Planets in science fiction

Planets in science fiction are fictional planets that appear in various media of the science fiction genre as story-settings or depicted locations.[1]

Before Galileo turned his telescope to the heavens, the planets of the Solar System were not widely recognized as worlds, or places where a person could potentially set foot; they were visible to observers merely as bright points of light, distinguishable from stars only by their motion.

In the system of Claudius Ptolemy (fl. c. 150), the Alexandrian astronomer whose works were the basis of all European astronomy throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the planets were lights set into a series of transparent spheres turning around the Earth, which was the center of the one and only universe.[2] Dante (1265–1321), in his Paradiso,[3] describes the ascent of his narrator through the spheres of the Moon, the planets from Mercury to Saturn, and thence to the sphere of the fixed stars and the heavens of the angels. Dante implies that the light of the planets is a combination of light imparted by Divine will and the radiance of the blessed souls that inhabit the spheres. These planets are, however, entirely ethereal; they have light but no physical form and no geography.

Planets as places

Ludovico Ariosto, in his epic Orlando Furioso (1513),[4] jestingly sent his hero to a Moon where everything lost on Earth eventually turns up; but it was not until Galileo discovered (1609–1610) that the Moon had surface features, and that the other planets could, at least, be resolved into disks,[5] that the concept that the planets were real physical bodies came to be taken seriously. In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus had already posited that the planets orbited the Sun as the Earth does; combined, these two concepts led to the thought that the planets might be "worlds" similar to the Earth.[6] Public expression of such concepts could be dangerous, however; Giordano Bruno was martyred in 1600 for, among other things, imagining an infinite number of other worlds, and claiming that "Innumerable suns exist; innumerable Earths revolve about these suns ... Living beings inhabit these worlds" in De l'infinito universo e mondi ("Concerning the Infinite Universe and Worlds", 1584).[7]

At the time, such speculation was of a rather rarefied sort, and was limited to astronomers like Christiaan Huygens who wrote a book, Cosmotheoros (1698)[8] considering the possibility of life on other planets; or to philosophers like Campanella, who wrote in defense of Galileo. The concept of life on distant planets was not, however, much utilized in fiction. The most popular target of 17th century "science fiction" was the Moon ("visited" in fiction by Kepler,[9] Godwin,[10] Cyrano,[11] and Defoe).[12] Oddly, none of these fictions made use of the lunar maps contemporaneously created by Hevelius, Riccioli and others.

It was quite some time before such "extraordinary voyages" went beyond the lunar sphere. Eberhard Kindermann sent an airship to the planets in 1744 in Die Geschwinde Reise auf dem Lufft-schiff nach der obern Welt ("The Airship's Speedy Journey to the Upper World");[13] while a traveller from the star Sirius passes inward through the Solar System, stopping at various planets in Voltaire's Micromégas (1752);[14] followed by another outward voyage in Marie-Anne de Roumier-Robert's Voyage de Milord Céton dans les Sept Planètes ("Lord Seton's Voyage Among the Seven Planets", 1765).[15] These stories were generally unscientific and tended towards the satirical rather than the purely entertaining; their subject-matter was probably inspired by the popular writings of Fontenelle, notably his Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes ("Conversations on the Multiplicity of Worlds", 1686).[16]

With the rapid developments in the magnifying and resolving power of telescopes in the course of the 19th century, it finally became possible to distinguish surface features on other planets and even to draw maps of some of them, notably Mars. In 1877, Asaph Hall reported two moons of Mars and Giovanni Schiaparelli found the surface of Mars to be adorned with continents, seas, and channels, and a very suitable habitat for life. From the beginning of the 1880s, fictions – some more, some less scientific – involving travels to and from Mars began to be produced in great quantities, even though the observations of Percival Lowell required reassessment of Mars as a more marginal desert planet.[17] Mars remained a favored destination for fictional travellers down to the early 1960s (see Mars in fiction). Since probes revealed the absence of any indications of intelligent life on Mars, the science fictional Mars has changed to a possible future home for the human race, e.g. through terraforming.

Venus was never quite so popular as Mars, probably because it obdurately refused to display any surface features (it is covered with sulfuric acid clouds only dimly translucent to visible light), making any statement about its nature disturbingly speculative. In 1918, chemist Svante Arrhenius, deciding that Venus' cloud cover was necessarily water, decreed in The Destinies of the Stars that "A very great part of the surface of Venus is no doubt covered with swamps" and compared Venus' humidity to the tropical rain forests of the Congo.[18] Venus thus became, until the early 1960s, a place for science fiction writers to place all manner of unusual life forms, from quasi-dinosaurs to intelligent carnivorous plants, and where hostile interactions with Venusian natives were reminiscent of European colonial projects in Africa and Asia (see Venus in fiction). In fact Venus's surface is hot enough to melt lead, and it is extremely hostile to life.

Various planets of the Solar System were used as settings for science fiction stories in the first half of the 20th century; but dissatisfaction with the limits imposed by science led many writers early on to forsake the Solar System for fictional planets around distant stars. As increasing knowledge of the Solar System made the prospects of life in the vicinity of Earth marginal at best, the extrasolar planet has become almost the only venue for contemporary science fiction.

In many works of science fiction, planets are only described casually, as points of origin and departure, or as interchangeable backdrops for space battles. This is particularly true of space opera. In other works, the planet is the center stage, the primary scene of events, and particular attention is paid to its environment and any culture that may exist there. Adventure stories that stick to a single, well-described planet are sometimes called planetary romances; some of these planets are not very realistic and are effectively fantasy worlds.

Planets may be treated in different ways depending both on the interests of the author and the genre he or she is writing in. In some stories, a planet is mainly considered as an object in space: the interest of the fiction depends upon its astronomical characteristics, such as its mass, its geological composition, its atmosphere, how many moons it has and what size they are, how close it is to its sun (or suns) and how hot they are. Such considerations are found prominently though not exclusively in the hard science fiction genre.

In other stories, a planet is considered as a world or setting. Such a planet will be described from the point of view of a person dwelling on it, rather than from the point of view of an outside observer: the fiction may describe its geography, its history, and the social and cultural characteristics of its civilizations. Since authors usually adopt human protagonists, such planets are typically described as very hospitable to human life and, other than in geography, nearly indistinguishable from Earth; Brian Stableford calls such planets "Earth-Clones".[19] Conversely some fictional worlds are never more than marginally habitable, which has a profound effect on societies that developed or moved there. Numerous examples of this are to be found in the Known Space stories of Larry Niven.

In some works of fiction, such as Pournelle's CoDominium or Card's Ender's Game series, certain planets are settled by specific ethnic groups. However, in novels set in distant futures, e.g. Dune, the inhabitants have usually forgotten about the original settlers.

While some authors choose to treat a planet in depth, considering it to have a wide diversity of geography, climate, politics and culture, others prefer to characterize their planets by some single global characteristic. Many of these uniform settings have become stereotypes, used in a variety of science fictional works. Such stereotypes include: the planet covered by a single city; the planet whose surface is entirely desert; the planet covered by ocean, with no landmasses; the planet on which it is perpetually winter; the planet that is self-aware; and the planet which has been artificially constructed.

Other planets appear in humorous or comical settings, sometimes spoofing more conventional science fiction. Such planets are often described with no pretense to scientific accuracy; their strange characteristics are primarily intended to amuse.

For the Star Trek universe, a detailed planetary classification system has been devised; it is not actually used by scientists.

