When the Planets Align: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"When the moon is in the seventh house<br />

 

Something in the plot depends on some stars or planets lining up in a particular order at a certain time (an event known in astronomy as syzygy). Often doomsayers claim this will be the cause for [[The End of the World As We Know It]], whether by breaking the tectonic plates, causing a shift of the poles, changing the Earth's rotation..., or introducing the [[Eldritch Abomination]].

=== Contrast with: ===

* [[A Year and A Day]], where the countdown is not to some specified event but is tied to the passage of a fixed length of time.

{{examples}}

 

* ''[[Film/Twenty Twelve|2012]]'' vaguely waves at this, with the [[Critical Research Failure]] of another planet visible from Earth's orbit and Jupiter visible from Saturn, but apart from Woody Harrelson's free-associating [[Conspiracy Theory|conspiracy theorist]], it doesn't come up again.

* In ''[[The Scorpion King]]'', the villain will allegedly become invincible when the Moon is in "the House of Scorpio".

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* The [[John Brunner|Traveller in Black]] makes his periodic journeys when a certain array of four planets comes into alignment.

* Two alignments of the seven planets play a major role in the timing of the third book of the ''[[Septimus Heap (Literature)|Septimus Heap]]'' series.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** The series four finale ("The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End") had ''twenty-seven'' planets stolen from their home systems and placed in perfect alignment by the Daleks to create an engine to be used to amplify the "reality bomb" that would destroy every universe in all of reality.

* ''[[Star Fleet]]'' has all the planets in Earth's solar system aligning at the end of the year 2999 for the dawn of a new millenium.

 

== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' supplement ''Treasure Maps'', adventure "Sign of the Times". [[Vicious Cycle|Every 700 years]] during a specific astrological conjunction of planets, moons and stars the king of a desert empire will fall ill and die, and his son will take his place. The new king will become evil and cruel, raising taxes and invading other countries. Natural disasters (famine, pestilence and drought) will ravage the land.

* In ''[[Rifts]]'', [[Apocalypse How|The Great Cataclysm]] occurring during (and in part because of) a rare conjunction of the planets. It caused the [[Ley Line|Ley Lines]] to surge with power. This combined with a couple other factors upset the Earth's magical balance, causing [[After the End|The Coming of the Rifts]].

 

== [[Theatre]] ==

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Pious Augustus of ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'' is counting on the planets aligning to channel enough power to summon his Ancient into the mortal world. He's been waiting for two millenia for this event when the game opens.

* The Grand Cross planetary alignment is a major part of the plot of ''[[Persona 2]]: Innocent Sin''. In ''Eternal Punishment'', it's become a minor background element whose only significance is that absolutely nothing of note happened during it... {{spoiler|acting as an absolute confirmation that the events of the prior game never came to pass in this timeline.}}

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* [[Eerie Cuties]]: [http://www.eeriecuties.com/d/20090713.html A vampire born on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox does not drink blood.] (A.k.a. Easter)

* [[Dork Tower]] [http://www.dorktower.com/2006/06/23/comics-archive-799/ lovecraft is]

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

{{quote| '''Optimus Prime:''' And it was written in the Covenant of Primus that when the forty-seven spheres align, a perpetual conflict will culminate upon a world forged from chaos; and the weak shall perish in the shadow of a rising darkness.}}

** Somewhat [[Justified Trope|justified]] (or [[Hand Wave|Hand Waved]], [[Your Mileage May Vary|depending on your point of view]]) by the fact that gravitational forces from those planets were somehow acting on [[Eldritch Abomination|Unicron]], causing him to [[Sealed Evil in A Can|wake up]].

 

== Religion and Mythology ==

* It has been suggested that the star which guided the Wise Men to [[Jesus]]' manger was not actually a star, but a particular astronomical alignment.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==