This unnamed humanoid species came to Earth with the intent of using the planet as a grazing ground for Gargons, land-dwelling lobster-like creatures native to their homeworld, where they could grow and be harvested without any threat to the alien civilization.
Biology[]
The aliens appear externally identical Humans, and are able to survive in an Earth-like environment, although their homeworld appears to have had a smaller amount of nitrogen in its atmosphere than Earth. They appear to be at least somewhat similar to Humans in internal physiology, enough for a Human surgeon to easily operate on them.
Culture and society[]
The society of these aliens is one where individuals are grown in test tubes not knowing their parents, and raised only by select members of society. Despite this, leadership seems to be hereditary, with the next heir unknown to the public until the time of succession arrives. The government appears to possess a body known as the High Court at one of its highest levels, likely functioning as the top of their legislative branch, and their executive branch is headed by a single leader, who wears a uniform with three white diagonal stripes and a cape. The leader is critical to the stability of the alien government, which will crumble in absence of one. Their society teaches that their kind are a superior master race who should not concern themselves with lesser beings. The sick and elderly are killed off for the sake of keeping the species strong. However, a faction of their population has learned of a past that was friendlier and compassionate, with families and siblings, via reading a book chronicling the pre-regime era, seeking to return to that past. With the death of the heir and leader, it's possible that a revolution will take place resulting, in returning to how things use to be.
Spaceship crews, often made up of teenagers, were known to readily incinerate any foreign lifeforms they come across. In addition, they are known to wear jumpsuit-like uniforms with a black belt and a design on their chest resembling a white triangle, pointing down, with captains bearing a second, smaller triangle closer to their neck.
Name-wise, the species uses names like Derek, Thor, and Sol, and they have developed a language identical to English. Their numerical system is also identical to that used on Earth, as are their letters. However, Derek had trouble determining what the words on a dog tag mean; which is easily explained in that some aspect of it is not relatable to his society. Family names would be one such factor unfamiliar to him, as his society has eliminated family names, and street addresses could also be unfamiliar to them.
Technology[]
Thor, with a disintegrator and helmet
The aliens possess 'Focused Disintegrators'- ray guns that can quickly incinerate flesh and muscle, or cause other matter to catch fire. Despite their small size, the guns can hold power equal to city electrical grids. They consider bullets to be primitive. They utilize flying saucers to travel between planets, connected to their superiors with 'radiovision'- a technology where sound and images are broadcasted wirelessly as a form of two way communication. This is comparable to Human video calling, except it's based on radio waves. Warships are guided by a designated guide-ship, which can take remote control of them. They have been seen using helmets for protection in unknown atmospheres, which resemble certain models of fighter pilot helmets, colored white. These helmets have hoses coming from their mouthpieces, connected to breathing tanks. Strangely, the helmets alone are worn with no visible suit, implying that their very uniforms are capable of sealing airtight when their helmets are on. Other technologies used by this species include bulky scanning technologies and "expandable link-bands," the latter of which are a form of elastic restraints that can hold down Gargons, but can be broken by a sufficiently large and strong being, such as a Gargon whose growth was boosted by high nitrogen levels and biomass consumption.
History[]
The alien ship landing on Earth
At some point in the past, the alien society was one close to common Earth societies, and appeared rather friendly. They would commonly farm and harvest creatures known as Gargons for food, despite the potential threat the Gargons posed. However, their society was then overtaken by an authoritarian regime seeking to make their species into a perfect, supreme race. Traditional family structures were abolished, as was traditional methods of reproduction, replaced with artificially growing new offspring, who would then be raised with no knowledge of their parents nor their family. Other methods of unethical population control and indoctrination to an ideology of superiority were also put into action. The establishment of the regime appeared to have been quite violent, with units known as "Annihilators" used to eradicate resistance and other forms of dissent, but certain texts of the time before the regime survived, collected into small books kept by dissidents and passed down through generations. The alien regime lasted for many centuries, and by the mid-20th century, the aliens sought to relocate the Gargons from their planet to another habitable world, as the Gargons were posing a threat to their civilization. To accomplish this, crew of four teenagers were assigned to a captain and sent to find a habitable planet, codenamed Expedition Zeal-6, and unknown to them, one of their members, Derek, was the son of their leader, and a dissident who truly cared for other lifeforms, having had found one of the dissident books that survived the regime's formation. Other crewmen included Thor, Sol and Morro. After finding many uninhabitable worlds, they came across Earth, landing in an empty field. A dog named Sparky from a nearby town ran to their ship, barking at them. Thor was the first to exit the ship, brandishing a disintegrator, and quickly incinerated the Sparky's flesh and muscle. Afterwards, he removed his helmet, as the scans said Earth was hospitable to them. The rest of the crew disembarked, observing the environment, but Derek soon notices the dog's tag, realizing that only an intelligent being could've written it.
