Monster Buster Club



""Hi! My name is Cathy. My grandpa and I came from planet Rhapsodia to power up an age-old secret society. With my new friends, our mission is to battle troublemaking aliens around Singletown. We are... the Monster Buster Club!""

- Cathy Smith, the opening sequence

Monster Buster Club is a French-Canadian co-produced computer-animated series produced by Marathon, the animation company where Totally Spies and Martin Mystery were created. It's about a foursome of twelve-year-olds (Sam, Chris, Danny, and Cathy) who, as members of an "age-old" secret society called the Monster Buster Club, protect the city of Singletown from troublemaking aliens.

The four kids are all surprisingly mature for their age; not only do they not seem to depend on their parents, they've been seen to hold part-time paying jobs in spite of being twelve years old. Their only adult supervision comes from Cathy's grandfather, a well-meaning alien disguised as an old man who oversees the Monster Buster Club's operations, although he's far from a reliable mentor, being much more interested in tending to his garden.

In each episode, the kids' everyday affairs are interrupted by one of the outrageous alien villains from their Rogues Gallery (often with a bizarre, harebrained scheme such as turning the entire planet Earth into an exclusive nightclub), whom the kid heroes must suit up and stop. Along the way, they must also deal with obnoxious millionaire Mark and their school principal, Ms. Rollins, who was an officer in the armed services and runs the school like a battleground.

Now has a Character sheet. Tropers are encouraged to contribute.

Monster Buster Club provides examples of:
"Sam: She didn't seem so sensitive to me... Hugo. (Cathy chuckles)"
 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The MBC network tunnels are large enough to park the MBC Pods. Those tunnels are said to be important tools for protecting humans and aliens on Earth.
 * Academy of Adventure: Singletown Middle School, at least for our heroes. Everyone else is unaware of the alien-battling that takes place there.
 * Acrofatic: Pizmo the Plump
 * Action Girl: Sam; Cathy
 * Action-Hogging Opening
 * A Friend in Need
 * Agent Scully: Mr. Fusster.
 * Alien Invasion: The Spoilers destroying Singletown in "Famous Four (Part One)".
 * Alien Snack: The Gumblians.
 * Aliens Speaking English
 * All Animals Are Dogs: Moppy looks like a cat, but behaves like a dog.
 * All Cavemen Were Neanderthals: Krog
 * All CGI Cartoon
 * All There in the Manual: The show's website.
 * Alpha Bitch: Wendy
 * Almost Kiss: Cathy and Jeremy in "The End Of Everything (Part One)".
 * Ambiguously Brown
 * Chris. Strangely, Chris' little brother John is a Dark-Skinned Redhead.
 * Sam to a lesser extent. Word of God confirms Sam's ethnicity: she's Italian and Armenian.
 * Amusing Alien: Casanova, Mr. Smith's favorite plant.
 * And Now You Must Marry Me
 * Krog to Principal Rollins in "Me Krog, You Rollins".
 * Mimi to Mr. Fusster in "Here Comes the Bride".
 * Anime Hair: Danny
 * Annoying Laugh: Principal Rollin's laughter.
 * Annoying Younger Sibling: John, Chris's kid brother.
 * Artificial Human: Danny and Sam's clones, D34 and S2.
 * Art Shift: Two-dimensional art, such as posters and pictures, are rendered in Animesque-style.
 * Asskicking Pose
 * Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Jellynerp, in "Cloudy with a Change of Jellynerps".
 * Baby Planet: Planet Nebulak, which looks like a bowling ball.
 * Badass Normal: Even without their weapons they can still kick alien butt. Except Chris.
 * Bad Santa: Dingle
 * Batman Gambit: Danny pulls off one of these in "World's Toughest Kid",
 * Battle Butler: Doudo
 * Because Destiny Says So: The Destiny Puzzle
 * Berserk Button
 * Never disturb Sam while she's playing video games.
 * In, Danny gets angry
 * Big Eater
 * Cathy, who has two stomachs
 * Baby alien Tina.
 * The Eater Aliens.
 * Big Fancy House: Mark's house.
