7,848
edits
Absent Aliens: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
m (Mass update links) |
HLIAA14YOG (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
| (16 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 2:
{{quote|''"There are the stars -- doing their old, old crisscross journeys in the sky. Scholars haven't settled the matter yet, but they seem to think there are no living beings up there. Just chalk...or fire. Only this one is straining away, straining away all the time to make something of itself."''|'''[[Interactive Narrator|The Stage Manager]]''', ''[[Our Town]]''}}
Mankind has [[Sci
'''Done for a variety of reasons:'''
Line 20:
Compare [[Invisible Aliens]], in which aliens exist but are being hidden or removed by [[Applied Phlebotinum]].
Thus far true in [[Real Life]], for a more detailed explanation, read about [
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[
* The "aliens" in ''[[Crest of the Stars]]'', known as the Abh, are really genetically-engineered humans.
* ''[[
* ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]'' also avoids aliens, focusing mostly on human-to-human interaction and history.
* There might not be any aliens in [[Vandread]], but that doesn't stop [[The Chick|Dita]] from trying to find them. It's also played with; the people of [[Lady Land|Ma-Ger]] and [[No
* One of the things which initially made ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' stand out from the pack of sci-fi mech series of its day was the total lack of space aliens. This was primarily done because the writers felt that having alien villains would make them too hard to relate to; they wanted the show's central conflict to be one in which both factions had understandable motives. Other [[Gundam]] series have carried on this tradition, with all the major conflicts being between humans. ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam
** The 00 movie reverses this trend, introducing liquid metal [[Attack Drone|funnel / bit]] [[Starfish Aliens|shaped aliens]] as the antagonists.
** Lampshaded in ''[[Gundam AGE]]'', {{spoiler|with the UE calling humans "Earthlings." However, contrary to popular rumors from the [[Fan Dumb]], the UE are actually citizens of Veigan, a human nation formed from colonies in Mars when the Earth Federation left them for dead after a disease outbreak.}}
Line 36:
== Film ==
* ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'': The Krell, the ancient race that once inhabited the planet, have been extinct for millennia. Only their technology remains.
* ''[[Godzilla|The Godzilla Heisei Films]]'': No alien races appear in any of the Heisei era films. King Ghidorah's origin is retconned to involve [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|Genetic Engineering]] and [[Time Travel]]. Even [[Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla|SpaceGodzilla]] is made from a mix of Godzilla's DNA and non-living space crystals.
== Literature ==
* Inverted in ''The [[Alien Chronicles]]'': it's the humans who are absent.
* The classic prose example is [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Foundation]]'' series. There were no aliens in it because of [[Real Life Writes the Plot|a meta-reason]]: ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'' editor [[John W. Campbell]] wanted stories with [[Humanity Is Superior|human supremacy over aliens]] and Asimov decided to bypass this demand by not having aliens in the series at all.
** Additionally explained in Asimov's oft-forgotten early novel, ''[[
** However, ''Foundation and Earth'', the last ''Foundation'' novel which was written years later (and not long before Asimov's death in 1992), brings up the rather good question of, regardless of their apparent absence here, whether or not species from galaxies ''other'' than the Milky Way might perhaps not only exist, but be a potential threat if humanity doesn't band together enough - which is the reason, albeit only subconsciously realized, that the protagonist chose the "Gaia"-style path for humanity. Further, ''Foundation and Earth'' also brings up the point that genetically engineered humans who have been so radically changed from baseline humanity could sufficiently meet the requirements of being called "aliens" i.e. the Solarians.
** In the ''Second Foundation'' Trilogy (written by Bear, Benford, and Brin), it's tangentially revealed that Asimovian robots (designed to protect humans, and ''only'' humans) are responsible for the situation, having been required by their programming to carry out ''innumerable genocides'', since the aliens might have been a threat.
* [[Stephen Baxter]]'s ''Manifold'' series of (mostly) [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness|so-hard-it-hurts]] [[Science Fiction]] revolves around the Fermi Paradox, with each ([[Alternate Continuity]]) book providing a different resolution. In ''[[
* Lois McMaster Bujold's ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]'' is a roughly 30th-century Milky Way with no sentient aliens to speak of (though there are alien plants and animals); however, after nine or ten centuries of diaspora, many of which involved various genetic engineering concepts, humanity has undergone speciation to the point that "the aliens [are] us."
* Similarly, the ''[[
* In Frank Herbert's ''[[Dune]]'' series alien plants and animals exist (including the iconic [[Starfish Aliens|sandworms]]), but nothing sentient. Rather, the closest to "aliens" are [[Human Subspecies|genetically modified humans and animals]]. These creatures take a variety of shapes, some almost unrecognizable.
