The best Aliens that made it from books, comics, scripts and the drawing board to the big and little screens.
Predator
Aliens
Aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
E.T.
Spock
Superman
The Horta
The Thing
The Replicators (or The Beserkers by Dean Wesley Smith)
Ripley's Alien
Body Snatchers
District 9 aliens
The Best Aliens of Dr Who (Cybermen are upgraded humans so I can't add them.):
Autons
Daleks (Dal)
Judoon
Ood
Sontaran
Time Lords
Weeping Angels
The Master (my favourite incarnations)
The Doctor
The Best Aliens of Hitchhikers:
Now, in Hitchhikers many of the aliens appear human-like. Or is it humans appear alien like... We are the ones living on their computer... So Alien in this instance means born on another planet than Earth.
Vogons, including Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz (poet)
Zaphod Beeblebrox (Betelgeusian)
Slarty Bartflast (Magrathean)
Babel Fish
The Pan-Dimensional Mice
Ford Prefect (Betelgeusian)
And the Best Aliens of Star Wars:
Ewoks
Jabba the Hutt
Chewbacca
Yoda
I could go on. There are just too many great aliens. But for now, I have a day trip to be on and some chores to do before I leave.
Some other ideas:
ReplyDelete- The shape-shifter aliens from The X-Files; the best one being the Bounty Hunter played by Brian Thompson. In their juvenile form they appear as excessively violent versions of the Greys.
- The Asgard (Stargate SG-1); modeled heavily on the Greys. You could also say the Goa'uld, though they are pretty lame as parasites until they attach themselves to a human. Baal would be the best Goa'uld.
- Zoidberg (Futurama); Leela is a mutant, not an alien.
- "Cocoon" aliens; They spend most of their time in human skins, but do show themselves occasionally.
- Flight of the Navigator; the ship is sentient and talks, so I'm calling that an Alien. Plus the ship is chock full of aliens wildlife in captivity.
- I come in Peace aka Dark Angel; Alien warrior from another planet that Dolph Lundgren battles on Earth.
- Independence Day; large headed, tentacled beings that enclose themselves in suits that resemble the Greys. Don't like us much.
- Mars Attacks! aliens. AK AK.. ATTAK AK AK AK. TAK AK AK. AAK! AAK!
- The Day the Earth Stood Still; Klaatu (and his robot, Gort)
- Killer Klowns from Outer Space; need I say more?
- ALF; the lovable, cat-eating alien from Melmac whose planet exploded so lived with an American family.
- Species; Natasha Henstridge played an alien/human hybrid, grown from plans sent by Aliens. She shows her true, reptilian colours at a few points in the film.
- V; the classic lizard people posing has mankind's saviour.
- Starship Troopers; the Klendathu, a race of giant bugs, who are at war with humans.
- The Fifth Element; an ancient race of aliens who protect earth. One of their kind is recreated in the form of Milla Jovovich.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show; Frankenfurter and Riff-Raff come from the planet Transexual, Transylvania.
- Transformers; alien race of robots that battle it out on Earth.
- War of the Worlds; rarely seen outside of their ships, they are most probably Greys.
- Total Recall; the woman with three breasts!! Also, Quato.
- They Live; aliens that quietly invaded Earth and broadcast a signal that hides their true identity from us. By wearing a special pair of glasses, we can see their true forms.
- Virus; an alien intelligence broadcasts itself onto a Russian tanker and infects the computers. It creates what it needs to survive by assembling technology from spare parts, some of which are human spare parts.
- Star Trek: The Borg. Alien race that, similar to Virus, enhance humans into a collective.
That's all for now :)
I was considering the Flight of the Navigator except I couldn't decide if the ship was an alien or alien tech. It seems a bit of a hybrid.
ReplyDeleteTransformers I classed as robots first and aliens second. They Live is such a fun movie but are they the best? Does everyone know about They Live? I've only heard of it through movie enthusiasts and you must admit they watch and admire plenty of movies that others don't. V.... boring. Sorry. Most of those that hide under human skin are about the same and can be covered with Body Snatchers which was shocking at the time and established aliens of the like as popular. Independence Day aliens, meh. Their technology was better. Rocky Horror? Amongst the best? Popular cultural figures sure but I don't know about the alienness...
Now there are Dolph enthusiasts and there are Dolph fanatics. You have to be a complete Dolph fanatic to list Dark Angel amongst the best of aliens on screen. Now, the real question. Which one am I? Dolph is awesome.
The problem of the Greys... there are many versions and I think it would be easier to list them separately. The problem I have with them is that they only vary a little by attitude and by looks but they aren't generally all that stunning except for the first few goes round on screen. So I put up the one that had the most impact as far as I can see - the ones from Close Encounters.
Fifth Element I should add.
Zoidberg definitely.
The Borg yes.
War of the Worlds aliens for sure.
Mars Attacks! aliens - love them!
ALF - now there's something I missed entirely, both in watching and in listing. Is he that big of a deal as an alien? I remember people talking about him and got a glimpse or two of what he looked like but that's about it.
I don't know if its like saying best cat is Hello Kitty or best cat is Garfield. Pointers?
ALF was a big deal in the 80's, so much so that he had a cartoon as well as the show, comic books, shirts etc. Exactly the same impact as Garfield.
ReplyDeleteI guess you could also classify Mork (and Mindy) as an early sitcom alien. He was just Robin Williams being weird, but was definitely alien. That also leads to the guy from My Hero...
ALF has entered the best list.
DeleteMork and Mindy.... no, not quite.
And while I love watching My Hero because it is really funny, especially Mrs Raven (I giggle just thinking about her), George/Thermoman is a Superman derivative who is quite overshadowed by Superman and some of his other derivatives about.
Mrs Raven is the best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J5hyTtdtis&feature=relmfu