History Main / BigDamPlot

* ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'': The mission "Deluge" has XCOM battling the aliens atop a heavily damaged dam, over a transport vehicle containing a human with latent psionic abilities. In addition to the threat posed by the aliens, [[TimedMission there is a timer counting down the number of turns until the dam becomes too unstable for the mission to continue]] - there are several relief valves at the top of the dam that XCOM can activate to take pressure off the dam and increase the timer.

* ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'': The mission "Deluge" has X-COM battling the aliens atop a heavily damaged dam, over a transport vehicle containing a human with latent psionic abilities. In addition to the threat posed by the aliens, [[TimedMission there is a timer counting down the number of turns until the dam becomes too unstable for the mission to continue]] - there are several relief valves at the top of the dam that X-Com can activate to take pressure off the dam and increase the timer.

* ''Video/XCOMEnemyUnknown'': The mission "Deluge" has X-COM battling the aliens atop a heavily damaged dam, over a transport vehicle containing a human with latent psionic abilities. In addition to the threat posed by the aliens, [[TimedMission there is a timer counting down the number of turns until the dam becomes too unstable for the mission to continue]] - there are several relief valves at the top of the dam that X-Com can activate to take pressure off the dam and increase the timer.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomGoesToTheMayor'' episode "Bassfest" where the Mayor has the ''wonderful'' idea to hold a concert near a dam. A poorly built dam. Tom realizes that the vibrations from the music will cause it to break and tries to warn everyone or at least have the concert moved. But if you're familiar with the gist of this show, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption you know how well that goes]].

** One of the missions in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' features CJ doing a parachute jump onto the {{Expy}} of the Hoover Dam and plant bombs on the power generators in preparation for the heist on [[spoiler:Caligula's Casino]].

* ''Videogame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' has one of these [[OnceAnEpisode once per single-player campaign]], and on two out of three occasions the player-controlled faction are the ones tasked with blowing it up. One suspects it was a royal pain to do in-engine, so the developers [[ShootTheMoney wanted to get their time and money's worth.]] It did look pretty cool though.

* Seen in the "Mega X" episode of the ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' cartoon.

** In "Firebreak", after Thunderbird 2 runs out of fire-suppressant grenades battling a forest fire, Virgil goes up to a derelict reservoir to fill up his module for a conventional water-drop. When even that doesn't work, he asks the fire-chief on-site if he could just blow the worn-out dam outright. When said fire-chief points out that the dam should've been demolished already, Virgil interprets this as permission to do so, with the resulting tsunami extinguishing the entire forest in one go.

The outdoor equivalent of the ExplodingFishTanks.

* The whole Yuda arc in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' ends in a dam being destroyed.

* In the ''Manga/CaseClosed'' [[NonSerialMovie movie "Quarter of Silence"]], a jewel thief had hidden his booty in a village, and while he was imprisoned for the theft, the village was bought out by the government and a dam erected. So, when he gets out of prison, he blows up the dam, which threatens the new town further down the valley. Conan, in desperation, creates an avalanche to divert the disastrous deluge.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderbirdsAreGo'': In "Power Play", the Mechanic takes over the Grand Sequoia Dam in North America and steals power for a project the Hood abandoned because he considered it to be too extreme. When the turbines are pushed to the limit the dam starts to break up. Scott crawls inside to rescue the trapped workers while Virgil, Alan and Gordon attempt to seal a growing crack.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Two Days Before the Day After Tommorow", Cartman and Stan crash a boat into the world's largest beaver dam protecting the town of Beaverton. People blame ClimateChange for the flood.

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/194261.png]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge2TheMeltdown'': The melting glacier creates a natural dam as most of the ice melts, leaving a thin wall. The animals try to get to the other end of the valley before it bursts.