 * Big Red Button: In "The-Forget-Me-Stone", some of the MBC supercomputer buttons can lead to pitfalls.
 * Bigger on the Inside
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Cathy, her Grandpa, and all other aliens.
 * Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Grampa Smith, in his true form, looks like a sort of blue-skinned fish-fly thing with four limbs. Cathy's true form, on the other hand, has six tentacle-like limbs, white skin with pink spots, three crests on her head, and a squirrel-like tail. This is assuming that Grandpa Smith and Cathy belong to the same species; Cathy may well be adopted, seeing that we never hear anything about her birth parents.
 * Blatant Lies
 * King Petalia XIII claims that he's the former ruler of seventeen planets, and twenty four moons, give or take an asteroid.
 * Glor Glenemore is a self-proclaimed thief in the galaxy, but he gets clumsy every time he's doing his mission.
 * Blob Monster: Addison's real form --.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: Mark
 * Blondes Are Evil
 * Wendy
 * Jenny in human form.
 * Body Snatcher: The Alcascythe to in "The Beast Within".
 * Brainless Beauty: Wendy
 * Brainwashed and Crazy
 * Danny, Wendy and Ralph in "Battle of the Bands".
 * The kids (except Danny, Chris and Cathy) in "Comic Book Heroes".
 * Mark, Ralph, and Roy in "Stupid Human Tricks".
 * Bug War: "The Bugaboos"
 * Bubble Gun: The Electrobubble.
 * By the Power of Grayskull: "MBC! Po-o-o-o-wer up!"
 * Catch Phrase
 * Cathy: "Zeewa!", "Ginchy!", and other Rhapsodian slang that she only understands.
 * MBC, especially Sam: "Let's bust them!"
 * Cardboard Prison: Wedge, the red Reptilian Morpher, and Agar do that.
 * Celebrity Star: Brain Adamapple
 * Cheaters Never Prosper: Proskar. Danny reveals that Proskar.
 * Chekhov's Skill: In "The Trouble with Troublemaking", Danny's able to solve Cathy's Rhapsodian Puzzle Stick but it took him around two days. Later on, Danny uses the puzzle stick to knock out Gluten.
 * Christmas Episode: "Secret Santa"
 * City of Adventure: Singletown
 * Class Trip: "Pipe Dreams". Who wants to go on a field trip in the city sewers?
 * Cliff Hanger: The last episode "Goodbye Earth" ends . Word of God states that Cathy and Mr. Smith will continue to stay on Earth as along as there are evil aliens in town, while the MBC continues to hunt alien criminals.
 * Clip Show
 * Closer to Earth: Sam
 * Closet Shuffle: The MBC does this in few episodes. They even use it to take a shortcut to the clubhouse once.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Cathy, big time.
 * Collector of the Strange
 * Gilbert and other Packrats.
 * Speedy's twin brother, Veedy kidnaps humans for his art gallery called "Galaxy's Strangest Creatures".
 * Colonel Badass: The Galactic Commander.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: The MBC suits are color-coded according to the member's V-coms. Cathy wears pink, Danny wears red, Sam wears yellow, Chris wears blue and Elton wears green. Does this remind you of Power Rangers?
 * Cool Car: The MBV and Carpedo.
 * Cool Shades: The function of MBC's visors are similar to A-Scanner.
 * Cool Ship: The MBC Pods.
 * Cool Old Guy: Mr. Smith
 * Cool Old Lady: Frieda, Mr. Smith's sister.
 * Crazy Prepared: The MBC always has gadgets to use.
 * Cultured Badass
 * Cathy is shown to be knowledgeable in Rhapsodian culture as well as some customs in other planets.
 * Sam, who enjoys painting and fine arts.
 * Cute Shotaro Boy: John
 * Cyborg: Fibeloids, like Swampdweller each have a metal left arm and an electronic right eye.
 * Dark-Skinned Redhead: John
 * Death Trap: Chris, Sam and Cathy in "Battle Of The Bands".
 * Detect Evil: The A-Scanner.
 * Distressed Dude: Elton, in "Mindreader".
 * Dogs Are Dumb: Matisse, Wendy's pet.
