What's in the Water?

What’s in the Water?




Having looked at the metaphor of water in sci fi, it’s time to move on to what’s in that water, including creatures, aliens, humanoids, dolphins, undersea kingdoms and cities. There’s at least an equal number of films, series and novels on engineered humans and dolphins, as there are sea creatures.

There’s a phenomenon in this genre where sea creatures are present in space, either as theory or as satire. There’s also a lot of amusing stuff here as well, depending on your humour (especially if 1950’s films make you giggle.)



Good creatures:

Considering how much we use the sea there aren’t many good creatures in it in sci fi. Penguins are downgraded to villains in Batman and fish are evil in Darius+. But there are a few goodies:

Sealab 2020 (1972) featured an underwater facility where the crew looked after the ocean and its inhabitants.

seaQuest DSV Darwin is a sentient, speaking dolphin who helps the ship.

Star Trek: The Way Home Kirk has to find whales in the past to bring to the present to save the planet from an alien ship.

Cocoon A group swam around the Atlantis site, attracted to the aliens. Present in the opening scenes as the aliens landed.

The New Adventures of Ocean Girl has a sacred whale called Mandrool.



Bad Creatures

Most of the animals we envisage coming from the sea are evil, often having been created from pollution or scientific experiments. They usually want to dine on human beings or take over the planet, regularly stomping through cities in their attempts. It’s a lot like plants again, writers don’t like anything non-human.

Generally bad creatures are large and live alone in the water or near the water using it to approach humans e.g. The Host.

20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea (novel 1870; films 1907, 1916, 1954; Game 1998) A giant squid attacks the Nautilus.

Frankenfish (2004) had a monster mutated fish killing people in the bayou.

Godzilla In the 1998 film this creature was formed by undersea nuclear testing and later returned to the sea to lay eggs.

It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) A giant octopus from the Mindinao trench followed shipping to San Francisco.

The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1956) showed a monster created from radioactive rocks in the ocean.

Leviathan (1989) Deep Sea creatures are adversely affected by genetic modification.

Primeval (2006), season one episode four, featured monsters living in the water, who initially appeared from the vortex , in a pool.

Silurians ( aka Sea Devils) in Doctor Who (The Silurians/Warriors of the Deep/The Hungry Earth) are reptilian creatures living under the sea, often shown with a third eye. They repeatedly tried to take over the Earth as they originally owned it. Started in season 7, 1963 and continues until the present season.

Snakehead Terror (2002?) shows monstrous crocodilians living in a lake where they are disturbed.

The Beast from 20,000 fathoms (1954) Although this beast is a defrosted dinosaur it is a rhedosaurus which returns to the ocean.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1955) A half human, half marine creature plays tricks on a group of tourists.

SeaQuest DSV dagger redux (1994) A genetically engineered creature, released by the Marauder to eat the skin off seaQuest was beaten off against undersea rocks.

SeaLab 2021 Happycake (2000) A giant variety of squid which found the happycake oven.

Red Dwarf: Nanarchy (circa 1995) A despair squid nearly destroyed the crew.

Hyperdrive: A Gift from the Glish (2006) The whale people of Jorrain are really rude.

The creatures in Surface initially appear to be small and cute, with only one example, but there are others that multiply to take over the oceans.



An interesting digression from the good creature/bad creature dichotomy is shown in Deep Shock (2002) where electric eels melting the ice caps are ancient inhabitants of the Earth. Seen as a threat by the authorities who bomb their home, they are valued as an intelligent species by a scientist and her military partner and saved.

It’s odd how relatively few giant squids there are in sci fi, especially when there are lots of giant spiders, maggots, turtles (Gamera), flies, claws, gila monsters, leeches, and behemoths.



Humanoids

For humans to live in the sea, or even work in it, they must be genetically engineered, usually with gills. Startide Rising has humans working with dolphins on a starship using equipment in the water compartments. This would be time consuming when alternatives exist.

Engineered ‘tritons’ are described in the pulp sci fi story Crisis in Utopia by Norman L. Knight in 1940.

The same idea is presented again by Knight, writing a novel with James Blish in 1967 called A Torrent of Faces.

City Under the Sea (1957) and Beyond the Silver Sky (1961 by Kenneth Bulmer both describe artificially engineered humans living under the sea.

The Space Swimmers (1963) by Gordon R. Dickson and Ocean on Top (1967) by Hal Clement also describe artificially altered people.

Humans however, can live in the sea but generally need to be adapted to sea life with gills:

Gill girl and guy in Dark Angel Gill Girl; Gill men in The City Under the Sea (1965); Piccolo in seaQuest DSV.

Does Princess Neri have gills in The New Adventures of Ocean Girl ? or the original Neri (Ocean Girl 1994-7)? She should have.

The Mariner in Waterworld (1995) has natural gills to survive after the melting of the polar ice.

A departure from the idea of engineering humans is presented in 1974 in the novel The Godwhale by Thomas J. Bass with a cyborg whale.



Humans and Dolphins

seaQuest supposed that dolphins could be given equipment to allow them to speak. Novels that examine this idea are:

The Jonah Kit by Ian Watson, 1975

A Deeper Sea by Alexander Jablokov, 1992

Into the Deep by Ken Grimwood, 1995





Undersea Kingdoms and Cities.

Atlantis is an enduring themes, presented in many ways, but there have been other cities and kingdoms imagined under the sea.

Old novels on Atlantis include:

The Crystal City Under the Sea by Andre Laurie in 1895

The Sunken World by Stanton A. Coblenz in 1928

The Maracot Deep by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1929

They Found Atlantis by Dennis Wheatley in 1936

The Deep Range was a novel by Arthur C. Clarke in 1957.

Undersea Quest described underwater colonization in 1954. This became a trilogy, by Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson.


Films and series include:

Atlantis (Stargate Atlantis: The Lost Continent/Atlantis: The Lost Empire/Atlantis: Milo’s Return/Lost Atlantis);

City Beneath the Sea (1963)

Gungan City (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, 1999);

Landau Munitions Depot (SeaQuest DSV Brothers and Sisters);

Rapture (Bioshock, 2007/8) In this game the player kills genetically altered inhabitants to restore the balance. Not very edifying.

Undersea Kingdom (Undersea Kingdom) Another Atlantis story with the villains wanting to take over Earth.





Space Leviathans

Another odd thing I’ve noticed is how many marine creatures end up in space:



Ben Bova includes ‘leviathans’ in his book Jupiter. These huge creatures save an Earth probe by pushing it up out of danger.

Doctor Who: The Beast Below A whale powers the City of London through space.

Farscape: Moya as a space Leviathan kept in control, as was her son Talyn.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy : A whale appears in space over Magrathea.

Terry Pratchett: An enormous turtle flies through space supporting four elephants who hold up Discworld.

Treasure Planet has a fleet of space whales.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Galaxy’s Child has a space whale baby which imprints on the Enterprise.

Raft by Stephen Baxter: A fleet of space whales saves the hero, Rees.



Aliens in the Water

Occasionally aliens set up camp in Earth’s oceans, waiting for us to discover them or to attack us:



Atomic Submarine from 1959 had an alien ship at the North Pole attacking submarines.

Abyss : Aliens have an underwater base that glows, but had not been found as it was very deep.

Sphere : Some kind of space ship lurked in the depths, making dreams come true for those who found it.

Sundiver and Startide Rising by David Brin in 1983 has a dolphin commander, Crideiki, hide his ship in the ocean of another planet.





Conclusions:



I’ve learned that sci fi writers don’t like the sea much, but they don't actually hate it. Any body of deep water brings fear of the unknown. As usual there are more monsters and villains than good guys, and lots of suspicious engineered humanoids. But, probably thanks to the lack of films and series in this genre, there’s not the same feeling of hatred there is to trees and other vegetation in sci fi.

But it really is time to rethink our ocean stories. With the collapse of the Gulf Stream and the melting of the polar caps there have been some stories coming out of the ocean, but there should be more.

Water

Water




We’re living in times when water matters. The poles are melting, faster than expected, raising sea levels faster than was ever believed possible. People protest they are no longer allowed to build too close to the coast. The current  protests about the plan for the Murray-Darling river system shows how difficult water issues are now and will be even more so in the future.