* {{Inverted}} in ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget''. MAD ''creates'' a dam so that it can sell water to Metro City at ridiculously inflated prices, and Gadget has to break MAD's dam and bring water back to the city.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'' episode "Six Strings of Evil" involved this, even though Corey smashed the evil guitar with help from his fellow bandmates and Trina's OnceAnEpisode Diary Mode, it didn't end well for the dam.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' cartoons:
** In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode, "[[BabysittingEpisode Baby Sitter Jitters]]", Dr. Robotnik plans to destroy the Beaverville Dam to flood the valley and make room for Lake Robotnik Golf and Fishing Estates. His first attempt to destroy the dam is foiled by Sonic rebuilding it, and his second is foiled by a trio of baby beavers that Sonic and Tails were babysitting.
** In the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode, "Guilt Tripped", when Sonic and Tails finally get back home from the Gogoba Village, they find four messages on their answering machine, all of which are from Dr. Eggman, who tells them that he is planning to blow up the dam. However, because they spent a long time trying to get out of the Gogoba Village, Eggman thinks they're not showing up at all and promptly goes to their house to find out why.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', where an evil plot to blow up Elmore's dam is foiled by [[spoiler: the fact that Elmore doesn't have a dam.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "The Mysterious Mare Do Well," a burst dam threatens to destroy Ponyville.
* ''WesternAnimation/BooBoomTheLongWayHome'': Episode 16 resolves around Boo-Boom, his animal friends, and a local story teller stopping the Germans from blowing up a dam.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'': In "The Tree Man of Arborea", the tree man destroys a dam in his insatiable thirst for water, forcing Superman to find a way of stopping the flood before it reaches the town below the dam.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Timmy [[MirrorMoralityMachine becomes evil]] thanks to a wish with some poor ExactWords, and plans to use a volcano to destroy the Dimmsdale Dam, causing a flood that would destroy the makeup factory. Apparently, everyone is so ugly without makeup (especially the men) that this would collapse everyone's social life, and thus Dimmsdale would cease to be, the flood and lava flow notwithstanding. Luckily, the same ExactWords change him back to normal before it's too late.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderbirdsAreGo'': In "Power Play", the Mechanic takes over the Grand Sequoia Dam in North America and steals power for a project the Hood abandoned because he considered it to be too extreme. When the turbines are pushed to the limit the dam starts to break up. Scott crawls inside to rescue the trapped workers while Virgil, Alan and Gordon attempt to seal a growing crack.

* In the ''Manga/CaseClosed'' [[NonSerialMovie movie "Quarter of Silence"]], a jewel thief had hidden his booty in a village, and while he was imprisoned for the theft, the village was bought out by the government and a dam erected. So, when he gets out of prison, he blows up the dam, which threatens the new town further down the valley. Conan, in desperation, creates an avalanche to divert the disastrous deluge.
* This trope, and the conflict that accompanies it, makes up a large part of ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'''s backstory. At first, it's mentioned as your typical 'humble country folk band together to fight the oppressive government' plot, but later [[TheReveal reveals]] show it...wasn't as simple as all that. Even years later, the actions people took during that conflict strongly influence the present day.

* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'': Issue 23 featured a story [[ADayInTheLimelight focusing on the pets of the Mane 6]], who find a kelpie has brainwashed the citizens of Ponyville into tearing down a nearby dam and have to save the day. [[spoiler: It turns out the kelpie wanted to help some sea sprite friends of hers return to the ocean, and [[EasilyForgiven the ponies are willing to help]] once they find out her problem.]]
* In the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse, the second half of the Carl Barks story "Only a Poor Old Man" is this. Scrooge [=McDuck=] has hidden his fortune at the bottom of a reservoir, and the Beagle Boys find out. They buy all the land downstream from the reservoir, and then try to break the dam keeping the reservoir filled. The result is a struggle between the Ducks and the Beagles over the dam's fate. [[spoiler: The Beagles finally win and destroy the dam, but Scrooge tricks them into knocking themselves out anyway.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'', Toad's plan is to open the floodgates protecting the rat's sewer city so that it gets washed away during UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup halftime.
* ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'' uses the Panama Canal to the same effect.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventuresHowISpentMyVacation'', Buster and Babs' subplot is kicked off when an [[EscalatingWar escalating water fight]] ends with Babs intentionally opening a dam and flooding Acme Acres.
* Just right after the Snuggly Duckling scene (and hence the song "I've Got a Dream") from ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', Rapunzel and Flynn can actually be seen escaping a collapsing aqueduct when the latter is spotted by the palace guards outside the Snuggly Duckling.

* ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'': King Runeard built a dam for the Northuldra, which has built up enough water that were it to break, much of Arendelle would be washed away. [[spoiler:The climax involves Elsa and Anna learning that King Runeard built it in order to weaken the inhabitants of Northuldra before subduing them under his rule. Anna, realizing this crime has to be righted and that this is why the spirits have made people evacuate Arendelle, provokes the Earth Giants into destroying the dam that her grandfather built, and Elsa freezes the wave of water before it floods Arendelle.]]

