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I Come in Peace
aka: We Come In Peace
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Okay, so you've had your first encounter with an alien race. They don't seem hostile, and might even be friendly. So, how do you let them know you don't want to hurt them?
You say hello. You tell them you don't want to hurt them. The classic way to do this, of course, is with the old standby of " I Come in Peace", but other greetings may be offered. If all goes well, diplomatic relations might be established. If not, well...
This can happen in reverse, of course, with the alien race indicating their peaceful intentions this way. If a character uses the specific phrase, it can overlap with I Always Wanted to Say That.
Of course, this can be subverted, with a visitor indicating peaceful intentions just before slaughtering the Puny Humans. Or the peaceful party getting mauled by the non-peaceful party. Or a suspicious member of one group or the other might still be convinced that the visitors are dangerous. Or whatever.
We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill is another name for aversions of this trope. Compare Take Me to Your Leader. If the characters start out with numbers instead of language, it's First Contact Math.
This trope is an important part of How to Invade an Alien Planet.
Examples:
Played Straight
Film
Literature
- In the book Aliens Are Coming, the final interview concludes with a person saying "And if an alien spaceship ever DOES land in my backyard, I hope I will have the good sense to invite the occupants inside for tea."
Live-Action TV
Video Games
- In possibly the oddest straight use ever (and possibly a Stealth Parody), the player-character in Homeworld: Cataclysm quotes the trope word-for-word... whilst trying to convince the setting's resident Space Pirates to help you take on the monster that's clobbered you and them both. It doesn't turn out very well, to say the least.
- The first Vahnatai you meet in Avernum 2 (in the flesh, at least) uses this line nearly word-for-word—however, she's not quite fluent in English, and it comes out as "peaceness" instead.
- In Another World, the protagonist tries to greet the aliens with a smile and an open palm. This didn't end well - he got zapped and put into a cage. One can assume he unwittingly flipped the aliens off.
Western Animation
- An episode of Rugrats has the kids exploring the house during a power failure, looking for a monster which turns out to be a rat. Tommy greets it with "We come in peace."
- The Penguins of Madagascar greet a cat when they think they've landed on the moon this way: "We come in peace. For now."
- In one episode of Green Lantern The Animated Series, Hal greats a group of aliens this way. He then remarks to Kilowag that He Always Wanted To Say That, to which Kilowag asks, "Why?"
Real Life
Subverted
Comics
- In one early Dilbert strip, Dilbert discovers a microscopic civilization. After saying the line, he decides to adjust the lens of his scope...and ends up crushing the tiny world. Dogbert's comment on the event? "I loved the part where you said 'I come in peace.'"
Film
- In the movie I Come in Peace, the main alien says this to the Earthlings almost out of reflex, but in reality he wants to steal their brain fluid for the intergalactic drug trade.
- In Mars Attacks!!, the Martians' translator indicates that they are all shouting "We come in peace! We come in peace!" as they're blowing everything to kingdom come.
- In the Independence Day example, a rooftop full of people holding up welcoming signs to the 15-mile-wide saucers are the first to be annihilated on-screen. Hilariously, earlier in the movie a news item is shown on TV warning the people of L.A. not to fire their guns at said ships, to avoid accidentally sparking an interstellar war.
- This type was also used in the novel and 1953 movie of The War Of The Worlds. The humans greet the aliens waving white flags, and are promptly zapped to a crisp.
- Monsters vs. Aliens subverts it from both sides:
- Monsters vs. Aliens also had a shout out to Close Encounters of the Third Kind with the US President trying to establish peaceful contact with the alien probe by playing music. After using the Vulcan greeting gesture.
- Apparently, alien robots don't appreciate movie theme songs.
- In both versions of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Klaatu steps out of his ship in the presence of roughly half the U.S. military, who are already a bit jumpy on account of the aforementioned spaceship. He wordlessly thrusts an alien device in their direction (actually trying to offer a gift), and somebody twitches and shoots him.
- The Xilians in Invasion Of Astro Monster and Godzilla Final Wars start off with a show of generosity to Earth before trying to take over, preferably with kaiju.
Live-Action TV
- In the 2009 version of V, the Visitors' catchphrase is "We are of peace, always." Guess what? They aren't.
- In the Babylon 5 TV movie In The Beginning, Captain Jankowski's expedition to covertly investigate the Minbari stumble across a Minbari fleet carrying their central governing council. During the ensuing encounter, Jankowski orders that a signal be sent assuring the Minbari that they come in peace. Unfortunately, the Minbari can't understand English and the situation degrades further from there due to compounding cultural misunderstandings.
- On the other hand, Earth's first contact with the Centauri went over much more smoothly, with Earth's technology base receiving a substantial boost due to the new interstellar trade. It helped that the Centauri Republic's initial policy was that Earth was a lost Centauri colony (Earth wasn't, and the Centauri claim it was an honest mistake. The Humans are somewhat doubtful on that matter.)
Music
- The Firm's "Star Trekkin'" on Captain Kirk's verse:
Ah, we come in peace
Shoot to kill, shoot to kill, shoot to kill
We come in peace
Shoot to kill, shoot to kill, men
Video Games
- Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time has Dr. Nefarious's robots telling the eponymous characters that they come in peace, and that they might go have some pie or take in a holofilm together. These are robots that tend to be shooting at the characters as they say this.
- "Mr. Zurkon", a floating robot that defends the player (and is a weapon in his own right) perhaps lampshades this by proclaiming that "Mr. Zurkon does not come in peace."
Web Comics
Western Animation
- In one episode of Garfield and Friends, Garfield and Jon are watching a B-Movie about aliens, and making fun of the fact that the aliens always announce "We come in peace" in these types of movies. Then a real alien lands in their front yard, announcing that he comes in peace, at which point Garfield turns to the audience and says, "Wow, they really do say that." Eventually, it turns out that the alien doesn't come in peace at all, as he's actually the spy for a hostile invasion force.
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