History Main / VenusIsWet

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'', written InTheStyleOf a 1950's sci-fi magazine serial. In Chakotay's backstory, he took part in a "pacification" campaign against the native inhabitants of Venus, which is described as a world of swamps and jungles under neverending rains. Spacefleet eventually resorted to defoliating everything within twenty miles of its colony, only for the rain to turn the barren area into a swampy morass filled with parasites.

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'', written InTheStyleOf a 1950's sci-fi magazine serial. In Chakotay's backstory, he took part in a "pacification" campaign against the native inhabitants of Venus, which is described as a world of swamps and jungles under neverending rains. Spacefleet eventually resorted to defoliating everything within twenty miles of its colony, but the rains eventually turned the bared area into a swampy morass filled with parasites.
-->''They had spent months searching for the culprits with 'copters and amphibious tanks and orbital platforms; all the technology of Terra was useless against an enemy that hid in the swamps and jungles. Eventually, Spacefleet had defoliated everything in a twenty-mile radius around the New Earth colony, and that had worked well enough until the never-ending rains turned the ground into a quagmire infested with bloodworms and mudsucker eels.''

In the early days of science fiction, the one thing most people knew about the planet UsefulNotes/{{Venus}} (or rather, most people who knew ''anything'' about Venus or any other planet in our Solar System for that matter, which at the time included only a very limited group of enthusiasts with university education) was that it has a permanent cloud cover over its entire surface. This led to many depictions of Venus as a planet where it rains a lot, often to the point where it's a SingleBiomePlanet covered in oceans, or at least swamps or rainforests. Relatedly, there was a theory at the time that the planets were formed in reverse order from their proximity to the sun - therefore, just as Mars was thought of as [[OnceGreenMars a much older world than Earth (and a glimpse of its possible future)]], Venus was believed to be a younger planet, with all the humidity and heat of our world's distant past. Therefore, speculation on what sort of life might be found on Venus tended towards [[JungleOpera stereotypes about the tropics]] and [[HollywoodPrehistory the ancient past]]: Venus was often imagined as going through its own AgeOfReptiles, full of LivingDinosaurs or LizardFolk, and any HumanAliens encountered would be very much of the NubileSavage GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe variety. All this dovetailed nicely with the planet's [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman namesake]], as it seemed very appropriate that a planet named for a goddess of fertility and femininity (who was born from seafoam) should be so fecund and [[WaterIsWomanly watery]].

This trope, OnceGreenMars, and StrollingOnJupiter are [[SubTrope subtropes]] to ScienceMarchesOn and therefore, more common in sci-fi works of the TwoFistedTales or PlanetaryRomance varieties. May overlap with HungryJungle and SwampsAreEvil.

In the early days of science fiction, the one thing most people knew about the planet UsefulNotes/{{Venus}} (or rather, most people who knew ''anything'' about Venus or any other planet in our Solar System for that matter, which at the time included only a very limited group of enthusiasts with university education) was that it has a permanent cloud cover over its entire surface. This led to many depictions of Venus as a planet where it rains a lot, often to the point where it's a SingleBiomePlanet covered in oceans, or at least swamps or rainforests. Relatedly, there was a theory at the time that the planets were formed in reverse order from their proximity to the sun - therefore, just as Mars was thought of as [[OnceGreenMars a much older world than Earth (and a glimpse of its possible future)]], Venus was believed to be a younger planet, with all the humidity and heat of our world's distant past, and some even speculated that it might be home to creatures resembling LivingDinosaurs, possibly living side-by-side with {{Green Skinned Space Babe}}s. All this dovetailed nicely with the planet's [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman namesake]], as it seemed very appropriate that a planet named for a goddess of fertility and femininity (who was born from seafoam) should be so fecund and [[WaterIsWomanly watery]].

* ''Film/TwentyMillionMilesToEarth'' is an early aversion, made during a time when this trope was generally the rule. While Venus is still described as having life, it is also shown to be inhospitably hot with an atmosphere toxic to humans.

In the early days of science fiction, the one thing most people knew about the planet UsefulNotes/{{Venus}} (or rather, most people who knew ''anything'' about Venus or any other planet in our Solar System for that matter, which at the time included only a very limited group of enthusiasts with university education) was that it has a permanent cloud cover over its entire surface. This led to many depictions of Venus as a planet where it rains a lot, often to the point where it's a SingleBiomePlanet covered in oceans, or at least swamps or rainforests. Relatedly, there was a theory at the time that the planets were formed in reverse order from their proximity to the sun - therefore, just as Mars was thought of as [[OnceGreenMars a much older world than Earth (and a glimpse of its possible future)]], Venus was believed to be a younger planet, with all the humidity and heat of our world's distant past, and some even speculated that it might be home to creatures resembling dinosaurs, possibly living side-by-side with {{Green Skinned Space Babe}}s. All this dovetailed nicely with the planet's [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman namesake]], as it seemed very appropriate that a planet named for a goddess of fertility and femininity (who was born from seafoam) should be so fecund and [[WaterIsWomanly watery]].

This trope, OnceGreenMars, and StrollingOnJupiter are [[SubTrope subtropes]] to ScienceMarchesOn and therefore, more common in sci-fi works of the TwoFistedTales variety.

In the early days of science fiction, the one thing most people knew about the planet UsefulNotes/{{Venus}} (or rather, most people who knew ''anything'' about Venus or any other planet in our Solar System for that matter, which at the time included only a very limited group of enthusiasts with university education) was that it has a permanent cloud cover over its entire surface. This led to many depictions of Venus as a planet where it rains a lot, often to the point where it's a SingleBiomePlanet covered in oceans, or at least swamps or rainforests. Relatedly, there was a theory at the time that the planets were formed in reverse order from their proximity to the sun - therefore, just as Mars was thought of as [[OnceGreenMars a much older world than Earth (and a glimpse of its possible future)]], Venus was believed to be a younger planet, with all the humidity and heat of our world's distant past, and some even speculated that it might be home to creatures resembling dinosaurs, possibly living side-by-side with NubileSavage HumanAliens. All this dovetailed nicely with the planet's [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman namesake]], as it seemed very appropriate that a planet named for a goddess of fertility and femininity (who was born from seafoam) should be so fecund and [[WaterIsWomanly watery]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': Downplayd. Venus had been partially terraformed by Orokin {{Precursors}} in the distant past, but rather than turning it into a lush jungle they only managed to cool it off, turning vast segments of the planet into frozen wastelands, covered in artificial snow (the snow is not water, but synthetical cooling liquid) and poor in vegetation. These conditions remain only due to the remnant terraforming machines that [[RagnarokProofing managed to last centuries working non-stop]], and without them, the planet would presumably return to its natural state as we know it.
** It's mentioned in [[AllThereInTheManual the Codex]] that the majority of the planet is similar to its current state. The Orb Vallis (a large snowy territory containing several of the aforementioned terraforming devices) is described by one of its denizens as "A blizzard in a firestorm", and is bordered on all sides by a perpetual storm, presumably caused by the temperature difference.
** [[spoiler:Following "The New War", the trope is played a bit straighter, as the frozen parts of the Vallis have thawed enough that the area now looks more like a snow-covered grassland than a barren Tundra]].

In the early days of science fiction, the one thing most people knew about the planet UsefulNotes/{{Venus}} (or rather, most people who knew ''anything'' about Venus or any other planet in our Solar System for that matter, which at the time included only a very limited group of enthusiasts with university education) was that it has a permanent cloud cover over its entire surface. This led to many depictions of Venus as a planet where it rains a lot, often to the point where it's a SingleBiomePlanet covered in oceans, or at least swamps or rainforests. This dovetailed nicely with the planet's [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman namesake]], as it seemed very appropriate that a planet named for a goddess of fertility and femininity (who was born from seafoam) should be so fecund and [[WaterIsWomanly watery]].

* ''Film/PlanetOfStorms'' (''Planeta Bur'') has Venus depicted as a cloudy, swampy place with at least one ocean.

* "Literature/InTheWallsOfEryx", one of Creator/HPLovecraft's ventures into straight science fiction, is set on a Venus that has a tropical climate and is filled with lush, swampy jungles with hostile native aliens. The atmosphere is not human-breathable however and the protagonist mentions having to wear a breathing mask and periodically changing filter cartridges.

* Downplayed in ''Anime/CowboyBebop''. While Venus has been {{terraform}}ed to the point that people can live there, the surface is still a vast desert. However, numerous floating islands composed of tropical plants were constructed and served as both a method for introducing oxygen and a home for the colonists, which, incidentally, is the most realistic way Venus could be colonized.

