| 1 | [[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheGoldenCompass https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zeppelin_golden_compass.png]]]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:Oxford: the city of [[{{Pun}} docking spires]].]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"A startling number of alternative histories wind up strengthening the marginal technology of airships and zeppelins, for example. This is a matter of flavor rather than logic, but this is a game book, after all."'' |
| 5 | -->-- ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} TabletopGame/InfiniteWorlds'' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | If your characters have entered a parallel universe that's just a few steps removed from our own, the fastest way to establish it is by sticking a whopping great Zeppelin airship in the sky. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | In our world, [[UsefulNotes/{{Airships}} Zeppelins seemed to be doing pretty well]]. People adored them; they were seen as [[ZeeRust extremely glamorous and futuristic.]] The world-famous LZ-127 ''Graf Zeppelin'' had accomplished global circumnavigations, arctic explorations, and aviation feats that people had only dreamed of. Then, on May 6, 1937, the flagship luxury liner ''[[UsefulNotes/TheHindenburg Hindenburg]]'' burst into flames while landing in New Jersey for no obvious reason, the first major catastrophe ''caught on film.''[[note]]The common theory as to what happened is that the captain's sharp turns trying to line up the Hindenburg with the landing mast cut a bracing wire which ripped open one of the hydrogen gas cells, causing a fuel leak, and a spark ignited the hydrogen as the mooring ropes were being dropped to the ground.[[/note]] This hydrogen fire, which killed roughly a third of the passengers and crew on board, created a global panic. No commercial Zeppelin would fly again until 1999, though a few relatively tiny nonrigid "blimps" did continue to operate in small niches such as aerial videography. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | 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. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | It is important to note that the presence of [[UsefulNotes/{{Airships}} airships]] doesn't imply that the technology of the AlternateUniverse is inferior. Just like with biological evolution, Zeppelins are not [[TechnologyLevels "more" or "less" evolved technology]], what's used is whatever is the best available fit for the niche. It could just as well be that Zeppelins in the AlternateHistory were better able to suit the situation than airplanes were, say if there was a [[CrapsackWorld massive resource shortage]] that demanded efficiency and payload over speed, some other economic factor, or [[PointOfDivergence simply because there wasn't a Hindenburg-Equivalent]], Zeppelins never fell out of favor to begin with. The sudden [[BlackComedy explosion]] of airships as a technological phenomenon, followed shortly by their rapid decline, gives them the distinction of invoking a feeling both futuristic ''and'' retro at the same time. Thus, they are perfect for a writer wanting to invoke a feeling of {{Zeerust}} or DaysOfFuturePast. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Strictly speaking, the name 'zeppelin' refers only to [[UsefulNotes/{{Airships}} airships with a rigid internal frame, a propulsion and steering mechanism,]] ([[BrandNameTakeover though it originally referred specifically to airships made by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin]]) and no anxiety that users will be put off by the name. Dirigibles and blimps still qualify for the trope. Alternate universe [[UsefulNotes/PlaneSpotting plane-spotters,]] take note. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | So by filling up Earth 2 with bulbous aircraft rather than hovercars or spaceships, you are suggesting a world that is of a similar time period to our own, but just happened to follow a different technological route. It also helps that they have lots of DieselPunk and SteamPunk cred and are sufficiently olde-worlde to be used in fantasy stories too. [[RuleOfCool They are also cool]]. In fact, when used in a fantasy setting, you're more likely to encounter a thriving airship industry than ''cars or trains'' which are clearly [[BoringButPractical too mundane for such a setting no matter how useful]]. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Sometimes the Zeppelins are just there to show the audience that the movie is set in another world, even if nobody from our world crosses over into it and nobody in that world actually ''rides'' in one. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | A less extreme sister-trope to AlienSky. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | The transportation of choice for {{Sky Pirate}}s everywhere. When zeppelins are only used by the villains, it's a DreadZeppelin. Also see AirborneAircraftCarrier, CoolAirship, and FloatingContinent. FutureCopter is a similar trope where ducted-fan VTOL aircraft are used to indicate a futuristic setting. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | ---- |
| 26 | !!Examples: |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 31 | * 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]]. |
| 32 | * ''Anime/{{Catnapped}}'': The alternate dimension known as Banipal Witt runs on blimps and pellets, with a bit of primitive-looking technology mixed in. |
| 33 | * ''Manga/DriftingDragons'': Airships appear to be the principal means of transportation in the setting. |
| 34 | * ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'': Used as the revelation of the plot twist. [[spoiler:After falling through the Gate, Edward finds himself in a world with Zeppelins in the sky... but it's ''[[WelcomeToTheRealWorld our]]'' world: London, mid-WWI.]] |
| 35 | * ''Anime/LastExile'': Though it turns out that said zeppelins are actually heavier-than-air ships made to float with the use of AppliedPhlebotinum conveniently supplied by a neighboring society that happens to possess [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture somewhat more advanced technology]]). |
| 36 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Zeppelins and blimps (along with windmills, solar power, and other eco-friendly technologies) are a big part of the "just like ours only better" world. That said, there are also plenty of airplanes, cars, and other "realistic" technology. |
| 37 | * In the ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' world, airships are the only air transportation system. |
| 38 | * In ''Anime/{{K}}'', the immortal [[AllPowerfulBystander Silver King]] lives in one, called the Himmelreich (German for "Heaven"). Another appears in the movie and second season. |
| 39 | * ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' pulls this off in the Magic World with [[SpaceWhale Great Flying Whales]]. You can even see a flying ammonite in the first spread. |
| 40 | * The Ancient Decepticons from ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'' can combine into these (shattering combination records for the franchise in the process). |
| 41 | * A variation exists in ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'', in which [[CoolAirship lighter-than-air craft]] float not due to gasses but [[AppliedPhlebotinum "levistones"]] which [[{{Magitek}} decrease in mass]] when [[MagicAIsMagicA charged with an electrical current.]] |
| 42 | * Things that look like airships roam the sky in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' over Mitakihara. [[spoiler:This is one of the first indications that something strange is going on. When the truth is revealed, the ships actually catch on fire and crash.]] |
| 43 | * ''Manga/WingsOfVendemiaire'': One chapter takes place on a zeppelin, and the whole story take places in a world resembling France around the time of World War I. |
| 44 | * ''Manga/TheWitchAndTheBeast'': The first continent's sky is filled with so much zeppelins it can blot out the sun. |
| 45 | [[/folder]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | [[folder:Arts]] |
