Dr. Prinsky

Engl. 2950A/4950B: Science Fiction

Dr. Prinsky's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire / The Weakest Link / Jeopardy / Survivor Science Fiction Test (Worth 3.1415 Billion Points; 150% of the Course Grade; Any Student Scoring 100% Will Receive Not Only an A in This Course but also Retroactively an A in All Preceding English Courses, Back to Elementary School)

1. Most histories of SF refer to which ancient Greek satirist, who wrote about a trip to the moon, as one of the earliest precursors of this genre: (a) Aristophanes (b) Menander (c) Lucian (d) Archilochus (e) Theophrastus

2. Which seventeenth-century French author is often mentioned in histories of SF as an early precursor of the genre: (a) Jean Racine (b) Cyrano de Bergerac (c) Pierre Corneille (d) Madame de Lafayette

3. Which late seventeenth- or eighteenth-century British author is often mentioned in histories of SF as an early precursor of the genre: (a) (Dr.) Samuel Johnson (b) Aphra Behn (c) Daniel Defoe (d) Jonathan Swift

4. Which American author of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838), as well as comparable narratives, is credited in histories of SF as a pioneer in the genre: (a) James Fenimore Cooper (b) Arthur Gordon Pym (c) Herman Melville (d) Nathaniel Hawthorne (e) Edgar Allan Poe

5. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was first published in: (a) 1818 (b) 1848 (c) 1878 (d) 1898

6. The subtitle of Shelley's Frankenstein is: (a) or The Modern Prometheus (b) A Love Story (c) Monster and Man (d) Science and the New World (e) My Husband, Percy Bysshe

7. Which of the following films, (very, very, very, very, very) loosely related to Shelley's Frankenstein, was never made (listed alphabetically): (a) Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein (1999) (b) Blackenstein (1973) (c) Frankenstein Sings (1998) (d) Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1965) (e) none of the above (= all were made)

8. Which of the following films, (very, very, very . . . ) loosely related to Shelley's Frankenstein, was never made (listed alphabetically): (a) Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) (b) Frankenstein General Hospital (1988) (c) Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965) (d) Frankenstein's Daughter (1959) (e) none of the above (= all were made)

9. Feature films have been made based on all the following SF novels by Jules Verne, except which one: (a) Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (b) Journey to the Center of the Earth (c) From the Earth to the Moon (d) Mysterious Island (e) The Clipper of the Clouds

10. What science fiction novel by Jules Verne, less well known than several others (all of which have films based on them), was made into a movie of the same title, which was an early starring vehicle for Charles Bronson: (a) Master of the World (b) The Green Ray (c) The Giant Raft (d) Floating Island

11. The H in H.G. Wells is an abbreviation for: (a) Harold (b) Herbert (c) Hinton (d) Howard (e) Hudson

12. Feature films have been made based on all the following SF novels by H.G. Wells, except which one: (a) The Time Machine (1895) (b) The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) (c) The Invisible Man (1897) (d) A Story of Days to Come (1899)

13. Feature films have been made based on all the following SF novels by H.G. Wells, except which one: (a) The War of the Worlds (1898) (b) When the Sleeper Awakes (1899) (c) The First Men in the Moon (1901) (d) The Food of the Gods (1904)

14. All the following SF feature films, except which one, are based on the SF novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs: (a) The Land That Time Forgot (b) At the Earth’s Core (c) The People That Time Forgot (d) A Princess of Mars

15. The inventor of the word robot was the important SF author: (a) Isaac Asimov (b) Karl Capek (c) Jules Verne (d) Rudyard Kipling (e) Thea

Von Harbou

16. One of the most well-known SF awards is the Hugo, named after the 1920's and 1930's author and publisher (his first name), whose last name was: (a) Barton (b) Dinerstein (c) Gernsback (d) Kurland (e) Mensch

17. The famous early SF film and social satire Metropolis (1926) was written and directed by: (a) D.W. Griffiths (b) Alfred Hitchcock (c) Ernst Lubich (d) Fritz Lang

18. In the 1930's a radio dramatization of the novel of what important SF author set off some panic across America: (a) Mary Shelley (b) Jules Verne (c) H.G. Wells (d) Edgar Rice Burroughs

