Pluto in fiction
Encyclopedia
Pluto
Pluto, 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...
has been featured in many instances of science fiction and popular culture. Initially classified as a planet upon its discovery in 1930, Pluto has also received considerable publicity following a 2006 definition of planet decree, which dubbed it a dwarf planet
Dwarf planet
A dwarf planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union , is a celestial body orbiting the Sun that is massive enough to be spherical as a result of its own gravity but has not cleared its neighboring region of planetesimals and is not a satellite...
.
Literature
- "The Whisperer in DarknessThe Whisperer in Darkness"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to "The Colour Out of Space" , it is a blend of horror and science fiction...
" (1931), story by 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....
, and other Cthulhu MythosCthulhu MythosThe Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
stories. Pluto is called YuggothYuggothYuggoth is a fictional planet in the Cthulhu Mythos. H. P. Lovecraft himself said that Yuggoth is the then newly-discovered planet Pluto. However, other writers claim that it is actually an enormous, trans-Neptunian world that orbits perpendicular to the ecliptic of the solar system.-In the...
. He formed the concept of Yuggoth before Pluto had been discovered. However, as Lovecraft was still in the process of writing "The Whisperer in DarknessThe Whisperer in Darkness"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to "The Colour Out of Space" , it is a blend of horror and science fiction...
" Pluto was found - an interesting coincidence. In the stories, a fictional alien race called the Mi-goMi-goThe Mi-go are a race of extraterrestrials in the Cthulhu Mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft and others. The name was first applied to the creatures in Lovecraft's short story "The Whisperer in Darkness" , taking up a reference to 'What fungi sprout in Yuggoth' in his sonnet cycle Fungi from Yuggoth...
have a base there. There are some stories, though, that identify Yuggoth with a huge world situated beyond Pluto on an orbit perpendicular to the eclipticEclipticThe ecliptic is the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun. In more accurate terms, it is the intersection of the celestial sphere with the ecliptic plane, which is the geometric plane containing the mean orbit of the Earth around the Sun...
. - "In Plutonian Depths" (Wonder StoriesWonder StoriesWonder Stories was an early American science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, when his media company Experimenter Publishing went...
Quarterly, Spring 1931), short story by Stanton A. CoblentzStanton A. CoblentzStanton Arthur Coblentz was an American author and poet. He received a Master's Degree in English literature and then began publishing poetry during the early 1920s. His first published science fiction was "The Sunken World," a satire about Atlantis, in Amazing Stories Quarterly for July, 1928...
. The first story to take advantage of the newly discovered and named world. - "The Red PeriThe Red Peri"The Red Peri" is a science fiction novella by Stanley G. Weinbaum that first appeared in the November 1935 issue of Astounding Stories. Sam Moskowitz has noted that Weinbaum planned to write a series of sequels to "The Red Peri" but died before he could do so.. "The Red Peri" is the only Weinbaum...
" (1935), novella by Stanley G. WeinbaumStanley G. WeinbaumStanley Grauman Weinbaum was an American science fiction author. His career in science fiction was short but influential...
. The title character is a space pirate with a secret base on Pluto. - Cosmic Engineers (1939, 1950), novel by Clifford D. SimakClifford D. SimakClifford Donald Simak was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo awards and by colleagues with one Nebula award and was named the third Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1977.-Biography:Clifford Donald Simak was born in...
, features a human base on Pluto. - First LensmanFirst LensmanFirst Lensman is a science fiction novel and space opera by author Edward E. Smith, Ph.D.. It was first published in 1950 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 5,995 copies. Although it is the second novel in the Lensman series, it was the last written...
(1950), novel by E. E. "Doc" Smith, features an alien race colonizing Pluto without ever realizing that life existed on Earth. - "Sky LiftSky LiftSky Lift is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein, first published 1953, and collected in one of Heinlein's anthologies, The Menace from Earth....
" (1953), story by Robert A. HeinleinRobert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
. A torch-ship pilot flies on a mercy mission to Pluto at 9 g's. - "Andromeda (novel)Andromeda (novel)Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale a.k.a. Andromeda Nebula is a science fiction novel by the Russian writer and paleontologist Ivan Efremov, written and published in 1957. The novel was made into a film in 1967, The Andromeda Nebula- Plot summary :...
" (1957), communistic utopia . Pluto described as extrasolar planet, composed mainly of ice. In the novel briefly mentioned, that terrestrial expedition have found remnants of ancient alien structures - Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958), juvenile novel by Robert A. HeinleinRobert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
. Pluto is used by aliens as a remote base for Earth exploration. In Heinlein's Starship TroopersStarship TroopersStarship Troopers is a military science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and published hardcover in December, 1959.The first-person narrative is about a young soldier from the Philippines named Juan "Johnnie" Rico and his...
