Watch Titan A:E. Take a shot every time you see a non humanoid alien. You'll be dead before the cafeteria scene is over.
Genuinely alien aliens
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Alien/Xenomorph, Tyranid, Zerg.
Daleks to some extent. There are probably a lot more Doctor Who examples, lots of weird and wonderful creatures in there.
Daleks to some extent. There are probably a lot more Doctor Who examples, lots of weird and wonderful creatures in there.
Star Trek hAd some pretty good ones, now that I'm thinking about it.
Not only were there beings like the Q, the Prophets or Nagilum, which don't even have a fixed physical form, and view the rest of the universe from an outsider's perspective, there are the Borg (in my experience the best - as in credible - hive-mind aliens in existence), and somewhat connected, the Undine ("Species 8472").
The Founders were quite good, too.
Even the Original Series occasionally diverged from "humans with facial bumps", with the Excalbians or the Horta, and occasional god-like beings.
Then, in the German series "Raumpatrouille", we had the "Frogs", which were vaguely humanoid gelatinous beings which (being transparent) could not be harmed by lasers, and died when they came in contact with oxygen.
And of course, the aliens thought up by Terry Pratchett. credible, yet each in its own way strange, like the Creapii or, in a rather extreme example, the Jokers.
Not only were there beings like the Q, the Prophets or Nagilum, which don't even have a fixed physical form, and view the rest of the universe from an outsider's perspective, there are the Borg (in my experience the best - as in credible - hive-mind aliens in existence), and somewhat connected, the Undine ("Species 8472").
The Founders were quite good, too.
Even the Original Series occasionally diverged from "humans with facial bumps", with the Excalbians or the Horta, and occasional god-like beings.
Then, in the German series "Raumpatrouille", we had the "Frogs", which were vaguely humanoid gelatinous beings which (being transparent) could not be harmed by lasers, and died when they came in contact with oxygen.
And of course, the aliens thought up by Terry Pratchett. credible, yet each in its own way strange, like the Creapii or, in a rather extreme example, the Jokers.
They do it in Mass Effect because its easier to animate relatively-humanoid beings, and its easier for the player to relate to them as companions.
And the ones from Crysis just looked like squid (which is why they started calling them Ceph in the second).
And the ones from Crysis just looked like squid (which is why they started calling them Ceph in the second).
I'm currently on the last book of the Wess'har series by Karen Traviss and I feel that she's given a good selection of aliens that are both physically different and/or different in terms of culture and thinking patterns. While there can be found similarities between the other species and humans and I'm not claiming other authors haven't done it better, but in general, in some key manner, the aliens feel distinctly alien.
There are the Bezeri (humans liken them to squid, they communicate through bio-luminescence).
The Wess'har are humanoid in appearance with heads somewhat like seahorses, speak in 2 toned voices and have 4 lobed pupils. However they are more distinct from us ethically, considering motive as irrelevant, with results being their basis for judging the rightness of an action. Also, they consider all life forms 'people' with no judgement based on sentience, taking great care not to impact their rights.
The Isenj are most like humans culturally and thinking pattern wise, yet they are spider like in appearance, and have genetic memories.
In addition there are a few other races that don't have as distinct a focus in the books, yet they all carry their own values and priorities, and less than half of the species are in anyway humanoid in appearance.
I don't know if my conveyance of their alien-ness is anything like what you're seeking (I haven't even touched on their technology and society), but I've never once felt like the characters were largely re-skinned humans with some minor differences.
There are the Bezeri (humans liken them to squid, they communicate through bio-luminescence).
The Wess'har are humanoid in appearance with heads somewhat like seahorses, speak in 2 toned voices and have 4 lobed pupils. However they are more distinct from us ethically, considering motive as irrelevant, with results being their basis for judging the rightness of an action. Also, they consider all life forms 'people' with no judgement based on sentience, taking great care not to impact their rights.
The Isenj are most like humans culturally and thinking pattern wise, yet they are spider like in appearance, and have genetic memories.
In addition there are a few other races that don't have as distinct a focus in the books, yet they all carry their own values and priorities, and less than half of the species are in anyway humanoid in appearance.
I don't know if my conveyance of their alien-ness is anything like what you're seeking (I haven't even touched on their technology and society), but I've never once felt like the characters were largely re-skinned humans with some minor differences.
It might just be the way im reading your sentence, but, You do know that Prometheus is part of the Alien series right? while not being part of the series itself it is based in the same universe and is set before the 1st movie. It's even still directed by Riddly Scotbazaalmon said:
The problem is can you think of a species that ISN'T bipedal that is as efficient as us? You can exactly picture a fish species making it to space travel.
WaReloaded said:
My problem with the re-quel is that it has absolutely zero atmosphere. There is not a single point when I'm question who is thing and who is not. And the special effects weren't exctly top notch considering when it was made. of the re-makes of that story I haven't seen any but the most recent two.HardkorSB said:
I once read a sci-fi book where one of the "characters" was actually a sentience spread between two moons, using each as a "hemisphere" for its "brain".
It's hard to get more alien than that.
It's hard to get more alien than that.
