The Reptilians: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
[[The Reptilians]] are one of the stock [[Humanoid Aliens]], sporting reptile-like features and popping up frequently in [[Science Fiction]] and abduction stories. They share quite a few similarities with [[Little Green Men]] and [[The Greys]] in terms of appearance (human-like, large eyes, baldness, strange skin) and modus operandi (abduction, invasion), but they have enough unique features to set themselves apart.▼
Since they are reptiles they, of course, [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|are almost always evil]]. Unlike their Grey and Green cousins, though,
▲The Reptilians are one of the stock [[Humanoid Aliens]], sporting reptile-like features and popping up frequently in [[Science Fiction]] and abduction stories. They share quite a few similarities with [[Little Green Men]] and [[The Greys]] in terms of appearance (human-like, large eyes, baldness, strange skin) and modus operandi (abduction, invasion), but they have enough unique features to set themselves apart.
If the biological history of
▲Since they are reptiles they, of course, [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|are almost always evil]]. Unlike their Grey and Green cousins, though, [[The Reptilians]] tend to be portrayed as [[Always Chaotic Evil|even more vicious and sadistic]], often abducting humans as a [[Slave Race]] or as a [[To Serve Man|food source]]. They are frequently [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|shape-shifters]], changing into human form in order to infiltrate our ranks and take over the world before we even realize it. Sometimes, like [[Little Green Men]] and [[The Greys]], they can be more enigmatic invaders whose only direct contact with humans is through abductions. The trend nowadays, though, has been to give [[The Reptilians]] a more detailed culture than those two, typically as either [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] or as the vanguard of a vast but decadent empire. They commonly have hidden bases [[Beneath the Earth]], which probably stems from a fusion of the [[Primal Fear|Primal Fears]] of both reptiles and the underground.
▲If the biological history of [[The Reptilians]] gets mentioned, they are frequently revealed to be dinosaurs who attained sentience, somehow survived the K/P Extinction event, and moved elsewhere among the stars, not necessarily in that order<ref>To be technical, many believe humans and other mammals themselves evolved from reptilian proto-dinosaurs (i.e. synapsids), so having the Reptilians actually stay strictly reptilian would be quite a stretch, especially if they moved to a planet with a very different environment from Earth's to evolve in</ref>. Such dinosaur-derived creatures are sometimes called "Dinosauroids," a term first popularized by paleontologist Dale Russell's hypothetical ''Troodon''-descended humanoid. Naturally, those dinosaurs often turn out to have been descendants of the carnivorous ones such as ''[[Raptor Attack|Velociraptor]]'' or ''[[Tyrannosaurus Rex]]'' (it helps that many theropods are considered to have been the most intelligent dinosaurs there were). Alternatively, they evolved on a planet whose evolutionary history is just like that of Earth, but [[Evolutionary Levels|stalled out]] before mammals could take their [[Humans Are Special|rightful place at the top]].
Depending on just how reptilian [[Reptilians]] are portrayed to be (and depending on a program's budget), they can run the gamut from [[Rubber Forehead Aliens|bald humans with]] [[Petting Zoo People|weird eyes]] to full-on [[Lizard Folk]] with a human-like gait. Also, a rule of thumb to keep in mind is that the more reptilian the aliens are, the less likely they are to be portrayed as good guys, in line with [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]; sympathetic Reptilians are more likely to have [[Non-Mammal Mammaries]], among other things.
Compare [[Lizard Folk]] and [[Snake People]], which are generally the [[Fantasy Counterpart
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* The Dinosaur Empire form ''[[Getter Robo]]''.
* Taurians from ''[[Outlaw Star]]''.
* One of the ''[[Doraemon]]'' movies deal with
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* Clonezone the Hilariator from ''[[Comicbooks/Nexus|Nexus]].''
* [[Golden Age]] [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]] comics had Mr. Mind's alien flunkies, the Crocodile Men from Planet Punkus.
== Fan Works ==
* Invoked for both humorous and deceptive purposes in the ''[[Worm]]/[[Luna Varga]]'' crossover fic ''[[Taylor Varga]]'': when posters on PHO suggest that Saurial, Taylor Hebert's lizardlike alter ego, is a Reptilian, she runs with it and creates The Family, representatives of a colony of extraterrestrials which have been living in the North Atlantic since before modern humanity evolved.
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* Many ''[[Star Wars]]'' races, most notably the Trandoshans. ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'' also features [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Zam_Wesell Zam Wesell], the assassin hired to kill Senator Amidala.
