History Main / Terraform

** Some of the ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'' comics written by Simon Furman have a variation of this: In the distant past, the war between [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien alien gods]] Primus and Unicron was ended when Primus tricked them into eternal imprisonment in large metal planetoids. Over time, Primus terraforms his planetoid into the planet Cybertron (and creates sentient robotic life forms in the process), while Unicron terraforms his into a giant TransformingMecha body.

* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': [[spoiler:The titular Project Zero Dawn was in fact this. Knowing that the war against [[RobotWar the Faro Plague]] was hopeless and that the robots would consume Earth's biosphere long before humanity could successfully hack their systems, humanity's top scientists created the GAIA AI system that would first deactivate the machines and then restore the organic life they destroyed. Most of GAIA's subordinate functions handled fixing the damage; AETHER and POSEIDON detoxified Earth's polluted air and seas, DEMETER and ARTEMIS restored its flora and fauna, and finally, once Earth was inhabitable again, ELEUTHIA restored the human race.]]

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', where ''every'' planet and moon in the system is terraformed. The terraforming is mainly done by massive machines brought from EarthThatWas, but human labor is still needed and it's hard, dangerous work.
** Plus, terraforming often has unintended side effects, like the newly introduced atmosphere interacting with minerals or gases to cause a massive plague, and at least one planet is considered an uninhabitable "black rock" because the [[BlatantLies terraforming never took]].

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' Mars, Venus, Europa, and Luna (Earth's moon) have all been terraformed. This becomes a plot point when they visit a planet which hasn't introduced many oceanic species because its economy is based on tourism and ocean resorts. There are a few deaths which look like shark attacks, and the first suggestion offered by a character is that someone made a robotic shark with a robotic jaw to murder people.

->'''Fry:''' I'm impressed. In my time we had no idea Mars had a university.\\
'''Professor Farnsworth:''' That's because then Mars was a uninhabitable wasteland, much like Utah. But unlike Utah, Mars was eventually made livable when the university was founded in 2636.\\
'''Leela:''' They planted traditional college foliage. Ivy... trees... hemp... soon the whole planet was terraformed!

Terraforming itself is an actual area of study right now, as scientists try to design methods to create both self-contained environments (Bio-Domes being famous examples) and species that can survive in a hostile environment and improve it until it has a self-sustaining biosphere that can sustain humans. Easier said than done. ''Literally,'' because [[MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness soft sci-fi settings]] tend to sneeze out terraforming efforts and planets like Martians with a cold. According to the NASA, terraforming Mars is simply not possible with our current technology (see press release [[https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2018/mars-terraforming here]]).

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' [[IncrediblyLamePun Butane, the planet of dragons]] is a terraformed world in the Kuiper Belt. [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100109.html Jolly the Giantess]] has been given the job of helping to maintain it.

* Some of the ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'' comics written by Simon Furman have a variation of this: In the distant past, the war between [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien alien gods]] Primus and Unicron was ended when Primus tricked them into eternal imprisonment in large metal planetoids. Over time, Primus terraforms his planetoid into the planet Cybertron (and creates sentient robotic life forms in the process), while Unicron terraforms his into a giant TransformingMecha body.

* In ''ComicBook/TheImmortalSuperman'', the [[Franchise/{{Superman}} titular hero]] travels to the far-flung future and discovers Earth has been turned into a lifeless rock after millennia of wars and environmental damage, so he sets out to make Earth inhabitable again with his own hands.

** The ''opposite'' approach would be needed for Venus: here, the main goals would be to cool down the planet and remove most of the super-dense atmosphere (in addition to making it breathable). These goals could theoretically be achieved using the same method, however. Cooling down Venus (e.g. using orbital or floating mirrors to reflect sunlight away from the planet) would cause the CO2 of the atmosphere to condense and freeze onto the surface. Removing the [=CO2=] atmosphere (e.g. by turning it into carbonate rock, injecting it into existing rock, or lifting it up into space) would reduce the greenhouse effect and thus cool down the planet (though not to Earth-like temperatures, so mirrors would still be needed).

** Central to the plot of ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', where the heroes have to reset some malfunctioning {{Precursor}} terraforming machines to alter planets in the Heleus Cluster to their liking (the planets had originally been inhabitable, but were damaged while they travelled there). The technology is considered dangerous however, since no one has a clue how the machines work, and anything that can alter a planet's weather patterns in ''seconds'' is some seriously powerful tech.

More recently, some shows turn this around by showcasing how terraforming an already-living world can be ecologically disastrous, or ethically questionable, or even weaponized; or just plain pisses off the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens near omnipotent residents]]. Some works even turn the concept inside-out, showing how aliens arrive on Earth and mess the ecology up so badly that the planet becomes barely habitable, if at all, for humans (with [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic similarities]] to ClimateChange). This is HostileTerraforming, sometimes termed xenoforming or un-terraforming.

