Top 10 Movie Aliens of All Time

Ever since the Russians launched Sputnik in the 1950s, Hollywood’s been fascinated with possibility that we are not alone. Their depictions of aliens run the gamut from green lizards to brown arachnids to human clones to an invisible, god-like presence. Some aliens are scary as hell, some are cuddly and love-able, some are dead-sexy. However, one constant holds for all these aliens: they’re damned cool. And the alien genre is not going away as long as the possibility of extraterrestrial contact remains a possibility.  So here are the Top 10 Movie Aliens of All Time!

10. The “Mars Attacks” Aliens

What’s cooler than a cute little green alien that destroys all humankind without reason or remorse? Little green aliens that destroy along list of A-list actors and who were drawn by Tim Burton. Just look at the list of super-powered stars that these little buggers destroy with their alien super-guns: Jack Nicholson, Jim Brown, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Michael J. Fox, Danny Devito, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rod Steiger, Natalie Portman, Martin Short, Pierce Brosnan, Pam Grier, Rod Steiger, and, of course…. Tom Jones.

But at least Burton set aside one alien to inhabit the body of his then-fiancee model/actress Lisa Marie! Yum.

9.  Frank The Pug From “Men In Black”

Frank is a friendly alien who’s disguised as a pug and who helps Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones fight bad aliens.  Since pugs kind of look like aliens, it’s not too far of a stretch. Frank also sounds like a mob elder from Jersey, and is an enthusiastic patron, apparently, of karaoke bars, and an experienced crooner, much to the chagrin of his partner, Will Smith.

8. The Blob

The Blob is awesome because it is a big, gelatinous mass. It originated from a meteor that fell to earth one fateful night, and attaches itself to humans, then devours them, getting bigger and bigger as it seeks to consume everything in its path. What’s even cooler is that the original  (1958, it was remade in 1988) starred the young Steve McQueen, an early appearance from this icon of cool.

Want the trailer? You can actually find the whole movie on the ‘net, but here’s the first 10 minutes:

7. Klaatu

Klaatu is a combination of Al Gore and Superman, and looks like actor Michael Rennie, or in the remake, like Keanu Reeves. What’s not to love? He’s the interplanetary ambassador from the films “The Day The Earth Stood Still.” In the original of 1951 as the Cold war was coming into being, he commands the human race to stop their warlike ways, or the entire planet would be destroyed. In the remake, Klaatuu Keanu warns the world’s citizens to stop hurting the earth, or his alien race will wipe out all mankind so that the earth may live. How do we respond? By shooting at him, of course. Fortunately we have Jennifer Connolly to vouch for mankind’s goodness, a hotter spokeswoman we imagine.

6. Arachnids of Klendathu

These nasty, giant spider-like creatures were the signature villains of “Starship Troopers,” a Paul Veerhoeven film in which a futuristic, fascist society of humans do battle with the alien insect race. I gotta admit, I was rooting for the alien Arachnids in this movie.

5. Yautja from “Predator”

Yautja is a hunter from the other side of the galaxy, who comes to earth to hunt humans. He not only has the super-cool power to make himself invisible, but he also has heat-sensitive vision, which he uses to stalk his prey. Also, Yautja has an expert facility with advanced weaponry, which he’ll need if he’s to take on the likes of the Govahnatah!

4. The Prawns

These poor, huddled masses of aliens came all the way to Earth, specifically, Johannesburg, South Africa, in this year’s surprise blockbuster,District 9.” This year’s most recent addition to the alien genre is also one of the coolest ever. Living in a quarantined area with Nigerian thugs, these aliens toil in their slum imposed on them by the Apartheid government, they eat cat food, and they speak a language that we can comprehend through subtitles (are these the first aliens to be subtitled?) But one heroic alien-prawn, along with his prawn-son, is secretly building his own ship, because these aliens have superior technology and brains! He seeks to take his new ship up to their Mothership, which has stalled out and broken down, and hovers over the city, so that he can restart the ship and go home.

Moreover, one unfortunate policeman, Wikus Van Der Merwe, in charge of the prawn relocation, gets a whiff of some secret fluid and he slowly turns into one of these foreign creatures. At first he dreads it, but in the end, he comes to embrace his new alien-dom.

3. E.T.

E.T. is the absolute king  of the friendly alien archetype. Like the Prawns, he just wants to go home, but we humans don’t wish to let him, except for his best friend, a young boy, and his sister, an infant Drew Barrymore.  E.T. loves to party, so he spends his time on Earth getting drunk off Coors, eating Reese’s Pieces and making bikes fly. He also has  other skills, like moving objects, bringing plants back from the dead, and lobbying for telecommunications companies.

2. Chewbacca

Chewbacca rules. He’s the hairy, big foot-esque wookie sidekick to the best part of the Star Wars movies, Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon. Apparently, he was inspired by George Lucas seeing his own Alaskan Malamute dog sitting up on the passenger seat of his car. Chewbacca is over seven feet tall and grunts and groans smart-assed remarks that only Han can understand. Yes, Chewie’s signature noise has yet to be replicated in terms of its distinct, yet familiar nature, and was apparently constructed from a mix of walruses, camels, bears, tigers, badgers, lions. Chewy is heroic, compassionate, emotional, brave, and above all, he smells fantastic. No wonder he’s the only alien to win an MTV Lifetime Achievement Award!

Honorable mention to other Star Wars Aliens The Ewocks and Jabba The Hut!

1. The Xenomorph

The quintessential alien from the film called, what else, Alien. This sucker is a “parasitoid extraterrestrial species,” which means, in layman’s terms, that he’s a big, scary, mucus-y, sharp-toothed, insect-like creature that is out to kill and make babies. In some cases, the babies themselves do the killing:

His tail also rules.

Hope you enjoyed the list! I’d also like ot give honorable mention to The Coneheads. Did I leave any of your favs out? Comment below and let us know!