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| 5 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour1961 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/almost_out_of_oxygen_2.jpg]]]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | ->''"Your air supply is running out!"'' |
| 14 | -->-- '''Sparks''', ''[[Toys/RockRaiders Lego Rock Raiders]]'' |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Dammit! The Spacecraft is damaged! The Submarine can't return to the surface! We're enclosed underneath a million tons of rocks! The oxygen will only last us [[ExactTimeToFailure 110 minutes]]! |
| 17 | |
| 18 | AlwaysClose to resolving their unfortunate predicament (the climax) the crew is nearly out of oxygen. Involves a type of MagicCountdown to increase [[RuleOfDrama tension]]. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Only HollywoodScience actually has people die from the lack of oxygen when in an airtight space. In shows where the science is harder, the protagonists are threatened by [[http://www.inspectapedia.com/hazmat/CO2gashaz.htm carbon dioxide poisoning]] instead.[[note]]Unless (for a spacecraft or submarine) the carbon dioxide scrubbers are still working, and have more reserve capacity remaining than the oxygen supply...[[/note]] Of course, from the characters' perspectives, this generally doesn't make any difference. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | It is also very possible to die from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoxia_%28medical%29 hypoxia]] per se. Compare DrowningPit, TrappedInASinkingCar, and BuriedAlive which are deliberate DeathTrap variants of this. See also OxygenMeter, where this is used as a game mechanic. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | May lead to a ColdEquation. |
| 25 | ---- |
| 26 | !!Examples: |
| 27 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 30 | * ''Manga/BlackLagoon'': The crew of the German submarine the Lagoon crew are sent to loot in the third arc were stranded on the bottom of the Indian Ocean due to a diving accident. Rather than waiting to die from CO[[subscript:2]] poisoning, the crew either committed suicide or killed one another. The protagonists find their corpses fifty years later. How the protagonists are able to breathe inside the submarine without their diving gear is not explained, but could be handwaved as there being just a bit of breathable air left. |
| 31 | * Used in a couple of ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' movies set UnderTheSea, where for traveling underwater Doraemon would use one of his gadgets, the Adaptation Light, which allows the user to remain in the depths of the ocean for as long as 24 hours. |
| 32 | ** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheCastleOfTheUnderseaDevil'' have Suneo and Gian going off on a reckless treasure hunt in the Bermuda Triangle, forgetting to re-apply the light and nearly suffocate and drown when the light's effects expires, if not for their new friend Eru arriving on time. |
| 33 | ** A later underwater adventure in the Marianas Trench, ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasGreatBattleOfTheMermaidKing'', have Shizuka being captured by TheDragon of the film's villain, and Doraemon and the boys must retrieve Shizuka as quickly as possible and reapply the light on her before she drowns, making it with ''0.93 seconds'' to spare. |
| 34 | * In ''Manga/DrStone'', the first of the ISS astronauts to attempt to return to Earth end up missing their intended destination by a country mile and land in the ocean, with their capsule upside-down so they can't get out and a limited supply of oxygen. Since everyone on Earth has been TakenForGranite, Byakuya has to land on a nearby island and use a rowboat to rescue them. |
| 35 | * In ''Manga/EtCetera'' it happens when the protagonists get trapped in an underground tunnel on their way to the Syndicate's base. |
| 36 | * ''Manga/GreenBox'': Subverted. Sena considers if he needs more oxygen if the Green Box is airtight, but using magic to get the oxygen and the internet in appears to be one of the room's unwritten properties. |
| 37 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': |
| 38 | ** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'': When Jolyne and Weather Report get in a room affected with zero gravity, the air gets dissipated along with oxygen, causing their blood to boil. Weather Report quickly uses his Stand to give him and Jolyne cloud suits made from the remaining oxygen left. |
| 39 | ** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureTheJoJoLands The JoJoLands]]'': In Jodio's battle against The Owner, he manages to drag him down into the ocean while holding him off from stabbing him at the same time. Jodio utilizes November Rain to bring down a inflatable boat near him and suck in the oxygen while his opponent nearly drowns. |
| 40 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': Caesar Clown, [[MadeOfAir being a Logia user]] with the power to manipulate all types of gasses has the power to invoke this, in fact he does this quite often. It makes him [[NotSoHarmlessVillain incredibly dangerous despite his lack of any real fighting skill]]. |
| 41 | * ''Manga/{{Planetes}}'': |
| 42 | ** Used rather tragically in the climax. Cheerful Idealist Ai Tanabe is trying to make it to shelter across the lunar desert while carrying an injured companion [[spoiler:who is also now a terrorist and criminal.]] Ai refuses to leave her behind, even though the extra weight is slowing her down and burning her oxygen faster. She doesn't make it to shelter before her air runs out, and is faced with the choice of taking the other person's oxygen tank so that she will survive, or letting them both die. [[spoiler:She chooses not to take the oxygen; in the next clip we see her falling on the ground screaming and clawing at her throat while the terrorist sends up a flare gun to signal for help (ensuring her own capture and imprisonment). Ai is later seen to have survived, but is permanently damaged.]] |
