Fictional aliens

Creating aliens
Favorite aliens
Alien romances?
Links

Creating aliens

For artists and writers, it is difficult to envision what alien life might be like. Ultimately, one can only use Earth life as a guide and try to create something unique but still biologically plausible.

There is some conflict between trying to create truly alien-looking aliens, and ones which are merely humans with bizarre heads (Rubber Forehead Aliens). Examples of the former can be seen in the DeviantART galleries of Nemo Ramjet and Abiogenisis; examples of the latter are many of the Star Wars- and Star Trek-style aliens. We can relate more easily to fictional humanoid aliens (such as the Na’vi in Avatar), but it is unlikely a real alien will resemble us exactly.

The “Biology in Science Fiction” blog has an entry on “How alien should science fiction aliens be?”, saying that most aliens in science fiction are not “alien” enough, in that they tend to have some human characteristics and can communicate more-or-less easily with humans.

I agree that when (or if) we meet another intelligent life form, it is unlikely to be bipedal, let alone humanoid. The problem is incorporating such an alien alien (for want of a better term) into an entertaining story.

I don’t see any reason why an alien could not be a humanoid biped – or a vertebrate at least – and if it has evolved on an Earth-like planet, they would have some traits that we could relate to and communicate with. The laws of physics, biology and chemistry are the same all over our Universe, so there are only so many ways life can evolve.

One view of aliens portrayed in science fiction – and a view that irritates me in the extreme – is that they are there merely as metaphors to explore the “human condition”:

… doesn’t this kind of ignore that the main point of aliens in an awful lot of science fiction isn’t to portray aliens at all, but rather to isolate and examine some specific parts of the human condition? Sure, some aliens are really just supposed to be alien, but I think that a significant percentage – quite possibly the majority – are intended to help us look at some facet of human existence in a new way by pulling it out of our own melange of traits and making it more visible for what it is, or what the author believes it to be.

A similar opinion from “The Best Aliens in Science Fiction”:

The best aliens for me have been those that served to illuminate our history and our very humanity, whether they played the archetype of simple antagonist or as misunderstood “commentator” on human prejudice, insecurities, greed, heroism, compassion and honor. I can think of several aliens who have provided excellent examples of this: the Martians in Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, the aliens in Alien, and the “prawns” of Peter Jackson’s District 9. Each provided a platform for the exploration and exposition of human’s strengths and weaknesses. How we handle “the other” is a very compelling and illuminating topic. One worth revisiting. Author Brian Ott notes, “it is a profound mistake to interpret the genre [of science fiction] literally.” Science fiction is both “the great modern literature of metaphor” and “pre-eminently the modern literature not of physics but of metaphysics,” says Peter Nicholls, Australian scholar and critic. Ott reminds us that it is not what the aliens are but what they represent that matters.

This is seriously overthinking the issue – sometimes an alien is just an alien! Why can’t science-fiction aliens just be created for their own sake?

Favorite aliens

Some aliens that appeal to me from various media. These are all roughly humanoid, designed to be alien, but not too alien, so the intended audience can still relate to them – or perhaps because of unconscious humanocentric bias on the part of their creators. These types of humanoid fictional aliens can be described as “human, but better” – one example being the Na’vi. They are stronger, faster, idealized versions of humans – perhaps how we might improve and reshape ourselves should genetic engineering become viable. (The equivalent in fantasy fiction are creatures such as elves.) Humans are perhaps unusual among Earth creatures in that we have no natural weapons: no claws but useless fingernails, no armor, no sharp teeth. Our skin is covered with sparse hair rather than a protective fur coat. Our senses are relatively weak due to our “domestication” through civilization. Thus, creating such aliens could be regarded as trying to compensate for our frailties.

Na’vi

The Na’vi are humanoid aliens of James Cameron’s hugely successful Avatar movie. They are essentially idealized humanoid cat-people, with tall, lean physiques – “the embodiment of human wish fulfillment: taller, more slender, more muscular, and more athletically gifted than any human being could be,” as noted in The Making of Avatar. They were designed for audience appeal, so they are not as alien as they otherwise might be. The worldbuilding in creating the movie was extensive, though, with a lot of thought behind the science and alien lifeforms.

Design notes: Pioneering digital motion-capture technology ensured that the Na’vi looked very realistic with an appearance that would be impossible to replicate with the more usual method of a human in prosthetic makeup and body suit. Some early designs had them appearing more alien, but, as noted, they – and Neytiri especially – needed to appeal to the audience, so a more humanoid form was selected (essentially James Cameron’s original design).

Predator

The Predators are an alien species who like going to planets to hunt the inhabitants there, including humans. Featured in five movies to date: Predator, Predator 2, Predators, Alien vs. Predator and AVP: Requiem. A Predator is humanoid in form, with an impressive physique, but a face only his mother could love :-). He has quite a few female fans though – see the Alien romances section below as to my opinion on why this is.