| 48 | * Used in this mock [[http://www.zazzle.com/venus_by_air_poster-228660366756679984 retro-space tourism poster]] from Zazzle Art. See Venus by Air! |
| 49 | [[/folder]] |
| 50 | |
| 51 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 52 | * ''Comicbook/TwoThousandAD'': In the "Tharg's 3rillers" story "The English Astronaut", when multiple possible timelines start colliding, there are three airships (and a FlyingSaucer) in the skies over London. One "normal", one crashing, and one with a sign painted on it reading "[[LampshadeHanging ALTERNATE REALITY SIGNIFIERS]]: YOUR AD HERE". |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/AmericanFlagg'': "Zeps" are the travel mode of choice in the 2031 setting. |
| 54 | * 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 crashing, combined with World War II never occurring, causes zeppelins to become the dominant form of intercontinental travel. |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/FallOutToyWorks'': Baron has one as his base of operations -- in a {{Cyberpunk}} story. |
| 56 | * ''ComicBook/FigmentDisneyKingdoms'': Somewhat literal when Dreamfinder creates a portal to jump into and create the attraction's iconic flying machine. |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' has some of these early on when Dane and Old Tom trip their way to another London. |
| 58 | * In the ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' {{Elseworld}} ''Age of Wonder'', set around the dawn of the 20th century, Lex Luthor travels in increasingly elaborate airships. |
| 59 | * ''ComicBook/LadyMechanika'': Zeppelins are commonplace in this world and it's used when a person wishes to travel long distances in comfort. |
| 60 | * In ''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. |
| 61 | * In ''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''. |
| 62 | * The Ghoul pirates in ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'' have a whole city made of such airships named Aerophagia. |
| 63 | * ''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. |
| 64 | * ''ComicBook/UncannyXForce'': Zeppelins are present in the post-apocalyptic version of the ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' timeline that X-Force visit in search of a MacGuffin. |
| 65 | * One of the more obvious differences in the ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' universe (in which [[AlienSpaceBats a genuine superpowered being comes into existence]] in the aftermath of WWII and singlehandedly wins 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]] |
| 66 | * ''ComicBook/XMenNoir'': One of the few fantastic things to be found in any of the ''ComicBook/MarvelNoir'' stories is the O*N*E Dirigicarrier seen in ''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. |
| 67 | [[/folder]] |
| 68 | |
| 69 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 70 | * ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Inverted. 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. |
| 71 | * ''Fanfic/Earth27'': Airships are far more common, because Dr. Manhattan can synthesize enough helium to make them cost-effective (and safer than hydrogen-filled airships would have been). |
| 72 | * ''Fanfic/OnAClearDayYouCanSeeForever'': An airship crash near the beginning is used to help show that this is a very different setting. |
| 73 | * ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace'' opens with a description of "zeppelins moored with [[ShiningCity chrome spires]] that [[StarScraper pierced the clouds]]" and 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. |
| 74 | * ''Fanfic/AWorldWithoutRainbows'': The Sunside world has a hot air balloon. The Moonside world has an airship. |
| 75 | [[/folder]] |
| 76 | |
| 77 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 78 | * ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' shows why people riding in hydrogen-filled dirigibles shouldn't back-stab badass subordinates packing flare guns. |
| 79 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamByGaslight''. In this Elseworld Batman story set in the Nineteenth Century, the Gotham police have lighter-than-air patrol craft leading to an InterestingSituationDuel when the villain throws the crew out and then battles Batman on top of the gas envelope while the out-of-control dirigible drifts into buildings and gets fired on by the TriggerHappy police. |
| 80 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanVsTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' lampshades this when the Turtles point out the Gotham City skyline is full of AwesomeButImpractical police blimps. Later in the movie, Donatello and Michelangelo are saved when one of those 'useless' police blimps break their fall. |
| 81 | * Presented in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' not as lighter-than-air transport, but as self-supporting wind turbines that (presumably) meet a lot of San Fransokyo's energy needs. In another burst of cultural fusion, they're painted in the style of paper lanterns and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koinobori carp streamers]]. |
| 82 | * ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'': They are huge and largely made of metal with cloth used for some of the smaller ones. |
| 83 | * ''Anime/KikisDeliveryService'' has a huge polar exploration zeppelin as befits its RetroUniverse setting. It also escapes its mooring and crashes spectacularly, proving that Kiki's world, while different, is not all ''that'' different from ours. Creator/HayaoMiyazaki adores blimps so much, he has been credited as the inspiration for the presence of airships in works like ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'', ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', and ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. |
| 84 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'': A small, red, cargo bearing airship can be seen in the Canal District when Judy rides the train into Zootopia at the beginning of the film. While it's inconclusive to say that all air travel in Zootopia has been supplanted by airships, given there are helicopters present when Lionheart is arrested, it does show that they are connected to the special circumstances of this world by being used to deliver cargo within the highly vertical Rainforest and Canal districts. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 88 | * ''Film/{{Automata}}'': Swarms of blimps float over cities to act as mechanical clouds, dispensing water in rain, presumably to keep the radiation under control. |
| 89 | * ''Film/BladeRunner'': Despite being set in a futuristic 2019, the Los Angeles appears to be infested with zeppelins, most of which wind their way through the labyrinthine skyscrapers [[AdvertOverloadedFuture advertising]] immigration to the Off-World Colonies and various Chinese/Japanese products. |
| 90 | * ''Film/TheBorrowers1997'' has numerous indicators that is set in a mid-Atlantic retro universe, not least of all being the constant presence of one or more zeppelins in the sky. |
| 91 | * ''Film/CaptiveState'': The strange rock-like spaceships that transfer people off-planet are very blimp-like. |
| 92 | * ''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 Hydra won WWII in that universe. |
| 93 | %%* Creator/RolandEmmerich's production company [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loHNdUJqF3U features this]] in many of their films. |
| 94 | * ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'': The sky over Libria is full of zeppelins. In at least one scene, the zeppelin has a screen on the side to broadcast propaganda. |
| 95 | * ''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. |
| 96 | * ''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 (1930), zeppelins [[RealityIsUnrealistic really were]] used as passenger carriers, so audiences at the time would have seen them as futuristic rather than alternate-historical. |
| 97 | * ''Film/K20LegendOfTheMask'' begins with a few autogyros launching from a zeppelin over the Japanese capital city of Teito in an alternate 1949. |
