Line #60 UsefulNotes/NiagaraFalls


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Niagara_Falls_3141.jpg]]
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3	Niagara Falls is a large and spectacular series of waterfalls located along the border of the American state of UsefulNotes/{{New York\|State}} and the Canadian [[UsefulNotes/CanadianProvincesAndTerritories province]] of [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Ontario]]. If you want all the fiddly technical details, go check out [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls the relevant article]] on Website/TheOtherWiki. In popular culture, the falls are best known for three things:
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5	* Being a destination for honeymooning couples, who dress up in full rain-gear, go out in tour boats and get drenched by the spray.
6	* Idiots/Thrill-seekers going over them in some sort of reinforced barrel. (People have died trying this, so [[DontTryThisAtHome don't try it yourself.]])
7	* MonumentalDamage, where the falls are under (usually joking) threat of being destroyed/frozen/diverted.
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9	If the falls appear in any sort of comedy or adventure context, someone's [[InevitableWaterfall going over them]], with or without a barrel.
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11	Often suffers from TelevisionGeography.
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13	And if you're wondering about going there as a tourist destination, please make sure you're on the ''Canadian'' side of the border. The American side is a ThrivingGhostTown, due to Canada having a ''much'' better view of the falls and [[RatedMForMoney high-rise casinos]]. Don't wait too long to go, either, as Niagara Falls will disappear about fifty thousand years from now when the river erodes the land all the way back to Lake Erie.
14	----
15	!!Appearances in popular culture:
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17	[[AC:{{Anime}}]]
18	* Featured in one episode of ''VideoGame/DinosaurKing''.
19	* Featured in one episode of ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', where the Japanese protagonist Domon Kasshu fought the Canadian Andrew Graham in the falls.
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21	[[AC:{{Comedy}}]]
22	* The falls is often the BerserkButton in a classic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowly_I_Turned comedy routine]] done by many performers, including Creator/AbbottAndCostello and Film/TheThreeStooges: a deranged man retells how he finally tracked down the one who wronged him at... "[[BerserkButton NIAGARA FALLS!!]] Slowly I turned.. step by step..."
23	** Which is made doubly hilarious (at least in the Stooges version) in that he ''meets'' the one who wronged him at the end of the bit... only to greet him as an old pal and say that they'd buried the hatchet a long time ago. Cue [[TemptingFate Niagara Falls]], and ''both'' of them gear up for beating the hapless bystander who'd mentioned it.
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25	[[AC:{{Comics}}]]
26	* In one EC Comic story, "Ulric the Undying" jumps over the Falls.
27	* One of hero ComicBook/TomStrong's enemies dies by falling off the Falls.
28	* In some versions of the ComicStrip/BuckRogers franchise, Earth's capital city is located at Niagara and/or Buck has his headquarters behind the actual falls.
29	* One [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] story has Dr. Sivana plot to destroy the Falls with a barrel full of explosives. He leaves the scene for a moment, when Ibac the Terrible rushes onto it, on the run from an AbhorrentAdmirer. Ibac sees the barrel, dumps the explosives, and stuffs himself inside, at which point Sivana comes back and, unaware of the switch, dumps the barrel (and the unaware-of-the-plot Ibac) into the water over the Falls. Ibac is rescued by the police, who think he's one of those daredevil nuts who try to go over the Falls in a barrel, to which Ibac dizzily responds, "Is ''that'' what I've been doing?"
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31	[[AC:{{Film}}]]
32	* ''Film/{{Niagara}}'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin obviously]].
33	* In ''Film/SupermanII'', Lois Lane jumps into the falls in an attempt to force Clark Kent to prove he's Superman after he saves a kid from falling in.
34	* In ''Film/FallingAngels'', one character's backstory involves dropping her baby off the falls.
35	* Creator/JohnCandy's character in ''Film/CanadianBacon'' is an American sheriff near the Falls. He would have gone over them, but Candy died before the scene could be filmed.
36	* One of the broadcasts in ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' takes place on the Falls lower observation deck.
37	* In Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'' the shot of Boromir's boat going over the Falls of Rauros is not CGI - it's actually a stock aerial shot of Niagara with a CGI boat added (over footage of a barrel, if the audio commentary is to be believed).
38	* In the film version of ''Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace'', this is stated to be Mortimer Brewster's honeymoon destination (he even makes joking references to going over them in a barrel). [[HilarityEnsues Never does quite make it, though]].
39	* In ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'', Mark Zuckerberg is irritated at footage of the falls being used in a Carribean-themed party thanks to just looking vaguely like it fits.
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41	[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
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43	* When ''Literature/TheBFG'' is being tossed about by the other giants, Sophie who is in his pocket feels as if she is in a barrel going over Niagra Falls.
