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| 6 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 13 | [[quoteright:350: [[ComicBook/DCTheNewFrontier https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Aliens_Steal_Cable_2953.jpg]]]] |
| 14 | [-[[caption-width-right:350:Everything ComicBook/MartianManhunter knows about this planet, [[TaughtByTelevision he learned from television.]] Which explains a lot.]]-] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ->''"Hello, Megan! I'm on Earth!"''\ |
| 17 | ''"I'm actually on Earth! I've wanted this for so long... even if it's not ''exactly'' like TV.''" |
| 18 | -->-- '''M'gann M'orzz''', ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' |
| 19 | |
| 20 | For about a hundred [[TwoOfYourEarthMinutes of our Earth years]], our planet has been a noisy little mudball when it comes to radio signals. A very common plot amongst science fiction authors is to depict aliens as having made contact with Earth culture via stray TV broadcasts. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | One bit of science that these writers surprisingly get right consistently is that radio signals propagate at light speed. Given that on TV distances are conveniently measured in light years, it's an easy conversion formula: aliens 50 light-years from Earth are just now getting TV signals sent in the 1970's, thus the visitor that shows up, having skipped the intervening distance via FasterThanLightTravel, will talk and dress like a DiscoDan in an attempt to fit in. Hilarity ensues, or it provides a vital clue to the protagonist that something isn't quite right about this guy. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | There are some [[Analysis/AliensStealCable major technical problems]] with this concept, but most writers will ignore them. First of all, non-directional broadcast signals (like TV and radio signals) [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160814022124/http://setifaq.org/faq.html#1.2.3 cannot be received beyond a fraction of a light year even by much more powerful telescopes than the ones available,]] so it shouldn't be that surprising that '''we''' have not been receiving any of '''their''' transmissions, even if they have radio technology (or maybe they all read books on their planet). Directed radio signals (like radar signals) can be possibly received thousands of light years away but can be detected in a far smaller area and may not even be recognized as sign of extra-terrestrial life.[[note]]The infamous "Wow! signal" is an example of this; although it demonstrates all the characteristics of an interstellar signal, no one is sure whether it was natural or artificial.[[/note]] Another scientific theory is that they've developed a different form of communication that doesn't depend on radio broadcasts, and all of their surviving transmissions from when they did have already passed us by.[[note]]Ignoring the fact that space is both vast and ''far nosier'' than we could ever be. Accounting for radio bursts from sources such as rapidly rotating black holes, pulsars, neutron stars, quasars, and magnetars, etc, etc and that's not even including collisions or other cataclysmic events like super/hypernovas, there's simply too much background noise and radiation for exosolar civilizations to make themselves heard.[[/note]] |
| 25 | |
| 26 | One thing's for sure though, we humans are using fewer huge and ultra powerful transmitters as time goes on, and using more and more much smaller devices with much more complex signals. A skilled alien equivalent of SETI might crack FM Radio or maybe conventional analogue TV, but the stuff coming out of a mobile phone base station doesn't even have an obvious carrier wave frequency. That leaves a 100 year long 'pulse' of intelligible broadcasts, with silence before and low power white noise after, and such a thing might be easily missed in the vastness of space if a SETI program didn't happen to be looking the right way with the right kit at the right time. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | The trope name is somewhat of a misnomer as cable television is based on a landline, essentially closed circuit television, and not transmitted via airwaves. This means that aliens could only freely monitor the airwaves for VHF and UHF broadcast channels throughout most of the history of television. But they would not have had access to channels such as HBO, Cinemax, MTV, Nickelodeon, Playboy Channel, or any of the old Cablevision/Pay TV stations prior to the total transition to digital. Today, even though most TV is subscription based, therefore, not accessible without an internet account, aliens may still find a way to hack into it with some added effort. However, these signals, originating from microwave towers and satellites pointing directly at Earth, will not reach out into space like radio waves do. Consequently, in this case, the aliens would probably need to be stationed somewhere hidden on Earth, rather than the traditional scenario of picking them up on their own homeworld's verion of SETI. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | Regardless, misunderstandings and misinterpretations about Earth culture and human behavior from tiny snippets of old sitcoms are [[RuleOfFunny comedy gold]] especially if it means they [[WrongGenreSavvy expect Earth to be like that]], if they [[LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision learn their English from it]] it justifies AliensSpeakingEnglish and so the concept keeps coming back up. Compare AlienArtsAreAppreciated and AliensStealCattle. See also DoNotAdjustYourSet for when the aliens are broadcasting to us instead. |
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| 32 | ---- |
| 33 | !!Examples: |
| 34 | |
| 35 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 38 | * In ''Anime/BraveExkaiser'', one of the first things the [[SpacePirates Geisters]] stole when they arrived on Earth were televisions (including, fitting for giant robots, the big ones on the sides of buildings). Justified, as [[BigBad Dino Geist]] felt they'd be a useful way to learn about the Earth and uses his to find things for the Geisters to steal via the news media. The others, being far less intelligent than him, more often use it just to watch TV. |
| 39 | * Not aliens, but a MagicalLand. In ''Anime/OnegaiMyMelody'', the King of Mari Land has a TV that directly receives programs from Earth. It causes him to make a lot of pop culture references, mostly of MagicalGirl shows. He also gets a crush on the weather girl, which pisses his wife off. |
| 40 | * The Keronians from ''Manga/SgtFrog'' seem to be well-acquainted with Earth culture. In an early chapter of the manga, Natsumi is surprised when Keroro takes offense to being compared to Q-Taro the Ghost from ''Manga/LittleGhostQTaro'' ([[WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters Slimer]] in [[{{Woolseyism}} the Tokyopop translation]]): "How dare you compare me to that overeating ectoplasmic idiot?!" Evidently, Pekopon (Earth) is an entertainment Mecca and produces most of the galaxy's highest rated TV shows. |
| 41 | * In the {{Sentai}} anime ''Manga/SpecialDutyCombatUnitShinesman'', the ditzy female villain once asks about the heroes, but she's got the completely wrong idea about them. A nearby mook admits, when a smarter villain asks, that they didn't have enough footage of the ''actual heroes'' so they had to fill in the blanks in their report with examples from a sentai tv-series. |
| 42 | * A major plot point in ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'', starting with the Miss Macross pageant and culminating in the battle against the Bodolza fleet. It neatly sidesteps the distance and signal strength issues by having the transmission come from the titular ship, and the Zentradi warships chasing it are (in astronomical distances) a stone's throw away. |
| 43 | * Astral ''and'' his foes the Barians do this in ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL''. |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Audio Plays]] |
| 47 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek: Cacophony'', one of the Captain Sulu series of audio dramas. The ''Excelsior'' encounters a planet where a charismatic media figure is rebroadcasting Earth radio signals, claiming they are the voices of the gods. (A NegativeSpaceWedgie is causing the signals to come through subspace, thus bypassing the technical limitations mentioned above.) |
| 48 | [[/folder]] |
| 49 | |
| 50 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 51 | * Referenced in ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'' by Carl Sagan, during an "unmanned" mission to mars. |
| 52 | -->'''Sagan:''' Gentlemen, we're communicating across the vast, empty chasm of space. Do you really want our first interaction with another intelligent species to be the words "robot pornography?" |
| 53 | * In ''ComicBook/BillAndTedsExcellentComicBook'', the Dimension of Utter Boredom managed to pick up a transmission of Wyld Stallyns playing the Battle of The Bands in ''Film/BillAndTedsBogusJourney''. Two denizens kidnap the duo's wives and children in order to get Bill and Ted's attention and persuade them to play a gig there. |
| 54 | ** ''Bill and Ted Save The Universe'' reveals that [[spoiler:Bill and Ted's mothers]] have been travelling the galaxy for years, using Wyld Stallyns albums from the future to bring peace to alien planets. |
| 55 | * In ''ComicBook/BlackHammer'', the alien robot TLK-E WLK-E wanted to learn about species and cultures beyond her home planet, so she built probes and launched them into space. Naturally, the probes picked up television signals from Earth. |
