I've been wondering for ages about the first use of the word "alien", as we use it now, in the movies. I maybe wrong, but I'm pretty sure that The Invaders really cemented its use in popular culture as meaning extra terrestrials. Before then the word is actually very hard to find.
Most times ETs were referred to as "beings", "things" and especially "creatures".
As far as I know, the earliest use of "alien" in the modern sense appears in Forbidden Planet, but it's in an out-take scene that never appeared in the finished movie (a good scene between Neilsen and crew speculating about the planet's inhabitants).
Know any other instances that predate The Invaders?
Let's not talk about this. I have a feeling that if Trump becomes president, he's going to want to round up all alien movies and ship them out of the country.
Let's not talk about this. I have a feeling that if Trump becomes president, he's going to want to round up all alien movies and ship them out of the country.
Well, that's the fastest derailment of a thread I've ever seen.
Seriously though, I'm interested to know. Trump-free answers please.
I would think "alien" was used in literature way back since it was quite advanced compared to what was in the movie theaters. "Queen of Blood"(1966) seemed like a good film to look for "alien" but they called them astronauts, their society or their civilization. Was "Mr. Klaatu" called an alien?
I wonder if it's used in the original Flash Gordon serial in the 1930s? I have it on DVD and am getting ready to watch it entirely again. I'll report back if I hear the term used.
"...in 1931, the word alien was first documented as referring to an intelligent being from another planet. (For any interested parties or science fiction aficionados, the OED traces this sense to the August 1931 issue of the American science fiction magazine Wonder Stories.)"
"...in 1931, the word alien was first documented as referring to an intelligent being from another planet. (For any interested parties or science fiction aficionados, the OED traces this sense to the August 1931 issue of the American science fiction magazine Wonder Stories.)"
Another rare early reference is from The Outer Limits ep The Invisibles '63, when an instructor name-checks an "alien" attachment with a corpse. No other OL instances spring to mind which is remarkable considering the nature of the show.
Star Trek indeed used the word a few times, eg in Arena when Sulu refers to the Gorn ship as "the alien" (note - rather than the Gorn itself), and Operation Annihilate when Kirk asks if any "alien forms" have been seen, plus Assignment Earth when Kirk speculates that Gary Seven might be an "invading alien from the future". But AFAIK that's about it for Trek. Pretty rare considering.
I'm convinced that The Invaders set the word in stone! After that, there were aliens everywhere!