 * Dumb Blonde: Cathy
 * Easy Amnesia: "The Forget-Me-Stone"
 * Eccentric Mentor
 * Embarrassing First Name: Mr. Smith's first name is Hugo.

"Cathy: Grandpa! Sam: The flower! Danny: The rocket! Chris: The end of everything!"
 * "Everybody Laughs" Ending
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Galactic Commander. His name is actually Zubin.
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys: Moogie, Wedge's monkey assistant in "Disappearing Act".
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: In "Famous Four (Part One)", Danny spins his pod to impress his friends until.
 * Everythings Funkier With Disco: Nova, in "Dancing in the Dark".
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Monster Buster Club is about four kids hunting and busting alien enemies. However, aliens are not considered as monsters.
 * Expy: The characters in this show are so similar to those from Code Lyoko, one really must wonder whether this isn't a deliberate parody.
 * Sam -- Yumi
 * Danny -- Odd
 * Cathy -- Aelita
 * Chris -- Ulrich
 * John -- Hiroki
 * Mark -- Sissi
 * Jeremy -- Jérémie... oh, come on! Really?
 * He looks remarkably like Arnold Jackson, too.
 * Grandpa Smith looks like a very nice, yet scatterbrained, Dr. Wily.
 * Speedy and Veedy resemble XLR8 from Ben 10.
 * Eyecatch: A black background with the show's logo appearing on top.
 * Feminine Girls Can Cook: Cathy loves cooking.
 * Fictional Video Game
 * Blastraton 3000 in "Flower King".
 * Tough City's 3 Racer Game in "Aliens on the Fast Track".
 * First Name Ultimatum
 * In "The Whole Truth", Mr. Fusster calls Danny, "Daniel" twice.
 * Happens to Sam (Samantha) in few episodes.
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero / The Chick -- Cathy
 * The Lancer -- Sam
 * The Big Guy -- Danny
 * The Smart Guy -- Chris
 * Tagalong Kid -- John
 * Sixth Ranger -- Elton
 * Mentor Archetype -- Mr. Smith
 * Team Pet -- Casanova
 * Four Bad Band: The Monster Beaters. There were originally three, though John was tricked into joining them.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: Cathy and Danny are both sanguine, Sam is choleric, and Chris is melancholic. As for the other members, John is melancholic while Elton is phlegmatic.
 * Free-Range Children
 * Freudian Excuse: Wedge wants to get revenge on his rival Stanley Caminski and his successful career. Stanley says to MBC that Wedge's clients usually in the middle of the show.
 * Frogs and Toads: Herptilius, as well as his talking Green Tree Frog assistants.
 * Funny Afro: Nova
 * Gadget Watches: The MBC's V-Coms.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Chris, John, and Jeremy.
 * The Game Come to Life: The MBC is forced to play Proskar's board game called "Parchugal". Parchugal is also a popular game in planet Gunyatto.
 * Gang of Hats: Pincherbots, Armor Stickies, and Clipperbots.
 * Genki Girl: Cathy
 * Giant Spider: "Keep Your Eye On The Nebulak".
 * Grand Theft Me: In "Lizard's Tails", the Reptilian Morpher switches bodies with Danny.
 * Gone to the Future: In one of the episodes, Danny accidentally goes to the future and sees alien invaders destroying Singletown. Whats worse is that the MBC's secret is revealed through . Good thing that the MBC Set Right What Once Went Wrong by taking.
 * Gossipy Hens: Wendy and her friends.
 * Great Big Book of Everything: The MBC Alien Archives. They can be seen on MBC's supercomputer.
 * Green Eyed Red Head
 * Jeremy
 * Doudo in human form.
 * Green Eyes: Same as above, plus Danny and Wendy.
 * Grumpy Bear: Mr. Fusster, the Science teacher and Mr. Bitty, the store owner of "Happy Mart".
 * Halloween Episode: "Trick Or Treat...Or Alien?"
 * Hate Plague: In "Outcraker's Badland Galaxy Tour", the MBC argued with each other because of Outcraker's schemes. They don't realize that their teamwork is required in order to continue their authorization to the club.
 * Heel Realization
 * Speedy learns that stealing is illegal on Earth, unlike on his home planet where it is allowed.
