History Main / TrapDoorFail

** In the non-canon (for what little there is) James Bond parody, Tearjerker, the titular villain (played by Roger) opens a trap door below a scientist who failed him. The door works fine, but the scientist gets stuck on the slide it leads to, forcing Tearjerker to call someone to push him into the water tank trap.

* The ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' short "Zoo Mates" has the owner of the zoo trying to get rid of an [[SoapBoxSadie annoying environmentalist]] by opening a trap door, [[RefugeInAudacity which in turn unleashes a bear trap, THEN a fire]]. Too bad the environmentalist was standing few feet away from it.

* The ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' short "Zoo Mates" has the owner of the zoo trying to get rid of an a[[SoapBoxSadie nnoying environmentalist]] by opening a trap door, [[RefugeInAudacity which in turn unleashes a bear trap, THEN a fire]]. Too bad the environmentalist was standing few feet away from it.

* The ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' short "Zoo Mates" has the owner of the zoo trying to get rid of an a[[SoapBoxSadie nnoying environmentalist]] by opening a trap door, [[RefugeInAudacity which in turn unleashes a bear trap, THEN a fire]]. Too bad the said environmentalist was standing few feet away from it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Stan had a trap door set up for just in case Hailey starts being liberal to a guest (in this case, George W. Bush). When she attempts to call Bush out on the whole Iraq thing Stan opens the trap door, only for Hailey to move her legs so she's standing on the sides. However, Stan thought ahead and hits a button that widens the hole, sending her down.

->'''Mr. Burns''': Is that so? Well, I have the feeling you'll be... ''dropping'' the charges!\\
''(He hits a button on his desk, causing a trapdoor to open several feet behind the inspectors)''\\
'''Smithers''': The painters moved your desk, sir.\\
'''Mr. Burns''': Ah, yes...

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E9GriftOfTheMagi Grift of the Magi]]", Burns dumps the victims through the floor, only for them to fall back ''into'' the room from the ceiling. His reaction: "Oh, it's doing that ''thing'' again!"
** In "Homer vs Dignity", Smithers approached Burns for a vacation, Burns tried to dump him into the trap door, but Smithers had the foresight to disable it.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E3HomerGoesToCollege Homer Goes to College]]", when the safety inspectors turn down Burns' bribes, Mr. Burns tells them, "I have the feeling you'll be... ''dropping'' the charges," and he presses a button to open the trap door, except the trap door's on the other side of the room. Smithers reminds Mr. Burns that, "The painters moved your desk, sir" (sharp-eyed viewers will notice that sure enough his desk isn't in its' usual place in front of the window).

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E3HomerGoesToCollege Homer Goes to College]]", when the safety inspectors turn down Burns' bribes, Mr. Burns tells them, "I have the feeling you'll be... ''dropping'' the charges," and he presses a button to open the trap door, except the trap door's on the other side of the room. Smithers reminds Mr. Burns that, "The painters moved your desk."

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E9GriftOfTheMagi Grift of the Magi]]", Burns dumps the victims through the floor, only for them to fall back ''into'' the room from the ceiling. His reaction: "Oh, it's doing that 'thing' again!"

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and ''WesternAnimation/MerrieMelodies'': A frequently seen trope, where trap doors are disguised by the likes of Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, etc., only for their adversaries to completely ignore it or go over the trap doors as though they weren't there … and then it works when Yosemite, Wile E., and others try it.

* There's a surreal cartoon called ''The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird'' in which this is the evil king's favorite method of dispatching people. Bizarrely, anyone who tries to dodge the trapdoor quickly learns that the trapdoor can ''actively follow them''! It's that kind of thing.

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' had a [[https://www.hulu.com/watch/282478 fake-commercial skit]] where a CorruptCorporateExecutive's trap door malfunctions in various ways: (1) opening too late, (2) opening too gradually, (3) not holding someone's weight above the door, and (4) opening upward. [[http://snltranscripts.jt.org/87/87mtrapdoor.phtml Stupid trap door company.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Played with in "The Ron Factor": Gemini's mooks have gotten wise to his habit of [[YouHaveFailedMe dropping them down trap doors]] when they disappoint him, and avoid sitting down in the rigged chairs he provides. However, [[CrazyPrepared he has backup trap doors in place]] to get them anyway.

* A rare benevolent version appears in ''WesternAnimation/TheCurseOfTheWereRabbit''. Wallace has a device in his bedroom that causes the bed to dump him through a trap door into the dining room. He gets stuck due to his pudgy gut, and requests "assistance", which is provided in the form of a large mallet.

* A variation appears in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' novel ''Darksaber''. One of the henchmen fails his boss for the [[strike:first]] last time, and the master pushes a button to electrocute him in his seat. The master pushes the wrong button and someone else gets electrocuted instead. [[spoiler:FridgeBrilliance: It was the right button, but it was wired incorrectly, an early symptom of how shoddily put together the entire place later proves to be.]]

* In "The Tachypomp" by Edward Page Mitchell, Rivarol has a trap door over a tunnel right through the centre of the earth, so that anyone falling in will reach the center, and in the process acquire enough momentum to fall ''up'' the other half of the tunnel, until they run out of momentum and fall back down, ''ad infinitum''. He uses it to get rid of unwanted creditors. Unfortunately, the wrong person falls in....

** In another episode where Smithers approached Burns for a vacation, Burns tried to dump him into the trap door, but Smithers had the foresight to disable it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** Some painters moved Burns' desk, so when Burns sprang it, it opened but not underneath its would-be victim.
** In "Grift of the Magi", Burns dumps the victims through the floor, only for them to fall back ''into'' the room from the ceiling. His reaction: "Oh, it's doing that 'thing' again!"

