Mercury in fiction
Encyclopedia
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
Mercury
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
has often been used as a setting in science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
. Recurring themes include the dangers of being exposed to solar radiation and the possibility of escaping excessive radiation by staying within the planet's slow-moving terminator
Terminator (solar)
A terminator, twilight zone or "grey line" is a moving line that separates the illuminated day side and the dark night side of a planetary body...
(the boundary between day and night). Another recurring theme is autocratic governments, perhaps because of an association of Mercury with hot-temperedness.
Mercury was believed at first to be tidally locked
Tidal locking
Tidal locking occurs when the gravitational gradient makes one side of an astronomical body always face another; for example, the same side of the Earth's Moon always faces the Earth. A tidally locked body takes just as long to rotate around its own axis as it does to revolve around its partner...
to the Sun, orbiting with one face permanently turned toward it and another face turned away, allowing for extremes of heat and cold on the same planet and possibly a narrow belt of habitable land between the two. This concept of Mercury was disproven in 1965, when radio astronomers discovered that Mercury rotates three times for every two revolutions, exposing all of its surface to the Sun.
Fictional works about Mercury can thus be divided into two groups; those, mostly written before 1965, featuring the "Old" Mercury with its light and dark sides, and those that reflect more recent scientific knowledge of the planet.
"Old Mercury"
- In Eric Rücker EddisonEric Rucker EddisonEric Rücker Eddison was an English civil servant and author, writing under the name "E.R. Eddison."-Biography:...
's The Worm OuroborosThe Worm OuroborosThe Worm Ouroboros is a heroic high fantasy novel by Eric Rücker Eddison, first published in 1922. The book describes the protracted war between the domineering King Gorice of Witchland and the Lords of Demonland in an imaginary world that appears mainly medieval and partly reminiscent of Norse sagas...
(1922), the action takes place in a fantasy world that is ostensibly part of the planet Mercury. However, the name is used purely for its exotic value, and there is no attempt to make the characteristics of the world correspond to any facts known or believed about Mercury in the 1920s. Eddison's Mercury resembles Earth in all respects except in details of geography: it has a normal day-cycle, a moon, and a calendar identical to Earth's. - Tama of the Light Country (1930), Tama, Princess of Mercury (1931) and Aerita of the Light Country (1941) by Ray CummingsRay CummingsRay Cummings was an American author of science fiction, rated one of the "founding fathers of the science fiction pulp genre". He was born in New York and died in Mount Vernon, New York....
are BurroughsEdgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
ian adventures on a tidally-locked Mercury. - The planet is briefly mentioned in H. P. LovecraftH. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
's "The Shadow Out of TimeThe Shadow Out of TimeThe Shadow Out of Time is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Plot summary:...
" (19361936 in literatureThe year 1936 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Life magazine is first published.* The Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's literature is established in the UK.-New books:...
):
-
- Later, as the Earth's span closed, the transferred minds (of the Great Race of YithGreat Race of YithThe Great Race of Yith are aliens in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. They first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Shadow Out of Time" . They are called the Great Race because they are the only beings to have mastered time travel...
) would again migrate through time and space — to another stopping place in the bodies of the bulbous vegetable entities of Mercury.- In Leigh BrackettLeigh BrackettLeigh Douglass Brackett was an American author, particularly of science fiction. She was also a screenwriter, known for her work on famous films such as The Big Sleep , Rio Bravo , The Long Goodbye and The Empire Strikes Back .-Life:Leigh Brackett was born and grew up in Los Angeles, California...
's short stories (especially "The Demons of Darkside" (1941), "A World Is Born" (1941), "Cube from Space" (1942), and "Shannach – the Last" (1952)), a tidally locked Mercury features a 'Twilight Belt' exposed to dangerous variations in heat and cold and havoc-wreaking solar storms. Some of Brackett's most colorful characters, like Jaffa Storm ("Shadow Over Mars") and Eric John StarkEric John StarkErik John Stark is a character created by science fiction author Leigh Brackett. Stark is the hero of a series of pulp adventures set in a time when the Solar System has been colonized...
