Pluto Is Expendable: Difference between revisions

[[File:Pluto_Is_Expendable_2528Pluto Is Expendable 2528.jpg|link=Lil Formers (Webcomic)|rightframe|...and while they were arguing, the Borg came and ate it.]]

Wait! What about one of those planets floating around the edge of the solar system? That [[Insignificant Little Blue Planet|insignificant]], dark, icy one with one giant and twofour minisculeminuscule satellites --— no one will miss that. It wasn't even important enough to be called a '''real''' planet. What was its name again?

The reason Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet is based on the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/IAU_definition_of_planet:IAU definition of planet|2006 formalization of the definition]]. To qualify, an astronomical body has to have four characteristics: (1) It's in orbit around a star or stellar remnant; (2) be big enough to be spherical from its own gravity; (3) it's not too big that thermonuclear fusion has begun (in other words, it's not a star); and (4) has cleared its orbit of all similar-sized objects. Pluto fails the fourth criterion as it is very similar in size, composition, and orbit to hundreds of other objects in a region of space called the Kuiper Belt.

** [http://www.suburbansenshi.com Suburban Senshi] is an excellent example--theexample—the corollary chatroom even has "Pluto" filtered to its numerical designation.

* In ''[[Dragonaut: theThe Resonance (Anime)|Dragonaut the Resonance]]'' Pluto is destroyed when the [[Eldritch Abomination]] Thanotos plows right through it on it's way to Earth.

** It apparently stays that way until the 31st century, becoming a plot-point in ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes]]''. Although there's been a [[Crisis Crossover]] since then, and ''that'' version of the Legion isn't the main future any more, so it's probably been [[Canon Dis ContinuityDiscontinuity|quietly forgotten]].

* In the 2008 Virgin Comics revival of the classic 1950's British space hero ''Dan Dare'', written by Garth Ennis, Pluto is destroyed by a "tamed" black hole controlled by Dare's nemesis, the Mekon. Since the series takes place in the "present" of [[Dan Dare]]'s retroactive alternate history timeline, the destruction may have been a tongue-in-cheek spoof of Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet status in 2006.

* During the climatic caper of ''[[Mission: Impossible]]: Ghost Protocol'', the team uses planets in the solar system as their callsigns. Benji, the local [[Butt Monkey]], ends up as Pluto.

* In ''[[Chicken Little (Disney)|Chicken Little]]'', if you look very closely at the aliens' map of the Solar System, Pluto appears to be the first to be crossed out. The movie was released just one year before Pluto's demotion.

* ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' novel ''Before Dishonor'': The Borg '''eat it'''. This "settles the debate," which had gone back and forth three or four times in the last four hundred years.

{{quote| "Model I blew up during field testing and destroyed half of Pluto. No one cared--it was a boring planet anyway...I'm kidding, Lieutenant."}}

* Averted in the novelization of ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]''. Humanity decides to turn one of the nine planets into a gigantic rubbish dump, with a [[Eurovision Song Contest]] style contest deciding the loser. It comes down to a fight between Earth and Pluto. Earth loses, and becomes a ''literal'' [[Crapsack World]].

* The sixth ''[[Harry Potter]]'' book has Luna Lovegood fighting Death Eaters in a room containing models of several planets. She then uses a Reductor Curse on the model of Pluto to defend herself.

* Turns out there's an alien prison inside Pluto in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Have Space Suit WillSuit—Will Travel]]''.

* In ''[[Perry Rhodan]]'' universe Pluto got destroyed in 3438 as collateral damage in the final showdown of the series' The Cappins story arc. (One of the more classic examples -- whenexamples—when that issue was printed and sold, nobody had the slightest clue yet that Pluto's status as a planet would be called into question over thirty years later.)

* Averted in [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]]'s works, as Pluto -also known as Yuggoth- is an outpost of the powerful and devious [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|Mi]]-[[Starfish Aliens|Go]].