* The ''[[
* Author [[David Brin]] has argued that the galaxy is so large, and the history of the galaxy is so long, that its actually ''likely'' that only one sentient species arises in the galaxy at a time. They live for a few million years, then die out, and as they are dying out, the next species is arising on some far-distant planet. Brin's other treatments of this idea range from exultant (Crystal Spheres) to mild fearsome (Lungfish).
* Robert J Sawyer's ''[[Quintaglio Ascension]]'' trilogy : Although there are several planets with intelligent life, there is no life in the universe that can't have its origin traced back to Earth - at least not in this iteration of reality.
* Technically averted, but played straight in spirit within ''[[
* ''Sort of'' happens in K. A. Applegate's ''[[Remnants]]'' series: there ''are'' aliens, the [[Starfish Aliens|Shipwrights]], and three other species, at least two of which the Shipwrights created. However, these three species are apparently exterminated by {{spoiler|the Troika}}, and it is implied the Shipwrights may be dying too. The penultimate book involves {{spoiler|Tate, Amelia and Yago}} spending the rest of their lives looking for some other form of life but never finding anything more than bugs.
* Just about everything in Dan Simmons' ''[[Hyperion]]'' is more or less a result of human works. Slightly averted as the books sometimes mention aliens, even intelligent ones, although all of those have been driven to extinction or were simply wiped out by humanity. {{spoiler|More aversion in the sequel-series ''Endymion'' as the main character encounters a few of the said-to-be-extinct intelligent species multiple times, on unknown planets and on a living [[Dyson Sphere]] constructed by 'alien' humans.}}
* Played straight initially, then subverted with a vengeance, in ''[[The Stainless Steel Rat]]'' series. Aliens are completely absent throughout the galaxy up until one book where every kind of grotesque alien monster pops up out of the woodwork. They were just hiding all that time. Seriously.
** Played with in ''The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues'', where Slippery Jim Di Griz, the titular Stainless Steel Rat, is
* Mildly averted in David Drake's ''[[RCN
* In ''[[Embedded]]'', humanity has colonized hundreds of worlds but found no sign of intelligent alien life anywhere. {{spoiler|Until they get to Eighty-Six....}}
* Zig-zagged in ''[[The Golden Oecumene
* Played straight in [[Stanislaw Lem|Lem's]] ''[[
* Subverted a lot in the ''[[Revelation Space]]'' series by [[Alastair Reynolds]]. There is [[Starfish Aliens|various odd]] alien fauna and flora, but there are ''no living'' alien races comparable in intelligence to humans. However, human archaeologists continue to find the remains of several highly advanced civilizations all the time. More worrying is the fact that they all seemingly became extinct shortly after they discovered interstellar flight and started exploring deeper space. There turns out to be [[Foreshadowing|a reason]] for that - and the author uses it to cleverly explain why the Fermi paradox seems to be in effect in the first place. The Fermi paradox itself is the driving mystery behind the events of the series.
* The ''[[In Death]]'' series. There is space travel in Robbs' 21st century, but it's mostly background, and there's no mention of non-human life. (Aside from the [[Complete Monster|complete monsters]] Eve chases)
* ''[[
* There are many planets in [[The Diving Universe]], but they're all populated by humans. Not even the nomadic Fleet, in all its travel across known space, ever found an alien intelligence.
* In the ''[[Matador Series]]'' humanity has colonized most of the galaxy's [[All Planets Are Earthlike|Earthlike planets]] and found nothing sapient.
Line 68:
== Live-Action TV ==
*
** But let's be clear here: Humans {{spoiler|evolved independently on at least two different planets}}.
** Also, there is absolutely some kind of [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|intelligent god-like being]] served by messengers.
* ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'', ostensibly because humans make more interesting foils for humans. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when a "genuine alien" at a sideshow in one episode turns out to be a mutant cow fetus in a jar, with some creepy lighting thrown in for good measure. [[Word of God]] confirms the nonexistence of aliens in this particular [[The Verse|universe]]. The fact it is set in a single star system is also a factor.
{{quote|
'''Kaylee:''' Yep. One of them's a doctor. }}
* The ''[[
== Tabletop Games ==
* The ''[[
* ''Attack Vector: Tactical'' features only humans fighting other humans. These humans have only explored and colonized a relatively local part of interstellar space, though.
== Video Games ==
* When ''[[Anarchy Online]]'' was first released, humanity was thought to be it for intelligent life in the galaxy, though the [[All There in the Manual|backstory novel]] ''Prophet Without Honour'' did include at least one being that was not at all human. The ''Shadowlands'' expansion introduces the
** ...[[Zig
* In the ''[[Killzone]]'' games, it's 2360, humans have colonized dozens of worlds, but haven't found any alien lifeforms whatsoever. The conflict itself is between humans and altered humans.
