I always thought that the Vogon’s blowing up the Earth was probably the most realistic alien invasion scenario. Basically, aliens showing up one day and just destroying the Earth for their own reasons that are incomprehensible to us with little thought as to who or what is already living there.
I’ve never really bought into the other common invasion scenarios:
The War of the World scenario where aliens with highly advanced war versions of our modern war machines (with one critical design flaw) invade and start exterminating humans so they can live here.
The X-Files / They Live scenario where aliens attempt to infiltrate our society so they can secretly transform our world into something suitable for them.
The Day the Earth Stood Still scenario where we humans are considered too violent and must be destroyed. Ironically, with genocidal violence.
In reality, any species advanced enough to travel the stars would be so advanced they would be able to wipe out all life on Earth as easily as a modern Marine strike force invading a Polynesian island 300 years ago. In fact they would be so advanced and so different from us, they might not pay us any more mind than a construction crew notices the ant colonies they bulldoze over to build their condos.
I haven’t read the story, but on the assumption that it was told, at least partially, from the POV of humans, it 's still nonsensical on several levels. Given that humans have a linear perception of time, it’s not possible for us to perceive such an invasion as you’ve described it. If the aliens invade Earth in 1959 & murder everyone in of Memphis, where my parents lived in the decade before I was born, then I will not be born, and thus will not be exist to witness an invasion in 2009. The fact that the rules of English grammar allow you to construct the sentence the extratemporal aliens invaded all eras of human history simultaneously makes the sentence no less nonsensical.
And the tactic makes no sense from the aliens’ POV either. I’ll stipulate that their perception of time may differ from ours, but so what? For them to invade requires them to interact with our framework. If any point in human history is as accessible to them as any other point, then why would they attack waste resources on attacking eras in which human tech had proceeded to the point where we could mount a feasible resistance?
The only way this scenario makes sense is if the aliens are mounting attacks on different timelines rather than a single one.
Either time travel/non linear time doesnt exist. Which kills the neat part of the story.
Or it does exist, but with your present knowledge your really arent going to be able to explain it or understand it, except in a handwavy “it works sorta like this” kinda way.
Those two scenarios probably cover 99 percent of sci fiction as it is anyway.
Do you get that bent out of shape about warp drives, transporters, subspace, and stargates as well?
The titular enemy in David Gerrold’s as yet (and probably always) unfinished War Against the Chtorr books are pretty badass. Without spoiling much, the ecological invasion of Earth depicted therein is novel, fairly realistic, and dismayingly inescapable. I wonder if the long delay (last book was published in 93, I think) is a result of author painting himself into a corner by making the total extermination of the human race (and most other earth organisms) inevitable.