| 98 | * ''Film/MysteryMen'': A few can be seen floating over Champion City. |
| 99 | * ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'', 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. |
| 100 | * ''Film/SouthlandTales'': One of the big differences between real 2009 and parallel universe 2009 is the presence of massive perpetual motion-powered Zeppelins. |
| 101 | * When ''Film/{{Stardust}}'''s hero finds himself in a [[TrappedInAnotherWorld magical alternate reality]], one of the major setpieces of his adventure is the lightning-hunting airship ''Caspartine'', captained by Robert [=DeNiro=]. |
| 102 | * ''Film/SuperHeroTaisenGPKamenRider3'' takes place in an AlternateTimeline where [[Series/KamenRider Shocker]] managed to take over the world. So, naturally, amidst all the [[DayOfTheJackboot jackbooting]] and [[PuttingOnTheReich reich-putting]] going all around, there are Zeppelins [[SigilSpam with the Shocker emblem]] in the sky to tell us how fucked up the time stream is. |
| 103 | * ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011'' had not just one zeppelin, but ''an entire battle sequence'' between two flying ships over Notre Dame. At least one of those flying ships also had a flamethrower and a machine gun, and let's not get started on the ending when an entire fleet of these flying ships is preparing to invade England. |
| 104 | * ''Film/VHSViral'': In the ''Parallel Monsters'' segment, it is obvious from the start that there is something wrong with the AlternateDimension Alfonso is exploring, but it's the sight [[spoiler:of a blimp with a huge inverted cross on its side that really sells it.]] |
| 105 | * ''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. |
| 106 | * ''Zeppelin v. Pterodactyls'': The unmade [[Film/HammerHorror Hammer Studios]] movie which 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. |
| 107 | [[/folder]] |
| 108 | |
| 109 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 110 | * In the ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' series, Marlon Pridmore uses his experience as a balloonist to help the Danes build a dirigible to bring home nutmeg from their Indian colony of Tranquebar. Also, without any experience, but with a lot of brute force, Berni Zeppi helps the Russians build their own dirigible, which they use to beat a Polish-Lithuanian army. |
| 111 | * The ''[[Literature/AckAckMacaque Ack-Ack Macaque]]'' books by Gareth Powell are set on an alternate world where the Europe had unified earlier in the 20th century -- that version of the European Union created nuclear-powered zeppelins in the late '70s as the answer to the Middle East Oil Crisis. As a result, in the year 2056 people are content to take multi-day air trips to other countries and while jet aircraft is just as advanced as ours if not more so, very few jet fighters have been built when zeppelins invade. |
| 112 | * ''Literature/TheAffinityBridge'', as a function of its {{Steampunk}} setting. |
| 113 | * ''Literature/{{Airborn}}'' is set on an alternate world where, due to the existence of an ultra-light gas called hydrium, airships became the primary means of long-distance travel. Features lots of metaphors. There's still an Eiffel Tower, but it's used for mooring. |
| 114 | * In Creator/KurdLasswitz's ''Auf zwei Planeten'' ("On Two Planets", 1897), the {{Martians}} use a fleet of airships to defeat the forces of the major powers of Earth. However, these airships, while looking a bit like Zeppelins and, at least in their earlier models, sharing their vulnerability to storms, are not gas-filled aircraft, but largely built of [[AppliedPhlebotinum the almost weightless material "Stellite"]] and they make use of the Martian ArtificialGravity technology. Encased in another miracle material, Nihilite, they are invulnerable to projectile weapons. |
| 115 | * Dean Ing's ''The Big Lifters'' has a messianic protagonist pushing high-tech zeppelins called "delta-dirigibles" as a way to get big trucks (like the one that killed his grandmother) off of America's freeways. |
| 116 | * ''Literature/BooksOfTheRaksura'': {{Downplayed|Trope}}. One remote cliffside city is extremely proud of its unique blimps, which it uses for trade and defense. The Raksura visitors are used to seeing magic-powered {{Cool Airship}}s, so they studiously avoid mentioning how ridiculous the blimps look in comparison. |
| 117 | * In ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'', given the relative scarcity of oil but plentiful energy thanks to nuclear power, hybrid lifting body airships powered by pebble bed nuclear reactors are the most common mass transportation for both civilian and military purposes in many countries. |
| 118 | * Creator/FritzLeiber's short story "Catch That Zeppelin!" is about an alternate universe where things turned out (mostly) much better than our own. It too includes zeppelins docking at the Empire State building, where a RealLife mooring mast was considered. Needless to say, they didn't use hydrogen to lift them. |
| 119 | * ''Literature/ACentralEast'': Averted while, at the same time, played straight. Zeppelins have not been mentioned once. At the same time, this is the early 20th century, the zenith of the Zeppelin... and this is Another World where nothing so far has made Zeppelins less popular. |
| 120 | * ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThePneumaticZeppelin'' revolves about the adventures of the title Zeppelin. Despite the danger of hydrogen fires, they must be them because of alien obelisks that prevent their using electronics. |
| 121 | * A short story that helped set this trope in stone is Creator/HowardWaldrop's "Custer's Last Jump". Presented as a historical article from an alternate timeline, it deals with a [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhCavalry Battle of the Little Big Horn]] fought between biplanes piloted by Sioux warriors and George Armstrong Custer's airship-borne paratroopers. The "Notes" mention a famous film made about the battle: ''[[Film/TheyDiedWithTheirBootsOn They Died with Their Chutes On]]''. |
| 122 | * A variation in ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'': while the story mostly takes place on an alternate Earth, the airships in question were, in fact, invented by [[spoiler:the Japanese]] for [[LizardFolk the Grik]], most of whom are too dumb to operate a heavier-than-air craft. They are also shot down incredibly easy with by three P-[=40s=] with tracer rounds. |
| 123 | * ''Literature/TheDiamondAge'' features a very well justified abundance of airships. With ubiquitous [[{{Nanomachines}} nanotech]], it's so simple to create objects that are lighter than air but stronger than steel that it's the law you have to add weight to things to make sure the atmosphere isn't filled with lighter-than-air-stronger-than-steel grocery bags clogging engines. As to the airships, when you can create these materials, you don't have to fill the envelope with anything at all. Vacuum is lighter than everything and thanks to nanopumps cheap to create. Airships are so economical that they replace shipping as the bulk transit of choice. |
| 124 | * ''Literature/DocSidhe'' is set on an alternate world where zeppelins and autogyros are still cutting-edge aviation technology, and the climactic showdown takes place on board the major villain's airship. |
| 125 | * Creator/SMStirling's books are ''lousy'' with zeppelins. One example is the universe of ''Literature/TheDraka'', where they are widely used by the titular faction. |
| 126 | * ''Literature/TheDreamOfPerpetualMotion'' opens with the protagonist imprisoned for life on board a high-altitude airship, and then shows HowWeGotHere. |
| 127 | * Present in "The Effluent Engine" by Creator/NKJemisin: in its AlternateHistory's version of the UsefulNotes/{{Haiti}}an slave revolution, revolutionaries seized the rum distilleries and used their byproducts to inflate airships for the war effort. After winning independence, they became the world's foremost dirigible producers. |
| 128 | * ''Literature/FireOnTheMountain'' has its point of divergence from real history in 1859. In alternate 1959, there are high speed passenger airplanes, but local mass transit is by zeppelins. Unlike real zeppelins, these float by some form of levitation with superconducting magnets. |