, were Mercury-born. - Mercury is a setting in several of Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
's stories, all written before astronomers knew that the planet was not tidally locked; in each story, Mercury has a permanent day-side and night-side.- "RunaroundRunaround"Runaround" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, featuring his recurring characters Powell and Donovan. It was written in October 1941 and first published in the March 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction...
" (Astounding Science Fiction, 1942, later published in the 1950 collection I, RobotI, RobotI, Robot is a collection of nine science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published by Gnome Press in 1950 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950. The stories are...
) involves a robotRobotA robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
specially designed to cope with the intense solar radiation on the planet. - "The Dying NightThe Dying NightThe Dying Night is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the July 1956 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and was reprinted in the collections Nine Tomorrows , Asimov's Mysteries , and The Best of Isaac Asimov...
" (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1956) is a murder mystery in which the suspects are astronomers from Mercury, the MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, and the asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
Ceres. The dynamics and living conditions of each of these locations are key to discovering which astronomer is guilty. - Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of MercuryLucky Starr and the Big Sun of MercuryLucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury is the fourth novel in the Lucky Starr series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first published by Doubleday & Company in March 1956...
(1956) is a juvenile novel, the fourth in the Lucky Starr seriesLucky Starr seriesLucky Starr is the hero of a series of science fiction books by Isaac Asimov, using the pen name "Paul French". Intended for juveniles, the books were written in the middle of the Cold War and the series shows traces of this, both in educational intent and in the nature of the social forces involved...
.
- "Runaround
- In C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
's novel That Hideous StrengthThat Hideous StrengthThat Hideous Strength is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewis's theological science fiction Space Trilogy. The events of this novel follow those of Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra and once again feature the philologist Elwin Ransom...
(1945), Mercury, or Viritrilbia, is described as being the birthplace of language in the universe, possibly due to Mercury's association with wisdom. It is by the power of the Oyarsa of Viritrilbia, who is based on the god Mercury or HermesHermesHermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...
that Merlinus AmbrosiusMerlinMerlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
is enabled to "unmake language" at the N.I.C.E. banquet in the penultimate chapter. - In Ray BradburyRay BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
's "Frost and Fire" (1946), first published in Planet StoriesPlanet StoriesPlanet Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on other planets, and was initially focused on a young readership. Malcolm Reiss was editor or editor-in-chief for all of its 71...
as “The Creatures that Time Forgot,” it is believed the story takes place on the planet Mercury, as it describes humans living on "a planet next to the sun", where time goes from deathly hot days to freezing cold nights, with only one hour between the two, and humans live for only eight days. - In Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. ClarkeSir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
's Islands in the SkyIslands in the SkyIslands in the Sky is a science fiction novel written by Arthur C. Clarke, and published in 1952. It is one of his earliest and lesser known works....
(1952), there is a description of a strange creature that lives on what was then believed to be the permanently dark nightside with only occasional visits to the twilight zone. - In Hal ClementHal ClementHarry Clement Stubbs better known by the pen name Hal Clement, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...
's IceworldIceworldIceworld is a science fiction novel by author Hal Clement. It was published in 1953 by Gnome Press in an edition of 4,000 copies. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding in 1951.-Plot introduction:...
(1953), the silicon-based aliens establish a base on the hot side of the planet. This is not hot enough for them, so they put the base in the middle of a crater with mirrors on the bank to concentrate sunlight to get the necessary temperature. - Erik Van Lhin's Battle on Mercury (1953) – Erik van Lhin was one of the pen names of Lester del ReyLester del ReyLester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey was the author of many of the Winston Science Fiction juvenile SF series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction branch of Ballantine Books, along with his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.-Birth...
. - Alan E. NourseAlan E. NourseAlan Edward Nourse was an American science fiction author and physician. He wrote both juvenile and adult science fiction, as well as nonfiction works about medicine and science. His SF works generally focused on medicine and/or psionics.-Biography:Alan Nourse was born August 11, 1928 to...
