Aliens 101

Recently I have been thinking about aliens, and how we create our aliens to be relatively like us in most regards. Take some of the Star Trek aliens, for example: 

This guy, and that guy.

Very humanoid. Along with those are all of the people from BattleStar Galactica and Firefly, aliens from Star Trek and Star Wars, Doctor Who, etc. We seem to like the idea of humans exploring the universe and finding other humanoids. But those are definitely not the only types of aliens the human mind has invented.

There are much weirder aliens...

 Like this giant lump of meat, which is actually an alien (Torchwood) and it's still alive when they cut it up.

And then you have scary.

This is a Predator, which may not be an alien after all, just a human from the future (Primeval). But alien enough by one dictionary definition (unlike one's own; strange; not belonging to one.)

And there are Daleks - they set the bar for scariness, with their insatiable desire to be the only intelligent life in the entire universe and their tendency to exterminate everyone (Doctor Who).

 The Slitheen, who kill humans and take their skin to wear as suits (Doctor Who)...

 The Silence, who make you forget they ever existed when you can't see them (Doctor Who)...

The blue aliens are scary because they seem to be studying us... and yet we can't understand them (Stargate Universe).

There are of course hilarious aliens...

(Men in Black)

And Superheroes...

(Megamind)

(Superman)

And let's not forget the metal aliens...

This is an attacker drone from Stargate Universe, set on autopilot to find and destroy any and all forms of technology that are at or above its level. They escaped, don't worry.

These two are Cylons from Battlestar Galactica. Everyone in Battlestar is technically an alien, but these are not human aliens. Of course, humans invented them...

And the all-famous Cybermen (Doctor Who), not technically aliens, but creatures invented by humans (and made out of humans) usually brought in from another universe or from the future.

And we wouldn't want to leave out a Transformer.

I'm also going to throw a nice alien in, for good measure:

These aliens can morph into anything you want them to be. They are in Star Trek, Next Generation.

And finally, I'm going to leave you with a taste of one of my favourite aliens - the Clockwork Aliens (Doctor Who).

Now, these are probably better classified as alien robots, as they seem to function under only one directive and have no willpower to do otherwise. In that sense, they are slightly terrifying, because they're taking people's internal organs to make their ship function properly, but they're so beautiful! And imagine they weren't evil killing machines - they would make awesome butlers.

This is far from all of the aliens in the fictional universes of Earth, as it leaves out all books and about a million movies and other TV shows, but it's a start.

31 Days of Planets: Caprica

Day 26

Who wouldn't want to live on an Earth-like planet that was extremely technologically advanced? Who wouldn't want to live on a planet that was run by sentient robots? Who wouldn't want to live on a planet bombarded by nuclear weapons and poisoned by radiation? Who wouldn't want to live on a planet where human women are captured for the purpose of creating Cylon-Human babies? Who wouldn't want to live in desolation, with few plants, trees, and animals? 

Who wouldn't want to live under a yellow sky?

You never know what the future holds. Watch Battlestar Galactica.

Pictures from here and here.

First Date Small Talk

I am not a fan of small talk. It is awkward and extremely boring. So, I have compiled a list of conversation starters for next time I go on a first date or for an awkward company car drive, or to use as vacation time killers or for random people on the street to start random-people-on-the-street conversations. These are questions you can ask me to peak my interest. These are not applicable to everyone. Make sure you actually can discuss the topic, however; otherwise, you will lose the game. Which I just lost. Also, most of these questions can be followed by the question "why?".

1. Who is your favourite Doctor Who character?

2. What is your favourite type of precipitation?

3. If you could go to any fictional planet, which one would you visit?

4. What do you think of outer space?

5. What do you think of the recent political changes affecting NASA?

6. What is your least favourite type of small talk?

7. What is your favourite word?

8. What word do you think best describes tornadoes? Spring? Space? Battlestar Galactica? Etc.?

9. Where is Carmen Sandiego?

10. Tell me about your family.

11. What do you think of rock walls?

12. Who is Rutherford the Unicorn-Sheep?

13. What methods do you think we as a society should enact to get to space?

14. Let's discuss asteriods.

15. Which is your favourite real planet?

16. What is your favourite non-profit organization? Why?

17. If you could pick three mythical creatures to be your roommates, which ones would you pick?

18. What is your favourite piece of theatrical lighting equipment?

19. Which do you like better: a Source4 Parcan or a PAR 64?

20. What was your favourite class in college?

21. Which King Arthur was your favourite: the one from The Sword in the Stone, Merlin, Cretien de Trois, or Gerald Morris' books (The Squire's Tales)?

22. If you could learn any language, which one would you pick?

23. What is your favourite memory of beekeeping?

24. Where's Waldo?

25. How do you plan to get to space?

26. Tell me about your cat.

27.  Which do you think is more important: society going to space or animal rights?

On the same note, a first date/car ride/vacation conversation/random-people-on-the-street conversation can be just as boring if the topic is unpleasant or awkward.

This is a list of things you should not ask me about:

1. Politicians.

2. Terrorism.

3. Rick Perry.

4. Hormones.

5. Sharia Law.

6. The number 4.

7. Country music.

Who wants to bet that next time Dave comes over his first comment will be, "So Ariele, I read this really fascinating article today, in which Rick Perry and a bunch of other politicians were discussing the interrelated nature of terrorism and Sharia law while listening to country music and complaining about their wives hormonal mood swings. Also, four. Four. Four, four..."

Nah. Dave would never use the phrase "in which". But he might just start chanting "four, four, four four..."