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From Times Online
October 5, 2007
The 40 most memorable aliens
Beings from other worlds have excited the popular imagination since the Bronze Age: Both The Old Testament and the Sanskrit epics describe strange beings coming to Earth in flying machines. Modern literature and (especially) film make liberal use of sentient aliens as characters. But which ones are the best?
Space special: fifty years after Sputnik
We scored a broad selection of non-human intelligences on the basis of Original Features (how much they vary from the basic humanoid template) Special Powers (any superhuman abilities demonstrated) Messianic Qualities (Many alien stories involve a messianic element, so we felt it was only fair) and of course the general catch-all Coolness factor.
Although doomed to be regularly trounced by Flash Gordon, Sir Menzies Campbell is not a suspiciously Asiatic-looking alien warlord. That distinction falls to Ming the Merciless, villain of King Features’ long running Flash Gordon franchise which has spanned cinema serials, comics, and a superbly scored feature film. His appearance has become markedly more reptilian and less evidently racist in recent adaptations, but he remains the number one extraterrestrial emperor.
Multimedia
Original Features 0 Special Powers 2 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 1
The antagonists in the successful miniseries ‘V’ and its spinoffs were mouse-eating reptiles who visited Earth cunningly disguised as humans in order to lull mankind into a sense of misplaced camaraderie. Once the deception was discovered an armed resistance to the newcomers was formed, which was just as well as it transpired later in the series that the mice were merely an appetiser and we were the main course. Proof, if proof were needed, that people who look like lizards can’t be trusted.
Original Features 0 Special Powers 1 Messianic Qualities 1 Overall Coolness 1
Half Beach ball, half pair of flippers, the bouncing alien pet in Dark Star doesn’t really do much at all. That it emerged from the same wellspring of imagination that gave us the nightmarish star beast of Alien only compounds the disappointment.
Original Features 4 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 0
Pointy-headed strangers from the planet Remulak (or possibly France) The Coneheads were yet another breakout hit from the endlessly fertile ‘Saturday Night Live’ TV show. Their appearance calls to mind the bound skulls of ancient Peruvian mummies.The Coneheads movie features all of the misunderstood human customs and curious speech forms one might expect from a classic alien movie, plus Dan Akroyd apparently wearing a big pink policeman’s helmet.
Original Features 2 Special Powers 1 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 3
In the original Star Trek series the Romulans followed the Ming the Merciless ‘Fu Manchu from space’ model but in more recent iterations of the franchise have sported a more ‘Tony Blackburn with a headache’ look. Star Trek’s writers cleverly employed a version of Benoît de Maillet’s panspermia hypothesis to explain why so many of the aliens on the show looked like Hollywood actors with a lump of Blu-tack affixed to their foreheads.
Original Features 0 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 8
Mysterious methane-breathing opponents of a United Earth in the somewhat overlooked space combat drama ‘Space: Above and Beyond’ the ‘Chigs’ (their real name is never mentioned) share with us a common genetic heritage and predisposition to armed response when their territorial boundaries are violated. With an armoury extending from faster-than light warships to suicide bombers they are the ultimate faceless adversary for the series’ gung-ho Space Marines.
Original Features 1 Special Powers 1 Messianic Qualities 1 Overall Coolness 4
Whereas in the recent, critically acclaimed, Battlestar Galactica television series the Cylons are robots built by Man for hazardous mining operations and so forth, the original Cylons were held to be robots built by an extinct reptilian race also called The Cylons for hazardous mining operations and what have you. These latter creatures are best remembered for their oscillating red ‘eye’ and shiny, high maintenance, chrome skin.
Original Features 2 Special Powers 1 Messianic Qualities 1 Overall Coolness 3
Metal-skinned beings from Mars who found our potato preparation methods endlessly risible, the Smash Robots are stars of the advertisement voted ‘TV ad of the Century’ by advertising industry journal Campaign Magazine.
