by John Traveler

Created on: June 16, 2009

The realization that there might be, indeed that there probably are intelligent beings on planets around distant stars, is a realization which has already had profound effect on human culture and has certainly not gone unnoticed by science fiction writers and movie makers.

One of the earliest and perhaps most notable of fiction writers who ventured beyond Earth in search of an extraterrestrial intelligence for novel concept, was H.G. Wells. His novel War of the Worlds published in 1898 was nothing less than sensational. While few may have read the H.G, Wells classic about an alien visitation, when Orson Welles used it as a script for an October 30, 1938 radio broadcast by CBS's Mercury Theatre On The Air, it became a part of American folk lore. As far as cultural effect, the program caused mass hysteria in Grover's Mill New Jersey and the surrounding areas. The first movie adaptation of War of The Worlds came out in 1953, but in 2005 Steven Spielberg used all of the cinematographic magic of the 21st century to do justice to the now SiFi antique.

Before War of the Worlds hit the big screen, another film, The Day The Earth Stood Still released in 1951, was probably the first movie to capitalize on the fascination folks had with UFO's and extraterrestrial intelligence. The movie, directed by Robert Wise starred Michael Rennie, Patricia Neil, Hugh Marlowe and a large robot. The Alien saucer lands on the mall in Washington D.C. and the army rolls in tanks to great the visitor. The alien says that he comes from a planet 250 million miles away which would put it somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. If you haven't seen it, its a typical SiFi flick for the period and I won't spoil it for you. You can watch it for free on line at: http://www.classiccinemaonline.com/cinema/sci-fi/the daytheearthstoodstill.html

The first television series motivated by a search for extraterrestrial intelligence was Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek series. The Enterprises' five year mission is to explore new worlds and civilizations, and by the miracle of Warp Drive the ships crew are able to do it at 9 times the speed of light. In fact, there are a lot of miracles used to support Roddenberry's vision which make for great entertainment, but really stretch reality. A cultural effect of this is a lot of people who go around believing things are possible which simply are not. Say what you want about the show and the spin-offs it continues to generate, Roddenberry's SiFi look at extraterrestrial

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