History Main / ClockworksArea

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' Castle Heterodyne has a large number of areas that are full of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070727 giant]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071003 gears]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080625 and]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090225 other]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090415 such]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091030 mechanisms.]]

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'': * Riku's battle against [[spoiler:Young Xehanort]] in a [[FinalBossNewDimension dimension]] consisting of a giant gray clock with assorted gears all over it and off in the distance. As the battle progresses, it edges further into AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield as several hourglasses shatter and release their colorful sands into the air.
* ''VideoGame/MapleStory''

* Near the end of ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'', the Lemons all trap Mater, Finn [=McMissile=], and Holly Shiftwell inside Big Bentley as an attempt to kill them all while they succeed in their evil plans. They eventually escape, however. But they later find out that they actually had intended for Mater to escape.

%%* The fight between the AlmightyJanitor and the evil repairman in ''Film/TheHudsuckerProxy''.
* A frequent motif in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** Tick Tock Clock in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', which can be tweaked based on the time that a player jumps through the wall. The level returns as a racecourse in ''VideoGame/MarioKartDS'' and again in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8''.
** ''VideoGame/MarioParty 6'':
*** One of the mini-games is "Cog Jog", where two players have to travel across spinning gears to get to the goal [[TimedMission within the time limit]]. Falling off sends the player back to start, and the Thwomp in the middle changes the direction of the gears.
*** Clockwork Castle, the sixth and final board of the game mixes this with BigFancyCastle. [[NiceDayDeadlyNight By Day, Donkey Kong walks around the board, and by Night, Bowser walks around it]]. The goal is to chase Donkey Kong down so you can collect stars from him, but avoid Bowser, lest he take your stars away. One of the gimmicks of the board is that you can find a switch that changes the gameplay from Day to Night or vice-versa.
** Some of the castles from ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii''.
** There's a clock themed level in World 7 in ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'', remixed via HardModeFiller later in a Special World. The first level of Special 4 is inside this setting as well, but no clocks or machinery is present as there has to be space for the large platform to transport Mario through the level.
** Cookie Cogworks from ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' combines this with LevelAte, as the cogs are made from giant sandwich cookies.
** The Old Clockworks from ''VideoGame/LuigisMansionDarkMoon'' is an old and ruined clock factory with NoOSHACompliance. The ClockTower entrance is blocked since the hands of the clock barring the passage are missing, and Luigi has to get through the factory's dangerous gears and clocks to retrieve them.

* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** Metal Man's stage in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2''.
** Time Man's stage in ''VideoGame/MegaManPoweredUp'' is this, in an actual ClockTower.
** The entirety of Dr. Wily's Gear Fortress from ''VideoGame/MegaMan11''. Inspired by his Double Gear system, Wily went a little overboard with the gear motif featured throughout the fortress. It's to the point that a number of the gears are likely there for decorative purposes only. For example, while gears can be seen spinning in the background for most of the Robot Masters' rooms in Stage 3, the gears in the rooms of Blast Man and Tundra Man are destroyed and frozen in place respectively.
* In ''[[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ninja Gaiden II]]'', near the end of Chapter 8, Ryu must climb a ClockTower to reach the Greater Fiend Zedonius.
* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' has the Wawku Shrine, a temple built around a giant clock that combines this trope with SlippySlideyIceWorld.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanSunsoft'' game on NES has one of these as its final level. Players had to walljump between moving gears in order to ascend the bell tower of the Gotham City cathedral.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** [[EternalEngine Scrap Brain Zone]] from the original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' game. Its WorkingTitle was even "The Clockwork Zone" (or "Clock Ork" as the W wasn't programmed into the title card).
** In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', Amy and E-102 Gamma's sections of [[EternalEngine Hot Shelter]] involve them moving across spinning gears in the engine room. There are even switches that change the directions of the gears.
** ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' features Rooftop Run, which has a clock tower, but only the night stage has a major clockworks area, as the daytime stage is outside. This level returned in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'', and both Sonics go up the outside of the tower this time.
** ''VideoGame/TeamSonicRacing'' has Clockwork Pyramid, which [[HailfirePeaks mixes this trope with]] BuildLikeAnEgyptian.
* The final level of ''VideoGame/ClockTower3'' is a climb up the titular ClockTower, including the gears.
* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' has an area in [[ThatOneLevel Rusty Bucket Bay]] that involves a switch puzzle to control rotating gears. Falling off results in death by boiling oil.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' has Ghasfrast: the Tower of Gears as one of its dungeons. The party must use the sorceror's ring to restore power to the non-moving gears in order to reach the top of the tower, where Barbros awaits.
* In ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'', there is a dungeon which is actually called and is a Clock Tower, which features such gears as a motif in the entire dungeon.
* In ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'', Lacertus Rex hangs out in a clockwork mansion. You have to literally cross a giant clock to get to Lacertus Rex himself.
* The level "The Shrunk Machine" in ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' sees the Duke crawl through a electricity generator while shrunken to minuscule size.