Original Features 6 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 2
Small furry animated teddy bears who either (depending on ones’ perspective) ruined or enriched the final Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi, the Ewoks are a primitive jungle race who against all the odds defeated the technologically superior Imperial Stormtroopers. This feat has been described by the films’ creator, George Lucas, as an analogy of the Vietnam conflict although the impact of a small cuddly creature on the profit margins of Lucasfilms’ lucrative toy franchises should not be underestimated.
Original Features 6 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 1 Overall Coolness 1
Like their cousins the Romulans, the Klingons are presented very differently in the original Star Trek series from the appearance accorded to them in later film and television appearances. All versions share a warlike ethos and a rather fanciful take on facial topiary. In the sixth Star Trek film we learn that the Klingons’ blood is magenta in colour, suggesting either a different chemistry from our own iron-based blood or perhaps just the effect of the numerous vile-looking foodstuffs prevalent in Klingon Cuisine
Original Features 2 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 7
Small, furry, lovable and immeasurably fertile the tribbles’ story, limited to only four episodes across the entire Star Trek franchise (two of which chronicle essentially the same events), has a stature which looms as large as any in that fictional universe.
Original Features 9 Special Powers 1 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 1
There are probably more fictionalised Martians than denizens of any other planet. The Martians in HG Wells’ War of the Worlds are probably the best remembered though, with their vast three-legged war machines and susceptibility to Summer sniffles.
Original Features 8 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 3
Featured in the 1980s television series ALF, Gordon Shumway is a 250 year old cat-eating sentient furry armadillo from the planet Melmac. Although the show was a comedy the creators took it extremely seriously, taking great care that the ALF puppet was never seen by members of the public except when being operated by the four puppeteers who gave it the semblance of life.
Original Features 5 Special Powers 1 Messianic Qualities 2 Overall Coolness 3
The1984 film featured Jeff Bridges as a misunderstood peace-loving alien hounded by the US Military while disguised as the deceased husband of a young widow played by Karen Allen. Bridges is the only actor to have been nominated for the best actor Oscar for playing an extraterrestrial.
Original Features 0 Special Powers 2 Messianic Qualities 6 Overall Coolness 4
The roly-poly blue-skinned bandleader had a small but memorable role in Return of the Jedi, performing with his trio for corpulent alien crime boss Jabba the Hutt. His mastery of the Red Ball Jett keyboard, despite the handicap of astoundingly pudgy digits, earns him a place in the pantheon on extraterrestrial greats
Original Features 7 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 5
Terrible dresser, a fearful showoff, and the coolest guy in the universe. So he thinks, anyway. Zaphod Beeblebrox is ideally cast as the Galactic President in the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy because he’s not only as self-absorbed as any real politician, but has more heads.
Original Features 2 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 1 Overall Coolness 10
Although technically only half alien (His green-blooded father managed to interbreed with a human woman despite the evident differences in body chemistry) Mr.Spock is probably the most recognisable extraterrestrial face in popular culture. Although long identified with Leonard Nimoy role of the pixie-eared scientific genius is soon to be taken by Heroes nemesis Zach Quinto in the forthcoming eleventh Star Trek movie.
Original Features 2 Special Powers 1 Messianic Qualities 1 Overall Coolness 10
The Borg are a race of modified humanoids that have proven to be the most popular villains of the Star Trek universe. Apocryphal writings connect them to a space probe, Voyager 6, launched from Earth some time in the 1970s. The Borg , more than any other fictional race, are probably the clearest example of mankind’s future – with implanted technology and constant surveillance making original thought impossible.
Original Features 2 Special Powers 3 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 10
Woollen whooping mole-like creatures wearing a curious armour of hexagonal plates, the Clangers enjoyed a short but memorable two-series run on British TV, also cameoing briefly in Dr.Who and a Noggin the Nog book.
Original Features 5 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 10
David Bowie reportedly bought the rights to Heinlein’s supremely messianic future-fiction story ‘Stranger in a Strange Land some time in the mid Seventies but ended up making a film version of the 1963 Walter Tevis novel ‘The Man who fell to Earth’ instead. An alien who uniquely employed his extraterrestrial heritage in commercial enterprises rather than manifesting bizarre powers, Thomas Jerome Newton is the quintessential Tory Martian
Original Features 0 Special Powers 7 Messianic Qualities 6 Overall Coolness 5
Xenu, is a pivotal, if rarely mentioned, figure in Scientology. An ancient galactic warlord who brought his people to Earth in spacefaring airliners before blowing them to atoms with nuclear-fuelled volcanoes and trapping their souls with strange alien technology, he’s one of the greater villains of the alien pantheon.
