8. The Blob (1958)

The Threat: Quivering mass of jelly that arrived by meteorite and displays a voracious capacity to expand with each new victim it engulfs.

The Fallout: As what one assumes is a baby blob, the gelatinous beast creeps up a chap’s stick and sets out consuming him, before moving on to gobble up hospital staff.

The Solution (Nick): “Dry ice would seem to be a good strategy. As ever, any response to hostile aliens would doubtless be to find a successful strategy, experimenting with a whole range of weapons and tactics.”

9. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

The Threat: Duck-waddling, saucer-eyed botanist alien whose USPs include psychic connection, levitation and telephones.

The Fallout:  Nothing too worrisome. Spilled M&Ms, familial disturbance. That said, ETs can’t handle booze and if they’ve formed a wireless connection with your kid, there might be mischief at school.

The Solution (Nick): “Despite some of my rather warlike answers, needless to say, the government and military wouldn’t try to harm ET. But we would undoubtedly want to see if we could get him to tell us the secrets of psychic powers, faster than- light travel, etc.”

10. It Came From Outer Space (1953)

The Threat: An octopus-like creature with tentacles. They have ray guns but prefer not to use them. Instead, they temporarily replace humans with robots and send them shopping for electrical goods.

The Fallout: Trouble caused ranges from minor rock falls to mass McCarthy-era paranoia. But it turns out the aliens just needed parts to fix their ship.

The Solution: “A nice example of why it’s always a good idea to try to establish a dialogue first. What looked like an alien invasion actually wasn’t.”

11. Species (1995)

The Threat:  Spawned in a lab from spliced alien and human DNA, Sil grows fast and displays remarkable intelligence and regenerative abilities. In alien form, she wields a skin-piercing tongue and nipple tentacles.

The Fallout: A range of Sil-kills involve dismemberment, thumb-ectomies and exploding cars. Men are used to assist impregnation, then are quickly discarded. Honestly.

The Solution (Nick): “Given my experience of investigating UFOs for the government, I think it would be essential for me to take charge of the impregnation process!”

12. Mars Attacks! (1996)

The Threat: Martians who fly hub-cap-like ships and wield toy-shop death-ray guns that disintegrate foes.

The Fallout: Mayhem. The Martians tempt world leaders to peace meetings and then unleash slaughter. “Ack!”

The Solution (Nick): “There’s an old saying that if what you’re doing isn’t working, you should try something else. I’m not sure that the military would think to use yodelling, but sonic weaponry could be tried if more conventional weapons failed.”