Amalgamblog

Seesalt registration began this past week and so in honor of this summer’s theme, “Invasion”, this week’s Top Ten Tuesday will cover some of our favorite pop culture aliens. First off, apologies to Trekkies for the lack of a Spock or Worf on this list. I’m not a Trekkie (though J.J. Abrams upcoming movie has me curious), so they didn’t make the list. Also, Superman could have technically made this list, but I just didn’t feel he was “alien” enough; whatever that means. Anyway, here’s this week’s Top Ten.

10. Mork (from Mork and Mindy)

I can’t decide which is stranger. The fact that this TV alien was played by a pre-fame Robin Williams or the fact that this show was a spinoff from Happy Days. Either way, Mork came from planet Ork in a egg-shaped spacecraft. His mission, as with many aliens, was to observe life on earth (though actually Mork’s superior wanted to get the extraterrestrial off of Ork and I can kind of understand that). So to recap, Robin Williams, Happy Days, egg spaceship. Na-nu na-nu.

9. Marvin the Martian (from Looney Tunes)

True, Marvin the Martian was a poor man’s Yosemite Sam, whom himself was a poor man’s Elmer Fudd. But when this nasal-voiced, broom hat-wearing, skirt-sporting (both nods to Rome and the Roman god for whom the red planet was named) martian crossed paths with Bugs Bunny crazy hijinks ensued. Not only did this alien serve as the referee in Space Jam’s climactic game, but he also appears on the mission patch for the Mars Exploration Rover (seen to the right).

8. Frank the Pug (from Men in Black)

It’s a great gag late in the first Men in Black: Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are running out of time. So they seek out an alien named Frank for info. They come to this really old, creepy-looking guy and Will Smith comments that it isn’t much of a disguise. Suddenly this little pug starts talking in a tough guy accent. Of course, they messed up a good thing and overused him in the sequel. Nonetheless, Frank gets on the list if only for the site of Tommy Lee Jones shaking this tiny dog for information while Will Smith explains to weirded out onlookers “the dog owes my friend money”.

7. The Yip-Yips (from Sesame Street)

These two aliens are educators of the highest order. Now, let me take a moment to communicate with the Yip-yips: Yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip, uh-huh, uh-huh, yip yip yip-yip-yip-yip-yip, uh-huh. Anyway, the Yip-yips would discover various items here on earth like radios, telephones, and faucets and discuss the item in their native tongue. Do I know what’s educational about these Sesame Street sketches? Nope nope nope nope. But it doesn’t make the Yip-Yips any less awesome.

6. Martian Manhunter (from DC Comics)

You’ve probably heard of most members of the Justice League: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. But you probably haven’t heard of J’onn J’onzz a.k.a. the Martian Manhunter, which is a shame because the green guy is a kick-butt superhero. He has many of the same powers as Superman – flight, strength, speed, durability – plus Martian vision (kind of like Supes’ heat vision), telepathy, and shapeshifting. The Justice League needs Martian Manhunter even though he isn’t one of the all-stars. In fact, J’onn was one of the main points in a talk I once gave about the Body of Christ. You don’t always need sports metaphors.

5. ALF (from ALF)

ALF was a 1980s sitcom at its finest: cheesy theme music, canned laugh track, overwhelmed and slightly uptight dad with a cool wife and a couple of kids. And then they threw in a furry, sarcastic alien from the planet Melmac that liked to eat cats, which naturally was the Tanner’s household pet. ALF was one of the first TV shows I can remember watching on a regular basis. I even had a little ALF puppet that I got from Pizza Hut or something like that. Good times.

4. Squeeze Toy Aliens (from Toy Story)

Again, an instance in which bit characters almost steal a great movie. These crane game-dwelling, Claw-worshipping squeaky toys are your prototypical aliens: antennae, green, three-eyed. They also provoke Woody the Cowboy, after Buzz gets “chosen” by The Claw, to call them zealots. And I’m pretty sure that is the only time that word has been used in a cartoon. Pixar: Teaching Little Kids Vocabulary Words Since 1995.

3. E.T. (from E.T.)

All together now: Elllllllllllllllliiiotttttttttttt. E.T. is an incredibly heart-warming (no pun intended) story, but when I was little it was also incredibly creepy. The beginning taking place around Halloween, the scary government guys in the Hazmat suits, and the waddling, Reese’s Pieces lover turning all gray and pale as he dies. But this Best Picture nominee cannot be held down. The flying bike scene at night and E.T. returning from the dead (the film also serves as a great Christ allegory) are amazing.

2. Gonzo (from The Muppets)

For years this hairy, blue creature was referred to as a Whatever. And then in Muppets from Space, we learned the Gonzo the Great was actually an alien. His greatness does not really need to be explained, but what other alien shoots himself out of a cannon? Did E.T. play the trumpet? Could the Yip-Yips pull off Charles Dickens narrating A Christmas Carol? Is Mork from Ork a lady’s man amongst the chickens? No, that’s because only the buzzard-beaked Gonzo could pull those things off.

1. Yoda (from Star Wars)

Gonzo cannot, however, wield a lightsaber and fight off an entire army of other aliens. So Yoda’s your number 1.

Tags: ALF, E.T., Gonzo, Invasion, Martian Manhunter, Marvin the Martian, Men in Black, Mork and Mindy, Sesame Street, Toy Story, Yoda

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Seesalt, Tomfoolery, Top Ten Tuesday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.