Pyramid Power: Difference between revisions

Line 15:

* Subverted in [[Alan Moore]] 's ''~D.R. & Quinch~'': Two alien [[Time Travel|timetravellers]] indeed visited [[Ancient Egypt]] but they still cannot understand why the locals believed that the aliens wanted them to build pointy buildings.

* In the Mexican series [[Chanoc]] a story featured the concept of Pyramid Powers (in a satirical way.)

* In ''[[The Cartoon History of the Universe]]'', the chapter on Ancient Egypt briefly mentions [[Pyramid Power]], with an alien saying "Why build a pyramid when you can sharpen a razor blade in five minutes on a wet rock?"

* In ''[[The Cartoon History of the Universe]]'', the chapter on Ancient Egypt briefly mentions Pyramid Power, with an alien saying "Why build a pyramid when you can sharpen a razor blade in five minutes on a wet rock?"

== [[Fanfic]] ==

Line 24:

* ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'' also mentions pyramids in Cambodia.

* Played with in ''[[National Treasure]]''. Upon finding a complicated, ancient structure under a city, one character wonders how it was built. The protagonist replies that it was built the same way the pyramids were, and his friend confuses his intention, and assumes that he means that the aliens built them.

* Pyramids are [[Forgotten Superweapon~~|Forgotten Superweapons~~]] in [[Stonehenge Apocalypse]], which is some kind of alien device that is a [[Countdown]] till [[The End of the World as We Know It]]. ... for some reason.

* Pyramids are [[Forgotten Superweapon]]s in [[Stonehenge Apocalypse]], which is some kind of alien device that is a [[Countdown]] till [[The End of the World as We Know It]]. ... for some reason.

== Literature ==

* Pat Flanagan's 1973 book ''Pyramid Power''. It popularized the notion that the '''shape''' of a pyramid, in and of itself, has mystical ~~properties -- from~~ preserving food to sharpening razor blades.

* Pat Flanagan's 1973 book ''Pyramid Power''. It popularized the notion that the '''shape''' of a pyramid, in and of itself, has mystical properties—from preserving food to sharpening razor blades.

* This is also the title of a book by [[Eric Flint]], the second in a series. It involves a five sided alien pyramid landing in Chicago.

* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/Pyramids|Pyramids]]'', the pyramids act as "time dams", preserving the Old Kingdom unchanging for thousands of years. They don't sharpen razor blades, though ... they take them back in time to before they were blunt.

Line 34:

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', apart from having the real pyramids in Egypt turn out to be ancient landing pads for Goa'uld spacecraft, also had Goa'uld-built pyramids appearing on alien planets as [[Supervillain Lair~~|Supervillain Lairs~~]] and the like. The Goa'uld ''were'' [[Ancient Astronauts|the ancient Egyptian gods]], after all. Their [[Cool Starship~~|Cool Starships~~]] are also basically giant flying pyramids with extra high-tech superstructures added (which explains how they fit onto their "landing pads").

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', apart from having the real pyramids in Egypt turn out to be ancient landing pads for Goa'uld spacecraft, also had Goa'uld-built pyramids appearing on alien planets as [[Supervillain Lair]]s and the like. The Goa'uld ''were'' [[Ancient Astronauts|the ancient Egyptian gods]], after all. Their [[Cool Starship]]s are also basically giant flying pyramids with extra high-tech superstructures added (which explains how they fit onto their "landing pads").

** The original ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' film had an even straighter example.

* The original ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic]]'' had the heroes find the lost planet of Kobol. The ancient pyramids on that planet looked ''suspiciously'' like the ones in the Giza Plateau. They contained a wriiten account of the Lost 13th Tribe, and where they went. {{spoiler|So, of course, the writings had to be accidentally destroyed by a Cylon air raid before Adama could read them.}}

Line 50:

* In the ''Illuminati'' card games, the Bavarian Illuminati's Eye-In-The-Pyramid logo is used as [[Sigil Spam]] in all of the card illustrations. {{spoiler|If you can't see the pyramid in some of them, you're not Illuminated enough}} fnord.

* In ''[[Through the Ages]]'', the Pyramids grant you one extra civil action per turn. Arbitrary, but probably no less arbitrary than the powers the ''[[Civilization]]'' games gave them.

* In ''Rifts'', [[Pyramid Power]] is a major feature of the Atlantis sourcebook. They're like [[Ley Line]] dams, basically, and they were/are used both by the ancient Atlanteans and the [[Eldritch Abomination|Splugorth]] for things like dimensional travel.

* In ''Rifts'', Pyramid Power is a major feature of the Atlantis sourcebook. They're like [[Ley Line]] dams, basically, and they were/are used both by the ancient Atlanteans and the [[Eldritch Abomination|Splugorth]] for things like dimensional travel.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

Line 63:

* In the ''[[Civilization]]'' series of games, the Pyramids are one of the World Wonders which you can build for a powerful effect on your civilization. In the first game they allowd a change to any government type in the game. This was very powerful, as you could change to the goverments available late in the game in the very beginning and have a great advantage over the computer civilizaions. This was changed in the second and third games so that Pyramids grant a free granary to every city, letting your civilization grow more quickly. In Civ 4, they unlocked advanced forms of government long before you could otherwise attain them. In Civ 5, they make your civilian units work harder.

* In ''[[La-Mulana]]'', the "male" pyramid in the Egyptian-themed Temple of the Sun has a hidden link to the inverted "female" pyramid in the Temple of Moonlight. Using any weapon in the "female" pyramid is punished with a [[Bolt of Divine Retribution]].

* The Temple of the Ancients of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' did not produce or direct power, it ''was'' ~~power--being~~ a giant maze which when solved would shrink into its smaller form, the [[Artifact of Doom|Black Materia]] that would summon Meteor and bring about the [[Endofthe World As We Know It]].

* The Temple of the Ancients of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' did not produce or direct power, it ''was'' power—being a giant maze which when solved would shrink into its smaller form, the [[Artifact of Doom|Black Materia]] that would summon Meteor and bring about the [[Endofthe World As We Know It]].

* In the game [[Serious Sam]] you tour ancient Egypt to find the reason Aliens took over the world in the distant future. After you collect the Sun Orb and arrive at the sun pyramid, and places the orb at its place, it appears that it actually some sort of a communication tool to communicate with aliens. Apparently you need their deadly lazer beam in order to destroy the normally immortal final boss.