Starfish Aliens: Difference between revisions
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** And of course, the Quintessons from Generation One, and their Expy Alpha Q from ''[[Transformers Energon]]''.
* All of the Mushi in ''[[Mushishi]]'' are pretty much these.
* The Angels of [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] appear to be these at first glance... then they turn out to be something else entirely, in good [[Mind Screw|NGE habit]]. While Adam, Lilith and Sachiel are humanoids, the others have some bizarre appearances: Armisael is a double helix-shaped loop that forms into a tentacle; Ramiel is a regular octahedron who does some [https://web.archive.org/web/20120720034949/http://mechafans.com/upload/107-new-ramiel.jpg impossibly] [http://otakuism.animeblogger.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/vlcsnap-194395.jpg cool] shapeshifting; Iruel and Bardiel are sentient nanoviruses; Sahaquiel is... can't describe, just [http://www.teamartail.com/anime/images/evangelion/images/sahaquiel001.jpg take a look].
** Though depending on which interpretation you take, they might just be Starfish Kaijuu since their technically not Foreign to the Earth itself. Depending on your interpretation of course.
* ''[[Voices of a Distant Star]]'' - the Tarsians possess a starfish-like structure. In addition, miscommunications between them and humanity is implied to be one of the reasons why humans are fighting a war with them.
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** The most extreme of these would be the eponymous "[[Alien Geometries|colour]]" from ''The Colour Out of Space,'' an extraterrestrial so alien that nobody realized that it was alive until it finally departed.
** Like his Star-Spawn, Cthulhu him/itself is actually a remarkably humanoid creature by Lovecraftian standards, having essentially primate physiognomy with two legs, two arms, and two eyes on a clearly defined head at the top of the body. It has wings on its back, [[Winged Humanoid|but so do angels]]. Then again, he's usually compared to a ''mountain'' in size.
*** In original sketches, Cthulhu has [https://web.archive.org/web/20090313103429/http://www.ectomo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/cthulhuoriginal.jpg three eyes on one side] but anyway, the original story strongly implies the vaguely anthropoid squid-dragon representation of Cthulhu is just a human approximation of "[[You Cannot Grasp the True Form|The Thing [that] cannot be described.]]"
* Among other odd aliens, ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' has the Hooloovoo, a "superintelligent shade of the color blue", working on the Heart of Gold.
* Very consciously applied in Wayne D. Barlowe's illustrated novel ''Expedition''. Barlowe is vocally sick of [[Human Aliens]] and [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]] and set out to create the most genuinely alien creatures he could think of. It helps that Barlowe has a background in biology, and he describes the ecology of the world in ''Expedition'' in detail. Very few of them have the number of legs one would expect, only one named creature has ''eyes'' (and it is a single, atrophying eye at that; the creature seems to prefer keeping it retracted into a special chamber anyway), and only one named creature has anything resembling a conventional head with a "mouth" and "jaws" - and it turns out that the lower jaw can separate from the upper one and that it functions more like a mosquito's proboscis. And yet, he still keeps them familiar enough in subtle ways. {{spoiler|There is also an alien of humanlike intelligence -- and it is humanoid in only the most subtle of ways. An Eosapien looks more like what would happen if an octopus hitched a ride on a hot air balloon}}.
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* A ''third'' Applegate series is ''[[Everworld]]''. While a fantasy novel, two "alien" species are mentioned: the Coo-Hatch and the Hetwans. The Coo-Hatch are a weird race specializing in metallurgy; the large adults are often followed by strange little bugs which the characters guess may be their larval forms. The [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Hetwans]] are like giant flies whose males ''rip their partners apart'' during sex, the babies somehow being born ''during'' the process. (Also, they worship an [[Eldritch Abomination]] who wants to eat all other gods.)
* The ''[[wikipedia:Ann C. Crispin|StarBridge]]'' series of young adult novels by Ann C Crispin has any number of these aliens. The dominant (though peaceful) aliens of the galaxy are giant snakes, which preside over a menagerie of alien forms. The strangest one is most likely the race of amorphous blobs that communicate only through vibrational pulses, although the blanket-sized telepathic fungus alien that remained a major recurring character for most of the series got more screen time.
* [[Bruce Coville]] loves these. His best-known series, ''[[My Teacher Is an Alien]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20130616082625/http://www.brucecoville.com/books.asp?gid=3 features] a cucumber-like alien that communicates by popping scent-filled pimples. His [https://web.archive.org/web/20130616072737/http://www.brucecoville.com/books.asp?gid=6 Rod Albright] series has Tar Gibbons (member of a multi-gendered species), Phil the Plant, and Edgar/Seymour (member of a symbiont species which splits into two bodies as part of its life cycle). On the psychological side, Captain Grakker uses a computerized implant to experience moods.
** Don't forget the ship's captain in "My Teacher," which was an intelligent crystal formation.
* [[Frederik Pohl]]'s ''The World At The End Of Time'' features plasma-based aliens who live inside stars and don't care much for "slowlife" like biological beings.
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*** ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' has hive mind species as well. The whole planet of them.
**** That would be the web-like symbiotic organism which temporarily assimilated various crew members in order to provide the collective harmony it needed to survive.
* Despite the improbably large number of [[Human Aliens]], ''[[Doctor Who]]'' also has its fair share of Starfish Aliens, the most prominent of which are the Daleks, who are basically brains with tentacles living inside [[Powered Armor]] that resembles floating pepper shakers. ''Especially'' the Imperial Daleks, who, amongst other things, had two brains, an exposed spine, and had their organs in a separate chamber. [http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-ash1/v233/131/116/33452560121/n33452560121_2789967_8960.jpg Here, have a look.]{{Dead link}}
** Strangely enough, the Daleks are also an aversion. They're the result of a [[Evilutionary Biologist|bizarre eugenics experiment]] conducted by the decidedly [[Human Aliens|humanoid]] Kaled race. Oh, and they share a planet with the almost-identical-but-apparently-a-different-species Thals. Ah, low budgets...
*** Doubly ironic given that the BBC producers were trying to avoid 'bug-eyed monsters' as being too cliche.
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