Worst Aliens Ever!!!


Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the show, I first saw it when I was 6 and I'm just getting re-acquainted with it now, and yeah, I'm having some fun here, but...

These aliens were totally inept at being...ALIENS! Their predominant human form was that of aging, balding, weedy guys...the younger "thug" guys got the crap kicked out of them by Vincent (who is also a VERY good shot for an architect, I must say)...they didn't have any special "Alien Talents", like mind reading or lasers firing out of their fingers...

And aside from the killer yo-yos, the regeneration tubes and the "Secret Squirrel" hats they flew around in, they didn't seem to have any cool "alien stuff"...well, the "truth/hypnosis pendant" was pretty cool...

And the whole "James Bond"-type approach to David always cracks me up...if he's that much of a threat to you, just KILL HIM already! But no, instead of just waiting till he's alone and zapping him with the killer yo-yos, there's always these elaborate, drawn out traps set for him. In fact, in the episode I just watched, the alien PUT AWAY his killer yo-yo so he could shoot him with a GUN! (It featured a young Pat Hingle as well!)

I love watching every second of "Invaders", I really do. But there are times when I think, "I suspect Quinn Martin had a gangster story that wasn't 'clicking', so he made them space aliens." And there are a LOT of times when I just laugh out loud and say, "These are the worst aliens I've ever seen!"

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Yeah, the only times I really liked the aliens were:

1) When they were flying spacecraft, repairing same, operating regneration chambers and heart attack/stroke-disks

2) When they gave true info about their planet and biology

3) In the single episode that shows an alien in true form - dropped from a stretcher into a salinated water tank then almost completely regenerated in the episode Genesis

4) Both of Suzanne Pleshette's guest appearances

5) Michael Rennie's two guest appearances

6) All of Alfred Ryder's guest appearances

Other than those times, most of the aliens, as you say, were mostly gangsters with an interplanetary agenda.

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I really enjoyed the Michael Rennie appearances as well...and even Anne Francis made it!

I'd also like to echo other folks' opinion on the Dawn Wells appearance - WOW!!!

Aliens aside, "Invaders" cornered the market on absolutely beautiful women popping in and out each week.

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Yeah. Sally Kellerman was an early crush of mine - I first noticed her on the original Outer Limits, then of course on The Invaders and other shows prior to her MASH work...

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I always like to watch films made of novels I have read...so just last week I saw Sally Kellerman in James Michener's "Centennial"...she was great to watch! My early crushes were Lara Parker, Maureen McCormick (yeah, mine and every one else's) and Linda Blair!

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Shows good taste! Also I'd forgotten Kellerman in Centennial, thanks for the reminder. :)

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I think you've got to take into account that the aliens, more often than not, had to take the place of existing humans who where in positions of influence, so this limited their appearance and abilities.

Also, David Vincent is a former soldier and veteran of the Korean war(The Trial), so he knows how to handle a gun, and killing isn't a problem.

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David Vincent is a former soldier and veteran of the Korean war(


Yeah, my Dad was a Korean War Vet (and he lived through the occupation of Greece as a kid); he was a rather short, friendly guy who wore glasses & always had a shirt & tie on. Nicest fellow you'd ever get to know--until one day some creep threatened us on the streets of San Francisco in "The Mission" & my dad suddenly 'drew down' on this guy & went for a Police .38 he had in a waist holster...






Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!?

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Goose, I freely admit that I didn't put too much stock into that fact; thanks for bringing that to light! I wonder if it has something to do with my age and childhood...I was 6 when "Invaders" was on...and at that age, and in that generation, everyone over 30 looked the same to us kids - also, we thought they were all old and feeble!

I love the show, I love watching it now and seeing all the groovy cars and the phone booths, EVERYONE smoking, the lovely ladies in their sweet 60's fashions...like I said before, I'm mostly having a little fun with the retrospection...

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It's always been pretty hilarious/weird for me to see people attack any portrayal of an extraterrestrial being by claiming aliens "aren't supposed to be like that". As if ANYONE truly knows what an alien would actually be like. The very mystery of the aliens' behavior in THE INVADERS, the odd choices they would make and the way they would suddenly destroy all evidence of their existence, was part of what creeped me out about the show, then and now. "What's really going on here?" was a great part of the head game that this series played. The very fact that every so often you could start to wonder if DAVID VINCENT WAS AN ALIEN TOO was an awesome part of the whole mix. Which is why my least favorite parts of the shows were when the aliens started explaining themselves. But of course, I got past that by thinking, how does anyone know when they're telling the truth and when they're lying? Deceit, after all, was always the central part of their behavior.

