Stage and Screen Stories - Don Juan Visits the Planet Mars

---

No canals were found; while scientists did not believe that Mars was a moist planet, the lack of surface water surprised them. By the s, the ideas of canals and ancient civilizations had to be abandoned. Authors soon began writing stories based on the new Mars frequently treating it as a desert planet. Most of these works feature humans struggling to tame the planet, and some of them refer to terraforming using technology to transform a planet's environment to be Earthlike. A common theme, particularly among American writers, is that of a Martian colony fighting for independence from Earth.

It is also part of the plot of the movie Total Recall and the television series Babylon 5. A historical rebellion of Mars against Earth is also mentioned in the Star Trek series of novels, which are not considered canon. In the decades following Mariner and Apollo, the once-popular subgenre of realistic stories about a first expedition to Mars fell out of fashion, possibly due to the failure of the Apollo Program to continue on to Mars.

The early s saw a revival and re-envisioning of realistic novels about Mars expeditions. Early novels in this renaissance were Jack Williamson 's novel Beachhead and Ben Bova 's novel Mars both , which envisioned large-scale expeditions to Mars according to the thinking of the s. Landis 's Mars Crossing , and Robert Zubrin 's First Landing , which took as their starting points the smaller and more focused expedition strategies evolved in the late s, mostly building on the concepts of Mars Direct.

Several post-Mariner works are homages to the older phase of Mars fiction, circumventing the scientific picture of a dry and lifeless Mars with an unbreathable atmosphere through such science fiction generic staples as positing its future terraforming , or creating alternate history versions of Mars, where Burroughs' Barsoom , Bradbury's Martian Chronicles or The War of the Worlds are literal truth. Nostalgia for the older Mars also frequently appears in comics and role-playing games, particularly of the steampunk genre:.

In the following works of fiction, the Martian setting is of secondary importance to the work as a whole. The Martian is a favorite character of classical science fiction; he was frequently found away from his home planet, often invading Earth, but sometimes simply a lonely character representing alienness from his surroundings. Martians, other than human beings transplanted to Mars, became rare in fiction after Mariner, except in exercises of deliberate nostalgia — more frequently in some genres, such as comics and animation, than in written literature. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. April Learn how and when to remove this template message. This article may contain minor, trivial or unrelated fictional references. Trivia or references unimportant to the overall plot of a work of fiction should be edited to explain their importance or deleted. Archived from the original on The New York Times. Tom's Hardware in Italian.

The FictionMags Index

Archived from the original on April 24, Retrieved September 26, Old Mars Edited by George R. Martin and Gardner Dozois". Retrieved 27 February Mars becomes the "Head" of the system, giving universal healthcare, free education, and an abundance of food. However, this sparks illegal immigration from Earth, so to ease the population strain on the Blue Planet, Martian scientists and engineers are soon put to the task of creating asteroid cities; where small planetoids of the Belt are hollowed out, given a spin to produce gravity , and a mini-sun is created to produce light and heat.

With a vast increase in sciences, technologies, and spacecraft manufacturing, this begins the "Accelerando"; where humankind spreads its civilization throughout the Solar System, and eventually beyond. As Venus, the Jovian moons , the Saturnian moons , and eventually Triton are colonized and terraformed in some way, Jackie Boone the granddaughter of John Boone, the first man to walk on Mars from the first book takes an interstellar vessel made out of an asteroid to another star system twenty light-years away, where they will start to terraform the planets and moons found there.

The remaining First Hundred are generally regarded as living legends. Reports of Hiroko's survival are numerous, and purported sightings occur all over the colonized solar system, but none are substantiated.

No customer reviews

Nadia and Art Randolph lead a constitutional congress in which a global system of government is established that leaves most cities and settlements generally autonomous, but subject to a central representative legislature and two systems of courts, one legal and the other environmental. The environmental court is packed with members of the Red faction as a concession in exchange for their support in the congress, as much of their power was broken when they attempted and failed to violently expel remaining UN forces early on after the second revolution of Green Mars; yet they still retained enough power to stymie constitutional negotiations.

Vlad, Marina, and Ursula, the original inventors of the longevity treatments, introduce a new economic system that is a hybrid of capitalism, socialism, and environmental conservationism. Following the adoption of the new constitution, Nadia is elected the first president of Mars and serves competently, although she does not enjoy politics.

