History Main / WhatOtherGalaxies

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': The Reapers are sentient cyborg spaceships that reside just outside the rim of our galaxy and return every 50,000 years to forcefully convert sentient species into more Reapers. Sentient species that have achieved space travel, that is, so they can purge them and try to prevent them from entering the galactic, ViciousCycle of evolution peak/extinction. Guess only the Milky Way hosts such species since the Reapers spent those 50 000 years dormant, not, you know, traveling to other galaxies. At the end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', it's revealed this trope is {{justified}} given that [[spoiler: the Reapers' creator intended for them to solely focus on the Milky Way]].

* In the ''very'' distant future (2 trillion years from now, over 100 times the current age of the universe), if the Universe keeps increasing the acceleration of its expansion, even the gamma-rays emitted from distant galaxies will have a wavelength longer than the size of the observable universe, putting them beyond the cosmological horizon and making them undetectable in any way. At that point, an observer inside their own galaxy would look out and see... nothing at all. Any conclusion that they live in a larger universe with many galaxies will have to be done either by inference or from reference to truly ancient records, rather than observation. Some astronomers have theorized that in those very distant ages, cosmology could become a sort of religion, as pretty much the only way to know how the Universe was born and what's out there would be records that somehow survived to that epoch, which of course would depend on how much evidence these had, the trust people put in them, etc.

* In the ''very'' distant future (exponentially the current age of the universe), if the Universe keeps increasing the acceleration of its expansion, the light emitted from distant galaxies will have a wavelength longer than the size of the observable universe, putting them beyond the cosmological horizon and making them undetectable in any way. At that point, an observer inside their own galaxy would look out and see... nothing at all. Any conclusion that they live in a larger universe with many galaxies will have to be done either by inference or from reference to truly ancient records, rather than observation. Some astronomers have theorized that in those very distant ages, cosmology could become a sort of religion, as pretty much the only way to know how the Universe was born and what's out there would be records that somehow survived to that epoch, which of course would depend on how much evidence these had, the trust people put in them, etc.

Sub-trope of SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale. Related to EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy, when the term galaxy is misused. Contrast with SmallUniverseAfterAll. Compare with TheMilkyWayIsTheOnlyWay when, despite the narrative acknowledging an outer universe, it's not traveled to; and with CorralledCosmos, when there's an InUniverse reason why the characters can't travel outside a given parcel of the cosmos. An extreme (sometimes in-universe) form of CreatorProvincialism.

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---> Set in the aftermath of Halo 3, Master Chief returns to confront his own destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe [...]

** This continuity states that while there are other galaxies, there's a hyperspace disturbance at the edge of the main galaxy [[CorralledCosmos preventing travel in and out]] and there's only one known place where the barrier doesn't work. So, pragmatically, their galaxy is the universe.
** Jedi Master Jorus C'Baoth commissions an extra-galactic expedition, [[Literature/OutboundFlight the Outbound Flight Project]], in the last years of the Galactic Republic to seek out new life and civilizations beyond the galactic disk. Unfortunately, it ends disastrously thanks to [[BigBad Chancellor Palpatine]] who sees it as a [[{{Exploited}} nice way to get rid of some Jedi ahead of schedule]].
** ''Literature/NewJediOrder'': The Yuuzhan Vong are from another galaxy, which earned them the nickname of Far Outsiders. They act akin to how humankind sees aliens -- an [[AlienInvasion invading species]] undetectable by common means (in this case, The Force). With an added flavor of ScaryDogmaticAliens and organically-built technology.

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* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': {{Exaggerated}}. Rosalina claims Earth's sun is the center of the whole universe. So, it's less "what other galaxies?" and more "what other planetary systems?". This is coupled with EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy given that the individual levels are called galaxies yet, in truth, are no more than weirdly-shaped planetoids. Oh, and groups of five galaxies comprise a dome. In turn, the Galaxy mentioned in the title is the complete collection of domes. Yeah, confusing but [[RuleOfFun fun]].

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* This was the view held by scientists until TheRoaringTwenties, when it was clear that a lot of objects considered as "nebulae" were actually galaxies (more or less) like our Milky Way. What finally tipped the balance was the realization and subsequent debates that what we now know to be the Andromeda Galaxy had to be farther than the "universe's" estimated size.

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* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': The two times the universe is rewritten, its rules are bent in a way that only truly affects Earth's inhabitants. Not even the Milky Way, just our planet. The fact the universe is losing entropy remains, what changes is that it no longer needs to be harvested from [[spoiler: the magical girls]] (who are from Earth). This results in them fighting other kinds of monsters, the Wraiths.

** ''VideoGame/InquisitorMartyr'': Carvings decrypted from their ruins about "the grand pilgrimage" and "the world of strange stars" leads a tech-priest to a far-fetched theory that the Fabricatus race is not extinct, but instead left for another galaxy for an unknown reason. Said tech-priest also speculates if the Fabricatus were considering the possibility of an impending apocalypse.

* ''Literature/ForgesOfMars'': The Necrons and the C'Tan specifically pick our galaxy to conquer and convert its background energy and primordial materials into more galaxies. This would have prevented the universe's heat death because by generating galaxies in between the already existing ones, they'd be making "stepping stones" that would reduce the travel distance. So, in a sense, the Necrons and the C'Tan intend to {{def|ied}}y this trope by, at the same time, {{invok|ed}}ing it.