| 129 | * The "blimps" that ply the "skies" of the giant living space habitat Gaia in the ''Literature/GaeaTrilogy'' are literally Zeppelins from another world. They aren't machines, though: they are [[LivingGasbag living, sentient creatures kept aloft by naturally produced hydrogen]]. Sometimes they allow people to hitch rides. They're terrified of fire, for good reason. At least partially because of this, they (and most of the main characters) hate "buzzbombs", heavier-than-air flying creatures that have what amounts to an organic ramjet embedded in their bodies and are described as being something like sharks mentally. |
| 130 | * Played with in ''Literature/TheGenesisOfJennyEverywhere'' -- the title character, existing in all possible universes at once and accessing the thoughts of other versions of herself in her thoughts, is first described as dreaming of "battling airship pirates over the Alps" amongst other exciting and otherworldly adventures. By contrast, this Jenny's world is implied to be mundane and boring- and yet a couple of scenes later, there's a zeppelin heard flying past in the background. In other words, not every AlternateUniverse is that exciting. |
| 131 | * ''Literature/GreatShip'': The tree-walkers in ''The Memory of Sky'' use blimps and zeppelins for travel between the district's [[TreeTopTown inhabited trees]] -- they are slow enough to be safe to maneuver in crowded areas, and agile enough to maneuver in the upper foliage of the wilderness. The zeppelins have combustion engines (whose iron is extracted from [[GiantFlyer corona]] blood) and fueled by alcohol. [[HumanSubspecies The papio]], on the other hand, use airplanes with VTOL capabilities, as they inhabit the coral growing from the [[HollowWorld rim of the world]] where large open expanses are more common. |
| 132 | * ''Literature/GregMandelTrilogy'': Airships are being used in a global-warming world, but it's mentioned in ''Mindstar Rising'' that they are only a viable technology after the development of [[{{Unobtanium}} superstrength monolattice composites]] built in orbital microgravity factories. |
| 133 | * This turns up with the second ''word'' of ''Literature/TheHauntingOfAlaizabelCray'', a [[CosmicHorrorStory somewhat Lovecraftian novel]] set in an alternate late-Victorian London. For the record, the first word is "The". In our universe, when Queen Victoria died, Count von Zeppelin hadn't sold even one of his machines, but he had been banging on about them since 1874. |
| 134 | * In ''Literature/TheInvisibleLibrary'', Irene visits a parallel universe where vampires and other mythical creatures are considered normal members of society, and zeppelins are the normal way of air transport. However, no method of wireless communication has been invented; the airships communicate with the ground via devices powered by [[TheFairFolk elf magic]], which horrifies Irene, as elves are consistently evil (the stronger ones can travel between the worlds, so every parallel universe has the same elves). |
| 135 | * ''Literature/JobAComedyOfJustice'' has the main character from a zeppelin-filled world, slipping into a world with no air traffic at all, and then into one with similar technology to our own. One especially well-done part is when he attempts to explain to the readers what an airplane looks like from the perspective of someone who's never seen one before. It's explained that in this alternate reality, heavier-than-air flight is proven to be mathematically impossible and that zeppelins travel at mach speeds. |
| 136 | * In the ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' series, airships -- ranging from small personal flyers to spectacular [[TheSkyIsAnOcean airborne battleships]] -- are very common among the cities of the Red Martians. The Black Martians also have a formidable aerial navy, which features prominently in ''The Gods of Mars''. |
| 137 | * The evil aristocracy in ''Literature/TheKingdomsOfEvil'' employs gas-filled flying squid as a means of transportation. |
| 138 | * Anthony Huso's ''The Last Page'' and its follow-up ''Black Bottle'' are set in a steampunk world full of Zeppelins (and tanks, cars, etc., all of which run on "chemiostatic" engines). They're even referred to as "Zeppelins", despite the fact that this series is not set on an alternate Earth but a made-up fantasy world, making it highly unlikely that Lord Zeppelin would exist, much less have his name associated with airships. |
| 139 | * The titular ''Leviathan'' in the ''Literature/{{Leviathan}}'' series is a [[LivingShip living airship]] in an alternate history with OrganicTechnology. |
| 140 | * In ''Literature/TheLongEarth'', zeppelins are the preferred mode of travel between the millions of parallel Earths humanity has discovered. Potentially any vehicle can dimension hop, but zeppelins, or "twains", are justified on the grounds that: A) You retain your altitude, while the ground may not, so [[DangerousHeights flight is highly recommended]], B) Millions of uninhabited Earths means helium is plentiful, and C) Zeppelins don't require airstrips to land safely. Technically, the twains are from our world, since homo sapiens only evolved on one Earth, but it's still a story about alternate universes and zeppelins. |
| 141 | * [[http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/liu_11_14/ "The Long Haul"]] by Ken Liu portrays a zeppelin journey in a world in which zeppelins never went out of fashion and exist alongside jet airliners in the present day. |
| 142 | * In ''Literature/TheMerchantPrincesSeries'', one of the two alternate universes featured in detail uses zeppelins for air travel. (The other one has a roughly medieval level of technology, so it doesn't have air travel at all.) |
| 143 | * ''The Hubris'' in ''Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire'', a massive zeppelin that the author buys from Emo Philips. Counts as another world because according to this book, Thomas Jefferson was friends with the mole men, axolotls have magical powers, and Enrico Fermi was an alien. |
| 144 | * ''Literature/MortalEngines'' has a lot of Zeppelins, though it's a post-apocalyptic future version of this world rather than a parallel one. Heavier-than-air flight is reinvented over the course of the series. |
| 145 | * The opening story in the ''Literature/NewAmsterdamBooks'' is a murder mystery set on a zeppelin... with vampires. |
| 146 | * L. Neil Smith's alternate history novel ''Literature/TheProbabilityBroach'' features large zeppelin passenger liners. Interestingly, Smith does not have them simply for style, rather their existence proceeds logically from the nature of his world. The character's claim that zeppelin travel is uncommon in our world because the military subsidizes airplanes so that it can requisition them in emergencies. It does not subsidize the less militarily useful zeppelins, which means the incentives are for companies to develop planes. In ''The Probability Broach'' the governments and militaries of the world are much weaker, so are unable to subsidize much of anything. In fact, in the backstory, a sort of airborne militia tried to use zeppelins in combat and they were pretty much all shot down, lampshading the uselessness of these aircraft as air superiority fighters. |
| 147 | * ''Literature/{{Proxima}}'' [[spoiler:ends with a band of explorers emerging on a world to be confronted by an airship piloted by an angry Roman]]. |
| 148 | * The ''Literature/RedMarsTrilogy'' has a fleet of automated "air"ships used both for exploration and as part of the early {{terraform}}ing effort (ultimately a failure, but it turns out somewhat useful anyway), so they're Zeppelins ''on'' another world as well. There's solid science backing this: UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth, so fixed-wing aircraft have trouble generating lift there -- a problem that lighter-than-air vehicles do not share. Due that much thinner atmosphere, however, the zeppelins need to be very large. Later (post-terraforming, with a much denser atmosphere), a transforming high-tech sailboat turns into a blimp to escape rough seas. |