* The Zorgons in the film/book ''[[Zathura]]''.
* Grig from ''[[The Last Starfighter]],'' though he's actually a nice guy.
* The Snarks from Power Pack
* General Sarris and his people in ''[[
* The Chitauri of ''[[The Avengers (
== Literature ==
* The villains in the [[
* [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s ''The Brass Dragon''. The Dikri are a race of cold, ruthless dragon-like aliens who can Shape Shift into human form. They act as renegades, interfering on primitive worlds in violation of interstellar rules.
* The Race from ''[[Worldwar
** The two species (Rabotevs and Halessi, though that is probably the Race's name for them) they subjugated before invading Earth were apparently also reptilian in nature, as they are mentioned as being fairly similar to the Race.
* [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] created the Horibs for his ''[[Pellucidar]]'' series. Pellucidar also has the telepathic [[Giant Flyer]] race, the Mahar, descended from pterosaurs.
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** ''Star Rangers'' (alternate title ''The Last Planet''): The hero's best friend is a Zacathan, a fellow member of their reconnaissance team. Although highly intelligent and knowledgeable, he's somewhat less science-oriented than most Zacathan portrayals. He's also more ready to fight than most, and mentions that his brother is highly skilled with a [[Laser Blade|force blade]]. "Zippp--and there's an enemy down with half his insides gone--"
* The Quintaglios of Robert J. Sawyer's ''[[Quintaglio Ascension]]'' trilogy are the descendants of small Tyrannosaurs. Since the series focuses on an important period of their planet's history, we get a characterization of them that is far more nuanced than usual.
* One of the older [[Star Trek]] novels- ''The Captain's Table: War Dragons''- had the humanoid reptillian Anjiri and the theropod-like Nykkus {{spoiler|which turn out to be [[Bizarre Alien Biology|two forms of the same species]].}} While their dialogue does not use [[Sssssnaketalk]], their language relies so heavily on gestures that [[Universal Translator
** The Gnalish in the [[Star Trek Novel Verse]] are a rare example of a benevolent, heroic Reptilian race. Okay, they're still grumpy and sour, but at least they're friendly.
* Lisanne Norman's ''[[Sholan Alliance]]'' series has the antagonist species, the Valtegans with no tail, and the friendly Sumaan with a very strong thick tail.
* Ssilissa of the ''[[Larklight]]'' trilogy; blue, scaly, with spines for hair and a heavily clubbed tail. Is noted occasionally for averting [[Non-Mammal Mammaries]] (and thus not fitting into dresses cut for humans), and has a few self-image issues on account of being raised by humans. {{spoiler|In the third book, we meet her race, the Snilth, a [[Lady Land|matriarchal]] [[Proud Warrior Race]] who serve as [[Mooks]] for the book's [[Big Bad]]. They live in clans identified by the shape of the weapon on their tails, and Ssil's proves her to be the [[Rags to Royalty|only known heir to the banished queen]] who [[Heel Face Turn|turned against]] the [[Big Bad]] long ago.}}
* The Ternaui in ''[[
* The Yilani of [[Harry Harrison]]'s ''[[West of Eden]]'' series are a race of humanoid reptilians that evolved on an Earth where the dinosaurs never died out. The first book spends much of it's first portion with them and we get a very detailed look at their world. They are semi-aquatic (they are related to seagoing lizards), have a matriarchal society thanks largely to their borderline [[Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism]], and have mastered biotechnology on a staggering scale; their cities are literally alive. Oh, and once the humans enter the picture in a significant way, they immediately become the [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]] of the book because [[Humans Are Special]] are [[Most Writers Are Human|awesome]] and reptiles... [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|well duh]]. It's awkward.
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s Merseians, although usually at odds with humanity, are a more nuanced portrayal (and have a culture [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|based off of the Sassanid Empire]]).
* In the [[RCN Series]] novel ''Some Golden Harbor'', occasionally [[Sssssnaketalk]]ing alien Fallert is on Daniel and Adele's side—and [[Interspecies Romance|very taken with]] [[Psycho Sidekick|Tovera]]. This [[Squick]]s Daniel something fierce, but his [[Battle Butler|servant]] [[Sociopathic Hero|Hogg]] gets along just fine with Fallert.
{{quote|"Mistress-s-s?" Fallert said. "Do you mean that if you became drunk, you would not be able to kill?"
