to give him a human form from DNA acquired in 1928. He is captured by the military but escapes with help from Helen. He meets with a man named Mr. Wu (actually another alien of Klaatu's race in disguise) to discuss whether humanity should be destroyed. Klaatu orders smaller spheres—previously hidden on Earth—to remove animal species from the planet (cf. Noah's Ark) and activates Gort to destroy humanity. After spending time with Helen and her stepson Jacob, as well as talking with Professor Barnhardt, Klaatu sacrifices his physical form to stop Gort. His spaceship/sphere then departs Earth. Reeves' Klaatu shows very little emotion, and explains this because Klaatu "is an alien entity contained in a human body, and when he is looking out of that body, he is just looking out." The filmmakers had "decided that in the beginning he should just be very different. That involved having no natural human gestures or behavioral signs but appearing more flat and expressionless. He has a concentrated way of seeing the world." The original Klaatu knew little of Earth, and spent most of the film learning; whereas in the later film, another member of Klaatu's race had been sent to Earth decades earlier. Notes References Extraterrestrial characters in films Science fiction film characters Literary characters introduced in 1940