The Fancy Bastard Forum

On a personal level, if someone told me aliens had landed in Times Square, I would be somewhat skeptical but hopeful that the story was true. I would try to verify the claim, which shouldn't be too hard if it were true. Assuming the story was sufficiently verified by independent third parties, I would give the story the benefit of the doubt but still maintain a nominal level of "it could always be a hoax", the level of which being dependent on how elaborate the event was.

As for us as a species, there are the questions of where the occurrence took place, who the witnesses were, etc. If it were something like the new "V" where there was a ship over every major world city, that would be pretty hard to deny. In fact, I think most of the cities would probably look just like NYC did in that first episode. But if it was one ship in Salina, KS, there's plenty of reason to be doubtful.

Then there's the whole issue of the aliens' intentions. If they claim to be here to dominate and enslave us, that would suck, but at least we can be reasonably certain they don't have a hidden agenda. If they claim benevolence, though, there are going to be plenty of skeptics that their motives aren't pure, again, just like in "V".

And this is all just for aliens. There are a hundred other situations that could have different reactions, responses, and outcomes, on both the personal and species levels.

My thought is that the "Token Skeptic" is there for the sole reason of asking all the questions that we haven't asked yet, so that we can feel slightly superior for having thought of it (whatever 'it' is) in the first place.
In movies that are lacking that character, I have a much harder time accepting some of the more outrageous ideas the movie puts forth.
"Signs" is a perfect example of this. At no point does any character even come close to mentioning the stupidity of an alien race that's capable of interstellar travel coming to a planet comprised of 75% of a substance that can kill them.
(That was a fantastically complicated sentence to actually type...)
And that bugs me.
A movie like ID4, on the other hand - which takes "turn off your brain and just enjoy the shiny" to a whole other level - at least makes a passing attempt (albeit ridiculous, silly, and and borderline offensive to anyone with a single geek gene) at explaining themselves. I appreciate that they did that if for no other reason than I have something to fall back on if I can't think of an explanation on my own.

I'm fairly sure I would be a 'reserved believer' in any given sci/fi situation. I won't believe everything wholeheartedly, but unless I witness the event myself, I'll at least give the benefit of the doubt to whomever DID see it and withhold further judgment until I get more information.