{{quote| '''McKay:''' Hey at least I didn't de-classify Pluto from planet status. Way to make all the little kids cry, Neil, that make you feel like a big man?}}

** Likewise, Dr. Tyson appears in ''[[Big Bang Theory]].''

{{quote| '''Sheldon:''' I like Pluto, therefore, I don't like you.}}

* The astronomers' decision not to consider Pluto a planet is [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20111128032748/http://classicstoday.com/Classics/ConcertReview_ASPFiles/ViewConcertReview.asp?Action=User&ID=504 one more reason] to disregard Colin Matthews's irreverent appendix to Gustav Holst's ''The Planets''.

** If it was destroying planets in order from outer to inner, it might not count as [[Pluto Is Expendable]], but that's not the case. It goes Pluto -> Saturn's rings -> Jupiter -> Crashes into the Sun creating the actual supernova -> Mercury -> Venus -> Earth.

* Guess what {{spoiler|goes kaboom at the end of}} [[Starsiege|Starsiege?]]

** Notable [[Inverted Trope|inversion]] in that when [[Starsiege]] was released ([http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starsiege |March 24, 1999]] as said on [[The Other Wiki]]), Pluto was ''still'' considered a planet.

* In ''[[Fans]]'', the first sign of a very dangerous enemy is when it [http://www.faans.com/index.php?p=1254 eats Charon, Pluto's moon]{{Dead link}}.

* ''[[Punintended (Webcomic)|Punintended]]'' declares the French as having decided to ditch Pluto [http://punintended.thecomicseries.com/comics/28/ Plus Tôt.]

* ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force (Animation)|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'': An alien [[Evil Overlord]] blows it up in a demonstration of what he'll do to Earth if he doesn't get his daughter back.

* ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'': The president has a button that blows up "the ''planet''" in case he became inexplicably evil. By the end of the episode, Cosmo pushes the button just because he can. Cue Pluto's destruction.

{{quote| '''Cosmo''': "He said THE planet, he didn't say which one."<br />

'''Timmy''': "Who cares? It's Pluto."<br />

'''Wanda and Cosmo''': Hey! That's not nice!"<br />

* ''[[TMNTTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'': Michelangelo eats Pluto. Or the doughnut representing Pluto in Donatello's diagram, at least.

{{quote| '''Mikey''' ''(munching):'' What? It's Pluto. Who cares about Pluto?}}

* In an episode of ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', [[Blue Beetle]] fights the Planet Master, who uses various powers thematically linked to the planets of our Solar System, including the "[[An Ice Person|cold of Pluto]]". Blue Beetle protests that Pluto isn't considered a planet anymore. Planet Master's response?

{{quote| "INSOLENCE!"}}

* An episode of ''[[Quack Pack (Animation)|Quack Pack]]'' was actually about [[Donald Duck]] becoming planet-sized and smashing Pluto to pieces because that's where his nephews (all pretending to be superheroes) are hiding. Also, a brief cameo of [[Pluto the Pup|the ''other'' Pluto]] for extra bonus points.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130723204322/http://www.weebls-stuff.com/onthemoon/On+The+Moon+ep.9/ This episode] of ''[[On The Moon]]''.

* [[That Guy With theThe Glasses|Chester A. Bum]] blows up Pluto with nukes in an installment of ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Atop the Fourth Wall]]'', just to get the Nostalgia Critic to take him seriously. The Critic is unimpressed. (He got more reaction from blowing up Hollywood, Rome and France.)

* In a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtWPW8yJtgM crossover video] between [[Freddie Wong]] and [[EPICMEALTIME (Web Video)|EPICMEALTIME]], one of the things they add to the shot is some planets in the sky. When Pluto pops up, Freddie says "Pluto ain't a planet! Get that outta there!"

* Many people and groups had delisted Pluto before the 2005 decision, most prominently the Hayden Planetarium when it reopened in a new building in 2000. Its director, [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson:Neil deGrasse Tyson|Neil DeGrasse Tyson]], has since become a public spokesman in favor of Pluto's non-planethood due to that initial controversy- somewhat ironically and unwillingly since he's an astrophysicist, more concerned with the universe at large.

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