History Main / EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy

* ''Film/Dracula3000'' is set in a region of space [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance inconsistently referred to]] as the Carpathian System and the Carpathian Galaxy.

This is particularly obvious when a character points out their "Home Galaxy" in the night sky (only the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and the Andromeda Galaxy are easily visible to the naked eye).

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E129Probe7OverAndOut Probe 7, Over and Out]]", Cook refers to his and Norda's solar systems as "galaxies", even though they're only a few light years apart.

* In ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'', the crew of the Galactica often use the term "galaxy" when they should have used "solar system". For example, Commander Adama says that Earth is located in "a galaxy much like our own" ...and in the last episode, the basestar is apparently the only one in the galaxy in which the ''Galactica'' is located, and the rest of the Cylon fleet is spread throughout the universe looking for the ''Galactica'''s fleet.

** In "Duel", Travis explains that the other Federation patrols have pushed the Liberator into this galaxy. One assumes he meant solar system.

** In "Star One", a space minefield blocks the invasion route between our galaxy and Andromeda. Minefields are only effective when they guard chokepoints. In this case the invasion fleet could simply maneuver around it.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The series, especially the classic series, tends to throw around "galaxy" very casually. Early episodes use it interchangeably with "universe" and "solar system". For example:
** Laws and political organisations are sometimes described as spanning through multiple galaxies at various different points (e.g. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E1TheDominators The Dominators]] are said to rule the ten galaxies), whilst the humans who have settled these galaxies are usually shown flying basic rocket-ships. The Doctor gets a pass at visiting all of these places, but they are rarely shown as having any more depth than the 3-5 people representing those cultures.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan "The Daleks' Master Plan"]] is set at an Intergalactic Conference, with the Outer Galaxies allied with the Daleks.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E4TheMonsterOfPeladon "The Monster of Peladon"]] TheFederation is at war with Galaxy 5, although the [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] later {{retcon}}s this as a terrorist organisation with a grandiose name).
** In the ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E12NightmareInSilver "Nightmare in Silver"]]'' it is said that to stop the Cybermen, they had to blow up the Tiberian galaxy to stop them.

* ''Series/TheStarlost''. Mu Lambda 165, the GenerationShip MasterComputer, informs the protagonist that the Ark was created so humanity would survive a "catastrophe of galactic proportions". Admittedly its data is uncomplete so this may well be true (it says their homeworld is in the Milky Way galaxy), but you'd need more than a generation ship to travel to another galaxy.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episodes:
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E129Probe7OverAndOut Probe 7 Over And Out]]". Cook refers to his and Norda's solar systems as "galaxies", even though they're only a few light years apart.
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E89ToServeMan To Serve Man]]". In the opening narration, Creator/RodSerling says that the Kanamits come from another galaxy. Since it's later stated in the episode that the Kanamit home planet is 100 billion miles away from Earth, it's clear that he should have said "solar system". [[note]]And one that is well-hidden. The nearest ''known'' solar system is 235,000 times farther than that.[[/note]]

This is probably due to the TheLawOfConservationOfDetail. The writer wanted to deal with a galactic scale, but have only have the resources to detail a handful of planets (which in turn can only be represented by a handful of characters in a room) and so scales back the scope of events. Or it could be because many people are scientifically illiterate, a large percentage have managed to so fundamentally confuse things that terms like "solar system", "galaxy", and "universe" are often treated as if they were the same thing.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Silverhawks}}'' is repeatedly mentioned to take place in "the Limbo Galaxy", even if all of the events of the series happen within a single solar system and surrounding light-year-wide perimeter.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfHeMan'' was set in a region of space called the Tri-Solar System and the Tri-Solar Galaxy interchangably.

* The ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Debate_(astronomy) Great Debate]]'' in Astronomy in 1920 focused on the observation of what we now know to be galaxies, but which were originally believed to be spiral-shaped nebulae within the Milky Way.

** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E89ToServeMan To Serve Man]]". In the opening narration, Creator/RodSerling says that the Kanamits come from another galaxy. Since it's later stated in the episode that the Kanamit home planet is 100 billion miles away from Earth, it's clear that he should have said "solar system".

* ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars''. Gelt says that the rest of the galaxy formed a protective league, who raised an army and cleaned out the WretchedHive whose ruins he's living in. There's no mention of why this galaxy-wide league isn't doing something about Sador conquering and destroying planets, if just a single planet made them so nervous. Later as he's dying he bemoans the irony of dying on "a minor planet in a third-rate galaxy."

