Edison's Conquest of Mars attempt at fiction, the book was published serially in the "New York Journal". Serviss went on to write other science fiction stories, arguably making him the first American to write science fiction professionally. An early example of what would later be called space opera, "Edison's Conquest of Mars" was also a particularly literal "Edisonade". The book contains some notable "firsts" in science fiction: alien abductions, spacesuits (called "air-tight suits": see Spacesuits in fiction), aliens building the Pyramids, space battles, oxygen pills, asteroid mining and disintegrator rays. The book is set following the abortive Martian attack depicted in "Fighters from Mars",
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