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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Tintin
** Also, Tintin was given a newspaper that had astronomical tables printed in it. Good thing they didn't give him the sports section.
* Parodied in the [[Don Rosa]] comic story "The Once and Future Duck", where [[Donald Duck]] is about to be executed by (the historical) King Arthur, and he orders his nephews to wow Arthur by predicting an eclipse. After protesting [[This Is Reality|"That only works in old movies and comic books, Unca Donald!"]], they reply "You have two options: get them to pack up camp and move to Madagascar, or stay here and convince them to delay the execution for 237 years!" Don is instead saved from execution when Gyro beeps the horn on his truck and scares the whole camp silly.
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== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Ladyhawke]]''. "Night without a day, day without a night."
* In ''[[The Fugitive (
* ''[[Apocalypto]]'': Just as Jaguar Paw is about to be sacrificed via heart-ripping by a Maya priest, a solar eclipse makes the priest believe that their god is satisfied with the sacrifices already done, saving Jaguar Paw's life. This seems unlikely, since Maya astronomers and priests understood eclipses as well, and should have known it was going to happen anyway. Pre-Columbian South American civilizations just can't catch a break, it seems.
** Well they aren't exactly {{spoiler|PRE-Colombian}} now are they?
** The priest looks at the eclipse, gives a small smile to himself and ends the sacrifices. He knew it was coming.
* Sort-of inverted in ''[[From Dusk
* The musical remake of ''[[Little Shop of Horrors]]'' has the evil plant coming to Earth during an unexpected eclipse. Never mind the fact that real eclipses are predicted decades in advance, so there's never an "unexpected" one.
** Which would make an alien ship passing between Earth and the Sun [[Fridge Brilliance|pretty unexpected, huh?]]
* ''[[
* In ''[[Robin Hood]]'' (the Patrick Bergin version), the heroes need to gain access to the [[Big Bad]]'s castle. They use the fact that it is All Fool's Day, and no group observing the festival can be denied admission, to get in and execute their plan. On any other day of the year, presumably, the castle guards would simply reply by riddling the merry men with crossbow bolts.
== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[
** Did anyone else wonder how on Earth a factory foreman from 19th-century Connecticut could have predicted that? Honestly, how many people here who aren't astronomers can name the date of ANY eclipse, ever, let alone one over 1,000 years ago? They weren't even using the Gregorian calendar in King Arthur's time!
*** [[Rule of Cool]]?
* Occurs in the book ''[[King
** It helps that one of the characters was carrying an Almanac at the time, which documents that sort of thing, and which is often logically carried on long expeditions like the one they were on.
*** Still a remarkable fortune that an eclipse happened right at the same night they were to be executed.
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* Subverted in the short story by Augusto Monterroso ''El Eclipse''. Fray Bartolomé Arrazola tries to do this when he is about to be sacrificed by Mayans, unfortunately for him their astronomers already predicted all Solar ''and Lunar'' eclipses
* Parodied, along with several related tropes by [[David Langford]] in "[http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/jungle.html A Tale of the Jungle]":
{{quote|
The ''Sun'' will be eclips'd again ...
To aid a troubled English Gent
This Astronomical Event
Is by some ''Holy Power'' sent!
(And is, by Scepticks, thought to be
Suspicious in its frequency.) }}
* Subverted in ''[[Amelia Peabody|The Last Camel Died At Noon]]'', an [[Affectionate Parody]] of ''[[King
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* 1960's ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' episode "The Cat and the Fiddle". Batman and Robin are tied under giant magnifying glasses so they'll be broiled to death by concentrated sunlight. An eclipse gives the time to move one of the glasses so it burns through their bonds and frees them.
== [[Video Games]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Parodied in ''[[Darkwing Duck]]''. Darkwing was to be executed by a group of medieval peasants for witchcraft, but noticed that the time of the execution coincided exactly with a solar eclipse and decided to threaten the peasants that he would block the sun if they didn't release him. Unfortunately, the newspaper dates were wrong and he ended up standing on the gallows for 24 hours, pretending to put out the sun, before it actually went dark. Peasants = amazed.
** And it was probably parodied there because it had already been played straight on that show's predecessor, ''[[
*** The exact same plot was later [[Recycled Script|recycled]] for the ''[[
* ''[[
** And is also portrayed FAR more accurately than in most media, the full Eclipse itself lasting only a few minutes.
** There's also a villainous inversion with the imminent arrival of Sozin's Comet creating a deadline of less than a year for the entire plot (otherwise Aang would have the option to take his time mastering all the elements and facing the Fire Lord only when he was completely ready)
*** Although the comet itself is a case of [[You Fail Science Forever]], since comets are composed of rock and ''ice'', not fire. Could be [[Justified Trope|justified]] though in the sense that Avatar takes place in another world quite different from ours.
* Parodied on ''[[The Simpsons (
** "A solar eclipse. The cosmic ballet... goes on."
** "Does anybody wanna switch seats?"
* Parodied again in ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]'': When Fanboy is told he is going to die after naptime, he tries everything he can to keep everyone awake while he devises a plan. One of these efforts is him opening the curtains and saying they should go outside, but as soon as he does an eclipse comes, causing Fanboy to scream, "Curse you semi-elliptical orbit!!"
* Downplayed in one of the old ''[[Superfriends]]'' cartoons, where Lex Luthor's [[Doomsday Device]] -- which magnifies the sun's rays and uses them as a weapon -- is foiled by an unscheduled eclipse. In truth, this eclipse is done on purpose after his plan succeeds, as a group of [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] take pity on the Earth and use their [[Reality Warping]] powers to reverse time, adding the eclipse to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]].
== [[Real Life]] ==
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* Total solar eclipses occur ''somewhere'' every 18 months - the 1919 eclipse was notable for happening at a convenient time, at a convenient place. Most solar eclipses are visible only at the ocean, anyway.
* When the Spanish Armada was coming to invade England, the wind happened to blow just right to screw up their plans. This was referred to as the 'Protestant Wind'.
** Worst of all, [
*** Similarly, on two separate occasions, the Mongols launched massive invasion fleets against Japan and were thwarted when typhoons destroyed the fleets. This was the origin of the term Kamikaze ("divine wind"), due to the belief that Japan was being protected by the wind god Fuujin and/or the storm god Raijin.
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[[Category:Plot Device]]
[[Category:Convenient Eclipse]]
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