• Tired of SciFi Aliens looking like humans.
    239 replies, posted
[QUOTE=TH89;23628469]Also, since you guys still haven't figured out the answer to this question that the SA users came to on the first page, most science fiction is meant to tell metaphorical stories, not accurately predict the future. Aliens are stand-ins for tribal humans, or foreign aggressors, or oppressed minorities, or other things. They're human because they're allegorical FOR humans, and therefore have to be relatable enough for the allegory to work. If Neytiri was a silicon-based monstrosity who communicated in ultrasonic screams then the plot of Avatar would be emotionally unbelievable.[/QUOTE] TH89 are you a psych major or something you seem to know a lot about sociology
[QUOTE=UnstableIsotope;23625298]Ah fookin Prawn! Wunt some Cat food uh?[/QUOTE] oh god i read it in his voice and i cant get it out. i loved that movie
What pisses me off more is when Aliens seem to fucking know english. I mean seriously?
[QUOTE=darcy010;23633454]What pisses me off more is when Aliens seem to fucking know english. I mean seriously?[/QUOTE] Like in Mass Effect, they don't much like humans so why would they speak English
[QUOTE=darcy010;23633454]What pisses me off more is when Aliens seem to fucking know english. I mean seriously?[/QUOTE] Takes a while to devise a suitable language for something like this, they wouldn't normally bother and just try and explain it with something like the 'babblefish'.
I know honestly but it's just because what can you expect them to look like. The worst was Keanu Reeves.
[QUOTE=huggybear_13;23633565]Takes a while to devise a suitable language for something like this, they wouldn't normally bother and just try and explain it with something like the 'babblefish'.[/QUOTE] i woul just say they are speaking some awesome language but your tvs cant handle it so we make them speak your dumb language
I started writing a short sci-fi story a while back; got a few tens of pages in and then stopped. The main alien species involved in it were a fair bit different than humans, but still relatively similar. I even brought the whole thing up IN dialogue between an alien character and a human character. Human character asks alien why they look similar to life from Earth, and the alien responds that there are in fact MANY species in the 'galactic community' that look nothing like most Earth life, but the simple fact is most of those life forms require VERY SPECIFIC environments and can't very easily go out of their way to explore and such. Meanwhile, the aliens that the humans have met, the ones that have arms, legs, hands, eyes, ears, etc CAN more adequately explore or be sent on missions that, say, a giant floating, methane filled jelly-fish like alien couldn't. [img]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a151/sltlamina/syntyan_08.jpg?t=1280124295[/img] Made this in 'Sculptris' a while back. How I sort of pictured that one alien species looking like. Made sure to stay away from them being bipedal and such. Didn't add hands and feet, but it WOULD have them. Hands would have two thumbs and two fingers each. What bugs me a whole lot more (and the whole 'bipedal, relatively human like aliens' thing DOES bug me, don't get me wrong) is that, to most sci-fi, apparently chlorophyll is the ONLY photosynthetic pigment that EVER developed in the galaxy. I can imagine trees developing elsewhere if there is life that requires light to grow (as they will try to grow TOWARDS the light). But... why do they all have to be green?!
[QUOTE=Tetracycline;23623411][img_thumb]http://cazovejanegra.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/queen_alienpress-web.jpg[/img_thumb] These are the coolest aliens that exist, they look really awesome.[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Comics%20Gallery/Comics05.html]You can't beat these motherfuckers right here.[/url]
[img]http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/3/37756/762300-pbeast_super.gif[/img] How the hell are these guys not here yet? These are some of my favorite aliens of all time. [editline]10:21PM[/editline] Goddammit, busted image. [editline]1:23AM[/editline] Is fix now.