Sub-trope of SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale. Related to EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy, when the term galaxy is misused. Contrast with SmallUniverseAfterAll. Compare with TheMilkyWayIsTheOnlyWay when, despite the narrative acknowledging an outer universe, it's not traveled to. An extreme (often InUniverse) form of CreatorProvincialism.

Sub-trope of SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale. Related to EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy, when the term galaxy is misused. Contrast with SmallUniverseAfterAll. Compare with TheMilkyWayIsTheOnlyWay when, despite there existing an outer universe, it's not traveled to. An extreme (often InUniverse) form of CreatorProvincialism.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
*** This continuity states that while there are other galaxies, there's a hyperspace disturbance at the edge of the main galaxy [[CorralledCosmos preventing travel in and out]] and there's only one known place where the barrier doesn't work. So, pragmatically, their galaxy is the universe.
*** Jedi Master Jorus C'Baoth commissions an extra-galactic expedition, [[Literature/OutboundFlight the Outbound Flight Project]], in the last years of the Galactic Republic to seek out new life and civilizations beyond the galactic disk. Unfortunately, it ends disastrously thanks to [[BigBad Chancellor Palpatine]] who sees it as a [[{{Exploited}} nice way to get rid of some Jedi ahead of schedule]].
*** ''Literature/NewJediOrder'': The Yuuzhan Vong are from another galaxy, which earned them the nickname of Far Outsiders. They act akin to how humankind sees aliens -- an [[AlienInvasion invading species]] undetectable by common means (in this case, The Force). With an added flavor of ScaryDogmaticAliens and organically-built technology.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Franchise/{{Foundation}}'' series:
** ''Literature/SecondFoundation'': {{Enforced}}. The stories originally handle the difference between the Milky Way galaxy and the universe (including multiple galaxies) correctly, but {{Tagline}}s and back cover blurbs from Creator/{{Panther}} and Creator/{{Avon}} conflate the two as if they were synonymous.
** ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth'': Despite the Milky Way being the only galaxy in terms of plot throughout the whole Foundation saga, it's {{discussed}} that humankind has the narcissistic tendency to believe its home galaxy is the only important bit of the universe.
---> '''Golan Trevize:''' Yet we speak so much and so often of the Galaxy that it is all but impossible for us to see that this is not enough. The Galaxy is not the universe. There are other galaxies.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': For a character with the technology to not only travel across the universe but also time, the Doctor seems to be awfully focused on the Milky Way, the Earth, and the [[HumansAreSpecial humans]] inhabiting them. He does visit other galaxies besides ours, but just on occasion.

** Despite having access to faster-than-light travel (called Hyperspace), the ''Galactic'' Republic and later the Empire act as if nothing exists beyond one single galaxy. In the Expanded Universe, they seem not to care very much about the satellite galaxies of the one they inhabit. {{Justified}} seeing hyperdrive technology is shown as taking a while to get you anywhere. Expanded Universe materials establish that it takes months to get from one side of the galaxy to the other, gravity wells can pull you out and wreck you, and finding safe hyper routes is both very dangerous and very random. For the ones in charge, it would appear foolish to take the risks or spend the logistics of traveling to other galaxies when they have superweapons to build instead. On top of that, hyperspace travel is said to be [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lightspeed/Legends 100,000 times faster than light speed.]] The diameter of the Milky Way is at least [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way 100,000 light-years,]] meaning it would take at least a year for a ship at this speed to traverse the entire galaxy. The distance between the Milky Way and the next closest galaxy, Andromeda, is approximately [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy 2.5 million light years.]] This makes the travel time via Hyperspace at least 25 years. The galaxy we see in Star Wars is said to be [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_galaxy about the size of the Milky Way]]. However, assuming a distance to the nearest galaxy would be baseless.

*** This continuity states that while there are other galaxies, there's a hyperspace disturbance at the edge of the main galaxy [[CorralledCosmos preventing travel in and out]] and there's only one known place where the barrier doesn't work.

*** ''Literature/NewJediOrder'': The Yuuzhan Vong are from another galaxy, which earned the nickname of Far Outsiders. They act akin to how humankind sees aliens -- an [[AlienInvasion invading species]] undetectable by common means (in this case, The Force). With an added flavor of ScaryDogmaticAliens and organically-built technology.

--> Set in the aftermath of Halo 3, Master Chief returns to confront his own destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe [...]

Sub-trope of SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale. Related to EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy, when the term galaxy is misused. Contrast with SmallUniverseAfterAll. Compare with TheMilkyWayIsTheOnlyWay when, despite there existing an outer universe, it's not traveled to. An extreme(often InUniverse) form of CreatorProvincialism.

Sub-trope of SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale. Related to EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy, when the term galaxy is misused. Contrast with its {{Opposite Trope|s}}: SmallUniverseAfterAll. Compare with TheMilkyWayIsTheOnlyWay when, despite there existing an outer universe, it's not traveled to. An extreme(often InUniverse) form of CreatorProvincialism.