io9: Alien Invasions

Movie and TV Trends We Hope Are On Their Way Out

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:09:24 PDT

Hollywood sells us quick hits of entertainment, and counts on our attention-deficit disorder to keep us distractible. But Hollywood also has its own case of ADD, chasing fads and cool ideas, and then running them into the ground. That can be a very good thing, because some fads are so dumb you can't wait for Hollywood to lose interest in them. More »

Why the Haters are Wrong about Falling Skies

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:30:00 PDT

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Falling Skies started out as an admittedly cheesy show about lovable people surviving the aftermath of an alien invasion. But it's grown into something a bit more interesting, and last night's episode showcased a lot of what's good about it. More »

Bestselling YA author brings us the world after an alien invasion

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:53:10 PDT

With Falling Skies still doing well in the ratings, is a post-alien invasion world going to become our new favorite post-apocalyptic scenario? Let's hope so, since it's our best hope of getting a Tripods movie. More »

The Coolest Scene of Alien-Fighting from Last Night's Falling Skies

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:35:18 PDT

Steven Spielberg's new show Falling Skies launched last night on TNT, and the good news is, it got gangbuster ratings for a basic cable show: 5.9 million viewers, more than The Walking Dead's first episode on AMC. More »

Why are we so excited about alien invasions all of a sudden?

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:23:41 PDT

This is the year of alien invasion. After superheroes, alien invaders might be the most popular media trope of the year. They're dominating movies like Cowboys & Aliens and Battle: Los Angeles and TV shows like V and Falling Skies. More »

Only a Mexican wrestler can save us from the army of alien babes in identical golden mini-dresses!

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:19:00 PST

The great Mexican wrestler Alejandro Muñoz Moreno, aka Blue Demon, saved us from a variety of unthinkable menaces — but none so insidious as the aliens he vanquishes in the classic Blue Demon Y Las Invasoras. A crew of beautiful babes in gold baby-doll dresses and silver gloves lands at the bottom of a lake and starts controlling men's minds. It's up to the man in the blue mask to set things right. More »

British Schoolchildren Traumatized by Fake Alien Invasion

Lauren Davis — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:00:00 PDT

Hoping to spark their students' imaginations, a junior school in England staged an alien invasion, complete with a crash landing and the "abduction" of one of their faculty members while the children watched. What could possibly go wrong? More »

Is This The Year We Have To Kill Cute Aliens?

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:00:00 PDT

Two new trailers for the Ashley-Tisdale-vs-cute-aliens epic Aliens In The Attic have come out, and they're making me wonder: Is this the year of movies about humans fighting cute aliens with big eyes? The second trailer includes a rundown of the movie's cutesy alien invaders. At least there's mind control. More »

What Would It Take To Bring Alien Invasions Back?

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:57:00 PDT

Remember alien invasions? Strange creatures from beyond the stars, showing up on Earth and attempting to subjugate the heck out of us? Wasn't that cool? What ever happened to those would-be dominators anyway? The only recent alien invasion movie I can think of was the Nicole Kidman Invasion... which is best forgotten anyway. What would it take to bring extraterrestrial land-grabs back to the big or small screen? More »