[QUOTE=mapreader;23622425]Just finished watching Avatar and I couldn't really get into it. While I can suspend my disbelief when it comes to such matters as faster-than-light travel, I always balk at humanoid Aliens. It's a cop out and a failure of imagination. It's not even a budget issue, considering that Avatar cost anywhere between $400-500 million. We're supposed to accept the fact that even though there are living organisms on our own planet so bizarre that many wouldn't even recognize them as life, beings in another star system who share none of our biochemistry would be essentially very tall blue men with pointy ears. This kind of thing is harmful in that it stymies the imagination of the masses, convincing them that whatever is out there, we would be able to communicate with it on some kind of spiritual level. I won't even get into Star Trek and its rubber forehead aliens(inb4 Panspermia). A refreshing antidote to all this is Stanislaw Lem's novel Solaris(don't bother watching the films). He makes a point about Human beings venturing out into the Cosmos and encountering intelligence that is so alien, so different, that all notions of what life and intelligence are go out the window. Man discovers just how incomprehensible space really is. In Avatar, the same old Human dramas are played out in an unimaginative 'alien' landscape. Also kudos to Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick for 2001. It's one of the few sci-fi novels/films where alien means truly alien. EDIT: I'll also add Forbidden Planet and The Thing(1982) as movies that treated Aliens in imaginative ways.[/QUOTE] Well if you want to spaz out over a movie, then the reason that they are tall is because of the low gravity, FTL travel can be achieved, mark my words, and due to the universe expanding at an enormous rate, there can be any number of humaniod creatures out there. The people in the movie's universe just saw the aliens in that specific way.
[QUOTE=Tetracycline;23633461]Like in Mass Effect, they don't much like humans so why would they speak English[/QUOTE] They have collars that translate whatever language any alien is speaking into English or any language the player knows and vice versa. TL;DR Universal translator [url]http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/UPDATE:_Bring_Down_the_Sky[/url]
scifi sucks now
humanoid aliens are just shit really
[QUOTE=Ghostwork;23622539]no, this [IMG]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_56uq77msz_g/SfbYVk2cPvI/AAAAAAAAATQ/i9iEXR9yWRo/s400/mars2-16-09.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] I have to ask, what movie?
[QUOTE=Chunk3ym4n;23634213]They have collars that translate whatever language any alien is speaking into English or any language the player knows and vice versa. TL;DR Universal translator [url]http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/UPDATE:_Bring_Down_the_Sky[/url][/QUOTE] Aha! I said that because I wanted someone to correct me, because my friend said the omni-tool translated, but I couldn't find that anywhere. Thank you.
[QUOTE=Sitkero;23633949][img]http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/3/37756/762300-pbeast_super.gif[/img] How the hell are these guys not here yet? These are some of my favorite aliens of all time. [editline]10:21PM[/editline] Goddammit, busted image. [editline]1:23AM[/editline] Is fix now.[/QUOTE] Epic film, shame about the shitty sequel though.
I have another alien. [img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BSyo--G5kfY/R8BDubtmjTI/AAAAAAAAAOg/ZpxaZSDqOmk/s400/_41059129_hitch_vogon_getty.jpg[/img] Vogons. "[I]Vogons are one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. The best way to get a drink out of a Vogon is to stick your finger down his throat, and the best way to irritate him is to feed his grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. On no account should you allow a Vogon to read poetry at you."[/I] Now try and guess my favorite book. :v:
[QUOTE=Penguiin;23633083]TH89 are you a psych major or something you seem to know a lot about sociology[/QUOTE] Nope I'm an illustration major, I just read a lot I guess [QUOTE=sltungle;23633785][img_thumb]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a151/sltlamina/syntyan_08.jpg?t=1280124295[/img_thumb] Made this in 'Sculptris' a while back. How I sort of pictured that one alien species looking like. Made sure to stay away from them being bipedal and such. Didn't add hands and feet, but it WOULD have them. Hands would have two thumbs and two fingers each.[/QUOTE] One thing you should keep in mind, if you're trying to go for a plausible alien, is that natural selection doesn't like unnecessary parts or redundancy. That's why we don't all have giant claws and wings and gills so we can do anything--every limb or organ that's added requires more energy and weighs us down a little more, so if the energy cost outweighs the benefit then it'll be selected against over time. Which isn't to say your design is bad, but it's something to remember when you're adding stuff like two thumbs or extra sets of arms, etc.