Planet lists

For planets from specific fictional milieux, use the following lists and categories:

Literature

Comics

Film and television

Animation

Computer/video games
  • Phantasy Star – Algol (Phantasy Star)#Common elements
  • Warcraft – Warcraft (series)#Location
  • Lost Planet (series)
  • Halo – Halo (video game)#Setting
  • Borderlands (series)
  • Destiny (series)

Other games

Planet types

For a more scientific approach to classifying planet types from Orion's Arm

  • Non-Luminary World Classification Scheme[21]
  • CADRS Planetary Classification System, The[22]

Ice planets
Main article: Ice planet

Ice planets have figured prominently in science fiction, such as Hoth, an ice planet featured in The Empire Strikes Back, or Gethen, an ice planet in the novel The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin.

An ice planet named Fichina is featured in the Star Fox video game series.

Ancient Mesa (Ancient Mare in the Japanese version) is a venue in F-Zero Maximum Velocity. Its tracks includes the Split and Skating Circuits. Another ice planet appears in the name of White Land in every other F-Zero games. Described as covered in crystals in the first game, its appearance in the anime F-Zero: Falcon Densetsu and the games based on this media shows ice and snow as the dominant features of this venue.

Starkiller Base was originally an ice world in the Unknown Regions, until the First Order converted it into a superweapon that destroyed the New Republic.

Lava planets
Main article: Lava planet

Lava worlds can be seen occasionally in science fiction. In Star Wars, one such planet is Mustafar, with its heat caused by tidal forces from nearby gas giants. Mustafar scenes take place in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

A lava world called Solar is also featured in Star Fox 64.

A venue named Fire Field appears in the F-Zero franchise, where it is the last track of the King League in the first game. It is also notable for being one of the few venues to appear in every game of the franchise.

The Pyronite homeworld in Ben 10 is a planet-like star called which has multiple active volcanos.

Excalbia is a planet with a mostly molten lava surface, featured in Star Trek: The Original Series (episode The Savage Curtain). Silicon-based beings native to the planet (Excalbians) create a habitable earthlike area on the surface. There, Kirk and Spock, along with replicas of Abraham Lincoln and Surak are pitted against replicas of four historical figures considered "evil" by the Federation. Ostensibly this is so that they can gain an understanding of the concept of "good vs. evil"

In the videogame StarCraft, the main hive world of the Zerg is located on Char, a planet with important volcanic activity. The surface is covered in ash while the underground is filled with lava.

Ocean planets
  • In Bioware's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Manaan is an ocean world inhabited by the amphibian Selkath and source of the healing substance kolto. The only area seen to protrude above Manaan's ocean surface is Ahto City, constructed by the Selkath to help with trade with the rest of the galaxy.
  • In Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men, Venus is presented as an ocean planet lacking atmospheric oxygen. It is home to a semi-intelligent form of marine life deriving energy from nuclear power rather than metabolism. These beings are exterminated and human beings (genetically engineered into a flying species) settle the planet.
  • In C. S. Lewis's Perelandra, Venus is an ocean planet with floating islands.
  • Stanisław Lem's Solaris is a planet entirely covered by a sentient ocean. The protagonists in vain try to communicate with the ocean.
  • Jack Vance's The Blue World takes place on a planet entirely covered by ocean. The survivors of a crashed prison ship make their homes on giant floating plants. The ocean is also home to giant, semi-intelligent squid-like predators.
  • Kamino in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, an ocean planet inhabited by an indigenous sentient species.
  • Thalassa in The Songs of Distant Earth, a novel by Arthur C. Clarke. The planet was settled by colonists from the Earth in the 28th century, who created a utopian culture.
  • Hydros in The Face of the Waters by Robert Silverberg is an ocean planet populated by people who live on artificial floating islands.
  • Earth after melting the polar ice caps in Waterworld by Kevin Costner (an unlikely scenario under currently known parameters).[23]
  • Alpha, a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri in Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov, settled by remnants of the population of the dying Earth. Its only dry land is an island 250 kilometers long and 65 kilometers wide.
  • Jonathan L. Howard's Russalka Chronicles novels are set on the ocean planet Russalka, named after the mythical mermaid by its Russian colonists.
  • Shin-Tethys in Charles Stross's novel Neptune's Brood. The ocean is much deeper than any on Earth, making it only slightly more dense than Earth despite a greater radius. It is also younger than Earth, making its crust much richer than Earth's in uranium-235, the planet's major export.
  • 2181 Despoina in Mass Effect 3, the hiding place of the Leviathans. Its ocean surface is littered with crashed and floating vessels, destroyed to keep the planet's inhabitants a secret.
  • In the Star Trek: Titan novel Over a Torrent Sea by Christopher L. Bennett, the crew of Titan commanded by Capt. William T. Riker discover a water world inhabited by sapient "Squales", resembling cetaceans with tentacles, who use the other organisms in their environment as tools and are very fearful of anything artificial since they have never encountered metals or plastics before. The crew must learn to communicate with the Squales to warn them to evacuate the region of a coming asteroid impact.
  • Hal Clement's last novel Noise depicts a planet whose ocean is megametres deep.
  • The Star Fox (series) video game has two ocean planets named Aquas and Zoness.
  • The F-Zero video game franchise has a venue known as Big Blue and is said to have 99% of its planet covered in water. It is the second track of the Knight League in the first game.
  • In Interstellar, a fictional planet entitled Miller's Planet is depicted as an ocean planet with a thin water layer that faces constant giant 5,000 ft tall tidal waves that periodically sweep the planet's surface.
  • In Sword of the Stars, Muur, the homeworld of the cetacean-like Liir is almost entirely covered in water.
  • Subnautica is a survival game that takes place on an ocean planet named 4546B. Much of the planet is a deep-watered ecological deadzone supporting only planktonic lifeforms; the setting of the game takes place on the crater rim of a dormant, underwater volcano that is able to support one of the only concentrations of diverse life on the planet.
  • In Ben 10, the planet Piscciss, home to the Piscciss Volanns, is composed of water by 98%.

Desert planets
Main article: Desert planet

Mars as a desert planet
Main article: Mars in fiction

Before, and certainly after, the results sent back by the Viking landers, some science fiction set on Mars portrayed it as a desert planet. Science fiction stories that do so include:

  • The anime series Cowboy Bebop repeatedly portrayed Mars as a prominent colonized world in the 21st century. It serves as a central hub for the solar system after Earth was left mostly uninhabitable following the warp gateway disaster.
  • Leigh Brackett's Martian stories, in which Mars is largely desert with sporadic oases of civilization.
  • Larry Niven's "Known Space" novels and short stories (including Eye of an Octopus and Protector), where water is completely alien to the biochemistry of the planet's inhabitants.
  • Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles collection of short stories depict Mars as a mostly hospitable desert home to first an indigenous Martian civilization, who are displaced by an encroaching homo sapiens population. The stories use a "Cowboys vs Indians" theme which benefits from the red desert backdrop of Mars.
  • Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, where Mars is gradually terraformed from a frozen desert planet to a more hospitable Earthlike environment.
  • Martian Time-Slip, by Philip K. Dick, in which Mars has been colonized by Earth's UN; scarce water is closely apportioned, and the president of the Water Workers Union is one of the more powerful figures.
  • The 2000 film Mission to Mars is about a difficult rescue attempt following a disaster during the first manned NASA voyage to this red wasteland that is Mars; humanoid Martians are discovered to have once been native inhabitants, and the Cydonia Mensae 'face formation' is used as a major plot device.
  • The 2000 film Red Planet is about a terraforming expedition from Earth to Mars gone awry due to voracious indigenous Martian insects; Earth's Australian and Jordanian deserts were used as filming locations.
  • In the Star Trek universe, Mars is the first planet to be terraformed by the people of Earth, and by the 24th century its orbital Utopia Planitia Shipyards are a key Starfleet facility.
  • The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke
  • The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, also by Philip K. Dick, set primarily on Mars. Drafted colonists, such as those in the ironically-named Fineburg Crescent region, relieve the bleakness of Martian life by huddling in "hovels" and taking psychedelic drugs.
  • Total Recall, in which Mars is inhabited by mutants and labourers, and air is supplied at a tax. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the protagonist and Ronny Cox the antagonist. An ancient structure later determined to be a terraforming device is central to the plot at the end.
  • The Martian (2016) Matt Damon as pioneering astronaut is marooned and left for dead on the surface when a sandstorm forces his team to evacuate. He survives for years until finally rescued.
  • Ian McDonald's novel Desolation Road depicts Mars as a desert planet before being colonized by humans.

