History Main / HyperspeedEscape

[[folder:Web Comics]]Parodied in [[http://www.spaceavalanche.com/2010/04/05/evolution-is-awesome/ this spaceavalanche strip]] with [[spoiler:flying fish]].[[/folder]]

* The ''Solvang'' tries this in the season 1 finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks''. Unfortunately, their attacker has attached a grappling hook to one of their warp nacelles--when they jump, the warp core goes and the ship is torn into shreds.

* Used in ''Anime/StarshipOperators'' while too close to other ships, [[ForbiddenChekhovsGun resulting in a]] random BlindJump. Also, like the below ''Star Wars'' example, it's weaponized by one enemy ship to perform tactical microjumps, though it's said that this is an incredibly dangerous abuse of hyperdrive technology. In the finale, the ''Amaterasu''[='=]s crew takes this approach UpToEleven to [[spoiler: make their humongous capital ship spin in place to aim its big guns in a split second]].

** Not to mention that they will sometimes employ a DecoyGetaway, compliments of the Cry Baby. Notably, in the pilot, this strategy ''relied'' on the Alliance goons ''not'' being {{Card Carrying Villain}}s: The decoy was pretending to be a personnel transport in distress, and they broke off pursuit in order to go help. And in [[Film/{{Serenity}} the movie]] they launched a half dozen Cry Babies with copies of their own transponder on rockets.

Our MainCharacters are flying through space in their CoolStarship when they suddenly get into a combat situation. For whatever reason, they quickly realize that hanging around is going to get them blasted into tiny pieces and decide to go to [[FasterThanLightTravel warp speed]] to escape. This usually involves stars suddenly zipping past like the old Windows screensaver. If the author wants there to be space battles where one side can decisively lose, rather than the losing side zipping off as soon as things start going wrong, they can use a NoWarpingZone or TeleportInterdiction.

* During ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'', Stitch makes his initial escape by stealing a police cruiser ("The Red One!") and activating its hyperdrive. This provokes a MassOhCrap from the other police cruisers surrounding him on five sides ("BREAK FORMATION! GET CLEAR OF THAT SHIP!") because an electro-magnetic pulse is produced as a side-effect of making the jump.

* In the novelisation of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Warriors Gate", the pilot of an anti-slaver scoutship uses this to destroy the slaver ships--putting his sensors on full so a hidden slaver will detect it, think they've been found and attempt to jump to lightspeed. Then he would fire an energy torpedo that would strike the belly of the spaceship and sound like a near-miss, but overload the engines so the slaver would be destroyed or trapped in hyperspace when they attempted to go to lightspeed.

** ''The Price of the Stars'', while making the getaway from their rather messy kidnapping, star slingshot included to reach jump speed.
** ''Starpilot's Grave'', played true, after taking down several mageworld ships.

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* Used in ''Anime/StarshipOperators'' while too close to other ships, [[ForbiddenChekhovsGun resulting in a]] random BlindJump. Also, like the below ''Star Wars'' example, it's weaponized by one enemy ship to perform tactical microjumps, though it's said that this is an incredibly dangerous abuse of hyperdrive technology. In the finale, the ''Amaterasu''[='=]s crew takes this approach UpToEleven to [[spoiler: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome make their humongous capital ship spin in place to aim its big guns in a split second]]]].

** [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]] does this a lot as it's the only Federation ship in the Delta Quadrant, and running is just a valid tactic as fighting when you have no backup. In the pilot episode its maximum speed is stated to be Warp 9.9, so it has plenty of oomph to do so (plus those folding warp nacelles look cool).

** [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]] does this a lot as it's the only Federation ship in the [[DeathQuadrant Delta Quadrant]], and running is just a valid tactic as fighting when you have no backup. In the pilot episode its maximum speed is stated to be Warp 9.9, so it has plenty of oomph to do so (plus those folding warp nacelles look cool).

Our protagonists are flying through space in their CoolStarship when they suddenly get into a combat situation. For whatever reason, they quickly realize that hanging around is going to get them blasted into tiny pieces and decide to go to [[FasterThanLightTravel warp speed]] to escape. This usually involves stars suddenly zipping past like the old Windows screensaver. If the author wants there to be space battles where one side can decisively lose, rather than the losing side zipping off as soon as things start going wrong, they can use a NoWarpingZone or TeleportInterdiction.

* ''Anime/TenchiMuyoGXP'' takes this subversion and makes it go to eleven; the escaping ships end up gathering entire fleets of pursuers this way thanks to the protagonist's luck. And this gets weaponized.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' did this with the ''Millennium Falcon''. And then {{subverted}} it. And then {{subverted}} it again. And [[OverlyLongGag again]].

* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/TheStarsAreColdToys'', the protagonists are planning on taking a Buran shuttle on an unauthorized trip to meet the [[RodentsOfUnusualSize Alari]]. Colonel Danilov and Pyotr are supposed to be on the shuttle, while Pyotr's grandfather, his grandfather's protege, and a [[LizardFolk reptilian alien]] aren't. When the ruse is discovered, the Buran is still in the upper atmosphere. Danilov and Pyotr are threatened with {{Kill Sat}}s, leaving them no choice but to activate the [[FasterThanLightTravel jumper]] prematurely. Since the jumper transports a large sphere of space around it along with the shuttle, a chunk of Earth's atmosphere is taken with them. Pyotr realizes that this will result in some nasty weather patterns (''e.g.'', hurricanes) and that this act alone (not to mention the hijacking) guarantees them life in prison.

* The ''Film/LostInSpace'' movie. "Anywhere but here!"

* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' has the ''Enterprise'' crew book it into Hyperspace to escape what would most likely be an utter CurbStompBattle at the hands of the ''Vengeance''. [[spoiler:Unluckily for them, the ''Vengeance'' is more than capable of catching up to them. ''Mid-warp''.]]

* Unlike the ''Franchise/StarWars'' film, ''VideoGame/XWing'' and ''VideoGame/TieFighter'' play this straight. Enemies move to a specific waypoint before warping out, while the player enters a dead stop before warp. Once hyperspace starts, the ship is out of combat. Starting with TieFighter, Interdictors create a NoWarpingZone, which need to be taken out before escape.

## When you want to jump, you must enter an uncontrollable (and un-abortable) mode where your autopilot turns the opposite of the direction you're moving, brakes to a stop, turns toward your destination, and then accelerates to hyperspeed before exiting the solar system.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration: Commander Riker, using the ''USS Hathaway'', was planning on using a surprise warp jump in the battle simulation against the Enterprise in the season 2 episode ''Peak Performance''. He ends up using it to trick some marauding Ferengi into believing the ''Hathaway'' had been destroyed.

Our protagonists are flying through space in their CoolShip when they suddenly get into a combat situation. For whatever reason, they quickly realize that hanging around is going to get them blasted into tiny pieces and decide to go to warp speed to escape. This usually involves stars suddenly zipping past like the old Windows screensaver. If the author wants there to be space battles where one side can decisively lose, rather than the losing side zipping off as soon as things start going wrong, they can use a NoWarpingZone or TeleportInterdiction.

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** Faced with being blown up by two thermonuclear missiles in [[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1 the first book]], Arthur activates the Infinite Improbability Drive (the ''Heart of Gold''[='=]s version of a hyperspace drive). [[spoiler: It works, but not quite as might be expected: the ship doesn't move, but the missiles are turned into a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias.]]

* [[LivingShip Leviathans]] in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' have the ability to "Starburst", allowing them to jump at many times faster than most other ships' FTL drives but to a more-or-less random location. It's the only defense Leviathans have.

** Similarly done in ''{{X-COM}} Interceptor'', where it's fully possible to die while the ship attempts to engage its hyperdrive.

* The ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series both plays the trope straight and averts it. The majority of FTL travel in the game is done by means of a PortalNetwork, but ships can also purchase aftermarket jumpdrives which take you to a given gate in the network. Naturally it can be used for a HyperspeedEscape, but a jump requires a ten-second charge. Which is ten seconds for your opponents to kill you. Players learn pretty quickly that the drive will not save you if you wait too long to use it.

* The player can often pull this off in ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', the goal of the game is to get your fragile ship through 8 zones in one piece so often running away from a costly battle is the best strategy (in fact on the only strategy if the rebel fleet find you). Enemies ships can also jump away depriving you of valuable resources and maybe informing the pursuing fleet of your location. In all cases the ship must power up its [=FTL=] drive all while being attacked, if the engines or bridge is damaged you can't jump and are forced to remain until you fix the problem.

* The player in ''VideoGame/Rodina'' has the option of either using Cruising Speed or the Limnal Drive to escape enemies, since Combat Speed is as fast as they can go.

* [[NazisWithGnarlyWeapons German]] fighters during the Polish Campaign had to face old-fashioned [=PZL=] P.7 and P.11 fighter planes with parasol wings, which could fly turns round them, so they used the superior engine power of their engines (and the fact their engines were fuel-injection instead of carburetor fed) to outdive and outclimb them wherever needed. Same tactic worked for some time as well during the Battle of Britain, as the Spitfires, more maneuverable and faster in a straight line, would stall their engines if they attempted to dive as fast as a [=Bf-109=] (during negative G maneuvers, the fuel would be pushed back into the fuel lines and starve the engine).