Mars in fiction

The dramatic red color and rapid apparent motion of the planet Mars as seen in the sky of Earth has always made it an object of interest, and this was only increased by early scientific speculations that its surface conditions might be capable of supporting life.

The standard depiction of Mars in fiction until the arrival of planetary probes derives from the astronomers Percival Lowell and Giovanni Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli had observed (or thought he had seen) linear features on the face of Mars, which he thought might be water channels. However, since the Italian word he used for channels was canali, the accounts of his work in English tended to translate that as "canals"; with attendant implications of artificial construction. Lowell's books on Mars expanded on this notion of canals on Mars, and the standard model of Mars as a drying, cooling dying world was established, with ancient Martian civilizations having constructed irrigation works that spanned the planet. This of course, was the origin for a large number of science fiction scenarios.

Some of these concerned the attempts by the Martian race(s) to take the desirable warmer wetter world of Earth:

• The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
• Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon

This was spoofed by Fredric Brown in Martians, Go Home.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, true to form, was more concerned with writing adventure stories, so his novels featuring earthman John Carter on Mars (called by the natives Barsoom) are space opera, with princesses, energy weapons and swords, and exotic animals. Leigh Brackett's The Sword of Rhiannon (1953) is another example of the type.

Other approaches to the planet feature intelligent Martians who are much older and wiser than humans:

• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
• Stanley G. Weinbaum's A Martian Odyssey, in which alien intelligent beings are described who really don't think or act like humans (a rare feature for pulp science fiction of the time)
• C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet, an interesting example of theological science fiction.
• H. Beam Piper's short story "Omnilingual", in which archaeologists excavating the remains of a humanoid Martian civilization find an entire library: but the problem is, what can they use for a Rosetta stone?

Mars is the scene of the last of three recent Space Operas by John Barnes: In the Hall of the Martin King, 2003. The previous two novels were The Duke of Uranium, 2002, and A Princess of the Aerie, 2003. He also sets one of the two Meme Wars novels on Mars: The Sky So Big and Black, 2002.

Many of Robert A. Heinlein's works share a recurring Martian setting. His teenage fiction Red Planet includes some very intelligent Martians that closely resemble the (offstage) Martians of his better known philosophical work Stranger in a Strange Land. Other stories featuring Mars, however, take no notice of native Martians. In The Number of the Beast, the heroes flee Earth in a car capable of flight in six dimensions and find Mars colonized by the British. Podkayne of Mars also happens on Mars, although this Mars has been thoroughly colonized by humans.

Philip K. Dick's Mars adopts the common scenario, but is just used as a backdrop for the interactions of his characters: his Mars is an almost empty, dry land, with isolated communities and individuals, most of whom do not want to be there. (The Days of Perky Pat, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Martian Time Slip). The characters in these stories could be in small communities in the Arizona desert, but placing them on Mars emphasises their isolation, both from one another and from Earth.

After the Mariner and Viking spacecraft had returned pictures of Mars as it really is in 1965, the canals and ancient civilizations had to be abandoned. Roger Zelazny's "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" was the exception to this: knowing the true conditions of Mars, Zelazny deliberately set the story in farewell to the old conception of Mars, complete with canals and an ancient, dying Martian race. (Just as his story "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" was a farewell to the old science fictional Venus).

Authors soon began writing stories based on the new Mars:

• Man Plus by Frederik Pohl, in which an astronaut is cyborged into a form capable of living on Mars.
• Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars), concerned with a centuries-long program of terraforming the planet. His Icehenge also features a Mars in process of terraforming.
• Red Dust by Paul J. McAuley, a story of the failing terraforming of Mars.
• Moving Mars by Greg Bear
• Mars Underground by William K. Hartmann
• Mars Crossing by Geoffrey A. Landis, about a stranded expedition.
• Red Genesis by S.C. Sykes, about a rebellion by human colonists.
• First Landing by Robert Zubrin
• The Martian Race by Gregory Benford

A common theme, particularly amongst American writers, is of a Martian colony in revolt for independence from Earth. This is a major plot element in Bear's, Robinson's and Sykes' books, and was part of the plot of the movie Total Recall and the television series Babylon 5. Many video games also use this element, such as the Red Faction and Zone of the Enders series.

Not taking itself at all seriously was Larry Niven's Rainbow Mars — the title seems to be a lampoon upon Robinson's three-colored Mars trilogy — in which a time machine is used to visit ancient Mars. The only problem being that time travel is impossible, and the machine actually travels back to a fictitious Mars. The protagonist meets a wide variety of different Martians, including most of those from the pre-spaceprobe novels listed above.

• Don't be mislead by another of Niven's novels co-written with Stephen Barnes, the Barsoom Project - despite its title, there is at best a tenuous connection to Mars.

Other stories

• Ananke by Stanislaw Lem (a story in More Tales of Pirx the Pilot)
• Outpost Mars by "Cyril Judd" (C.M. Kornbluth and Judith Merril)
• No Man Friday by Rex Gordon
• The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke
• Voyage by Stephen Baxter

Film and television

• Robinson Crusoe on Mars, a pastiche of the classic Daniel Defoe novel.
• Total Recall, loosely based upon a Philip K. Dick short story, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale".
• Armitage III, an anime by Hiroyuki Ochi.
• Mars Attacks, a satirical film directed by Tim Burton.
• Invaders From Mars, filmed in both the 1950s and 1980s.
• Martian Successor Nadesico, an anime series based on a Manga by Kia Asamiya.
• Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, known as one of the worst movies ever made.
• My Favorite Martian, a television comedy series and film.
• The Man Who Fell to Earth, novel by Walter Tevis, film starring David Bowie and directed by Nicolas Roeg.
• Genesis Climber Mospeada: This Anime series does not actually take place on Mars. However the main character, Stig Bernard, is a Martian Colonist and a soldier in the Mars Base Military.
• Ghosts of Mars, directed by John Carpenter, uses the planet as a science fiction setting for a remake of his earlier Assault on Precinct 13.
• Mission to Mars, a derided and unsuccessful Brian de Palma film.
• The alien Marvin the Martian, a Looney Tunes cartoon character.
• In Star Trek and its spinoffs, some starships are assembled at Utopia Planitia, a region on Mars.
• Many characters in Futurama are associated with Mars University. Amy Wong's parents own one-half of the planet.
• The Japanese anime universe of Cowboy Bebop has numerous television episodes with background depictions of Mars, and the 2001 theatrical movie release Cowboy Bebop : Tengoku No Tobira takes place entirely on Mars during Halloween.
• Red Planet, where a group of astronauts tries to make Mars suitable for human life.
• In Babylon 5, Mars is a Human colony seeking independence from the Earth Alliance. Several of the major characters have close links to Mars in some way and, alongside Centauri Prime and the White Star fleet, Mars is the most common setting for action other than Babylon 5 itself: a Shadow vessel is uncovered by a Human archaeology team on the planet, precipitating the last Shadow War, the Martian government refuses to implement Alliance President Clark's Martial Law order, an event which triggers a Human Civil War; the last major battle of the Human Civil War before the emancipation of Earth is fought in space over Mars; and the Psi-Corps run a secret research facility on the planet experimenting on telepaths.

Other media

• The pop song "Life on Mars?" by David Bowie (which isn't really about life on Mars).
• The classic first-person shooter computer game Doom begins on the moons of Mars.
• The successful first-person shooter Red Faction tells the story of a Martian mining colony that leads a revolt to take control of the autocratic government.
• The computer game Elite 2 starts on Mars in one scenario.
• The role playing game Space: 1889 features an alternate history in which a heroic Mars, complete with natives, is being colonized by the European empires of the 19th century.