Talk:Gliese 581d

Rename
The correct spelling according to Wikipedia is Gliese 581d. JagoAndLitefoot ☎  01:01, April 23, 2017 (UTC)
 * Yeah, but if it is given differently in the episode or any other story, that is what we will need to go for. --DCLM ☎  10:36, April 24, 2017 (UTC)
 * For now it looks like it's not given in-universe at all... JagoAndLitefoot ☎  10:49, April 24, 2017 (UTC)

Gliese 581 D
Was the planet ever named? Ever since I saw a redlink to "Gliese 581 D" on Smile I've wondered where the name came from. At first, I though I missed it, but I've been bouncing on and off on the episode, and could not hear any character say the planet's name, nor find it written anywhere on the background. OncomingStorm12th ☎  01:31, April 24, 2017 (UTC)
 * Looks like it's from the Radio Times, but it's not a valid in-universe source. JagoAndLitefoot ☎  02:31, April 24, 2017 (UTC)
 * Maybe it's on the map? The entrance to the ship? Computer interface? There's probably a bunch of places to check (in HD, like my iTunes copy) before ruling out this name as valid. (As a side note, the BBC/Doctor Who website uses that name; also not a valid in-universe source.) 04:27, April 24, 2017 (UTC)
 * It may also be possibly mentioned in Diamond Dogs (novel). Anyway, it's definitely official, just we don't know if any valid sources use it. JagoAndLitefoot ☎  10:03, April 24, 2017 (UTC)
 * Bill looks at the map (Smile).jpg Entrance to the Ship (Smile).jpg Old woman biodata (Smile).jpg
 * On the map, all it says is UESC-190-480 - (something that presumably is Erehwon, but for sure isn't Gliese) Classer (something hard to read, but ends with "vy") B & C Deck Plan.
 * "Gliese 581 D" isn't on the Entrance to the ship, and also not on 00125-323458's biodata. Additionally, on Diamond Dogs (novel), they used "Only recently she had been stalked by emoticon robots on a distant planet in the far future" instead of "Gliese 581 D" or "Gliese 581d". In fact, "Gliese" doesn't appear at all. OncomingStorm12th ☎  23:20, April 25, 2017 (UTC)
 * Though there's no rush, I think we really do need to consider moving this article. There's not the slightest scrap of in-universe support for this name. But because the BBC have made up graphics for their website with the name, I suppose it's possible the place will get mentioned again, later in the series. So we can wait for a bit, but we should definitely revisit at series end.  15:43: Sat 13 May 2017
 * So now we've been through the series. And the given name doesn't appear at all. --DCLM ☎  14:35, August 2, 2017 (UTC)

Rename tag
I removed the rename tag because there is an in-universe source for this page name at All Snug in Their Beds (short story). When I get a chance I will add the story's information to the page. Shambala108 ☎  06:55, December 29, 2017 (UTC)

Since there has been no valid in-universe confirmation to date that this planet also shows up in Smile, I'm moving the pertinent information here until someone makes a page for Planet (Smile). I haven't seen the story, so I don't feel comfortable making the page myself. Shambala108 ☎  18:40, June 20, 2018 (UTC)


 * Gliese 581 D was one of the first human colonies settled after Earth's population had been evacuated. The planet that supported the colony was 20 light-years from Earth and had twin suns.


 * When Bill asked the Twelfth Doctor travel to the future with her, he took Bill to Gliese. (TV: Smile)


 * == Astronomical data ==
 * Gliese 581 D was the fourth planet of the Gliese system and was located twenty light years from Earth, in orbit around twin suns. Following the terraforming of the planet by Vardies, the composition of the atmosphere became identical to Earth’s. It also had fertile soil and vast seas, rendering it suitable for human colonization. (TV: Smile)


 * == Landscape ==
 * Gliese's sky was blue, and it had two suns. The city that would serve as the home of the colonists was surrounded by vast fields of wheat on one side and was located at the edge of a sea on the other side. The architecture of the city was made up of futuristic and smoothly designed buildings with many windows, open spaces and an overall white colour. It had numerous plants, bridges and bodies of water flowing through the streets. (TV: Smile)


 * == History ==
 * At some point in the far future, Earth was devastated and the human population was evacuated on spaceships. One of these was the starship Erehwon that contained millions of people in stasis.


 * The ship landed on the planet Gliese 581 D. Once it landed, a small number of the crew were awakened and deployed swarms of Vardies, "the worker bees of the third industrial revolution". The Vardies successfully terraformed the atmosphere and ground of Gliese in order to make it habitable for humans. They then built an entire city out of Vardies, which would serve as the colonists' home.


 * However, the Vardy were programmed to keep the colonists happy at all times. When one of the colonists died of natural causes, her friends and family began to grieve. The Vardies, reading grief as the opposite of happiness, treated it like a virus and began killing the colonists as to them, eliminating sadness meant eliminating sad people. In just one morning, the entire set-up team was slaughtered for displaying negative emotions.


 * Sometime later, the Twelfth Doctor and Bill Potts visited Gliese, only to find the city empty. They eventually discovered the remains of the set-up team who had been turned into fertilizer for the botanical gardens. The Doctor, assuming the colonists had not arrived yet, decided to blow up the city. They ventured into the starship Erehwon and the Doctor sabotaged the engine. However, Bill discovered the remaining population in stasis and quickly warned the Doctor, who undid his sabotage.


 * As the colonists began to awaken, the Doctor briefed them on what had happened and why. But the humans, believing the Vardies simply wanted to kill them, took up arms and an open conflict erupted between the humans and the Vardy, who had begun showing the first signs of sentience. The Doctor ended the battle by erasing the Vardies' memory up until the moment they made the error of perceiving grief as a virus to be eliminated. Though the Vardy thought the city belonged to them, they welcomed the humans onto their new world and the Doctor made sure they would not make the same mistake. (TV: Smile)


 * == Technology ==
 * The colonists that populated Gliese had made a number of technological advancements that participated in the functioning of the colony. The entire city was made up of Vardy, microrobots that interlocked in order to create solid and complete structures such as the buildings and the machines. They could easily break apart into swarms and attack anyone they perceived as a threat. They would envelop the target and could strip them of clothing and flesh in seconds, leaving nothing but bones behind. The Vardy also carried out daily tasks, such as scanning new arrivals or pollinating the wheat fields that surrounded the city. The city was also equipped with Emojibots, an interface between the human colonists and the Vardy that carried out maintenance.


 * Humans communicated over long distances through a wireless network that was implanted directly into their ears and used their nervous systems as circuitry.


 * Mood badges were handed out by Emojibots to the human residents and automatically put themselves on the humans' back. They monitored their emotions and communicated the data directly to the Emojibots.


 * The city contained a massive greenhouse where plants were grown. These included fruits and vegetables such as orange trees, olives, as well as rosemary and other plants. The Emojibots carried out pollination work and fertilizer was spread through large pipes above the crops. (TV: Smile)


 * == Behind the scenes ==
 * In real life, Gliese 581 D is a possible extrasolar planet that could potentially be habitable.
 * The name of the planet is not stated on screen in Smile. However, it is named as the Emojibots and colonists' home on the BBC Doctor Who website,  and is named by the interviewer of writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce in DWM 512 - though not by Cottrell-Boyce himself.


 * == Footnotes ==

Renaming, again
I've just placed a merge tag at Planet (Smile), as there are some stories in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2018 that provide in-universe evidence of the name. (As a note, it is spelled "Gliese 581 D".) Chubby Potato ☎  01:02, 2 March 2021 (UTC)