History Main / PlanetLooters

* The smelly and fish-like Plutarkians from the 1993 ''BikerMiceFromMars'' series are a very fine example of this trope. Most of them were named after cheeses (e.g Lawrence Limburger, Lord Camembert, Napoleon Brie, Gutama Gouda). The Catatonians in the 2006 remake are almost as bad; they're after a new replicator/{{terraform}}ing device invented by the mice so they can use it to turn Earth and other planets into new ''kitty litter boxes''.

* An episode of ''MightyMax'' features aliens who invade Earth to steal its toxic waste, which apparently they can use for beneficial methods. When Max eventually figures that out, he pretends to surrender and agrees that Earth will give them a periodic tribute, figuring that it makes no sense to fight over something humans don't even want anyway.
* ''JohnnyTest'' has the people of [[{{Veganopia}} Planet Vegandon]], a peaceful vegetarian utopia that, in order to maintain it, strip other planets of their resources.

* ''{{Prey}}'''s aliens have similar motivations. Life on Earth was actually seeded by them, and every few thousand years they come to the planet so they can abduct a few million humans to use as cybernetic biomatter source and extra energy.

* The Hierarchy from ''[[UniverseAtWar Universe at War: Earth Assault]]''. Their predations of inhabited planets is mainly because they also require biomass, and because they are a warrior culture that regularly nips any sentient species that might challenge their supremacy in the bud before they can become a credible threat.

** The Terrorcons in ''TransformersEnergon'' were just as bad, draining entire planets dry of their natural Energon ore, often to the point of destabilizing them into an EarthShatteringKaboom.

** They return 20 years later in the sequel with an even bigger fleet. Luckily, humans have rebuilt with ImportedAlienPhlebotinum.

* A central theme of the ''Planet Pirates'' series by AnneMcCaffrey, using the third variation (the planet's colony-safe environment is the resource).
* In AndreNorton's ''Storm Over Literature/{{Warlock}}'', the Throg may have destroyed their home planet and now live as raiders, exterminating wherever they find people and living off the loot.
* The {{Lensman}} universe has the Nevians, who use allotropic iron as a source of atomic power and are beginning to run out (with racial extinction implied to be the ultimate result). When they stumble across Earth's space fleet in the process of battling the megalomaniacal Grey Roger, they (regretfully) decide that a race thus bent on destruction is so useless that they might as well take without asking, especially given the stakes for the Nevians themselves. After much mutual destruction, the humans and Nevians come to an understanding, though it helps that Earth's solar system has a superabundance of iron and there's no need to quibble over the relatively trifling needs of the Nevians. (The fact that physics doesn't work this way, and that you actually CANNOT use iron as a source of nuclear power, was something Smith either overlooked or decided to ignore for plot reasons.)

* Chairmen Drekk and his people, the Blarg, from ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002 Ratchet & Clank]]'' are stealing not only resources, but ''chunks of lithosphere'' from other planets to build a new one, in order to replace their polluted and overpopulated homeworld. Right before the FinalBattle, Clank tries to convince him to stop his mad scheme, but Drekk's motives are different from what he suspects.

-->'''Drekk:''' YouFool! You think ''that's'' what this is ''about''?! Who do you think polluted the ''last'' planet? ''I did''. This is about one thing and one thing only: ''cash'', and lots of it. See, I've been ''paid'' for every inch of my new world. Once the inhabitants move in, I'll begin polluting that planet as well, and the whole thing starts ''all over again''. Ah... brilliant.

->"''They're like locusts. They're moving from planet to planet, their entire civilization. Once they consume every resource they move on.''"

->"''They're like locusts. Moving from planet to planet, their entire civilization. They consume every resource, and then they move on.''"

* An episode of ''SuperFriends'' featured lion-like aliens who were plotting to chop the Earth into chunks, which would then be sold to various other races (all wanting different things, iron, water, etc.). Of course, the Super Friends have a little problem with this kind of entrepreneurship...

* The Mycon of ''StarControl II'' are obsessed with this, buried as it is under their nonsensical Juffo-Wup ramblings due to their being rogue xenoforming OrganicTechnology, and always on the lookout for worlds to turn into blasted hellscape to their liking. [[spoiler: It turns out they're the ones responsible for wiping out the Syreen homeworld.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "Planet Jackers" takes this idea to the extreme, featuring aliens who steal entire planets, throwing them into their sun to keep it from dying. They specifically prefer planets full of "critters," because "critters burns ''good.''" Aliens who are loosely based on the crooks from {{Fargo}}, no less. And, since this is a CrapsackWorld where nobody thinks things through, don't bother wondering why [[FridgeLogic they don't just use their planet-moving technology to move their own planet to another star]].

* Creator/ElliotSMaggin's novel ''Literature/LastSonOfKrypton'' includes a scene in which SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor explains why so many aliens want to conquer the Earth. If you take over Earth you get six billion Earthlings to use as soldiers -- so you can then conquer all the ''other'' planets in the Galaxy because HumansAreBastards.

* The Vaygr from ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' ''2'' are stated to be this in some of the background lore.

* Subverted like almost every other "Evil Alien Invader" trope in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', where humans are the planet looters. They mined out one planet to the point of implosion, then refused to help the wildlife because of "Brannigan's Law" -- a parody of ''Franchise/StarTrek'''s [[{{Alien Non-Interference Clause}} Prime Directive]] which bans such "interference" (but apparently not the mining). They also mined Halley's Comet for ice until not enough was left to combat Global Warming this time.