's short story "Brightside Crossing" (Galaxy, 1956) is narrated by the only survivor of four men who attempt the ultimate sporting feat of crossing Mercury's sun-facing hemisphere at perihelion (when Mercury is closest to the sun). - In Gordon R. DicksonGordon R. DicksonGordon Rupert Dickson was an American science fiction author.- Biography :Dickson was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1923. After the death of his father, he moved with his mother to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1937...
's NecromancerNecromancer (novel)Necromancer is a science fiction novel written by Gordon R. Dickson in 1962. It was alternatively titled No Room for Man between 1963 and 1974 before reverting to its original title...
(1962), a base was located on Mercury, used by the Chantry Guild for training beginners in the group. - In Larry NivenLarry NivenLaurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
's "The Coldest Place" (1964), an early short story, Niven teases the reader, who is told that the scene is "the coldest place in the Solar System" and assumes it to be PlutoPlutoPluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
— only to discover in the end that the actual location is the dark side of Mercury. Though written when Mercury was believed to be tidally locked, the story was published just after the planet was found to rotate in a 2:3 resonance. - Hugh WaltersHugh Walters (author)Hugh Walters was a writer of juvenile Science Fiction novels from Bradley in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom.-Biography:...
' Mission to MercuryMission to MercuryMission to Mercury is a juvenile science fiction novel, the ninth in Hugh Walters' Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series. It was published in 1965 in the UK by Faber and in the US by Criterion Books...
(1965) also assumes Mercury to have a 'dark' side at near absolute zero from which the protagonists must be rescued before they freeze to death.
- In Leigh Brackett
- Later, as the Earth's span closed, the transferred minds (of the Great Race of Yith
"New Mercury"
- In Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. ClarkeSir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
's Rendezvous with RamaRendezvous with RamaRendezvous with Rama is a novel by Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1972. Set in the 22nd century, the story involves a cylindrical alien starship that enters Earth's solar system...
(1973), Mercury is ruled by a hot-tempered government of metal miners that threatens to destroy the alien spacecraft Rama. The novel shares its background of a colonized Solar System with several others, especially Imperial EarthImperial EarthImperial Earth is a novel written by Arthur C. Clarke, and published in time for the U.S. bicentennial in 1976 by Ballantine Books. The plot follows the protagonist, Duncan Makenzie, on a trip to Earth from his home on Titan, ostensibly for a diplomatic visit to the U.S...
.
- In David BrinDavid BrinGlen David Brin, Ph.D. is an American scientist and award-winning author of science fiction. He has received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards.-Biography:...
's SundiverSundiverSundiver is a 1980 science fiction novel by David Brin. It is the first book of his Uplift trilogy, and was followed by the Hugo and Nebula award winning novel Startide Rising in 1983.-Plot summary:...
(1980), the characters spend most of the time in Mercury, between expeditions into the Sun's chromosphereChromosphereThe chromosphere is a thin layer of the Sun's atmosphere just above the photosphere, roughly 2,000 kilometers deep....
.
- In Kim Stanley RobinsonKim Stanley RobinsonKim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the fifteen years of research...
's novels and short stories, especially The Memory of WhitenessThe Memory of WhitenessThe Memory of Whiteness is a science fiction novel written by Kim Stanley Robinson and published in 1985. It shares with the Mars trilogy a focus on human colonization of the solar system and depicts a grand tour that travels from the outer planets inward toward the Sun, visiting many human...
(1985), "Mercurial" (in The Planet on the Table, 1986) and Blue MarsMars trilogyThe Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries...
(1996), Mercury is the home of a vast city called Terminator, populated by large numbers of artists and musicians. To avoid the dangerous solar radiation, the city rolls around the planet's equator on tracks, keeping pace with the planet's rotation so that the Sun never rises fully above the horizon. The motive power comes from solar heat expanding the rails on the day side. The city is ruled by an autocratic dictator called the Lion of Mercury.
- In Warren EllisWarren EllisWarren Girard Ellis is an English author of comics, novels, and television, who is well-known for sociocultural commentary, both through his online presence and through his writing, which covers transhumanist themes...
' and Darick RobertsonDarick RobertsonDarick W. Robertson is an American artist best known for his work as a comic book illustrator. Highly prolific, Robertson has illustrated hundreds of comics in his twenty plus years in the industry. His body of work ranges from science fiction characters of his own creation to headlining on...