I get that you're having some fun with this element, OP. I just had more fun by not looking at it in those terms.



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Hi, DD! Thanx for your well-thought out reply! (and for realizing the opening post is mainly tongue-in cheek)
Seriously, though, I'd like to thank you and the other thoughtful contributors for opening my eyes to something I couldn't possibly have thought of in '68, basically 'cuz I was 6 years of age...
Maybe the conscious decision of the aliens to appear as older folk that blend into the background was a reflection of the times by the writers of "Invaders"...sort of symbolic that the swinging 60's had rendered anyone over 30 little more than a homogeneous interchangeable blend of vanilla bouillabaisse. I'm going to keep that in mind as I continue watching. (I'm in the middle of season 2)
One thing that is starting to peck away at me a bit is the writers sort of insinuating themselves into the story, viz. the aliens proselytizing to Vincent about the shortcomings of the human race, the whole "Oh yeah, Vincent, like your civilization is soooooo much better, you kill each other, etc". Commentary on Vietnam, maybe? Again, I was 6 at the time...

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Well, you're not very good at infiltrating if you don't blend into the background...

What's interesting about the aliens "proselytizing to Vincent about the shortcomings of the human race" is the episode of The Invaders called "The Ivy Curtain", in which Vincent discovers a school training the aliens how to operate in the U.S. (and blend in). In one scene you see aliens in a "party scene" practicing ways to complain and put down the established order. In other words, you see the aliens being TRAINED to proselytize about the shortcomings of the human race. It actually comes across as a rather conservative message, as if anyone criticizing "the establishment" must be an evil alien trying to take over the planet.

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Great observation, DD! (and note to Bastach ~ all the women in the episode DD references were the epitome of 60's-babe-ism)
It's very interesting to look back and analyze the sub-text of "Invaders" through the anachronistic lens of passing time...truly, thanks to all of you, I'm seeing more going on underneath the "alien story" than I ever thought possible. More interesting, to me, is that "Doctor Who" tread these same boards of social/ecological commentary, but they were SO above-board with it, it was like they were hitting you over the head with it. I really will be watching the rest of "Invaders" with my "Sub-text hat" on. Thanks again!

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More interesting, to me, is that "Doctor Who" tread these same boards of social/ecological commentary, but they were SO above-board with it, it was like they were hitting you over the head with it. - robstackley

The classic series of Doctor Who (1963-1989) was designed as a family show, which meant that it had to factor in children's abilities to grasp ideas, which is why the messages may seem so heavy-handed. DW aired at teatime (late afternoon) in the UK as opposed to The Invaders, which aired later in the evening.

The 1960s DW definitely had children in mind; the series became more adult in the 1970s, but then it was regularly criticized by television watchdog groups for presenting images and situations that were disturbing to children. By the 1980s, this had abated somewhat, but then the series went through ups and downs as it struggled to avoid cancellation, ultimately unsuccessfully.

The reboot eases up on the heavy-handedness somewhat.

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I'm stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again. - Lifted from Zimmy

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Hi, darryl;
I'm currently "Netfixing" the classic "Who" in order, and I'm in the middle of Tom Baker. I freely admit I'm a little geeky for the "Bonus Features" on these DVD presentations. One of the things that always makes me smile is when I watch a serial that, by today's standards wouldn't make you blink, but when you watch the bonus interviews they always mention that one elderly woman (name escapes me) that would go absolutely ballistic at the "horrors being presented to our children". And they would show her "Times" articles, etc.

In full disclosure, "Unearthly Child" (the Eccleston, not the Hartnell), did rattle me, 'cuz I've always been creeped out by gas masks and possessed children!

I must say I'm thoroughly enjoying the slightly metaphysical bent of the past few "Who"'s...and I like Mr. Capaldi very, very much, though Mr. Tennant is still my favourite.

