Pod People (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
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Pod people is a nickname given to an alien species featured in the 1955 novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1978 remake of the same name and the 1993 film Body Snatchers.
[edit] History from the novel
The pod people are a race of nomadic extraterrestrial parasites originating from a dying planet. Realizing that it was only a matter of time before the planet's resources would be completely depleted, the pods somehow evolved the ability to defy gravity and leave their planet's atmosphere in the search of a new world to colonize. For millennia, the pods floated in space like spores, propelled by the solar winds, some occasionally landing on inhabited planets. There, they'd replace the dominant species by spawning emotionless replicas and use up all of the planet's resources, only to then leave in search of yet a new world. This apparently was the fate of the civilizations that once inhabited Mars and the Moon. The pods' sole purpose in life was that of individual survival with no thought given to the civilizations they conquered or the resources they squandered. Their invasion of Earth was a short-lived one. Unable to tolerate the sheer determination humanity displayed in defence, the pods abandoned the planet, leaving behind a small population of duplicates, which died off shortly after.
[edit] Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 film)
One of the pod people hints at their extraterrestrial origin and purpose without fully explaining it. In the end the hero, played by Kevin McCarthy, gets away from the town and tells his story to a psychiatrist. A truck carrying pods is involved in an accident and the psychiatrist believes the story. He then asks the FBI and police to quarantine the town. The audience is left to only wonder whether they were successful or not.
[edit] Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
The origin remains the same though only hinted at like in the 1956 version. This time those taken over can scream in a creepy alien voice, used to alert other pod people of those not yet taken. They also seem to exhibit a kind of extra-sensory perception. When one character stabs his almost formed pod double another pod person immediatly emits the alien scream. Later when the characters are trying to call the authorities the operator knows his name without it being said. This version does not end with the same hope the novel and previous movie do. This movie ends with the pod people taking over almost everyone on Earth. The movie shows several ships being stockpiled with pods to be sent out into other parts of the world. In the very last scene Veronica Cartwright's character is happy to see the hero, played by Donald Sutherland, only for him to emit the alien scream. Showing that despite their best efforts they were unable to stop the alien force.
