History Main / HamsterWheelPower

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' involved the MadScientist Dr. Nimnul hypnotizing mice and forcing hundreds of them to run on wheels to power his latest evil invention.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Mastiff The Belgian Mastiff]] was a dog bred for pulling cannons and machine guns in wartime, carts full of goods in peacetime. The damage to Beligum and the Low Countries from two world wars and increasing mechanization caused the breed to go extinct.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', "The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!"

-->'''Iago:''' With all due respect, your rottenness, couldn't we just wait for a ''real'' storm?!

[[folder:Web Original]]
* WebAnimation/HololiveHoloNoGraffiti: [[Characters/HololiveEnglishGenerationTwoCouncil Hakos Baelz's]] debut episode ends with her powering the office via hamster wheel, as punishment for attempting a [[SwarmOfRats rat-based revolution]].
* In the ''WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'', electrical power to HQ is provided by generators driven by dead authors spinning in their graves by reason of all the terrible fanfic.
* In the ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'' "environment", Strong Bad tries to make his energy-sapping, outdated laptop computer more environmentally friendly by rigging it to run on "green" energy... in the form of the Cheat painted green and running on a hamster wheel.
-->'''Strong Bad:''' Only seventeen more hours, and I can press "send".

* Russian animation film ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfCaptainWrongel'' (and the novel it was based on) plays with this trope. When the eponymous Captain saves a bunch of squirrels from forest fire and tries to unload them in a zoo, local ObstructiveBureaucrat tries to charge him with contraband, since the animals obviously aren't included in the ship's cargo manifest. To fend off the charge, Captain declares the squirrels to be part of his ship's propulsion system and proves it by quickly building two giant squirrel-powered paddle wheels.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy's dad made a computer whose "Power Source" was a hamster in a wheel. In another episode, Cosmo turns into a hamster to run on a wheel to keep TheMostDangerousVideoGame going (since Timmy, Chester, and AJ will die if the power goes out).

* Animatronio, a Renaissance robot built by Creator/LeonardoDaVinci in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Duh-Vinci Code", is powered by a rat-wheel in his chest.
** The wooden spaceships that carry people to and from the Amish planet in "Ghost in the Machines" are powered by oxen on a treadmill.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' has the [[NiceGuy good natured]] if rather [[BrainlessBeauty dim witted]] BoyBand Sev'ral Timez being employed to run on a treadmill during the events of Weirdmageddon to provide a substantial amount of energy. [[spoiler:Turns out you can power a HumongousMecha with five cloned twits running in unison]].
* [[Characters/BatmanTheRiddler The Riddler]] is subjected to this in ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', powering the crew's mall lair for a period of time. He's not happy about it. It bites the crew in the butt later because all that labor [[TookALevelInBadass bulked him up enough to thrash them all]]. Fortunately for them, by that point he voluntarily returns to running the mill because he likes his gains.

* A freeze ray in ''WesternAnimation/LeagueOfSuperEvil'' was powered by a hamster running in a wheel. It wore little jogging accessories.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleRascals'', many of Buckwheat's devices are powered by Pete running on a treadmill, with a bone or a piece of meat suspended above him.
* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Boobs in the Woods", WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck takes out the motor out of WesternAnimation/PorkyPig's car, so Porky forces Daffy to pedal the crankshaft instead. When he complains that Porky had no right to do that, Porky produces a license that allows him to do just that (a CallBack to a gag about licenses earlier in the cartoon).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "The Ricks Must Be Crazy," when [[MadScientist Rick's]] car power supply fails, he takes Morty inside the battery, where Rick explains to Morty that he created a "Microverse" and waited until a sentient life form evolved that he then gave gooble boxes, a device that generates electricity when used to exercise by walking in place. After Morty tries to explain that Rick essentially enslaved an entire planet, Rick responds that since the people of the Microverse created a complex society where anyone who gets old and dies is replaced by someone younger, [[SlaveRace Morty replies "that's just slavery with extra steps,"]] to which Rick just brushes him off. When they encounter Zeep, basically an {{Expy}} of Rick, Zeep reveals that to power his world, he created a "Miniverse," waited until a sentient life form evolved, to which he gave flooble cranks, a lever-based exercise devise that generates electricity, and thus render the gooble box obsolete. [[{{Hypocrite}} When Rick mentions that Zeep enslaved an entire planet,]] Zeep responds that since the people of the Miniverse created a complex society, they aren't slaves, when Rick says [[IronicEcho "that's just slavery with extra steps,"]] Zeep just brushes him off. When they go into the "Miniverse," they encounter a scientist named Kyle who created a "Teenyverse," and when a sentient life form evolves, he'll give them a blooble yank, a pulley-based exercise device that will render the flooble crank obsolete. When Zeep tries to explain that he's planning to enslave an entire planet, Kyle responds that since the people of the "Teenyverse" will live in a complex society, they won't be slaves. As Zeep mentions "that's just slavery with extra steps" he attacks Rick, when he realizes why they are there. As they are arguing, Kyle realizes why he was born, climbs into his ship, and crashes it, stranding Rick, Morty, and Zeep in the Teenyverse. At the end, once they manage to exit the Teenyverse, and after [[InferredHolocaust Rick destroys Zeep's Miniverse,]] they enter the car, and when it starts, Morty asks how is that possible, to which Rick responds that Zeep would realize that either everyone needs to keep using gooble boxes, or Rick [[DeadlyEuphemism "would have to toss a broken battery."]]

