History Main / Balloonacy

* ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'': Sir Hiss the snake not only becomes an airborne spy by sticking his head inside an inflated balloon so that his body hangs down as the string ([[AnachronismStew and how does Medieval England have helium-filled rubber balloons to begin with?]]), but gains altitude by ''further inflating the balloon, with his breath, while his head is inside it''. Balloonacy on so many levels.

[[caption-width-right:208:Five balloons will lift a dog, twenty a person... and a few thousand a house.]]

Often ended by a BalloonBurstingBird. See also AllBalloonsHaveHelium when a character simply blows up a balloon with their breath and it automatically floats. See our [[UsefulNotes/{{Airships}} Useful Notes on airships]] for more information on how the real aircraft operate.

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* The entire concept of ''VideoGame/BalloonFight'', which is essentially ''VideoGame/{{Joust}}'', except with kids and... bird thingies flying using a pair of balloons.

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'':
** Green Balloons return Kongs to the stage after falling into a BottomlessPit.
** Funky Kong ponders how many balloons he needs to attach to his surfboard to get some air if the player buys Red Balloons from his shop.

* ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' featured Shyguys dangling from balloons.

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** A different video from Imbapovi involves [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus]] and [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]] getting stranded on a deserted island, after the latter accidentally shoots their hot air balloon from [[RecklessGunUsage showing off her Paralyser]]. Zelda decides to [[LaserGuidedKarma stun Samus with it, tie ropes to her hands and feet and use a hand pump to]] [[BodyInflationGag blow her up with helium, as a huge makeshift blimp]] to lift the basket and Zelda off.

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** Subverted in the episode "Lost Our Lisa." Homer, wanting to get to higher ground to look for Lisa, buys a bunch of balloons, says "I hope this works"... and then trades them to a construction worker for the use of his cherry picker.

** At the end of "Million Dollar Abie", Abe and Lisa are floating on balloon-held lawn chairs to avoid the bulls running rampant through Springfield below. Unfortunately, some bulls come along with floating chairs of their own.

* At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', Basil tied the Union Jack flag with balloons underneath to a box of matches in order to chase Ratigan fleeing on his blimp. Helps that they're mice.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', Tiana and Naveen [[spoiler:(as frogs)]] escape from a charging dog by grabbing a bunch of balloons and flying away from him. [[spoiler:The balloons burst and they fall down and land in the Atchaflaya Basin swamp.]]
* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'', Sir Hiss the snake not only becomes an airborne spy by sticking his head inside an inflated balloon so that his body hangs down as the string ([[AnachronismStew and how does Medieval England have helium-filled rubber balloons to begin with?]]), but gains altitude by ''further inflating the balloon, with his breath, while his head is inside it''. Balloonacy on so many levels.
* In ''WesternAnimation/OverTheHedge'', Vincent the bear gets tangled up in a massive over-sized clown balloon from a birthday party and is carried aloft. Unfortunately for our heroes, he doesn't go far.

* The famous "Little Black Rain Cloud" sequence from ''[[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree]]''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', Tiana and Naveen [[spoiler:(as frogs)]] escape from a charging dog by grabbing a bunch of balloons and flying away from him [[spoiler:the balloons burst and they fall down and land in the Atchaflaya Basin swamp]]

* In the 1976 movie ''Film/{{Nickelodeon}},'' a scene using a hot air balloon is being filmed, when Jane Hitchcock's character (who is nearsighted) bumps into a handler and gets her foot caught in a balloon tow rope. When the balloon rises, it takes Jane with it, dangling her upside down.

** A different video from Imbapovi involves [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]] getting stranded on a deserted island, after the latter accidentally shoots their hot air balloon from [[RecklessGunUsage showing off her Paralyser]]. Zelda decides to [[LaserGuidedKarma stun Samus with it, tie ropes to her hands and feet and use a hand pump to]] [[BodyInflationGag blow her up with helium, as a huge makeshift blimp]] to lift the basket and Zelda off.

