What methods are used to destroy planets in popular movies?

[sanman]

How about the famous Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator. It makes an earth-shattering kaboom!

Fortunately, there's a deterrent in the capable hands of Duck Dodgers in the 24.5 Century



Okay, maybe deterrence doesn't apply in that universe

 

[SciFiWriterGuy]

I guess a fair question would be "how are we defining 'destroy?'" Because if we're talking about a planet-to-pebbles destruction, my money's on the Star Trek (original series) Planet Killer. Self-guiding, ruthlessly effective, and has been at it for millennia. And it turned on its masters. Always a poetic twist.

But if we're willing to entertain "render inhospitable or dead" as a definition of destroy, I have two candidates. Number one are the Omega (Tewkesbury) Clouds from Jack McDevitt's Hutch series of books, which - owing to a lack of foresight - have a habit of obliterating anything built with straight lines. Candidate two are the Tyranids from Warhammer 40,000 (owned by Games Workshop) which biologically, not technologically, destroy a planet by effectively digesting everything organic and carrying it away. The entire concept is so alien and disconcerting, I can't help but respect the creativity involved.

 

[UsableThought]

But if we're willing to entertain "render inhospitable or dead" as a definition of destroy . . .

We can place the "Crystalline Entity" from Next Generation into your "render inhospitable or dead" category. It shows up, vacuums a planet's surface free of all life from macroscopic to microscopic, then moves on. Unfortunately the Entity also falls into the "meh" and "obtusely didactic" categories, in my opinion.

Less boringly, Galactus seems to straddle both total destruction and "inhospitable or dead" - from the Marvel Universe Wiki:

To sustain his immense power, Galactus requires energies derived from a biosphere, a planet able to sustain living beings, though life does not actually have to be present. Though Galactus can extract and absorb this energy himself, he generally employs his immense Elemental Converter to perform the process, as it is far more efficient and avoids the expenditure required of him. Sometimes the planets on which he feeds are left barely habitable; other times he consumes all life and water, leaving it devastated and barren; most often the process reduces the planet to space rubble.

For that matter any destructive invasion of a planet by a non-native species might fall into the "render" category. The kaiju from Pacific Rim would certainly qualify; at one point, one of the two mad scientist researchers says that he has learned from "drifting" with a kaiju brain that the invaders waited until we had first terraformed our planet to their liking by polluting it; then started inserting the kaiju to "finish the job" by kicking over all our cities.

 

[Aufbauwerk 2045]

In the Canadian movie Project Genocide the aliens use an orbiting device which drives humans to murder and commit suicide. This is an example of a plot to destroy all humans, and then settle the planet with one's own kind. This is a good low-budget movie with Christopher Lee and Robert Vaughn.

In The Lost Missile an extremely fast orbiting missile from outer space threatens to devastate the entire surface of the planet.

In the episode Blunder from Tales of Tomorrow, a reckless physicist destroys the world.

 

[UsableThought]

And hey, how about Wrath of Kahn's idea for a space probe that can make new life on a planet (or apparently even if fired off into a void) . . . but removes any existing life it finds?

CUT TO:
INTERIOR - BRIDGE OF THE RELIANT

CAPT. TERRELL: Standard orbit please. Mister Beach. Any change in the surface scan?
BEACH: Negative. Limited atmosphere, dominated by craylon gas, sand and high velocity winds. It's incapable of supporting lifeforms.
CHEKOV (whining): Does it have to be completely lifeless?
TERRELL: Don't tell me you've found something.
CHEKOV: We've picked up a minor energy flux reading on one dynoscanner.
TERRELL: Damn! Are you sure? Maybe the scanner's out of adjustment.
CHEKOV: I suppose . . . it could be a particle of preanimate matter caught in the matrix.
TERRELL: All right, get on the Comm-pic to Doctor Marcus.
KYLE: Aye sir.
TERRELL: Maybe it's something we can transplant.
CHEKOV: You know what she'll say.

EXT. - ABOVE REGULAR 1 - ORBITING SPACE LAB

CAROL (OC): Now let me get this straight. Something you can transplant?
CHEKOV (OC): Yes, Doctor.

INT. - SPACE LAB - OFFICE OF DR. CAROL MARCUS

CAROL: Something you can transplant? I don't know.
TERRELL (on viewscreen): It might only be a particle of preanimate matter.
CAROL: Then again it may not. You boys have to be clear on this. There can't be so much as a microbe or the show's off. Why don't you have a look? But if it is something that can be moved I want...
TERRELL (on viewscreen): You bet, Doctor. We're on our way!

 

[SciFiWriterGuy]

And hey, how about Wrath of Kahn's idea for a space probe that can make new life on a planet (or apparently even if fired off into a void) . . . but removes any existing life it finds?

Instant ecocide. Hasn't that idea been lofted in scifi before? A pseudo-berserker terraforming probe?

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Did the planet in "Wrath of Cohen" actually have an ecology before the dohickey went off?

 

[UsableThought]

Did the planet in "Wrath of Cohen" actually have an ecology before the dohickey went off?

The device was intended to be detonated on a barren planet; but apparently in actual use, "no planet required." We see it blow up the Reliant, and then, as the Enterprise speeds away, we see what look like gigantic concentric smoke rings materializing one after the other, spreading outward from the epicenter of the explosion. The climactic battle takes place inside a nebula, and the Wikipedia article on the movie asserts that the device "reorganized the nebula." There is the slight problem that a sun doesn't appear to have been created for the wonderful new planet & its lush jungle life to maintain an orbit around; but eh, well, you know, science fiction.

Anyway, you can see the fireworks in this clip, see from about 0:45 to about 1:35: