Science Fiction Cliches and The Musical Expression Thereof

So I came across this list of science fiction cliches. About a third of the way down the page is this one:

Eyes that glow (sometimes accompanied by minor-key chords in TV and film)

First of all, there’s no such thing as a minor-key chord. There are minor chords, but minor chords exist quite happily in major key progressions (and vice versa), especially when they’re built on the 2nd or 6th interval from the key root.

But yeah, they just meant minor chord, why get all technical, right?

Well, because glowing alien eyes are never accompanied by minor chords. They’re accompanied by diminished chords. Not only do they have the flat 3rd that the minor does, they also have a flat 5th. That makes all the difference in the world. A minor chord just sounds sad. Are glowing alien eyes sad? No. They’re fucking creepy. And for fucking creepy, diminished is definitely the way to go. If not diminished then augmeted (sharp the 3rd and the 5th), which can be pretty creepy too. Throw in a flat 7th and/or 9th for extra fun. If you can work a theramin in somewhere, all the better. Or some synth portamento.

Yeah, so exactly one of my regular readers understands what the fuck I’m talking about. And incidentally, he’s probably the only one who will appreciate the sci-fi cliches. I probably just should’ve emailed this to him, but then I haven’t posted anything here in forever.