's TransmetropolitanTransmetropolitanTransmetropolitan is a cyberpunk comic book series written by Warren Ellis with art by Darick Robertson and published by DC Comics. The series was originally part of the short-lived DC Comics imprint Helix, but upon the end of the book's first year the series was moved to the Vertigo imprint as DC...
(1997–2002), a cyberpunkCyberpunkCyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
comic book series, Mercury is said to be covered with solar panelPhotovoltaic moduleA solar panel is a packaged, connected assembly of solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells...
s, to aid in the power needs of a technologically advanced Earth.
- In Grant MorrisonGrant MorrisonGrant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
's DC One MillionDC One Million"DC One Million" was a crossover storyline that ran through a self titled, weekly limited series and through special issues of almost all "DCU" titles published by DC Comics in November 1998...
(1998), each planet of the solar system is overseen by one member of the future descendants of the Justice LeagueJustice LeagueThe Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics....
. Mercury is overseen by the Flash of the 853rd century, perhaps as it is associated with the fastest of the Gods.
- Ben BovaBen BovaBenjamin William Bova is an American science-fiction author and editor. He is the recipient of six Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor for his work at Analog Science Fiction in the 1970's.-Personal life:...
's Mercury (2005; part of his Grand Tour seriesGrand Tour (novel series)-Summary:The novels present a theme of exploration and colonization of the solar system by humans in the late 21st century. Most of the books focus on the exploration of one particular planet or planetary moon....
) is about the human drama of the exploration of Mercury: why people might be interested in going there (for instance, to harness the intense solar energy that close to the sun), and what challenges there would be.
- In Stephen BaxterStephen BaxterStephen Baxter is a prolific British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering.- Writing style :...
's Manifold: SpaceManifold: SpaceManifold: Space is a science fiction book by author Stephen Baxter, first published in the United Kingdom in 2000, then released in the United States in 2001. It is the second book of the Manifold series and examines another possible solution to the Fermi paradox...
(2000), Mercury is the final stronghold of humanity after successive waves of extraterrestrial colonizers exterminate the human race from the rest of the solar system. It is the site of the human victory against a race of beings known as the Crackers, who seek to dismantle Sol to exploit its energy.
- In the Larklight TrilogyLarklight trilogyThe Larklight trilogy is a trilogy of young adult novels by Philip Reeve, entitled Larklight, Starcross, and Mothstorm. These books are all illustrated by David Wyatt.-Setting:...
by Philip ReevePhilip ReevePhilip Reeve is a British author and illustrator. He presently lives on Dartmoor with his wife Sarah and their son Samuel.-Biography:...
Mercury is uninhabitated. However it once had an interplanetary empire, and lived on an Earth Lost Continent, before they left the Solar System on a large ship. Apparently they were humanoid, but at least some had golden eyes.
- Mark Anson's novel Below Mercury is a science fiction thriller set in the abandoned workings of Erebus Mine, an ice mining and refining facility in the depths of Chao Meng-fu craterChao Meng-Fu (crater)Chao Meng-Fu is a 167 kilometer-diameter crater on Mercury named after the Chinese painter and calligrapher Zhao Mengfu . Due to its location near Mercury's south pole and the planet's small axial tilt, an estimated 40% of the crater lies in permanent shadow...
, on the South Pole of Mercury.
Film and television
The planet has also been a setting for several television series:- In the Space PatrolSpace Patrol (1962 TV series)Space Patrol is a science-fiction television series featuring marionettes that was produced in the United Kingdom in 1962. It was written and produced by Roberta Leigh in association with the Associated British Corporation.-Summary:...
episode "The Fires of Mercury", Professor Heggarty's device for translating the language of antAntAnts are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s also converts heat waves into radio waveRadio WaveRadio Wave may refer to:*Radio frequency*Radio Wave 96.5, a radio station in Blackpool, UK...
s. Maria realizes that this might provide a way of transmitting warmth from Mercury to the Colony on PlutoPlutoPluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
, where freezing conditions worsen as the dwarf planet nears the point in its orbit farthest from the Sun.
