History Main / BigBlackout

Often illustrated by a distance shot of an entire city at night (blackouts never start during the day on TV), with large rectangular sections of the city [[SlowElectricity going dark one-by-one]], about a second apart. If it's a ''really'' big one, there also tends to be a satellite view of a continent. And then maybe [[UpToEleven the other continents]].

* A variant in ''Series/{{Glee}}'' affects the whole school, forcing New Directions into an impromptu lesson in acoustics. They rise to the challenge, both ACappella and as an UpToEleven TrashCanBand.

* Happens in the "New Dark Age" ending of ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', on a ''[[UpToEleven global scale]].''[[note]]Though it is explicitly intended to be a global ''communications'' blackout, the initial destruction of the hub does cause widespread chaos and power issues. ''Invisible War'', set several years later, states that the chaos lasted for quite a while, but then people were able to re-establish their immediate societal surroundings pretty quickly, with only long-range, global communication semi-permanently affected.[[/note]]

* The climax of ''Theatre/FlyByNightMusical'' begins when Crabble accidentally causes the 1965 North-East Blackout.

* The ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "Blackout" revolves around the 1996 drowning of an elderly woman in her mansion during a blizzard-related power outage. [[spoiler: The VictimOfTheWeek's daughter had turned out the lights before killing her after she found out that her mom [[DirtyOldWoman had attempted to seduce]] [[{{Squick}} the latter's 13-year-old son]]]].

* Saxon, a British HeavyMetal band, has the song "747 (Strangers in the Night)", which narrates the problems of a [[RealLife/CoolPlane Boeing 747]] running out of fuel as it approaches New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport just as the city is suffering a severe power outage.

* ''Series/AmericanDreams'': One episode took place during the 1965 blackout.

* The ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "Blackout" revolves around the 1996 drowning of an elderly woman in her mansion during a blizzard-related power outage. [[spoiler: The VictimOfTheWeek's daughter had turned out the lights before killing her after the latter found out [[DirtyOldWoman had attempted to seduce]] [[{{Squick}} the latter's 13-year-old son]]]].

* In a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w68bNY1mGus Toshiba commercial]], a damaged laptop that is plugged into an electrical panel shorts out the electrical grid across the ''entire'' United States. A man who consumes a carton of milk which has spoiled due to the lack of refrigeration triggers the ZombieApocalypse.

* ''Series/Titans2018''. The car Dick Grayson is driving goes dead the moment Trigon steps from his dimension into ours. Fortunately he and his companions are close enough to get the rest of the way on foot.

See PowerOutagePlot for how characters deal with blackouts.

%%* ''Supervolcano'': Happens in the BBC SpeculativeDocumentary.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rio}}'': Nigel the cockatoo flies straight into a electrical transformer resulting in a huge blackout, ''right'' as the soccer team is going for the final point during a major game.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', a blackout occurs in Sunnyshore City and the player is [[BrokenBridge unable to venture to said city]] until they beat the main game at Spear Pillar.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' a big blackout has hit most of Lumiose City apart from the Southern Avenue. Like the above example the player cannot move beyond Southern Boulevard until they solve the situation at the Power Plant causing the blackout. Also if the player plays at night the whole city is [[GameplayAndStorySegregation still brightly lit]].

* In ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil'', the Crime Syndicate disrupts and destroys most electronic and wireless based systems upon arrival in order to gain control of global communication.

* A supernatural version of this occurs in the Literature/LeftBehind books, as one of God's Bowl Judgments causes New Babylon to be so dark that, even though they still have power, none of Nicolae Carpathia's loyalists can see any form of light save for [[PowerGlows Nicolae's faint aura]]. The believers in Christ, on the other hand, can still see with the illumination level of a low-powered chandelier. The blackout lasts for a whole year until an angel of the Lord illuminated the city long enough to warn God's people to get out of New Babylon before [[DoomedHometown it is destroyed]]. Even worse for Carpathia's loyalists is that, during the blackout, they also suffer pains and sores for which there is no relief. Also [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]], as one of God's plagues upon Egypt was to plunge it into thick darkness.

* ''[[http://www.apocalypsezone.com/audio-drama/peoria-plague-classic-zombie-audio-drama-1972/ The Peoria Plague]]'', produced by Peoria, Illinois station WUHN in 1972, has the station's usual easy listening music format interrupted by [[PhonyNewscast breaking news reports]] about a mysterious, city-wide power outage that eventually snowballs into a combination of ThePlague, ZombieApocalypse and AlienInvasion.

* ''ComicBook/MegaMan'' has Ra Moon do this [[spoiler:to the ''entire planet'']].

* ''The Trigger Effect'' depicts society falling apart following a massive power outage that lasts for several days throughout Southern California (at least), the cause of which is never revealed.
** The 2014 thriller ''Blackout'' (aka ''Then There Was'') has a similar premise.

* The 1968 Creator/DorisDay comedy ''Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?'' takes place during the real-life New York City blackout of '65.

* The 1968 Doris Day comedy ''Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?'' takes place during the real-life New York City blackout of '65.

* The 1996 suspense film ''The Trigger Effect'' depicts society falling apart following a massive power outage that lasts for several days throughout Southern California (at least), the cause of which is never revealed.

* ''Film/TheTriggerEffect'' follows a young family during a nationwide blackout that causes society to start breaking down after a few days.
** The 2014 thriller ''Blackout'' (aka ''Then There Was'') has a similar premise.

** The 2014 film ''Blackout'' (aka ''Then There Was'') has a similar premise.

This is usually caused by a machine that sucks way too much energy. Sometimes the power is adequate and the machine works, other times it begins a quest for the heroes to find something that ''is'' powerful enough. Alternately, it could be caused by a SolarFlareDisaster, an [[{{EMP}} Electromagnetic Pulse]], or perhaps an AlienInvasion.

* ''Anime/ZombielandSaga'': [[spoiler:Episode nine of Revenge ends with a Saga-wide blackout, seemingly caused by catastrophic storms. [[DeusExMachina Conveniently]], [[BigBad Okoba]] was about to send his article that would expose Franchouchou as zombies right before it hit]]