Your Total Solar Eclipse Viewing Guide

If you’re into earthly phenomena and films from Hollywood’s Golden Age of cinema, look no further than A Connecticut Yankee, a 1931 film about an American who accidentally time travels back to King Arthur’s Camelot. The film is an adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and like in the novel, time traveler Hank convinces the King that he’s created the eclipse that coincidentally passes over Camelot when he arrives. When King Arthur sees the eclipse, he’s stunned to realize that Hank is powerful enough to control the sun, and instead of killing Hank, he appoints him the second most powerful man in the land.

Where to Stream A Connecticut Yankee (1931)

Fast forward thirty-five years and you have Stanley Kubrick‘s brilliant 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film opens with a stunning image of the sun rising from behind the moon, and it’s accompanied by what’s probably one of the most famous opening songs of all time. Okay, so this is technically a lunar eclipse and not a solar eclipse, but it’s so beautiful and intense that we had to include it. You can watch the full opening sequence in high-definition on YouTube.

The 1986 musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors owes quite a debt to eclipses. Protagonist Seymour works in a flower shop where he spends most of the day dreaming about his co-worker named Audrey. After buying a strange looking flower during a solar eclipse (and naming it Audrey II), Seymour learns that the plant needs human blood to survive. Once Audrey II gets her human-sized snack, she demands on being fed again, creating extra problems for Seymour.

Where to Stream Little Shop of Horrors

The Wonder Years always focused on teenage soapiness rather than scientific accuracy, but one episode in 1993 sought to change all that. Well, kind of. In the Season 6 episode “Eclipse,” Kevin and Co. head to the planetarium to learn about cosmic phenomena and view a solar eclipse. Teachers tell the class to look down at pieces of paper so as not to hurt their eyes during totality, which is actually when it’s most safe to look at an eclipse.

Where to Stream The Wonder Years

In this 2001 action flick, Angelina Jolie must prevent the Illuminati from harnessing the immense power that comes when the planets align under a massive solar eclipse, an event that happens only once every 5,000 years. The eclipse at the end of the alignment serves as a natural bomb clock: Jolie must collect the necessary ancient artifacts before the cosmic event or we’ll be forced to live in a world of evil for the next 50 (!) centuries. Obviously, eclipses happen more than once every 5,000 years IRL, but it’s fun watching Jolie kick some serious ass nonetheless.

Where to Stream Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

This one should be pretty obvious if you’ve ever seen a single episode of Heroes or have even just seen the title image. Heroes follows a group of people around the world who realize that they’ve acquired extraordinary super powers after a solar eclipse occurs. Their powers affect their personal and professional lives, but ultimately, they have to put their personal confusion aside and come together to save the world. Maybe some of us will wake up post-eclipse and have special powers, too.

Where to Stream Heroes

This 2007 mini-series focuses on not one but two eclipses. The Wizard of Oz remake follows a small-town waitress, DG (Zooey Deschanel) and her friends as they attempt to save the magical land of O.Z. from an evil sorceress who wants to manipulate the double solar eclipse–O.Z. has two suns, duh–and trap the land in darkness. The sci-fi/fantasy series also includes performances from Alan Cumming and Richard Dreyfuss, among others. If DG and her crew can find the Emerald of the Eclipse before the evil sorceress Azkadellia, they’ll ensure that the sun shines on O.Z. once again.

Where to Stream Tin Man

CSI: Miami is usually ridiculous, but this one is especially bonkers. In the Season 6 episode “Sunblock,” a serial killer strikes the Miami strip while a major solar eclipse occurs. Beach goers who just want to get their tan on are rudely interrupted when the sun suddenly disappears, shrouding the city in darkness. SPOILER: As it turns out, the killer strikes during the eclipse because he’s allergic to the sun. Sounds premeditated to me.

Even during an eclipse, Donald Draper is trying to make moves. In the Mad Men Season 3 episode “Seven Twenty Three,” Don takes a (very young) Sally to see a solar eclipse–the one that actually took place over New York in July 1963. Sally’s entire class is in attendance, including the teacher, who has instructed each child to view totality through a peephole in a cardboard box. In true Draper fashion, he flirts with Sally’s teacher while also insisting that he’s not even flirting with her. As the sun slowly disappears, Don looks genuinely amazed, an emotion we don’t see on the ad man’s face too often.

Where to Stream Mad Men

Ask and you shall receive. The third film in the Twilight installment features intense Jacob-Edward drama, an epic vampire battle, threats from the Volturi, and, most importantly, an engagement. Technically there’s not actually an eclipse in this movie, but let’s just say that it counts because Bella’s love for Edward finally eclipses her need for Jacob’s friendship. #TeamEdward all the way.

Where to Stream The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Don’t let the movies and TV shows distract you: there are tons of great eclipse documentaries out there (you can find shorter but still super intense ones on Vimeo and YouTube). One such documentary is Chasing Shadows, which follows eclipse chaser–yes, those exist, and there are a lot of them–Geoff Sims as he tracks and follows eclipses across the globe. We travel with Sims, an astronomer and professional photographer, as he ventures to India, Antarctica, Ethiopia, and more in search of the next best eclipse. At only one hour long, Chasing Shadows is an engaging way to learn about this cosmic phenomena without devoting your entire day to it.

Where to Stream Chasing Shadows

Countdown to the Eclipse also centers on eclipse chasers, but in this doc, the eclipse chasers charter a commercial flight to view the solar eclipse from a higher vantage point. When the point of totality is finally reached, the inside of the plane goes totally dark, and everyone screams: it’s awesome and horrifying at the same time. Check out Countdown to the Eclipse for some VERY excited scientists and even more amazing images.

Where to Stream Countdown to the Eclipse