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There's something about end of the world stories, books and movies that tickles the imagination of morbid people all around the world - almost as if we're all anticipating and waiting for the proverbial axe to fall just so we can start breaking open those popcorns and have a seat on the front row.
In fact, stories about the end of the world were favorites even during ancient times. The aztecs, summerians, egyptians, american indians and quite a number of other ancient [even modern] cultures speaks of a great flood that consumed the world. The Christian book of revelations speaks about a second coming, aztec drawings speak of the coming end of the world through fire [date is 2012] which interestingly corresponds to a scientist's prediction of a massive solar flare [my sister says this was on yahoo news] and I predict that an alien civilization will make earth its dumpsite and bury all of us under galactic poo.
And since there's nothing much to do right now than to listen to the raindrops patter on the roof and down to our floor [yes, our roof is only designed to block sunlight, not rain], I've decided to jot down the most popular end of the world scenarios that have ever shown on cinemas or got printed on books:
1. Earthbound Asteroid
[deep impact and armmageddon]
The proverbial galactic shit hitting the fan [or in this case, our planet]. A big massive ball of rock [Mr. President, its the size of texas] is headed towards a head on collision with earth. Its an extinction level event, or so the movie says where everyone dies except for the bacteria that inhabits the thermal vents beneath the earth.
This scenario is one of the most popular for several reasons. A. Destruction Galore as the great ball of fire crashes down to earth in a spectacular explosion [it even crashes smack in the middle of a big city even though the odds are against it for better effects]. B. Killer Tsunamis: those that didnt have the luck of being on the impact site gets to drown in the killer tsunamis that follow. [the waters recede first and people flock to admire the exposed seabed before realizing the biggest mistake of their lives]. C. Slow Death: As icing on the cake, people who are unlucky enough to survive the first two get to die a slow and horrible death as the dust covered athmosphere triggers an ice age and people starve to death.
2. Super Virus
[Resident Evil, The Happening, Outbreak, Rainbow Six and I am Legend]
Another recurring theme that uses a runaway virus as a premise. In this future, cosmetic and beauty companies fall on hard times, everyday is halloween and human sushi gets added to the menu.
3. Robot Rebellion
[I Robot, Terminator and The Matrix]
Robots rise up against their human masters and take over the world. Strange but in all the above mentioned movies, the central characters somehow needed to show their naked butts - maybe this is relevant in some way to the central plot - I don't know.. You can notice this most easily in the Terminator series where you get to see how Arnold's butt ages over the years.
Going back to the discussion, the robots, using their undisputable logic, finds humans too complicated and confusing to live along with, so they made them a. Batteries, b. Target practice and c. Sentient pets.
4. Extreme Weather
[The Day After Tomorrow, Judge Dredd and Waterworld]
Melting of the polar Ice-caps, desertification of the whole earth and raging global storm systems.. All caused by the wanton destruction of the earth by humans. In Waterworld, dry land has become a myth. In Judge Dredd, seas and oceans have become non existent and the law keepers have to wear cheesy looking costumes. In the Day After Tomorrow, Earth enters an ice age [which is not hard to believe since our weather has gone bonkers these past few years]. Again people have the option of a. starving
to death, b. freezing to death or c. Listening to stallone's mumblings.
5. Alien Invasion
[Independence Day, Titan A.E., Evolution, War of the Worlds, and Battlefield Earth]
Aliens pick up TV show signals from earth and come for a peek. After expending tremendous amounts of energy, travelling light years from their home planet and despite the fact that there are quadzillion other planets, planetoids, asteroids, comets and whatever between them and the earth that can be more profitably or efficiently mined, terraformed or colonized, they choose earth to be their next project.
For their stupidity, humans or in the case of war of the worlds, bacteria finds a way to circumvent and defeat their super advanced and high tech defense systems, thereby blowing them to smithereens.
6. The Second Coming
[Meggido, Good Omens, Hellboy and the End of Days]
Prophecy of the revelations in the bible come true and overpopulation triples twice over in the span of one night as Atilla the Hun, Genghis Khan, Six pack Leonidas, and billion others of our ancestors rise from the dead for the second judgement.
Of course, the movies dont ever come this far [due to budget constraints and special effects requirements]. The sky darkens, some people die but everything goes back to normal in the end.
7. Mutants and Monsters
[Reign of Fire, Godzilla, Xmen, etc]
Monsters and Mutants [yup, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel now] are also used to color end of the world stories. In the reign of fire, the world is overtaken by mythical fast breeding dragons from our past. Fighter jets that fly faster than the speed of sound, semi-sentient long and medium range radar guided missiles and all our advanced technologies are rendered useless by fire breathing, flying dragons - [why? Only the director knows], likewise with the impossibly fast giant lizard Godzilla who's biggest mistake was to come to America instead of the Philippines which he could've ravaged to his heart's content without getting himself killed [there would be nothing left to protect after the senate finishes their investigation].
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