History Main / FerrisWheelOfDoom

* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage'', Layton and Luke are chased by a ''remote-controlled'' version of this.

* Subverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' which has Zim rigging a wheel with rockets in an attempt to launch the giant hamster Peepi into space. Peepi trashes the wheel in anger once it realizes what's happening.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ferris_wheel_ultimate_x_men_50.jpg]]]]

* In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', at the beginning of the Fenris arc, the team's hanging out at Coney Island. Naturally, bad guys sabotage the Ferris wheel, and the X-Men have to save the day.

* In ''Anime/DetectiveConanFilm20TheDarkestNightmare'', Gin causes the giant Ferris wheel to roll by shooting the axis with his helicopters minigun.

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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ferris_wheel_ultimate_x_men_50.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:350:BREAKING NEWS: Out of control Ferris Wheel crushes 23 cars, 57 fair goers, and one couple's [[PerilousMarriageProposal marriage proposal]].]]-]

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* In one chapter of the ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga, a mad bomber rigs Ferris Wheel cars to explode... while Anzu is riding it. Yugi is forced to play a variant of solitaire in which if he stacks all four cards of a given number, the corresponding car explodes. He solves it by putting all the Kings together before Anzu's stack is complete and telling the police that the bomber is in Car 13, disguised as a hostage, because it didn't explode.
* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' had a fight on a Ferris wheel.
* One also popped up in the film version of ''Literature/{{Paprika}}''.
* In ''Anime/SakuraWars2000'', Iris freaks out while on a Ferris wheel and ends up breaking the thing accidentally with her telekinetic powers.
* In ''Manga/StrawberryOneHundredPercent'' the main character and his on-again off-again girlfriend are stuck in the Ferris wheel when it stops. Then their door opens up and they almost fall out. Go go Romance Comedy!
* ''Manga/CaseClosed'': In ThatOneCase for Satou, her partner died rather than choose to disarm a bomb in a Ferris wheel so he can send her the directions to another bomb that the bomber had hidden, and the location would not be given in full unless the timer was allowed to run out. In the 20th film Gin causes the giant Ferris wheel to roll by shooting the axis with his helicopters minigun.
* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': In ''[[TheMovie Der Film]]'' Rabbit Team shoots a Ferris wheel off its supports, causing it to roll down towards the enemy team's encirclement as a distraction. They call this "Operation Mifune", after the scene in ''Film/NineteenFortyOne1979'', which they had watched the previous night. It works, and the Ooarai team is able to use the confusion to escape. As the wheel slows to a halt and topples over, the girls affectionately thank "Ferris-senpai"/"Ferry-chan" for its help.

* ''TabletopGame/CardsAgainstHumanity'' has a white card labeled "An unhinged ferris wheel rolling toward the sea." There is a meme in the game's fandom that three cards should be used to form the sentence, "When you get right down to it, an unhinged ferris wheel rolling toward the sea is just a windmill full of corpses."

* In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', at the beginning of the Fenris arc, the team's hanging out at Coney Island. Naturally, bad guys sabotage the Ferris wheel and the X-Men have to save the day.

* In ''Film/Catwoman2004'', a Ferris wheel mysteriously breaks down while the leads are on it, allowing Tom to shut down the motor and stop it, and Patience to save a little boy who falls out of a seat that somehow suffers a structural failure at the same time.
* ''Film/CityWarriors'': One of the film's action set-pieces have the protagonist climbing up a Ferris Wheel to save a child who fell out from its carriage. Subverted that there is nothing wrong with the Ferris Wheel (no malfunctioning or whatsoever) - the boy snuck on board all by himself and opened the door for no reason just to have a better view of the amusement park.
* In ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer'', the London Eye breaks down and has to be rescued, although it had more to do with the Silver Surfer destroying the surrounding area than just a random failure. While the London Eye is not quite a Ferris Wheel but an observation wheel (its gondolas are motorized), it's similar enough to count.

* Happens at the end of ''Film/MightyJoeYoung'', causing the title Gorilla to save a small child from it. The resulting good publicity sets up the HappyEnding.
* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'': It's not a Ferris wheel exactly, but close enough. Our hero, Axel Foley, gets onto the ride to escape the bad guys, and is hoisted in the air. The bad guys try to get him down by overriding the controls of the ride, and end up breaking it. The ride is damaged, and one of the gondolas is about to fall. Foley then spends the next few minutes jumping from gondola to gondola, and climbing along the supporting beams, to reach the broken gondola before it falls. He, of course, succeeds. And, he's not even a super hero.
* In the Russian film ''Film/DayWatch'', tremors caused by TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt cause a Ferris Wheel to break free and roll down the street. Since the heroes are too busy trying to stop the world from ending, plenty of people get crushed. [[spoiler: Except they don't, thanks to the hero RewritingReality]]
* While not really an action flick, ''Film/{{Carpool}}'' uses this trope as well. In the climax of the film, one of the main characters' kids must be saved from a runaway Ferris wheel. Of course [[FromBadToWorse it gets worse]] and the kid's car breaks off and it turns into a whole big mess...