** In "Quest Buy", it's revealed the power source of Star's magic wand is a tiny unicorn running on a treadmill (they're called "millhorses" in ''Literature/TheMagicBookOfSpells'', and the wand has had several different ones over the years).
** In "Freeze Day", all of ''time itself'' is run by Father Time running inside the Wheel of Progress. When Star makes [[TimeStandsStill time stand still]], Father Time gets off the wheel for the first time in literally forever and now doesn't want to go back inside the wheel and start time running again. At the end of the episode, they discover that giant hamsters roam in Father Time's dimension and Star says she's figured out how to start time back up without Father Time having to get in the wheel. Marco naturally thinks she means to have a hamster run in the wheel, but instead [[Funny/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil she transforms the wheel into a hamster-drawn carriage that Father Time can ride around on]]. She assumes this was also what Marco thought would be the logical solution.
* The episode "The Wheel Thing" of ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld1991'' involved Mario and Luigi attempting to aid the cave people by introducing cars into their society. With the internal combustion engine nowhere near feasible with their current tech, Goombas are used to power the cars.
* [[BaseOnWheels The Technodrome]] from ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' had an Emergency Pedal Power Generator in case it would run out of fuel. [[AwesomeButImpractical Which it did often.]] Justified, as the generator clearly isn't meant to be the primary energy source of a 500-foot tank-fortress, it provides just barely enough power for the main computer to work.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Cyborg the Barbarian," Cyborg gets sent back in time and his drained power cells are recharged by a combination human hamster wheel/waterfall-powered dynamo.

* Mentioned in ''VideoGame/{{Stray}}'', when one of the young Antvillage robots speculates that a Zurk running in a wheel could generate power.

One humorous way to demonstrate that a mechanical device is primitive, of amateurish construction, or simply underpowered is to have it propelled, not by internal combustion or electricity, but by Pocket Pet Power. Hook it up to a wheel-shaped or spherical cage, and let a small animal -- usually a hamster or mouse -- run its little legs off inside to generate torque. The larger the device, and the tinier the animal, the odder this arrangement looks.

* In ''Film/EvanAlmighty'', Evan's wife walks in a giant wooden wheel, presumably to power the hauling of materials up to the Ark's upper levels.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': The second episode of the original series shows that the Pokémon Center's backup power generator is several Pikachu running on a horizontal wheel around a Tesla coil.

** In ''Sun and Moon'', Sophocles has a hamster wheel on the side of his desk. His Togedemaru runs on it to generate power.

