What's in a Title? Sci-Fi Films Quiz

Answer: A Trip to the Moon

"A Trip to the Moon/ Le Voyage dans la Lune" is regarded as one of, if not the, first science fiction film. Apart from its historical value, it's a really enjoyable flick which sets up the genre brilliantly. There are loads of things that even at the time were known to be scientifically incorrect but it brilliantly captures the wide-eyed obsession of exploration into the unknown.

Beyond the conceptual, the film is also visually exciting, in particular the much-reproduced rocket-in-the-Moon's-eye image.

Any film fan should doff his/her hat to prolific Georges Méliès who produced over 500 films and was a really early advocate of the genre.

Answer: The Mechanical Man

The mechanical man of the title would probably have been referred to as a robot had the film been made a bit later, but although the term "robot" had just been coined by Czech writer Karel Èapek in his play "R.U.R." which premiered 1921, it hadn't yet entered into circulation.

There are actually two robots in "The Mechanical Man" and in the grand finale they have a scrap. Even for the 1920s they are a bit rubbish, but there are some really cool scenes of them in action. I especially like the one where a robot throws a man from a tower.

The film doesn't make a lot of sense, but with a bit of imagination we can work out what's happening. Apparently the original film, which was an Italian production, was about 80 minutes, but most of it has since been lost and we are left with under half an hour's worth.

Answer: The Island of Lost Souls

"The Island of Lost Souls", which is actually based on H.G. Wells' novel "The Island of Doctor Moreau", is an extraordinary film in many ways. The most obvious thing that has helped the film stand the test of time is Laughton's phenomenal performance as Dr. Moreau. The character might at first come across as ridiculous but there are many layers to this psychopath as portrayed by Laughton. The film also stars Bela Lugosi in a vital role despite the fact that we don't see much of him.

Another incredible thing about the film is how daring it was to show a crazed doctor experimenting with, and on, humans. The doctor has managed to instill a deep fear in his subjects and rules over them with the crack of a whip and the concept of "the law".

The film has provided culture with the expression "the natives are restless tonight", as well as influencing madcap post-punk group Devo with the phrase "Are we not men?"

Answer: The Thing from Another World

"The Thing from Another World" is a really taut film for the most part. There are some great characters, and the clashes between different factions, broadly speaking split up between the scientists and the military, are very credible and augmented by fantastic old-school snappy dialogue. Less so the monster towards the end of the picture. He looks really creepy under ice, is scary once on the loose, probably because he is off-screen and only heard. However, when he sort of stumbles around the base's corridors, he lacks any real threat. The use of dark and light more than makes up the rudimentary (by later standards) special effects, and sound is also used to terrifying effect.

"The Thing from Another World" was remade as "The Thing" by John Carpenter in 1982, and Carpenter's homage is spot on.

Answer: On the Beach

"On the Beach" is almost the perfect film: a fantastic script based on a novel by a brilliant writer (Nevil Shute), a star-studded cast (Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins), and a director who was determined to have his say (Stanley Kramer). Sometimes such favourable elements are the harbingers of disaster, but it all works this time.

What makes it work might be the fact that at the time there was a real, almost tangible fear of nuclear war, so the bleak and daunting thought of what that really meant overrides any bathetic Hollywood tripe which could so easily have emerged. What does emerge is a very dark film, but littered with so many great stars it's still a joy to watch.

Answer: Barbarella

The 5-star Astro-Navigatrix of Alpha 7 is called Barbarella, played by Jane Fonda. The film was a French-Italian production, as is blatantly obvious before the opening credits, which are shown over Jane Fonda's space suit being peeled off her by gravitational pull as she floats around to the accompaniment of cheesy lounge music, have even finished.

However silly the film might seem, and its tongue-in-cheek take on the late-1960s free love mantra is very, very silly, it does make some pertinent points about the darker side of human beings and our propensity for warfare.

At the time of filming, Jane Fonda was married to director Vadim. Vadim had also directed his first wife (Fonda was actually wife number three), Brigitte Bardot, in "And God Created Woman" (1956). Fonda was also in "Klute" (1971), although Vadim wasn't director.

Answer: Dark Star

The film's title refers to the name of the space ship. It was co-written and edited by Dan O'Bannon, who also plays one of the spacemen. What starts off as a seemingly rather daft sci-fi parody, in particular a mockery of Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"'s pretensions, develops into a Beckett-esque absurdist yet existential investigation of time, meaning and, the big issue: life and death.

It's incredibly funny in a way that many American films managed to be prior to the era of positive, life-affirming, feel-good comedy films. In classic sci-fi tradition, the special effects and visions of future technology are skew-whiff but that just adds to the fun. I love the idea that the astronauts are just regular blokes who want to blow stuff up. The crew of "Dark Star" are more interested in what's for dinner than dramatic, life-threatening events. It's just like school but in space. This bloke-ish feel of young men who don't really like each other, and who constantly rib each other, floating around in space is also quite unique.

I saw "Dark Star" with my dad as a nipper and after watching it again, I realise it might have been very influential in shaping my psyche.

Answer: Videodrome

The term body horror film hadn't yet been coined when David Cronenberg's classic-to-be film "Videodrome" came out in 1983, and the film was partly responsible for the bent in sci-fi/horror cinema being identified.

In "Videodrome" Cronenberg accurately predicted a society in which we see everything through a screen, and in which the boundaries between reality and imagination are blurred. It's slightly dated due to the use of videotapes, but part of the beauty of great sci-fi is the incongruence between brilliant insight and technology becoming obsolete.

What might seem dated to some are the special effects, but to my mind the scenes of a pistol becoming part of James Wood's arm, and even more so video cassettes being loaded into his stomach, are extremely powerful. Interestingly, the film used the doomed Betamax tapes for the simple reason that they are slightly smaller.

Answer: Tetsuo: The Iron Man

The "metal fetishist" is played by the film's writer, director, cameraman and producer, Shinya Tsukamoto. There are just a handful of characters, and dialogue is also minimal. Despite its obvious low budget, it's visually stunning, and the visceral special effects are fabulous. I wouldn't claim to know what is going on all the way through, but the plot is actually fairly simple (I think).

"Tetsuo" soon became a cult classic and made Shinya Tsukamoto's name worldwide. He followed it up with two sequels: "Tetsuo II: Body Hammer" (1992) and "Tetsuo: The Bullet Man" (2009), but it's the first one which is so fascinating.

Answer: 12 Monkeys

"12 Monkeys" almost falls into the trap of many sci-fi films of being so over-complicated, in this case due to time travel, that the viewer gets totally lost, but I think it holds up. Part of the reason for this success is that there are few main characters interacting and some nice clear pointers as to what's going on, when and where.

One of those characters is Jeffrey Goines who is played brilliantly by Brad Pitt. It could have gone really wrong since Pitt plays a loose nut, a role that always risks being too zany, but he does a sterling job. Bruce Willis as James Cole is also a success despite his almost overbearing husky-voicing of the role. Madeleine Stowe deserves applause for her part as the psychiatrist who has to accept that her patient isn't just nuts but does actually come from the future.