Astronaut: Navigation! Where are we?
Kevin Murphy: Well we're over the Planet of the Apes, approaching The Phantom Planet, right near the Planet Of The Vampires which is right across from the Prehistoric Planet.
Kevin Murphy: Well we're over the Planet of the Apes, approaching The Phantom Planet, right near the Planet Of The Vampires which is right across from the Prehistoric Planet.
"Species that don't change die. We've lost our way. We've allowed our predatory instincts to dominate us. We disperse ourselves throughout the quadrant, sending ships in all directions! We've become a solitary race, isolated. We've spread ourselves too thin. We're no longer a culture! We have no identity!"
— Karr, Star Trek: Voyager ("The Killing Game")
Kaidan: I haven't spent much time with krogan before, Wrex, and I have to say, you're not what I expected.
Wrex: Right. Because humans have a wide range of cultures and attitudes, but krogan all think and act exactly alike.
Wrex: Right. Because humans have a wide range of cultures and attitudes, but krogan all think and act exactly alike.
"Listen, ladies. If you want a problem talked to death, ask an asari. If you want a problem shot, ask a turian. If you want a new problem, ask a salarian. If you want a problem solved, ask a human."
— Renegade Shepard calls 'em like they see 'em, Mass Effect 2.
Warden: Tell me about the qunari.
Sten: No.
Warden: I wasn't expecting that.
Sten: Get used to disappointment. People are not simple. They cannot be defined for easy reference in the manner of: 'the elves are a lithe, pointy-eared people who excel at poverty.'
Sten: No.
Warden: I wasn't expecting that.
Sten: Get used to disappointment. People are not simple. They cannot be defined for easy reference in the manner of: 'the elves are a lithe, pointy-eared people who excel at poverty.'
"The crew of the Enterprise discover a totally new lifeform which turns out to be a familiar old lifeform wearing a funny hat."
"Most of Israel’s critics, especially abroad, see the country as a one-dimensional monolith. As they see it, all its (Jewish) citizens are marching in lockstep behind their rightist government, consumed by a dark ideology, supporting occupation and settlements and committing war crimes. This, by the way, is a mirror image of the admirers of Israel in the world, who also see Israel as a one-dimensional monolith, with all citizens marching proudly behind their brave and determined leaders — Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Avigdor Lieberman. The truth is far removed from both these caricatures."
— Uri Avnery
The Spock: Oh look! It's a person who looks really weird!
The Kirk: Is it... an alien?
Alien: I. Am. An. Alien!
The Kirk: Oh, right. So whats's The Thing about you, then?
Alien: It's that we'll try to eat you after a bit.
The Kirk: Is it... an alien?
Alien: I. Am. An. Alien!
The Kirk: Oh, right. So whats's The Thing about you, then?
Alien: It's that we'll try to eat you after a bit.
— That Mitchell and Webb Sound, "Space Trek And Wars"
Leader of Fedex 11: It is time to meet your end, earthlings! We thank you for being weaker and dumber than us, and allowing us to steal your secrets so that we may rule the universe's delivery business!
Leela: But why do you even want to?
Leader: Hey, everybody's got their "thing". We love shipping and handling, all right?
Leela: But why do you even want to?
Leader: Hey, everybody's got their "thing". We love shipping and handling, all right?
—- Futurama Comics #2
"Nonhuman fantasy races tend to have their differences from humans defined not just physically (pointy ears and what have you) but psychologically. You might think this would entail making them really alien but that's difficult and often winds up making them hard for the average reader or gamer to relate to. What it more often means in practice is that members of the imaginary race wind up all sharing certain personality traits in common. ALL elves are tree huggers, ALL dwarves are dour, stubborn, and acquisitive, etc.
And that makes it tough for the writer to have the critters seem like there are significant personality differences among them. I know, I was constantly trying to solve this problem while writing my drow novel.
