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1[[quoteright:308:[[Literature/TomSwift https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tom_swift_moon.png]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:308:''Literature/TomSwift Jr. in The Race to the Moon''.\
3Our bet's on the rocket though.]]
4
5->''"The future was a chrome-trimmed triangular window in the front of dad's car, and it had its own knob to open it up. The future was a hamburger under a light fixture that looked like an atom. The future was going to be awesome."''
6-->-- '''James Lileks''', ''The Bleat'', [[http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/08/1008/103108.html October 31, 2008]]
7
8''"Welcome to '''[-THE WORLD OF-]'''[[note]][[{{Zeerust}} yesterday's]] [[/note]]'''[-TOMORROW!-]'''"''
9
10Raygun Gothic is a ubiquitous aesthetic of early- and mid-20th century ScienceFiction, roughly from ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' to ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries.'' Raygun Gothic architecture is modeled after ArtDeco, Streamline Moderne, and/or Populuxe (aka Googie). Everything is slick and streamlined, with geometric shapes and clean parallel lines constructed of shiny metal and glass, lit prominently by neon. Sweeping curves, parabolas, and acute angles are used to suggest movement -- movement into TheFuture.
11
12And of course, [[AppliedPhlebotinum futuristic fancy-pants technology]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment of the future]] is ubiquitous. {{Ray Gun}}s, {{Jet Pack}}s, {{flying car}}s, {{Video Phone}}s, SpaceClothes, atomic-powered everything, cigar-shaped {{Retro Rocket}}s and other ShinyLookingSpaceships, and "electronic brains" capable of calculating complex equations in ''mere minutes'', all decorated with [[CowTools little blinking lights that don't really serve any purpose (but they sure look futuristic!)]].
13
14This is the bright, optimistic vision of TheFuture that, until sometime in the mid-[[TheSixties 1960s]], the Western world believed was just around the corner. Our [[IWantMyJetpack failure to make these dreams a reality]] means that works featuring Raygun Gothic are highly prone to {{Zeerust}}. Retro-Futurism is a GenreThrowback to this vision. Stick "Atomic Power" logos on everything, (as well as perhaps slide the scale a bit to the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism "cynical"]] side) and you've got '''Atom Punk'''.
15
16The MadScientistLaboratory and [[ShinyLookingSpaceships Spaceship]] are among the most commonly used locations in a Raygun Gothic setting. The most commonly used monsters tend to be [[NuclearMutant nuclear mutants]] and [[AlienTropes aliens in general]], although friendly aliens are just as likely to appear, either as the heroes or as characters for the cast to meet.
17
18The only thing that could possibly look more futuristic is CrystalSpiresAndTogas. See also {{Zeerust}}, WeirdScience, and RetroRocket. Contrast with DieselPunk, UsedFuture, CassetteFuturism and EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture.
19
20Now of course, while it's true that TechnologyMarchesOn, it's also true that the ''[[TheAestheticsOfTechnology Aesthetics]]'' [[TheAestheticsOfTechnology Of Technology]] will always be basically arbitrary. These days, EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture because that's the current popular design aesthetic. It will certainly change in time, and who's to say that ArtDeco might not come back into fashion one day? Look at the nostalgic design of cars like the Mini-Cooper.
21----
22!!Examples
23
24[[foldercontrol]]
25
26[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
27* ''Anime/GiantRobo'': Although the OAV was produced in the early 90s, it retains the look and feel of the multiple 60s mangas it was based on.
28* ''Anime/ProjectBlueEarthSOS'' is set in an alternate version of the 90s that leans heavily into this aesthetic.
29* ''Anime/TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughSpace'' definitely has a Raygun Gothic feel.
30* ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'' has shades of this, mainly in the Cyborgs' uniforms and their rayguns.
31* ''Anime/AstroBoy'': Is the one of the first anime to use this aesthetic.
32* ''Anime/SpaceDandy'' is a humorous send-up to this era of sci-fi.
33* The designs of the Buff Clan in ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'' are reminiscent of this style.
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:Comic Books]]
37* ComicBook/{{Zot}}, lives in the far-flung future year of 1965. Note that ''Zot!'' began publication in ''[[{{Retraux}} 1984]]''.
38* There are several Creator/DCComics characters who live in between the present era and the CrystalSpiresAndTogas era of the Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, including Tommy Tomorrow and the Planeteers, the Knights of the Galaxy, Ultra the Multi-Alien, Space Ranger, and Space Cabbie. ComicBook/AdamStrange does this in the present time.
39** Adam Strange also appeared in some ''ComicBook/StarmanDCComics'' comics and fits in very well because the title already had a certain Raygun Gothic aesthetic.
40** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The CasualInterplanetaryTravel of the Golden Age [[Franchise/WonderWoman Wondy]] stories is rife with colorful {{retro rocket}}s, marvelous space travel capable submarines with extra little scalloped fins and so very many types of {{ray gun}}.
41** ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}''[=/=]''ComicBook/RedRobin'' villain Scarab has wears a polished suit of PoweredArmor that definitely fits this aesthetic, her helmet even has the central crest-like fin that's so popular for the genre.
42* Creator/WarrenEllis's ''ComicBook/IgnitionCity''.