She and Art work together closely, and eventually fall in love and have a child. Sax Russell devotes himself to various scientific projects, all the while continuing to recover from the effects of his stroke. Since the second revolution, he feels enormous guilt that his pro-terraforming position became the dominant one at the expense of the goals of Ann's anti-terraforming stance, as Sax and Ann have come to be regarded as the original champions of their respective positions.

Sax becomes increasingly preoccupied with seeking forgiveness and approval from Ann, while Ann, depressed and bitter from her many political and personal losses, is suicidal and refuses to accept any more longevity treatments. However, when Sax witnesses Ann collapse into a coma during an attempt to demonstrate to her the beauty of the terraformed world, he arranges for her to be resuscitated and to be treated with the longevity treatment, both against her will. The longevity treatments themselves begin to show weaknesses once those receiving them reach the two-century mark in age.

The treatments reduce most aging processes to a negligible rate, but are much less effective when it comes to brain function, and in particular memory. Maya in particular suffers extreme lapses in memory, although she remains high functioning most of the time. Further, as people age, they begin to show susceptibility to strange, fatal conditions which have no apparent explanation and are resistant to any treatment. Most common is the event that comes to be known as the "quick decline", where a person of extremely advanced age and in apparently good health suffers a sudden fatal heart arrythmia and dies abruptly.

The exact mechanism is never explained. Michel dies of the quick decline, while attending the wake of another First Hundred member. Russell speculates that Michel's quick decline was brought on by the shock of seeing Maya fail to remember Frank Chalmers who was killed while escaping security forces in the first revolution upon looking at a treasured photo of him on her refrigerator. As a result of this and Russell's own problems with memory, he organizes a team of scientists to develop medicine that will restore memory. The remaining members of the First Hundred, of which there are only 12, congregate in Underhill, and take the medicine.

It works so well that Russell remembers his own birth.

Stories, Listed by Author

He and Ann Clayborne finally recall that they had been in love prior to leaving Earth the very first time, but both had been too socially inept and nervous about their chances for selection for the Mars voyage to reveal this to each other. Their famous argument over terraforming had been a mere continuation of a running conversation they had been having since they still lived on Earth. Through the memory treatment it is also revealed that Phyllis had been lobbying to free Sax from his torturers when she was murdered by Maya.

Maya herself declines the treatment.

more on this story

Sax also distinctly recalls Hiroko assisting him in finding his rover in a storm before he nearly froze to death before disappearing once again and is convinced she remains alive, although the question of whether she is actually alive is never resolved. Eventually, the anti-immigration factions of the Martian government provoke massive illegal immigration from Earth, risking another war; however, under the leadership of Ann and Sax, who have fallen in love again following their reconciliation, along with Maya, the Martian population unites to reconstitute the government to accept more immigration from Earth, diffusing the imminent conflict and ushering in a new golden age of harmony and security on Mars.

The Martians is a collection of short stories that takes place over the timespan of the original trilogy of novels, as well as some stories that take place in an alternate version of the novels where the First Hundred's mission was one of exploration rather than colonization. Buried in the stories are several hints about the eventual fate of the Martian terraforming program. Trans-national Corporations, nicknamed "transnats", are extremely powerful multinational corporations that first emerge in the midst century.

Robinson tracks the evolution of the transnats into what he terms "metanats" metanational. These multinational corporations have grown so large as a result of globalization that they have sufficient economic power to take over or strongly manipulate national governments, initially only relatively small third-world governments, but later, larger developed governments too, effectively running whole countries. In Robinson's future history , the metanational corporations become similar to nation-states in some respects, while continually attempting to take over competitors in order to become the sole controller of the interplanetary market.

As the Mars trilogy draws to a close in the midrd century, the metanational corporations are forced by a global catastrophe to concede more democratic powers to their workforces. Although there are many transnational and metanational corporations mentioned, two play an active role in the development of the plotline: Genetic engineering is first mentioned in Red Mars ; it takes off when Sax creates an alga to withstand the harsh Martian temperature and convert its atmosphere into breathable air.

