Terraform: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Fry:''' I'm impressed. In my time we had no idea Mars had a university.

'''Professor Farnsworth:''' That's because then Mars was a uninhabitable wasteland, much like [[Place Worse Than Death|Utah]]. But unlike Utah, Mars was eventually made livable when the university was founded in 2636.

'''Leela:''' They planted traditional college foliage. [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|Ivy... trees... hemp...]] soon the whole planet was terraformed!|'''[[Futurama]]''', ''Mars University''}}

A [[Speculative Fiction]] staple, the act of turning an otherwise human-unfriendly environment into an Earth-like, or "Terra-formed" planet. Narratively, this is done to give the cast a place to go outside the ship (off Earth) that won't require them dressing in [[Space Clothes]] constantly. Within a given setting, it's often done to showcase humanity's drive to explore and colonize new places for the famed trifecta of God, Gold and Glory. (Hey, [[Warhammer ~~40000~~|at least one]] setting actively proselytizes, at gunpoint!)

A [[Speculative Fiction]] staple, the act of turning an otherwise human-unfriendly environment into an Earth-like, or "Terra-formed" planet. Narratively, this is done to give the cast a place to go outside the ship (off Earth) that won't require them dressing in [[Space Clothes]] constantly. Within a given setting, it's often done to showcase humanity's drive to explore and colonize new places for the famed trifecta of God, Gold and Glory. (Hey, [[Warhammer 40,000|at least one]] setting actively proselytizes, at gunpoint!)

Often used to explain why [[All Planets Are Earthlike]].

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We would also like to draw your attention to a little bit of verbal trickery in the first sentence: "human-unfriendly environment". This is not the same as uninhabitable, with acid rains, lead-melting temperatures, or hard vacuum. Sometimes, a planet is plenty alive... sometimes, ''too alive'', with [[Man-Eating Plant|man-eating plants]], semi- to [[Evolutionary Levels|hyper-evolved]] sentients, and scores of other dangers. A few old sci-fi serials and pulps would have their heroes' effort designed to create a "domestication" of savage planets, much like [[The Western|The American West]] was "tamed" with all the attendant heartache and extinctions.

More recently, some shows turn this around by showcasing how terraforming an already-living world can be ecologically disastrous, or ethically questionable, [[Hostile Terraforming|even weaponized]]. Or just plain pisses off the [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|near omnipotent residents]]. Some works even turn the concept inside-out, showing how aliens arrive on Earth and mess the ecology up so badly that the planet becomes barely habitable, if at all, for humans (any [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|similarities]] to [[Global Warming]] are [[Sarcasm Mode|entirely coincidental]]); this is sometimes termed xenoforming or un-terraforming.

More recently, some shows turn this around by showcasing how terraforming an already-living world can be ecologically disastrous, or ethically questionable, [[Hostile Terraforming|even weaponized]]. Or just plain pisses off the [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|near omnipotent residents]]. Some works even turn the concept inside-out, showing how aliens arrive on Earth and mess the ecology up so badly that the planet becomes barely habitable, if at all, for humans (any [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|similarities]] to [[Hollywood Global Warming]] are [[Sarcasm Mode|entirely coincidental]]); this is sometimes termed xenoforming or un-terraforming.

As seen in the trope picture, [[The Red Planet|Mars]] is likely to be a popular target for any terraforming operation in both fiction and reality. It has one of the shortest travel distances (second only to Venus), and is solid. Venus is also a popular candidate in fiction, being almost completely similar to Earth in terms of size and gravity, but it's second to Mars because warming something up is a lot easier than cooling it down, and unlike Mars, Venus's slow rotation would have to be dealt with.

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* The Genesis Device from ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'' turns a nebula into an Earthlike planet. Sadly, the planet tore itself apart within a year. If it had been used on a rocky planet instead of a nebula, the planet probably wouldn't have fallen apart if that terraformed underground location Khan imprisoned Kirk and co. in was any indication.

** In ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|Star Trek III the Search For Spock]]'', David Marcus admitted that he had used "Proto-matter" ([[Applied Phlebotinum|a highly-unstable element]]) in the design of the Genesis device. Even if Genesis had been aimed at a rocky planet, it would have fallen apart. There was never an explanation for the demonstration cavern.

* Although it's not seen on-screen, the dialogue in ''[[Star Trek: ~~First Contact|Star Trek~~ First Contact]]'' suggests that the Moon has been at least partly terraformed by the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Next Generation]]'' era. When Riker, a [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]], stands in awe at the sight of the 21st century Moon and Zefram Cochrane rolls his eyes and sarcastically asks whether they still have a Moon in the future, Riker answers that it simply looks "a lot different": in the 24th century, "Lake Armstrong" and several lunar cities are visible from Earth. This does contrast a few earlier episodes, where the 24th century moon put in an appearance and looked the same as ever.