The problem with "uncomprehensible" aliens is that we have a hard time identifying with them so Sci-fi writers refrain from writing them in unless they're represented as some sort of adversary with some dubious motives. That's actually the most common form of aliens that fit that category, since it gives the writers the freedom to create truly bizarre situations where aliens attack us, for no apparent reason, using tactics that don't make any sense and often creating borderline nonsensical situations without needing to explain them; why bother explaining what you can't comprehend?
Aliens playing supportive roles tend to be humanized so that we can relate to them, with few minor differences thrown in to give them endearing traits ("You humans are so weird doing X like that. On our world we do it like this."). Creating an alien that you're not supposed to be able to comprehend but the hero is constantly interacting with is incredibly hard to do and many writers simply don't want to bother working that hard to create a believable alien that the audience might not end up liking. That's why you don't see any Hanar in Shepard's crew.
Of course there are exception that can be found but they tend to fall outside the mainstream stuff. However most mainstream examples of uncomprehansable aliens tend to fall into the category of an adversary or occasionally as a mysterious forerunner/caretaker where the uncomprehensibility is used to excuse to not needing to explain their reasons. Real reasons behind that can be general laziness, the writer wants the focus of the story to be somewhere else or simply the cool factor.
Aliens playing supportive roles tend to be humanized so that we can relate to them, with few minor differences thrown in to give them endearing traits ("You humans are so weird doing X like that. On our world we do it like this."). Creating an alien that you're not supposed to be able to comprehend but the hero is constantly interacting with is incredibly hard to do and many writers simply don't want to bother working that hard to create a believable alien that the audience might not end up liking. That's why you don't see any Hanar in Shepard's crew.
Of course there are exception that can be found but they tend to fall outside the mainstream stuff. However most mainstream examples of uncomprehansable aliens tend to fall into the category of an adversary or occasionally as a mysterious forerunner/caretaker where the uncomprehensibility is used to excuse to not needing to explain their reasons. Real reasons behind that can be general laziness, the writer wants the focus of the story to be somewhere else or simply the cool factor.
He did mention the hanar. Just thought that I would put that out. On topic though, I can't really name anything that hasn't already been said. I suppose the triffids could count, but that's about it.Carrotslayer said:
This is something that I've always thought about too. Mass Effect was also the thing that got me thinking about it. The first game that is. The aliens just looked so unimaginative to me in that game, and then I slowly realised that these kind of human looking aliens are pretty much everywhere. And it's not just the human like aliens that disappoint me, it's more animalistic types too.
Like why do aliens have to have 4 limbs? Why do their limbs have to have the same number of joints as creatures from Earth? Why do their bodies have to be symmetrical? Why do they need to have a head? Why do their sensory organs have to be in the same place as animals from Earth? Why do they even have to have mouths and teeth? I can't think of any alien in fiction that actually looks truly alien. There's always some kind of familiarity which I think is unnecessary and somewhat unimaginative.
Although I do understand if you have aliens as actual characters in a story they have to look like humans so we can recognise and emote with them. But I still find it annoying that it's not more common for us to see aliens that actually look completely unfamiliar, whether they be characters in the story or merely native creatures.
Like why do aliens have to have 4 limbs? Why do their limbs have to have the same number of joints as creatures from Earth? Why do their bodies have to be symmetrical? Why do they need to have a head? Why do their sensory organs have to be in the same place as animals from Earth? Why do they even have to have mouths and teeth? I can't think of any alien in fiction that actually looks truly alien. There's always some kind of familiarity which I think is unnecessary and somewhat unimaginative.
Although I do understand if you have aliens as actual characters in a story they have to look like humans so we can recognise and emote with them. But I still find it annoying that it's not more common for us to see aliens that actually look completely unfamiliar, whether they be characters in the story or merely native creatures.
Umm, they do look exactly humanoid.WaReloaded said:
That means two legs, two arms, one head, one body where all of these are attached to. And the legs are at the bottom, the arms are on the sides, the head is on top. You can elaborate with two eyes/ears, one mouth but that goes a bit out of scope. As long as it generally has human's body, it's humanoid. It doesn't matter if the face is really ugly or if it has the wrong number of fingers.humanoid said:
The yautja (the Predator race) exactly conform to humanoid specifications, down to having 5 fingers on their hands, two eyes and a single mouth (I'm not sure about ears but I'm willing to bet they have two as well. I think they also have 5 toes). And considering the Predators in the movies were played by an actual person in a suit, you cannot ever call them non-humanoid.
But one of the good thing they with the yautja was that they can see in different light spectrum. That is something too often forgot by sci-fi - not all races are able to see exactly the same things. Heck, even dogs see in a different light spectrum than humans, also hear different frequencies.
Wandering_Hero said:
The many-armed, brightly colored slugs who painted the outsides of their spacecraft.
And on and on.
K.A. Applegate had some serious inspiration to create all of this.
Halo got my vote aswell. the flood and Lekgolo are quite alien, though why the lekgolo turn into bipedal things with 2 arms confuses me :s Surely out of all the things they can become, a bipedal humanoid creature is the most flawed.ZeroMachine said:
I would like to add the Imulsion from Gears of War. Works similar to what the flood does, only more explosive and less reasoning.
They did it for the sake of having relatively quick shock troopers, basically. And even in the games they aren't the only things the Lekgolo are used for. In Halo 3/ODST, the orange sinewy stuff around the Scarab cores are Lekgolo. V2 Scarabs are effectively gigantic Hunters.Von Strimmer said: