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alt title(s): Alien Invaders
If you were going to take over the world, would you blow up the White House Independence Day-style, or sneak in through the back door?
Casey, The Faculty

One of the oldest stories in Speculative Fiction: Beings from space come to Earth to conquer.

There are two main forms of this:
  1. The All-Out Attack. Technologically superior forces aim their weapons of war and three legged walkers at Earth, which bravely fights back, driving them off through cunning, bravery, or just dumb luck.
  2. The Infiltration. Aliens are replacing, brainwashing, or controlling humans in order to take over from within. Generally, the populace at large doesn't even know it's happening. May involve The Virus.
  3. A combination of the above, with an infiltration paving the way for an all-out attack.

Sometimes, there are good aliens that help us against the invaders; unfortunately, they tend to be much weaker and/or less numerous, since if they were equally or more powerful, the focus would be taken off humanity. Then there's the Benevolent Alien Invasion, where the invaders are the good aliens.

Often an allegory for some Earth-based conflict, either one that's happened in the past or one that people fear may happen. The Infiltration is especially popular as a metaphor for Communism.

This trope, in its modern form, was created by HG Wells's novel War Of The Worlds. It was actually a variation on another theme popular at the time, the "invasion story", where another country's army, usually France or Germany, would try to conquer Britain. Then World War One happened. Today, similar themes are found in techno-thrillers.

A common Tomato Surprise nowadays is for the invaders to be human.

See also Demonic Invaders, Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion, We Come In Peace Shoot To Kill, and for fun, How To Invade An Alien Planet.


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