History Main / MissionImpossibleCableDrop

-->-- ''Series/TheMagicians2016'': "Plan B"

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''WebVideo/LouderWithCrowder'': Crowder parodied the iconic scene from ''Mission: Impossible'' on the August 10, 2018 show, showing him attempting to upload a video to Website/YouTube while hanging from a cable when it's automatically demonitized.

* A variation in the first ''Film/CharliesAngels'' [[TheFilmOfTheSeries movie]], where she had to do cartwheels across a pressure-sensitive floor and then handstand on a computer box.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Darktan in ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' hangs suspended in a harness to inspect and disarm a deadly trap. As Darktan is an intelligent ''rat'' and weighs very little, this is done with bits of string rather than fancy high-tech cables.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Darktan in ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' hangs suspended in a harness to inspect and disarm a deadly trap. As Darktan is an intelligent ''rat'' and weighs very little, this is done with bits of string rather than fancy high-tech cables.

* Actually done in the ''Series/MissionImpossible'' television series (both the original and the 1980s remake).
** In "Doomsday," Barney used a cable drop to steal the plutonium from a nuclear warhead that was surrounded by photoelectric sensors and so could only be approached from above.
** In "The Lions", Grant gets lowered into the temple and is suspended above the altar so he can tamper with the eponymous lions.

** Also played (relatively) straight in "Chuck vs. The Mask"
* It goes catastrophically wrong for one of Series/TheLoneGunmen in the first episode of their series. However it's possible that they could actually have pulled it off, if left to their own. The only reason they didn't manage it was because Yves was after the same thing they were, and she had the technological know-how to royally mess it up for them.
* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' had Ned attempt one of these out of the ceiling. Notable in that it was a science class and a student notices Ned and greets him before leaving; also in that instead of dropping stealthily, Ned plummeted like a rock and then swung back and forth helplessly, wrecking the classroom.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** Done it in the Easter special, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead "Planet of the Dead"]]. Lady Christina steals the chalice in the prologue, and then she uses the same skill to retrieve the antigravity clamps in the Tritovore ship.
** The show also did the ''Series/CharliesAngels'' version in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E6TheDoctorsDaughter "The Doctor's Daughter"]].
* Parodied on the TV show ''Series/TheSoup'' in the segment [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soup#Clip_of_the_Week "Clip of the Week"]].
* Parodied in ''Series/TheBasilBrushShow'', when the group finds a pool of [[LethalChef Anil's]] [[LavaPit chilli sauce]] between them and a safe containing the answers for the Quiz Night.
* Used in episode six of the third season of ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' when Danny Quinn is testing the security systems at the Anomaly Research Center.
* Parodied in season six of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' when Andrew drops down to steal a diamond, only to have Warren and Jonathan stroll into the museum without issue. Played straight when the Scoobies break into the Mayor's office in season three. Buffy is the one lowered down on the harness to steal the MacGuffin. When the alarms go off however, the pulley jams and Angel has to jump in and save her; though Buffy [[ImprovisedWeapon uses the harness to do a flip so she can kick a henchvamp in the face]].
* In an episode of ''Series/ICarly'', Freddy drops into a room on cables and is mistaken for a spider.

* In the ''Series/FatherTed'' Christmas Special, Father Todd Unctious uses one of these to attempt to steal Father Ted's Golden Cleric Award. It breaks partway through, leaving him hanging helplessly in full view of [[TheDitz Father Dougal]], who fails to notice him anyway. And afterwards Mrs. Doyle uses it to clean the windows.
* Parodied in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIujtsgIyRw opening credits]] of ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything''.
* Done by Zoe in the ''Series/MIHigh'' episode "Mission: Incredible".
* In the ''Series/{{Bones}}'' episode "El Carnicero en el Coche" Hodgins lowers himself like this into the burnt out husk of a car, to avoid the car falling apart at the slightest touch whilst hunting for evidence.
* In her first appearance on ''Series/{{Highlander}}'', Amanda used one as part of a heist, to avoid a pressure-sensitive floor alarm. When she had the item she wanted to steal but before her accomplice could pull her up, Duncan appeared in a balcony. He tossed a coin to determine whether or not he should call the cops on them, then "missed" catching the coin, which hit the floor and set off the alarms.
* A version of this was done in the ''Series/WonderWoman'' episode "The Queen and the Thief".

* A season 3 episode of ''Series/LazyTown'' has Robbie Rotten confronted with a laser grid and trying one of these to steal Sportacus's crystal; he's unsuccessful in his attempts and ends up framing Stingy for his crimes.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Half-parody in the first promos for the TV show , in which Sarah would drop down successfully while Chuck would start spinning in place and get told to "Tense your abs!"