* Although it's not seen on-screen, the dialogue in ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'' suggests that the Moon has been at least partly terraformed by the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Next Generation]]'' era. When Riker, a [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]], stands in awe at the sight of the 21st century Moon and Zefram Cochrane rolls his eyes and sarcastically asks whether they still have a Moon in the future, Riker answers that it simply looks "a lot different": in the 24th century, "Lake Armstrong" and several lunar cities are visible from Earth. This does contrast a few earlier episodes, where the 24th century moon put in an appearance and looked the same as ever.

** It may just be possible that he was referring to it being colonized, not terraformed.

* An inversion in ''The Arrival''. An astronomer discovers that a worldwide rise in carbon dioxide levels and [[Space Whale Aesop|resulting global warming]] is due to aliens seeking to kill off humanity and make Earth more like their planet.

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* The [[Trope Namer]] was science fiction writer Jack Williamson, who coined the term in a 1942 novella called "Collision Orbit."

* Kim Stanley Robinson's [[Red Mars Trilogy]] goes into [[Shown Their Work|exhaustive detail]] about Martian terraforming.

* H.G Wells' ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' inverts this; the Martians try to areoform the Earth as part of their invasion plan. (Its publication date of 1898 makes this possibly the [[Ur Example]] of xenoforming.)

* H.G Wells' ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|The War of the Worlds]]'' inverts this; the Martians try to areoform the Earth as part of their invasion plan. (Its publication date of 1898 makes this possibly the [[Ur Example]] of xenoforming.)

* Another reverse-example is David Gerrold's ''[[War Against the Chtorr]]'' novels. Alien creatures are transplanted from their home planet to the Earth to replace our entire ecology.

* And in [[John Christopher]]'s ''[[The Tripods]]'' (which may well be an [[Alternate Universe]] sequel to ''[[The War of the Worlds]]''), anti-Terraforming is on the Tripods' agenda somewhere after Enslave Humanity. The alien Masters plan to replace the Earth's atmosphere with one like that of their own planet.

* And in [[John Christopher]]'s ''[[The Tripods]]'' (which may well be an [[Alternate Universe]] sequel to ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|The War of the Worlds]]''), anti-Terraforming is on the Tripods' agenda somewhere after Enslave Humanity. The alien Masters plan to replace the Earth's atmosphere with one like that of their own planet.

* [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story, "Founding Fathers," where a crew of multi-national astronauts crash-lands on an uncharted planet with just enough ammonia in the atmosphere to be unsuitable for human life. There are live plants on the ship, though, and if they can be coaxed to thrive somehow, a tipping point could be reached where the extra oxygen would wipe out the ammonia in a cascade. This is eventually done after a considerable time by burying the deceased humans in the crew into the soil. It is noted that the person who does this will not live to see the transformation finish (the ship's water supply got contaminated), and when this planet is discovered again, there would be no sign that there had ever been ammonia in the atmosphere...

* In one of [[Philip K. Dick]]'s stories, Earth and Titan were in an uneasy peace because of a war that was held because humans terraformed Mars. There were already people of Titan on Mars, but they couldn't breathe oxygen. By the time the humans learned of the Titanians, the terraforming had already begun, and "you can't terraform just part of an atmosphere..."

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* ''Riverworld'' is set on a planet terraformed into one big twisting river valley, to maximize the surface area ideal for human habitation.

* The [[Robert A. Heinlein]] story ''[[Farmer in the Sky]]'' is about a terraforming effort... [[Science Marches On|on Ganymede]].

* Dan Simmons' ''Hyperion'' universe has in its backstory humanity terraforming all their worlds, regularly committing genocide against sentient indigenous species. This bothers pretty much no one, [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|human]], [[AI Is a Crapshoot|AI]], or transhuman.

* Dan Simmons' ''Hyperion'' universe has in its backstory humanity terraforming all their worlds, regularly committing genocide against sentient indigenous species. This bothers pretty much no one, [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|human]], [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|AI]], or transhuman.

* The major theme of ''[[Dune]]'' is the back-and-forth attempts by humanity to terraform [[Single Biome Planet|the desert planet Arrakis]] inhabited by the various life-cycle stages of sandworms (which create an extremely necessary commodity) and by the (non-sentient) sandtrout phase of the worm species to counter terraform Arrakis (and later other worlds) ''back into desert''.

* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' has a major factor in the economics of the various colonies being how well they were terraformed. This is largely a function of when you left Earth and how much money you had when leaving. Haven and Manticore were settled fairly late with good resources. Other planets like Grayson were settled by [[Sleeper Ship|cold sleepers]] who left very very early, had poor terraforming technology, and ended up on a planet full of heavy metal poisoning.

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** Plus, terraforming often has unintended side effects, like the newly introduced atmosphere interacting with minerals or gases to cause a massive plague, and at least one planet is considered an uninhabitable "black rock" because the [[Blatant Lies|terraforming never took]].

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', humanity is in the first stages of terraforming Mars.

