History Main / BadVibrations

* In the Outland area of ''WorldOfWarcraft'', there are wandering demonic golems known as Fel Reavers. They are absolutely monstrous in scale, far larger than anything the player had encountered up to that point. Not only does your screen shake as they draw near, but you can hear their footsteps. Even more fearsome is their mechanical roar, which makes the screen shake violently, letting the player know that a massive death machine is very close. Luckily, their eyesight is terrible. Due to the way aggro works in the game, they'll only notice you if you're very close to them on the ground. You can fly a flying mount right through its face and it won't attack.

* Bungie likes to add these to the Warthog run sequences throughout {{Halo}}. Usually because something is exploding in frighteningly-close proximity to you.

* The ''Jurassic Park'' bit was parodied in the [[RashomonStyle Rashomon episode]] of ''TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', with Uncle Phil standing in for the T-Rex.

* The opening scene of Ian [=McKellen's=] ''Theatre/RichardIII''. The king is eating a meal when everything on his table starts to vibrate (including a glass of red wine) whereupon an enemy tank bursts through the wall.

* In the WhateleyUniverse story "Ayla and the Mad Scientist" the team is in a simulation and they notice the ground tremors and the sound. The first response is a "JurassicPark" comment. It's something worse than a Tyrannosaurus.

--> XCOM HQ gets hit by a quake.//

'''[[NumberTwo Central Officer Bradford]]''': "Tell me that was a coincidence."//
'''Tech''': "[[OhCrap Wish I could, Sir...]]"

* The ''Jurassic Park'' bit was parodied in an episode of ''TheFreshPrinceofBelAir'', with Uncle Phil standing in for the t-rex.

** Played with in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E02TheBeastBelow The Beast Below]]", where it's a plot point that the liquid in a glass of water ''isn't'' vibrating.

* Some particularly large earthquakes are preceded by smaller earthquakes known as "foreshocks". These are the opposite of aftershocks, and can happen up to a year or so before the main event (as seen with the quakes that caused the devastating tsunamis in the Indian Ocean in 2004 and Japan in 2011).

* The Korean action epic ''ArrowTheUltimateWeapon'' uses this trope, manifested first as a vibrating arrow and then as tremors in cups of tea, as the first sign of an approaching mounted Manchu invasion force.

* In the 1998 American ''Film/{{Godzilla|1998}}'', [[InNameOnly GINO]] is making cars shake with each step during its first foray in New York... but no longer later in the movie.

--> "And the ground's tremblin'. *rumble* Trees fallin' over. *rumble* Buildings losing pieces of brick. *rumble* Parents taking kids off the street. *rumble* "Hey, hey, hey!" And these guys underneath us saying, "What's the ground doin' shakin', man? How come the ground's shakin'?" "That's [[SecretWeapon Fat Albert]] comin' for you." "Hey, hey, hey!"

Whenever there's an earthquake or a particularly large MonsterOfTheWeek coming, this will often be demonstrated subtly (or not so subtly) by showing a small object (like a lamp, or a small pile of coins) vibrating, then jumping around as the vibrations get stronger (or the monster gets closer) or possibly ripples in a pool of water. Sometimes the camera starts shaking [[StarTrekShake (and possibly the people, too)]], for added emphasis.

* At the beginning of ''Film/{{Star Trek VI|The Undiscovered Country}}'', the captain's tea cup shakes just before the ''Excelsior'' is hit by the shockwave from the Praxis explosion.

* In ''{{Smallville}}'', [[spoiler:''Bride'']], a large bowl of soup starts to vibrate seconds before [[spoiler:Doomsday]] crashes in.
* ''Series/{{The X-Files}}'', "Dreamland".

* The film version of ''Film/JurassicPark'' has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsGjh6ul7mE a much-parodied scene]] where ripples in a glass of water foretold the arrival of the ''TyrannosaurusRex''... [[OffscreenTeleportation except at the end. To be fair, they were probably a bit distracted by the ''velociraptors trying to eat them'' to notice that the ground is shaking a little.]]

* In the 1998 American ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'', [[InNameOnly GINO]] is making cars shake with each step during its first foray in New York... but no longer later in the movie.

* In the pilot for ''{{V-2009}}'', a vibrating glass of water (ala ''Film/JurassicPark'') presages the arrival of a huge spaceship.