Original Features 0 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 7 Overall Coolness 7
The Covenant are the race, or confederation of races, than come close to wiping out mankind in the colossally successful Halo video game series. Bonded together by religious fanaticism they are composed of a number of differing warrior castes rooted in the various racesthey have conquered. Reminiscent of the mighty Persian horde faced by the Spartans in ‘300’ they are nevertheless possibly too likeable to kill by the end of the third game.
Original Features 5 Special Powers 2 Messianic Qualities 2 Overall Coolness 7
Of all the alien invasions posited in fiction, the Andromeda strain is arguably the most likely. Indeed, it may have already happened. The etymology of the word Influenza suggests an extraterrestrial origin to viral outbreaks and rains of unattributable organic matter do occur from time to time. In the light of that, periodic incursions by funny little fellows in three-legged spaceships seem almost welcome
Original Features 9 Special Powers 5 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 3
Similar to their spiritual cousins The Borg, Cybermen are heavily modified humanoids rather than robots. They originate on the earthlike planet ‘Mondas’ (in the original Dr.Who series) and on a parallel universe version of Earth (in the Russell T.Davies series). Most worryingly, they employ terrifying small robot worms called Cybermats in their periodic attempts to enslave humanity.
Original Features 6 Special Powers 3 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 8
Like many hunters the Predator is a rather elegant looking fellow, in the short period between being invisible and taking his hat off to reveal a rather unapealing and impractical-looking mandible arrangement, The Predator is one of a fierce species who periodically visit the Earth to hunt humans. One might inquire why they wouldn't find drag hunting just as enjoyable, and more human, if one weren't so busy avoiding his wide variety of deadly weapons.
Original Features 6 Special Powers 2 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 10
Whether encountered on another world as part of the Secret Wars story arc (as in the Marvel comics continuity), or carried to Earth by an extraordinarily coincidental meteorite (as shown in in the third Spider-man film) Venom is a sentient black oily substance that becomes, temporarily, Spider-Man’s new costume and then later his deadliest adversary.
Original Features 5 Special Powers 6 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 7
The two-hearted time traveller needs little introduction to British audiences. Since 1963 he has been the most successful science-fiction character on BBC, although only the most alert viewers will be aware that he was once briefly known as Doctor Foreman.
Original Features 1 Special Powers 3 Messianic Qualities 5 Overall Coolness 9
Ably portrayed by Michael Rennie, Klaatu is an alien diplomat from an interplanetary League of Nations who is keen to see Humanity elevated to that great brotherhood of civilisations. We shoot him, of course.
Original Features 0 Special Powers 0 Messianic Qualities 10 Overall Coolness 10
A gigantic, vaguely insectoid killing machine with acid for blood is the last creature most people would choose to encounter on the way home from work. That is what happened to the crew of the starship Nostromo, though, in Ridley Scott’s highly influential 1979 film Alien. Revisited memorably by Terminator director James Cameron in ‘Aliens’ and then with declining success in two further sequels and kept alive in the current ‘Aliens versus Predator’ movies as well as a slew of comics The Alien is the extraterrestrial that absolutely will not die.
Original Features 6 Special Powers 6 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 8
Now the default depiction of an extraterrestrial visitor, the Grey Alien sterotype seems to owe its genesis to an episode of the 1950s sci-fi show ‘The Outer Limits’ that was transmitted the week before a celebrated UFO abduction’ case and is now thought to have informed the abductee’s subconscious visualisation of his captors. Whatever the reality of the case, variants of the big-eyed Grey archetype are to be found in Close Encounters, The X-Files, Star Trek and Ant & Dec’s Alien autopsy.
