Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 200 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Launch of Sputnik 1

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite, on 4 October 1957. Americans, who thought they would be the first to accomplish this, were surprised. The U.S. satellite Explorer 1 was rushed into orbit on 31 January 1958. Then "The Flame Barrier" was rushed into production and released on 2 April 1958, in order to capitalise on inflamed public interest.

Screenwriter Pat Fielder, who worked with George Worthing Yates to produce the script for "The Flame Barrier," told the film historian Tom Weaver, "I think we were kind of following a pattern of other jungle movies of the time - but there had been the event of a Sputnik going up with a monkey on board".

Answer: Evil Teenage Demons

The feature-length movies "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein" (1957), "Teenage Monster" (1957, and "Teenagers from Outer Space" (1959) are all actual, not-made-up, existent, and authentic motion pictures. The British motion picture "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein" was released only five months after American International Pictures' "I Was a Teenage Werewolf." The lobby card for "Teenage Monster" asks "Man ... Beast ... or Alien?" and might have asked, as well, "Western movie"? The theatrical release poster for "Teenagers from Outer Space" announces "Thrill-Crazed Space Kids Blasting the Flesh Off Humans."

"Teenage Evil" is a 2013 record album by the band Plates of Cake. "Teenage Demons" (2018) is a horror short story by Gabriel Tuggle. "Teenage Demons" is also a 2019 single recorded by RockGati. "Evil Teenage Girl" is a 2023 single recorded by Hakeem Hill. Prints of the painting "A Teenage Demon Bedroom" by Reagan Caron (2024) have been sold on-line by Deviant Art. A video game titled "Teenage Demon Slayer Society" was published in 2025 by Strange Scaffold. Diligent research has not revealed a 1950s feature-length science fiction or horror movie named "Evil Teenage Demons", sadly.

Answer: A volcanic rockfall crushed and killed him

When the crew of the diving bell washes up on the "shore" of the underwater caverns, they begin to explore and find a shaggy solitary man who claims to have been stranded there for fourteen years. He is most interested in the two female members of the shore party. His lascivious looks are not reciprocated. The hermit explains that the conduit to the volcano's vent carries fresh air down to the caves. Just as the old man puts his hands on Dale, she screams, there is an earthquake, rocks are dislodged, which land on his head. Dale and Lauri escape the rockfall and they are ultimately saved.

Answer: Richard Denning

American movie and television actor Richard Denning played Dr. Mark Williams in "Creature From the Black Lagoon." Williams is the employer of Dr. David Reed, an ichthyologist seconded to Dr. Carl Maia, the discovered of the Gill Man fossil. Reed persuades Williams to fund a further expedition which Williams joins, as a scientist and accomplished SCUBA diver. Dr. Williams foolishly enters the water alone in an attempt to capture the creature but is mauled to death by the claws of its webbed hands.

Answer: Christopher Lee

"Uncle Was a Vampire" was Sir Christopher Lee's first appearance in an Italian motion picture. He played a sophisticated vampire, Baron Roderico da Frankurten. Two actors were cast who had just appeared in blockbuster hits: Lee in "Dracula" (1958) and Sylva Koscina in "Hercules" (1958). While it was expensive to bring Lee to Italy to make a film, Renato Rascel reasoned that audiences would want to see him in a very similar role.

Answer: Yes

"Missile to the Moon" (1958) was a remake of "Cat-Women of the Moon" (1953). Both films follow the same scenario. Both films were distributed by Astor Pictures. Both films involved a large spider. The spider prop was wire-controlled from above. The same actual prop was used in both movies. Both films involved rock creatures that looked rather like Gumby. Both films involved an all-female civilisation of beautiful, scantily-clad Moon Maidens.

In the 1953 movie, the actresses were credited as "Hollywood cover girls." In the 1958 movie, they were credited as "international beauty contest winners."

Answer: A sulcus or furrow on the brain's surface

The evil alien Gor invades Steve's body. Intergalactic police officer Vol seeks to arrest Gor. Vol hides out in the body of George the dog. Vol tells Sally Fallon and John Fallon that Gor is invincible whilst he is in Steve's body. His one vulnerability is the part of the brain known as the Fissure of Rolando. Sally passes notice of the Achilles Heel to Steve without Gor's knowledge. Gor exits Steve's body to absorb oxygen (as he must do every day). Steve, freed of Gor, grabs an axe and strikes a killing blow to Gor's Fissure of Rolando.

Two major sulci (the central sulcus and the lateral sulcus) divide each hemisphere of the brain into four parts: the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. The central sulcus is known as the Fissure of Rolando. The sulcus was named after Luigi Rolando (1773-1831), an Italian anatomist who strove to relate structure to function in the nervous system.

Answer: Acting

Theodore Meir Bikel (1924-2015) did a remarkable number of things in his life. He was born in Austria, from where his family fled the Nazis. In America, he was an actor, a folk singer, a musician, a composer, a union organiser and official, and a political activist.

He was a recorded folk singer and the founder of the Newport Folk Festival. He played Tevye on Broadway in "Fiddler on the Roof" for more performances than any other actor. He was the president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America and president of Actors' Equity for a decade.

He was active in politically supporting the nation of Israel. He performed in very few horror or science fiction pictures: "I Bury the Living" (1958), "Dark Tower" (1988), and "Babylon 5: In the Beginning" (1998).

Answer: Mexico

A violent earthquake strikes the Campo Mexicano, caused by the volcanic eruption of Mount Parícutin, west of Mexico City. Giant insects emerge from the fractures and rubble, threatening the sparse local population. Two vulcanologists, the American Dr Hank Scott and the Mexican Dr Arturo Ramos, are dispatched from Ciudad Universitaria, in Mexico City, the main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, to the village of San Lorenzo.

A unit of the Mexican army under the command of Major Cosio arrives to provide disaster relief from the earthquakes and from the gigantic killer insects. Aerial photography reveals that a horde of enormous hungry scorpions is closing in on the nation's capital. "The Black Scorpion" was filmed in the Distrito Federal in Mexico.

In an interview with film historian Tom Weaver, Richard Denning, who played Dr Scott, recalled that the sanitation in the countryside was non-existent. He said he returned to the United States with an "intestinal amoeba, and dysentery, and hepatitis ... all from "The Black Scorpion"."

Answer: Jon Pertwee

John Devon Roland Pertwee (1919-1996) was an English actor, the son of an English actor father, and the father of two English actors, a son and a daughter. He portrayed the Third Doctor in the British television series "Doctor Who" in 128 episodes (1970-1974). Pertwee wrote an autobiography, "Moon Boots and Dinner Suits" (1984), and contributed to another, published posthumously, "Doctor Who: I Am the Doctor - Jon Pertwee's Final Memoir" (1996).

In addition to "Mister Drake's Duck" he played Victor Jekyll in "The Ugly Duckling" (1959) and Paul Henderson in "The House That Dripped Blood" (1971).