Saturn in fiction

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The planet Saturn is featured in numerous science fiction novels and films, although the planet itself usually serves more as a pretty backdrop than as the actual setting.

1 Literature
2 Film and television
3 Anime
4 Games

[edit] Literature

In Voltaire's Micromégas (1752), the eponymous hero arrives at Saturn first (Uranus and Neptune were unknown then). Saturn's citizens are « only a thousand fathoms high », have 72 senses and live for about 15,000 years. Micromégas forms a close friendship with the secretary of the Academy of Saturn, who accompanies him to Earth.
The unwitting adventurers in Jules Verne's Off on a Comet (1877) pass within 415,000,000 miles of Saturn while riding on a comet. The book describes Saturn as having 8 satellites and 3 rings. It contains a black and white illustration showing what night might look like from the surface of the planet. The rings are brightly illuminated by the sun, and an elliptical shadow is cast on them by the planet. The drawing shows the surface of Saturn as a rocky, desolate, solid surface.
In H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, Saturn was known as Cykranosh in the Hyperborean Era, both Tsathoggua and Atlach-Nacha came to Earth from there, and Tsathoggua's paternal uncle Hziulquoigmnzhah still resides there.
In Isaac Asimov's short story The Martian Way (1952), Martian colonists use a chunk of ice from Saturn's rings to bring water to the dry world.
Kurt Vonnegut's novel The Sirens of Titan (1959) is partly set on Titan, Saturn's best known moon.

In Robert A. Heinlein's work:[1]
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
- In the novel The Puppet Masters, Earth is invaded by terrifying parasites who can attach themselves to a human and completely control him or her. They turn out to come from Titan, where they had already enslaved an elf-like species native to that moon. (It is never revealed whether the parasites were also native to Titan or came from further away, humans call them "Titans" anyway - and not for their size). By the end of the book, the invasion of Earth had been repelled and the United States sends a space warship on a 12 year voyage with its mission to sow death and destruction on Titan and emancipate its enslaved "elves".
- In the novel The Rolling Stones, the family Stone heads for Titan Base, a colony.

In Arthur C. Clarke's novel version of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a spacecraft visits the Saturnian system. When the film version targeted the same spacecraft to Jupiter, the travel to Saturn was retconned to match in the sequel novel 2010: Odyssey Two (1982). Clarke's unrelated novel Imperial Earth (1976) takes place partially at a human colony on Titan.
In the sixth book of the Yoko Tsuno comic book series (Les Trois soleils de Vinéa, 1976), a small part of the action takes place on a Vinean space station in orbit around Saturn. Saturn's moon Titan is also briefly mentioned and depicted. Other Saturnian moons are visible but not named.
Warhammer 40,000's universe (1987) places the headquarters of the Grey Knights of the Ordo Malleus in Saturn's moons, owing to their defensive capability.
Stephen Baxter's novel Titan (1997) is focused on the moon Titan, but contains vivid depictions of a journey through the Saturnian system.
In Michael McCollum's novel The Clouds of Saturn (1998), Saturn is a new place for humanity after Earth was heavily boiled by the flaring sun.
Ben Bova's novel Saturn (2003) is about a spacecraft traveling toward the planet, although Saturn itself does not figure greatly in the story.
In Charles Stross's Accelerando humans colonise Saturn's upper atmosphere as the inner planets are dismantled into a Matrioshka Brain
In Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series, Saturn is where Mazer Rackham fought and defeated the Formics with a small reserve patrol fleet during the Second Invasion.

[edit] Film and television

In the Star Trek universe (1966–), Saturn is used for the Starfleet Academy Flight Range (see also Mimas).
Douglas Trumbull's film Silent Running (1972) features an ark-like spacecraft traveling through the Saturnian system.
Doctor Who serial The Invisible Enemy, 1977, takes place, amongst other locations, on the Saturnian moon, Titan.
The film Saturn 3 (1980) is mostly set on one of Saturn's moons, but also features a journey through the planet's rings.
In Space Patrol episode "The Rings of Saturn" - Observing Saturn, Dart and his crew notice a meteor shadowing the Galasphere. On discovering it is actually a Saturnian spacecraft, Dart makes contact and brings a tape of Saturnian language back to Earth for decoding. When contact is finally made with the planet it transpires that Dart has inadvertently offended the Saturnians by picking leaves of their sacred tree.
In Space Patrol episode "The Miracle Tree Of Saturn" - A fungus is destroying crops at an alarming rate. By chance Professor Heggarty discovers a cutting from the Saturnian's sacred tree on Raeburn's desk destroys the fungus and Dart is despatched to Saturn to obtain further supplies. However, their plan has been overheard by an unscrupulous technician.
An episode of the cartoon series Transformers from 1985, "The God Gambit," reveals that humanoid aliens have a thriving civilization on the moon Titan. In a later episode from 1986, "Money is Everything," which takes place in the year 2006, Titan has been terraformed by humans.
Tim Burton's film Beetlejuice (1988) is partly set on a fictional Saturn, populated by giant sandworms.
In Exosquad, Saturn's moons initially were home of the Pirate Clans before the discovery of the planet Chaos.
on Megas XLR coop accidentally creates a big gap in Saturn's rings. Coop said "it looks better that way"

[edit] Anime

The science fiction anime series The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982–1983) has one episode that takes place in Saturn's rings, and the beginning of the movie adaptation The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? takes place near the moon Titan and Saturn's rings.
In the sci-fi anime Cowboy Bebop (1998), in the year 2068 a war was fought on Titan.
In the anime Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, Sailor Saturn is a guardian representing the planet, and the planet's princess in the manga.. Her birth is thought to bring destruction to the world, as she's known as the sailor of death and rebirth. On her forehead is the planet's symbol.

[edit] Games

The Citadel research and mining space station, setting of the computer game System Shock (1994), is in orbit of Saturn for most of the game.
In the role-playing game Transhuman Space (2002), the isotope helium-3 is harvested from Saturn's atmosphere for use in fusion reactors.
In the role playing game Warhammer 40000 the Ordos Malleus has their Headquarters on Saturn and the moons themselves.

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