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{{examples}}
== Anime
* Olympus from ''[[Appleseed]]'' is a classic example. At least
* ''[[Macross]]'' sort of shows this.
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' had the Silver Millennium in the distant past and Crystal [[Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe|Tokyo]] in the distant future, though neither are shown with Togas. We mostly see the Royalty and Soldiers, which consist of a [[Pimped-Out Dress]] and Sailor Suits respectively for the women, and a Suit/Vaguely Medieval Armour and a vaguely military uniform, both apparently based on boy's school uniforms, for the men.
** Though they don't appear anywhere else, the girls are shown wearing togas during the Silver Millennium in the footage that goes along with Tuxedo Mirage, the first ending theme of the Super season.
* The space civilizations in the ''[[Galaxy Angel (video game)|Galaxy Angel]]'' games; the first is actually called EDEN.
* The aliens in ''[[Fantastic Children]]''.
* The world of gods in ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' is this. While at first glance it resembles a stereotypical Olympian heaven, it turns out that it actually relies on massive amounts of [[Applied Phlebotinum]], its inhabitants hold regular jobs and there are even shopping malls (plus plenty of politicking and the occasional doomsday device).
* In the anime adaptation of ''[[Bokurano]]'', {{spoiler|it is implied that one of these is responsible for the robot combats that are destroying universes, gathering the energy gained from them or something-the anime isn't exactly as deep as the manga...}}
* The Guild in ''[[Last Exile]]'' partly falls under this trope. Despite the rest of the world being steampunkish.
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== Comic Books ==
* Many depictions of [[Superman]]'s homeworld of Krypton fit this trope. [[Post-
** For maximum effect, post
* The story "The Reformers" in ''[[Weird Science]]'', 1953, had a perfect utopian place with ultratech elements but several flowing robes and stone arches. Also, it turned out to be Heaven.
* ''[[Elf Quest]]'' pretty much starts out this way, and much of the main storyline involves getting back to the [[Time Machine]] (which has a similar atmosphere). Notably, the spires and togas are a present day invention by an advanced alien race, but become the future when everyone is sent back 10,000 years in time halfway through the opening narration.
* When [[Robot War|Skynet]] is erased from history at the end of ''[[Robocop vs. Terminator]]'', the new future heavily resembles this trope.
* In the first color ''[[Zot!]]'' story arc, the future utopian version of Sirius seen through the Door at the Edge of the Universe includes togas and hi-tech faux-classical architecture.
* The milespires of ''[[Magnus, Robot Fighter]]'' are arguably a deconstruction of this trope. The upper class at the top of the spires are enlightened [[Psychic Powers|psychics]] in togas who have become decadent and slothful, protected by a [[Master Computer]], while the radicals on the lower levels live in a [[Used Future]].
* In [[Silver Surfer]]'s past, when he was still just Norrinn Radd living on Zenn-La, his planet was very much like this. Their world was so nearly perfect, with beautiful and exotic architecture and clothing, that everyone was bored, and Norrinn most of all.
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== Film ==
* ''[[Bill and
* The 1978 ''[[Superman (film)|Superman]]'' movie and its sequels invoke this trope with Krypton (and Argo City in the spinoff ''[[Supergirl]]''). Krypton's spires are giant crystals. The walls are made of crystal. The canyons are lined with crystal. The clothes are made of some form of wearable, highly-reflective crystal. But, because so little of Kryptonian society is glimpsed, it is left up to the viewer's interpretation whether this is a utopia or a dystopia.
* Discussed and parodied in the narration of ''[[Idiocracy]]'' with some accompanying images of a futuristic world showing bearded guys in togas among the crystal spires of their city. The camera pulls back to reveal that these images are all part of a mural at a carnival, in front of which a bunch of not-too-bright and decidedly non-futuristic-looking people are waiting in line to get into some kind of exhibition or maybe carnival ride.
