By James L Hill (aka J. L. Hill)
Alf was a comedy about a cat chasing ant-eater like alien. His name was an acronym for Alien Life Form. Scientists are seriously searching for extraterrestrial life. For various reasons, we want to prove life exist elsewhere in the universe.
Some scientists will be glad to discover any form of life from the microbiological slime to Mr. Spock. Other scientists, such as those working for the SETI project, will only be satisfied contacting a Vulcan, Romulan, or to a lesser degree - a Klingon. For those of us writing sci-fi, the form our aliens take depends on what we want our aliens to do, or what we plan to do to them.
If our alien is the chasing, killing, world destroying type, any kind from the Blob to the multi-mandible acid blooded Alien would do. When the aliens are villains, the less humanoid they are, the better. For villains we want monsters, aliens or otherwise, we want hideous vile creatures. Dehumanizing something makes it easier to accept killing it, whether they are on our planet or we have invaded theirs (in the name of exploration, of course).
When we want our aliens to be the protagonist, if they don’t look human, we imbue them with the best human qualities. ET had compassion. We also like to make our alien protagonist less threatening; ET was kid size. And we make them smart – too intelligent to want to do us harm. Realistically speaking, the more advance society will assimilate the lesser and their way of life will cease to exist. At least, that had been the case here on Earth.
Sometimes our aliens are neither antagonist nor protagonist; they are a force of nature sent to teach humanity a lesson. In Night of the Comet, the Earth passes through the tail of a comet, an event that hasn’t happened in 65 million years. Sounds like trouble to me. But everyone is out to watch it happen. And everyone who is not inside a steel container is turned to red dust. And all those who have recently died and are not yet buried are turned to zombies. Then comes, the now the common, running from zombies and brain munching until rain washes everything away. Mother Nature has reset the clock and we began again, those that are left.
Yes ALF comes in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes they come for good, to show us the follies of our ways and help us take the next step on the evolutionary ladder. They come for our women, our water, our world; bent on destroying and devouring our life. And they come without rhythm or reason. It just the roll of the dice, call it the Hand of God, or a random act of fate, that we must rise to the challenge or be swept away like the dinosaurs. One day we will discover alien life forms, it may be life altering, or it may be some microbial organism that proves life itself is nothing special. Until then we will keep making up our own ALFs to suit whatever situation we desire.
Alf was a comedy about a cat chasing ant-eater like alien. His name was an acronym for Alien Life Form. Scientists are seriously searching for extraterrestrial life. For various reasons, we want to prove life exist elsewhere in the universe.
Some scientists will be glad to discover any form of life from the microbiological slime to Mr. Spock. Other scientists, such as those working for the SETI project, will only be satisfied contacting a Vulcan, Romulan, or to a lesser degree - a Klingon. For those of us writing sci-fi, the form our aliens take depends on what we want our aliens to do, or what we plan to do to them.
If our alien is the chasing, killing, world destroying type, any kind from the Blob to the multi-mandible acid blooded Alien would do. When the aliens are villains, the less humanoid they are, the better. For villains we want monsters, aliens or otherwise, we want hideous vile creatures. Dehumanizing something makes it easier to accept killing it, whether they are on our planet or we have invaded theirs (in the name of exploration, of course).
When we want our aliens to be the protagonist, if they don’t look human, we imbue them with the best human qualities. ET had compassion. We also like to make our alien protagonist less threatening; ET was kid size. And we make them smart – too intelligent to want to do us harm. Realistically speaking, the more advance society will assimilate the lesser and their way of life will cease to exist. At least, that had been the case here on Earth.
Sometimes our aliens are neither antagonist nor protagonist; they are a force of nature sent to teach humanity a lesson. In Night of the Comet, the Earth passes through the tail of a comet, an event that hasn’t happened in 65 million years. Sounds like trouble to me. But everyone is out to watch it happen. And everyone who is not inside a steel container is turned to red dust. And all those who have recently died and are not yet buried are turned to zombies. Then comes, the now the common, running from zombies and brain munching until rain washes everything away. Mother Nature has reset the clock and we began again, those that are left.
Yes ALF comes in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes they come for good, to show us the follies of our ways and help us take the next step on the evolutionary ladder. They come for our women, our water, our world; bent on destroying and devouring our life. And they come without rhythm or reason. It just the roll of the dice, call it the Hand of God, or a random act of fate, that we must rise to the challenge or be swept away like the dinosaurs. One day we will discover alien life forms, it may be life altering, or it may be some microbial organism that proves life itself is nothing special. Until then we will keep making up our own ALFs to suit whatever situation we desire.
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