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The Morning GIF: Greetings from Mars

What Mars Attack knowledge can we apply to our Curiosity mission?

 

Lorraine Murphy

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Posted on Aug 10, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 1:04 pm CDT

Here at the Daily Dot, we swap GIF images with each other every morning. Now we’re looping you in. In the Morning GIF, we feature a popular—or just plain cool—GIF we found on Reddit, Canvas, or elsewhere on the Internet.

Since they first realized those lights in the sky were more than just the Lite Brite of the gods, humans have ached to make contact with life forms on other planets. NASA’s current Curiosity mission to Mars is but the latest, most expensive attempt to reach out and find proof that we are not alone.

Scientists seem not to have given much thought to what happens when and if we do make contact. I mean, we’re the species that invented call screening;  surely we should anticipate some hostility when we just drop in on, say, the Martians. Speculative fiction writers, on the other hand, have been obsessed with this question for centuries, and they have come to a consensus.

What happens? Shit happens.

The thought is well-expressed in this GIF, a brief yet eloquent moment from Tim Burton’s meta-post-ironic-classic movie Mars Attacks. Remembering the thing that saved humanity in that flick, it may be wise to keep a copy of “Indian Love Call” at hand, just in case.

And when in doubt, trust in Tom Jones.

Unrecorded

Image via quicheisinsane/Flickr

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*First Published: Aug 10, 2012, 7:41 am CDT