"Mars Attacks" secret weapon was a ripoff from whom?
 

You all remember the spoof SF film "Mars Attacks" where the Earth people defeat the Martians by playing awful music. Slim Whitman singing "Indian Love Call" drove the Martians nuts and exploded them.

This comic trick ending was actually a ripoff from someone who years ago used exactly the same method to defeat alien invaders. His original "weapon" was never credited by the Mars Attacks writers.

Can anyone tell me who invented the original "bad music defeats alien invasion" gimmick?

It was your mum

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093075/

Er, no, nobody named "mum" (don't know who that would be). If you don't know you don't know. Or you do know and are trying to be cute?

When you just post a link but offer ZERO comments yourself, it's often confusing. Please explain.

The link was for "The Gate" where demons came out of a backyard hole and I don't remember music being the way the demons were defeated. I also don't think the baddies were invaders from outer space but were instead supernatural demonic forces. Space invaders aren't usually supernatural.

Or did I misunderstand the posting? Was the link wrong? Thanks.

I like this one.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsxwwhJ6GrY

Hahahaha :D

...this has made my morning.

Well, I don't usually write in 19th century quaint slang unless it's intentional dialect, so "mum" just doesn't fit. Sorry to disappoint.

I'd forgotten the killer tomatoes but my original goes way back from that.

In the old comic strip Li'l Abner, these goofy guys invaded the Earth -- they were sausage shaped w. propellors on their tail. The Earth military countered by getting the world's largest sterero, and playing Nelson Eddy singing "Shortnin' Bread" which caused the invader dudes to surrender outright. So many of them were distraught from the awful music that they committed suicide by running into their pal's propellor tails.