Fictional desert planets

Other desert planets have been used as story motifs in fictional works:

Planet Source Year Medium Details Reference
AbydosStargate and later in the TV series Stargate SG-11994Film
Altair IVForbidden Planet1956Film[24]
AnarresThe Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin1974NovelNot strictly a desert planet; has oceans and is predominantly steppe
Arrakis (aka Dune)Dune by Frank Herbert, and subsequent works in the Dune universe1965NovelHomeworld of the Fremen and source of the valuable spice melange[25]
AthasDark Sun setting for Dungeons & Dragons1991Role-playing game
Bara MagnaBionicle2009Toy lineLarge utopian planet struck by a cataclysm 100,000 years previous
Barrayar Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold and subsequent works in the Vorkosigan Saga 1986 Novel Lead planet of the Barrayaran Empire. Originally colonized by humans 400 years prior to the start of Shards of Honor, Barrayar is then cut off after a wormhole collapse and regresses to a feudal system. After fighting off human invaders centuries in the future, Barrayar becomes a space-faring empire but remains backwards in several respects. [26]
Beachworld"Beachworld" by Stephen King1985Short story
ByssStar Wars: Dark Empire1991–1992Comic book
Canopus IIIStar Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Eye of the Beholder"1974Animated TV series
Cardassia IVStar Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Homecoming"1993TV series
Ceti Alpha VStar Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed", Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan1967, 1982TV series, filmBecame the home of dictator Khan Noonien Singh and his followers following the events of Space Seed. Became a desert planet six months later when neighbouring Ceti Alpha VI exploded, with the loss of nearly all life on Ceti Alpha V
Dorvan VStar Trek: The Next Generation episode "Journey's End"1994TV series
DozariaStar Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Indiscretion"1995TV series
FireLexx season 31999TV seriesAn afterlife planet for the souls of deceased people, who made unvirtuous choices when they were alive. The inhabitants build their cities high above the ground to avoid the deadly heat emanating from the planet's core.
Fyrine IVEnemy Mine1985Film
Gamma XLes Maîtres du temps1982Animated film
GeonosisStar Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones2002FilmFormerly populated by Insectoid Geonosians, a key system in the Confederacy of Independent systems during the Clone Wars, the Specters found evidence that the Geonosians had been exterminated by the Galactic Empire. This was done in an effort to cover up the origins of the Death Star Plans.
GunsmokeTrigunManga series
HellywoodNow and Then, Here and There1999-2000Anime series
HomeWorldwar1994-2004book seriesThe homeworld of the reptilian Race. The human designation is Tau Ceti II.
ImeckaDragonball GT1996Anime
JakkuStar Wars: The Force Awakens2015FilmIt was the location of an Observatory run by the Galactic Empire to chart a safe route through the Unknown Regions. Information provided by this facility and other Imperial sources led the First Order to the original location of Starkiller Base.
KatinaStar Fox 64 and Star Fox Assault Video game
KeronaSpace Quest: The Sarien Encounter1986Computer game
KharakHomeworld1999Real-time strategy video gamePlanet bombed by the Taiidan Empire
KhorosBen 102005–2008Animated TV seriesHomeworld of the Tetramands, species to which the alien Fourarms belongs
KlendathuStarship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, and subsequent works1959NovelHomeworld of the Arachnids
Kolarus IIIStar Trek Nemesis2002Film
KorhalStarCraft and subsequent games in the StarCraft franchise1998Real-time strategy video gameOnce-lush throne world of the Terran Dominion
KorribanStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic2003Computer game
M6-117Pitch Black2000FilmGas giant's moon
Marak's WorldHammerfall (and later 2004's Forge of Heaven) by C. J. Cherryh2001Novel
MotaviaPhantasy Star1987Video gameTerraformed into a forest planet in Phantasy Star II
OcampaStar Trek: Voyager1994–1997TV seriesDevastated homeworld of Kes and the Ocampa
Osiris IVFuturama episode "A Pharaoh to Remember"2002Animated TV series
PandoraBorderlands2009Video game
PerdideLes Maîtres du temps1982Animated film
PlyukKin-dza-dza!1986Film
ResurgamRevelation Space by Alastair Reynolds2000Novel
Rock StarKirby 64: The Crystal Shards2000Video Game
SaltSalt by Adam Roberts2000Novel
Sand OceanF-Zero1991Video GameFeatured in the first game as the third track of the Knight League
SocorroStar Wars: The Roleplaying Game adventure The Black Sands of Socorro1997Role-playing game
StarbuckGalactica 1980 episode "The Return of Starbuck"1980TV series
Tallarn and other planetsWarhammer 40,000 universeMiniature wargame
TatooineStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi1977 - 1983Film
TitaniaStar Fox 64 for Nintendo 641997Video game
TophetRoughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles1999Animated TV series
Torga IVStar Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Ship"1996TV series
TorothStar Trek: Enterprise episode "Desert Crossing"2002TV series
TrisolFuturama episode "My Three Suns"1999Animated TV series
TyreeStar Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes "Image in the Sand" and "Shadows and Symbols"1998TV series
Unnamed planetSnare by Katharine Kerr2003Novel
Unnamed planetStar Trek episode "Arena"1967TV series
VegaSpaceballs1987FilmHome planet to Schwartz-master Yogurt
VulcanStar Trek: The Original Series and subsequent works in the Star Trek universe1966TV seriesHomeworld of the Vulcan race

Yulin (planet in Sentinels of the galaxy) one of the 64 warrior planets

Swamp planets

Jungle planets

Forest planet

Alphabetical list

Contains planets not found in the preceding lists.

A
  • Abydos – The first world that humans were brought to as slaves to the Goa'uld Ra.
  • Aegis VII – The setting for the video games Dead Space and Dead Space: Extraction.
  • Aerilon — One of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol in the Battlestar Galactica universe; primarily an agricultural world. It was known as the "food basket" of the Twelve Colonies prior to the Cylon attack.
  • Aldabra – A grassy planet in the Andromeda Galaxy, which first appeared in Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. It is the home of the Geochelene Aerios and Galapagus, one of Aggregor's prisoners.
  • Aldébaran-4 — From the ongoing series of graphic novels "Les Mondes d'Aldébaran" by Léo.
  • Altair IV — From the movie Forbidden Planet, formerly inhabited by the mysteriously extinct race of Krell.
  • Amel — A planet in the Frank Herbert novel The Godmakers, where all the religions of the universe co-exist with no conflict, under the Ecumenical Truce.
  • Antar — The home planet of the alien-human hybrids who are the main characters in the TV show "Roswell" and the book series "Roswell High".
  • Anus — The home planet of the gay black males in the Danish short film Gayniggers from Outer Space.
  • Arieka — Setting of China Miéville's Embassytown, where the titular human town lies in the middle of an alien city inhabited by a race known as the Ariekei (or 'Hosts' to humans born in the planet).
  • Arrakis - Desert planet in Frank Herbert's Dune series. The only known place where the spice melange can be produced.
  • Athena — A planet in Tom Godwin's Space Prison (aka The Survivors) and The Space Barbarians, claimed by the Gern Empire and colonized by Terran slave labor before being liberated by the Ragnarokans.
  • Athos – exclusively male-populated and homosexual planetary colony in Ethan of Athos (1986) by Lois McMaster Bujold.
  • Aurelia and Blue Moon — An attempt at theorizing what a habitable planet orbiting a red dwarf star and a habitable gas giant moon could actually be like.
  • Auriga — The dying planet home to the events of the Endless Legend video game. It is populated by many tribes that try to strive despite the winters becoming longer and longer. In the game Endless Space 2, it is completely frozen. However it is revealed a tribe of humans called the Vaulters managed to escape before the freezing thanks to a huge buried ship.
  • Avalon – Setting of The Legacy of Heorot and Beowulf's Children by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes.
  • Azeroth - The main setting for the video games World of Warcraft, a planet full of life, such as humans, orcs, dragons, etc.

