History Main / DetonationMoon

** In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', Eggman blows up half of the moon with the [[KillSat Eclipse Cannon]] to show the world he's not messing around when he announces he's conquering the world. The laser blows off part of the moon, revealing a molten core and apparently having no influence on the planet's oceans. It's still broken in ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'', where the plot continues dealing with said KillSat, but otherwise appears perfectly fine in every subsequent game (including one where the final battle happens on the surface). WordOfGod claims that the Moon is still broken; it's just always facing the other way when we see it (the moon's rotation doesn't work like that in real life, but [[GiganticMoon this was a pretty big moon]], so maybe this one does).

* ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'': "Wirewolf" Booster and Mira flew Star Cruister 42 into the moon, blowing it up so as to revert Wirewolf back to Ty Parsec.

* * ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': A pink, unshaven man appears out of nowhere (like most anything on the show) and asks the Aqua Teens to help him blow up the Moon. As it quickly turns out, he’s actually a [[Franchise/StarWars Wookie]] [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent were-beast]], and needed the Moon gone so he couldn’t transform. It happens anyway, but that’s because the Mooninites blew up Yoda for kicks.

* In ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', one of the moons of the Klingon homeworld (Praxis) has apparently blown up; interestingly, in this timeline, this seems to have happened 30 years ''before'' the event in the Prime universe, where it was a major plot point in ''Film/StarTrekVI'' and was the event that paved the way for the end of formal hostilities between the Federation and the Klingon Empire in the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]-era.

* From the TV-series version of ''Series/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy1981'', a description of the songs of the rock group [[FakeBand Disaster Area]]:

* On ''Series/MrShow'', America inexplicably decides to blow up the moon and is met with huge approval, with people writing patriotic country songs and throwing parties in honor of the event. When Galileo, the monkey assigned to push the launch button, asks (via sign language) why they're doing it, America erupts into outrage, until Galileo is fired and replaced with Mr. Wiggles, a monkey that doesn't know sign language. NASA goes ahead with the destruction of the moon, and they do it during a full moon so they know they got it all.
-->'''NASA Engineer''': We have the technology. The time is now. Science can wait no longer. Children are our future. America can, should, must, and will blow up the moon!

* On ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' The guys are bouncing a laser off the moon to see if it's viewable from Earth and Penny's dim-witted date is worried the moon will blow up. Leonard reassures him that they set the laser to stun.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' discusses it extensively in the Series 8 episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E7KillTheMoon "Kill the Moon"]]. Strange happenings on the Moon (fault lines enlarging, a sudden but inexplicable increase in mass, and resulting disastrous effects on Earth tides) causes humanity to launch a mission to blow up the Moon with a bunch of nukes. By the end of the episode, they [[spoiler:discover that the Moon is actually an egg that's about to hatch, and they subvert the trope by stopping the countdown [[AlwaysClose at the last second]]. Then played with even further — the newborn... [[SingleSpecimenSpecies thing]]... ''[[BornAsAnAdult immediately]]'' [[BornAsAnAdult lays a new Moon-egg]], which explains why we still have a moon in episodes that take place further into the future.]]
* The TV series of ''Series/TheExpanse'' portrays the destruction of Phoebe as a last-minute attempt to keep Earth from getting the Protomolecule, as both Mars and Earth had marines en route when the missiles were launched. Deimos is destroyed shortly afterwards as reprisal.

* Inverted in ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'' where the Moon gets blasted into space but survives more or less intact, but the Earth suffers devastating effects from the loss of their tide-control device. In a later episode, it's revealed that the Earth survived, but humanity screwed the environment anyway.

* In ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' the primary event that destroys the Earth at the end of Season One is [[spoiler:when Vanya destroys the moon during her solo concert.]]

-->'''Eggman:''' I've come to make an announcement: Shadow the Hedgehog's a bitch-ass motherfucker. He pissed on my fucking wife. That's right, he took his hedgehog-fuckin' quilly dick out and he pissed on my fucking wife, and he said his dick was "THIS BIG," and I said "that's disgusting," so I'm making a callout post on my Twitter.com: Shadow the Hedgehog, you've got a small dick. It's the size of this walnut except WAY smaller. And guess what? Here's what my dong looks like! ''BWSHHH!!'' That's right, baby. All points, no quills, no pillows — look at that, it looks like two balls and a bong. He fucked my wife, so guess what, I'm gonna fuck the Earth. That's right, this is what you get: MY SUPER LASER PISS!! Except I'm not gonna piss on the Earth, I'm gonna go higher! I'M PISSING ON THE '''''MOON'''''! How do you like that, Obama?! ''I PISSED ON THE MOON, YOU IDIOT!'' You have twenty-three hours before the piss [[TrillingRs DRRRRROPLLLLLETS]] hit the fucking Earth! Now get out of my fucking sight before I piss on you too!

Something that is only occasionally referenced is that a satellite body does affect the surface of the parent object. Destroying or otherwise removing the Moon from its orbit would cause serious trouble.