An interesting explanation
Guitar goddess Kathy Horner has provided me with a reasonable explanation for all of this.
It seems that all those old television broadcasts are finally reaching far away galazies, and the folks living there have developed a serious craving for popcorn to go with the shows.
Now every time they show up here to get popcorn, the locals get snoopy and manage to get sucked up in their popcorn collecting devices. To discourage this curiousity the visitors have decided that the best thing to do is to "probe" the fools who manage to get sucked up in the popcorn collectors.
:P)
ep