The Jupiter Effect is a 1974 book by John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann, in which the authors predicted that an alignment of the planets of the Solar System would create a number of catastrophes, including a great earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, on March 10, 1982.

[5] Astronomers had long been aware that there would be an alignment of the planets on that date, when Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto would be on the same side of the Sun, within an arc 95 degrees wide.

[6] In this book, the authors sought to partially sidestep these objections by considering the effect of the alignment on the Sun, and hence on the solar wind, which in turn is known to affect weather on the Earth.

The novel Syzygy, by Frederik Pohl, published in 1981, uses the Jupiter Effect as a source of panic whipped up by religious fanatics, politicians and land speculators in Los Angeles around the time of the alignment.

The documentary features interviews with Stephen Plagemann, Jeffrey Goodman and John White (author of Pole Shift), It also includes Biblical prophecy, planetary alignments and survivalism.