The ‘Death Breathers’ thing is a primary plot point /story device / world mechanic of the ludicrous, over the top, MARS ATTACKS! from 1996.
Just any case anyone hasn't seen it and wants to avoid spoilers, don't open this
Basically, it barely makes any actual sense, and… thats part of the point, to be a parody of how stupid 50s schlock alien movies were…
The Martians only breathe Nitrogen, and seem to asphyxiate if their helmets and pressure suits are removed or comprimised.
This makes no fucking sense whatsoever for multiple reasons:
Nitrogen is much, much less chemically reactive than Oxygen, and it seems quite unlikely that any kind of Nitrogen based metabolism could evolve basically anywhere, in any organic being, because of this…
Earth’s atmosphere is like… ~70% Nitrogen.
Do… they… need literally 100% Nitrogen?
It… doesn’t seem like the oxygen in the atmosphere is like… causing them to internally combust/melt the way say mustard gas, chlorine gas, makes a human melt from the inside out, by nature of being way way way more chemically reactive than oxygen.
What they do is act like … they’re asphyxiating, they gasp for air, not cough and vomit, eyes watering and burning/melting the way mustard gas fucks up people.
Also, at one point, a ludicrously disguised as a human, martian… is able to go undercover, with no protective pressure suit… because they have… chewing gum, that… releases nitrogen.
Again, if oxygen had a similar effect on them as chlorine gas has on us… this disguised martian should… still be basically burning/melting from being exposed to all the oxygen, and thats overlooking the ludicrousness of… nitrogen releasing chewing gum
The ‘Death Breathers’ thing is a primary plot point /story device / world mechanic of the ludicrous, over the top, MARS ATTACKS! from 1996.
Just any case anyone hasn't seen it and wants to avoid spoilers, don't open this
Basically, it barely makes any actual sense, and… thats part of the point, to be a parody of how stupid 50s schlock alien movies were…
The Martians only breathe Nitrogen, and seem to asphyxiate if their helmets and pressure suits are removed or comprimised.
This makes no fucking sense whatsoever for multiple reasons:
Nitrogen is much, much less chemically reactive than Oxygen, and it seems quite unlikely that any kind of Nitrogen based metabolism could evolve basically anywhere, in any organic being, because of this…
Earth’s atmosphere is like… ~70% Nitrogen.
Do… they… need literally 100% Nitrogen?
It… doesn’t seem like the oxygen in the atmosphere is like… causing them to internally combust/melt the way say mustard gas, chlorine gas, makes a human melt from the inside out, by nature of being way way way more chemically reactive than oxygen.
What they do is act like … they’re asphyxiating, they gasp for air, not cough and vomit, eyes watering and burning/melting the way mustard gas fucks up people.
Also, at one point, a ludicrously disguised as a human, martian… is able to go undercover, with no protective pressure suit… because they have… chewing gum, that… releases nitrogen.
Again, if oxygen had a similar effect on them as chlorine gas has on us… this disguised martian should… still be basically burning/melting from being exposed to all the oxygen, and thats overlooking the ludicrousness of… nitrogen releasing chewing gum