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The Greys: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|'''Mystic''': You watch the skies night after night looking for your [[Little Green Men]]...<br />
'''Bishop''': Little ''grey'' men, actually.|''[[
The modern version of the [[Little Green Men]], and currently the most common depiction of extraterrestrials.
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What they do with those abducted varies, but performing experiments on them, especially [[Anal Probing|intrusive]] [[Aliens Made Them Do It|sexual]] [[Mars Needs Women|experiments]], is common. Specifically, [[Anal Probing]] and the creation of [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]]. Why aliens would be so interested in human sex remains unclear, although the standard story is that they are nearing extinction, and they need human genetic material in order to restore both their reproductive capabilities, and their ability to experience emotion. (It has been noted that their appearance and modus operandi share [[Sci Fi Counterpart|more than a passing resemblance]] to those of the more traditional [[The Fair Folk|Fair Folk]], suggesting alternately an innate human need to believe in such beings or [[Wild Mass Guess|the length of time]] [[Paranoia Fuel|they've been studying us]].)
Far from being [[Black and Grey Morality|black and grey]], their ''beliefs'' are usually of the [[Blue and Orange Morality|Blue And Orange sort]]. May be [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] who haven't visited us since [[Ancient Astronauts|the time of the Pyramids]]. Despite the fact that Earth is an [[Insignificant Little Blue Planet]], they will be [[Earth Is the Center of
In other cases, they may be benevolent or much [[Mentors|wiser than humanity]], often in a hippie sort of way, granting the abductees really trippy cosmic visions. [[Reed Richards Is Useless|They'll hardly ever do much more than that, though]].
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== Comics ==
* It's implied in ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' that a grey like alien race exists even though all we see are transients (people who have spliced themselves with alien DNA) and it's even offhandedly mentioned Earth has economically subjugated them. It is stated that they have a colony on Earth, and having already commodified their art and culture, their DNA is the last thing they had left to sell.
* The Sons of Silence in the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', the native forms of the High Ones kind of resemble elongated, yellow-orange variants of the Greys, with a bit of [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]] thrown in.
== Fan Works ==
* The minimal descriptions of Jeft in ''[[
== Film ==
* The aliens in ''[[Indiana Jones and
* The aliens who finally appear at the end of ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]''.
* The Martians from the Steven Spielberg version of ''[[War of the Worlds]]'' are basically Greys, with some anatomical differences (like having three legs).
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* Greys appear in the Mokumentary horror film ''[[Alien Abduction Incident in Lake County]]'', in a sinister home invasion that pre-dated Signs by five years.
* The [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] in ''Progeny'' project the "Grey" image as a psychic mask. This version of the Grey has a different body plan though, stalk-like with tendrils.
* ''[[
* ''[[Signs]]'', although a bit more sinister than most renditions.
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== Literature ==
* The Visitors in Whitley Streiber's ''Communion'' -- possible [[Trope Codifier]].
* ''[[
** In fact, the humans Elfangor meets in ''The Andalite Chronicles'' are "guests" of the Skrit Na (along with a bunch of semi-related junk and a reality-altering [[MacGuffin]]).
** Played with rather interestingly in that the Grey form is the adult form of an (apparently barely sentient) larva that looks like a giant insect.
** The Helmacrons look a lot like Greys as well, except very very small.
** [[Word of God]] says that the Andalites were originally supposed to look like this, but the publishers asked for something more creative, especially since they hoped to one day make a TV show. It sort of backfired--Applegate [[Writer Revolt|responded]] by making the Andalites with all sorts of extra complexities (stalk eyes, tail blades, etc.), which made them almost impossible to replicate when [[Animorphs (TV series)|said series]] actually got made.
* Although the hostile take-over of Earth is not always a primary motive, the Greys (dubbed Mr. Grey by the U.S. Military) in [[Stephen King]]'s ''Dreamcatcher'' were certainly a well known enemy of humanity, also capable of some shapeshifting and possession. Technically the aliens don't actually look like typical Greys; they're more like giant eel/weasel creatures who simply shapeshift into the classic humanoid body in order to manipulate humans.
* In the novel ''Faerie Wars'' by Herbie Brennan, what humans believe to be grey aliens are revealed to actually be ancient demons who want to take over everything.
* Occasional Greys make an appearance in the ''[[Nightside]]'' series, usually as a gag (e.g. seeing one lying in the gutter with a "Will probe for food" sign). One of the Nightside's most secure locales, the Fortress, was founded by traumatized alien abductees, who are determined to fight back with guns, napalm, and possibly even nukes if the little buggers ever come near them again.