 * The MBC manage to solve Gilbert's problem by giving him a Vacuvator to keep his comic collections without any mess.
 * Highly Visible Monster Buster
 * History Repeats: "Statue Of Limitations"
 * Homemade Inventions: Some of the MBC gears were created by Chris or John.
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: Moochie's terrible voice can cause damage to buildings.
 * Hologram: The Hololizer.
 * Horrible Camping Trip: In "Camping Out", Chris admits that he hates camping. Meanwhile, the rest of MBC members and Mr. Smith have trouble searching for a special flower and setting up camp.
 * Human Aliens
 * Humanoid Aliens
 * Humans Are Cthulhu: Chris, in "It's Not Good to be King"
 * Humongous Mecha
 * Gilbert's clown-like robot in "Comic Book Heroes".
 * In "Beware Of Frogs", Herptilius and his crew steal many electrical devices to built a giant robot.
 * His robot also appeared in "The End of Everything (Part Two)", but there's no operator inside.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: In the French dub, episodes are numbered "Rule" (not the actual MBC rule numbers that the main characters mentioned).
 * I Know Karate: Sam. Confirmed by the official website.
 * Improvised Weapon: Sam and Danny are the major offenders.
 * Innocent Aliens
 * Insectoid Aliens: General Louse and the Bugaboos.
 * Intentionally Awkward Title: In Disney XD, one of the show's episodes is called "Stupid Human Tricks" instead of "Silly Human Tricks".
 * International Coproduction: Co-produced between Jetix Europe and YTV.
 * Invisibility Cloak: Agar and Morag.
 * Iron Lady: Principal Rollins, unless Mr. Smith is around.
 * Jerk Jock / Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Danny
 * Junior High
 * Kid Heroes
 * Kissing Cousins:
 * Last-Name Basis: Kids in Singletown addresses the adults (except their parents) by their last names.
 * Least-Common Pizza Topping: In "Frogs In Space", the MBC hates anchovy-flavored pizza but Cathy eats it.
 * Legacy Character: The Monster Buster Club.
 * Leitmotif
 * Let's Split Up, Gang!: The MBC are looking for clues, obviously.
 * Licensed Game: There's one for the Nintendo DSi. However, you have to download that game via DSiWare.
 * Like Father, Like Son: Nosidda. His name spelled backwards is "Addison".
 * Limited Wardrobe
 * Love Makes You Crazy: Danny has a crush on Wendy, while Jeremy falls in love with Cathy. However, Wendy has no interest in Danny while Cathy thinks Jeremy as her friend only.
 * Madness Mantra: "We are not lollygagging! We are not lollygagging!"
 * Magic Dance: Cathy and Mr. Smith do this to activate their powers.
 * The Masquerade: Both aliens and MBC members keep their true identities secret.
 * May-December Romance: Mr. Smith is a thousand years older than Principal Rollins.
 * Meaningful Name: Mr. Smith's first name "Hugo" means "intelligent" in Spanish.
 * The Men in Black : The MBC, in practice
 * Messy Pig: The Dunderthunker
 * Miles Gloriosus:
 * Mind Over Matter: Cathy has displayed this power at times. She calls it an "old Rhapsodian energy trick".
 * Monster of the Week
 * Neat Freak: Mr. Bigshnel
 * Nerd
 * Jeremy (see: Expy)
 * Elton and Gilbert in their human form.
 * New Powers as the Plot Demands: What can't Cathy do!? Word of God says that she's capable of learning all kinds of extraordinary abilities.
 * Non-Action Guy: Elton and Jeremy.
 * Noodle Incident
 * Cathy mentioned that the MBC was created centuries ago. She didn't explained about the history of the club, though. Unfortunately, Word of God says that he doesn't know the details about the origin of MBC. All he knows is that Addison Single is the founder of Singletown and he wanted to create a place where aliens and human will live peacefully together.
 * Not to mention Cathy and her wacky experiences back in Rhapsodia.
 * Noodle People: Human beings, excluding fat people.
 * No Social Skills: Cathy is clueless about Earth and its inhabitants.