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* ''VideoGame/IslandExperiment'': The Sweet Kingdom archipelago's Donut Island has an irrigation system that's powered by bunnies running inside giant hamster balls. You need to trap the escaped bunnies, put them inside, and hang carrots in front of the balls so they'll go back to running.
* ''VideoGame/ShantaeHalfGenieHero'': Part of the plot is helping Mimic build a device to repel evil from Scuttle Town and using one of these as its power source. It's slightly more plausible in that the hamster is zombified and thus doesn't have a need for things like eating or sleeping to keep it from running the amount of time needed.
* ''VideoGame/{{Timberborn}}'': One option for supplying power for buildings is a power wheel that a beaver walks on. It's not powerful, but it is constant for as long as your beavers are working, making it Boring, but Practical. In particular, it provides just enough power to keep a lumber mill or other basic powered building humming along when a drought freezes your water wheels.
* In ''VideoGame/OxygenNotIncluded'', the Manual Generator is your starting Power building, and your main source of power for much of the early game. It's an oversized hamster wheel that your Duplicants run on in order to charge your batteries and provide power to your space station's machinery. Eventually, you can tech up to coal, diesel, and hydrogen power plants, but since the hamster wheels only need a duplicant with nothing better to do, produces no waste product, and produce very little heat, it remains viable well into the late game especially as jump-starters to power plants that require a pump of some kind to feed them with. As a bonus, whichever duplicant is on the wheel gradually improves their physical stats.
* ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'': Dr. Fred's lab features a hamster-powered generator, which is pretty much ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Finding it and getting it running in the future is the key to powering Laverne's Chron-O-John.
* In ''VideoGame/TwentyXX'', one of the bosses is the Rollster Beta, an oversized hamster-like creature inside a large, bladed wheel.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Starmancer}}'', a treadmill is the first form of power generation you obtain. When colonists use one, their job is set to "Pretending to be a hamster."

* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'', Ashdale and Zanaris both have flour mills powered by a cow in a wheel.
--->'''Examine Text:''' At least she's getting her exercise.

* The ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' games have many elevators that operate without any visible power source. As a joke on this, the especially-enormous Blighttown elevator in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' is all run by a single, small dog in the upper wheel.
* ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' has this as the fate of the Waddle Dees that the Beast Pack capture, powering the secret lab of the main antagonist.
* Mentioned in ''VideoGame/{{Stray}}'', when one of the young Antvillage robots speculates that a Zurk running in a wheel could generate power.
* ''VideoGame/TheStrangeAndSomewhatSinisterTaleOfTheHouseAtDesertBridge'' has Hamsters [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom of Doom]] who provide power to the house by running in wheels. However, they stopped running due to not being fed.
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', the "Power to the People" quest is about Vault 88's attempt to turn exercise, a "waste of time and energy," into something productive. Hence, an exercise bike that powers the Vault! The Overseer particularly wants to try stuff like administering addictive Buffout on the cycle or using ElectricTorture to get better results. Ted, on the Pre-War research team, just wanted to make a good exercise bike with a nice environmental enhancer. [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Everyone hated him]].
* One of the bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Magicka}}'' is "The Machine", a massive mechanical DeathTrap powered by a single orc on an exercise bike.

* [[http://kevinandkell.com/1996/kk1203.html A cost-cutting measure]] at Caliban Academy in ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'' has Bruno (and presumably other students) running in a giant wheel to power the school.

* In the WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum, electrical power to HQ is provided by generators driven by dead authors spinning in their graves by reason of all the terrible fanfic.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** Norm the Robot Man runs on squirrel power.
** Drusselstein, home of the Doofenshmirtz clan, runs on a big shaft driven by rabbits, as seen in "The Doonkleberry Imperative". It stops working when they upgrade to "goat power" but the citizens can't agree upon which way the goats should turn.
* The Arkansas Chuggabug in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' runs on squirrels. The squirrel speeds up when Luke feeds him H.R.P.: "Hot roasted peanuts, for more power!"

