# I need hard science fiction and fantasy trivia quesstions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2020, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762 "2020-02-11T03:32:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/41 "2020-02-11T14:57:47Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The third would be _Master of the World_. What’s the fourth? Actually, I’d forgotten that the ship in Master of the World could also submerge. So that’s one more novel with a submarine and another fictional work with one, both by Verne. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/42 "2020-02-11T15:45:08Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Would that be Suzanne Cupito, by any chance? Yep. AKA Morgan Brittany, who played Pam Ewing’s crazy half-sister Katherine Wentworth, who “killed” Bobby Ewing at the end of Season 8. The \*\*\*TZ \*\*\*episode was “Valley of the Shadow.” Very good! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/43 "2020-02-11T15:46:28Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > On the cover of Action Comic #1, Superman is depicted for the first time. What is he lifting? An automobile. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/44 "2020-02-11T15:55:15Z")
> [@GWF\_Hefel](#): > > Although your country of origin correction is correct, your answer is wrong. Ian Hendry was the star of the greatest SF TV show ever made: The Adventures of Don Quick. > > (OK, maybe not the greatest :)) The correct answers are Sam Groom, who played “Jerry, the Technician” on Irwin Allen’s _ **The Time Tunnel** _. The Canadian series was alternatively known as _ **Dr Simon Locke** _. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/45 "2020-02-11T16:01:50Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The third would be _Master of the World_. What’s the fourth? The third I had in mind was _For the Flag_ (Face au drapeau). It was turned into an interesting Czech film in 1958, _Vynález zkázy_ (a.k.a. The Deadly Invention or The Fabulous World of Jules Verne), which used animation in the style of the original engraved illustrations for many of the effects. Interesting scenes of the submarine . There's still one more Verne work with a submarine in it. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/46 "2020-02-11T16:05:14Z")
Some of these questions are very intriguing. So why are only a couple of you including the freaking _answers?_ ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/47 "2020-02-11T16:17:46Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Some of these questions are very intriguing. So why are only a couple of you including the freaking _answers?_ Sorry > [@Andy\_L](#): > > Just testing the waters - are these too hard, too easy or just right? > > 1. (Lit) In the 1980’s two SF authors independently wrote novels about space elevators in the same year. Who were they and what were the novels? > > 2. (TV) Which Babylon 5 character name references a Star Trek injoke 1) Arthur C. Clarke and Charles Sheffield; The Fountains of Paradise and The Web Between Worlds 2) Garabaldi, the B5 security officer shares a name with the Italian revolutionary who led the group known as the “Red Shirts” > [@Andy\_L](#): > > 1. Here’s the pseudonym - give me the real name > a) Paul French > b) Lyle Monroe > c) Don A. Stuart > d) William Tenn a) Isaac Asimov b) Robert Heinlein c) John W. Campbell, Jr. d) Philip Klass ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/48 "2020-02-11T16:51:44Z")
\*\*Which 16th/17th-century astronomer also wrote a novel about a trip to the Moon? \*\* Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary motion. \*\*In the novel _A Clockwork Orange_, what is the derivation of the word _Nadsat_? \*\* It’s the suffix in the Russian words for the numbers 11 through 19, denoting “ten” ("-teen"). In the novel, \*Nadsat \*was the slang spoken by teenagers. \*\*Which two TV series had leading characters with the first names Harriman and Heywood? \*\* _ **Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea** _ and _ **The Time Tunnel** _ (Admiral Nelson and General Kirk, respectively). **What TV series had a robot called Rhoda, and how was she (it) controlled?** _ **My Living Doll** _ (1964), starring Bob Cummings and Julie “Catwoman” Newmar. (Cummings left the series after 21 of its 26 episodes.) Rhoda was controlled by pressing the moles on her back. **In what Warner Bros. cartoon was _Buck Rogers in the 25th Century_ parodied?:** _ **Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century** _ (1953) starring Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Marvin the Martian. **What SF parody featured a character named Dr Flexi Jerkoff?** The soft-core porn comedy _ **Flesh Gordon** _ (1974). \*\*In \*Dark \*_Star_, what did the astronauts’ portable life support units consist of? \*\* Muffin tins fastened to styrofoam blocks with duck tape. It was a very low-budget student production. \*\*Complete these lines in _Plan 9 from Outer Space_: “Imagine a \_\_\_\_ \_\_ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is your Sun” and “Now go on. Take off into your \_\_\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” \*\* “Can of gasoline” and “wild blue yonder.” \*\*One of the actors featured in _Robinson Crusoe on Mars_ would go on to become an iconic TV star of the '60s. Name him. \*\* Adam “Batman” West.\*\* A really hard one: What is the SF connection between _Mr Ed_, _Star Trek_, and _Family Affair_? \*\* Alan “Wilbur Post” Young, Whit “Mr Lurry” Bissel, and Sebastian “Mr French” Cabot, three of the gentlemen who gathered at HG Welles’ home on New Year’s Eve in \*\*\*The Time Machine \*\*\*(1960). The fourth was Tom Helmore—who, while not as immediately recognizable as the others, was featured in many movies and TV shows, including \*\*\*Night \*\*\*_ **Gallery** _. \*\*Easy one: On \*Star \*_Trek_, what did the various fixtures on the walls of the _Enterprise_’s corridors consist of? \*\* Styrofoam packing blocks salvaged from Desilu dumpsters and spray painted in bright primary colors. They were glued to the walls and easily damaged. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/49 "2020-02-11T16:56:44Z")
