History Main / DisposableVehicleSection

One or more characters are travelling somewhere in a vehicle. The vehicle is damaged, runs out of fuel, the reactor malfunctions, etc. Or maybe it's just not fast or maneuverable enough. Normally that would be bad news for everyone on board, but instead someone pushes a switch and a large section of the vehicle containing the problem detaches itself, leaving the characters with a smaller, undamaged, fully fuelled vehicle to continue the mission.

* This will be PlayedForDrama as the characters have to leave something (or someone) behind in order to escape, or are in a RaceAgainstTheClock to complete the separation.

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* There was a commercial for some beer company (possibly a SuperBowlSpecial) where an airplane full of passengers and cases of the beer was forced to land place far away from any help. The pilot (or someone) says that in order to get back up they have to reduce the weight of the plane, the assumption being that they'll have to leave the beer behind. The next shot is the plane taking off, without its outside fuselage.

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* Downplayed in the issue of ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' that introduced the [=BATs=]. The Awe Striker is being pursued by a Cobra Stinger driven by one of the [=BATs=] and their main cannon has been unloaded. When Bazooka complains about the situation, Crankcase suggests getting rid of the cannon to save them some weight. He does and throws the cannon at the Stinger, decapitating the [=BAT=].

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* ''Film/DeathRace'': The hero's car has a 6-inch thick armor plating in the back called "The Tombstone". When it gets damaged, the hero jettisons it in the hope that it will damage the car behind him.

** This happens again in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', where a Borg sphere shoots out of the nearly destroyed Borg cube and carries on with its mission to assimilate the Earth. In another play on the trope, the ''Phoenix'' is launched via a multi-stage rocket, similar to the 20th and 21st century rockets it was based on.
** And again in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'', where [[spoiler: Kirk orders the ''Enterprise's'' saucer separated after the ship is severely damaged in battle. Both sections of the ship end up crashing anyways, despite efforts at DamageControl.]]

* The protagonists' car in ''Film/{{Mad Mission}}'' has an escape pod which ejects from the car, and is actually a small vehicle itself.

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* Many larger rockets are designed to stage, separating an engine along with the now empty fuel tanks feeding it to lighten the load after reaching the upper atmosphere, perhaps most notably the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V Saturn V]]'', which may have been the SugarWiki/MostTriumphantExample.
** What landed back on Earth was a small capsule size of a car and comprising less than 0.2% of the 110 meter tall, 3000 tonne rocket. Every shed gram having been necessary to send this small thing to the Moon and back.
* Drop tanks, as used on military aircraft, function similarly to the rocket stages above, though in this case the section being disposed of is simply a fuel tank, rather than an engine.

* Allegedly, some passengers incorrectly believed the Titanic could do this.
* TankGoodness: Later World War II German tanks were designed with add-on armoured panels, deliberately sacrificial appliqué armour spaced out from the main armoured shell of body and tank. These were designed to take the impact of infantry anti-tank weapons - expending their destructive power some distance away from anything important - and could be discarded and replaced according to need. Other parts of the tank, such as track guards and front/rear fenders, could also take damage and be removed as they were not critical components.

* The [[Literature{{Railsea}} Shroakes]]' first rule is that you never leave anything too valuable in the last coach or wagon. The reason for this is first demonstrated when they are attacked by a giant owl which carries off the last vehicle in their train.

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* TankGoodness: Later World War II German tanks were designed with add-on armoured panels, deliberately sacrificial appliqué armour spaced out from the main armoured shell of body and tank. These were designed to take the impact of infantry anti-tank weapons - expending their destructive power some distance away from anything important - and could be discarded and replaced according to need. Other parts of the tank, such as track guards and front/rear fenders, could also take damage and be removed as they were not critical components.

* Shows up quite a bit in the various ''Franchise/StarTrek'' shows. Gets a mention as a possibility once in the Original Series, and is done multiple times in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and ''StarTrekVoyager''. This is done variously to evacuate the crew due to damage, get civilians out of danger before an expected battle, or to give the ship an advantage in combat by giving the enemy multiple ships to fight instead of one big one. And as seen in the Film section above, the tradition carries on into the films.

* This happens in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', where a Borg sphere shoots out of the nearly destroyed Borg cube and carries on with its mission to assimilate the Earth.

* ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''

** Hikaru Ichijo, piloting the heavy armored space fighter, detaches the armor after battling a Zentraedi cruiser, revealing an ordinary Valkyrie mecha inside.
** In the DreamSequence ClipShow episode "Phantasm", a comatose Rick imagines his fighter's nose section ejecting and converting into his old racing plane.

* A few aircraft such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163_Komet Me 163]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2 U-2]] were designed to take off using devices such as a dolly[[note]]in the Me 163's case[[/note]] or bogey wheels supporting the wingtips[[note]]for the U-2[[/note]] that would be released once the plane was airborne. In each case, the aircraft was specially designed to land without the dropped wheels.

* In ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', the SPECTRE yacht separates to transform into a faster hydrofoil ship. The remaining section is still usable as a gun platform and boat dock.

** Rick Hunter, piloting the heavy armored space fighter, detaches the armor after battling a Zentraedi cruiser, revealing an ordinary Valkyrie mecha inside.

* In ''Film/TheCore'', the vehicle carrying the scientists to the centre of the Earth becomes progressively more damaged, and damaged sections must be jettisoned.

* The drill vehicle in ''Film/TheCore'' was designed to jettison damaged parts. In the end, they force-jettisoned the ship segments to pull off their big plan.

