What is Aliens: Definition and 81 Discussions

Alien is a science-fiction horror/action media franchise centered on the film series which depicts warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien" or Xenomorph.
Produced and distributed by 20th Century Studios, the series began with Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, and was followed by three sequels: Aliens (1986), directed by James Cameron; Alien 3 (1992), directed by David Fincher, and Alien Resurrection (1997), directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Scott also directed a prequel series, composed of Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017), which follows the exploits of the David 8 android and the creators of the eponymous creatures referred to as the "Engineers".
The series has led to numerous novels, comics, video games and television series. It has inspired a number of spin-offs - most notably the Alien vs. Predator franchise, which combines the continuities of the Alien franchise with the Predator franchise and consists of two films as well as various series of comics, books, and video games.

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  1. Somoth Ergai

    B New Paradox Discovered, I Think

    User New here but this conundrum is something that occurred to me as I was watching a physics video and I have run out of ways to ask about this. So here I am. Ok first principle. the setup. let's say we have invented a perfect telescope on earth. such that we can resolve any object no matter...
  2. sbrothy

    Exploring Neal Asher's Prador Aliens: Do You Have Any Fave Aliens in Fiction?

    I'm currently reading Neal Asher a little more systematically. The books I read previously turned out to be part 2 of 3 and the-like. This time I started with the standalone novel "Prador Moon" as I think the Prador aliens - even if maybe just a "little" over-the-top - is one of the best alien...
  3. D

    Do Aliens Exist? Voice Your Opinion

    I personally don’t think they do. I’d love to hear your guys’ opinions.
  4. S

    Do you think we should attempt contact with aliens?

    I would like to know your opinion about this. Do you think we should try to contact aliens? I think it's safe as long as we choose stars as old as the Sun or younger. I also think that, if a nearby civilization hasn't contacted with us yet, it's probably because they don't have the means to...
  5. G

    Roswell and the aliens invading since

    We all heard about Roswell. A weather blob fell off the sky and the locals, after seeing materials unknown to them until then and the army surrounding the place, they thought that aliens landed in their peaceful town. Some people still believe that. And it's no surprise that ever since then...
  6. chasrob

    The World of Aliens: Seeing Beyond Human Vision

    In a story I’m working on, the antagonists are (humanoid--almost identical to humans) aliens, with 2 eyes, binocular vision. Their tech and bio-engineering is several hundred years advanced from ours. They can see the (human) visual spectrum, but also into the infrared (how far I haven’t...
  7. C

    Aliens with Control over Gravitons in the KHz Range

    See my previous post! https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/do-gravitons-have-frequency-like-photons.957146/ Let's say we had some aliens that had the ability to emit/interact with gravitons with frequency roughly in the range corresponding to human hearing (20Hz-20KHz), and that they had an...
  8. P

    Are Sci-Fi Movies Accurate Depictions of Aliens?

    Have watched lots of scifi & fantasy movies over the years. While entertaining at times, now find myself being critical of the way they depict aliens. A lot of them appear as reptilian with big fangs and claws yet seem to be able to control complicated space vessels and machinery. It is my...
  9. C

    B Rough probability that aliens would visit the Earth?

    According to a survey in 2017, nearly half of the Americans believe, that aliens visit earth.However, I think that a lot of conditions have to be met, so that aliens would visit earth. First of all, they have to exist. Meaning their home planet has to be a habitable planet (but only a very...
  10. C

    [law] If aliens were to establish a colony on Earth

    If alien were to establish a colony on earth, do they need human permission? ----------------------------------------- let's say they show up on sky where not belong to any country and create artificial island on international water to set up their own colony. even assume that they were...
  11. G

    Could 'aliens' already know there's life on Earth?

    We can indirectly measure the atmospheric composition of worlds outside our solar system. Suppose there are aliens out there. On their world, they use the same technique we use to measure the atmospheric composition of worlds. Suppose they turn their telescope on Earth. Is it possible they...
  12. D

    Would aliens need our resources?

    There has been much debate about SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) and whether or not we should try to contact ET. Some (Including Stephen Hawking) have argued it is a bad idea to announce "We're here" as the aliens would likely come here, squash us like an ant hill in Africa...
  13. BTA

    Why would aliens come here? (resurrected)

    I asked myself this question today, found that exact question asked here (February 10, 2005)... and I could not say anything, not even a squeak. Well, boil that dustmote! "Why would aliens come here?" I ask and the voices in my head speak. We are far from the galactic center of an average...
  14. F

    Life on other planets, are we looking at the wrong planets?

