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THE CHRONICLE'S MARTIANS (Joe Brown, SF Chron, 1.11.2003)
Mars is everyone's favorite planet. No other planet so excites our fears and fantasies of close encounters as the Red Planet, symbol of mystery and adventure, war and aggression. Earth is too earthy. Saturn runs a distant second, mostly because of those appealing rings. And we won't mention Uranus.
As this millennium's first wave of Mars-mania begins, and the NASA Mars rover Spirit transmits new images and information, here's a quick survey of Mars as seen and heard in pop culture, from pre-space-travel comic books and cartoons, novels and radio dramas to present-day movies, music and even blogs. And one candy bar.
Before earthlings ever started obsessing over Middle-earth, we had our sights set on Mars. We all learned in school that Mars is the planet most like Earth -- and that maybe, just maybe, some kind of life form existed there. Despite the desolate evidence sent back from previous Mars rovers and all the other scientific clues that the Red Planet might as well be called the Dead Planet, many of us still hope that there are Martians out there somewhere.
Long before space exploration became a fact of life, humans imagined their way to Mars through fiction. Jonathan Swift's fictitious astronomers in "Gulliver's Travels" (1726) studied the Martian moons more than 100 years before an American astronomer discovered them. H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" (1898) painted a picture of horror when Martians invade Earth -- later, Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" (1938) touched off a pop-culture panic through the young medium of radio.
Known as the creator of Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs also wrote a series of novels known as "The Martian Tales," beginning with "A Princess of Mars" (1912), whose hero John Carter is mysteriously transported to Mars and adapts to Martian culture. In his collection of stories "The Martian Chronicles" (1950), Ray Bradbury explores the dark side of human nature when explorers from Earth land on Mars. Robert Heinlein's 1961 sci-fi landmark "Stranger in a Strange Land" tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, sole survivor of the first human mission to Mars. After being raised by Martians, he returns to Earth and becomes a charismatic leader. Before he wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey, " author and scientist Arthur C. Clarke, a longtime advocate of Mars exploration, wrote "Sands of Mars" (1951), one of first "realistic" novels about the planet.
C.S. Lewis set "Out of the Silent Planet" (1938), the first volume of his science-fiction trilogy, on a peaceful Mars untouched by sin, where three races coexist in harmony. Science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson's thoughtful trilogy of Mars novels, "Red Mars" (1993), "Green Mars" (1994) and "Blue Mars (1996), reverse the familiar plotline, with humans colonizing and dominating Mars. Russian writer Alexei Tolstoy, a distant cousin of Leo, wrote two science fiction novels set on Mars, one of which, "Aelita" (1922), was turned into one of the first sci-fi films. And science fiction master Philip K. Dick didn't neglect Mars in his journeys around the cosmos, touching down on the red surface with "Martian Time-Slip" (1964).
Many of us began our interplanetary dreaming with humble comic books, of course, and Mars and Martians were a staple subject of the pulps. They're now called "graphic novels," and one of the best of them, Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2," features its heroes grappling with invaders from -- well, where else are invaders from?
Mars was also an irresistible subject for moviemakers and audiences alike. The online site Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) lists more than 150 movie and television titles including the words Mars or Martian (the list includes such oddities as "Eyes of Laura Mars" (1978), starring a certainly extraterrestrial Faye Dunaway, and "Over-Sexed Rugsuckers From Mars" (1989).
A quick scan of the titles brings up a theme of sorts, from "Devil Girl From Mars" (1954), with its leather-clad female alien, to "Bad Girls From Mars" (1991), "starring" Edy Williams as one of the female aliens trying to conquer the Earth.
A Martian movie time line:
Aelita: "Queen of Mars" (1924); "Flash Gordon: Mars Attacks the World" (1938); "Rocketship X-M" (1950); "Flight to Mars" (1951); "Red Planet Mars" (1952); "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" (1953); "Invaders From Mars" (1953); "The War of the Worlds" (1953); "Devil Girl From Mars" (1954); "The Angry Red Planet" (1960); "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" (1964); "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (1964); "Mars Needs Women" (1967); "Planet of Blood" (1966); "Invaders From Mars" (1986); "Lobster Man From Mars" (1989); "Total Recall" (1990); "Mars Attacks!" (1996); "Red Planet" (2000); Mission to Mars" (2000); "Ghosts of Mars" (2001).