On the BBC series _Blake’s 7_, the first time Blake referred to the “seven,” who were the seven? Another Blake question, although this one is a little easier: of Blake and his crew, all of the men were referred to by their last names, and all of the women by their first (or only) names - with one exception. Who was the exception? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/50 "2020-02-11T16:59:37Z")
Now with Answers! 1.) The submarine _Nautilus_ featured in two of Jules Verne’s novels – _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ and _The Mysterious Island_. What is the third Verne novel that had a submarine in it? [spoiler] I’d forgotten, as I said, that the _Terrible_ in _Master of the World_ could submerge, so I have to ad that one. I had the submarine in _For the Flag_ in mind. It was memorably brought to the screen in the 1958 Czech film marketed in the US as _The Fabulous World of Jules Verne_. The last Verne work with a submarine is his play [iJourney Through the Impossible\*, which was long thought lost. It has been published (in English by Prometheus Press) and at long last re-staged after over a century since its previous production. It has scenes set aboard the _[Nautilus_.[/spoiler] 2.) Verne made Captain Nemo an Indian prince (as portrayed in _The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_, but that was at the urging of his publisher. What was Nemo’s original nationality to have been? He was supposed to be Polish, fighting for Poland’s independence. His publisher didn’t want to alienate European readers. Apparently he didn’t care about losing British readers by making Nemo an Indian prince, rebelling against the British crown. 3.) Which two iconic science fiction series got their start in the August 1928 issue of _Amazing Stories_? That issue has both the first installment of E.E. Smith’s _Skylark of Space_ and the first half of the story of Anthony Rogers by Philip Nowlan. A year later he was brought to the comics page as “Buck Rogers” 4.) Aliens arrive on earth in Flying Saucers in the movies _The Thing (from Another World)_, \* The Day the Earth Stood Still\*, and _This Island Earth_, but what _else_ do the spaceships in these three films have in common? All three are based on science fiction stories – _Farewell to the Master_ by Harry Bates, _Who Goes There!_ by John W., Campbell, and the novel _This Island Earth_ by Raymond F. Jones. In all three stories, the alien ship is NOT a flying saucer. In Farewell to the Master and This Island Earth the ship is ovoid, and in Who Goes There it’s said to resemble a submarine. The ships were changed to flying saucers because of the “flying saucer” craze that began in 1947. 5.) Before they appeared in _Star Trek_, James Doohan and William Shatner both appeared as regular cast member in what other TV show? Both were in the Canadian version of _Howdy Doody_, which was different from the US production. That show also introduced a magical box that could travel anywhere in space and time, which was probably the origin of the tARDIS. 6.) This film featured a giant creature invading a city and being attacking in turn by biplanes, years BEFORE _King Kong_. What was the film? Winsor McKay’s early animated cartoon _The Giant Pet_, based on an episode from his strip “Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend” [Criticalcommons.org - Media](https://criticalcommons.org/Members/sammondn/clips/the-pet-1921) 7.) Robert Heinlein was given a plot by John W. Campbell for a story, which he wrote into a full novel and Campbell published, After his death, Campbell’s own story using that plot was published. Name both stories. The Heinlein story was "Sixth Column, later retitled _The Day After Tomorrow_. The Campbell story was _All_, printed in the posthumous collection _The Space Beyond_. 8.) Jules Verne wrote a sequel to this story by Edgar Allan Poe _The Sphinx of the Icefields_ was Verne’s sequel to Poe’s _The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket_, his only novel. H. P. Lovecraft’s _At the Mountains of Madness_ is, arguably, anopther sequel. 9.) Who was Austin Carter? “Austin Carter” was a character in Anthony Boucher’s mystery novel _Rocket to the Morgue_. The novel is a _roman de clef_ of the Southern California SF writing community in the 1940s, and Carter is a thnly disguised Robert Heinlein. 10.) Who was Geoffrey Avalon? Similarly, Geiffrey Avalon is a character in several of Isaac Asimov’s “Black Widowers” series, based upon the real-life “Trapdoor Spiders” club, of whgich Asimov was a member. Many of his fictional characters are thinly disguised version of real-life members. In this case, Geoffrey Avalon corresponds to L. Sprague de Camp. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/51 "2020-02-11T17:10:48Z")
What was the insult regularly used by the characters in the British series _ **Red Dwarf** _? “Smeghead!” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/52 "2020-02-11T17:19:29Z")
Off topic, but this is obviously the right place to ask… I just bought a used copy of **The Best of C.M. Kornbluth** (1976). Did I do a good thing, there? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/53 "2020-02-11T17:23:12Z")