* In the Upsidasium story arc of ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', it is revealed that vehicles in Pottsylvania are revolutionary (which is to say, they "revolve"), thanks to the power of tiny squirrels running in wheels.
* Zach Varmitech used a cheetah to power his cheating racer in ''WesternAnimation/WildKratts''
* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Boobs in the Woods", WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck takes out the motor out of WesternAnimation/PorkyPig's car, so Porky forces Daffy to pedal the crankshaft instead. When he complains that Porky had no right to do that, Porky produces a license that allows him to do just that (a CallBack to a gag about licenses earlier in the cartoon).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy's dad made a computer whose "Power Source" was a hamster in a wheel. In another episode, Cosmo turns into a hamster to run on a wheel to keep TheMostDangerousVideoGame going (since Timmy, Chester, and AJ will die if the power goes out).
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' involved the MadScientist Dr. Nimnul hypnotizing mice and forcing hundreds of them to run on wheels to power his latest evil invention.
* Russian animation film ''Adventures of Captain Wrongel'' (and the novel it was based on) plays with this trope. When the eponymous Captain saves a bunch of squirrels from forest fire and tries to unload them in a zoo, local ObstructiveBureaucrat tries to charge him with contraband, since the animals obviously aren't included in the ship's cargo manifest. To fend off the charge, Captain declares the squirrels to be part of his ship's propulsion system and proves it by quickly building two giant squirrel-powered paddle wheels.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil''
** In "Quest Buy", it's revealed the power source of Star's magic wand is a tiny unicorn running on a treadmill (they're called "millhorses" in ''Literature/TheMagicBookOfSpells'', and the wand has had several different ones over the years).
** In "Freeze Day", all of ''time itself'' is run by Father Time running inside the Wheel of Progress. When Star makes [[TimeStandsStill time stand still]], Father Time gets off the wheel for the first time in literally forever and now doesn't want to go back inside the wheel and start time running again. At the end of the episode, they discover that giant hamsters roam in Father Time's dimension and Star says she's figured out how to start time back up without Father Time having to get in the wheel. Marco naturally thinks she means to have a hamster run in the wheel, but instead [[Funny/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil she transforms the wheel into a hamster-drawn carriage that Father Time can ride around on]]. She assumes this was also what Marco thought would be the logical solution.
* ''WesternAnimation/YogisGang'': Magilla powers up the ark's flying mechanism by running on a treadmill.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', many of Brain's devices are powered by Pinky running along the wheel in their cage. Justified as they are mice.
* In the WesternAnimation/BettyBoop short ''Be Human'', Grampy punishes an abusive farmer by trapping him in a pit and making him run on a treadmill (complete with whip) to power his mechanical farm.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' short "Futuremania", Ludwig Von Drake shows Donald a personal future where everything is powered by his three nephews on treadmills.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "The Ricks Must Be Crazy," when [[MadScientist Rick's]] car power supply fails, he takes Morty inside the battery, where Rick explains to Morty that he created a "Microverse" and waited until a sentient life form evolved that he then gave gooble boxes, a device that generates electricity when used to exercise by walking in place. After Morty tries to explain that Rick essentially enslaved an entire planet, Rick responds that since the people of the Microverse created a complex society where anyone who gets old and dies is replaced by someone younger, [[SlaveRace Morty replies "that's just slavery with extra steps,"]] to which Rick just brushes him off. When they encounter Zeep, basically an {{Expy}} of Rick, Zeep reveals that to power his world, he created a "Miniverse," waited until a sentient life form evolved, to which he gave flooble cranks, a lever-based exercise devise that generates electricity, and thus render the gooble box obsolete. [[{{Hypocrite}} When Rick mentions that Zeep enslaved an entire planet,]] Zeep responds that since the people of the Miniverse created a complex society, they aren't slaves, when Rick says [[IronicEcho "that's just slavery with extra steps,"]] Zeep just brushes him off. When they go into the "Miniverse," they encounter a scientist named Kyle who created a "Teenyverse," and when a sentient life form evolves, he'll give them a blooble yank, a pulley-based exercise device that will render the flooble crank obsolete. When Zeep tries to explain that he's planning to enslave an entire planet, Kyle responds that since the people of the "Teenyverse" will live in a complex society, they won't be slaves. As Zeep mentions "that's just slavery with extra steps" he attacks Rick, when he realizes why they are there. As they are arguing, Kyle realizes why he was born, climbs into his ship, and crashes it, stranding Rick, Morty, and Zeep in the Teenyverse. At the end, once they manage to exit the Teenyverse, and after [[InferredHolocaust Rick destroys Zeep's Miniverse,]] they enter the car, and when it starts, Morty asks how is that possible, to which Rick responds that Zeep would realize that either everyone needs to keep using gooble boxes, or Rick [[DeadlyEuphemism "would have to toss a broken battery."]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DennisTheMenace'' episode "Wheeling and Double-Dealing", Winston's perpetual motion race car is powered by three rats running on a wheel.
-->'''[=PeeBee=]''': It's just like you to be powered by rats!\\
'''Winston:''' Hey, why have friends if you can't take advantage of them?
* WesternAnimation/SnooperAndBlabber are in an auto race competing against a VillainOfTheWeek, who late in the race steals their motor. Snooper wins the race regardless, and when the villain asks how, Snooper opens the hood and shows him: He used Blabber in a hamster wheel.
* The episode "The Wheel Thing" of ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld1991'' involved Mario and Luigi attempting to aid the cave people by introducing cars into their society. With the internal combustion engine nowhere near feasible with their current tech, Goombas are used to power the cars.
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleRascals'', many of Buckwheat's devices are powered by Pete running on a treadmill, with a bone or a piece of meat suspended above him.
* [[Characters/BatmanTheRiddler The Riddler]] is subjected to this in ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', powering the crew's mall lair for a period of time. He's not happy about it. It bites the crew in the butt later because all that labor [[TookALevelInBadass bulked him up enough to thrash them all]]. Fortunately for them, by that point he voluntarily returns to running the mill because he likes his gains.
* ''WesternAnimation/LetsGoLuna'': In the episode "Lights Out!", one of the gang's methods for powering Senor Fabuloso's hat light is to have someone run on a hamster wheel that is connected to the hat light and powers it. This doesn't work, as the wheel's runner runs out of running energy and gets launched off the wheel.
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' has the titular boy genius attempt to power up his burned-out lab by rigging together dozens of hamsters in wheels. However, they all just tire out within minutes.