(1959), the Terran Federation maintains a research station on or near Pluto, which was destroyed by enemy action. - World of PtavvsWorld of PtavvsWorld of Ptavvs is a science fiction novel by Larry Niven, first published in 1966 and set in his Known Space universe. It was Niven's first published novel and is based on a 1965 short story of the same name.-Plot summary:...
(1966), novel by 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...
. Pluto was theorized to have been a moon of Neptune until it was knocked out of orbit by an interstellar craft moving near lightspeed. A fusion-driven spacecraft landing on Pluto in this story releases the frozen methane, oxygen, etc., and causes the entire planet to be engulfed in flames. - "Wait It Out" (1968), short story by 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...
. An astronaut is stranded on Pluto, but doesn't die. - World's Fair 1992 by Robert SilverbergRobert SilverbergRobert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...
(1968), in which a U.S.-led expedition reaches Pluto in less than two weeks using a nuclear-powered spacecraft capable of continuous acceleration. The spacecraft, Pluto I, collects five crab-like indigenous Plutonians and returns them to Earth orbit for study. - "Construction Shack" (1973), short story by Clifford D. SimakClifford D. SimakClifford Donald Simak was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo awards and by colleagues with one Nebula award and was named the third Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1977.-Biography:Clifford Donald Simak was born in...
. The first mission to Pluto uncovers evidence suggesting that the solar system is nothing short of a huge alien engineering project gone awry. - Passage to PlutoPassage to PlutoPassage to Pluto is a juvenile science fiction novel, the fourteenth in Hugh Walters' Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series. It was published in the UK by Faber in 1973, in the US by T.Nelson Books in 1975....
(1973), Book 14 in the Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series by 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:...
. An expedition to Pluto discovers a super-dense wandering planet nearby. The astronauts name it Planet X and further discover that it is about to decimate the solar system. - "The Borderland of Sol" (1975), short story by Larry Niven that takes place ca. 2640. Pluto is dismissed as an escaped moon of Neptune, while the solar system's outer planets are listed as Neptune, Persephone, Caïna, Antenora, and Ptolemea, with Judecca reserved for the next discovery.
- Inherit the Stars (1977), first book of the Gentle Giants series by James P. HoganJames P. Hogan (writer)James Patrick Hogan was a British science fiction author.-Biography:Hogan was born in London, England. He was raised in the Portobello Road area on the west side of London...
. Pluto turns out to be the remains of MinervaMinervaMinerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
, a planet that exploded to form the asteroid beltAsteroid beltThe asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...
50,000 years ago. - "Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe" (1977) by John VarleyJohn Varley (author)John Herbert Varley is an American science fiction author.-Biography:Varley grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, moved to Port Arthur in 1957, and graduated from Nederland High School. He went to Michigan State University on a National Merit Scholarship because, of the schools that he could afford, it...
. Pluto is the setting of a coming-of-age story of a boy who discovers himself to be the clone of Pluto's finance minister. - Starrigger series (1983) by John DeChancieJohn DeChancieJohn DeChancie is an American author. A Pittsburgh native, he is most famous for his comic fantasy Castle series, and his science fiction Skyway series...
. Pluto is the location of our solar system's dimensional gate to the interstellar Skyway. - IcehengeIcehengeIcehenge is a science fiction novel by Kim Stanley Robinson.Though it was published almost ten years before Kim Stanley Robinson's acclaimed Mars trilogy and takes place in a different version of the future, Icehenge contains elements that should be familiar to readers of the Mars series...
(1985), novel by 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...
. A mysterious monument is found on Pluto's north pole. - Vacuum DiagramsVacuum DiagramsVacuum Diagrams is a collection of science fiction short stories written by Stephen Baxter. The collection connects the novels of the Xeelee Sequence and also shows the history of mankind in the Xeelee universe, and ultimately the universe...
(2001), anthology by Stephen BaxterStephen BaxterStephen Baxter is a prolific British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering.- Writing style :...
. In the story "Goose Summer" Frank Poole's wormholeWormholeIn physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime. For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional surface. If this surface is folded along a third dimension, it...
system has placed a portal in the orbit of Pluto, when a survey mission is sent to the planet, the gate malfunctions and the two women explorers make a forced landing. It is later discovered that Pluto harbors life in the form of snowflake-like creatures who reproduce during the brightest phase of Pluto, the perihelion (closest point to the Sun), by sending strands of "cobwebs" from Charon, its moon, to seed the surface of Pluto. - The Sunborn (2006), a novel by Gregory BenfordGregory BenfordGregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine...
