Are we alone in the universe? This question has boggled everyone’s mind, and no one can determine whether the answer being yes or no would be scarier. However, while things such as the Wow Signal and Phoenix Lights do exist as seemingly unexplained phenomena that intellectuals are genuinely mesmerized by, those who claim to have met extraterrestrial life are often dismissed as mistaken, lying for their own gain, or labeled as insane. While People of Earth makes no effort to convince its audience that these kinds of people aren’t odd, it does propose a comedic yet still frightening hypothetical: what if we aren’t alone, and what if those beings have been among us for centuries already?
With Conan O'Brien back on HBO Max with Season 3 of Conan O'Brien Must Go, there’s no better time to revisit one of the stranger shows he helped bring to television. The Conan O’Brien-produced sitcom follows Ozzie (Wyatt Cenac), an investigative journalist whose life is upended when he meets a group of people called StarCrossed, who all believe they have been abducted by aliens, with three species being identified: Whites, a Nordic, kind alien; Grays, a species more akin to typical representations of small-body, big-headed aliens; and Reptilians, the equivalent of the lizard-people conspiracy theory. While this may seem like a typical sitcom aiming to have you laughing with each scene, there is an unexpected depth to both the characters and themes that is very welcome in how it makes us engage with the potentially silly plot. Even the plot itself is a mystery that is constantly being peeled back, keeping the audience on their toes and the momentum high.
Each Character in ‘People of Earth’ Is Both Comedic and Tragic
Our protagonist, Ozzie, leaves a prestigious news organization to move to a small town called Beacon and lives in a motel. The leader of the group of “experiencers” (as they prefer to be called over abductees), Gina (Ana Gasteyer), is an alcoholic who has given up being a therapist and barely keeps it together when dealing with her clients in StarCrossed, and Richard (Brian Huskey) is so obsessed with the idea of everyone being reptilians that he loses his wife and is desperate for love.
WhichSci-Fi WorldWould You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
The Matrix
Mad Max
Blade Runner
Dune
Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
D Water. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on.
E Ships and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
A That reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant.
B A raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left.
C Being identified. Once someone with power decides you’re a problem, you’re already out of time.
D Being outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn’t even know I was playing.
E The Empire tightening its grip until there’s nowhere left to run.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
A Subvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it.
B Ignore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better.
C Appear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy.
D Manoeuvre within it carefully. You can’t beat a system you refuse to understand.
E Resist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
A
Underground bunkers and server rooms — cramped,
artificial,
but with access
to everything that matters.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing.
Having a reason to is another.
AAnk waki ng others up—
dismantling th e illusion so no one else has to live inside it.
BA finding somewhere—
or someone—
worth protecting.
A reason to keep moving.
CA nsw ers.
Understanding what I am,
what any of this means,
before time runs out.
DA legacy—
shaping th e future in a way that outlasts me by generations.
EA freedom—
for myself,
for others,
for every world still living under someone else’s boot.
REVEAL MY WORLD →
Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to th e world your instincts were built for.
This is th e universe your temperament,
your survival instincts,
and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance,Zion
The Matrix
You took th e red pill along time ago—probably before anyone offered ittoyou.
You’re asystems thinker whocan’t help but notice theseams in things.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t rewardthe cleverorthewell-connected—it rewards thosewhoarehardtokillandhardertobreak.That’syou.
community,
oracauselargerthanthenexthorizon.
Los Angeles,2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here becauseyouknowhowtoexistinmoralgreyareaswithoutlosingyourselfcompletely.
keepyourcirclesmall,andaskthequestionsothersprefernottoanswer.
