History Main / AliensStealCable

[-[[caption-width-right:350:Everything ComicBook/MartianManhunter knows about this planet, he learned from television. Which explains a lot.]]-]

* The Fnrrn in ''[[Literature/Terra 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.

* The Fnrrn in ''Literature/{{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.

-->-- '''M'gann M'orzz''', ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Miss Martian based her form and personality on a short lived ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' style sitcom called ''Hello Megan!''. 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.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', items from the human realm regularly wash up on the shores of the Boiling Isles [[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.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', it turns out the Good Witch Azura book series from Earth is also popular in the Boiling Isles, despite the fact the isles do have witches and Azura is a caricature of real witches. Eda is disgusted by her. Luz and Amity are not. It's suggested that this is a result of Eda bringing the books over and selling them off.

* 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. Captain Gideon ordered probes loaded with the Interstellar Encyclopedia and sent to the alien world to crack the cover-up.

* Both played straight and averted in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978''. Apollo scans relentlessly for transmissions from Earth, which they're searching for, but gets nothing but static. Then the monitor flips and starts showing [[CoincidentalBroadcast a broadcast of the moon landing]] ... ''after'' Apollo and Starbuck have [[IgnoredVitalNewsReports gotten up and left the room]]. Cue closing credits.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', it turns out the Good Witch Azura book series from Earth is also popular in the Boiling Isles, despite the fact the isles do have witches and Azura is a caricature of real witches. Eda is disgusted by her. Luz and Amity are not.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'''
** 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.
** 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." HilarityEnsues when Kirk, Spock, Bones and even Scotty have to deal with cliche gangsters, curious local customs and slang, and the enigma of manual transmission.
** 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!"
** 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.
** 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.

* 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.)
* Similar to the ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' 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.
* ''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]].

* In ''Series/{{Lexx}}'', aliens are tipped off to the existence of life on Earth by Marconi's experiments with transatlantic radio.

* 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.)
* In ''Series/{{Defiance}}'' the Omec found Earth by following broadcasts of Elvis that they picked up when they were around Gliese 581.
* ''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.
* Both played straight and averted in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978''. Apollo scans relentlessly for transmissions from Earth, which they're searching for, but gets nothing but static. Then the monitor flips and starts showing [[CoincidentalBroadcast a broadcast of the moon landing]] ... ''after'' Apollo and Starbuck have [[IgnoredVitalNewsReports gotten up and left the room]]. Cue closing credits.

** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "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!"

* In the "Scared Stiffs" supplemental adventure for the ''TabletopGame/{{Ghostbusters}} Frightfully Cheerful RPG'', 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.

* In the "Scared Stiffs" supplemental adventure for the ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} Frightfully Cheerful RPG'', 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.
* The obscure game ''Starchildren: Velvet Generation'' 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.

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 1960's, thus the visitor that shows up, having skipped the intervening distance via FasterThanLightTravel, will talk and dress like a beatnik in an attempt to fit in. HilarityEnsues, or it provides a vital clue to the protagonist that something isn't quite right about this guy.

* ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan'':

* Subverted in ''Anime/CatPlanetCuties''. The Catians are very interested in human media, but they want to ''buy'' it. Interstellar copyright laws are SeriousBusiness, as it turns out.

* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has an [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20091229.html awkward incident]], caused by the title characters from ''Webcomic/{{Melonpool}}'' and ''Webcomic/{{Zortic}},'' both of whom are obsessive Trekkies.
-->'''Jean:''' Bob, real aliens have never heard of ''Franchise/StarTrek''!\\
'''Aliens:''' (''standing on some device with a tape drive'') Blasphemy!

* 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:[[MagnificentBastard 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.