Original Features 6 Special Powers 4 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 10
An assortment of sentient beetles of varying sizes, the larger of whom can fire some sort of extra-atmospheric weapon from their abdomen, the Arachnids are the implacable enemies of mankind in ‘Starship Troopers’. DDT is evidently not available in space.
Original Features 7 Special Powers 8 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 6
The telescope-necked, barrel bodies little chap with the illuminated finger is one of the best-loved non-humans in popular culture. Beloved by young cinemagoers and telecommunications companies alike E.T is the alien most people would like to meet.
Original Features 7 Special Powers 5 Messianic Qualities 8 Overall Coolness 6
Three creatures of varying species appearing in the popular 1940s Lensman series of science fiction novels by E.E ‘Doc’ Smith; they comprise a flying dragon, a multi-tentacled oil drum creature, and a multidimensional organism that defies all description. They aid Smith’s principal hero, the human Lensman Kimball Kinnison, in a galaxy-spanning war that prefigures many of today’s space operas. Whereas Smith couldn't anticipate the future importance of computers, his sheer inventiveness in creature design bespeaks a uniquely lively sci-fi imagination.
Original Features 10 Special Powers 4 Messianic Qualities 3 Coolness 8
Malevolent pepperpots from the planet Skaro, the Daleks are the undeniably greatest among Doctor Who’s foes and have one of the most inventive morphologies among all pop culture aliens which was inspired (to a degree) by the Georgia State Ballet.
Original Features 10 Special Powers 8 Messianic Qualities 2 Overall Coolness 7
Whether the process of evolution on any planet could eventually result in a being that could fold itself into the shape of a lorry is a question that we may never be able to answer, but certainly the toy line, cartoon series, and recent live action cinema outing have imprinted themselves on the imaginations of two generations of impressionable young boys.
Original Features 8 Special Powers 8 Messianic Qualities 3 Overall Coolness 8
The boy from Krypton may look like a regular Kansas farmhand but his resistance to harm, athletic prowess, and ability to shoot lasers out of his eyes all bespeak an origin somewhat further afield. Plus, it has to be said, the cape would raise a few eyebrows in Topeka, let alone Smallville.
Original Features 0 Special Powers 10 Messianic Qualities 9 Overall Coolness 9
Whether you watch the classic Steve McQueen version of this film or the 1980s remake with brooding bratpacker Kevin Dillon you’ll see an amorphous glob of alien goo that absorbs everything in its path and never, at any point, looks like a man in a suit. For a movie about an alien life-form, that’s almost unique.
Original Features 10 Special Powers 8 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 10
In the original film a humanoid carrot with an inexplicable desire to kill. In the far superior John Carpenter remake a mimetic something that stretched the effects technology of the time to its very limit. It could be next to you right now.
Original Features 10 Special Powers 10 Messianic Qualities 0 Overall Coolness 10
Telling of an ancient transdimensional demon that lives in a reality just next to our own, the mythos of Cthulu has developed a malevolent existence far beyond its origins in the psychotropic fiction of HP Lovecraft and regularly appears in fiction and cinema to this day. Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro is rumoured to be working on an adaptation of Lovecraft’s ‘At the mountains of Madness’.
Original Features 9 Special Powers 8 Messianic Qualities -10 Overall Coolness 5
Perhaps not the most obvious contender for a list of aliens but certainly not terrestrial in origin, possessed of some extraordinary abilities, and pervading popular culture like no other personality the God of the Christians, Jews, and Muslims is – irrespective of how you might feel about his existence – the most powerful alien intelligence imaginable.
Original Features 10 Special Powers 10 Messianic Qualities 10 Overall Coolness 10
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Aww. The Daleks only came at 7th? who wrote this? The daleks should have been at least third With their grating metallic voices and their old cry of "EXTERMINATE!" That made children everywhere hide behind the sofa in terror.
sam, Beper,
I'm glad to see that the Second Stage Lensmen get a mention. However Mentor of Arisia (the "multidimensional organism that defies all description") was not a second stage lensman. Kinnison himself was the 3rd second-stage lensman along with Worsel (the "flying dragon"), and Nadreck (the "oil drum")
NJT, Glos.,
WHAT?
The "xenomorph" only comes in on a distant 12th place?
