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

[[Space Alien|Alien]]s' [[First Contact]] with Earthlings will go one of two ways, usually.

 

# [[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.

 

 

== Comicbooks ==

* ''[[Superman|Action Comics]]''. [[Crystal Spires and Togas|An ancient and wise race]] is doomed by [[Earthshattering Kaboom|planetary destruction]]. Their greatest scientist [[Ignored Expert|is ignored by his peers]], so he sends his infant son, the [[Last of His Kind]], to Earth, where his ship lands in a field outside a town called Smallville ... And because this is the [[Fantastic Racism|institutionally anti-alien]] Earth of the 31st century, Jun and Mara blast the infant with a laser-rifle and bury the remains behind the barn. They're still talking about how right they were to do so some months later, when they get killed in passing by a deranged [[Alternate Universe]] Superboy. [[Karmic Death|That's karma for you]].

** Pretty much the same thing happens, without the [[Karmic Death]], in an issue of ''[[Planetary]]''. Except that the killer in question was a government operative there to salvage technology who showed no signs of considering the kid a threat, and simply thought that his boss wouldn't want to have to deal with it. Ironically, just after he did the order came in to bring the child in for study.

* Subsequently parodied in ''[[Mars Attacks (Film)]]!'' 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.

* ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' (the original) is the quintessential movie for demonstrating how badly humans would treat [[Innocent Aliens]].

* ''[[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.

** The third movie, ''Revenge of Iris'', has an interesting variation: while Gamera is shown in his darkest portrayal yet (a fight at the start of the movie with a Gyaos in downtown Tokyo causes at least 12000 casualties, at least half from Gamera's [[Breath Weapon]], and he's proven to be an incarnation of [[Gaia's Vengeance]]), it's shown pretty conclusively that he's by far the best alternative despite this, as other monsters are far more hostile to humanity and likely won't stop until they or humanity are wiped out {{spoiler|and besides, the last scene of the movie depicts a ''massive'' Gyaos outbreak (as in a flock of thousands of the buggers, ranging in size from a VW Beetle to stadium-sized) and a spent, wounded Gamera soldiering on and preparing to go and face them for the sake of humans}}

* [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[Posleen War Series]]'' starts out with friendly aliens contacting humanity. In a subversion, the contact was ''because'' of [[Humans Are Warriors|humanity's aptitude for violence]], and the Galactics' complete lack of it even in the face of the [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Posleen]] [[Curb Stomp Battle|steamrollering anything in their way]].

** The same is pretty much the case in [[Fred Saberhagen]]'s ''[[Berserker (Literature)|Berserker]]'' stories; the Carmpan, an inherently peaceful race unable to directly fight the titular killing machines, gives humanity just enough help to become expert Berserker-killers.

* ''Dreamcatcher'' by [[Stephen King]] involves an invasion by an alien species of telepathic mold ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]). The mold sends out telepathic messages which includes the classic "We come in peace", but the '''big''' lie is "We are not infectious".

** Good thing the [[General Ripper]] in charge decided to attack them anyway, [[The Extremist Was Right|despite them not showing any signs of fiendish behaviour up to that point.]]

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

* ''[[V]]: The Series'' (itself a followup to two miniseries) was about a hostile, sneaky, [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Nazi-like]] alien race using humanity's credulity against them.

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

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' is often an exception. The aliens they make first contact with are rarely evil, and it's even more rare for the protagonists to try to do them any harm. They're just incredibly unlucky.

* Subverted quite nicely in ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]''. When the show starts the aliens do have a great deal of influence, but many humans are still untrusting. More significantly, while the aliens do have a hidden agenda, it's not so much EVIL as a gambit driven by a desire to survive.

** Not even ONE gambit, but [[Gambit Pileup|several]], which generally end up anything from failing to being near-cataclysms (having so many of them, often working at cross-purposes, getting in each other's way, or at the least diverting important ressources from each other turns out ''not'' being a great idea. Go figure).

* 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.

* 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]]?

** The first version is explored in the lesser known episode "The Gift". An alien makes contact with a superstitious Mexican town and is killed out of fear. The villagers find he had a paper as a gift saying "Greetings to the people of Earth. We come in peace. We bring you this gift. The following formula is a vaccine against all forms of cancer...." the rest of the page burned away.

== Music ==

* A recurring line in [[wikipedia:The Firm (Star Trekkinchr(27))|"The Firm's]] [[Affectionate Parody|"Star Trekkin'"]], attributed to [[The Captain]] Kirk. This is, of course, the Trope Namer.

 

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** This was also an example of [[Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain]], as Lion-o fired on the first alien because he was ugly and spoke gruffly, while the second was elegant and cultured. [[Anvilicious|So Now You Know]]. [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle]].

* The various ''[[Transformers]]'' series have had both, at times: The fiendish Decepticons worming their way into humanity's places of power, and the heroic Autobots being hounded as invaders (often after the Decepticons reveal themselves).

* Parodied in the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "Roswell That Ends Well", when [[Harry Truman|Harry S Truman]] greets Zoidberg with "If you come in peace, surrender or be destroyed. If you're here to make war, we surrender."

* In the cartoon ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'', some aliens landed saying "we come in peace," and Garfield observed that any aliens who say that are actually evil invaders. [[Genre Savvy|His prediction was correct.]]

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "The Springfield Files", the trope is parodied when an alien (which later turns out to be Mr. Burns, made to look like an alien [[It Make Sense In Context|through various circumstances]]) greets the people of Springfield:

{{quote| '''Alien (Burns):''' I bring you ''love!''<br />