Terraforming in popular culture

Terraforming has been well-represented in popular culture, usually in the form of science fiction.harvnb|Flatow|2004.] Author Jack Williamson is credited with inventing and popularizing the term "terraform". In July 1942, under the pseudonym Will Stewart, Williamson published a science fiction novella entitled "Collision Orbit" in "Astounding Science-Fiction" magazine. The series was later published as two novels, "Seetee Shock" (1949) and "Seeetee Ship" (1951).harvnb|Fogg|1995|p=16.] American geographer Richard Cathcart successfully lobbied for formal recognition of the verb "to terraform", and it was first included in the fourth edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in 1993.harvnb|Fogg|1995|p=9.]

Literature

Terraforming of fictional planets in literature

*H. G. Wells alludes to what today might be called "xeno-terraforming" - alien life altering Earth for their own benefit - in his 1898 novel "The War of the Worlds". When the Martians arrive they bring with them a red weed that spreads and (temporarily) overpowers terrestrial vegetation.

*Terraforming is one of the basic concepts around which Frank Herbert's Dune novels are based: the Fremen's obsession with converting the desert-world Arrakis to earthlike conditions supplies the fugitive Paul Atreides with a ready-made army of followers (In later books, the focus shifts to those trying to "arrakisform" earthlike planets to support the giant sandworms and produce their desired 'spice' secretion). The Imperium's capital world Kaitain has all its weather controlled by satellites. Pardot Kynes, the Planetary Ecologist from Arrakis visited the world, and commented that the nature of the control meant it would eventually bring about disaster, which is why Arrakis should be terraformed through more natural processes.

*Liz Williams' novel "The Ghost Sister" offers a critique of terraforming. The ruling elite of Irie St Syre, the Gaian priestesses, believe that humanity has a right to adapt the climate and biosphere of planets to its own needs. They send out emissaries to a lost colony, Monde d'Isle, who have adapted humanity to their planet, not the other way around.

*"Building Harlequin's Moon", by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, shows the creation of a substantial moon by smashing several smaller moons together, and the very lengthy process of terraforming it over 60,000 years.

Television and film

Games

*in "Master of Orion 2" a terraforming process can be performed on a planet a number of times until it has become gaia, increases the food production of farmers on the planet each time.

* In "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri", one can terraform the terrain to suit one's resource gathering and movement-enhancing needs. "Alpha Centauri" offers the player the choice to treat the planet's native life as allies or enemies.

*The "Combine Empire" in the popular PC game "Half-Life 2" seems to be terraforming the "Earth" for new inhabitants. Examples of this include the draining of the oceans (evidence of a receding shoreline can be seen near the coast) and depletion of natural resources. In addition, the combine creates a "Suppression Field" which prevents humans from reproducing.

*In the "X Computer Game Series", Earth builds a race of Terraformer ships which start to build colonies on uninhabited planets throughout the "X Universe". These robotic machines then turn on their owners due to a programming error and wage a war against them, destroying the Terran colonies and attacking Earth itself. They now exist as the "Xenon".

*In the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game", a card known as 'Terraforming' exists, which allows a player to search his deck for a Field Spell Card and place it in his or her hand.

*In "Spore", one of the later aspects to the game is the ability to terraform alien planets. [cite web|url=http://www.sporenormous.com/terraforming/|title=Terraforming|date=2008|accessdate=2008-07-04|author=|publisher=SporeNormous]

*In "Crysis", the aliens that land on the Earth by a meteor, which is actually an alien ship, begin forming an ice sphere around the island they landed on, affecting weather patterns and ultimately making Earth more habitable for them.

*In the game "", the "Chimera" alter the Earth's weather, making it snow in London in July, because they thrive in cold weather.

*In Doom 3 the player can watch a company demonstration on a TV explaining how the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) is researching and planning to terraform Mars.

*In "Command & Conquer", the alien substance tiberium, is a result of an alien race's attempt to terraform the Earth, to harvest the tiberium.

*"Shadowgrounds" and "Shadowgrounds Survivor" are based on Ganymede, the third moon of the Jupiter system which is terraformed and made suitable for human life.

*In "", the terraforming of Mars is a long-term goal of the game.

Notes

References

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