Pluto Is Expendable: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

* Averted in ''[[Space Battleship Yamato|Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato]]''. When the crew discovers an enemy base on Pluto, they consider using the [[Wave Motion Gun]] on it, but the captain vetoes use of the superweapon because Pluto harbors primitive native organisms which the heroes have no right to destroy. Of course, later in the series, the evil Comet Empire shows off its muscle by destroying the ''Moon''.

* Horrifyingly subverted in ''[[Hellstar Remina]]'', as the titular [[Planet Eater]] [[Cosmic Horror]] may eat it first, but then proceeds in a few weeks to eat ''every other planet in turn'' (including Jupiter, [[Oh Crap|despite it being much larger than Remina]]), from outermost to innermost... [[It Got Worse|And then it gets to Earth...]]

 

 

== Film ==

* 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.

 

 

== Literature ==

** And, from [[Peter David]]'s earlier novel ''Imzadi'', discussing a high powered ground-to-air weapon:

{{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."}}

* In [[Larry Niven]]'s book ''[[Known Space|World Of Ptaavs]]'', Pluto is set on fire by a spaceship's exhaust flame.

* In Roger MacBride Allen's ''The Ring of Charon'' Pluto is used to create a wormhole to a multisystem to which the Earth was abducted.

* 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.

* 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 -- 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.)

 

 

** 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.

* Averted in ''[[Mass Effect]]''. It turns out Pluto's moon was really a Mass Relay making Pluto the Sol's system's main space port and first line of defense. Also, as a side effect of defrosting Charon, Pluto's orbit was circularized - that wasn't enough to give Pluto back "planet" status, though.

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

* In ''Super [[Scribblenauts]]'', you get the "Astronomer" merit if you "decorate the sky with every planet in the solar system". Pluto does not count toward this.

* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' gets in on the act [http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=788 here.]

* 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].

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** And then the Voices of Alien X argue about its status as a (dwarf) planet.

** And more importantly ''[[Snap Back|it's never rebuilt]]''.

** Keep in mind that [[Hilarious in Hindsight|this episode was aired before Pluto was declared a dwarf planet.]]

* ''[[Futurama]]'': Dark matter spill in a penguin sanctuary in Pluto.

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

* In [[Mission Hill]], Gus and Wally make a B-grade sci-fi movie about a man from Pluto coming to Earth to get revenge for his planet being blown up.

{{quote| "INSOLENCE!"}}

* An episode of ''[[The Replacements]]'' has the family playing a mini golf course, where they must hit the ball past some obstacles, among them a rotating windmill of planets that block a hole. Mr. Daring puts his ball which gets deflected by one of the planets. Riley then tells him it was deflected by Pluto, to which he retorts that it is not even a real planet anymore.

 

 

 

== Web Original ==

** Note that this happened during a "Previously on Atop the Fourth Wall" segment, meaning that the above didn't really happen in the TGWTG universe.