Solar System in fiction close to the Sun and its surface was exposed to extremes of temperature. The asteroids were too tiny and airless. By the early 20th century, prospects for life in the Solar System focused on Venus, the larger moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and especially Mars. With the onset of the Space Age, planetary probes cast increasing doubt on the likelihood of extraterrestrial life in the Solar System, at least life of any magnitude greater than organisms such as bacteria. By the mid-1960s, it was firmly established that life could have no foothold on the hostile surfaces of Mercury or Venus,
The Tenth Planet of malevolent cyborgs that became a recurring adversary in later "Doctor Who" stories. The "tenth planet" in the title makes reference to a fictional lost planet in Earth's Solar System; at the time of production, the Solar System was generally held to consist of nine planets, prior to the redesignation of Pluto as a minor planet. "The Tenth Planet" is an incomplete "Doctor Who" serial – one of many serials that were affected by the BBC's policy of wiping archived programmes in the 1960s and 70s. Only three of the four episodes are currently held in the BBC archives; the