 * Odango Hair: Sam
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Frieda
 * Obviously Evil: In "The Trouble With Troublemaking" Gluten is supposed to be disguised as the detention monitor, but does nothing but look psychotic and shout things like "No talking!" repeatedly. After he drops the act and starts acting like his normal alien self he acts perfectly normal. He explains that he was under the impression that's how detention monitors normally act.
 * One-Winged Angel: Nosidda can
 * Opening Narration: "Hi! My name is Cathy..."
 * Our Founder: Addison Single, with a side order of That's No Statue.
 * Palette Swap: Alien villains from "The End Of Everything".
 * Parental Abandonment: The parents of MBC members are never revealed but they are mentioned in the show. So does other kids (except Ralph whose father appears in two episodes) in Singletown.
 * Word of God says that the kids' parents might be featured in the third season, if it ever happens.
 * Pardon My Klingon: Cathy, in spades, but not swearing so much as speaking in Gratuitous Rhapsodian.
 * People Zoo: Gluten wants that.
 * Plant Aliens: Mr. Smith's exotic plants. King Petalia XIII and other plants from his home planet are also included in this trope.
 * Portal Network: In "Clean Sweep", there's a hidden portal that leads to the garbage planet.
 * The Power of Friendship
 * Powers as Programs: In "Sticky Situation", Cathy's powers are transferred to Wendy.
 * The Prankster: Danny, Ralph and Roy.
 * Primal Fear: Sam is afraid of spiders.
 * Raised by Grandfather: Cathy
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Cathy, Mr. Smith and other Rhapsodians.
 * Real Name as an Alias: Is Cathy's name her nickname or her real name?
 * ...or what if her full name is too long?
 * Or it could be that her real name would just sound like gibberish to us.
 * Many fans, especially in fanfiction prefer to call her "Catherine".
 * Recruit Kids with Attitude
 * Revenge: One of the common reasons against the MBC. The following aliens are notable to this trope:
 * Gluten
 * Grandmother Octovore, plus her husband.
 * Where's Jenny?
 * Herptilius
 * Addison Single
 * Road Worker Morpher
 * Swampdweller
 * Wedge
 * Retired Badass: Mr. Smith
 * Reused Character Design: Character designs are recycled a lot. Disguised aliens that the MBC uncovered and caught sometimes reappear as normal human background characters.
 * Revenge Before Reason: Crunger and other Zugrabians.
 * The Rival
 * Mark to Danny.
 * Wedge to Stanley Caminski.
 * Rhymes on a Dime: Dingle
 * RPG Episode: "Sore Winner"
 * Robot Dog: Matisse's clones in "Dog Daze".
 * Rubber Man: Cathy
 * Rule Number One: "MBC Rule number one -- the Monster Buster Club must be kept secret". Breaking this rule will cause the MBC to disband and members will no longer access its technology.
 * Scars Are Forever: Danny has a little scar on his left eyebrow. It's not explained how he got it, though.
 * School Play: "Acting Out".
 * Science Fiction
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Mark
 * Secret Keeper: John
 * Secret Test of Character: The MBC qualifies this. According to the Word of God, the process in joining the club is very secret and the members will only ask you if you want to join one.
 * Secret Weapon:, in "The Destiny Puzzle".
 * Sensual Spandex: They even glow in the dark, too.
 * Shout-Out
 * In the episode "The Trouble with Troublemaking", Cathy is sent to Room 101 for her detention.
 * In "Princess Sam", Danny mentions "E.T. phone home!"
 * There is a certain episode where Cathy says "Jinkies!"
 * In "Galaxy's Strangest Creatures", there's a Matrix reference inside the school and warehouse.
 * There's another one in "New Recruits", where an alien enemy does the Bullet Time thing.
 * In "The Battle of the Bands", at the gym you'll find a poster at the left which resembles the head of the three main characters from Totally Spies
 * Sleep Cute: Danny and Cathy, in "The-Forget-Me-Stone".
 * The Smart Guys: Chris; Jeremy
 * Speech Impediment: Gilbert, but he speaks clearly in "Laugh Attack".
 * Speed Stripes
 * Spell My Name with a "The": Danny's own nickname, "The Danny".
