Aliens, why do you look so silly?

[chinangel]

I love sci fi stuff. I'm a fantasy/sci fi gal who loves to watch and play games of those genre's. So why...oh why do we constantly get the most RIDICULOUS aliens?

I don't just meant their apparance but their so-called culture. I get frustrated when we hit an alien species in a movie or game, that is s uppose to be advanced, powerful and smart..and they look like beasts. They're naked, crawling around in steaming, narrow, poorly-lit corridors.

No..jjust...just no.

I refuse to think that a species that can manage trans-galaxy propulsion would look like something out of a tim burton movie. They would have some kind of aesthetic, some kind of sense, some kind of clothing.

I know that you want to make these things the villains...but cna you at LEAST make them look...believable? or am I way off here? Is there some audience for this?

EDIT: ENOUGH WITH THE DAMN APOSTROPHE! THERE, I DELETED IT, HAPPY? NOW STAY ON TOPIC! SHEESH! >.<

 

[Popadoo]

Well, we are pretty much the only species on Earth that wear clothes. We seem to think we need to keep decency by hiding our bits and pieces, but in reality it doesn't serve that much of a purpose other than keeping us warm. If their planet is warm/they have some form of insulation (Fur, ect.) and they haven't evolved any sense of ''decency'', I don't see why they would wear clothes.
As for the beast thing, just because something is smart doesn't mean it can't be furry or muscly or whatever. We just think that because on Earth all the beasts are dumb, and the only species that can come close to interstellar travel (even though we're far off even today) is us. When you think about it, if we had the same intelligence but beast bodies, we'd be a superior species because we'd have the same smarts but we'd probably be able to take on any threats through brute force as well as wits, so it's probably MORE LIKELY they're beasties from another world.

 

[DoPo]

I am put off by a lot of depictions of aliens as well. I hate the way that most of the time aliens coming from the same planet are the same. I don't mean their image (although sometimes it is), I mean that they all speak the same language, they like the same things, they follow the exact same religion, and so on. As if the entire planet is a single country (or probably a city). You can just look to Earth and see how that model doesn't work. Sure, maybe for some aliens, it could, but when a violent warrior nation somehow manges to cooperate as a single entity, despite being ready to war over anything, it strains the credibility.

That lack of diversity happens too often, if you ask me.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I am put off by a lot of depictions of aliens as well. I hate the way that most of the time aliens coming from the same planet are the same. I don't mean their image (although sometimes it is), I mean that they all speak the same language, they like the same things, they follow the exact same religion, and so on. As if the entire planet is a single country (or probably a city). You can just look to Earth and see how that model doesn't work. Sure, maybe for some aliens, it could, but when a violent warrior nation somehow manges to cooperate as a single entity, despite being ready to war over anything, it strains the credibility.

That lack of diversity happens too often, if you ask me.

It's impossible to create multiple alien societies each as diverse as our own. Our own cultures have thousands of years of history backing it up, that's why a made up alien society will never feel as credible and authentic as ours. Generalized alien societies are simply one of those things where you have to suspend your disbelief.

Honestly, I'm tired of humanoid aliens period. And if they are humanoid, at least make them like 3 times our size or something.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

Apostrophe, why can't you be used correctly?

--

"They would have some kind of aesthetic, some kind of sense, some kind of clothing."

they do, why would it need to be something a human can relate to though?

example: why do they need clothing? if they have adequate climate control and no modesty issues, clothing is superfluous.

 

[Carl The Manicorn]

Apostrophe, why are you in the title for no reason?


OT: I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here (both on the title and the subject). We don't quite know what a real alien looks like, so we have to make some educated guesses. Lots of them.

So, yeah. Pointless thread is pointless.

 

[CODE-D]

Maybe the aliens like fashion and maybe they dont.
I for one hate star wars and its aliens, dont know if that contributes to what you were talking about but most of them are just silly.

 

[Zantos]

Maybe they're advanced enough socially to know that being naked is the best way forward without pesky archaic rules on having to wear clothes (I'm assuming they also have advanced central heating). As for the other points, meh it's a bit hit and miss, some do a really good job of alien cultures and designs and some don't. I always liked it when they bumped into weird aliens in Stargate. I miss Thor

 

[Scarim Coral]

So err which aliens you got the problem with?

If you mean Ridley Scott Aliens then blame the creator however I think they suppose to be some kind of a savage beast as oppose to be a sophisticated and sentient being.

As for alien being naked most of the time, I jsut assume their way of thinking and culture is competely different to us or maybe they are like Dr. Manhattan as they no longer feel like wearing clothes.

 

[Valanthe]

You know, there was an article I read not that long ago, maybe it was a video, I'm not certain, I'll update this post if I can track it down. Anyway, this article stated that if life evolved on a planet that was similar to ours, with it's Nitrogen/Oxygen atmosphere and stable Yellow sun, that species would evolve in very simlar patterns to ours, with mostly superfluous alterations. This article went into much more detail than I'm able to, but the gist of it is that the OP isn't that far off in thinking that a "Mass Effect" style alien that is anatomically similar to humans isn't such an 'alien' idea.