20. Feature films have been made based on all of the following SF novels by Robert A. Heinlein, except which one: (a) Rocketship Galileo (b) Red Planet (c) Puppet Masters (d) Starship Troopers

21. Feature films have been made based on all the following SF books by Ray Bradbury, except which one: (a) The Martian Chronicles (b) The Illustrated Man (c) Switch on the Night (d) Fahrenheit 451

22. The science fiction story by Arthur C. Clark, which eventually became the Stanley Kubrick science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey, is: (a) “Rescue Party” (b) ”The Sentinel” (c) “Against the Fall of Night” (d) “Rendezvous with Rama”

23. The long-running 1950's radio show of science fiction, X-1, had scripts which had originally been published as short stories in which famous magazine of SF: (a) The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (b) Astounding Science Fiction (c) If (d) Galaxy (e) Omni

24. The sidekick of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, in the 1950's TV series of that title, was: (a) PJ (b) Dave (c) Billy (d) Winkie (e) Tobe

25. The sidekick of Commander Buz Cory in the 1950's TV series Space Patrol was: (a) Red (b) Happy (c) Bobby (d) Kit (e) Sparks

26. Scholars and students of SF note that which SF film of the 150 to 200 1950's SF films is based (more loosely than they indicate) on Shakespeare's play The Tempest: (a) When Worlds Collide (1951) (b) Red Planet Mars (1952) (c) This Island Earth (1955) (d) Forbidden Planet (1956) (e) On the Beach (1959)

27. Your English professor, when pubescent, first learned to get “fresh” with a date (with no discouragement from her) while watching, at the movie theater, the SF film (with supposedly scary moments, as well as romantic ones): (a) Cat Women of the Moon (b) Robot Monster (c) Queen of Outer Space (d) Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers (e) The Angry Red Planet

28. Your English professor, in his junior high years, once was kidded (at the time unwittingly) by the TV Long Ranger (Clayton Moore) on the set of the TV series about the Mezzuzah the youngster wore (“What’s that, kid, a whistle?” plus laughter from several stagehands) (your Professor’s across-the-street older neighborhood friend had discovered that the only penalty for being caught when sneaking into the Desilu studios a few blocks from Bancroft Junior High School was being escorted out of the studio by a studio guard); in contrast to his heroic image and voice on TV, Clayton Moore shows up as a principal villain in the movie serial: (a) Flying Disc Man (b) King of the Rocket Men (c) The Purple Monster Strikes (d) (e) Radar Men from the Moon

29. On one of his unauthorized forays into Desilu studios with his instigating neighborhood friend, your English professor, then in his junior high years, was hugged (in friendship only) on the set by what hero in a TV SF series: (a) Rocky Jones (Space Ranger) (b) Superman (c) (d) (e) Captain Video

30. The fine SF novel Solaris, from which two good (though not especially faithful) films have been made, was written by the important non-English-writing SF writer: (a) Kobo Abé (b) Italo Calvino (c) Stanislaw Lem (d) Evgenii Zamiatin

31. The longest running continuing SF series on TV (not counting reruns) has been: (a) Lost in Space (b) Star Trek: The Next Generation (c) Blake's 7 (d) Andromeda (e) Dr. Who

32. Your teacher for this course is said, particularly with long hair, to resemble what British actor best known for his portrayal in a long-running (25 years, before cancellation) British SF series: (a) Patrick Troughton (b) Jon Pertwee (c) Tom Baker (d) Peter Davison (e) Sylvester McCoy

33. All the following feature films except which one have been based on fiction by the important American SF writer Philip K. Dick: (a) Blade Runner (b) Screamers (c) Total Recall (d) Gattaca

34. All the following feature films except which one have been based on fiction by the important American SF writer Philip K. Dick: (a) Paycheck (b) Minority Report (c) Zardoz (d) The Impostor

35. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams was originally: (a) a radio series (b) a TV miniseries (c) a novel (or set of novels) (d) a comic book series (e) none of the above

36. Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction film The Clockwork Orange is from an even better novel by British novelist (of mainstream, as well as SF novels) and critic (books on James Joyce and Shakespeare): (a) Bob Shaw (b) Christopher Priest (c) Anthony Burgess (d) John Brunner (e) Brian Aldiss

