39,327
edits
Benevolent Alien Invasion: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
(→Literature: clean up) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 7:
A subversion of [[Alien Invasion]] and [[Aliens Are Bastards]]. Often, the "invaders" are a [[Superior Species]]. Compare [[Vichy Earth]].
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
Line 32:
== Literature ==
* The plot of ''Childhood's End'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke (Creator)]].
** Subverted in two different ways: One, {{spoiler|the aliens resemble demons (for appropriate reasons)}}. Two, they come to Earth {{spoiler|knowing that the next generation of human children have begun to evolve into god-like metaphysical beings, which will entail [[The End of the World As We Know It]]. Not that they have much hope of stopping this inevitable process. Regardless, they don't reveal their true intentions.}}
*** 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 backstory of ''Expedition'', a science fiction art book [[Wayne Barlowe]] wrote about a joint human-alien expedition to a primitive planet called Darwin IV (the aliens came and helped humanity clean up their act).
* Played with in ''[[
* Played with in [[Bruce Coville (Creator)|Bruce Coville]]'s ''My Teacher is an Alien'' series. The various alien species are shocked at mankind's violent ways and fear what will happen if we achieve space travel. They come up with four possible solutions. The first is to leave us alone and hope we destroy ourselves. The second is to blow us up for our own good. The third is to erect some kind of barrier (or sabotage our scientific progress) so that we never escape our own solar system. The fourth proposed solution is basically this trope; the aliens will contact us and give us the technology and knowledge we need to end wars, eradicate disease and poverty, etc. However, because we are dangerous sociopaths they will need to take over the planet first to make sure we don't abuse these gifts.
* Played with in [[Walter Jon Williams]]' Maijstral books, where the aliens did not really disturb Earth very much bar imposing their own formal culture and ideas of monarchy upon it. Humanity still didn't take this very well and kicked them off-planet before the beginning of the first novel, becoming the first and only race to accomplish this. The protagonist Drake Maijstral is the descendant of those who opposed the revolt, and honestly doesn't much care either way.
Line 45:
** To be fair, he does say in the postscript for the third book that he wanted to write about a space empire that was a "hostile nation"; he's not trying to defend their ethics, just describe them.
*** It is still worth mentioning that they are viewed as such in-universe by some of their subjects, especially when compared to their enemies, the conformist United Mankind.
* ''The Gardeners from Orion'' is an interesting subversion. It's an interesting [[Doorstopper|little]] book. Basically, the eponymous Gardeners from Orion ''are'' benevolent, and want to save our planet from being choked by pollution and global warming. The problem is that their main priority is the ''planet'', not us. And apparently, the fact that there's way, way too many of us ''is'' the problem. Nothing personal, you understand. Just part of a Gardener's work - pruning the weeds. But they're really very polite and pleasant about the whole 'Annihilate 90% of humanity' thing, making sure that family-units are kept intact, and providing the survivors with the tools and knowledge they need to survive without the extended infrastructure of human civilization. Humanity is [[Nuke
* The brilliant short story ''High Yield Bondage'' is about some aliens that land on Earth with a broken ship. To repair it, they need to improve Earth's technology to the point where we can make them the parts they need. So, they start {{spoiler|"inventing" and selling stuff, creating dummy corporations, and basically end all wars and improve the standard of living to where no one is poor and we are terraforming Mars and colonizing the Solar System. The story ends where they get the parts they need, and contact their boss, who then bitches at them for "ruining" the [[Noble Savage]] human culture}}.
* The ''Tuf Voyaging'' by [[George RR 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.
Line 74:
* 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}}.
* Played with in ''The Course of Empire''. The invaders conquering Earth are hardly benevolent but they are no worse to Earthlings then a typical Earth conqueror would be. The planetary governor is something of a [[The Caligula|Caligula]] but the prince sent to be his underling admires Earthlings, tries to learn about them, and even from them, and tries to encourage mutual cooperation against a far worse enemy.
* [[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.
Line 83:
== Live Action TV ==
* Apparently, this was what [[Well
** 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'''.
*** Technically, the suicide bombers weren't targeting the Cylons, but the human collaborators.
| |||