This unnamed humanoid species are from an unknown planet capable of receiving light from Earth's sun, most likely by seeing the sun as a star. They came to Earth in hopes of preventing the creation of a doomsday weapon that could destroy the universe. While having the full capacity to destroy the planet, they were exercising alternatives to doing so, with Plan 9 being the final effort.
Biology[]
The aliens are externally identical to Humans. Most differences in internal physiology are unknown, but they appear to possess at least a similarly-structured pituitary gland.
Culture and society[]
The Ruler
The aliens appear to be ruled by a single leader, known as only the Ruler. Little is known of his power, but his authority appears absolute. The Ruler is known to reside aboard Space Station 7, and wears a yellow-green uniform with a black sleeveless tunic, bearing the insignia of a shield with a right-facing halberd head on his chest. Military salutes consist of crossing both arms over their chests, their hands touching their opposite shoulders, while military uniforms consist of shimmering purple tunics, gold buttons, a gold belt, and a sideways lightning bolt-like symbol on their left breast. While both male and female soldiers wear the same type of uniform, molded to their body shapes, male soldiers wear a large belt with several saucer-like symbols on it, while female soldiers have a much thinner belt. While the aliens let females serve in their military, females are regarded as second to males, seen more as a means for reproduction than as capable soldiers. This prejudice extends to their military service, with male soldiers known to roughly handle female soldiers deemed to be stepping out of line.
The alien military is known to have at least nine plans of action for coercing a planet into meeting with or otherwise following the messages of the aliens without a direct invasion, the ninth of which involves creating a massive crisis by resurrecting legions of the planet's dead and directing them to march on important cities. Despite their great destructive power, the aliens speak of having a belief in peace, and a nationalistic pride, primarily seeking the protection of the greater universe and exhausting up to nine plans of least destructive action before turning to warfare. The aliens justify their actions as natural, comparing it to one nation striking against another if the latter threatens to destroy the former. Surprisingly, the aliens have a belief in God, the same God from Earth's Abrahamic religions. The alien language is known to be different from English, but able to be translated, presumably holding some similarities in structure. They were known to see Humans as stupid, citing the fact that Humans resisted the aliens' attempts of contact, arrogantly refused to accept life on worlds beyond their own, and continued making more destructive weapons of war throughout their existence.
Technology[]
Space Station 7
The aliens possess highly advanced technologies in various fields. Their spacecraft, shaped like flying saucers and referred to as celestial ships, only require a crew of two and can quickly fly through the Sol System. Their ships emit bright lights and make rather loud sounds while flying, and if they fly close enough to the ground, can blow down living beings and other objects not secured to the ground. In addition, they appear to be either protected by force fields or have incredible durability, enough to withstand barrages of anti-air missiles. The material that makes up the ships appears different than Earth metals, making an odd sound if struck. Internal technology is known to be quite volatile, able to make the entire ship catch fire if severely damaged, although even a flaming ship is still capable of taking flight. Alien space stations are spherical in shape, with artificial rings connected to them, used to house and refuel spacecraft.
Notably, the aliens are capable of resurrecting recently-deceased organisms through electrodes shot from a their ships into the pituitary gland of the dead organisms, able to make them rise as non-sapient, aggressive, undead beings with enhanced strength and near-invincibility. The aliens are capable of controlling the zombies with electrode guns, both in pistol-like handheld models and devices built into their ships, which can be used to guide the zombies as they move and suppress their aggressiveness, utilizing some sort of electrokinetic beam. The guiding setting of the guns must be used on the zombies at all times when they are near the aliens, as the zombies will indiscriminately attack living beings, including the aliens, if allowed to move freely, and it appears that only one gun can be used on a zombie at a time. Contact with metal will break the connection of the electrode guns, and a connection break will cause the zombies to freeze in place. If the guns jam while active, they will continue to function, allowing zombies to move freely. To destroy zombies, and presumably other organic targets, alien ships are equipped with decomposure rays, which can reduce zombies to skeletons. The aliens have the capacity to destroy entire planets through unknown means, and have either developed or merely learned the principles of a Solaronite Bomb, a weapon that can make beams of light combust, forming a chain reaction across whatever that light touches, which can theoretically engulf the entire universe as the bomb's effects "ricochet" off of stars.