* In ''Literature/DaystarAndShadow'', [[spoiler:this turns out to be the motivation of both the Hemn and the Others. The Others want to turn the world into a desert, kill most humans, and infect everyone else with a parasite that [[BodyHorror turns them into plants]] the Others can eat. The Hemn want to use runaway [[ClimateChange global warming]] to creat a hot, humid ocean planet where their civilization can flourish.]]

** Human beings have been "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reclamation reclaiming]]" land from the sea for centuries, particularly in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Dubai.

* Near the end of ''Manga/GetterRobo Go'', [[spoiler: [[HumongousMecha Shin Getter Robo]] instantly terraforms Mars with a blast of Getter Energy. It does this so it can hibernate on the planet long enough to ''combine with it and become an even larger robot.'' ]]

* The main premise of ''Manga/{{TerraFormars}}'', when the terraforming process GoneHorriblyWrong as the partially terraformed Mars now filled with swarm of titular hyper-evolved cockroach.

* ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations'' has multiple levels of terraforming techs that improve the quality of your already-inhabited worlds, while the second game's first expansion introduced planets with extreme conditions -- high gravity, radiation, toxic atmospheres, etc -- that required expensive technology to be researched before you could even settle them. Meanwhile, one particular mega-event involves someone randomly poking a {{Precursor}} artifact that immediately turns every uninhabitable world within a couple of parsecs into a verdant planet (including, oddly, the gas giants), sparking a galactic scramble to settle as many of them as possible or a major power shift if it goes off in the middle of someone's empire.

Terraforming itself is an actual area of study right now, as scientists try to design methods to create both self-contained environments (Bio-Domes being famous examples) and species that can survive in a hostile environment and improve it until it has a self-sustaining biosphere that can sustain humans. Easier said than done. ''Literally,'' because [[MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness soft sci-fi settings]] tend to sneeze out terraforming efforts and planets like Martians with a cold. Still, at this point a terraforming project (at least on Mars) is theoretically possible using current technology, albeit ludicrously expensive and time-consuming.

More recently, some shows turn this around by showcasing how terraforming an already-living world can be ecologically disastrous, or ethically questionable, or even weaponized; or just plain pisses off the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens near omnipotent residents]]. Some works even turn the concept inside-out, showing how aliens arrive on Earth and mess the ecology up so badly that the planet becomes barely habitable, if at all, for humans (with [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic similarities]] to GlobalWarming). This is HostileTerraforming, sometimes termed xenoforming or un-terraforming.

* In ''Literature/DaystarAndShadow'', [[spoiler:this turns out to be the motivation of both the Hemn and the Others. The Others want to turn the world into a desert, kill most humans, and infect everyone else with a parasite that [[BodyHorror turns them into plants]] the Others can eat. The Hemn want to use runaway GlobalWarming to creat a hot, humid ocean planet where their civilization can flourish.]]

A SpeculativeFiction staple, the act of turning an otherwise human-unfriendly environment into an Earth-like, or "Terra-formed" planet. Narratively, this is done to give the cast a place to go outside the ship (off Earth) that won't require them dressing in SpaceClothes constantly. Within a given setting, it's often done to showcase humanity's drive to explore and [[SettlingTheFrontier colonize new places]] for the famed trifecta of God, Gold and Glory. (Hey, [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} at least one]] setting actively proselytizes, at gunpoint!)

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', [[spoiler:Negi's plan to save [[MagicLand Mundus Magicus]] is revealed to be terraforming Mars so that it can support life.]]

* In the {{Creator/Wildstorm}} universe, it's eventually revealed that Earth was in fact terraformed by technology created by the ancestors of the Kherubim, who were far more [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Sufficiently Advanced]] than even the present-day Kherans were aware. This explains in part why humans and Kherans can [[HalfHumanHybrid interbreed]]; our DNA is partially based on theirs.

* ''Literature/{{Children of Time}}'': Colonists fleeing a dying Earth make their way to a planet already terraformed by one of humanity's earlier projects, started when humanity was in its hey-day before it almost managed to destroy itself. Unfortunately for them a rogue scientist's plan to fast-evolve sapient monkeys hadn't exactly gone to plan (giant sapient spiders, anyone?). In the course of the story, they also end up visiting a world where the terraforming attempt had gone horribly wrong and created a world covered in grey goo.

* ''Cthulhu's Reign'', edited by Darrell Schweitzer, is a Franchise/CthulhuMythos anthology of short stories on what [[strike:life]] existence on Earth would be like [[strike:if]] when the Old Ones return. There are several references to the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s 'terra-deforming' the Earth so it's more suited to themselves.

* In ''{{Literature/Aristoi}}'', terraforming is so easy that humanity's spread through the cosmos is limited only by the Aristoi not wishing to have to run any more planets.
* In SA Swann's Literature/TerranConfederacy universe, the [[{{Precursors}} Dolbrians]] terraformed a number of worlds before vanishing, including Mars. Humans reterraformed Mars, and also terraformed Titan and several other large moons of the outer planets. Those colonies were later destroyed in a GreyGoo incident and the reactions to same.

* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'', where ''every'' planet and moon in the system is terraformed. The terraforming is mainly done by massive machines brought from EarthThatWas, but human labor is still needed and it's hard, dangerous work.