37. The SF feature films of John Carpenter have included all the following, except which one: (a) Dark Star (b) [John Carpenter’s] The Thing (c) Escape from New York (d) Ghosts of Mars (e) Silent Running

38. All of the following TV series combined science fiction with comedy, except which one: (a) Mork and Mindy (b) My Favorite Martian (c) Quark (d) Red Dwarf (e) Star Cops

39. Probably the most important composers of New Age electronic music, specifically in the genre of "space music," are all the following except which one: (a) John Serrie (b) Eric Johnson (c) Kevin Braheny (d) Michael Stearns (e) Steve McDonald

40. An important modern American woman poet who has also written SF novels is: (a) Muriel Rukeyser (b) Anne Sexton (c) Marge Piercy (d) Sharon Olds

41. The SF novel He, She, It by the author in the immediately preceding question is based partly -- as is the X-Files episode "Kaddish" and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein -- on what figure from Jewish legend: (a) Daniel (b) Golem (c) Judith (d) Mezzuzah (e) Tobit

42. The name of the original spaceship, emphasized in all of the first three Alien movies (Alien, Aliens, and Alien3), is a literary allusion to a novel (also with a theme of corruption associated with commerce and money) by the famous novelist: (a) Joseph Conrad (b) E.M. Forster (c) Henry James (d) Aldous Huxley (e) C.P. Snow

43. The author of SF fiction widely considered the pioneer of the concept of “cyberpunk” and of the worldwide domination of the Internet is: (a) Jules Verne (b) Olaf Stapledon (c) William Gibson (d) Ursula K. LeGuin

44. The rock artist and musician who did a sort of rock opera based on one of Jules Verne’s novels was: (a) Rick Wakeman (b) Sting (c) Peter Gabriel (d) Eric Clapton (e) Manfred Mann

45. Probably the most famous rock single based on science fiction was by the rock artist: (a) Sting (b) George Harrison (c) David Bowie (d) Randy Newman (e) Dan Fogelberg

46. A “serious” or classical or art music composition (The Planets) with science fiction or astronomical overtones was written by which composer: (a) Benjamin Britten (b) Claude Debussy (c) Nikolai Lopatnikoff (d) Vittorio Rieti (e) Gustav Holst

47. A well-known science fiction trilogy with heavy religious overtones was written by: (a) J.R.R. Tolkien (b) Orson Scott Card (c) C.S. Lewis (d) Lois McMaster Bujold

48. A significant portion of which one of the Planet of the Apes movies was filmed at Dr. Prinsky’s graduate school (University of California at Irvine, with notably futuristic architecture), posing the dilemma for Dr. Prinsky of watching the filming versus studying for his Ph.D comprehensive exam: (a) Planet of the Apes (b) Beneath the Planet of the Apes (c) Escape from the Planet of the Apes (d) Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (e) Battle for the Planet of the Apes

49. The original Planet of the Apes movie was based (very, very, very, very, very, very loosely) on the novel by which one of the following French authors of SF: (a) Jules Verne (b) Albert Robida (c) Maurice Renard (d) Pierre Boulle (e) Serge Brussolo

50. A circularity sometimes appears in cultural history. The famous Japanese director and screenwriter Akiro Kurasawa was influenced by American films, including Westerns, and this influence underlies his classic film The Seven Samurai; many years later, circularly, The Seven Samurai inspired the American Western film The Magnificent Seven. Such a circularity also underlies The Planet of the Apes movies, since the original novel was inspired by which earlier British writer (in the Anglo-American tradition): (a) (Dr.) Samuel Johnson (b) Daniel Defoe (c) Jonathan Swift (d) Tobias Smollett

51. In Seabiscuit (2003) — not the earlier film, entitled The Story of Seabiscuit (1949) -- appropriate to the Jeff Bridges’ character repeatedly emphasizing the future, the son of the Jeff Bridges character, not long before the fatal joy ride, is reading a hardcover copy of one of the collection of SF cartoons of: (a) Buck Rogers (b) Flash Gordon (c) (d) Captain America