Apocalyptic Log: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

A story is told through a log, diary, or journal that a character uses to document their activities and progress through the plot. Suddenly, [[Gone Horribly Wrong|something happens]], the effects of which are slowly made known to the reader through by its effects on the medium.

* The pseudo-remake of ''[[Day of the Dead]]'' had the survivors come across a scientist's video-log in a underground medical facility (which was very reminiscent of ''[[Resident Evil]]''). The log also shows the scientist turning into a zombie.

* In the cult classic ''[[Night of the Creeps]]'', James Carpenter "J.C." Hooper leaves a audio recording for his friend explaining how the alien leeches get into your head and incubate. They then create more "brain slugs" before they kill you and reanimate your corpse. His voice is clearly changing, due to the fact he's slowly turning. It's one of the few things in this Horror/Comedy hybrid film that's played bone chillingly straight.

* Subverted in ''[[The Core]]'': Zimsky records his thoughts on his impending death... until he realizes the tape recorder's going to die with him and bursts out laughing. His final words are "What the fuck am I doing?"

* The 2001 ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' has this, explaining how the crash of Leo Davidson's ship turned the desolated planet into a simian dystopia.

* The ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/A Hat Full of Sky|A Hat Full of Sky]]'' quotes a few passages from a book recording a wizard's attempts to contain and control a Hiver, a mind-controlling monster that gradually turns whatever creature it possesses into a pathological id. To drive the point home, the last few pages degenerate into "Those ''fools!'' I'll show them! [[They Called Me Mad|I'll show them]] ''[[They Called Me Mad|all!!!!!]]''" ranting, and finally completely incoherent random letters.

** ''[[Discworld/Thud|Thud!]]'' has the numerous, disjointed, seemingly-random-numbered notes left by the painter of ''The Battle of Koom Valley'', who slowly went mad (including thinking alternately that he was being chased by a giant chicken and that he ''was'' a giant chicken). The last one—only known to be so because it was found under his dead body—read "It comes! ''It comes!!!''" He was found with his throat full of chicken feathers.

* ''[[Frankenstein (novel)|Frankenstein]]'' may or may not be one of these, depending on whether or not you think the sea captain who narrates the [[Framing Story]] will rescue his ship from the Arctic ice.

* [[Shel Silverstein]] combines this with [[Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion]] in the poem ''Boa Constrictor''.

* The style of ''[[28 Days Later]]'' is meant to evoke this, even though the film itself doesn't fit the category. Aside from shooting on relatively inexpensive DV cameras and using odd angles to mimic a "found footage" look, several scenes were deliberately staged to resemble photographs from the genocide and war in Bosnia.

* An in-story example for ''[[Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close]]''. {{spoiler|Oskar comes home from school early on the morning of September 11th and finds to the voice mails his father, who works in the WTC, has left on the answering machine. When he calls again, Oskar freezes and listens as his father's last words go to voice mail. He hides the tape out of shame and panic and never tells anyone, but listens to it by himself at times.}}

* In ''[[The City of Ember]]'', a journal from one of the first residents of Ember is found {{spoiler|as Lina and Doon find their way out of the city. In the prequel to ''Ember'', ''The Diamond of Darkhold'', this log is shown to be the work of the protagonist of ''Darkhold''.}}

* Hans Heinz Ewers's short story ''The Spider'' is about a hotel room whose guests always end up hanging themselves, and it mostly consists of the journal of Richard Bracquemont, a medical student who offers to investigate.

* The novel of ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' consists of entries from the main character's diary leading up to his [[Suicide Pact]] with the [[Star-Crossed Lovers|star-crossed]] love interest. In the film, the story is told from the mortally wounded protagonist's recording on his Dictaphone.

* ''[[Non-Stop]]'' by Brian Aldiss conveys the story of the disaster that made the setting [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] through a diary found by one character.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': in the episode "Silence in the Library", the Doctor and his companion listen to a recorded message (censored "for tone and content") on a data-terminal in an abandoned library. "Message follows: Run. For God's sake, run. Nowhere is safe... We can't--Oh, they're here. Argh. Slargh. Snick. Message ends."

** "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S26/E03 The Curse of Fenric]]" featured the runic inscriptions of a Viking who made the mistake of stealing a flask [[Sealed Evil in a Can|containing Fenric, Evil Incarnate.]]

{{quote|'''Darling:''' Made a note in my diary on the way here. It simply says..."Bugger."}}

* ''[[Star Trek]]''. Several episodes in several series feature the crew discovering the logs of the last folks to encounter the disease/NegativeSpaceWedgie/villain of the week.

** In at least two ''TNG'' episodes ("Time Squared", "Cause and Effect"), the ''Enterprise'' crew receive an Apocalyptic Log out of a [[Negative Space Wedgie]]...from themselves.

** Also nicely subverted in one episode where it turns out the person who made the log is still alive, and quite upset that the crew was watching her video diary.

** This wound up being recursive: at the end of the episode, Matt records a second Apocalyptic Log explaining what had been discovered the first time 'round, so that when the crew found it the next time, they'd have a leg up. At least two loops and logs were required to ensure the crew's survival, but for all the viewer knows, there were three, or [[Fridge Horror|three hundred]].

* ''[[The X-Files]]'' episode "Ice" shows the first and last videos of the sequence. At first the tidy, cheerful and well-lit scientists of an arctic research base report digging ice cores from record levels; the second is gloomy and shaky, with one dishevelled man saying "We're not... who we are... we're not... who we are..." before being attacked.

* This happens in an episode of the ''[[Logan's Run]]'' series. The protagonists discover an ancient bunker from [[After the End|before the end]] holding a few [[Human Popsicle]] survivors (the best and brightest) from the ancient civilisation devasted by a plague. There is also an Apocalyptic Log from a man dying from the disease, but holding long enough {{spoiler|to reveal he discovered that one of the hibernated people is an imposter (and potentially a murderer).}}

* The [[Clip Show]] episode of ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' featured an Apocalyptic Log that the [[Teen Genius]] left in case they lost the [[Robot War]]. It provided a brief character summary and log of the fight, but most of it focused on the <s> merchandise toys</s> weapons and equipment they'd been using all season that the prospective finder of the log would find nearby, the general impression being "if you've found this, we lost our war of attrition. You are now one of the last humans alive. Here's what you have to work with- now take up our fight". An odd case of seeing the Apocalyptic Log as a caution of what might happen if they lose, rather than a means of figuring out how they lost.

 

== Radio ==

{{quote|'''Phillips:''' A humped shape is rising out of the pit. I can make out a small beam of light against a mirror. What's that? There's a jet of flame springing from the mirror, and it leaps right at the advancing men. It strikes them head on! Good Lord, they're turning into flame!\}}

''(screams and unearthly shrieks)'' '''Phillips:''' Now the whole field's caught fire. ''(explosion)'' The woods... the barns... the gas tanks of automobiles... it's spreading everywhere. It's coming this way. About twenty yards to my right... ''(crash of microphone, then dead silence)''

* There's at least three examples along these lines from the ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' magazine ''White Dwarf'', although two are merely dealing with attacks by vampires and Necrons respectively.

* Not a tabletop RPG, but a ''letter-writing'' RPG, the out of print [[Cosmic Horror Story|Lovecraftian]] game ''De Profundis'' was presented wholly as a collection of letters from someone gradually going insane after having a dream about a book that laid out the game's rules. Part of the supernatural insanity gripping the "author" involved writing down and sharing the game to try to spread the insanity.

** We never get to read it, but the galaxy-sized locust swarm that is the Tyranid race was named because of the Apocalyptic Log that was left behind, buried 1000 feet underground, on the planet Tyran. Most of the Tyranid Codexes—combinations of backstory and rulebook—contain detached descriptions of Tyranid attacks that read like an encyclopedia entry based off an Apocalyptic Log as well.

** Similarly, the ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' background book ''Liber Chaotica'' is written as an in-character study of the Chaos Gods. As the book goes on, the author starts having more and more ominous visions and making less and less sense as he descends into madness. At least half of the quotes in the Necron, Tyranid, and Dark Eldar codexes fit this trope.

** A ''[[Planescape]]'' supplement contained, as [[Flavor Text]], the diary of an explorer describing his journey around the Concordant Plane of the Outlands. The diary takes on a distinct tone of encroaching madness after he set foot into the Caves of Thoughts, the domain of the mindflayer deity Ilsensine the Great Brain. It doesn't end well.

** Module S4, ''The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth'', had a diary left by a previous expedition into the title dungeon. It had vague hints of what was to come, with several sections with [[Lost in Transmission|vital information being smeared and smudged]]. It ended with the party meeting the [[Final Boss]] of the dungeon.