| 56 | * The protagonist of the 2017 comic based on ''VideoGame/{{Centipede}}'' works for the planet Sty-Rek's interstellar outreach program, monitoring radio waves and internet from other planets. He has a particular fascination with Earth culture and often quotes our movies. |
| 57 | * In Creator/MarkWaid's ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'', an alien claims that Matt Murdock's speech about extraterrestrials having human rights is not only well known to his people, they made a [[VoiceClipSong dance mix]] of it. [[spoiler:It turns out the alien is an innate liar who instinctively knows the right thing to say, though.]] |
| 58 | * In ''ComicBook/DCTheNewFrontier'', Martian Manhunter initially learns about human culture by watching TV. This is part of why he goes on to assume his eventual identity of John Jones, who is a HardboiledDetective based on the ones he saw there. |
| 59 | * A one-panel comic from ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' featured a monitor screen in the Oval Office with an alien saying "we've been monitoring your transmissions for some time, and if you don't put ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' back on the air you can kiss New York goodbye." |
| 60 | * The first issue of ''ComicBook/FlamingCarrot'' has a Martian saying that they've been watching our [=TV=] broadcasts for years and are annoyed at how badly they come off in AlienInvasion movies. |
| 61 | * Every once and a while in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, Skrulls will decide to entertain themselves with their shapeshifting abilities and a dash of Earth culture. The world Kral is an entire planet of Skrulls imitating gangster movies from the 1950s. On Earth, four Skrulls apparently devoted themselves full time to their favorite Earth entertainers and became the Skrull Beatles. |
| 62 | * Book four of ComicBook/TwoThousandAD's ''ComicBook/NemesisTheWarlock'' is set in the Gothic Empire, populated by a race of shapeshifting aliens who received the first large scale radio transmissions of the 1920's. They promptly based their society on what they thought was Earth's pre-1914 Golden Age, particularly on Victorian society and the British Empire (even with their own version of Jack the Ripper). |
| 63 | ** Also in 2000AD, a one-off story was set in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust, where ragged survivors are consternated to make first contact with alien visitors. Who have been prompted to visit to demand why the Creator/{{BBC}} abruptly stopped broadcasting and left ''Series/EastEnders'' with unresolved cliffhangers. And can we talk about ''Series/CoronationStreet''? The aliens are addicted to earthly soap operas. |
| 64 | * In ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' this is how the [[PlanetLooters Evronians]] learned English and other Earth languages. The issue about distance and signal strength is sidestepped by the fact they've been around Earth for a ''long'' time (first known visit is from 10,000 years ago) before deciding the invasion was worth it, so their surveillance crews had been close enough. |
| 65 | * The Kymellian Aelfyre Whitemane, who gave ''ComicBook/PowerPack'' their powers, fell in love with the human culture. He presumably gained access to books and films by somehow remotely connecting to the internet. |
| 66 | * This trope is a part of the origin of ''ComicBook/TheSavageDragon''. He was [[spoiler:a warlord who wanted to subjugate Earth despite the fact that his race is pretty peaceful. They decide to rip out chunks of his brain in order to give him amnesia (he has a healing factor). Since they were monitoring Earth for years, they used their satellite feeds to give Dragon new memories and dumped him in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}.]] |
| 67 | * The eponymous ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingGirl'' from DC's Young Animal imprint is a bird-like alien that's obsessed with an Earth sitcom from the 50's as an outlet against her culture's emotional repression. This along with [[LegacyCharacter the original Shade's]] poetry, she's inspired to steal the Madness Vest and use it to travel there. |
| 68 | * Mister Mind's first appearance in ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' has him following his favourite radio broadcasts to Earth then vowing to conquer the planet when he finds out that Edgar Bergen's dummy, Charlie [=McCarthy=] isn't real. |
| 69 | * In a story from the French comic book ''ComicBook/StanPulsar'', an expedition from Earth arrives on an alien planet and is surprised to hear the local aliens [[AliensSpeakingEnglish speaking their language]]. The aliens explain that their brains have the ability to receive signals from Earth TV. Then they eagerly ask the humans who killed Laura Palmer -- they missed the ''Series/TwinPeaks'' finale due to electromagnetic interference. |
| 70 | * After [[DefectorFromDecadence leaving the Decepticons]] in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'', Thundercracker becomes hooked on a human soap opera called Nurse Whitney. He even tries writing his own screenplays. |
| 71 | ** It eventually becomes apparent that Cybertronians as a whole have become fairly enamored with Earth culture: Jazz, unsurprisingly, takes a great interest in various forms of music, and in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', the crew of the Lost Light relaxes after some time travel hijinx by watching a ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' marathon. Even some of the Decepticons start to enjoy some Earth media. |
| 72 | * In ''Literature/{{Transpecial}}'', the ky'iin have tried this, but they haven't been able to get close enough to Earth to see images clearly. They've only been able to pick up weak audio broadcasts, and because they don't realize that human languages consist of sound only instead of sound and movement like the ky'iin languages, they haven't tried to decipher them. |
| 73 | * ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': |
| 74 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The women of Mercury have listened to Earth radio broadcasts, and gotten some rather twisted ideas from them which lead to their enslaving of their men. |
| 75 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'': The young khund woman Kho Kharhi watches MTV and has picked up earth slang from it. She goes on to become a Franchise/GreenLantern. |
| 76 | * ''ComicBook/XMen'' books: |
| 77 | ** The Spineless Ones, the residents of the Mojoverse have had their dreams bombarded with TV transmissions from Earth for thousands of their years (time works differently in their dimension). Sort of like the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' [[Recap/StarTrekS2E17APieceOfTheAction Iotians]], this exposure turned them into a Dimension of Hats organized around emulation of television, to the point that their DimensionLord is whichever network executive has the best ratings. It was later established that the initial transmissions were sent by one of their own, a scientist named Arize, who had a [[OnlySaneMan rare immunity]] to the effects of the TV transmissions on his people (they could actually perceive them on a subconscious level, and their inability to filter out multiple transmissions at once--i.e., no natural equivalent to a channel tuner--drove most Spineless Ones mad to varying degrees). With the best of intentions, Arize came to Earth and attempted to change his people's nature by gathering media he deemed positive and broadcasting it across the dimensions--only for the temporal differences between Earth and Mojoworld to result in [[StableTimeLoop Arize's broadcast becoming the transmissions that originally sparked both their madness and their obsession with video entertainment.]] |
| 78 | ** During a time travel trip to the Skrull planet in a short story arc in 1999 (long story), Shadowcat knocks out her counterpart and infiltrates the Skrull compound. The fake mutants complain to each other the information the Skrulls gleam from Earth about mutants is "ill-informed and confusing". The next shot is Shadowcat accompanying the other false X-Men into a garage where other metamorphosed Skrulls are watching transmissions from Earth so that they can get more "in character". |
| 79 | [[/folder]] |
| 80 | |
| 81 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 82 | * In ''ComicStrip/SafeHavens'', Palmtop (a cat cloned from a dog) eventually figures out that...whoever is trying to communicate with Samantha's crew on Mars is doing it through canine language. Turns out [[spoiler:[[GeniusLoci Mars]]]] picked that up from a ''Series/{{Lassie}}'' broadcast. Since it was one of the first broadcast signals to leave Earth, [[spoiler:Mars]] thought that dogs were the dominant species on Earth. (Timmy being...well, [[TooDumbToLive Timmy]] probably didn't help either.) |
| 83 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Ziggy}}'' at least twice had aliens show up referencing ''Franchise/StarTrek'': one set who, like the Thermians from ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', didn't realize it was fiction and wanted to join the Federation ("Take us to Captain Kirk!"), and a couple of others who decided to complain to Ziggy about how silly the plots were getting "lately." |
| 84 | [[/folder]] |
| 85 | |
| 86 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 87 | * In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' TrollFic ''Fanfic/AvatarsIIWhenQwaritchTakesRevenge'', the Navis watch ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' at the end of Book II. They apparently have a special meteorite that humans used to make televisions, and used it to invent the television. |
| 88 | * Inverted in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28493853 Distance learning for fun and profit...]]'', where [[Literature/{{Worm}} Taylor]] manages to create a device that captures what seems to be alien educational TV... only that this channel teaches the theory behind technologies like ''antigravity''. [[ETGaveUsWifi Taylor uses this to kickstart a new technological revolution]]. |
| 89 | * ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'': |
| 90 | ** Apparently, aliens don't even need to ''steal'' cable in this universe: they have [[SpaceX Space]] {{Creator/Hulu}}. That's how Vegeta knows who Film/TheThreeStooges are. |
| 91 | ** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] when [[TheCaligula Guru]] tells Dende that his parents being dead means he could be like Batman. When Dende mentions he has no idea who that is, Guru shouts "See, this is why we need ''TV!''". Guru probably found out through Space Hulu himself, given [[BizarreAlienBiology Namekian's antenna give them Wi-Fi.]] |
| 92 | * In ''Fanfic/IncompatibleSystem'', humans are the aliens, first for the Thranx, and then the Extranet. Oh, and they have also hacked the Relay Network to track the Citadel ship movements. |
| 93 | * After the {{Masquerade}} gets smashed to bits in ''[[Fanfic/GrandTourSeries Journey]]'', the TSAB enters into more open contact with Earth and develops a liking for Terran culture and entertainment. There is a passing mention of a ''Series/TopGearUK'' special on Mid-Childa. Complete with the Stig's Magical Girl cousin. |
| 94 | * ''Fanfic/StarlightSeries'': |
| 95 | ** In the ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' fanfic ''[[Fanfic/StarlightSeries Alpha and Omega]]'', Earth television and radio is picked up and repackaged by various television stations across the Federation. Unlike most examples, though, the aliens are aware of the changes that have taken place, as reconnaissance is preformed regularly. |
| 96 | ** Inverted in ''[[Fanfic/StarlightSeries Aliens!]]'', where Merwin locks on to a [[TheFederation Galactic Federation]] broadcast as part of his mission to research and capture alien life. |
| 97 | * This is where the titular character of ''[[http://derpiboo.ru/tags/human+studies101+with+lyra Human Studies 101 With Lyra]]'' gets a lot of her, erm, ''less than accurate'' facts about humans from. |
| 98 | * ''Fanfic/TheNextFrontier'' is a rare example of this trope from the perspective of the aliens, and avoids falling into many of the FridgeLogic pitfalls mentioned above.[[note]]Largely because the author actually read this page during the writing process.[[/note]] The aliens only pick up a useful transmission because they're specifically looking for it, but have to get quite close to the inhabited parts of the system before they can pick up something they can decypher. It also justifies their ability to [[LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision pick up the local language from it]]; they're specifically looking for children's TV aimed at preschoolers, which is ideally adapted to give the linguistics departments of several universities on their home planet something to work with. |
| 99 | [[/folder]] |
| 100 | |
| 101 | [[folder:Film -- Animated]] |
| 102 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'': |
| 103 | ** The Junkions apparently learned English from watching Earth TV broadcasts. Which explains lines like "Steady as she goes, Bob! Snoopy visitors get mud in the eye, by and by! FilmAtEleven!", and the battle cry "Destroy Unicron! Kill the Grand Poobah! Eliminate even the toughest stains!" |
| 104 | *** Their quick friendship with the Autobots becomes FridgeBrilliance from that perspective: the Junkions have a mutual interest in protecting Earth from the Decepticons to allow the humans to keep coming up with new shows. |
| 105 | *** This becomes a plot point in a Season 3 episode where the Quintessons insert subliminal messages into their signals to turn them feral. And then the signals spread all over the cosmos... |
| 106 | ** The key difference between Movie!Bumblebee and G1!Junkions is that the Junkions are capable of saying anything but choose to parrot TV and radio clichés with their own voices, whereas Bumblebee, who can no longer speak (or speak well, at least), hacks together bits and pieces of actual audio clips from the radio. |
| 107 | ** [[CoolOldGuy Kup]] is implied to watch Earth television as well, but less so than the Junkions. Fitting for his "old guy" image, the way he uses TV phrases (knowing only basic ones) is akin to an old man trying to use new slang. |
| 108 | [[/folder]] |
| 109 | |
| 110 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 111 | * ''Film/{{Contact}}'': The extraterrestrials in the Vega system receive the first transmission strong enough to reach outer space -- [[spoiler:a transmission of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's opening speech at the 1936 Olympic Games; the aliens send the signal back to Earth, combined with a sequence of prime numbers and blueprints for a machine]]. The scientists of the film also point out that the aliens could not possibly have understood the historical context of the transmission (or even what was being said) and state that their transmitting it back would simply have been to show that it had been received (as well as to carry the blueprints). They mock the idea held by the government and military officials that it ''must'' mean they've made contact with [[spoiler:alien Nazis]]. |
| 112 | -->'''David Drumlin:''' ...'36 Olympics was the first television transmission of any power that went in to space. That they recorded it, and sent it back, is simply a way of saying "hello, we heard you."\ |
| 113 | '''Michael Kitz:''' Or, "[[spoiler:Sieg Heil]], you're our kind of people." |
| 114 | * ''Film/EarthGirlsAreEasy'': Aliens catch TV footage of aerobicizing girls and decide to visit the place. Once here they [[LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision pick up the language from TV]], and end up sounding like Creator/JamesDean and Creator/JerryLewis. |
| 115 | * ''Film/{{Explorers}}'': The aliens do little but quote classic Earth movies and songs that they've received. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:the aliens are children, which explains why they're so obsessed with entertainment]]. |
| 116 | * The Thermians in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' take the fictional events of old television shows seriously, calling them "historical documents". Besides thinking that the main characters really are space explorers as opposed to the actors who played them, they weep for "those poor people" stranded on ''Series/GilligansIsland''. It is explained that the Thermians have no concept of lying of any sort, which includes fiction in storytelling. Or at least, they ''had'' no concept of it until the BigBad came along and was only too happy to teach it to them first-hand, which ''might'' have left a bad first impression of the concept on them. |
| 117 | * In ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening'' it can inferred this is the case from the alien General Katana's fondness for pop culture references. Apparently there isn't a lot to do on Zeist. |
| 118 | * In ''Film/MeetDave'', the aliens dress their spaceship in all white based on the clothes from Series/FantasyIsland. This is the only signal they have intercepted. When asked to introduce "himself", they look at the most common male name on Earth and pick... Ming Cheng. For reference, both TheCaptain and the ship are played by Creator/EddieMurphy. |
| 119 | * In ''Film/{{Pixels}}'', the aliens interpret TV signals as communication and respond with modified television footage. |
| 120 | * A close-range version in ''Film/Predator2'', which opens with the Predator using thermal imaging, radio frequency scanning, and directional microphones to scan Los Angeles for potential targets. It soon zeroes in on the massive shootout between the police and a Columbian gang that's being covered live by media camera crews. |
| 121 | * ''Film/SantaClausConquersTheMartians'', which was featured on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' |
| 122 | -->'''Kimar:''' They sit in front of the video set all day watching those ridiculous Earth programs. It confuses them!\ |
| 123 | '''Tom Servo:''' Especially ''Series/TwinPeaks.'' |
| 124 | * ''Film/ScaryMovie3'', the aliens accidentally saw the tape from ''Film/TheRing'' while doing this (they were actually trying to watch ''Film/PootieTang''). |
| 125 | * ''Film/SpacedInvaders'' has Martians hearing Creator/OrsonWelles' famous reading of ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' and thinking that the rest of the army is on Earth, so they go to find them. |
| 126 | * ''[[Film/TheThreeStooges The Three Stooges in Orbit]]''. The Martian videophone accidentally starts broadcasting Earth television, rapidly convincing the Martian BigBad that rather than conquer the Earth, it would be better to wipe it from existence. |
| 127 | * ''Film/Transformers2007'': |
| 128 | ** Variant: In the first film, Optimus Prime and the Autobots learned English from the Internet. Thus, you have Optimus Prime saying "My bad". |
| 129 | --->'''Jazz:''' What's crackin' little bitches? (''later'') This looks like a cool place to kick it! |
| 130 | ** In the novelization of the movie, Optimus first tries to address Sam in Mandarin. The explanation given is that this is the language spoken on Earth by the most humans, completely leaving aside the fact that most international communication does in fact take place in English, to say nothing that the most cursory scan of the surrounding transmission waves would make it obvious that they were in an English-speaking locale. |
| 131 | ** And poor Bumblebee, after getting his voicebox crushed by Megatron, has to [[SpeaksInShoutOuts rely on radio broadcasts to talk with anyone]]. |
| 132 | ** The Podcast/{{Rifftrax}} of the film has a little fun with this concept. Optimus demands to be taken to "[[MemeticMutation King]] [[Music/SchnappiDasKleineKrokodil Schnappi]]". |
| 133 | [[/folder]] |
| 134 | |
| 135 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 136 | * In the novel version of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', the {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s that are going to turn Dave into the [[EnergyBeings Star Child]] first calm him by giving him a mock-up of a hotel suite. They don't get all the details right, though: he's disturbed when he notices drawers won't open and the books are part of the bookcase. What happened becomes clear when he turns on the TV and sees a scene from a movie set in a hotel suite exactly like the one he is in. |
| 137 | * In ''Adrift Among the Ghosts'' by Creator/JackChalker, an alien race sentenced one of their criminals to criss-cross space at just the right distance from Earth to intercept and record historic radio and TV broadcasts. Why was this considered a punishment? Because it forced him to relive our nuclear holocaust over and over and over and over... |
| 138 | * Played completely straight in ''Literature/AgentToTheStars''. The [[StarfishAliens Yherjak]] have been picking up transmissions from Earth for decades and have even initially assumed all our movies and TV shows were really happening. It even took them a while to understand the concept of a rerun (they initially thought there was a ritualistic significance to the repeated "episodes"). They send a slower-than-light ship (made out of a hollowed-out asteroid) towards Earth to meet us. After arriving decades later, the crew catches up on the latest transmissions and scraps their TakeMeToYourLeader plan after realizing that they would appear as {{Blob Monster}}s to an average human, not the peaceful and friendly aliens they really are. Naturally, they have also [[LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision learned English]] from it, although they admit there are some gaps (e.g. they thought "groovy" was still in wide use). |
| 139 | * ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' |
| 140 | ** The books used a version of this, albeit without the "long distance" part (but, interestingly, still using the trope as an {{Homage}} to 1980s TV): the [[PuppeteerParasite body-snatching]] aliens first visit Earth in 1991, and panic upon discovering, while in orbit, [[Franchise/StarTrek news reports]] indicating that humans have mastered FasterThanLightTravel and EnergyWeapons. They quickly realize that it's not real, and conclude that human indulgence in escapism makes us an even better target. |
| 141 | ** They decide to land in Hollywood, (instead of New York, Washington Dee Cee, or Ellay) because it is obviously the most important due to the amount of times it is mentioned in the decidedly factual parts of television broadcasts. |
| 142 | ** Also contains a quite literal version--[[TokenNonHuman Ax]] literally steals cable for his home on Earth, and records everything for later reference. His excuse is to screen for Yeerk propaganda (which actually works several times), more often than not, he watches soap operas and 'These Messages' which he finds more amusing than most other shows. (To be fair, he also assumed that people wouldn't hang wires outside unless they were free to take.) |
| 143 | ** Not to mention that Andalite kids apparently watched (or rather, pretended to watch while basically doing anything but) human television in school. They watched the news, entertainment, and... |
| 144 | --->'''Tobias:''' Music? You mean like MTV? You were watching music videos on the Andalite home world? |
| 145 | * Subverted in ''Literature/CatPlanetCuties''. The Catians are very interested in human media, but they want to ''buy'' it. Interstellar copyright laws are SeriousBusiness, as it turns out. |
| 146 | * ''Literature/{{Contact}}'', which the film is based on, has the same thing happen: aliens send back Hitler's broadcast in 1936. Arroway and her colleagues similarly quell fears by saying that the aliens wouldn't know the context, although the President's still rather mortified to learn that all the garbage on TV has been transmitted to the whole universe. However, we learn that the aliens specifically chose to beam back that transmission because they ''did'' understand the cultural context and wanted to warn us against following that particular route. |
| 147 | * In the ''Series/DoctorWho Literature/PastDoctorAdventures'' novel ''Synthespiansâ„¢'', human colonists in the future do this with broadcasts from Earth. It's pointed out that until they had the help of the [[spoiler:Nestene Consciousness]], the shows were so degraded it was like watching it through a snow storm. |
| 148 | * In ''Literature/EndersGame'' when Ender asks why the buggers attacked Earth, Graff hazards a guess that they may have caught a transmission of our movies and thought we were too violent but the theory turns out not to be true. |
| 149 | * ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' gives us Ford Prefect, who calls himself that due to having originally learned about Earth culture by watching TV and coming to the conclusion that [[MistookTheDominantLifeform cars were the dominant species]]. |
| 150 | ** In ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'', the Grebulons, a group of aliens who have lost their memories, fill their cultural vacuum by watching TV from their base on the 10th planet of our solar system. |
| 151 | ** Wowbagger The Infinitely Prolonged likes to watch channels from solar systems he's passing through and says that ''Film/BladeRunner'' is one of his favourite movies. |
| 152 | * Parodied in "The Holy Stomper vs. the Alien Barrel of Death". The aliens who pick up human soap operas and professional wrestling are a lost cult on a generation ship, and they base their entire new culture on the shows--but have no idea what they mean. Factor in their [[StarfishAliens inhuman appearance]], and their own broadcasts become utterly bizarre. |
| 153 | * ''I Married an Earthling!'' uses this as its premise. |
| 154 | * The eponymous short story of ''Literature/InsteadOfThreeWishes'' features elves that steal cable ''and'' electricity -- the elvish Prince Mechemel's mother is largely bed-bound and she enjoys watching cable TV to pass the time. Unlike the rest of the court that largely shuns the human realm, the elderly Queen has unique (if somewhat skewed by infomercials and cable news) insight into modern culture. |
| 155 | -->She waved one had at the television set on a stand beside her bed. It stood on a stand of crystal and carefully wrought gold. Its cord ran across the floor and out one window, where it dropped to the ground and was wired directly into one of Ontario Hydroelectric's cross-country power cables. |
| 156 | * In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''[[Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark Invasion]]'', the [[HumanAliens Faata]] start studying Earth after arriving to the Solar System by intercepting radio, TV, and [[TheAlternet Ultranet]] signals. It's not stated how they found the Solar System in the first place. They were looking for a habitable world with, hopefully, a compatible {{Human Alien|s}} race to subjugate and enslave to use as an outpost against the other starfaring races in the region. It's possible they arrived to a nearby star and detected intelligent transmissions from Sol or were specifically looking for a yellow dwarf star. At first, they have no idea what to make of the jumble of broadcasts. After capturing several human pilots, they use one of them to help with understanding some of the concept. He notes that the aliens have trouble differentiating between reality and fiction, as their society is highly pragmatic (i.e. no concept of entertainment). For example, an image of a pirate frigate duking it out with a galleon alternates with a footage of a hydrofoil. Obviously, the aliens initially think the two somehow coexist on modern Earth. Later, though, their contact specialists manage to distill the main parts of human culture to be used in helping to conquer Earth. The concept of religion baffles them, though. |
| 157 | * The alien invaders of ''Literature/TheKillingStar'' ultimately decide that humankind is a threat because they [[spoiler:intercepted old episodes of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' sent out centuries ago and concluded that all of the RubberForeheadAliens were an indication that humans were so xenophobic that they would never accept relations with an alien species that was not humanoid.]] |
| 158 | * In the novel ''Literature/{{Lacuna}}'' some Toralii understand English before encountering the Humans (and, given the book's content, probably Mandarin as well). How they learned the language is a bit of a mystery but it's probably this. |
| 159 | * ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' The Wooareek receiving devices have downloaded all of mankind's art and culture, although, due to their InnocentAliens nature, their scientists only distribute this information amongst the general Wooareek populace after getting formal permission to do so from humans. |
| 160 | * ''Literature/LizardMusic'': The titular lizards have learned English from watching human TV broadcasts. |
| 161 | * Invoked now and then by Creator/FredricBrown. In ''Man of Distinction'' alien slavers learn English from radio broadcasts they catch while hanging in the air above Philadelphia. All they know about Earth comes from radio ads, westerns and quizzes. Thus a perpetual drunk living on ethanol and unfit to any intellectual or physical labor does not surprise them too much and they assume the rest of Earthlings are like him. |
| 162 | * The Antheans in ''Literature/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' observe Earth this way; in the movie adaptation, protagonist Thomas Jerome Newton, once he's established himself there in the guise of a human businessman, appears in a television ad for his MegaCorp that reaches his family as a greeting of sorts. At the end, [[spoiler:when he is unable to return home, he records an album of music that includes a goodbye to them and his people, hoping they will hear it via radio waves...if they aren't already dead]]. |
| 163 | * The Rambosians from Creator/JasperFforde's ''Literature/NurseryCrime'' series originally came to Earth to find out why ''Series/FawltyTowers'' never got a third season. |
| 164 | * ''Literature/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'': |
| 165 | ** Much like ''Sgt. Frog'', the series says that Earth has the best entertainment media in the galaxy, so much so that there are limits on exports and smugglers are a major problem. Nyarko's original assignment to Earth had her basically acting as an intergalactic customs agent by enforcing the export limits, breaking up a smuggling ring, and protecting OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Mahiro Yasaka from the ring ([[HypocriticalHumor as well as smuggling some anime goods back for herself]]). As a consequence of this trope, pretty much every alien in the series is a massive {{Otaku}} for one form of media or another; Nyarko loves {{Anime}} and {{Tokusatsu}}, Cuuko is a GamerChick, etc., and they all [[ReferenceOverdosed drop references practically every other sentence]]. |
| 166 | ** It also provides an example of this trope taken a step further, with Aliens ''Saving'' Cable. In one episode Mahiro sees Cuuko reading a volume of "Shonen Blood", a real-world manga anthology that folded after six issues, and Nyarko tells Mahiro that sometimes alien companies will buy the rights to entertainment that [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff bombed on Earth but was popular in space]] in order to keep it running. |
| 167 | * In the short story "On a Clear Day You Can See All the Way to Conspiracy" by Creator/DesmondWarzel, the aliens not only listen to local AM radio, they call in. |
| 168 | * Justified in mankind's first contact in ''Literature/PerryRhodan'': the crew of the Arkonide cruiser not only has sufficiently advanced {{translator microbes}}, they've also been stranded for months no further away from Earth than the Moon, where it's of course that much easier to pick up our signals. |
| 169 | * ''Literature/PhulesCompany:'' In the novel ''No Phule Like an Old Phule'', the Zenobians revere a figure called L'Vis which is actually from an old broadcast of [[spoiler:Elvis]]. |
| 170 | * The aliens of Patrick S. Tomlinson's ''Literature/StarshipRepo'' let old Earth broadcasts be a major influence on their culture. |
| 171 | -->'''First:''' "You know that music was popular, like, four hundred years ago, right?"\ |
| 172 | '''Ulsor:''' "Light speed delay. We only just got MTV a few cycles ago."\ |
| 173 | '''First:''' "... That explains so much." |
| 174 | * Spoofed in ''Literature/StarSmashersOfTheGalaxyRangers'' by Creator/HarryHarrison. Every alien race the heroes come across has "listened to your radio broadcasts" and [[AliensSpeakingEnglish learnt fluent English]] for one reason or another. |
| 175 | * The Fnrrn in ''[[Literature/TerraTrilogy Terra]]'' have been monitoring Rth broadcasts since they first reached Fnrr. It's not until the events of the book, many decades later, that they realise some of these broadcasts were of events that never happened but that Ymns made up in their heads. |
| 176 | * In the ''ComicBook/TransformersShatteredGlass'' prose stories, the Transformers tune into broadcast signals to study Earth culture in preparation for travelling there, with some Transformers adopting aspects of Earth culture they find appealing. Unfortunately, they also believe based on [[ComicStrip/BuckRogers old scifi serials]] that Earth's weaponry is primitive compared to their own, which leads to them arriving at Earth and [[NukeEm getting shot down by a nuke they weren't expecting]]. Oops. |
| 177 | * ''[[Literature/TheTripods When the Tripods Came]]'' by Creator/JohnChristopher had aliens stealing television--and then using it to take over the world. |
| 178 | * {{Invoked}} in a ''Series/{{Wishbone}} Mysteries'' book involving a UFO sighting in Oakdale. Trying to unmask a hoaxer pretending to be an alien over IRC, David asks him what his favorite human TV show was in an attempt to catch him violating the speed of light. The hoaxer doesn't fall for it, responding with ''Series/ILoveLucy'' (appropriate given his claim that his homeworld was 40 light-years from Earth). |
| 179 | * ''Literature/YearZero'': The premise is that since the 1970s, aliens have been pirating human music, finding it to be the most wondrous thing they've ever heard. The problem is that they feel obligated to pay the enormous fines generated by copyright violation that could bankrupt the entire universe. A copyright lawyer is forced into finding a way to lower the bill before another group of aliens decides to destroy the world so they don't have to pay. |
| 180 | * In the sixth book of the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series, Kit resorts to wizardry when trying to set up a belligerent entertainment system. This has some odd consequences when, in a fit of rebellion, the components invert this trope and begin stealing cable from ''other'' planets. By the end of that book, his family's been subjected to an alien soap opera involving several additional genders and his sister's ordered a curling iron/disintegrater ray from an intergalactic shopping network. This continues for the rest of the series so far. |
| 181 | [[/folder]] |
| 182 | |
| 183 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 184 | * ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'': The Solomons once mentioned that they chose to pose as Caucasian humans because their [[StarfishAliens species]] skimmed Earth broadcasts before sending them and most of the people depicted were white. Once they arrive on the planet they become avid television watchers, claiming it's one of the reasons they stayed so long. |
| 185 | * ''Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete'': Big Pete befriends a boy who dresses like he's from the 1950's, and who is obsessed with Johnny Unitas and the 1958 NFL Championship Game, which is credited with putting the NFL in the public consciousness and essentially making pro football "big", which featured Unitas leading the Colts to a 23-17 overtime victory over the New York Giants. |
| 186 | * ''Series/AmazingStories'' did this one in a episode called "Fine Tuning", which both is a direct example of, and a subversion of, this trope. Aliens catch our signals and re-create our shows for their own audience, and said re-creations are later viewed on Earth. |
| 187 | * The ''Series/BabylonFive'' spinoff ''Series/{{Crusade}}'': In the episode ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLI4OocZHVQ Visitors From Down the Street]]'', which abounds in [[Series/TheXFiles X-Files]] [[ShoutOut references]], the crew of the ''Excalibur'' picks up two agents from an alien world who are looking for proof of a government cover-up. They show pictures of Mount Rushmore and old Earth blimps. They also dress in Earth fashions from 200 years go (ie: from the time period at the time of the show's shoot.) One of them can ''[[AliensSpeakingEnglish speak English]]'' because of information stolen from the conspirators. TheReveal: Years before, the government had found itself in a time of social unrest similar to TheSixties. Upon discovering Earth broadcasts, they used them as part of a conspiracy; manufacture appropriate "evidence", then dispatch TheMenInBlack to suppress it. The resultant subculture of {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s absorbed the government's critics and kept them wasting their time [[AgentMulder chasing "aliens"]] rather than [[LaResistance engaging in civil disobedience.]] ''[[NoDelaysForTheWicked Every crime the government committed afterward was thus blamed on "Outsiders" who secretly manipulated their civilization, permitting them to do as they pleased.]]'' The main government agent upholding the conspiracy credits and thanks the Humans for cigarettes as he smoked one in victory. Being [[TranquilFury rather upset]] at being cast as the villain by someone's lies, the Excalibur's Captain Gideon personally loads twenty planetary probes with the current Interstellar Encyclopedia (presumably their equivalent of Wikipedia) and orders them dropped close to major population centers, in order to expose the alien government. |
| 188 | ** The background includes a more standard use: the Brakiri have learned English and how humans dress by intercepting Human broadscasts. |
| 189 | * Both played straight and averted in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978''. In the series finale, Apollo detects a transmission he thinks is from the lost colony of "Earth", which they're searching for, Following the transmission leads to a Cylon warship however, that the Galactica has to destroy. Everyone thinks that the transmission was a lure, except Apollo who goes back to obsessively scanning transmissions until Starbuck snaps him out of it. Then just after they leave the room, a transmission comes in showing [[CoincidentalBroadcast a broadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing]], showing Galactica is within 10 light years of Earth. Cue closing credits. |
| 190 | * Discussed in ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'', in the eleventh episode. He also offers the possibility that our planet might be intercepting broadcasts without the technology to detect them, as well as the near-miss prospect of detectable broadcasts. (He doesn't go into signal degredation, though.) |
| 191 | * In ''Series/{{Defiance}}'' the Omec found Earth by following broadcasts of Elvis that they picked up when they were around Gliese 581. |
| 192 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'' |
| 193 | ** When recruiting Liz Shaw into UNIT, the Brigadier cites this trope as to why aliens are suddenly taking an interest in Earth. We've been noticed thanks to the increase in transmissions and probes sent into space. |
| 194 | ** While no aliens have been explicitly said to have discovered Earth because of our TV and radio, they certainly do enjoy it. The Doctor's nemesis the Master is [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums particularly pleased]] by our invention of the Series/{{Teletubbies}}, and was also [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils somewhat enamored]] with ''WesternAnimation/TheClangers'' some decades previous. |
| 195 | ** The original concept for the Cybermen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet their first appearance]] was that that had learned human speech through radio and TV broadcasts, which explains their strange, synthesized speech and the way they opened their mouths and dispensed it like a recording (weirdly presaging automated phone robots). It wasn't explained on screen, however, and subsequent appearances did not follow up on the idea. |
| 196 | * Similar to the ''Film/{{Transformers|2007}}'' example above, the aliens in ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'' spoke to the main characters through piecing together radio signals in their car. Also, in the episode "Operation Spoilsport," the aliens repeatedly played the song "Eve of Destruction" to indicate to the titular hero that a nuclear war was about to start. |
| 197 | * In ''Series/HardTimeOnPlanetEarth'' Control (inexperienced robotic warden of an exiled alien) continuously records all available TV channels. Whenever Jesse (the exiled alien) has a question about life on Earth, Control plays whatever fragment of an old movie or TV show he finds most relevant. [[RunningGag More often than not, he is wrong]]. In "The All American" episode another Control unit even chides him for his TV obsession. |
| 198 | * In ''Series/{{Lexx}}'', aliens are tipped off to the existence of life on Earth by Marconi's experiments with transatlantic radio. |
| 199 | * ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': {{Discussed|Trope}} in "Final Exam". Seth Todtman asks Dr. James Martin if he has ever wondered why Earth has never received any alien transmissions such as "''Series/ILoveLucy'' with two headed green guys playing both Lucy and Ricky." Seth believes it is because every advanced species eventually reaches the stage where it discovers how to build a cold fusion device, as he has done, and ends up destroying itself. |
| 200 | * In an episode of ''Series/TheOrville'', Alara gives the [[TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies Calivon]] thousands of episodes of human reality TV in exchange for them releasing Ed and Kelly from their PeopleZoo. The Calivon are entranced by what they're already calling their best exhibit ever. |
| 201 | * ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' eventually gives this as the explanation for Chig soldiers mutilating human dead. It's not malicious ''per se'', it's just that, having no concept of an afterlife themselves, they misunderstood [[Literature/TheFourGospels the Gospel narrative]] as indicating that humans can come back to life after being killed. |
| 202 | * ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' |
| 203 | ** Trelane, the eponymous "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E17TheSquireOfGothos Squire of Gothos]]", wasn't receiving radio signals, but clearly was limited by speed-of-light transmission when he thought that 18th-century fashions and behavior were the latest things for Earth people, there on his planet some 600 light years from Earth. Then again, he was merely a child from a race of {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s and might be excused from making such a mistake. |
| 204 | ** In another episode ("[[Recap/StarTrekS2E17APieceOfTheAction A Piece of the Action]]"), it was discovered that the people of Iotia had based their entire culture on a book left behind by an earlier survey ship: "Chicago Mobs of the 20s." Hilarity ensues when Kirk, Spock, Bones and even Scotty have to deal with cliche gangsters, curious local customs and slang, and the enigma of manual transmission. |
| 205 | ** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E15FirstContact First Contact]]" had an interesting reversal of this trope; here, the Federation monitors an alien civilization who are about to become capable of interstellar travel, and when introducing one of their head scientists to the greater galaxy notes that, among other things, they've been looking at their radio transmissions to learn more about them, causing her to comment, "I hope you don't judge us by our popular entertainment!" |
| 206 | ** Also ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E12TheRoyale The Royale]]", the crew finds a planet with weird simulation of a cliche '30s-style gambling casino. As it turns out, aliens had accidentally made a few humans crash many years ago and tried to construct the only survivor a surrogate home based on the novel he had with him. Bad luck for him - He hated the book. |
| 207 | ** A ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode has the titular ship end up in Earth's orbit during the 90s. Neelix and Kes are tasked with monitoring Earth transmissions for any mention of a crashed timeship or any indication that the ''Voyager'' has been detected. Both end up absolutely enamored with soap operas and other shows. |
| 208 | * ''Series/TheStrangerers'', a comedy serial by Rob Grant (one half of the Grant/Naylor partnership that created ''Red Dwarf'') takes its concept directly from this trope - the aliens assume a 1950s identity, and tumble into all manner of jolly japes as they wrack their brains to remember this strange human practice of 'walking' and [[Film/{{Borat}}mistake the lift for their hotel bedroom]]. |
| 209 | * In the ''Series/TalesFromTheDarkside'' episode "Distant Signals," a mysterious, eccentric investor brings together the cast and crew of a 20-year-old private eye TV series, which was cancelled before it got a proper ending, so the story can finally be resolved. The investor turns out to be the representative of an alien race who had been following the show. (In the original short story, the private eye show was a western.) |
| 210 | [[/folder]] |
| 211 | |
| 212 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 213 | * The {{Filk}} song ''Extra-Terrestrial Outrage'' by Diana Gallagher has aliens arrive in the late 21st Century to declare war on Earth ... because they're angry about the cancellation of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. |
| 214 | * The Music/SplitEnz song ''Poor Boy'' frames this trope in a romantic context. |
| 215 | * The RobotOrSpacemanAlterEgo of the ''She-Creatures'' is that they came from Venus after hearing radio waves of Earth songs from TheSixties. |
| 216 | [[/folder]] |
| 217 | |
| 218 | [[folder:Pinballs]] |
| 219 | * ''Pinball/RevengeFromMars'' has a mode where you destroy six televisions that a Martian is watching. |
| 220 | [[/folder]] |
| 221 | |
| 222 | [[folder:Print Media]] |
| 223 | * Creator/DaveBarry makes fun of this in several in his columns. The best example is when he theorizes that aliens developed a fondness for bad TV commercials and threatened the government to keep playing them, which is why so many bad commercials are on air. |
| 224 | * In one of Creator/DavidLangford's ''SFX'' columns he discusses various justifications for AliensSpeakingEnglish, including this one. "Now, take us to your leader. Take us to ... [[Series/{{Teletubbies}} Tinky-Winky]]!" |
| 225 | [[/folder]] |
| 226 | |
| 227 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 228 | * In the "Scared Stiffs" supplemental adventure for the ''TabletopGame/GhostbustersAFrightfullyCheerfulRoleplayingGame'', the PKE-stealing aliens learned English by watching television broadcasts and speak "Series/MadisonAvenue-ese." That is to say, they are constantly spewing slogans from TV commercials. For some reason, any human they "zombify" by draining them of PKE also talks like this. |
| 229 | * The obscure game ''TabletopGame/StarchildrenVelvetGeneration'' has a setup like this. Aliens have intercepted Earth TV broadcasts, mostly MTV footage of glam rock bands, and found the idea of such a culture so inviting they launched a ship to Earth to contact such fascinating people. Too bad by the time they landed the world was a {{Dystopia}} with severe limits placed on all forms of artistic expression. The aliens still had somewhere to go, though, because underground rock bands are the main symbol of the rebellion. |