| 149 | * ''Literature/RoburTheConqueror'': Majorly subverted by the heavier-than-air design of the ''Albatross'', and by the whole premise that lighter-than-air travel is hopelessly outmoded. |
| 150 | * In ''Literature/{{Somewhither}}'', the empire of Ur from an alternate Earth uses huge combat airships. The protagonist lampshades this trope when he sees one. |
| 151 | * In ''Literature/TerminalWorld'', Swarm is a [[BaseOnWheels entire mobile city]] of zeppelins connected via rope bridges and small dirigible "taxis". Zeppelins have the advantage of being one the safest and fastest methods to travel on a planet where [[EnforcedTechnologyLevels the laws of physics can abruptly change and cause technological failures]]. Each zeppelin carries multiple redundant weapons, power sources and forms of propulsion, in case the Swarm travels into a Zone where combustion engines or autocannons begin to fail. |
| 152 | * The ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series features a world with zeppelins but no jet planes -- although small propeller aircraft do exist. Of course, there's little demand for high-speed airliners with the gravtubes: London to Osaka in 42 minutes! At one point Thursday has the option of being hidden in a parallel Earth where there are jetliners -- presumably, from the sound of things, our world. She says such a thing as a jetliner is impossible. |
| 153 | * ''Literature/{{Transition}}'' invokes this -- a man who frequently travels between universes at one point looks up at the sky when arriving in a new one, searching for zeppelins. As he says, he 'likes it when there's zeppelins'. |
| 154 | * ''Literature/TheTwoGeorges'' is about an alternate world where the United States never left the British Empire. The first chapter is set on an airship, where the protagonist sees an Air Force biplane fly past and echoes the general view that while such speed is useful for the military, there's just no need for it in civilian life. This is in fact based on the Imperial Airship Scheme, also known as the Burney Scheme, which proposed that Britain's colonies would be serviced by a fleet of airships. |
| 155 | * ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr'': Blimps are used for military and rescue operations, but nothing beats the ''Hieronymus Bosch'', a giant luxury airship (30% longer than the ''[[UsefulNotes/TheHindenburg Hindenburg]]'') converted for the scientific expedition in "A Season for Slaughter". |
| 156 | * ''The War in the Air'' by Creator/HGWells is about the German Empire using giant zeppelins to attack the rest of the world, particularly the United States. At the time it was written, it was a reasonable extrapolation of the current technology, in fact, during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, [[HarsherInHindsight the Germans did bomb London several times with zeppelins]]. They did a better job of frightening the civilians than actually destroying strategic targets, but it worked out all the same until they started getting blown out of the sky. |
| 157 | * Creator/MichaelMoorcock's ''The Warlord of the Air'' series is set in a succession of overlapping alternate Earths, where in all of them the powered airship is the dominant method of flight and aerial warfare. An adventurer from our Earth, Oswald Bastable, comes from the late nineteenth century where the only method of flight remains the tethered balloon. Captain Bastable proves to be a natural airship pilot, and eventually becomes of interest to a shadowy group called ''The League of Trans-Temporal Adventurers'' who show him new worlds still. |
| 158 | * ''Washington's Dirigible'' from Jason Barnes' ''Timeline Wars'' trilogy features an alternate 1775 where George Washington, Duke of Kentucky, commands a dirigible for the British government. Many time travelers were involved. |
| 159 | * ''Literature/TheWindupGirl'' is set in a PostPeakOil world, so dirigibles powered by kink-springs and other alternate energies have replaced the now obsolete airliners. |
| 160 | * Creator/RudyardKipling's short story "[[http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/ff1/night.htm With the Night Mail]]" imagines a world where airships are the primary means of transatlantic flight -- though when he wrote it, this looked like a probable future rather than an imaginary world. |
| 161 | * In ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', blimps and zeppelins make a comeback due to their low cost, the scarcity of oil, their relatively low noise output compared to planes and helicopters and if they run out of fuel for propulsion, they remain airborne (both of which are vital in a world where zombies outnumber humans at least two to one). The head of the Government's resource management agency notes that he was somewhat less than enamoured with the idea of sending up Americans in hydrogen-filled airships, the only source of naturally-occurring helium in the United States being overrun with zombies, but eventually came around after it was pointed out that we've come on a long way in safe storage techniques for flammable gases since 1937. |
| 162 | * In ''Literature/TheYearsOfRiceAndSalt'', airplanes remain limited to military use, while civilian airflight is accomplished mostly by airship (and later, "space planes"!) |
| 163 | * In ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'', no actual Zeppelins appear, and the technology is for the most part pretty similar to our timeline's -- but in a subtle joke on this trope, the protagonist finds "a windup zeppelin" amongst other junk in a basement. |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 167 | * The Creator/NationalGeographicChannel's ''Aftermath: Life Without Oil'' special suggests that a civilization [[PostPeakOil without access to abundant fossil fuel]] may use airships for air travel; most likely thanks to the fact that they need very little fuel compared to propeller or jet-powered planes. |
| 168 | * There is an airship in the opening sequence of ''Series/{{Caprica}}'', and in TheMetaverse game ''New Cap City'', a gigantic, heavily armed dirigible circles the virtual city, [[AirborneAircraftCarrier launching fighter planes]] and gunning down anyone it sees on the ground. |
| 169 | * ''Series/{{Continuum}}'' features a certain future CEO that lives in a penthouse on top of a strange upside-down satellite/Zeppelin that should by all rights capsize immediately, but can fly upright [[AWizardDidIt because FUTURE.]] |
| 170 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 171 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen Rise of the Cybermen]]", the Doctor immediately notices that they've slipped into a parallel world when he sees zeppelins in the sky above London. |
| 172 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong The Wedding of River Song]]" opens with a montage of anachronisms ("Do Not Feed the Pterodactyls" sign, Holy Roman Emperor Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens interviewed on television, etc.) starting, of course, with a sky full of hot-air balloons. ''Carrying cars.'' |
| 173 | * In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', what little we see of "Earth-3" includes, naturally, airships. Later on, Earth-X also has them, but with [[AlternateHistoryNaziVictory swastikas on the side]]. |
| 174 | * Played dead straight to the point of an InvokedTrope in ''Series/{{Fringe}}''; the first image Walter shows his military bosses in 1985 to prove he's discovered an AlternateUniverse is a zeppelin docking at the Empire State Building. They're not seen all the time in other episodes set in the alternate universe, but then again you don't always see airplanes in the real world's sky. Sometimes, the transition from scenes in one universe to another is shown via a quick burst of light and a zeppelin in the sky appearing or disappearing in the sky. In a third-season episode, Fauxlivia meets her fiancé at the aforementioned Empire State Building upon his return from assisting in treating a North Texas cholera outbreak. |