| 43 | ** This scene plays differently in the manga -- unlike the anime that loves to [[{{Wangst}} overplay the emotional side of things]] and add melodramatic episodes, it's much more casual and matter-of-fact. First, it wasn't Tanabe and Claire (who is an anime-only character), it was Hachimaki and his co-trainee for the Jupiter mission, Leonov, and there wasn't any animosity involved; and second, long before they run out of oxygen, they are saved by Tanabe and Yuri. |
| 44 | * One dark ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' Japanese radio drama has Jessie and James as the only survivors of a spaceship crash. In a romantically tinged moment, Jessie and James talk about their relationship while Jessie runs out of oxygen. |
| 45 | * ''Manga/Reborn2004'': [[BadassAdorable Tsuna]] was [[spoiler:nearly killed due to lack of oxygen trapped in Hibari's Hedgehog's Needle Sphere Form as his Trial (The Vongola Trial demands the successor to be put under genuine life-threatening situation. Oh, not to mention being [[MindRape mind-raped]]). [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome He passed, of course]].]] |
| 46 | * ''Manga/SpaceBrothers'': While on the surface of the Moon, Hibito actually does run out of oxygen during a mission. He's only saved by the timely arrival of the BRIAN oxygenating rover, which allows him to refill his tanks before he passes out and suffocates. |
| 47 | * In ''Anime/SpeedRacer'', button "F" on the Mach 5's steering wheel engages the car's [[AmphibiousAutomobile "submarine" mode]]. The air tank on board the car only has enough oxygen for half an hour, though. At the end of one 2-parter, Speed and Trixie are [[{{Cliffhanger}} trapped]] in the Mach 5 underwater when its oxygen tank is nearly empty. They're seen gasping for air and everything. |
| 48 | [[/folder]] |
| 49 | |
| 50 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 51 | * ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'': There's a variation in ''Elf Quest: Siege at Blue Mountain'' when Skywise gets magically trapped in a small air pocket inside solid rock, and doesn't know why it's getting hard to breathe. Fortunately Cutter is aware of his plight and working to get him out. |
| 52 | * ''ComicBook/HumanTorch1939'': In issue #38, Professor Marko's Hydromatic Vacuum attempts to suck out all the air in the world, and is almost successful as people throughout the world gasp for air. |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/JoZetteAndJocko'': In the album "The Stratoship H-22", during the test flight, one of the portholes of the stratoship gets loose and Mr Legrand and the pilot are out of oxygen. |
| 54 | * ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': One issue that took place on a moon colony (where oxygen was apparently a utility you had to pay for), the criminals escaped the Judges, only to learn that they were behind on their oxygen bill, resulting in the atmosphere of their hideout being vented. They all suffocated trying to escape. |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': Subverted in ''ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton''. Supergirl believes she runs the risk of running out of oxygen while travelling across the galaxy towards Argo City. It's only [[ComicBook/Supergirl2011 several issues later]] that Kara discovers she doesn't need to breathe. |
| 56 | * ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'': This is a driving problem throughout ''Recap/TintinExplorersOnTheMoon''; the oxygen supplies were meant for four people, but then it turns out they have two accidental stowaways (the Thompsons, who thought the launch was scheduled for 1.34pm, not 1.34am), and later still, a third, deliberate stowaway. [[spoiler:It's solved in part by the AccidentalMurder of the saboteur and HeroicSacrifice of TheMole.]] |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/TooMuchCoffeeMan'': TMCM's visit to the moon and the International Space Station has him gasping for air. |
| 58 | [[/folder]] |
| 59 | |
| 60 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 61 | * One ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' Sunday strip featured a poem Calvin wrote about alien invaders who, rather than landing on Earth and conquering it, simply drained its oceans and atmosphere, while a crowd of people is seen shouting and gasping for breath. |
| 62 | -->The tube then sucked up the clouds and the air,\ |
| 63 | Causing no small amount of Earthling despair.\ |
| 64 | With nothing to breathe, we started to die.\ |
| 65 | "Help us! Please stop!" was the public outcry. |
| 66 | [[/folder]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[folder:Film — Animated]] |
| 69 | * In ''WesternAnimation/BattleForTerra'', Jim runs out of Oxygen on his spacesuit, and the other protagonists have to synthesize it for him. Later in the movie, Jim has to choose between pumping Oxygen into a room to save his brother, or to pump the native air into a room to save the female protagonist. He takes a third option. Another example in the movie is when the {{terraform}}er activates, and it is stated that Terra will run out of Native Air, killing all native species, unless it is destroyed; however, the humans are running out of oxygen. The situation is resolved with Jim's heroic sacrifice, and a compromise between species. |
| 70 | * ''WesternAnimation/CaptureTheFlag'': Frank's space suit is running dangerously low on oxygen after he, Mike and Amy escape from Carson's moon base, hench why he is forced to go back to the moon lander and replace his oxygen tank, leaving Mike and Amy to take on Carson themselves. He barely makes it in time. |
| 71 | [[/folder]] |
| 72 | |
| 73 | [[folder:Film — Live-Action]] |
| 74 | * ''[[Film/TwelfthMan 12th Man]]'': One man, two hours of oxygen, one escape pod, and 11 AxCrazy psychopaths who want it as much as he does. |
| 75 | * ''Film/TheAbyss'': Everyone gets to breathe a sigh of relief after [[spoiler:The bomb is disarmed]], but then suddenly, an oxygen check is asked for and the guy only has 5 minutes of oxygen left, and it took much longer than that to get down there... |
| 76 | * In ''Film/AngelsAndDemons'', Langdon and an escorting guard visit the hermetically-sealed Vatican Archives when a rolling blackout shuts off the air filtration system and traps them inside, slowly suffocating them. They're surrounded by reinforced, bulletproof glass, so Langdon's solution to escape is to [[BookshelfDominoes tip the massive bookshelves into each other and smash through]]. They end up passing out right when the shelf hits the glass [[DarkestHour to seemingly no effect]]... and after a few seconds of being under the weight, ''then'' the glass shatters, freeing them. |