| 230 | [[/folder]] |
| 231 | |
| 232 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 233 | * [[http://www.rockyhorrorshow.net The website]] for Seth Kuberaky's production of ''Theatre/TheRockyHorrorShow'' says that the Transylvanians picked up movie signals from Earth which reminded Dr Frank N. Furter of their planet millennia in the past, inspiring him to come here and research a cure for their fertility problems. As this comes from Kuberaky and not from the original creators, it is only canon to that production; in other productions Frank references Earth pop culture somewhat but it's not stated if he discovered it before or after arriving on Earth. |
| 234 | [[/folder]] |
| 235 | |
| 236 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 237 | * The backstory of ''VideoGame/CoffeeCrisis'' have a hostile alien race called the Smurgliens, after watching cat videos and listening to rock music from intercepting Wi-Fi from our planet, deciding to launch an invasion to steal all of earth's facilities for themselves. |
| 238 | * The Scrin frequently gather data from human networks in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars''. At the beginning of the Scrin campaign, [[spoiler:the mothership's AI taps into satellite communications to run a cryptanalysis on the television broadcasts that appear throughout the other campaigns, learning MachineMonotone English from them]]. In an interesting subversion of this trope, the Scrin expect from [[PlanetLooters experience]] that Tiberium drove humanity to near-extinction but after [[spoiler:almost getting blown out of the sky by GDI ion cannons]], they tap into military frequencies and eventually conclude that humanity is fragmented yes, but they're also "[[HumansAreWarriors warlike to the extreme]]". Finally, the Supervisor intercepts the cutscene where [[spoiler:Kane]] explains the part of his plan involving the Liquid Tiberium Bomb]] and realizes they've been duped into invading at least a century earlier. |
| 239 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen 4'': Billy's radio receives signals from many light years away and consequently picks up a lot of alien sitcoms. |
| 240 | * This is a game mechanic in ''VideoGame/TheFermiParadox'', with radio signals from Earth and other planets with sapient life on them capable of being detected by alien civilizations, allowing them to know of the existence of other sapient beings. Whether they react positively or negatively depends on [[AGodIsYou the player]], although it's also possible for them to not even notice the signal. |
| 241 | * ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': the explanation for why the Grunts speak in English even when other Covenant races don't is that Grunts, who have a natural knack for linguistics, are tasked with spying on human broadcasts for espionage purposes. But it also means the Grunts picked up a lot of human pop culture (mention is made of a black market for human entertainment among them). Later games imply that automatic translators are becoming more commonplace as humanity learns to decipher Covenant languages. |
| 242 | * In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[spoiler:Legion]] mentions that the geth regularly mine the [[CallARabbitASmeerp extranet]] for information on organics, seeking to better understand them. Not only that, but they also perform social experiments by implanting false information to see what will happen, such as one time when they intentionally falsified a report claiming a star cluster resembled a salarian goddess, that lead to several parties trying to lay claim to it before discovering it ''didn't actually exist''. If they didn't lack emotions, you could almost suspect the geth ''enjoy'' actively {{Troll}}ing the galactic community. |
| 243 | * Mentioned in the background history of ''VideoGame/StarControlII'' as the way the Ur-Quan knew of Earth, following so their technological development. |
| 244 | ** In ''Star Control: Origins'', the Tywom not only watch our shows but write their own FanFic for our shows. And sometimes take that Fan Fic [[CrackFic a bit too far]]. |
| 245 | * PlayedWith in ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}''. According to WordOfGod, the Splatfest events are based on transmissions that left Earth 12,000 years ago and now are returning after being reflected by various stellar objects. Thus leading to the characters fighting over things that they should have no knowledge of, such as the original ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games. |
| 246 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/TheSims4''. If you can invent and upgrade the satellite dish while in the Scientist profession, ''you'' can steal alien cable. |
| 247 | * One of the pre-made alien empires in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' is the Blorg Commonality, an AscendedMeme from a pre-release livestream. This species was living an unremarkable existence on their jungle homeworld when they suddenly started receiving radio transmissions from distant Earth, introducing them to things like music and drama that the Blorg had never developed on their own. The Blorg proceeded to embrace this alien culture, give themselves names like "Mercedes Romero," and become a starfaring civilization, "hoping one day to find the source of these messages so that they might party together." Tragically, while the Blorg have the "Fanatic Xenophile" ethos and really want to be loved, they're also [[UglyCute physically repugnant tentacled fungus-monsters]] that other species will want to keep at arm's length. Which is why they ''also'' have the "Militarist" ethos, so the Blorg can [[DefeatMeansFriendship befriend]] other races whether they want to or not. |
| 248 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'': the enigmatic beings known as the [[TeleportSpam Warpers]] communicate with each other via alien broadcasts, three of which your radio can intercept. The first transmission, partially translated, establishes that they're on patrol for "new biological subjects". The second reveals that [[PlayerCharacter only one target]] remains unaccounted for. The third is [[NothingIsScarier completely incomprehensible.]] |
| 249 | [[/folder]] |
| 250 | |
| 251 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 252 | * If aliens steal the show, they may as well [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2005-06-24 give some feedback]]. |
| 253 | * ''[[http://www.bogworld.com/casting-call/ Zip and Zap]]'' of the ''Webcomic/BogWorld'' "constantly monitor our transmissions. They cannot understand why we keep allowing people like Michael Jackson and Monica Lewinsky to be our rulers". |
| 254 | * ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has an [[http://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/417/ awkward incident]], caused by the title characters from ''Webcomic/{{Melonpool}}'' and ''Webcomic/{{Zortic}},'' both of whom are obsessive Trekkies. |
| 255 | -->'''Jean:''' "Bob, real aliens have never heard of ''Franchise/StarTrek!"''\ |
| 256 | '''Aliens:''' ''(standing on some device with a [[ComputerEqualsTapeDrive tape drive)]]'' "Blasphemy!" |
| 257 | * ''Webcomic/KilaIlo'': Richard, Kila, and later, Dr Kao learn about humans via the internet. |
| 258 | * Aliens in ''Webcomic/LukeSurlComics'' steal internet. And plan the FirstContact [[http://www.lukesurl.com/archives/1694 accordingly]]. |
| 259 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Melonpool}}'' Melotians can pick Earth television signals through their antennae. They prefer TV sets, though. The protagonist, Mayberry Melonpool, is a couch potato even by his home's standards. |
| 260 | * ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' is probably the lone example to go for plausibility. Aliens with FTL travel probe the radio spheres created by inhabited planets. They're not even trying to decode the signal, just confirm the presence of one to study its most distinctive feature: Every radio sphere in this section of space is in fact a radio ''shell'', hollow after the first couple decades because the locals were killed by {{Eldritch Abomination}}s once they were noticed. |
| 261 | * The Aliens (they are actually called that; they are from the planet Alien) from the ''Webcomic/{{Walkyverse}}'' are dopey pop-culture junkies who are obsessed with human television and movies. |
| 262 | * The webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Zortic}}'' kicks off with two aliens who find out they're perfect for each other because [[SoBadItsGood share a love of old Earth television broadcasts]]. |
| 263 | * The webcomic ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'' provides a [[http://xkcd.com/1212/ helpful chart]] for identifying quotes and internet memes relevant that have reached specific star systems. |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
| 265 | |
| 266 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 267 | * In ''Literature/AgentToTheStars'', not only is this trope played straight, it's the basis for the story. Having received Earth's TV broadcasts, the aliens decide that the real power on Earth is Hollywood, and make their first contact with Hollywood's biggest agent. In addition to their beliefs in the power of Hollywood, they're also unpleasant to human senses in many ways. In other words, they smell really bad and look really ugly. They would not get a good reception if they just landed on the White House lawn and their agent is intended to thwart the typical human reaction. |