Eventually this is done on a massive scale, with thousands of types of GE algae, lichen and bacteria being created to terraform the planet. In Green Mars , GE animals began to be created to withstand the thin Martian atmosphere, and to produce a working planetary-biosphere. By Blue Mars , GE is commonly being done on humans, willingly, to help them better adapt to the new worlds; to breathe thinner air e.

Russell , or to see better in the dimmer light of the outer planets. The books also speculate on the colonization of other planets and moons in the Solar System , and include descriptions of settlements or terraforming efforts on Callisto , Mercury , Titania , Miranda and Venus. Toward the end of the last novel, humans are taking sub-light colony ships to other stars, taking advantage of the longevity treatments to survive the trip to their destinations. A great portion of Blue Mars is concerned with the effects of extreme longevity on its protagonists, most of whom have lived over two hundred years as a result of repeated longevity treatments.

In particular, Robinson speculates on the psychological effects of ultra-longevity including memory loss, personality change, mental instability, and existential boredom. The initial colonists from the Ares who established a permanent colony. Many of them later become leaders or exemplary figures in the transformation of Mars or its new society. An American astronaut , who was the first human to walk on Mars in the year He returns a public hero and uses his considerable influence to lobby for a second mission, this time one of colonization.

Boone received a large amount of radiation on his first trip to Mars, more than the recommended dosage according to medical regulations. However, his celebrity status allows him to skirt this. On the second voyage, Boone is one of the "First Hundred" colonists sent to permanently colonize Mars. His accomplishments and natural charm yield him an informal leadership role.

The narrative then steps back to the First Hundred's voyage to Mars aboard the spaceship Ares. His ideas continue as a point of reference for the remainder of the trilogy. Boone's character portrayal is complex; in one light, Boone is a stereotypically simple, heroic figure, an everyman hero: But later in Red Mars , Robinson switches to Boone's point of view , and it is in this section that it is revealed that late in life, Boone is addicted to omegendorph, a fictional drug that is based on endorphins in the human brain.

In addition, it reveals that at least some of his seeming simplicity might simply be an act designed to further his political goals. Overall, Boone is presented as larger-than-life. Head of the American contingent, he is Machiavellian in his use of power. However, his cynicism is later shown to be a form of self-defense; Chalmers is at least partly driven by a hidden idealistic side.

Early in the voyage to Mars, he becomes sexually involved with Maya Toitovna, the leader of the Russian contingent of the mission. During the second half of the voyage, Toitovna becomes involved with Boone. Already bitter that Boone became the first to walk on Mars instead of him as they were both candidates for the mission and that he was allowed to join the colonization trip despite his manipulations, Chalmers further despises Boone because of Toitovna's affection. His dislike culminates in his involvement in a plot to assassinate Boone, which ultimately succeeds and allows him to take over handling major affairs on Mars, which ultimately became his undoing as his ruthless governance and aggressive diplomatic work backfire on him during the revolution of In the final chapters of Red Mars , Chalmers flees with Toitovna and other members of the First Hundred to join the hidden colonists at the polar ice cap but dies along the way when he is caught outside their vehicle during an aquifer flood in Valles Marineris.

Product details

An emotional woman who is at the center of a love triangle between Boone and Chalmers, she begins as head of the Russian contingent. The novels hint that she used both wit and seduction to rise through the ranks of the Russian space agency to become the leader of the first colonization mission. After the first revolution, she flees with other members of the First Hundred to the hidden colony in the pole. She becomes a school teacher of the children of the hidden colonists but later becomes a powerful political force. After the deaths of Chalmers and Boone, she falls in love with Michel Duval.

She suffers heavily from bipolar disorder and from memory-related psychological disorders with growing age, which often lead her to isolate herself from others and sometimes turn violent. Throughout the novels, Maya takes an active political role, helping to keep the surviving First Hundred together during the failed revolution of and guiding the successful revolutions that occur decades later, despite her psychological problems.

A Russian engineer who started out building nuclear reactors in Siberia , during the voyage and initial exploration of Mars, she does her best to avoid the squabbles of the other members of the First Hundred. Instead, she busies herself by building the first permanent habitation of Mars, Underhill, using programmed automated robots. She also helps to construct a new and larger habitat, and research facility in a nearby canyon.