43* ''ComicStrip/DanDare'' was created as the 1950s British archetype of the trope.
44* ''Weird Science'' by Creator/ECComics had a lot of streamlined rocketships and cool futuristic tech, especially Wally Wood's work.
45* Flashbacks to Krypton in the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' comics from the GoldenAge through most of MediaNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} maintained this look.
46* MediaNotes/{{The Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' stories often have Raygun Gothic elements.
47* ''Comicbook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' takes place in a parallel universe where all fiction is true, so the aesthetics of the world shift in every time period to match the aesthetics of that time period's pop culture. Appropriately, the first two volumes (which take place in the late Victorian era) have a pronounced {{Steampunk}} vibe, whereas the standalone graphic novel ''The Black Dossier'' (which shifts the action to the 1950s) changes this to Raygun Gothic.
48* ''Comicbook/MagnusRobotFighter,'' both MediaNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} original and (at least in the beginning) the [[MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks 1990's revival.]] More recent revivals have averted this.
49* Mike Baron and Steve Rude's ''{{Comicbook/Nexus}}'' is an interesting example, since Steve Rude has always said his two biggest artistic influences are ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'' and Creator/DrSeuss.
50** Notably, Nexus and Magnus once had a CrossOver.
51* Jonni Future from ''ComicBook/TomStrong'' strongly embodies the Raygun Gothic aesthetic.
52* ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'' has a lovely {{Zeerust}} feel to it, and was published "late in the 20th century".
53* Despite its horror trappings, Solar City and much of the world that ''ComicBook/HalloweenMan'' takes place in has this style to it.
54* Creator/ECComics' scifi output -- namely ''Weird Science'' and ''Weird Fantasy'' -- naturally had this aesthetic, although tonally and thematically they were often a bit grimmer and edgier than this trope normally suggests, in keeping with [=EC's=] countercultural sensibilities. Notably, "Judgement Day", a story that originally ran in ''Weird Fantasy'', was one of the first scifi instances of FantasticRacism, and ended with a rather damning -- and, at the time, controversial -- commentary on contemporary race relations in America. You could even call "Judgement Day" a forerunner to {{afrofuturism}}.
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Fan Works]]
58* [[AffectionateParody Spoofed and homaged]] in ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace'' with [[Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainProton Captain Proton]] tracking down a [[UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla Tesla]] {{doomsday device}} in the far-flung future of 2009 with its {{jetpack}}s, {{flying car}}s, [[DomedHometown domed cities]] and [[ZeeRust vast]] [[MasterComputer electronic superbrains]], not to mention [[ScienceMarchesOn inconceivable marvels]] like [[CommLinks mobile telephones]], [[FuturisticSuperhighway interstate highways]], [[OurDoorsAreDifferent automatic sliding doors]], [[SpaceStation artificial satellites]], and [[WeaponOfMassDestruction weapons of mass destruction]].
59* A ''Videogame/Portal2'' mod, ''[[Videogame/PortalStoriesMel Portal Stories: Mel]]'' has used this idea in the first part of the story taking place in an unnamed town created by Aperture Science's contraction workers.
60** Also the 'Proto-Portal gun' and 'Proto-Long Fall Boots' are versions of their modern counterparts which fall under this trope.
61* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'' is ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' written InTheStyleOf... a 1950's sci-fi magazine story. ''Voyager'' is a [[RetroRocket silver cigar-shaped]] NuclearTorchRocket, equipped with everything from atom-tipped torpedoes to a radium-heated coffeemaker in the captain's cabin.
62[[/folder]]
63
64[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
65%%* ''WesternAnimation/PinocchioInOuterSpace''.
66* The characters in ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'' all look retro-futuristic.
67* The future in ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' has a very 1950s/'60s "Space Age" type aesthetic, with neat lines, geometric shapes, and pastel colors.
68* Gru's style in ''Franchise/DespicableMe'' is very much Cold War atompunk.
69* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'' takes place in an alternate-universe version of TheSeventies, and features a strong mid-sixties take on how wonderful the future nearly was.
70* In ''Franchise/ToyStory'', Buzz Lightyear and Zurg have a Raygun Gothic vibe, more so in ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand''.
71* ''WesternAnimation/Planet51'' certainly has this aesthetic.
72* The titular character from ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant''.
73[[/folder]]
74
75[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
76* Creator/FritzLang's ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' may be the UrExample.
77%%* ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers''
78* ''Film/TheFifthElement'' is a weird fusion of this trope and CyberPunk.
79* Used in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequel trilogy: The Naboo space fleet and the architecture of Coruscant are modeled after this, while the Republic space fleet morphs over time into the blocky, UsedFuture Imperial fleet.
80* The Necromonger fleet from ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick2004'' is a much darker interpretation of this aesthetic.
81* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' was always very much this way, although [[Film/StarTrek2009 the 2009 reboot]] combines it with the aesthetics [[EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture of an iPod]].
82* ''Film/MenInBlack'' had the same idea as the above example, interestingly just a few years before the [=iPod=] was even developed. It could be justified in that the [[TheMenInBlack MiB]] was formed in the mid-1950s in which this aesthetic was in at the time.