History[]
The aliens arose in the ancient past, achieving many technological advancements eons before Humans did, becoming an advanced spacefaring civilization. While they developed highly destructive weapons, they set aside their capability of destruction in favor of bringing peace to the universe, only turning their weapons on hostile powers or other civilizations who would otherwise threaten the stability of the universe. As an alternative to immediate invasion of such powers, the aliens developed a group of plans less destructive than warfare, meant to coerce threatening worlds into compliance with disarmament policies. The aliens also knew the concept of light-detonating weapons known as Solaronite Bombs, calculating the massive threat they posed centuries ago. By the mid-20th century, the aliens observed Earth, and were alarmed by Earth's rapid and reckless advancement in weapons of mass destruction, culminating in the hydrogen bomb. They were even more distressed by seeing that Earth had the capacity to soon discover Solaronite technology, prompting the aliens to contact Earth in an attempt to disarm the planet.
Eros and Tanna's ship, as seen from Trent's airline
Under command of the Ruler, groups of alien ships came to Earth, with the commanding officer being a male alien named Eros, who was accompanied by his female lieutenant Tanna. The aliens sent various messages to Earth seeking to explain their purpose, with some of their saucers being sighted by Humans. The United States even managed to translate their language, but refused to deliver their message to the public, covering up the existence of the aliens. Eventually, there was an incident where an alien representative was shot down, and another where the aliens retaliated by destroying a small town, believing that such action would force the Humans to acknowledge the existence of the aliens, although the event was covered up as well. The aliens began implementing various plans to try and coerce Earth into establishing proper contact, but all the plans failed, leaving only Plan 9, involving resurrecting the recently dead to create a planetary crisis that would force world leaders to listen to them. To begin implementing Plan 9, Tanna and Eros, now only in command of three ships, flew to a cemetery, passing by an airline and being sighted by ex-US Marine pilot Jeff Trent, the copilot, and a flight hostess. At the cemetery, the aliens resurrect a recently-deceased woman, who promptly kills two gravediggers. Some days later, they return when the woman's husband dies, resurrecting him as well, with their passing ship being sighted by and blowing down several Humans, including Jeff and his wife, Paula. The two zombies soon kill Clay, an aged police inspector.
Alien ships seen over Los Angeles
Later, Eros and Tanna, accompanied by two other ships, flew over the city of Los Angeles, easily visible by Humans, in an attempt to make Earth acknowledge them, being sighted by several Humans and reported in many newspapers. Some time afterwards, the ships then flew over Washington DC, and were promptly fired upon by the US Army, although the ballistic weaponry used by the army were ineffective against the alien ships. The ships hovered in the air, deflecting shots for some time, before leaving, dropping off all methods of detection. Despite their open appearance, Earth still refused to recognize them, and the soldiers who fired on them quickly passed off the incident as a training exercise.
Eros and Tanna salute the Ruler
The alien ships return to Space Station 7, where the Ruler resided, to replenish their fuel and resources. Eros and Tanna met with the Ruler, relaying the events on Earth, such as how Earth's governments refused to acknowledge them, and report that they are moving to implement Plan 9, having had already begun with the resurrection of the old man and the woman. The Ruler regretted having to handle Earth in that manner, but decided that it was the only available course of action other than open warfare, ordering the pair to continue the plan and to report back to him in two Earth days. Tanna and Eros, after leaving the Ruler's office, briefly reflected on the Ruler's reaction to the report, such as how he recognized the difficulties in dealing with Earth, and on how Earth's people were known to be afraid of the dead. Once their ships were refueled, they took off to Earth once more. Back on Earth, Eros and Tanna spent some time analyzing the results of the plan and continuing with its execution, unable to report back to the Ruler in two days due to atmospheric conditions. While on Earth, they resurrected Inspector Clay, whose strength was greatly increased. Paula was attacked by the old man zombie, chased through the nearby cemetery by the woman and Clay, but managed to get away, picked up by a car driver after fainting. Eros and Tanna, not realizing a witness had escaped, summoned the three zombies to their ship, severing the electrode connection to prevent the zombies from attacking them.
Zombie Clay attacks Eros
With the zombies in tow, they returned to Space Station 7, planning on presenting Clay to him, as they found that Clay gained enhanced strength. Aboard Space Station 7, they apologized to the Ruler for being several days late, but relay their success until that moment. As Tanna left to present Clay to the Ruler, the Ruler told Eros that for his failure to report back in time, he has taken away the other two ships from Eros' command, leaving him and Tanna with only their own ship. The Ruler also explained that the other two ships were needed elsewhere, and that only the continued success of Plan 9's execution will allow Eros and Tanna to gain more ships. Just then, Tanna returned with Clay, making him walk with her electrode gun, but her gun suddenly jammed, preventing her from stopping Clay. Clay moved to attack Eros, grabbing him by the neck and starting to strangle him, but the Ruler instructed Tanna to drop the gun. Once the gun hit the ground, the contact with the metal broke the connection, making Clay stop his attack as the gun unjammed. Eros used his gun to control Clay from there, allowing the Ruler to get a better look at him. After telling the Ruler about the other two zombies, the Ruler ordered Eros to make the old man zombie enter a dwelling and then destroy him, which should divert Human investigations long enough to resurrect more dead.