Like movies, pop music exists to create other worlds in the mind's eye. Its most famous and fabulous alien was David Bowie as the extraterrestrial glam-rocker Ziggy Stardust, famously backed by the Spiders From Mars. Later, in the film "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Bowie played a version of the Martian hero of "Stranger in a Strange Land." Bowie also wrote and sang "Life on Mars" (which Barbra Streisand, of all people, covered on her "Butterfly" LP).
Long before Ziggy Stardust (and fellow glamster Marc Bolan of T. Rex, who wrote and sang "Ballrooms of Mars"), big-band man Artie Shaw had a jumpin' hit with the decidedly terrestrial "Man From Mars." From M.A.R.S. to M/A/R/R/S to Mouse on Mars, the planet has provided a fertile field for sonic exploration, from the primitive ("Martian Hop" by the Ran-Dells) to the cosmic (John Coltrane's "Mars"). Most of it was completely earthbound (Sammy Hagar's "Marching to Mars" and Alice Cooper's "Might As Well Be on Mars"), but count the following among the many Mars-inspired musical milestones: Jonathan Richman "Here Come the Martian Martians"; Paul McCartney and Wings, "Venus and Mars"; Grateful Dead "From the Mars Hotel"; Stereolab, "Mars Audiac Quintet"; the up-to-the-minute prog-rock redux outfit the Mars Volta. A collection of "space folk songs" has just been released on a CD called "To Touch the Stars: A Musical Celebration of Space Exploration," developed in a partnership among Prometheus Records, the Mars Society and the National Space Society, which sponsored a "pro-space" songwriting competition.
The latest pop-culture twist is using the Internet to explore Mars, and such sites as www.martiansoil.com, a daily blog dedicated to Mars, "bringing the exploration of the Red Planet closer to enthusiasts and little green men alike."
article w/pics
Mars is everyone's favorite planet. No other planet so excites our fears and fantasies of close encounters as the Red Planet, symbol of mystery and adventure, war and aggression. Earth is too earthy. Saturn runs a distant second, mostly because of those appealing rings. And we won't mention Uranus.
As this millennium's first wave of Mars-mania begins, and the NASA Mars rover Spirit transmits new images and information, here's a quick survey of Mars as seen and heard in pop culture, from pre-space-travel comic books and cartoons, novels and radio dramas to present-day movies, music and even blogs. And one candy bar.
Before earthlings ever started obsessing over Middle-earth, we had our sights set on Mars. We all learned in school that Mars is the planet most like Earth -- and that maybe, just maybe, some kind of life form existed there. Despite the desolate evidence sent back from previous Mars rovers and all the other scientific clues that the Red Planet might as well be called the Dead Planet, many of us still hope that there are Martians out there somewhere.
Long before space exploration became a fact of life, humans imagined their way to Mars through fiction. Jonathan Swift's fictitious astronomers in "Gulliver's Travels" (1726) studied the Martian moons more than 100 years before an American astronomer discovered them. H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" (1898) painted a picture of horror when Martians invade Earth -- later, Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" (1938) touched off a pop-culture panic through the young medium of radio.
Known as the creator of Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs also wrote a series of novels known as "The Martian Tales," beginning with "A Princess of Mars" (1912), whose hero John Carter is mysteriously transported to Mars and adapts to Martian culture. In his collection of stories "The Martian Chronicles" (1950), Ray Bradbury explores the dark side of human nature when explorers from Earth land on Mars. Robert Heinlein's 1961 sci-fi landmark "Stranger in a Strange Land" tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, sole survivor of the first human mission to Mars. After being raised by Martians, he returns to Earth and becomes a charismatic leader. Before he wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey, " author and scientist Arthur C. Clarke, a longtime advocate of Mars exploration, wrote "Sands of Mars" (1951), one of first "realistic" novels about the planet.