* ''[[Star Trek: The ~~Next Generation|Star Trek the~~ Next Generation]]'' had a surprisingly good first season episode where the Enterprise was trying to help terraform a desert planet by pumping water for irrigation. Unfortunately, the planet was occupied by sentient lifeforms who were annoyed enough at the attempt to terraform to sabotage the drill. It took a while for everyone to figure this out because they were microscopic silicon lifeforms, and so were mistaken for parts of the sandy scenery.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' had a surprisingly good first season episode where the Enterprise was trying to help terraform a desert planet by pumping water for irrigation. Unfortunately, the planet was occupied by sentient lifeforms who were annoyed enough at the attempt to terraform to sabotage the drill. It took a while for everyone to figure this out because they were microscopic silicon lifeforms, and so were mistaken for parts of the sandy scenery.

** However Federation Terraforming regulation require a planet to be devoid of any trace of life, so not even possible future species might be prevented from evolving naturally.

* ''[[Star Trek: ~~Enterprise|Star Trek~~ Enterprise]]'' has Mars terraforming in-progress. They had the atmosphere thickened enough to allow people on the surface without pressurized suits, and that's about it. By 2155 you still need oxygen tanks and thick clothing to stay alive.

* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' has Mars terraforming in-progress. They had the atmosphere thickened enough to allow people on the surface without pressurized suits, and that's about it. By 2155 you still need oxygen tanks and thick clothing to stay alive.

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' has two whole galaxies full of planets terraformed by the [[Precursors|Ancients]] and the Goa'uld, complete with [[Transplanted Humans]].

** They also had a "pyroforming" species, similar to the Andromeda example above.

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* In the ''Centauri Knights'' setting for ''[[BESM]],'' the planet being colonized has had its ecosystem wiped clean to the bedrock by [[Nanomachines]] made by the natives. The native ecosystem survives on a couple of still-working, but unoccupied, space habitats near the planet. One of the conflicts in the game's politics is: do we terraform the planet into a new Earth, rebuild its own ecosystem by transplanting from the colonies, leave it a barren desert and mine it for technology, or abandon it and go home?

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', there's a card called [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Terraforming "Terraforming"] that lets you search your deck for a field card. You literally make the environment more friendly to your creatures—whether human, beast, angel, demon, crystals, etc.

* In ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'' this is done by two factions, and inverted by a third.

* In ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' this is done by two factions, and inverted by a third.

** The Imperium either terraforms any worlds it settles that are not already inabitable by humans, or turns them into [[Single Biome Planet|polluted hyper-urban hive worlds]].

** The Eldar Maiden Worlds are worlds undergoing long-term alteration to make them inhabitable by Eldar Exodites or (voluntary) outcasts. Non-Eldar races settling a Maiden World are... strongly encouraged to leave.

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* ''Haegemonia'' has terraforming capabilities for all races. Planets can be sorted into four groups: for humans, the first group is gaia/terran/oceanic (can be colonized from the start), the second is forest/swamp/desert/arctic/plains/volcanic/rocky (needs research), the third is barren/acidic (needs more research) while the final one is gas (uninhabitable). Kariaks and Darzoks have different qualifications; for example, both like barren. If it's not good enough, it can be terraformed once which improves the quality of the planet; once the next level is researched, it can be terraformed again. For example, level 1 human terraforming can turn plains into forest while level 3 instantly pushes any planet to oceanic/terran. In the expansion ''The Solon Heritage'', spies can actually '''reverse-terraform''', causing an ecological catastrophe (talk about overkill...).

* ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]]'' reveals that the Four Elemental Crystals that show up in so many games of that series are actually terraforming implements. They're a bit less reliable than slower methods though, given that their terraforming effects tend to wear off once they're removed or destroyed.

* Egosoft's ''[[X (video game)|X-Universe]]'' games have terraforming as the event that started the whole series. After a ''[[AI Is a Crapshoot|glitched software update]]'', the machines that man had sent out to terraform the system started terraforming ''everything'', including inhabited planets and ships. Mankind fights back, the terraformers swat them out of the way, and all seems lost until they're tricked into moving en masse to a distant part of the universe—which they promptly start terraforming as well.

* Egosoft's ''[[X (video game)|X-Universe]]'' games have terraforming as the event that started the whole series. After a ''[[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|glitched software update]]'', the machines that man had sent out to terraform the system started terraforming ''everything'', including inhabited planets and ships. Mankind fights back, the terraformers swat them out of the way, and all seems lost until they're tricked into moving en masse to a distant part of the universe—which they promptly start terraforming as well.

* ''[[Escape Velocity]]'': [[Broad Strokes|In these games]], Mars was always the first planet to be terraformed. And it always [[Gone Horribly Wrong|went very, very wrong]], and the next few hundred years are spent trying to fix the mess.

** ''EV Nova'' also lets you see somebody get terraforming right in one quest line. And the [[Higher-Tech Species|Polaris]] have largely mastered it, with several planets listed as terraformed in the "communicate with planet" dialog box.