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I freely admit I'm a little geeky for the "Bonus Features" on these DVD presentations. - robstackley

No worries, Rob, because I'm a geek there too: I love the DVD extras on the classic DW discs. Frankly, for the prices you can pay for each serial, the extras had better be good and plentiful.

One of the things that always makes me smile is when I watch a serial that, by today's standards wouldn't make you blink, but when you watch the bonus interviews they always mention that one elderly woman (name escapes me) that would go absolutely ballistic at the "horrors being presented to our children". And they would show her "Times" articles, etc.

Mary Whitehouse was the prime watchdog in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. A number of DW cast and crew on those extras, though, do say that even though she was causing some grief for them, she was still giving the show publicity--no such thing as bad publicity, right?

A few years ago, I watched an English film--can't recall the title offhand--about Mary Whitehouse, with Julie Walters portraying her. It was relatively even-handed; it didn't portray her as a buffoon nor as a saint. Well, there was one scene: As she is just starting to organize her group, and is at a lectern with a sign that reads "Clean Up National Television" as she addresses the group by that name, her husband comes up to the lectern and whispers in her ear. We don't hear what he says, but as she quickly amends the name to "Clean Up Television," we can surmise that his remark was along the lines of, "You do realize what the acronym is, don't you, love?"

In full disclosure, "Unearthly Child" (the Eccleston, not the Hartnell), did rattle me, 'cuz I've always been creeped out by gas masks and possessed children!

That is a very eerie one, but I think you mean "The Empty Child" for Eccleston's story. "Are you my mummy?" Chilling! Chilling! One of my favorites from his too-short tenure as the Doctor.

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I'm stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again. - Lifted from Zimmy

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Apologies, daryll! "Empty Child" it is! I got my wires crossed 'cuz a friend of mine was saying a couple weeks ago, "'Unearthly Child' was so scary!", and I said, "...ummm, not really...unless you're afraid of senior citizens...", and she said, "Damn, I mean 'Empty Child'".

Speaking of Hartnell, I recently saw the Beeb special, "Adventures in Time and Space"...interesting!

Thank you for the Mary Whitehouse film anecdote...that truly amused the heck out of me! I can only imagine the state of her hair and eyes the first time she got a look at Leela, the "Football Dad Companion"!

Well, I've got 2 discs of "Talons of Weng-Chiang" in front of me now...it appears there are 2 hours of bonus features awaiting me!

PS > after "Caretaker" last night, Capaldi is now my favourite Doctor.

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this should be called "the worst post ever!!!!!".....then why watch the show?....remember this was the 1960s and quite frankly still holds up despite the flaws...if you want to bash something try bashing everything on TV & everything shown in movie theaters the past 30+ years?...or better yet...come up with a show thats up to your standards.

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I've seen far worse, but, I do wish they'd given the aliens something better to wear than those coveralls and sneakers.




[edit]And with regard to user invadersfan's comment, this is not a fans only board. The IMDb rocks because it affords all of us the opportunity to say whatever we want about any movie or tv series and the OP had every right to express their reservations about "The Invaders".

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True! There's definitely a weird "Oompa-Loompa" quality to those fellows!

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I've only started taking a second look at "The Invaders" (4 episodes in so far) but I hope to encounter more individuality in the way the aliens are portrayed. Aside from perhaps Suzanne Pleshette's character, none of them seem very memorable in the personality department.

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Remember, THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was another influence on this show. It's no accident that the great majority of Invaders had no emotion, no feeling, no personality. They were, after all, aliens. Pleshette's character (and a few others like her) were freak aberrations, shunned by the majority of Invaders.

But there are a few Invaders, particularly the leaders, who had a little more personality. Alfred Ryder's two appearances as an alien leader, first in VIKOR, is the best example to me. Made me feel that the Invaders were somewhat like insects, like bees or ants. Most just drones or worker bees, with a few more advanced elements as leaders.

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I don't recall any female alien leaders.

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Ellie Markham played by Diana Hyland in the two-parter titled Summit Meeting.

Diana Muldauer (sp?) in the penultimate ep where she and alien partner Barry Morse attempt to present data to the alien "government" that killing a complex species such as mankind would be a crime against creation.

Probably a couple others, but I'm too sleepy to come up with them right now...

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I agree with other commenters about Rennie and Ryder (who were basically alien politicians) while Ed Asner in Wall of Crystal had an everyman quality.

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