History Main / MessageinaBottle

-->-- '''Music/ThePolice''', [[Music/ReggattaDeBlanc "Message in a Bottle"]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Buster Baxter & the Letter from the Sea", Buster finds one of these washed up on the beach while he is on vacation with Arthur and his family, thinking it's from someone in the post city of Atlantis, but later on it's revealed to have belonged to local souvenir shop owner Captain Jack (aka E.J. Churney), who sent it when he was marooned in Antarctica back in 1960, but was eventually rescued.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "A Saucer of Loneliness", the small eponymous saucer arrives on Earth and passes on its message to an extremely lonely woman named Margaret, who refuses to divulge its contents to anyone. However, she does make several copies of the message and puts them in bottles that she throws into the ocean. A man finds one of them and [[InterruptedSuicide stops her from killing herself]]. He then reveals that he knows what the message said:

[[folder:Advertising]]
* This [[http://web.archive.org/web/20140712071058/http://www.tvspots.tv/video/10399/sony--message-in-a-bottle Sony Handycam commercial]] from 1998.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Animation/GuardianFairyMichel'' has a very lonely person sending messages in bottles.

* In one ''Uncle Scrooge'' comic book, Huey, Dewey and Louie find a message in a bottle from someone stranded on an island -- who turns out to be [[spoiler:a Beagle Boy]].

* In a circa 1964 story, Hanna-Barbera's ''WesternAnimation/LippyTheLionAndHardyHarHar'' are beachcombing when they happen upon a message in bottle. It is a call for help from someone being held against his/her will. The pair trace it to a millionaire's little boy who just likes to stir up trouble. The millionaire hires Lippy and Hardy to retrieve the bottles as they propagate along the shore. (It's quite lucrative for them as well--they collect the deposit on them.)

* ''[[Film/TheThing1982 The Thing]]'' (1982). [=MacReady=] is shown dictating an ApocalypticLog into a tape recorder, which he states he intends to hide in the faint hope that it would be found by a search party if they're all killed. [[YouWillBeAssimilated Or worse]].

* The Creator/LouisDeFunes comedy ''Film/SurUnArbrePerche'' uses an unusual variation: the three main characters are trapped on a tree growing from a seaside cliff, and put a message in a bottle with a small parachute. The bottle lands safely on a café table, but the rescuers aren't sent just yet because the café owner is adamant that the table pay for the two clearly empty bottles even though they only ordered one.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' features one that seemingly opens a gate between worlds.

** You can send and receive messages in a bottle in ''Wild World''. You do this by writing a message, then putting the DS in a low-power state that leaves the wireless on and carrying it around with you. Should you happen to pass by another DS in the same state, you'll trade messages, an interesting approximation of the low odds of success inherent in actual bottle throwing (subject, of course, to the concentration of fellow gamers in your environment).
** In ''New Horizons'', once or twice a day you'll find a bottle washed up on the shore with a note from a random villager and a random DIY recipe.

* In ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'', Marona receives some of her missions from messages in a bottle. Justified (sorta) in that these bottles are living constructs, and actively ''swim'' to their destinations. You can even recruit them to fight by your side.
* Finding messages in floating bottles while exploring in her kayak allows Nancy to find a hidden location in ''[[VideoGame/NancyDrew Danger on Deception Island]]''.
* The first thing [[TheHero Commander Shepard]] does in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' is to launch a distress beacon [[spoiler: as the ''[=SSV=] Normandy'' is being blown to pieces.]]

* ''Delicious: Emily's Message in a Bottle'' has these. When young Emily is three years old, she drops the message in a bottle at the sea port, until her Grandpa Vito (in the present time) saw this in Chapter 8. This message in a bottle will lead present Emily and her family searching for her dad Edward and her Uncle Antonio's brothers and their father and plan their Family Reunion in Italy. Also a Titular Name.
* ''VideoGame/FreddiFish'' and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds has a Message in a Bottle that gives the clues to the Stolen Kelp Treasure. The Sequel, The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse has a Message in a Bottle at the Hall of Fame Museum, and Freddi mentioned that she thinks of a familiar object from its prequel.

* At one point before the start of ''VideoGame/YsVIIILacrimosaOfDana'', Thanatos Beldine sent a message in a bottle off the Island of Seiren, asking someone to send him plans for a ship so he could escape, and some snacks. The bottle was found by [[spoiler:Hummel, who, upon finding that the bottle also contained payment, interpreted that as a valid contract, so he acquired the requested goods and deliberately got himself shipwrecked on Seiren so he could deliver the order to Thanatos.]]

* In ''VideoGame/UncleAlbertsFabulousVoyage'', we learn that during a voyage to Egypt, Uncle Albert had to throw a bottle containing a papyrus in the sea before some bandits could steal it. The player must find the papyrus to put it back in its place.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* Several of these wash up [[ApocalypticLog after the events of the first and the second arc]] of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', supposedly written by Maria. However, they tend to be contradictory and generally confuse the hell out of everyone trying to investigate what happened. [[spoiler:In reality, they were written by Yasu before the massacre.]]
* The epilogue to ''VisualNovel/{{Psycholonials}}'' is formatted as a letter in a bottle from Z to the player, fitting as the story ends with [[spoiler: Z living on a tropical island]].

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/AstroLOLogy'': In "The Line", Scorpio finds a bottle and plans to use it to send an SOS so he and Libra can be rescued. Libra, however, throws the bottle into the sea before Scorpio can put the cork in, causing the bottle to sink.
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail [[Recap/StrongBadEmailE52Island island]], Homestar and Strong Bad are stuck on a FarSideIsland when a bottle washes ashore. It's advertising [[UsefulNotes/SuperBowl Super Bowl XIX]], which aired in 1985, 17 years prior.
--> '''Strong Bad:''' Miami Dolphins vs. San Francisco 49ers... Great.\\
'''Homestar:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint We're saved!]]\\
'''Strong Bad:''' This is [[WorstWhateverEver the worst deserted island ever.]]
[[/folder]]

* While fishing, WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle discover a message in a bottle taking the bumper they're in to a commercial.

* WesternAnimation/MightyMouse discovers a message in a bottle in "Swiss Cheese Family Robinson," thrown by the titular family at the start of the cartoon, while vacationing in Miami Beach.

* ''LetsPlay/PiratesSMP'': {{Parodied|Trope}}. On Day 3, Scott finds one near the shore of an uninhabited island, with the message, "[[HelpHelpTrappedInTitleFactory Help! I'm trapped in a Message in a Bottle making factory!]]" The later messages which other players find all have equally nonsensical messages.

* Several of these wash up [[ApocalypticLog after the events of the first and the second arc]] of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', supposedly written by Maria. However, they tend to be contradictory and generally confuse the hell out of everyone trying to investigate what happened. [[spoiler: In reality they were written by Yasu before the massacre.]]

* ''LetsPlay/PiratesSMP'': {{Parodied|Trope}}. On Day 3, Scott finds one near the shore of an uninhabited island, with the message, "[[HelpHelpTrappedInTitleFactory Help! I'm trapped in a Message in a Bottle making factory!]]"

-->'''Player:''' "Coach Dante, this bottle has a note in it."\\
'''Dante:''' *cheerful* "Then ''THROW IT OUT!!''"

* In an episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', a girl sends a message in a bottle asking if someone can help her brother find the Crystal Onyx. Ash and his friends find the bottle. Though they have never heard of a Crystal Onyx, they help find it.

* ''LetsPlay/PiratesSMP'': {{Parodied|Trope}}. On Day 3, Scott finds one near the shore of an uninhabited island, with the following message:
-->"[[HelpHelpTrappedInTitleFactory Help! I'm trapped in a Message in a Bottle making factory!]]"

** It also features several others. Apparently, [[FridgeLogic one of the most reliable ways to make sure that a specific person gets your message in a timely manner is to stuff it in a bottle and chuck it in the ocean.]]

** In the HD edition of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', there is a new item that replaces the Tingle Tuner called the Tingle Bottle. You can send short messages and pictures through it into the Miiverse and you can receive other player's bottles on beaches or out at sea.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', it is a tradition among the [[FishPeople Zora]] to drop a message in a ''barrel'' from the Bank of Wishes in hopes that their wishes will come true. Link can help one Zora girl by following the barrel downstream and talking to the Hylian guy she has been sending love letters to in it.

* In ''Animation/HappyHeroes'', this is how the inhabitants of Planet Guling communicate from long distances since the planet is [[PlanetOfHats themed around]] the [[OneMillionBC prehistoric era]] and thus does not have any advanced pieces of technology to use to communicate.

[[folder:Card Games]]
* [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Message_in_a_Bottle This card]] in TabletopGame/YuGiOh.
[[/folder]]

* In the original ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' radio series, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are stranded on prehistoric Earth, and attempt to attract the attention of a passing spaceship by waving a towel at it. A volcano then erupts, covering the towel with lava. When the Earth is blown up six million years later, the now-fossilized towel gets launched into space and found by Zaphod Beeblebrox in the spaceship ''Heart Of Gold'', who travels back in time and rescues them. (Things like this tend to happen whenever you use the ''Heart Of Gold'''s "Infinite Improbability" drive.)