Mars

"Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us."

―H. G. Wells^[src]


Mars
Aliases:	Barsoom ^[1] Ma'aleca'andra ^[2]
Category:	Planet
Galaxy:	Milky Way Galaxy
System:	Sol system
Residents:	Martians

Mars is an actual planet and is located in the Milky Way Galaxy in the Sol system. It is the fourth planet from the sun and is often referred to as the "Red Planet". It is the closest planetary mass near to the planet Earth. Mars takes its name from Mars, the God of War from Greek and Roman mythology, who is also known by his Hellenistic name, Ares. Aside from Earth, Mars has been featured in more science fiction multimedia projects than any other actual planet.

In fiction[]

Devil Girl from Mars: The Martians are on the verge of extinction, and there is a drive to repopulate the race. To this end, leather-clad Queen Nyah comes to Earth to abduct viable male specimens to be used for breeding purposes. And if they don't like it, she's got a big robot enforcer to convince them of the error of their ways. Yeah... Martians are dicks like that.

Escape from Mars: In the 1999 television movie, Escape from Mars, a NASA research team from the mid 2010s attempts the first manned space flight to Mars. The trip is wrought with peril and complications stemming from everything between computer malfunctions to personality clashes.

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: In the 1964 B-movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, the people of Mars have established a rigid social-economic atmosphere where their children are raised in strict observances of education and tradition, bereft of any sense of carefree fun. Observing Earth’s mythological figure Santa Claus, a Martian family decides that this is just the sort of individual required to break their children free from a generations-long paradigm. To this end, they decide to abduct Kris Kringle and ferry him back to Mars where he will be forced to administer gifts and kindness to Martian children.

Red Planet: In the 2000 film Red Planet, excessive pollution and overpopulation threatens to make Earth of the year 2056 unlivable, so a mission is set underway to terraform the planet Mars. During the journey, the team of scientists discovers evidence of a Martian form of insect. After great hardship and several deaths, they theorize that research on the insects may hold the key towards repairing the ecological damage done to the planet Earth. The mission

Species: In the 1998 movie Species II, a manned space mission to Mars, in which an astronaut named Patrick Ross is infected with alien DNA and brings it back to Earth, where it eventually takes host in a woman's body, giving birth to an alien creature of the same race as Sil.

Total Recall: Mars is the primary setting for the 1990 sci-fi/action movie Total Recall. In the film, an unscrupulous industrialist named Vilos Cohaagen maintains a monopoly on Mars and searches for a mythological alien artifact that will create a breathable atmosphere on the planet. Cohaagen wants to destroy the device as it will threaten his control over the human and mutant colonists living on the planet. A construction worker from Earth named Douglas Quaid finds himself siding with the Martian resistance against Cohaagen, even though there is evidence suggesting that Quaid is actually Cohaagen’s number one enforcer. In the end, Quaid maintains his loyalty to the rebels and finds the device, creating a breathable atmosphere on Mars.

War of the Worlds: War of the Worlds is an 1898 novel written by H.G. Wells, which chronicles a Martian invasion of the planet Earth. The book has been adapted several times in film and television, most notably the 1953 sci-fi film War of the Worlds by Byron Haskin and the 2005 film version of War of the Worlds by Steven Spielberg. There has also been a low-budget version of War of the Worlds, also released in 2005 as well as its sequel, War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave, released in 2008. Although the original story has very little to do with the planet itself, it does present the Martian race and the technology available to them. War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave actually takes place on Mars.

Martians[]

A Martian refers to any sentient being who was born on the planet Mars. The term Martian may also apply to the culture of Mars, any number of its spoken languages, and anything else relating to the glorious red planet. As stories of Martians have entered into basically every element of pop culture media, there is no exacting definition of what a Martian is, beyond their planet of origin. As such, every film, television series, short story, novel, comic book and video game will offer up its own depiction of a Martian.