 * Spider Sense: Cathy, in "The-Forget-Me-Stone".
 * Split-Screen Reaction
 * Spoiled Brat: Mark
 * Starfish Aliens
 * Status Quo Is God
 * Sticky Situation: When Gluten appears, he traps the MBC and other victims by throwing his blue ooze at them. Also the title of the episode.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: "Mindreader" and "Comic Book Heroes"
 * Superhero Episode: "Comic Book Heroes" featuring Cathy Lass.
 * Super Speed: Speedy and his evil twin brother Veedy.
 * Swallowed Whole: Chris in "World's Toughest Kid" and "Cloudy With A Chance of Jellynerps"
 * Swiss Army Weapon: Each MBC Blaster can change into a Vacuvator, Double X, Alien Flasher, Sonar Blaster, or Electrobubble.
 * Tabletop Games
 * In the episode "Sore Winner", Danny is forced to play a game called Demons & Daggers, a parody of Dungeons and Dragons.
 * In "Mindreader" and "Laugh Attack", Mark challenges his classmate to play a game called "Fishy Fish", a board game loosely based on Battleships.
 * "Take That!" Kiss
 * Cathy gives Jeremy a kiss on the cheek as a promise after saving her friends from Herptilius.
 * There's another episode where Wendy kisses Danny on his cheek.
 * Talking to Plants: Mr. Smith does this sometimes.
 * Telepathic Spacemen: Elton, Cathy's cousin. He's considered as an annoying person to the MBC
 * Terrible Trio: Mark, Ralph and Roy.
 * They Fight Crime
 * They Walk Among Us
 * Those Two Guys: Ralph and Roy.
 * The Three Faces of Eve: Cathy (child), Sam (mother), and Wendy (seductress).
 * Tiny Guy, Huge Girl
 * Moochie is shorter than his wife Frieda.
 * Mr. Fusster and Mimi.
 * Title Drop
 * "World's Toughest Kid"
 * "Battle of the Bands"
 * "The End of Everything (Part Two)"


 * "Galaxy's Strangest Creatures"
 * Toilet Humour: In "Wrong Number", the Galactic Commander says "poopcorn" instead of popcorn.
 * Tomboyish Name: Sam
 * Tradesnark: Herptilius' Amphimabot. Intergalactic patent pending.
 * Transformation Sequence: Changing from regular clothes to MBC suits.
 * Tron Lines: The kids' fluorescent costumes give off this effect in the dark.
 * Trust Me, I'm an X: In "It's Not Good to Be King", Principal Rollins attempts to cure Cathy's cold. What's worse is that the school doesn't have at least one nurse (Principal Rollins fired her for being "too soft").
 * Two Girls to a Team
 * Two-Teacher School: Principal Rollins and Mr. Fusster
 * Uncanny Family Resemblance: Cathy, Elton, and young Frieda's hair styles look similar.
 * Universal Driver's License: Whether the MBC rides on their own pods, MBV, or a space ship, it's quite a surprise they get used to them.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Nossida and Rocky Mountain.
 * The Virus: . The episode.
 * Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World
 * Weaksauce Weakness
 * General Louse is afraid of bug sprays and swatters.
 * Addison has hated pigeon poop ever since he became a statue.
 * The Alcascythes are weak against flowers.
 * The Reptilian Morpher (from "Lizard Tails") and the Gumblian's main weakness is cold temperature.
 * Weapons That Suck: The kids trap aliens with Vacuvators.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Addison wants to create a place where humans and aliens will live peacefully together, but he uses his real form to scare humans and destroy the MBC.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Elton is never seen after his second appearance in first season, but he was mentioned by Cathy in "Famous Four (Part Two)".
 * Where the Heck Is Singletown?: Many fans notice that the location of Singletown is based somewhere on France or North America, but Word of God says Singletown is a setting where it can be anywhere.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: "The End of Everything" and "Famous Four".
 * Who You Gonna Call?: See the picture above.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Spiders?: Sam
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: The MBC members are twelve years old. Cathy's a lot older, but still physically (and mentally) a kid.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Chris (but it may be intended as black)
 * Your Costume Needs Work: Chris, in "Trick or Treat... or Alien?".