Test Your Geekdom, Vol V: The Sincerest Form of Flattery

The questions will typically focus either on something which birthed an entire genre of work or a well known concept, trope, or cliché. It may not be the absolute first, for instance the first question deals with a book which actually came a quarter of a century after Le Fanu’s ‘Carmilla’, hint-hint, but it will be an example so well known that virtually all subsequent works dealing with that genre or concept will get compared to it. Pay careful attention to the actual question, and go with the most obvious and appropriate answer.

10 questions, 20 possible points, Have Fun!

1. Written in 1897, this eponymous book deals with a fictional noblemen who is well-known for his aversion to Allium sativum. Later portrayed by Bela Lugosi, what is the name and title of this character, and what sort of creature was he?

2. Written by Sophocles, this riddle-solving king is so well known for how well he get along with his mother that they named a psychological condition for him. What was his name and what is this complex condition called?

3. Certainly one of the oldest and best known of the Film Noir genre, this movie stars Humphrey Bogart as a Hardboiled Detective, and one of many seeking the eponymous item never actually seen in the movie. What was the name of the film and what was the name of the detective played by Bogart?

4. One of the originators of the Sword and Sorcery genre, this character by Robert E. Howard hits the big screens in an eponymous film, played by a future governor who was not Jesse Ventura. This actor later returned to the role in a destructive sequel film whose novelization was done by Robert Jordan, of Wheel of Time fame. What was the name of the character and the actor who portrayed him?

5. Although by no means the first sci-fi television show, it is perhaps the most well known. In recent years it has especially been parodied for ‘Red Shirts’, and the fate which awaited them. What was the name of this series and the character best known for providing his expert medical opinion on the Red Shirts, typically by saying “He’s Dead, Jim”?

6. Eventually turned into blockbuster trilogy of movies, this series features a multi-racial nonet of characters seeking to return a piece of lost property. Unfortunately the homeland of its owner is a place one does not simply walk into, and two of their number perish in their quest, though one later returns. What is the name of this series and the character who dies and does not return to life?

7. This famous fictional detective and his sidekick John, working in Victorian London, often came to the aid of Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. What were the names of this detective and his sidekick?

8. This protagonist starred in an early Cyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson, and starts off with the hero as pizza delivery man who eventually fights his babbling enemies with reason. What is the name of the book and the hero?

9. This famous video-game plumbing duo got their start fighting a barrel throwing King-Kong rip-off, which popularized Platform Games, though originally it was just one of the super pair, and he was known as Jumpman, a carpenter. They later starred in any number of video games that bore their name. What was the name of these two video-game characters?

10. Long before Sigourney Weaver and the Space Marines fought their Bug War on LV-426 in Aliens, or Orson Scott Card wrote Ender’s Game, and any number of first person shooters, this author wrote about a war against giant alien space bugs in a famous and controversial book, which was later turned into a movie by Paul Verhoeven which absolutely enraged book fans. What is the name of the book and its author?