One of the earliest depictions of Martians came about by British writer H.G. Wells when he penned his infamous 1897 serialized story, War of the Worlds in Pearson's Magazine. Little was presented terms of the Martians themselves, but they were shown to be a conquering race, with large tripod death-machines that could project immense energy beams. As they alien beings were unaccustomed to Earth's atmosphere, the people of Earth were able to destroy the Martians by way of exposure to bacteria. War of the Worlds was adapted into an American film in 1953 by director Byron Haskin, and again in 2005 by Steven Spielberg. There have also been various low-budget adaptations of the story, as well as a War of the Worlds television series. ^[3]^[4]^[5]

Another early interpretation of Martian culture came about in 1912 when author Edgar Rice Burroughs began writing his "Barsoom" series of adventure stories, which were first published in All-Story Magazine. Featuring the heroic Earth hero John Carter, Burroughs' tales took place primarily on the planet Mars, which the native inhabitants referred to as Barsoom. As such, the indigenous people of Mars were known as Barsoomians. There were two sub-classes of Barsoomians presented here, the red-hued humanoids represented by characters such as Dejah Thoris and the hulking four-armed green-skinned Tarks, represented by individuals like Tars Tarkas. ^[6]

Then there's Marvin the Martian. He was a character featured in the Looney Toons stable of characters and would make infrequent appearances in the various spin-off projects. Introduced in 1948 in the episode "Hardevil Hare", Marvin was presented as a short humanoid in gladiatorial attire, similar to that of a Roman warrior. His face was never seen, and was only presented as a completely black featureless void with no other characteristics save for his large eyes. Marvin was a conqueror by instinct and was perpetually threatening to destroy the Earth with his various Martian weapons, such as his P-38 Space Modulator.

An altogether different interpretation of Martians can be seen in films such as Mars Attacks!, which is actually based upon a series of trading cards by Topps. These Martians were predicted as three-foot high bald semi-humanoids with large heads, larger eyes, no lips and a propensity to shout "Ack-Aak!" wherever they went. A warlike species by nature, they came to Earth in the mid-1990s and began zapping everything in sight with their death rays. It was only through the clever use of dreadful music being piped through an amplifier that the people of Earth were able to drive them back.

DC Comics stories present two different classifications of Martian. There are the more well-known Green Martians, represented by individuals such as J'onn J'onzz, aka the Martian Manhunter, and there are the more predatory White Martians, which are more monstrous in appearance and are considered little more than psychopathic animals. Both breeds of Martians are shape-shifters, able to assume any form within a limited range of mass and volume. In their natural state, Green Martians are tall, slender bipedal humanoids with angular heads. Classically however, J'onn J'onzz has always taken a more traditional appearance and most people see him as a muscular, bald green-skinned human with a beetle-brow.

In some instances there are Martians that are wholly indistinguishable from regular humans. On the 1963-1966 CBS television series My Favorite Martian, the character of Uncle Martin appeared as a normal middle-aged Earth human. In the 2015 Ridley Scott feature film, The Martian, actor Matt Damon played an astronaut named Mark Watney, who was stranded on the Red Planet and became classified as a Martian.

Films that feature Mars[]

TV shows that feature Mars[]

Comics that feature Mars[]

Novels that feature Mars[]

Characters from Mars[]

Appearances[]

Films[]

Comics[]

Novels[]

External Links[]

References[]

↑ In the "Warlord of Mars" franchise, this is what the native inhabitants of Mars call their planet. Martians are referred to as "Barsoomians".
↑ This is the name for Mars by the Green Martians and White Martians of the DC Universe.
↑ War of the Worlds (novel)
↑ War of the Worlds (1953)
↑ War of the Worlds (2005/II)
↑ A Princess of Mars; Edgar Rice Burroughs; 1912.

[1] In the "Warlord of Mars" franchise, this is what the native inhabitants of Mars call their planet. Martians are referred to as "Barsoomians".

[2] This is the name for Mars by the Green Martians and White Martians of the DC Universe.

[3] War of the Worlds (novel)

[4] War of the Worlds (1953)

[5] War of the Worlds (2005/II)

[6] A Princess of Mars; Edgar Rice Burroughs; 1912.

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