| 268 | * In an article on ''Website/TheBestPageInTheUniverse'' Maddox claims that [[http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=aliens Wireless internet may very well destroy our chances of contacting intelligent life]]" due to aliens detecting poorly spelt e-mails and concluding that humanity must be too moronic to be worth visiting. |
| 269 | * In ''Literature/ChaosFighters II: Historical Chronicles-Beyond The Earth'', this trope is used to explain why people in Vertrifo [[AliensSpeakingEnglish speaks English]]. They steal cable using magic, though. |
| 270 | * In a "What If" segment, XKCD's Randall Mundroe [[http://what-if.xkcd.com/47/ examines the actual potential]] of this. In short: it mostly wouldn't happen, but that didn't stop him from making a comic about it happening. |
| 271 | * In ''WebVideo/WorldsGreatestAdventures'', Warlord Cassius (from Mars) has watched the series itself, and made the mistake of believing every little thing Rufus Hooter Talltales [[MilesGloriosus says about himself]]. As a result, he believes Rufus to be the Earth's champion and wants to [[CombatByChampion fight him for supremacy over the Earth]]. |
| 272 | [[/folder]] |
| 273 | |
| 274 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 275 | * Played with in ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', in which the Plutonians are literally stealing the cable of Master Shake and company. They have a cable splitter patched through a [[Series/{{Farscape}} Far]][[Franchise/StargateVerse gate]] to their spaceship, and use the "Universal Remonster" (a teddy bear with remote controls for arms and legs) to control it. |
| 276 | -->'''Oglethorpe:''' We have successfully traveled eons across both space and time through the Fargate...to get free cable! |
| 277 | * Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' as well, where the house steals cable from Captain Hero's home planet. |
| 278 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', as usual, played with an old SciFi chestnut. |
| 279 | ** Lrrr, of the planet Omicron Persei 8, 1000 light-years from Earth, commonly watches early 21st century Earth TV. His first appearance, with an invasion fleet, was because Fry thrashed [[Creator/{{Fox}} WNYW's]] transmission console, cutting the signal when the GrandFinale of the ''Series/AllyMcBeal''-esque program ''Single Female Lawyer'' was being broadcast. |
| 280 | ** Lrrr and his wife Ndnd are also apparently big fans of ''Series/{{Friends}}''... well, sort of, anyway: |
| 281 | --->'''Lrrr:''' This is ancient Earth's most foolish program. Why does Ross, the largest friend, not simply eat the other five?\ |
| 282 | '''Ndnd:''' Perhaps they are saving that for UsefulNotes/{{Sweeps}}.\ |
| 283 | '''Guard:''' Exalted leaders, the Earth messengers have arrived, bearing a peace offering from their weak and fearful government!\ |
| 284 | '''Lrr:''' (turning off T.V.) Oh, very well, this is a Joey-heavy episode anyway. |
| 285 | ** The Season 7 episode "T the Terrestrial" shows that the Omnicronians have started receiving current (31st century) television from Earth as well, as Lrrr's viewing of "The Finder-Outer" gets cut off by Nixon's head's embargo on Omnicron Persei XIII. |
| 286 | * Zim and GIR watch a lot of TV in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. Though, in an aversion to the "This makes them inept" trope, [[SurroundedByIdiots TV does give them a pretty good idea about the intellect of your average Earthling]] in the show's universe. |
| 287 | * The first thing ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' does after becoming king of an entire planet of {{GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe}}s is convincing them to install Cable TV. After seeing Creator/MelGibson on TV, the girls immediately lose interest in him. |
| 288 | * ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Warmonga, an amazonian GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe from a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy race of compulsive conquerors]], declares Dr. Drakken to be a [[GodGuise figure from her native mythology]] based on his odd blue skin color after seeing him on a TV broadcast. The show was an ''Series/AmericanIdol'' parody called American Starmaker, and his appearance on it was in a [[ContinuityNod previous episode]]. Unlike other examples, she didn't wait for the broadcast to reach her home world, she happened to be about 1 light year away on patrol when she picked it up. |
| 289 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Madballs}}: Escape from Orb'', after fleeing their home planet, the Madballs intercept some TV transmissions from Earth, including a rock concert which inspires them to make Earth their new home. |
| 290 | * Not aliens, but demons: ''WesternAnimation/NeighborsFromHell'' shows that Balthazar was chosen specifically by {{Satan}} to go live on Earth as a human [[spoiler:to get to the drill that threatens [[{{Hell}} their home]]]] because he watches a lot of TV and therefore is already (theoretically) familiar with life on Earth. |
| 291 | * The Soviet cartoon "An Old Record" is about aliens borrowing a few records to listen (and, through some strange technology, view, too). |
| 292 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', items from the human realm regularly end up on the Boiling Isles through a combination of Eda selling stuff she stole using her PortalDoor or thing just washing up along the shoreline [[spoiler:due to Titan's Blood induced {{Reality Bleed}}s]]. It's unclear to what extent this has affected pop culture on the Isles, though Amity is shown to be a fan of the ''Good Witch Azura'' book series. |
| 293 | * ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': "How We Found Your Sun" reveals that the Propulsions discovered Earth by picking up a primitive radio signal playing a 1950s rock and roll song called "Jet Propulsion", which they found catchy. This is also how our young hero Jet Propulsion got his "Earth" name. |
| 294 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode, ''The Wedding Squanchers'', Rick mentions that Bird Person has an Oscars party every year but it takes light years for our [=TV=] signals to reach his planet and not to tell him that ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' wins. |
| 295 | * ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheAlienInvaders'' used this in an interesting meta-story way; an alien flower-child (due to having studied American pop-culture via its 1960's broadcasts and assuming it represented basic human behavior) became the Love Interest for Shaggy, who, having been TotallyRadical when ''Scooby-Doo'' was originally on, and not having ''changed'' in the interim, was a perfect match. |
| 296 | * Inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Canceled", where Cartman's [[AnalProbing anal probe]] picked up an advertisement for the [[TrumanShowPlot intergalactic reality show "Earth"]]. Of course, it was broadcast in an alien language, so the scientist Jeff [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed (Goldblum)]] had to translate it into English. |
| 297 | * In the original ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' cartoon, the Autobots were often seen watching news reports in case the Decepticons attacked. Other times, however, they just watch other shows for the fun of it. Including soap operas. This isn't, however, the case for the Aerialbots, particularly Slingshot, who were less than enthused about humanity after watching a few tv snippets. |
| 298 | * Used very literally in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. Bumblebee and Sari pirate cable in order to watch illegal street races. |
| 299 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', Knock Out sometimes watches horror movies at drive-in theaters, so he thinks the best way of fighting off a horde of [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Terrorcons]] is by RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain. Unfortunately, he ends up being WrongGenreSavvy. |
| 300 | * In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', Miss Martian based her form and personality on a short lived ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' style sitcom called ''Hello Megan!''. The show also averts some of the technical issues by establishing that her uncle, the Martian Manhunter, had sent recordings of Earth television shows and other media back to his homeworld to familiarize his fellow Martians with Earth culture, starting in the 1960s. |
| 301 | ** When Serifan of [[ComicBook/NewGods Forever People]] shows up in the "Disordered" episode, he dresses like a {{Cowboy}} because he is a big fan of Earth {{Western}}s. |
| 302 | ** Becomes a minor plot point when Martian B'arzz O'oomm, the Green Beetle, comes to Earth. It's already been established that J'onn regularly sends television broadcasts back to Mars, so B'arzz saying that he saw the Reach on recent news programs and came to help is a very convincing cover. |
| 303 | ** By Season 4, when M'gann actually visits M'arzz on screen, we see that a lot of Martians shapeshift into their favorite Earth celebrities for fun, and there's also a backlash from some who believe that the obsession with Earth culture is a threat to the Martians' traditional caste system and hierarchy-- M'gann's father specifically points out that J'onn learned acceptance from his time on Earth |
| 304 | [[/folder]] |
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