* In the far future of ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'', all the planets of Earth's system have been made habitable via advanced terraforming technology. In the case of Venus, it is now a lush, green, paradise world similar to [[ComicBook/WonderWoman Themyscira]], where the Amazons are able to live unmolested. Until the antagonist's EvilPlan does so, that is.

* In ''ComicStrip/SafeHavens'' Venus was once inhabited by an aquatic species, but when the climate began changing to uninhabitable levels, they left to find a new home. They tried Earth first but found it too dangerous. However, those that were left behind on Earth when the rest left are the ancestors of [[spoiler:[[OurMermaidsAreDifferent merfolk.]]]]

* ''Fanfic/LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemenTempestRewrite'': As per the tradition of classic pulp sci-fi.
* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'', written InTheStyleOf a 1950's sci-fi magazine serial. In Chakotay's backstory, he took part in a 'pacification' campaign against the native inhabitants of Venus.
-->They had spent months searching for the culprits with 'copters and amphibious tanks and orbital platforms; all the technology of Terra was useless against an enemy that hid in the swamps and jungles. Eventually, Spacefleet had defoliated everything in a twenty-mile radius around the New Earth colony, and that had worked well enough until the never-ending rains turned the ground into a quagmire infested with bloodworms and mudsucker eels.

* A bizarre example occurs in the camp BMovie ''Film/QueenOfOuterSpace''. In order to use StockFootage from ''Flight to Mars'', the rocketship is shown crashlanding on an icy world. Our heroes then trek 'below the snowline', instantly appearing in a jungle where they make FirstContact with the Venusians, all [[LadyLand gorgeous dames]] who trek around their wet swampy world in short skirts and high heels.
* The Soviet movie ''Planeta Bur'' a.k.a. ''Film/PlanetOfStorms'' has Venus depicted as a cloudy, swampy place with at least one ocean.

* Creator/PoulAnderson:
** In "Sister Planet", Venus is an ocean world with no landmasses. In a variation from the norm, it doesn't have a human-breathable atmosphere.
** In "The Big Rain", the eponymous rain is entirely man-made due to {{terraform}}ing.

** In "The Long Rain" (published in 1950), a rocket crashes on Venus, where it rains constantly. The crew must locate a Sun Dome in which they can find shelter, or die.
--->It was a hard rain, a perpetual rain, a sweating and steaming rain; it was a mizzle, a downpour, a fountain, a whipping in the eyes, an undertow at the ankles; it was a rain to drown all rains and the memory of rains.
* Creator/LeighBrackett's short stories, including "Lorelei of the Red Mist", "The Moon That Vanished", and "Enchantress of Venus", depict Venus as warm, wet, and cloudy; most of its surface is ocean or low-lying swamp.
* The ''Literature/{{Amtor}}'' series depicts Venus ("Amtor" to its inhabitants) as an oceanic world with a tropical climate.
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein: In both ''Literature/{{Space Cadet|Heinlein}}'' and ''Literature/BetweenPlanets'', Venus is a humid, swampy jungle. In the former, an attempt to land a RetroRocket on the surface leads to disaster when the rocket topples over in the swampy ground, stranding the protagonists. In ''Between Planets'' the swamps and jungles prove useful for guerilla warfare when resisting TheWarOfEarthlyAggression.
* Creator/HenryKuttner: In "Clash by Night" and ''Fury'', Venus is an ocean world where the landmasses are dominated by an uninhabitable jungle, forcing the colonists from Earth to live in underwater cities and wage their wars by sea.
** Creator/DavidDrake wrote novels ''Surface Action'' and ''The Jungle'', collected in ''Seas of Venus'', basing them ''Clash By Night''. In ''The Jungle'', the crew of a gunboat are forced to trek across a HungryJungle. Because the cities are underwater, they are off-limits for warfare and, like in Drake's ''Hammer's Slammers'', the warriors are mercenaries.
* ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'', Venus is an ocean world where the only piece of dry land is a mountain emerging from the depths and all the inhabitants live on enormous rafts of matted plant life.