* Not actually powering it, but Volvo actually attached hamster wheel to the steering wheel of a truck and then drove it up a cliff by making the hamster drive it. Yes, a Hamster driving a BigBadassRig by running on a wheel.

* A [=PSA=] from Enroll America promoting the ACA's health insurance exchanges features various pets beseeching their owners to get covered. One is a hamster whose exercise wheel powers a digital "C'mon, you can do it!" sign.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': The second episode of the original series shows that the Pokémon Center's backup power generator is several Pikachu running on a horizontal wheel around a tesla coil.
** There have also been cases where Team Rocket has captured Pikachu and used him to power their latest device for stealing Pokémon. It makes sense, since, much like the example above, Pikachu do generate massive amounts of electricity making them akin to small furry generators.
** In ''Sun and Moon'', Sophocles has a hamster wheel on the side of his desk. His Togedemaru runs on it to generate power.
* During ''[[Manga/MegaManMegamix Mega Man Gigamix]]'''s Battle and Chase arc, Auto comes across Napalm Man's crashed car and gleefully opens it up, intent on scavenging it for high-quality parts. Instead of an engine, however, he's disturbed to find a three-person bike along with a KO'ed Charge Man, Crystal Man, and Wave Man inside.

[[folder:Comic Book]]

* In ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightStrikesAgain'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:a major source of electricity for the whole world is actually a giant hamster wheel where ComicBook/TheFlash is running in superspeed.]]

* ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'' once fought the Screeching Tire, a giant tire about the size and general structural design of ComicBook/{{Blackhawk}}'s notorious enemy mecha, the Warwheel, and powered and controlled by a villainous gerbil.
* One Short Circuits strip from the ''ComicBook/MegaManArchieComics'' comic had Dr. Light invent Mariachi, the robot hamster, who runs in a hamster wheel to power itself as a perpetual motion machine. Proto Man cites this as why he doesn't like him messing with his power core.
* ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons:'' One issue has the town nearly dragged into nuclear war between Mr. Burns and his rival, and as a result, the government outright bans any nuclear technology in town for several months. As a result, power is supplied to the town by making all of Burns' employees run on giant hamster wheels.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

* In ''WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged'', Sir Integra frustratedly assumes [[{{Troll}} The Major]] is powered by this when he is revealed to be a cyborg. He just replies, [[JokeAndReceive “His name is Hamburg.”]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/EvanAlmighty'', Evan's wife walks in a giant wooden wheel, presumably to power the hauling of materials up to the Ark's upper levels.
* In ''Film/MortalEngines'', Tom Natsworthy has a tamed rat powering some of his Old Tech in his room in the Museum.

* At the end of ''Literature/ChetGecko: The Hamster of the Baskervilles'', the titular were-hamster is defeated by luring into a science fair exhibit about perpetual motion, which features an enormous spinning wheel. The were-hamster is caught inside the wheel and remains running, rendering it harmless.
* Creator/JamesBlish's short story "Literature/SurfaceTension" features genetically engineered rotifer-sized people who build a "space ship" (we would think of it as a land vehicle) to travel to another pond on the surface of their planet. It is powered by diatoms running on treadmills.