| 77 | * In ''Film/{{Apollo 13}}'', a central plot point is having them MacGyvering carbon dioxide filters from their command module into the ventilation system of the LEM. The filters and the ventilation system socket are different shapes.[[note]]Because the command module and LEM were built by different private contractors.[[/note]] So the crew and MissionControl have to figure out how to (literally) fit a square peg in a round hole. All the more impressive because it's BasedOnATrueStory - refer to "Real Life" below. |
| 78 | * ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' opens with Tony Stark and Nebula aboard the Guardians of the Galaxy's ship, the ''Benatar'', about to run out of oxygen and food. [[BigDamnHeroes Luckily, Captain Marvel appears to rescue them.]] |
| 79 | * In the 1959 version of ''Theatre/TheBat'', Cora almost suffocates when the door of the secret room close, trapping her inside, and she cannot find the switch to open it. |
| 80 | * Averted in ''Film/DasBoot'' when the submarine is stuck underwater, but the crew has to be very careful to wear their breathing masks and monitor CO[[subscript:2]] levels. |
| 81 | * Averted in ''Film/EventHorizon'' where it's not the lack of air that threatens the crew but the rising CO[[subscript:2]] levels due to running out of usable air filters. Well, that and [[spoiler:the ship being alive and trying to kill them]]. |
| 82 | * In ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' the BigBad orders to suck the air out of the ship's residential area. The crew manages to reverse the effect just in time before everybody dies. |
| 83 | * This initial crisis in ''Film/{{Gravity}}'' -- the space shuttle is destroyed by a cloud of orbiting debris. The only astronaut with a JetPack has to retrieve his companion who's been thrown into space, look for survivors, then tow them to the International Space Station before the oxygen in their suit packs run out. |
| 84 | * Towards the end of the kung fu film, ''Film/HouseOfFury'', the Yue siblings' father, Master Yue, has been captured alive by his old rivals and is being locked in a decompression chamber draining of oxygen. The siblings, Nick and Natalie, have to RaceAgainstTheClock fighting off enemy mooks to reach their father in time, which they thankfully succeed. |
| 85 | * Tuck in ''Film/{{Innerspace}}'' has a very limited supply of oxygen in his minisub, so Jack must get him (and the chips) back to the lab before it runs out. |
| 86 | * Happens to Cooper in ''Film/{{Interstellar}}''. [[spoiler: Dr Mann cracked his helmet and took the emergency supplies. And again, when he exits out of the black hole.]] |
| 87 | ** Humanity is suffering from this due to the Blight reducing the level of oxygen in the air to the point everyone is slowly suffocating. |
| 88 | * ''Film/Life2017''. The I.S.S. gets damaged in the fight with the creature, causing life support to shut down. This gives the two remaining survivors the idea of luring the creature into a trap using oxygen candles. |
| 89 | * In ''Film/MorningDeparture'', running out of oxygen becomes a real risk for the four crew remaining on the crippled submarine after it is discovered the remaining breathing units were broken in the crash, and that speedy rescue may no longer be an option. |
| 90 | * ''Film/AQuietPlacePartII''. There's a furnace set up as a panic room in the abandoned steel factory, with a timer to let you know when you're running out of air and need to open the door. While hiding from a creature, Marcus accidentally locks himself and the baby inside, and has to contemplate [[ColdEquation using the baby's oxygen to save himself]]. He doesn't, and fortunately his mother returns in time to open the door. |
| 91 | * In ''Film/RedPlanet'', Earth itself has run out of oxygen, so the main characters have to send oxygen producing algae to mars to create livable air. The main characters start to run out of oxygen in their habitation module, when one of the characters removes his helmet to find that Mars somehow has breathable air. |
| 92 | * ''Film/RocketMan1997'': Randall trades oxygen packs with Ulysses to give buy time for them to get back to the lander. Justified in that he just set a record for lung capacity, but he still nearly asphyxiates, and Overbeck lampshades the danger. |
| 93 | * ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'': Planet Spaceball attempts draining the air from Planet Druidia's atmosphere with the Mega Maid, and people are seen gasping even inside buildings. |
| 94 | * In ''Film/SpaceCamp'', a shuttle full of teenagers accidentally gets launched during an engine test without enough oxygen for an actual mission. |
| 95 | * In ''Film/TrueLegend2010'', Ying, the wife of Su-Chan, gets captured by the main villain and BuriedAlive in an airtight, coffin-sized metal box. Much of the film's climatic finale has Su-Chan battling enemies left and right and defeating the villain in a lengthy kung fu duel, but Su-Chan ends up killing the villain ''before'' extracting information on where his wife is buried. Unfortunately, by the time Su-Chan ''does'' find his wife and dig the metal box out, she had succumbed to loss of oxygen. |
| 96 | [[/folder]] |
| 97 | |
| 98 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 99 | * In ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'', the ''Nautilus'' is trapped under the Antarctic ice. Oxygen is not a problem, due to the ''Nautilus'' having plenty of electricity and water around, but without caustic potash to bind the CO[[subscript:2]] the heroes are screwed anyway. |
| 100 | * ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Arctic Incident'' is loaded down with action tropes, and accordingly applies this one while the imperiled character is ''surrounded by fiery plasma''. However, it also mentions that it's rising carbon dioxide levels that's the danger. |
