"Mimic (1997): A More 'Realistic' Alien Bug Hunt???" Topic

For those who find life in other parts of the universe laughable, and the idea of humans traveling back and forth between planets beyond laughable, I propose a more "realistic" alien bug hunt . . .

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movierapture.com/mimic.htm

. . . and all it takes is a little creative genetic engineering using "all the best stuff on Earth" (like the Snapples drinks)!!!

And you can have just as much fun gaming in tunnels and corridors with these nearly indestructible creatures.

CC
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And it would give you a chance to use your NBC troops and everything!

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CC

the sequal was pretty messed up. The mimic was hiding in peoples skins!

I agree completely. That's why I only mentioned the first one.

Besides, the first one is the only one with Mira. :)

The problem is, of course, coming up with substitutes for the man-sized, upright mantis-like bugs!

CC

Have you ever read the original short-story, CC?

The mimic is not a predator, and it has one of the best endings I've ever read.

CC, most people who find your first conditions laughable would also find the concept of a creature able to compete with humans on such a footing as the Mimic to *also* be laughable.

The scientific term for these peopel is 'morons'. The socila term is 'community leaders' or more specifically 'executives'. Type examples – the board of GM. QED.

Yeah, I'm in a bad mood today. The basic idea is not bad for gaming purposes, CC, and if you must game with limited imaginations then it will work nicely. BTW, when did you start gmaing with Bickertons?

Hope things get better for you this weekend, Covert.

CC

"The problem is, of course, coming up with substitutes for the man-sized, upright mantis-like bugs!"

Em-4 Cockroach Man

Thanks, CC. :)

Oh and yes, the em-4 figure is a good bet.

The original story was published in the now defunct Twilight Zone Magazine (ran by Rod Searling's wife). It was only a short story about a bunch of mysterious deaths and wandering bag ladies.
Yep, cockroaches evolved enough to fill an ecological niche by imitating bag ladies.

I would only do it with a suitable Mira figure. Very easy on the eyes, even as a horse riding archaeologist heroine.

Ok.

But isn't it more realistic to have the monster be "homegrown" than have to travel millions of light years to find them?

Besides, if they are "homegrown" they will find it easier to digest our tasty DNA, right?

CC

Wrong.

While I am happy with "homegrown" threats, some of the ones people suggest are plainly more ludicrous than anything the space technologists have suggested – Less believable than moon landings even* – and as a biologist I object strongly.

And its not the problem of digesting DNA either. In fact, I can think of several Earth organisms with DNA that other Earth life forms cannot digest, which invalidates your argument as well – The laevo-form fungi have left-handed isomer verions of many common Amino Acids, which are what make up proteins and are actually what organisms eat. The instructions for making proteins from AAcids are what DNA is, and where the problem of incompatible life comes from; Differing types of AAcid make up which also happens among Earth life, for example shrimp have AAcids that humans cannot absorb.

Besides which, there are many lifeforms that gain energy by consuming totally indigestable material along with their food; Fungi again are renowned for consuming everything from rock to plastic, though some of the latter do actually use the carbon and huydrogen for tissue building and energy the way we use carbohydrates. One possibility for a lifeform is something that consumes calcium and iron for energy; It could prey on human bodies fairly successfully for our bones and blood.

It's Bickerton science, and as we all know, he was wrong to be too conservative.

* I know, cheap shot . . . But it summed my opinion of this, and also lead me into the Bickerton reference again. :)

I liked Mimic a lot but I never noticed before that it was directed by Del Toro…
It's especially appealing to me in that the creatures themselves remain somewhat mysterious… I don't recall any full-light reveals of their appearance and it's also left open regarding how intelligent they are.
Also, child characters in the movie are not sacrosanct or impervious to harm.

Somewhere I read a story using genetically altered cockroaches for terraforming… with colonists showing up hundreds of years later and having to deal with what the cockroaches had turned into.

It also reminds me of the 'gypsies' in Shismatrix who were travelling in the old Russian spaceship with a large complement of cockroaches… floating in zero-g and living off of the detritus of the humans, including their dead skin.

Interesting drawing here:

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Hmmm . . .

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CC

Venusboys3 and CC, the vmir in the Dying Earth stories of Jack Vance were ginat wasps, that fldode themslelves under cloaks and clothing so they looked like humans as well; Of course, they had developed intellect after millions of years of development.

Ral Partha did s set of Mantis Spirits, pack 20-544, one giant and one man-sized, in their old Shadowrun line: link

But I think their Roach Spirits, pack 20-545, look more like Mimics: link

so you want HUMAN SIZED 'bugs', eh???

How about those ORKIN commercials?

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where 'his car broke down/wanted to use the phone to call his brother…hey, is that table OAK????' and the guy STANDS there????

uh…right!

or 'The Pizza Delivery Termite?'

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or for 'youtubers':

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and lest we forget, Bruce Campbell in SciFi Channel's 'ALL TIME GREATEST MOVIE'….ALIEN APOCALYPSE!

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TERMITES FROM OUTER SPACE!!!

Don't forget about 'THEM'…giant mutant ANTS from 1954…spawned by nuclear tests, or Phase IV or other 'genre's…

I don't think we'd have to 'stretch' our 'fuzzy (navel) science' far to come up with 'alien life' FROM Earth…(or under it/around it/mutated by chemicals/radiation, 'climate change?'

While scientists have found EXTREMOPHILES that would not necesarily survive contact with humans/'eat them'…considering how 'influenza viruses' make the 'jump' from one species to another…???

What if SOMETHING really IS 'under the 2 kilometers of ice' of Lake Vladisvostock…where' it's been hibernating/sealed for SEVERAL million years? Maybe it could digest us just for the proteins in our body hair…or fingernails or other bodily fluids, even 'waste' or the 'parasites' that infest/co-exist with most humans…(like bacteria in our digestive tracts…which also digest wood for termites!!!)

So intelligent/hive mind? giant 'roaches'…(for example)…could be possible or something like it? Consider how big some BUGS already are as well as different species between bugs and crustaceans etc????

We may not always be the Top Rung of the food chain…(if we ever really were???)

Slish?

Sgt DWW-btod

I heard that the Judas Breed "taste a whole lot like lobster. But then again, not like lobster, if you know what I mean" (Jefferson Davis Collie III)

The original story was published in the now defunct Twilight Zone Magazine (ran by Rod Searling's wife). It was only a short story about a bunch of mysterious deaths and wandering bag ladies.
Yep, cockroaches evolved enough to fill an ecological niche by imitating bag ladies.

I think you're thinking of a different story, the original is from 1942 by Donald Wollheim and the mimic just lives in a New York apartment and keeps to itself, trying to survive in the midst of man, who the story calls the greatest predator.

DWW, those Orkin commercials are some of my favorite.

Here ya go . . .

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If painted right, they could pass for a Judas Breed swarm. Right?

Dan