There is not enough fresh water, glaciers are melting bringing down floods, but the glaciers are not being replaced. Water is being divvied up by countries around the globe, not always happily. There will be wars about who owns water.



Rivers are dying because we are using all the water. ‘Water rights’ are being bought up from farmers so that rivers can flow again. Or are the water rights really being sold to agribusinesses who will control our food in the future?



We search for water on the Moon, on Mars, on every planet, hoping there will be enough to sustain life.



Did science fiction writers foresee these problems with water? What did water signify to them? Is water a theme or a metaphor in sci if, or both?



Water on Earth



Water, water everywhere: Waterworld showed a flooded Earth were everyone lived on rafts. With a vague memory of dry land, the Mariner struggles to save himself and give his ‘family’ a new life. Very few of us believe the whole planet will flood, but the idea was interesting.

More in line with what is happening is the idea that the government or large companies will take control of the water.



The Girl from Tomorrow as an Australian teenage series that presumed the misuse of water in our time would lead to dreadful water shortages in the future, and a military state to control everybody. The criminals Draco and Silverthorn steal water from the present to make a fortune for themselves in the future, destroying the far future as a result. Everything has to be set right, and the characters determine to be environmental activists to help the future be better.



Tank Girl has the Water and Power Company keeping strict control of water, stopping renegades like Tank Girl taking it.



Flash Gordon the series portrays Ming controlling the water on Mongo, then stealing it from Earth when he begins to run out.



The main idea seems to be that water shortages will lead to militaristic governments and companies controlling the water and the population.



How do we cope on other planets?



Arrakis is the most famous ‘other planet’ in this genre. In Dune Frank Herbert invented a planet that had very little water. On Arrakis the people wear ‘still suits’ to recycle every drop of water. Even at death people must return their water to their clan. An indoor garden is the greatest luxury you can have on Arrakis. When the ecology of Arrakis was changed to be wetter, this was a disaster and had to be reversed.



In Star Trek Voyager The Ocampa planet had underground supplies of water which it traded with the Kazon. Janeway is able to impress the Kazon by replicating water and beaming it in containers to the surface, then letting it run away when they won’t co-operate.



Stargate Universe has an episode Water where characters search for water on a likely planet, finding some that has creatures in it. At least water is acknowledged as a basis of life fundamental to survival.



In Earth 2 the groups has to find water that is safe to drink, trusting the Terrians to lead them to the right source.



Stargate Fire and Water has Daniel held in a laboratory underwater where he can’t escape.



Lexx has planet water refusing to share with water with planet fire, causing a war.



Finding safe water on other planets will be testing for humans. If there are other races competing for water there will be danger.



What about Underwater Cities?



Sci fi is fond of cities underwater with pretty domes and lights shining through the murk. No-one has built one yet, and seaQuest shows how difficult they could be.



Star Wars: Phantom Menace (film) The Gungans have an underwater city, which is quite dangerous to reach. Full of glass and lights with no information on how they grow food.



The Abyss (film) has an alien city in the depths of the ocean, with no realistic details.



City Beneath the Sea (film) has a race of water breathing humanoids called aquanoids.



The Neptune Factor (film) shows the rescue of people from an underwater lab.



Xardion (game) has Oceansphere.



Seastalker ( game) has the city Aquadome.



AquaNox (game) has the city Neopolis which is a battleground .



Blackstar (series) has the underwater kingdom of Aquaria.



The Fin(comic) had the underwater kingdom of Neptunia



Red Dwarf Nanarchy (series) showed Ocean World, with its Despair Squid.



seaQuest DSV (series) shows a number of underwater installations, most of which are imperfect.







Summing Up



Water gives life and with that it gives incredible power.



The lack of water can destroy a group, or lead to the dominance of a bullying leadership.



Uneven distribution of water can lead to war.



Living underwater is difficult and dangerous.



The ecology of this planet and others has to be respected. Altering an ecology successfully is difficult.



We may not be the only races needing water.



Intelligent creatures could develop gills to live underwater.



Water greedy gardens are a luxury, but we should have some.



Safe water is precious.



Next: It’s what’s in the water that matters.