Mars

Mars (also known as Sol IV) was a planet in the Sol system, inhabited by the Ice Warriors and later by Human colonists.

Features
Only Mars and Peladon contained deposits of the valuable ore, trisilicate. (DW: ''The Curse of Peladon,)

Remote past
The Doctor theorized that c.9,000,000 BCE, the Fendah, passed from its homeworld to Mars on its way to Earth, fleeing the efforts of the Time Lords to trap it forever in a time loop. (DW: Image of the Fendahl)

The age of the Ice Warriors
By human prehistory, the Ice Warriors already possessed spaceflight. Their ecosystem dying, more and more inhospitable, the Ice Warriors sent an expedition to Earth, led by Varga but the ship crashed and was frozen in a glacier where it would remain for millenia (DW: The Ice Warriors).

The Osirians
Around 5000 BCE, the Osirians reached Mars and set up underground bases there, beneath pyramids that they constructed. Sutekh, was imprisoned in a tomb in Egypt, kept in a state of paralysis by an energy beam transmitted from the main pyramid on Mars itself. A warning message, Beware Sutekh broadcast continually by radio (DW: Pyramids of Mars)

Early 20th century
In 1911. Laurence Scarman picked up this signal on his marconiscope. That same year, Suketh escaped from his ancient bondage.(Pyramids of Mars)

In October 31, 1938, many Humans across the United States took Orson Welle's radio adapation of H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds literally, and believed that Martians had really invaded. (BFA: Invaders From Mars)

Later 20th century
Mars was a target of a series of British manned space probes Mars Probes 6 and Mars Probe 7 made contact with a group of peaceful radioactive humanoids. Another spacecraft, Recovery 7, entered Mars orbit to determine what had happened to earlier probes. (DW: The Ambassadors of Death)


 * The British Rocket Group, which had existed as early as the 1950s, may well have overseen the launching of these probes.

In 1997, the Argyre Clan of Ice Warriors took over the United Kindgom. In relatiation, Ice Warrior nests on Mars were in turn destroyed by Humans. (NA: The Dying Days)

Also in 1997, Rennigan, a lone Human astronaut marooned on desolate and lifeless Mars, found himself aided by unseen friends, namely the Doctor and his companions. (DWM: Rennigan's Record).

Early 21st century
Circa the dawn of the 21st century, another human space expedition landed on Mars. (BFA: Red Dawn)

On 31 October 2006, the Guinevere One was launched by the British Rocket Group for an intended landing on Christmas Day, but was intercepted by the Sycorax. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)

Late 21st through late 22nd century
The Ice Warriors had not given up their ambitions to colonise Earth. A strike team was sent to take control of T-Mat, and use it to transport seed pods to Earth that were designed to terraform its environment to an environment more suited to them. (DW: The Seeds of Death).

In the last part of the 21st century, The Ice Warriors fought the Thousand Year War and lsot, opening up the planet for Human exploitation and colonization. (NA: Transit)

The Doctor, Bernice, Chris and Roz Forrester visited Mars in 2157, just prior to the 22nd century Dalek invasion of Earth. (NA: GodEngine)

Colonization period
By the 26th century, the time of Bernice Summerfield, Human colonization of the planet had gotten well underway. (BNA: Beige Planet Mars)


 * Bernice Summerfield, a scholar of Ice Warrior society, found their society fascinating.

Farther on
Circa the 39th or 40th century, Mars and the Ice Warriors were part of a Galactic Federation that included Earth, Alpha Centauri and Arcturus. The presence of trisilicate made the planet politically important. (DW: The Curse of Peladon)

By the 40th century,Humanity had established a colonising presence on Mars, as the Space Security agent Bret Vyon was born in Colony 16 (DW: The Daleks' Master Plan).


 * Bret's sister, Sara Kingdom may also have grown up on Mars.

By the 2001st century, Mars was now stated to be home to a university of questionable reputation, although no further reference to the planet was made. (DW: The Long Game)

Uncertain dates

 * Varga's frozen ship was discovered near Britannia Base by scientists during another ice age on Earth, and the thawed crew's attempt to seize the base was also stopped by the Doctor (DW: The Ice Warriors).


 * Under the influence and control of the Usurians, a colony of humans temporarily moved to Mars, then on to Pluto after overpopulation had made Earth unlivable (DW: The Sun Makers)


 * The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith visited a colonized Mars. (Scarab of Death)


 * The Doctor and Leela visited a terraformed, commercialized Mars abudnant with commercialized imagery derived from Human science fiction. (Crimson Dawn).


 * The Doctor and Rose visited the planet, which had been turned into a holiday resort. (DWM:The Cruel Sea)

Behind the Scenes

 * Though unpublished during his lifetime, the David Whitaker short story Rennigan's Record makes for the earliest portrayal of Mars in the Doctor Who Universe.

=External links=
 * "The Mars Dilemma" by Jon Preddle, detailing Mars in the televised Whoniverse