"We come in peace to blow up your home."
— Jumba Jookiba, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, "The Asteroid"
"If you come in peace, surrender or be destroyed. If you're here to make war, we surrender."
— President Truman, Futurama
Skip: No need to be alarmed, we come in pieces.
Sparks: It's 'peace' .
Skip: Urgh, you know what, forget the book. ATTACK THE HUMANS!
Sparks: It's 'peace' .
Skip: Urgh, you know what, forget the book. ATTACK THE HUMANS!
"Okay, time for the peace mission. Let's lock and load! This is for being indigenous!"
"Sometimes First Contact is last contact."
— Captain Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager, "Waking Moments"
The discovery that they were not alone in the universe had brought the people of Earth together in a way that had never been possible before. Nations, tribes, creeds and religions were finally united in a mutual sense of xenophobic terror. Thanks to a constant stream of unimaginative sci-fi movies, everyone was convinced that aliens had nothing better to do than conquer planets and impregnate their women with carnivorous offspring.
Graham: EBGB, how do you talk to aliens?
EBGB: EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! WHERE ARE THE ALIENS? WE WILL KILL THEM ALL!
EBGB: EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! WHERE ARE THE ALIENS? WE WILL KILL THEM ALL!
— The Goodies, "U-Friend or UFO"
Destination Moon created the great SF boom of the 1950s. It offered a single, wild leap of imagination that said the stars could be humanity's for the taking. But despite the deluge of SF films that subsequently came almost none of them — excepting maybe Forbidden Planet (1956) — accepted the implicit challenge. Instead humanity's attitude toward the stars contrarily became one that the sky was in imminent danger of falling on our heads, be it filled with alien invaders or atomic monsters.
— Review of Destination Moon
"WE COME IN PEACE. [...] PRIORITY OVERRIDE. NEW BEHAVIOR DICTATED. MUST BREAK TARGET INTO COMPONENT MATERIALS."
— Slylandro Probe, Star Control II
I make instant oatmeal and we turn on the TV. All the channels show the same images: tickheads at the new White House, at the U.N., everywhere. All the messages are the same: the war is over, and they're sorry for the damage we did to ourselves. The tickheads — they call themselves something full of clicking noises — are sorry for the violence with which humanity responded to their visit, and sorry that they failed to anticipate the reaction. They promise to work with the Galactic Whole to repair the damage, and they're sorry for the delays.
"I'm sorry too," I say, trying to make a joke, but Trey doesn't laugh.
"I'm sorry too," I say, trying to make a joke, but Trey doesn't laugh.
— Disarm, by Vylar Kaftan
"Now if anyone's thinking: Why those poor, helpless little folk, all naked and unarmed outside their crashed intergalactic winnebago. What kind of monster, could hear that heartbreak and go in just the same? I'm that dog! I'm that monster! These little mothers are as harmless as a fox in a henhouse! And I'm here to kick some ass!"
— Colonel Curtis, Dreamcatcher
A hail of cannisters ripple-fired from the ejector tubes and burst to form a billowing smokescreen and clouds of radar-reflecting 'window', and as armed figures in dirigible space armor spilled from the air-locks all Janeway could think was: 'So much for a peaceful First Contact!'
"You may have come in peace, Proton, but you'll be going back in pieces!"
— Princess Aylarna, Captain Proton and the Planet of Lesbians
Kovacs Prime: (surrounded by dead soldiers) I come in peace.
Poe: All evidence to the contrary...
— Altered Carbon, "Broken Angels"
"Should we have our space faring visitors from beyond the stars come in peace and open a dialog with humankind? The prospects of peaceful coexistence with alien life is a near endless well of potential drama and an opportunity to explore deep themes about the nature of life and existence. Which is why it's boring! Instead, let's just have our outer space visitors shoot at humanity with ray guns. That's much more exciting and won't make our audience uncomfortable with unpleasant existential questions."
—JP Beaubien, Terrible Writing Advice, ALIEN INVASION