83* ''Film/RobotMonster'', one of the definitive bad {{B Movie}}s of TheFifties, is swimming with this trope, with both the human technology (especially the RetroRocket) and the alien technology (THE BILLION BUBBLE MACHINE!) reflecting this aesthetic.
84* Anton Furst's designs for Gotham City for ''Film/Batman1989'' have some elements of this.
85* Like the source material, the ''Film/FlashGordon1980'' movie is full of this; unlike the original, it is one of the first entirely conscious uses of the trope. Of note is that the CoolAirship ''Ajax'' is referred to by the delightfully old-timey title of "war rocket". Also note that Zarkov's rocket, built on Earth, does NOT invoke this trope, at least in comparison to the ships of Mongo.
86* ''Film/{{Zathura}}'' takes place in more or less present day, but the magical board game of the same name is most definitely Raygun Gothic, featuring {{Retro Rocket}}s, [[LizardFolk Reptilians]], robots and astronauts with [[RocketBoots jet packs]], etc.
87* ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet'', with its rocket ships, spacesuits, and, most memorably, JustForFun/RobbyTheRobot.
88* ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' is a funny corner case. It's set in an alternate-universe version of the 1930s, so it's often cited as an example of DieselPunk, but the aesthetics and optimistic worldview are much closer to Raygun Gothic.
89* The villains in ''Film/JMenForever'' are all about this, especially the Lightning Bug baby!
90* ''Film/BedtimeStories2008'': The final story Skeeter and the kids make up together is set in a futuristic space arena very much adhering to this trope
91* The Martians from ''Film/MarsAttacks'' seem to dig this style.
92* ''Film/SixStringSamurai'' is this trope (atompunk, really) mixed with post-apocalyptic.
93* The Franchise/{{Godzilla}} films used this aesthetic for all space-related stuff with a totally straight face well into the mid-1970s. ''Film/InvasionOfAstroMonster'' and ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'' feature humans in [[RetroRocket rocket ships]] vs. aliens in [[FlyingSaucer flying saucers]], while ''Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzilla'' has gorilla-like aliens [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/godzilla/images/1/1a/Simeons-TrueForm.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090701004226 running around in silver jumpsuits and carrying laser pistols.]]
94* ''Film/FireMaidensOfOuterSpace'' has Earth using this kind of technology, in contrast with the CrystalSpiresAndTogas neo-Classical style of the Fire Maidens (and their dad) themselves.
95* ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace'' has its aliens in [[FlyingSaucer flying saucers]] and wearing shiny sleek SpaceClothes and using devices like the [[ThingOMatic Dictorobotary]] and [[RayGun electrode guns]], though the movie is also a GenreThrowback to the GothicHorror of the 1930s, with a {{Dracula}} expy lurking in a CreepyCemetery.
96** From [[Creator/EdWood the same director]], ''Film/BrideOfTheMonster'' also mixes the '30s and '50s flavours of this trope, with a MadScientist in an OldDarkHouse, trying to create a NuclearMutant in his MadScientistLaboratory. The film's working title was ''Bride of the Atom''.
97* The aliens in ''Film/ItCameFromOuterSpace'' have a bit of this in their technology, with their spherical spaceship covered in hexagonal panels. The aliens themselves have a classic '50s BlobMonster look, and were designed by the great Milicent Patrick. The movie also reflects this trope on a thematic level as well as an aesthetic one, dealing with UsefulNotes/ColdWar themes of suspicion, paranoia, and mutually-assured destruction in the dealings between the humans and the aliens.
98* In the ending of ''Film/{{Lisztomania}}'' a Heavenly rocket ship with wings that look like organ pipes is used.
99* The alien rocketship in ''Film/EarthGirlsAreEasy'' -- indeed its depiction of outer space as a whole -- has this aesthetic, tweaked with a 1980s Day-Glo color scheme matched by the [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe furry aliens themselves prior to their makeovers]]. The trope extends to the AnimatedCreditsOpening and Valerie's black-and-white NightmareSequence, which even has a Robby the Robot cameo!
100* The pin from ''{{Film/Tomorrowland}}'' displays a vision of city with this aethetic, though its combined a bit with SolarPunk. The real city is a bit less shiny.
101[[/folder]]
102
103[[folder:Literature]]
104* The {{Trope Namer|s}}, Creator/WilliamGibson's "The Gernsback Continuum", is about a freelance photographer hired to take pictures of buildings inspired by this aesthetic, who either slowly finds himself being sucked into an alternate timeline where it was all real or is [[UnreliableNarrator hallucinating the whole thing]].
105* Gibson's story refers to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Gernsback Hugo Gernsback,]] the "Father of Science Fiction", who founded the first science fiction magazine, created science fiction fandom (by encouraging readers who wrote to him to interact with each other directly), wrote very early examples of the genre, such as ''Ralph 124C 41+'', and ''[[TropeNamers coined the term]] "[[ScienceFiction Scientifiction]]"''.
106%%* Creator/HugoGernsback's ''Magazine/AmazingStories'': ZCE
107%%* Creator/JohnWCampbell's ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction'': ZCE
108* The cover art of many of the ''Literature/TomSwift'' novels.
109* A lot of cover art for Creator/PhilipKDick's novels from back when Ace published them clearly fits into this. More {{downplayed|Trope}} in the books themselves, assuming the trope was applied in the first place.
