly wrought action drama includes just the right mixture of fast and slow moments, and features the acting of Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos and Darryl Hannah to boot! Ford plays Deckard, a blade runner whose sole job has been to terminate quasi-human organisms called replicants. Difficulties arise for Deckard when he begins to identify the very human nature of these replicants, especially the one portrayed by the sexy Sean Young.