Comments

16 responses to “Looking for Earth Invasion / Earth Invading Sci-Fi …”

1. 2010/09/04

   David Spira

   The game/book/comic series, Halo. The humans are fighting a multiple-species religon called the Covenant. Comes complete with a priest ruling class.

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   1. 2010/09/04

      alecm

      woot – david, that’s a completely blank area of my knowledge, since i’m not a gamer. is there anything readable?

      am skimming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenant_(Halo) now.

      Reply
2. 2010/09/04

   Darren

   How about “Fifth Element” and the “Supreme Being”? Granted there are already acolytes on Earth, but…??

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   1. 2010/09/04

      alecm

      I always thought “The Fifth Element” was “Captain Planet” for grownups, though it might be vice-versa.

      Also most of the fans I know are too busy worshipping Milla Jovovich to notice the theology.

      Reply
3. 2010/09/04

   Darren

   What about “Stargate”? If I recall, isn’t the implication that the Egyptian gods are alien? Although the “worship us” scenario is distinct from “worship our god”, it does represent some sort of “Earth invasion.”

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   1. 2010/09/05

      alecm

      Comment from a friend of mine, wise in the writings of old SF:

      I don’t recall any novels about trans-planetary religious activities but I do recall a short story called “The Fire Balloons” in The Martian Chronicles [ed: and The Illustrated Man] about a priest who had been sent to Mars to convert martians based on a paper he had written called “The Problem of Sin on Other Worlds.”

      Quoth WP:

      “The Fire Balloons” — A group of priests travels to Mars to act as a missionary to Martians. Once there, they discover that the natives are actually entities of pure energy. Since they lack corporeal form, they are unable to commit sin, and thus do not need redemption.

      Ray Bradbury. There’s only one thing to say about this.

      Reply
4. 2010/09/05

   Stephen Usher

   Well, if you’re talking “Sci-Fi” rather than “Science Fiction” then there’s always “The Chronicles of Riddick.” *ick*

   Alec, hmm.. the Church of Milla Jovovich, what an excellent idea! 😉

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   1. 2010/09/05

      alecm

      You wouldn’t be the only member, Steve…

      Reply
5. 2010/09/05

   Simon

   What is the one where the computer refuses to believe it is created by apes, and starts it’s own religion, but it was only running a power link or some such, not invading earth.

   As for Sci-Fi worship – Goreans?

   I suspect paucity of resources might be a limiting factor on interstellar invasion planning, but I’ll reconsider when someone sends me an interstellar spacecraft.

   If one goes with Meme theory, then religion went with the conquistadors much like small pox, except small pox was easier to eradicate. Note that they bought back Syphilis, there maybe a lesson in trying to export your religion to be learnt from that.

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6. 2010/09/06

   David Spira

   There are a number of books that I haven’t read. I have no idea if they focus on combat or the attempt to spread alien theology.

   I read a few issues of the comics, they were well-done, but didn’t focus much on the aliens; except when bullets were tearing them apart.

   The games are fun, but the storytelling is choppy. The core ideas are there, but I think they missed the mark from a plot and character perspective.

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7. 2010/09/08

   Dave Walker

   Weeeelll…. if it can be argued that causing radical world-view change can be considered on a par with religious conversion, then the Special Circumstances section of Iain M. Banks’ Culture pretty much fits the bill, particularly in “The Player of Games”.

   Of course, this rapidly heads toward the question of whether atheism (and particularly in the Culture case, hedonism) is a religion.

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8. 2010/09/08

   Dave Walker

   Of course, there’s also the matter of most religions being predicated on an assumption of “specialness” tending towards “uniqueness” of homo sapiens as a species, in terms of cognitive capability, ability to apply ourselves to invention, etc.

   In the event of us encountering extraterrestrial life of similar capabilities, the question arises as to whether a typical religious world-view would survive the experience.

   Have SF authors implicitly assumed that it won’t, I wonder?

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9. 2010/09/12

   Mike Smith

   Have you read the Harry Harrison short story “The Streets of Ashkelon” which is on the Earth missionary converting aliens theme. There is also an Arthur C Clarke story called “The Star”. Entries for both of these on Wikipedia if you don’t mind spoilers.

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10. 2010/09/24

    ray

    Not sure if all these meet your criteria exactly, but try the following?

    “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert Heinlein: hippy dude born on Mars comes to Earth preaching

    “Wandering Stars” (anthology): Jews in Space

    “Dune”: extraterrestrial Jihadi’s

    “Lord of Light” by Roger Zelazny: deities reimagined

    “A Case of Conscience” by James Blish: Jesuit’s alien encounter

    “Behold the Man” by Michael Moorcock: if Jesus didn’t exist it would be necessary to go back in time and invent him

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11. 2010/10/05

    Kristy

    The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell is “Jesuits in Space” though slightly more complicated.

    Alien civilization discovered, travel and meetings and disaster.

    Pretty depressing, especially since everyone means well.

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12. 2010/11/04

    alecm

    http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/faith/is-anybody-out-there-ndash-with-a-soul-2123442.html

    Reply