* This trope is played to the letter (to great effect) in ''[[Starlancer]]'', which is ostensibly a retelling of World War II [[In Space]].
** And then averted in ''[[Freelancer]]'', the spiritual sequel.
* ''[[
* ''[[Imperium Nova]]'' has this by default, but some players choose to role-play their houses as aliens and, in one case, a game administrator orchestrated an alien invasion of a galaxy.
* In ''[[Infinity the Quest For Earth]]'', there are several hundred worlds grouped in clusters in several parts of the galaxy, and no other races have appeared; according to the developers, this is mostly to avoid what they think is the overused idea of a plethora of races.
* In ''[[Dead Space (
* ''[[Elite]] 2: Frontier'' has flying saucers in secret military bases, but the game play plays this trope perfectly straight because the only inhabitants of the whole galaxy are humans. However, the sequel (''Frontier: First Encounters'')) averts this and reintroduces the Thargoids (they first appeared in the original, elite, as a random encounter) , an actual alien race which inhabits the systems of Polaris, Pleione and Miackce. The player's experiences with the Thargoids are the "first encounters" referred in the subtitle.
* In some ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' timelines, all the [[Human Aliens]] are actually descendants of a lost civilization from Earth. Even the Einsts have some connection to Earth, though they mostly hang out in a parallel universe.
* In the MMO ''[[
* "[[Halo]]" For the first 200 or so years of human space colonization, humans had no contact when aliens. And when they do [[It Got Worse]]
* In ''[[Total Annihilation]]'', the Galaxy has already been thoroughly explored and colonized by humanity thousands of years ago, and no hints of intelligent alien life are mentioned in the backstory (though there are alien plants on some of the planets battles are fought on). Both Core and Arm factions are derived from Earth human stock.
* ''[[Outpost 2]]'' is also an Absent Aliens setting, with only humans that are trying to survive after earth is rendered unlivable by meteorites. The conflict comes between two factions fighting over the scant resources and trying to win an evacuation race from New Terra being destroyed by terraforming drones made by one of the factions.
* ''[[Section 8 (video game)]]: Prejudice'' presents a plausible explanation for the complete absence of any alien lifeforms in the galaxy, despite humanity having spread out and colonized a huge chunk of it. {{spoiler|long before the game, the Earth government secretly sent out an advance wave of supersoldiers whose mission was to move from planet to planet genociding all potential competing lifeforms in order to pave the way for human colonization of the galaxy. [[The Extremist Was Right|this turned out to work.]]}}
** {{spoiler|However, after the colonisation was complete, the government attempted to wipe them out using a huge army of conventional special forces. The special forces are implied to have been [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomped]] by the supersoldiers, who then disappeared for years. Then they came back with an army of rebels and attempted to take revenge by committing genocide ''against the humans'', but were ultimately defeated by the government forces, including the player.}}
==
* In ''[[
* [[Far Out There]] establishes this [https://web.archive.org/web/20130913133141/http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1026516/page-1-it-begins/ right at the start,] though there are plenty of genetically manipulated humans who might as well be aliens.
* ''[[Pictures for Sad Children]]'' does this while [https://web.archive.org/web/20190821122220/http://www.
* As of yet, ''[[Crimson Dark]]''.
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' has a [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-01-20 reference to] Fermi Paradox. In this version, there are many aliens, but almost all are relatively ''young'' civilizations. Exceptions are F'Sherl-Ganni (still around 6 millions of years after fighting a Galaxy wide war, and became behind-the-scene manipulative entity) and Bradicor (who nearly wiped out themselves and became an immortal relict before they met others), but they aren't too old, compared to Oafa, who gone extinct. As [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-02-05 Petey said]:
{{quote|Look around! If it's this easy to live forever, where are all the grown-ups? }}
** And before him, the [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-01-10 ancient Oafa] noticed the extremely worrisome pattern. They didn't quite make it through the next "extinction boundary", but weren't quite gone either.
** Later the "All-Star", who managed to survive through several such events, if existence as [[Brain Uploading|minds migrated to new hardware]] and living mostly in [[Virtual Reality]] while hiding from the rest of the Universe counts as "survival". And they know exactly how this ends every time.
** Eventually, the current galactic civilisation [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-05-04 found the answer] (spoiler, obviously).
== Web Original ==
* ''[[Associated Space]]'', at least so far.
* [[Nexus Gate]]
== Western Animation ==
* The ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
| |||