* The ''Literature/NorthwestSmith'' stories depict Venus as dark and swampy.
* In early issues of the ''Literature/PerryRhodan'' series, Venus is described as a lush jungle world teeming with life. After initial exploration, mankind colonizes the planet.
* In ''Literature/TheSpaceMerchants'', Venus is portrayed as a world of "verdant valleys, crystal lakes, brilliant mountain vistas"... in Fowler Schocken advertising artists' impressions of what it ''might'' look like after decades of terraforming. In the present, Venus is devoid of water or a breathable atmosphere.

* The ''Literature/TomCorbettSpaceCadet'' novel ''Revolt on Venus'' depicts Venus as a jungle world.
* "Parasite Planet" by Creator/StanleyGWeinbaum features a variation -- Venus is a TidallyLockedPlanet, one hemisphere a sun-baked desert, the other submerged under a sea of ice. However, the planet's "twilight zone" -- where the story takes place -- is a perfect example of this trope: hot, steamy, with luxuriant flora and fauna [[EverythingTryingToKillYou hell-bent on eating you]] (yes, even the plants).
* ''Literature/TheCosmicExpress'': Venus is a habitable jungle planet similar to pre-Cenezoic Earth, complete with dinosaurs.
* ''Literature/TheDoorsOfHisFaceTheLampsOfHisMouth'' is an early example of a deliberately retro Venus, with oceans containing monstrous fish.
* ''Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure'': One of the good endings of "Your Very Own Robot" ends with the protagonist and robot going to Venus, which is a sticky, gooey mire; later she has to play dumb when her parents ask about the goo on her shoes.
* ''Old Venus'' is a 2015 anthology that homages this trope, edited by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin and Gardner Dozois. All are contemporary sci-fi stories set on a watery or jungle-clad Venus.

* In the satire ''Course of Empire'' by Richard Wilson, it's mentioned the English sent a shipment of raincoats with the colonizers of Venus, but it turned out the planet had a mist that rose from the ground instead of water falling from the sky, making the raincoats useless because you got wet anyway.

* In ''Series/{{Cosmos}}'', Creator/CarlSagan lists the theories about how Venus could be before spacecrafts found the hot, hard, facts. Among others, besides the lush world already mentioned, was that the planet was covered in a global ocean where part of the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere would have dissolved. In other words, a sparkling water sea.

* The ''Podcast/TwilightHistories'' episode “Blue Dragons” takes place in a world where Venus has been terraformed into a habitable world. Your mission is to find out who did this and how they accomplished it.

* In the arcade game ''[[VideoGame/XaindSleena Solar Warrior]]'', Venus is a [[SingleBiomePlanet jungle world]] with big insects and carnivore flowers and where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou.
* Downplayed example in ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}''. Venus had been partially terraformed by Orokin {{Precursors}} in the distant past, but rather than turning it into a lush jungle they only managed to cool it off, turning vast segments of the planet into frozen wastelands, covered in artificial snow (the snow is not water, but synthetical cooling liquid) and poor in vegetation. These conditions remain only due to the remnant terraforming machines that [[RagnarokProofing managed to last centuries working non-stop]], and without them, the planet would presumably return to its natural state as we know it.

* The Venus in ''VideoGame/MaxBlasterAndDorisDeLightningAgainstTheParrotCreaturesOfVenus'' is a proper pulp-serial jungle, with [[QuicksandSucks random quicksand pools]], snakes [[EverythingTryingToKillYou cunningly disguised as vines]] and BirdPeople natives.
* In ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumansPathOfTheFuron'', Pox claims that Venus used to be lush and sustained life before the Furon Empire turned into a "self-perpetuating inferno." While it is never clarified as to ''why'' they did that (though it can't be hard to guess with [[AxCrazy the Furons]]), the last remaining thing from this time in Venus's history are spore samples from a carnivorous plant species that would be used as ammo for the Venus Human Trap weapon.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Venus is depicted as a lush, tropical swamp with red water and purple and blue plants during Leela's dream in "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E12TheSting The Sting]]".

