History Main / ShrinkRay

** In ''Micro Ventures'', a segment on ''TheBananaSplits'' show, Professor Carter and his two teenagers use a shrinking machine to reduce themselves and their dune buggy to miniature size and explore MouseWorld.

Examples in various media of a ray (a portable gun or a fixed installation) which can be used to shrink things (or, in some cases, alternately to expand things, probably by reversing the beam polarity).

* In ''Micro Ventures'', a segment on ''TheBananaSplits'' show, Professor Carter and his two teenagers use a shrinking machine to reduce themselves and their dune buggy to miniature size and explore MouseWorld.
* ''{{Superfriends}}'' hourlong episode "Gulliver's Gigantic Goof''. The villain Dr. Hiram Gulliver uses one on the Superfriends.
* ''SpaceGhost'' episode "The Evil Collector". The title villain uses a "minibeam" on Space Ghost, Jan and Jace.

* {{Phineas and Ferb}} do this twice. Once shrinking themselves in a submarine that ends up in Candace, and again later shrinking along with friends to play hide and seek inside.

* An episode of Eureka featured a ray designed to shrink small inanimate objects by shunting most of their mass to an alternate dimension. Only... it was miscalibrated, and accidentally shrunk ''the entire town''.

# The mass of the object changes in proportion to the size change (well, to be pedantic, in proportion to the cube of the size change).

See also IncredibleShrinkingMan.

* One of the many features of the MagicSchoolBus. Ms. Frizzle also has a portable version, called the "Porta-Shrinker".

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In ''{{Animorphs}}'', the ant-sized Helmacrons use a shrink ray to shrink the Animorphs down to their size.
* ''CaptainUnderpants'' has the Shrinky-Pig 2000, invented by Professor Poopypants. He also invented the Goosy-Grow 4000.
* ''TheStainlessSteelRat For President'' has Jim diGriz and his team carry items of miniaturised equipment, plus a shrinker/expander. Features only the "mass change" item above.
* ''The Size Spies'' by Jan Needle features a shrink ray created by an eccentric inventor, then stolen from its inventor.
* The ''HarryPotter'' books feature the spell "Reducio", which has this effect. Not to be confused with "Reducto" which causes them to explode instead.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* In SilverAge DCComics, {{Superman}} had one that could be used to allow people to enter the bottled city of Kandor (which was originally shrunk by Brainiac using a shrink ray).
* Pym Particles in the MarvelUniverse, which can shrink and grow things. Discovered by Hank Pym, used to turn himself into Ant Man, Giant Man, Golaith and other characters.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* SidAndMartyKrofftProductions had an episodic kids' show called ''Dr. Shrinker'' in TheSeventies, in which five or six people were shrunk down to less than six inches.
* ''DoctorWho'':
** TheMaster was armed in many of his appearances with a ray gun called the Tissue Compression Eliminator, which simultaneously killed the target and shrank the corpse down to a convenient-to-dispose-of size. It kept the rule about shrunk objects having less mass, but mostly averted the one about living creatures surviving the process.
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E2TheInvisibleEnemy The Invisible Enemy]]" includes a FantasticVoyagePlot (using a shrink ray based on the same technology as lets the TARDIS be bigger on the inside, allowing a bit of handwaving about the issues of shrinking living things).
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor The Armageddon Factor]]", by the same writers, had another shrink ray based on the same technology, built by a Time Lord friend of the Doctor's so the two of them could shrink down and hitch a lift into the villain's base.
* ''Series/TheAvengers'' episode "Mission...Highly Improbable" has a device that sends out a ray that shrinks objects or people down to the size of toys.

* ''TheAvengers'' episode "Mission...Highly Improbable" has a device that sends out a ray that shrinks objects or people down to the size of toys.

* ''DukeNukem 3D'' has one that shrinks your enemies for a short time. You then have to step on them, or they return to their original size. There's a one point where you can aim at a mirror and shrink yourself to pass through a small hole into a room full of {{power up}}s.

* ''DespicableMe'' has Gru plotting to use a shrink ray to steal the moon. [[spoiler:Not only are the effects temporary, but their duration are inversely proportionate to their original mass (i.e., the bigger the object, the faster it grows back to normal).]]

* ''DespicableMe'' has Gru plotting to use a shrink ray to steal the moon.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* SidAndMartyKrofftProductions had an episodic kids' show called ''Dr. Shrinker'' in TheSeventies, in which five or six people were shrunk down to less than six inches.

!!Works featuring this trope include:

* In ''DoctorWho'', TheMaster was armed in many of his appearances with a ray gun called the Tissue Compression Eliminator, which simultaneously killed the target and shrank the corpse down to a convenient-to-dispose-of size. It kept the rule about shrunk objects having less mass, but mostly averted the one about living creatures surviving the process.

* ''The StainlessSteelRat For President'' has Jim diGriz and his team carry items of miniaturised equipment, plus a shrinker/expander. Features only the "mass change" item above.

* GerryAnderson's lesser-known (and last) Supermarionation series ''The Secret Service'' features a shrink ray that Father Unwin uses to shrink secret agent Matthew to two feet tall. This allows Matthew to infiltrate the enemy's hideouts and learn their plans (allowing the 2-foot tall marionette to appear in full-size sets, occasionally hiding from full-size human arms and legs, or pets). It can also be used to literally bring the enemy down to size.

* In ''DoctorWho'', TheMaster, when first introduced in the [[TheNthDoctor Third Doctor]] story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E1TerrorOfTheAutons Terror of the Autons]], had a device that would shrink the target to the size of a doll. Subverted per your discription in that the process of shrinking the target ''would'' kill them.

[[AC:Unsorted]]
* Dr Draken planed to use one to infiltrate Area 51. [[InvertedTrope It ended up enlarging his dog instead.]]

