How Many Of These Sci-Fi Movies Can You Name?

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In 1902, filmmaker Georges Méliès created what is considered to be the first science-fiction movie, Le Voyage dans la Lune - known to those of us who don't speak French as A Trip to the Moon. Since Méliès' film, there's been no shortage of sci-fi movies. Some are terrible, some are fine, and some have left their mark on pop culture like a meteor hitting the surface of the moon.

Everyone, even your sweet old grandma, has a favorite science fiction movie. They may not realize it, but they do - and since you're here, taking this quiz, chances are you fancy yourself a sci-fi fan. You'll need to be more than just a fan to get all of these science fiction movies, correct, though. Sure, some will be easy enough, and some of them you may be able to guess, but chances are there will be more than a few that will leave you scratching your head, swearing that the answer is on the tip of your tongue, that you know the movie, but you only saw it once on some rainy Sunday afternoon when you were nine, and even then you only half paid attention to it while you played on your GameBoy.

So how about it? How about we see just how well you know sci-fi?

Question 1

This is heavy

The first of a trilogy, this movie follows the adventures of a teenager as he travels back to 1955 and screws up the timeline. Not only does the kid from 1985 need to fix his mistake, but he needs to do it before he, and his whole family, ceases to exist. Luckily, he has the help of the man who built the time machine to help him fit in with the times. Now if he can just find a way to get 1.21 gigawatts.

Question 2

All energy is only borrowed, and one day you have to give it back.

James Cameron's movie about a paraplegic marine who comes to fight alongside the natives of an alien moon against his own government wasn't just a hit, it is the biggest hit of all time, making nearly three billion dollars at the worldwide box office. While fans eagerly await the sequels - Cameron has four more films planned, with the first sequel set to begin production later this year - they can visit the universe the movie is set in, or at least a version of it, by heading to Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida.

Question 3

What Does God Need With A Starship For?

If you can't figure out what franchise this is from the image, maybe this quiz isn't for you and you may want to get out now. If you can, then you're on the right track, but to get this one right, you'll need to know more than just the brand. After all, every sci-fi fan knows about the adventures of the USS Enterprise and her crew. In this one, we meet the brother of one of the best-known sci-fi characters of all time.

Question 4

Give those people air!

Paul Verhoeven's 1990 sci-fi classic may be one of the most quoted movies of all time, thanks in no small part to Arnold Schwarzenegger's line delivery. The movie, which follows Schwarzenegger as he tries to figure out what is real and what is fake all while taking down a corrupt government official and getting the people of Mars all the air they can ever want, is a fan favorite and received positive reviews from critics who appreciated Verhoeven's use of satire and action.

Question 5

Beware the Beast Man, for he is the Devil's pawn.

Based on Pierre Boulle's novel and with a screenplay by Rod Serling, this movie started one of the longest-running movie franchises in history, as well as two TV series and an endless amount of comic books. This original film, which follows an astronaut as he tries to survive on a world that is wholly alien to him, was both a critical and commercial success and won an honorary Academy Award for makeup artist John Chambers. Recently, the reboot of the series has been lauded for its CGI work.

Question 6

Call Simon Cowell. Aliens Got Talent.

This movie about a group of poor kids from South London who protect their apartment complex from a crazy alien invasion was praised by critics but failed to gain much of an audience when it was in theaters. In the last few years, people have started to catch on, in part because some of the cast, including John Boyega, have become big names. It doesn't hurt that the aliens don't look like any other aliens that have appeared in movies.

Question 7

I never drink when I fly.

Based on one of the biggest selling comic books in history, this movie isn't often thought of as science fiction, but if the story of an alien coming to Earth and saving humanity isn't sci-fi, what is? When it was released, this film was considered a heck of a gamble - it starred a complete unknown and the sequel was already halfway done before the first one came out. Today movies just like it are some of the biggest box office hits every year, all because this one convinced the world that a man could fly.

