Space Opera Music Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bernard Hermann

Bernard Hermann's score gave an eerie feeling to this film about the alien visitor Klaatu. The orchestra includes two theremins and lots of percussion but doesn't have the usual large string section. His mastery of disturbing sounds made his music perfect for several Alfred Hitchcock films.

Answer: David Newman

The Newman family includes several well-known composers, including Thomas and Randy. David Newman's almost frantic main theme sets the mood for this brilliant spoof of a popular TV science fiction series.

Answer: James Horner

Horner wrote scores for several films set in space or on other planets, including "Aliens," "Avatar," and "Apollo 13," as well as some that didn't start with "A." He didn't score the earlier "Alien," though. That music was by Jerry Goldsmith.

Answer: John Barry

John Barry may be best known for his music for several early "James Bond" films. He also provided the music for "The Black Hole," a quirky Disney film in which humans enter a black hole and come out alive.

Answer: Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith's out-of-this-world film scores include five "Star Trek" movies, the first "Planet of the Apes," and "Alien." The fanfare which he wrote for Universal Pictures in 1997 has been the first music heard in a great many movies since then.

Answer: Jamshied Sharifi

Sharifi's music gives a mysterious sound, far from the usual Muppet music, to this film probing Gonzo's secrets. His style combines Middle Eastern, African, and jazz elements. Other films featuring his music include "Harriet the Spy" and "Clockstoppers."

Answer: Bebe and Louis Barron

With "The Forbidden Planet," the Barrons created the first all-electronic score for a feature film. The movie was a first in other ways, being set on a planet outside the Solar System and reached by a faster-than-light spaceship. The strange electronic sounds enhance the sense of dealing with forces outside normal human experience.

Answer: Danny Elfman

Danny Elfman has done several scores for movies with humorously weird topics, including "Men in Black," "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and the 2001 "Planet of the Apes." "Mars Attacks!" features dark humor as Martians rampage and kill on Earth.

Answer: Thomas Newman

Thomas Newman is one of the illustrious Newman family of composers, the son of Alfred Newman and cousin of Randy Newman. This animated tale of post-apocalyptic robot romance is just one of his many film scores, which include "Finding Nemo," "Skyfall," and "Fried Green Tomatoes." His early film work included orchestrating a scene in "Return of the Jedi."

Answer: John Williams

I don't have to explain this one, do I? Williams is unquestionably the most popular film composer of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Looking just at his science fiction movies, we have multiple "Star Wars" films, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Space Camp," and "War of the Worlds" (2005).