That, I think, is, from the author's point of view, part of the appeal of what I call Chinese menu fantasy, where the Tolkienesque band of protagonists has one archetypal elf, one archetypal dwarf, etc. It's much easier to make the characterization work. And I'm not denigrating this approach. I wouldn't dare, now that I've done the diverse band of heroes myself in my dragon thingie.
Of course, there's at least one other advantage to this approach, also. Frequently, much of the point of a fantasy is to give the reader the chance to explore an exotic imaginary world, and by giving him extended commerce with characters who represent many of its races and cultures, the writer facilitates this process."
And that makes it tough for the writer to have the critters seem like there are significant personality differences among them. I know, I was constantly trying to solve this problem while writing my drow novel.
That, I think, is, from the author's point of view, part of the appeal of what I call Chinese menu fantasy, where the Tolkienesque band of protagonists has one archetypal elf, one archetypal dwarf, etc. It's much easier to make the characterization work. And I'm not denigrating this approach. I wouldn't dare, now that I've done the diverse band of heroes myself in my dragon thingie.
Of course, there's at least one other advantage to this approach, also. Frequently, much of the point of a fantasy is to give the reader the chance to explore an exotic imaginary world, and by giving him extended commerce with characters who represent many of its races and cultures, the writer facilitates this process."
— Richard Lee Byers, the author of Forgotten Realms trilogy The Year of Rogue Dragons note and Dissolution note , on Candlekeep forums
.
.Astronaut 2: Dude! Wizard planet!
Wizard: It's not a "Wizard Planet". It's a planet with a few wizards on it.
Astronaut 2: That sounds like a Wizard Planet to me.
Wizard: That would be like calling an ocean "Shark Ocean."
Astronaut 1: Now that's a badass ocean!
Wizard: It's not a "Wizard Planet". It's a planet with a few wizards on it.
Astronaut 2: That sounds like a Wizard Planet to me.
Wizard: That would be like calling an ocean "Shark Ocean."
Astronaut 1: Now that's a badass ocean!
"Remember: one culture per alien planet. More than that, and you're just showing off."
"Oh my God... get in the ship, sweetie. GET IN THE GODDAMN SHIP! EVERYTHING IS ON A COB! THE WHOLE PLANET IS ON A COB! GO, GO, GO!"
—Rick Sanchez, Rick and Morty
"Hand the sticks to the Senior Horde and let them tend our herds, hand the pens to the Middle Horde and send them to the debates, hand the spears to the Junior Horde and show them our enemies."
and let them tend our herds, hand the pens to the Middle Horde and send them to the debates, hand the spears to the Junior Horde and show them our enemies."—An old Kazakh saying.In Kazakh...
Kin lay in her bunk, thinking. She thought about how attitudes to aliens got stereotyped. Kung were paranoid, blood-thirsty and superstitious. Shandi were calm, blood-thirsty and sometimes ate people. Shandi and kung thought that humans were blood-thirsty, foolhardy and proud. Everyone thought the Ehfts were funny and nobody knew what the Ehfts thought about anyone.
It was true that, once, four kung had boarded a grounded human ship during the bad old days and killed thirty-five crew before the last kung went down under the weight of Clipe needles. It was true that on certain diplomatically-forgotten occasions, shandi had, with great ceremony, eaten people. So what? How could you evaluate this unless you could think like an alien?
We dismiss each other with a few cliches, she thought. It's the only way we can live with one another.
It's attacked by Klingons and luckily crashes down on a cornfield planet (planets are only allowed to be one thing in the Star Trek universe).
—a Cracked.com article
Kim: I was created by the Death Priests of M'argle'Tstrxlt as one of their Avatars of the Icy Beyond. For the first twenty years of my life, I mastered all of the deadly arts. [...]
Astro's son: I thought M'argle'Tstrxlt was the moon that does those amazing toffee apples.
Kim: A planet can have multiple things. Also, they don't really advertise the death cult.
Astro's son: I thought M'argle'Tstrxlt was the moon that does those amazing toffee apples.
Kim: A planet can have multiple things. Also, they don't really advertise the death cult.