44	* Creator/MarkTwain's ''Literature/ExcerptsFromAdamsDiary'' has Eve naming the Falls "Niagara Falls" because they ''looked like Niagara Falls''.
45	* Charles Dickens goes there in his ''Literature/AmericanNotes''.
46	* Lake Erie and the Niagara Falls are the setting of a chase scene in Creator/JulesVerne's novel ''Master Of The World''.
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48	[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
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50	* The short-lived fantasy series ''Series/{{Wonderfalls}}'' is set at the falls. And yes, there is a barrel episode. The show was set on the American side but [[CaliforniaDoubling filmed on the Canadian side]] because, as noted in the page intro, the view is more photogenic that way.
51	* ''Series/{{The Office\|US}}'' has had a wedding staged there.
52	* The B Plot of ''Series/{{Degrassi\|TheNextGeneration}} [[TheMovie Takes Manhattan]]'' had [[GraduateFromTheStory Spinner and Emma]] [[PairTheSpares get married]] there.
53	* The short lived CanadianSeries ''Series/TakingTheFalls'' was set on the Canadian side of the falls.
54	* A flashback on ''Series/{{Lost}}'' showed Bernard proposing to Rose in a restaurant overlooking the falls.
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56	[[AC:{{Music}}]]
57	* ''[[Creator/TheMarxBrothers Lydia The Tattooed Lady]]'' has "a view" of them somewhere on her body.
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59	[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]
60	* In ''Theatre/GuysAndDolls'', the song "Adelaide's Lament" (about how she hopes to be married to Nathan) contains
61	-->When they get on the train for Niagara, and she can hear church bells chime...
62	-->Then they get off at [[UsefulNotes/HorseRacing Saratoga]] for the fourteenth time!
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64	[[AC: Web Original]]
65	* ''Blog/WhatIf'': Randall answers what would happen if [[https://what-if.xkcd.com/147/ you funneled Niagara Falls through a straw]].
66	-->''One would get in trouble with the International Niagara Committee, the International Niagara Board of Control, the International Joint Commission, the International Niagara Board Working Committee, and probably the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Also, the Earth would be destroyed]].''
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68	[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
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70	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has Marge and Homer accidentally go over the Falls in a bounce house. [[CoitusUninterruptus While getting busy]].
71	-->'''Boat captain:''' You still alive in there?
72	-->'''Disheveled, grinning Marge:''' More alive than you squares!
73	** In another episode, Lisa gets stranded in the Canadian side during a family visit to the Falls.
74	* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'', Timmy's parents are framed and arrested at the Falls.
75	* A setting in ''WesternAnimation/SonsOfButcher''.
76	* Ditto for one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama World Tour''. It shows up again in a extra scene for ''All-Stars'' when Gwen and Scott wind up there and go over the falls.
77	* Included in a trail of destruction in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben10}}''.
78	* The WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker short ''Niagara Fools'', in which a park ranger tries to stop Woody from going over the Falls in a barrel.
79	* In ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'', Willy Fog and the gang must cross the cold river with their wind sail while fighting the downriver currents to prevent from going down the Falls in order to catch the next train. Their adversary Transfer attempts to follow them across in a similar fashion, but unlike Fog he goes over the falls (and survives!).
80	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Overclockwise", Fry goes over the Falls in a barrel. [[spoiler: In a subversion, it is an unsuccessful attempt at deliberately killing himself]]. There he finds Bender, [[spoiler:who has been using the generators on the Falls to overclock himself [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence into a higher plane of existence]].]]
81	* Doc Terror has a hideout at a CaveBehindTheFalls in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}'' episode "Let the Games Begin".
82	* In the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny short "WesternAnimation/RebelRabbit", part of Bugs' RoaringRampageOfRevenge over rabbits getting a bounty of only two cents involves turning off the Falls. A picture of the empty Falls shows dozens of barrels at the bottom.
83	* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "JOLO" involves Joe quitting his job so he could take a trip to the Falls with Peter, Cleveland, and Quagmire. [[spoiler:However, Joe decides to commit suicide there so he could spend his last days with his friends, but they convince him not to, though they end up nearly going over the falls themselves, so Joe decides to save them, convincing him that life is truly worth living. He gets his job back upon arriving back in Quahog]].
84	* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Sidetracked", the cast recreates the Bellagio sequence from ''Film/Oceans11'', complete with the same music ("Clair de Lune" by Claude Debussy). To make it kid friendly, Major Monogram eats a candy stick instead of smoking a cigar.
85	* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Where My Country Gone?", Mr. Garrison tries to sneak into Canada by going over the Falls in a barrel after Canada builds a wall around its border.

Context UsefulNotes / NiagaraFalls