This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
From Bizarre Alien Biology Discussion:
Interestingly, this isn’t inverted very often. Humans, even when they’re the “aliens” of a story, almost never have flashy biological differences that make them anything but weaker than the rest of the cast.
Morgan Wick: This may actually be a hint of a separate trope, where humans, almost without exception (and at least since War Of The Worlds, making it one of The Oldest Ones in the Book), are weak compared to any alien in the galaxy. Aliens are always superior technologically, they have cooler biological advances, they can do cooler stuff naturally, they're more enlightened, etc, etc. Humans never develop Faster-Than-Light Travel or stuff like that before any other race (though there was Star Trek Enterprise, where it was something of a recurring theme that the crew of the Enterprise would constantly be trying to avoid using any of their phlebotinum lest it unduly affect the course of technological advancement of whatever planet they were at that week), they're never able to do stuff that other alien races don't (no alien has only one lung, for example, and all aliens (except Big Creepy-Crawlies) have the capacity for rational thought, usually to greater extents than humans), and except for examples of the Cargo Cult we never encounter any cases of aliens with really backward ideas. Am I on to something here? (Maybe I'm just too immersed in comic books, where every alien has superpowers as a natural ability, usually not under the Superman model of as a result of some Earth condition - which makes you wonder how, say, Martian life was like with intangibility and telepathy and all that other good stuff, or how life was for any number of members of the Legion of Super-Heroes before becoming Legionnaires.)
Seth There is a trope in there, Humans as a Jack of All Trades master of none (See my sneaky name sugestion there) race is very common even in games like D&D and other RP Gs we tend to have no outstanding qualities instead being the middle race a balance between all atributes.
Andyroid: I think you're onto something here as well, Morgan. Perhaps we could call it Puny Humans.
BT The P: Puny Earthlings. It's more thematically appropriate, catchy, and accounts for stuff like off-world human subspecies who come back to Earth all buff and bossy.
LTR - It's going to be hard to beat Puny Earthlings for a title, I love it.
Ununnilium: I agree on Puny Earthlings. I do, however, have to note an exception to the trope - the original John Carter of Mars books, where an Earthman transported to Mars is stronger and faster than the natives due to the difference in gravity (and possibly atmosphere?).
Seth Puny Earthlings is a pretty good title and an exception or two is always good for a trope entry.
BT The P: The John Carter thing is an extension of a literary trope common to the non-scifi stories of the era: white European or American explorer/castaway as general better to the natives. Since the only other exceptions that immediately spring to mind are deliberate subversions or comedic Sci-Fi ans parodies, I say it's a strong trope. I think I'll pull the trigger on this one.
Red Shoe: The John Carter thing is good old fashioned White Man's Burden -- a pretty solid trope in its own time, but one that was already long dead before television was invented.
And so it was. Needs help and examples, but I have to be at work early tomorrow, so I'm done for now. </BT The P>
Kizor: Should The Mario be integrated into this article? Humanity seems to be The Mario of the universe.
Seth: I say keep the sci fi and the game trope separate. They both have very different purposes. But it wouldn't hurt to link them together there is a small area of overlap.
Some Guy From Iceland: In the (Halo) example I also read that at the covenant had the disadvantage when it came to weapons that at the regarded the weapons of the ({{Agent Aliens}) as perfect and refused to redesign and improve it, while 5 minutes after master chief and Cortana got one they had made one many times more powerful by rewiring some of its components.
Scientivore: Moved these two over to Humans Are Special:
- Semi-inversion: In the pen-and-paper roleplaying game Teenagers From Outer Space, the aliens all have superpowers, but Earthlings have a few special abilities of their own, and to top it all off, Earth is universally acclaimed as the single coolest planet in the entire galaxy. (Which is why the aliens go there.)
- In Doctor Who, the Doctor expresses contempt for Puny Earthlings ("stupid apes") during his darker moments. He does have a point, since Time Lords are superior in nearly every way. However, he has a certain degree of admiration with humans that inspires him to help them over and over again.
- Seen in many cases in the various Star Trek series. Vulcans, for instance, are stronger, live longer, tend to be more intelligent, mildly telepathic, et cetera. The only advantage Kirk and McCoy lord over them is the "being in touch with your emotions" thing.
Scientivore (again): It appears that the John Carter of Mars and Adam Strange examples are actually examples of Mighty Whitey Recycled IN SPACE! (or Mighty Whitey Mix And Match with Science Fiction). Since they don't seem to have anything to do with this trope, should we send them back to Mighty Whitey or on to somewhere else?
Sci Vo (f.k.a. Scientivore): Okay, no replies so I'm moving them back to Mighty Whitey:
- Inverted in the John Carter Of Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. These featured an Earthman who, due to Mars's lower gravity, had super-strength compared to the humanoid inhabitants of Mars. This, however, had more to do with the original form of the Mighty Whitey trope, given that the Puny Earthlings trope had not yet evolved at the time the books were written.
- A near-identical concept was used in the Adam Strange comics; on Earth Adam is just an archaeologist, but he uses his jetpack to make himself the hero of the space planet Rann. Popular comic author Alan Moore later subverted this by having the Rannians still treat Adam with contempt because they have superior intellects.
Nornagest: Subversion: It's a semi-common trope in, especially, military sci-fi to make humans special precisely by emphasizing the darker side of human nature -- a nature allowing us to become vastly more efficient soldiers than other sentient races. There's a scene in a John Ringo book where the alien ambassador asks to be taken to our "Senior Violent Carnivore"... um, ...Or So I Heard.
Medinoc: I've just read that Star Trek example and Frigde Logic is kicking in:
- This usually applies in Star Trek, but there are exceptions; for example, Star Trek Voyager's Kes belongs to a species that only has a nine-year lifespan.
- The species is, however, telepathic and mature very fast. Whether this makes up for the short lifespan is in the eye of the beholder. (They'd kind of have to mature fast, wouldn't they?)
- Also they apparently can only have a single child, once. Um...
