History Film / MarsAttacks

* AxCrazy: The Martians and the overly hawkish army general.

* CrossThrough: In January 2013 IDW had the Martians individually attack the Franchise/{{Transformers}}, ComicSrip/{{Popeye}}, WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters[[note]]Yes, they do specifically mean the animated series of that name, not any other incarnation of [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} the franchise]].[[/note]], ''Zombies vs. Robots'', and... Music/{{Kiss}}.

* CrossThrough: In January 2013 IDW is having the martians attack ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', ''{{Popeye}}'', ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'', ''Zombies vs. Robots'', and... Music/{{Kiss}}.

* EnemyMine: You can [[NiceJobfixingitvillain thank the Martians for this one]] in Mars Attacks the Transformers, where their actions cause the Autobots and Decepticons to team up against the little green aliens.

** Probably a {{homage}} to ''WarOfTheWorlds'', in which the rampaging aliens are defeated by a similarly minor effect (germs), and possibly to ''AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes'', in which the tomatoes are slain by a suspiciously similar song.

* DeadStarWalking: [[spoiler: Michael J. Fox]] dies astonishingly early in the film without much fanfare, probably to let you know that the gloves are off. [[spoiler:Danny [=DeVito=]]] also gets little screentime and meets his end pretty quickly.

* DespairEventHorizon: The President of the United States apparently crosses this line by the time he finally gives in to his General's request to fight back against the Martians using nuclear weapons. [[spoiler: This is probably because his daughter has gone missing and his wife has been killed.]]

* MsFanservice: A Las Vegas showgirl follows the main characters while still wearing her stage outfit. She doesn't get many lines and seems to be there just to bounce around in a revealing outfit.

** There is also stock footage of people praying at Mecca, implying it's about to be destroyed by Martians.

* ColdBloodedTorture: The Martians dissecting their victims alive.
** I believe that is called vivisection.

* MonumentalDamage: Bowling with Moai, carving their heads in Mount Rushmore, blowing up Congress, attempting to crush Boy Scouts with the Washington Monument...

* AdaptationDistillation: Fortunately, the Malignant PlotTumor giant bugs didn't make the jump.

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: An example so completely over the top, it could only possibly be a parody. Grantd, the US fell for the same trick three times.

* ForTheEvulz: The Martians are not out to invade Earth, but destroy it because the seem to find it funny.

* NukeEm: Attempted against the Martians, but fails massively. The Martians actually capture the explosive force of the nuke, and smoke it! They actually get high on radioactive explosives. This [[strike:can either be considered funny or badass]] is both funny and badass. It gives them ''helium voices''. FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you remember that nuclear fusion produces helium.

* DuelingMovies: Came out the same year as ''Film/IndependenceDay''. It lost. In fact, their initial plan was to do ''DinosaursAttack''[[hottip:*:the SpiritualSuccessor by Topps from the 80s which was ''much'' [[BloodierAndGorier more graphic]], but they thought it would wind up being associated with ''Film/JurassicPark''. Oops.

** Although what they were actually saying may have been entirely different; the alien translator machine never working right was sort of a RunningGag. It's also possible that the Martians realised this and chose to cart it around because they thought it was funny.

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: An example so completely over the top, it could only possibly be a parody.

* AssholeVictim: Billy-Glen, Jason and Lann.

* DeadStarWalking: [[spoiler: Michael J. Fox dies astonishingly early in the film without much fanfare, probably to let you know that the gloves are off.]]

''Mars Attacks'' was originally, a trading card series from Topps published in the early sixties. Created by Wally Wood, this series depicted an AlienInvasion in the style of ECComics horror and science fiction stories at the time. The series was quickly discontinued due to MoralGuardians who were horrified by the series' violence. The series would later be continued by Topps in the form of new trading cards and a comic series. A movie soon followed.

* BlackHumor: There's several moments of this throughout the film but [[spoiler: JackBlack being killed horribly, it being caught on every camera and it cutting to his parents frantically flipping through channels to try and escape the image but being unable to do so because its on EVERY channel]] probably takes the cake.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: General Casey is the first human to die when the aliens attack. Later in the film, Byron Williams makes a HeroicSacrifice and fights the aliens off so Barbara, Tom Jones and a co-worker can escape in Barbara's plane. When they fly over, it looks like the aliens have beaten him to death. [[spoiler: It turns out he was OnlyMostlyDead and makes a triumphant return to Washington D.C. to reunite with his family.]]

** Although what they were actually saying may have been entirely different; the alien translator machine never working right was sort of a RunningGag. It's also possible that the Martians realized this and chose to cart it around because they thought it was funny.

* BrownNote: The aliens are defeated by [[spoiler:the playing of the Slim Whitman song "Indian Love Call."]]

* EmergencyPresidentialAddress: This is parodied in the President's address to the U.S. after the Martians destroy Congress, in which he assures the public that a "very real response" will be coming "soon."

* IKnowMortalKombat: Kids practicing rail shooter games give them a leg up when they happen upon some real ray guns from a fallen Martian warrior.

* ImprovisedWeaponUser: Marsha Dale throws the skull of their recently killed dog at the alien assassin who infiltrated the White House, moments after said dog was killed.

* JugglingLoadedGuns: When a soldier runs screaming towards a rifle, points it at a Martian - and hits the magazine release. Possibly justified because said soldier is played by Jack Black.

* [[LondonEnglandSyndrome 'London, England' Syndrome]]: In one scene ''Tom Jones'' comments that he saw another character box "...in Cardiff, Wales once." Jones, being a native Welshman, would probably just say "Cardiff" in real life. Surprising he didn't pick up on this one, really.

* PropRecycling: JeffDunham fans, Achmed the Dead Terrorist's eyes are an old, spare pair of martian eyes from this movie.

* VivaLasVegas: A washed-up boxer, a compulsive gambling lawyer, a huckster casino developer, copious showgirls, and Tom Jones.

* TouchOfTheMonster: A few of the fanservicy cards displayed Martians carrying off scantly-cload women.

* LondonEnglandSyndrome: In one scene ''Tom Jones'' comments that he saw another character box "...in Cardiff, Wales once." Jones, being a native Welshman, would probably just say "Cardiff" in real life. Surprising he didn't pick up on this one, really.

* DidNotDoTheResearch:
** The Medal of Honor used in the film is a military decoration, not a civilian one. Then again, they did ''[[JustifiedTrope save the planet Earth]]''.
*** It's also awarded by Congress, not [[spoiler:the daughter of the former President of the United States]]. But since the government was pretty much nonexistent by that point, it's not like there was anyone around to stop them.
*** They could have sworn him into the Air Force just to award him that medal.
** TheWhiteHouse is a national landmark; the President (or in this case his wife) can't actually redecorate it to the extent Glenn Close's character is trying to. Her daughter Taffy does actually point out that this isn't their house and they should leave things be, but she's pretty apathetic about it and mummy dearest announces that she's going to ignore her.
*** This didn't surprise her, since she always feels ignored anyway.
** Martian Girl chews nitrogen-based gum to survive in Earth's atmopshere... which is almost 80% nitrogen.