| 101 | * In ''Literature/{{Doom}}'', Fly and Arlene are trapped on Deimos, orbiting Earth, with a leak in the pressure dome. Oxygen is bleeding out but the facility is so large that it takes over a month before the air is dangerously low. |
| 102 | * While exploring tunnels in an asteroid in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: Spore'', our heroes get locked in and, according to their spacesuits, with only twenty minutes of breathable air remaining. |
| 103 | * ''Literature/HaveSpaceSuitWillTravel'': The protagonist Kip, who has a secondhand but well-designed spacesuit, and Peewee who has cheap tourist spacesuit, have to escape across the Moon's surface from the villains who kidnapped them. The problem is that Peewee only has one full bottle on her spacesuit, so Kip has to keep filling hers with the air from his own suit, and his oxygen bottles are the screw-in type while Peewee's have bayonet sockets. He's able to [[MacGyvering jury rig]] a connection using hose and [[DuctTapeForEverything surgical tape]]. |
| 104 | * Creator/FritzLeiber's short story ''A Pail of Air'' takes place in a setting where Earth has been thrown away from the Sun. The atmosphere has frozen out and the protagonist has to venture outside his family's shelter to get [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a pail of solid oxygen]]. |
| 105 | * In ''Literature/ThePlaneteers: The Tenth World'', Penton and Blake visit a planet that is too cold to have gaseous oxygen. They're trapped away from their spaceship by alien monsters, and find that they're using up oxygen faster than expected because of the planet's high gravity. (The same story also has Blake [[IntoxicationEnsues getting drunk]] on ''too much'' oxygen after his valve malfunctions.) |
| 106 | * ''Literature/TheSeventhTower'': When a MagicMisfire traps [[TeethClenchedTeamwork Tal and Crow]] within an airtight barrier, each considers [[ColdEquation killing the other]] to improve their chance of surviving until the barrier dissipates. Neither does, and they fall unconscious from oxygen deprivation, but wake up in safety. |
| 107 | * ''Literature/SonicTheHedgehogAdventureGamebooks'': At one point in ''Metal City Mayhem'', Sonic can find Sally Acorn trapped in a glass box with limited air and a robot guarding her. Being a {{Gamebook}}, Sonic can choose to either smash the glass box and free Sally, saving her, or destroy the robot, which makes Sally suffocate to death. |
| 108 | * ''Literature/SpacedOut2016'': After racing through a [[spoiler:space junk]] shower on the lunar surface, [[TheProtagonist Dash]] finds his oxygen level is dropping at an alarming rate. He barely manages to make it back inside of Moon Base Alpha before his oxygen supply runs out. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that one piece of space junk tore a hole in his suit, which caused his oxygen to leak out.]] |
| 109 | * ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'': In the first book ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'', Ransom, Weston, and Devine have only ninety days to get home with a limited supply of oxygen. The characters move and speak as little as possible in order to reduce their respiration, and they only barely make it. |
| 110 | * In the first ''Literature/{{Starbridge}}'' novel, the three main characters are on a small spaceship when most of the oxygen-generating plants up and die. As they are too far out now to either reach their destination or turn back, their only hope is to search for an oxygen-bearing planet to harvest some plants for oxygen production before it's too late. |
| 111 | ** One of the characters, who is a medical doctor, gives a much more accurate than usual description of what they can expect when the oxygen gets too low. |
| 112 | * Magic isn't ''supposed'' to be able to save you from vacuum if you're ThrownOutTheAirlock, but Damien from ''Literature/StarshipsMage'' is no ordinary mage. When [[spoiler: he and Grace are cast into deep space by an explosion, he manages to create an impermeable shield to hold their oxygen, while Grace (also a mage) cycles carbon dioxide into oxygen.]] |
| 113 | * ''Literature/UnderTheDome'' by Creator/StephenKing provides an Earth based example: [[spoiler:A giant fire is consuming the entire town and, due to the fact that there is very little oxygen intake into the dome, it becomes very hard to breathe.]] |
| 114 | * ''Literature/WarlocksOfTheSigil'': Quinn during his swimming lesson, Kole can't help because of her leg [[spoiler:he manages to summon an air bubble]] |
| 115 | [[/folder]] |
| 116 | |
| 117 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 118 | * ''Series/The100'': |
| 119 | ** The Ark not having enough oxygen to sustain the life of their population is the entire reason that The 100 are sent to the ground. |
| 120 | ** In Season 2, people from Mount Weather can't survive on the radiation-soaked Ground without wearing a Hazmat suit. On several occasions, they run into trouble when their suits' oxygen tanks start running out before they can get back to safety. |
| 121 | * ''Series/TheArk2023'': In the first episode, ''Ark 1'' has an oxygen crisis when the ship's environmental controls automatically shut down the air supply due to a leak. This would not be a problem if the crew were still in [[SleeperStarship suspended animation]], but the survivors of the [[spoiler: attack that caused the leak and killed the command crew]] need to rush to find spacesuit helmets and air tanks; reset the life support controls; and seal the leak before everyone suffocates. |
| 122 | * ''Series/Batman1966'': The cliffhanger of one episode has this. Batman and Robin are tied up in a room while the Penguin has his mooks remove all the air from the room with a "giant reversing bellows". |
| 123 | * ''Series/TheBlacklist'': Samar is buried alive and rescued moments before she would have died. [[spoiler:Unfortunately she was still deprived of oxygen too long and suffers progressive, irreversible brain damage.]] |
| 124 | * ''Series/BlakesSeven'' |
| 125 | ** "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E4TimeSquad Time Squad]]": While answering a DistressCall Blake and Jenna get sealed inside a tiny spacecraft whose oxygen has already been used up. Despite being barely familiar with the ''Liberator'' at this point in the series, and their AcePilot stuck on the spacecraft with Blake, the others have to [[MegaMawManeuver scoop the craft into their cargo bay so it can be broken into]]. |