| 175 | * This trope is heavily downplayed in ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle''. Establishing shots of the Nazi-occupied New York occasionally contain zeppelins in the distant skyline. However, the show prefers to use Concorde aircraft (which were invented a couple decades earlier in the series' timeline compared to ours) with its distinctive sonic boom to convey the "this is an alternate universe" feeling. |
| 176 | * While it's not entirely clear if ''Series/TheSecretAdventuresOfJulesVerne'' takes place in an alternate world, the heroes travel the world in an airship much more advanced than possible at the time. Then again, this isn't even the least likely invention in the show (hovering TimeMachine, anyone?). A later story arc features a group of baddies copying the design into an even larger, armored airship complete with cannons in order to help the South win UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. The reasoning is that battlefield artillery is designed to shoot horizontally (which is wrong, especially if mortars are also used) and can't shoot an airship above. |
| 177 | * It's a relatively minor instance, but in the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "[[Recap/StargateSG1S3E11PastAndPresent Past and Present]]", SG-1 finds itself on a post-industrial world remarkably similar to our own in the late 19th century. A zoomed-out shot of the city shows a zeppelin floating lazily in the sky. |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 181 | * Music/AbneyPark is a steampunk band whose fictional persona involves their plane crashing into a time-traveling dirigible, which they then commandeered. They have since become airship pirates. |
| 182 | * The song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsB--twZgng Geni e o Zepelim]] ("Jenny and the Zeppelin" in English) features a villain that rides in in a giant Zeppelin and threatens to blow up the entire city. |
| 183 | * Music/TroutMaskReplica: In the weirdness of the entire album the song "The Blimp" definitely fits this trope. |
| 184 | [[/folder]] |
| 185 | |
| 186 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 187 | * The ''Podcast/TwilightHistories'' episode "The Big Turk", set in a world where Mustafa Kemal Ataturk reformed the entire Ottoman Empire into a massive and prosperous Turkish Republic, begins and ends on an airship, though high-speed rail is also mentioned as a popular mode of transportation. An airship also appears at the end of the mini-episode "Beyond the Indus". |
| 188 | [[/folder]] |
| 189 | |
| 190 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 191 | * In a January 2000 ''Suppressed Transmission'' column, Creator/KennethHite dubbed this trope "[[Quotes/ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld Hite's Law]]", and took it to its logical conclusion: given that airships (along with diverse, radical, and often authoritarian political systems) are the sign of an alternate history, ''our own'' history was an AlternateUniverse in the early 20th century. See also the notes for ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' below. |
| 192 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'' has Zeppelins as support vehicles, in small, medium and even large. In addition, the Star League apparently once used a Zeppelin based design to create multi-platform flying cities. |
| 193 | * ''[[http://www.dangerpatrol.com Danger Patrol]]'' is centered around [[CityOfAdventure Rocket City]] on Mars, where gargantuan "Magna-Zeppelins" are a common sight shipping large cargoes across the massive city. It's a PlanetaryRomance setting that plays up {{Zeerust}} for all it's worth. |
| 194 | * 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 up to five times as large as Hindeburg... And there's more than one in every army. |
| 195 | * Heavier-than-air ships powered by a bound elemental are a recent innovation in ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' and are prohibitively expensive for most, but they're also an icon of the setting and a symbol of its DungeonPunk character. |
| 196 | * In ''TabletopGame/FlyingCircus'', the [[GreatOffscreenWar Great War]] stunted technology to the equivalent of the early-20th century, zeppelins and other airships remain a mainstay in Himmilgard. Airships appear through the artwork to bring home the setting's tech level. |
| 197 | * ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'', being a generic system, addresses the subject of airship technology from time to time — often in relation to alternate histories, as it turns out. |
| 198 | ** Creator/KennethHite (see above) was one of the authors of ''TabletopGame/InfiniteWorlds'', and one of his contributions was a table to randomly generate alternate technologies for one's randomly generated [[AlternateUniverse worldline]]; it has a note that certain results dictate adding zeppelins regardless of the rest of the universe's tech level. Apparently, alternate history just generates airships. |
| 199 | ** ''[[http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/steampunk/steampunk1/ GURPS Steampunk 1: Settings and Style]]'' has a box-out discussing what a world or setting ''needs'' to justify the survival and prevalence of airships, and concludes that they are actually a logical fit with {{Steampunk}}. |
| 200 | ** ''[[http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/allstarjam2004/ GURPS All-Star Jam 2004,]]'' a 10-chapter compilation of various roleplaying concepts and settings, devotes one chapter (by Brian J Underhill) to airships. |
| 201 | * ''TabletopGame/HollowEarthExpedition'': While ''UsefulNotes/TheHindenburg'' catastrophe didn't happen in-universe (yet), the zeppelins are on the stage of their swan song anyway. Nothing however prevents players from procuring one and even the default, starting adventure is all about using and then maintaining one on the journey to the Hollow Earth via the North Pole shaft. Nazis are also still toying with their own designs, and few {{Flawed Prototype}}s show up in the scenarios provided in the expansions -- including one fitted with an extra-flammable rocket engine, because all that hydrogen wasn't already dangerous enough. |
| 202 | * ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'': A favorite (if blatantly anachronistic) mode of transportation for the Sons of Ether, who for the most part revel in just the type of aesthetic that would spur mad scientist/mages to build large and improbable airships. They mostly keep their zeppelins to offworld {{Pocket Dimension}}s to avoid the threat of a RealityBreakingParadox if enough {{Muggles}} notice the impossible vessels. |
| 203 | * More like Zeppelins On Another World in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge''. As rocket engines aren't safe in the atmosphere of Jupiter and the other gas giants, ships designed to explore there can be converted into zeppelins. |
| 204 | * Airship technology turns up from time to time in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': in remote drones for aerial surveillance, in huge "cargolifters" for inexpensive bulk transport, and in luxurious cruise ships for the ultra-rich. The finale of the first Shadowrun book takes place at an airfield where a yakuza boss has just flown in on a zeppelin. |
| 205 | * In the setting of TabletopGame/Space1889, most flying ships on Earth and Mars use "Martian liftwood" to stay aloft, giving them a more ship-like appearance. But on Venus liftwood doesn't work, so the German colony there is patrolled by Zeppelins -- on another world ''in'' another world. |
| 206 | [[/folder]] |
| 207 | |
| 208 | [[folder:Theme Parks]] |
| 209 | * Dreamfinder's CoolShip at Ride/DisneyThemeParks first version of ''Ride/JourneyIntoImagination''. |
