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Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
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Slatz_Grobnik
12/23/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
As a fanboy, including the Third Doctor's time stuck on Earth is totally unfair. Earth was a prison; is it any surprise that he got institutionalized?

But on topic. The core point, I think, is the touchstone for a lot of SF out there: our culture is superior. The point is that aliens may be superior in every way, but the ins and outs of our daily life will blow them out of the water. And if they actually get a taste, they won't be able to stop.

Coincidentally, I know a lot of people who think this about terrorists....
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Emilia
12/23/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
Angry Young Spaceman By Jim Munroe has an earth man going native on an alien planet.
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Charlie Jane Anders
12/23/08

@Emilia: Yes! And it's my fave novel ever.
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Keshie
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
Here's a plot idea for any budding science-fiction writers out there.

"My name is 57@~#~@``-> The Peripatetic One. I who wandered the stars for millennia, only finding true peace and friendship amongst my friends the Cherokee, on the planet I once called 'Lonely Star 3'.

Now I return, making pilgrimage to praise the momories of those warriors and their women who -

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE????????"

(Please don't show this to Michael Bay.)
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RAHfanboy
12/23/08

@Keshie: That was pretty much "Star Trek IV" wasn't it?
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twDarkflame
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
I too get fed up with the suppuriotiy complex sci-fi always chucks at us.

Aliens always end up "seeing how great it is being human" and the Doctor spends half the time ranting about how fantastic we all are.

Dont get me wrong, I like positive scifi.

But to me positive is showing us a way forward, not patting our backs and pretending everythings wonderfull about us.

Its note even just about society, its physicaly and emotionally too.

We are constantly showed how great it is being mortal....how many storys are there about immortals who hate it and "really want to be human" etc etc.

We are told live is meaningless unless we die. (Bull's to that, I'm with Riker on this one; I plan to live forever.)

Even rationality and logic is argued against often. We are always shown cold, logical soceitys of aliens....implying that we need irrationality else we become robots. (a rather universal assumption that annoys me). We never see both happy and logical do we?

Oh, and we are always told to trust our instincts, that faith is good etc etc.

I want Aliens to stop patting us on the back.
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Grey_Area
12/22/08

@twDarkflame: "I want Aliens to stop patting us on the back."

They're just tenderizing us.
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XavierLloyd
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
Don't forget Killface from Frisky Dingo! He loves fast food, the pop song Cat Party (and 5 months later Dog Party), runs for President of America, reads the Bible, and has a crush on TV reporter Grace Ryan.
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Plague
12/22/08

@XavierLloyd:

Who DOESN'T have a crush on Grace Ryan?!
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ExtensionOfBob
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
While we're listing those assimilated who you failed to mention, I have one word: Coneheads.
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Moff
12/22/08

@ExtensionOfBob: I know it's cool to make fun of them, but French people aren't actually aliens, man.
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ManchuCandidate
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
The reason why aliens go native is because we're, uh, so damn loveable as a species.
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Grey_Area
12/22/08

@ManchuCandidate: And tasty!
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tetracycloide
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
rule #6 (the killjoy rule): fictional aliens as described by human authors are always stand-ins for completely human tropes and are, by extension, not alien at all no matter how much the author trys to sell them as such.
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Moff
12/22/08

@tetracycloide: And yet, who is more alien to us than our fellow humans? Can we ever truly understand another person? Are not those to whom we feel closest, at times, the most difficult to know? Can we even know ourselves? And—hey, this bottle of Captain Morgan's was full less than an hour ago, I'm sure of it.
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tetracycloide
12/22/08

@Moff: the bottle of captain morgan's appears empty because you are in a vicinity adjacent to a place. that's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the twilight zone.
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Moff
12/22/08

@tetracycloide: I knew I shouldn't have been drinking and commenting and driving all at the same time.
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Mount_Prion
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
Keep your eye on the ball, Mork.
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Charlie Jane Anders
12/22/08

@Mount_Prion: OH yeah, Mork... He's not really here secretly, is he? I guess I was thinking of aliens who live among us secretly. I guess there are a few people who don't know Mork is an alien.
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Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.
12/22/08

@Charlie Jane Anders: How exactly do you live secretly among a people without assimilating?
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Moff
12/22/08

@Grrsn Dn: TRENCH COAT.
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Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
So, you want an alien who comes to earth and doesn't assimilate, well you are in for a treat. Here's a short list.

Predator, Body Snatchers, Independence Day, Alien Nation, StarMan, ET, The Blob, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, War of the Worlds, Critters, Killer Klowns From Outter Space, Strange Invaders, Invaders from Mars...

That should get you through the holidays until we can find some more.
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Belabras ate my dingo!
12/22/08

@Grrsn Dn:

Starman falls prey to Rule #6.
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ExtensionOfBob
12/22/08

@Belabras: As do some of the Alien Nation aliens.

@Grrsn Dn: Also, I think there's a difference between "living among us" and just showing up to attack us or hiding in our remote locations, which rules out some of those.
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Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.
12/22/08

@ExtensionOfBob: Well thtas kind of my point. See below. But if an alien is to live among us, they have to assimilate. It's like a russian spy living in america in the 80's wouldn't run around sounding like Yakov Smirnov.
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Moff
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
Yeah, definitely one of the most refreshing aspects of Robert Sawyer's Calculating God is that the alien (and later aliens) just comes to Earth and says, "Hey, I'm an alien, and here's how this is going to work." The transparency leaves a lot more room for maneuvering, too—no "the government is after us" bullshit. (Because honestly, how disappointing is it when beings smart enough to invent interstellar travel don't foresee the totally obvious fact that Malevolent Forces will want to take their power for self-serving ends?)
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Belabras ate my dingo!
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
Ever notice how the aliens always end up having sex with humans as well?

I dub this Rule #6 (or, Rule Sex, the Species Rule)

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resonanteye
12/22/08

@Belabras: Earth girls are easy. Or so I heard.
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Hamslicer
12/22/08

In reply to Why Do Aliens Among Us Always Go Native?
"--Incoming message, from the big, giant head!..."

Tom, Dick & Harry & Sally...
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Charlie Jane Anders
12/22/08

@Hamslicer: Oh duh... knew I was missing something. I will add them.
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t3knomanser
12/22/08

@Hamslicer:

How was your flight?

It was awful! I beam into the plane and the first thing I notice is that there's... something... on the... wing!

The same thing happened to me, too!

//Best 3rd Rock moment.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
12/22/08

@t3knomanser: I laughed so hard at that I couldn't breathe. I don't know what the rest of the scene was b/c I was still laughing.
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Ghede
12/23/08

@t3knomanser: I kind of like the moment when Harry said:

"Well I was driving, and there was a bag in the road, and I swerved because I thought it could be full of bunnies"

or something to that effect. I can't find that clip online.
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RAHfanboy
12/23/08

@Hamslicer: I thought the funniest line was when Dick put on some weight and Harry is struggling mightily to get him into a corset. Sally walks in and gives them a weird look, and Dick, referring to the corset, says, "It's called 'The Shatner.'"

I think this was the season before Shatner joined the cast.
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