A Message from Mars (1913): The First Friendly Alien

Where does the friendly alien begin? Not with E.T., but with a Martian exiled to Edwardian London to reform the most selfish man alive. Journey Through Sci-Fi returns with a brand new series. We Come in Peace traces the history of friendly aliens on screen. In this opener we set out the stall: what makes a visitor friendly rather than hostile, why everything gets measured against E.T., and how one mistranslated Italian word put Martians in our heads. Then we go back to 1913 and A Message from Mars, widely held to be the first British science fiction film. Ramiel, a Martian stripped of his rank and banished to Earth, has to reform a selfish London bachelor called Horace Parker. It is A Christmas Carol with a spaceman, and almost every benevolent visitor since owes it something. In this episode: Friendly visitor or invader? Where the line actually sits Voltaire's Micromégas (1752), possibly the first friendly alien story ever written Kenneth Arnold, Roswell, and how 1947 gave us the flying saucer Schiaparelli's canali: the mistranslation that built fictional Mars Ramiel's tough love, the zap power, and some baffling 1913 camera trickery Lizard people or Arthurian courtiers? Britain in 1913: picture palaces and a film industry inventing itself Also discussed: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Cocoon, Batteries Not Included, Earth Girls Are Easy, It Came from Outer Space, Aelita: Queen of Mars, A Princess of Mars, Project Hail Mary and Armageddon. Watch along with us. A Message from Mars is free on BFI Replay: https://replay.bfi.org.uk/video/7f470ecc-3ccd-5cde-aca0-ac97153f8ecd Lizards or courtiers? Tell us what you saw. Next time: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) meets its 2008 remake. Hosted and produced by James Payne and Matt Willcock. Edited by James Payne. Bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/journeythroughscifi Join the JTSF Logbook our free newsletter: https://journeythroughscifi.beehiiv.com Full back catalogue and everything else: https://journeythroughscifi.com Follow the show so you never miss an episode, and if you can a review or a share costs nothing and helps a lot. Journey Through Sci-Fi is part of the Evolution of Horror Network.