The best and worst of Aliens.

[Timsup2nothin]

FWIW, at least Star Trek addressed why all the intelligent aliens were humanoids and in most cases able to interbreed. Other than that, I think maybe the most alien and realistically addressed aliens in fiction might be the buggers from Ender's Game. Totally alien, zero understanding, therefore genocide. Much as that may dismay, I think it is the only realistically probable approach to alien contact.

 

[rah]

If you go through TOS there were many aliens that were not humanoid (except where many took that form for communication)

 

[The_J]

I mainly appreciate if I get shown something non-standard. Firefly or Star Trek bore me a bit. I want somewhat weird things. I definitely appreciate Farscape, although I remember not liking the story.

 

[caketastydelish]

I like the Aliens in Halo other than the Flood, as the Flood isn’t plausible.

 

[Kyriakos]

The way aliens are done, even if it isn't just anthropomorphic (humanoid) but something similar to insects or reptiles, there is still nothing more than the supposed fear factor when you are confronted by a bear or some person in a creepy costume
And while some here have spoken in favor of how the movie Arrival (which, CG-wise, I did like, but I detested the plot) handled aliens, I have to say that imo it isn't much more realistic than just having them speak english, to have them use some math as communication. Cause math is imo very unlikely to be cosmic.
Consider that even Lovecraft (with his many serious flaws in how he presents aliens as well) did not simplify things quite as much, in that at least in his work math (usually) isn't a means of communication between humans and aliens. It's just that the aliens seem to use impossible geometry, cause (most of them) they do not move in 3d in the first place.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I like the Aliens in Halo other than the Flood, as the Flood isn’t plausible.

I have only played Halo 1 and 2 but I couldn't stand the flood. The interactions between Earth and the Covenant civilization is plenty interesting as it is. I didn't really want a zombie horde to deal with or learn about. They were also less fun to fight in general.

 

[Colon]

I liked the aliens in Babylon 5 a lot. Distinctive but not cartoonish. Same goes for their cultures and background stories: again distinctive yet avoiding the kind of caricatures common to ST.

The portraits in Master of Orion 2 also aren't too shabby. It's basically mostly well-known animals and fantasy figures, but it somehow works for me. Stellaris also seems to have really good-looking and convincing portraits.

 

[Zkribbler]

basically humanoid wearing silly masks .

Humans with a dollop of face putty on the bridge of their nose, claiming to be aliens, is what drove me away from Star Trek. The first season aliens were far superior. "Where are the Hortas of yesterday?"

 

[Broken_Erika]

The Best and Worse of Aliens
Best: Alien, Aliens
Worst: Alien Resurrection.

 

[Cheetah]

Speaking of visual stuff, the aliens in Babylon 5 were decent. And a good non-humanoid alien would be the Pyrians from Andromeda:

 

[civvver]

I just re-watched Star Trek IV this morning curled up on the couch. Always one of my favorites.
The final scene showing the council and all the citizens of the universe always makes me laugh. The representation of all the different aliens is worse than most costume parties. So it got me thinking. Which SF movie or TV show portrayed Aliens either really well or really poorly. Do you like your aliens basically humanoid wearing silly masks or do you like/hate the totally different concept like Yaphit in the Orville? Where does the Star Wars bar scene rank.

I just watched the star trek next generation episode home soil where they discover inorganic intelligent life. So I wouldn't say all of star trek's aliens were humanoid based.

I like star wars universe approach where most are humanoid like twi'lek, wookie and gammorrean but then you get some kind of far out there ones like the sarlaac beast thing which actually had a conscious mind that would absorb the things it ate. And Jabba the hutt. Which I never figured out if hutt is a title or his species.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

There is a school of thought that says that aliens may look a little more like us that we are likely to think for various biological and physical reasons. Here is a rather strange article from Forbes that explains why:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/billre...ook-like-us-says-astrobiologist/#70c77dd34f0c

And don't tell me that these guys didn't keep you up at night:

Spooky stuff kids. I'm surprised that no one besides Erica mentioned them.

