Changes

Extraterrestrial life, from nation-states to microbes, has been a staple of [[science fiction]] since the early days of the genre.  Novelist [[H. G. Wells]] speculated on what sort of inventions might carry men into outer space, and what they might discover there.  In ''The First Men in the Moon'', he describes a fictional extraterrestrial civilization on the [[moon]], populated by man-sized insects. Wells also wrote about a Martian nation-state that launched an invasion of Earth (''The War of the Worlds''), only to fail when the invaders fell terminally ill from earthly microbes against which their immune systems had no defense. [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] indulged in far richer speculation on an entire civilization on Mars, and on semi-regular commerce between his Martians and a select few visitors from earth.

Extraterrestrial life, from nation-states to microbes, has been a staple of [[science fiction]] since the early days of the genre.  Novelist [[H. G. Wells]] speculated on what sort of inventions might carry men into outer space, and what they might discover there.  In ''The First Men in the Moon'', he describes a fictional extraterrestrial civilization on the [[moon]], populated by man-sized insects. Wells also wrote about a Martian nation-state that launched an invasion of Earth (''The War of the Worlds''), only to fail when the invaders fell terminally ill from earthly microbes against which their immune systems had no defense. [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] indulged in far richer speculation on an entire civilization on Mars, and on semi-regular commerce between his Martians and a select few visitors from earth.

The middle twentieth century introduced other now-familiar themes, often through the media of comic books, novels, low-budget films, and [[television]]: humans caught up in events on other inhabited worlds, spacefaring starship crews, and extraterrestrial "prophets" appearing on earth with either good intentions or bad.  By the late twentieth century, big-budget films repeated these thems and introduced new ones, sometimes (as in ''[[Star Wars]]'') bypassing Earth altogether in favor of mythlike tales of ancient civilizations. The alleged crash of an extraterrestrial scout craft near Roswell, New Mexico, United States was the subject of another film.

The middle twentieth century introduced other now-familiar themes, often through the media of comic books, novels, low-budget films, and [[television]]: humans caught up in events on other inhabited worlds, spacefaring starship crews, and extraterrestrial "prophets" appearing on earth with either good intentions or bad.  By the late twentieth century, big-budget films repeated these themes and introduced new ones, sometimes (as in ''[[Star Wars]]'') bypassing Earth altogether in favor of mythlike tales of ancient civilizations. The alleged crash of an extraterrestrial scout craft near Roswell, New Mexico, United States was the subject of another film.

The [[Star Trek]] television franchise created by [[Gene Roddenberry]], with its myriad of extraterrestrial and often trans-galactic nation-states and empires, hardly needs introduction. Producer Quinn Martin created a series that centered on one man's attempt to warn his government that certain people were not what they appeared, but were instead extraterrestrial spies. More recently, Kenneth Johnston created a concept (''V'') of a spaceborne force whose commanding admiral and officers at first puts on a friendly appearance similar to that of [[Matthew Perry]] (the American commodore who first visited [[Japan]]) but, soon afterward, subvert human governmental and media institutions in order to further their true purpose, which is to steal earth's water and carry away earth's population for food.

The [[Star Trek]] television franchise created by [[Gene Roddenberry]], with its myriad of extraterrestrial and often trans-galactic nation-states and empires, hardly needs introduction. Producer Quinn Martin created a series that centered on one man's attempt to warn his government that certain people were not what they appeared, but were instead extraterrestrial spies. More recently, Kenneth Johnston created a concept (''V'') of a spaceborne force whose commanding admiral and officers at first puts on a friendly appearance similar to that of [[Matthew Perry]] (the American commodore who first visited [[Japan]]) but, soon afterward, subvert human governmental and media institutions in order to further their true purpose, which is to steal earth's water and carry away earth's population for food.