- In a Star Trek: VoyagerStar Trek: VoyagerStar Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
show-within-a-showStory within a storyA story within a story, also rendered story-within-a-story, is a literary device in which one narrative is presented during the action of another narrative. Mise en abyme is the French term for a similar literary device...
, The Adventures of Captain Proton (first appearing in "NightNight (Star Trek: Voyager)"Night" is an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the first episode of the fifth season. The episode has an average rating of 4.6/5 on the official Star Trek website .-Plot:...
" in 1998), Dr. Chaotica was a villain who wanted to conquer the people of Earth and force them to work in the mines of Mercury.
- In the animated television series ExosquadExosquadExosquad is an American animated television series created by Universal Cartoon Studios as a response to Japanese anime. The show is set in the beginning of the 22nd century and covers the interplanetary war between humanity and Neosapiens, a fictional race artificially created as workers/slaves...
(1993–1995), Mercury served as ExofleetExofleetExofleet is the name for all battle spaceships in the sci-fi animated television series Exosquad, built by the humans of the Homeworlds also known as the Terran space navy...
's temporary base during the reconquest of the Homeworlds (Venus, Earth, and Mars).
- An episode of FuturamaFuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
had Mercury's circumference faithfully represented by a "road sign" giving distance to the only vehicle service station on the planet, where Fry and Amy are stuck when her vehicle runs out of fuel.
- In the television show Invader ZimInvader ZimInvader Zim is an American animated television series created by Jhonen Vasquez. It was produced by and subsequently aired on Nickelodeon. The series revolves around an extraterrestrial named Zim from the planet Irk, and his ongoing mission to conquer and destroy Earth...
(2001), Mercury is turned into a prototype giant spaceship by the extinct Martians. In the episode "Battle of the Planets", Zim (piloting Mars, also made into a spaceship) and Dib (piloting Mercury) battle each other while flying through the solar system. In the end of the episode, Zim foolishly flies Mars into the Asteroid Belt, almost killing Zim, with Mars flying wildly out of control and nearly hitting Blorch, a fictional planet outside the solar system.
- In the 2007 film SunshineSunshine (2007 film)Sunshine is a 2007 British science fiction film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland about the crew of a spacecraft on a dangerous mission to the Sun. In 2057, with the Earth in peril from the dying Sun, the crew is sent to reignite the Sun with a massive stellar bomb with the mass...
the Icarus II spacecraft goes into orbit around Mercury to rendezvous with the thought-lost Icarus I.
- The short lived British TV sitcom KinvigKinvig- Synopsis :Des Kinvig runs an electrical repair shop in the small town of Bingleton.One day his store is visited by Miss Griffin , who is from the planet Mercury and in need of Des' help...
featured a female, human-like alien from Mercury who was living in a fictional town in England.
- In Sailor MoonSailor MoonSailor Moon, known as , is a media franchise created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team of magical girls, and Paul Gravett credits the series with "revitalizing" the magical-girl genre itself...
, Sailor MercurySailor Mercury, in Japan, is one of the central characters in the Sailor Moon metaseries. Her real name is , a genius schoolgirl who can transform into one of the series' specialized heroines, the Sailor Senshi....
is Mercury's protector. Her attacks are water-based.
Games and comics
- In the Transhuman SpaceTranshuman SpaceTranshuman Space is a role-playing game published by Steve Jackson Games as parts of the "Powered by GURPS" line. Set in the year 2100, humanity has begun to colonize the Solar System...
roleplaying books by Steve Jackson GamesSteve Jackson GamesSteve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
, Mercury is used for production of antimatterAntimatterIn particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
and the mining of metals.
- Levels 6 and 7 of the computer game DescentDescent (video game)Descent is a 3D first-person shooter video game developed by Parallax Software and released by Interplay Entertainment Corp. in 1995. The game features six degrees of freedom gameplay and garnered several expansion packs...
take place in installations on Mercury. Level 7 marks the end of the sharewareSharewareThe term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
version of the game as well as the game's first boss battle.
- In Descent³Descent³Descent 3 is the third game in the line of Descent computer games, well known for the use of six degrees of freedom and true 3D rendering technology....
