History Main / ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld

* The intentionally-clichéd {{Steampunk}} parallel world seen in the ''Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'' story ''Genesis of the Cupids'' prominently includes airships. One particularly large one is stolen by the Imperial Imperator and crashed into the great Clock-Tower in the climax.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1835 SCP-1835 ("Rupertian Zeppelins").]] The Federated Empire of Rupertia is a nation in an AlternateUniverse that's in a war with the nation of Alaria. Its automated zeppelins sometimes accidentally cross into the Foundation's universe and drop propaganda leaflets.

* Baron in ''ComicBook/FallOutToyWorks'' has one as his base of operations. In a {{Cyberpunk}} story.
* One of the more obvious differences in the ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' universe (which departed from our own when a genuine superpowered being came into existence in the aftermath of [=WW2=] and singlehandedly won the Vietnam War for America) is the huge zeppelins that hang in the air over New York. [[note]]Zeppelins are more viable because Doctor Manhattan can synthesize helium in large enough volumes to make airships safe and cheap. Basing a whole industry on one individual -- WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong?[[/note]]
* ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' by Grant Morrison has some of these early on when Dane and Old Tom trip their way to another London.
* In Christian Gossett's ''ComicBook/TheRedStar'', the military power of the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Soviet-esque]] Reds is based on their great fleet of "skyfurnaces," which are essentially kilometer-long flying battleships/carriers/troop transports that run on ''magic''.
* One of the few fantastic things to be found in any of the ''ComicBook/MarvelNoir'' stories is the O*N*E Dirigicarrier seen in ''ComicBook/XMenNoir: Mark of Cain''. And boy is it ever fantastic: it's a colossal battleship kept airborne by virtue of having several [[UsefulNotes/TheHindenburg Hindenburg-like]] zeppelins strapped to its underside.
* Zeppelins are present in the post-apocalyptic version of the ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse timeline that ''Uncanny ComicBook/XForce'' visit in search of a MacGuffin.
* ComicBook/{{Thorgal}} has {{Mayincatec}} zeppelins. However, it's thanks to the fact that their PhysicalGod (who is [[spoiler:actually a descendant of the spaceborne humans who left Atlantis]]) is capable of creating the gas to float them.

* The Ghoul pirates in ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'' have a whole city made of such airships, named Aerophagia.
* And in print-and-online comic ''ComicBook/PS238'', which counts as a parallel universe because it's full of superheroes, the distinctly familiar Von Fogg family's not-yet-seen zeppelin is an airborne independent supervillain nation.

* One of the changes in the AlternateHistory of ''ComicBook/BakerStreet'' is the presence of zeppelins as a major form of air transport. ''The Hindenburg'' never crashed and, combined with World War II never occurring, zeppelins became the dominant form of intercontinental travel.

* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': {{Inverted|Trope}}. The world of [[VideoGame/DungeonKeeper Adushul]] is a StandardFantasySetting, and zeppelins are introduced by due to [[ADungeonIsYou Keeper Mercury]]. A.k.a OutsideContextProblem character of Sailor Mercury of Anime/SailorMoon, augmented with a magical artifact from their own world. She's a [[OneManIndustrialRevolution One Woman Industrial Revolution]] and introduces the idea of zeppelins as quick transport for her troops and rescued prisoners.

* Despite being set in 2019, the Los Angeles of ''Film/BladeRunner'' appears to be infested with zeppelins, most of which wind their way through the labyrinthine skyscrapers advertising immigration to the Off-World Colonies, and various Chinese/Japanese products.
* The 1997 film adaptation of ''Film/{{The Borrowers|1997}}'' has numerous indicators that is set in a mid-Atlantic RetroUniverse, not least of all being the constant presence of one or more zeppelins in the sky.

* The sky over Libria in ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'' is full of zeppelins. In at least one scene the zeppelin has a screen on the side to broadcast propaganda.
* The film adaptation of ''Film/TheGoldenCompass'' features airships in the establishing shots of the alternative Oxford.
* ''Film/IronSky'' has zeppelins that can somehow travel through space from the Moon, and [[TransformingMecha open up]] to [[AirborneAircraftCarrier release a swarm]] of Nazi {{Flying Saucer}}s. They're also dragging asteroids for {{Colony Drop}}s. But then again you're [[StupidJetpackHitler not supposed to take all this very seriously]].
* The 1930 sci-fi musical ''Film/JustImagine'' is set in the then-futuristic year of 1980, and the sky is filled with zeppelin airliners. Of course, at the time the movie was made, zeppelins [[RealityIsUnrealistic really were]] used as passenger carriers, so audiences at the time would have seen them as futuristic rather than alternate-historical.

* Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness features a sequence of Strange and America Chavez tumbling through several alternate universes’ Manhattans. In a FreezeFrameBonus, one can spot a zeppelin in flight with the Hydra sigil on its prow, indicating that, in that universe, Hydra won WWII.

* ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' (2004), set in a {{Dieselpunk}} version of 1939, opens with the ''Hindenburg III'' docking with the Empire State Building. While the building ''was'' in fact designed with a mooring mast, the idea was dropped after tests with a U.S. Navy airship showed that wind turbulence caused by the surrounding skyscrapers made it too hazardous. Well, that and the fact that most passengers found the idea of crossing a gangplank ''1000 feet above the street'' more than a little intimidating.

* The film version of ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' manages to show a few Zeppelins in the background of some of the shots of New York. This was a thing in the [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} comic book]] as well, showcasing Dr Manhattan's ability to synthesize the massive amounts of helium needed.

* ComicBook/{{Thorgal}} has {{Mayincatec}} zeppelins. However, it's thanks to the fact that their PhysicalGod ([[spoiler:actually a descendant of the spaceborne humans who left Atlantis]]) is capable of creating the gas to float them.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' by Phil and Kaja Foglio, zeppelin warships are the mainstay of the Wulfenbach Empire. The crowning achievement in airship construction is [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030630 Castle]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030702 Wulfenbach]], a literal floating airship city that easily dwarfs the typical airship.
* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has zeppelin appearances signalled by [[http://xkcd.com/73/ wristwatch dial]] and [[http://xkcd.com/288/ elevator button]].

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' - The AnachronismStew comes with a [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0388.html side-order of airships]]. It was a ShoutOut to the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games. Specifically to ''Final Fantasy VI'', as all the people are its [[PlayerCharacter PCs]]. Elan and Thog are disguising as Locke and Mog. Interestingly enough, the airship does not in any way look like ''Final Fantasy VI'''s Blackjack.

* As per habit, {{Lampshaded}} in ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic''; [[http://irregularwebcomic.net/2787.html "Ah, you forget this is an alternate timeline. It therefore follows inevitably that airships are much more reliable and widespread."]]. The commentary also links to this very article.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1835 SCP-1835 ("Rupertian Zeppelins")]]. The Federated Empire of Rupertia is a nation in an AlternateUniverse that's in a war with the nation of Alaria. Its automated zeppelins sometimes accidentally cross into the Foundation's universe and drop propaganda leaflets.