B
  • Balaho — The Unggoy homeworld from the Halo series. It is located in the Tala system and orbited by Buwan and Padpad.
  • Ballybran — A planet in Anne McCaffrey's Crystal Singer series. Ballybran is a toxic world where the inhabitants must form a symbiotic relationship with a spore to survive.
  • Belzagor — A planet colonized by Earth, whose natives are the elephant-like nildoror, in Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg.
  • Big Planet — An enormous but not very dense planet, settled by Earth colonists and divided into a large number of colorful social groupings, in the novels Big Planet and Showboat World by Jack Vance.
  • Botany — An Earth-like agricultural world to which prisoners and slaves are transported in the Catteni Series by Anne McCaffrey.
  • Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta — Planets that enter the solar system in Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer's novel When Worlds Collide. Bronson Alpha collides with the Earth, destroying it. Bronson Beta is settled by survivors of the catastrophe in the sequel After Worlds Collide.

C
  • Caladan - The Atreides homeworld in Dune. Mostly water with dense forests and green meadows.
  • Caprica — One of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol in the Battlestar Galactica universe; a lush blue-green Earth-like world that was regarded as the cultural, scientific, and technological capital of the Colonies prior to the Cylon attack.
  • Castiana – A planet from Stargate SG-1, known by the Ancients as Taoth Vaclarush, was an Ancient city that could hold the key to finding the Sangreal.
  • Celeschul — An Earth-like planet mostly populated by humans and squid-like Schuul, which appears in the webcomic Schlock Mercenary.
  • Chiron — A planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri in the computer game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
  • Chorus — The main setting of seasons 11-13 of the Rooster Teeth series Red vs. Blue.
  • Chthon — The titular prison planet in Piers Anthony's novel Chthon.
  • Chu – Homeworld of Sailor Iron Mouse in the manga and anime series Sailor Moon.
  • Cocoon – Homeworld of Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon in Sailor Moon.
  • Corneria — An Earth-like planet, from the Star Fox series. Home of Fox McCloud and the Star Fox Team.
  • Coronis – Homeworld of Phobos, Deimos, and Sailor Lead Crow in Sailor Moon.
  • Coruscant — A city-covered planet that is at the center of the Galactic Empire and homeworld of Jedi in Star Wars.
  • Creck — A Sangheili mining colony from the Halo series.
  • Cyteen — A planet notable for its cloning research, from C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union Universe novels.

D
  • Darkover — Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series (medieval culture and psi powers).
  • Darwin IV — Planet in the art of Wayne Douglas Barlowe.
  • Death Wind – A planet featured in the first F-Zero game, named for its endless windstorms. It is also the home planet of Pico, pilot of the Wild Goose.
  • Dekuuna — The homeworld of the Elcor from the Mass Effect series. It is located in the Phontes system. It is supposed to have incredibly high gravity.
  • Doisac — The Jiralhanae homeworld in the Halo series.
  • Demeter— The destination of the crew of the Earth*Star Voyager.
  • Deucalion - The setting of the novel Deucalion by Brian Caswell.
  • Dosadi — The setting for Frank Herbert's novel The Dosadi Experiment.
  • Downbelow — The planet in C. J. Cherryh's novel Downbelow Station and home of the Hisa.
  • Dragon's Egg — A neutron star on which intelligent life develops in the book of the same name by Robert Forward.

E

F
  • Far Away — A planet in Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga which has been sterilized by a solar flare and is characterized by a triangle of stratospheric mountains. The alien known as the Starflyer originated here when a ship called the Marie [sic] Celeste crashed on Far Away.
  • Fhloston — Planet in the movie The Fifth Element.
  • Finisterre — A hostile planet in C. J. Cherryh's Finisterre universe novels.
  • Fiorina 'Fury' 161 — Mining station penal colony on which Alien 3 is set.
  • Fleed - The home planet of Duke Fleed, its crown prince in UFO Robo Grendizer.
  • Fortuna- Tropical planet from the Star Fox series inhabited by dinosaur-like creatures.
  • Furya — Home planet of Riddick as part of discussion and flashback in The Chronicles of Riddick.

G
  • G889 — A planet 22 light-years from Earth in the television series Earth 2.
  • Garmilas - The home planet of the Garmilas in the Space Battleship Yamato anime series. Notably located next to Iscandar. Known as Gamilon in the English version.
  • Gaia — The first planet of the star Betelgeuse, inhabited by the Syreen people in the Star Control computer game series.
  • Gallifrey – The Doctor's home planet in the science-fiction series "Doctor Who".
  • Ganesha — A planet of the star Tau Ceti in L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.
  • Gehenna — The planet in C. J. Cherryh's novel Forty Thousand in Gehenna and home of the Caliban.
  • Genesis — A forerunner planet in Halo 5: Guardians.
  • Ghibalb — The Forerunner homeworld from the Halo series.
  • Gor — An inhabited counter-Earth in John Norman's Gor series, marked by slavery and rigid gender roles.
  • Gorta — A planet circling Proxima Centauri, home of the hostile alien Furons in the video game Destroy All Humans!.
  • Gurun — Home planet of Majka, main character in the Slovak TV-series Spadla z oblakov.

H
  • Halvmörk — A twilight planet in Harry Harrison's novel Wheelworld.
  • He — A planet sent out of its orbit by spindizzys in James Blish's novels Earthman Come Home (1955) and The Triumph of Time (1958); collected in Cities in Flight (1970)[27]
  • Helghan — a planet of Alpha Centauri with a very hostile environment in the Killzone video game series.
  • Helliconia — A planet orbiting a binary star in the trilogy of the same name by Brian Aldiss. On Helliconia, with a 3,000-year "Great Year", civilizations rise and fall with the change of seasons.
  • Hesduros — A Sangheili colony from the Halo series.
  • Hesikos — A high eccentricity asteroid in Angus McVicar's The Lost Planet series.
  • Hiigara — A lush planet in the Homeworld videogame, which the player must seek.
  • Hocotate — The home planet of Olimar, the main character in Pikmin and Pikmin 2.
  • Homeworld — Home planet of Gem race, ruled by White, Yellow, Blue and Pink Diamond in Steven Universe.
  • Hydros — A water-covered planet, whose population lives only on artificial floating islands, in Robert Silverberg's novel The Face of the Waters.