Design notes: the face is quite alien, but the body is essentially human – not surprising as the Predator is played by a man in an uncomfortable rubber body suit. I do notice that this has the effect of hampering movement in some scenes – they seemed a bit clumsy when fighting or grasping objects – and they are limited to human movements.

Appeal factors: warrior race.

Sangheili (Elites)

The Sangheili (“Elites”, as named by humans) are part of the Covenant, the aliens threatening humanity in the Halo PC/X-Box video game. (I don’t play video games so I have never played Halo; I just visit websites, and enjoy looking at the graphics and artwork. The immature semi-literate halfwit males who proliferate on gaming forums don’t make me any more favorably inclined toward gaming – or humanity for that matter.)

As with the Predator, the Sangheili are a warrior race – obsessively so – thus they naturally appeal to me (the Sangheili facial design was influenced by the Predator’s). They could not be described as good-looking, however! They do have female fans for the same reasons as the Predator does.

Design notes: Though bipedal, they are a little less humanoid than the Na’vi and Predator, with digitigrade legs and a turtle-like head with a long neck. Their mouth design – a top jaw with four lower mandibles that split open laterally – is biologically implausible, though. They have no bottom jaw so they would have a lot of trouble eating – or talking, for that matter.

Appeal factors: warrior race, armor looks cool.

Turians

The Turians are aliens from the Mass Effect video game universe. They are humanoid but have avian, feline and reptilian influences in their design. Once you get used to their appearance they are oddly handsome. They have a lot of female fans.

Design notes: The Turians are, like the Sangheili, less obviously human in appearance than the Na’vi and Predator. They are one of the better-designed aliens.

Appeal factors: appearance, culture, warrior race.

Alien romances?

The prospect of romantic involvement with aliens is a topic explored in some science fiction, and other media such as video games (Mass Effect being one), not to mention certain sections of the Internet. The aliens in question tend to be (conveniently) more-or-less humanoid in appearance so romantic involvement is not such an outlandish idea as it might initially seem. In science-fiction-themed romance novels, the aliens are basically human with some exotic elements such as oddly-colored eyes (e.g. red or yellow). At the most they might be anthropomorphic – humanoid with animal features (such as “cat-people”; the Na’vi from Avatar being an example of this). The more “alien” aliens can be found in straight science fiction and games – some are described in the previous section.

A simple theory for why alien romances are a popular theme is the appeal of the exotic. One reviewer of The White Masai (an autobiography of a German woman who runs off to Africa and marries a Masai warrior) says:

What women will do for love, when the object of their desires is a warrior with beautiful hair. To the other reviewers who don’t understand why Corinne would ditch everything to live primitively in the Kenyan bush, her actions (comparable to Sarah Lloyd’s) appear to be based on an atavistic desire by modern women to find traditionally masculine men, with beautiful chiseled bodies, tremendous pride, weapons (swords, kris, spears) worn at the waist … as found among Masai, Samburu, Sikh and other men in the developing world.

Anthropologist April Gorry (who studied women who entered affairs with men in Belize) did a marvelous job in her doctoral thesis noting that modern women love competent, strong men, rather than the drones and eunuchs found in the Western workplace. That BMW cannot substitute for the ease with which men in traditional societies display mastery of their environment, from climbing a coconut tree and anchoring a boat to guiding female trekkers up Himalayan peaks. Corinne Hoffman’s tale is only the most extreme variation of a phenomenon involving perhaps 25,000 women per year.

The “Predator” alien previously mentioned, for example, has quite a few female fans (and fantasies …) despite not being conventionally handsome! He is a sort of idealization of the ultra-masculine male hunter, which a lot of women still instinctively find appealing (though they might be too embarrassed or “politically correct” to admit to it!). Although alien rather than from another “exotic” human culture, he does validate the reviewer’s observation.

Men have their fantasy aliens too – these can mostly (and sarcastically) be summed up in two words: female aliens with boobs. Neytiri in Avatar is an example of such “fan service” – James Cameron bluntly stated in a Playboy interview: “Right from the beginning I said, ‘She’s got to have tits’, even though that makes no sense because her race, the Na’vi, aren’t placental mammals.” The lengthy forum threads devoted to her shows that JC achieved his aim here!

In reality, romances with aliens are probably unlikely! Aliens might not be physically compatible, might not have the same sexuality as humans (they could have a mating season, for example, and be uninterested outside of this) and both humans and aliens might find each other unappealing. I could imagine some sort of platonic friendship if the two species could communicate, but nothing more than that. I therefore tend to get irritated at the fevered imaginings of fangirls, such as in this Mass Effect forum thread devoted to a Turian character, Garrus. (Situations like this are not likely to happen, sorry! And there’s a lot more explicit on that site …)