Alien invasion or space invasion is a common feature in science fiction stories and films, in which extraterrestrial lifeforms invade Earth to exterminate and supplant human life, enslave it, harvest people for food, steal the planet's resources, or destroy the planet altogether. It can be considered as a science-fiction subgenre of the invasion literature, expanded by H. G. Wells's seminal alien invasion novel The War of the Worlds, and is a type of 'first contact' science fiction.
Experts consider the prospects of an actual invasion of Earth by extraterrestrials to be extremely unlikely, due to the enormous cost in time and resources.
Origins
In 1898, Wells published
The War of the Worlds, depicting the invasion of
Victorian era by Martians equipped with advanced weaponry. It is now seen as the seminal alien invasion story
and Wells is credited with establishing several extraterrestrial themes which were later greatly expanded by science fiction writers in the 20th century, including first contact and war between planets and their differing species. However, there were earlier published stories of aliens and alien invasion, such as the 1892 novel
The Germ Growers by Australian clergyman Robert Potter, which describes a covert invasion by aliens who take on the appearance of human beings and attempt to develop a virulent disease to assist in their plans for global conquest. Potter's novel was not widely read.
Wells had already proposed another outcome for the alien invasion story in The War of the Worlds. When the Narrator meets the artilleryman the second time, the artilleryman imagines a future where humanity, hiding underground in sewers and tunnels, conducts a guerrilla war, fighting against the Martians for generations to come, and eventually, after learning how to duplicate Martian weapon technology, destroys the invaders and takes back the Earth.
Six weeks after publication of the novel, The Boston Post newspaper published another alien invasion story, an unauthorized sequel to The War of the Worlds, which turned the tables on the invaders. Edison's Conquest of Mars was written by Garrett P. Serviss, who described the famous inventor Thomas Edison leading a counterattack against the invaders on their home soil.[ Edison's Conquest of Mars, "Foreword" by Robert Godwin, Apogee Books 2005]
The War of the Worlds was reprinted in the United States in 1927, a year after the Golden Age of Science Fiction was created by Hugo Gernsback in Amazing Stories. John W. Campbell, another key editor of the era, and periodic short story writer, published several alien invasion stories in the 1930s. Many well-known science fiction writers were to follow, including Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Clifford D. Simak, plus Robert A. Heinlein who wrote The Puppet Masters in 1951.
Variations
Alien infiltration
This is a familiar variation on the alien invasion theme. In the infiltration scenario, the invaders will typically take human form and can move freely throughout human society, even to the point of taking control of command positions. The purpose of this may either be to take over the entire world through infiltration (
Invasion of the Body Snatchers), or as advanced scouts meant to "soften up" Earth in preparation for a full-scale invasion by the aliens' conventional military (
First Wave). This type of invasion represented common fears of the American public during the
Cold War, particularly the
Red Scare.
The Reptilian conspiracy theory claims that covert alien infiltration is already happening.
Beneficial alien invasion
This theme has also been explored in fiction on the rare occasion. With this type of story, the invaders, in a kind of little grey/green man's burden, colonize the planet in an effort to spread their culture and "civilize" the indigenous "barbaric" inhabitants or secretly watch and aid earthlings saving them from themselves. The former theme shares many traits with hostile occupation fiction, but the invaders tend to view the occupied peoples as students or equals rather than subjects and slaves. The latter theme of secret watcher is a paternalistic/maternalistic theme. In this fiction, the aliens intervene in human affairs to prevent them from destroying themselves, such as Klaatu and Gort in
The Day the Earth Stood Still warning the leaders of Earth to abandon their warlike ways and join other space-faring civilizations else that they will destroy themselves or be destroyed by their interstellar union. Other examples of a beneficial alien invasion are
Gene Roddenberry's movie
The Questor Tapes (1974) and his
episode "" (1968); Arthur C. Clarke's
Childhood's End,
the novel (later anime) series
Crest of the Stars, the film
Arrival (2016), and
David Brin's
Uplift Universe series of books.
Invasion by humans
A similar trope depicts humans in the role of the "alien" invaders, where humans are the ones invading or attacking extraterrestrial lifeforms. Examples include the short story
Sentry (1954) (in which the "aliens" described are, at the end, explained to be humans), the video game
Phantasy Star II (1989),
by
Ray Bradbury, the Imperium of Man in the
Warhammer 40,000 universe,
Invaders from Earth by Robert Silverberg,
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, and the movies
Battle for Terra (2007),
Planet 51 (2009), and
Avatar (2009).
Feasibility
Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the
SETI Institute believes an alien invasion of Earth to be unlikely for several reasons. He believes that any resources available on Earth can be found on their home planet, or that it would be easier to locate or create it on their own. He also believes that, if alien life were to make contact with Earth, it would first be through robots rather than the aliens themselves.
David Morrison, Director of Space at NASA-Ames Research Center argues that first contact would be in the form of radio communication rather than visitation.
See also
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Interplanetary contamination
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Potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact
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Space colonization
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UFO religion
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The Kraken Wakes, 1953 novel
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List of films featuring space stations
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Wow! signal
