Alien-Related Programming Trends Since 1900

Are we being exposed to more programming about aliens and UFOs as time goes on? I examined the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) to see whether there has been a noticeable increase in the amount of alien-related programming on mediums such as television and film over time. I share my findings with you in this article.

Before I begin, I’ll state my position on aliens for those who are unaware. I believe that “aliens” are fallen angels. I think that the best chance for “alien contact”/an ”alien invasion” to take place is when Satan and his angels will be cast to Earth following the completion of the war in Heaven mentioned in Revelation 12:7-9.

(7) And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, (8)  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. (9)  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Rev 12:7-9)

As I mentioned, I examined the iMDb database in this study. IMDb is a far from perfect website to get data from since it is largely user-driven (more on that later), but it provides enough information to make it possible to estimate trends in programming featuring aliens over time. The IMDb’s keyword search feature enables users to search for programming that relates to “aliens”. At the time of this writing, IMDb lists 2885 titles of television shows, movies, video games, and short films that users identified as having something to do with aliens.

Aliens in a Variety of Mediums

I utilized the IMDb’s database to create the following chart illustrating the trend in the total number of alien-related video games, television shows, movies, and short films created from 1900 to the present by decade.

You can see the upward trend in the number of alien-related television shows, movies, video games, and short films over the last few decades. The most recent decade saw the highest number alien-related programming on record and this decade is on track to surpass that. This is unsurprising as public interest in the topic seems very high right now.

Alien-Related Movies

I also utilized the IMDb’s database to create the following chart illustrating the trend in the total number of alien-related movies created from 1900 to the present by decade.

The 1950s experienced the first significant jump in the number of alien-related movies made. My guess is that the events of Roswell in 1947 might have played a role in raising the public’s interest in the topic of extraterrestrials enough that Hollywood sought to capitalize on it.

You can see a major jump in the number of alien-related movies in the 1980s. I’m not sure why that is the case, but I know E.T. was a very popular movie that came out in the early 1980s. Perhaps the popularity of E.T. motivated Hollywood to make a lot more alien-related movies?

Alien-Related TV Shows

I also utilized the IMDb’s database to create the following chart illustrating the trend in the total number of alien-related television shows created from 1900 to the present by decade.

You can see a large increase in the total number of alien-related television shows made beginning in the 1980s (perhaps the jump is related to the same phenomenon that led to a jump in the number of alien-related movies made during the same time period).  According to IMDb, the last decade did not see as many new television shows featuring aliens created as the 1990s. I don’t know if that is a matter of reality or just the nature of the IMDb database (see next section on the limitations of the data for more).

Notes of Caution

There are several limitations to this study that I feel should be recognized…

1. This study does not account for the frequency that we see alien-related programming on television. The only way to measure the trends in the frequency that we see alien-related programming on television is to get a lot of television schedule data and compare the data trends of that over time.

2. This study does not cover one major area where people are exposed to alien-related information: books. It would be interesting to see whether there has been an increase in the number of books relating to aliens in recent decades.

3. Since the IMDb is user-driven, it is possible that some programming included in their database is miscategorized. For instance, I had to eliminate several entries from the 1930s in this data because “aliens” referred to immigrants instead of extraterrestrials.

4. Another consequence to the user-driven aspect of IMDb is that it is possible that some alien-related programming is not reported in their database.

5. IMDb’s database treats televisions series that relates to aliens as a single entry. Consequently, the database may underestimate the amount of alien-related programming that exists.

Despite the limitations, the results suggest that we are seeing more alien-related programming from a variety of mediums, including television, movies, and video games compared to a few decades ago.

• Some may argue that the increase in alien-related programming is part of an effort to condition people to expect “alien contact” in the future. I would not be surprised if that is part of the reason why we have seen an increase in alien-related programming over the past few decades.

Regardless of what the reasons are behind the increase in alien-related programming over the years, I think we are going to continue to see an increase in alien-related programming because it is a topic that fascinates a lot of people, especially in this era of YouTube videos where people can share videos of potential UFO sightings with others around the world almost instantaneously.