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Flying Saucers in Popular Culture

=The Day the Earth Stood Still

electromagnetic interference, nuclear weapons concerns, saucer

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

electromagnetic interference

The Abyss

nuclear weapons concerns, USO

1940s

A small flying saucer leaves its larger mothership in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959).

After 1947, the flying saucer quickly became a stereotypical symbol of both extraterrestrials and science fiction, and features in many films of mid-20th century science fiction, including , , , as well as . As the flying saucer was surpassed by other designs and concepts, it fell out of favor with straight science-fiction moviemakers, but continued to be used ironically in comedy movies, especially in reference to the low-budget B movies which often featured saucer-shaped alien craft.

1950

• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) electromagnetic interference, nuclear weapons concerns
• Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
• Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
• The Atomic Submarine (1959)
• The Invaders TV series

• The Twilight Zone episodes "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", "Third from the Sun", "Death Ship", "To Serve Man", "The Invaders" and "On Thursday We Leave for Home" all make use of the iconic saucer from Forbidden Planet.

In some cases, saucers were portrayed as human-created craft in the future. Forbidden Planet (1956) a flying saucer called the United Planets Cruiser C-57D In the television series Lost in Space (1965-1968), the Robinson family had a disc-shaped spaceship.

Saucers appeared in the television series Babylon 5 (1994-1998) as the standard ship design used by a race called the Vree. Aliens in the film Independence Day (1996) attacked humanity in giant city-sized saucer-shaped spaceships.

The sleek, silver flying saucer in particular is seen as a symbol of 1950s culture; the motif is common in Googie architecture and in Atomic Age décor. The image is often invoked retrofuturistically to produce a nostalgic feel in period works, especially in comic science fiction; both Mars Attacks! (1996) and Destroy All Humans! draw on the flying saucer as part of the larger satire of 1950s B movie tropes.