'Strange Planet' is a fun comic series that's also a TV show

"Strange Planet" is a webcomic series by cartoonist Nathan W. Pyle that features aliens hilariously and adorably describing everyday experiences in technical terms. The series has also been turned into a show on Apple TV+, as shown in the video above.

I stumbled upon Pyle's work randomly from others on social media sharing his content and found that several of my friends were already following him as well. And I haven't been disappointed since.

Below is a fun example of the comic series featuring a parent describing how the tooth fairy works to their child.

"You'll get what the market demands" in particular made me chuckle.

The "amusing alien outsider" aspect of the series has been compared to "3rd Rock from the Sun" and "Coneheads," and I as someone who's watched both, I agree that it fits in that same genre of comedy.

But beyond the comedy, the series can also be highly relatable. Take for example the below entry to the comic series that features aliens talking about being angry at fictional characters.

Pyle's "Strange Planet" comic series is always a delight to see, and I have no doubt that the TV series is a good time as well, though I unfortunately wouldn't know since Apple TV+ isn't in my roster of streaming services at the moment.

Regardless, I highly recommend giving both the comic and the show a try if you have the time and the means.

Songs with alien metaphors: 'E.T.,' 'Psychofreak,' and 'Who's Laughing Now'

There are a number of great songs with alien metaphors in them, some of which are more direct than others. Let's take a look at a few of my favorites.

E.T. (Teenage Dream version)

The original "Teenage Dream" version of Katy Perry's "E.T." is a mesmerizing melody full of subtly sensual double entendres about alien abduction. A true classic.

The song is both lyrically and sonically sound, and by the time she gets to the bridge, I can completely vibe with the lyrics about how "This is transcendental / On another level."

By contrast, the single version with Kanye West isn't terrible, per se, but I feel like it ruins the effect of the original song. The original is a bit more subtle and metaphorical, whereas Kanye's lyrics are a bit more explicit.

I mean, "I got a dirty mind, I got filthy ways / I'm tryna bathe my ape (Ape) in your Milky Way (Way) / ... They callin' me an alien, a big headed astronaut / Maybe it's because ya boy Yeezy get a** a lot," really? Fine for his usual roster, but not so much when paired with Katy's subtle metaphors.

I'll stick with the original version.

Psychofreak

Camila Cabello and Willow Smith's "Psychofreak" is actually about anxiety and mental health, but it features supernatural elements in the music video, and the end of each chorus is punctuated with, "Sorry, didn't mean to get so dark / Maybe I'm an alien, Earth is hard."

There are a lot of themes of feeling detached and wanting to push past that to connect with others, and this fits quite well with the alien metaphor.

I myself have written a cringy bit of prose about feeling like an alien when I felt detached from people, so I relate to the song pretty hardcore in some aspects.

Likewise, the beat is catchy, and Camila and Willow have an amazing vocal quality both individually and when paired together.

Who's Laughing Now

Jesse J's "Who's Laughing Now" is about how Jessie's living her best life in spite of the bullying she received as a child, but funny enough, there is a reference to aliens in there.

Right in the first verse, there's a set of lines that say, "Hey Jessica, you look like an alien / With green skin, you don't fit in this playpen!" This is apparently in reference to the fact that Jessie's skin looked green due to side effects from her heart medication.

The song is has a punchy beat with cathartic lyrics, and the music video features Jessie playing a variety of adult characters while Adrianna Bertola plays the young version of Jessie who eventually gets her revenge by spraying the mean girls with a fire extinguisher.

It's a fun tune with an equally fun music video.

'Predator' comics and novels should be turned into a TV series

The original installments to the "Predator" movie franchise were overwhelmingly popular, and there have been a number of spinoff movies, comics, novelizations, and more.

In particular, there's a comic called "Predator: 1718" that explains how the pistol from the end of "Predator 2" was taken from a pirate, as shown in the Fact Fiend video above. There are also a number of other comics and novels that give more background into the culture of the Yautja.

I find all this fascinating, and if the franchise is going to keep pumping out content, I think they should make these comics and novels into either movies or an anthology TV series.

There's still so much demand, as shown with recent installments such as "Prey," that it would be worth tapping into a well-built mythos instead of coming up with content on the fly just to milk the franchise.

I'd also love to see an expansion of the mythos that was being built in "Prometheus" and how that comes into play with the "Alien vs. Predator" crossover franchise. That might even be a good time to reel Sigourney Weaver back in by letting the Aliens beat the Predators in at least one installment.

That's even more of a possibility if the comic book series "Fire and Stone" gets adapted.

There's so much potential with all the lore the comics and novels have built up, and I think a solid adaptation is exactly what Hollywood needs to bring the spark of creativity back in the face of all the current reboots, remakes, and revivals.

I'd definitely go see a "Predator" movie in theaters if it seemed to be building on the lore from the comics and novels.

