The summer of 2012 sure has brought us our share of aliens.  Aliens tried to destroy New York in The Avengers.  Agents K and J were back on the job policing aliens in Men in Black III.  And Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated Prometheus is sure to bring show us a few extra terrestrial beings Alien prequel or not. 

As far as Killer Reviews is concerned, there are still not enough aliens gracing the large multiplexes across our great lands.  Some of our favourite film characters of all-time are aliens and that brought our roundtable to a discussion on the Top Aliens of All-Time. 

With no shortage of alien creatures on which to discuss you would think that the list would come easily and without effort.  Yeah, we thought so too.  But with so many on which to choose, the hard part was eliminating some of the more popular choices (good-bye Yoda) and sticking with a list that represents our favourites.

Counting down from 10, here are our Favourite Film Aliens of All-Time.

10.  E.T.  : The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

Steven Spielberg’s classic film about an abandoned alien that is taken in by a young boy and his family tugged at heart strings while becoming the highest grossing film of all-time (it now sits at #35).  The alien was a strange looking specimen.  He had an elongated head, large eyes, a glowing finger and chest and was able to stretch his neck in an unworldly fashion.  Yet, for all of its awkwardness, it was a loveable creature.  Audiences rooted for his survival in our corrupt and scientific world and Spielberg has been smart enough to keep the words ‘reboot’ or ‘sequel’ away from this treasured gem.

9.  Bugs in Starship Troopers (1997)

The bugs in Starship Troopers were as deadly as E.T. was lovable.  Based on Robert E. Heinlein’s 1959 book, Paul Veerhoven brought to life the story about the future’s military response to a bug invasion.  These bugs were nasty.  They came in swarms and used their deadly arachnid limbs to puncture, severe and tear apart the human resistance.  Luckily the world had Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards to help us fight back. 

8.  Spock from Star Trek

Leonard Nimoy could find a cure for cancer tomorrow, but he will still always be remembered for his portrayal as Vulcan Spock in both the Star Trek television series and the feature films that followed.  Spock was intelligent and (dare we say it), logical.  He consistently used the brain between his pointed ears to save our earthly asses more than a few times.  And don’t even get me started on how cool Zachery Quinto is in the new Star Trek films.

7.  Cloverfield creature in Cloverfield (2008)

Cloverfield opened big ($40 million) and faded fast (less than $80 million total), but that didn’t stop us from including the beast that tears apart Manhattan as one of our faves.  The film uses the unfortunate device of the ‘found footage’ tapes, but even still, the creature that towers over many of the city’s structures and snaps off the head of the Statue of Liberty was damn cool.  And the small and deadly spiderlike creatures that come with it are equally awesome!

6.  The aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

You don’t get to see the aliens that show themselves in an isolated wilderness area atop a mountain, but we love them all the same.  They were neither threatening nor were they overly intricate.  They were just humanlike beings with longer arms and bigger heads.  Still, the impact they had on our cinematic lives is enough to get them on the list.

5.  Chewbacca in Star Wars (1977)

We didn’t have a clue what he was saying, but this big, shaggy dog-like creature is clearly one of our faves.   Chewbacca was loyal to the end.  He stuck by his pal Han Solo and fought with the Rebellion against the evil empire.  He donned a crossbow laser (equally cool) and was a mechanic, a pilot, a handyman and a fighter.  Best.  Wookie.  Ever. 

4.  The thing from The Thing (1982)

No more Mr. Nice Guy.  The alien in John Carpenter’s The Thing was a shape shifting nasty character that worked short order on the twelve scientists and workers in an Antarctic outpost. Deadly, gooey, gross, destructive, growing and seemingly pissed off, this alien is one that you hope to never meet in real life. 

3.  Aliens from Mars Attacks! (1996)

Tim Burton’s aliens in the all-star casted Mars Attacks! Were fun (and funny looking), yet they had one thing on their oversized brains – the destruction of earth’s inhabitants.  With their laser guns and protective head cases, these aliens rocked.  Too bad their weakness was music.

2.  Alien in Alien (1979) or Aliens (1986)

Creature lays eggs in a human host.  Creature grows inside host eventually bursting out of chest.  Creature then grows rapidly and uses its size and jack-in-the-box type jaw to kill its prey.  Oh, and it has acid for blood as a defence mechanism.  Everything about alien is awesome. We might not understand how he can move so stealthly, but we don’t care either.  He’s a bad ass motherfucka that is only out-cooled by…..

1.  Predator from Predator (1987)

An extra terrestrial warrior from a distant planet that fought and carved its way through Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Bill Duke and Sonny Landham (he had some trouble with Arnold Schwarzenegger but who hasn’t).  He was introduced in John McTiernan’s brilliant 1987 classic Predator.  He is slightly larger than a human.  He has an arsenal of weapons at his disposal.  He has a cloaking device and a self destruct mechanism attached to his wrist.  He makes Aliens his bitch (see AVP).  And he’s one “ugly motherfucker”.  Predator stands alone atop our list.