History Main / ThatsNoMoon

* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', the moon really turns out to be a huge EldritchAbomination called by collective humanity so that everyone would die.
* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline Episode I'', Red Ring Rico finds and notes in her logs that you find along the way the supposed expansive ruins of Ragol are not ruins at all, but a giant spaceship.

* In ''VideoGame/Portal2'', one of Cave Johnson's "alternate universe" recordings ends with the revelation that the planet you're on is, in fact, Cave Johnson. Cave Johnson is really big in that universe. Spoiler tags really aren't necessary for that, because he couldn't hold in the secret very well either.
* Bydo Lab profile in ''VideoGame/RType Final'' mention how they once encounter planet-size Gomander.

'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' [[TropeNamers That's no moon]]. It's a space station.\\

'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' That's no moon. It's a space station.\\

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'': [[spoiler: [[BigBad Niburu]] has been casting its' shadow over Crystal Cove more literally than expected when it reveals itself as the seemingly-always full moon in the finale.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/PinocchioInOuterSpace''. After leaving the planet Mars, Pinocchio and Nurtle see what appears to be an asteroid trailing a cloud of smoke. As they approach, the "asteroid" uncurls and reveals itself to be Astro, the gigantic SpaceWhale, and he's really annoyed at being woken up.

* Likewise, [[https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1500852 also in the Moon]], [[https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2012JE004154 Mercury]], and [[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/7thmars2007/pdf/3070.pdf Mars]] (PDF file!) studies using laser altimeters, measuring the topographies of different areas, and those that have measured crustal thicknesses have found impact basins, often very large, buried and/or more or less degraded by later impacts and/or geological activity.

* Likewise, [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1500852 also in the Moon], [https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2012JE004154 Mercury], and [https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/7thmars2007/pdf/3070.pdf Mars] (PDF file!) studies using laser altimeters, measuring the topographies of different areas, and those that have measured crustal thicknesses have found impact basins, often very large, buried and/or more or less degraded by later impacts and/or geological activity.

** Played with in "Plankton's Army". Plankton's family comes to help steal the Krabby Patty formula. They surround the Krusty Krab and Mr. Krabs asks "You planted grass?" Then the grass started laughing and reshaping itself into limbs and ears...

* ''Film/{{Nope}}'': After spending a lot of time thinking that there's a ship housing aliens in the huge, non-moving cloud, it turns out the "ship" IS the alien

* In ''Film/{{Twister}}'' (1996), Beltzer , one of the Members of the Storm Chasing Crew, States while looking at the radar, During a F-3 Tornado, "That's No moon, It's A Space Station! Woohoo!"

* Franchise/TheDCU:

** In a ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica story by Creator/GrantMorrison, Starro the Conqueror makes a big entrance. Flash sees what looks like a new land mass near Canada on the monitor, and J'onn flies off to investigate. Then the storm clears, and J'onn realises he can see Starro...''from orbit''. Aquaman later tries to make contact with it, and wonders why he can't see it. And then the ocean bed ''blinks''.

* When Franchise/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} first encounter Mongul's ''ComicBook/WarWorld'', they use their telescopic vision to examine a city on its surface. They think that there's a very high wall behind the city, so high that it extends above their field of vision, but when they "zoom out", the wall turns out to be the side of a VERY large missile.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'', the Girl of Steel approaches a huge ship orbiting Bizarro World, and sees it isn’t a ship but a moon-sized PlanetEater monster.
-->'''Supergirl:''' It's not a ship.
* ComicBook/DoctorStrange:

** In a Marvel Fanfare one-shot, he goes into a strangely deserted city which has a warm, skinlike texture and a subtle hum in the air. Near the end, he realizes he is standing on the back of a sleeping giant...[[OhCrap who is waking up]].

** Another covers part of Siberia. A ''very large'' part of Siberia. The huge flood-basalt eruption called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Traps the Siberian Traps]]" corresponds with [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Permian extinction]] that wiped out most of the species on Earth. And "most of the species on Earth", in this case, means ''roughly 90%''. Among other things, this was the only time in all of Earth's history that insects suffered a mass extinction. That's right, if Siberia erupts again, [[CreepyCockroach even the cockroaches wouldn't survive]].

** Another is Siberia. Not ''in'' Siberia, ''Siberia''. The last eruption corresponds with [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Permian extinction]] that wiped out most of the species on Earth. And "most of the species on Earth", in this case, means ''roughly 90%''. Among other things, this was the only time in all of Earth's history that insects suffered a mass extinction. That's right, if Siberia erupts again, [[CreepyCockroach even the cockroaches wouldn't survive]].