C.S. Lewis set "Out of the Silent Planet" (1938), the first volume of his science-fiction trilogy, on a peaceful Mars untouched by sin, where three races coexist in harmony. Science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson's thoughtful trilogy of Mars novels, "Red Mars" (1993), "Green Mars" (1994) and "Blue Mars (1996), reverse the familiar plotline, with humans colonizing and dominating Mars. Russian writer Alexei Tolstoy, a distant cousin of Leo, wrote two science fiction novels set on Mars, one of which, "Aelita" (1922), was turned into one of the first sci-fi films. And science fiction master Philip K. Dick didn't neglect Mars in his journeys around the cosmos, touching down on the red surface with "Martian Time-Slip" (1964).
Many of us began our interplanetary dreaming with humble comic books, of course, and Mars and Martians were a staple subject of the pulps. They're now called "graphic novels," and one of the best of them, Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2," features its heroes grappling with invaders from -- well, where else are invaders from?
Mars was also an irresistible subject for moviemakers and audiences alike. The online site Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) lists more than 150 movie and television titles including the words Mars or Martian (the list includes such oddities as "Eyes of Laura Mars" (1978), starring a certainly extraterrestrial Faye Dunaway, and "Over-Sexed Rugsuckers From Mars" (1989).
A quick scan of the titles brings up a theme of sorts, from "Devil Girl From Mars" (1954), with its leather-clad female alien, to "Bad Girls From Mars" (1991), "starring" Edy Williams as one of the female aliens trying to conquer the Earth.
A Martian movie time line:
Aelita: "Queen of Mars" (1924); "Flash Gordon: Mars Attacks the World" (1938); "Rocketship X-M" (1950); "Flight to Mars" (1951); "Red Planet Mars" (1952); "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" (1953); "Invaders From Mars" (1953); "The War of the Worlds" (1953); "Devil Girl From Mars" (1954); "The Angry Red Planet" (1960); "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" (1964); "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (1964); "Mars Needs Women" (1967); "Planet of Blood" (1966); "Invaders From Mars" (1986); "Lobster Man From Mars" (1989); "Total Recall" (1990); "Mars Attacks!" (1996); "Red Planet" (2000); Mission to Mars" (2000); "Ghosts of Mars" (2001).
Like movies, pop music exists to create other worlds in the mind's eye. Its most famous and fabulous alien was David Bowie as the extraterrestrial glam-rocker Ziggy Stardust, famously backed by the Spiders From Mars. Later, in the film "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Bowie played a version of the Martian hero of "Stranger in a Strange Land." Bowie also wrote and sang "Life on Mars" (which Barbra Streisand, of all people, covered on her "Butterfly" LP).
Long before Ziggy Stardust (and fellow glamster Marc Bolan of T. Rex, who wrote and sang "Ballrooms of Mars"), big-band man Artie Shaw had a jumpin' hit with the decidedly terrestrial "Man From Mars." From M.A.R.S. to M/A/R/R/S to Mouse on Mars, the planet has provided a fertile field for sonic exploration, from the primitive ("Martian Hop" by the Ran-Dells) to the cosmic (John Coltrane's "Mars"). Most of it was completely earthbound (Sammy Hagar's "Marching to Mars" and Alice Cooper's "Might As Well Be on Mars"), but count the following among the many Mars-inspired musical milestones: Jonathan Richman "Here Come the Martian Martians"; Paul McCartney and Wings, "Venus and Mars"; Grateful Dead "From the Mars Hotel"; Stereolab, "Mars Audiac Quintet"; the up-to-the-minute prog-rock redux outfit the Mars Volta. A collection of "space folk songs" has just been released on a CD called "To Touch the Stars: A Musical Celebration of Space Exploration," developed in a partnership among Prometheus Records, the Mars Society and the National Space Society, which sponsored a "pro-space" songwriting competition.
The latest pop-culture twist is using the Internet to explore Mars, and such sites as www.martiansoil.com, a daily blog dedicated to Mars, "bringing the exploration of the Red Planet closer to enthusiasts and little green men alike."
article w/pics