* A race of diminutive grayish aliens with large heads appears in Andrey Belianin's ''The Thief of Baghdad'' novel, despite the novel's fantasy genre. They abduct the main character as he is fleeing from the guards. Needless to say, a glowing disc in the sky capturing their prey made a great impression on the superstitious denizens of Ancient Baghdad. Turns out, the aliens are from a peaceful interstellar [[The Alliance|alliance]] who have arrived to determine the best way to integrate humanity into the galactic community. They have used genetic engineering to become a [[One Gender Species]] (all of them are male, as certain factors of female biological cycle can make things... inconvenient) and wish the same "boon" on humanity. As can be expected, this idea doesn't go well with the main character, who instead offers to show them the benefits of two sexes. To that end, he uses their genetic manipulation machine to turn a female cat into something that looks like the female version of the aliens. They get excited and quickly kick the main character off the ship, excited to "study" this new creature. During the novel's climax, they once again appear before the main character, this time begging for him to take the female away from them, as they found that she is drastically upsetting their balance. He just laughs at them, and they fly away.
* The inhabitants of Callisto (one of Jupiter's moons) in ''Spacehounds of I.P.C.'' by [[
* The Greys make an appearance in the mashup novel [[The Tumbleweed Dossier]]. {{spoiler|One even becomes a vampire.}}
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* The greys are the main villains of the [[Myth Arc]] of the ''[[The X-Files]]'', performing human abduction and experimentation so they can [[Alien Invasion|eventually invade]] and enslave humanity. [[The Greys]] from space are emotionless, sociopathic, greedy, and super intelligent. [[The Greys]] born from [[The Virus]] infecting humans are wild, werewolf-like beasts.
* The "star" of the ''[[Alien Autopsy]]'' video was purportedly an alien of this type.
* The Vree in ''[[
** There were ''three'' species that resemble Greys-the Streib and the Zener were the other two. And the Streib apparently abducted people as well...
*** The other two's names are [[Shout
*** Unlike some examples of this trope, the Streib are not [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] and when they attempt to [[Mugging the Monster|prey upon powerful races]] can get a severe thrashing. When they tried to kidnap humans the humans intercepted and destroyed their ship, and when they tried that on Minbari, the Minbari "tracked them back to their homeworld and made sure they understood the ''depth'' of their mistake" as Delenn put it.
** The Vorlons and Shadows apparently. The Vorlons after all abducted Jack the Ripper who [[Sarcasm Mode|for some odd reason]] wasn't missed much by Earthers.
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* The TV show ''[[Dark Skies]]'' depicted an alternate version of the history of the 20th Century, with elements of the US government either battling or working with a covert invasion by the Hive, a race of Greys. Or, more precisely, a parasitic alien race that had conquered the Greys and were now working on us.
* The few times we see the teen aliens' guardians in ''[[Roswell]]'' in their true form, they're classic Greys.
* The ''[[
** The Nedenah are peaceful Greys in ''Devil Goblins From Neptune''. A later book explains the Nedenah are one of the races the Tzun got DNA grafts from.
** In the [[CBBC]] ''Doctor Who'' animated serial "Dreamland" there are a couple of Grey aliens that were captured in [[Area 51]].
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== Tabletop Games ==
* The greys show up in the [[Tabletop RPG|Tabletop RPGs]] ''Alternity'' and later ''[[
** Though they look considerably more humanoid than does the Grey at the top of the page: they have human skin tones and generally wear clothing.
*** Much closer to the mark, the Greys appear in the Alternity campaign setting Dark* Matter, which was a conspiracy game - sort of like a table-top ''[[X Files]]''.
*** One Monstrous Compendium annual supplement imported the Fraal into [[Dungeons and Dragons]] as stranded dimensional travelers.
* In ''[[Big Eyes Small Mouth|BESM 3rd Edition]]'', one of the racial templates is in fact, a Grey.
* The "''[[
* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' newcomers the Tau are close to this trope (perhaps the original Greys got purged?). The Tau have grey skin, dark eyes, and no nose, but they are taller than typical Greys, and have hoofed feet (They are evolved from grazing ruminants and uplifted through the pheremone glands of a giant insect). Though their vessels are not saucers, they favor smooth, rounded shapes, and their technology is apparently more advanced than the humans'. (In reality their stuff is actually less advanced, it just seems techier because they distribute it better and it looks fancier. The Tau are not so much about abducting people as they are about welcoming them into their [[The Federation|empire]], whether they want to or not. They subvert the trope by being relatively naive and idealistic in a thoroughly [[Grimdark]] setting - they justify orbital bombardment and sterilization as being "[[Utopia Justifies the Means|for the Greater Good]]" rather than killing out of xenophobia.