[QUOTE=TH89;23634999]Nope I'm an illustration major, I just read a lot I guess One thing you should keep in mind, if you're trying to go for a plausible alien, is that natural selection doesn't like unnecessary parts or redundancy. That's why we don't all have giant claws and wings and gills so we can do anything--every limb or organ that's added requires more energy and weighs us down a little more, so if the energy cost outweighs the benefit then it'll be selected against over time. Which isn't to say your design is bad, but it's something to remember when you're adding stuff like two thumbs or extra sets of arms, etc.[/QUOTE] Wouldn't you always end up with as many limbs as however many limbs the successful common ancestor of all of the animals had? Like mammals and such all have four limbs. Insects, six. Arachnids, eight. Etc, etc.
if you look around on the codex in ME1, they have on-the-fly translation technology. which is a shitty attempt to explain it because their lips move like englishes.
[QUOTE=sltungle;23635367]Wouldn't you always end up with as many limbs as however many limbs the successful common ancestor of all of the animals had? Like mammals and such all have four limbs. Insects, six. Arachnids, eight. Etc, etc.[/QUOTE] Yes but the most successful ancestor still has to have a good number of limbs. I guess for arachnids and common insects the number of legs is irrelevant to their survival but larger creatures still need to be light and efficient. Where there is a lot of food and water, creatures are likely to be bigger as there is an equilibrium between being bigger than your predators and having enough food to survive. The most likely reason the Na'vi are larger is because the planet is far more fertile. Higher gravity changes things like flight capability and required muscle mass (light gravity accounts for the Na'vi thin frame) but does not automatically make them larger. [editline]06:21PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Ghostwork;23635396]if you look around on the codex in ME1, they have on-the-fly translation technology. which is a shitty attempt to explain it because their lips move like englishes.[/QUOTE] Subcutaneous translators are the main explanation although other types are mentioned in the novels along with a universal trade language. The human brain would likely fill in the blanks if what it heard was different to what it saw and from a game perspective it's just a cop-out to say their lips don't have to move.
[QUOTE=Devodiere;23635557]Yes but the most successful ancestor still has to have a good number of limbs. I guess for arachnids and common insects the number of legs is irrelevant to their survival but larger creatures still need to be light and efficient. Where there is a lot of food and water, creatures are likely to be bigger as there is an equilibrium between being bigger than your predators and having enough food to survive. The most likely reason the Na'vi are larger is because the planet is far more fertile. Higher gravity changes things like flight capability and required muscle mass (light gravity accounts for the Na'vi thin frame) but does not automatically make them larger.[/QUOTE] The one in my picture is meant to be herbivorous, and covered in thick fur. Idea was that, when threatened by predators, it would raise itself up as far as it could on its legs, hold its arms out as far as it could from its body, and the fur around its neck would puff out to make it appear larger. Plus, lower gravity too. Which would, combined with the fact it's a herbivore, explain it's tall stature.
[QUOTE=Simpleboo;23634362]I have to ask, what movie?[/QUOTE] Mars Attacks.
[QUOTE=Simpleboo;23634362]I have to ask, what movie?[/QUOTE] ohhhh go rent mars attacks right now. go back in time 14 years for more viewing pleasure [QUOTE=TH89;23628469]Also, since you guys still haven't figured out the answer to this question that the SA users came to on the first page, most science fiction is meant to tell metaphorical stories, not accurately predict the future. Aliens are stand-ins for tribal humans, or foreign aggressors, or oppressed minorities, or other things. They're human because they're allegorical FOR humans, and therefore have to be relatable enough for the allegory to work. If Neytiri was a silicon-based monstrosity who communicated in ultrasonic screams then the plot of Avatar would be emotionally unbelievable.[/QUOTE] sa users come up with shit like that? god damn i wish i went there first.