* The destruction of a Hoover lookalike dam figures prominently in ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' .
* The Ents destroy a dam to wash away Isengard in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers''.
* ''Film/EvanAlmighty'''s climax has a dam breaking to justify the construction of the ark.
* One of the key action scenes in the historical epic, ''Film/The14Amazons'', has the heroes purposely destroying a dam in order to wipe out a legion of Mongol reinforcements, preventing them from ambushing their army. Naturally, the loyal sergeant who is TheBigGuy among the heroes have to pull of a HeroicSacrifice, staying behind at the dam to fulfill the mission.
* ''Film/X2XMenUnited'' ends up with the destruction of the power station that houses the bad guy's anti-mutant operation.
* ''Film/DantesPeak'' also has a dam destruction at some point

* The duel at the climax of ''Film/FrankensteinMeetsTheWolfMan'' ends in a draw when one of the nearby villagers blow up a dam to drown out Castle Frankenstein and kill the monsters.
* ''Film/OurManFlint''. The Galaxy organization uses its WeatherControlMachine to destroy a dam.
* One of the major set pieces in ''Film/{{Earthquake}}'' is the destruction of a dam.
* In ''Film/TheEmeraldForest'', the natives plan to destroy the dam that's going to flood their forest by singing to the frogs. Kinda makes sense in context... the American hero thinks their beliefs are quaint and plans to use dynamite instead. The dynamite fails, but the dam is brought down in a storm anyway. Did the frogs do it? You decide.

* In ''Film/SanAndreas'', an earthquake hits the Hoover Dam, and it goes ''down''.

* In ''Death Or Glory'', Literature/CiaphasCain finds his ramshackle band of survivors pinned in a canyon between a hydroelectric dam and an Ork army. After discovering a tunnel through a nearby mountain to the other side, he decides to blow the dam to cover his retreat. A few decades later, he wants to try the same trick against a Chaos army, but is prevented from doing so by [[spoiler:Necrons teleporting in, stealing the ArtifactOfDoom and shutting down all the machines]]. We still get a climatic battle on top of the dam though.

* The first chapter of the second book in ''Literature/TheTaleOfMagic'' focuses on how the Western Kingdom’s dam has a leak and the Fairy Council fixing it. It’s a very quick fix until Lucy uses her magical speciality for trouble to ''break the entire dam.'' Five out of the six Fairy Council use all their effort to repair the dam, the only one excluded being Lucy for...obvious reasons.

* ''Literature/WetDesertTrackingDownATerroristOnTheColoradoRiver'': The bomber is aiming at bringing down Glen Canyon Dam.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' features the Hoover Dam as a major resource, since it's one of the only sources of power in the Mojave Wasteland. The end of the game involves a huge battle for control of the dam. Your character has to either defend it or take it over depending on which faction they're aligned with, and it's possible to destroy the dam or at least render it unusable.
* ''[[VideoGame/GanbareGoemon3ShishijurokubeNoKarakuriManjiGatame Ganbare Goemon 3: Shishijurokube no Karakuri Manji Gatame]]'': One segment of the game has the team using the Impact mecha to destroy one, for the purpose of un-flooding[=/=]opening the town in the northeast as well as allowing access to a healing waterfall and one of the life-extension cats.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'':
** In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2'', there's a mission where you must put bombs into a dam.
** One of the missions in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' features CJ doing a parachute jump onto the {{Expy}} of the Hoover Dam and plant bombs on the power generators in preparation for the heist on [[spoiler:Caligula's Casino]].
* Speedy Dave's arc in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork 2'' involves a dam going to be destroyed by explosives.
* In ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', the Positron Task Force revolves around the Clockwork, Circle of Thorns, and Vahzilok all hatching plots involving the city dam in Faultline. The finale of the second part[[note]]the original version too, although that used a generic lab map and the mission entrance was in a different zone[[/note]] – which awards the [[JustForPun Dam Hero]] badge – has all three plans coming together simultaneously.

