Teenagers From Outer Space - Television Tropes & Idioms

Spaceship Captain: "The High Court may sentence you to TORTURE!"

—-Mystery Science Theater 3000 In Unison: "TOR-CHAA!!!"

Teenagers from Outer Space is a '50s era SF Cult Classic Snark Bait B-Movie about a pair of ... "teenagers" from outer space. Their spaceship lands on Earth, and they decide that this is the perfect planet to begin a ranch for ~~giant lobsters~~ gargons. The idealistic young crew member Derek makes a moral objection when he sees there is already life on the planet. Then he makes an armed objection, attempting mutiny; he fails, and has to escape the wrath of his crew (after all, the high court might have sentenced him to...never mind) and flees to a small town nearby. There he meets Betty - the most Fifties girl in that Fifties world. Meanwhile, the brash dog kicker Thor is sent to capture him — alive; it turns out that Derek's secretly the son of "Our Leader". Meanwhile, the gargons have grown huge and have to be destroyed.

Shot for $14,000, which in technical film terms, is no money at all even by '50s standards. It shows.

The movie is considered public domain and can also be unlocked in the game Destroy All Humans!.

No relation to the Animesque role playing game of the same name.

For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, please go to the episode recap page.

Teenagers From Outer Space contains examples of the following tropes:

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Gargons, which are definitely not just lobsters
Ax Crazy: Thor.
BBC Quarry: In America!
Beard of Evil: "Our Leader"
Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Gargons, as you can guess.
Dawson Casting: Teenagers from outer space? To be fair, only one alien was supposed to be a teenager, and the title was a marketing gimmick common in the 50's to get high school students to come see your film (put "Teenage" in the title). The actor playing the "teen alien" is still too old.
Disintegrator Ray: That darn Atomic Disintegrator.
Downer Ending: Derrick's Heroic Sacrifice at the end of the film causes his death after the only remotely happy days of his life.
Dull Surprise: Most characters.
Executive Meddling: The distributor picked the title "Teenagers From Outer Space", figuring that it would attract the widest possible audience — the working title was "The Boy From Out of This World". The title change had the side-effect of retroactively making Derek and Thor egregious cases of Dawson Casting.
Fake Defector: Derek fakes a Heel Turn near the end when he learns of his heritage.
Giant Enemy Crab: The Gargon.
Heroic Sacrifice: Derek tricks the fleet bringing the Gargons to Earth into crashing to end the threat once and for all — while he's at ground zero.
Hostage Situation: Hoo, boy. Thor alone probably takes over half a dozen people hostage over the course of the movie.
Humanoid Aliens: To an annoying extent.
Jerkass: Thor.
Kick the Dog: The first thing Thor does is disintegrate a little puppy that was passing by.
Large Ham: King Moody was way into his role as Spaceship Captain!
Mr. Exposition:
Spaceship Captain: "You have concern for foreign beings over our mission to locate grazing land for our Gargan herds?"
A Nazi by Any Other Name: The aliens see themselves as the supreme race, and the weak are seen as a threat to the gene pool.
No Name Given: King Moody (better known as Ronald McDonald) as "Space Captain".
Off-the-Shelf FX: Again, that darn Atomic Disintegrator, which was a plastic toy with sometimes-visible label.
- Also, one piece of equipment is an audio mixing board, with (yes) the label clearly visible. Dialogue tries to cover this up by calling it a "Tri-Dex Mixer".
One-Scene Wonder: King Moody as Spaceship Captain.
Parental Abandonment: Despite Derek's romantic idealism of family, he's not yet been told that he is the son of "Our Leader".
Putting on the Reich: "We are the supreme race! We have the supreme weapons!
Real-Life Relative: David Love, who played Derek, was the real-life boyfriend of the director Tom Graeff (who also played Joe Rogers in the movie, using the stage name Tom Lockyear).
Scary Dogmatic Aliens: Derek's people are blatant Space Nazis.
Seemingly Wholesome '50s Girl: Betty
Shiny Looking Spaceships: The alien ships
Shoot the Dog: Thor, to everyone, including a literal dog.
Shout Out: Derek is clearly based on Klaatu (of "Barada Nikto" fame) from The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Space Clothes: The alien uniforms
Spinning Paper: Played straight, although the paper doesn't actually spin. The Gargon's silhouette is also superimposed on the paper.
Spock Speak: "Let us implement contractions."
Stripped to the Bone: What the alien rayguns do to people.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Unlike the others, Derek cares for other species.