The unusual scenario won for Die Kartoffel the overall conceptual prize at a German language short film competition this month.
Four year 11 Columba College German pupils created a film for the national competition and were recognised, out of 63 entries, for their entertaining idea.
It took the girls a few weeks to come up with the winning concept and hours to get the footage right before editing it down to just four and a-half minutes.
Preparation for the film involved the time-consuming task of painting potatoes blue and green to resemble the world.
"Earth's" destruction included global warming, when the potato was put in a microwave; an ice age, when it was put in a freezer; and a black hole, when it was sucked up by a vacuum cleaner.
The doomed planet's adventures were narrated, in German, by Katie Whitefield (15) and filmed by Sandy Chu (15), with assistance from Sophie Bang (16) and Amanda Navaratne (15).
Their German teacher, Anna Noble, said the film "was so different from all the others" in the competition and it was cross-curriculum, as it involved science, language and multimedia.
The pupils were awarded their prize, of a certificate and $50 each, in Wellington last week.