 

[Berzerker]

indeed, life follows patterns and if there is ever (or was) a bar with a bunch of aliens getting buzzed they'll look a lot like us

bipedalism, opposable thumbs, relatively large brain

I dont care how smart whales and octupi get, they wont be manufacturing rocket ships

what would people look like if they evolved in twice or 5 times Earth's gravity? A lot stronger than us

 

[Patine]

FWIW, at least Star Trek addressed why all the intelligent aliens were humanoids and in most cases able to interbreed. Other than that, I think maybe the most alien and realistically addressed aliens in fiction might be the buggers from Ender's Game. Totally alien, zero understanding, therefore genocide. Much as that may dismay, I think it is the only realistically probable approach to alien contact.

But, the scary thing is, would it necessarily be the ALIENS who ended up getting genocided? Something to consider, and set our human self-righteous pride aside for a second. Would we be the worst and meanest out there?

 

[Kyriakos]

Speaking of visual stuff, the aliens in Babylon 5 were decent. And a good non-humanoid alien would be the Pyrians from Andromeda:

Arthropodes look scary and alien

Anyway, check this It came from the desert oceanic abyss one:

I don't think that humanoid aliens are very likely to exist. Don't all gaian lifeforms have common ancestors? (unless some are...well... alien )

 

[Timsup2nothin]

But, the scary thing is, would it necessarily be the ALIENS who ended up getting genocided? Something to consider, and set our human self-righteous pride aside for a second. Would we be the worst and meanest out there?

Oh, I made no claim which way the genocide would go. I just think that neither side would have any alternative, so yeah, meanest wins.

 

[Commodore]

I always liked the xenomorphs from the Alien franchise. An intelligent species that is very good at making itself appear bestial so those it preys upon underestimate it.

 

[Leifmk]

Arthropodes look scary and alien

Anyway, check this It came from the desert oceanic abyss one:

I don't think that humanoid aliens are very likely to exist. Don't all gaian lifeforms have common ancestors? (unless some are...well... alien )

Yeah we do, and all vertebrates especially are descended from some first vertebrate, and all vertebrates share certain morphological features. Head with mouth and sensory organs in one end, butthole in the other end, no more than four limbs, etc.

Other body plans are obviously found among arthropods, non-vertebrate chordatae, etc. and going back in the fossil record we find traces of many others that didn't make it. Had the dice come up differently, some of the weirder little bastards from the Burgess Shale could have ended up conquering the world and nothing would look the same.

Alien life forms could plausibly have evolved body plans similar to anything we've seen on Earth; or anything else that's at all capable of doing what a lifeform has to do to work. Mind you, in a galaxy full enough of life, one would expect to see more than a few independently-evolved critters sharing the same basic features of the vertebrate body plan... you have a digestive tract with an intake in one end and an exit in the other, eating apparatus at the intake, sensory apparatus close to same, CNS close to the sensory apparatus, hard components to protect the CNS and the main nerves along the body... also, four limbs is a fairly reasonable number to have since it makes you way more stable than fewer limbs and is simpler and cheaper for the metabolism than having more limbs, so there should be a fair amount of quadrupeds out there. And if you are a quadruped and need to evolve finer manipulation ability, the front limbs are more likely to get that job than the rear limbs. Maybe a few of the aliens might even be shaped such that they could possibly be played by a human actor in a suit. I'd expect those to be an exception more than the rule, though.

 

[tjs282]

Spooky stuff kids. I'm surprised that no one besides Erica mentioned them.

Ahem...

Counterpoint though: technically the Xenomorphs in the Alien movies were men-in-masks as well, but the suits (and the gaits) were sufficiently, erm... alien, that it wasn't immediately obvious.

 

[Kyriakos]

The alien there was also humanoid/feline (and yes, as noted it was just a very lean human in a rubber suit), but Giger's design was memorable.