History Main / TheGreys

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}''

[[folder:Comics]]

* The first appearance of aliens meeting this description in Western pop culture was an episode of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' entitled "The Bellero Shield", which first aired February 10th, 1964. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_and_Barney_Hill_abduction People began claiming to have been abducted by aliens looking just like the ones from the TV show within weeks, which we are sure is merely a coincidence]].

* The Vree in ''Series/BabylonFive''; in one episode, a station ombuds (something like a judge or arbitrator) has to deal with a lawsuit filed by the descendant of a UFO abductee against the descendant of the Vree who did the abducting. Naturally, their ships (seen in a few episodes) are round and flat.

* Greys are the ones who created the Backstep TimeTravel technology in ''Series/SevenDays''. One particularly nasty one named Adam is a villain.

* The ''Series/{{Sliders}}''' episode "The Return of Maggie Beckett" shows the Greys. They are known as Reticulans.
** They existed in our dimension as well, but we didn't have the benefit of a President Adlai Stevenson to reveal their existence to the public. In the alternate universe encountered in this episode, the Greys are common knowledge, and Earth has traded technology with them.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Balok, or rather, [[spoiler:the puppet he uses]] in "The Corbomite Maneuver", seen in the credits of every episode, looks like a typical grey.

*** Episode "Future Imperfect" has Commander Riker in [[spoiler:a dream sequence telepathically caused by an orphan Grey alien kid]] named Barash.
*** Episode "Schisms" has creatures abducting several crew members including Riker and Worf for weird medical experiments and they resemble Greys. Interesting enough as the series is already settle InSpace and with a society of aliens and humans interacting naturally, these Greys are the next step; creatures from AnotherDimension.
** Episode "Little Green Men" of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' deconstructs the Roswell crashing with the Ferengi as the species that crash-landed there, more specifically Quark, Rom and Nog after they accidentally travel back in time. Other than the big heads and small size, Ferengis do not look at all as Greys.

** In "Beyond the Veil", Eddie Wexler is plagued by flashbacks of being abducted by grey aliens.
** In "Dark Child", Laura Sinclair was abducted by TheGreys in 1984 and impregnated, which resulted in the birth of her daughter Tammy. Clips from "Beyond the Veil" are used to represent her nightmares.

** Neimoidians also fit the grey skin, no nose, large opaque eyes stereotype.

* Though they weren't the first to report humanoid grey-skinned aliens with large eyes, the alien abduction claims of Betty and Barney Hill in 1961 helped bring the Grey alien image to prominence in popular culture.
* According to Kenneth Grant, Creator/AleisterCrowley met a Grey Alien named LAM after a series of magick rituals known as the Alamantrah Working.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2020 SCP-2020]] is a sentient humanoid made out of rubber that resembles this trope. He claims to be from an advanced extraterrestrial society, but constantly [[UnreliableNarrator flip-flops on his claims]]. He's also an amateur science fiction writer, but can only think of basic outlines ([[SelfDeprecation of other [=SCPs=]]]).

[[quoteright:210:[[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/petit_gris_removebg_preview.png]]]]

[[folder:Film]]

* Although not actually seen, the Greys are mentioned on a recurring basis in ''Series/ResidentAlien''. According to Harry Vanderspeigle, they have "ass fetish". In a later installment, it's revealed that they abduct human babies from pregnant women and implant trackers in people. Harry refers to them as "insidious assholes".

Far from being {{black and grey|Morality}}, their ''beliefs'' are usually of the [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Blue and Orange sort]]. May be SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who haven't visited us since [[AncientAstronauts the time of the Pyramids]]. Despite the fact that Earth is an InsignificantLittleBluePlanet, they will be [[EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse obsessed with us]] for reasons which may vary. Perhaps they want to help us AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. Perhaps ''we'' are the {{Precursors}}. Perhaps they merely want ToServeMan.

*** Unlike some examples of this trope, the Streib are not SufficientlyAdvancedAliens and when they attempt to [[MuggingTheMonster prey upon powerful races]] can get a severe thrashing. When they tried to kidnap humans the humans intercepted and destroyed their ship, and when they tried that on Minbari, the Minbari "tracked them back to their homeworld and made sure they understood the ''depth'' of their mistake" as Delenn put it.

* [[OurFairiesAreDifferent The Fairies]] in Literature/{{Discworld}} are described as looking suspiciously similar to this on the rare occasion that their {{glamour fail|ure}}s. There are also offhand referances in ''Literature/TheTruth'' to tabloid headlines about them that mirror real world tabloid headlines about TheGreys.

