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== Extraterrestrial Life in Science Fiction ==

== Extraterrestrial Life in Science Fiction ==

Extraterrestrial nation-states and, almost as often, extraterrestrial microbes, have been a staple of [[science fiction]] since soon after science-fiction writers first began speculating on what sort of inventions might carry men into outer space, and what they might discover there. [[H. G. Wells]] even speculated on an extraterrestrial civilization on the [[moon]], populated by man-sized insects (''The First Men in the Moon''). Wells also speculated that the Martian nation-state would launch an invasion of earth (''The War of the Worlds''), an invasion that would fail when the Martian soldiers and pilots fell terminally ill with earthly microbes against which their immune systems would have 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.  [[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 speculated on an extraterrestrial civilization on the [[moon]], populated by man-sized insects. Wells also wrote about a Martian nation-state would launch an invasion of earth (''The War of the Worlds''), only to fail when the invaders fell terminally ill with 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 saw the introduction of a number of popular-culture icons that were either:

The middle twentieth century intoduced other now-familiar themes, often in the form 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.

# Humans caught up in events on other, inhabited worlds, some of which were making war against the earth, or

# An extraterrestrial "refugee" that became an obvious [[God-substitute]] after, [[Moses]]-like, he crashed to earth in a small space capsule launched from a world that later destroyed itself in a cataclysm far more devastating than the [[Great Flood]] had been.

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 that [[Gene Roddenberry]] created, with its myriad of extraterrestrial and often trans-galactic nation-states and empires hardly needs introduction. But in addition, 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 space-borne 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.

Nor have science fiction writers ignored speculation on the finding of extraterrestrial microbes. Usually they have portrayed such microbes as capable of producing deadly extinction-level pandemics. (See, for example, ''The Andromeda Strain'' by Michael Crichton.) John B. Olson and Randall S. Ingermanson, however, speculated that the first crew to fly to Mars might discover incontrovertible evidence of microbial life--including a culturable microbe. This would engender excitement in the hearts of their launch authorites, but would also inspire such fear in the mind of a [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA]] engineer that she would actually attempt to strand or murder the crew to stop them from [[back-contamination|back-contaminating]] the earth with their culture.

Nor have science fiction writers ignored speculation on the finding of extraterrestrial microbes. Usually they have portrayed such microbes as capable of producing deadly extinction-level pandemics. (See, for example, ''The Andromeda Strain'' by Michael Crichton.) John B. Olson and Randall S. Ingermanson, however, speculated that the first crew to fly to Mars might discover incontrovertible evidence of microbial life--including a culturable microbe. This would engender excitement in the hearts of their launch authorites, but would also inspire such fear in the mind of a [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA]] engineer that she would actually attempt to strand or murder the crew to stop them from [[back-contamination|back-contaminating]] the earth with their culture.