We Come in Peace, Shoot to Kill: Difference between revisions

# [[Aliens Are Bastards|Evil aliens]] will either outright attack, or manipulate themselves into positions of power over humanity, made more easy by the hordes of naive humans who just want to be friends, which shows most of the human race to be primitive fools. Only a few will know the truth, and try to convince everyone else that [[To Serve Man|"it's a cookbook!"]] This is a [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Subverted Suspicion Aesop]] with its own flavor.

 

 

A subversion of [[I Come in Peace]]. Aliens who try this should read [[How to Invade An Alien Planet]].

 

{{examples}}

== Anime & Manga ==

* In ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'', {{spoiler|the peaceful Emilies are dissected for their psychic power, leading them to attack; we learn from the two Emilies in the series that [[Last of His Kind|it doesn't go well]].}}

* The very first issue of ''[[Paperinik New Adventures]]'' starts with the Evrons overwhelming the last Xerbian stronghold on their homeworld. Two issues later we find out from Xadhoom it was this trope in action: the Evrons, knowing that their army was superior to the Xerbian glorified police force but their ship wouldn't survive against the planetary defenses, sent ambassadors to sign a 'commercial agreement', and as soon as Xerba's planetary defenses were temporarily deactivated as sign of peace the Evron 'freighters' disgorged hordes of soldiers, overwhelming the Xerbians in a matter of days, with Xadhoom returning on the planet just in time to see the end of the last stronghold.

** In ''Spores'' we discover the Evrons are trying the same thing on Earth, trying to lull the United States and a [[Ruritania]] in a sense of peace, with the implied reason being that Earth is the exact opposite of Xerba: the Evrons ''can'' land, but there's no guarantee their soldiers would win (in fact they got their asses handed to them by human troops four times on-screen, one of them showing that Evrons with air support will win, albeith with [[Pirrhic Victory|heavy losses]], but as soon as the battle moved into the corridors of the attacked base the US Army needed just a couple minutes of pause to muster a counterattack that won the day with the power of [[More Dakka]]). Also, they know that Earth weapons can shoot down their landing ships (a dozen assault helicopters at short range of one of their heavily armed assault ships were treated as an [[One Hit KO|instant victory]] for the helicopters, and a blimp filled with TNT exploding near one of their 'Invasion Hives' in the upper atmosphere was enough to shoot it down), and while they know they can destroy our missiles they have no idea of how many nukes we have, and just one of them going off in a cluster of ships would annihilate them.

 

== Films ==

** This is not only a darkly funny [[Take That]] to ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'', but a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[War of the Worlds]]''. A group of astronomers tried to use semaphore flags to communicate their good will to a pit containing the Martian ship and a half-constructed tripod. [[Hilarity Ensues|Heat Ray-ity Ensues]].

* Subsequently parodied in ''[[Mars Attacks!]]!'' The Martian ambassador comes up to a podium and speaks into a translation device, translating his words as "We come in peace". Then they whip out the rayguns and incinerate everyone in sight- at first, seemingly in response to a "cultural misunderstanding" where "dove means war", but it quickly turns out they are just doing it [[For the Evulz]]. Later, during the full-scale genocide, one of the Martians is carrying the translation device, which now broadcasts "Do not run! We are your friends!" over and over.

* ''[[Starman (film)|Starman]]'' (the movie, and then the TV series based on it) was about a friendly alien who was hounded by the government. He first came to Earth in response to our friendly greetings carried aboard one of the Voyager probes... and was promptly shot down.

* ''[[Gamera]]: Guardian of the Universe'' (1995) featured a variation. Although not aliens, the army incorrectly decides that Gamera, a benevolent [[Anti-Hero]] [[Kaiju]] created specifically to protect the Earth, is the real threat, while the evil, destructive, man-eating Gyaos are a nuisance by comparison.

