The X-Files
I remember the good old days, as a 10 year old, trying to convince my parents to let me stay up to watch The X-Files to see whatll happen next to poor old Scully, my first (of many) ginger milf crush. The X-files was the cult show in the 90s for all of us sci-fi lovers, and was single handedly responsible for taking fear and imagination to a new level on TV. Chris Carter (the creator) was famously allowed as much creative freedom as he wanted, which resulted in a sometimes truly terrifying TV series. Mulder and Scully, two of the FBIs most promising agents, team up to investigate the mysteries no one else could explain. From the infamous episode Squeeze featuring a liver harvesting humanoid who I imagine was the inspiration for Stretch Armstrong, to sea creatures, human bats, infections, religious rituals, freak-shows.. The list goes on, each story having the potential to scare the wits out of you, and then some. With the likes of Fringe being broadcast these days, Ill admit the X files feels incredibly dated now (especially the earlier episodes with Scully in her hideous woolen suit), but to see what an influential show it was you need only to look at the guest stars throughout the series- Jack Black, Lucy Lawless, Seth Green, Ryan Reynolds, Jewel Staite and Lucy Liu.
THE PREDICTION: The central theme of The X-Files was that of Extra Terrestrial Biological Entities- here, in a nutshell, is the alien story... Thousands of years ago there were a race of creatures living throughout the galaxy including on earth. Due to an extinction event on earth they were confined to pockets of black oil deep underground, with the intention for the species to return to re-claim the earth once it has recovered. An alien scout ship crashed in Roswell in 1947 providing humans (including Mulders father and the cigarette smoking man) the opportunity to strike a deal with the returning aliens- that, if they managed to perfect a human-alien hybrid, they themselves would be allowed to live with the rest of us confined to slavery. As a gesture of trust, each human involved in the deal had to sacrifice a family member as collateral. Mulder's sister was one of these- she was kidnapped, experimented on and then sent to live in a foster home where she died soon after. Hybrid experiments continued (Scully having been a test subject herself), until a successful hybrid was confirmed paving way for the invasion to begin earlier than planned. At this point a group of rebel aliens opposed to the plan started sabotaging their efforts, eventually destroying all evidence and killing every human involved with the arrangement. The series finally ended with a promise for the aliens to return on the 22nd December 2012 to re-take the earth once and for all.
THE REALITY: The unimaginable vastness of space dictates that, even if the chance of life developing is incredibly small (our own existence itself confirms there must be a chance), the chances of it occurring somewhere else are virtually 100%. Whilst the infinite nature of time would mean the chances of this life existing at the same time as us is significantly reduced, signs have already been found of microbial life elsewhere in our own solar system. Suppose an intelligent species similar to ours does exist, actually reaching our planet presents an incredible technical challenge. Human development, progressive as it may be, has taught us that in two areas there are extreme limitationsbatteries and propulsion. All other technological progress is improving at lightning speeds apart from in these two areas, and they are the ones most important with inter-stellar travel. While it would be naïve to dismiss the possibility outright, the chances of there being another civilization close enough to us in the first place, that they know where we are in the universe, and that they have the technology to reach uswell its very very unlikely.
HOW TO SURVIVE: In 'The Faculty' (1998) they pointed out that alien movies were a way of preparing us for what is about to happen, so lets take our advice from Hollywood- Will Smith would punch it, Mulder would drop his gun and call for Scully (who would arrive after the aliens have gone). 'Mars Attacks' would tell you to play loud country music, and in 'War of the Worlds' they hid the night nurse. The one thing I am sure of-- you MUST NOT EVER approach the alien threat with a poster welcoming them to the planet, your days would be numbered my friend.