* Complaining about her PD's microscopic budget, police chief ''Literature/ArlyHanks'' claims in ''Merry Wives of Maggody'' that her computer is powered by squirrels running in a wheel. She tells Sheriff Dorfer that one of his deputies will have to run background checks on some suspects because her computer's on the blink: one of the squirrels died.
* A decidedly non-comedic example in ''Literature/TheLostRegiment'', where thousands of Cartha slaves are forced by the [[HumanAliens Merki]] to walk in huge wheels for hours each pay, powering their primitive manufacturing facility. This is because they don't have time to build efficient steam engines to do the job, not that the Merki care about the fates of a bunch of slaves, who drop like flies from the exhaustion. Later, the more advanced Bantag do the same, although their leader Ha'ark is determined to improve the process with steam engines.

* In the [[Literature/HonorHarrington Honorverse]], the Solarian League is the largest, most powerful nation in the setting, but ''because'' it is so massive it hasn't actually had to deploy its battle fleet in literal centuries. When war breaks out between the Solarian League and the Star Kingdom of Manticore, it sends a large portion of its fleet to the distant Manticore star system. Since the Manticoran fleet far outclasses the Solarian fleet when it comes to actual combat power, the Manticorans joke that they're amazed the Solarian ships made the journey, and joke that they didn't think the hamsters in the engine room had that much energy.
* Much of the advanced technology in the ''Literature/{{Skyward}}'' series is powered by [[spoiler: taynixes, brightly colored slug-like creatures with the unique ability to use [[PsychicPowers cytonics]] without attracting the [[EldritchAbomination delvers]].]]
* In ''[[Literature/RiversOfLondon False Value]]'', the break room at the Serious Cybernetics Company is equipped with a plasma TV that's powered by a human-sized hamster wheel.

* Creator/StephenColbert once suggested that puppies licking peanut butter off turbine blades to make them spin might be a viable alternative-energy option on ''Series/TheColbertReport''.
* On ''Series/GilligansIsland'', Gilligan pedals a stationary bicycle in order to generate power for the radio and a few other devices. At least once the stationary bicycle became non-stationary, sending Gilligan flying through the underbrush.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' Booth & Brennan visit an organic farmer who makes smoothies out of his vegetables, using a stationary bicycle to generate the electricity to run the blender. Brennan thinks it's ingenious; Booth thinks it's this trope.
* Appears twice in ''Series/RedDwarf'', first in White Hole when the ship's power is turned off and the Cat makes Lister peddle in an attempt to fry an egg with a hairdryer (before insisting he power the electric blanket while he sleeps) and secondly in a metaphorical sense when Ace Rimmer attempts to train Rimmer to take on his mantle by encouraging him to 'be the cougar running free', and Rimmer's efforts are visualised as a hamster in a wheel.

* One of the oddball survivors' communities on ''Series/ZNation'' used never-tiring zombies roped to a horizontal wheel of spokes to generate electricity.

* ''Series/AlloAllo'' has a few episodes where the radio to London has to be replaced and since they lose the batteries in a GambitPileUp, they have to power the radio by way of a bicycle. Which leads to a great gag where Leclerc is too exhausted to carry on, [[IHaveBoobsYouMustObey but Madame Fanny shows him her legs and he immediately gets a boost.]]
* The ''Series/OddSquad'' episode "Xs and Os" has Oona pedaling a stationary bike in order to generate electricity for the lab, as a way of cutting costs from using a lot of electricity. It works for a time but comes at a severe consequence of her not being able to repair and build gadgets, leaving Olympia and Otis defenseless when Headquarters begins falling to shambles.
* ''Series/{{Mash}}'': Joked about when the 4077's generator breaks down and their backup one is stolen. There's even a BrickJoke about the hamster being put out of work after Klinger swipes them another unit's backup generator.
* Discussed in ''Series/NightCourt''. Bull, whose intelligence level is flaky at best, is having a particularly tunnel-visioned moment; Dan asks him what he has upstairs, a hamster in a wheel?

* A Ray Stevens music video "Surfin' USSR" had a nuclear sub powered by a hamster in a wheel and a menacing-looking Red with a bullwhip.