110* ''Literature/{{Lensman}}''. In fact, the bulk of E.E. "Doc" Smith's better-known work is this. Although his early works had their first origins as early as 1917, Smith continued writing into the mid 1960s (he died in 1965), by which time men ''had'' travelled in space, and his writing takes on a somewhat different focus and flavour after the first manned flights.
111* Most of the Creator/RobertAHeinlein juveniles.
112* Larry Doyle's ''Literature/GoMutants'' is a parody of this.
113* E3 in Ian [=McDonald=]'s ''Planesrunner'' is an Alternate History that combines aspects of this trope and SteamPunk. Zeppelins are the main form of air transport but their bags are woven of carbon nanofibers. The main motive power is coal powered (because there's no oil in this world) electric motors, which were invented before the steam engine. Their computers are of the vacuum tube and punch card variety. There's radio but no TV, but they use monofilament wire.
114* ''Literature/OperationFuture'': The cover is addicted to bubbles and circles, also having a preference to metal-looking spacesuits rather than fabric, drawing inspiration from the Mercury 7 styles popular at the time of publication.
115* ''Literature/Foundation1951'':
116** Starting with "Literature/TheEncyclopedists", characters have a variety of new devices that are essentially older technology with a smaller energy source, called 'atomics'. As the decades pass, they continue nuclear miniaturization, and in "Literature/TheTraders" and "Literature/TheMerchantPrinces", start calling such devices 'nucleics'. The ([[VestigialEmpire collapsing]]) Empire uses generators the size of large buildings, while the Foundation creates generators the size of a pocketwatch.
117** "Literature/TheMayors": Their futuristic weapons are called atomic blasters, and ships use hyperatomic motors.
118** "Literature/TheTraders": This story starts going into detail about the sort of atom-powered devices that the Foundation has been building since Mayor Hardin proved that Terminus ruled the Four Kingdoms, rather than the other way around. They've made knives that generate a force-field blade, mechanical garbage disposers, and even transmutation machines (actually a modified food irradiation chamber, like a microwave oven).
119[[/folder]]
120
121[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
122* Pick a Creator/GerryAnderson TV show, any Gerry Anderson TV show. ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'', ''Series/Stingray1964'', ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons'', ''Series/FireballXL5''...
123* Any SpaceCadet show aired in the 50's, from ''Series/TomCorbettSpaceCadet'' to ''Series/CaptainVideo''.
124* ''Star Trek'' [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]], the last unselfconscious example. Subsequent visual media followed the leads of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' and the RealLife [[UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} space program]].
125* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s ShowWithinAShow ''Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainProton'' is an AffectionateParody modeled after 1930's sci-fi FilmSerial's like ''[[Film/FlashGordonSerial Flash Gordon]]'' and ''Commando Cody''.
126* The alien message decoded in the final episode of ''Series/DarkSkies'' had elements of this, presumably as a nostalgic in-joke, since the rest of the series's aesthetics and mythology were much more modern ''[[Series/TheXFiles X-Files]]''-inspired sci-fi.
127* On ''Series/TheFlash1990'', 1950s villain the Ghost adheres to this motif, and is rather dismayed to find that 1990 isn't like this when he awakens from [[HumanPopsicle cryogenic sleep]].
128* ''Series/DoctorWho'', especially in its earlier seasons (as they were made in the early 1960s). This particularly leads to ZeerustCanon, as the look of the inside of the TARDIS (particularly the big hexagonal console with a glass column that moves up and down) and the Daleks (very ArtDeco, but with plungers) can only really be changed so much before they don't look like they're supposed to any more. It should also be noted that during the early Sixties, there was an obsession with hemispheres as being futuristic (similar to the modern-day HighTechHexagons aesthetic) which helps to explain the round things on the TARDIS walls and the weird little orbs on the Dalek armour, all of which would cause fan despair if it were removed. This aesthetic carried on showing up as late as the early 70s thanks to the show's NoBudget nature - the Sonic Screwdriver as used by the Third Doctor was actually an unused prop from ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' (which began in 1965) and hence looks [[FashionDissonance 60s as heck]]. While the new series modernised everything as much as possible - starting off during the Ninth Doctor's tenure with a semi-organic, {{Steampunk}} influenced TARDIS interior and weighty-looking, almost industrial Daleks - the sonic screwdrivers are still knowingly designed to follow this aesthetic, perhaps because in the Ninth Doctor's tenure it's revealed that the screwdriver is laughably low-quality, dated technology.
129** Other things that deserve mentions - the Dalek warships are the most cheesily stereotypical FlyingSaucer things ever, designed as they were for the 1950s-BMovie-influenced "The Dalek [[AlienInvasion Invasion of Earth]]". They were redesigned with a 00s-SF UsedFuture paint job in the new series, but kept the original basic shape, the contrast between the two visual styles coming off as rather silly.
130** The Thals in "The Daleks" favour these kinds of SpaceClothes even though they live in a low-tech farming society AfterTheEnd.
131** "The Robots of Death" uses this as an intentional homage to the 1920s and 30s science fiction the story is based on, with the sets, robots and human costumes all fitting a distinctive Art Deco aesthetic.
