Aliens, why do you look so silly?

[Vigormortis]

Yes, that reasoning applies well for live-action films. But it doesn't really hold up for flights of fiction in general. (say, novels, video games, etc) I think that's what the OP was getting at. If not, it's what I was alluding to, anyway.

True, though live action stuff has left quite a mark on sci-fi in general...that's a subset of lack of imagination, though, same as recycling fantasy stuff in space...elves don't have 4 legs, so neither can eldar.

I've not heard of Blake's 7. What's the gist of the program?

UK show from the 80s about a bunch of criminals on an advanced alien spaceship fighting the dictatorship that runs the galaxy. Very rarely ran into aliens, though.

Firefly has been called the modern US version, and Farscape the modern US/Australian version.

Ah. I see.

Considering I am a huge fan of Firefly and Farscape, I may well have to check out this Blake's 7. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[samaugsch]

Lovecraft made some cool aliens, didn't he? (Yithians, Mi-go, etc.) Yeah, it probably wasn't too many, but still.

 

[Don Savik]

So err which aliens you got the problem with?

If you mean Ridley Scott Aliens then blame the creator however I think they suppose to be some kind of a savage beast as oppose to be a sophisticated and sentient being.

As for alien being naked most of the time, I jsut assume their way of thinking and culture is competely different to us or maybe they are like Dr. Manhattan as they no longer feel like wearing clothes.

This. Also, how about the Crysis Aliens? I thought those were awesome aliens. AND what about these guys?

Is that the Drej from Titan AE? If so you get a cookie.

To me, Mass Effect tries with some and fails with others. Krogans, Salarians, Turians, all right, cool fine. A race of hot blue women that is both genders, can have sex with anything, and lives forever? What. The. Holy. F**k. Is. This. Shit. Its so unbelievably stupid it destroys all the credibility of the other races. How can I take the Asari seriously?

Which brings me to my next statement. Why we make them humanoid? Because we are thinking with our genetals. We like hot alien babes. Silly, but thats the BS we have to deal with.

 

[Henriot]

Ok.. Alien game... Original X-Com (and to a lesser extent, Terror From The Deep).

Different types of aliens, all with different strengths and weaknesses that were explained through the research and autopsies you performed after facing them. And the big bestial ones were tied in as being the support for the more intelligent ones, similar to how police use dogs and horses (to bring it into human context).

The whole idea of "alien culture" not being portrayed well enough... In RPG games, where exploration and interaction with all types of people is to be expected, yes they shouldn't skimp on that. But in terms of action movies/games, where you are facing solely SOLDIERS, different cultures isn't necessary. Soldiers are usually part of an army (as humans understand them), which would imply one organisation is behind all this military activity. Military is often associated with uniforms for a reason.

And the whole clothes thing... It's been said before, we NEED clothes to survive because we don't have the capacity to warm ourselves in cold environments. But put us in the tropics and most people, even if brought up in society based around fashion, clothes and self image will probably strip some of those layers off because our bodies DO produce heat, but coupled with the temprature outside we can overheat. Who is not to say X alien can regulate their core temprature, and have evolved beyond the need of clothes?
And from psychological standpoint, without that taboo you don't feel conscious of your nudity, whereas if they aliens caught some humans with they pants literally down, humans would feel the need to cover up before finding cover.

 

[Wintermoot]

you mean like in early Dr.Who or old Star Trek?
that,s mostly budget problems both where pretty small when they started out in the 60,s.

 

[Triangulon]

I am put off by a lot of depictions of aliens as well. I hate the way that most of the time aliens coming from the same planet are the same. I don't mean their image (although sometimes it is), I mean that they all speak the same language, they like the same things, they follow the exact same religion, and so on. As if the entire planet is a single country (or probably a city). You can just look to Earth and see how that model doesn't work. Sure, maybe for some aliens, it could, but when a violent warrior nation somehow manges to cooperate as a single entity, despite being ready to war over anything, it strains the credibility.

That lack of diversity happens too often, if you ask me.

I think it's worth pointing out by the time a species (even humans) is advanced enough to have developed interstellar travel or a galactic empire, the cultural lines are often extremely blurred with most individual traits becoming absorbed into a collective whole. This is something that is explored in a huge amount of sci-fi media and literature eg. The Federation (Star Trek), The Culture (Iain M. Banks), The Codiminium (Larry Niven et al) the Uplift Wars series (David Brin) and many many more.

This ignores the obvious time limitations for fims/games when it comes to exposition.