*** ''[[BioShock (series)]]'' maintained this trend for the most part; the few people the player makes direct face-to-face contact with don't live long after the meeting, with the exception of the eerie Little Sisters and Dr. Tenenbaum.

*** Due to Adam absorbing and containing memories of it's previous users, you can sometimes see Ghosts throughout Rapture. The Apocalyptic part comes in because, well, obviously ''something'' had to have happened to them.

{{quote|"Of cour{{spoiler|se i}}f {{spoiler|I}} don'{{spoiler|t}} ha{{spoiler|ve a}} face, I{{spoiler|'ll}} j{{spoiler|u}}st make one."}}

* ''[[Brink]]'', as unlockable Audio Logs.

** Saving the game requires a typewriter and consumes a typewriter ribbon, meaning the player's save files are an Apocalyptic Log.

** ''Resident Evil 4'' is different from the others in that the logs are generally written by your enemies, and usually detail either general orders or what plans they happen to have for you. Nevertheless, there is at least one "Oh crap the protagonist has killed us all" note to be found.

** Later on you'll find one in Mort'ton, a ruined town where the populace has gone mad with a strange affliction. The log tells of the affliction's spread and concludes with the author succumbing and writing gibberish. {{spoiler|The quest in the area deals with using the author's research to develop a cure.}}

** However, easily the most literal use of this trope is during the quest Ritual of the Mahjarrat where you have to go to a ruined plane called Kethsi and, after an extensive puzzle, find a bunker with a log sitting at a desk detailing how {{spoiler|The natives of this plane found the Stone of Jas and, upon using it for a few months, learned rather unfortunately that its use causes creatures known as the Dragonkin to appear and [[Disproportionate Retribution|destroy every living thing on the plane the stone was used on.]]}}

* Bones are scattered throughout the Crystal Desert in ''[[Guild Wars]]''. Examining some of them lets you read the last written entries by the person when they were alive. The desert really, ''really'' sucks, by the way....

* A quest related diary in ''[[Tibia]]'' ends like this:

[[Came Back Wrong|THE FIRST DAY OF ETERNITY I CAN SEE NOW. FOOLS. ALL OF YOU. HAHAHAHAHA.]] }}

* The Dorfs of ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' will often make artworks depicting significant events in the fortress. "Significant events" usually means "terrible, bloody violence": "On the item is a finely-designed image of a goblin and dwarves in pink tourmaline. The dwarves are dead. The goblin is laughing."

* ''[[Doom]] 3'' and ''Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil'' both have a few PDA's in them with this. Most of the PDA's are members of the task force complaining about security problems, other members, or the occasional [[Things That Go Bump in the Night]], however a few PDA's involve people trying to relay a last minute message, and the one inside of Hell details two logs about a man being toyed with for nearly two days by the demons. One man involved in the storyline gives you a data disc he asks you to send back to Earth when you escape which details the entire plan that {{spoiler|Dr. Betruger and}} the powers of Hell had for Mars.

* At least one of the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' games does this, detailing {{spoiler|Shou Tucker}} cracking under the pressure of having to create {{spoiler|a chimera that can speak}}, while you may not see him or Nina in the game, knowing the adaptations and seeing what went on in his head is ''horrifying''.

* The Steam game ''Alien Swarm'' has a number of pads lying about on the floor from a number of people showing how quickly the swarm progressed and took over the facility.

* Professor Windlenot's tape recorder in ''[[Shivers]]'' plays back an audio journal in which he discovers the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Ixupi]] have been released from their vessels and are loose in the museum. The player hears how the professor is dying due to the Ixupi sucking out his life.

* The summer camp in ''Psychonauts'' has a history of the area display, complete with gradual decent into madness of the entire town. The display is matched with the rings of an ancient tree, making it a literal Apocalyptic Log.

* One of the secret Reports in ''[[Dissidia]] 012 Duodecim Final Fantasy'' is written by a {{spoiler|Lufenian}} scientist. It's a log of the events happening around his lab in {{spoiler|Cardia}}, including a few things about {{spoiler|Garland}}'s growth and {{spoiler|Cosmos}}. When disaster strikes, his final log is this:

Sucks to know you're going to die. }}

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'' has two of these:

* There are a quite a few of these in ''[[Skyrim]]''. One example can be found in Japhot's Folly. Japhot's journal chronicles his ill-fated attempt to start a settlement on the inhospitable hellhole of an island. Even when the rest of the settlers went [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]], he stubbornly refused to leave. He was eventually reduced to eating ice-moss before starving to death. The journal is found in a a small locked room with Japhot's dessicated body. The final entry in the journal?