** Mayor West dumps people who complain to him out of his office with a trap door, but Peter got stuck in it because he was so fat. He said he hadn't planned on being menaced by an especially portly malcontent, but would have a "fat malcontent trap door" installed sometime soon. He then pushes Peter through the trap door until he falls through.
** Carter Peuterschmidt successfully dropped a lawyer through a trap door, only to lead to him defeating the Rancor in a ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' parody.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Played with in "The New Ron" -- Gemini's mooks have gotten wise to his habit of [[YouHaveFailedMe dropping them down trap doors]] when they disappoint him, and avoid sitting down in the rigged chairs he provides. However, [[CrazyPrepared he has backup trap doors in place]] to get them anyway.

Of course, there are alternate varieties. Sometimes the trap door fails to kill its victims, and they continue to complain. Other times, the victim is too fat to slip through. Or in true ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' style, it refuses to open until the villain decides to jump up and down on it. Regardless of how it plays out, if the trap door doesn't work the way it should, you've just met a Trap Door Fail. Note that the joke need not show where the trap door ''goes''. Can lead to FridgeLogic if the villain's lair is underground.

* ''Franchise/WallaceAndGromit: Project Zoo'' has Feather [=McGraw=] activate one beneath Wallace and Gromit while trying to escape. However it jams before it can open more than an inch.

** Mayor West dumps people who complain to him out of his office with a trap door, but Peter got stuck in it because he was so fat. He said he hadn't planned on being menaced by an especially portly malcontent, but would have a "fat malcontent trap door" installed sometime soon.

* ''Manga/ExcelSaga'' has Lord Il Palazzo dropping Excel down a trapdoor on numerous occasions (the first half of the anime in particular has this happen almost OnceAnEpisode). The trap itself works fine, it's just not as... permanent as one would expect, with Excel typically clambering back up no worse for wear.

-->'''Dr. Evil:''' Gentlemen, lets get down to business.

-->'''Mustafa:''' Someone help me. I'm still alive only I'm very badly burned.

** In ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'', Bond is in a elevator and suddenly straddles the sides of the floor, expecting it to be a trap door. [[SubvertedTrope He's gassed unconscious instead]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgX6JFoV0TM#t=115s This]] ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' sketch has this trope comes into play due to the contractor [[DefiedTrope defying]] NoOshaCompliance.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' has Leon fall through a trap door, where a QuickTimeEvent allows him to save himself with a grappling hook, before [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome sending a bullet into the old speaker]] TheDragon is listening in.

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' had a fake-commercial skit where a CorruptCorporateExecutive's trap door malfunctions in various ways: (1) opening too late, (2) opening too gradually, (3) not holding someone's weight above the door, and (4) opening upward. [[http://snltranscripts.jt.org/87/87mtrapdoor.phtml Stupid trap door company.]]

''-He hits a button on his desk, causing a trapdoor to open several feet behind the inspectors-''\\
'''Smithers''': The painters moved your desk, sir\\

** In ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'', Bond is in a elevator, and suddenly straddles the sides of the floor, expecting it to be a trap door. [[SubvertedTrope He's gassed unconscious instead]].

* A variation appears in the ''StarWars'' novel ''Darksaber''. One of the henchmen fails his boss for the [[strike:first]] last time, and the master pushes a button to electrocute him in his seat. The master pushes the wrong button and someone else gets electrocuted instead [[spoiler:FridgeBrilliance: It was the right button, but it was wired incorrectly, an early symptom of how shoddily put together the entire place later proves to be.]]
** The next time someone fails, everybody jumps out of his chair before ''[[CrowningMomentOfFunny any]]'' buttons can be pushed. Eventually, [[spoiler:all the people are restrained in their chairs so they can't get up at all]].

* Likewise in ''Literature/{{Swellhead}}'' thanks to the hero's LevitatingLotusPosition (he deliberately sat on the trapdoor to shake the villain's confidence).

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgX6JFoV0TM#t=115s This]] Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook sketch has this trope comes into play due to the contractor [[DefiedTrope defying]] NoOshaCompliance.
* In the UsefulNotes/ComicRelief skit ''Series/DoctorWho and the Curse of Fatal Death'', the Master pulls a lever to open up a trapdoor under the Doctor -- and the trapdoor opens under his own feet, due to sabotage by the Doctor. (The Master eventually manages to escape the trap, only to almost immediately fall through the still-open trapdoor again. Twice.)

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' has Leon fall through a trap door, where a QuickTimeEvent allows him to save himself with a grappling hook, before [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome sending a bullet into the old speaker]] TheDragon is listening in.

* ''WallaceAndGromit: Project Zoo'' has Feather [=McGraw=] activate one beneath Wallace and Gromit while trying to escape. However it jams before it can open more than an inch.

* A non-funny example is used in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Belphegor}}'' at one point. An old general Belphegor is after, tries to use a trap door on him, as the man confronts him in his own office. However, the minute he presses the button, Belphegor proceeds to inform him that the trap door is disabled, much to the general's surprise and horror.
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'': In "Stage Fright", Gretchen attempts to sabotage Susie's audition by opening a trap door on the stage. When this misses, she opens additional trap doors (by continually yanking the same lever) until most of the stage has dropped away. This still fails who get Susie, who eventually falls though a trap door in the back wall.
* Happens in the episode "Loo-Kee Lends A Hand" in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower''. A running gag for the series has [[BigBad Hordak]] regularly dropping [[EliteMook Mantenna]] down a trapdoor and into a water tank (sometimes for annoying him, sometimes for kicks). For this episode, Hordak gets his hands on a device called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Time Stopper]]. Eager to test this out,he summons Mantenna and promptly zaps him freezing him in time. [[TheImp Imp]] then asks to activate his boss's trap door, only to be come absolutely crestfallen when Mantenna remains frozen in mid air... at least until Hordak undoes the time stop.