| 210 | ** The story behind the airship is a long and complicated one full of WhatCouldHaveBeen (aptly enough, given this trope): the original plan, back in TheSeventies, was for the California Disneyland to contain a {{steampunk}}-themed area called Discoveryland, whose centrepiece would be a replica of the ''Hyperion'', a CoolAirship featured in the Disney movie ''Film/TheIslandAtTheTopOfTheWorld''. Unfortunately, after the movie flopped, Disney scrapped their plans for Discoveryland, repurposing most of the work that was already done into ''Journey Into Imagination'' over in Florida. Decades later, however, the old Discoveryland plans were dusted off for Disneyland Paris as its equivalent to the Tomorrowland areas in the American parks, with the ''Hyperion'' in place. Disneyland Paris's opening was also a flop, because zeppelins are [[HindenburgIncendiaryPrinciple cursed apparently]]. |
| 211 | * Homaged in the large model blimp over the entrance to {{Steampunk}} HQ in Oamaru, New Zealand. |
| 212 | * Zeppelins are among the many flying machines developed by the Udara Air Kingdom at ''Lost Island Theme Park'' that can be seen in the plans at ''Skyborne'', though experiments in the preshow with [[AppliedPhlebotinum Udarinium]] involving them haven't gone well. |
| 213 | [[/folder]] |
| 214 | |
| 215 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 216 | * ''VideoGame/Persona2'' makes special mention of a model blimp mounted to the roof of the aerospace museum. Since rumors can become reality in this game, the fact that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve enough people suspect it's a real, functioning blimp makes it flyable.]] The launching of the blimp late in ''Innocent Sin'' is a signifier that the basic rules of reality [[RealityWarper no longer apply]], right before everything goes completely to hell in the late game. When it launches again (after a ResetButton) in ''Eternal Punishment'' after an early-game dungeon, it's a warning that things are moving faster now even without your contribution. |
| 217 | * The beginning of ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' sees the player barely surviving a terrible airship crash. Interestingly, it seems heavier than air ships have a shorter than real-life span of use in ''Arcanum'', as the aforementioned blimp IFS ''Zephyr'' (incorrectly called a zeppelin) was the first of its kind and on its maiden voyage, but was destroyed with stolen biplanes. Later in the game, succeeding on one quest and providing proof the biplanes flew insures their continued existence. |
| 218 | * The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games love airships; each main-series game includes an airship in the mid- to late game as easy transport around the world. While many of the earlier games are simply sea-ships with propellers on, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' and ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII VII]]'' (both much more technology-oriented than their predecessors) feature actual zeppelins as their major airships, and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' brings them back as general-use vehicles in a fantasy SteamPunk setting. More recent games have airships that look too advanced to be barely recognizable as dirigibles. |
| 219 | * Used in ''VideoGame/TimeShift''. Most of the game takes place in an alternate 1940s, so the zeppelins aren't so far out [[note]]In reality the last of the zeppelins was scrapped in April of 1940[[/note]]. The helicopters and giant mechanical spiders, however, make you realize something is more than a little wrong. |
| 220 | ** They are badass zeppelins. They have two giant vertical props, have two heavy-duty AA autocannon turrets, several machinegun emplacements, dedicated lift systems between decks, ''and'' self repair capabilities, thus able to fend off a heavy-duty assault by two or three dozen unusually slow jet planes. |
| 221 | * The ''VideoGame/CrimsonSkies'' computes games are set in a swashbuckling DieselPunk 20th century alternate history that has various zeppelins used by both the armed forces and {{sky pirates}} as [[AirborneAircraftCarrier flying aircraft carriers]] or sky battleships. They often play key points in many levels, serving as the focus of escort missions or in boss encounters. |
| 222 | * Rowan Software's 1995 alternate universe flight simulator ''Air Power: Battle in the Skies'' takes place on a marshy continent with little in the way of roads and railways. Warfare is conducted mainly with aircraft and zeppelins. The player commands a fleet of heavily armed war zeppelins, including the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier aircraft carrier]] which serves as the main base for the player's fighters and bombers. |
| 223 | * ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' and ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' (Both set in separate alternate timelines) feature the Kirov Airships, massive, heavily armoured war Zepplins used by the Soviet Union to bombard ground targets. Cutscenes and promo pictures, as well as the menu screen for ''Red Alert 3'' show them looming ominously over US Cities. This is [[HandWave explained]] as an alternative approach to aircraft due to the Allies forbidding the Soviets from building a strong conventional air force. While the Soviets do get additional aircraft in ''[[ExpansionPack Yuri's Revenge]]'', this takes place after the main storyline, giving the Soviets more time to build fast-strike [=MiGs=]. |
| 224 | * 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 dinosaurs still roam the jungles for some reason. To top it all off, now there's a time travelling [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Spartan]]. |
| 225 | * In ''VideoGame/TheSaboteur'', Nazi zeppelins act like helicopters from GTA. It is worth mentioning that these airships [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzzYrW_ZWKQ can be shot down in a fiery inferno.]] |
| 226 | * Seen in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', usually on the Horde side but sometimes in neutral zones (like Northrend). |
| 227 | ** 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. The Alliance's counterpart unit, the Gnomish Flying Machine, was more of a steampunk take on a helicopter, by contrast. |
| 228 | * An airship features in ''VideoGame/{{Damnation}}'', for perhaps longer than it should as the folks from ''WebVideo/{{Unskippable}}'' point out: |
| 229 | --> "So, is nobody going to shoot at it? Because, gee, I wonder what the [[WeaksauceWeakness weakness]] could be on the airship with the two balloon things. |
| 230 | * ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheBeast'', despite its high-fantasy theme, has airships floating across the sky for no clear reason. |
| 231 | * ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' spinoff, ''VideoGame/Privateer2TheDarkening'', featured the planet Bex, complete with flying zeppelins and [[AlienSky purple sky]] in its intro movie. |
| 232 | * ''VideoGame/DealtInLead'' No zeppelins yet, but war balloons. During UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. No, they're not used for observation. They're used for wrecking entire cities. |
| 233 | * ''VideoGame/NeoSteam'' has steam balloons, which are basically hot air balloons with propellers (and possibly full of steam...). Unlike other transportation methods the balloons are free to use once you have bought a map. |
| 234 | ** An interesting detail is that rather than play a stock cut scene, the game remains interactive during the journey, so you can zoom in and out and circle around your character as s/he stands in the gondola while the actual terrain you are traversing unrolls below. The balloons can not be seen from the ground though. |
| 235 | * ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'''s Metropolis (a recurring level) had airships with ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' advertising which could be destroyed for a skill point. An early teaser for ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction Tools of Destruction]]'' also featured them. |
| 236 | * ''VideoGame/SkyGunner'' displays how different their world is by setting the first stage of the game around one. |
| 237 | * The ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon'' series features a large number of various airships. Since you are on a dragon and could just run away from anything that couldn't keep up with you, it's natural enough that it needs a wide array of flying enemies, and since its a steam-punkish universe (with added magic) the vehicles of preference for the evil empire du jour are airships or airshipesque vehicles. |