** In ''4 Ultimate'', the intro cutscene for the Flying Wyvern, Basarios, has the Hunter drop from a ledge onto an unassuming pile of rocks, only for it to stand up and try to fling the player off.
** In ''Generations/Generations Ultimate'', Gammoth's ecology features a trio of Blangos seeking shelter from a ferocious snowstorm under a cave...Which turns out to actually be a slumbering Gammoth who isn't too happy about the disturbance and scares them off.
** The prologue of ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'' features your ship running aground on a strange volcanic outcropping just off the coast of the New World. Said outcropping turns out to be part of the body of a ''huge'' Elder Dragon, Zorah Magdaros, and you and the Handler have to [[ColossusClimb scale the monster's body]] in order to escape.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':
** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-507 SCP-507]] (who randomly teleports to alternate universes) once found himself at the mouth of a cave, looking at a desert planet baked by its two large suns. Then the "suns" blinked and looked away...
** The Foundation is also suppressing knowledge of [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-169 SCP-169]], a sea arthropod that is so large that its protrusions above the waterline were mistaken for an archipelago of islands, and which was [[HistoricalInJoke responsible for the Bloop]].
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2362 SCP--2362]]. It used to be Pluto...until [[SpaceWhale a moon sized jellyfish]] [[PlutoIsExpendable hatched out of it]].
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-5005 SCP-5005]] is a town located on a strange landmass floating in the void far outside of the multiverse with the only light source being a glowing orb hanging from a tall spire. Several theories have been made about how such a place could exist but investigating it is difficult if not suicidal because matter that strays too far outside of the light disintegrates. The long-term residents of the town don't care about why the place exists but many visitors end up going mad and dying trying to figure it out. [[spoiler:In a CruelTwistEnding for someone who actually succeeded at discovering the truth at the cost of their own life, it turns out the truth is the least meaningful of the theories. The landmass is the slowly decaying corpse of an oversized anglerfish-like creature.]]

* ''Literature/ASymphonyOfEternity'' has Galiana, which is basically an UpToEleven [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]] with two beams of energy, a liquid outer hull and a remote controlled mist engulfing it to help confuse the enemy.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'', the crew of the ship ends up on an island. They discover it's a living creature when the TeamPet begins [[EyeScream licking its exposed eyeball.]]

* In ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu'', after escaping a group of angry Greninja, the heroes find themselves in a place called the [[TurtleIsland Torterra]] Garden. Then the mountains start to move. The entire valley is made of Torterra that have been mutated to an [[Main/{{Kaiju}} enormous size]]. The whole scene is a reference to Torterra's Pokédex entry, which states that herds of Torterra are often mistaken for entire moving forests.

* In the 1970s remake of ''[[Film/KingKong1976 King Kong]]'', one character falls into a large hole in the ground, which turns out to be a giant ape's footprint.

* In ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu'', after escaping a group of angry Greninja, the heroes find themselves in a place called the [[TurtleIsland Torterra]] Garden. Then the mountains start to move. The entire valley is made of Torterra that have been mutated to an [[Main/{{Kaiju}} enormous size]]. The whole scene is a reference to Torterra's Pokédex entry, which states that herds of Torterra are often mistaken for entire moving forests.
* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', the alien mothership is mistaken for a meteor until it's discovered that it is slowing down as it approaches Earth.

* The ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats'' episode "The Mask of Gorgon" features the Hills of Elfshima, that turn out to be the sleeping form of the gigantic Child of Gorgon, which Lynx-O and Bengali have to defeat by means of unleashing a powerful sonic blast into its gigantic ear from within.

Common Subtropes of this trope include characters finding out that the giant crater [[GiantFootprintReveal is actually a giant footprint]], that an asteroid, moon, planet or other astronomical body is a gigantic spaceship or station, that the [[CaveMouth asteroid cave you're hiding in is a giant space slug]], or that a mountain, hill, or island is a sleeping [[OurGiantsAreBigger giant]][=/=][[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]][=/=]{{turtle|Island}}[=/=][[ElementalEmbodiment earth elemental]]. Sometimes, the elephant ''is'' the room, metaphorically, and entire world you're on [[TurtleIsland is a giant turtle]]. Or maybe it's still just the kind of place you thought it was, but [[GeniusLoci alive]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Arguably, the way the large [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole-Aitken_basin South Pole–Aitken basin]] in UsefulNotes/TheMoon was discovered. The presence of large mountains in the Moon's southern pole plus the pictures sent by early Soviet probes and other large mountains in the lunar farside photographed by the Apollo missions suggested the existence of such large impact crater, but only by laser altimetry from the ''Clementind'' mission its presence was confirmed without doubt[[note]]It does not help matters either the SPA basin is so old it has been thoroughly damaged by posterior impact craters, some quite large.[[/note]]. Similarly, the much better preserved [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Orientale]] was deduced to exist from Earth by seeing mountains of its rim in the Moon's limb and was only confirmed when probes photographed it.