* French movie ''Film/LeBoulet'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1DrtAP0z_4 During an already intense]] ChaseScene, the protagonist, prison escapee Moltes, to avoid the cops pursuing him on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Concorde Place de la Concorde]], [[{{Ramprovisation}} runs his car up]] [[RampJump a ramp to jump]] through a large Ferris Wheel, damaging it in the process. Then it starts to crash down and roll into the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries_Garden Tuileries Garden]], straight between Moltes and the InspectorJavert chasing him, until it ends up in a pond and topples to the side.
* The plot of the Hong Kong horror film ''Film/ThePark'' is kicked off by an accident when a 14 year old girl fell to her death from a malfunctioning ferris wheel, leading to the park being closed down and the owner subsequently hanging himself from said wheel. The girl returns as a ghost haunting said wheel years later.
* Featured in the climatic battle of ''Film/Shazam2019'' when Dr. Sivana proceed to unleash the sins in an amusement park, a few of them who then attacks the Ferris Wheel making it fall over on its side. [[spoiler: Thankfully, Billy had already transferred his powers to his siblings, at which point three of them - Freddy, Pedro and Darla - immediately helps out, Pedro using his super strength to hold the collapsing wheel in place while Darla and Freddy assists in evacuating civilians trapped on the wheel]].

** Not to mention its prominent role in the finale, where [[spoiler:Samson BriarPatches Justin and Iris into riding it, Jonesy traps them at the top, then cuts the brakes and lets the thing go speeding around, and Ben uses Justin's life force to heal everyone at the show. Justin yells "BE STILL!" ''and the Ferris Wheel listens''.]]
* ''Series/{{Bottom}}'': "Hole", in which Richie and Eddie find themselves stuck at the top of a rickety, illegal, death trap Ferris wheel just after the owners have closed it down pending its demolition? How will they ever escape? Well, they pray for salvation and God answers. Unfortunately, they then realise that they don't believe in God, [[PuffOfLogic so they fall anyway.]] [[SnapBack They get better]] [[ResetButton in time for the next episode.]]
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': J.D., Cox, Jordan and Jordan's sister Dani get stuck at the top of a Ferris Wheel for an hour.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': In "Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival", Sharona goes up on a Ferris wheel (which also happens to have been the scene of the murder) to keep an eye out for the murderer, who is somewhere at the carnival. The murderer suddenly appears and begins to climb towards Sharona. After accidentally breaking the controls on the Ferris wheel, Monk has to climb up after the murderer. It's better than it sounds: remember that Monk has clinical phobias about heights, grime, etc. He has to climb a Ferris wheel whose structure is covered in dirt and grease. For a while, part of this scene appeared during the ThemeSong.

* One of ''Series/LondonsBurning'''s big season finale setpieces involved a collapsing Ferris Wheel at a funfair.

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/SputnikSweetheart'' (by Creator/HarukiMurakami) has a woman trapped overnight in one, causing her MindScrew and [[LockedIntoStrangeness her hair going white]]
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/BoogieWings'' have an AmusementParkOfDoom level where the Ferris Wheel inevitably breaks off and rolls across the area, turning into an AdvancingWallOfDoom you need to outrun.

* The first CutScene in ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' features a Ferris Wheel falling down and killing several people. (Your target in the tutorial level is the owner of the amusement park; you were hired to avenge the customer's son killed there.)
* The arcade LightGunGame ''VideoGame/MonsterEye'' has an amusement park level where your characters are trapped atop a Ferris wheel, while the level's boss, a KingKongCopy giant gorilla, lunges at you. It's likely a ShoutOut at the ''Film/MightyJoeYoung'' remake, though in this case the gorilla is ''hostile'' and trying to destroy said wheel with your players on it.

* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage'', Layton and Luke are being chased by a ''remote-controlled'' version of this.
* ''Videogame/KatamariDamacy'' has a Ferris wheel in the last level (the moon). It doesn't roll away, but you can roll it up.
* TheRemake of ''VideoGame/RomancingSaga'' has this as one of axe techniques. The axe user creates a Ferris Wheel out of an axe and unleashes them on an enemy.
* Happens surprisingly in ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'', with a giant grindwheel taking the Ferris Wheel's role, stalking the player as he tries to outrun it in a minecart.
* In the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' expansion "A Matter of Family", Batgirl has to rescue some cops from this at one point. Considering it's an amusement park taken over by ComicBook/TheJoker, it doesn't come as much of a surprise.
* {{Averted}} in ''Videogame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'', while as the iconic Ferris wheel of the abandoned Soviet-era radioactive Ukrainian ghost town of Pripyat (located in the heavily guarded exclusion zone around the {{UsefulNotes/Chernobyl}} nuclear power plant) features prominently in the {{scenery gorn}} to set the overall spooky atmosphere of the missions "All Ghillied Up" and "One Shot, One Kill", it doesn't come loose from its moorings or collapse once the [[spoiler: stealth mission "goes hot" and turns into a running firefight during "One Shot, One Kill" to escape an Mi-28 Havoc that [[GunshipRescue comes to the aid of]] the {{Big Bad}}, Imran Zakhaev.]] This, despite all kinds of explosives going off in close proximity to the Ferris wheel, [[spoiler: which actually serves as the centerpiece for the climatic battle as the British SAS commando protagonist and his wounded commanding officer must fight off Russian ultranationalists in an attempt to hold out until they can be extracted.]]
* Surprisingly {{Averted}} in ''VideoGame/RollerCoasterTycoon''. The Ferris Wheel is one ride that can be built, and rides can break down and fail, sometimes killing guests, but the Ferris Wheel is perfectly safe and its breakdowns are mundane and harmless.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Website/TheOnion'' takes on this trope with an article entitled [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-40000-people-died-on-ferris-wheels-this-sum,26414/ Report: 40,000 People Died on Ferris Wheels This Summer]]

