Bug-eyed monster

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Bug-eyed monster is an early convention of the science fiction genre. Extraterrestrials in science fiction of the 1930s were often described (or pictured on covers of pulp magazines) as grotesque creatures with huge, oversized or compound eyes and a lust for women, blood and general destruction. The term is now often abbreviated to BEM.

In the contactee/abductee mythology which grew up quickly beginning in 1952, the blond, blue-eyed and friendly Space Brothers of the 1950s were quickly replaced by small, unfriendly bug-eyed creatures, closely matching in many respects the pulp cover clichés of the 1930s, which have remained the abductor norm since the 1960s.

[edit] Popular Culture

The most frequent "bug-eyed monster" in pop culture is the Daleks from Doctor Who. When the show was created, the BBC producers stated that Doctor Who would be a "hard" scifi show, and there would be no bug-eyed monsters. Writer Terry Nation created the Daleks in the show's second serial. These have frequently been referred to as a bug-eyed monster since that time.^[1]
A 1968 Japanese anime called Yōkai Ningen Bem (妖怪人間ベム) is based on this concept.[1]