Mars in fiction from red-colored vegetation, and Schiaparelli observed what he took to be linear features on the face of Mars, which he thought might be water channels. Because the Italian for channels is "canali", English translations tended to render the word as "canals", implying artificial construction. Lowell's books on Mars expanded on this notion of Martian canals, and a standard model of Mars as a drying, cooling, dying world was established. It was frequently speculated that ancient Martian civilizations had constructed irrigation works that spanned the planet in an attempt at saving their dying world. This concept spawned a large number of
This Merry Planet This Merry Planet This Merry Planet () is a 1973 Soviet science fiction-musical television film directed by Yuri Saakov and Yuri Tsvetkov. On the eve of the New Year a delegation from space arrives on Earth. The aliens find it difficult to understand what is happening on the planet. By chance they end up at a party of a Soviet scientific research organization. The aliens are convinced that they will immediately become the center of attention, but, as everyone is dressed up in costumes, their appearance at the evening in the House of Culture does not cause any excitement. They