The Lego company licensed Star Wars in 1999. It was the first time they had brought in outside IP to be rendered in Lego bricks, and it was a smashing success: it’s widely credited with saving the company from bankruptcy long enough for them to get their shit together in the mid-00s. But the fact that the bold new direction saving the company came from the most popular space opera of all time put something of a damper on the company’s original space opera efforts.
In 2001, Lego Space returned from a Star Wars-induced hibernation and entered the 21st century with a new theme and a new narrative paradigm. The new sets were set in the nearer future (the weirdness of Ice Planet 2002 being set in 2002 notwithstanding), before humanity goes interstellar. We were in our own backyard, really, but we’re not alone there – it turns out there’s life on Mars.
Life, specifically, in the form of some spindly little Martians who borrow a general body plan from the B-1 Battle Droids introduced for the Phantom Menace Lego sets produced two years prior. Despite this similarity, the design language of Life on Mars strives to avoid being Star Wars-esque as much as possible. The few human vehicle sets are inspired by contemporary NASA concept designs.
Meanwhile the Martian designs struggle to find a coherent visual identity, but have a heavy focus on mechs. They employ the brand new range of “sand” colors, pastel shades of red, blue, green, and purple. The fact that Lego would introduce four new niche colors at once is a big part of why they were teetering on the edge of bankruptcy at this time.
The largest Life on Mars set, 7317 Aero Tube Hangar, introduced an ambitious new gimmick: pneumatic tubes through which sleds holding Martian figures could be launched. It’s an interesting effort, but rather far afield from the core appeal of Lego building in my opinion. Nice shade of mauve though.
Despite being the first Space subtheme theme to offer two factions under one name, Lego never intermixed them within a single set. The company line was that the human astronauts and the Martians were coexisting peacefully and exploring the red planet together, but they knew that kids wouldn’t necessarily play along with that notion and they were loath to violate the company’s strong pacifistic roots and offer even the potential for a “conflict in a box”.
But with Star Wars sets flying off the shelves while Life on Mars sets languished, it was only a matter of time before that pacifism faltered. After Life On Mars’ one year run, Lego Space went on ice for several years, while Star Wars dominated the sales figures. When Space came back, it came back armed to the teeth.