Aliens, and the possibility of life on other planets, have held a huge fascination for human culture. The media through which that culture is most often expressed and its stories told are television, film, and books. Science fiction aliens make visits to all of these areas, and in each, they are different.
TV Aliens
Aliens on TV, popularized by shows like Star Trek, are often the most "human" in nature. In Star Trek, science fiction aliens were almost always the same height as humans, they were always bi-symmetrical and almost always generally shaped like humans, they usually spoke perfect English with the aid of a universal translator, and they had patterns of behavior that were relatively similar to humans. The Klingon society, for example, was a macho warrior-culture society very similar to that of ancient Earth hunter-gather societies, except technologically advanced. Other popular television shows, such as The X Files and Dr. Who promoted aliens that more often than not fit these characteristics.
Movie AliensScience fiction aliens in movies are sometimes more creative than their television alien counterparts, partially because the longer length of films allows for the introduction of more complex characters and story lines. The film Evolution detailed the progression of a single celled organism through various stages (though most of them seemed to follow stages of the evolution of organisms on Earth,) while films like Slither, Starship Troopers, Alien, and Independence Day describe aliens as distinctly non-human: strange shaped, slimy, hive-minded, and genocidal by nature. These movies, along with other films and other TV shows and books, display science fiction aliens with a key characteristics: psychic abilities. Aliens are frequently able to read minds or possess human bodies.
Book AliensScience fiction aliens in books often go to an even further level of depth and uniqueness than films. The aliens in the Strange Forces series, for example, are practically a cosmic circus of strangeness. Aliens in Ender's Game are initially perceived as evil warlike insects, like the kind often portrayed in films, but their culture and mindset is revealed to be far more complicated and complex. In The Time Machine, the protagonist enteres a future so far off that humans have evolved into two new, alien-like races. Both Ender's Game and The Time Machine, along with many other science fiction books about aliens, use the strange aliens as a metaphor for a powerful symbolic message about human society.
The short length of television often limits the depth of the plot, and as a result, many TV aliens are nothing more than humans with green skin. Movie aliens, on the other hand, are often a bit more unusual, but frequently have one-dimensional, evil personalities. Book aliens are often the most complicated, with strange apperances and complex cultures, personalities, and modes of cognition. This complexity afforded by the novel format is often put to good use as powerful symbolic messaging.
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