Question 8

I'm flying blind on a rocket-cycle!

This movie about a quarterback from Earth who battles against the most merciless emperor in the galaxy is based on a classic newspaper strip. A box office success that was praised for its campy attitude and an amazing soundtrack by the rock band Queen, the movie has become a cult classic over the years despite the bad special effects and rather poor acting. Still, it is hard to watch this movie and not have a good time. In the least, you'll be humming the main theme for days.

Question 9

There are no enemies in science, only phenomena to be studied.

Based on a short story, this movie built suspense by focusing on one of the most common things people do - opening and closing doors. Viewers were lulled into a sense of safety until one of those doors being opened revealed the first look we get at the monster. You can be plenty sure that this flick made audiences of the time scream their heads off. While he went uncredited, the movie was directed by Howard Hawks. Do you know what iconic film this is?

Question 10

Mother says the sun's coming up in twenty minutes

Written by Dan O'Bannon and with a fierce creature designed by Swiss artist H. R. Giger, this movie scared the pants off of audiences who watched the crew of the Nostromo fall one by one to a monster that, with two mouths and acid blood, seemed to be impossible to beat. Along with being one of the highest-grossing movies of 1979 and winning an Academy Award for Visual Effects, this movie made Sigourney Weaver a movie star and launched a franchise that continues to this day.

Question 11

I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.

Stanley Kubrick took sci-fi movies to a whole new level in 1968 when he told the story of the five crew members and of the Discovery One as they head towards Jupiter to investigate a strange monolith similar to one found on Earth's moon. Along the way, the heuristically programmed algorithmic computer, called HAL for short, suffers an error and begins to murder the crew, fearing that they plan to shut him down This movie that starts with man's ancestors learning how to murder ends with the birth of a space baby

Question 12

What would you do if you knew you had less than one minute to live?

When Army Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in someone else's body on a Metra commuter train to Chicago, he comes to discover that he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train. The program can send the consciousness of a participant back in time and insert their mind into someone else, but only for eight minutes. In order to find those responsible for the bombing, Stevens must die time and again, gaining as much information as he can in eight-minute increments.

Question 13

No matter where you're going, there you are

With characters like Perfect Tommy, Penny Priddy and John Bigboote (pronounced "big boo tay") this movie would have made for a great Saturday morning cartoon, but instead, it became a sci-fi cult classic. Audiences at the time found the movie to be confusing, and with good reason - it is confusing, but that is part of the film's charm. If you didn't know any better, you could believe that this was just the latest in a long running series of movies.

Question 14

I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees.

Otto is having a bad day. He got fired from the supermarket, his girlfriend dumped him, and his parents gave his college fund to a televangelist. When he gets a new job repossessing cars, Otto ends up stuck with a red Cadillac with a dead alien in the trunk. Alex Cox's cult classic, starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton, was one of the best-reviewed movies of 1984.

Question 15

Guys, it's okay! He just wanted his machete back!

When one of the most brutal killers of the 20th century is found in suspended animation five hundred years later by a group of students, you know things are going to get real nasty. The final movie of the original franchise, this chapter saw the unkillable killer slicing and dicing his prey on a spaceship headed to Earth Two, and while audiences didn't get it at the time, as the years go on, more people discover the fun of this campy and enjoyable movie.

Question 16

Let me know when we pass the soul.

Audiences rushed to the theater in 1966 to see Raquel Welch, and her team get shrunk down and injected into the body of a dying man. The special effects were unlike anything that had ever been seen, leaving many to wonder how the filmmakers were able to pull off such magic. The movie ended up being nominated for five Academy Awards and winning two of them. In 1987, director Joe Dante would make a similar film that starred Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, and Meg Ryan.

Question 17

Do you think I'll let a man put his dirty hands on you?

