|
In science fiction set far in the future, authors commonly treat the Earth in one or more of four ways: There is also fiction that never mentions Earth. Buck Rogers In most variations on the Buck Rogers mythos (comic strip, TV series, feature film), Earth of the 25th century (where the action takes place) is recovering from various atomic wars, usually variations on World War III. In the original comic, Mongols have taken over the Earth; in the TV series, the Draconian Empire fills this role (although the Draconians are obviously based on Mongols). Most of Earth's cities lie in ruins, although rebuilding is in progress (Earth's capital is New Chicago; other cities include New Paris, New London, etc.). The second season of the TV series revealed that much of Earth's population fled the planet in the wake of the atomic war and founded colonies in deep space; the Earth ship Searcher is dispatched to investigate. Hitchhikers Guide In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams, the Earth is destroyed to make room for an interstellar bypass. One of the only two surviving Earthmen, Arthur Dent, is affronted to find that his planet's entry in the Guide is simply "Harmless." The Guide researcher reassures him that the next edition will improve upon this. The new entry will read "Mostly Harmless." Dent also learns of the creation of Earth by inhabitants of the planet Magrathea, as a giant supercomputer built to find the question behind the answer to life, the universe, and everything. The computer was so large that it was often mistaken for a planet. It also mentions that humans are descended from a convoy of middlemen (bureaucrats, telephone sanitizers, and the like), tricked into leaving another planet. The Earth was located in sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha. An alternate version of Earth is the planet NowWhat, which is probably located at an improbable location along the probability axis. In the 2005 film adaptation, a new Earth replaces the old one, and everything is restored to the moments leading up to its destruction. Half-Life In the Half-life series of science fiction/action video games, a disastrous experiment at the Black Mesa Research Facility leads to a physical anomaly referred to as a "Resonance Cascade" which opens a rift into another dimension. This incident causes Earth to be noticed by a massive interstellar empire known as the Combine, which subsequently invades Earth and defeats the combined military might of Humanity in a conflict known as the 7 Hours War. Under the leadership of Dr. Breen, one of the lead scientists of the Black Mesa project, Earth is put under a collaborationist administration centered in the Citadel, an enormous military facility at the centre of the crumbling City 17. Humanity's prospect for salvation comes from Gordon Freeman, another scientist from Black Mesa who is an almost messianic figure to the surviving Human resistance. In actual gameplay Freeman is the player's character and is notable for never speaking or interacting with other characters, leaving the player with a greater sense of immersion. Earth is presented as a dystopian terror state under the rule of the Combine's Overwatch (effectively an Earth-based branch of their Military) and Civil Protection forces. Dangerous alien creatures roam the wastelands between the crumbling urban centres and Humanity is subject to the suppression field, a device that prohibits Human reproduction. The planet's ecology appears to be in total disarray with fallen sea levels evident and pollution and irradiation prevalent as the Combine strips the globe of natural resources. By the conclusion of Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One, Earth has become a battleground as Human and Combine forces fight for control of the planet after a general uprising by the surviving Humans. Star Trek In the Star Trek universe, Earth was one of the founding members of the United Federation of Planets. Several major federal organizations are found on Earth, such as the Federation Council which meets in the Palais de la Concorde in Paris. The Federation President also keeps offices in Paris, and Starfleet Headquarters is located in San Francisco. Major events on Earth included first contact with the Vulcans (Star Trek: First Contact), barely averted attacks by the Borg (in "The Best of Both Worlds" and Star Trek: First Contact), Founder infiltration ("Homefront"), and numerous attempted coups. Like most other major Federation worlds, Earth is a near-paradise where poverty and war have been eradicated and environmental damage has been reversed. In the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "The Forge", we learn that the name of the planet's actual government is United Earth. According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Attached", United Earth was formed in the year 2150. The episodes "Demons" and "Terra Prime" imply that United Earth is a parliamentary system of government: we meet various government officials who are referred to as Ministers (such as Minister Nathan Samuels, played by Harry Groener). United Earth's leader is most likely a Prime Minister, but is probably someone other than Samuels since a Prime Minister is customary referred to by that full title, not simply 'Minister'. In the Mirror Universe, Earth is the capital of the despotic Terran Empire which rules over large portions of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and is generally seen as the most powerful interstellar empire. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine revealed that the Empire had collapsed and fallen to a Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. The fate of Earth after the fall of the Empire and its role during this era are never revealed. Firefly In the Joss Whedon series Firefly, Earth is long since uninhabitable. It is referred to with awe as "Earth-That-Was", having been abandoned centuries ago due to overpopulation and depletion of the planet's natural resources. After fleeing the planet, the remnants of humanity travelled in generation ships for decades (many humans lived their entire lives within a spaceship's walls) until finding a new star system. Collection of Earth-That-Was artifacts is a popular hobby, and ancient Earth artifacts are known to be very valuable. It is unknown whether Earth has actually been destroyed, or if the planet still physically exists; in the feature film Serenity, ancient starships are shown leaving Earth, but its ultimate fate has never been revealed. A puppet show in the episode "Heart of Gold" implies that Earth has in fact been obliterated, but this was never actually confirmed on screen. It is also unknown whether the Alliance, the governing body of human society on the show, existed while humans still lived on Earth, or if it only formed after the planet was abandoned. Battlestar Galactica A major plot point in all versions - both the remake and original - of Battlestar Galactica is the quest to find Earth, which is long thought to be the location of a 13th colony of Man. Both shows are similar in that initially, Earth's location is completely unknown, but clues to its location are gradually discovered over long years since the destruction of the Twelve Colonies. Most Colonial historians assume that Kobol is the homeworld of all humanity, and that tribes of humans fled that world to found the Twelve Colonies - with a 13th colony heading for Earth (some fans theorize that in the remake, Kobol contains such detail regarding Earth and its location as to suggest that Earth, not Kobol, was the true homeworld of humanity; other fans disagree and maintain that humanity originated on Kobol.) Only in Galactica 1980 is Earth actually discovered; it is unknown whether, or how, Earth might be found in the remake of the series. Dune In Frank Herbert's Dune series of novels, Earth is referred to as Old Earth/Old Terra by the time of the original novel Dune (the Sun is called Al-Lat). Humanity had populated many planets (among them Caladan, Giedi Prime and Salusa Secundus) before the Titans and then Thinking Machines had taken control of the universe. In the Legends of Dune series, it is revealed that at the beginning of mankind's war with the Machines, called the Butlerian Jihad, Earth had been devastated by humans themselves using atomics in an attack on the Machines. In the time of Paul Atreides, the Earth is a forgotten, uninhabited legend. It was a wilderness and is recovering an ecosystem of its own as humans have abandoned it. The artifacts of Homo sapiens have for the most part crumbled back into the planet, though a more than casual observer can find many traces of the old civilizations. In Dune Messiah, Paul refers to Hitler and Genghis Khan, in comparing the destructiveness of his Jihad to their wars. Pauls's son, the God Emperor Leto II, refers to the Earth many times in his journals. The God Emperor seemed particularly fond of the ancestors he had from the Western sections of Eurasia. He makes references to Israel, Urartu, also called Armenia, Edom, Damascus, the plains of Central Asia, and the Greeks; the family name refers to their descent from Atreus. He seems to have had ancestors among the Turks or the Mongols as he says that one of his memories involves a horse plain with felt yurts. Leto also has the memories of a famous politician from the United States whose name was Jacob Broom. Stargate
CoDominium In Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium series (now largely alternate history) the Earth comes under the control of the CoDominium, an alliance between the United States and Soviet Union, in the year 1990. The CD imposes its control over all other nations of the Earth, halting scientific development and warfare. The CD is ruled by a Grand Senate located on the Moon, and eventually constructs interstellar colonies for the joint goal of economic gain and a means of exiling troublesome elements of society. Eventually in 2103, the CD dissolves, with the US and USSR engaging in the nuclear "Great Patriotic Wars" which destroy almost all of Earth (it is mentioned that Jamaica and the Tyrolean Alps are untouched). The CD Space Navy escapes to the planet Sparta, which eventually becomes the nucleus of the "Empire of Man." During the Empire's Formation Wars the Earth is once more hit hard, but is eventually incorporated into the Imperium as the "honorary capital." When the Empire dissolves in the Secession Wars in the 27th century, Earth is once more subjected to nuclear attacks, but by the early 31st century has been reclaimed by the Second Empire. By that time, the Earth city of "New Annapolis" is a training center for the Imperial Space Navy. To inhabitants of planets newly contacted planets, such as Prince Samual's World in "King David's Spaceship", the condition of the still largely desolate Earth is presented as an object lesson for the prohibitive price of war and a justification for Empire's claim to universal rule. Earth and the "Outer Planets" in Asimovs Future Histories In much of Isaac Asimov's fiction, the future Earth is an underprivileged planet - impoverished, overcrowded and disease-ridden - which is regarded with disdain by the arrogant Spacers of the "Outer Planets" (at this stage, there are about fifty of them). In the Robot Series the inhabitants of these planets are still aware that their ancestors came from Earth, but this does not make them fond of the place. Rather, they develop a racist theory by which "the best strains" had left Earth to colonise the other planets and left "the inferior strains" behind. However, they have no choice but to ask the help of the protagonist, a detective from the despised Earth, to solve murder mysteries which baffle their own police. By the end of this part, Earth embarks on a major new campaign of space colonization, with the pious hope that the new colonists will prove more faithful to the Mother Planet than the earlier ones. But apparently it does not remain so for long. The Galaxy is being steadily settled, and Earth is gradually forgotten, and has undergone further grave misfortunes and disasters. In the Galactic Empire series, taking place thousands of years later (originally conceived as completely separate but made by Asimov in his later career into the direct sequel of the Robot Period), Earth has a largely radioactive crust with only patches of habitable land in between, and its people have to undergo compulsory euthanasia at the age of sixty. It is a backwater province of an empire ruled from distant Trantor, and among inhabitants of other planets there is a prevalent prejudice known as "Anti-Terrestrialism", (obviously modeled on antisemitism), with the main negative stereotype having to do with the radiation-induced diseases prevalent on Earth. By this time, Earth people still believe themselves to be the original home of Humanity, but nobody else shares this belief. Fanatical priests, based in a mysterious Temple erected on the ruins of Washington, D.C., cultivate the mystique of Earth's ancient glories and conceive a plot to spread a Terrestrial disease throughout the Galaxy and in this way take over the Empire (and incidentally, act out the stereotype). The plot is foiled by a middle-aged tailor from the Twentieth Century, who possess powerful psychic abilities as a result of experiments performed upon him when he arrived in the future. Schwartz, the tailor, is often described as being Jewish, though his religion is never stated within the novel. Other fiction See also | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
 |
|
| |