History Main / SlowDoors

* Averted in ''The Atomic Submarine'' (1960). A sailor tries to flee an alien spacecraft through a DilatingDoor as it slowly closes, but he's not quick enough and gets his arm caught and crushed.

* One of the last levels of ''VideoGame/RedRemover'' revolves entirely around this. It's even ''called'' "Slow Doors."

* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': In "The Remembered", when Gary takes a Dimensional Key from it’s vault in the Lord Commander's palace, he triggers an alarm and the vault begins to close again. But the door closes so slow that Gary can easily leave. He lampshades the trope:
-->'''Gary''': Oh, thank God for slow doors.

If they close downward, expect an IndyHatRoll. Otherwise, people will jump or squeeze through whatever gap is still left when they reach the door, [[JustInTime which is conveniently just wide enough]].

* Every example mentioned in IndyHatRoll.

* Inverted in Creator/NealStephenson’s ''Literature/SnowCrash'': “Residents don’t have time to sit idling at the Burblave entrance watching the gate slowly roll aside in Old South majestic turpitude, so it’s mounted on some kind of electromagnetic railgun.”

-->-- '''Buster''', ''[[http://www.tomparisdorm.com/viewstory.php?sid=4084 Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space]]''

-->-- '''Buster''', ''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space''

* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' parodies the below ''Star Wars'' example, the characters jump through a door closing from the top and bottom, and are caught by the troops on the other side. However once the captain comes in behind them and asks them to turn around it is revealed [[spoiler:it was the stunt doubles that were caught]]

* Averted in ''The Atomic Submarine'' (1960). A sailor tries to flee an alien spacecraft, but gets his arm caught in the DilatingDoor as it closes.

** In StargateSG1 the same doors are seen, because Stargate Command is set in a fictional sublevel of the real life Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

* Possible LampshadeHanging in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'', where one computer controlled set of doors in one (timed!) mission [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_n5uGUR_E0 open ridiculously slowly]] (start at 6:15):

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': in "Relics", the Enterprise-D manages to fly through closing space-doors, with the aid of a nice roll maneuver.

* Subverted in ''Franchise/WallaceAndGromit: WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers''. When Wallace [[spoiler:under the control of Feathers Mcgrew attempting to steal a diamond]] trips a laser beam, the chamber's vertically-dropping entrance door starts to close slowly (about 10 seconds after the alarms first go off), but instead of attempting an IndyHatRoll, he instead immediately turns around and heads for the window - granted, he was walking on the ceiling!

[[folder: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[folder: {{Film}}]]
* The door to ENCOM in ''Film/{{Tron}}''. LampshadeHanging with an AdLib from the actor playing Flynn: "Now THAT is a big door!"
** [[RealityIsUnrealistic Ironically]], that's a real door at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory outside Oakland, where some other live-action scenes (including the laser lab) were also filmed.
** ''Film/TronLegacy'' [[ContinuityNod also uses the line.]] Though the door is significantly faster.
* Some security doors in the ''StarWars'' films act this way, while others close almost instantly. Generally, whatever is required by the plot. One door on the Death Star in ''A New Hope'' was closing from all directions at once, so Han Solo had to jump through the hole in the middle.
** This is in fact {{Lampshaded}}. One stormtrooper orders the blast doors closed, then after Han and Chewie escape, another says "Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!"
** The first arc of the animated series ''WesternAnimation/{{Droids}}'' featured a landspeeder chase scene that used this trope, plus several others (like the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy) repeatedly and in quick succession. R2-D2 suggests it's a trap, and it turns out it is: Behind the last set of slow doors is a dead end and a bunch of guys with blasters.
* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' parodies the above ''StarWars'' example, the characters jump through a door closing from the top and bottom, and are caught by the troops on the other side. However once the captain comes in behind them and asks them to turn around it is revealed [[spoiler:it was the stunt doubles that were caught]]
** The doors also close very slowly until the heroes/stunt doubles jump through, at which point they snap shut.
* ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', allowing Ahnold to jump under the door and hold it long enough for John and Katherine to crawl under it.
* In ''Film/WarGames'', we see NORAD personnel walking in and out while a ridiculously thick metal door is closing. This is TruthInTelevision: The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NORADBlast-Doors.jpg blast doors]] of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex are 25-ton monsters of concrete and steel, and take about 15 seconds to close. They're on record as the world's largest hinged doors.
* Played straight and averted in ''Film/TheOne'', as Gabriel escapes the Police Compound, he ducks under one of these. However, his Police Pursuers also make it through (though one of the trucks wangs its lightbar on it).

* Averted in ''Film/ManOfSteel'', enabling the holographic Jor-El to use them in helping Lois Lane escape General Zod's ship. A female mook charges in with a hand blaster, only for a door to slam down knocking the blaster out of her hand so Lois can use it, and trapping the mook on the opposite side. Jor-El cuts off several other guards this way, when there's too many for Lois to shoot.
* Done via a DangerousKeyFumble in ''Film/TenCloverfieldLane'', as the door to the survival bunker requires unlocking several padlocks to open.