| 238 | * ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}''[='s=] isometric view is explained as the player commanding the action from an airship floating above the level. |
| 239 | * ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' takes place on Columbia, a floating city built in 1900. There are zeppelins. You have to take one out in a boss battle. It is awesome. |
| 240 | * ''VideoGame/GunsOfIcarus'' has you pilot a zeppelin called the ''Icarus'' across a post-apocalyptic landscape, fighting off SkyPirates along the way. |
| 241 | * Air units in ''VideoGame/MarchOfWar'', which takes place in an alternate version of the 1940s, tend to be airships of some kind. |
| 242 | * Airships appear late in the game ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', as well as in some of the Living Story updates- they are first developed by the Charr, but are constructed later by the Pact with Human and Asuran inputs. Later on, many of them are stolen and then extensively used by the game's [[SkyPirates Aetherblade]] faction. |
| 243 | * In ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein2009'', one such zeppelin has been hovering over Isenstadt for the whole game, serving as a headquarters for the Nazi's Veil research. The climactic levels involve BJ infiltrating and destroying it. |
| 244 | * In ''VideoGame/DieReiseInsAll'' there's the meteor, Captain nemo's airship, that looks a lot like an airship version of the nautilus. |
| 245 | * You can see a huge airship flying in the background in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheAzranLegacy'', in much the same way a plane would. |
| 246 | * In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', these are not seen during gameplay thanks to the top-down {{isometric|Projection}} perspective, but they are visible in the opening splash screen: rather than seagoing ships, which cannot cross the Pale, large patches of [[RealityIsOutToLunch anti-reality]] which keeps the world's continents -- the so-called isolas -- seperated, most cargo shipping and passenger travel is accomplished through the use of airships, or aerostats -- blocky vessels which resemble aircraft carriers, maneuvering via enormous fixed rotors. Even the equivalent of naval forces use aerostats rather than conventional battleships, such as the [[GunboatDiplomacy Coalition patrol ships off the shore of Revachol]] which have been a permanent feature of the city's skyline since the end of the World Revolution. |
| 247 | [[/folder]] |
| 248 | |
| 249 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 250 | * 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. |
| 251 | * ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has zeppelin appearances signalled by [[http://xkcd.com/73 wristwatch dial]] and [[http://xkcd.com/288 elevator button.]] |
| 252 | * ''Webcomic/TheThinkingApeBlues'' features an alternate universe in which zeppelins are frequently seen in the sky. |
| 253 | * ''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. |
| 254 | ** There's also one flying over the GladiatorGames in the Empire of Blood |
| 255 | * [[http://www.viruscomix.com/page417.html This]] ''Webcomic/{{Subnormality}}'' strip has zeppelins become commonplace when time travel apparently results in the Nazis conquering the world. |
| 256 | ** It should be noted that, [[RealityIsUnrealistic in real life]], the Nazis didn't use Zeppelins during World War II--in fact, no country did. The last ones were scrapped after the destruction of the ''Hindenburg''. The United States did, however, use blimps for anti-submarine recon. |
| 257 | * As per habit, {{lampshade|Hanging}}d 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. |
| 258 | * The Ninja Emperor in ''Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy'' has a personal zeppelin the size of the goodyear blimp. |
| 259 | * At the end of the MirrorUniverse arc in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'', a group of {{Mad Scientist}}s explain that, in a world where a vast intelligent cypress has been destroying the continent, a HatePlague has destroyed most of the male human population, and the government is now run by transgenic animals, they are going to rebuild by focusing on the most pressing need: Zeppelin docks for skyscrapers. |
| 260 | -->'''Sweetheart:''' I was all prepped to argue, but that does sound cool. |
| 261 | [[/folder]] |
| 262 | |
| 263 | [[folder:Web Originals]] |
| 264 | * [[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost1696-Motivator_zeppelins.jpg "The Number One sign you are an a parallel world."]] |
| 265 | * ''Website/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'': The parallel world seen in ''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. |
| 266 | * In ''Literature/DecadesOfDarkness'', they're used to great success in the North American War and the Brazilian Civil War. |
| 267 | * ''Literature/TheFlyingCloud'' is a serial web series about a British airship crew that gets stranded in the Pacific. It's set in an AlternateHistory where the UsefulNotes/WorldWarI ended two years early. |
| 268 | * ''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. |
| 269 | * ''Website/TheOnion'' features 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."]] |
| 270 | * Even in the far future of ''Website/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.]] |
| 271 | * In the online graphic adaptation of ''Literature/TheProbabilityBroach'' 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. |
| 272 | * 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.]] |
| 273 | * ''Website/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. In the same alternate reality, there's the [[GhostShip Ghost Airship]] known as the ''Black Wyvern'' ([[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-6835 SCP-6835]]), which is contained by that universe's equivalent of the SCP Foundation. |
| 274 | * Parodied in the ''WebAnimation/TerribleWritingAdvice'' episode on {{Steampunk}}, which advocates completely ignoring a real steam-powered vehicle like the train in favor of [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial totally safe and not-at-all explosive dirigibles]], and such machines should be thrown into the story with no thought because they completely revolutionize travel and logistics. |
| 275 | [[/folder]] |
| 276 | |
| 277 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 278 | * ''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.]] |
| 279 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' has the "Skytanic", existing in what seems to be another timeline than our own, where the Cold War never ended. However, the ''[[UsefulNotes/TheHindenburg Hindenburg]]'' disaster ''did'' happen in this universe, 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.]] |
| 280 | * ''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. |
| 281 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' also has the large metal airships of its predecessor, albeit with 70 additional years of technological development. |
| 282 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' was fond of these, as they evoked a 1930s atmosphere. Commentary for "On Leather Wings", which was the first episode of the series, acknowledges that Police blimps never really existed, even in the 1930s, 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. |
| 283 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Imago}}'', which takes place in a fantasy setting inspired by various North African cultures, the equivalent of Tuaregs fly zeppelins and even build settlement out of the carcass of wrecked airships. |
| 284 | [[/folder]] |
| 285 | |
| 286 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 287 | * Kenneth Hite, the author of the quote up top, has also said, "From this premise, it is not outside the realm of Plausibility that our history between 1900 and 1936 was, in fact, an Alternate History. It would, at least, explain a lot." |
| 288 | [[/folder]] |
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