* One of the missions in ''VideoGame/GoldenEyeRogueAgent'' has the protagonist searching and activating a seismic bomb in the Hoover Dam.
* ''VideoGame/{{Emergency}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Emergency}} 4'' both include dam break scenarios. In the second case, the dam is already broken and a town is completely flooded when your crews get there.
* Stage 2 of the NES ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' game has you attempting to stop the Foot Clan from blowing up a dam. It is the only stage in the game where [[DownTheDrain you are required to swim]], [[TimedMission you're on a time limit]] that will give you a NonStandardGameOver if you fail to find and disarm all eight bombs before time runs out (which you'll be hard-pressed to do without a map), and you have to do it while [[EverythingTryingToKillYou avoiding electric traps and electric seaweed that want to kill you]]. Yeah. It's ThatOneLevel for a reason.

* ''VideoGame/DieHardTrilogy2VivaLasVegas'' has a series of levels set at Hoover Dam where [=McClane=] has to disarm a virus bomb.
* ''Videogame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' has one of these [[OnceAnEpisode once per single-player campaign]], and on two out of three occasions the player-controlled faction are the ones tasked with blowing it up. One suspects it was a royal pain to do in-engine, so the developers [[ShootTheMoney wanted to get their time and money's worth.]] It did look pretty cool though.

* In ''[[VideoGame/AnnoDomini Anno 2070]]'', the first campaign missions revolve around the aftermath of the disastrous destruction of a hydroelectric power plant built into a giant dam.
* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'', after Climatrol blows up, water starts pumping into the central lake of Motavia, forcing Rolf and his party to travel to four dams and use their central consoles to unlock them and prevent the lake from flooding over.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Brother from Another Series" involves Sideshow Bob's brother trying to frame Bob for destroying a dam he's building.
* ''WesternAnimation/ClassOfTheTitans''' second episode ("Chaos 102", part of the three-episode special) has the heroes fighting at the city dam. It's not clear whether the dam is ever actually threatened, though.

* WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs have a dam protecting their village from flooding. Many stories have the dam breaking or threatening to break, like in Smurfette's initial storyline, where she is actually an agent of Gargamel's trying to flood the village.

* In the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon "WesternAnimation/WetHare", villain Blaque Jacques Shellaque dams the stream that feeds the waterfall Bugs is using [[WaterfallShower to shower]]. Bugs keeps destroying the dam and Jacques keeps rebuilding it, until Bugs builds a dam of his own. Jacques blows it up, but Bugs has built a series of dams for him to destroy, leading up to the Grand Cooler Dam. In an inversion of this trope, Jacques' cannon doesn't destroy it; instead, the cannonball bounces back and knocks Jacques into a waiting police wagon.
* Seen in the "Mega X" episode of the ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' cartoon.

* In the Manga/CaseClosed [[NonSerialMovie movie "Quarter of Silence"]], a jewel thief had hidden his booty in a village, and while he was imprisoned for the theft, the village was bought out by the government and a dam erected. So, when he gets out of prison, he blows up the dam, which threatens the new town further down the valley. Conan, in desperation, creates an avalanche to divert the disastrous deluge.

* ''Series/JohnnySokkoAndHisFlyingRobot'': The episode "Destroy the Dam" as the title characters needing to bust open a dam to flood the water to deactivate the MonsterOfTheWeek.

* In the Manga/DetectiveConan [[NonSerialMovie movie "Quarter of Silence"]], a jewel thief had hidden his booty in a village, and while he was imprisoned for the theft, the village was bought out by the government and a dam erected. So, when he gets out of prison, he blows up the dam, which threatens the new town further down the valley. Conan, in desperation, creates an avalanche to divert the disastrous deluge.

* One of the key action scenes in the historical epic, ''Film/The14Amazons'', have the heroes purposely destroying a dam in order to wipe out a legion of Mongol reinforcements, preventing them from ambushing their army. Naturally, the loyal sergeant who is TheBigGuy among the heroes have to pull of a HeroicSacrifice, staying behind at the dam to fulfill the mission.

* One of the key action scenes in the historical epic, ''Film/FourteenAmazons'', have the heroes purposely destroying a dam in order to wipe out a legion of Mongol reinforcements, preventing them from ambushing their army. Naturally, the loyal sergeant who is TheBigGuy among the heroes have to pull of a HeroicSacrifice, staying behind at the dam to fulfill the mission.

* One of the key action scenes in the historical epic, ''Film/FourteenAmazons'', have the heroes purposely destroying a dam in order to wipe out a legion of Mongol reinforcements from ambushing their army. Naturally, the loyal sergeant who is TheBigGuy among the heroes have to pull of a HeroicSacrifice, staying behind at the dam to fulfill the mission.