, the player has to escort a covert cargo ship into and out of a spacecraft factory in Mercury while it steals core components for the construction of a new ship. The player risks solar radiation damage to his own ship (which is not as shielded as the cargo ship) if he flies out in the open atmosphere.
- In the Mutant ChroniclesMutant ChroniclesMutant Chronicles is a pen-and-paper role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world, originally published in 1993. It has spawned a franchise of collectible card games, miniature wargames, video games, novels, comic books, and a film of the same title based on the game world.Mutant Chronicles...
role-playing game, Mercury is the home to the mighty Mishima corporation.
- The game StarsiegeStarsiegeStarsiege is a mecha-style vehicle simulation game developed by Dynamix and released in 1999. Starsiege is set in the Metaltech/Earthsiege universe, which contains its predecessors Earthsiege , Battledrome , and Earthsiege 2 , as well as action game Hunter Hunted , strategy games Mission Force:...
includes Mercury as the setting for several of its missions.
- In the 1992 PC game Star Control IIStar Control IIStar Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters is a critically acclaimed science fiction computer game, the second game in the Star Control trilogy. It was developed by Toys for Bob and originally published by Accolade in 1992 for PC; it was later ported to the 3DO with an enhanced multimedia presentation,...
, Mercury is one of the sources of radioactive metals needed for the first mission of the game.
- In Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
's Guardians of the GalaxyGuardians of the GalaxyThe original Guardians of the Galaxy are a fictional superhero team that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Guardians first appear in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 .-Publication history:...
title, Nicholette "NikkiNikki (comics)Nicholette "Nikki" Gold is a fictional character, a woman in the Earth-691 timeline of the fictional Marvel Universe, genetically engineered to live on the planet Mercury. As such, she has a superhuman ability to withstand heat and ultraviolet radiation, and can see clearly in very bright light...
" Gold is the last survivor of a colony on Mercury in the 31st century after the Badoon invaded the Solar System. Like all Mercury colonists she has great resistance to heat and can project it.
- In Charlton ComicsCharlton ComicsCharlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
's title Space Adventures, a super-hero from Mercury, appropriately named "Mercury ManMercury ManMercury Man was a very short-lived superhero published by Charlton Comics in their Science Fiction anthology title Space Adventures after they stopped published Captain Atom stories in the early 1960s....
", was seen in two 1962 issues.
- In All-Star Comics #13 the JSAJustice Society of AmericaThe Justice Society of America, or JSA, is a DC Comics superhero group, the first team of superheroes in comic book history. Conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox, the JSA first appeared in All Star Comics #3 ....
are gassed by Nazis and rocketed to different planets. Johnny is headed directly at the planet Mercury and only the Thunderbolt keeps Johnny from roasting alive inside. Once on the planet, Johnny encounters a giant spider, is knocked silly and taken prisoner and put into a cage. Thunderbolt saves him again, this time from a giant ant-eater, and saves the giant spiders from it as well. Johnny is rewarded with an Occelerator, a device that can be used to get information out of people.
- In February 1952, in a ruse designed to fool the highly secretive Crime Czar, Superman builds a robot called Krag—supposedly a super-powered alien from Mercury—and has Krag announce his intention to become the "King of Crime." After staging the defeat of Superman, Krag is invited to meet with the Crime Czar. Subsequently, Krag brings the Crime Czar to jail and Superman reveals his deception (Act No. 165: "The Man Who Conquered Superman!").
Other
- Bill WattersonBill WattersonWilliam Boyd Watterson II , known as Bill Watterson, is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes...
's comic strip Calvin and HobbesCalvin and HobbesCalvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
included a story extended across several daily strips, in which Calvin and his classmate Susie must give a presentation about Mercury to their class. Calvin's contribution is typically replete with creative liberties:
See also
- Mercury in the fiction of Leigh BrackettMercury in the fiction of Leigh Brackettright|250px|MercuryThe planet Mercury appears frequently as a setting for many of the stories of Leigh Brackett, and Mercury and Mercurians are frequently mentioned in other stories of the Leigh Brackett Solar System...