132** "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone" had [[RetroRocket the Byzantium.]] [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FfvW8c2f-hY/S7GdXYhzVRI/AAAAAAAAAD8/wLFwVFEvyqM/s1600/Doctor+who+13.jpg Take a look.]]
133* Episodes of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' that involved aliens or space travel frequently contained a sizable dose of this aesthetic, and even more so if the episode in question was a comical one.
134[[/folder]]
135
136[[folder:Magazine]]
137* ''{{Magazine/Analog}}'':
138** Many early covers of the magazine featured silver rocketships with sleek designs, space stations with clear domes to see the planet they orbit, and people standing next to round doors with [[SpaceClothes shiny metallic spacesuits]].
139** The [[Recap/Analog1939 October 1939 issue]] has a Literature/{{Lensman}} standing outside of a [[OurDoorsAreDifferent big circular door]]. They're wearing a silver suit [[LatexSpacesuit tight enough to show off their muscles]], with knee-high boots, a helmet in their hand, and silver goggles with blue shades. The steps they're standing on have round holes in the sides.
140** The cover of the [[Recap/Analog1940 June 1940]] issue has chrome vespas and sidecars zipping down a crome street with chrome buildings in the background, with people holding chrome handguns. Everything is on a slant and there are lots of subtle curves to imply high-speed movement.
141[[/folder]]
142
143[[folder:Music]]
144* Music/DoctorSteel plays with this aesthetic in his music and interactive Fandom community.
145* Music/{{Stereolab}} played "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music".
146** The phrase was applied (probably before Stereolab) to the distinctive lounge musical stylings of Juan García Esquivel. [[note]]Not during Esquivel's heyday of the early {{Sixties}}, but in a 1994 compilation album called "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music".[[/note]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NglD0H-cps Have a listen.]]
147* "IGY," the first track on [[Music/SteelyDan Fagen's]] 1982 album ''The Nightfly'', is pretty much this trope in a nutshell. He describes a world where there's a [[CoolTrain train running undersea]] from New York to Paris in 90 minutes, everyone gets their own [[SpaceClothes Spandex jacket]], [[WeatherControlMachine weather is controlled]] and solar power is plentiful - and it's all run by [[TheComputerIsYourFriend "A just machine to make big decisions / Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision".]] The liner notes describe the album as "certain fantasies that might have been entertained by a young man growing up [...] during the late fifties and early sixties, i.e., one of my general height, weight and build."
148** The title is a reference to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Geophysical_Year International Geophysical Year,]] a scientific event in 1957-8 that was the USSR's excuse to launch Sputnik into space, thus kicking off the "rocket age" for real.
149* Music/{{Lights}}' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7_ucPlzaiA Drive My Soul]] video.
150* Music/TomSmith's filk song "Rocket Ride" is a paean to this old-fashioned space-adventure style:
151-->I want a shining tower of glass and steel,\
152A rubber jumpsuit and a freeze-dried meal,\
153The will to survive, the need to explore,\
154The love of adventure, who could ask for more?
155* ''AudioPlay/TheNewAlbionGuideToAnalogueConsciousness'', the third album in the New Albion trilogy, is an "atompunk opera" following the SteamPunk of the first album and the DieselPunk of the second. It features [[ArtificialIntelligence AIs]] created by converting [[BrainUploading human consciousness into computer programs]], a shopping complex vast enough for one of the main characters to hide away comfortably for a long time, and technology used to open a dimensional portal to the afterlife. In-universe, Mascot 3000 (the first of the aforementioned AI to be created) has a love for pulpy Raygun Gothic adventure comics.
156* The cover art for Music/{{Meco}}'s "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk" album from 1977, even though ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' itself was a deliberate aversion of this trope.
157[[/folder]]
158
159[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
160* ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'', of course.
161** Which, in turn, was inspired by ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers''.
162* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin's daydreams of Spaceman Spiff, interplanetary explorer extraordinaire. He wears SpaceClothes, carries a RayGun, and jets about in a flying saucer with a bubble cockpit and tail fins.
163[[/folder]]
164
165[[folder:Pinball]]
166* Some of the elements in ''Pinball/TwilightZone'' are reminiscent of this, particularly the rocket.
167* This is the predominant aesthetic of ''Pinball/ThePartyZone'', which includes {{Retro Rocket}}s and attractive young women flying around with {{jet pack}}s and fishbowl space helmets.
168* ''Pinball/TimeMachineZaccaria'' uses this to represent the Future, with massive silver towers and women wearing skin-tight Space Clothes.
169* Part and parcel of ''Pinball/FlashGordon,'' naturally.
170* The aesthetics of ''Pinball/FutureSpa'' favors form-fitting jumpsuits, buildings and structures dominated with swooping curves, and lots of gleaming glass and steel everywhere.
171[[/folder]]
172
173[[folder:Radio]]
174* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'''s recurring SpacePirates, the Rocket Men, were based around this {{Zeerust}}y aesthetic - they show up in pulp-{{Pastiche}} stories (a PlanetaryRomance about an alien ecosystem and a SpaceWestern) and wear leather suits, art-deco-style helmets, and {{Jetpack}}s.