* The shrunk object doesn't need to be unshrunk; this happens automatically (indeed, it can't be prevented).
* The further something is shrunk, the less time it remains shrunk.
* The mass of the object changes in proportion to the size change (well, to be pedantic, in proportion to the cube of the size change).
* Shrunk objects are more fragile than objects which are naturally of that size; this was handwaved in ''FantasticVoyage'' as being because shrunk objects have loads of miniature atoms crammed into the space normally occupied by one atom.
* Shrunk/expanded items, even living creatures, continue to function as normal. (As anyone who's read Haldane's famous essay "On Being the Right Size", about the SquareCubeLaw, knows, this is unrealistic; any living creature changed in size by more than a small extent would die in short order, due to being the wrong size for its shape.)

* SidAndMartyKrofft had an episodic kids show called ''Dr. Shrinker'' in TheSeventies, in which five or six people were shrunk down to less than six inches.
* In ''{{Animorphs}}'', the ant-sized Helmacrons use a shrink ray to shrink the Animorphs down to their size.
* ''CaptainUnderpants'': the Shrinky-Pig 2000, invented by Professor Poopypants. He also invented the Goosy-Grow 4000.

[[AC:Film]]
* ''HoneyIShrunkTheKids'' hits two of the above points -- the mass of everything that's shrunk is reduced, and living creatures function perfectly normally. On the other hand, everything that's shrunk has to be manually unshrunk by the same machine, and they're no more fragile than at normal size.

* ''DespicableMe'' has Gru plotting to use a ShrinkRay to steal the moon.
* ''MarsAttacks''. The Martian leader uses one on General Decker, then squashes the general under his boot.
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_of_the_Puppet_People Attack Of The Puppet People]]'': (the puppet people don't actually attack.) They've been shrunk by a puppeteer.
* ''Once Upon A Spy''. The BigBad has a device that can fire a beam that shrinks large objects (like an aircraft carrier) down to the size of toys. He ends up being shrunk by his own device.

* In the ZXSpectrum game "TheIncredibleShrinkingFireman", the titular character, whilst fighting a blaze at a factory, accidentally gets zapped by a shrink ray and must find a way to expand back to full size.
* ''DukeNukem'' 3D has one that shrinks your enemies for a short time. You then have to step on them, or they return to their original size. There's a one point where you can aim at a mirror and shrink yourself to pass through a small hole into a room full of {{power up}}s.

* In SilverAge DCComics Superman had one that could be used to allow people to enter the bottled city of Kandor (which was originally shrunk by Brainiac using a shrink ray).
* Pym Particles in the MarvelUniverse, which can shrink and grow things. Discovered by Hank Pym, used to turn himself into Ant Man, Giant Man, Golaith; and other characters.

* ''Micro Ventures'', a segment on ''TheBananaSplits'' show. Professor Carter and his two teenage kids use a shrinking machine to reduce themselves and their dune buggy to miniature size and explore the world.
* ''{{Superfriends}}'' (1973-74) episode "Gulliver's Gigantic Goof''. The villain Dr. Gulliver uses one on the Superfriends.

* In a ''{{Simpsons}}'' Treehouse of Horror episode the tiny people that Lisa grew made a "[[PerfectlyCromulentWord debigulator]]" which shrank Lisa down to their size so she could visit their world. Their world's version of [[MadScientist Professor Frink]] found the concept of a "rebigulator" to be rediculous.

* Naturally, Dexter of ''DextersLaboratory'' has one, and in one occasion uses it to shrink himself and spy on Dee Dee.
* Phineas and Ferb do this twice. Once shrinking themselves in a submarine that ends up in Candace, and again later shrinking along with friends to play hide and seek inside.

* SpongebobSquarepants: Featured the shrink ray twice:
** Once when Spongebob accidentally shrinks the entire town with Mermaidman's UtilityBelt.

* ''TheVentureBrothers'' utilizes Dr. Jonas Venture's ShrinkRay several times. It first appeared in the MagicVersusScience competition between Dr. Venture and Dr. Orpheus to see who could successfully shrink someone. (They both fail.) In another episode, it was used to shrink SPHINX's submarine so it could be used in a FantasticVoyagePlot.
* In DoctorWho, TheMaster, when first introduced in the [[TheNthDoctor Third Doctor]] story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E1TerrorOfTheAutons Terror of the Autons]], had a device that would shrink the target to the size of a doll. Subverted per your discription in that the process of shrinking the target ''would'' kill them.
* ''TheAvengers'' episode "Mission...Highly Improbable" has a device that send out a ray that shrinks objects or people down to the size of toys.

''TheVentureBrothers'' utilizes Dr. Jonas Venture's ShrinkRay several times. It first appeared in the MagicVersusScience competition between Dr. Venture and Dr. Orpheus to see who could successfully shrink someone. (They both fail.) In another episode, it was used to shrink SPHINX's submarine so it could be used in a FantasticVoyagePlot.

The shrunk object doesn't need to be unshrunk; this happens automatically (indeed, it can't be prevented).
The further something is shrunk, the less time it remains shrunk.
The mass of the object changes in proportion to the size change (well, to be pedantic, in proportion to the cube of the size change).
Shrunk objects are more fragile than objects which are naturally of that size; this was handwaved in ''FantasticVoyage'' as being because shrunk objects have loads of miniature atoms crammed into the space normally occupied by one atom.
Shrunk/expanded items, even living creatures, continue to function as normal. (As anyone who's read Haldane's famous essay "On Being the Right Size", about the SquareCubeLaw, knows, this is unrealistic; any living creature changed in size by more than a small extent would die in short order, due to being the wrong size for its shape.)