"Not that," said Tovera, still smiling. "I might forget to stop, though."
She laughed, and Fallert laughed, and Hogg laughed so hard that some of his big mouthful of wine squirted out his nostrils.}}
== Live-Action TV ==
* The Visitors from ''[[V (TV series)|V]]'' are the [[Trope Codifier
** The reboot series took no motion to change any of this. Except the Visitors were more of a combination of [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|yucky reptile-people and icky bug-people]].
* In ''[[War of the Worlds (TV series)|War of the Worlds]]'', the Martians are essentially turned into the aforementioned Visitors. Except that they're body snatchers.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has the Silurians and their aquatic cousins the Sea Devils.<ref>Both of these are technically [[Fantastic Slurs]]: the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] has "Earth Reptiles" as a more respectful term, and the Eleventh Doctor uses the taxonomically inaccurate "homo reptilia"</ref>
* ''[[Star Trek]]'':
** The Gorn.
** The rarely-seen brandy-making Saurians.
** The Cardassians. Though they're the least reptilian, looking pretty much like [[Rubber Forehead Aliens|humans with scales tacked on]], they also happen to be the most villainous of the reptoid lot.
** The Reptilian Xindi in ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]''.
** The Voth were descended from Earth hadrosaurs. Which is at least a new one, as far as Dinosauroids go.
** The Hirogen and the Jem'Hadar also at least look the part, and are the villains in most of their appearances.
* The Sleestak from ''[[Land of the Lost (TV series)|Land of the Lost]]''.
** And the Altrusians, who even though they are the ancestors of Sleestak are different both physically (shorter, stockier with an extra finger) and mentally (far more intelligent) enough to qualify as a separate race.
* The extremely brutal Scarrans of ''[[
** He also requires technology to survive (cooling rods in the brain that have to be replaced regularly), as his reptilian half craves heat, while his [[Human Alien]] half can't stand it.
* The Drazi, along with other less significant species, in ''[[Babylon
* One episode of ''[[Buck Rogers in
* [[CSI]] had an episode dealing with this trope, "Leapin' Lizards", where the dead guy of the week was a believer in a reptilian conspiracy. Their website is shown, with several world leaders morphing into reptilians, and one of the guys hallucinates Brass with a reptilian tongue and Greg with reptilian characteristics-which leads to Greg being bitten.
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== Video Games ==
* The [[Snake Talk|snake-talking]] Thrynn in [[Starflight]]. Interstellar merchants and con-artists who, despite their depiction as having purely carnivorous dental structure, find themselves in constant war with their [[Plant Aliens|neighbors, the Elowan]]. The Thrynn have [[Eats Babies|a taste for Elowan "headfruit"]] you see. Despite this habit, they are generally peaceful with other races, and selling plutonium to them can be highly
* The krogan in ''[[Mass Effect]]''.
** Also the drell.
* [[Ancient Astronauts|The Watchers]] from ''[[Dark Void]]'' are manipulative shapeshifting reptilians exiled into [[Another Dimension]] by early humans. In keeping with this trope, their [[Bizarre Alien Biology|life cycle]] is based on metamorphosis: they emerge from the egg as larval, wormlike hatchlings, and they pilot [[Powered Armor]] suits as basic mooks. As they get older and more intelligent, they grow arms and legs and become more snake-like; they also get to pilot something like an alien [[Humongous Mecha]]. Finally, the Elder form is the most intelligent, and can shapeshift to perfectly mimic a human appearance. These serve as spies in human society and leaders for the rest of the species.
* The Cardianon in ''<nowiki>~Star Ocean: The Last Hope~</nowiki>''. Originally a primitive race, the [[Big Bad|Grigori]] accelerated their evolution, and provided them with knowledge that led to them becoming one of the most technologically advanced races in the universe in a very short span of time, but also turned them into a bunch of fanatical planet conquerors. They look like somewhat reptilian humanoids in the lowest stage of evolution they're seen in, but their more advanced forms are traditional lizardmen, then dragonmen, and lastly, full fledged dragons.
* The Tarka from ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' evolved from lizards but are very human-like, resembling [https://web.archive.org/web/20130607095924/http://sots.rorschach.net/images/9/95/SotS_TarkaMale.jpg scaled apes] more than actual lizards. They are a highly civilized and pragmatic [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|warrior race]] whose empire is a few thousand years older than human civilization, and are presented as sympathetic if fairly machiavellian, warlike, and prone to picking on those weaker than themselves.