* "[[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost1696-Motivator_zeppelins.jpg The Number One sign you are an a parallel world]]".
* In the online graphic adaptation of ''The Probability Broach'' by L. Neil Smith, the protagonist is hurled into an advanced libertarian North America [[http://www.bigheadpress.com/tpbtgn?page=27 with the skies full of airships and strange flying vessels]], though what catches his eye is that everyone is armed to the teeth.
* The late [[http://web.archive.org/web/20121008061603/http://www.johnreilly.info/ John Reilly]] warned that airships are a [[http://web.archive.org/web/20100526194742/http://www.johnreilly.info/25Jan08.htm "Fortean technology"]] characteristic of [[AlternateHistory alternate history scenarios]], and that [[http://web.archive.org/web/20100528051956/http://www.johnreilly.info/04Jan08.htm "Whenever you see one or more airships in the light of day, you know that reality is slipping from the Main Sequence"]]. So we should be [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/05/greentech.transport very worried]].
* ''Website/TheOnion'' featured this in the article [[https://www.theonion.com/smithsonian-museum-celebrates-black-alternate-history-m-1841885312 "Smithsonian Museum Celebrates Black Alternate History Month with Full-Scale Recreation of W.E.B. Du Bois' War Zeppelin"]].
* Even in the far future of ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', various kinds of airships are still used. The advanced technology allows for variants that don't (yet) exist in real life, like [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/48586cc9eb91a airships that get their lift from vacuum]]. Some are even [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4f181b2caeccf used as places to live in]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has regular, reality-based [[http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Hot_air_balloon hot air balloons]], and massive [[http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Fire_Nation_airship '''metal''' airships]] that are truly from another world.

More recently, airships are making a comeback for niches such as pleasure cruising, humanitarian aid, [[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/28/p791_ordered_for_canadian_oilsands/ replacing helicopters for cargo hauling]], law enforcement, military surveillance, photography, and scientific research. This resurgence has been enabled by new technologies and designs that mitigate the airships' disadvantages and greatly enhance their lift, safety and speed--by hybridizing them with airplanes and tiltrotors.

* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', a subversion is used as one of the major twists of the series. Our introduction to [[spoiler: the nation of Marley]] is a young [[spoiler: Grisha Yeager]] watching a Zeppelin pass overhead as it prepares to land. [[spoiler: The world outside the Walled nation is equivalent to the early 20th century, with Zeppelins still the preferred method of air travel while airplanes are beginning to see increased use]].

* Creator/StephenBaxter's ''{{Literature/Proxima}}'' [[spoiler: ends with a band of explorers emerging on a world to be confronted by an airship piloted by an angry Roman.]]

* WebVideo/TheMonumentMythos has a variation with the Rockefeller "luftshiffes" made by the German Empire in secret collaboration with [[RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman US president John D. Rockefeller.]] While their presence in World War One doesn't make them that alternate, their construction and ability does: the gas has been replaced with [[spoiler: [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the severed, flying heads of convicts decapitated with]] [[MineralMacGuffin Giza Glass blades]].]] This change in design allows them to bomb targets with near impunity, seemingly because the "pilots" are near indistructible, with the only thing able to effectively take them out being an equally mystical DeathRay.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': Piltover's {{steampunk}} aesthetic means its lousy with airships especially once the [[WarpWhistle Hexgate]] is built, making the city a hub of airship transportation. Powder dreams of riding one someday while Mylo boasts he'll shoot one down one day. [[spoiler: Mylo never gets to accomplish his dream but at least [[MeaningfulRename Jinx]] got to have a shootout in an airship.]]

* Zeppelins seem rather abundantly used by villains in the ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' series, mostly by the evil DOATEC. Their universe seems to be a mix and match of different eras. At DOATEC, it seems to be a big city with elements of CyberPunk, then there's the [[GratuitousNinja ninja clan villages]] which seem to be stuck in [[MedievalStasis feudal Japan]]. Oh, and [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dinosaurs still roam the jungles]] for some reason. To top it all off, now there's a time travelling [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Spartan]].

* One of the chapters of [[Creator/MohiroKitoh Mohiro Kitoh's]] manga ''Manga/WingsOfVendemiaire'' takes place on a zeppelin, and the whole story is implied to take place in a world resembling Europe around the time of World War I.

* Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness features a sequence of Strange and America Chavez tumbling through several alternate universes’ Manhattans. In a FreezeFrameBonus, one features a zeppelin with the Hydra sigil on its prow, indicating that, in that universe, Hydra won WWII.

* Flim/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness features a sequence of Strange and America Chavez tumbling through several alternate universes’ Manhattans. In a FreezeFrameBonus, one features a zeppelin with the Hydra sigil on its prow, indicating that, in that universe, Hydra won WWII.