[[folder:Other]]
* A joke back in the day these things were something new was that slot and vending machines were operated from inside by a dwarf Chinese man.
[[/folder]]

* ''The Curious Cases Of Rutherford and Fry'' explores the subject in the episode "The Hamster-Wheel Hypothesis", concluding that powering London would require millions of hamsters, either in a cubic kilometre of habitat or possibly in the cellars of individual homes. The programme also asks if other animals might be better choices: from an efficiency standpoint quail or kangaroo rats get more speed, but from an ethical standpoint the best option is paid, voluntary humans, who are ''really'' energy inefficient.

* In Chapter 2-3 of ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', this is one of the punishments that Mimi uses for those tricked into her slave labor. You can do this yourself to earn the money needed to pay for a crucial hint to pay off your own debt.
* In the adventure game ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'', you can lure a tiny fruit-eating dinosaur into the cage on a strange cart, so it will run inside the ball-shaped cage and propel the vehicle.
* In the Collectors' Edition of the casual game ''Surface: Mystery of Another World'', catching a hamster and putting it into such a device is necessary to open the portal home.
** Also used in another ''Surface'' game, ''The Soaring City'', in which a hamster running on a wheel powers up some thrusters that levitate its cage, revealing a trapdoor underneath.
* One of the game paths in ''VideoGame/SpyFox in Dry Cereal'' reveals that William the Kid's fortress is powered by dozens of hamsters baited by carrots. Getting a crucial item from a room next door requires temporarily removing all the carrots, which immediately causes all the hamsters to fall asleep, thus cutting the power.
* The video game ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleMachine'' has two flavors of this; one is a mouse on a wheel that runs when something collides with his box, and the other is a mandrill on a treadmill with a bunch of bananas hidden by a curtain which can be raised by pulling a rope. Since the game has absolutely no concept of thermodynamics, these power sources can be [[PerpetualMotionMachine surprisingly effective.]]
* In ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife'' (the video game) there's a rather convoluted puzzle wherein you put a rude French mouse in a wheel and attempt to make him run by giving him the proper motivation (not [[StockAnimalDiet cheese]]). Later on, you get a small elephant who can be convinced to run if given a peanut, which results in a door being opened.
* ''VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles'': One of the locks in ''Ravenhearst'' opens when you get a ''mechanical'' mouse to enter and use a wire exercise wheel.

* ''VideoGame/{{Syberia}}'': One puzzle in the Voralberg Factory involves getting a clockwork rat into a wheel to provide power. This is also a bit of {{foreshadowing}} for the sequel, where you need to get a [[MixAndMatchCritters youki]] into similar contraptions to provide motive power for other devices.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastOne'': One of the devices with which you can equip your stronghold is powered by a zombie in an exercise wheel. A live rat dangles on a rope in front of the zombie to bait it into mindlessly trudging along.

* Non-wheel variant: In a Geico commercial, a man powers his laptop from a team of guinea pigs he'd trained to row a miniature boat.

* Episode two of the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime shows that the Pokémon Center's backup power generator is several Pikachu running on a horizontal wheel around a tesla coil.

* In ''Fanfic/MyLittleDenarians'', Discord foils Nicodemus' plan of running away and leaving him to fight the heroes alone by turning the engine of his car into a hamster ball.

* A white mouse in a wheel powers part of the RubeGoldbergDevice shown in the opening credits of ''Series/{{Elementary}}''.
* When the theater lost power on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', Dr. Honeydew rigged a giant hamster wheel generator that ran on "Beaker power". When Beaker got tired, Honeydew activated a power booster - he released a tiger inside the wheel to chase Beaker.

* Joked about on ''Series/{{Mash}}'' when the 4077's generator breaks down and their backup one is stolen. There's even a BrickJoke about the hamster being put out of work after Klinger swipes them another unit's backup generator.

* In one episode of ''Series/{{TheMuppetShow}}'' the theater lost power, so [[TheChewToy Beaker]] was forced to power it up via a large hamster wheel, with a 'helpful' assist when he starts getting tired: releasing a tiger into the wheel.

* In world 2-3 of ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', this is one of the punishments that Mimi uses for those tricked into her slave labor. You can do this yourself to earn the money needed to pay for a crucial hint to pay off your own debt.