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Why is the assumption always that alien life will have arms, lets, face, etc?

episodic

episodic

Lifer
What makes our design so special where no other design would work elsewhere? Why can't sci-fi writers get away from two legs, two arms, etc. . . .
 
It makes life *soooo* much easier for the costume designer (and for the actors who get to wear the costumes).

Could you imagine how much bigger Star Trek's budget would have to be if we didn't all believe that half-an-ounce of latex on your forehead or a bit of green body paint was enough to make you look convincingly like an alien life form?
 
Originally posted by: episodic
What makes our design so special where no other design would work elsewhere? Why can't sci-fi writers get away from two legs, two arms, etc. . . .
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so what should an alien look like?

 
why not?

like somebody mentioned it makes makeup/special effects much easier

and when the aliens are similar to us there is more place for drama
 
the one thing I liked abotu Simon Green's Deathstalker series was that he always described aliens as... alien. things so foreign and unrelated to human experience that it made a person's head hurt just trying to comprehend what they were seeing.
 
well, considering we don't know what they look like, ugly, weird looking human like figures is as good as it gets.
 
Originally posted by: loki8481
the one thing I liked abotu Simon Green's Deathstalker series was that he always described aliens as... alien. things so foreign and unrelated to human experience that it made a person's head hurt just trying to comprehend what they were seeing.
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I feel that way looking at some people
 
Originally posted by: loki8481
the one thing I liked abotu Simon Green's Deathstalker series was that he always described aliens as... alien. things so foreign and unrelated to human experience that it made a person's head hurt just trying to comprehend what they were seeing.
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Nah, he was just too uncreative to come up with a convincing description.
 
Form follows function. Theoretically, given a randomly varying terrain with flatlands, mountains, hills, trees and all the other good stuff, one needs arms and legs to move most efficiently. As far as fingers go, those are necessary for manual dexterity and handling of tools. Thus, given another alien planet with the same features as the earth, life will evolve similarly. Now if the planet were completely different from the earth (such as all water or completely flat) then life will evolve differently form-wise. There could come a point where technology is able to surpass all the hurdles of evolution. At that point, aliens might just find themselves gigantic brains lodged inside big killer robots....scary.
 
I've actually seen an alien.

It had no arms and only one leg and it's teeth stuck straight out of its mouth 6 inches.

I used it as a rake.
 
Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars was an alien with no legs.
There are lots of aliens that aren't portrayed "typically", but when they are, usually some kind of story is made up to give some reasoning (like in Star Trek IIRC).
 
Originally posted by: jadinolf
I've actually seen an alien.

It had no arms and only one leg and it's teeth stuck straight out of its mouth 6 inches.

I used it as a rake.
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:thumbsup:😀
 
Originally posted by: episodic
What makes our design so special where no other design would work elsewhere? Why can't sci-fi writers get away from two legs, two arms, etc. . . .
Click to expand...
Well...we evolved the way we did for a reason. If aliens come from a similarly life-sustaining planet, I think they'd look like something we evolved from...or will evolve into someday
 
Originally posted by: Quasmo
I still want to know what a let is.
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let
n.

1. Something that hinders; an obstacle: free to investigate without let or hindrance.
2. Sports. An invalid stroke in tennis and other net games that requires a replay.
 
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