History Main / NotTheFallThatKillsYou

* ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'': Kirk falls off a cliff. Spock (wearing rocket boots) races after him and grabs him by one ankle right before impact, arresting his fall inches above the ground with no ill effects whatsoever. Of course, this being ''Franchise/StarTrek'', it's conceivable that the boots could have [[InertialDampening inertial dampeners]] built in as well.

* In the 2009 ''Film/StarTrek'' movie, this also happens when Chekov manages to beam Kirk and Sulu back onto the Enterprise while they were falling towards the planet's surface; he manages to catch them ''just'' before they hit the ground. This is completely in keeping with how a transporter would have to work, since by re-materializing the person the forces applied to the object/person before dematerialization no longer exist, while a new set of forces are applied (consistent with the space-ship's current movement through space-time) on rematerialization. They still the transporter pad painfully, but are not injured.
** The same problem exists when the Enterprise herself is attacked or grabbed by the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie explosion or monster of the week]], causing it to decelerate quickly enough to overcome the artificial gravity and throw people around the room. These people look like they are reacting to a change in velocity of a few feet per second, when just unexpectedly dropping out of Warp 1 to sub-light speed involves deceleration on the order of [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale hundreds of thousands of feet per second in a very few seconds]]. Even if the artificial gravity takes away 99% of the problem, you still end up with strawberry jam on the bulkheads, if the entire ship doesn't fall apart concurrently.
*** Alternatively, since the Enterprise regularly reaches LudicrousSpeed without needing fuel tanks the size of a moon, we can surmise that the AppliedPhlebotinum of the engines allows them to travel fast while having only a tiny fraction of the kinetic energy Newtonian Physics would expect. That also explains why, when the engines fail, they ''[[SpaceFriction slow down]]''.

** In the sequel, it's also averted as Tony visibly drops his speed significantly before [[spoiler: grabbing Pepper and flying her away from the exploding Hammeroid.]]

* In the 1989 ''Film/{{Batman}}'' movie, Batman uses his grapple gun to save himself and Vicki Vale after they fall off a huge cathedral. He fires the gun and then attaches it to his belt. The grappling hook lands in the belfry, slides across the floor, and then bites into a bit of stonework, and suddenly Batman and Vicki are suspended in the air, swinging romantically back and forth while searchlights play across the cathedral for no very good reason. All this without a) breaking the stonework, b) breaking off whatever attaches the gun to the belt, c) breaking the belt, d) breaking Batman in half at the waist, or e) tearing Vicki from Batman's arms to go plummeting to her doom.

* Averted in ''Film/BatmanForever'', when Batman dives into the death trap to save Chase and Robin. When Batman attaches the cords to Chase and when he grabs Robin, they can be seen decelerating, rather than coming to a complete stop, implying the cords are elastic. This is more noticeable when Batman rescues Robin.
** Played straight in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', where Batman uses a grapple gun to snag the plummeting Joker. By all rights, the Joker's leg should have been torn out of its socket by the force of his sudden deceleration, but instead, he simply stops and Batman hauls him back up.
*** In the same movie - just because you've jumped out of a window and grabbed your girlfriend, doesn't mean that you both won't be severely injured when you land on a taxi's hood.
**** Not to mention the fact that he wouldn't be able to catch up to Rachel in the air unless he had some way to speed himself up.
*** And in the same movie; [[spoiler: Harvey Dent/Two Face]] falls from twenty, ''maybe'' thirty feet, and, according to WordOfGod, this kills him. Being already severely injured by his earlier accident, as well as the angle at which he fell, was probably what did it. Batman falls about the same distance and survives without any major injuries, presumably because he landed on his feet and is a lot more agile anyway.
** In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', the "safety rope" the prisoners use when they try to climb out of the pit lets them drop a long way before snapping taut, breaking their fall very suddenly while tied around their waist in one place, with no padding or harness to spread the load. This is ignoring the fact that they then get swung straight into a stone wall. There is no way [[spoiler: Batman]] would be in any fit state to try again after falling once, especially considering [[spoiler: how much damage his spine took already.]]

* ''Film/GoldenEye'': [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]]; Alec falls from a great height and lands flat on his back on a cold concrete pool floor, but still manages to survive the fall despite seemingly great injury. Although, he is killed by [[CollapsingLair the Cradle antenna]] about a minute later, so its hard to say if he was fatally wounded.

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* Completely and [[AppliedPhlebotinum technologically]] averted in ''Series/{{Crusade}}'', when Lochley's Starfury is heading into the hangar bay at ~1/2 of the ''Excalibur'''s cruising speed. Gravity traps slow the fighter so it doesn't splat on the back of the bay.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. Falling from a too large height will damage you, and once you've passed the damaging height limit, you don't need to go much higher to kill yourself. There's also a cheat that increases the size of your character model... but it doesn't scale physics interactions with it. So it is entirely possible to turn yourself into a giant, only to die from a knee-height fall. Amusingly, this is actually [[TruthInTelevision an accurate representation of physics]], despite how [[RealityIsUnrealistic silly]] it first appears. A creature that falls fifty feet is still going to be moving at the [[VariableTerminalVelocity same speed]] when they hit the ground no matter what size they are. [[SoftWater Landing in water]], though, cancels fall damage.

