[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/billnyestoptherock_1900.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:E Pluribus Science!]]

''Bill Nye the Science Guy: Stop the Rock!'' is a 1996 adventure game developed by Pacific Interactive for Windows 3.x and Macintosh computers based off of the [[{{Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy}} TV show]]. The game casts you in the role of a new science researcher at Nye Labs, Bill Nye's fictional science complex, located somewhere in Southern California. Almost immediately upon arrival, you're thrust into saving the world from the killer asteroid Impending Dumé by solving the riddles posed by the [[AIIsACrapshoot now-sentient, human-despising AI]] controlling MAAX, the Meteoroid And Asteroid eXploder, so it will actually do the job it was programmed to do. [[TimedMission Oh, and you have just five days before the asteroid hits.]]

Aside from Bill Nye as... well, [[AsHimself Bill Nye]] and Pat Cashman as Chet Brinkow, the game's [[ChewingTheScenery scenery-chewing]] news anchor, the game has none of the recurring characters from the TV show, instead opting for an exclusive cast of original characters.

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!!''Bill Nye the Science Guy: Stop the Rock!'' contain examples of:
* AIIsACrapshoot: The first MAXX does upon activation is decide to test humanity's intelligence or let the world be destroyed. The EvilLaugh does its sanity no favors.
* AmbiguousGender: MAXX does not use pronouns for itself and has a computerized voice that could go either way. When Bill finds himself using pronouns to refer to MAXX, he ends up saying "him, or her, or it".
* ArtisticLicenseSpace: An anti-asteroid-and-meteoroid satellite system like MAAX would do more harm than good in real life since destroying asteroids and meteoroids large enough to destroy Earth would only create ''even more'' asteroids or meteoroids to impact the Earth--albeit smaller ones. Ironically, the InUniverse demonstration video for MAAX averts this--instead of outright destroying Impending Dumé, it's ''deflected'' by the MAAX satellite system away from Earth. This is consistent with how such a system would theoretically work in real life: detonate a small chunk of a killer space object such that the resulting debris will burn up in Earth's atmosphere while the object itself is nudged sufficiently off-course so it won't impact with Earth.
* ChewingTheScenery: Chet Brinkow ''loves'' this trope. Best exemplified by his screaming rant on Day 5:
-->'''Brinkow: [[PunctuatedForEmphasis ...with winds! Exceeding! 250 Miles! An hour!]] So have a nice evening!''' ''[calms down]'' And... '''good night!'''
* ContinueYourMissionDammit: The other lab members will call you out if you dilly-dally with solving the riddles.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Sure was lucky that [[spoiler:a pterodactyl fossil being uncovered, a thunderstorm, a whale eating plankton over a specific underwater mountain and a ''volcanic eruption'']] all happened in the five day span and close enough for Nye Labs to experience them to solve those riddles.
* EdutainmentGame: The game teaches grade-school science, of course!
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin:
** MAAX, the Meteoroid And Asteroid eXploder.
** Impending Dumé, the killer asteroid currently headed on an unchallenged trajectory towards Earth. Also crosses over with PunnyName and MeaningfulName.
* {{Expy}}: MAAX is [[{{Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey}} HAL 9000]].
* FeaturelessProtagonist: Due to the first-person perspective and no one addressing you with a name or pronouns, you never see any details about your character. This is lampshaded in the ending where Bill can't remember your name.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Those earthquakes that keep popping up? [[spoiler:They're signs of an impending volcano.]]
* FunWithAcronyms: MAAX, the Meteoroid And Asteroid eXploder.
* InUniverseGameClock: Your "five days" to solve MAAX's riddles translates to several hours of game time; a minute ticks by every second or so. Be careful if you send the ''Poseidon II'' to a new location in the Pacific; the game clock will speed up tremendously while you watch its passage so that the player isn't sitting there doing nothing for hours, but this causes a loss of valuable time. It's better to set the destination, go solve some other riddles, then come back when the ship arrives.
* ItsUpToYou: For some unfathomable reason, Bill Nye and everyone else are letting you, the new research assistant, do all the work. They're only there to support you via information gathering. Bill at least is trying to solve the problem directly by finding a way to reprogram MAXX, yet he still finds time to pop up when you play with the lab equipment.
