History Film / InnerSpace

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: The chips. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}. They're one-of-a-kind, nobody can replicate them or their technology (at least not before Tuck's oxygen runs out), and nobody made backups in case they were lost or damaged.

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: The chips. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d. They're one-of-a-kind, nobody can replicate them or their technology (at least not before Tuck's oxygen runs out), and nobody made backups in case they were lost or damaged.

* CardCarryingVillain: Lydia's assistant does a background check on Scrimshaw. He finds that he's legal council to organized crime figures, administrator to four teamster pension funds and suspected of black market arms dealing yet manages to stay clean. On the CRT of the terminal that he's reading off of, there's also quite a lot of detailed biographical information. That includes his education, formal business partnership with Dr. Canker, that he's an ex-Marine that attained the rank of Major and has multiple club and fraternity memberships. He's also rumored to have Jimmy Hoffa's wrist watch in a desk drawer as a souvenir.

-->'''Mr. Scrimshaw:''' ''(they're hiding in Lydia's luggage)'' Good. Good... Close-the-lid-close-the-lid.

* MassOhCrap: Everybody in the room craps their pants when Jack!Cowboy undergoes his [[BodyHorror facial deformation sequence]].

* MassOhCrap: Everybody in the room craps their pans when Jack!Cowboy undergoes his [[BodyHorror facial deformation sequence]].

* CardCarryingVillain: Lydia's assistant does a background check on Scrimshaw. He finds that he's legal council to organized crime figures, administrator to four teamster pension funds and suspected of black market arms dealing yet manages to stay clean. On the CRT of the terminal that he's reading off of, there's also quite a a lot more biographical information. That includes his formal business partnership with Dr. Canker, that he's an ex-Marine that attained the rank of Major and has multiple club and fraternity memberships. He's also rumored to have Jimmy Hoffa's wrist watch in a desk drawer as a souvenir.

* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens: The miniaturization process at the government lab spins Tuck's minisub at absurdly high rates before breaking it down and shrinking it. It's a wonder Tuck's stomach didn't object.

* TechnoBabble: The miniaturization process in the film is depicted as breaking up a macroscale object into its component molecules to "compile" a microscopic version of that object. The loss of so much of the object's mass is presumably the reason why Niles described the re-enlargement process as "tricky" and why two chips are used - one on the pod, one on the miniaturizer - as they can serve as a guide for exactly how to rebuild the object. So they're using a variation of [[Film/{{Tron}} Encom's scanning laser]].

* YoureInsane: Tuck's opinion of Victor Scrimshaw in a nutshell.

* ArchEnemy: As the story progresses, Jack goes from a nobody to hated enemy for Scrimshaw. Given that Jack has literally kicked him around, foiled his plans and unwittingly shrunk him to half his size, it's understandable.

-->'''Dr. Niles:''' ''(to the man controlling the robot arm)'' Thanks for telling me.

* TemptingFate: Margaret's line "Don't worry. They won't know how to close it [the lid of the miniaturation chamber]." right before the heroes manage to do just that.

* ToAbsentFriends: "We're going to make a toast to Ozzie, who saved my ass by injecting me into yours."

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Project leader Dr. David Niles is rather likable and understanding for a gub'mint scientist.

* JanitorImpersonationInfiltration: The baddies disguise as cable guys when breaking into Vector-Scope labs.

-->'''Mr. Scrimshaw:''' ''(they're hiding in Lydia's luggage)'' Good. Close-the-lid-close-the-lid.

* CastingGag: Veteran actor William Schallert plays Jack's physician. Schallert had played the physician of ''Film/TheIncredibleShrinkingMan''.

** ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', in the aforementioned design of the pod. And the... ''unusual'' way Tuck meets [[spoiler: his child]] for the first time.

* CastingGag: Veteran actor William Schallert plays Jack's physician. Schallert had played the physician of ''Film/TheIncredibleShrinkingMan'', one Joe Dante's inspirations for this film.

* CastingGag: Jack's doctor was played by veteran actor William Schallert, who played the doctor of ''Film/TheIncredibleShrinkingMan''.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/innerspace_1987.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[[{{Tagline}} An adventure of incredible proportions.]]]]

* ArtificialLimbs: Igoe has a mechanically right arm that itself has an inbuilt blowtorch and, in addition to a mechanical hand with a hidden pistol in the index finger, can mount a drill, a corkscrew, and even ''a vibrator''.