Because our little corner of the universe is covered in snow, we decided to ask our Twitter followers to name as many snow planets as they could as fast as possible. Everyone knows Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back, but what else is there?
Here’s what happened when we crowd-sourced freezing worlds:
User NAS482 on Twitter asked, “does Winter count?” [From The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin.] It’s really cold there. And Ursula K. Le Guin is tops. You bet.
Delta Vega from the new Star Trek. Never mind how close it orbits to Vulcan, or the whole thing about Vulcan supposedly having no moons, or the fact that it was actually a totally different planet in the original series. Look! Snow!!
(Thanks csilibrarian and abaddondave)
Rura Penthe from Star Trek VI and Enterprise
Speaking of cold Star Trek planets visited by Kirk (and Archer, too!) We can’t forget Pura Penthe. We know it’s not technically a planet, but rather an asteroid, but come on.
The Planet of the Ood from Doctor Who
It may be cold on the Planet of the Ood, but those folks sure can carry a tune! And they have a giant brain there, too.
Darkover from The Darkover Series by Marion Zimmer Bradley
It’s a planet stuck in a neverending ice age! Thanks to Elizabeth Bear (matociquala) for reminding us of this one!
How many snow/ice planets have we missed?
Akkabarr, the planet on which most of Rebel Ice takes place ( book 5 of S.L. Viehl’s Stardoc series).
I think the Stargate episode where they were convinced they’d landed on an ice planet deserves a bonus mention, even if it did turn out to be Antarctica.
Tran-Ky-Ky from Alan Dean Foster’s _Icerigger_.
Stargate Universe had an Ice Planet in the episode “Water.”
Oh, and the ice planet in the old Battlestar Galactica episode
“Gun on Ice Planet Zero”…
No, I didn’t remember the name of that episode – Wikipedia came to my rescue.
Sol Draconi Septum from Dan Simmons’ Endymion (and perhaps even briefly in Hyperion). Inhospitable frozen planet where local sentients live in tunnels under the ice.
R
Hey, this is fun :)
Helliconia, in the right season…
The Stargate episode ‘Beneath the Surface’ also has a snow planet, though its name escapes me at present.
Having done two theses discussing Ursula Le Guin (and other wonderful SF writers), I think she’s tops too!
Not really a planet but there is Kyril Island base above the Arctic Circle on Barryar in Bujold’s The Vor Game.
Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton has a snow planet where the Silfen hunt ice whales.