History Main / DoomsdayClock

->''This [[TropeNamer doomsday clock]] ticking in my heart"''

* Music/TheSmashingPumpkins [[TropeNamer named]] the trope with their song of the same name from ''Zeitgeist''.

* In addition to the TropeNamer mentioned above, there are also several similar clocks, albeit with slightly different purposes:
** The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Debt_Clock National Debt Clock]] in New York provides a running total of the US government's deficit and each American family's share of it.

** ''LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'' features this as a central theme of the game, but plays with it: Regardless of what happens, Nova Chrysalia ''will'' be destroyed no matter what you do as the player. The clock signifies that you have thirteen [[spoiler:(or, if you play ''really'' well, fourteen)]] twenty-four hour days left in to ensure that said world and all of the people living on it are [[RestartTheWorld reborn]]. If you accomplish the tasks at hand, the world will renew itself. If not...

The ''[[http://www.thebulletin.org/ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' at the University of Chicago actually keep one as a prop... of DOOM! When it was originally introduced [[ColdWar in 1947]] the clock symbolized how close the world was to nuclear war, with the metaphor supporting it being: talks have broken down, and once midnight hits, the attacks start. [[DespairEventHorizon And we are all DOOMED]]. Since [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp the fall of the Iron Curtain]], the original metaphor is (mostly) obsolete, and it was expanded to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt catastrophic destruction]] of any sort, provided it's on a global scale. The ''Bulletin'''s website specifically mentions GlobalWarming and [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke bioengineering]] as possible causes of DOOM in addition to nuclear war.

* In KimStanleyRobinson's ''[[ThreeCaliforniasTrilogy The Gold Coast]]'', where it's about 2050 AD and the ColdWar is still going on, one character mentions that the Doomsday Clock has been set at three seconds to midnight for several decades.

[[caption-width-right:298:At its highest point (1991), it was 17 minutes to midnight; at [[CubanMissileCrisis its lowest (1962)]], it was 2 minutes. As of January 2012, the clock stands at five minutes until midnight.]]

[[caption-width-right:298:At its highest point (1991), it was 17 minutes to midnight; at [[CubanMissileCrisis its lowest (1962)]], it was 2 minutes. As of January 2012, the clock stood at five minutes until midnight.]]

* The ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' episode ''Seven to Midnight'' revolved around stopping a nuclear bomb from going off in NewYorkCity. At the time it was aired the clock stood at seven minutes.

* ''DrStrangelove - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'' has this.

* In KimStanleyRobinson's ''[[ThreeCaliforniasTrilogy The Gold Coast]]'', where its about 2050 AD and the ColdWar is still going on, one character mentions that the Doomsday Clock has been set at three seconds to midnight for several decades.

[[caption-width-right:298:At its highest point (1991), it was 17 minutes to midnight; at [[CubanMissileCrisis its lowest (1962)]], it was 2 minutes. As of January 2012, the clock stands at five minutes until midnight.]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* A recurring motif in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' with the clock gradually ticking towards midnight until the end. It is also mentioned directly with the clock being at five minutes near the beginning. Ironically, because of the deterrent posed by Dr. Manhattan at the beginning of the story, this is actually further from midnight than the real-life clock was in the early to mid-1980s (his departure moves the clock up significantly). The clock is seen more often as the most well-known symbol of the series: the Comedian's smiley-face badge. If you look at it with both eyes pointing up, the bloody smear resembles a minute hand pointing at 11 on a clock. This was actually the entire point of the design, to dress up something happy to something terrifying, with one tiny change.

* A recurring motif in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' with the clock gradually ticking towards midnight until the end. It is also mentioned directly with the clock being at five minutes near the beginning. Ironically, because of the deterrent posed by Dr. Manhattan at the beginning of the story, this is actually further from midnight than the real-life clock was in the early to mid-1980s (his departure moves the clock up significantly).
** The clock is seen more often as the most well-known symbol of the series: the Comedian's smiley-face badge. If you look at it with both eyes pointing up, the bloody smear resembles a minute hand pointing at 11 on a clock. This was actually the entire point of the design, to dress up something happy to something terrifying, with one tiny change.

* In Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the player has 3 days until the moon crashes down on Termina, with a doomsday clock at the bottom of the screen.

See also: DeathsHourglass

See also: DeathsHourglass, WhenTheClockStrikesMidnight

The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face maintained by the ''[[http://www.thebulletin.org/ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' at the University of Chicago. When it was originally introduced [[ColdWar in 1947]] the clock symbolized how close the world was to nuclear war, with the metaphor supporting it being: talks have broken down, and once midnight hits, the attacks start. [[DespairEventHorizon And we are all doomed]]. But since [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp the fall of the Iron Curtain]], the original metaphor is (mostly) obsolete, and it has expanded to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt catastrophic destruction]] of any sort, provided it's on a global scale; the ''Bulletin'''s website specifically mentions GlobalWarming and [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke bioengineering]] as possible causes in addition to nuclear war. The Doomsday Clock is a very real and very eerie example of WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve and as such, it has received nods by several works.

The Doomsday Clock is updated periodically by the ''Bulletin'', however the changes do not always occur in time with world events. Most notably, the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was the closest the ColdWar got to open nuclear conflict, reached its climax and was resolved before the Clock could be changed. The closest it's been was 2 minutes to midnight from 1953-1960 while the farthest was 17 minutes from 1991-1995. In January of 2012, [[http://www.thebulletin.org/content/media-center/announcements/2012/01/10/doomsday-clock-moves-to-five-minutes-to-midnight it was set forward a minute to five minutes to midnight]] in light of worldwide failures to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and reduce the effects of climate change.

As mentioned, this is a subtrope of WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve. Compare: DeathsHourglass which could be this for a single person.

* ''Doomsday Clock'' by Music/TheSmashingPumpkins.

* The title of ''TheVentureBrothers'' episode ''Twenty Years to Midnight'' is a reference to the actual Doomsday Clock.

* A recurring motif in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' with the clock gradually ticking towards midnight until the end. It is also mentioned directly with the clock being at five minutes near the beginning. Ironically, this is actually further from midnight than the real-life clock was in the early to mid-1980s.

The Doomsday Clock is updated periodically by the ''Bulletin'', however the changes do not always occur in time with world events. Most notably, the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was the closest the ColdWar got to open nuclear conflict, reached its climax and was resolved before the Clock could be changed. The closest it's been was 2 minutes to midnight from 1953-1960 while the farthest was 17 minutes from 1991-1995. In January of 2012, [[http://www.thebulletin.org/content/media-center/announcements/2012/01/10/doomsday-clock-moves-1-minute-closer-to-midnight it was set forward a minute to five minutes to midnight]] in light of worldwide failures to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and reduce the effects of climate change.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' had an episode called ''Four to Doomsday'', which was released when the real life clock was at four minutes.

[[caption-width-right:298:At its highest point (1991), it was 17 minutes to midnight; at [[CubanMissileCrisis its lowest (1962)]], it was 2 minutes. As of Janurary 2012, the clock stands at five minutes until midnight.]]

** The clock is seen more often as the most well-known symbol of the series: the Comedian's smiley-face badge. If you look at it with both eyes pointing up, the bloody smear resembles a minute hand pointing at 11 on a clock. This was actually the entire point of the design, to dress up something happy to somthing terrifying, with one tiny change.

* ''DrStrangelove - How I learnt to stop worrying and love the bomb'' has this