The Man Who Fell to Earth/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Cult Classic
  • It Was His Sled: Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien. Despite it being revealed about one hour, twenty-one minutes and sixteen point five seconds in, it's blaringly obvious to most who read the title. The novel is completely upfront about this.
  • Moe: David Bowie's character. Also inspires copious amounts of "perverse asexual cuddlelust"; torture scenes and general bad luck aside, he emotes such an intense vulnerability -- in every scene -- that one is filled with the need to protect him...
  • Narm: An emotional confrontation between Thomas and Mary-Lou climaxes with him angrily knocking a tray of cookies she is offering him into the air...and in slow-motion to boot.
    • Also, the random shots of Thomas and Mary-Lou looking into the camera with vacant expressions.
    • Thomas freaking out over the cacophony of the Ominous Multiple Screens: "GET OUT OF MY MIND! ALL OF YOU! LEAVE MY MIND ALONE! GO BACK TO WHERE YOU BELONG!"
  • So Bad It's Good: For those viewers who see it as a narmy Mind Screw. But others see it as a...
  • Tear Jerker: One notable example: When Mary-Lou asks what Thomas's children are like, he replies with a mournful gaze across a lake, "They're like children. They're just like children." And then there's the Downer Ending: After years of suffering he's stuck on Earth, an alcoholic with no confidante or lover who might help him through the guilt and grief he must be feeling. And We Are As Mayflies to him... Tears? This can induce rage.
  • Ugly Cute: Thomas's true form; when a picture of it appeared on a Bowie fan-blog, one commenter described it as "Voldemort with a nose", and in-film Mary-Lou finds him hideous. But commentators over at YouTube have likened him and his family (especially with their bodysuits) to teddy bears instead...awwww.
  • Vindicated by History
  • What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: The editing and surreal imagery beg this question; no, the filmmakers were not on drugs.
  • What the Hell, Casting Agency?: The U.K. trailer warned in voiceover "Nothing you have seen or heard about David Bowie can prepare you for the impact of his first dramatic role in The Man Who Fell to Earth." After all, to see an incredibly vibrant and theatrical personality playing an almost emotionless alien would be a surprise...but it worked out quite well for him.
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