| 126 | ** "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E6CityAtTheEdgeOfTheWorld City at the Edge of the World]]": Vila and Kerril are unexpectedly teleported to an automated spacecraft, where a recorded voice informs them they will remain alive only as long as the air that was teleported with them lasts. When they don't die as expected, Vila realises that air is filtering through the ForcefieldDoor from a habitable planet outside, as the spacecraft has reached its destination. |
| 127 | ** "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E6Headhunter Headhunter]]": [[MasterComputer Orac]] puts ''Scorpio'' into LockDown to prevent the MonsterOfTheWeek from escaping. It responds by shutting down life support, but fortunately the crew get into rescue suits in time. Avon then has to break quarantine to rescue them, as the suits have limited oxygen supply. |
| 128 | ** "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E7Assassin Assassin]]": Our heroes seize the spaceship of a ProfessionalKiller, who escapes and shuts off the life support remotely, forcing them to [[NeverSplitTheParty split up and search]] in the limited time they have left. |
| 129 | ** "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E12Warlord Warlord]]": Xenon Base is sabotaged; bombs destroy the teleport and all entrances, yet the ventilation is left intact to spread a lethal virus. So the people trapped inside have to shut down life support leaving them with air for around 20 hours, and it will take at least four days to dig themselves out. |
| 130 | ** "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E8Hostage Hostage]]": Travis locks our heroes in an airlock and starts to pump out the air. Vila wants to know how many minutes they have left before they die of oxygen deprivation. Avon's reply? [[DeadpanSnarker "I'll let you know."]] |
| 131 | * ''Series/{{Bones}}'' has an episode where Brennan and Hodgins are buried alive with a limited amount of air. They manage to [[LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard jury-rig a carbon dioxide filter]] out of commonly available equipment. |
| 132 | ** Not to mention puncturing the tires to release more oxygen. |
| 133 | * In the ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons'' episode "Avalanche," a network of missile complexes is attacked, and those inside are killed by what at first appears to be some sort of poison. The team sent in to investigate scans for all manner of poisonous gasses, but finds nothing. Then one of them takes off his breathing mask, and quickly discovers that all the oxygen has been removed. |
| 134 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 135 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks "Planet of the Daleks"]]: On the planet Spiridon, the TARDIS is threatened by plants that shoot a fungus which covers her exterior and, in an inversion of NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, starves her of oxygen, forcing the Doctor to rely on some convenient bottled oxygen...[[FromBadToWorse which is also running out.]] Never mind that the TARDIS is a spacecraft as well as a time machine, so should have a sealed environmental system. (Even if you {{handwave}} that the TARDIS normally replenishes the air supply when in a oxygen atmosphere, that still doesn't explain why the oxygen suddenly ''starts'' running out when the exterior is coated ... especialy given an interior that is ''functionally infinite''.) |
| 136 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones "Smith and Jones"]]: A hospital is teleported onto the Moon — thankfully the air's kept in a bubble around the building. Of course, that doesn't mean the oxygen won't start to run out... |
| 137 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E3Orphan55 "Orphan 55"]]: Traversing a series of low-oxygen tunnels to safety, the Doctor's MotorMouth nearly gets her asphyxiated as she runs out of air faster than everyone else. [[spoiler:Fortunately, she discovers that the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Dregs]] ''exhale'' oxygen, allowing her to refill her air supply.]] |
| 138 | * ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': A non-science fiction example, the Season 4 episode [[Recap/TheDukesOfHazzardS4E13DukescamScam "Dukescam Scam"]] is a [[LockedInAFreezer Locked In A Vault]] episode where Uncle Jesse and series antagonist Boss Hogg accidentally become trapped in an airtight vault and a race against time ensues for series heroes Bo and Luke to find the only man who knows the combination to the vault. Viewers are constantly reminded how much time before the one hour's worth of air runs out. |
| 139 | * ''Series/TheExpanse'': ''Both'' forms of this trope are in full effect, and ''often.'' While carbon dioxide poisoning is a constant threat, there are several instances where air begins to leak out into space as well, threatening the characters with a nasty cocktail of suffocation, sub-zero temperatures and vacuum exposure. The Expanse is well noted for both the original authors and show writers for having ShownTheirWork, with much of the science being knocked right out of the park in terms of accuracy ''and'' terror. |
| 140 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' |
| 141 | ** In the cliffhanger ending of Season One, D'Argo (who can survive in the vacuum of space for fifteen minutes) and John Crichton (who is in a damaged spacesuit) are stranded when Crais starbursts away with Talyn. |
| 142 | ** In "The Flax", John Crichton and Aeryn Sun have to purge the oxygen from their spacecraft so they can use a welding torch for repairs without starting a fire. With only half an [[{{Microts}} arn]] of breathable air left and no sign of rescue, they decide to go OutWithABang. [[InterruptedIntimacy And then their rescuer turns up.]] |
| 143 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Subverted in "[[Recap/FireflyE08OutOfGas Out of Gas]]", where River points out that they'll freeze to death well before suffocating. |