* The Sakkra, from the ''[[
* The turn-based strategy ''Space Empires 4'' has red lizard-people with vaguely [[Star Trek|Starfleet-esque]] ship designs as one of the possible appearances for your chosen empire.
** They are included in ''Space Empires 5'' as well, for which they decorated the cover, and originated in the third game of the series. Called the Jraenar in all games.
* ''[[Traffic Department 2192]]'' has the Selarian species, and their representative in Vulthaven's TD, Lieutenant Junior Grade Koth. If he's any indication, their species [[Snake Talk|hisses their S's]].
* The obscure XBOX shooter ''Brute Force'' has Brutus, a "Feral" (a scaly green lizard man with a voice like [[Inspector Gadget|Doctor Claw]]) as one of the main [[Player Characters]]. He's by far the toughest squad member, and sports a [[Healing Factor]] and [[Aura Vision]].
* The Reptites in ''[[
* The Skedar from ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' bear some similarities to the Reptilians, being bipedal, dinosaur-like creatures who masquerade as [[Blond Guys Are Evil|Scandinavian men]]. Their offspring resemble tiny, vicious lizards.
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* In ''[[Earthsong]]'', one of the ill-fated Guards in Earthsong's welcoming party for Beluosus is a Reptilian.
== Web Original ==
* Chris Bucholz's interview with Councilman Malok in ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s "[http://www.cracked.com/blog/how-world-works-explained-by-our-lizard-people-rulers/ Lizard People Secretly Run the World and We Have Proof]" paints the reptilian shadow government as benevolent and a vast improvement over the horse people that they replaced.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Thundercats 2011
* ''[[
* The Triceratons, essentially [[Proud Warrior Race]] anthropomorphic ceratopsians, from ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]].''
* The truly strange ''[[Mighty Ducks]]'' cartoon had a straight-up evil race made up of anthropomorphic ceratopsians, along with more conventional lizard-people types. And really, if the aforementioned Triceratons, Voth, and especially the Quintaglios are all "reptiles", then it isn't fair not to mention the titular duck-people.
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* [[David Icke]] is the most prominent advocate of the idea that Reptilians are real. He claims that they come from the Alpha [[Meaningful Name|Draconis]] star system, and that [[George W. Bush]], Elizabeth II, and many other world leaders are among their ranks.
* In [[The Eighties|the early eighties]], Dale Russell, curator of vertebrate fossils at a Canadian museum, proposed that, if the dinosaur genus Troodon [[Alternate History|hadn't died out]], it could have evolved into a sentient humanoid creature, christened "[[wikipedia:Troodon#The .22Dinosauroid.22|Dinosauroid]]" by Russel. Since then, the Dinosauroid (in appearance vaguely resembling a scaly [[The Greys|Grey alien]]) has been criticized as being implausible, because it is too anthropomorphic. Also, [[Science Marches On]], and now we know that Troodon's appearance probably had more in common with birds than with reptiles. Thus, when paleontologist [http://darrennaish.blogspot.com/2006/11/dinosauroids-revisited.html Darren Naish] and artist Nemo Ramjet revisited the concept during [[The Noughties]], the result was a decidedly less humanoid, err... [http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/8094/2150/1600/dinosauroid.jpg Bird Folk].
* An urban legend about a supposed "snake man" inhabiting the Robinsons Galleria in Quezon City, Philippines became popular in the 90s when rumours of its existence spread through word-of-mouth. Allegedly, the Gokongwei clan had the mall built as a hunting ground for their reptilian relative, rigging the fitting rooms with trap doors for unsuspecting customers to get caught and fed to the "snake-man" for whatever ridiculous reason, e.g. as a lucky charm "to bring good fortune." Despite the idea being overly absurd, the alleged reptilian caused a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mRXIVQZGcE public relations nightmare] for the company, to the point that female customers have been accompanied by staff members amid such fears. There has been speculation that the Robinsons reptilian story was invented by their competitors (e.g. SM Supermalls) as part of a smear campaign, though another theory suggests that it was borne out of classical Philippine mythology (e.g. the ''aswang'') as well as the uncertain sociopolitical climate of the early 90s just after the EDSA Revolution, where sensationalised reports of rampant abductions and forced disappearances were front-page news at the time.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Fantastic Sapient Species Tropes]]
[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]
[[Category:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reptilians, The}}
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