Derek, holding out the dissident book
Feeling sorry for the dog and knowing that releasing the Gargons would doom any native intelligent species, Derek attempted to call off the expedition, but the crew and captain refused. Derek then pulled his own disintegrator on the captain, making his demands again and showing the dissident book. The captain remained unmoved, still firm in his beliefs, and then tricked Derek by asking to see the book, giving him and Thor the opportunity to disarm Derek. Derek attempted to reason with the captain again, but the captain still refused to listen, having Thor hold Derek captive as he and the other crewmen took a small Gargon they were carrying in their ship out to the surface, analyzing the atmosphere's effects on it. Although the Gargon initially appeared to be thriving in the atmosphere, it suddenly went limp, with the crew believing it had died due to Earth's higher nitrogen levels. While Morro packed the equipment, Thor and Sol were ordered to bind Derek, and the captain went to speak with the leader about Derek's treachery via radiovision. As Thor went to get the bindings, the captain was soon informed that Derek was the leader's son, and was ordered to bring Derek in alive. While Sol was distracted trying to help Morro with some equipment, Derek ran off, and the captain narrowly stopped Thor from shooting Derek, relaying the revelation to them. The crew then noticed the Gargon awaken, rejuvenated by the atmosphere. Morro and Sol were ordered to secure the Gargon as the captain returned to the radiovision call with the leader, with Thor listening in. The leader ordered the captain to leave his best man on Earth to find Derek and inform him of his parenthood, arranged to personally accompany the captain on the return trip with an invasion fleet carrying some Gargon herds, and said that if Derek refuses to comply, he and any natives with him are to be destroyed. Thor volunteered to stay on Earth to search for Derek, and resolved to kill him, believing that a traitor did not deserve to be their next leader.
Thor firing at the gas station attendant
Derek ran to a nearby Human town, passing by a group of children and reaching a gas station, where he asked the attendant what the words on Sparky's tag meant. The attendant pointed him towards the address, which Derek soon found. The occupant, Betty Morgan, assuming he was there for a room her grandpa was renting, invited Derek inside. She introduced Derek to her grandpa, and Derek was surprised by Betty describing her parents and siblings. Meanwhile, Thor began his search, wandering down a road. A Human man, assuming Thor was a hitchhiker, stopped for him, and Thor, deciding that the Human could prove useful in finding Derek, agreed to a ride to the same town. Arriving in town, and after confusing the driver with questions about the car's workings, Thor and the driver stopped for gas, the attendant noticing Thor's uniform and unknowingly tipping Thor off to Derek's presence. Thor forced the attendant to tell him where Derek went, then disintegrated the attendant and the driver, commandeering the car with the knowledge he got from questioning the driver. Back at Betty's house, Derek agreed to stay in their room, being provided new clothes. Betty, seeing how Derek had no belongings and appeared very lost, decided to befriend him, teaching him how to drive and taking him to a pool.
Thor orders Derek and Betty to get into the car
At the pool, Derek decided to tell Betty what happened to Sparky, distressing Betty, who asked Derek to show her where Sparky's remains are. Derek drove her out to the landing site, where the rest of the crew took off, showing her the bones and explaining the use of the disintegration ray. Derek then attempted to explain his true origins to Betty, but decided against it, instead opting to go to Professor Simpson, a man that Betty told him about. Before leaving to find the professor, he head the Gargon stirring. At the same time, Thor found Betty's house, encountering her grandfather, who gave him directions to the pool, thinking that Derek and Thor are from some sort of military academy. At the pool, Thor came across one of Betty's friends, who refused to answer his questions, causing Thor to disintegrate her. Derek and Betty briefly returned to Betty's house for Betty to change clothes, leaving a note for Betty's grandfather to know where they're going. Thor then returned to Betty's grandfather, who gave him the note, leading him to the same location. At the college, Derek and Betty waited for Professor Simpson, who had not yet arrived, only for Thor to intercept the professor when he arrived. Unable to get Derek's location from the professor, Thor disintegrated him, and returned to Betty's house. After finding the professor's remains, Betty and Derek opted to get to city hall for protection, notifying the police and Betty's grandfather, although her grandfather was caught by Thor, who forced Betty's grandfather to drive him to city hall. Both parties run into each other at city hall, with Derek running out of the car with Betty to draw Thor out. Getting into a shootout with police, Thor disintegrates some officers, but is wounded by policemen as Derek retrieves a pistol. Thor managed to escape, hiding inside of Betty's car, but Derek and Betty were led to his location by the trail of blood. Peeking out of the car window, Thor aimed his disintegrator at Derek, making him hand over the pistol and enter the car, ordering Derek and Betty to drive him to a surgeon that can remove the bullets.