[[folder: {{Literature}}]]

[[folder: LiveActionTV]]

* Subverted for a bit of EnforcedMethodActing in the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' pilot; Creator/NathanFillion and Creator/AdamBaldwin were ''expecting'' the doors to Serenity to close more slowly than they did, resulting in minor panic as Mal and Jayne jumped through the gap.
* In the end credits sequence of ''Series/GetSmart'', Max leaves CONTROL headquarters and all the doors that opened in the TitleSequence slam shut behind him, except the last one. When Max goes to close them manually, they shut on his nose.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''.
** "Redemption" was filmed in a nuclear power station so a real-life version is used. A RedShirt performs a HeroicSacrifice because he has to stay outside to push the thick radiation-proof door shut.
** In "Pressure Point", [[spoiler:Gan has a HeroicSacrifice]] holding up a [[OurDoorsAreDifferent descending door]] long enough for the others to pass under.
** "Space Fall" has a variation; Blake tries to shut the hatch to an airlock transfer tunnel but it won't budge, and he gets shot and wounded by his pursuer. Then the Liberator blasts off and the hatch shuts automatically leaving his pursuer to be ThrownOutTheAirlock.

[[folder: VideoGames]]

* Possible LampshadeHanging in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'', where one computer controlled set of doors in one (timed!) mission [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_n5uGUR_E0 open ridiculously slowly]] (start at 6:15):
-->'''Griggs:''' "Oh, you've gotta be ''shittin' '' me."\\
'''Capt. Price:''' "Gaz, can't you make it open any faster?"\\
'''Gaz:''' "Negative, but you can try pullin' if it will make you feel better."\\
'''Capt. Price:''' "Cheeky bastard."

* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' one mission requires you to sneak into a factory. if you're detected, the Slow Door starts closing. if you're not through it before it closes, GameOver.
* The games in the ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' series are full of SlowDoors. ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'' does have one door in Level 8 that closes just too late for the player (and then is reopened by [[NiceMice mus ex machina]]). The ''Sands of Time'' series somewhat subverts this - some of the doors close quite quickly, but can be passed using the dagger's time slowing ability.

* In the game ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Dark Forces]]'', on the level titled ''Gromas Mines'', the player must successfully place a detonator on the reactor and escape through not one, but ''five'' slow-moving doors. The trick though is that while the doors stay open as long as the player is beyond their threshold, once he or she crosses it the doors close in a matter of seconds. If the player is caught in between one of the sections however, the doors can be reopened by a switch on the wall.
* The final level of ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' has this. You have to make it through a missile silo before the missile blasts off. There's a slowly closing blast door, and the controller has an UnnecessaryCombatRoll button. Do the math.

** Opposing Force uses this trope with a blast door that's partially open, but slowly closes thanks to the G-Man, and you can't go under it. (without noclipping)
* Two appear in the second stage of ''VideoGame/{{Axelay}}'', but you can use your guns to blast them open.
* One small area in ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'' requires you to flip a lever in a far off room which opens the exit door that slowly closes as you approach. The tension is greater if you didn't kill all the spiders.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' games play this trope straight, particularly in ''VideoGame/{{Riven}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Uru}}''.

* Some of the doors in ''StarWarsDroidworks'' do this, particularly the huge stone ones in the 5th training mission and Salvage Yard.

[[folder: WebOriginal]]
* As [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfFoxTayle Fox Tayle]] is escaping the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction BioCon]] labratory where he was created, alarms go off and he has to slide underneath a slow-moving (downward) door to escape a room.

[[folder: WebComics]]
* Used with crazy timing in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'': [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/SAS/DisplaySAS.html The Searcher and the Sword]], when two elves are trying to escape from [[spoiler:crazed trolls]]. What's crazy about it is that it's implied that the elves had plenty of time to escape, except that the rescue party's entrance alerts their enemies, who ''then'' check on the prisoners, see that they're gone, and trigger the trap, leaving the escapees to vault through the door at the last second. Drama! Did I mention that this is all done with giant slabs of stone a la Egyptian tomb? Read up on the thrilling escape [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/SAS/DisplaySAS.html?page=76 here]].
* Shows up in ''Webcomic/MoltenBlade'' (in a [[http://moltenblade.comicgenesis.com/d/20081108.html government research facility]], even. Talk about being underfunded). They aren't really even heavy doors.

[[folder: WesternAnimation]]

[[folder: RealLife]]

* Inverted in NealStephenson’s ''Literature/SnowCrash'': “Residents don’t have time to sit idling at the Burblave entrance watching the gate slowly roll aside in Old South majestic turpitude, so it’s mounted on some kind of electromagnetic railgun.”

* Combined with DangerousKeyFumble in ''Film/10CloverfieldLane'', as the door to the survival bunker requires unlocking several padlocks to open.

** "Space Fall" has a variation; Blake tries to shut the hatch to an airlock transfer tunnel but it won't budge, and he gets shot and wounded by his pursuer. Then the Liberator blasts off, the hatch shuts automatically leaving his pursuer to be ThrownOutTheAirlock.

** In "Pressure Point", [[spoiler:Gan has a HeroicSacrifice]] holding up a descending door long enough for the others to pass under.

If they close downward, expect an IndyHatRoll. Otherwise, people will jump or squeeze through whatever gap is still left when they reach the door, which is conveniently just wide enough.

* Subverted for a bit of EnforcedMethodActing in the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' pilot; NathanFillion and Creator/AdamBaldwin were ''expecting'' the doors to Serenity to close more slowly than they did, resulting in minor panic as Mal and Jayne jumped through the gap.

->''"Close the blast door!" cried Buster. "Close the blasted door!"''
-->-- '''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space'''