The decomposure ray firing
Eros and Tanna returned to Earth with the zombies, landing back in the cemetery and sending the old man zombie to the Trent's house, where he appeared before several witnesses, including the Trents, a policeman he overpowered, police lieutenant Harper, and Colonel Edwards, the US Chief of Saucer Operations. However, before the zombie could attack the rest of the group, the aliens cut off the electrode signal and activated the decomposure ray, reducing the zombie to a skeleton before the Humans. Eros and Tanna decided to let Edwards, Jeff Trent, and Lieutenant Harper find their ship, as they knew that eliminating the Humans before they could interrupt Plan 9 would be crucial to its success. To keep the Humans at bay when they arrived, Eros had Tanna deploy Clay, sending him after Paula. As Clay grabbed Paula and held her hostage, injuring a police officer guarding her, the others noticed the glow from the ship, soon finding it within the cemetery. Eros and Tanna saw the Humans approach, and once they reached the ship, let them in.
Eros and Tanna are confronted by the Humans
Within the ship, Tanna questioned Eros if they had to kill the Humans, a point that Eros confirmed, saying that the order came from the Ruler and concerns the safety of the universe. The aliens were then confronted by the three Humans, who threatened them with their pistols, although Eros stopped them from firing by directing Clay to come to the ship with Paula. Still at gunpoint, and after a warning shot, Eros displayed an image of Clay with Paula on a screen, and when Trent called him a fiend, Eros explained that the aliens' purpose was meant to be friendly. He then began explaining what brought the aliens to Earth, speaking of Earth's weapon developments, and the fear of Earth discovering and recklessly using a Solaronite Bomb. When Trent stated that the discovery of such a weapon would only strengthen Earth, Eros angrily exclaimed that Humans were stupid, causing Trent to strike him with his pistol. Trent was held back to the other two Humans, and Eros continued, surprising the Humans with his belief in God. When questioned by Colonel Edwards, Eros gave a clearer explanation of the Solaronite Bomb's capacity to destroy the universe. Lieutenant Harper then called Eros mad, prompting Tanna to claim that their actions are only natural, getting somewhat emotional while exclaiming that they had to neutralize Earth for their safety, and Eros roughly pulled her back. After the other Humans prevent Trent from punching Eros, Eros states that alien females are meant for reproduction due to their lower population, not to take a stand against men.
Eros and Trent fighting
As Clay stood outside the ship, Eros went to the window and reminisced about the universe, pondering how it would look when it is destroyed, figuring that it would be nothing more than a vast dark space. When the Humans try to apprehend them, Eros shows them Clay and Paula as a means to keep the Humans at bay, as Clay would kill Paula on command. However, two police officers manage to incapacitate Clay with a strike to the back of the head, as the electrode ray was off, rescuing Paula. Eros went to turn on the electrode ray, which would cause Clay to become active again, but the Humans stopped him. Then, they all heard the other two officers knock on the door outside, distracting Eros and allowing Trent to strike him, making a violent fight break out between Eros and Trent. As Tanna desperately tried to get the ship into the air, Trent and Eros' fight destroyed equipment around them, starting fires within the ship. Colonel Edwards figured out how to get the door open, allowing him and Lieutenant Harper to escape. Trent managed to knock out Eros, then fled the ship, just as Tanna managed to get it into the air.
The alien ship burning before exploding
The ship took off, quickly engulfed in flames from the destroyed equipment, with smoke filling the entire interior. Tanna tried to wake Eros up, but he would not respond. With the ship going haywire, Clay and the female zombie quickly decomposed. Tanna became increasingly frantic as the equipment continued sparking, watched by Humans as it flew across the sky, soon exploding and killing the aliens. With Eros and Tanna dead, Plan 9 had failed. Presumably, the aliens soon launched an assault on Earth with the intent on destroying it for the safety of the universe. Any outcome of this assault is unknown, but given the advancements displayed by the aliens, they were likely successful.
Appearances[]
- Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Notes[]
- The film opens with a man implying that the events of the film are based on rumors of real events, and goes on to imply a mass government conspiracy to cover up the existence of extraterrestrial life. Such themes were not popular during the film's era of release, and served as an example of the kind of renegade filmography Ed Wood is known for.
- The original film was black-and-white, but the colorized version revealed the colors of the alien uniforms.
- The exact position of the aliens' homeworld is unknown, presumably around a star that Earth had already seen and charted, but they appear to refer to the Sun as "our sun" when addressing Humans, implying that they are also from the Sol System.