For the eyes of the ranger only: Walker sees aliens in 'Case Closed'

Still frame from the season three intro for "Walker, Texas Ranger" (CBS).

I used to watch "Walker, Texas Ranger" on and off with my mom all the time, and there are a number of episodes that I enjoy, but one that I still think about all these years later is the 1995 episode "Case Closed."

In the episode, Walker (Chuck Norris) and Alex (Sheree J. Wilson) find a little girl wandering alone on a county road in the middle of the night while strange lights come and go in the background. They then run into a military blockade with soldiers demanding that the girl be handed over.

Of course, Walker's jurisdiction on the county road takes precedence and he even draws a shotgun to keep the soldiers away from his truck. Classic. This interaction starts an investigation into the nearby military base and the disappearance of the little girl's father.

What really makes the episode unique though is how this plot is interwoven with local alien sightings. The little girl swears her father was taken by "sky people" and the entire town has had alien sightings on and off for several decades, much like the story of Roswell, New Mexico.

There's even old black and white footage of people being interviewed about alien sightings that gets interspersed throughout the episode, mostly right where the episode would've picked up after a commercial break. An interesting artistic choice.

While there are some moments of doubt with all the unexplained things going on, Walker and Alex mostly seem to think that there's a more logical explanation related to military testing.

To an extent, they're right: the military has been testing a laser defense system, and a set of contractors working on the project have been trying to sell secrets to other foreign powers. Also, the little girl's father was injured during a test, so he's receiving treatment on the base.

But there's a bit of a twist near the end. One of the greedy contractors tells Walker that he "wouldn't believe" where the inspiration for the project comes from, then when Walker, Alex, and a reporter review an old roll of footage, they see something shocking.

The footage is from the crash that started all the alien sightings and when the camera zooms in on a fog-filled container, an alien-like hand with long fingers reaches toward the container's glass cover.

The trio reviewing the footage collectively gasp, and then the show cuts to a current day shot of the military base's lab, zooming in on an open door with fog rolling out, as if to hint that there's still an alien there. And then the incident is never addressed again.

Literally, after the credits roll, it's like that case has been permanently closed because none of the episodes that follow in the entire series address the alien footage ever again.

While I could understand if the trio kept it to themselves for the sake of national security or because they convinced themselves it was something other than aliens, it bothers me that the incident was never even hinted at again. A shocking revelation was reduced to the episodic reset button.

Walker isn't a sci-fi series, but just a small nod to "the incident at Two Rock" would've sufficed.

Regardless, "Case Closed" is an interesting episode, and it was worth rewatching. If you like "Walker, Texas Ranger," you'd probably agree.

'No One Will Save You' review: aliens and isolation combine to make an artsy sci-fi horror

"No One Will Save You," a movie about a town pariah trying to fend off an alien invasion, released as a Hulu original on Sept. 22.

Kaitlyn Dever stars as Brynn Adams, a young woman who lives alone and who has been socially isolated from her community in the wake of an incident that led to the death of her best friend Maude roughly a decade earlier.

Literally, when people see Brynn walking down the street, they give her pointed looks before immediately turning to ignore her. When I say she's hated by the community, I mean she is well and truly hated.

Even after getting the context clues about what exactly happened to Maude, I still couldn't comprehend anyone other than perhaps Maude's parents hating Brynn that much, and even their hatred seemed pretty aggressive all things considered.

I almost didn't care about the alien invasion storyline at times because I spent so much time literally saying out loud, "What did you do? Why does everyone hate you this much?"

That said, the aliens were pretty fascinating. Many of the aliens presented as typical greys, but some of them were actually pretty creatively designed and it left me wondering if there was any lore about different subspecies and their respective purposes.

Aside from the standard design, there were also aliens that had shortened limbs, lengthy spider-like limbs, and even some that looked like sea urchins with facehugger properties. They all still seemed to stem from the same overarching species though.

Another fascinating aspect of the film is the fact that there's almost no dialogue. Sometimes you'll hear other characters say something short like "oh, yeah" in the background, but even then, it's distant or muffled. Likewise, Brynn only says one or two lines of dialogue near the end of the film.

At first glance, this might seem uninteresting or unnatural, but the lack of dialogue actually makes sense for most of the movie. After all, Brynn spends much of the movie alone, ignored, or hiding from the aliens, so it makes sense that there's little to no dialogue.

And even without the dialogue, Dever's visual acting is on point and makes you relate to Brynn as a character. Plus, the movie is only 93 minutes long, so it's not as drawn out as you may initially worry it is. It gives the movie an artistic feel.

Artistic films aren't for everyone, but I highly recommend giving "No One Will Save You" the old college try. Even though it's not exactly my typical kind of movie, I really appreciated the way it was crafted and the performances of the actors.