Aliens in fiction
From Wikinfo
The existence of alien (extraterrestrial) beings has been one of the enduring themes of science fiction.
One of the most frequently portrayed alien races from our own solar system are the Martians, Mars being the most romanticized of the other planets whose surface conditions are closest to being amenable to life. See Mars in fiction for more details on the red planet's numerous roles.
Popular fictional tales of the first half of the 20th century also includes many fanciful tales of alien races and civilizations on our nearest neighbor, the Moon.
Many of the aliens have been hostile and alien invasion has been a very popular idea in Anglo-Saxon science fiction.
Writers have created a long list of extraterrestrial creatures and intelligent beings. Most common forms of aliens are:
Humanoid Aliens
Most aliens are humanoid if not human-like, especially in TV series because actors are human. Humanoids include:
- Atevi of C. J. Cherryh
- Asgard of Stargate SG-1
- Deep Ones of H. P. Lovecraft
- Ewoks and Wookies of Star Wars (furred)
- Fagors of Brian W. Aldiss's Helliconia series
- Greys of UFO folklore
- Kafers of 2300AD
- Klingons of Star Trek
- Martians of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom series, The Martian Chronicles of Ray Bradbury, Aelita, Mars Attacks and many others
- Narn of Babylon 5
- Ortheans ? Mary Gentle: Golden Witchbreed (androgynous until puberty)
- Porquinhos of Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead
- Predator aliens of the Predator movies
- Taelons of Earth: The Final Conflict
- Terrians of Earth 2
- Vineans of Yoko Tsuno (blue skin)
- Vulcans of Star Trek
Near-relatives of mankind
In these stories, these aliens are descended from the same ancestors as humanity:
- Gethenians and other races of Ursula Le Guins Ekumen stories
- Darrians of the Traveller role-playing game, known for their small, high-technology polity
- Vilani of the Traveller RPG, known for their bureaucratic tendencies and empire building
- Zhodani of the Traveller RPG, known for their psionic abilities
- in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the episode "The Chase" revealed that all the humanoid races in the galaxy are the result of genetic tinkering by a single humanoid race in the distant past
Feline humanoids
This form has been popular. They are usually warrior-like as well:
- Aslan of the Traveller RPG
- Hani of C. J. Cherryh
- Kymnar of FTL:2448
- Kzinti of Larry Niven's Known Space series
- Tran of Alan Dean Foster's Icerigger
- Unnamed aliens in Fritz Leiber's Wanderer
Insectoid Aliens
- The Aliens of the Alien movies
- Cinnrusskin of James White's Sector General series
- Mesklinites of Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity (caterpillars)
- Thranx of Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth series
Centaurs
- Ishtarians of Poul Anderson's Fire Time
- Tenebrians of Hal Clement's Close to Critical
- Titanides of John Varley's Gaea-trilogy
Reptilians
- Dracs of Barry B. Longyear's Enemy Mine and The Enemy Papers
- Lithians of James Blish's A Case of Conscience
- Yilane of West of Eden series of Harry Harrison
- the frog-like Gowachin of Frank Herbert's stories
- and various variations of dinosaurs
Parasites and symbionts
- Goa'uld of Stargate SG-1
- the eponymous aliens of The Puppet Masters
Robotic and Mechanical aliens
- Berserkers of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series
- Cybermen of Doctor Who
- Cylons of Battlestar Galactica
Ancient Races
Aliens that have either disappeared and left only ruins or developed to godlike- practically omnipotent entities.
- Unnamed aliens in 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Heechee of Frederick Pohl
- See also Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Star"
- August Derleth's Elder Gods
- The Ancients of Stargate SG-1
- both of Terry Pratchett's early science fiction novels, Strata and The Dark Side of the Sun, offer subversions of the paradigm
More unusual forms
- Abyormenites of Hal Clement's Cycle of Fire (floating ballons - one race, that is)
- Black Cloud of Fred Hoyle (interstellar dust cloud)
- the Caleban of Frank Herbert's Whipping Star (invisible telepathic beings who are actually the minds of stars)
- the Doublers, two-in-one semi-humanoids of Stanislaw Lem's Eden
- Hivers of Traveller RPG (modified starfish)
- Methorians of Barrington J. Bailey's Zen Gun (gaseous giant-giant dwellers)
- Oankali of Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series
- Puppeteers of Larry Niven's Ringworld and Known Space series (three legs, two manipulative heads)
- Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (living planet)
- Tralfamadorians of Kurt Vonnegut (The Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse 5)
- Trillions of Nicholas Fisk (small collective crystals)
Shape-shifting aliens
- the shape-shifters of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- the Tleilaxu of Frank Herbert's Dune novels
Unintelligent creatures
Aliens From other Dimensions
- The Q of Star Trek
- Species 8472 of Star Trek
- Unnamed Telepathic Aliens of Babylon 5: Thirdspace
- Kromags of Sliders
- Digimon of Digimon
References
- Wayne Douglas Barlowe, Ian Summers and Beth Meacham: Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials
- Stanley Schmidt: Aliens and Alien Societies (Writer's Digest)
- Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart: Evolving the Alien - the science of extraterrestrial life
Related topics
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Aliens in fiction" http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_in_fiction August 16, 2003