 

[nuba km]

I am put off by a lot of depictions of aliens as well. I hate the way that most of the time aliens coming from the same planet are the same. I don't mean their image (although sometimes it is), I mean that they all speak the same language, they like the same things, they follow the exact same religion, and so on. As if the entire planet is a single country (or probably a city). You can just look to Earth and see how that model doesn't work. Sure, maybe for some aliens, it could, but when a violent warrior nation somehow manges to cooperate as a single entity, despite being ready to war over anything, it strains the credibility.

That lack of diversity happens too often, if you ask me.

It's impossible to create multiple alien societies each as diverse as our own. Our own cultures have thousands of years of history backing it up, that's why a made up alien society will never feel as credible and authentic as ours. Generalized alien societies are simply one of those things where you have to suspend your disbelief.

Honestly, I'm tired of humanoid aliens period. And if they are humanoid, at least make them like 3 times our size or something.

I know why does every alien species look symmetrical and why are the aliens who are smarter then us also very fragile, and those stronger less intelligent, why can't a alien species be weaker and less intelligent or smarter and stronger? The biggest problem i have in sci-fi is that 'humans are special' and are the best solution to a problem because they are creative/will continue going no matter the odds(even when there is a warrior race who would fight till death if they were so devoted warriors)/are more understanding/can achieve what ever they want while other aliens can only be what the generalized culture is/are the best at what they strive to be (even though other species are more adapt to do it) just take your pick and mix of those and more.

 

[Thaluikhain]

you mean like in early Dr.Who or old Star Trek?
that,s mostly budget problems both where pretty small when they started out in the 60,s.

The first alien species to appear in doctor who were the daleks, mind (if you don't count the dead magnetic monster or the Doctor and Susan (or TARDIS) themselves).

I know why does every alien species look symmetrical and why are the aliens who are smarter then us also very fragile, and those stronger less intelligent, why can't a alien species be weaker and less intelligent or smarter and stronger?

You do get the odd Mary Sue race that's just better than humans, though rarely done that well.

Generally, they keep a sort of balance, same way they do for game character races.

The biggest problem i have in sci-fi is that 'humans are special' and are the best solution to a problem because they are creative/will continue going no matter the odds(even when there is a warrior race who would fight till death if they were so devoted warriors)/are more understanding/can achieve what ever they want while other aliens can only be what the generalized culture is/are the best at what they strive to be (even though other species are more adapt to do it) just take your pick and mix of those and more.

Argh, yes.

 

[Kragg]

one could argue that alien races, having lived on planet x for over 1000 times as long as humans might have wiped out everything else, besides pet or food, even humans would over long enough period of time start to all look alike. skintone, language, any other attribute

And I'm fine with that. However how many different species exactly have come to the exact same conclusion of their evolution and history? I don't think it would be all of them.

And some people mentioned Mass Effect...funny how I didn't find it that diverse. Note, that I've only played the first one. I didn't find the different species that, you know, different. The Krogan were one of the better depicted ones. They were, at their core, tribal societies and amongst each other when they weren't doing it against others. Also, maybe Tali's race (forgot the actual name) - they were a bot more interesting than the others. Everybody else - not so much. I could see the potential for ideas there but they weren't really developed well (maybe later games managed to built on them, though). The others were too stereotypical, perhaps. There was the possibility of so much more. Even if it was just hinted at.

would it make much sence for krogan, a tribal society to develop interstellar space flight? i googled their background cause i dont remember much from mass effect, they were basicly on same path as earth, except when the cold war came they actually bombed eachother, being reduced to tribal groups cause there was no other way, they got the tech boost from the salarians, the smart, spy, frail race, to fight the rachnii, the insects, (why didnt they make robots instead? *shrug*)

but you are right though not all of them would be like this, its just to make stuff simpler for sci fi. same reason most speak english, are bipedal and none are overly superior to any other race in their respective universe, only if the universe needs an overly dramatic evil powerful force, like the repaers in mass effect, those tiney droid things in stargate etc

 

[Olrod]

E.T. phone home? Yeah... we know why you're naked when making that call. E.T. phone sex chatline more like, I bet!

 

[DoPo]

It ties into the whole uncanny valley idea: if something looks human enough, then we'll relate to it easily. If it looks too unsettling or, pardon the pun, alien, then we will find that thing uncomfortable to watch, even if it is supposed to be portrayed sympathetically.

I feel I have to point out that you're not really describing the uncanny valley. The uncanny valley is when things look more human than artificial and people find that more uncomfortable because the minor flaws stand out. The xenomorphs aren't in the uncanny valley - they are totally alien (yeah, pun)

Spoiler: this, however, is there

Spoiler: here is a chart

The dip to the right there - that is the valley.