Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)

In the film The Day the Earth Stood Still, Klaatu, portrayed by Michael Rennie, arrives in Washington, D.C. in a flying saucer alongside Gort, a robotic companion.He asks Klaatu for a demonstration of power to show the potential threat the extraterrestrial alliance poses if Earth disrupts the peace in space.In a gathering of scientists, Klaatu gives an ultimatum: Earth can join other spacefaring worlds, where peace is maintained through a powerful force of robots similar to Gort or face destruction.The two plan to destroy humanity to prevent the destruction of the planet, while preserving animal species in vessels similar to the concept of Noah's Ark.[3] As corroborating in-story evidence, Westfahl points to Klaatu's line about being "neighbours" and a newspaper headline that reads "'Man from Mars' escapes from army hospital!".[3][4] Moreover, Westfahl writes that portraying Martians as parental figures "is a ubiquitous trope in science fiction", and "It is a tradition that Klaatu fits into quite nicely.