One of the worst examples of unrealistic science in movies is the overly simple alien planet. Oftentimes, our heroes will visit the desert planet, or the Irish planet. But the best extraterrestrial worlds in science fiction are the ones with variety and a realistic ecosystem. They have cities as well as countryside, and a range of environments. Here's our guide to the most realistic — and interesting — planets in science fiction.
Miranda
Miranda Discovered by the Serenity crew, Miranda is perfectly habitable, once you scrape away all the dead…
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Mongo Mongo is by far the planet with the most varied ecosystems. Flash Gordon gets to visit Arboria with
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Apple AirPods Max
Experience Next-Level Sound Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking provides theater-like sound that surrounds you
Vulcan It's Spock's crib, and who doesn't want to hang out with Spock? True, a lot of the land is…
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Naboo I could deal with the annoying Gungan neighbors if I could get to visit a landscape like the Naboo…
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Zanak The main thing we learn about Zanak (from Doctor Who's The Pirate Planet) is that it goes where you
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Ringworld Ringworld's habitable surface would be an amazing thing to see. The setting for Larry Niven's…
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Tollana Tollana from Stargate was a do-over for the Tollan people after their original planet was destroyed
Read more Krypton Fyrine IV
Krypton Too bad Krypton and its population of good-looking scientists blew up. It was the classic…
Read more Fyrine IV Fyrine IV from Enemy Mine is a tough planet, but the payoff for living there is a bigger…
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Camazotz
Camazotz Of all the planets in this survey, Camazotz is the most similar to Earth. It even has Earth trees,…
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