History Main / FastTunnelling

* In the ''[=~Pokémon~=]'' games Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, there is 'Ruin Maniac' that challenges you to collect a certain rare Pokémon (Unown) before he finishes digging a tunnel, aptly called 'Maniac Tunnel'. The more versions of Unown you collect, the longer the tunnel becomes. By the end of your collection (28 in total), the man has singlehandedly dug the tunnel hundreds of feet long — even if you only take a few hours to collect all of the Unown. The townspeople outside [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this by talking about how crazy the guy is.

* Players in {{Minecraft}} easily dig a fifty meter long tunnel in a matter of minutes. Faster, if they can get themselves a diamond tool. And carrying 2240 cubic metres of cobbled rock around with them doesn't slow the process down at all.

* Players in {{Minecraft}} easily dig a fifty meter long tunnel in a matter of minutes. Faster, if they can get themselves a diamond tool. And carrying 2240 cubic metres of solid rock around with them doesn't slow the process down at all.

* A couple of The ''Pendragon Adventure'' books include a mining machine which can dig really fast.

Note that this trope only applies to characters digging far faster than their abilities and equipment should allow. Rock-[[RockSteady shapers]], [[AvatarTheLastAirbender earthbenders]], {{Superman}} and similar characters do not generally fall under this trope.

Note that this trope only applies to characters digging far faster than their abilities and equipment should allow. Rock-[[RockSteady shapers]], [[AvatarTheLastAirbender earthbenders]], {{Superman}} and similar characters generally fall under [[TunnelKing another trope]].

Note that this trope only applies to characters digging far faster than their abilities and equipment should allow. Rock-[[RockSteady shapers]], [[AvatarTheLastAirbender earthbenders]], {{Superman}} and similar characters do not generally fall under this trope.

** Lagann can be launched as a fastball, drill through lots of rock without losing speed, come back out, and destroy two robots. It's not earth they have there, it's not even water!

* Players in {{Minecraft}} easily dig a fifty meter long tunnel in a matter of minutes. Faster, if they can get themselves a diamond tool. And carrying over 3,000 cubic metres of solid rock around with them doesn't slow the process down at all.

** [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Diglett-dig, Diglett-dig, TRIO TRIO TRIO!]] (Meaning, considering the world, that he may have [[{{Mons}} help.]])

* Players in {{Minecraft}} easily dig a fifty meter long tunnel in a matter of minutes. Faster, if they can get themselves a diamond tool.

* Averted in ''The Shawshank Redemption'', in which it takes Andy Dufrene 20 years to dig an escape tunnel.

** At the end of this episode, all of the townspeople dig a hole looking for buried treasure, but find an empty trunk. Not at all discouraged by this, they continue digging well into the night until they find themselves at the bottom of a very deep pit.
-->'''Marge:''' "How do we get out?"
-->'''Homer:''' "We'll dig our way out!"
-->'''Moe:''' "No, no, dig '''up''', stupid!"

** In a later episode, all of the townspeople dig a hole looking for buried treasure, but find an empty trunk. Not at all discouraged by this, they continue digging well into the night until they find themselves at the bottom of a very deep pit.

* Dwarves in ''ArtemisFowl'' eat their way through the ground, and do so at very high speeds.

** [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Diglett-dig, Diglett-dig, TRIO TRIO TRIO!]]

* Knuckles the Echidna, from any version of ''SonicTheHedgehog''.

When tunnels need to be dug in fiction (particularly by the TunnelKing), they're usually dug very quickly. Ridiculously quickly. At rates than are flatly not possible, often in the range of several metres per hour, without use of explosives or specialized boring machines. By way of reference, the fastest TBM in the world, the fastest boring machine in history, can only manage 4.5 metres per [[strike:hour]] second, with an experienced crew to run it, and to run all of the support systems, like removing waste rock and lining the tunnel behind the machine, which are very often ignored in fictional tunnelling.

When tunnels need to be dug in fiction (particularly by the TunnelKing), they're usually dug very quickly. Ridiculously quickly. At rates than are flatly not possible, often in the range of several metres per hour, without use of explosives or specialized boring machines. By way of reference, the fastest TBM in the world, the fastest boring machine in history, can only manage 4.5 metres per hour, with an experienced crew to run it, and to run all of the support systems, like removing waste rock and lining the tunnel behind the machine, which are very often ignored in fictional tunnelling.