* The Ka Luon from ''[[
* In the ''[[
** The stereotypical Roswell Greys are later confirmed as actually existing in the ''[[
* The RPG ''Dark Conspiracy'' features Greys as one of several extraterrestrial races the player-characters can encounter.
* ''[[Continuum (
* ''[[
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' introduced the Pokémon Elgyem, which is modeled after the [[Little Green Men]] but their [[Palette Swap|shiny form]] is grey. Its evolution is brown in both forms.
* The main character of ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]'' is Crypto, a Grey who landed far before they entered popular culture. His being frequently referred to as one of the then-common [[Little Green Men]] [[Futurama|confuses and infuriates him.]]
* In ''[[
** They were much more hostile in the first one, where they'd attack with no provocation. In [[Deus Ex: Invisible War
** Also, in the original Deus Ex, they weren't engineered from humans. Secret documents you can find in game around the secret base where they are developed/stored indicate that they are actually extreme modifications of bovine stock, simultaneously explaining why they are apparently mindlessly hostile, and what that whole cattle mutilation thing was about. This might have just been a frivolous easter egg, however.
** In another part of the first one an NPC tells you that they are cloned from the genetic material of the dead aliens who crashed at Roswell. So while they are genetically aliens they are only about as intelligent as monkeys due to being raised in a lab with no education.
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* Greys by the name of Sectoids are a common enemy in the ''[[X-COM]]'' series, along with an elongated species called Ethereals who go around in large orange cloaks. They use plasma guns and psychic powers in their invasion of Earth. The second game introduces the Aquatoids, who are adapted to life underwater.
** ''Apocalypse'' give us the Hybrids, a race derived from a Human/Sectoid crossbreed that have many features inherited from the Sectoids.
* Salarians from ''[[
* The Kamis in ''[[Ryzom]]''.
* The aliens in ''[[The Sims]] 2'' are like this only green. Full aliens aren't player characters (except Pollination Tech #9 Smith in Strangetown), but half aliens can be created if a sim is abducted.
* In ''[[MOTHER]]'', Giygas was a Grey-like alien (with more than a passing resemblance to [[Pokémon|Mewtwo]] who was raised by humans, but who felt betrayed by his adoptive parents and sought to conquer Earth. By the time of ''[[Earthbound]]'', Giygas had tapped into unimaginable power and become something... [[Eldritch Abomination|far less explicable]].
* ''[[UFO
* One appears as a bonus character in [[Vigilante 8]].
* ''[[
* The enemies in ''[[
== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', a quartet of Greys are characters in the "Oceans Unmoving" storyline. From what we know of them, they were grown in test tubes, are obsessed with [[Anal Probing]], and got to Timeless Space via attempting to "probe" a [[Time Machine]] with a rake (in a parody of ''[[X-COM]]''). They're also a homage to ''[[
* ''[[The Cyantian Chronicles]]'' has two species that qualify. The Cil, who have to merge with other species to survive in earth's environment and accidentally created the [[Our Werewolves Are Different|weres]] that way. And the Rumuah, who created the Cyantians from human and animal DNA but largely went extinct centuries before the anal-probing phenomenon.
* The Architects in ''[[
== Western Animation ==
* The Greys make several appearances in ''[[South Park]].'' They visit Earth to {{spoiler|record everything as an intergalactic reality show}}.
* Roger from ''[[
* [[Cloudcuckoolander|Phil Ken]] [[Eyepatch of Power|Sebben]] of ''[[Harvey Birdman, Attorney
== Real Life ==
* The Grey image may have originated with a 1960s book illustrating a conjecture of what humans might evolve into in a million years as a technical civilization: enlarged brain, weakened body, senses and lacking animal or sexual traits. The image began showing up in UFO reports not long after it entered the media. Historically, descriptions of UFO aliens always matched the dominant pop-culture images of the time: [[Little Green Men]] in the late '40s, [[Aliens and Monsters|big scary monsters]] in the B-movie '50s, [[Human Aliens]] in the '60s when TV aliens were just [[Rubber Forehead Aliens|actors in weird costumes]]. But by the time the Grey image came along, UFOs had become a pop-culture trope themselves and began feeding back into the media. So [[The Greys]] began appearing in productions like ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'' and ''[[The X
* Though they weren't the first to report humanoid grey-skinned aliens with large eyes, the alien abduction claims of Betty and Barney Hill in 1961 helped bring the Grey alien image to prominence in popular culture.
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