* Dean Ing's ''The Big Lifters'' has a messianic protagonist pushing high-tech "delta-dirigibles" as a way to get big trucks (like the one that killed his grandmother) off of America's freeways.

* In ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'', an AlternateHistory by Creator/MichaelChabon, no actual Zeppelins appear, but in a subtle joke on this trope the protagonist finds "a windup zeppelin" amongst other junk in a basement.

* Featured ''very'' prominently in ''TabletopGame/DystopianWars'', often as air carriers for flying machines and as the occasional flying fortress bristling with guns. Not only that, they're often [[UpToEleven up to five times as large as Hindeburg]]... And there's more than one in every army.

** In the same alternate reality, there's the [[{{GhostShip}} Ghost Airship]] known as the ''Black Wyvern'' ([[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-5913 SCP-5913]]), which is contained by that universe's equivalent of the SCP Foundation.

* "[[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost1696-Motivator_zeppelins.jpg The Number One sign you are an a parallel world]]"
* Lampshaded and parodied in ''Script/AHDotComTheSeries'' due to its playing with AlternateHistory tropes. The very first episode features a timeline full of airships, and the entire crew seems to have an obsession with them bordering on a fetish. Also appears in later episodes, for example the WholePlotReference ''[[Film/SnakesOnAPlane Sealions on an Airship]]''.

* The [[WhatMightHaveBeen unmade]] [[Film/HammerHorror Hammer Studios]] movie ''Zeppelin v. Pterodactyls'', which, despite its [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin amazing premise]], never got past any further than [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zeppelin_v_pterodactyls_1.jpg this poster]]. This was during the early '70s, when Hammer was getting away from its GothicHorror roots and into TwoFistedTales adventure movies, and would often start a movie's development with a poster and title well before they had a full screenplay. The movie itself presumably would have played this trope pretty straight, but the fact that all we have of the movie is WhatMightHaveBeen adds a certain metafictional twist to this trope: maybe there's another timeline where this movie did indeed get made. The premise was eventually adapted into an AlternateHistory comic book, ''Zeppelins War''.
** A {{Manga}} titled ''Last Continent'', printed in English by Eclipse Comics in the early 1990s, featured a zeppelin invading a [[Literature/TheLostWorld1912 "Lost World"]] / [[Literature/TheLandThatTimeForgot "Land That Time Forgot"]] type place and battling against attacking pterodactyls, as if fulfilling the premise of the never-made film.

* The [[WhatMightHaveBeen unmade]] [[Film/HammerHorror Hammer Studios]] movie ''Zeppelin v. Pterodactyls'', which, despite its [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin amazing premise]], never got past any further than [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zeppelin_v_pterodactyls_1.jpg this poster]]. This was during the early '70s, when Hammer was getting away from its GothicHorror roots and into TwoFistedTales adventure movies, and would often start a movie's development with a poster and title well before they had a full screenplay. The movie itself presumably would have played this trope pretty straight, but the fact that all we have of the movie is WhatMightHaveBeen adds a certain metafictional twist to this trope: maybe there's another timeline where this movie did indeed get made. The premise was eventually adapted into an AlternateHistory comic book, ''ComicBook/ZeppelinWars''.

* The [[WhatMightHaveBeen unmade]] [[Film/HammerHorror Hammer Studios]] movie ''Zeppelin v. Pterodactyls'', which, despite its [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin amazing premise]], never got past any further than [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zeppelin_v_pterodactyls_1.jpg this poster]]. This was during the early '70s, when Hammer was getting away from its GothicHorror roots and into TwoFistedTales adventure movies, and would often start a movie's development with a poster and title well before they had a full screenplay. The movie itself presumably would have played this trope pretty straight, but the fact that all we have of the movie is WhatMightHaveBeen adds a certain metafictional twist to this trope: maybe there's another timeline where this movie did indeed get made. The premise was eventually adapted into an AlternateHistory comic book, ''ComicBook/ZeppelinsWar''.

