Going Green

Memo to Sci-Fi Movie Development Dept.Re: Plant People ConceptHere are the specifics for the aliens in our next movie, VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF THE PLANT PEOPLE. The people there are vegetarians, eating salads, seaweed drinks, etc. They are green, because when they digest their meals, their bodies move some of the plant matter to their skin. They use it to capture energy from the sun through photosynthesis. So the aliens sit outside in the sun a lot, getting lots of energy and growing to huge sizes, which is why they're so hard to kill when Earthlings show up. I see the people from Blue Man Group--just add some yellow and we're set. Or maybe William Dafoe? Behold, Hollywood, the sea slug Elysia chlorotica. This emerald green slug grazes on algae. As it breaks down the algae, it preserves their photosynthetic structures, called plastids. The plastids are shipped to the ...