175[[/folder]]
176
177[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
178* Several ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' supplements cover the creation of games with a Raygun Gothic flavor:
179** ''TabletopGame/GURPSAlternateEarths'' explores the AlternateHistory of "Gernsback," which is basically 1930s science fiction come to life.
180** ''[[http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-tales-of-the-solar-patrol GURPS Tales of the Solar Patrol]]'' is a more fleshed-out version of the concept, set in a universe consciously modeled after Flash Gordon and 1950s-era Young Adult science fiction stories.
181** ''[[http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-classic-atomic-horror GURPS Atomic Horror]]'' covers similar material as ''Solar Patrol'', but focuses more on the dark side -- stuff seen in 1950s [[BMovie B-Movies]] such as giant insects, blobs, flying saucers, and so forth.
182** ''[[http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-steampunk-1-settings-and-style GURPS Steampunk 1]]'' discusses Raygun Gothic by name, primarily as a visual style that follows on directly from the end of the {{steampunk}} period, and which is in fact the basis for some modern "steampunk" costumes and visual designs. The two subsequent volumes in the series build on this, providing examples of Raygun Gothic equipment and character types.
183* One of the styles used by {{Mad Scientist}}s in ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression''. It's seen some tarnishing due to its use by two [[TheConspiracy Lemurian Baramins]], so it might elicit confusion among Peerage Geniuses, but sometimes all you really want is a bubble-helmet spacesuit and a raygun.
184* Many, ''many'' [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Sons of Ether]] made use of this aesthetic, their greatest triumph being their alternate dimensional laboratory city - and perfect example of this trope - the Gernsback Continuum. Occasionally an eccentric Technocrat, usually a Void Engineer, would do something similar, particularly if they'd been around for a while.
185* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' visits this genre in the 2022 set ''Unfinity''. ("Un-sets" are how ''Magic'' does its less serious and more light-hearted set themes, often with an element of SelfParody - the perfect place to lean into {{Zeerust}}.)
186* ''Spaceship Zero'' featured a retro-Space Opera setting where, for instance, there was no miniaturization, and bigger computers were always better. Partially deconstructed as well, as there were definite indications that underneath all that chrome was a decent amount of grit, causing one reviewer to refer to it as "pulp--with bathrooms."
187* ''Realms of Mars'' from Exile Game Studio promises to be this for sword and planet, much as TabletopGame/HollowEarthExpedition harkened back to adventure pulps.
188* ''TabletopGame/{{Rocketmen}}'' utilizes this as part of its theme, from its space ships, lasers guns, and the whole solar system being colonized.
189* The look and feel of ''TabletopGame/RocketAge''. The corebook even states that all technology will look sleek, clothing worn by adventurers should usually be form fitting and every space suit has a fishbowl helmet.
190* The Skitarii/Cult Mechanicus models from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' have got some of this aesthetic going on.
191* The idea of the board game ''Alien Frontiers'' is that the players are colonizing an alien planet using this level of technology.
192* Hydra Miniatures have ''TabletopGame/RetroRaygun'', with characters following this trope, down to the tin-man robots and Middle Eastern-inspired uniforms of the troops of the Empire; and ''TabletopGame/WarRocket'', which features various [[RetroRocket rocket-shaped]] craft as well as some saucers, with a 50s automotive aspect to their design. They also had in development a ground war game named ''TabletopGame/AtomicTank'' which had quite a retro style to the armoured vehicles.
193* ''TabletopGames/{{Slipstream}}'' is a deliberate use of this trope, with Retro Rockets, Rayguns, sentient robots working with computers that still use ticker tape for output, and a setting set in a dimension to which all the black holes in our universe lead, with no escape.
194* An ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'' setting published in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine, "Back to the Future", was all about fifties science fiction, both contemporary-set monster movies and ''Buck Rogers'' style Rocket Rangers. As well as stats for atomic heat guns, flying saucers, alien monsters and rocket suits, the article also offered metafictional advice like using exactly the same description every time a spaceship takes off, to represent StockFootage. (And possibly reading it ''backwards'' to represent the ship landing, as [[StylisticSuck badly reversed stock footage]]!)
195* The ''Astounding Science'' supplement for ''TabletopGame/UrbanJungle'' uses this aesthetic, whether you want to add strange visitors from CounterEarth to the standard thirties setting, or have Earth science advance to this level by the future space year of 1980.
196[[/folder]]
197
198[[folder:Theme Parks]]
199* Tomorrowland at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks was originally designed this way, as it originated in 1955. The versions in the various parks have changed over the years in subtle ways, such as adding more contemporary sci-fi aesthetics or even {{steampunk}}-style architecture (at Discoveryland, the Disneyland Paris equivalent to Tomorrowland). The original plan was for Tomorrowland to be constantly updating to reflect whatever the future looked like in a given moment (Walt Disney's idea for a "permanent World's Fair"), but when this got to be too much effort and expense for a single theme park land, they decided to embrace the {{zeerust}} and, more or less, stick with a Raygun Gothic aesthetic.
200[[/folder]]
201
202[[folder:Video Games]]
203* The ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' series is set in a post-apocalyptic Raygun Gothic world. In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', the Institute plays this aesthetic completely straight. The actual ideals, [[BigBad not so much]].
204* ''VideoGame/{{Blasto}}'' falls neatly into this trope.