| 144 | -->'''River:''' You're afraid we're going to run out of air. That we'll die gasping. But we won't. [[FalseReassurance That's not going to happen]]. [[SpaceIsCold We'll freeze to death first]]. |
| 145 | * ''Series/Odyssey5'': In the pilot, a shuttle crew in orbit is faced with this, on account of Earth going boom while they are up there. |
| 146 | * ''Series/RedDwarf'': In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]", the quarantined crew members are sentenced to two hours [[FunWithAcronyms WOO]] ('''W'''ith '''O'''ut '''O'''xygen). It actually implies the carbon dioxide problem; all that's said is that the air will 'become unbreathable'. [[spoiler:Of course, this isn't a problem as they escape quickly enough]]. |
| 147 | * ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'': In "Requiem", [[spoiler:Magnus]] is shown trapped in a room with computer monitors indicating both falling oxygen levels and lethally increasing amounts of carbon monoxide. |
| 148 | * ''Series/TheSilentSea'' |
| 149 | ** After the astronaut's ship crash-lands on the moon, the astronauts have to walk seven kilometers to Balhae Station moon base. They just barely make it, with their O2 tanks down to 1% and multiple astronauts gasping for air by the time they enter the moon base and hook up to the station's oxygen stores. |
| 150 | ** The life support system on Captain Han's spacesuit gets damaged while he's trying to get the radio tower working again. He insists on completing the repair and collapses when his oxygen runs out. Fortunately, the other team members are able to rescue him. |
| 151 | * ''Series/StargateSG1'': When Teal'c and O'Neill are trapped in a hybrid Goa'uld-human SpaceFighter stuck on autopilot, the main problem is finding a way to retrieve them before they run out of air. By the time the rest of the team reaches them (in a tel'tak shuttle), O'Neill is delirious from lack of oxygen (Teal'c is in a deep meditation in an attempt to conserve air). |
| 152 | * ''Series/StargateUniverse'': The three-part pilot is titled "Air", after the first struggle they face on board the ship. There are major leaks spilling the air out into space which had to be fixed, one in a seemingly unreachable spot. Once they fix that, they find out the carbon dioxide scrubbers aren't working. D'oh. |
| 153 | * ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' |
| 154 | ** "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E16ShuttlepodOne Shuttlepod One]]": Trip Tucker and Malcolm Reed find debris of what they wrongly assume to be the crashed starship ''Enterprise'' on an asteroid. Because of the limited oxygen supply and reach of the shuttlepod, they believe they're stranded in space and try to face their oncoming deaths in their own conflicting ways. |
| 155 | ** "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS02E03Minefield Minefield]]": When a Romulan mine attaches itself (and Reed) to the ''Enterprise'', Reed becomes convinced that the bomb can't be disarmed in time, so he detaches his air supply hose. However, Archer simply shares his air supply, tells him to knock off his attitude and keep walking him through disarming the bomb. |
| 156 | * ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E3DayOfHonor Day of Honor]]", Tom and B'Elanna are [[EnclosedSpace adrift in spacesuits]] after their shuttle is destroyed. Turbulence soon punctures one oxygen tank, forcing them to share. By the dialogue, the other oxygen tank should have been enough to provide for both of them for a very long time, but it was also (albeit less critically) damaged by the same turbulence. |
| 157 | -->'''Paris:''' When we first met you didn't have a very high opinion of me.\ |
| 158 | '''Torres:''' That's putting it mildly. I thought you were an arrogant, self-absorbed pig.\ |
| 159 | '''Paris:''' Flattery won't get you any more oxygen. |
| 160 | * ''Series/WonderWoman1975'': In "[[Recap/WonderWomanS3E22TheManWhoCouldNotDie The Man Who Could Not Die]]", [[SecretIdentity Diana Prince]] is tied up and trapped in her garage with the car left on in order to kill her. She escapes her bonds just in time to transform into Wonder Woman, she does the [[SpectacularSpinning spinning]]... but passes out entirely mid-spin! [[spoiler:Bryce Candle, the titular man who could not die, arrives in the nick of time!]] |
| 161 | [[/folder]] |
| 162 | |
| 163 | [[folder:Pinball]] |
| 164 | * Done in Creator/SegaPinball's ''Pinball/{{Apollo 13}}'', for the "[=CO=][[subscript:2]]" Mission. |
| 165 | * The "Trunk Escape" from ''Pinball/TheatreOfMagic'', which locks the magician in an underwater trunk, then gives players a limited air supply (time limit) to complete the illusion. |
| 166 | [[/folder]] |
| 167 | |
| 168 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 169 | * In Creator/TheBBC's 1980s science fiction drama ''Radio/{{Earthsearch}}'' the four heroes have left their starship in a shuttle to explore another, apparently derelict, ship. On the way back they discover that a robot (planted by a defeated bad guy from an earlier episode) has taken control of their own ship and is flying it away. It turns out they have enough fuel to catch up... eventually, but only after their air has run out. As if that wasn't bad enough, said robot then sets out from their ship under its own power to finish them off anyway. [[spoiler:Fortunately this provides the answer to both their problems - the crew discover that the villain had upgraded the shuttle with plasma cannons, and once they've destroyed the robot they realise they can turn the shuttle around and accelerate backwards using the plasma cannons' recoil.]] |
| 170 | ** In an earlier episode a computer controlling the environment in a lunar dome determined that the four humans were a threat and started pumping the air out. Luckily they managed to talk it out of it just in time. |
| 171 | [[/folder]] |
| 172 | |
| 173 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 174 | * ''TabletopGame/AlienTheRoleplayingGame'' tracks assorted "Supplies," like food, water, power, and air. The Game Mother can call for Supply checks when appropriate, where you roll the number of Supply in Stress dice, each 1 that comes up costs you one of that Supply. So as your Supply gets lower, the odds of it going down again decrease... but if it ''does'' go down, you'll be dangerously low, if not out completely. |
