History Main / EarthThatWas

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': Earth wa originally stated to have been a desolate hellhole ''before'' the fascist Grineer took it over. Retcons have changed thinga so that most of the plaent is overrun with a rainforest of super weeds and packs of [[SavageWolves feral kubrow]]. As of the Plains of Eidilon update, [[EarthThatUsedToBeBetter we can now visit one of the remaining settlements], although each faction maintains its headquarters in other locations.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', the quarians were forced to [[HomeworldEvacuation evacuate Rannoch]] after their disastrous war with [[RobotWar the geth]], three hundred years ago. While Rannoch is still inhabitable (and even being maintained), trying to get past the billions of heavily armed synthetics has proven somewhat problematic. [[spoiler:Mostly because it never occurred to the quarians to just ask nicely, though given that anyone who travelled to Geth Space never came back, except that one time as husks, there's a reason for that.]]

** All human factions originated from the colonies of Mezan and can be rediscovered by them. An unspecified disaster has transformed it into a hostile volcanic wasteland which can never be restored.

* Creator/DanSimmons' ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' deals with a universe following the "devouring" of Earth by an artificial black hole.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Fractures}}, Pink Diamond returns to Earth 5000 years after her rebellion failed. Earth's colonization had been completed, meaning it was completely drained of its resources and all life on its surface had gone extinct, nothing but a lifeless hunk of rock with deep pockmarks where Kindergartens drained the life out of it.

For some reason most TV and movies that feature large-scale [[SettlingTheFrontier colonization]] of other planets (not just mining) require a dead or dying earth as part of the background. Possibly due to either the current stagnation of the space program, suggesting that humanity would need [[HomeworldEvacuation a catastrophe to get off-world]]; or the current association of the word "colonies" with TheEmpire and thus evil.

!!Examples

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/LostInSpace''

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* "Earth That Was" is referenced many times in the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' series, as well the movie ''Serenity'', which provides the page quote. It's suggested that civilization on Earth simply collapsed due to overpopulation and[=/=]or ecological damage, which the original colonists of the series' star system escaped in either GenerationShips, {{Sleeper Starship}}s or a mix of both an unspecified (at least in the show proper) but seemingly very long time before the series began. It's never explicitly stated whether or not civilisation back on Earth is completely gone, or if there are any other groups of human settlements on other worlds out there somewhere, but with the setting having no FasterThanLightTravel it's impossible to know for certain anyway.

* In ''Series/{{Earth 2}}'' humanity has largely abandoned a hopelessly polluted Earth, and is in the process of colonizing Earth 2.

* A surprisingly consistent point of future history in ''Series/DoctorWho'' foretells the mass evacuation of Earth around the thirtieth century, to avoid solar flares. The fourth Doctor encounters a wheel-type space station full of sleepers in ''The Ark In Space'', and the Eleventh meets the Starship UK in "The Beast Below", but it comes up in other episodes as well.

** The Doctor's homeworld of Gallifrey has become this in the revived series, having been [[WhereIWasBornAndRazed razed]] by the Doctor at the end of the Last Great Time War, wiping out both the Time Lords ''and'' the Daleks in one fell swoop and leaving him the sole survivor of the conflict. [[spoiler: (Or so he thought).]]

* In the final episode of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', Earth, already a CrapsackWorld [[EarthThatUsedToBeBetter of little importance in intergalactic affairs]], is unceremoniously [[EarthShatteringKaboom blown up]] by the Drago-Kazov.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] on ''Series/{{The 100}}''. Ninety-seven years after a nuclear war, the remnants of humanity [[ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts living aboard the Ark space station]] believe they're in an Earth That Was situation, since their calculations say the radioactive fallout on Earth won't subside to safe levels for two hundred years. However, when desperation forces them to send a group of people down to Earth, not only do they find the planet is livable, but they discover that there have been people living down here the whole time. Then double-subverted, as the Earth is still radioactive, it's just that some humans (including the space-born protagonists) have evolved to adapt to higher radiation levels.
** [[spoiler:Eventually played straight when the remaining nuclear reactors break down and produce the Primfaya death wave, turning nearly the entire surface into a desolate wasteland. The few survivors try to resettle in a valley that miraculously escaped serious harm, only to come into conflict with a returning group of criminal miners (in cryosleep since before the first apocalypse), and that haven ends up destroyed as well. They have no choice but to abandon Earth completely, taking the miners’ ship and going to a habitable planet in another system.]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

-->-- '''OpeningNarration''', ''Film/{{Serenity}}''

* ''Anime/AKB0048'': In episode 25, it is explained the original Music/AKB48 was born in Akihabara, Japan, before Earth was laid to waste.

* ''Anime/AKB0048'': In episode 25, it is explained the original AKB48 was born in Akihabara, Japan, before Earth was laid to waste.

* In ''Starfinder'', Golarion has been [[Franchise/DoctorWho secreted away in a pocket universe]] by an unknown force, causing a gap in the history and memory of the universe. The gods assure their worshippers that it's still ''there,'' but absolutely unreachable by any conventional or magical force.

* [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in]] ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' takes place over 10,000 years after Mankind was forced to leave the Earth due to an unintentionally harmful alien life. [[spoiler: [[EarthAllAlong Somewhere along the line, all of Humanity found a new place to settle down, completely forgetting and/or unaware that they just went back to earth and live on a new surface that was created by the aliens. The real, perfectly inhabitable Earth, lay below the surface.]]]]

* ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' takes place over 10,000 years after Mankind was forced to leave the Earth due to an unintentionally harmful alien life. [[spoiler: [[EarthAllAlong Somewhere along the line, all of Humanity found a new place to settle down, completely forgetting and/or unaware that they just went back to earth and live on a new surface that was created by the aliens. The real, perfectly inhabitable Earth, lay below the surface.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': Earth is stated to have been a desolate hellhole ''before'' the fascist Grineer took it over. From space you can see it's an unhealthy green...
** When you go down to visit Earth, you see it's really only a DeathWorld to civilizations, not individual lifeforms. Most of the planet has been overtaken by humid rainforest and aggressive packs of [[SavageWolves feral kubrow]].

* "Earth That Was" is referenced many times in the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' series, as well the movie ''Serenity'', which provides the page quote. It's suggested that civilization on Earth simply collapsed due to overpopulation, which the original colonists of the series' star system escaped, but with the series having no FasterThanLightTravel it's impossible to check out the story.

* This is the central premise of the crossover event ''ComicBook/LegendsOfTheDeadEarth'' which is explored in every story in different ways. [[UnspecifiedApocalypse None of the stories reveal how Earth was destroyed]].

* This is the central premise of the crossover event ''ComicBook/LegendsOfTheDeadEarth'' which is explored in every story in different ways. [[UnspecifiedApocalypse None of the stories reveal how Earth was destroyed]]. However, it is clear that it was not simply the natural conclusion of the planet's life cycle as in ''[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Superman: The Man of Steel]]'' Annual #5, Luthor says to Kaleb, believing him to be the original Superman, "You must have been trapped somewhere, I think...Or you'd never have let Earth die like that."