. The first expedition to Pluto discovers intelligent creatures thriving in -300°F (-185°C or 90 K) temperatures along the shore of the planet's nitrogen sea. These life forms are discovered to be an experiment conducted by magnetic entities living in the heliopause. - Before Dishonor (2007), a Star Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
novel by Peter DavidPeter DavidPeter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
. A large BorgBorg (Star Trek)The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe associated with Star Trek.Whereas cybernetics are used by other races in the science fiction world to repair bodily damage and birth defects, the Borg use enforced cybernetic enhancement as a means of...
cubeship "consumes" the newly recategorized planet Pluto, Charon, Nix and Hydra for resources before advancing to Earth's orbit. A character darkly remarked that after its status repeatedly bouncing back and forth over the past centuries, the problem of what to call Pluto had been eliminated.
Comics
- 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 sent to different planets. The SpectreSpectre (comics)The Spectre is a fictional character and superhero who has appeared in numerous comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in a next issue ad in More Fun Comics #51 and received his first story the following month, #52...
finds himself heading towards Pluto and exits his ship before it crashes. Unaffected by the cold and ice, he decides to fully expore this planet when he finds a man-made cover for a shaft going into the ground. He shrinks down and enters the shaft, reaching a city below, and encountering a resident who believes him to be evil. Later, the man explains to the Spectre that they are being menaced by the "furred ones" who inhabited in the city's square buildings. The Ghostly Guardian finally makes peace between the two groups. Rewarded by Pluto's scientists with the secret of making heat used for travel in cold areas, Spectre heads back to Earth. - In Planet ComicsPlanet ComicsPlanet Comics was a science fiction comic book title produced by Fiction House and ran for 73 issues from January 1940 to Winter 1953. Like many of Fiction House's early comics titles, Planet Comics was a spinoff of a pulp magazine, in this case Planet Stories, which featured space operatic tales...
#45 Pluto is shown to be inhabitated by a green- skinned race that communicates by telepathy. - In July 1958, Superman journeys to Pluto to obtain some giant snowflakes, frozen so solidly that they will not melt on Earth, for inclusion among the collection of “space trophies” which he is gathering for the Metropolis Museum so that they may be buried in the ground in a time capsule as a gift for the people of the fiftieth century C.E. (S No. 122/1: “The Secret of the Space Souvenirs!”).
- In Neutro #1 the Plutonians have placed a Neutro Robot in many planets in the galaxy, so that they can take them over. The Plutonians are short, and green.
- 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:...
, comic (January 1969). Martinex T'NagaMartinexMartinex T'Naga is a fictional character, a superhero from an alternate future version of Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe. Most of Martinex's adventures take place as a member of the 31st century Guardians of the Galaxy....
is the last survivor of a humanHumanHumans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
colonyColonyIn politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
in Pluto. His ancestors were AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n. The character operates in the 31st century. Plutonian colonists have crystals on their bodies to protect them from the extreme temperatures. - 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), comic by 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...
. All the planets of the solar systemSolar SystemThe Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
are 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....
. Pluto is overseen by the BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
of the 853rd century, and is called the "Asylum Planet."
Television
- In the TV series Space Patrol - episode "The Fires of Mercury" - Professor Heggarty's device for translating the language of ants also converts heatHeatIn physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
waves into radio wavesRadio wavesRadio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light. Radio waves have frequencies from 300 GHz to as low as 3 kHz, and corresponding wavelengths from 1 millimeter to 100 kilometers. Like all other electromagnetic waves,...
. Maria realises that this might provide a way of transmitting warmth from MercuryMercury (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...
to the colony on Pluto, where freezing conditions worsen as the planet nears the point in its orbit farthest from the SunSunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. - In the Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
(1963–) serial The Sun MakersThe Sun Makers-Cast notes:*Michael Keating also appeared in the audio play The Twilight Kingdom as Major Koth and in Year of the Pig as Inspector Chardalot...
(1977), set far in the future, Pluto is covered with vast cities that are warmed by artificial suns where the human race has moved, but access to sunlight is controlled by a ruling elite. - In the Japanese marionette series X-Bomber (1980-81) (known as Star Fleet in the U.K.). Pluto was the location of an Earth Defense Force base destroyed at the beginning of the series.
- In the second part of the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama documentary Space Odyssey: Voyage To The PlanetsSpace Odyssey: Voyage To The PlanetsSpace Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets is a mockumentary about a manned voyage through the solar system. Space Odyssey premiered in 2004 and was made by the BBC...
(2004), Pluto is the penultimate destination on a hypothetical human space flight to planets of the Solar SystemSolar SystemThe Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
.
Animation
- In the second episode of the 1967 Spider-Man series, the title character faces giant ice creatures from the planet Pluto.
- In the animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Space Battleship YamatoSpace Battleship Yamatois a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers...
(1974), also known as Star BlazersStar BlazersStar Blazers is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series, . Star Blazers was first broadcast in the United States in 1979. Significantly, it was the first popular English-translated anime that had an over-arching plot and storyline that required the episodes to...
, the eponymous starship destroys an alien base on Pluto and fights a subsequent battle in an asteroid belt beyond Pluto. Eighteen years later astronomers confirmed the existence of the real-life Kuiper beltKuiper beltThe Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, although it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive...
. - In the anime series Galaxy Express 999Galaxy Express 999is a manga written and drawn by Leiji Matsumoto, as well as various anime films and TV series based on it. It is set in a space-faring, high-tech future in which humans have learned how to transfer their minds into mechanical bodies, thus achieving practical immortality.The manga won the...
(1978-81) Pluto exists as a planet where those people who have abandoned their physical bodies for mechanical ones discard their former organic bodies. - In the animated TV series Battle of the PlanetsBattle of the PlanetsBattle of the Planets is an American animated television adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman . Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation, produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment...
(1978-85), Pluto is the location of an early warning base. - In the anime series Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (1982), the SDF-1 Macross spaceship executes a spacefold jump inside Earth's atmosphere to escape the attacking Zentradi forces. An accident takes the ship and everything within several-kilometer radius (ocean, island, city, naval forces) to the orbit of Pluto, and the SDF-1 Macross must return to Earth by more conventional means. Macross was later adapted as the first part of the 1985 series RobotechRobotechRobotech is an 85-episode science fiction anime adaptation produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. and first released in the United States in 1985...
. - In the anime series Cowboy BebopCowboy Bebopis a critically acclaimed and award-winning 1998 Japanese anime series directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, written by Keiko Nobumoto, and produced by Sunrise. Its 26 episodes comprise a complete storyline: set in 2071, the series follows the adventures, misadventures and tragedies of five bounty...
(1998), it is mentioned that a "supermaxSupermaxSupermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
" maximum security penitentiaryPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
is located on Pluto. - In an episode of The Magic School BusThe Magic School Bus (TV series)The Magic School Bus is an American Saturday morning animated television series based on the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole. It is notable for its use of celebrity talent and combining entertainment with an educational show, according to an article in Animation World Magazine by...
(1994-1997) the class takes a tour of the solar system and visits Pluto. - 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...
(1999–2003) featured Pluto as a habitat for penguins in the episode "The Birdbot of Ice-CatrazThe Birdbot of Ice-Catraz"The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" is the fifth episode in the third production season of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on March 4, 2001 as the ninth episode of the third season. The episode was written by Dan Vebber and directed by James Purdum...
." Another episodeThe Problem with Popplers"The Problem with Popplers" is the 15th episode in the second production season of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 7, 2000.The title is a reference to the Star Trek: The Original Series Episode "Trouble with Tribbles", in which "tribbles" infest the USS Enterprise.-Plot:When...
includes a reference to a planet named "McPlutoMcDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
." - The first five episodes of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers ChroniclesRoughnecks: Starship Troopers ChroniclesRoughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles was a CGI animated television series based on both the novel by Robert A. Heinlein and the 1997 film adaptation directed by Paul Verhoeven...
(1999) are set on Pluto.
Games
- In the Ezone.com game, Lenny Loosejocks in Space, Pluto is one of the places Lenny must go to defuse one of the bombs on the other planets before he can save Earth.
- The player visits 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...
as the second planet on the way to the Sun in the NESNintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
port of GyrussGyrussis a shoot 'em up video arcade game developed by Konami, and released in 1983. It was designed by Yoshiki Okamoto, who had earlier created Time Pilot for Konami. Gyruss was licensed to Centuri in the United States, and was ported to numerous games consoles and home computers...
. - In the computer 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,...
(1990), and consequently in The Ur-Quan Masters, the Spathi Captain Fwiffo can be found on Pluto. - In 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:...
(1999), Pluto is destroyed at the end of the game. - In the game Epoch Star (2004), Pluto is the home planet of the Anthropite civilization.
- In the 1994 PC 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...
, Pluto serves as the final location. Levels 25 and 26 are set in an outpost and military base on the planet itself. Level 27, the final level in the game, takes place on Charon, in a volatile materials mine. - In the RPG Mass EffectMass EffectMass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
, Pluto's moon, Charon, was discovered to have been a "Mass Relay" device encased in ice, a teleporter left behind by an ancient civilization. Once this relay is reactivated, Pluto's orbit is made less eccentric and inclined, ceasing its occasional cross with NeptuneNeptuneNeptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
's orbit. - The first few missions of the PC game Battlezone 2 take place on Pluto.