In the later books, she becomes a reluctant politician.

Chernyshevski is in love with Bogdanov and is devastated when he is killed in an attack by anti-revolutionary forces associated with UNOMA, the transnationals and Phyllis Boyle during the first Martian revolution. In Blue Mars , she falls in love with Art Randolph, with whom she eventually starts a family. After Martian independence, she grudgingly becomes the first president of Mars.

A mechanical engineer with anarchist leanings, possibly based on the Russian Machist , Alexander Bogdanov the character's ancestor and Arkady Strugatsky , he is regarded by many other members of the First Hundred, particularly Boyle, as a troublemaker. He leads the team which establishes an outpost on the moon Phobos , and leads an uprising against the transnational corporation towards the end of first novel. Like Boone with whom he was good friends , his political ideas later known as Bogdanovism weigh heavily on characters later in the series.

In love with Nadia Chernyshevski, he is killed during the first Martian revolution in An American physicist , he is a brilliant and creative scientist, and is greatly respected for his intellectual gifts. However, he is socially awkward and often finds it difficult to understand and relate to other people. Russell is a leader of the Green movement, the goal of which is to terraform Mars.

During Green Mars , Sax suffers a stroke while being tortured by government security forces and fellow member of the First Hundred, Phyllis Boyle although according to later it is revealed she actually opposed Sax's torture. He subsequently suffers from Expressive aphasia and has to relearn how to speak and becomes less predictable in his actions. Originally apolitical, this event and a growing attachment to Mars itself leads Russell to become the physical architect of the second revolution. After memory issues become apparent in many of the remaining first hundred including Sax he begins work on an ambitious project to gather the remaining first hundred and have them try an experimental treatment he helped to develop.

It is after this that Sax realizes his persistent attempts to please Ann are actually because he is also secretly in love with Ann Clayborne, who cannot stand him at first, but after decades on Mars, eventually reconciles. Saxifrage means "stonebreaker" and is the name for an Alpine plant that grows between stones. An American geologist , Clayborne is one of the first areologists and maintains a stalwart desire to see Mars preserved in the state it holds when humans arrive.

Clayborne early on debates Saxifrage Russell over the proper role of humanity on Mars and though initially apolitical, this stance marks her as the original "Red," while Russell's hands-on terraforming reflects the antithesis of these views. Clayborne is shown to prefer solitude during much of the series, and even her relationship with fellow First Hundred settler Simon with whom she has a child is subject to introspective silence in most cases. Simon's death and the estrangement she finds from their son Peter when the latter emerges as a leading moderate "green" drive her to further isolation.

Clayborne's relationship with Russell is shown to be complex, the two of them taking early opposite views but the situation slowly changing as Russell comes to appreciate what has been unleashed and what has indeed been lost as science gives way to commercial exploitation that he cannot control. During the events of Blue Mars , Russell intervenes to save Clayborne's life; later, the two are revealed to have once shared an attraction that went astray because of a casual misinterpretation between them.

Ann undergoes a drastic change towards Blue Mars due to the emergence of something inside of her that she describes as anti-Ann and something else that she can't quite describe. A Japanese expert on biology , agriculture, and ecological systems, it was Ai who smuggled Desmond "Coyote" Hawkins onto the Ares the two were friends and lovers as students in London. She is the charismatic leader of the farm team, one of the important work groups and cliques among the First Hundred. She thus becomes the focus of many of the trilogy's central themes.

Most importantly, she teaches the importance of maintaining a respectful relation with one's planet. On Mars, this is called the Areophany. In the secret colony Zygote, which Hiroko established, the first generation of children of the First Hundred, the ectogenes, are all the product of artificial insemination outside of any human body. Hiroko uses the ova of the female members of the First Hundred as the female genetic material and uses the sperm of the male members of the First Hundred to fertilize the ova.

• Tout là-bas avec Capolino (French Edition)
• Poetic Chaos
• La désobéissance civile (French Edition)
• Un lien si fort: Quand lamour de Dieu se fait diaconie (RELIGIEUX H C) (French Edition)
• Tennis Ball Self Massage: Stop Your Muscle and Joint Pain
• Die Einflüsse der Wiener Moderne auf Person und Werk Erich von Stroheims (German Edition)