2573: Alien Mission

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Alien Mission

Title text: Fine, we can go search the Himalayas for the Yeti ONE more time, but keep a safe altitude over the Pacific and PLEASE watch where you're going. We can't afford another Amelia Earhart incident.

• This was the eighth comic to come out after the Countdown in header text started.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by an ALIEN LOOKING FOR BIGFOOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

This strip portrays a conversation between two extraterrestrial flying saucers, in which they discuss their long secret observation of earth, only to reveal that at least one of their purposes was to find Bigfoot, which they have apparently been unable to do. The alien on one ship argues that it's time to give up and accept that no such creature exists on earth, while the other appears to hold out hope, in the face of a complete lack^{[disputed - discuss]} of evidence.

The first panel alludes to the fact that UFO sightings only became commonplace in the 1940s.

This strip is related to (and may be a continuation of) the previous strip, which dealt with the reasons why UFO photographs are always out-of-focus and/or lacking details. This strip expands on the reasons why these alien ships are visiting earth, which apparently include an unsuccessful attempt to locate cryptids.

The humor derives from the fact that UFO enthusiasts and cryptozoology enthusiasts have a similar mindset: they both believe in phenomena that the scientific establishment declares to be baseless. Both systems are fully lacking in clear scientific evidence, but have an abundance of eyewitness accounts and vague/blurry photographic evidence. And both belief systems have existed for many years, but rapidly advancing technology, accumulating data, and ubiquity of high quality cameras have still failed to capture any clear and detailed evidence of either (a point which Randall seems to find particularly significant). But, while these concepts are so parallel, they're logically independent, as one deals with species that are presumably native to earth, and the other deals with advanced alien species visiting the earth. The notion of alien visitors being interested in cryptozoology is incongruous: to them, all earth animals would presumably seem equally alien.

In previous strips, Randall has suggested playing conspiracy theories off one another (see 966: Jet Fuel). This has a similar theme: suggesting that UFOs are here to search for Bigfoot (and the Yeti) sounds ridiculous on its face. But any explanation of why it's ridiculous would apply equally well to the notion of Bigfoot and UFO's individually.

At least some of the aliens clearly have a similar belief, at least in the Bigfoot/Sasquatch, which is why they came to the Earth. This implies that they had some prior knowledge (or suspicion) of its existence, and only then (possibly) narrowed it down to this one planet.

Their very thorough observation of the Earth (enough to comprehensively catalogue many of its humans and even track individual purchases of camera-technology, etc) seems to have been insufficient to find Bigfoot, but neither has it entirely refuted the claims. At least in the view of some of the holdouts with influence over this mission.

Whatever the arguments about the Sasquatch, the title text reveals a separate discussion regarding the Yeti (a similar large hominid purported to reside in the Himalayas), and the tentative permission to conduct one last search for it. This perhaps implies further unreferenced searches are also being made for the likes of the Loch Ness Monster, Mothman and Chupacabra. It also suggests that they ran into Amelia Earhart while both were flying over the Pacific Ocean, and that's why she disappeared.

That their clearly superior observation technology and methods have been apparently unable to resolve these issues at first seems like it shouldn't bode well for our own cryptozoologists, but the lack of definitively negative results does at least mean there's a degree of job-security, such as there already is.

Transcript

[Four panels, largely featuring two 'classic' Flying Saucers hovering in the sky with speech-lines indicating communication between the saucers/crew.]

Left Saucer: Sir, can we talk?

Left Saucer: We've been observing earth for almost a century.

Left Saucer: Hovering and zooming from place to place, trying to avoid being spotted by humans.

Right Saucer: Yeah.

[Frameless panel, showing only the left saucer]

Left Saucer: By now we've flown over every inch of the surface many times.

Off-panel from right: Yes? And?

Left Saucer: Face it: if Bigfoot is real, he's not anywhere on this planet.

Right Saucer: But humans have captured some intriguing videos!

Left Saucer: *sigh*

Right Saucer: How else do you explain the...

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Discussion

hello from Anchorage, AK!New editor (talk) 19:24, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

Hi, but do remember to sign your Talk stuff, however otherwise meaningless. ;) 172.70.91.126 19:21, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

oops forgot, just fixed it.New editor (talk) 19:24, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

I wonder whether they're also looking for Little Green Men, these aliens being themselves more of the 'bug-eyed monster' type. 172.70.91.126 19:21, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

Although they follow each other there is no clear indication that the two aliens are the same. --Kynde (talk) 09:10, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

They bought their UFOs from the same dealership..? 172.70.90.121 13:55, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

Bob's Saucer Repair: Power by Ozzie, Handling by Taz, Paint job by Topper/Pierre.Seebert (talk) 00:19, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

I question the current Analysis "The humor derives from the fact that UFO enthusiasts and cryptozoology enthusiasts have a similar mindset: They both believe in phenomena that the scientific establishment declares to be baseless." At a deeper level that may be true, but the primary humor comes from (a) us not being the reason for the alien presence (we tend to assume it's all about us) and (b) the sudden absurd realization that aliens have cryptozoology enthusiasts too.--172.70.131.122 23:41, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

"Every inch of the surface"

Should it be "every square inch of the surface"? 162.158.126.55 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Yes,....yes it should.-- The Cat Lady (talk) 20:03, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

...but the surface of the Earth isn't square! :p 141.101.98.193 20:06, 26 January 2022 (UTC)

Insert that one story of the founding of Carthage here :) 172.70.134.57 22:27, 26 January 2022 (UTC)Bumpf

It should be "every square meter", because who on earth (and beyond) is still using imperial units? Kimmerin (talk) 08:33, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

Maybe it is "every linear inch" because they have an advanced technology allowing them to scan an infinity of lines and add the results to create a surface?172.70.49.143 12:19, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

I would hate myself if I didn't put in a plug for a friend's book series, Sci-Comedy genre. In Jerry Boyd's Bob and Nikki series, Bigfoot aren't native, they were dumped here by a different group of aliens that occasionally used them as slaves. They also love garlic and you can effectively trade with them. There are also Starfoot, who are used as slaves by the Commonwealth but have a planet of their own. Since DB Cooper speaks their language, he and his grandson left earth to settle there and raise garlic fields. All in all a rollicking funny series. Seebert (talk)

today the random button goes to https://c.xkcd.com/random/comic/ --172.70.131.214 02:57, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

seems complete, deleting tag.New editor (talk) 16:58, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

why has what if? not been updating lately? anybody know? New editor (talk) 21:06, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

I suspect Randall got bored of that project, or got tired of doing new research for it. The What if? page hasn't been updated in a few years, though Randall had written several books that seem to be similar: what_if#The_book and How To. 172.70.214.95 22:56, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

yeah, but did you see the Countdown in header text? could be a possible what if? 2.New editor (talk) 08:26, 30 January 2022 (UTC)

t.rex on a plane...New editor (talk) 08:26, 30 January 2022 (UTC)

wow, i predicted it. i'm as surprised as you are.