Alien Autopsy
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The post-mortem examination of an extra-terrestrial being, oftentimes winding up on video tape.
Whenever any aliens find their way to Earth, you can be pretty sure that human governments and scientists will want to study their Bizarre Alien Biologies. Naturally, if the alien creature is still alive, X-Ray and CT Scanning technology can, at least, allow for a sizable chunk of that information to be gained "humanely." However, if the alien subject is deceased, then doctors are going to be setting up E.T. for an up close and personal look of his insides on the nearest operating table.
This trope is one of The Newest Ones in the Book, with its origins dating back to the mid-1990's when UFO Conspiracy Theorists began speculating that one such autopsy was performed in the wake of The Roswell Incident. The fact that the fifty-year anniversary of that event was approaching at the time, which led to increased coverage of the story in the media, surely helped spread the rumor, as did a video recording purporting to be the alleged autopsy in question, which is now largely regarded as a hoax. Regardless, the concept (including, on occasion, the aforementioned part about it usually being a hoax) has gone on to become as much a staple in Speculative Fiction and alien lore as Aliens Steal Cattle and Anal Probing are.
Related to They Would Cut You Up, which would be more focused on the fears an alien or unique character would have about being subjected to human study and vivisection.
Anime and Manga
- In one episode of Durarara!!, we see Celty watching a documentary on one of these in the background while Shinra speaks on the phone. Celty, as it turns out, is terrified of aliens.
- In an early episode of Daa! Daa! Daa!, Miyu tries to call her mother (working overseas for NASA) for advice on what to do with the suddenly-arrived alien baby, but is discouraged when her mother starts enthusiastically (and graphically) describing the alien autopsy video she's watching.
Comic Books
- Referenced in the Bec & Kawl story arc "Attack Of The Cones" from 2000 AD. The Greys who have abducted Pierre and suspect him of being a soldier of some sort contemplate killing him with the dialogue at the top of this page serving as their rationale.
Film
- Though not an actual autopsy, Independence Day sees Dr. Okun and his colleagues at Area 51 stripping off the bio-engineered suits of an unconscious alien pilot. The alien wakes up halfway through and has both Psychic Powers and control of the armor's tentacles. Three others are said to have been studied in such a manner after the Roswell crash; their remains are kept on display.
- Professor Kessler performs one on a dead Martian in Mars Attacks!!
- In Men in Black, the coroner, Laurel, ends up performing these inadvertently on two non-human corpses. It's suggested that she is one of the MIB's most frequently neuralized individuals for this very reason.
- MNU's laboratories from District 9 sure have the remains of a lot of dead Prawns lying around, although unlike other examples of this trope, they were likely all killed by MNU. If they're not lying dead and mutilated on an operating table, they're probably suspended on a meathook. In Wikus's case, MNU scientists opt to try and perform a live vivisection.
- The 2006 British Comedy Alien Autopsy centers around the creation of the original autopsy video that serves as the Trope Maker. The promotion of this film is what led the creator of the original autopsy video to come clean about the true authenticity of his video.
Live Action TV
- The Trope Maker, of course, is the footage of the alleged Alien Autopsy that occurred after the fateful event in Roswell, New Mexico which eventually became the FOX Network's 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact Or Fiction. The special gained a lot of media attention as well as a lot of criticism for not showing many of the autopsy's significant findings with a lot of the footage appearing extremely pixelated and/or with the examiner blocking the camera's view (or simply cutting away just as something interesting is happening). Over a decade later, the person who originally presented the footage admitted that video wasn't entirely authentic but a re-creation of another alien autopsy video that he claimed to have once seen with "a few frames" from that "original" video appearing in the one that was showcased in the TV special. As a result, most people tend take this admission as a sign that it was all a hoax.
- The X-Files:
- Played With this one as well as made a Shout-Out to, and a Take That against, the Trope Maker in the episode "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'." According to Agent Scully's interpretation of events, an autopsy which she performed on an alien and allowed to be video taped became commercially released as "Dead Alien: Truth Or Humbug." Embarrassed by it, Scully complains that the video ignores several of her findings, chief among them being that the dead alien was revealed to be a Man in A Rubber Suit.
- Another episode saw Mulder buy pirated alien autopsy footage. Scully comments that it looks hokier than the FOX autopsy. Only this time the footage turns out to be real.
- The Myth Arc episode "Gethsemane" sees Mulder observe an autopsy on something which everyone involved believes to be an alien. However, an employee of the Department of Defense, Michael Kritschgau, suggests to Mulder that it is not a real alien but only what "they" want Mulder to see.
- On News Radio, Joe, Beth, and Matthew act out a fake alien autopsy (with Matthew as the alien) in front of a 24-hour webcam for the radio's website.
- In the pilot of Stargate SG-1, the military has an autopsy performed on a Jaffa killed during the initial attack on the base.
- One sketch from The Whitest Kids U' Know sees a team of doctors at Area 51 beginning to perform one such autopsy on an alien corpse recovered from Roswell. Only it turns out to be a pinata shaped like a Grey Alien and filled with Reeses Pieces candies.
- Subverted on Tracker, where it appears that the government scientists are going to start dissecting Cole-but the light shining on him warms him enough to wake him up and allow him to hyperspeed out of there.
Magazines
- Nintendo Power's walkthrough guide for Body Harvest for the N64 includes one level where the Player Character has to rescue a captured Grey from Roswell. One picture caption for the level humorously tries to guilt trip readers into sympathizing with the alien and make them feel bad "for having laughed at that alien autopsy video".
Theater
- One of the highlights of the play The Aliens are Coming! The Aliens are Coming! is an alien autopsy.
Video Games
- In X-COM, the player's scientists can perform these. Aside from giving you points when it's finished, it sometimes gives you information about what that particular alien is vulnerable to. However, expect lots of inaccuracies (for example, Reapers are said to have flammable hides but incendiary damage is really buggy in the game).
- The UFO: After Blank series has this too. Notable in that unlike X-COM's aliens, transgenants are pure Nausea Fuel even without being cut up. On the other hand, the autopsy reports are always correct about what the transgenant is vulnerable to.
- The Area 51 stage of Perfect Dark has a level which involves rescuing an alien from vivisection, and another (bonus) level involves sabotaging the autopsy of an already dead alien.
Web Original
- One Something Awful front page column from an ongoing series from US Vice President Joe Biden writing about The X-Files mentions him meeting a fellow fan of the show who gives him a VHS copy of the hoax alien autopsy video, which Biden believes to be authentic.
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Joe Biden: I asked Barack about the video and he says it was an old fake, but I'm not so sure. That was a dead alien being autopsied, and I saw the evidence with my own eyes. |
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Western Animation
- In the Futurama episode "Roswell That Ends Well", Dr. Zoidberg turns out to be the Roswell alien that got cut open. However, he's still alive and conscious and does things, like re-eating the deviled egg they take out of his stomach and making remarks like, "Take, I've got four of them" when when his heart is removed.
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"Don't touch that! I need that to speak!" (Surgeon saws even faster) |
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- The Simpsons episode "Worst Episode Ever" sees Bart and Milhouse uncover a secret room in Comic Book Guy's shop which houses a secret stash of bootleg videos and other illegal video clips. Among the video titles mentioned are "Alien Autopsy" and "Illegal Alien Autopsy".