Tell me more ×
Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 11 down vote favorite
1

Aliens discover Earth but are mistaken who the real inhabitants are: i.e. the aliens think that humans are parasites or something and that the real Earthlings are cars or something else.

Is this an old joke or a real story?

Correct answer was answered here:What on Earth! (1966).

share|improve this question
1  
Is there anything else you remember or can recall about the story? – OghmaOsiris Aug 17 '11 at 21:59
If I remeber correctly it was a story on a television show that was a joke or a cartoon or some cheap short scifi part of something else. I liked the idea though of aliens coming to earth and not recognizing that humans are the real earth inhabitants – Nick Rosencrantz Aug 17 '11 at 22:42

3 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

UPDATE: Found it!

I believe the work you are referring to is the animated short What on Earth! (1966). You can watch it here.

Old answer:

It sounds like you're describing a scene out of the beginning of the movie "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (2005):

FORD: Remember when we met? That car was racing toward me, I was trying to greet it, you pushed me out of the way?

QUICK CUT TO A STREET - MID-DAY: Ford stands in the middle of the road, extending a hand to a fast approaching car. Arthur drops his shopping, dives at him and tackles him out of the way as the car zooms past.

FORD: Didn't you find it a little strange that I was trying to shake hands with a car?

ARTHUR: I assumed you were drunk.

FORD: (shaking his head) I thought cars were the dominant life form. I was trying to introduce myself.

(PDF of the script can be found here)

This is a specific instance of a general trope: "Mistook The Dominant Lifeform". As mentioned in the examples at the above link, the more specific cars-as-dominant-lifeform trope has cropped up in Transformer comics and Carl Sagan's book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994), but there are probably a number of other works it has appeared in as well.

share|improve this answer
Thank you gnovice. It was exactly this thought I thought cars were the dominant life form. and I saw it as a cartoon in the 80s with aliens seeing a family and a car from above thinking that cars were the real earth inhabitants – Nick Rosencrantz Aug 18 '11 at 0:23
So why would Ford appear as a human? Either that's his normal body form, in which case why wouldn't he think humans were dominant - or Ford's normal form is different, and he modified it to look human. But then, why wouldn't he modify it to look carlike? – John C Aug 18 '11 at 13:51
3  
@John C: Considering Ford's "semi-half brother" Zaphod Beeblebrox also (outwardly) appears human, along with other aliens featured in the movie, then I think it's safe to assume that Ford's appearance is his normal form. As to why he wouldn't assume humans (who looked like him) were the dominant species, consider that he's been around the galaxy, and maybe has seen plenty of cases where the human-like species isn't always dominant. Also, in the movie humans were actually only the third-most intelligent species on Earth, behind dolphins and, well, I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it. – gnovice Aug 18 '11 at 14:58
2005? The BBC series is much older than that. – SeanJA Aug 18 '11 at 21:12
1  
What on Earth! (1966). That is it! I absolutely remember that scene with the dog and the children and was uncertain what it was. "Kaj Pindal" seems to be Danish and I'm Swedish and saw this on television way back. Thank you for localizing what it is :-) – Nick Rosencrantz Aug 19 '11 at 17:43
show 2 more comments
up vote 4 down vote

There was a Donald Duck comic where Scrooge sold the "1-2-3" product, an evolving car, over the whole world:

Scrooge ended up unknowingly saving the world as aliens approached and identified the 1-2-3s as the real inhabitants of the Earth. They attacked the 1-2-3s with their shrink rays and left without harming any humans.

share|improve this answer
This could be what I saw, if it's old – Nick Rosencrantz Aug 18 '11 at 21:01
I think I read it in a Donald Duck collection at least six years ago. The comic itself is probably older. – user1320 Aug 18 '11 at 21:51
up vote 1 down vote

The Day The Earth Stood Still (movie) loosely matches this description. The earth was going to be destroyed because the parasite humans were destroying it.

share|improve this answer
1  
Gort and Klaatu weren't confused about human status - they were concerned about humans developing, and using nuclear weapons against them. – John C Aug 19 '11 at 15:43

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.