205* ''VideoGame/XComApocalypse,'' blended with some distinctly CyberPunk elements.
206* The Covenant in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' are modeled after a version of this, as everything they design has a very sleek form. As do most things on the titular Halo rings and other installations built by the [[{{Precursors}} Forerunners]]. Understandable, as the Covenant just copied everything they have from the Forerunner.
207* Rapture in ''VideoGame/BioShock'' has strong elements of this in its design to go along with the {{Dieselpunk}} and {{Biopunk}}.
208* The character designs for ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness''[='=]s EDF soldiers, particularly '''[[CaptainSpaceDefenderOfEarth Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!]]'''.
209* ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfRadGravity'', by virtue of the player character being a CaptainSpaceDefenderOfEarth archetype.
210* The Galleon Galaxy of ''VideoGame/YookaLaylee'' combines a rollicking space adventure and a GangplankGalleon setting.
211* The [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies Zombie missions]] in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar''.
212* In ''VideoGame/StarControlII'', the Syreen had this aesthetic -- their ships were old-fashioned rockets, and what you saw of the Syreen themselves and their ship controls would look right at home illustrating some 1920s sci-fi pulp about Amazon princesses in space or what-have-you. Appropriate, as the Syreen were a species of good old-fashioned [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Blue Skinned Space Babes]] in a game otherwise populated by StarfishAliens and {{Eldritch Abomination}}s; their pulpy style helped [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this fact.
213* ''VideoGame/TheDeadlyTowerOfMonsters'' takes every cheesy, dated sci-fi trope there is and uses to craft an early 1970's "movie" that you play through, all while the director of said film gives behind-the-scenes trivia.
214* The Soldier of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has several retro rayguns modeled after Weta's "Dr. Grordbort's" line.
215** As have the Engineer and Pyro now, and the Medic and Scout are next in line.
216** In the in-universe canonical comic, Australia [[spoiler: and the underwater paradise of New Zealand]] became this in the ''1890's'' due to their access to Australium, the comic's {{MacGuffin}}.
217* ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'' has Art Deco designs and garish neon colors everywhere. The game's aesthetic could best be described as this trope getting mixed with Used Future and Cassette Futurism elements.
218* ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' uses more of a 60's and 70's take on this design.
219* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' takes place during the mid-20th century and you're an alien with cool rayguns and a UFO. What else is there to say?
220* ''[[PunkPunk Punk Wars]]'' is set in a nuclear post-apocalypse future where there are factions of {{Steampunk}}, DieselPunk, AtomPunk and [[TheApunkalypse so-called "Steel Punk"]] duking it out with each other. While each faction is distinctly their genre's technology and aesthetics, the world setting pretty much leans itself towards AtomPunk.
221* The Planet X missions from ''VideoGame/TimeSplitters'' are certainly influenced from this.
222* ''VideoGame/WeHappyFew'' cross this as British it's gets with some {{Steampunk}} elements into it.
223** The game set post-[=WW2=] dystopic forest wasteland in alternate Early 60's England/United Kingdom instead of the United States with heavily drew of Mod Subculture and British Survivalism.
224* In the ''{{VideoGame/Portal}}'' series there are hints that during the early years of Aperture Science there was a lot of punk aesthetics.
225* The slideshows in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk_L8BL0r48 intro]] of ''VideoGame/Reunion1994''. The space battle between them is instead inspired by ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]''.
226* ''VideoGame/Asteroid5251'': The futuristic civilization of Leeir has this look, being mostly constructed out of shiny iron, glass, and glowstone.
227[[/folder]]
228
229[[folder:Visual Novels]]
230* ''VisualNovel/StarshipPromise'' draws a lot of inspiration from '50s Raygun Gothic adventure serials, with some elements of ''Franchise/StarWars'' and the UsedFuture of 1980s sci-fi mixed in.
231[[/folder]]
232
233[[folder:Webcomics]]
234* ''Webcomic/{{Cosmoknights}}'' is this trope meets FeudalFuture InSpace.
235* In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', the plot inside the [[HardLight simulator]] features a spaceship, a DeathRay, and {{Latex Spacesuit}}s straight out of 1950's pulp sci-fi.
236** [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=167 See the poster]] and following pages.
237* One of the characters in Andrew Kepple's ''Goodbye Cruel World!'' accidentally turns the entire world into this by activating a non-[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem Y2K]]-compliant VCR and triggering the bug.
238* ''Webcomic/{{Zap}}'' has a lot of aspects of this, especially in the spaceship design.
239* ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'' is in love with this trope, married it, and now has a house in the suburbs with two kids and a robot dog with it.
240[[/folder]]
241
242[[folder:Web Originals]]
243* ''[[http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/ Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual,]]'' a Raygun Gothic interactive web project.
244* The hero of Creator/{{Syfy}}'s online DieselPunk series ''WebVideo/TheMercuryMen'', [[DangerDeadpan Jack Yaeger]], is dressed as a typical Raygun Gothic pilot: Bomber jacket, flight cap and goggles, jodpurs and jackboots and carrying a raygun.
245[[/folder]]
246
247[[folder:Western Animation]]
248* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' is pretty much a perfect example of the era's sci-fi aesthetic, with its futuristic city, flying cars, and robots.
249* A lot of the look of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' as a whole is partly inspired by Raygun Gothic, particularly some of the buildings, the technology and the lot of the Planet Express Ship. The show itself is an inversion of this trope, using a semi-Raygun Gothic style as a backdrop for a CrapsaccharineWorld where what would normally be helpful technology is instead [[EverythingTryingToKillYou trying to kill you]]. More specifically parodied in one episode when a novelty bar is decorated in this style, and the patrons enjoy it in an ironic sort of way. "Everything's so retro!"
250%%* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''.
251* The art style of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' was [[https://www.animationartconservation.com/the-background-art-of-disney-s-kim-possible.html designed]] to be like this, and of course, they have all the [[DeathRay Ray guns]], [[IWantMyJetpack jet packs]], flying cars and the rest of the [[AppliedPhlebotinum fancy-pants technology]].
252* The classic ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgersInTheTwentyFourthAndAHalfCentury''.
253** The 2003-2005 ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' also carries this theme.
254** Let's not forget about almost every Marvin the Martian appearance.
255* The TV show ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' features hints of this design style in the design of the vehicles and guns.
256* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'''s sardonic successor ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' continues the tradition of "super-science" and [[{{Zeerust}} retro-looking technology]].
257* ''WesternAnimation/AtomicBetty'''s art style is largely an homage to sci-fi Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the sixties. See [[http://imgur.com/ahDMIHl here]] for an example.
258* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' shows this, as the art style being based the old {{Zeerust}} cartoons of 40's and 50's.
259* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' takes place in a RetroUniverse where the technology, vehicles, and buildings resemble the fifties and sixties. As such, Jimmy's inventions tend to fit this trope.
260* ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2020'' and its parody, ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2021''.
261* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' leaned on the raygun gothic look for advanced and alien technology, with Jor-el's Kryptonian home looking like it came right out of a 1950s "House of the Future" article, baby Kal-el being sent to earth in a literal rocket ship, and Lobo's flying motorcycle having more sleek curves than a classic hot rod. This complimented the fact that Metropolis was drawn with a more traditional art deco style, which made the exact time period of the show as a whole sort of unclear.
262* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'', being set in a RetroUniverse, mixes modern astronomy facts with the '50s-60s Space Race aesthetic. There are shiny flying saucers that are treated as cars, jet packs, geometric/Art Deco houses, rollerskating waiters, and music evocative of '50s-'70s rock, jazz, and Broadway.
263[[/folder]]
264
265[[folder:Real Life]]
266* The [[http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/ Paleo-Future]] website.
267* [[http://reddit.com/r/retrofuturism /r/retrofuturism]] on Reddit
268* These space travel posters by [[http://www.zazzle.com/stevethomas Steven Thomas.]]
269* Website/AtomicRockets is a website that starts with this trope, but uses it as a launchpad to explore very hard science-fiction ideas about space flight. It refers to "raygun gothic" as "rocketpunk", to follow "steampunk" and "dieselpunk".
270* Much artwork associated with the various World's Fairs. For example, [[http://lileks.com/30s/worldsfair/1933/33chicagobus/index.html this map cover]] which manages to make [[MundaneMadeAwesome a bus]] look absolutely glorious.
271* Revived in the modern age of industrial design: [[http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/04/15/urwerk-ur-202-turbine-regulated-watch/ Urwerk Watches.]] [[RuleOfCool They were specifically made to look like they were going to be worn]] by Darth Vader over the sleeve of his suit. With one small twist, they were designed in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
272* And something that maybe helped to create this trope: Just compare the [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/GPN-2002-000184.png R-7 Rocket]] that put the Sputnik in orbit, to the [[http://history.nasa.gov/SP-350/i3-2b.jpg Saturn Rockets]] of the Apollo Program.
273* Subverted by architect [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Calatrava#Recent_projects Santiago Calatrava,]] whose High-tech architectural style buildings resemble Raygun Gothic but still manage to look somehow modern.
274* A popular theme in the 1950's. Showcased rather dramatically in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX7TlBUsK4g promotional film]] for the 1956 General Motors "Motorama" car show.
275* Naturally, futuristic vehicles, particularly in TheFifties, would be designed this way, which is why a lot of the most cutting-edge car models of that era now sport rocketlike curves and iconic sweeping tailfins. Concept cars designed to look futuristic even for that time would go further; the Lincoln Futura, designed in 1955, had twin bubble cockpits instead of a hard top (and is now famous as the model for the Batmobile on ''Series/Batman1966''); and the 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car—powered, per its name, by a spinning turbine instead of reciprocating pistons—had rotary and jet-propulsion motifs, even if nonfunctional, built into its design.
276* As of a few years ago, we ''finally'' have reusable rockets that land vertically, just like in the Raygun Gothic days. When the Space Shuttle was new, the whole idea of vertically landing rockets seemed hopelessly passé.
277** The SpaceX [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship Starship,]] especially after the switch from a carbon fiber body to a stainless steel one in the prototype phase.
278* Space ''isn't'' a complete vaccuum. If you're getting up to the kind of relativistic speeds you might want for an interstellar voyage, streamlining might actually matter. You could do a lot worse than a sleek "old-fashioned" RetroRocket shape.
279[[/folder]]
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