History WhatMeasureIsANonHuman / LiveActionTV

* The Winchesters of ''{{Supernatural}}'' and their allies seem to care less and less about killing or torturing demons as the show goes on, despite them possessing human bodies with the original occupant still in there. To be fair, they are in a very bad situation where mercy isn't always an option, and it's stated and shown that many demons put their hosts through a lot of punishment, possibily killing them even if they are expelled. This is why the human version of [[WhatTheHellHero Meg calling Sam out on it]] was such an awesome moment. When Ruby tries to persuade Sam to work with her, Sam orders her to vacate her current host. To placate him, she goes to a hospital and possesses the empty body of a Jane Doe who just flatlined, which Sam reluctantly accepts.
** In fact, ''no'' supernatural creatures are allowed to live, with the exception of the nest of vampires (led by [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Amber Benson (Tara)]], ironically) who live off animal blood. Even the sympathetic (or just pathetic) creatures, like shapeshifters (who were born preternaturally mutated and cast out from society and kill because of their FreudianExcuse) and werewolves (people who are bitten, black out when they turn, and have no idea that they spend the night murdering innocent people) must die. The only werewolf episode is "Heart" (which is either a TearJerker or pure {{Narm}}, [[YourMileageMayVary depending on how you look at it]]), and it explores this trope. Two of the three shapeshifter episodes, "Skin" and [[spoiler: "Monster Movie"]], give us pieces of insight into the shapeshifters' painful existence; the first shapeshifter was an intentionally cruel rapist/murderer, but the second was incredibly lonely and a victim of society's narrow-mindedness and his own killer instincts:

*** Which is a godawful excuse, but that guy was twisted. Dean actually felt sorry for him, which is a change. A similar example would be a man who was turning into a creature known as a rougarou, which feast on humans. He was born that way and the brothers tell him what is happening to see if he can fight it off and hold in his vicious nature. Then a fellow hunter's actions force him to turn into a monster and they are left with no choice.
**** On the other hand, [[GrimReaper Reapers]] must be kept alive.
***** An odd example is Castiel, an angel. When he's losing his power and collapses, the Winchesters show genuine concern for him, despite disliking the other angels (although the others are trying to bring about the apocalypse.)

**** However, Angel had Lorne assassinate Lindsey, and two of members of the Circle of the Black Thorn assassinated by Illyria were also human, at least in appearance.

** In AngelTheSeries, the rule is more like "what measure is a ''dangerous'' non-human?" Killing innocent demons is treated as a hate crime almost as bad as killing humans (see the season 3 episode ''That Old Gang of Mine'') but killing demons who are a) animalistic and predatory or b) evil is treated as heroic, wheras killing a human is treated as wrong no matter how evil the human is.

** Three very telling examples: Camille of ''Jungle Fury'' survives and turns good despite not being human (She has a human form, but traits like her prehensile tongue suggest that this is not her ''true'' form). On the other hand, Zeltrax of ''Dino Thunder'', who does not have a face, is [[strike:killed]] destroyed, despite the fact that we are told not only that he is a human wearing cybernetic prostheses after a lab accident, we are even told his ''human name'' (It's Smitty). Likewise, Frax of ''Time Force'' is turned evil and ultimately dies, despite the fact that he also was once human before being forced into a robotic body.

*** Things of note: 1. We never do ''see'' what happened to Goldar and Rito, or Squatt, Baboo, and Scorpina. 2. It has been speculated that Rita and Zedd being purged like that was a ''MyRevengeIsMercy'' kind of thing, leaving them alive, memories intact, but now able to feel guilt over all the death and destruction they wrought. 3. Rita is implied to have been rotten from the beginning. 4. Divatox being spared was because of the fact she was supposed to be Dimitria's kidnapped sister. 5. With the exception of Ecliptor, the villains we see destroyed were ''much'' less popular than Rita and Zedd. Especially Elgar.

*** It's clearly implied that Buffy knows this behaviour is wrong, yet does it anyway. One example is when Buffy starts talking to Spike about things she won't reveal to the Scoobies. On the surface this hints at a new closeness between them, but in "Once More With Feeling" Spike says (well, [[MusicalEpisode sings actually]]) that it's only because he's a "dead man" and so her confessions don't have to count -- Buffy looks away guiltily. Later on when they start having sex, Buffy feels angst not only about the things Spike is encouraging her to do, but also over how she's using Spike purely for thrills without respecting the love he feels for her, or even acknowledging that it's genuine love at all.

*** Another example is when Buffy starts talking to Spike about things she won't reveal to the Scoobies. On the surface this hints at a new closeness between them, but in "Once More With Feeling" Spike says (well, [[MusicalEpisode sings actually]]) that it's only because he's a "dead man" and so her confessions don't have to count -- Buffy looks away guiltily.

*** Another example is when Buffy starts talking to Spike about things she won't reveal to the Scoobies. On the surface this hints at a new closeness between them, but in "Once More With Feeling" Spike says (well, [[MusicalEpisode sings actually) that it's only because he's a "dead man" and so her confessions don't have to count -- Buffy looks away guiltily.

*** The Wraiths use this logic in regards to humans, making it clear that people are just food. They aren't out right cruel (compared to the Gou'ld). While they do have the runners and the like that is as much about finding food and enjoying the hunt. It is possible to argue that the humans to more torturing of Wraiths than vice versa, at least if you don't include the Wraiths feeding off of humans.

*** It is breifly covered that the wraiths evolved because the Areatas (sp) bug fed on the ancients and humans are at least partially decended from the ancients.

** In an earlier episode, Ecliptor (one of the monsters vaporized in this attack) explains that he (and presumably other monstrous-looking villains) are evil because they were.

* CharlesStross plays with human villains were good-natured at heart but had been corrupted.

* Played with in MrBean. He had at least two [[CompanionCube companion cubes]]. The first being Teddy, his teddy bear and the second being his car. Teddy can get decapitated and ripped apart every episode. The audience always laughs but also "Awwww"'s at close ups of the cute little toy bear, indicating that they sympathize with the toy but still feel it can be beaten up a little. His car provided a stranger example. In one episode, Bean's car was demolished. The audience apparently has a case of MoodWhiplash by laughing, showing sorrow, and then laughing again.

** The Doctor also had a long running argument with the Brigadier about "the military mind's" tendency to solve everything with "fire rounds rapid".

* [[MonsterOfTheWeek The more human-like mutants of the week]] on ''TheXFiles'' tend to get the harsher treatment, being portrayed as instinctive killing machines (or animalistic predators), to be stopped by any means necessary. However, earlier in the series, this had yet to be established. Eugene Tooms (the liver-eating, hibernating, contortionist mutant from Season 1) was supposedly rehabilitated and released back into society. Similarly, Flukeman from early Season 2 was committed to a psychiatric institution for observation, despite being a radioactively created fusion of Primate and flatworm DNA. In both of these instances Mulder argued that the creatures did not deserve the same legal treatment that a human serial killer would, because he did not see them as human. Later episodes focused more on ordinary humans with strange gifts or victims of unusual circumstance (many of whom killed by accident) rather than the traditional "mutants." Later in the series, a brain-eating humanoid creature [[HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMOnster tried living like a human]], but ultimately failed (proving Mulder's point). At least he got a sympathetic POV. Interestingly, in the episode featuring a severely inbred family as a MonsterOfTheWeek, this doesn't get brought up, implying that the monstrous Peacock Clan is more "human" than (presumably) human-derived mutants like Tooms.

* ''{{Farscape}}'' subverts the "duplicates are worthless" concept, ''hard'', with a villain who has a machine that can create instant, perfect duplicates - such that the question of "which is the original" is, for all intents and purposes, meaningless. When Chiana is duplicated and one of them is killed, she tries very, very hard to convince herself that she's okay because it was just a clone and she's definitely the original... but she chokes up when she gives this speech. Both Johns are treated as equal, [[spoiler:and when one of them dies, Aeryn can't even look the other in the face for a while]]. Also, the AllTheMyriadWays treatment of identical opposites is thoroughly deconstructed (see that page). As for the show's and the characters' treatment of humans versus non-humans, well, the characters are various degrees of amoral and the creators love painful deaths, so it's hard to say.

* RussellTDavies has a rule for his tenure in ''DoctorWho'' prohibiting humans from shooting other humans with "real" weapons. This rule does not, obviously, extend to Cybernised humans, the Futurekind (savage humans) or the formerly-human Toclafane. In fact, the rule gets broken in Russell T Davies' own "Tooth and Claw", in which Queen Victoria shoots a human traitor with a revolver.

* KamenRiderKiva has Fangire who, while often evil, have been shown on various occasions to be capable of living peaceful lives without killing people, and to be able to love humans. However, Wataru generally has no qualms about killing them.

* KamenRiderKiva has Fangire who, while often evil, have been shown on various occasions to be capable of living peaceful lives without killing people, and to be able to love humans. However, Wataru generally has no qualms about killing them.

*** If the space series is any indication, where Zordon sacrificed himself to 'purge evil,' it could be more along the lines of their technology or whatever only recognizing and not destroying 'near-human' enemies. Astronema's right hand Ecliptor was an especially poignant example as he waffled between sides over his honour, yet still got vaped by Zordon anyway. Becoming cyborg reduces human quotient enough for the weapon to automatically swap from Stun to Kill settings. How this actually works is just....just [[WallBanger something you don't even want to try and figure out.]]

* Played with in MrBean. He had at least two [[CompanionCube companion cubes]]. The first being Teddy, his teddy bear and the second being his car. Teddy can get decapitated and ripped apart every episode. The audience always laughs but also "Awwww"'s at close ups of the cute little toy bear, indicating that they sympathize with the toy but still feel it can be beaten up a little. His car provided a stranger example. In one episode, Bean's car was demolished. The audience apparently has a case of MoodWhiplash by laughing, showing sorrow, and then laughing again.