History Main / MegaMawManeuver

* ''JamesBond''

* A hilarious variation could be the scene in ''MarsAttacks'' where the US launches nukes, and the Martians deploy a tiny probe that sucks up the nukes into a balloon-like compartment, in which they explode harmlessly, the balloon probe containing everything. Then the Martians smoke the radioactive remains in some kind of space-bong.
* The opening scene of the first ''StarWars'' features the Tantive IV's engines and weapons being disabled by a Star Destroyer, leaving it helpless as Darth Vader's ship tractors the corvette into its massive carrier bay.
* Spaceball One eats Princess Vespa's spaceship in ''SpaceBalls''.

* The Seeker's semi-invisible spaceship does this to the Space Shuttle Odyssey in ''OdysseyFive''.

* ''StarTrekVoyager''. In "Collective", a Borg cube draws one of Voyager's shuttles inside itself with a tractor beam. When the crew wake up, they're inside a vast chamber full of small spacecraft.

* The first episode of ''TaleSpin'' has the air pirates harassing a Khan cargo plane. As the plane ducks into a cloud bank to try and hide, they fly right into the ''[[AirborneAircraftCarrier Iron Vulture]]'', the pirates' ship. It even has a mouth for such purposes.

* One one the story arcs on ''RockyAndBullwinkle'' has them looking for the giant whale Maybe Dick, which turns out to be a ship Boris Badanov uses to swallow ocean lines so he can plunder them.
* ''ThePiratesOfDarkWater'' featured the ''Maelstrom'', a massive pirate ship fashioned from the bones of a colossal sea monster. The jaws formed the ship's prow, resulting in a much more literal version of this trope than is usually seen whenever they opened to swallow a smaller ship.

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', Shadow Battlecrabs can absorb other ships into themselves, allowing them to abduct their pilots. Meanwhile, Commander Sinclair's [[LaserGuidedAmnesia unexplained]] (and temporary) disappearance at the [[Battle of the Line HoldTheLine]] is revealed to be partly due to this, with a Minbari warcruiser using tractor beams to disable and pull in his ship.

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', Shadow Battlecrabs can absorb other ships into themselves, allowing them to abduct their pilots.

While certainly an [[RuleOfCool interesting]] maneuver, it does pose several problems in RealLife. For one, its success hinges upon the maw ship being much larger and much faster than its victims. For another, the very real possibility of the target performing some desperate evasive action trying to get away would pose considerable danger. Sometimes {{TractorBeam}}s are used to speed up the chase and/or [[JustifiedTrope explain away]] why the target isn't performing any evasive actions.

In a nutshell, this is when a hostile force attacks a target by using a much larger vehicle with a large door to chase down and then "swallow" the target vehicle. The attackers have just performed the MegaMawManeuver. The reasons for using this tactic are usually as a form of piracy. Once inside the large vehicle, the target is at the mercy of its captors, and can be easily boarded, plundered, or seized without risking damage in a firefight.

While certainly an [[RuleOfCool interesting]] maneuver, it does pose several problems in RealLife. For one, it's success hinges upon the maw ship being much larger and much faster than its victims. For another, the very real possibility of the target performing some desperate evasive action trying to get away would pose considerable danger. Sometimes {{TractorBeam}}s are used to speed up the chase and/or [[JustifiedTrope explain away]] why the target isn't performing any evasive actions.

* ''[[TheStainlessSteelRat The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You]]''. The Special Corps investigates the mysterious disappearance of a navy space station whose last message was: "THE TEETH!" He uses time travel to go back to the event and sees it swallowed by a planetoid sent by alien invaders.

* The opening scene of the first ''Star Wars'' features the Tantive IV's engines and weapons being disabled by a Star Destroyer, leaving it helpless as Darth Vader's ship tractors the corvette into its massive carrier bay.

* ''ThePiratesOfDarkWater'' featured the ''Maelstrom'' a massive pirate ship fashioned from the bones of colossal sea monster. The jaws formed the ship's prow, resulting in a much more literal version of this trope than is usually seen whenever they opened to swallow a smaller ship.

* The first episode of ''TaleSpin'' has the air pirates harassing a Khan cargo plane. As the plane ducks into a cloud bank to try and hide, they fly right into the ''[[AirborneAircraftCarrier Iron Vulture]]'', the pirates' ship. It even has a mouth for such purposes.

* Happens in the intro of ''VideoGame/Battletoads'' when the small spaceship of one of the VideoGame/BattleToads gets captured by the large starship of their foe.

* The first episode of ''TaleSpin'' has the air pirates harassing a Khan cargo plane. As the plane ducks into a cloud bank to try and hide, they fly right into the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier Iron Vulture]], the pirates' ship. It even has a mouth for such purposes.

* Used by a ship pirate masquerading as a trader in ''HouseOfSuns'' to trap the protagonist's starship inside a enormous world-ship.

* In ''BabylonFive'', Shadow Battlecrabs can absorb other ships into themselves, allowing them to abduct their pilots.

* Happens in the intro of ''VideoGame/Battletoads'' when the small spaceship of one of the BattleToads gets captured by the large starship of their foe.

* One one the story arcs on ''RockyAndBullwinkle'' has them looking for the giant whale Maybe Dick, which turns out to be a ship Boris Badanov uses to swallow ocean lines so he can plunder them.

** Happened a couple times in ''StarTrekVoyager''. One race had a starship so large that they simply beamed ''Voyager'' inside to capture them. This seems to be the primary assimilation tactic of the Borg Sphere, which tries to do it to ''Voyager'' twice (it succeeds in the finale, though it didn't stick).

* ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'': The enormous MechanicalLifeform V'Ger had a giant maw like this, which the Enterprise flew through in order to reach V'Ger's main processing center. It then closed, trapping the Enterprise inside.

** The "Wisp" spaceship from ''StarTrekEnterprise'' had a huge maw that swallowed Enterprise.

** ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': the Planet Killer, a giant ship that destroyed planets. In an inversion, they deliberately flew a starship into its maw to destroy it from the inside out.

* A hilarious variation could be the scene in ''MarsAttacks'' where the US launches nukes, and the Martians deploy a tiny probe that sucks up the nukes into a balloon-like compartment, in which they explode harmlessly, the balloon probe containing everything. Then the Martians smoke the radioactive remains in some king of space-bong.

* The {{Lexx}}, a giant bioengineered insect/ planet-destroyer could literally eat ship.

** The last episode of ''StarTrekVoyager'' has a Borg Sphere doing this to ''Voyager''.

* Happens in the intro of ''VideoGame/Battletoads'' when the small spaceship of one of the BattleToads gets captured by the large starship of their foe.

* The "Wisp" spaceship from ''StarTrekEnterprise'' had a huge maw that swallowed Enterprise.

* One level of ''[[CrimsonSkies Crimson Skies: Highroad to Revenge]]'' has a giant zeppelin designed to eat other zeppelins.

* One level of ''[[CrimsonSkies Crimson Skies: Highroad to Revenge]]'' has a giant zeppelin designed to eat other zeppelins.