* The Grey image may have originated with H.G. Wells essay "Man of the Year Million", a conjecture of what humans might evolve into in a million years as a technical civilization: having grey skin, an enlarged brain, and a weakened body. The image began showing up in UFO reports not long after it entered the media. Historically, descriptions of UFO aliens always matched the dominant pop-culture images of the time: LittleGreenMen in the late '40s, big scary monsters in the B-movie '50s, HumanAliens in the '60s when TV aliens were just [[RubberForeheadAliens actors in weird costumes]]. But by the time the Grey image came along, [=UFOs=] had become a pop-culture trope themselves and began feeding back into the media. So TheGreys began appearing in productions like ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' and ''Series/TheXFiles'', becoming a self-reinforcing trope.

* GoryDiscretionShot:

* Creator/StevenSpielberg seems quite fond of using these guys:
** The aliens in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' are typical Greys, [[spoiler:albeit with magnetic skeletons]], as befits the film's GenreThrowback nature.
** The aliens who finally appear at the end of ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''.
** The alien invaders from ''Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' are basically Greys, with some anatomical differences (like having three legs).

* The alien invaders in ''Film/EarthVsTheFlyingSaucers'' (1956) once their helmets are removed.
* The aliens in ''Film/FireInTheSky'' resemble Greys.
** Their space suits even more so resemble the typical Grey, while their actual appearance is based more on abductee Travis Walton's descriptions.
* In the horror anthology ''Film/VHS2'', the Greys are the titular antagonists of the finale segment ''Slumber Party Alien Abduction''.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** A good example are the Arconans, the very first nonhuman species not native to Tatooine to be seen in the entire franchise (in ''Film/ANewHope'', 1977). They are basically The Greys...except for their brown skin, green eyes, flattened heads, and claws on their hands and feet.
** Bith could pass for Greys except for having pink skin, even ''more'' enormous foreheads, and weird ridges where their mouths should be.
** The Kaminoan cloners in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' resemble Greys but are much larger, with long necks and the males possessing crests.
** Neimoidians also fit the grey skin, no nose, large opaque eyes stereotype.
** Quermians and Xexto also resemble Greys, although the Xexto also have multiple arms.

* [[LampshadeHanging Mr. Grey]] from the film version of ''Film/{{Dreamcatcher}}''. They're actually [[spoiler:disgusting shit-weasels]] in disguise -- to look like the popular conception of aliens.
** They also have vertical mouths full of teeth.
* Greys appear in the Mokumentary horror film ''Film/AlienAbductionIncidentInLakeCounty'', in a sinister home invasion that pre-dated Signs by five years.

* ''Film/{{Paul}}'': The titular alien looks like one. It's mentioned that his image has deliberately been put into pop culture for decades to make it easier for humanity to accept when they eventually learn about his race.

* ''Film/TheForgotten'' has an alien who looks like a creepily-smiling human. He lets his human facade drop only once... and it resembles a typical Grey.
* ''Film/DarkSkies'' has the Greys as the antagonists, albeit taller and more skeletal-looking than typical portrayals. The film's aliens are definitely sinister and unsympathetic (AlienAbduction being the primary threat), but not precisely evil. Rather, the film specifies that they're so advanced and so ''other'' that they're [[InscrutableAliens beyond human comprehension]].
* ''Film/OfficialDenial'' depicts greys, which at the end are revealed to be actually [[spoiler:humans from the future]].
* ''Film/{{Intruders}}'' portrays greys as well as grey/human hybrids, and deals with all the tropes associated with them, from Roswell to abductions and implants.

* The "keepers" from ''Film/JupiterAscending''. They're employed by Balem to guard Earth and maintain the {{Masquerade}}, and have all the hallmarks of the trope, including grey skin, large heads, and no clothes.
* The little newborn alien baby in ''Film/MenInBlack'' is a grey with tentacles.
* Played with in a segment of the horror AnthologyFilm ''All Hallow's Eve'': The alien antagonist initially looks like a Grey, but it turns out that what looked like its face was a protective mask with built in goggles- the mask never comes off, but longer shots show that the grey-like "face" is smooth, plasticky looking, and seems to be held on with straps, whereas the exposed skin on its neck is darker grey and more mottled: the implication is the whole "grey" image is based on gear aliens use to survive earth's atmosphere, not what they actually look like.
* ''Film/MarsAttacks'': The Martians don't exactly resemble Greys, but their UFO's and one autopsy of them mirrors the rumors spread about the Roswell incident.

* The greys are the main villains of the MythArc of the ''Series/TheXFiles'', performing human abduction and experimentation so they can [[AlienInvasion eventually invade]] and enslave humanity. TheGreys from space are emotionless, sociopathic, greedy, and super intelligent. TheGreys born from TheVirus infecting humans begin as wild, thoughtlessly-violent, werewolf-like beasts, but mature into the calm, intelligent form.

* {{Wiki/SCP|Foundation}}-[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2020 2020]] is a sentient humanoid made out of rubber that resembles this trope. He claims to be from an advanced extraterrestrial society, but constantly [[UnreliableNarrator flip-flops on his claims]]. He's also an amateur science fiction writer, but can only think of basic outlines ([[SelfDeprecation of other [=SCPs=]]]).

* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'''s episode "The Return of Maggie Beckett" shows The Greys. They are known as Reticulans.

** There were ''three'' species that resemble Greys-the Streib and the Zener were the other two. And the Streib apparently abducted people as well...

*** The other two's names are {{Shout Out}}s: Whitley ''Streib''er wrote the alien-contact novel ''Communion'', and ''Zener'' cards are used by parapsychologists for psychic testing.

* The Las Vegas 51s minor league UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} team are so called after Area51. Their mascot? A Grey with baseball seams on his large head.

->'''Mystic''': You watch the skies night after night looking for your little green men...\\
'''Bishop''': Little ''grey'' men, actually.

Like the LittleGreenMen before them, they still tend to come in {{Flying Saucer}}s. However, the overtly hostile version is much rarer; [[AlienAbduction abduction]] is their primary modus operandi (which naturally may be taken as still fairly sinister of course). They will not speak in beeping noises, though, and they certainly don't know English. Mostly they will [[TheSpeechless not speak at all]]. They may be [[PsychicPowers telepathic]].

Far from being [[BlackAndGreyMorality black and grey]], their ''beliefs'' are usually of the [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Blue and Orange sort]]. May be SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who haven't visited us since [[AncientAstronauts the time of the Pyramids]]. Despite the fact that Earth is an InsignificantLittleBluePlanet, they will be [[EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse obsessed with us]] for reasons which may vary. Perhaps they want to help us AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. Perhaps ''we'' are the {{Precursors}}. Perhaps they merely want ToServeMan.

* The Sons of Silence in the ''[[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesAdventures Archie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic.]]''
* Harry Vanderspeigle, the alien protagonist of ''ComicBook/ResidentAlien'', resembles a Grey, albeit with a more purplish skin tone.

* ''Film/DarkSkies'' has the Greys as the antagonists, albeit taller and more skeletal-looking than typical portrayals. The film's aliens are definitely sinister and unsympathetic (AlienAbduction being the primary threat), but not precisely evil. Rather, the film specifies that they're so advanced and so ''other'' that they're [[InscrutableAliens beyond human comprehension.]]
* ''Film/OfficialDenial'' depicts greys, which at the end are revealed to be actually [[spoiler:humans from the future]].

* ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' villain Ra was originally a grey-like alien that somehow managed to posess a human to survive as its own body was dying. Glimpses of this as well as a wall painting depicting his true form are seen throughout the film. Just before [[spoiler:he is nuked at the end]] his true appearance is revealed for the last time. Once the show was created and the Asgard introduced (see below) this was explained that Ra's previous host was an Asgard.
* The "keepers" from ''Film/JupiterAscending''. They're employed by Balem to guard Earth and maintain the {{Masquerade}}, and have all the hallmarks of the trope, including grey skin, large heads, and no clothes.

* The Greys are featured in the science fiction series, ''{{Literature/Alterien}}''. They have all the features common to the well-known aliens of legend. They are called the Shanda'ryn in this series.

* Occasional Greys make an appearance in the ''{{Literature/Nightside}}'' series, usually as a gag (e.g. seeing one lying in the gutter with a "Will probe for food" sign). One of the Nightside's most secure locales, the Fortress, was founded by traumatized alien abductees, who are determined to fight back with guns, napalm, and possibly even nukes if the little buggers ever come near them again.

* The Greys make an appearance in the mashup novel Literature/TheTumbleweedDossier. [[spoiler:One even becomes a vampire.]]
* [[OurFairiesAreDifferent The Fairies]] in Literature/{{Discworld}} are described as looking suspiciously similar to this on the rare occasion that their [[GlamourFailure glamour fails]]. There are also offhand referances in ''Literature/TheTruth'' to tabloid headlines about them that mirror real world tabloid headlines about TheGreys.

* Upon first reading ''At Winter's End'' by Creator/RobertSilverberg, one ''could'' be forgiven for believing that the hairless, pallid, flat-faced "Dream-Dreamer" seen at the beginning is a Gray. [[spoiler:He's not; it's simply that the viewpoint characters are sapient mutant baboons. The "Dream-Dreamer" is [[AfterTheEnd the last living human]].]]

* The first appearance of aliens meeting this description in Western pop culture was an episode of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' entitled "The Bellero Shield," which first aired February 10th, 1964. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_and_Barney_Hill_abduction People began claiming to have been abducted by aliens looking just like the ones from the TV show within weeks, which we are sure is merely a coincidence.]]