* A ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' episode involved The Mole and a Ferris wheel. The wheel ended up slicing Lumpy in two (and grinding the left half)

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': Superman in his own series has to play tug-of-war using a Ferris wheel in "Monkey Fun" while fighting a [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant monkey]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' had a subversion in the second season. Beast Boy and Terra were on a date, riding on the Ferris Wheel when Slade ambushed them. The ride never broke down, or suffered from structural failure during the entire fight... until earth-controlling Terra destroyed it on her own at the end, to escape from Slade.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Bart's Inner Child", Otto's inattentiveness and Willie's laziness causes the Ferris wheel to break loose and run amok through Springfield's "Do What You Feel" festival.
* Subverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' has Zim rigging a wheel with rockets in an attempt to launch the giant hamster Peepi into space. Peepi trashes the wheel in anger once it realizes what's happening.
* A Ferris Wheel crashes out its supports in ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', except it then is used as a ''[[RuleofCool spaceship]]''
* In the ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' one-shot short, "A Girl Named Fuzzball", the title character mentions this happening at a previous carnival in town.
* Happens in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'' as part of the storm of TakeOurWordForIt. At one point the girl [[ButtMonkey Dante]] likes starts making out with it.

* Happens in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'' as part of the storm of TakeOurWordForIt. At one point the girl [[ButtMonkey Dante]] likes starts [[AnythingThatMoves making out with it]].

* In ''Anime/SakuraWarsTV'', Iris freaks out while on a Ferris wheel and ends up breaking the thing accidentally with her telekinetic powers.

* There is a mechanically failing Ferris wheel in the first episode of the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' cartoon, "Man of Tomorrow". It makes things pretty easy for the Legion when they need to figure out who Superman is.

* French movie ''Film/LeBoulet'' (pictured): [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1DrtAP0z_4 During an already intense]] ChaseScene, the protagonist, prison escapee Moltes, to avoid the cops pursuing him on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Concorde Place de la Concorde]], [[{{Ramprovisation}} runs his car up]] [[RampJump a ramp to jump]] through a large Ferris Wheel, damaging it in the process. Then it starts to crash down and roll into the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries_Garden Tuileries Garden]], straight between Moltes and the InspectorJavert chasing him, until it ends up in a pond and topples to the side.

* Featured in the climatic battle of ''Film/{{Shazam}}'' when Dr. Sivana proceed to unleash the sins in an amusement park, a few of them who then attacks the Ferris Wheel making it fall over on its side. [[spoiler: Thankfully, Billy had already transferred his powers to his siblings, at which point three of them - Freddy, Pedro and Darla - immediately helps out, Pedro using his super strength to hold the collapsing wheel in place while Darla and Freddy assists in evacuating civilians trapped on the wheel]].

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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/LeBoulet https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/404154229_350.png]]]]

* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': In ''[[TheMovie Der Film]]'' Rabbit Team shoots a Ferris wheel off its supports, causing it to roll down towards the enemy team's encirclement as a distraction. They call this "Operation Mifune", after the scene in ''Film/NineteenFortyOne'', which they had watched the previous night. It works, and the Ooarai team is able to use the confusion to escape. As the wheel slows to a halt and topples over, the girls affectionately thank "Ferris-senpai"/"Ferry-chan" for its help.

* In ''Film/NineteenFortyOne'', a Ferris wheel in a California seaside amusement park is shot loose by a Japanese sub and rolls into the ocean.

* ''VideoGame/BoogieWings'' have an AmusementParkOfDoom level where the Ferris Wheel inevitably breaks off and rolls across the area (possibly crushing you if you happen to be in it's front) before it smashes into the roller coaster destroying both structures.

* The climax of ''Film/{{Goosebumps}}'' have the main characters being stuck on a Ferris Wheel while surrounded by scores and scores of monsters right below, and trying to finish the manuscript before the monsters could get them by climbing along the wheel's sides. Things get worse when the giant praying mantis attacks the wheel's sides directly and predictably causes it to be dislodged and rolling away with the protagonists clinging on their seats.

* In ''Videogame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage'', Layton and Luke are being chased by a ''remote-controlled'' version of this.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' had a subversion in the second season. Beast Boy and Terra were on a date, riding on the Ferris Wheel when Slade ambushed them. The ride never broke down, or suffered from structural failure during the entire fight... until earth-controlling Terra destroyed it on her own at the end, to escape from Slade.