* Subverted in ''[[Logan's Run]]''; while the post-apocalyptic society of the film is at first glance a utopia, its prosperity is maintained by a [[Master Computer]] that ritually executes all citizens on their
** And in the book, the age is
* In 1973's ''[[Godzilla
* ''[[Star Wars]]'', of course. The Jedi dress in long, hooded robes, and are fashioned after monks. The senators, politicians, and rich people in general wear long robes that are ornate and colorful. Everyday guys typically wear strange fashions as well, for example Han Solo dresses similar to a wild west gunslinger. Fighter pilots wore jumpsuits for practical reasons though. Most cities have the Crystal Spire part, especially Coruscant, but Naboo has it as well.
** That's just the upper levels of society, though. The middle class lives in a [[Used Future]], and the lower class (including the poor, and, in [[The Empire]], the non-humans) has [[Dystopia]]. This is much more apparent in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] than in the movies, but hints can be seen on [[Single Biome Planet|Tatooine]] and Coruscant.
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*** One of the best examples is Taris in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]''. The upper level is neat and clean and happy, the middle level is dim and ruled by warring gangs, and the bottom level is a tent city full of trash heaps and surrounded by fences to keep out the evil mutants.
* At the tram station in ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]'', most of the civilians in the background are wearing togas.
* The [[H. G. Wells]]-written film ''[[
** Wells actually
* In ''[[
* ''[[Kin-dza-dza!]]'', where the toga people specialize in turning dangerous alien invaders into cacti. The nasty part? A bunch of unarmed aliens arriving on their world needing help fits their definition of "alien invaders".
* This aesthetic is featured in the last sequence of ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]]''.
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** Note that all of the clothing that the good aliens (the Arisians) wore, in fact the bodies and cities and everything else about the Arisians, was a mental projection which was intended to fit whatever made the visitor to Arisia [[A Form You Are Comfortable With|most comfortable]]. This point was made explicitly in chapter 3 of "First Lensman", where all of the people saw different things: aliens in togas, male humans in uniform, professors at large universities, 7 foot tall women, disembodied intelligences, etc. There are references to it in the rest of the books when the fellow aliens (Tregonsee, Worsel, Nadreck, etc) briefly discuss their experience on Arisia. They even use the mental projection trick to fool Kim Kinnison into "seeing" one of the forms of the bad aliens, so when he beats one of them (Gharlane of Eddore) he thinks it was a rogue Arisian. The children of the Lens do realize that the Arisians have no physical form at all.
* In [[Peter F. Hamilton]]'s ''[[Void Trilogy]]'', humans finally hit this stage around 1500 years into the future: most technology is sleek, hidden, implanted or only ''partially'' made of matter, and fashion is dominated by "toga-suits" made of smart nanomaterials that reflect and refract light in interesting patterns. [[Perfect Pacifist People|Peace]], on [[Humans Are Warriors|the other hand]], is nowhere in sight...
* [[William Gibson]]'s short story
* Many of [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s short stories imagined this as the ideal civilisation. One of his earliest (
** The "helicopters decentralise civilization" idea popped up in several Clarke stories during that period. Clarke didn't foresee that flying a helicopter would be harder and more expensive than driving a car, to the point where not everyone can do it.
*** Come to that, not ''everyone'' can drive a car...The "civilisation decentralised" idea also crops up in Alfred Bester's ''[[The Stars My Destination]]'' (aka ''Tiger! Tiger!''), where "jaunting" (teleporting without a teleporter, pretty much) means you can live anywhere on earth and still be able to get to work perfectly conveniently. It's not exactly an utopian future, though.
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* The Martians in [[Ray Bradbury]]'s ''[[The Martian Chronicles]]''. Most of the elements seem like a fantastic version of Egypt, with books written in hieroglyphs that sing when you touch them, houses built of crystal pillars and traveling using flocks of birds, all in the middle of a great desert.
* Doubly subverted in arguably the most chilling scene of James Blish's very dark ''The Day After Judgement'' (a.k.a. the second half of ''The Devil's Day''). [[The End of the World as We Know It]] has taken place. [[God]], it turns out, really did die. [[Satan]] (who is [[Satan Is Good|not so bad]] shows a viewpoint character the Crystal Spires and Togas future which would have come about had he not destroyed everything and then reveals that compared to such a soul-less living death, the Apocalypse would seem preferable.