*** The other two's names are [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]]: Whitley ''Streib''er wrote the alien-contact novel ''Communion'', and ''Zener'' cards are used by parapsychologists for psychic testing.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Silence resemble Greys crossed with TheMenInBlack. Their enlarged craniums have hollows below their (relatively normal-sized) eyes to make them appear black and huge. They first show up in America, influenced NASA to go to the moon, [[spoiler: and reappear in the season finale - inside a pyramid with a US flag painted on one side, dubbed "Area 52".]] They are eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:biologically-altered human time-travellers from the far future]].

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Balok, or rather, [[spoiler: the puppet he uses]] in "The Corbomite Maneuver," seen in the credits of every episode, looks like a typical grey.

* Although not actually seen, the Greys are mentioned on a recurring basis in ''Series/ResidentAlien''. According to Harry Vanderspeigle, they have "ass fetish." In a later installment, it's revealed that they abduct human babies from pregnant women and implant trackers in people. Harry refers to them as "insidious assholes."

* The FurryComic ''[[http://www.ringtailcafe.com/starfireagency/ Starfire Agency]]'' has Grays as one of apparently several alien races that frequently abduct major character Denver, and the species he fears the most as they seem to be completely emotionless and uncaring about the experiments they perform on him, and they steal his clothes and send him back in different ones each time. In one arc a hybrid that looks like a tall, gaunt canid with large black eyes appears to [[spoiler: fix the sleeper personality his creators put in Denver, or rather the clone they replaced him with a decade ago.]]
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', when Luke contemplates Tedd, Grace and Noah as being aliens, he [[http://egscomics.com/index.php?id=1963 pictures Tedd and Grace staring at him with faces like that of Greys.]]

--->''"Eyezil, phone home!"''
* Partway through his [[WebVideo/VinesauceTomodachiLife Tomodachi Life LP]], [[WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}} Vinny]] added several identical Miis called the Jahns, which heavily resemble the Grays (although due to the limitations of the Mii Maker, their skin isn't actually gray). They are revealed to be a group of alien researchers stranded on Earth after their ship crashed; Vinny mentions that he intends to study them, in hopes of seeing how they differentiate. [[spoiler:However, they quickly turn out to be more than they seem, as they quickly turn the tables and begin studying ''Vinny'', as well as making deals with [[RealityWarper Isaac]] and [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Hailey]]. Then, in [[WhamEpisode Episode 48]], they finally put their plans into effect, [[AssimilationPlot converting the other islanders into more Jahns]], with Vinny himself [[BrainwashedAndCrazy under their control]]. Fortunately, they're driven off by [[Series/TheXFiles Mulder and Scully]] two episodes later; apparently, [[RuleOfFunny they just wanted chicken cutlets the whole time]].]]

* In the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheTick Tick]]'' episode "Tick vs the Big Nothing", an alien race called [[PokemonSpeak the What]] disguise themselves as Greys in order to avoid their enemies [[PokemonSpeak the Hey]] (who happen to look like Arthur.).

* [[CloudCuckoolander Phil Ken]] [[EyepatchOfPower Sebben]] of ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'' mistakes WesternAnimation/TheJetsons for Greys, scattering his office with drawings of them with the distinctive large, black, almond-shaped eyes.
* The Galvans from ''WesternAnimation/BenTen'' resemble this, albeit frog-sized.
* In the Creator/{{CBBC}} ''Series/DoctorWho'' animated serial [[Recap/DoctorWho2009ASDreamland "Dreamland"]] there are a couple of Grey aliens that were captured in {{Area 51}}.

* The Klepts in ''Alien X-Mas'' are depicted as greys, albeit with some being larger than others or having distinct body types. Also, while they're introduced as being an identical shade of grey, [[spoiler: X turns bright blue after a HeelFaceTurn, and it turns out that the Klepts originally came in a wide variety of bright colors, but had gradually all turned grey after they became greedy and lost the spirit of generosity.]]

* The Las Vegas 51s minor league UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} team are so called after {{Area 51}}. Their mascot? A Grey with baseball seams on his large head.

[[folder:Anime]]

* The Fnrrns in ''Literature/{{Terra}}'' have large bald grey heads and large black shiny eyes. However, they're actually quite tall, and only one of them has any interest in Earth whatsoever.

* The Klepts in ''Alien X-Mas'' are depicted as greys, albeit with some being larger than others or having distinct body types. Also, while they're introduced as being an identical shade of grey, [[spoiler: X turns bright blue after a HeelFaceTurn, and it turns out that the Klepts originally came in a wide variety of bright colors, but had gradually all turned grey after they became greedy and lost the spirit of generosity]]