# Resident Alien, aka Quincy, E.T **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [January 28, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719 "2021-01-28T22:00:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/181 "2021-03-13T00:50:26Z")
I assume he wasn’t really talking to the octopus, and it was a delusion. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/182 "2021-03-13T01:33:17Z")
I think so, too. But the girls’ conversation with the eel? Totally real. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/183 "2021-03-13T13:10:22Z")
> **On the Octopus, minor spoiler if you haven't watched this episode** > > They showed an alien coming to Earth via an interstellar asteroid. Then showed it grow/evolve into an octopus. So I assume the octopi really are alien in origin for the the show. The conversation actually seemed reasonable to me therefore and not a delusion or why show the space rock and alien life coming to Earth’s seas scene? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/184 "2021-03-13T14:07:46Z")
I had actually forgotten about that. But didn’t it list that as a billion years ago? I assumed that to represent the common ancestor of all metazoan life on Earth, and just chose to follow the octopus as a bit. He would have had equal validity talkng to a dog, bird, or beetle. (Or human.) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/185 "2021-03-13T16:03:39Z")
Hey! You should tell your mom to put popcorn on the shopping list. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/186 "2021-03-13T18:05:27Z")
It is funny that Max now worries about Harry’s safety. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/187 "2021-03-13T18:47:30Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I had actually forgotten about that. But didn’t it list that as a billion years ago? I assumed that to represent the common ancestor of all metazoan life on Earth, and just chose to follow the octopus as a bit. He would have had equal validity talkng to a dog, bird, or beetle. (Or human.) The rock started on its journey 1 billion years ago. 790 million years ago, it had a collision, split in half, and one half landed on a green planet. 540 million years ago, the other half landed on Earth. Using this [timeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_history_of_life), some simple multicellular life had existed for hundreds of millions of years by that point. But 540m ago was the beginning of the [Cambrian explosion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion), when a lot of differentiation of life forms started, including mollusks. So the way I read it is that the first rock 790m years ago landed on Alien-Harry’s planet, where they became the dominant lifeform, while the second landed on Earth and became the ancestor of either all mollusks or maybe just the cephalopods, but had to compete with the existing life forms on Earth. But I don’t see any reason to think that Harry just made it all up in his stoned mind. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/188 "2021-03-13T19:00:02Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > On the Octopus, minor spoiler if you haven’t watched this episode Excellent point. I assumed he could speak with the octopus even if no one else could. Much funnier that way. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/189 "2021-03-13T22:28:54Z")
I doubt that the octopus conversation was real because it seemed to know Harry’s motivations and progress so far without being told. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/190 "2021-03-13T22:31:20Z")
Good point, well hopefully the show gives us some resolution on this in a future episode. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/191 "2021-03-13T23:46:09Z")
Also, the look of that octopus is really disturbing, for some reason. (I’d thought ‘puppet’ but I suppose it’s more likely to be 100% CGI. Or maybe it was a combination. At any rate, they started with a reference model that is just ookie.) ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/192 "2021-03-14T01:22:56Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > But 540m ago was the beginning of the Cambrian explosion This show is not the first time this theory has come up [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610718300798](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610718300798) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/193 "2021-03-14T02:46:13Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > This show is not the first time this theory has come up Yes, panspermia in general is an old idea. And Wickramasinghe in specific is an old crackpot. Just completely barking-at-the-moon looney. > **[Why everybody laughs at Wickramasinghe and should continue to do so](https://earthlingnature.wordpress.com/2018/06/12/why-everybody-laughs-at-wickramasinghe-and-should-continue-to-do-so/)** > > by Piter Kehoma Boll More than six years ago, when this blog was just starting, I wrote an article about a poor old scientist, Donald I. Williamson, and his absurd ideas of hybridogenesis, i.e., th… ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/194 "2021-03-14T05:40:28Z")
Not just panspermia but cephalopods in particular. Which is the main talking point in that paper. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/195 "2021-03-14T05:50:47Z")
Yes, I know of it. > **[Squids from SPAAAAAAAAACE!](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2018/04/19/squids-from-spaaaaaaaaace/)** > > I was reading this article with a provocative title: Cause of Cambrian Explosion – Terrestrial or Cosmic?. It set my alarm bells ringing from the title onward. Look at those authors! So many,… Also probably influenced by this earlier nonsense. > **[I repeat: Octopuses are NOT aliens](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/08/14/i-repeat-octopuses-are-not-aliens/)** > > Jebus. The stupidity of the media is maddening. Here are two articles now out there: Don’t freak out, but scientists think octopuses ‘might be aliens’ after DNA study and Octopuse… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/196 "2021-03-17T22:16:21Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Boy, I hope our love for this show translates to a second season. We have [the power](https://deadline.com/2021/03/resident-alien-renewed-season-2-syfy-alan-tudyk-1234716638/). Let’s misuse it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/197 "2021-03-17T22:22:40Z")
I’m glad it was renewed. I’ve been enjoying the show. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/198 "2021-03-17T23:13:39Z")
That is excellent news. I’ve become conditioned to expect the worst with shows I like. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/199 "2021-03-18T04:41:41Z")
A fun episode tonight. Asta discovers something interesting about Harry. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719/200 "2021-03-18T06:01:50Z")
Intense episode. And I can’t believe they made a _V_ reference. When is the last time anyone has made a _V_ reference? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resident-alien-aka-quincy-e-t/931719.md?page=11)