Science Fiction Trivia

[Disembodied]

Aha! Of course … Hoban "Wash" Washburne, pilot of the good ship Serenity. “I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar".

[ffutures]

Absolutely right - the zither is in your court

[Disembodied]

Okay: which character from the film Aliens has a line from a Robert Plant song written on their helmet? And what is the line?

[Disembodied]

An apology - checking the dates, it's unlikely that the phrase on the helmet was a quote from the Robert Plant song, since the film predates the album that contains the song by about four years … but the same words do appear on the helmet and in the song!

However, a clue: the helmet belongs to a minor character, although one with an important role.

[CaptSolo]

"Fly the Friendly Skies" on Corporal Ferro's helmet.

Last words uttered (IIRC): "Spunkmeyer, get up here!"

[Disembodied]

Correct! (Or near enough, anyway: the whole quote is "I Fly the Friendly Skies".)



The line also appears in Robert Plant's "Big Love", on his 1990 album Manic Nirvana - but of course Aliens came out in 1986. "Fly the Friendly Skies", it turns out, is a tagline from United Airlines advertising, first used in 1965. They resurrected it again in 2013, but have probably dropped it after they started physically throwing passengers off overbooked flights.

CaptSolo has the dither …

[CaptSolo]

This British science fiction film was released about 10 years after the start of the Atomic Age. The plot involves the creation of a spaceship manned by a crew of six, of which only one knows the true mission.

Name the film, the ship, and the secret mission.

[cbr]

first shot

Film
Satellite in the Sky
Ship
Stardust
Mission
Testing a b.o.m.b.

[CaptSolo]

I'm going to give you a pass even though your answer to the third part is not quite correct.

From the Wiki: "Although the crew, headed by Commander Michael Haydon (Kieron Moore), initially believe they are on a scientific mission, the scientist on board, Professor Merrity (Donald Wolfit), is really working for the United States to test an experimental nuclear "Tritonium Bomb". The object is to use the explosion to persuade nations to abandon nuclear weapons." Emphasis mine.

Problems arose when they launched the bomb. It was supposed to move away under rocket propulsion but those failed and it attached itself to the ship by magnetic attraction. The thing was going to explode in nine hours but, before time ran out, two of the crew went EVA, latched onto the bomb moving it away from the ship, and sacrificed their lives to save the others.

I was hoping to provide other clues such as this one: One of the characters was Lois Maxwell who played the part of Miss Moneypenny on so many 007 movies.

You have the dither, cbr

[Cody]

I notice that the SFX guy went on to work on 2001 with Kubrick.

[cbr]

A new question, name at least two spaceships containing the following part...

[ffutures]

I'm guessing that's a washing machine component or something of the sort, but I really have no idea where it comes from. Want to give us a clue or two?

[cbr]

first clue : these are liveable domes, mostly used for greenish stuff.

second clue : i know 1 film and 1 ...

[spud42]

Valley Forge from silent Running
Destiny Stargate Universe

[cbr]

50 % correct, the beautiful valley forge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Running


Who knows the second iteration ( perhaps of even an exact part ) of these domes?