->''"LoisLane is falling, accelerating at an initial rate of thirty-two feet per second per second. {{Franchise/Superman}} swoops down to save her by reaching out [[GiantRobotHandsSaveLives two arms of steel]]. Miss Lane, who is now traveling at approximately one hundred twenty miles an hour, hits them, [[DeconstructedTrope and is immediately sliced into three equal pieces.]]''"

* {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''HarryPotterAndTheNatural20'':

-->"Remember, it's not the ''fall'', [[DisneyVillainDeath it's the]] ''[[DisneyVillainDeath sudden stop!]]''"

The laws of physics are frequently ignored in service to the story, with [[VariableTerminalVelocity someone taking a plunge from a great height]] being probably the most frequent offender. Writers will also tend to forget that it's not the fall that kills you... it's the sudden stop at the end.

For example, one must specifically hit the ground to get killed in a fall. [[LiteralCliffhanger Grabbed a ledge]]? Hooked an outcropping with your GrapplingHookPistol? [[CatchAFallingStar Got caught out of midair?]] [[GiantRobotHandsSaveLives (By a giant robot?)]] [[SoftWater Hit water instead of ground?]] [[GoombaSpringboard Landed on an enemy?]] [[TrashLanding Fall in a dumpster?]] Congratulations, you're completely uninjured, no matter how far you fell beforehand. Some characters can fall dozens of stories or even out of aircraft, and survive more or less unrumpled as long as they perhaps ''fell through some trees'' before encountering the ground.

Under Newtonian physics, this is nonsense: you still decelerate from terminal velocity to a dead stop in less than a second, and it is the ''speed'' of that stop that kills. Then again, if you have a VariableTerminalVelocity, then the laws of Newtonian physics might not apply in either case.

** More recently, skydiver [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-435377/The-man-fell-12-000-ft---survived.html Michael Holmes]] survived a 12,000 foot (3657 meter) fall when his parachute failed.

** At the climax of ''Pokémon4Ever'', Ash, Pikachu and the Iron Masked Marauder start to fall to their supposed deaths from thousands of feet in the air. Ash and Pikachu are saved by Celebi, but as for the Marauder…he wasn't so lucky. The Marauder continues to fall to Earth, and just when you were hoping for a DisneyVillainDeath, he lands in a tree and continues his fall, breaking a branch along the way. He then falls to the ground and starts to roll down a hill and off a miniature cliff, and somehow survives this.

* Subverted in ''Anime/KaleidoStar'': while in the trapeze, Leon drops May off, lets her fall a bit and then catches her by the hand, but the pull dislocates her shoulder. Later he does the same thing to Sora, but this time she's not injured because she was expecting it, and used her own strength to help Leon lift her.

This can happen in video games via GameplayAndStorySegregation. On the other hand, video games also sometimes invert this, so it is in fact the fall that kills you...in mid-air. All bets are off if you have NighInvulnerability.

* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' fic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3934212/1/The-Mark The Mark]]''. Jinx uses her powers to to make a trapeze cord Dick Grayson is using snap in midair. He, while ''upside-down'' no less, graps the snapped rope, uses it to swing back toward the rigging, sails through the air to grab said rigging, and slides down it to the ground. The recoil of grabbing the rope dislocates his shoulder, and sliding down the rigging leaves a cloud of dust from the chalk on his hands. Of course, given that he's Robin and has been an acrobat since birth, it'd be more unusual if he couldn't do it.

** In Superman's case, this was one of the main justifications for the PostCrisis "unconscious telekinesis" theory. Later made explicit in the case of {{Superboy}}, who learned to control it consciously. One ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' issue has a very ill Superman convey to villains they better stand down as he, Superman, no longer has the ability to -pull- his punches and their heads might just go explodey.

** The monk makes there fall slower by scrapping against the wall or other method of deceleration, they still take normal damage if there's nothing nearby.

* In the 2009 ''Film/StarTrek'' movie, this also happens when Chekov manages to beam Kirk and Sulu back onto the Enterprise while they were falling towards the planet's surface; he manages to catch them ''just'' before they hit the ground. This is completely in keeping with how a transporter would have to work, since by re-materializing the person the forces applied to the object/person before dematerialization no longer exist, while a new set of forces are applied (consistent with the space-ship's current movement through space-time) on rematerialization.

** ''Videogame/HaloReach'' has your character thrown off a doomed Covenant Corvette, and you survive, despite the (relatively) old armor you have access to. How do they explain this? If you look closely enough at the thing on your back, you can see the words "REENTRY PACK" stamped on the side of it. It's [[InformedAbility (apparently)]] able to lock the Spartan's armor like what Master Chief did in Halo 2/3 and/or augment the energy shield to better withstand the re-entry.

* In one episode of AdventureTime, a shrunken Finn jumps out of a tree riding a squirrel to escape pursuers. Less than a second before they hit the ground, they land on a flying (parallel to the ground!) disc completely unharmed.

*** Alternatively, since the Enterprise regularly reaches LudicrousSpeed without needing fuel tanks the size of a moon, we can surmise that the AppliedPhlebotinum of the engines allows them to travel fast while having only a tiny fraction of the kinetic energy Neutonian Physics would expect. That also explains why, when the engines fail, they ''[[SpaceFriction slow down]]''.

* [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] plays it straight in "The End of Time", where he survives a fall from a spaceship in low orbit all the way down to the bottom floor of a mansion with little more than a mussed-up suit and some scratches from bursting through the glass ceiling. Notably, the original script called for the fall to be much, much shorter, the ship much closer to the ground, but it was changed to look more dramatic.