THERE IS NOT, NOR WILL THERE EVER BE, ANYTHING AS ALIEN AS ... THE ALIEN!
BTW: Who made these rulings? A panel of sci-fi haters?
Troels, Copenhagen,
Without having read all the other comments, I imagine someone else has already noted that the Romulans are distant cousins to the Vulcans, not the Klingons.
Gunner Benavente, Wolf Point, Montana
Is not cool enough Silver Surfer to be affixed in your weird list?
Is not cool enough Arthur's C.Clark Monolite from 2001,a space odissey?
weird....really...weird.
arturo jimenez garcia-revillo, VALLADOLID, SPAIN
Oh, come on! The Doctor should be higher than #14. Time-travelling, damn-near immortal, body-changing, two-hearted alien that is currently dead sexy!
Besides, he was never known as Doctor Foreman. Ian and Barbara (the first companions) only called him that because the owner of the yard he and Susan were squatting in was I.M. Foreman.
'Sides, the Daleks could so take the Thing!
Seanne, Wellington,
Not a single mention from Dune? one of the greatest sci-fi novels of all time?
Ethan, minneapolis,
and where is the REAL alien? giger's alien??
barbrady911, Wiesbaden,
yep.. its a pretty rough list...
the fact that the Xenomorph from the alien series couldn't break the top ten (yet.. starship troopers?) when it is clearly the most influential alien ever is a joke... (god?... if u go there then we are in his image so he must be human-ish at least, so i figure either way he doesn't count)...
if u are going to add characters from literature as well, there are plenty of candidates... (Greg Bear's books are great for this, not well read on others)
and what about Mork or jabba the hut or leela or ZOIDBURG!!! there are plenty more memorable ten these...
chris, newcastle , 2300
What about David Vincent's best foes? Or Mars Attack's spacelady-dancer?
Pierre, Paris,
for shame. u left out the plunger creatures from slaughterhouse five.
petey, chicago,
How do you have the Ewoks and Max Rebo, yet omit Chewbacca?
Chris, New Braunfels, TX
Very poor no mention at all of the bery cool aliens in the Stargate franchise.
Angie, Seffield,
Great article, although the lack of confectionary based enemies from television sci-fi shows leaves me disappointed.
Kandyman, London,
What... NO MORK?!?
/Nanoo nanoo
Spino, Brooklyn, NY / USA
Since there's a Trekkie Correction, it makes sense for a Dr Who one too. He was never known as Dr Foreman (or Dr John Smith) or even Dr Who - those were just aliases he used. His real name is old, forgotten and unpronounceable.
Gavin Bollard, Sydney, Australia
Massimo,
"satan" was a 'beast of the field', and the field was on the earth. Whether you think it was a literal 'wheatfield' or the 'field of faith' it was still earth based.
So he simply cannot be an alien, and since he was a 'beast of the field' this means he was subject to Adam and never ever sat at the right hand of God as tradition states.
Live Long & Prosper!!
Ian , London,
Some very ropy justifications here, Cthulhu is definitly and alien (orginates from a distant system and slumbers beneath the pacific. Not sure transformers should be that high (and i liked them as a child) true abotu the lack of Babylon 5, futurama etal. but good to see some literary versions. still could have been better.
Ben, folkestone, uk
Alex: God - let's assume he exists for the purposes of this discussion - isn't from Earth. We are. Therefore, from our perspective, he's an alien.
Q E D
But where IS Q?
Paddy, Birmingham, UK
How come you get a Star Wars clip when you click on the Clangers link? (22)
A glaring omission: the Blade Runner replicants, who not only had special features, but were extremely cool (and Roy Batty certainly had Messianic qualities).
Brig, Bahrain,
Martians (War of the worlds) are @ No. 29
Chest popping alien = 12
But seriously..No Babylon 5 ? At all?
Duane, Chicago, Illin'
God? An alien!? Err, the bible says we were all made in the image of God, and God is in us all. Humanity's aim is to become more like God. So either God is not an alien or we're all as equally alien as God. Either way, your number 1 in the list is most definitely wrong!
