There are aliens visiting the Earth. In any other work of SF made after the 1950s, there would be at the very least lip service paid to the idea that they might not have hostile intent. Typically there'd be arguments about whether to respond defensively or diplomatically; someone would try talking first; if everyone on Earth assumed without question that the aliens were hostile then they'd turn out to have been potentially friendly; conceivably Earth would try to be friendly and the aliens would unexpectedly turn out to be hostile; but someone, at some point, would at least consider the possibility that the universe was big enough for the two of them.
But no. Everyone automatically makes the leap of logic from "aliens" to "hostile invasion force", and everyone is correct to do so. I can't decide whether I'm more disappointed in the humans or in the aliens for that, but since both are creations of the same scriptwriter I fortunately don't have to.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 09:15 am (UTC)Aliens
There are aliens visiting the Earth. In any other work of SF made after the 1950s, there would be at the very least lip service paid to the idea that they might not have hostile intent. Typically there'd be arguments about whether to respond defensively or diplomatically; someone would try talking first; if everyone on Earth assumed without question that the aliens were hostile then they'd turn out to have been potentially friendly; conceivably Earth would try to be friendly and the aliens would unexpectedly turn out to be hostile; but someone, at some point, would at least consider the possibility that the universe was big enough for the two of them.
But no. Everyone automatically makes the leap of logic from "aliens" to "hostile invasion force", and everyone is correct to do so. I can't decide whether I'm more disappointed in the humans or in the aliens for that, but since both are creations of the same scriptwriter I fortunately don't have to.