%%* The final level of the PlatformGame ''Pizza Pop!''.
* The second half of Act 6: Curtain 2 in VideoGame/{{Puppeteer}} takes place in a clock tower.
* The climax of ''[[VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles Mystery Case Files: Broken Hour]]'' takes place in an old ClockTower that strongly invokes this trope.
* Riku's battle against [[spoiler:Young Xehanort]] in a [[FinalBossNewDimension dimension]] consisting of a giant gray clock with assorted gears all over it and off in the distance. As the battle progresses, it edges further into AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield as several hourglasses shatter and release their colorful sands into the air.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' has a UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance game subtitled "[[VideoGame/RugratsCastleCapers Castle Capers]]" and in it is a level where you climb inside a giant grandfather clock.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has the Clockwork City, built and resided in by the Dunmeri (Dark Elven PhysicalGod, [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Sotha Sil]]. It is a city combining SteamPunk and {{Magitek}} technology, with plenty of giant moving gears, cogs, and domes. It is visited in both ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''[='s=] ''Tribunal'' expansion as well as ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline''[='s=] eponymous ''Clockwork City'' expansion, the latter of which reveals the city to be, in fact, a giant computer to which Sotha Sil himself is [[{{Cyborg}} cybernetically]] [[BrainUploading linked]].
* In ''[[Advertising/McDonaldLand Ronald]] in the Magical World'' for the UsefulNotes/GameGear, the third world is a clock factory.

* The Disney animated short ''The Clock Cleaners'', with WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse and WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}, has them doing this job (interior and exterior cleaning) at a clock tower. Hilarity ensues inevitably.[[note]]Bonus is that this classic 1930s short was included before theatrical showings of ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' in 1986, and is included as a bonus with its DVD/Blu-rays.[[/note]]

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has the Clockwork City, built and resided in by the OurElvesAreBetter Dunmeri (Dark Elven PhysicalGod, [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Sotha Sil]]. It is a city combining SteamPunk and {{Magitek}} technology, with plenty of giant moving gears, cogs, and domes. It is visited in both ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''[='s=] ''Tribunal'' expansion as well as ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline''[='s=] eponymous ''Clockwork City'' expansion, the latter of which reveals the city to be, in fact, a giant computer to which Sotha Sil himself is [[{{Cyborg}} cybernetically]] [[BrainUploading linked]].

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has the Clockwork City, built and resided in by the [[OurElvesAreBetter Dunmeri (Dark Elven)]] [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Tribunal]] [[PhysicalGod deity]], Sotha Sil. It is a city combining SteamPunk and {{Magitek}} technology, with plenty of giant moving gears, cogs, and domes. It is visited in both ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''[='s=] ''Tribunal'' expansion as well as ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline''[='s=] eponymous ''Clockwork City'' expansion, the latter of which reveals the city to be, in fact, a giant computer to which Sotha Sil himself is [[{{Cyborg}} cybernetically]] [[BrainUploading linked]].

* The Disney animated short ''The Clock Cleaners'', with WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse and WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}, has them doing this job (interior and exterior cleaning) at a clock tower. Hilarity ensues inevitably.[[note]]Bonus is that this classic 1930s short was included before theatrical showings of ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'' in 1986, and is included as a bonus with its DVD/Blu-rays.[[/note]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clockworks_area.png]]]]

* ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'' has its climax in Big Ben.

* In ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', Nanny Ogg and the dwarf romeo Casanunda sabotage the clock tower to prevent "Cinderella" hearing the chimes of midnight. There is also the cat Greebo's memory of chasing a mouse into a working windmill and realizing he is in a place of danger where one paw put in the wrong place will drag him to doom among all the turning gears and grinding wheels.

* ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'' provides the page image, and has its climax in Big Ben.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun: The Lost Age'' has the monster-infested Great Gabomba Statue, where you need to climb on or manipulate several gears (by switching the way they turn or stopping them) to progress.

* Near the end of ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'', the Lemons all trap Mater, Finn [=McMissile=], and Holly Shiftwell inside Big Bentley as an attempt to kill them all while they succeed in their evil plans. They eventually escape, however.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' has a UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance game subtitled "Castle Capers" and in it is a level where you climb inside a giant grandfather clock.

** One of the duel mini-games in ''VideoGame/MarioParty 6'' is "Cog Jog", where two players have to travel across spinning gears to get to the goal [[TimedMission within the time limit]]. Falling off sends the player back to start, and the Thwomp in the middle changes the direction of the gears.

** The Gear Fortress stage from ''VideoGame/MegaMan11''.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** [[EternalEngine Scrap Brain Zone]] from the original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' game. Its WorkingTitle was even "The Clockwork Zone" (or "Clock Ork" as the W wasn't programmed into the title card).

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Doc strings the cable from the clock tower to power the DeLorean at 1.21 gigawatts. Unfortunately, the storm brought down a tree limb, making the cable too short. When he tugged on it, the end at the clock face became unhooked. He climbs through the clock's gears to get to the door on the face so Marty can feed him the cable to re-hook it.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Doc strings the cable from the clock tower to power the DeLorean at 1.21 gigawatts. Unfortunately, the storm brought down a tree limb, making the cable too short. When he tugged on it, the end at the clock face became unhooked. He climbs through the clock's gears to get to the door on the face so Marty can feed him the cable to re-hook it.
* A frequent motif in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''.

* ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight''features a level quite literally called The Clockwork Tower, which is full of gears and cogs, all of which are being used to try and kill you, with the exception of the level's item, the ridable Mobile Gear