Alex, London, UK
Each one should have a picture to go with it. Kind of disappointed with the presentation of it.
Robert Stoffel, Dayton, USA
Q
That is all.
Terry O'Dowd, Leixlip, Kildare, Ireland
Are they preparing us for the real thing?
"Take me to your leader."
Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Nagano
What about E.T.! or The Alien from Alien Franchise! UNLESS I MISSED THEIR TECHNICAL NAMES, I DUNNO.
Mcaravella, SI, NY
I can only imagine that this list is actually ranked in sequential order from least memorable to most memorable. However, if I am to believe this, I must also believe that this list is a random sampling of the original list if we are to begin with one alien scoring a total of 3 on the memorability factors compared to a perfect 40 for God of all aliens. If we were to rank an alien such as Yoda using the "objective" criteria laid out here, he would most certainly receive something akin to:
Original Features 8
Special Powers 9
Messianic Qualities 10
Overall Coolness 7 (docked for his participation in each of the prequels).
This would result in Yoda achieving the #2 position on the list behind only God (which I can only hope is the South Park God).
Jules, Jasper, TX
E.T. at 9?! Are you kidding? Anytime I think of aliens, I picture a little gray man opening and eating Reese's Pieces!
Rachel, Westfield, USA
Cthulhu would have eaten 1,3-40's souls, and their entire races before lunch!
Jerry, Bel Air, MD, USA
This is a list compiled by someone utterly unfamiliar with the subject. Having been a Sci-Fi (not fantasy) reader for some 60 years, and having seen most the the genre films and TV shows, the list shows a broad and deep ignorance of the topic. Next time you might want to assign the task to someone truly familiar with the material.
Jack Lass, Bethesda, Maryland
This list is so scattershot. Lots of omissions and several poor inclusions. Max Rebo? The Lord God? Talk about stretching the concept!
A.J.Pennypacker, Awesometown, California, YEAH!
Good list. I woulda put Supes #2. Just based on the cape alone!
bungne, houston,
You misspelled Cthulhu on your list.
Steven, Deerfield, IL, USA
I agree with Bob from Irvine...how can you leave out all the wonderful alien races from Star Gate...especially the Asgard...who are the ultimate "Little grey men" or the metal spiders who eat everything organic/inorganic that they come across. And to include literary characters is opening a discussion that any long time Sc i-fi reader would have a list that would overwelm the author of this article. I nominate the ATEVI in the "Foreigner" universe by C.J. Cherryh.
Linda, Santa Fe, USA
How can anyone with a cool score of 10 be languishing at no. 25 in your charts?
And what about H Beam Piper's Fuzzies? Delightful little people in golden fur, cuddly and seriously bright. Definitely a high cool-score! Don't your people read any proper SF?
Gill, Southampton, UK
The Klingons are NOT cousins to the Romulans. The Vulcans are cousins to the Romulans but they don't like to talk about it. Do your homework chaps.
Thalia, London,
I agree with Bob, why aren't the Goa'uld on the list? lame :P
Jon, Maple Valley,
where's the Mekon then ?A cool guy if ever there was one
Jan , Southwold, UK
What about the Tharks (also called Green Men) from Barsoom (Mars), as written about by Edgar Rice Burroughs in A Princess of Mars and the rest of the series? They're 15 feet tall, four-armed, tusked, and laugh at the pain of others, and love war and bloodshed. Not only that, but their Jeddak (Emperor, King) is Tars Tarkas, the second best swordsmen on the Planet, just after John Carter. The whole 'green men from mars' comes from them, if I remember correctly.
Bob, Hadley, MA
also there is no mention of any of the aliens from stargate, like the Goa'uld, asgard, or even the ancients.
Another addition from the cast of futurama that shoudl be there is Morbo, "Tremble puny humans, one day my race will destroy you all!"
Bob, Irvine, CA
Very poor choice of illustration, that Star Trek screen grab, because it does not in fact depict an alien life form. It's in fact a grotesque puppet the child-like alien Balok (played by Ron Howard's younger brother, Clint) uses to deceive potential adversaries in the Corbomite Manuever episode. And some glaring omissions from this list. Where, oh where, are the soulless, emotionless pod-hatched vegetable people from Don Siegel's 1956 invasion of the Body Snatchers? Aside from working in the City in London, I mean ...