{{quote|''OH GODS HELP ME''}}

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' features a rather unique and disturbing take on this trope, as Franz Hopper (a.k.a. Waldo Schaeffer), the creator of [[Cyberspace|Lyoko]], uses the supercomputer's "Return to the Past" function to create a [[Groundhog Day Loop]], while preserving a video file of his attempts to avert his and Aelita's impending abduction by government agents during that looped day. By the time the entry for "day 1000" rolls around, his sanity seems to be hanging by a thread (and there are still a thousand more entries to go). Meanwhile, as far as his daughter and the outside world are concerned, no time has actually passed at all.

* In an episode of ''[[Futurama]]'', the Planet Express team, on their way to the hive of giant space bees, aka "deadly, deadly bees," on a quest to gather space honey, discover the wrecked ship of their predecessors, who were killed whilst undertaking the same mission. They discover the black box recording, which recorded a conversation between a nervous underling suggesting they turn back because it's too dangerous, and the over-confident captain insisting they press on to glory. And then recorded the sounds of their horrible, horrible deaths moments later. Leela, who has been taking the role of "over-confident captain" in the current team's efforts, is particularly keen to pretend they never found it.

* ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' Classic episodes "The Invisible Monster" (Isaiah Norman's notebook) and "The Sea Haunt" (the ship captain's log).

* A classic ''[[Space Ghost]]'' episode, "The Energy Monster", features a posthumous recording by the scientist who created it.

* Done in Disney's ''[[Tarzan]]'' series by a character who actually lived, but thought he was going to die and didn't get to finish his entry. Didn't help when he said that the item that he (falsely) believed would solve the problem plaguing the jungle was "hidden inside the p-", leaving Tarzan and Jane to run around the hut exploring every item they could find beginning with "P" (it was the phonograph machine, for the record.)

* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' has one in the episode Holly Jolly Secrets. Finn has found an old set of VHS tapes that contains a video diary of the Ice King. {{spoiler|The last tape is the diary of a human, Simon Petrikov, as he slowly loses his mind and humanity, until finally becoming the Ice King.}} Bonus points for the apocalypse taking place in the background over the course of said log.

* In ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'' episode "Heart of Ice," Batman does some sleuthing around GothCorp's facility and finds a videotape inside Viktor Fries' case file. The videotape has him documenting on a revolutionary process that he developed of cryogenesis that he is placing his terminally ill wife, Nora Fries, in until he can develop a cure for her. Suddenly, Ferris Boyle bursts in and demands that he shut down the experiment due to his stealing money from him to commit the experiment. Viktor attempts to reason with and eventually is forced to point a gun at Boyle to stop him from halting his experiment. Boyle then tries to reason with him, before promptly kicking him into some vials containing chemicals relating to the cryogenetic process, causing a biohazard, with Friez also visibly deteriorating from the accident while calling Nora's name in a lamenting manner as the tape ends.

(in another hand) Here it seems the author died. }}

* This is sort of the whole reason they have black boxes on airplanes. The CVR, or Cockpit Voice Recorder, records everything said in the cockpit and over the radio on an aircraft.

ALA 261 - [upside down and falling fast] [[Distress Call|Mayday]] }}

** The most common last word on black box recordings is "Shit" (or its equivalent in the pilot's native language). This is rendered as "Unintelligible" when said recordings are broadcast on the news.

* An episode of ''I Shouldn't Be Alive'' recalled the story of two campers, hopelessly lost in the woods, stumbling upon the abandoned campsite of a more experienced climber. Among his belongings, there was a detailed journal recording the climber's attempts to get out of the valley, and his dwindling food supply. {{spoiler|They later found his body.}}

* A [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eejQPUyeNiY recorded footage] of a diver who had a diving accident and died, the video shows how he goes in the water, starts diving just as he normally would, but things starts to go wrong when the diver begins sinking and cannot react. The video basically records the process along with the reaction of people watching it. Be warned, the footage is rather disturbing...

{{quote|'''Proton Jon'' (audibly on the verge of tears): MOVE FASTER POKEY!}}

* There is an [[Urban Legend]] of a man detailed his agony of being [[Locked in a Freezer]]. A freezer which [[Your Mind Makes It Real|turned out to be turned off.]] According to Snopes, there is no proof that this ever happened.