Science Fiction Trivia

[ffutures]

OK, this one is a little iffy - it's a planet that started out normal but gets extensively modified:

In James Blish's Earthman Come Home (1959) the Hevians, colonists of the planet He ask the flying city New York (the whole city with antigravity drive) for help in ridding their planet of their enemies and changing it's climate. For various reasons the New Yorkers don't have any way to refuse. The Hevians aren't really as specific as they should be about the details. To complete the contract the New Yorkers build several dozen Spindizzy (antigravity/FTL) drives and and install them around the planet. When they're eventually done the first result is a volcanic eruption under the enemy city, followed by the entire planet zooming off into space at several thousand times the speed of light. The New Yorkers eventually take off, leaving He heading out into intergalactic space, apparently never to be seen again (except that it turns up in the sequel).

[Commander_X]

OK, this one is a little iffy [...]

Iffy it is, but unfortunately on the downside -- an "artificially moving" planet is not "artificial", sorry!

I have two more examples in mind, none of them in the literature, but each in a different genre of entertainment.

[ffutures]

How about Ego, the living planet, in the Marvel universe - played a big part in Guardians of the Galaxy II - lots of versions of its origin, but all agree that it's essentially a created object, not natural, even though people can live on it.

[Commander_X]

How about Ego, the living planet, in the Marvel universe - played a big part in Guardians of the Galaxy II [...]

#4 it is.

[ffutures]

How about Ego, the living planet, in the Marvel universe - played a big part in Guardians of the Galaxy II [...]

#4 it is.

Aha! Then in that case how about Mogo, the living planet and Green Lantern, from the DC universe? Might be a bit iffy since there isn't much back story - it's a planet and it's sentient, it supports a varied ecosystem with lots of plants and animals, but how it got that way has never been quite clear.

[Commander_X]

[...] Aha! Then in that case how about Mogo, the living planet and Green Lantern, from the DC universe? Might be a bit iffy since there isn't much back story - it's a planet and it's sentient, it supports a varied ecosystem with lots of plants and animals, but how it got that way has never been quite clear.

Sorry to come so late with the answer: ffutures takes this round!

There were two more examples I had in mind: the (real) Meridian "station" in Mass Effect: Andromeda, and (a bit of a stretch with the ecosphere, but would had passed the filters ) one of the "anomalies" (season 3 episode 2) that generated The Expanse region in Start Trek Enterprise.

[ffutures]

OK... we've been looking at ridiculously big things, let's have a round of ridiculously small things - five stories with microscopic characters or settings. By microscopic, let's go with 1mm or less in the LONGEST dimension. And because they're way too easy we'll rule out The Atom (DC comics) and Ant Man (Marvel) and all derivatives e.g. The Wasp.

Usual rule - only one answer from any one source or author - e.g., if I accepted Ant Man no other character from Marvel would have been allowed. And we'll continue with "only one answer per reply" since it makes things more interesting. And please give it a reasonable while before you post another answer!

[cbr]

Fantastic Voyage 1966...

[ffutures]

Fantastic Voyage 1966...

Absofragginglutely - one down, four to go!

[Disembodied]

Flux, by Stephen Baxter, features a civilisation of sub-microscopic beings who live within a neutron star.

[ffutures]

Flux, by Stephen Baxter, features a civilisation of sub-microscopic beings who live within a neutron star.

Another good one - three to go!

[Disembodied]

There’s also the Nucleus, the initially microscopic baddy from Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy.

[spud42]

the Galaxy in a pendant on the cat from Men in Black..

[ffutures]

the Galaxy in a pendant on the cat from Men in Black..

OK, though remember that our universe was inside something like a marble played by aliens in the end bit of that film, so it may be a circular thing. Three down, two to go!

[Disembodied]

*ahem*

There’s also the Nucleus, the initially microscopic baddy from Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy.