User:AndyJones/Astronomical names in popular culture

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In popular culture and works of fiction, the names of astronomical objects (e.g., stars, planets, asteroids) are frequently reapplied to people, places, or things that have little or nothing to do with the objects themselves. Real ships and boats are sometimes named after stars.

Contents

[edit] Stars

[edit] Multiple uses

[edit] Achernar

[edit] Aldebaran

  • Saint Seiya, anime television series and manga by Masami Kurumada. Aldebaran is the name of the Taurus Gold Saint who guards the Taurus temple at Athena's Sanctuary where the twelve houses of the Zodiac lay ground. Aldebaran is Brazilian and is the tallest and one of the strongest and wisest warriors in the sanctuary.
  • Ragnarok Online, online role-playing game. Al de Baran is a city.
  • Aldebaran, a gun in the role-playing videogame Final Fantasy XII
  • In the Bucky O'Hare series of comic books and the accompanying TV series, Aldebaran is the name of a planet in a parallel universe, and the home to several anthropomorphic cats who wield magical powers.

[edit] Bellatrix

  • Bellatrix Lestrange Bellatrix Lestrange is a character from the Harry Potter Series. She first appears in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She murders Sirius Black.

[edit] Betelgeuse

  • Beetlejuice (1988), film. Betelgeuse is the main character.


[edit] Deneb

  • Ogre Battle, video game series. Deneb is a witch from Zenobia. She is a magical alchemist of sorts, using her arcane knowledge and power to create the demihuman race of Pumpkinheads. She has the distinction of being the only character to appear in every Ogre Battle title to date. She is one of many characters in the game who is named for a star.
  • Deneb is the name of a ship on the American Server of Phantasy Star Online for the Nintendo Gamecube
  • In Kamen Rider Den-O the Imajin that accompanies Kamen Rider Zeronos/Yuuto Sakurai is named Deneb. Keeping with the theme, his Rider forms are called Vega and Altair.

[edit] Elnath

  • A USS El Nath is mentioned in the Star Fleet Technical Manual and the novel "Time for Yesterday".
  • El Nath is a region in the MMORPG MapleStory.

[edit] Fomalhaut

[edit] Procyon

  • Uller Uprising, novel by H. Beam Piper. Procyon is a contragravity warship equipped with rockets and autocannon of 40mm and 90mm calibers. It is instrumental in crushing the 'Geek Rebellion' of native, anti-human Ullerans.
  • Zybex, computer game. Procyon is a level.
  • Hybrid Heaven, computer game by Nintendo. Procyon is a creature the main character must fight.

[edit] Sirius

  • The Amory Wars (aka The Story of Coheed and Cambria), comics. The "Seven Stars of Sirius" are giant star-transformers that hold together the Keywork (a vast structure of 12 sectors/78 planets) and Heaven's Fence.
  • Ogre Battle, video game series. Sirius is a werewolf and the boss of the Lake Janneia stage.
  • GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, video game. Sirius is suggested to be the real first name of Dr. Julius No.
  • Sirius Black is the name of Harry Potter's Godfather in the series.
  • [Bomberman] Sirius is an atagonist, working against Bomberman.

[edit] Wolf 359

[edit] Wolf 424

[edit] Vega

[edit] See also

[edit] Planets

[edit] Mercury

  • In the "Golden Sun" role-playing game series for the Game Boy Advance, Mercury is the ruling planet for water-based Psynergy and Djinn.
  • In the Sailor Moon metaseries, the Ami Mizuno character transforms into Sailor Mercury, the Soldier of Water and Ice. She, in the manga version of the story and in only a line spoken by Luna in the original and dub anime, is also the princess of the planet.
  • In Final Fantasy X, a role-playing game for PS2, Rikku's Celestial Weapon, the Godhand, is powered by two rare items called the Mercury Crest and Mercury Sigil.

[edit] Venus

  • In the Japanese anime series, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (1992), Sailor Venus is a soldier representing the planet of the same name (she is also the princess, Princess Venus). In mythology, Venus is the Roman goddess of love (Aphrodite in Greek), therefore, Sailor Venus's attacks and weapons (e.g., Venus Love Me Chain and Venus Love and Beauty Shock) represent the idea of love and femininity. Her image colours are gold and orange -- similar to the colour of the planet. Also, on her forehead is the planet's symbol. The character's attributes also relate to the fact that Venus in Asian mythology relates to the element metal. In Japanese, it is also the word for gold in particular and is probably why her attack is a chain and her color is gold.
  • In the Golden Sun role-playing game series for the Game Boy Advance, Venus is the ruling planet for earth-element-based Psynergy and Djinn.
  • In Final Fantasy X, a role-playing game for PS2, Lulu's Celestial Weapon, the Onion Knight, is powered by two rare items called the Venus Crest and Venus Sigil.

[edit] Mars

[edit] Jupiter

  • In the manga, Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter (Makoto Kino) is a soldier representing the planet.
  • In the anime Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (1992), Sailor Jupiter is a soldier representing the planet. Since Zeus's weapon in mythology involves lightning, Jupiter's attacks are based on the same element (e.g. Supreme Thunder). Her image colour is green.
  • In the "Golden Sun" role-playing game series for the Game Boy Advance, Jupiter is the ruling planet for air-based Psynergy and Djinn.
  • In Final Fantasy X for PS2, Wakka's Celestial Weapon, the World Champion, is powered by two rare items called the Jupiter Crest and Sigil.

[edit] Saturn

[edit] Uranus

  • In the anime Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (1992), Sailor Uranus is the seventh guardian soldier to appear in the series, and represents the planet. Her attacks are associated with the force of nature (e.g. World Shaking, which is basically an earthquake). Later in the series, her attacks become more of galactic-like (e.g. Space Turbulence). Her talisman is Space Sword, and her image colours are navy blue and yellow.

[edit] "Uranus" jokes

A common pronunciation for Uranus (IPA [jəˈreɪnəs]) sounds somewhat like English phrase "your anus" ([jɚ eɪnəs]), eliciting several puns based on a possible confusion between the two. Other speakers use an older pronunciation, [ˈjurənəs] which lacks such potential for confusion. Few of these jokes have any real connection to the planet.

  • In the sketch-based British comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982), it is suggested that the name of Uranus be changed to eliminate this problem. The new name, pronounced [bjuːməʊli], is spelt "Bumole".
  • In the movie Spaceballs, the Eagle Five Winnebago has a bumper sticker on the rear that reads "I Love Uranus" where Love is a heart shape.
  • In the animated series Futurama (1999–2003), in 2620 the name of Uranus was changed to get rid of "That Stupid Joke" once and for all. The new name is "Urectum".
  • In the Harry Potter series, Ron Weasley mispronounces the name "Uranus", leading to several giggles and scorn from his divination teacher.
  • In one episode of The Fairly OddParents, Timmy's dad becomes an astronaut on a mission to Uranus. The joke, "It's a planet?", is said frequently throughout the episode.
  • In another Fairly Oddparents episode, Tom Sawyer is going through a row of books that Wanda poofed up for Timmy. The last book is called Astrophysics for Morons where Wanda realizes that he could turn Uranus into..."Oh my gosh!" Cosmo apparently doesn't get it.
  • In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Eliot's classmates taunt him about his extra-terrestrial sighting, asking "Where's he from, Uranus?"
  • The Captain Underpants series make constant references to Uranus. The spin-off Super Diaper Baby even has the protagonists dropping off the villain on Uranus, where there is a welcome sign reading "Please don't make fun of our name."
  • In Animaniacs, Yakko sings a song about the planets. When he's finished, Wakko comes in and tells him, "You forgot Uranus."
  • At the end of the Histeria! episode "The Return of the American Revolution", Mr. Smartypants points out that the titular war ended in the same year that Uranus was discovered, giggling as he states the planet's name.
  • In the Schoolhouse Rock song, "Interplanet Janet" the line "Uranus is built on a funny tilt" was recorded with a mispronounciation of Uranus, in order to avoid humorous consequences. In the song, it is pronounced [jəˈrænəs].
  • In the ABC Family television show State of Grace, Hannah enters a debating competition about Nuclear warheads and says adamantly, "Really would you want to blow up Uranus?" which causes the audience to burst into laughter and causes her to run away.
  • In the sports commentary show Pardon the Interruption, Tony Kornheiser will usually make a Uranus pun whenever co-host Michael Wilbon references a space-related news item.
  • In the animated show Stickin' Around, Bradley will often make jokes about "Aliens from URANUS!", much to the disgust of his friend, Stacey.
  • In the film Armageddon, when a group of oil drillers are brought to the Johnson Space Center, one of them, played by Michael Clarke Duncan, asks "What's goin' on? NASA find oil on Uranus?"
  • In the book Zombie Butts From Uranus, whenever a character mentions "Uranus", another character typically gets offended, forcing the original speaker to say, "I meant the planet!" (e.g. "I've always wanted to see Uranus--I meant the planet!")
  • In The Magic School Bus episode "Gets Lost in Space", for the first half of the episode, Janet purposely mispronounces Uranus. However, when they approach Uranus, Arnold sits on Janet, and Janet says, "Uranus doesn't do anything for me, so please get off."
  • On Space Cases, the character Bova was from the planet and greatly disliked people making jokes about it.

[edit] Neptune

  • In the anime Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (1992), Sailor Neptune is the soldier representing the planet. A Pisces, she has wavy deep green hair and her image colours represent those of Neptune. On her forehead is the symbol of Neptune, which resembles a trident, Poseidon's weapon. Her attacks represent Poseidon's ocean powers (e.g. Deep Submerge). Her talisman is the Deep Aqua Mirror, also bearing the glyph and colors of Neptune.

[edit] Pluto

  • Mickey Mouse's dog Pluto first appeared in the 1930 cartoon The Chain Gang; it was adapted into Minnie Mouse's dog Rover, and shortly thereafter became Mickey's Pluto, being named for the planet.
  • In the anime Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (1992–1997), Sailor Pluto is the first Outer Senshi to be discovered, and her talisman is the Garnet Orb. She guards the gates of time, and her Greek god equivalent is Hades, the lord of the underworld, which she derives her attacks from (e.g. Dead Scream). On her forehead, she bears the planet's symbol and her image colour is black (sometimes purple).
  • In the Game Boy title Mega Man V, the eight Stardroid boss characters (lead by Terra, representation of Earth) are modeled after the eight planets outside of Earth, one of which is Pluto. Pluto is designed like a cat who uses agility and fire to battle (slightly ironic since Pluto, being so far away from the Sun, is extremely cold). His bio information reveals that he also likes nail art and dislikes pedicures.

[edit] Moons

[edit] Titania

In the Nintendo 64 game Star Fox 64, though neither actual moon nor it's respective planet appear, one planet is named Titania. Unlike it's real-world namesake, Titania is a barren, red desert planet much like Mars but also with planetary rings.

[edit] Asteroids

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dirks, Tim, "Ben-Hur (1959)," review at filmsite.org