-->-- '''''Film/IndependenceDay'''''

* The Evronians from Disney's ''PaperinikNewAdventures'' series use weapons that drain all emotions from a sentient victim and convert them into energy (the will-less victims are then used for menial labor). However, since their whole infrastructure is built on using this emotional energy, and you can only ever drain one victim ''once'', they are forced to conquer new planets constantly. Their own scientists know this is unsustainable, but few dare voice that opinion.

* The {{Kaiju}} that attacks humanity in ''PacificRim''? [[spoiler:Their job was getting rid of the "vermin" - humans - so their creators can take Earth's resources before moving on to the next planet.]]

* Franchise/{{Superman}} villain {{Brainiac}}, who steals a city from every planet he visits, as a sample of the civilisation, before downloading all the information a planet has, then destroying the planet.

* John Stith's novel ''Literature/ManhattanTransfer'' begins with aliens tossing a dome over and ripping out [[NewYorkCity Manhattan Island]] without any obvious explanation, then stowing it inside their massive spacecraft. The people in Manhattan think they have been looted, but it eventually turns out [[spoiler:that the race which stole Manhattan is trying to save a sample of humanity from a soon-to-arrive PlanetKiller.]]

* Exeter and his men in the disputed classic ''ThisIslandEarth'' needed uranium to power their energy shield...[[MST3K but they aren't aliens!]]

->"''They're like [[HordeOfAlienLocusts locusts]]. Moving from planet to planet, their entire civilization. They consume every resource, and then they move on.''"

** "That Darn Katz!" later revealed that [[spoiler:cats came to Earth for this very purpose]], specifically to save their home planet.

* The Vaygr from ''VideoGame/Homeworld'' ''2'' are stated to be this in some of the background lore.

* Inverted in ''MacrossFrontier'', [[spoiler:where, due to the severe damage suffered by the Frontier fleet, and the dwindling resources (it's stated that they will last for two or three months maximum), the government decides to attack the Vajra homeworld and break through the Vajra defenses, hoping to colonize it. At one point, one of Alto's wingmen deliberately comments "This planet is ours!" while blasting away at the local inhabitants.]]
* In ''{{Vandread}}'', this is true [[spoiler:for the Earthlings, harvesting colony worlds to replace their own organs.]]

** Futurama did this again, using a whole race of [[JusticeLeague Braniac-like]] floating-brain aliens, dedicated to learning everything in the universe, turning all sentient life into morons, and then destroying it.

* The ''InvaderZim'' episode "Planet Jackers" takes this idea to the extreme, featuring aliens who steal entire planets, throwing them into their sun to keep it from dying. They specifically prefer planets full of "critters," because "critters burns ''good.''" Aliens who are loosely based on the crooks from {{Fargo}}, no less. And, since this is a CrapsackWorld where nobody thinks things through, don't bother wondering why [[FridgeLogic they don't just use their planet-moving technology to move their own planet to another star]].

-->--'''''Film/IndependenceDay'''''

* The free worlds of the galaxy are menaced by hordes of these in Olaf Stapledon's ''Literature/StarMaker,'' a novel that was written in 1936, [[ThoseWackyNazis so you can probably guess who the "United Empires" were a metaphor for...]] This use of the trope made rather more sense than most, since the Empires were motivated by a desire to spread their deeply unpleasant militaristic culture, not plundering resources as such.

* 1983's ''Series/{{V}}'', as well as the sequel miniseries ''The Final Battle'' and eventually ''The Series'', had aliens not only intent on strip-mining the planet (of water), but considered humanity as a food resource (along with small birds and rodents). The {{Novelization}} makes a rather worthy attempt to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] it - it's not so much plain water and food they are after, but ''relatively pure'' water and ''meat''; in their experience, all civilizations [[GreenAesop pollute their worlds irreversibly]] in the process of developing interstellar travel, and recycling technologies have trouble efficiently supporting millions, let alone billions of people. Starfaring civilizations are thus constantly warring over what little clean water and produce remains. When the "Visitors" discovered a life-sustaining world that had not yet developed even basic spaceflight... well, OM NOM NOM NOM.

* The rather smelly and fish-like Plutarkians from the 1993 ''BikerMiceFromMars'' series are a very fine example of this trope. Most of them were named after cheeses (e.g Lawrence Limburger, Lord Camembert, Napoleon Brie, Gutama Gouda). The Catatonians in the 2006 remake are almost as bad; they're after a new replicator/{{terraform}}ing device invented by the mice so they can use it to turn Earth and other planets into new ''kitty litter boxes''.

To {{Handwave}} that problem, they often need some particular resource which is supposedly rare. [[MarsNeedsWater Water]] is apparently one of them. Countless aliens have needlessly lost their lives in futile attempts to steal Earth's water. For some reason they overlook comets, dwarf planets and moons in the outer solar system which are not only made of mostly water in convenient prepackaged frozen form but don't have anyone out there to stop them from simply flying away with it.

Usually results in an AlienInvasion. Compare SpacePirates, HordeOfAlienLocusts, PlanetEater, and MarsNeedsWomen.

* In ''BattleLosAngeles'', the invaders are theorized by scientists in-universe to require liquid water, which is why they are invading Earth. Their exact motivations are unknown, because the aliens don't talk much, [[KillAllHumans except with their guns]].

* The Tet from ''Film/{{Oblivion2013}}'' has rigs draining earth's oceans to produce fuel for fusion, ostensibly for the colony on Titan as there's little water there. [[spoiler: Actually the Tet itself is gathering it for its own use.]]

* "The Remarkable Fidgety River", an episode of ''DoctorSnuggles'' written by Creator/DouglasAdams, featured aliens stealing the Earth's water. They thought we didn't want the water, because we throw all our rubbish into it.

* In an episode of SWATKats, a SpacePirate named Mutilor tries to steal all the water on their planet so he can sell it to another world.