I
  • Iscandar - Home of Queen Starsha and the Cosmo Cleaner DNA in Space Battleship Yamato.
  • Iomere — A planet in the Yonmaran system. One of its moons, Vieneo is the setting of Rise: The Vieneo Province
  • Ireta — A planet in Anne McCaffrey's Planet Pirates series, inhabited by both people and dinosaurs, and so also called Dinosaur Planet – the name of the novel in which it first appears.
  • Ishtar — A planet in orbit around three suns (a yellow dwarf, red dwarf, and a red giant) whose northern hemisphere undergoes catastrophic heating every thousand years as it draws near to one of them. From Poul Anderson's novel Fire Time.
  • Isis — A planet of the star Procyon inhabited by an intelligent species resembling a cross between an elephant and a dachshund in L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.
  • Iszm — A planet in Jack Vance's novel The Houses of Iszm, a world on which bioengineering of plants is the dominant technology form (as opposed to mechanical engineering on Earth). Houses on Iszm are trees with room-sized pods; all furnishings are integrated as part of the growth.
  • Irk – the homeworld to the Irken race, a highly self praising militant alien race from Invader Zim. It is also ZIM's home world.

J
  • Janjur Qom — The San'Shyuum homeworld from the Halo series. It is orbited by Plaon.

K
  • Kaelarot — A Kig-Yar interplanetary colony from the Halo series.
  • Karava — A Sangheili colony from the Halo series.
  • Kerbin – The home planet of the Kerbals in Kerbal Space Program.
  • Kharak — A desert planet in the game Homeworld, destroyed by an enemy race after space travel is developed.
  • Kinniku - Home of the strongest clan of Chojin (superhumans), the Kinniku clan in Yudetamago's Kinnikuman manga and anime franchise. Known as Muscle Planet in English versions.
  • Kinmoku – homeworld of the Sailor Starlights and Princess Kakyuu in the manga and anime series Sailor Moon.
  • Kobaïa — a fictional planet invented by Christian Vander, the leader of the French Zeuhl band Magma.
  • Kobol — a planet in the Battlestar Galactica universe.
  • K-PAX — A utopian planet in the novel and film of the same name, which is quite possibly the delusional invention of a madman who claims to be from the planet.
  • Krankor — The home planet of the supervillain Phantom in the Japanese television series Planet Prince.
  • Kregen — An earthlike planet orbiting Antares, in Kenneth Bulmer's Dray Prescot series.
  • Krishna — A planet of the star Tau Ceti inhabited by warlike humanoids, the main setting of L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.
  • Krull — Sword and sorcery-themed world from the movie of the same name.
  • Kulkulkan — A planet of the star Epsilon Eridani inhabited by intelligent dinosauroids and Earth colonists in L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.
  • Kulthea — Principal planet in the Shadow World role-playing game.
  • Kyrian — Constellation JR24 planet featured in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, housing an access point to an extra-dimensional bazaar named "Big Market".

L
  • Lagash — A planet in the story Nightfall by Isaac Asimov, in a globular cluster, and in a system with six suns. The orbit of the planet is such that all sides of it are almost always illuminated by at least one sun; only once in every 2,049 years is Lagash oriented in such a way that one of the suns is eclipsed by a dark companion body. Only at such times are the stars visible from Lagash's surface. In the novel developed from the short story, the planet was called Kalgash.
  • La-Metal — A dying planet whose orbit changes drastically once in a millennium; the home of Queen Promethium and her daughters in the manga and anime of Leiji Matsumoto.
  • Lamarckia — A planet in Greg Bear's novel Legacy, whose continent-sized superorganisms mimic Lamarckian evolution.
  • Land and Overland — Twin planets revolving about a common center of gravity, sharing a common atmosphere and connected by an hourglass-shaped atmospheric tunnel. The setting for Bob Shaw's The Ragged Astronauts, The Wooden Spaceships and The Fugitive Worlds. Travel between the two planets occurs by hot air balloon.
  • Leera — Home of the amphibious Leerans in the Animorphs book series.
  • Lethe – homeworld of Sailor Lethe in the manga and anime series Sailor Moon.
  • Lithia — A planet peopled by an alien species with a well-developed natural ethics but no form of religion, in James Blish's novel A Case of Conscience.
  • LittleBigPlanet – Planet featured in the video game franchise of the same name
  • Lumen — The Planet of Light in the British puppet TV series Space Patrol.
  • LV-223 — The moon featured in the 2012 Ridley Scott film, "Prometheus." It is part of a larger system of otherwise unnamed moons orbiting a likewise unnamed planet, and hosted the advanced race known as the Engineers, which, according to the film, were precursors to the human race.
  • LV-426, or Acheron — The planet on which the derelict ship and its deadly cargo are found in the movies Alien and Aliens.
  • LV-1201 — Planet in the Aliens vs. Predator 2 video game.

M
  • Macbeth — A mineral rich planet from the Star Fox series.
  • Maethrillian — The capital of the Forerunner ecumene from the Halo series.
  • Magrathea – From the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, a planet home to the world-building enterprise of the Magratheans.
  • Majipoor — A large planet which is the setting for a science fantasy series by Robert Silverberg.
  • Malurok — Also known as Decided Heart. It is a Sangheili base world from the Halo series.
  • Mau – homeworld of Luna, Artemis, and Sailor Tin Nyanko in the manga and anime series Sailor Moon.
  • Medea — Harlan Ellison's worldbuilding project.
  • Mejare and Tarak — Warring planets in the anime Vandread. Mejare is populated entirely by women, Tarak entirely by men.
  • Melancholia — A rogue planet that collides with Earth in the 2011 film Melancholia.
  • Melmac - ALF's home planet
  • Mermaid – homeworld of Sailor Aluminum Seiren in Sailor Moon.
  • Metaluna — A war-torn planet visited in the '50s B-movie cult classic This Island Earth.
  • Midkemia — Planet on which the events of the Riftwar books of Raymond E. Feist take place.
  • Miller's planet — Ocean planet orbiting Gargantua in Interstellar.
  • Minerva — Earthlike planet occupying the orbit of Mars in the alternate universe of Harry Turtledove's A World of Difference.
  • Miron – The homeworld of Bleep, Blink, and Twink in the British children's series Bleep and Booster.
  • Mist Flow is featured in the F-Zero GP Legend and F-Zero Climax games as a planet completely covered in fog, obstructing the field view of the racers.
  • Mnemosyne – homeworld of Sailor Mnemosyne in Sailor Moon.
  • Mobius – The home planet of Sonic the Hedgehog and other characters from the franchise in the Sonic the Hedgehog animated series, Sonic Underground, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and the Sonic the Hedgehog comics from Archie Comics. In the Archie comics, Mobius is described as being a post-apocalyptic version of Earth, and is known to have several counterparts in alternate dimensions, including the mirror universe Moebius. In various Sonic media, Sonic's home planet is typically either Earth or an unnamed alien planet.
  • Mongo — The planetary setting for the Flash Gordon adventure comic.
  • Mondas - The home planet of an early version of the Cybermen. Seen in the audio play, Spare Parts
  • Mor-Tax, Morthrai and Qar'To — Planets named in the television series War of the Worlds. Mor-Tax, a planet orbiting a dying star in the Pleiades, is a paradise planet, the homeworld of the aliens invading Earth. Morthrai, first mentioned in the second season, may be another name for Mor-Tax. Qar'To is another planet in the same system as Mor-Tax, inhabited by a different species.
  • Muloqt — A Kig-Yar interplanetary colony from the Halo series.
  • Mül — Constellation QN34 planet featured in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

