History Main / AbsurdAltitude

** Whenever the Mushroom Planet is seen from [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy outer]] [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 space]], there's always clouds above it, and clouds underneath.

* The ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' version of [[Film/TheAmazingColossalMan Glenn Manning]] (as played by Creator/MikeNelson) is somehow tall enough to take the orbiting Satellite of Love in the gut, but the only difficulty he seems to be having at that height is [[SquareCubeLaw with his heart]].

* Used seriously in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' in the episode "The Guru", when Aang is trying to induce the Avatar State. He is standing on a pathway in space, and looks down on his world [[spoiler: before he comes crashing down when he realizes Katara's in danger.]]

* Happens to Arthur Dent in ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' when Slartibartfast takes him on a tour of Earth Two in a sort of hyperspeed elevator.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Film]]
* From the [[Film/SupermanII second film]] onward, this was the standard ending shot for ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' movies.
* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Eddie Valiant falls off an incredibly high building in Toontown, so high only clouds are visible below and even an airplane flies underneath him. And in one of the Roger Rabbit shorts that were released with the movies as promos, Roger and Baby Herman go on a rollercoaster that goes this high.

* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'' contains a "live-action" example, where a car, full of pursuers of the main characters, run off the end of a bridge and suddenly find themselves plummeting onto downtown Chicago from a height of thousands of feet.

* Happens to Arthur Dent in ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' when Slartibartfast takes him on a tour of Earth Two in a sort of hyperspeed elevator.
* During The Hong Kong [[BehemothBattle fight]] in ''Film/PacificRim'', [[GiantFlyer Otachi]] grabs [[HumongousMecha Gypsy Danger]] by its claws, before revealing that it [[OhCrap has wings and can fly]]. It then, in about 30 seconds and seven flaps of its wings, carries itself and Gypsy Danger to what appears to be the edge of space.
* In ''Film/MoulinRouge'', Zidler punches the Duke, causing his gun to fly through the air and hit the Eiffel Tower.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', whenever Ash's Charizard uses Seismic Toss on his enemies, a globe will inexplicably appear as soon as Charizard starts to gain momentum so he can throw said enemy onto the ground.

* During The Hong Kong [[BehemothBattle fight]] in ''Film/PacificRim'', [[GiantFlyer Otachi]] grabs [[HumongousMecha Gypsy Danger]] by its claws, before revealing that it [[OhCrap has wings and can fly]]. It then, in about 30 seconds and seven flaps of it's wings, carries itself and Gypsy Danger to what appears to be the edge of space.

Despite the fact they've clearly left the atmosphere, ExplosiveDecompression is rarely invoked on a character in this situation. In fact, [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace they can probably still breathe without problems.]] If they ascended by building an impossibly-tall tower, compare StarScraper.

* An ad for a sports drink has NASCAR driver Tony Stewart climbing a speedway fence in victory. And keep climbing. [[RuleOfFunny Disregarding the fact that no-one actually, you know, builds fences THAT high to begin with ...]]

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': One Sunday strip shows views of Calvin ascending the ladder for the 'big' slide in the playground, climbing higher and higher and finally reaching orbit from Calvin's POV.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Eddie Valiant falls off an incredibly high building in Toontown, so high only clouds are visible below and even an airplane flies underneath him.
** And in one of the Roger Rabbit shorts that were released with the movies as promos, Roger and Baby Herman go on a rollercoaster that goes this high.

* Whenever the [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mushroom Planet]] is seen from [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy outer]] [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 space]], there's always clouds above it, and clouds underneath.
* In World 5 of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'' Yoshi climbs from DeathMountain to BubblyClouds and eventually SpaceZone.

* In ''Webcomic/SweetBroAndHellaJeff'', the Big Man ([[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/sweetbroandhellajeff/?cid=010.jpg in a dream]]) gets some "[[TotallyRadical unreal]]" air [[InASingleBound just by jumping]]. [[WellThisIsNotThatTrope Well, this is only the background information to the example]]. In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Dave creates a skateboard in the true ''SBAHJ'' style (i.e., composed of horrible JPEG artifact recombination), whose name is the "Unreal Air". It simply keeps going up and never comes back down.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' uses the surface of the ocean for this, often times cutting to that little live-action island from the opening. Depending on whether basic physics feel like applying to the situation, a character going this high might fall back down as if through air, or float down gently.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* One Sunday strip of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' shows views of Calvin ascending the ladder for the 'big' slide in the playground, climbing higher and higher and finally reaching orbit from Calvin's POV.
** There was also the time they went to Mars. When they returned Calvin said he was pretty sure they lived in "a big purple country" and their house was "by the E in the word 'States' ".
[[/folder]]

Despite the fact they've clearly left the atmosphere, ExplosiveDecompression is rarely invoked on a character in this situation. In fact, [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace they can probably still breathe without problems.]]

* The SpaceElevator, a proposed alternative to using shuttles to reach low earth orbit, would consist of a counterweight in geosynchronous orbit tethered to the surface with a super-strong cable which could then be "climbed" by the car. Sounds like something right out of one of these cartoons, but provided we're able to develop a strong enough material for the cable, it could become a reality in our lifetime. Unfortunately, there is no current known material strong enough to act as a cable. Carbon nanotubes are strong enough in theory but there is currently no known way to make a cable out of them.

* The SpaceElevator, a proposed alternative to using shuttles to reach low earth orbit, would consist of a counterweight in geosynchronous orbit tethered to the surface with a super-strong cable which could then be "climbed" by the car. Sounds like something right out of one of these cartoons, but provided we're able to develop a strong enough material for the cable, it could become a reality in our lifetime.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Rei Ayanami after [[spoiler: merging wih the angel Lilith]] in ''End of Evangelion''. For some context, she is seen standing (presumably) on the Earth and holding the Moon with her arms[[note]]also, dry humping it[[/note]] without needing to reach upward.

* The DeliveryStork in ''Disney/{{Dumbo}}'' looks down from the clouds and sees the southern United States, with all the states clearly labeled and colored.

* From the second film onward, this was the standard ending shot for ''Film/{{Superman}}'' movies.

* In Fanfic/MyRidonculousRace while in Japan the Ice Dancers ride the famous Fujiyama coaster at Fujikyu Highland Theme Park. The ride to the top is described as going so high they pass demoiselle cranes, bar headed geese (both of which are species of birds known for flying over the ''Himalayas''), and 2 people in a hot air balloon.

[[folder:Live- Action TV]]

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' anyone? Especially in the early episodes where the sky was still blue and cloudy even though earth was getting smaller and smaller....

[[folder:LiveActionTelevision]]

[[folder:Myth and Religion]]

* The La Costa Lotta hotel in ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry 6'' has a bungee jumping facility so high up that it reaches into ''space''.