# M-O-O-N Spells What? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2001, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o-o-n-spells-what/49435 "2001-01-11T01:02:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o-o-n-spells-what/49435/1 "2001-01-11T01:02:51Z")
My ten year old son asked me this last night: " What happens if the moon is gone?". Okay, I don’t give a rat’s ass about soft issues- people would go insane, etc. All I could come up with off the top of my head is that the tides would end. He wanted to know why THAT mattered, and all I could tell him is that it would affect shipping, etc. I felt AWFULLY lame. SO- we all wake up one day, and the moon is gone. Now what?? How does the moon physically affect the planet? Old wives tales about giving birth during a full moon don’t apply. Just the Straight Dope. What happens to the Earth if the Moon is removed one morning? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o-o-n-spells-what/49435/2 "2001-01-11T01:06:08Z")
**[Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/001027.html)** knows. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o-o-n-spells-what/49435/3 "2001-01-11T01:22:14Z")
\<\\> Lame. However, I do apologize for not consulting the Archives before posting. Kill it now if you want to, especially considering how recent that Archive Thread is. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o-o-n-spells-what/49435/4 "2001-01-11T04:41:48Z")
It’s OT, but the literary reference in the thread title was really clever. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o-o-n-spells-what/49435/5 "2001-01-11T04:51:45Z")
I know that if a rogue planet flew by, tearing the moon into two, in a thousand years or so barbarians, mutants, and sorceror women would be fighting evil monsters and superscience warlocks! ---
**Author:** ![Alonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Alonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alonist)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2001, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o-o-n-spells-what/49435/6 "2001-01-12T16:59:33Z")
Cecil didn’t mention that Isaac Asimov wrote an essay on the subject,“_What if the Moon had never existed?_” called _The Tragedy of the Moon_. It’s included in his book of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-o-o-n-spells-what/49435/7 "2001-01-12T18:01:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\*I know that if a rogue planet flew by, tearing the moon into two, in a thousand years or so barbarians, mutants, and sorceror women would be fighting evil monsters and superscience warlocks! \*\* I take it you’re thinking of “Thundarr the Barbarian”. I loved that show. \* > [@](#): > > The year, 1994. From out of space, comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Man’s civilization is cast in ruin. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn. A strange new world rises from the old. A world of savagery, super-science, and sorcery. But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice. With his companions, Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sunsword, against the forces of evil. He is Thundarr, the Barbarian! -