Tim Hodgson, Hamilton, Bermuda
This list is horrible. So if God qualifies because it's not terrestrial, then all the Star Wars characters should be here because they're from "a galaxy far, far away". Or let's just ask why Max Rebo, a character most people don't know the name to, is on here, but Chewbacca, Jabba the Hut, the Rancor, the Sarlaac Pit, Sebulba, Yoda, etc., etc., AREN'T? WHY is SPOCK so low!? How does a LOVECRAFT character count as an alien? Lovecraft is about demons and the occult. Let's go back to the drawing board on this one.
Jeff Light, Seongnam, South Korea
Another notable missing was Gonzo from the Muppet Show! He was proven to be of extra-terresti herratage in the movie Muppets From Space
Beauregard, Derby,
How does this list have Ewoks and Max Rebo, yet not have Chewbacca?
Chris, New Braunfels, TX
Ewoks, but no Yoda, are you serious? how about the original chest popping alien?
squeeze, newburgh, ny
Thanks for mentioning a couple of comic books characters in your list. For the larger geeks among us, I'd have nominated Thanos of Titan from Marvel Comics--when he got control of all 6 infinity Gems he basically became as powerful as the Lord God. Plus, he worships Death. He's a baaaad dude.
Steven, Bethlehem, PA, United States
The Outer Limits is from the 1960s.
I think the Cybermen from the parallel universe in the new Doctor Who are a different set than the ones from our universe in the old Who.
Jon Harvey, Palo Alto, CA
Is everyone from Star Wars not an alien? Why is Max Rebo the only one on the list?
Teague Smith, Huntsville, AL, U.S.A.
Maybe if the list wasn't sequential - perhaps a "in no real order" list - but as it stands, it's not the best. God? You've got to be kidding. Let's keep it in the realm of TV and film, ok? As for the Star Trek aliens - are the Romulans REALLY that interesting? I personally believe the Cardassians to be far more interesting characters, and have an entire history, what with their occupation of Bajor all the way to their entry in the Dominion. It seemed like more of a laundry list of popular aliens. Doctor Who saw the Daleks, Cybermen, and The Doctor. Tons of originality. What about the Mara, the Silurians, the Black/White Guardians, K-9, the Yeti, the Ice Warriors, Fenric, The Master, the Autons, Sontarans, etc? What about His Divine Shadow or Kai from Lexx?
Frank, Ottawa, Ontario
No H.G. Wells love?
C'mon, the War of the Worlds radio broadcast lead people to believe we really were being invaded.
The tripod alien should be in the top 10.
What a crap list.
Will, Charleston, SC
I don't think it's a good idea to have God as number one. E.T. should definitely be higher.
Also, where are Kodus and Kang from the Simpsons? Missing a lot of good Futurama characters as well (Nibbler, Dr. Zoidburg, Lurr from the planet Omicron Persei 8, etc), and as mentioned before, the Solomons! Or at least, Dick Solomon.
Amy, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
I agree with Matt from Austin that the ordering of this list is horrendous. The blob outranking the Xenomorph? There is no way that oversized ball of snot is more memorable than H.R. Giger's creature of horror, and it is not "vaguely insectoid" either. *hugs plush Alien doll* There there little one, it'll be alright.
The list needs to be completely redone. There are some aliens that are missing from this list and there are some that most people have never even heard of.
Apathygrrl, Halifax,
This is the most poorly ordered list I've ever seen. On top of that, it didn't even mention the Solomons from 3rd Rock from the Sun. Weak.
Matt, Austin,
Why not Satan? ^^
Massimo, vercelli, italy
I don't see the HypnoToad on this list...
Will, Athens, GA
I found a typo. Number one was supposed to say:
1: The Lord Zod
Kneel before Zod!
Charles Battersby, NYC, USA! USA!
I think Cthulhu would eat God's brain and then go back to sleep for timeless, colorless aeons.
Max Foe, Boulder,