Thor forcing the nurse to drive him to the landing site
Arriving at the surgeon's location and stopping him from leaving, Thor ordered the surgeon to begin removing the pellets without anesthesia, still aiming his gun at Betty and Derek as leverage. During the operation, Thor informed Derek about the Gargon's survival, and told him that he is the son of their leader, also saying that he opted to kill Derek so that leadership is not passed down to a dissident. Thor then began to lose consciousness due to his injuries, allowing Derek, Betty, and the surgeon to escape, with Derek now knowing that the other aliens are bound to return. Thor attempted to chase them, but the incomplete operation left him even drowsier, making him collapse after raving madly. He was soon found by an oblivious nurse, who finished patching him up, allowing Thor to awaken and force the nurse to drive him back to the landing site, where he intended to hold up with her hostage until the fleet arrives. At the site, he found a reporter and policeman already present, with the policeman entering the Gargon's cave and being eaten by it. Knocking out the nurse, Thor commandeered the car and chased the reporter with it, only for the nurse to awaken and make Thor swerve off the road, where the car rolled into a ditch with Thor still in it. Thor, injured, was finally captured by Human authorities, who first held him in a hospital to treat his wounds, although his disintegrator was not retrieved.
Derek firing at the Gargon
Listening to the news reports, which showed the empty cave, Derek found out that the Gargon had escaped, growing exponentially due to the meat it consumed. Derek, along with Betty, later went to the crash site to find Thor's disintegrator, knowing that it is the only technology that could stop the Gargon. Searching alone, Derek was unable to find the disintegrator, although Betty soon joined him. Saving Betty from falling down the hillside, Derek admitted his attraction to Betty, and finally explained his alien origins. Derek then vowed to make Earth his home, never to return to the alien planet, kissing Betty under the night sky. The moonlight soon shone, just as the Gargon revealed itself, now far larger than a Human. Derek grabbed a rock to strike the Gargon, uncovering the disintegrator under it, although it was non-functional, forcing Derek to throw the rock at the Gargon and get to the car with Betty, driving away to find a way to repair the disintegrator. Getting back to town, Derek got to work, finding that the gun required a new power source. News stations then reported that the Gargon had grown even larger and was heading directly to town, just as Derek realized that using the power from the city's electrical grid could power the disintegrator. Driving to the edge of town, Betty managed to convince the generator operators to cut the power long enough for Derek to cut a power line and connect it to the disintegrator, just as the Gargon approached. Derek took aim at the Gargon, as the power was reconnected and boosted, powering the disintegrator and allowing Derek to kill the Gargon with a single shot. Immediately after killing the Gargon, Derek saw the alien fleet arriving in the sky.
Derek's father, the alien leader
Knowing that he had to face the other aliens alone, Derek returned to Betty's house on his own, where he changed back into his uniform. Forming a plan to trick the other aliens, he pretended that the disintegrator was still working, using it to make Betty's friend, Joe, drive him to the hospital that Thor was being held, but not before asking Betty to trust him. Making the officers with Thor hand over their weapons, Derek took Thor and Joe back to the landing site, pretending to turn on the Humans, which fooled Thor. At the landing site, Derek was met with Betty and her grandfather, trying to reassure her that he had not forgotten his promise to Earth without alerting Thor. The alien guide-ship landed first, with Derek and Thor heading out to meet them. The captain of Expedition Zeal-6 was the first to disembark, followed by the alien leader, Derek's father. The leader speaks with Derek, allowing him to return to their homeworld and assuring him that his dissidence will not affect his status as heir, accidentally revealing that his absence is secret, and puts the government at massive risk once it is discovered. Derek quickly reasoned that the disposal of the leader would spark a revolution among the dissidents and make the authoritarian regime collapse, and the leader expressed his intent to use Derek to hunt down other dissidents, not catching on to Derek's true plan.
Derek's final moments before being destroyed with the alien fleet
Derek requested to guide the ships in, allowed to do so by the leader. However, immediately after entering the craft, Derek sealed its hatch, locking the leader, Thor, and the captain outside, who ordered him to open the hatch. Taking control of the fleet, Derek had all ships speed up, aimed directly at his location. As Betty, Joe, and Betty's grandfather ran to cover in the nearby cave, the leader, Thor, and the captain tried to get Derek to stop, but Derek had the fleet hold their course and speed. Accepting his fate for the good of his people and the salvation of Earth, Derek let the entire fleet crash directly into the grounded guide-ship, killing him along with the leader, the captain, Thor, and every Gargon held aboard the other warships. Emerging from the cave, Betty remembers Derek's vow, that he would never leave Earth, knowing that he kept his promise by making the ultimate sacrifice. With the death of the leader and Derek, his only heir, the alien regime was set to collapse, and the dissidents presumably sparked a revolution. The current state of the alien society is unknown, but presumably reverted to its previous state.
Appearances[]
- Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)