* The homeworld of the Piersons' Puppeteers in [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[Known Space]]'' setting.
** Sort of. The technology is very advanced, what with teleportation that lets you easily "walk" anywhere on the planet, furniture that extrudes itself from walls and floors, and nigh-indestructible building material. Also, because the puppeteers are cowards (and proud of it) almost nothing on the planet can hurt you. However, the planet is extremely crowded (the population is
* The ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]'' novels mention a rare example of a post-Crystal Spires and Togas [[Used Future]]: the capital city, built out of crystal by the Vampires and then fallen into disrepair once they were driven out.
** Indeed, they were Crystal Spires and Togas with a goth twist. All the major vampire buildings resemble gigantic gothic cathedrals and gloomy castles straight out of Victorian horror novels, while the vampires themselves prefer to dress in elaborate evening suits and long flowing capes, which they enjoy twisting into bat's wings.
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* DJ MacHale's ''[[The Pendragon Adventure]]'' has the "closer to nature" future version of Earth, Third Earth. {{spoiler|But of course it gets completely and utterly screwed over by our resident [[Magnificent Bastard]] and becomes a [[Crapsack World]].}}
* Subverted in [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[The Time Machine]]'' in which the Eloi seem to live in this kind of future but are actually little more than sentient (barely) cattle for their underground dwelling Morlock masters.
** Actually invented by H. G. Wells in ''[[Men
* [[Tanith Lee]]'s two-volume ''[[Biting the Sun|Four BEE]]'' series portrays this as a semi-dystopia.
* Most of [[Iain Banks|Iain M. Banks']] novels, especially those set in the fictional universe known as [[The Culture]].
* Played with/averted in Stephen King's ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series, as [[Sad Clown|jokester]]-qua-[[Young Gun|gunslinger]] Eddie Dean abandons the last of his naivete in realizing that that city of "wise ****ing elves" isn't going to magically appear to help [[Five-Man Band|the heroes]] on their [[The Quest|quest]].
* This is the stated goal of [[Alvin Maker]] in the series by [[Orson Scott Card]].
* Deconstructed in ''[[Nightside|Paths Not Taken]]'', in which Lilith's idealized vision of a city resembles this trope, but anyone who's actually ''lived'' in a city can see that she's failed to take logistics into account. It's big on the crystal spires, fountains, and other frills, but lacking in such necessary amenities as sewers.
* ''[[Realm of the Elderlings
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** This is a possible rip-off of "The Cloud Minders" from the third season of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'', where the Startoses had artists and scholars living in a shiny clean floating city in the clouds, while the Troglytes did all the hard labor in the mines below.
** This in turn is a nod to the Eloi and Morlocks in H.G. Wells' ''[[Time Machine]]'' (1895). Only in this case, the bestial Morlocks hunted and ate the childlike and pastoral Eloi, and the Morlocks had all the technology and weapons while the Eloi had degenerated into barely intelligent humanoids who knew no technology at all.
* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20140331223625/http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Beings_of_Light Beings of Light] and their [https://web.archive.org/web/20131105110729/http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Ship_of_Lights Ships of Lights] in [[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|the original ''
** As did the original colonies. In the pilot, ''Saga of a Star World'', The Quorum of the Twelve on the ''Atlantia'' and its reconstitution afterwards featured togas. And crystalline pyramids are wrecked by the Cylon bombardment of Caprica.
*** This is largely averted in
* The Ancient race in the ''[[Stargate]]'' television series, especially ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', are an example of a crystal spires and togas race which has "[[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|ascended]]" to a higher plane, leaving their crystal city (actually a metal-alloy spaceship the size of Manhattan) deserted.
** They are not the only one. Almost everyone, the Goa'uld (and the Tok'ra), the Tollans, the Asgard, later even the humans use crystal-based technology. For most civilizations, the crystals are only the guts. The outward appearance varies wildly. The Asgard and ancient stuff looks crystal spire-y, except when it looks paleolithic.