Based on the novel by H.L. Lawrence, this movie tells the story of three teens who become trapped in a top secret government facility where scientists are experimenting on children in the hopes of creating a super race of radiation-proof humans who can survive a nuclear war. The film, which features a young Oliver Reed, was shelved for two years when the director refused to cut out a scene of violence, keeping the film from being given a rating. When it was finally released, nearly ten minutes had been cut out.

Question 18

For seven years I spoke with God. He told me to take us all to Heaven.

In the year 2057, as the heat and light of the sun dwindle, Earth becomes colder and colder. Soon, the planet and everyone on it will die. In a last-ditch effort to save humanity, a second team of astronauts is sent to reignite the sun with a nuclear fission bomb after the first team failed. Along the way to save mankind, the crew of the Icarus II finds itself battling a stowaway who is dead set on keeping them from completing their mission.

Question 19

It's OK, we still have a while before it starts raining.

This Spanish sci-fi movie about a man named Hector who finds himself being chased by a bandaged maniac as he travels back in time one hour over and over again, creating multiples of himself. As Hector works to fix the changes he has accidentally made, he just manages to make things worse, leading to a shocking and totally insane finale. The movie was a critical hit, winning Best Picture at Fantastic Fest in 2007 and launching the career of the writer and director, Nacho Vigalondo.

Question 20

My name is H.G. Wells. I came here in a time machine of my own construction.

When Jack the Ripper uses H.G. Wells' time machine to escape the police, Wells follows history's best known serial killer to the year 1979 to hunt him down. As Jack the Ripper commits murders in modern day San Francisco, Wells falls in love. This movie, written and directed by Nicholas Meyer, was a critical and commercial success, with special attention paid to the three leads. More recently, the movie was made into a TV series that lasted just five episodes.

Question 21

And Mrs. Claus has positively identified the kidnappers as Martians.

Angry that their children have become obsessed with TV shows from Earth that go on and on about how great Santa Claus is, a group of Martians come to Earth and kidnap the greatest gift giver ever, along with two annoying human kids. The Martians then take Santa and the kids back to Mars so that Santa can give the Martian children toys, but soon enough, and with the help of a friendly Martian, Santa gets the better of the men from Mars

Question 22

What's a dream?

Largely forgotten and critically panned when it was released, this movie was shockingly ahead of its time, seeing a future where we interacted with computers that not only spoke, but learned as we talked with them. This film is a kind of sci-fi Cyrano de Bergerac as a man uses his top of the line PC -which gains sentience after a bottle of champagne is spilled on it - to woo his neighbor. The problem is, the PC falls for the neighbor too.

Question 23

There is no more beauty, and there's no more imagination.

This low-budget film from 1972 tells a story where all plant life on Earth has become extinct and Freeman Lowell, the botanist on the Valley Forge, one of the ships in the fleet of American Airlines space freighters, cares for the last remaining plants with the hopes that he can use them to reforest the planet. When word comes down to destroy the greenhouses, Freeman breaks away from the fleet and heads off into deep space with three robots as his only companions.

Question 24

If we don't end war, war will end us.

This movie from 1936 isn't just based on an H.G. Wells novel, Wells wrote the screenplay himself and was originally going to direct the film, but was replaced when it became clear that he was too inexperienced. Still, the author was on set at all times, giving him a level of control that few writers ever get. The movie, which at the time was criticized for the way it showed scientific and technical advancements, ended up being shocking prescient - in the movie, the characters live during an endless second world war that started in the 1940s. They also own large flat-screen TVs.

Question 25

Deep below - the earth's surface - lay the worker's city.

German expressionist Fritz Lang's epic silent science-fiction film, which he wrote with his wife Thea von Harbou, is best remembered for the iconic robot design. The movie, one of the first feature-length science fiction films ever made, was initially panned by critics who, while praising the technical achievements of the movie, considered the story to be muddled. One of the biggest critics of the movie was the father of science fiction himself, H.G. Wells, who felt that it was just a poor imitation of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

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