Ten alien abductions, from ‘v’ to ‘x files’

1. Ten alien abductions, from ‘V’ to ‘X-Files’
New ‘Fourth Kind’ film is just latest to depict unearthly
kidnappings
When you think about it, it seems like aliens have always been abducting Earthlings. You
can find references to similar behavior in mythology all over the world. There are
shockingly similar accounts of incidents decades removed from one another. And now the
new movie "The Fourth Kind" (opening Friday) promises perhaps the most frightening
look at what its producers call "fact-based" cases from Nome, Alaska.
However "real" the cases, the world of fiction runs rampant with great alien abduction
tales, and here are ten great examples.
‘Secret Invasion’
Last year’s Marvel Comics mega-event dealt largely with an invasion by the shape-shifting
Skrull Empire. However, that invasion was presaged by a running series of revelations
regarding which characters had already been abducted and replaced. In many ways, it
riffed on non-abduction classic “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (which just had the
humans taken over on their home planet). However, there was a later payoff to the
replacements when the kidnapped characters finally returned.
‘Taken’
"Taken" boasted a pretty impressive pedigree for a Sci-Fi Channel mini-series. The 2002
production had no less than Steven Spielberg as an Executive Producer; episode directors
included Tobe Hooper and genre TV stalwart Félix Enríquez Alcalá. Epic in scope, the
narrative followed three families through five decades, demonstrating how each one had
been affected by extraterrestrial contact. It’s revealed within the story that over 43,000
Earthlings were abducted to further an experiment that would ultimately create a
human/alien hybrid. That hybrid, Allie, played by Dakota Fanning, winds up departing
Earth with the aliens by series end.

2. ‘Martian Manhunter’
One of the original seven members of the Justice League of America, J’onn J’onnz, Martian
Manhunter, is the least known to the general public. Though he did finally make it into the
animated “Justice League” of this decade, he’s still outside the mainstream. That’s too bad,
because his arrival on Earth is a clever twist on the alien abduction formula. J’onn, the last
of his kind, was accidentally brought to Earth by a transmission experiment of one
Professor Erdel. The shock of seeing J’onn arrive gave Erdel a fatal heart attack. The shape-
shifting alien decided to learn about his new home, eventually becoming a police detective
and super-hero before co-founding the Justice League.
The X-Men’s ‘Brood Saga’
In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, it seemed like the X-Men were constantly being kidnapped
by one alien race or another. The Sh’iar, the Badoon, and yes, The Brood all had a hand in
stealing away the X-Men from time to time. Perhaps the Brood Saga is the most commonly
remember, as it really had the longest arc of trajectory. Playing out between issues #154
and #167, the storyline saw the X-Men battling the Brood, “Aliens”-like aliens that sought
to implant the mutants with their eggs in order to create a superior version of their own
race. The battles raged on Earth and in space for months until the Brood homeworld was
destroyed. Upon their return to Earth, the X-Men and their alien allies The Starjammers
managed to save an implanted Professor Charles Xavier.
‘V’
They came in peace, and they came hungry. "V", reimagined this year for an ABC series,
began life in 1983 as a mini-series event on NBC. A classic TV moment emerged when we
got to see what the “visitors” were for the first time: rodent-devouring reptilians hiding
under human guise. The real kicker was that the Visitors weren’t content with our furry
friends; they began stockpiling humans as the new intergalactic taste sensation. The first
mini was a huge hit, leading to sequel “V: The Final Battle”, a short-lived DC Comics series,
and a short-lived weekly TV series. Frankly, we can’t wait to see how the big reveal plays
this time around, or if the nature of the Visitors has changed entirely.

3. John Carter, Warlord of Mars
It’s debatable whether John Carter’s first trip to Mars is abduction, as it’s accomplished by
astral projection. However, Carter is certainly unceremoniously retrieved on later
occasions. For those unfamiliar with Carter, he’s the OTHER huge creation by Edgar Rice
Burroughs, the writer behind Tarzan. Carter made his bones in a series of pulp adventures
wherein he marries a princess of Mars and battles all manner of alien menaces. Many
attempts have been made in recent years to get John Carter on screen, and it seems as if it
may finally happen. Martian intervention, anyone?
‘Fire in the Sky’
Though critical reaction to the 1993 film based on Travis Walton’s account of his own
alleged alien abduction is, to put it politely, mixed, many agree that the sequence detailing
Walton’s incarceration aboard the alien spacecraft is one of the more harrowing scenes of
that type on film. Credit should go to screenwriter Tracy Torme and director Robert
Lieberman, as they were called upon to punch up Walton’s original account. While the film
as a whole might not be the greatest viewing experience on this planet, many concur that
the experimentation scenes are genuinely frightening.
‘Communion’
Whitley Strieber already had a name as the writer of “Wolfen” and “The
Hunger” when, in 1987, he published his account of his own interaction
with “visitors”. Though he has stated many times over the years that he
didn’t necessarily consider the encounter to be one with
extraterrestrials, the sketches that document his experience have fed
into the public notion of “greys”. Regardless, since that time, Strieber has
become a prolific writer and speaker in terms of related phenomenon,
touching on Roswell in his novel “Majestic” and discussing the
outpouring of correspondence he has received about his visit in “The
Communion Letters”.

4. ‘The X-Files’
While “The X-Files” as a whole is shot through with stories across the genre spectrum,
perhaps nothing informed the “mythos” of the series so much as the tri-cornered-concept
of alien contact, alien cover-up and alien abduction. For years the central pillar of the series
is Agent Fox Mulder’s search for his sister, Samantha, whom he believed to have been
abducted. While the answer to Samantha’s fate is later resolved with a possibly somewhat
different outcome, other characters through the tenure of the series are unquestionably
taken, including, for a time, Agent Mulder himself.
‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’
If you’re going to be abducted by aliens, it might as well be friendly aliens. And it might as
well be in one of the best films to ever handle the subject. Steven Spielberg was on his way
to being STEVEN SPIELBERG when he directed this science fiction classic in 1977. One of
the interesting bits here is that all of the people that are “abducted” eventually return
unharmed. Another intriguing notion is that the government doesn’t’ attack the alien
mothership, but rather uses tools such as music to communicate with it. This of course
leads to designated delegates boarding the mothership on behalf of Earth. It was an
alarmingly refreshing departure from the days of “Earth vs. The Flying Saucer”, and it’s
vaguely sad to see that most human/alien tales areabout conflict rather than
communication. Then again, maybe we’d be more willing to talk if they’d stop with the
abducting. And the probing.