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* The entire conceit of ''VideoGame/BalloonFight'', which is essentially ''VideoGame/{{Joust}}'', except with kids and... bird thingies flying using a pair of balloons.
* The [[spoiler:Dead Lander Beta]] enemy from ''VideoGame/BugFablesTheEverlastingSapling'' floats with balloons... balloons that just so happen to be indestructible, and will never pop no matter how much punishment they receive. [[spoiler:Given the alien nature of the [[EldritchAbomination Dead Landers]], these could easily be odd growths that merely resemble balloons, but it's never clarified either way.]]

** Green Balloons returns Kongs to the stage after falling into a BottomlessPit.

Often ended by a BalloonBurstingBird. See also AllBalloonsHaveHelium when a character simply blows up a balloon with his/her breath and it automatically floats. See our [[UsefulNotes/{{Airships}} Useful Notes on airships]] for more information on how the real aircraft operate.

** In ''the Busy World of Richard Scarry'', the opening of "Mr. Raccoon's Different Day" has Mr. Frumble accidentally floating into the sky with several helium balloons. Unlike the second example below, all of the balloons burst for no reason and Mr. Frumble falls to the ground but lands safely.

--> "Well, I've already got some balloons, but...they're not this nice. Deal!"

** One where he had to get home and the other when he wanted to fly.
** Also when he and Bubble Buddy are trying to escape his friends; they don't get far.
** He also borrowed and lifted Patrick's rock to find a legendary drain plug.

** In the ''The Great Cold Rush Race'', Dastardly inflated an inflatable version of the Mean Machine from ''inside'' it to overtake the other cars into first place, but it backfired when Muttley tapped him on the back, inflating Dastardly.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': In "Dirty Rotten Merlot Shame," Francine is trying to tell Stan that Roger kissed her while they were on a wine-tasting trip but Roger keeps finding ways of stopping her. He ties a hot air balloon's tow rope to Francine's foot, causing her to dangle upside down when it takes off. (Easter egg: [[FreezeFrameBonus for a couple of frames]] we can has PantyShot.)

** In one episode, during one of Terry Gilliam's animations a man grabbed a bunch of balloons and floated away. He was then attacked by a bird with a cannon where its head should be, which was trying to burst the balloons.

* ''Series/MrBean'' once put some ballons on a baby's pram, and it flies off and he has to make chase.
* ''Series/MythBusters'' researched how many you'd need. It takes ''a lot'' of balloons to lift a person -- even if it's just a five-year-old! Specifically, it takes 3,500 party-size balloons to lift a 40 pound child. It's also worthwhile to note that, due to [[SquareCubeLaw volumetrics,]] it takes a lot more small balloons to equal the volume of one slightly larger diameter balloon. In other words, 3,500 party balloons can only lift a 40 pound child, but a ''single'' helium or hydrogen balloon about 16 feet in diameter can carry most adults. Also, because hot air carries about a third as much as gas, most "hopper" or "backpack" hot air balloons must be around 25 feet in diameter to carry most people.

** Kermit the Frog is demonstrating a Rube-Goldberg device to turn on a radio: the last step involves using a balloon to turn on the radio. Of course nothing works the way it's supposed to, and at the very end Kermit sees the balloon float away taking the radio with it.

** That's also how promotional [[{{MascotMook}} Pikachu]] are able to use the move Fly, according to [[{{TabletopGame/Pokemon}} the card game]] and ''VideoGame/PokemonSnap''.

** A different video from Imbapovi involves [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]] getting stranded on a deserted island, after the latter accidentally shoots their hot air balloon from [[RecklessGunUsage showing off her Paralyser]]. Zelda decides to [[LaserGuidedKarma stun Samus with it, tie ropes to her hands and feet and use a hand pump to]] [[BodyInflationGag blowing her up with helium, as a makeshift balloon]] to lift the basket and Zelda off.