* TheMonumentMythos has a variation with the Rockefeller "luftshiffes" made by the German Empire in secret collaboration with [[RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman US president John D. Rockefeller.]] While their presence in World War One doesn't make them that alternate, their construction and ability does: the gas has been replaced with [[spoiler: [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the severed, flying heads of convicts decapitated with]] [[MineralMacGuffin Giza Glass blades]].]] This change in design allows them to bomb targets with near impunity, seemingly because the "pilots" are near indistructible, with the only thing able to effectively take them out being an equally mystical DeathRay.

** And originally appeared in ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'' on the Horde side thanks to the goblins, whom most others consider crazy for flying in such a contraption.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' has the "Skytanic", and seeing as how the Cold War never ended, it's definitely an AU. Massively subverted in that the ''[[UsefulNotes/TheHindenburg Hindenburg]]'' disaster ''did'' happen, and so Archer spends the whole episode convinced the dirigible is a massive explosion waiting to happen, despite the fact that it's filled with inert Helium. However, he also points out that despite its luxury, a relatively slow-moving airship with a single route is utterly pointless in a world of passenger jets. When arguing, he even points out the irony of building a floating vehicle that doesn't travel much faster than a ship. [[spoiler:He's vindicated when the ship's captain is revealed to have placed a bomb on board because his employers lost his retirement package after going bankrupt. There's a GeniusBonus for informed viewers in the Captain's earlier defense of cruise airships, in which he points out that they outcompete ocean liners. This is true, but ocean liners themselves died out long ago.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' was fond of these, as they evoked a 1930's atmosphere. Commentary for "On Leather Wings", which was the first episode of the series, acknowledges that Police blimps never really existed, even in the 1930's, but [[ArtisticLicense they decided to use them anyway]] [[RuleOfCool because of the impression they gave of Batman's world]]. A later episode features a full-scale zeppelin.

* Despite being set in 2019, the Los Angeles of ''Film/BladeRunner'' appears to be infested with zeppelins, most of which wind their way through the labyrinthine skyscrapers advertising travel to the Off-World Colonies and various Chinese/Japanese products.

* The sky over Libria in ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'' is full of zeppelins. In at least one scene the zeppellin has a screen on the side to broadcast propaganda.

* Hinted at in ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'', an AlternateHistory by Creator/MichaelChabon; no actual Zeppelins appear, but early in the novel the protagonist finds "a windup zeppelin" amongst other junk in a basement.
** Of course, as antiques, those exist in our world, [[http://www.futuresantiques.com/items/var/albums/toys/P3183613_edited-1.jpg?m=1308007165 as]] [[http://www.noveltyautomotive.com/images/uploads/productimages/tin_toys/zeppelin_wind_up_tin_toy_2.gif well]].
** Chabon may have been using the reference as an inside joke, since an AlternateHistory story ''always'' needs a Zeppelin.
* ''Literature/TheWindupGirl'' by Paolo Bacigalupi. Dirigibles powered by kink-springs and other alternate energies are used for international trade, as there's no petroleum any more.

* ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace'' opens with a description of "zeppelins moored with [[ShiningCity chrome spires]] that [[StarScraper pierced the clouds]]" (SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome when a character has several tons of water ballast from those zeppelins dumped on their FlyingCar). Later [[Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainProton Captain Proton]] uses a vacuum-dirigible to travel across MysteriousAntarctica -- vacuum being literally lighter-than-air gives it lift, and propulsion is via corkscrew driving planes encircling the dirigible.

More recently, airships are making a comeback for niches such as pleasure cruising, humanitarian aid, [[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/28/p791_ordered_for_canadian_oilsands/ replacing helicopter for cargo hauling]], law enforcement, military surveillance, photography, and scientific research. This resurgence has been enabled by new technologies and designs that mitigate the airships' disadvantages and greatly enhance their lift, safety and speed - by hybridizing them with airplanes and tiltrotors.