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* In an episode of ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' where the lads got split up into a good and an evil part, the good version was portrayed like this.
* In the ''[[Blackadder]]'' special "Back and Forth," Blackadder visits a future world that matches this trope.
* The Australian kids' TV show ''[[The Girl From Tomorrow]]'' featured a future like this.
* The Altrusian Civilization from the original ''[[Land of the Lost (TV series)|Land of the Lost]]''.
* The title race from the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' third-season episode "The Cloud Minders" lives in a city on a cloud...almost can't help being this.
* [[Wonder Woman (TV series)|The 1970s ''Wonder Woman'' TV
* Parodied in ''[[Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger]]: 100 Years After'' where the audience is shown a picture of a futuristic city, which turns out to be a picture; we are then told that the future is much like the present except it has better cell phones.
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* As usual, Atlantis in ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' is often shown as a crystal spire city. They even swear its name means "The Dragon Spire".
* This is a well-established [[Signature Style|Aesthetic]] known as 'Crystal Future' in ''[[Genius: The Transgression]]'', for [[Mad Scientist|Geniuses]] who work towards this vision of the future. However, a lot of this use it sardonically these days, and it has a somewhat sinister reputation as it was popular with the [[Big Bad|Secret Masters]] of [[Ancient Conspiracy|Lemuria]] before their demise.
* The elite top two classes live like this in ''[[Paranoia]]''. Everyone else lives in
* The upper classes of the Third Imperium in ''[[Traveller]]''. Even more the Vilani in the volume ''Intersteller Wars''.
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== Video Games ==
* The planet Le Marie Glennecia (AKA, Mariglenn, AKA "Eden") from ''[[Rogue Galaxy]]'' is almost literally this, featuring copious amounts of actual spires and togas, and to top it all off, possesses what is obviously ''extremely'' advanced technology. How advanced? Advanced enough to move their entire planet, intact, to a completely different galaxy, possibly a completely different universe, and surround it with a time stasis field. When they finally return to normal space, they spend ''10,000 years'' waiting for the return of the return of Kisala. And all of this is completely inapparent just from looking at their stone-paved city streets or the pretty, ancient Greece-style masonry buildings. If the spires were crystalline, it would be a flawless literal example of this trope.
* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''{{'}}s Spira is this in spades. At least it ''was'' before [[Eldritch Abomination|Sin]] destroyed almost every major settlement (periodically terrorizing the small remaining ones too). The only major city left, Bevelle, is mainly experienced by the player via a few cut-scene at one point in the game, but its appearance fits the trope perfectly.
* ''[[Xenogears]]'' has Solaris, which fits this to a T in reference to any other land based civilization.
* ''[[Xenosaga]]'' bleeds this in all three games. In this tropers OP, this series is the best example seen in any video game.
* Neo Arcadia in ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'', complete with Doric columns. Actually a [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much|False Eden]], while the inevitable resistance is on a [[Used Future]] level.
* The City in ''[[Mirror's Edge]]'' is slowly being transformed into one. And it's rather unsettling. After crushing the
* ''[[Galactic Civilizations
* ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]''. Space elevators, matter transmitters and the like are built in a standard
** This might be a faction-related thing; the telepathy/planetmind techs are usually associated with the Gaians, who tend towards a nature-friendly version of aesthetic.
* The Aeon Illuminate of ''[[Supreme Commander]]'' was founded by a group of human colonists who landed on a planet already inhabited by an alien race that embraced this trope. The aliens were annihilated by nuclear and biological warfare on the party of humanity, but the remaining colonists adopted the aliens' religion and technology as their own. The Aeon universally wear robes, are lead by a Princess, use all manner of advanced and esoteric weapons (ranging from sonic weapons on low-end units to massive 'oblivion cannons', death rays mounted on flying aircraft carriers, and giant robots with death rays for heads and tractor beams for arms), and have a universal design philosophy of sleek, shiny, and silver with their vehicles and buildings.