N
  • Nacre — A planet populated primarily by fungi, including an intelligent variety; from Piers Anthony's novels Omnivore, Orn and OX.
  • Namek — The homeworld of the Namekians from Dragon Ball Z. It is eventually destroyed after the battle between Frieza and Goku
  • New Amazonia – matriarchal and primarily homosexual planetary colony in Carnival (2006) by Elizabeth Bear.
  • New Earth (Planet Bob) – The Earth-like planet created in the Titan AE animated movie.
  • New Terra — In the computer game Outpost 2, New Terra is the world chosen by humanity as its last hope for survival, colonized by the last survivors of Earth in starship Conestoga.
  • Nibiru —Also known as Planet X.
  • Nidor — A cloudy, oceanic planet in stories by Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett.
  • Nihil — An additional planet of Earth's solar system; due to a flaw in space, the planet is invisible except at close range, although it can see most of the other planets. The inhabitants attempt to conquer Earth during the 30th century. From the novel Beyond the Spectrum by Martin Thomas.
  • Nirn — Nirn is the name of the planet where The Elder Scrolls games are set in.
  • Nessus — Nessus, a planetoid location in the video game Destiny 2, based on the below Centaur

O
  • Oa the Living Planet — A sentient planet in the Amalgam Comics series.
  • Omega — A prison planet where one of the only ways to get ahead in society – or survive – is by committing murder and other crimes. From Robert Sheckley's The Status Civilization.
  • Omicron: A Cybertronian colony from the Beast Wars series. Protoform X (who was later to become the Predacon warrior Rampage) is stated to have committed mass murder on the colony, possibly wiping nearly all of its population out single handedly. Next to nothing else is revealed about this world.
  • Omicron Persei 8 – Homeworld of the Omicronians Lrrr and Ndnd from the television show Futurama.
  • Optera — The homeworld of the Invid in the anime Robotech.
  • Ormazd — A planet of the star Lalande 21185 inhabited by humanoids organized into female-dominated hive societies in L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.
  • Orthe — A post-holocaust planet that has reverted to a quasi-medieval way of life, in Mary Gentle's Golden Witchbreed and Ancient Light.
  • Osiris — A planet of the star Procyon inhabited by a spacefacing dinosauroid species in L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.
  • Oth — An Earth-like planet from the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, which is the homeworld of the one-eyed Unioc race.

P
  • Palamok — It is the Yanme'e homeworld from the Halo series. It is located in the Napret system and orbited by Naxook,Ka'amoti, Oquiu and Kami.
  • Pandarve — A living, sentient planet, considered to be a goddess, in the Storm comic book.
  • Pandora – A so-called "treasure planet" featured as the setting of the 2009 video game Borderlands.
  • Pax — A planet with sentient plants in Sue Burke's Semiosis
  • Perdide — A planet that serves for much of the setting of the 1982 French animated science fiction movie Les Maîtres du Temps (Time Masters), by René Laloux.
  • Peaceland – Home planet of the Sakimori family who fled to Earth after it was destroyed, in the 1973 Japanese TV series Ryusei Ningen Zoon (Meteor Man Zone).
  • Pern — A planet pelted by a deadly spore (called Thread), capable of eating anything but rock and metal, for periods of fifty years every two to four centuries in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern novels. The people of Pern live in caves or stone houses and ride genetically engineered flying reptiles ("dragons") capable of incinerating the spore in midair.
  • Petaybee — A living planet, becoming sentient, in Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's Petaybee Series.
  • Pharagos — A fantasy planet in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.
  • Picon — One of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol in the Battlestar Galactica universe; the colonial military hub and the colony primarily responsible for building Battlestar's and other ships prior to the Cylon attack.
  • Planet Lucie — An uninhabitable planet orbiting the Big Nothing, which becomes inhabitable after a billion years, in the 2015 Hard Sci-Fi movie, The Big Everything.
  • Planet of Blue and Red — A Sangheili colony from the Halo series.
  • Planet of Rat — A planet the character New Rat City offers to take the player in the 2012 Twine game Rat Chaos.[28][29][30]
  • Planet X — A planet of indeterminate location that is the sole known source of Illudium Phosdex, the "shaving cream atom", in the 1952 Merrie Melodies sci-fi parody Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century.
  • Planet X — an inhabited planet of unknown location in the Tom Swift, Jr. juvenile "Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X" (1961).
  • Planet X — a planet, light years away, ruled by the tyrant "Kurrgo, the Master of Planet X" in Fantastic Four #7 (Oct. 1962) and episode #9 of Fantastic Four (1967 TV series).
  • Planet X: A fictional world beyond Pluto that appears in Invasion of Astro-Monster aka Monster Zero aka Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. The planet is largely barren on the surface, with extensive tunnels and advanced technology, which has little water, a fact which causes its people to attempt to invade Earth using first King Ghidorah, and later Godzilla and Rodan as mind-controlled weapons. The planet's populations are depicted as largely despising human emotion – violators of this taboo are summarily executed. The members of the species that had made their way to Earth appears to have been simultaneously destroyed when the leader of the civilization activated some form of self-destruct mechanism. It is suggested at the film's end that the planet still exists and that there is still a remaining population present there. An alternate version of Planet X reappears in the video game Godzilla: Monster of Monsters for the Nintendo Entertainment System, depicted as fully mechanical, and having brought together a Legion of Space Monsters with which to invade Earth. The planet's inhabitants leave it behind when Godzilla, Mothra, and the forces of Earth successfully defeat their armies and monsters. A third version of the people of Planet X, potentially from yet another version of Planet X appear in the video game Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, calling themselves the Vortak, and appearing virtually identical to their movie incarnation. They again take control of a force of monsters which the player – in the form of the only monster not successfully placed under mental control of the Vortak – must defeat.
  • Polyphemus and Pandora — A gas giant and its inhabited moon in the film Avatar (2009).
  • Pop Star — A planet shaped like a five-pointed star that serves as the main setting of the Kirby series.
  • Prysmos — A planet orbiting three stars in the cartoon Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light.
  • Pyrrus — An inhabitable planet whose ecosystem, consisting of psychic plants and animals, seems to be unremittingly hostile to human life. From Harry Harrison's Deathworld trilogy.

R
  • Ragnarok — A planet in Tom Godwin's Space Prison (aka The Survivors) and The Space Barbarians. Ragnarok's inhabitants suffered from high gravity, temperature extremes, Hell Fever, unfriendly wildlife such as prowlers and unicorns, and a dearth of natural resources.
  • Reach – A human colony in the Epsilon Eridani System in the Halo video game series.
  • Regis III — A planet populated by evolving machines in Stanisław Lem's novel The Invincible.
  • Remulak — A planet from the Saturday Night Live skit "Coneheads."
  • Requiem – An artificial planet constructed by the ancient Forerunner in the Halo game series.
  • Reverie — A planet with extreme social division between the haves and have-nots, in Bruce Sterling's The Artificial Kid.
  • Riverworld — The title planet of Philip José Farmer's Riverworld series, where all humans in history are reincarnated along a spiral river.
  • Rocheworld — A pair of twin planets that almost touch in the book of that name by Robert Forward.
  • Rosetta – Home planet of Rosemary and Takeshi Shishidou, who fled to Earth when it was invaded by the Black Star Army; in the 1979 Japanese TV series Honou no Choujin Megaloman (Megaloman: Superman of Flame).
  • Rubanis — A megalopolitan planet plagued by constant traffic congestion, appearing in several volumes of the French comic book series Valérian and Laureline, particularly in The Circles of Power.
  • Rylos – Planet (along with Earth) defended by Alex Rogan in The Last Starfighter.
  • Ryn — An Earthlike planet in Edmund Hamilton's novel The Haunted Stars. Orbits the star Altair, was once the center of an interstellar empire, and is now mostly covered in a forest of once-domesticated trees.

S
  • Saepon'kal — Also known as Joyous Exultation in the Halo series, it is in the Salia system and orbited by Malhiem.
  • Sanghelios — The Sangheili homeworld from the Halo series. The planet orbits Urs in the Urs-Fied-Joori system and is orbited by Qikost and Suban.
  • Sangre — A planet ruled by a cannibal elite in Norman Spinrad's The Men in the Jungle.
  • Sartorias-deles — An iron-age magical planet on which most of Sherwood Smith's stories take place.
  • Sauria — A planet in the video game Star Fox Adventures, where Fox McCloud meets Krystal; revisited in Star Fox: Assault, where Fox and Krystal meet up with a fully-grown Prince Tricky after Team Star Fox clears the area of the Aparoid menace. Also called "Dinosaur Planet".
  • Secilia — A fictional planet in RayStorm.
  • Seiren – A planet where 90 percent of the population is women.
  • Sera — A once-glorious civilized world devastated by wars in Gears of War.
  • Shikasta — Doris Lessing's Shikasta (cosmic consciousness)
  • Shora — Joan Slonczewski's A Door into Ocean (waterbound culture)
  • Skaro — A fictional planet, home to the Daleks, Kaleds and Thals Doctor Who.
  • Silence – A venue in the F-Zero franchise known for being a soundless planet. Its track is the last course of the Knight League in the first game.
  • Smoke Ring — Not a planet, but a habitable gas ring around a neutron star in Larry Niven's novels The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring.
  • Solaris — A planet covered by a single sentient organism in the book of that name by Stanisław Lem.
  • Soror — The "Planet of the Apes" in the book of that name by Pierre Boulle and the related films and television shows.
  • Space Base Bullamanka — An Australia-like planet where a LARP version of Squid-Tac-Toe is played from 3-2-1 Penguins!.
  • SR388 — Home planet of the Metroid in the eponymous series. The heroin Samus is sent there to exterminate the Metroids in Metroid II. It is later revealed in Metroid Fusion that the Metroids were created to eliminate the X, a metamorphic parasite, even more dangerous than the Metroids.
  • Stroggos – The planet on which the games Quake II and Quake IV take place.
  • Suen — The homeworld of the Rachni from the Mass Effect series. It is located in the Maskim Xul system. Suen is tidally locked.
  • Sur'Kesh — The homeworld of the Salarians from the Mass Effect series. It is located in Pranas system. Sur'Kesh is described as being covered in thick jungle.
  • Synobazz - Featured in F-Zero Maximum Velocity as a venue shrouded in mystery. This giant marsh is the home of an old aristocratic, enigmatic society. Its tracks includes the Explosive and Championship Circuits, the latter of which is unique as it is the only track in the game where the player can save a ghost as well as a replay.

T
  • Takis — The home planet of Dr. Tachyon.
  • Tallon IV – Planet from Metroid Prime. Once home to the ancient Chozo civilization, now inhabited by space pirates' mining operation.
  • Tanis — Destination of the sleeper ship Elysium in the film Pandorum.
  • Targ — The planet on which the computer game Mercenary and its sequels take place.
  • Tau Volantis-The main setting for Dead Space 3. The game's characters mistake the planet for the Marker Home World. Within Dead Space lore, the inhabitants of Tau Volantis found the Markers and used them as an energy source Two Million years before humanity would do the same. It is located in an unknown system. The planet was originally an Ocean planet before the Convergence Event forces the Tau Volantians to build a machine to freeze the planet, halting Convergence and rendering the planet as an Ice planet.
  • Te — A gas giant planet with a solid surface from the Halo series. It is the homeworld of the Lekgolo. Te is located in the Svir system and orbited by Rantu, Rentus, Uhtua and 22 other satellites.
  • Telos - Home planet of the Cybermen seen in The Moonbase, The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Wheel in Space, and The Invasion.
  • Tencton — the home planet of extraterrestrials in the series and movie Alien Nation.
  • Terminus is a planet at the edge of the Galaxy in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series, home of the Foundation (later capital of the Foundation Federation).
  • Thalassa — A watery planet colonized by Earth, and revisited by a ship travelling to the planet Sagan 2 in Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Songs of Distant Earth.
  • Thra — The world of The Dark Crystal.
  • The Third Planet from the Black Hole: A fictional world mentioned in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla in 1974. The planet is home to a form of ape-like creatures which can take on a disguise to resemble humans that typically fades after death. The planet is slowly being sucked into a black hole, which forced their species to attempt to conquer Earth by the use of a mechanical doppelganger of Godzilla; Mechagodzilla. They return in 1978's Terror of Mechagodzilla having reconstructed the machine and enlisting the aid of a scientist whose daughter they saved in order to gain the services of a massive kaiju named Titanosaurus, in an attempt to defeat Godzilla and finally begin their invasion of Earth as their own world is now in critical danger. Their fate is left ambiguous after Terror of Mechagodzilla. An alternate version of the species appears in the Dark Horse Comics run of Godzilla, with similar intentions for the conquest of Earth and for similar reasons. In the comics, they help to develop Cybersaur (a Mechagodzilla stand-in) and the All-Terraintula, a spider-like mecha. Both were designed for the purpose of battling Godzilla, whom they perceived as their greatest threat to conquest of Earth.
  • Thessia — The homeworld of the Asari from the Mass Effect series. It is located in the Parnitha system. Thessia is rich in the fictional resource 'Element Zero'.
  • Thor — A planet of the star Epsilon Eridani inhabited by an intelligent native avian species and Earth colonists in L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.
  • Thoth — A planet of the star Procyon inhabited by a species of anarchic, bisexual "teddy bears" in L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.
  • Tiamat — An oceanic planet whose sun orbits a black hole, socially divided into two moieties (Summer and Winter), ruled by a queen with abrupt changes in social conditions every 150 years. From Joan D. Vinge's The Snow Queen.
  • Tirol — The homeworld of the Robotech Masters in the anime Robotech.
  • Titan — The setting of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks; not to be confused with the Saturnian satellite Titan.
  • Tormance — A planet orbiting Arcturus in David Lindsay's novel, A Voyage to Arcturus.
  • Tralfamadore — A planet populated by the phlegmatic Tralfamadorians in the works of Kurt Vonnegut.
  • Tran – The main setting of Jerry Pournelle's Janissaries series.
  • Tranai – The utopian planet from Robert Sheckley's novella A Ticket to Tranai, where very unorthodox methods, such as legalizing street robbery and granting each citizen a right to murder the planet's president, are practiced to maintain a free society.
  • Trantor is a planet in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series and Empire series of science fiction novels.
  • Tristane – A planet in Nina Allan's novel, The Rift
  • Tschai — The sole planet of Carina 4269, 212 light-years from Earth, slightly larger than Terra and populated by three alien races, one sentient native species and various human races, as described in "Planet of Adventure" by Jack Vance.
  • Tuchanka — The homeworld of the Krogan from the Mass Effect series. It is located in the Aralakh system. Tuchanka is predominantly desert as the result of a nuclear winter.
  • T'vao — An asteroid in the Y'Deio system. It is the home of the T'vaoan Kig-Yar (Skirmishers) from the Halo series.
  • Twinsun — A planet lit by two fixed suns, both fixed relative to it, in the Little Big Adventure computer games. Twinsun has three climates: the poles are hot and desert, the equator is cold and Arctic, and between them lie temperate lands.