* ''Series/StargateSG1''

* In ''[[TabletopGame/YuGiOh Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', there's a card called [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Terraforming "Terraforming"]] that lets you search your deck for a field card. You literally make the environment more friendly to your creatures -- whether human, beast, angel, demon, crystals, or whatever.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' this is done by two factions, inverted by another, and subverted by a fourth.

* ''VideoGameStarWarsTheGunganFrontier'' has the player setting up a complete ecosystem on one of Naboo's moons so that the Gungans can colonize it.

* ''VideoGame/EndlessSpace''

* In ''Videogame/{{Destiny}}'', the Traveler terraformed several planet across the Solar System when it arrived, making those worlds in habitable for humanity, including making the incredibly inhospitable Venus and Mercury into lush garden worlds and making Mars an inhabitable, if still dry and desert, planet. ''Videogame/Destiny2'' shows that it did the same for many smaller moons, such as Io. Titan was terraformed by humanity into a world with a giant liquid methane ocean and yet a breathable atmosphere (they hoped the Traveler would come and do a better job after it was done with Io). On the other end of the spectrum, the alien Vex have also terraformed worlds in the system, including [[HostileTerraforming reversing the Traveler's work on Mercury to make it into a massive machine-world,]] and turning 7066 Nessus into a strange mixture of Vex machine architecture covered with a verdant alien ecology.

* ''VideoGame/TerraGenesis'' is a strategy game based on this trope. The player is tasked to terraform the uninhabitable inner planets, Earth's moon, and even Earth itself![[note]]There are moons of the outer planets, dwarf planets, plants of the TRAPPISt-1 system, a set of fictional planets, Earth in its past (and future) forms, and even a randomly generated planet to terraform, but those are paid.[[/note]] Terraforming is done through setting up cities and its buildings to control the world's components: temperature, pressure, water, and oxygen. If Biosphere is toggled for a game, the player can manage the world also by controlling the organisms.

* ''Series/TheExpanse'' features an independent Mars that is currently in the middle of its terraforming process. While the it's still not possible to walk on the surface without a suit, the atmosphere has become noticeably blue. Part of what fuels Matian resentment of Earth is that the Mars should have been fully terraformed decades before but the ongoing cold war between the two planets means that resources have been diverted to the military and the terraforming project is now a hundred years behind schedule.

* Kim Stanley Robinson's ''Literature/RedMarsTrilogy'' is the definitive hard sci-fi account of terraforming, going into [[ShownTheirWork exhaustive detail]] about Martian terraforming. He portrays a process that runs for more two hundred years over the course of the three novels, which themselves are named in allusion to key steps in the terraforming project (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars). One of the ongoing themes of the series is the increasing conflict between the Reds, who want to maintain the pristine beauty of Mars, and the Greens, who want a second Earth. The novels strongly imply that neither outcome is possible; [[spoiler:Mars will change the terraformers just as they change it.]] In the final installment (Blue Mars), [[spoiler:we see humans expand out to live on the moons of the gas giants, and inward to establish a constantly-moving city on Mercury.]]\\
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''Literature/TwentyThreeTwelve'' picks up a hundred years after the final installment of the Mars Trilogy, showing humans living throughout the solar system (the main character is a native of Mercury). A minor (but crucial) plotline deals with the terraforming of the planet Venus, which brings its own subtle conflict; [[spoiler:do you rush the job, sealing up the remnants of the thick atmosphere under tonnes of rock and using a sunshade to give you artificial days and nights, or do you use the mass of the former atmosphere to spin the planet up -- a project that will take far longer, but leave a far more sustainable end result?]] In the process of terraforming, Robinson's solar system has become an endless playground for sci-fi tropes -- giant robots scooping up frozen carbon dioxide on Venus, 'hanging ships' floating in the clouds of Saturn and fully-tented moons that physically hold their atmospheres in.

* Almost all populated planets in ''Anime/KiddyGrade'' became inhabitable through terraforming. One episode even has Éclair and Lumière scavenge terraforming-equipment for usable parts.

More recently, some shows turn this around by showcasing how terraforming an already-living world can be ecologically disastrous, or ethically questionable, [[HostileTerraforming even weaponized]]. Or just plain pisses off the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens near omnipotent residents]]. Some works even turn the concept inside-out, showing how aliens arrive on Earth and mess the ecology up so badly that the planet becomes barely habitable, if at all, for humans (with [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic similarities]] to GlobalWarming) ; this is sometimes termed xenoforming or un-terraforming.

* 'VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' has terraforming as a mandatory part of colonization. You can get techs that boost terraforming speed and the range of environments that are cost-effective to terraform, though some planets will always remain out of reach. However, since up to five different races can live on a planet at a time, all with different ecological backgrounds, sometimes some population juggling is necessary. It's possible for a race to colonize planets that are completely inhospitable to another -- and conquering these planets ''instantly'' pops their habitability zone right to yours (when using assimilation plague missiles). Useful when most planets are hostile.