Talk:Mars in fiction

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A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on January 1, 2023. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that the first fictional depiction of the moons of Mars* predates their discovery by a century and a half?*
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Should we split Martians?

The trope of Martians (life on Mars in fiction) might have stand-alone notability. If split, this topic could be then shortened here. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 12:25, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's certainly notable, though that of course does not necessarily mean that covering it in a separate article is the best approach (WP:PAGEDECIDE). I don't think we should shorten the part of this article that deals with that aspect of the topic as I think it is WP:PROPORTIONATE (but then I would think that, wouldn't I?), but creating a new article and writing even more about it is of course an option. I'm inclined to think the current approach is probably the best one at least for now, but I'm open to suggestions. TompaDompa (talk) 21:06, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that expanding this even further in a dedicated article would be preferable to shortening anything here. Just wanted to highlight that Martians (or Martian (alien)?) is an article that needs to be created one day. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 02:29, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Mars in Little Nemo

Should the 1910 comic Little Nemo be mentioned? One of the story arcs took place on Mars, where a Martian had bought all the air, words, etc on the planet and citizens had to pay to use them Cathy Vanilla 999 (talk) 02:23, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That sounds interesting, but the answer to your question is probably "no". As I've said before about other possible additions, this article is getting quite lengthy at over 8,000 words and approaching 200 different works covered. There is only so much more that can be added before we run into a "more is less" situation, and there is already a fair amount of stuff with pretty strong sourcing that has been omitted in the interest of brevity. I'm quite wary of adding more stuff with comparatively weak sourcing behind it; it's difficult to justify at this point and getting increasingly so. We're reaching a point where where we have to start considering "killing our darlings" by removing stuff when adding new things. I can't recall any sources on the overarching topic—Mars in fiction—covering this particular work. TompaDompa (talk) 20:49, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Understandable, that's totally fine. I thought 1910 was probably too late to be included anyway. Thank you for responding! Cathy Vanilla 999 (talk) 23:54, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Video games?

I added an example from video games (1994's Marathon) but it was reverted as being off-topic. The topic is "fiction," right? Not "literature"? I see several other examples of video games in the text. Marathon is relevant as one of the only modern entries in the "Moons" section, which goes out of its way to talk about how little attention the moons get in fiction. 74.143.165.58 (talk) 20:25, 8 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

well, it was partly for being in the wrong section. it was reverted mostly over the lack of sources in it. if you want to add it again, you'd first need to find at least one source detailing marathon's setting in enough depth to justify putting it here (though i'd recommend two or more). also, remember to italicize the titles' names consarn _{(prison phone) (crime record)} 20:41, 8 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

And importantly (per WP:PROPORTION) a source that is primarily about the topic "Mars in Fiction" which discusses Marathon as part of the topic. See also, Talk:Mars in fiction/Archive 2#Doom (1993 video game) for a similar previous discussion. Cakelot1 ☞️ talk 21:03, 8 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) As the article itself notes, there are thousands upon thousands of works that deal with Mars. So how do we decide which ones to mention and which ones to omit? Well, we look at how sources on the overarching topic—Mars in fiction—do it. Our WP:PROPORTION policy mandates that articles treat each aspect with a weight proportional to its treatment in the body of reliable, published material on the subject, and "on the subject" is key there. Sources on the works themselves aren't enough, we need sources on the overarching topic of the article, i.e. Mars in fiction. Examples of such sources include the "Mars" entry of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the "Mars" entry of Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia, the "Mars" entry of The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the "Mars and Martians" entry of Science Fiction Literature Through History: An Encyclopedia. TompaDompa (talk) 21:10, 8 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]