* Torg tests this out as one of their plans to infiltrate Ayleeorgnet in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''. Owing to miscalculating the length of the cables, he knocks himself out. Note that it was to be called "Operation Look I'm Tom Cruise!" (Given that the competition included "Operation Run Around Willy-Nilly"....)

It was an homage to a similar scene in the 1964 film ''Film/{{Topkapi}}''. Now a must whenever there's a spy episode in a show.

* A version of this was done in the ''Series/WonderWoman'' episode "The Queen and the Thief"

The [[StockParodies commonly spoofed]] scene for which everyone remembers the first ''Film/{{Mission Impossible|1996}}'' film. Creator/TomCruise hacks a CIA computer while dangling horizontally from two cables in a heavily protected room. [[UpToEleven The floor is pressure and weight sensitive, to the point that even a single drop of condensation dripping off of a forgotten soft drink and onto the floor is enough to set off the alarm]]. To get into the room, he has to bypass a [[LaserHallway laser grid]] in [[AirVentPassageway a ceiling ventilation duct]].

The [[StockParodies commonly spoofed]] scene for which everyone remembers TheFilmOfTheSeries of ''Film/MissionImpossible''. Creator/TomCruise hacks a CIA computer while dangling horizontally from two cables in a heavily protected room. [[UpToEleven The floor is pressure and weight sensitive, to the point that even a single drop of condensation dripping off of a forgotten soft drink and onto the floor is enough to set off the alarm]]. To get into the room, he has to bypass a [[LaserHallway laser grid]] in [[AirVentPassageway a ceiling ventilation duct]].

* In ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', in order to test the museum's security, Janine uses her Weezing's smoke to reveal the lasers then lowers herself with her Ariados's thread to steal the museum display.

* Done by super-agent Finn [=McMissile=] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}''.

* The Franchise/WallaceAndGromit short ''WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers'' has a variant that predates the movie, involving a robotic pair of trousers fitted with suction cups walking across a ceiling of a museum to steal a heavily protected diamond.

* In a PBS Ad, it shows Cookie Monster dropping from a cable in that style, while solving a word puzzle under a time limit while Arty Smartypants from "Between the Lions" briefs him.
* A 2014 Progressive auto insurance commercial shows the two bumbling agents from A. Nother Insurance Company trying to steal the Name Your Price scanner from a protected room. It goes about as well as you would expect, with Flo and an assistant watching the ineptitude on the security feed [[PassThePopcorn with popcorn]].

The [[StockParodies commonly spoofed]] scene for which everyone remembers TheFilmOfTheSeries of ''Film/MissionImpossible''. Creator/TomCruise hacks a CIA computer while dangling horizontally from two cables in a heavily protected room. [[UpToEleven Even the floor is pressure and weight sensitive, as even a single drop of condensation dripping off of a forgotten soft drink and onto the floor is enough to set off the alarm]]. To get into the room, he has to bypass a [[LaserHallway laser grid]] in [[AirVentPassageway a ceiling ventilation duct]].

%%* ''WrongfullyAccused'' spoofed this.

* ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' re-enacts the scene, but with magnets taking the place of the cable, and with a spinning fan blade in place of the lasers.

* Parodied in ''SpyHard''.

The [[StockParodies commonly spoofed]] scene for which everyone remembers TheFilmOfTheSeries of ''Film/MissionImpossible''. Creator/TomCruise hacks a CIA computer while dangling horizontally from two cables in a heavily protected room. To get into the room, he has to bypass a [[LaserHallway laser grid]] in [[AirVentPassageway a ceiling ventilation duct]].

* This exact trope -- a spy dangling from a body rope to hack into computers -- is used in the ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' GameBoyAdvance game.

* [[http://redteams.net/blog/2013/rappelling-off-a-roof A penetration tester did the outside version once]]. It did however require that the windows be left open and access to the building roof. This flaw was then addressed.

* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' had Ned attempt one of these out of the ceiling. Notable in that it was a principal's office and there were still lasers aplenty; also in that instead of dropping stealthily, Ned plummeted like a rock and then swung back and forth helplessly for the rest of the episode.

* This trope predates ''Film/MissionImpossible'', the original ''Film/PinkPanther'' movie uses a variant.

* In her first appearance on ''Series/{{Highlander}}'', Amanda used one as part of a heist, as the alarm was rigged to a pressure-sensitive floor. When she had the item she wanted to steal, Duncan appeared in a balcony. He tossed a coin to determine whether or not he should call the cops on her and her accomplice, then "missed" catching the coin, which hit the floor and set off the alarms.

* Supposedly, the WWF were trying to replicate WCW's stunt of Wrestling/{{Sting}} regularly drop to the ring on a cable to attack opponents (usually the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder). After Owen's death, Sting would repel from the ceiling instead of being lowered on a cable.