* In ''Film/IceAge III'', Scrat the squirrel and his love interest are fighting over an acorn when a geyser erupts beneath them, sending the three and a large rock skyward. As the two squirrels climb the rock toward toward the acorn, the bottom of the rock falls away in a ShoutOut to staged rockets (see below).

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* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Castrovalva", we learn that in an emergency the TARDIS can eject one quarter of itself in order to propel it. Problem: You can't decide which quarter will be ejected, it just might be the part you're standing in at the time.

** Rick Hunter, piloting the heavy armored space fighter, detaches the armor after battling a Zentraedi cruiser, revealing an ordinary valkerie mecha inside.

One or more characters are travelling somewhere in a vehicle. The vehicle is damaged, runs out of fuel, the reactor malfunctions, etc. Or maybe it's just not fast or maneuverable enough. Normally that would be bad news for everyone on board, but instead someone pushes a switch and a large section of the vehicle containing the problem detatches itself, leaving the characters with a smaller, undamaged, fully fuelled vehicle to continue the mission.

Do note: This is not for a small vehicle carried aboard a larger one. It has to be an integral portion of the vehicle so that the remaining section is not functional, and the manoeuvre should come as a surprise to the audience.

Do note: this is not for small vehicle carried aboard a larger one. It has to be an integral portion of the vehicle so that the remaining section is not functional, and the manoeuvre should come as a surprise to the audience.

* There was a commercial for some beer company (possibly a SuperbowlSpecial) where an airplane full of passengers and cases of the beer was forced to land place far away from any help. The pilot (or someone) says that in order to get back up they have to reduce the weight of the plane, the assumption being that they'll have to leave the beer behind. The next shot is the plane taking off, without its outside fuselage.

* In ''Anime/MacrossII'', after taking heavy damage, the the bridge of [[spoiler: The Macross]], detaches to become an airborne command post.

** In "Eternal Story", the [[spoiler: Star Leaf]]'s forward section splits apart to reveal a landing pod that can act as an oversize escape pod.

* Played for laughs in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' with the Dai-Gurren, a mobile fortress in the shape of a humanoid mecha with a knife-shaped battleship deck positioned in order to affect a GagPenis. During the Battle of Teppelin, the Dai-Gurren rams the enemy city's giant hammer with the knife section, then "detaches" by sliding out of it and running away. The remnant is shaped like a skeletal pelvis.

* In ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' the SPECTRE yacht separates to transform into a faster hydrofoil ship. The remaining section is still usable as a gun platform and boat dock.

* In ''Film/BatmanReturns'', this happened as well. The Batmobile split off the flarings on either side and the wheels retracted to form a vehicle (the "batmissile") that could fit through a narrow alley.
* ''Film/DeathRace'' - the hero's car has a 6 inch thick armor plating in the back called "The Tombstone". When it gets damaged, the hero jettisons it in the hopes that it will damage the car behind him.

* In ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' where a Borg sphere shoots out of the nearly destroyed Borg cube and carries on with its mission to assimilate the Earth.

* Occurs during the second battle between the smaller British ''Surprise'' and the larger French ''Acheron'' in ''Film/MasterAndCommanderTheFarSideOfTheWorld'', when a cannon shot by the ''Acheron'' fells a mast on the ''Surprise.'' One poor sailor falls into the raging sea with the debris, and desperately tries to climb the rigging back aboard the ''Surprise''. However, the rigging and the mast debris are acting as a sea anchor, slowing the ''Surprise'' in its flight to escape the pursuing ''Acheron''. Captain Jack orders the rigging cut, to gain speed by marooning the sailor.

* During the railway pursuit of kidnapper Baron von Leinsdorf in Nicholas Meyer's SherlockHolmes thriller ''Literature/TheSevenPerCentSolution'', Holmes and Watson demolish the train cars from back to front to fuel the locomotive's boiler. Once each car was bereft of combustibles, it was uncoupled. This effort succeeds in catching up to the Baron's special. This sequence was faithfully adapted to film in 1976 by Universal Pictures.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Castrovalva" we learn that in an emergency the TARDIS can eject one quarter of itself in order to propel it. Problem: you can't decide which quarter will be ejected, it just might be the part you're standing in at the time.

* Many {{Gradius}}-like shoot-em-ups have this trope in force (creating SequentialBoss in the process) it's impossible to list them all. They all follow a similar pattern: shoot the large flying mechanical boss; when it takes enough damage it ejects the damaged portions, becoming smaller, but faster and more likely to unleash BulletHell upon you.

%%* In ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', IIRC, BugsBunny gets launched into space this way.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdman}}'' episode "Number One". When Birdman breaks into the title villain' pirate satellite, Number One activates a SelfDestructMechanism and escapes in the detached head of the satellite.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Birdman}} The Galaxy Trio]]'' episode "The Duplitrons". When a rocket pod the Trio are flying in malfunctions, Meteor Man presses a button and the pod splits in half. The rear section falls away and Meteor Man continues to fly on in the front half.

* Many larger rockets are designed to stage, separating an engine along with the now empty fuel tanks feeding it to lighten the load after reaching the upper atmosphere, perhaps most notably the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V Saturn 5]], which may have been the SugarWiki/MostTriumphantExample.

* TankGoodness: later WW2 German tanks were designed with add-on armoured panels, deliberately sacrificial appliqué armour spaced out from the main armoured shell of body and tank. These were designed to take the impact of infantry anti-tank weapons - expending their destructive power some distance away from anything important - and could be discarded and replaced according to need. Other parts of the tank, such as track guards and front/rear fenders, could also take damage and be removed as they were not critical components.