[QUOTE=sltungle;23635636]The one in my picture is meant to be herbivorous, and covered in thick fur. Idea was that, when threatened by predators, it would raise itself up as far as it could on its legs, hold its arms out as far as it could from its body, and the fur around its neck would puff out to make it appear larger. Plus, lower gravity too. Which would, combined with the fact it's a herbivore, explain it's tall stature.[/QUOTE] Sounds a lot like a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frill-necked_Lizard]Frill-necked Lizard[/url]. The arms don't really seem necessary unless they are just vestigial and act as decoration. The tall size and awkward legs make me think it lives exclusively on leaves and fruit as it would have a hard time bending over. For such a basic creature it has a lot of muscle definition so I think it would be more comfortable on a high gravity planet where it fills the niche of an earth Giraffe. As for the head, I know how much you wanted to make it Alien so move the mouth claw things closer in and have them act as an addition grabbing/biting mechanism. The eyes might seem better if they were more spaced apart to provide near 360 vision along with distance judgement. The ears are fine but either the skull is very thick, the creature is relatively small (4 foot high) or their brain is incredibly large.
[QUOTE=Sitkero;23634479]I have another alien. [IMG]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BSyo--G5kfY/R8BDubtmjTI/AAAAAAAAAOg/ZpxaZSDqOmk/s400/_41059129_hitch_vogon_getty.jpg[/IMG] Vogons. "[I]Vogons are one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. The best way to get a drink out of a Vogon is to stick your finger down his throat, and the best way to irritate him is to feed his grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. On no account should you allow a Vogon to read poetry at you."[/I] Now try and guess my favorite book. :v:[/QUOTE] Those are just your typical sort of "space jews" though. Science fiction does wonders for parody, it's a carte blanche for inventing any sort of allegorical or even overtly offensive material in the name of [I]creativity[/I]. [URL]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceJews[/URL]
[QUOTE=mapreader;23622425]Just finished watching Avatar and I couldn't really get into it. While I can suspend my disbelief when it comes to such matters as faster-than-light travel, I always balk at humanoid Aliens. It's a cop out and a failure of imagination. It's not even a budget issue, considering that Avatar cost anywhere between $400-500 million. We're supposed to accept the fact that even though there are living organisms on our own planet so bizarre that many wouldn't even recognize them as life, beings in another star system who share none of our biochemistry would be essentially very tall blue men with pointy ears. This kind of thing is harmful in that it stymies the imagination of the masses, convincing them that whatever is out there, we would be able to communicate with it on some kind of spiritual level. I won't even get into Star Trek and its rubber forehead aliens(inb4 Panspermia). A refreshing antidote to all this is Stanislaw Lem's novel Solaris(don't bother watching the films). He makes a point about Human beings venturing out into the Cosmos and encountering intelligence that is so alien, so different, that all notions of what life and intelligence are go out the window. Man discovers just how incomprehensible space really is. In Avatar, the same old Human dramas are played out in an unimaginative 'alien' landscape. Also kudos to Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick for 2001. It's one of the few sci-fi novels/films where alien means truly alien. EDIT: I'll also add Forbidden Planet and The Thing(1982) as movies that treated Aliens in imaginative ways.[/QUOTE] I have to agree, but at least avatar made them tall, which fits with the planet having lower gravity and what have you. Also I got to agree with TH89, since avatar is pretty much an allegory for vietnam and the west being taken from the natives, you kind of need an alien that you can empathise with
[QUOTE=Stizzles;23625015]I don't really like how English is the main language [I]in the entire universe[/I] in a lot of films/games. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had a nice excuse for that; the Babelfish. It's a little fish that you put into your ear and it translates all languages for you so you'll hear it as your own language. :3:[/QUOTE] I like watching a movie than reading subtitles thanks.
[QUOTE=TH89;23628469]Also, since you guys still haven't figured out the answer to this question that the SA users came to on the first page, most science fiction is meant to tell metaphorical stories, not accurately predict the future. Aliens are stand-ins for tribal humans, or foreign aggressors, or oppressed minorities, or other things. They're human because they're allegorical FOR humans, and therefore have to be relatable enough for the allegory to work. If Neytiri was a silicon-based monstrosity who communicated in ultrasonic screams then the plot of Avatar would be emotionally unbelievable.[/QUOTE] It's a good thing you're not banned, thanks for the answer
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