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The Best Fictional Doomsday Devices

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the doom-proof dept.

Ostracus writes to tell us that Wired has an interesting summary of some of the best fictional doomsday devices. These devices have featured heavily in movies, television, and fiction; their list includes favorites from Dr. Strangelove to Futurama. What devices have they missed? "By the time Futurama's sci-fi satire hit the scene, creator Matt Groening had the doomsday-device shtick down. Case in point: the Spheroboom. This highly explosive space/time-bending device isn't just the prized jewel of the show's mad scientist, Professor Farnsworth. It also destroys anyone/anything not wearing a 'Doom-proof Platinum Vest.'"

20 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. Wired slideshow by WK2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's a Wired slideshow, on 8 separate pages. If you value your time, don't even bother to RTFA. If you don't value your time, please try to find an "all on one page" version for the rest of us.

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    1. Re:Wired slideshow by kevin_conaway · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you value your time, don't even bother to RTFA

      What an odd thing to post to Slashdot

  2. ICE-9 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ice-9: Maybe not intended to be a doomsday device, but it sure turned out to be one!

    1. Re:ICE-9 by Psiren · · Score: 4, Informative

      Again, not strictly a doomsday device, but nevertheless, the Lazy Gun is the most ingenious weapon ever inventerised!

    2. Re:ICE-9 by Cornwallis · · Score: 4, Informative

      ICE-9 is great but I've always been enamored with Ren & Stimpy's "History Eraser Button"

  3. MEGA MAID! by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 4, Funny

    mega maid/spaceball one has to be the single most potent weapon in the universe.

    it is literally breathtaking.

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    liqbase :: faster than paper
  4. Ren & Stimpy - History Eraser Button by jimbo3123 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The History Eraser Button from Ren and Stimpy, Hands Down.

    Don't Touch It!!
    You Fool.

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  5. The Doomsday Machine - Star Trek - missing one by ACK!! · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doomsday_Machine_(TOS_episode) Overview: The starship Enterprise plays a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with an alien planet-killing machine. Come on if you cannot list a Star Trek episode where is the geek cred?

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    ACK /ak/ interj. 2. [from the comic strip "Bloom County"] An exclamation of surprised disgust, esp. i
  6. knew it had to happen by lambent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    /. had for long been one of the last holdouts against this type of "journalistic" garbage.

    glad to see you lasted so long, guys. sad to see you give in and publicize this useless junk.

    articles like this with absolutely no substance at all don't belong here. i may as well just go look at reddit or fark for this type of stuff.

    1. Re:knew it had to happen by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I half-expected to see a "Digg this" button in the summary.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  7. Monty Phyton by Andr+T. · · Score: 5, Informative

    You missed the funniest joke in the world!!!!

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  8. Just ask an alien... by geekmux · · Score: 4, Funny

    P-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

  9. Missing option by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 4, Funny

    3 Taco Bell burritos and a six-pack of Old Milwaukee. Devastation on a cosmological scale.

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    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    1. Re:Missing option by nurbles · · Score: 5, Funny

      3 Taco Bell burritos and a six-pack of Old Milwaukee. Devastation on a cosmological scale.

      sounds more like devastation on a colonological scale...

  10. HHGTTG by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Ultimate Weapon, designed by Hactar, the computer built by the Silastic Armorfiends of Striterax.

    How could you forget the Krikkit Wars?

    --
    "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
  11. Good news, everyone! by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 4, Informative

    Don't forget the professor's Universe-in-a-box, which ended up containing our own universe at the conclusion of the episode. Imagine that - a simple cardboard box that could destroy reality as we know it, simply by being tossed into the recycling bin. Seems like the practice meant to save the environment is going to doom us all in the end!

  12. Re:WMD Dictionary by try_anything · · Score: 4, Funny

    "We have solid everdense that Eye-rack, heh heh heh, uh, 'scuse me, Eye-rack possesses a, er, Helo, er, Halo, Hello, er, sumthinerother. Halo my baby, Halo my darling, halo my, er, gonna bomb their asses. Gonna bomb their asses back to the, um, bombed age. Cuz' that's what happens when you threaten 'muricans with Hellos of Mass Destruction."

  13. The best doomsday weapon is....GUILE, bitches. by LibertineR · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corbomite_Maneuver

    The best doomsday device, is not necessarily the one you have, but the one your enemy THINKS you have.

  14. Best fictional doomsday theories by Orion+Blastar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Peak Oil, Global Warming, New World Order, 9/11 Conspiracy Theories. :)

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  15. Not only that but... by denzacar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It is a thinly veiled Quantum of Solace promo. Because, there are not enough of those already.

    From TFA:

    America's love affair with the doomsday device is a turbulent one. First popularized in comic books and James Bond movies, then lampooned by Austin Powers, we love them because their ridiculousness makes us feel safe -- like the exhilarating false danger of a roller coaster.

    Now heightened audience cynicism has forced world-ending devices into the realm of camp, and except for a new breed of superhero movies, they've largely been replaced by natural disasters or apocalyptic sci-fi scenarios in Hollywood films.

    The opening of Quantum of Solace on Friday is making us nostalgic for the junk science and catastrophic fear that make fictional doomsday devices fun. From earth-shattering fusion reactors to catastrophic earthquake machines to planet-destroying space stations, here's a list of some of our favorite extinction-bringing devices from film, television and videogames. Be sure to share your own favorites in the comments.

    Love affair-turbulent-popular-James Bond-love-feel safe-exhilarating.
    PAUSE
    The opening of Quantum of Solace on Friday-nostalgic-fun.

     
    Subliminal much?

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