Challenge #01836-E012: Debunked Beliefs
Non-human sentients are used to thinking of humans as impossibly durable daredevils of highly questionable sanity. However, historical human science fiction, pre-first contact, typically has humans depicting themselves as either ordinary everymen and everywomen in a world full of sentients who were stronger, smart, harder to kill, and/or had space magic at their disposal. Humans were surprised when their cynicism didn't play out. Aliens are shocked that humans could have ever considered themselves as such. -- Anon Guest
"And this one is known as...?"
"Farscape," said the human. "One of the more imaginative ones. The aliens didn't always follow the human-with-bits-on model. Pity the people making it cancelled it."
A figure with a clamshell head and no nose appeared on the screen, the most alien looking alien that the human imagination had concocted for their screens to date. It was beautiful. "Why did they cancel it? This is wonderful."
"Basically? The television station that was making it didn't want to be. The nation in charge was more about sports than art." The human shrugged. "Humans are nuts. Apparently, even this level of science fiction was beneath them. They said it wasn't making enough money, but... it was."
They listened to the dialogue, reading the Galstand subtitles underneath. "Did they all just say that the human is puny?"
"Yeah. That's why I'm showing you. This is one of the shows that really rubbed it in, you know? There was a whole running gag about it."
"But... you are space orcs, as you say."
The human laughed. "Yeah. We didn't know that at the time. We just... looked around at everything that could possibly kill us on our world and thought, The universe is bound to be four times as mean and ran with it. Plus ninety percent of science fiction is a thin veil over invasion fantasies, so..." they shrugged. "We got a lot of this."
"What was it like when your kind found out?"
"A lot of laughing and claiming they were talking bullshit. On both sides, as it happens."
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / rdonar]
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