And thanks to everyone who posted the answers to their trivia questions, especially **CalMeacham,** who reminded me that **The Fabulous World of Jules Verne** is a thing. And a thing that I want to watch but had forgotten about. Can I see the entire thing on YouTube, or anyplace else for free? ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/54 "2020-02-11T17:26:53Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > And thanks to everyone who posted the answers to their trivia questions, especially **CalMeacham,** who reminded me that **The Fabulous World of Jules Verne** is a thing. And a thing that I want to watch but had forgotten about. I didn’t realize I was expected to include the answers right away. > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > On the BBC series _Blake’s 7_, the first time Blake referred to the “seven,” who were the seven? Blake, Avon, Vila, Gan, Jenna, Cally, and Zen (the ship’s computer). > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Another Blake question, although this one is a little easier: of Blake and his crew, all of the men were referred to by their last names, and all of the women by their first (or only) names - with one exception. Who was the exception? Vila Restal - the others are, IIRC, (men) Raj Blake, Kerr Avon, Olag Gan, Dev Tarrant, (women) Jenna Stannis, Dayna Mellanby, “just” Cally, and “just” Soolin. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/55 "2020-02-11T17:47:15Z")
Hey, I didn’t mean to make anyone feel bad. Take it as a compliment all your questions are so interesting that we want to know the answers. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/56 "2020-02-11T17:54:38Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Off topic, but this is obviously the right place to ask… > > I just bought a used copy of **The Best of C.M. Kornbluth** (1976). > > Did I do a good thing, there? I think so. I’ve got a copy, myself. This is part of the “The Best Of…” series that Ballantine Books started circa 1970 with The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum (with intro by Isaac Asimov!) and kept up for the next ten years, continuing on when they changed the brand to Del Rey books. They spotlighted a lot of authors, notably little-known ones like Raymond Z. Gallun, but also well-known ones. I recall when I first came across The Best of Cordwainer Smith, and it blew me away. I had read “Scanners live in Vain” and :“The Ballad of Lost C’mell”, but hadn’t realized that they were part of a complete “Future History”. After the series lapsed in the early 80s, they rarely reprrinted violumes. When the movie _The Last Mimzy_ came out in 2007 they reprinted The Best of Henry Kuttner, and they also reprinted The Best of Lester Del Rey in a large-format paperback, but I’m not aware of any of the others that have been put back in print – you have to buy used copies of the old ones. I own all of them now except The Best of Philip K. Dick. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/57 "2020-02-11T17:55:40Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > And thanks to everyone who posted the answers to their trivia questions, especially **CalMeacham,** who reminded me that **The Fabulous World of Jules Verne** is a thing. And a thing that I want to watch but had forgotten about. > > Can I see the entire thing on YouTube, or anyplace else for free? You can find it on YouTube here: I think it's complete. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/58 "2020-02-11T18:00:28Z")
It’s a book club edition, publisher credited as Nelson Doubleday, which I think owned Ballantine Books back in the day. I also have a 70s hardcover of **The Best of Henry Kuttner,** who’s probably my favorite soft SF/fantasy writer of the mid 20th century. So, is Kornbluth a good’un? I saw a recommendation for “The March of the Morons,” either here or at some other blog/website where I hang out with you nerds. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/59 "2020-02-11T18:01:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You can find it on YouTube here: > > I think it's complete. Bless your nerd soul! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762/60 "2020-02-11T18:05:14Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > It’s a book club edition, publisher credited as Nelson Doubleday, which I think owned Ballantine Books back in the day. > > I also have a 70s hardcover of **The Best of Henry Kuttner,** who’s probably my favorite soft SF/fantasy writer of the mid 20th century. > > So, is Kornbluth a good’un? I saw a recommendation for “The March of the Morons,” either here or at some other blog/website where I hang out with you nerds. “The Marching Morons” is good. I’m sure that Ed Neuemeier was familiar with it, because he lifted its catchphrase “Would you buy that for a quarter?” and updated it with inflation to “I’d buy that for a dollar!” in his script for _RoboCop_. I suspect the people who made the film _Idiocracy_ might have known about it, too. Kornbluth was an impressive writer of short stories, many of them exhibiting his dark wit. (He also co-authored several novels with Frederick Pohl, which I’d recommend, as well). His “Little Black Bag” is a classic. It’s in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and has been adapted three times for television. Interesting and very odd guy, who died at the early age of 34. You can read about him here – [Cyril M. Kornbluth - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_M._Kornbluth) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-hard-science-fiction-and-fantasy-trivia-quesstions/847762.md?page=4)