U
  • Ulgethon — A Sangheili colony from the Halo series.
  • Ultron — The home planet of Thermoman from My Hero

V
  • Valyanop — A KIg-Yar interplanetary colony from the Halo series.
  • Vekta — Setting of the video game Killzone.
  • Vegeta – Home world of the Saiyans in Dragon Ball Z before being destroyed by Freeza
  • Venom – A harsh decaying world from the Star Fox (series)
  • Vinea — Setting of many of the Yoko Tsuno graphic novels
  • Vishnu — A planet of the star Tau Ceti inhabited by two primitive intelligent species, the ape-like Romeli and the centaur-like Dzlieri, in L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.
  • Vhilinyar — Setting of many books in the Acorna series

W
  • Wait-Your-Turn — A planet inhabited by vacuum-cleaner-like aliens from 3-2-1 Penguins!.
  • Water-O — The water-covered planet from the cartoon series TigerSharks.
  • Worlorn – A wandering planet that is the setting for George R. R. Martin's novel Dying of the Light.
  • Wormwood — In the role playing game Rifts, a chaotic planet in another plane. Wormwood is alive, and its inhabitants can draw on its life force.

Z
  • Zahir – A hollow planet appearing in the comic book series Valérian and Laureline.
  • Zarathustra – The setting for the Fuzzy books of H. Beam Piper's Terro-Human Future History.
  • Zarkon – Home planet of Philo, TV-station engineer in the film UHF.
  • Zavron – Home planet of the Zavronian aliens in the ABC TV sitcom 'The Neighbors'
  • Zebes – A planet from the Metroid series that was once home to the Chozo bird people but now home to the Space Pirates.
  • Zeelich – A planet covered by a thick layer of gas clouds above a sea of lava in the computer game Little Big Adventure 2. Vegetation and civilization occur only on mountains rising above the cloud layer.
  • Zeist – A planet that is the origin of the immortals in the movie Highlander II: The Quickening.
  • Zillikian – A Counter-Earth in the Bunduki series by J. T. Edson.
  • Zyrgon - A planet ruled by the galactic "Law-Enforcers" in novels by Robin Klein, adapted as a television series.

Other lists

Parallel Earths

These planets are identical or nearly identical to Earth physically, but have a history that differs to some degree from that of our Earth.

Planets of the Solar System

Artificial planets

Some writers, scientists and artists have speculated about artificial worlds or planet-equivalents; these planets include:

  • Dyson sphere — Freeman Dyson
  • Gaea — John Varley
  • Globus Cassus — Christian Waldvogel
  • Hegira — An artificial planet in the novel of the same name by Greg Bear.
  • Kobold — An artificial environment made by the protector Jack Brennan in the novel Protector by Larry Niven.
  • "Obelisk planet" — Stargate Universe
  • Onyx — A Forerunner created shield world which is the main setting of the novel.
  • Orbital (The Culture) – from Ian Bank's "Culture" series; 10 million kilometer rings which spin to simulate gravity and orbit a star like a planet.
  • Pendor — Elf Sternberg
  • Planet X — an artificial planet in the video game Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters (1989)
  • Ringworld — Larry Niven
  • Septerra — A planet with seven layers of floating continents. From the video game Septerra Core.
  • Shell World (Culture) - Planet sized objects which contain many layers of concentric shells, each of which is a habitable environment with a complete atmosphere. Heat and light provided by fusion reactors attached or rolling across each "ceiling".
  • Strata — a novel by Terry Pratchett, includes an unnamed artificial flat world.

Fantastic planets

Some invented planets have physically impossible shapes, and may be regarded as fantasy worlds:

Comic planets

These planets are not so much carefully constructed worlds as they are humorous backgrounds or gag references in various comedy shows and games:

  • Arazon — A prison planet featured in the comic novel Bikini Planet by David S. Garnett. It is colliquially known as "Clink".
  • Dave and Alvin – Twin planets in solar orbit beyond Pluto on the TV show ALF (Episode #24, Weird Science).
  • Druidia — Home of the Druids, ruled by King Roland and Princess Vespa in the film Spaceballs.
  • Freleng — Zadavia's and Optimatus' homeworld in the animated series Loonatics Unleashed. The name is an homage to animator Friz Freleng.
  • Gordon — A planet visited in the British Claymation series Rex the Runt. All the inhabitants of the planet are sapient plant-pots who are all called Gordon, with the exception of one named John. The planet is referenced frequently but is never actually seen.
  • Hideaway — An "entertainment planet" appearing in the comic novel Bikini Planet by David S. Garnett, and briefly in the precursor novel Stargonauts.
  • Htrae — A version of Earth in which everything is backwards, in the sci-fi television comedy Red Dwarf.
  • Jupiter Two — A planet mentioned by name in Spaceballs. It is mentioned as being close to Druidia, but it is not actually shown on-screen.
  • Koozebane — A mysterious planet full of weird aliens, encountered several times in the television puppet comedy The Muppet Show.
  • Kukurikabu — A scalene ellipsoid planet from the Philippine comedy-fantasy series, Kokey @ Ako. It is populated by the Kukurikabukan race.
  • Marklar — A planet that appeared in four episodes of the animated television series South Park, most prominently in Starvin' Marvin in Space, where all nouns are replaced by the word 'Marklar'.
  • Melmac — The home planet of the alien Gordon Shumway in the television situation comedy ALF.
  • Ork — The home planet of the humanoid alien Mork in the television situation comedy Mork & Mindy.
  • Planet X — The women-only planet of Queen Zombina in the parodic musical Zombies from The Beyond (1995).
  • Planet X — the source of Alludium Phosdex, the shaving cream atom, in the 1953 animated short comedy film Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century.
  • Remulak — The home planet of the aliens in the comedy sketches (and film) The Coneheads.
  • Rigel IV — The home planet of drooling aliens Kang and Kodos on the animated comedy The Simpsons.
  • Rimmerworld — A planet populated by millions of clones of Arnold Rimmer who had spent six hundred years alone on this planet, creating clones of himself in a failed attempt to create a girlfriend. From Red Dwarf.
  • Shroob planet — The (assumed) homeworld of the alien Shroobs in the video game Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.
  • Skyron — Planet in the Andromeda Galaxy, home of immense blancmanges, in a Monty Python's Flying Circus comedy sketch.
  • Spaceball — Planet of the Spaceballs, ruled by President Skroob in the movie Spaceballs, where it has no atmosphere.
  • Sushi — A metafictional planet mentioned in Ed, Edd n Eddy, mentioned as the setting for the (fictional) horror film I Was a Teenage Appetiser from Planet Sushi: The Second Coming.
  • Thargoidia — The homeworld of the Thargoids in the Captain Kremmen series by Kenny Everett. The city of Gortadia is the planetary capital city.
  • Thribb — A planet seen in an episode of Rex the Runt. The planet itself is merely an asteroid with a lecture hall at its north pole, and the inhabitants all resemble the Easter Island Statues.
  • Vega – In the film Spaceballs, the spaceship Eagle-5 crash-lands on the desert-moon of Vega after running out of fuel.
  • Xenon — The home planet of Roger Wilco, janitor, in the humorous computer game series Space Quest.
  • Yekok – home planet of protagonist, Kokey from the Filipino series Kokey @ Ako.
  • Yugopotamia — A comic "opposite" planet in the Oort cloud mentioned in the animated comedy The Fairly OddParents.

Books
  • Comins, Neil F. What If the Moon Didn't Exist.
  • Gillette, Stephen. World-Building. Writer's Digest Books.
  • Stableford, Brian. The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places.
gollark: Aha, it generated gollarious data!
gollark: Your ideatic manipulation tech is exayears behind that of GTech™; you can't seriously expect that to work.
gollark: The GTech™ plan to destroy the sun to stop it making it hard to see my devices' screens when it's bright.
gollark: Everyone knows that the US controls all.
gollark: This makes sense.

See also

Similar fictions

Fan fiction

References
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  4. Ariosto, Ludovico (1974). Orlando Furioso. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-212576-1.
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