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H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel has inspired adaptations in multiple media, including movies like a 2005 Steven Spielberg blockbuster starring Tom Cruise. The most notorious version may be Orson Welles’ infamous live radio drama in 1938, which caused panic among some listeners by presenting the Martian invasion as a fictionalized newscast.

Richie Cunningham first encountered Robin Williams as Mork on a 1978 episode of Happy Days. Dom DeLuise had initially been considered for the role of Mork. When producer Garry Marshall auditioned alternatives, up-and-comer Robin Williams stood out. When Marshall asked him to take a seat, Williams sat in the chair upside down. Marshall is reported as saying: “It was immediately obvious that he was exactly right for the role: anarchic and a little bit crazy.”

The hero of the original 1979 film was supposed to be a man — until Fox studio president Alan Ladd Jr. suggested, “Why can’t Ripley be a woman?” Director Ridley Scott agreed, and then cast rising star Weaver in a role that would make her a sci-fi and feminist icon (and one that she’d reprise in three sequels).

In his memoir, original Spock actor Leonard Nimoy said he drew on his Jewish upbringing to create the Vulcan salute, with an outstretched thumb and the middle and ring fingers separated. It was a symbol used by Kohanim during High Holidays services to represent the Hebrew letter shin.

ALF, which stood for Alien Life Form, was the brainchild of Tom Patchett and  Paul Fusco, a puppeteer who not only voiced the character but also cocreated the show — and its many spin-offs. In 2023, Fusco teamed with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Channel to create new content featuring the cat-eating alien.