posted
A) They come out of a giant hole in space B) Their sole motivation is to "KILL EVERYONE" C) They will not negotiate, or even communicate D) They have absurdly advanced technology, usually in one special area which is also their weakness E) There are frelling LOTS of them, sometimes including one REALLY unkillable one
We've got Voyager's 8472, Wing Commander's Nephilheim, Freespace's Shivans, Babylon 5's Thirdspace aliens, and most recently Andromeda's... whatever they are. They also all share the property that we rarely find out anything REAL about any of them, because all that's compelling about them is the mystery, and the only thing compelling about a mystery is solving it. There has to be something BENEATH the mystery to keep it interesting.
So my questions are twofold: are there any other examples of this cookie-cutter villan race? And can we trace the point from whence this idea originated? 'Cause I'm REALLY getting tired of the predictability...
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
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Countless B-Movie and direct to video releases have used similar villains, in fact, I'd venture to guess that there is not a single space adventure in the direct to video that does not have mysterious advanced killer aliens, which are then killed by a woman named Victoria removing her top. Combined with the sultry sounds of a MIDI saxophone, the Aliens are struck dead.
To an extent, the aliens in Independence Day were as cookie-cutter as you can get, although they did get infected by the Klez, so hmm. They were fairly adamant about the whole killing everything. Their guns were their downfall, with the Randy Quaid man who SHOVE IT UP YOU A-R-S-E!
I would have given my eternal soul for him to have said that. I still will.
Those damn dirty bugs in Starship Troopers had to kill everyone. They even shat out crazy alien shat to kill everyone. I don't remember how the humans won, though. Presumably when Denise Richards removed her top. If she did. Which she probably did. Because she's a whore.
What about those Damn Dirty Aliens from War of the Worlds, by that one older writer guy, Tom Clancy, I think. What was their motivation? Maybe they're similar too.
Blood suckers from Outer Space sounds like a good candidate as well. I don't know if it is, but it's got blood suckers, so c'mon.
Of course, if this is not what was asked, then, again, like always, ignore me.
[ May 25, 2002, 21:49: Message edited by: The Ulcer Mongoose ]
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I don't know what to say about them, but it'd be nice if they were related to Trance in some way.
-------------------- Picard: Mr. Crusher, what's our maximum speed this week? Wesley: [checking manual] Uh, 9.4, sir. Picard: Very good. Take us to Warp 9.8 then. Wesley: Aye, sir. Warp 9.2 it is.
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posted
Well, the ID4 aliens and the Martians both wanted to colonize Earth, which made some sense for the Martians, who lived on a planet fairly like our own and very close.
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But they terrorized us! Colonization does not equal terror! The White Man did not slaughter his adversaries when advancing to the New World. Oh.
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Except! Ho! Below their shiny armour was a fleshy veneer that could be best described as white!
I digress.
Anyone who's had the misfortune of seeing Copolla's lesser-known masterpiece, Captain EO, at Disney[land/world/enclave] would know that Maurice Hurley clearly walked out of the Magic Kingdom one day in 1988 with a glazed look over his eyes and went home to write a certain little episode. Six months later, the madness that was that damn 3D bug still whispering in his ear caused him to break down, and he ran screaming from the Paramount lot straight into the arms of David Hasselhoff's agent. And so it came to pass that there was Baywatch.
And lo, there was rejoicing, for the evil demon on the TNG writing staff had been vanquished, and Roddenberry arranged strippers for all, and the mystic knight known as Michael Piller strode forth to take the place of Hurley. But the dusty old corner office still echoed with the falsetto refrains of MJ, and seven years later, when Ron Moore and Brannon Braga sat down to continue the tale of the Borg, the spirit of Captain EO struck again. And so it came to past that Alice Krige inherited the mantle of Anjelica Huston.
Oh, Hollywood.
[ May 26, 2002, 00:36: Message edited by: The_Tom ]
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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I seem to recall rumours of a missing scene where Picard moonwalks, but that's an unsubstantiated report. There was a lack of "boogeying", in any event.
BONUS POINTS: Captain EO opened at EPCOT on my birthday. Fulfilled, I am.
[ May 26, 2002, 00:36: Message edited by: The Ulcer Mongoose ]
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-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
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posted
quote:We've got Voyager's 8472, Wing Commander's Nephilheim, Freespace's Shivans, Babylon 5's Thirdspace aliens, and most recently Andromeda's...
If I'm not mistaken those aliens were code-named Nephilim... something about an ancient Hebrew legend of "giants in the Earth".
C and D don't really apply to them, though. They were all to eager to insult you -- both in funny bug linguo as well as in English -- which is a form of communication. Blair exchanged words and thoughts with the hive.
As for their technology... it was only marginally ahead of Confed's. Definitely not absurdly advanced.
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