| 175 | * One ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' mission features an airtight elevator car on a slo-o-ow nonstop trip to the 99th floor. Do the Troubleshooters choose to laser some holes in the elevator car, or in their teammates who are treasonously using up all the oxygen? |
| 176 | [[/folder]] |
| 177 | |
| 178 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 179 | * ''Theatre/{{Aida|JohnRice}}'': A lethal version occurs in the finale between [[spoiler:Aida and Radames]], set to the reprise of "Enchantment Passing Through". |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | |
| 182 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 183 | * This becomes a game mechanic in games that use an OxygenMeter. |
| 184 | * In ''VideoGame/AmongUs'', one of The Imposter's sabotage options is to disable the oxygen, requiring Crewmates to go fix it before it runs out completely. |
| 185 | * ''VideoGame/{{Astroneer}}'': A common occurrence when you stray too far from a supply source. Your backpack contains around 70 seconds of air on its own, and visual cues will warn you when you reach 50%, 25%, and near empty. Once the suffocation warning pops up, you have around ten more seconds to reach a source before you expire. |
| 186 | * As the ''VideoGame/DeathInTheWater'' series is set entirely in underwater trenches, you'll be constantly searching for spare oxygen tanks when your current tank's meter starts depleting. Fail to procure one on time and you'll lose a life. |
| 187 | * ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' adds an OxygenMeter for the first time in [[Franchise/DonkeyKong the series]]. As diving underwater, the Kongs must touch air bubbles or items surrounded by air in order to replenish the meter. |
| 188 | * In ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'' the player has a limited reserve of Oxygen (depending on their life support, anywhere from 5-25 minutes) that turns on when their ship's Canopy is breached. If you fail to enter a station's airlock before the timer runs out, your ship explodes. For added difficulty, a canopy breach renders a large portion of the DiegeticInterface - crosshair, ETA, target position, etc - invisible as the holograms have nothing to project against. |
| 189 | * In ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', both the player's ship and enemy ship have oxygen systems that maintain oxygen throughout the ship, and rooms that don't have oxygen in them will quickly drain the health of everyone in that room (with some minor exceptions). This trope comes into play when the player's oxygen system is damaged (or worse, breached) and the crew are otherwise distracted; running from the medbay to the oxygen system to patch up the room and restore functionality, all while the global ship supply drops below 10% capacity, can be harrowing. |
| 190 | * ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'': When Hat Kid swims in water for too long, she'll start drowning. |
| 191 | * In ''VideoGame/IronLung'' your submarine will routinely inform you of your oxygen levels as you progress. This only drops with game progress, not in real-time, so you will inevitably be on the brink of running out at the end of the game. |
| 192 | * Agent 5 has only ten minutes of oxygen to escape the Mars Maze in ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject''. The game gives you very NightmareFuel-inspired hints that you're running low; first the music slows down and fades out, then a loud heartbeat fades in, and finally adds in panicked, heavy breathing. |
| 193 | ** The second game, ''Buried in Time'' also does this when exploring a damaged space station, as your oxygen supply slowly depletes with every few moves you make, and only a few areas have air inside them. |
| 194 | * ''Videogame/OxygenNotIncluded'': ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Finding oxygen-containing caves and ways to generate oxygen is a large part of the gameplay. |
| 195 | * ''VideoGame/ThePersistence'': |
| 196 | ** Certain loot chests can only be opened after running through a damaged portion of the ship that's had all its oxygen sucked out. You'll take continuous damage until you get past the door to where the chest is, which is always conveniently secure. |
| 197 | ** The mandatory section of the third floor requires you to go through a part of the ship with a gaping hole that opens up into the void of space. Like the chest rooms, you'll have to be quick running through before the damage from suffocation gives you a game over. |
| 198 | * ''VideoGame/Pikmin2001'': When Captain Olimar crash-lands on a planet [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial that totally isn't Earth]], he has thirty days to repair his ship before he runs out of breathable air. Inverted in that in Olimar's case, oxygen is the poison that's going to kill him. |
| 199 | * In ''VideoGame/RockRaiders'', most of the later caverns have a limited oxygen supply, and Sparks will continually warn: "Your air supply is running out!" until you build enough Support Stations to maintain the oxygen levels. The actual point is when he starts saying, "Your air supply is running low." and you can hear a heartbeat over the background music. |
| 200 | * In the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, you can only stay underwater for a limited amount of time and when you're out of oxygen, the MagicCountdown appears and the music starts playing. |
| 201 | * As if ''VideoGame/{{Spelunker}}'' wasn't NintendoHard enough, its levels also ran on a timer--the eponymous spelunker's air supply. There are some powerups to refill the air meter, but [[EverythingTryingToKillYou good luck getting to them.]] |
| 202 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'', there is a high possibility of this occurring while harvesting resources or trying to escape danger. |
| 203 | * ''Videogame/SunlessSea'': The ''Zubmariner'' expansion has an oxygen meter whenever you've submerged, which can be refilled by resurfacing and finding vents in the zeefloor. It lowers slowly, so there's usually little risk of running out unless there's a fire on board or you're distracted, but if you get low on it you will have to resort to desperate measures to consume less, including ejecting wounded crewmen through the airlock. |
