Benevolent Alien Invasion: Difference between revisions

 

A subversion of [[Alien Invasion]] and [[Aliens Are Bastards]]. Often, the "invaders" are a [[Superior Species]]. Compare [[Vichy Earth]].

 

* ''[[Crest of the Stars]]''. While the Abh are annexing planets, they are generally depicted as positive. They will even accept some of their subjects into their rank of nobles. It doesn't help that the Abh are a space elves [[Mary Sue]] race (including the ears).

* ''[[Blue Drop]]'' deconstructs this trope hard to the point of [[Nightmare Fuel]]. Basically, the Arume are a race of [[Discount Lesbians|lesbian aliens]] that invaded and conquered our Earth at some point in the past, and ever since, the Earth has been relatively free of conflicts. Not to mention bringing with them extremely useful nanomachines. But whoo boy, ain't it a [[Crap Saccharine World]] ''at best''...

* [[Gintama]] is arguably an example of this trope, the invading aliens, after a period of bloody war that it's generally agreed humanity lost, mellowed out and managed to time skip the entire world forward a few centuries (Japan around the 19th century there are now machines, skyscrapers, and [[Shonen Jump]] manga, which the ex-samurai protagonist loves to read)

== Film ==

* ''[[Plan 9 from Outer Space]]'' has aliens invade Earth to save the Universe... {{spoiler|and fail}}.

* The movie ''V'' subverts this. The aliens appear to be totally benevolent, and indeed they appear this way to most everyone on Earth. But their intentions turn out not to be.

 

 

== Literature ==

* The plot of ''Childhood's End'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke]].

*** According to the Overlords themselves, if they hadn't interfered with humanity, it would have become {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination|a destructive hive-mind akin to a cosmic cancer]]. With their aid the children of humanity can become one with a benign cosmic hive-mind instead.}}

**** The flip side is that it is beneficial to the universe at large, but not humanity. {{spoiler|Because humanity is 'eaten' by the Overmind and only exists as knowledge within the Overmind.}}

* The ''Tuf Voyaging'' by [[George R. R. Martin]] is a series of short stories where a benevolent "advanced" human was helping an overpopulated normal human world. First he helped them grow more food using brilliant genetic engineering, then helped them clean up some pollution using the same tech. When he came back in 5 years, and saw that things were even more overpopulated and polluted, he decided to release a bug that sterilized all the humans on that planet. That is, only about 1 in a 100 people could have children. Given that it's written by no other than George R.R. Martin of [[A Song of Ice and Fire]] fame, there's rather more than is seems from a first glance.

** Tuf travels the galaxy, offering his services to worlds with environmental problems, and sometimes imposing solutions of his own. Some of the races he "helps" are not pleased with his solutions, although an objective observer would be inclined to agree with him that he did right.

* Donald R. Benson's novel ''[[And Having Writ]]...'' involves a group of aliens who accidentally crash-land on Earth in 1908, and spend the next few decades reluctantly influencing the development of human technology to the point where it can build them a new spaceship. At the end of the novel they regret all the changes their tampering has forced on human society, the irony being that the [[Alternate History]] they have created is far better than the one which actually happened.

** They were trying to start World War I early, in a bid to get the - as they saw it - inevitable violence over with quickly and with relatively minimal loss of life. They were considerably surprised when, after carefully explaining this to the leaders who would be involved and asking them to hurry it up, the leaders avoided it instead.

* Kate Elliot's ''[[Jaran Series]]'' involves the vast Chapalii Empire, who simply absorb the Earth and humans into their Empire without effort or aggression. Even though they've received many technological benefits from being ruled by the Chapalii and very little in the way of drawbacks, the humans still rebel.

** Part of the problem is that the "souls," as they call themselves, never even conceived that their hosts may be unwilling, or that it would be wrong to take away that freedom. (Many of the other species they have gotten involved in were nonsentient or borderline intelligent, similar to dolphins or apes here on Earth.) When the main (soul) character runs into a truly altruistic human, she realizes the aliens were wrong.

*** The aliens are definitely well-intentioned. The only other race that was actually intelligent enough to possibly mind honestly didn't care, and in fact welcomed them. In fact, they were only wrong once before, out of all the other planets they tried.

* ''The Monitors'' by [[Keith Laumer]] has benevolent aliens ruling the Earth, "opposed" by various misfit rebels.

* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s short story, "A Study In Emerald", is set in 1881, London, on an alternate timeline in which all the world leaders are [[Eldritch Abomination|Great Old Ones]], risen from R'lyeh and sundry other resting places some centuries previously. Most everybody appreciates this, because when your royalty gain their sustenance by driving people mad, you don't want to be the next meal, but there are a few "Restorationists" who think humanity should be in charge of its own destiny, a pair of whom the Holmes-and-Watson-esque protagonists spend the story hunting. At the very end, the narrator mentions that he heard one of the men they were chasing on that case was named {{spoiler|James (or maybe John) Watson}}, and signs the entry {{spoiler|"S____ M____", implying that he is Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's sidekick}}.

* Inverted in Donald Moffitt's ''[[The Genesis Quest]]'', where the benevolent aliens, rather than being invaders, find humans (or instructions on how to make them) coming to them, instead. The story still follows the usual pattern though, as even with the Nar doing their best to provide for all human needs, some humans still [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|violently rebel]].

* ''[[The Culture]]'', from [[Iain Banks|Iain M. Banks']] series of novels, does not generally invade other civilizations, but does spend half its time gallivanting through the cosmos looking for species to help out and improve (if they fall within certain criteria) through the agency of Contact. To an extent, 'helping' other species is the means by which the Culture justifies its own existence.

*** True. That's just acknowledging the element of chance, though; they succeed far more often than they fail. The Culture apparently has the statistics to back it up, and lest you think it's propaganda, even those opposed to intervention have never challenged their numerical basis. Even the books, which to avoid the mundane are naturally interested in exceptions to the rule, show them succeeding far more often than not.

* ''[[Lilith's Brood|Liliths Brood]]'' by Octavia Butler (also known as the ''Xenogenesis'' trilogy) is about a race of tri-gendered aliens who kidnap the scattered survivors of a [[The End of the World as We Know It|global nuclear war]] in order to mate with them and repopulate the ruined Earth with the resulting hybrid offspring. [[Squick]]y though this may be, the author's point is that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]] and the only way to fix it is with a [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong]].

** Worth mentioning that in the original Ender's Game, we learn that the bugger invasion {{spoiler|was a mistake. The buggers mistook humans for <s> wild animals</s> [[Blue and Orange Morality|drones in a hive mind like their own, the losing of some being akin to our losing a few skin cells or a hangnail while shaking hands]], and were really very sorry about killing them. Unfortunately, [[Starfish Aliens|they]] [[Starfish Language|got their apology across]] too late.}}

* An interesting example can be found in [[Ray Bradbury]] 's short story ''Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed''. In it a group of humans flee war-torn Earth to colonize a mysteriously terraformed and abandoned Mars. After a while the idyllic climate of the planet changes the way they act and think to such an extent they forget they knew anything else. When a second expedition lands, the Earthlings assume- and aren't corrected- that the colonists ''are'' Martians. Effectively, [[Inverted Trope|the planet benevolently invades them]].

* The unseen 'angels' in ''Deathscent'' by [[Robin Jarvis]]... possibly. The human characters clearly perceive them this way, but what their real motives were - to help humanity, study them, or just for fun - is left up to the reader.

* The ''[[Time Future]]'' duology by Maxine McArthur deals with humanity several centuries after being benevolently invaded by a species known as the Invidi. Earth is now a minor member of The Confederacy of Allied Worlds, which rules fairly peacefully over most of the galaxy. However, a major theme of the books is whether or not humanity is really better off as part of the Confederacy: because only the ruling Four Worlds (which include the Invidi) have access to [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]], the other races are dependant on them for interstellar contact of any kind, and are essentially second-class in galactic society.

* In [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''The Damned'' series, the Weave (and the Amplitur, as they perceive themselves) visit worlds populated with intelligent, civilized sentients to warn them of the intergalactic war between the two sides, share technology and invite (or "invite") them to join their side.

* Played with in Pamela Service's young-adult novel ''Under Alien Stars''. The Tsorians are a smug, rather xenophobic, and somewhat brutal [[Proud Warrior Race]] who turned the planet into [[Vichy Earth|a military outpost]], don't really "get" human customs, and [[Humans Are Ugly|think we're funny-looking]], [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|to boot]]). Nonetheless, they turn out to be by far the lesser evil compared to the Hykzoi{{spoiler|, and seem to be accepting humanity as a proper ally at the end}}.

* [[Older Than Radio]] example: The Martians in the novel ''Auf zwei Planeten'' ("Two Planets", 1897, incomplete English edition 1971) by the German science-fiction pioneer Kurd Laßwitz (1848-1910), published one year before H. G. Wells' ''War of the Worlds''. Laßwitz's Martians are not just technologically, but morally superior, living according to Kantian tenets. It isn't quite simple though, the Martians do behave like benevolent colonialists, leading to Earth's inhabitants rising and fighting a war of independence, but it all ends with an Earth-Mars peace treaty.

* Animorphs ultimately ends this way. The Yeerks, the only outright villainous aliens, are driven off the planet, while the Andalites, the Taxxons, and the Hork-Bajir set up a downright peaceful coexistence with us humans. The Andalites even start giving us their advanced technology, a little bit at a time.

 

== Live Action TV ==

** On the other hand, the humans certainly don't do themselves any favours, seeing as the Cylons are holding all the cards. It enters [[Too Dumb to Live]] territory when you realise that one [[Dying Race]] of around 40,000 people is '''suicide bombing''' another race that is both numerically superior and functionally '''immortal'''.

*** A lot of people also forget that while Cylons can resurrect, they need to ''die'' to be able to do, an experience thats been shown to be quite traumatising. Blowing themselves up is simply a desperate tactic for the Resistance once Cylons tightened security.

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story "The Unquiet Dead" used the same idea. Although {{spoiler|while they feigned harmlessness, in fact the aliens revealed themselves as prepared to kill to get more bodies.}}

* While not an invasion per se, the Tenctonese refugees of ''[[Alien Nation (TV series)|Alien Nation]]'' are implied to have brought several advanced technologies to Earth when their slave ship crash-landed, which are now being reverse-engineered.

* Perhaps the most famous [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] in history is ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'''s "[[To Serve Man]]" episode, adapted from an earlier short story by Damon Knight. The Kanamit actually manage to end famine and war, but it's eventually revealed that only way they want "to serve man" is [[It Was His Sled|on a plate]].

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', the second invasion of Earth Alliance was a more-or-less benevolent assault—led by humans but backed by aliens—to remove an oppressive dictator.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Traveller]]'': The Third Imperium was this. Of course most of the invaders had ancestors that were from Earth anyway.

 

* The Chenjesu from the ''[[Star Control]]'' games asked humans to join an alliance against the Ur-Quan, and in exchange shared their technological knowledge with us. The Ur-Quan themselves aren't all that bad, either; while they do prevent the species they conquered from leaving their home planet, and destroy most major cities and military installations, they evacuate said places first and make sure the species can still survive, building new cities or even finding a new planet if the old one is no longer habitable.

** In ''Star Control 2'' it's revealed the Ur-Quan {{spoiler|Kzer-Za}} believe themselves to be benevolent dictators who are protecting the galaxy from far worse forces {{spoiler|mainly their opposite faction the Ur-Quan Kohr-ah, who believe [[Omnicidal Maniac|all other life should be killed]] rather than simply enslaved}}.

** That creepy interdimensional bureaucrat seems to think otherwise though...

** Upon leaving the train depot in the introductory level of ''[[Half-Life 2]]'', the PC hears people make comments implying they are at least somewhat resigned to the situation, if not aware, the Combine does in fact suck.

* In ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', [[The Greys|the Maians]] planned to do this eventually, but left the humans to develop on their own for a few millennia. The end of the main plot revolves around the Maian ambassadors finally coming down to meet with the authorities in the White House and establish peaceful connections. {{spoiler|Then the game plays the evil [[Alien Invasion]] straight when [[Little Green Men|the Skedar]] come rolling along.}}

* The [[Mirror Universe|Praetorians]] in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' like to present themselves as wanting to change Primal Earth for the better. Whether they actually are is something that is [[Gray and Gray Morality|up for debate]].

 

== Webcomics ==

* ''[[The Cyantian Chronicles]]'': Subverted. The Cyantians are trying to avoid doing this when they contact with earth.

* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' most of the Nemesites believe this about their relationship with Earth's [[Dinosaurs Are Dragons|dragons]] in [[Ancient Astronauts|prehistoric times.]] Many dragons see it more as a case of [[Vichy Earth]]. [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100518.html The circumstances of their first meeting] [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100522.html have a lot to do with it.]

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Futurama]]'', Fry eats a rancid sandwich from a bus stop vending machine, and his body becomes infested with microscopic worms that actually do everything they can to fix up their new home, turning him super smart, super strong, and [[Nigh Invulnerable]].

** Then there was The Professor's recollection of the last time aliens invaded, and all they did was force the smartest people on the planet to breed with each other. It might not have been benevolent to mankind as a whole, but judging by his reactions, it sure was a great time for some.

** Usually the Autobots are the benevolent kind, the Decepticons are [[Alien Invasion|the other kind]].

** Notably, although they're fighting a war on our doorstep, the Autobots show no desire to overthrow Earth's governments ("Freedom is the right of all sentient beings," after all). Even the Decepticons usually don't care much about ''conquering'' humanity per se, except perhaps as a means to help them [[Planet Looters|loot the Earth]] more efficiently (to them, humans are scarcely more than animals, and we're in the way).

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Alien Tropes]]