However, all of that gets thrown out the window as soon as you get out of the physical world and start talking psychology or culture. There are so many variables and simple coincidences that drastically shape a person's, or alien's psyche that expecting an alien to behave like a human is like asking a fish to smell the roses.

I could kee going on about this but I think I'll stop and try to find that article

 

[DoPo]

It's impossible to create multiple alien societies each as diverse as our own. Our own cultures have thousands of years of history backing it up, that's why a made up alien society will never feel as credible and authentic as ours. Generalized alien societies are simply one of those things where you have to suspend your disbelief.

I disagree. I do not want each planet (or race, if it spans more than one planet) to have thousands of years of history written for it. What I want is to show not all of them are the same. Maybe add the odd comment that "those other guys" follow different beliefs, or maybe show them have slight difficulties in communication thanks to different dialects (we can safely assume that space faring aliens probably learn at least one common language before flying off). You know, things that don't make me ask myself "Why do they seem to be coming from the same town?" In fact, even that is wrong - my home town has more diversity than most alien species in fiction. Take that - take a town or a city and make it as big as a planet, that would satisfy me. Heck, if you're feeling ambitious, take a country. It wouldn't look like the aliens are made in factories according to a list of standards.

Also, I'm not asking to make a diverse culture for each and every species. That is improbable at least at it would take a tremendous amount of time. If the work features just a couple of aliens, they don't need a backstory for their planet if it's not going to come up at all.

I don't think I am being unreasonable - we've seen this work in fantasy. If people can come up with kingdoms, races and even languages for their imaginary characters, why doesn't that work for sci-fi? Even as stereotypical as a bunch of fantasy races are (dwarves, elves) different works still manage to not portray each race as as a unified nation.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Personally I thnk it depends what game you are playing! Something from the Star Wars universe, or the Mass Effect world, you expect good design, backgrounds, personalities and the like...
But playing something like Blacksite, or watching Starship Troopers then I don't care nearly as muck... as long as the required ammount of lead/plasma/laser/photon/energy/pulse/radiation/explosions/electricity/ice/shrink ray/neuro toxin/railway spikes etc. are entering their ugly faces, plastering their blood all over the floor and coating the walls with their entrails then I am happy!

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I am put off by a lot of depictions of aliens as well. I hate the way that most of the time aliens coming from the same planet are the same. I don't mean their image (although sometimes it is), I mean that they all speak the same language, they like the same things, they follow the exact same religion, and so on. As if the entire planet is a single country (or probably a city). You can just look to Earth and see how that model doesn't work. Sure, maybe for some aliens, it could, but when a violent warrior nation somehow manges to cooperate as a single entity, despite being ready to war over anything, it strains the credibility.

That lack of diversity happens too often, if you ask me.

It's impossible to create multiple alien societies each as diverse as our own. Our own cultures have thousands of years of history backing it up, that's why a made up alien society will never feel as credible and authentic as ours. Generalized alien societies are simply one of those things where you have to suspend your disbelief.

Honestly, I'm tired of humanoid aliens period. And if they are humanoid, at least make them like 3 times our size or something.

I think that just comes from what we view as humanoid. Most of the time, Humanoids are the rubber forehead Star Trek Aliens, i.e they have human faces with too much makeup. But Humanoid extends to anything that is bipedal in science fiction.

For example

This Ithorian is still humanoid, without being boring.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Think about how silly we look to them then!

 

[Owen Robertson]

What about robots? Most self-aware robots in sci-fi are bi-pedal, if not androids with human appearances. That's why AMEE and DØg are so memorable.

On your point though, the reason most people wear clothes is to look good. Most animals look attractive through coloration, symmetry, and/or displays. Or, if they're fish-people they can't come above water much, so water-clothes don't make any sense, goddamned Zora.

 

[CODE-D]

Maybe they're advanced enough socially to know that being naked is the best way forward without pesky archaic rules on having to wear clothes (I'm assuming they also have advanced central heating). As for the other points, meh it's a bit hit and miss, some do a really good job of alien cultures and designs and some don't. I always liked it when they bumped into weird aliens in Stargate. I miss Thor

Why would being clothed not be best
I think wearing clothes is awesome.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Humans, why do you look so silly?!

 

[Wargamer]

I have to ask but one question: why?

Why would ALIENS, who have grown up on an entirely different world, and in an entirely different galaxy, share HUMAN beliefs?

Our use of clothing is because our bodies lost their fur, probably to allow superior heat reduction so our brains don't overheat. A species that retained their fur, however, would likely not need clothing.

As for lurking around dark corridors, light isn't needed if you have low-light / thermal vision.

Finally, intelligence. The fact that you define intelligence as "behaves like a Human" shows you probably rolled an 8 at best in character creation.

If you want to test intelligence, you need to create a scenario, and then consider how different races would approach that problem. Then, consider WHY they use this approach. A simple one to start with; someone you don't know turns up in a police officer uniform and says "I'm a police officer." Do you believe him?

You do. You do because social conditioning tells you to. That is part of being human. A species that does not have that level of social conformity, such as a species evolved from lone hunters, are not likely to have that kind of social conformity.

In short, I think your problem with aliens is you have no bloody clue what 'Alien' means.