I for one welcome our new overlords (1977)

added Jul 21, 2009 at 03:52PM UTC

7 Comments
Suggest Changes

This submission is currently being researched & evaluated!
You can help confirm this entry by contributing facts, media, and other evidence of notability and mutation.

Overlord meme

The Overlord meme is a snowclone using the following template:I, for one, welcome our new X overlords.The following variation is also popular:I, for one, welcome our new X masters.Here X describes (often in a humorous or overgeneralized fashion) some (often corporate or government) entity that is making a power grab.

It is used to express mock submission, usually for the purpose of humor, and became popular in the early 21st century, on internet forums such as Slashdot.

Origin

The low-budget 1977 science fiction horror film Empire of the Ants (starring Joan Collins) is allegedly the origin of the phrase “I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords”.

The quote gained popularity after the 1994 episode of The Simpsons, “Deep Space Homer”, when news announcer Kent Brockman believes the Earth to be under invasion by giant space ants. Fearing for his life, he announces his willingness to collaborate with the insectoid invaders:

“One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.”

from http://en.allexperts.com/e/o/ov/overlord_meme.htm

Showing 1-6 of 6 photos

Add Photo

Login or Sign Up to add photos.

7 Comments

Chris Menning
Jul 21, 2009 at 04:03PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

I always thought this had more to do with Arthur C. Clarke’s sci fi novel, “Childhood’s End” in which the aliens who conquer the humans identify themselves as “The Overlords” in 1953.

And in this case, I think the “Overlords” meme is as too strong of a history pre-internets.

But let me know what you think.

Chris Menning
Jul 21, 2009 at 04:05PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Also, 1994 is a dubious date to link to an Internet Phenomenon. Check out my deadpooled “That’s What She Said” article:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thats-what-she-said

AK-
Jul 21, 2009 at 04:20PM UTC , AK- wrote:

Im not really sure either, but I think it should be considered as a meme because it’s so extremely popular. I think it would be good to see what other people think about this.

AK-
Jul 21, 2009 at 04:21PM UTC , AK- wrote:

…since I dont have much experience with this “meme”.

Captain Blubber
Jul 21, 2009 at 07:59PM UTC , Captain Blubber wrote:

Haven’t we decided Simpsons equals not meme?

I’ve seen way more “Ze goggles! Zey do nothing!” instances then instances of this and ZGZDN sits with the likes of Rap Chicken and Super Robo Jesus in the deadpool.

Chris Menning
Jul 22, 2009 at 12:32PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Blubber, you bring up a good point.

When Ze Goggles was submitted, I was hard set on a mindset of “if it just rehashes a joke from a manstream series, it’s not a meme” but since we’re always covering memes that are more niche and more obscure, I think we might want rethink some of that.

I’m going to start a new thread in Discussions on the “from the mainstream” trait and hopefully we can reach some kind of concensus.

mofozalgotime
Oct 14, 2009 at 10:10AM UTC , mofozalgotime wrote:

This is all the rage on Slashdot.

Login or Sign Up to participate!