Alien Among Us: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A being from outer space generally comes to Earth either to observe and learn about us or to help guide us (or just get stuck here) and must keep his true nature a secret. A good opportunity for [[Mr. Exposition]] to make his presence felt as the alien often needs everything explained, or describes the situation for others of his kind who might share his curiosity. A lot of comedy can be drawn from the newly landed alien having [[No Social Skills]].

 

See also [[Amusing Alien]], [[Humanity Ensues]], [[Raised by Wolves]], [[Fish Out of Water]], [[Mysterious Waif]].

 

* ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': Yuki has the major stuff down, but when you get down to the details like how a computer is used or maybe what a glasses fetish happens to be... Also Kuyou, the resident [[Starfish Alien]], who is so different that she can't really have the concepts explained to her.

* This was the starting premise of [[Kenichi Sonoda]]'s ''[[Cannon God Exaxxion]]'' manga, where aliens called the Riofaldians came to earth in peace, bringing their advanced technology with them and have been coexisting with humans on earth for several years. Of course, they were secretly infiltrating us to set us up for conquest all along (the weapons technology they gave us is ineffective against their REAL weapons) and this appears to be standard operating procedure for them.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In some incarnations, J'onn J'onzz, the [[Martian Manhunter]], fits this trope.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* The ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' series.

* ''[[It Came from Outer Space]]'' (1953) has the alien cat Jake crash-landing on Earth. Aware that his presence may cause conflict, so he tries to leave as quickly and quietly as possible.

* Ford Prefect in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', in the fifteen-year exile set before the main action of the first book.

** Although it does carry on through approximately half an hour of the beginning.

* The children's book "Stinker from Space" by Pamela F. Service is about an alien who is fatally wounded when he crash lands on Earth while fleeing enemy aliens. He has the ability to transfer his consciousness/intelligence into other bodies, which will save his life. Unfortunately, the only compatible body within range is that of a skunk. Hence the title. He spends much of the book trying to pass himself off as a tame, deodorized skunk so that people won't shoot him while he tries to repair his ship in secret.

* Ax in ''[[Animorphs]]''. He actually spends most of his free time hiding in the woods, but occasionally morphs into a human form and tries to pass as an ordinary human. Given that his mouthless species doesn't speak verbally or have a sense of taste, it takes him a long time to get the hang of it. {{spoiler|Turns out it runs in the family; though we don't see all the details, his brother Elfangor once did the same thing, even having a child with his human friend Loren.}}

* ''My Summer On Earth''

* ''Stepsister From The Planet Weird''

* A large part of the ''[[Lorien Legacies]]'' series, and the ''[[I Am Number Four]]'' movie.

* [[Mikhail Akhmanov]]'s ''[[Arrivals From the Dark]]'' series has an alien character whose name roughly translates as Exile. He is a Proteid (or Metamorph), a species of [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|Voluntary Shapeshifters]], whose [[Planet of Hats|hat]] is observing other races using their shapeshifting and [[Psychic Powers]]. Exile has a rare genetic disorder that only allows him to fully shapeshift once, at which point he is stuck in this form for life (and they're, effectively, immortal), only able to make small cosmetic alterations. He chooses to be an observer on Earth and arrives in the 13th century during the Mongol invasion. He has secretly observed humanity, only interfering occasionally to subtly boost progress. When the [[Human Alien|Faata]] arrive to conquer Earth, humanity is far from ready to take them on, still being stuck in the Solar System and lacking advanced weapons. Exile gives the humans the means to destroy the Faata ship in such a way that it can be studied and its technology reverse-engineered. Since then, Exile has taken a slightly more active role in helping humanity, although he has always remained in the shadows, revealing himself to a select few individuals and changing identities (and faces) every so often.

** Inverted in the ''Trevelyan's Mission'' books, which take place centuries later in the same 'verse, with the titular protagonist and his colleagues, whose job is to infiltrate primitive humanoid cultures in order to study them and accelerate their progress.

 

* ''My Favorite Martian''

* ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]''

** Hey, they never once mentioned him actually eating a cat while on Earth, something he did regularly on Melmac.

* The Tenctonese/Newcomers on ''[[Alien Nation (TV series)|Alien Nation]]'' were refugees and slaves. In this case it was over 100,000 aliens, who form their own community in Los Angeles. Therefore the cultural misunderstandings went both ways, as humans learned to deal with odd newcomer traditions.

* ''[[Mork and Mindy]]'' once had a clever [[Lampshade Hanging]] about this trope when, in one of the last seasons of the show, Mindy exclaimed in exasperation, "Oh, Mork, what Earth concept have you misunderstood ''this'' week?"

* The TV series ''[[Hard Time On Planet Earth]]'' starred Martin Kove as an alien criminal sentenced to serve out his time on the unimportant backwater planet Earth. Accompanied by his "warden" (a computer-animated flying eye), the protagonist used his inhuman strength to fight bad guys while [[Walking the Earth]]

* ''[[Ultra Seven]]''

 

* In the [[Alternity]] / [[D20 Modern]] setting Dark•Matter there are several aliens who hid on Earth, with some who tried to prepare them for the High Tide.

 

* Done to an extent in ''Medieval'', where the characters ''are'' aliens but also bear a distinct likeness to twenty-first century humans in terms of ideas and culture. Unfortunately for them, they landed in Earth's 12th century Europe.

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' has the Uryuom, an entire species of Aliens living on Earth more or less unnoticed by all but a few. Some even object to being characterized as aliens since they were born here.

* ''[[Girls in Space]]'' main character Zoe Strider is marooned on Earth, in Edinburgh, Scotland

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* The '90s ''[[Biker Mice From Mars]]'' series had this with the Planet Looting plutarkians. One example being Limburger.

* Parodied to no end in ''[[Invader Zim]]'', where the alien doesn't do much to hide his identity, [[Paper-Thin Disguise|yet it somehow works]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Alien Tropes]]

[[Category:Plots]]