Saturday, December 19, 2015

Christmas on Mars


An old friend of mine who was part of the forming of the SF convention CoastCon (and even earlier fan activity) sent me his fan-made music video called Christmas on Mars.  I guess you could call it a traditional Christmas filksong.  Given the renewed interest in Mars these days, I thought this post might reflect some of the past interest in Mars, specifically in Science Fiction and Science Fantasy.

Now here’s a good old-fashioned science fiction Christmas carol, performed on Christmas Eve (on Earth) 2013.  Originally performed at a company Christmas party back in 2008, but it was written way before the movie of the same name.
 

     lyrics to Michael Sanborn's 

     CHRISTMAS ON MARS

 
The children are sliding down the sand dunes
While the robots trim the tree.
Both moons sparkle up above us
And the eggnog pills are free...


Chorus:
Though our spaceships travel
Out among the stars,
We're snuggled at home:
It's Christmas on Mars.
There's holiday cheer
In the oxygen bars.
It's that time again:
It's Christmas on Mars.

Li li li (etc.)


The energy blobs
Wheel and bob
In the town promenade.
Let's raise a cheer
For the Laser Brigade!
While the fresh-grown Snow Clones
Serve warp-berry pie
And the zeppelins soar
In the pink winter sky...

(Spoken:) "Wait, zeppelins?!" (I hear you thinking.) "Zeppelins could never
float in the thin Martian atmosphere!" Ah, but what you're forgetting is that these a
re future zeppelinspowered by advanced Martian anti-gravity technology!

(Sung:) That's why they can fly!

(Chorus)

Beam the festive gamma rays!
Blast the craters all ablaze!
Crash the comets to amaze
The Old Ones!
Sled through the magnetosphere!
Chestnuts and ammonia beer!
Gone, the worries! Disappear,
The doldrums!

(Chorus x 2)

Christmas on Mars!


I hope you enjoy this fun filksong from an old-time fan and CoastCon supporter, Michael Sanborn.  Sorry he didn’t make it back this year for the holidays. 

Sprinkled through this post are just some of the many books inspired by Mars exploration.    Happy reading this holiday.
                     CoastConFan

Update:  I finally got the corrected lyrics for Christmas on Mars.  Sorry for any errors, but I blame solar flares for the garbled transmission!
 

 
 
Links of interest to the reader
Mars has always been of interest to Earth people   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mars_observation

Mars has spawned a lot of fiction over the years    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_in_fiction   and    http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mars

The Planet Mars by William Sheehan , readable on line   http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/MARS/CONTENTS.HTM

A copy of the script for the Orson Wells radio presentation of War of the Worlds 30 Oct 1938 http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/mars/wow.htm 

Project Gutenberg has a variety of free, out of copyright books you can download in a variety of electronic formats.  With a little bit of searching, you can turn up some interesting books there https://www.gutenberg.org/