Uranus in fiction facts for kids

The planet Uranus has appeared in many stories, movies, comics, and games. Writers and creators often imagine what it would be like to visit this distant, icy giant. They think about what kind of life or adventures could happen there or on its moons.

Uranus in Books and Stories

Many authors have written about Uranus in their science fiction books. These stories often explore strange new ideas about the planet.

Early Adventures to Uranus

• In 1784, a writer named Mr. Vivenair wrote a book called A Journey Lately Performed Through the Air in an Aerostatic Globe... to the Newly Discovered Planet, Georgium Sidus. This was one of the first stories to imagine a trip to Uranus.
• The Buck Rogers series, which started in 1928, showed Uranus with special domes where people could live. It also had many robots helping out.
• In 1935, Stanley G. Weinbaum wrote "The Planet of Doubt". In his story, the North Pole of Uranus was always covered in a thick, never-ending fog.
• R. R. Winterbotham's story "Clouds over Uranus" was printed in a magazine called Astounding in 1937.

Strange Creatures and Big Ideas

• In Ramsey Campbell's 1964 story The Insects from Shaggai, Uranus is called L'gy'hx. It is home to strange, cube-shaped creatures with many legs. These creatures worship a being called Lrogg. They even had a big fight with another alien race called the Shan.
• In Hugh Walters' 1971 book First Contact?, a team investigates mysterious radio signals coming from Uranus.
• Larry Niven's 1976 book A World Out of Time has a very big idea. In this story, Uranus is fitted with a giant engine. This engine is used to slowly push Earth away from a sun that is getting too big and hot.
• In 1985, Philip José Farmer wrote a story called "Uranus or UFO Versus IRS" for a book named The Planets.
• Geoffrey A. Landis's short story "Into the Blue Abyss" (2001) describes a trip to Uranus. The explorers are looking for signs of life on the planet.

Zombie Bums from Uranus!

• Zombie Bums from Uranus is a popular book by Andy Griffiths. It's about a 12-year-old boy who has to stop zombie bums! These zombie bums were once frozen in Uranus's rings. They came to life when a giant "Great White Bum" crashed into Uranus, melting the ice and turning the planet brown.

Uranus in Movies and TV Shows

Uranus has also made appearances on the big and small screens.

Funny Names and Alien Encounters

• In the cartoon Futurama, scientists decided to rename Uranus to "Urectum". They did this to try and stop people from making jokes about its name.
• The 1962 movie Journey to the Seventh Planet shows astronauts on Uranus. They meet a strange, intelligent being there.
• In the classic TV show Doctor Who (which started in 1963), there's a story called The Daleks' Master Plan. In this story, Uranus is the only place in the whole universe where a special mineral called Taranium can be found.

Space Patrol Adventures

• The 1962 TV series Space Patrol featured Uranus in two episodes:
  • In "The Dark Planet," a professor finds a plant from Uranus that seems to have a mind of its own. After a team disappears on Uranus, the Space Patrol crew goes to investigate. They find much larger versions of the plant, and they are not friendly at all!
  • In "The Invisible Invasion," bad guys called the Duo's are on Uranus. They plan to take over Earth by controlling the minds of everyone at Space Headquarters. Only Professor Heggerty seems safe, thanks to his electronic hair-restorer!

Uranus in Comics and Anime

Comic books and animated shows have also imagined Uranus in their universes.

Superheroes and Space Colonies

• In Grant Morrison's 1998 comic series DC One Million, each planet in our solar system is watched over by a future member of the Justice League. Uranus is protected by the Starman of the 853rd century, who lives in a floating city above the planet.
• The Eternals are a group of superhumans in the Marvel Comics universe. They once had a colony on Uranus. Most of them later moved to Saturn. The Eternals who stayed behind on Uranus were eventually wiped out by natural disasters. During a big space war between the Skrull-Kree, the Kree Empire built a supply base on Uranus for their weapons.

Uranus in Games

Uranus has also appeared in video games and role-playing games.

Mining and Resources

• In the role-playing game Transhuman Space, China starts collecting a special gas called helium-3 from Uranus's atmosphere. They do this to compete with the American efforts to collect helium-3 from Saturn.

Uranus' Moons in Fiction

Some stories focus on the moons of Uranus, which are also very interesting.

Titania

• In Kim Stanley Robinson's 1997 book Blue Mars, characters visit Uranus's moon Miranda, which is kept as a wild, untouched place. Other large moons of Uranus, like Titania, are being colonized. People are using special lights in Uranus's atmosphere to make these moons brighter. The book describes a colony on Titania where humans have learned to live with the low gravity and dim light.

Miranda

• G. David Nordley's short story "Into the Miranda Rift" was set on Miranda.
• In the computer game Descent, one level takes place in a mine on Miranda.
• In the books based on the TV show Red Dwarf, Miranda is a very busy spaceport. The character Dave Lister visits Miranda to get over a breakup and adopts a cat he names Frankenstein.

Oberon

• Three levels of the computer game Descent take place in mines on Oberon. These include an unknown mine, an iron mine, and a platinum mine.
• In Paolo Aresi's book Oberon, there is a secret Russian base on Oberon that is very important to the story.