Stephen King TV Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marsten House

The TV mini-series based on the novel of the same name starred David Soul and Bonnie Bedelia as Ben Mears and Susan Norton. While many elements were close to the book, there were major adjustments. Ben's arrival in town seemed to be one of fate. He'd lived there as a child, and was back to write a book based on the notorious Marsten House.

At the same time, young Mark Petrie was leading a school play based on a fire that occurred many years prior, with the Marsten House as a prominent figure. During his research, Ben fell for the lovely teacher Susan Norton, and befriended young Mark after two of his friends were taken to feed the gruesome vampire Barlow. Ben and Mark made it out of town alive, but poor Susan did not.

She was turned into a vampire by Barlow, and later staked by Ben while he and Mark were in Guatemala. For its time, the TV mini-series was decent, with great music for atmosphere.

The book was much better, of course, and the remake mini-series in 2004 stayed much closer to it.

Answer: Pennywise

Pennywise was played by Tim Curry. In the movie, it's 1960 and seven children are forced to band together to defeat the evil clown. It had already killed the younger brother of Bill Denbrough. So, thirty years later after they defeat "It", they are forced to reunite in Derry to defeat it again.

The mini-series was more different than the book than I would have liked, but the book ending would have been deemed inappropriate for a TV movie in 1990. In the book, "It" was some sort of giant alien spider that the kids had to locate and destroy. To put it very simply, it's their love for one another that did defeat it, both times.

Answer: Boulder, Colorado

Dreams of her brought the travelers to Mother Abagail's home in Nebraska. She was a very old and wise lady, who told them where to go to start over after the super flu (Captain Tripps) had decimated most of the country's population. It was the dark man, Randall Flagg, who'd started anew in Las Vegas.

In 2013, after the success of the TV series "Under the Dome", talks began to make and remake several King mini-series, including "The Stand". Always considered a fan favorite novel, "The Stand" mini-series was not always well received. Maybe it was made 20 years too soon? It starred Gary Sinese, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Matt Frewer and Ruby Dee.

Answer: The Overlook Hotel

As in the first movie (starring Jack Nicholson) and the novel of the same name, "The Shining" mini-series took place largely within the confines of the evil infested Overlook Hotel. Stephen King has said that he did not care at all for Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaption of his novel. "The Shining" ranks in my own personal Top 10 of Stephen King novels.

The first movie, while scary and entertaining, missed the heart of King's story. The TV redo stayed true to his original vision. It starred Steven Weber as Jack, Rebecca De Mornay as Wendy and Courtland Mead as Danny.

Some major differences between the original film and the novel/mini-series are as follows: there was no hedge maze, but hedge topiary animals that came to life; Danny did not wag his finger to talk to Tony, but actually saw Tony (a teenaged version of himself from the future); Dick Halloran saved Wendy and Danny and lived; and Jack forgot about the boiler which caused the hotel to explode.

In the sequel novel, "Doctor Sleep" (2013), the Colorado location where the Overlook once stood played a pivotal role at the end.

Answer: Haven

"Haven" began airing in July 2010. The first season found FBI agent Audrey Parker being sent to Haven, Maine by her boss Inspector Howard. Once in town, she quickly discovered that Haven had a special group of citizens who experienced supernatural phenomenon known as the "troubles". With the help of Detective (and later Chief of Police) Nathan Wuornos and Duke Crocker, Audrey helped the "troubled" people.

As the series progressed, she found out that her role in Haven was long and troubled itself.

The show was picked up for its fifth season to air in the summer of 2014. Emily Rose played Audrey, Lucas Bryant played Nathan, Eric Balfour played Duke, Adam Copeland (also known as WWE wrestler Edge) played Dwight, Richard Donat played Vince, and John Dunsworth played Vince's brother Dave.

The latter two ran the local newspaper "The Haven Herald", and held many secrets for Haven and Audrey's storied past.

Answer: Chester's Mill

The series was originally being developed to air on Showtime, but was changed over to CBS, owned by Showtime (or the other way around). CBS/Showtime also own the CW network. The show was an immediate hit, so a second season was ordered early. In the immense novel, the story inside Chester's Mill took place inside seven days. For the purpose of TV series longevity, the time frame was to be expanded. Stephen King was a vast part of the show and approved the many changes made to create this TV series.

The success of "Under the Dome" caused a sort of "get on the King bandwagon" to begin. Talks to remake "The Stand", "It", and several other King shows/stories ramped up during the summer of 2013, much to this author's delight. "Under the Dome" starred such greats as Dean Norris (Hank from "Breaking Bad"), Mike Vogel, Rachelle Lefevre, Britt Robertson and Alexander Koch.

Answer: Jimmie Cody

This remake, which aired on TNT Network, stayed very true to the original story by King. Ben and Mark (Rob Lowe and Dan Byrd) were both dark haired, instead of blonde like the original mini-series. Mark was the son of a single mother in this one, instead of having both parents as in the original film, the priest is the one encountered at the end of the story instead of Susan Norton, and so forth. Robert Mammone played Dr. Jimmie Cody, who did his best to help the heroes fight against Straker and Barlow.

He died in the cellar of Eva's boarding house, when he fell into a running table saw (impaled on wooden stakes the vampires had placed for their protection in the novel). While I enjoyed this film's storyline staying true to the novel, I cannot say I really enjoyed Rob Lowe's portrayal of Ben. Nor did I enjoy his narration over the movie.

Answer: Haunted mansion

The Seattle based mansion was known for its supernatural experiences and mysterious disappearances inside. A psych professor named Joyce Reardon decided to conduct an experiment inside the mansion (not terribly unlike "The Haunting"), which seemed to unleash the home's "inner demons".

After a lot of spookiness and some deaths, a big reveal occurred at the end. Nancy Travis played Dr. Reardon, Melanie Lynskey played Sister, Matt Ross played Emery, and Stephen King played a pizza delivery guy version of himself.

The old red and white Plymouth Fury is from the 1983 film "Christine", based on King's novel of the same name.

Answer: He awoke from a coma

Johnny was a teacher in a small town who was hurt in a car accident. He laid comatose for about six years, and awoke with the previously unused "dead zone" of his brain awake. Doctors presumed this area was trying to compensate for the injured areas that had kept him in the coma so long. Johnny could see the past and future when he'd make physical contact with someone.

The series lasted six seasons, and ended in 2007. The novel by King was published in 1979 and in 1983, actor Christopher Walken played Johnny in a motion picture adaption of that novel. Fans may remember Anthony Michael Hall as part of the 1980's Brat Pack, along-side Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Rob Low and Emilio Estevez.

Answer: Storm of the Century

Little Tall Island was set officially in Maine, though the residents had to travel to the mainland by boat. As the story began, the island was prepping for a monster winter storm that would effectively cut them off from the rest of the world for its duration. That was when Andre Linoge (actor Colm Feore) arrived in town to get what he wanted.

It turned out that he was a demon, and wanted one of the children to take as his protégé. Though he forced the town to commit to a lottery of sorts to pick this child, I believed he'd come to town always wanting the son of Constable Mike Anderson.

The lottery was lost by the Andersons, and Linoge took off with their son Ralphie. Years later, Mike saw the pair together, Ralphie now a teenager, and realized he was long lost to Linoge. Mike had left Little Tall and become a Federal Marshal in California. Timothy Daly played Mike Anderson.

In 2012 Colm Feore starred for a brief time on the NBC series "Revolution". "Dolores Claiborne" was a feature film set on Little Tall Island, but did not originate on television. "Desperation" was also adapted into a TV mini-series that aired in 2006, and took place in Nevada.

It starred Annabeth Gish, Ron Perlman (Clay from "Sons of Anarchy"), Tom Skerritt, and Steven Weber.