| 204 | -->''The crew complain of headaches. The air is heavy and stultifying. Conversations slur.'' |
| 205 | * ''VideoGame/XUniverse'': If you eject from your ship with your Spacesuit, a ''O2'' indicator will appear in your info. It tells you how many percents of oxygen you still have, and it takes about 2 hours to deplete it. And when it happens, [[MadeOfExplodium you blow up]]. |
| 206 | ** In the plot of ''X3: Reunion'', you end up in a damaged Spacesuit after your Goner transporter is destroyed by Yaki. The player has 90 seconds to reach the 3 km distant Truelight Seeker. As if it wasn't enough, you're inside of an AsteroidThicket. Since the maximum speed of a suit is 12 m/s, the time is barely sufficent. |
| 207 | ---> '''Computer:''' "System operational. Visor failure detected."\ |
| 208 | '''Julian:''' "[[SarcasmMode This just keeps getting better]]." |
| 209 | |
| 210 | [[/folder]] |
| 211 | |
| 212 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 213 | * In ''Webcomic/TheLydianOption'', the Tha'Latta use venting the atmosphere as a method of quelling prison riots in their asteroid prison -- killing all of the prisoners inside. The human prisoners are forced to seek an escape facing an imminent venting. |
| 214 | [[/folder]] |
| 215 | |
| 216 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 217 | * ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'': PlayedForLaughs in "A Lame Duck Mind" when the team actively rush to obtain the access codes to rescue the president after he locked himself in a room before he's out of oxygen. Except, the president was never in any danger of losing oxygen and arrive to [[BrainBleach find him wearing dresses]]. |
| 218 | * ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': The whole first season features the main character, Gary, [[HowWeGotHere reflecting on the various events]] that occurred over the course of ten minutes while leaking oxygen from his spacesuit in each opening. [[spoiler:Said events lead up to his and his crew's failure to save the planet Earth from the Titans' annihilation.]] |
| 219 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E3LoveAndRocket Love and Rocket]]", the Planet Express ship computer (which has developed a crush on Bender and gone completely insane) cuts off the oxygen supply, so Leela and Fry have to wear spacesuits while they try to switch it off. [[spoiler:Fry notices that Leela's air tank is running low, so he sacrifices his own oxygen to keep her alive. He gets better.]] |
| 220 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': |
| 221 | ** "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E08Veritas Veritas]]": When he wakes up on the outer hull of the Romulan warship, Rutherford finds Billups delusional from nitrogen intoxication, with only a minute of air left in his tank. |
| 222 | ** "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS3E06HearAllTrustNothing Hear All, Trust Nothing]]": An {{EMP}} by the Karemma knocks out power on the ''Cerritos'' as well as [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]. The girls at the AwkwardFirstSleepover Mariner is attending immediately panic about it being hard to breathe. She thinking they're overreacting before she discovers the candles they made is actually burning oxygen twice as fast. [[spoiler:She solves this problem by stunning them with her phaser, along with herself and her girlfriend Jennifer... [[GaveUpTooSoon mere seconds before the power came back]].]] |
| 223 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 224 | ** ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS4E1WaterWar Water War]]", Anakin gets jumped by a Quarren soldier who pulls his helmet off before Anakin kills him, and nearly drowns trying to get it back while fighting before Ahsoka returns it. |
| 225 | ** ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': Played with in "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E13TheCall The Call]]", where the atmosphere of the mining field is breathable for some species, but the Clouzon-36 needs to be filtered out for humans. When Ezra is knocked into the crater, he loses his helmet and starts to suffocate. Thankfully, he manages to communicate with the purrgil, who grab his lost helmet. |
| 226 | [[/folder]] |
| 227 | |
| 228 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 229 | %%* The above-mentioned ''Film/Apollo13'' is of course based on the story of the real mission.%%ZCE |
| 230 | * The sinking of the ''Kursk''. In a tragically ironic twist, it was the emergency oxygen generators reacting violently with water leaking into the sub that killed off the final survivors. |
| 231 | * Hypoxia is a very real danger to people who operate at high altitude, such as mountain climbers and pilots. Though in this case it's not so much "running out" of oxygen as simply not getting enough of it from the atmosphere to begin with. One of the symptoms of hypoxia is a sense of euphoria, or a feeling of everything being a-ok. Hence, a piece of advice to novice pilots: [[ItsQuietTooQuiet If everything seems to be going well]], [[ProperlyParanoid check your oxygen.]] |
| 232 | * During the Apollo 13 disaster, one of the oxygen tanks in the spacecraft's service module exploded and a large fraction of the oxygen supply was lost to space. The crew was left without enough oxygen to simultaneously run the oxygen-hydrogen fuel cells that powered the command module and keep everyone breathing until they could return to Earth. They were able to survive by mostly powering down the command module until right before reentry and using the lunar module instead - which required rapid improvisation to adapt the carbon dioxide scrubbers from one for the other. |
| 233 | ** The water exhaust from the fuel cells also provided cooling and drinking water for the astronauts in the command module. The astronauts were rationed to a cup of water per day and each had lost several kilograms of weight by their return. One developed a severe infection as a result of the dehydration, which was treated immediately after splashdown. |
| 234 | [[/folder]] |
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