Test Your Geekdom, Vol VII: Apocalypse How

Quite a few stories involve truly Epic scales of destruction, and either their aftermath, the rush to prevent them from happening, or to deal with their occurrence. These can vary from an Earth-Shattering Ka-Boom to something more localized or esoteric, and from deliberate acts to natural disasters. Today’s quiz is all about un-averted destruction, and will feature descriptions of the event, along with other clues.

Each question is worth a different number of points, listed with it, as always beware Spoilers in the Answers section and in some cases the question itself.

30 possible points plus 3 bonus at the end, enjoy!

1. (4 pts) This book, which spawned sequels, radio dramas, and movies, begins with a man waking up to find his house is about to be torn down for a new traffic route, only to find out that the entire Earth is also scheduled for demolition that day for the same reason, which puts quite a dent in an already bad day.
What is the name of the character whose house (and world) is to be destroyed?
What is the name of the race doing it?
What is the name of the book?
... and the author?

2. (3 pts) This 1999 film featuring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton ends with the character played by Norton racing, unsuccessfully, to stop Pitt’s character from blowing up several buildings and doing serious damage to the World’s banking infrastructure.
What was the name of the film?
What was the name of the character played by Edward Norton?
What was the name of the character played by Brad Pitt?

3. (3 pts) This 1964 film ends with nuclear devastation but also tells of many other struggles and moral dilemmas, including whether or not it is acceptable to vandalize a vending machine to get change for a phone. In the closing moments of the film, we see a scientist struggle with himself ending in his overcoming his own handicap and learning to walk again.
What was the name of the film?
... the scientist?
... and the actor who played him?

4. (3 pts) This 1968 film and the first of its numerous sequels tells the tale of several astronauts who crash land on an alien-seeming world and struggling to cope with their dire situation, which kills all but one of those astronauts in the first film, leaving him on a shoreline lamenting, amongst other things, the destruction of a priceless statue. The first sequel film ends with this same astronaut triggering a doomsday weapon with his dying breath.
What was the name of the first movie?
The actor who played the astronaut who survived till the end of that movie?
... and the planet on which it takes place?

5. (3 pts) This popular sci-fi show ran for 5 seasons in the 90’s, and was one of the shows which broke with the classic exploring spaceship theme in favor of a space station. During the fourth of five seasons the heroes find themselves confronting two angry, ancient, and advanced alien species who do not get along well at all but seemed to spend most of their time blowing up planets neither of them owned, before going into voluntarily extra-galactic exile.
What was the name of the show?
The space station most if took place on?
What was the name of the planet that eventually gets virus-bombed to make way for the show’s short-lived spin-off series about a crusade to find a cure before that planet is wiped out?

6. (2 pts) This post-apocalyptic 1982 book set in the year 3000 was written by an author who brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘cult classic’. It was made into a movie of the same name in the year 2000 starring John Travolta.
What was the name of the book & film?
... and the author?

7. (3 pts) This 1951 film is best known for the expression “Klaatu barada nikto!” and was later remade in 2008 starring Keanu Reeves.
What was the name of the film?
What was the name of the alien in the film?
What was the name of the alien robot in the film?

8. (2 pts) This 2009 film features the total destruction of a world and virtually all of its people, both of which are named for a major Roman God who doesn’t have a real-life planet in this solar system named for him, nor a famous Italian city.
What was the name of the movie?
What was the name of the planet & race in question?

9. (4 pts) The Actor Peter Cushing is often remembered for his role in this movie where after blowing up one world and getting ready to blow up another, he says “Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances.”.
What was the name of the movie?
The character Cushing played
The planet he destroyed?
... and the world he was about to destroy?

10. (3 pts) This 1985 sci-fi novel primarily takes place on a space station in orbit around Earth, and later features the young protagonist of the story ordering the destruction of an alien species’ homeworld. The character and his sister go on to live many centuries into the future and appear in several other books and stories.
What was the name of the book?
The main character?
The author?

Bonuses: Morgan Freeman starred alongside this actor, named elsewhere in the quiz, who uttered the line “What’s in the box?” in a 1995 film that partially shares a title with this quiz, the answer to question had a deep impact on the character. Freeman went in to star in a disaster movie in 1998.
What was the name of the actor who co-starred with Freemen in the 1995 film?
What was the name of that film?
What was the name of the 1998 film?

You can go straight to the answers, or if you enjoyed this, try out some of the earlier quizzes:
Vol I: Quotes
Vol II: The Sequel
Vol III: Openers
Vol IV: Name That Toon
Vol V: The Sincerest Form of Flattery
Vol VI: Big Dumb Objects

... and the Scif-FI Circle Quiz

Questions, suggestions, and comments are always welcome, they help me guess if the quizzes are too hard/easy and come up with other themes.