== Literature ==

* A somewhat clever twist occurs in one ''[[Maximum Boy]]'' novel where alien cows decide to visit earth: The cows state that they ''come'' in peace, but state that how they ''leave'' depends on what they find. [[Alien Invasion|Sure enough.....]]

* Skewered in George Alec Effinger's hilarious 1984 short story, ''The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything'': the aliens who visit, called the Nuhp, really do come in peace, and really are willing and able to help solve at least some of Earth's problems. Unfortunately, they're also such an ''annoying'' bunch of know-it-alls, that their presence gradually becomes more curse than blessing. Eventually, humanity leaves Earth in droves to get away from the Nuhp... and the resultant population reduction solves the ''rest'' of Earth's problems by default. Turns out this happens on ''every'' planet the Nuhp visit, and space is filled with species that left their homeworlds to get away from them.

* [[Stanislaw Lem]]'s novel ''Fiasco'' features a human starship on a mission to "peacefully make contact" with the inhabitants of the planet Quinta. This proves difficult when they discover that Quintan civilization is consumed with an internal conflict that has led the antagonistic factions to garrison their entire solar system with powerful automated war machines. Despite the humans having a substantial technological edge over the Quintans, a series of misunderstandings, miscommunications, and double-crosses ensues, accompanied by escalating shows of force {{spoiler|that culminate in the humans blowing up the entire planet}}.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** The Silurians have elements of Category 2, with the Doctor castigating UNIT for being trigger-happy. But the Silurians themselves are conflicted, with some of them wanting peace and others releasing a plague on London.

** The [[Big Finish]] audio drama "Blood of the Daleks" features a beleaguered human colony being contacted by "benevolent aliens". The clue's in the title. (And at the end {{spoiler|they make the same mistake with the Cybermen}}.)

*** There was a great line at the end of that episode.

{{quote|'''Yvonne:''' They're invading the whole planet.

'''The Doctor:''' It's not an invasion, it's too late for that. It's a victory. }}

* Both variations are common in ''[[The Outer Limits]]'', ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' and similar anthology shows.

** Originally conceived as a show about the presidency of a Father Coughlin like American fascist, but [[Screwed by the Network|the network]] demanded Nazis [[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]]

** The 2009 reboot makes it the alien leader's catchphrase: "We are of peace, always." (Major spoiler: {{spoiler|No, they aren't}}.)

* The main characters of ''[[Roswell]]'' are just three (or, for a while, four) teenagers who only want to live in peace until they figure out a way to get home, but they live in constant - and justifiable, given certain events of the first season - fear of the government and other alien hunters.

* Captain Archer of the NX-01 ''[[Enterprise]]'' sets forth on a mission of exploration and derides the need for powerful weapons, but three years of [[Villain of the Week|Close Encounters of the Worst Kind]] and the deaths of 27 crewmen in the Xindi conflict cause him to recommend that the NX-02 be better armed and have a squad of [[Space Marine|MACO's]] as well.

* On ''[[Babylon 5]]'', such an incident kicked off the pre-series Earth-Minbari War. {{spoiler|During the first contact between Earth and Minbari starships, the Minbari approach with gunports open, a cultural gesture of respect. The Earth captain overreacts -- the Minbari accidentally jam the Humans' jump drives with their scanners -- and assumes hostile intent. [[Hilarity Ensues]].}}

* In the [[Twilight Zone]] episode "To Serve Man" (based on the Damon Knight story of the same name), outwardly-benevolent aliens visit us and grant us all of their technological wonders, including indestructible force-domes that protect each nation from nuclear attack by any other nation. We accidentally get hold of their handbook, titled "[[To Serve Man]]". [[I'm a Humanitarian|Guess which kind of "Serve" they had in mind]]?

 

== Music ==

* "Star Invasion" by [[Helloween]] has one such misunderstanding. An awful mess ensues.

 

 

[[Category:Alien Tropes]]

[[Category:We Come In Peace Shoot To Kill]]