* In ''TabletopGame/Space1889'', Venus is a swamp planet inhabited by lizard-men and dinosaurs. Its magnetic field destroys the liftwood the British use for their spaceships, so initially [[KaiserReich German]] [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld ether Zeppelins]] were used to colonize it.
* In Leaving Earth 1956-1976, it is possible to explore Venus and reveal a world like this. Or you could find it to be as hot, crushing, and inhospitable as the Venus we know (and love?). This game is focused on the space race, and recapturing the fact we didn't know the truth about these worlds before sending probes there--both realistic and theoretical possible options exist in the game and the true nature of each planet is random from those.
* In ''TabletopGame/MutantChronicles'', Venus is more diverse than other examples. While the large area around the equator is sweltering jungle, further north or south things become more temperate. Closer to the Rings of Winter, it's very similar to North America
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' and its sci-fi spinoff ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}'' are both set in a solar system loosely resembling ours, though filtered through a very pulpy ScienceFantasy lens. The second planet from their sun, Castrovel, is, therefore, a throwback to these older portrayals of Venus, a [[JungleJapes jungle world]] inhabited by a [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe beautiful]] and [[LadyLand matriarchal]] race of psychic [[HumanAliens humanoids]] called the lashunta. Castrovel is also [[AlienFairFolk the original home]] of the elves.
* In ''TabletopGame/BuckRogersXXVC'', a terraformed Venus is a lush, swampy jungle with frequent rain. However, like the actual planet, this liquid is not water but ''acid'' with the genetically-engineered "native" life all adapted to these conditions.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'', Venus ''was'' once the 900-degree world that we know, but the Traveler helped humanity {{terraform}} it, and now it's a wet and drippy jungle world.

In the 1960s, the planet was visited by unmanned probes which definitively established that the clouds were sulfuric acid, the atmosphere was largely carbon dioxide, and that due to the resulting greenhouse effect, the temperature at the planet's dry and barren surface was nearly 900 degrees Fahrenheit (480°C). Instead of being able to walk around on Venus, anyone foolish enough to somehow [[TooDumbToLive set foot on its surface]] would be quickly crushed flat by the immense weight and pressure of the planet's atmosphere, then reduced to [[ImMelting a seething puddle]] of [[LudicrousGibs blood and gore]] under the effects of Venus's incredible temperatures and the sulfuric acid present everywhere in its air.

* Creator/HenryKuttner: In "Clash by Night" and ''Fury'', Venus is an ocean world where the landmasses are dominated by an uninhabitable jungle, forcing the colonists from Earth to live in underwater cities.

In the early days of science fiction, the one thing most people knew about the planet UsefulNotes/{{Venus}} (or rather, most people who knew ''anything'' about Venus or any other planet in our Solar System for that matter, which at the time included only a very limited group of enthusiasts with university education) was that it has permanent cloud cover over its entire surface. This led to many depictions of Venus as a planet where it rains a lot, often to the point where it's a SingleBiomePlanet covered in oceans, or at least swamps or rainforests. This dovetailed nicely with the planet's [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman namesake]], as it seemed very appropriate that a planet named for a goddess of fertility and femininity (who was born from seafoam) should be so fecund and [[WaterIsWomanly watery]].

* In ''ComicStrip/SafeHavens'' Venus was once inhabited by an aquatic species, but when the climate began changing to uninhabitable levels, they left to find a new home. They tried Earth first but found it too dangerous. However, those that were left behind on Earth when the rest left are the ancestors of [[spoiler: [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent merfolk.]]]]

* In Leaving Earth 1956 - 1976, it is possible to explore Venus and reveal a world like this. Or you could find it to be as hot, crushing, and inhospitable as the Venus we know (and love?). This game is focused on the space race, and recapturing the fact we didn't know the truth about these worlds before sending probes there--both realistic and theoretical possible options exist in the game and the true nature of each planet is random from those.

** [[spoiler: Following "The New War", the trope is played a bit straighter, as the frozen parts of the Vallis have thawed enough that the area now looks more like a snow-covered grassland than a barren Tundra]].

In the 1960s, the planet was visited by unmanned probes which definitively established that the clouds were sulfuric acid, the atmosphere was largely carbon dioxide, and that due to the resulting greenhouse effect, the temperature at the planet's dry and barren surface was nearly 900 degrees Fahrenheit (480°C). Instead of being able to walk around on Venus, anyone foolish enough to somehow set foot on its surface would be quickly crushed flat by the immense weight and pressure of the planet's atmosphere, then reduced to [[ImMelting a seething puddle]] of [[LudicrousGibs blood and gore]] under the effects of Venus's incredible temperatures and the sulfuric acid present everywhere in its air.