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' - In "Log Date 7 15 2", Garnet says during some stargazing that "You can see Homeworld's galaxy from here." This is despite the Gems being artificial life forms that don't require very specific atmospheres, but only having conquered about 58 planets (including Earth but not counting Homeworld) by the time of the Rose Quartz rebellion, whilst the average galaxy is likely to have billions of planets.
* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': Despite claiming to be an inter-galactic conflict, there are never more than a handful of single-planet civilizations involved, and travel between inhabited worlds treats them as being functionally next to each other. Not helping the issue, at the end of "The Journey Within," Pidge says that they've reached Earth's solar system, the Milky Way.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' - In "Log Date 7 15 2", Garnet mentioned that the Gem Homeworld is not located in the Milky Way Galaxy, where Earth resides, but in a separate galaxy still visible from Earth. This is despite the Gems being artificial life forms that don't require very specific atmospheres, but only having conquered about 58 planets (including Earth but not counting Homeworld) by the time of the Rose Quartz rebellion, whilst the average galaxy is likely to have billions of planets.
* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': Despite claiming to be an inter-galactic conflict, there are never more than a handful of single-planet civilisations involved and travel between inhabited worlds treats them as being functionally next to each other.

[[caption-width-right:350:That's not a galaxy, that's a spaceship!]]

This is probably due to the TheLawOfConservationOfDetail. The writer wanted to deal with a galactic scale, but have only have the resources to detail a handful of planets (which in turn can only be represented by a handful of characters in a room) and so scales back the scope of events.

Or it could be a case of SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale, and because many people are scientifically illiterate, a large percentage have managed to so fundamentally confuse things that terms like "solar system", "galaxy", and "universe" are often treated as if they were the same thing.

Or equally it could be a case of CriticalResearchFailure. Both because SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale, and because many people are scientifically illiterate, a large percentage have managed to so fundamentally confuse things that terms like "solar system", "galaxy", and "universe" are often treated as if they were the same thing.

In SciFi, particularly the softer kind, writers get a bit excited about the idea of galaxies with their big spiral arms and impressive names. So it's very common for writers to use the term "Galaxy" incorrectly to refer to things that only have one (or a handful) of stars and several planets or that are not particularly distant. In these cases all planets are shown to be roughly equally distant regardless of if they are in the same star system, a different star system or another "Galaxy".

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': The Mario universe is already comically small, filled with worlds that are BabyPlanet, but each 'galaxy' only contains a handful of planetoids. Though in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', more realistically-sized galaxies appear in the backgrounds of Worlds 4 and 5.

This is a SubTrope of both SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale and ArtisticLicenseSpace. See also WhatOtherGalaxies and SmallUniverseAfterAll.

In SciFi, particularly the softer kind, writers get a bit excited about the idea of galaxies with their big spiral arms and impressive names, so it's very common for writers to use the term "Galaxy" incorrectly to refer to things that only have one (or a handful) of stars and several planets or that are not particularly distant. In these cases all planets are shown to be roughly equally distant regardless of if they are in the same star system, a different star system or another "Galaxy".

Or equally it could be a case of CriticalResearchFailure. Both because SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale, and because many people are scientifically illiterate, a large percentage have managed to so fundamentally confuse things that terms like "solar system", "galaxy", and "universe" are often treated as the same thing.

Or equally it could be a case of CriticalResearchFailure. Both because SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale, and because many people are scientifically illiterate, a large percentage have managed to so fundamentally confuse things that terms like "solar system", "galaxy" and "universe" are often treated as the same thing.

Or equally it could be a case of CriticalResearchFailure. Both because SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale, and because many people are scientifically illiterate, a large percentage have managed to so fundamentally confuse things that terms like "solar system", "galaxy" and "universe" are often treated as the same thing. (Note that this is, more or less, equivalent to equating the terms "boulder" and "continent.")

Or equally it could be a case of CriticalResearchFailure. Both because SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale, and because many people are scientifically illiterate, a large percentage have managed to so fundamentally confuse things that terms like "solar system", "galaxy" and "universe" are often treated as the same thing. (Note that this is, more or less, equivalent to equating the terms "centimeter" and "kilometer.")