Solar Eclipses in Fiction - Television

Television

  • An episode of the 1980s science-fiction comedy/drama The Edison Twins when the twin siblings foiled a bank robbery attempt in a major city bank when employees are focusing on the solar eclipse.
  • A solar eclipse appears in two episodes of the animated cartoon The Simpsons.
    • In "Marge vs. the Monorail,"" a solar eclipse induces a temporary power failure of the solar-powered monorail, causing it to stop for a few seconds.
    • In "Gone Maggie Gone," Marge goes temporarily blind after looking directly at a solar eclipse.
  • Sailor Moon: In season four, two eclipses grant power to the villainous Dead Moon (Circus).
  • Heroes features eclipses prominently within the continuity and symbolism of the show. The title card and logo, for example, both feature an eclipse. An eclipse occurred in the pilot episode, "Genesis," described as a "global event" and commonly understood to be the catalyst that activated the characters' abilities. Another eclipse appears in the first episode of season two, during which Hiro Nakamura teleports to 1671 feudal Japan. The two-part season three episode, "The Eclipse" deal with the consequences of a third eclipse which removes all the characters' abilities as well as the unknown connection between eclipses and evolved humans.
  • The Recess episode, "Outcast Ashley," partly revolves around Gretchen's attempts to view the solar eclipse occurring that afternoon, and whom she views it with.
  • In one of his cartoons, Bugs Bunny accidentally travels through time to the Middle Ages. While there, he tricks everyone into believing that he has put out the sun with a spell. This was a parody/homage to Mark Twain's novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
  • In an episode of Darkwing Duck, the title character accidentally travels to the Middle Ages and is about to be executed as a warlock when he remembers that his execution is timed exactly with an eclipse. He threatens everyone that he will black out the sun unless released and begins to speak gibberish, pretending to put a spell on the sun. However, he has misread the date of the solar eclipse by one day, and stands on the gallows for 24 hours, continuing the gibberish until the eclipse happens.
  • In the 1993 first season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, evil witch Rita Repulsa causes a solar eclipse to drain the Megazord's power in the five-part episode, "Green With Evil."
  • The opening credits of Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001) feature a CGI-generated solar eclipse.
  • The 2001 TNT miniseries The Mists of Avalon features a solar eclipse during the death of Viviane, suggesting the Mother Goddess' grief at the event.
  • In the 2001-4 Samurai Jack animated series, Aku is able to escape the tree he is sealed in due to an eclipse.
  • In the 2007 Avatar: the Last Airbender episode, "The Day of Black Sun Part 2: The Eclipse", Aang and his allies plan for the day of the invasion of the Fire Nation capital on the day a solar eclipse would occur, leaving the firebenders without firebending for about 8 minutes. The plan was expected to end the war. The plan fails because Azula, the princess of the Fire Nation, learned of the upcoming invasion beforehand.
  • The 2007 Sci-Fi channel miniseries Tin Man is centered around a "double eclipse" which will give power to one of the two princesses of the O.Z.
  • The CSI: Miami episode "Sunblock" features a murder in which the killer struck during a solar eclipse due to an allergy to the sun.
  • The final two episodes of Berserk, "The Great Eclipse" and "Time of Eternity," take place during a solar eclipse, which in the series universe happens only once every 216 years and marks the birth of a new member of the Godhand. During these episodes, Griffith, once the leader of the Band of the Hawk, betrays and sacrifices his men in order to become the fifth member of the Godhand, Femto.
  • The Mad Men episode "Seven Twenty Three" features the solar eclipse that occurred in July 1963.
  • The final three episodes of Raven the Island. An eclipse allows the warriors to enter Nevar's fortress.

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