How to Survive the End of the World

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

As the title suggest or (Evacuate Earth in the UK), this National Geographic program is about apocalyptic scenarios and how humans would have methods in order to survive. The show uses simulations of different scenarios including news feed while a panel of specialists ranging from science writers, professors, physicians, and media analysts provide details of each disaster and humans would have to adapt in order to survive.

Tropes used in How to Survive the End of the World include:
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In Micro-Monsters, this was the case when the military nano-bots were unleashed. While that did their job on getting rid of the blob-like mass, but a programming error as a result of being rushed will be a problem.
  • Apocalypse How: The main purpose of the program, mainly at a Class 3, though in the Monster Storm Class 4 seems like a likely outcome provide the survivors eventually will out of resources. However, Frozen Earth has the Class X-2 situation as the Earth voyage away from its place in the solar system. A Class 5 in the case of Flooded Earth, an ice ball in space provides just enough water to create a flood similar to the Bible tale of Noah, if it hit the moon at the right moment. This ends up creating a ring around the Earth to cause rain to fall for centuries.
  • Chekhov's Volcano: Hell on Earth thanks to an impact by a black hole.
  • Depopulation Bomb: Each scenario results in this.
  • Kill the Poor: Hell on Earth, only those who can afford it gets into Safe Haven. However, the episode ends with a woman from a poor family coming out of an underground bomb shelter that she found as a teenager while collecting food and water with her parents.
  • The Immune: Zombie Earth has people trying to isolate themselves away from rabid people. Though, it revealed a potion of the earth’s population is unaffected because they happened to be immune to the virus.
  • Mass "Oh Crap": The farmers in Nigeria including the UN worker after Hydro-fast was added to the well in order to clean the water, in Micro-Monsters.
    • The travelers in Thailand also had this in Micro-Monsters.
  • No Export for You: Subverted For some reason, Flooded Earth episode didn’t air in the states until later in 2014 though it did air in Great Britain earlier.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: Type P due to the rabies in the Zombie Earth scenario without merging to Type F.
  • Patient Zero: The infected marine biologist in Zombie Earth; her saliva landed on a police officer... as far as humans are concern. However, the marine biologist got the disease from corpse of a whale that washed ashore after witnesses saw it killing two sailors just before it died.
    • The marine biologist did pointed out that getting hurt while performing necropsy on animals is a common risk on that she has take because her team were requested to do such job on the corpse of the whale in order to know what the cause of death.
  • Shown Their Work: While the simulations depicted are up for a debate, but the science behind are plausible. Considering the programs has a panel of people in different fields of science and history, it isn't that all surprising that the people behind the program knew exactly what they were talking about.
  • Too Dumb to Live: There’s a few in the simulations
    • Zombie Earth: Russian waste management workers dumping bio-waste in the oceans
    • Monster Storm: Japanese off-shore workers causing a methane explosion, and a hiker touching a ball lightning
    • Hell on Earth: North Korean worker dumping a bomb into Paektu Mountain in order to prevent a series of super volcanoes from erupting it doesn’t work. The founder of a place called Safe Haven for allowing rebellious people in. Whoever is living in near Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields)! If one volcano that destroyed Pompeii was bad but MT. Vesuvius was an average volcano, just think about the eruption of a super one!
    • Frozen Earth: a man walks outside on the surface of an abandon city inside of a bio-dome just as a meteorite breaks into it. He freezes and shatters.
    • Flooded Earth: The people driving in the desert during a sudden rainstorm in a Chilean desert.
      • Anyone living within the barriers in Madrid, rather than opt for a floating city. You do know a tsunami on a planet-size scale can get through right.
    • Micro-Monsters: There were three
      • The scientist who created the weapon known as Hydro-Fast, whoever decided on conventional weapon on the Hydro-Fast blob, and whoever forgot to check the military nano-bots before launch?
  • Where's the Kaboom?: Okay, maybe it wasn't big enough to destroy the Earth, but the primordial black hole did leave its mark when it came to the volcanic system and left a huge crater behind.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: Zombie Earth – airborne strain of rabies.
    • You Are Already Dead: Pretty much the fate for anyone who was expose to rabies and show symptoms of the disease.
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