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* The nation of Esthar in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', which is actually a gigantic (and initially ''invisible'') city, is all crystal and glass tubes and antigravity technology. Even the people (save its president) wear ankle-length robes.
* While the entire nation of the D'ni in the ''[[Myst]]'' series was - probably - bereft of togas, their technology and archaeology almost definitely falls into this situation. Plus, they sowed the seeds of their own destruction, and whatnot.
* Subverted in ''[[EVE Online]]''. The [https://web.archive.org/web/20090130144236/http://www.eve-online.com/background/potw/10-03-06.asp Crystal Boulevard] in Caille on Gallente Prime is a region near the nexus of the city where every structure, and even the ground itself, is made out of specially nanofabricated crystal. Its actual purpose? A nigh-invulnerable command bunker in case of orbital bombardment. The only way to disable the planetary government and military command would be to pulverise the entire city so thoroughly that it would constitute an unconscionable war crime and throw galactic opinion overwhelmingly against the attackers.
* Lemuria in ''[[Golden Sun|Golden Sun II: The Lost Age]]''. Togas, Greek Temples, and the whole thing, all powered by magic...er...Psynergy. This lost civilization even discovered immortality, only to realize that life got really, really boring after a few hundred years.
* This is somewhat present in the elven architecture in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''.
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* [[Soul Series|''Soul Calibur III'']], When Siegfried defeats Nightmare, he sacrifices himself and using his [[BFS|sword]], he plunges the world into a utopian society literally ''covered'' in crystal.
** It's implied however, that this 'utopia' is achieved through everyone on the planet dying to prevent war and suffering.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', Illium looks like this, minus the togas; presumably, it's standard asari architecture. Of course, [[Crap Saccharine World|the looks are deceiving]]; Illium is a [[Scenery Porn|very well disguised]] [[Wretched Hive]] where everything is legal if you've got the right paperwork, and being a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] is necessary if you want to get anywhere.
** The asari homeworld Thessia itself in [[Mass Effect 3]] fits the trope much better... {{spoiler|If it weren't in the process of being Reaped.}}
* The Lunar Capital in ''[[Touhou]]'' is a Japanese
* Played literally with Hallifax in the MUD ''[[Lusternia]]'', a floating crystal city held aloft by [[Whatevermancy|Aeromancy]]. Interesting in that the denizens are ''also'' made of crystal.
** Though as with the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' example above, it's misleading: Hallifax is a [[Lawful Neutral]] meritocracy, where [[For Science!|scientists are revered]] and the proles are [[Happiness in Slavery|content to serve their "betters"]].
* ''[[Phantasy Star II]]'' has elements of this in its mix of [[Ghibli Hills]] and tower architecture on Mota; it's stated [[All There in the Manual|in the manual]] that Palm is a full-blown version at this point (but you never go there). In ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'', {{spoiler|Rykros}} runs on this aesthetic.
* ''[[Diablo III]]'' has the High Heavens where the [[Our Angels Are Different|hooded angels]] are living. So [[Scenery Porn|beautiful and awe inspiring]] {{spoiler|until [[Big Bad|D]][[Satan|i]][[Eldritch Abomination|a]][[Big Red Devil|b]][[The Corrupter|l]][[The Dreaded|o]] came in and made it into a [[Scenery Gorn|nightmarish ground]]}}.
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[A Miracle of Science]]'', the enlightened Martian civilization fits this trope to the T, making it stand out a lot from Earth's [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] state, and the [[Used Future]] of [[terraform]]ed Venus.
* According to ''[[Dresden Codak]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20150110172132/http://www.dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_015.htm this happened in Maralinga, in 1956]
* Quellar in ''[[Starslip]]''.
* This seems to be the case in ''[[Las Lindas]]'', due to the efficiency of nanotechnology.
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* New Olympus in ''[[Gargoyles]]'' has elements of this. The togas were justified though, since this was the island were all the Greek mythical creatures lived, apparently having borrowed the style of clothes from their neighbors the Romans.
* Atlantis in ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]''.
* The entire planet of Galaluna from ''[[
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