* LicensedGame: Of the ''Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy'' TV series.
* LiteralMinded: Chet Brinkow has this tendency in exchanges with Corrine Kawabi.
-->'''Kawabi:''' Chet, take a chill pill! The fat lady hasn't even sung yet!\\
'''Brinkow:''' ...What does opera have to do with anything, and where can I get one of these ''[does air quotes]'' "chill pills?"
* MeaningfulName: Almost everyone has one (see PunnyName).
* MediumAwareness: Chet will sometimes open his breaking news with "We interrupt this CD-ROM".
* PirateParrot: Captain Swell Whitecap has one.
* PlotLock: You can't get the password to Nye Labs' Sky Labs (the atmospheric research wing) until you meet Connie Vection in person [[spoiler:by inducing convection by boiling water in Nye Labs' cafeteria]], which prompts Bill to contact you and give said password to you. Sadly, the password is impossible to get unless you choose the "Join Nye Labs" (Story Mode) option in the beginning, meaning the Sky Labs are off-limits if you picked "Hang Out" (Sandbox Mode) instead.
* PointOfNoReturn: Once you embark to [[spoiler:rescue Sam Andreas from the erupting Mt. Pavlov]], you won't be able to return to Nye Labs unless you restart the game or load an old save.
* PrepositionalPhraseEqualsCoolness: Just like the TV show it's based on, many of the game's scientific devices use the "[Somewhat-Generic-Description-of-Device] ''of Science!"'' naming schema. There are a few devices which avert this, such as an electron microscope.
* PunnyName:
** Almost everyone who isn't Bill Nye has one of these. Many of them are also [[MeaningfulName meaningful]] since they also tell you what their field of expertise is. Examples include:
*** Connie Vection (Atmospheric sciences)
*** Sue Nami (Oceanic sciences)
*** Sam Andreas (Geology and paleontology)
*** Swell Whitecap (captain of the research vessel ''Poseidon II'')
** Impending Dumé, the asteroid which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin heralds impending doom]] and will destroy Earth if you don't solve all of MAAX's riddles. Technically, it's named after Velanique Dumé, one of the astronomers who made the discovery, though the "Impending" part is probably deliberate GallowsHumor.
* RhymesOnADime: MAXX speaks in iambic pentameter for some reason, so this happens quite a bit.
* StockFootage: While it's mostly relegated to news segments, stock footage is also used for some of the Nye Labs equipment, such as the R.O.S.E. (Remote-Operated Submersible Explorer) live feed.
* StuffBlowingUp:
** When it comes to meteoroids and asteroids, this is MAAX's job description.
** You can do this to a balloon by using the '''Nye Labs Pressure Chamber ''of Science!''''' to expose it to a zero-pressure environment.
** ''The pressure chamber itself'' will also explode if you attempt to increase pressure beyond the chamber's maximum limit.
* SpinningNewspaper: [[spoiler:These are used in the ending to show the news of your accomplishments.]]
* TakeThat: When you examine the sonar device, Bill comments it's like talk radio. Then he starts going off on a tangent about it.
* TalkLikeAPirate: Swell Whitecap, captain of the ''Poseidon II'' and wanna-be pirate, talks like this.
* TimedMission: "Join Nye Labs" (Story Mode) plays this straight since you have only 5 days to save the world from Impending Dumé; "Hang Out" (Sandbox Mode), however, averts it since there's no time limit, allowing you to explore Nye Labs and experiment with its various devices all you want.
* TimeKeepsOnTicking: The clock won't stop while you're communicating with the lab technicians or fiddling with equipment.
* TimeSkip: You'll skip ahead to the next day after solving a few riddles, so you don't have to wait around until the next one becomes available.
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The game suddenly throws the player into a simple, Myst-style puzzle [[spoiler:when rescuing Sam Andreas from Mt. Pavlov.]]
* UnwinnableByDesign: Several earthquakes [[spoiler:caused by Mt. Pavlov's imminent eruption]] occur during the 5-day-long story mode. If you don't use the Tectonics Lab equipment to measure and identify them, you'll be unable to pinpoint their source [[spoiler:and get the answer to the final riddle on Day 5.]] Helpfully, Sam Andreas tells you (in vague terms) when this happens.
* WhatTheHellHero: Blow up the pressure chamber and Bill will let you have it both for destroying lab equipment and for wasting time when there's an asteroid on the way.
* WorldOfHam: To the point where the ''only'' person who isn't a LargeHam is news reporter Corrine Kawabi.
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