Talk:Rainbow Mars

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I'd never heard of this book, though I'm a big Niven fan. The plot sounds similar to the first issue of Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume II. Hmm. . I wonder if that's a coincidence, or one is a fan of the other? Coyote-37 12:53, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

I suspect coincidence myself. I should dig up my copy of Rainbow Mars anyway and have another look-through, then poke around here again. Balancer 07:13, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Rainbow Mars was published in 1999. When did TLOEGM begin? I love Rainbow Mars and I wish Niven, and others, would write (and draw) a whole series of novels, short stories, graphic novels, etc. about it. In particular, about relations and conflicts between the pious and peaceful Malacandrans and the truculent Barsoomians. Also, a series called "Rainbow Tau Ceti" - about the dozen or more cultures that SF writers have imagined for Tau Ceti. Das Baz 17:14, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nod to KSR?

Is the title a nod to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, plus the short story Purple Mars)? -Father Inire 06:28, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A brief summary

This article is a mess. I don't have time to rewrite it myself, but I'll try to give a more coherent account of the storyline, which is designed to be whimsical and surreal.

Mars was once inhabited by Barsoomians, Malacandrians, Weinbaum's "Tweels", and all the other famous Martian races, all at once.

Some Martian scientists decide to construct an elevator up to an artifial moon (as in Kim Stanley Robinson's story), but instead of building it they decide to use gene manipulation to breed a tree with the right properties. Unfortunately the tree uses up all of Mars' water, turning it into the desert planet we know of today. Apparently the tree was indestructible once it grew.

Svetz, the bumbling hero of Niven's time-travel stories (collected in "FLIGHT OF THE HORSE") visits Mars in various time periods and figures out what when wrong. Whether he discovered a solution, I don't remember.

On top of pulling in all the Martian stories, Niven also points out that his story is a "rationalized" version of "Jack and the Beanstalk". CharlesTheBold (talk) 04:38, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Svetz is not so "bumbling." He always comes out ahead. He does not manage to save Mars, but he saves many of the Martians. He does save Earth and give new hope to the people of two worlds.

Tau Ceti is up to over 30 worlds by now. Rainbow Tau Ceti will be a very rich project. Das Baz, aka Erudil 20:06, 2 February 2008 (UTC)