    Scientists are looking for Earth like planets/bodies to find life on other planets/bodies, somewhere that is warm enough that liquid water can exist, and somewhere with basic organic molecules. Here's where I have a concern, in the 4 billion years of Earth's life, to our knowledge life had only...
  15. E

    Codeine based biochemistry

    OK, in my story with a human colony ship headed to a new planet, I'm thinking of making the life on that planet originate from a comet carrying life with a shared ancestry to Earth life. Which means that they'll be a bit less alien than they otherwise could have been. They will share a lot of...
  16. S

    I Are Aliens Listening? Evidence for Intelligent Life in Space

    To date we have not picked up any signals from aliens. Some take this as a sign that we are alone in the universe or that intelligent life and culture, if it exists elsewhere, is rare. What I am not clear on is what we are expecting to find. Reversing the argument, if aliens were searching...
  17. Noisy Rhysling

    Breaking news: Aliens land on Earth. But....

    ...they land on April 1st. Merry confusion ensues.
  18. pac0master

    Alien technologies as portrayed in Sci-fi

    This is something that got me thinking for a while. Especially after learning the basic of physics and chemistry. Basically, pretty much every movies, novel, etc that feature an advanced race of aliens(or any alien in general), they gives them some sort of technology or their organic...
  19. J

    A Advanced Aliens Are In Happiness Boxes: Why SETI Must Fail

    There is an aspect to this SETI problem that has not yet been considered. I'd post the entire article here if I could, but the copyright is not mine for one year. (Yeah, I wrote this.) https://omni.media/all-advanced-aliens-are-in-happiness-boxes Any SETI scientist who reads this is going to...
  20. wolram

    B The aliens are silent because they are dead

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160121110932.htm Date: January 21, 2016 Source: Australian National University Summary: The universe is probably filled with habitable planets, so many scientists think it should be teeming with aliens. But life on other planets would likely be...
  21. Claude DeBris

    Why did the FTL Drive fail and strand the aliens?

    I’d like to start off by thanking everyone that’s posted on this site. I just spent two days reading everything on Writing and World Building. Actually that’s a lie, I didn’t read everything, I read every thread on the Writing and World Building forum that might possibly answer the five...
  22. Willfrid Somogyi

    What Species are "People" in Star Wars?

    One big plot hole seems to be the fact Star Wars is set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away and yet somehow there are humans. Can anyone tell me whether they are actually humans or whether they just have an extremely uncanny resemblance but are in fact another species, is there concrete...
  23. EnumaElish

    Aliens as FTL Humans: Scenario from Sci-Fi Novel

    What do you think of the following scenario*? Aliens are future humans who discovered faster than light travel. They propagated throughout the universe. In so doing they traveled back in time, to our time, or even earlier times. *I read this in a popular space opera novel. It may have been...
  24. M

    B Fermi Paradox: What are your opinions on the Fermi Paradox?

    Hi guys, So If any of you aren't familiar with the Fermi Paradox, I highly advise you read about it. It is easily one of the most interesting topics I've come across. IF you can't be bothered for this I have included a small summary of what the Fermi Paradox in my survey (see below). I'm doing...
  25. @PK nd

    What are the ways we can search for alien life?

    Are we alone AND what are the ways we can search alien life?
  26. kos

    Infrared Yoga: Is It Possible for Aliens to Learn?

    In the clear calm night,I'm out doing yoga exercises. My body will shine emiting infrared radiation as it stays blackbody radiation principal. So my particular question is , is it possible for some remote aliens on its remote planet to catch my infrared fringerprints of the image (with respect...
  27. S

    How to change the earth's atmosphere to chlorine based?

    Hi, I'm working on a commissioned story, the basic jist of it is aliens colonize earth, begin a lengthy process of terraforming it to fit their toxic homeworld atmosphere. I read somewhere chlorine is the most viable alternative to oxygen in terms of energy production and it's fairly common in...
  28. phinds

    "Ancient Aliens" does it again

    I surf through Ancient Aliens every now and then and generally can't stand it for more than a minute or two, but I keep at it because every now and then they come up with something so outstandingly moronic that I practically fall out of bed laughing. I've posted a couple such on here. Recently...
  29. E

    On the mathematics of interstellar colonization

    I've been turning something over in my head for a bit and I wanted to check some math. It has to do with how long it would take a hypothetical alien civilization to colonize a big chunk of nearby space. Over at the...
  30. N

    Might alien technology evolve similar to our own

    I've pondered this a lot recently. I am an amateur electronics enthusiast. Recently I've been trying to build my own capacitors, resistors and radio/tv receivers/transmitters from scratch. A thought occurred to me, what would alien technology look like? and would it evolve the same way ours did...
  31. B

    If Aliens Existed, Would Inter-Galactic Travel be Possible?

    Is the distance too far and/or the trip too dangerous for inter-galactic space travel by aliens wanting to reach Earth?
  32. A

    Proof aliens had come to earth long time ago

    Puma Punku in bolivia and Peru amazing stone cutting make me suspect aliens had done that , cuts are so precise and so impossible to realize today with our ''modern technology incline to think of a desintegrator cutting tool ( energy field that break atoms bonding )
  33. phinds

    The best Ancient Aliens yet

    the best "Ancient Aliens" yet ! Ancient Aliens is SO amazingly stupid and misinforming that it is sometime (rarely, I admit) actually hilarious, so I stop on it for a minute or two sometimes when I'm channel surfing just to see what kind of blather they have that night. On occasion, I get a...
  34. Monsterboy

    History History Channel's Ancient Aliens

    History Channel's "Ancient Aliens" I watched a few episodes of this after repeated requests from my friends ,i not really convinced by their theories but since my knowledge of physics is limited ,i might need some help in either dismissing or accepting their theories, i hope those who are...
  35. E

    About the scientific thinking and aliens

    Hello I was thinking about how could we think if we arrived to a new planet and found a strange buildings and a complicated machines but we haven't found any living creatures or aliens , just a srange buildings and macheins , could that be an evidence for the existence of aliens ?? we haven't...
  36. A

    Could dark matter be invisible bound states of ordinary matter or ehm, aliens?

    I've thought about dark matter and I'm wondering if it could possible be made up invisible bouond states of ordinary matter? Wikipedia says "According to consensus among cosmologists, dark matter is composed primarily of a new, not yet characterized, type of subatomic particle." But why a...
  37. R

    Question: Should I Believe in Aliens?

    So here is the setup: I know a bunch of people who think it is the dumbest thing ever or absolutely ridiculous to say, "I don't believe aliens exist." What is your stance on that question? Here is what I currently know: +I have seen no evidence for alien existence Therefore, I don't believe...
  38. W

    Religion and the Possibility of Alien Life

    Today I was wondering, what do you all think would happen if humans discovered aliens that were more intelligent than us? What would happen to religions that believe in God and such? Do you think people will think of them as the creations of the devil or something? What if they had evolved...
  39. Pengwuino

    Holy crap, Cowboys AND Aliens?

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409847/ BOOM, you heard it right. Speilberg is making a movie with COWBOYS... and... ALIENS! What the hell? I'm pretty sure something like this was mentioned in the last chapter of the Bible. Then bad things happened.
  40. M

    Alien Contact & the Drake Equation: Agree or Disagree?

    I recently made my first blog post on the subject of whether http://reptoavian.blogspot.com/2010/08/alien-contact-forthcoming.html" . Do you agree or disagree with my estimates of the variables in the Drake equation? What do you think of my conclusions for the number and spacing between...
  41. S

    Is the Physics Behind Ancient Aliens on the History Channel Accurate or Not?

    Ok so I was watching this history channel show called Ancient Aliens today. They had some "scientists" talking about how the pyramids were filled up with hydrogen gas which was used to shoot microwaves at a alien spaceship which would then be able to travel across the galaxy without the need of...
  42. J

    What information will you send to aliens?

    Do you know guys that every satelites have some note that contains all about the Earth and human? It is to inform our information to aliens. And many people tried to infrom human's culture such as music and some great pictures and a lot of languages including English. And I thought...
  43. M

    Do you think the aliens will accept me?

    I'm feeling a bit shamed by the human race currently do you think I could defect to the martians? Has anyone else ever wondered if it was possible to be relocated to a planet with smart people? I mean really what did I do wrong to be stuck here with ya'll?
  44. N

    Is Stephen Hawking's Take on Aliens as Funny as We Hoped?

    For a [humorous let's hope] view from Stephen Hawking on alien life, check out: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece
  45. C

    History Aliens Visiting Earth in Our History

    I was having a conversation with a friend last night, and he mentioned that he believes that aliens have come to Earth to ancient societies, helping them take actions beyond the the technological capabilities of those societies. Examples that my friend gave me were Stonehenge and pyramids...
  46. G

    How aliens would find complex numbers

    I was trying to think how to introduce complex numbers in a more natural way. I find defining \mathrm{i}=\sqrt{-1} just to not get stuck in maths and then be surprised by the power of complex numbers unsatisfactory. There are probably other ways, but they are abstract, too? Here is some visual...
  47. T

    Static Electricity an Aliens

    Homework Statement Imagine that space invaders could deposit extra electrons in equal amounts on the Earth and on your car, which has a mass of 1200kg. Note that the rubber tires would provide some insulation. How much charge Q would need to be placed on your car (same amount on earth) in...
  48. K

    Famous astronaut: - Aliens are visiting us?

    Famous astronaut: - Aliens are visiting us Normally it's not a good thing to start with the conclusion, but can we in this case pre-conclude that Mitchell is just a stupid nutcase? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwE0vDuTm48&feature=related (also see the rest of this Larry King show)...
  49. rootX

    Vatican says aliens could exist

    Why these guys are even doing all these things? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7399661.stm
  50. S

    Can Aliens See Events from the Past?

    I was having an argument and i need someone to clear it up Here is my side, If we can look at the sky with a telescope and see events that happened millions of years ago, then surely if an alien had a telescope at the right distance away from earth, looking back at us, that alien could...
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