Life on Mars is a LEGO Space theme released in 2001, and discontinued a year later in 2002.
Details
Life on Mars is, so far, the only Space theme depicting peaceful coexistence between humans and aliens. The astronauts were peaceful explorers to Mars, with a small assortment of vehicles featuring little-to-no weaponry. The native Martians possessed a wider variety of vehicles, some heavily armed, though none were used aggressively against the explorers. Released at a time when NASA was beginning to explore Mars in earnest, Life on Mars is unusual among Space sub-themes for this focus on discovery over combat.
Human vehicles followed a color scheme of grey, white, and blue, while the Martians utilized the new "sand" colors - red, green, blue, and purple. Life on Mars sets were, overall, not as colorfully bold as sets from other, earlier, Space themes. Transparent brown (or trans-black/"smoke," as it is popularly known) made its debut as a primary window and canopy colors for Space with this theme. Many of the colors introduced in the theme have yet to be used extensively/at all in other themes, and are now considered vary rare, or even retired in the cases of sand red and sand purple.
The larger sets in the theme are composed of modular sections connected by TECHNIC pegs. These sets can be reconfigured into alternate forms, or combined with other sets.
Life on Mars also introduced organic-style printed parts. Print patterns on parts such as tiles, slopes, and dishes had a characteristic non-mechanical design, atypical of LEGO Space. Life on Mars would be the last Space theme for several years, with the concept not resurfacing until Mars Mission was released in 2007.
The theme is, in a way, a continuation of the story of Space Port, where a child named BB won a competition to be one of the first astronauts to travel to Mars.
However, at the end of LEGO Soccer Mania, the video game players travel to Mars and go against a Martian team. As well as Reigel becoming a player of the skill zone characters, possibly this game continues the storyline of Life on Mars.
In the January-February 2001 issue of LEGO Mania Magazine, the mission was described as such: "Explore Mars and find a place where space settlers can live. But be careful, mysterious life forms have been picked up on the scanner. These life forms fly ships that turn into powerful mech suits. They search for biodium meteorites, a secret source of energy. They use their advanced technology to protect their planet. Good luck on your encounter."
Sets
Minifigures
Martians
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Riegel | Vega | Mizar | Centauri | Cassiopeia | Canopus | Arcturus | Antares | Altair | Pollux | Unknown Martian | Unknown Martian | Unknown Martian |
Humans
Notes
- All the Martians in this series are named after stars. Vega, for example, is a star in the constellation of Lyra, also known as 'The Harp'. Other examples include Canopus and Rigel.
- LEGO Racers 2 had five race courses drawn from Life on Mars, and several of the sets could be seen, such as the Solar Explorer and numerous Martian mechs.
- The aliens also had a team in the video game Soccer Mania.
- Some sets came with mini posters that fit together to form a picture of Mars, which pictured the aliens and astronauts. It also had all their names written on them, and some of them were seen written in a martian language.
- This the first and only theme that has both Humans and Aliens at peace together.
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