History Main / TrashTheSet

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' destroyed two long-standing sets for its final season, the Talon coffee shop/upstairs apartment and the Luthor Mansion.

* In the season 3 finale of ''{{Warehouse 13}}'', the eponymous Warehouse was vaporized by an artifact-powered high yield explosive device. The season 4 premiere has it restored via a time travel ResetButton.

* In ''Film/IronMan1'', Tony's Malibu house suffered some damage from his suit testing. In ''Film/IronMan2'', it's destructively remodeled during his fight with Rhodes, and subsequently repurposed into housing [[spoiler:a prismatic accelerator]]. It's really not much of a house any more. Probably why [[spoiler:he's living in New York in Film/TheAvengers.]] The first trailer for ''Film/IronMan 3'' shows [[spoiler: Tony's "trophy room" of old suits exploding, and his entire BigFancyHouse getting blasted into the sea. Turns out he has more armors stored in a safe room which he uses in the finale... and he blows up all of them too.]]

* At the end of ''Film/{{Robocop}} 3'', the OCP building in Detroit is blown up via a massive explosion, as a way to symbolize the end of the film trilogy (and the corporation's rule).

* At the end of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' the Hellicarrier gets smashed inside out by [[spoiler:Green Goblin and Venom]], so the team moves in with Peter till the new Tricarrier built.

* At the end of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' the Hellicarrier gets smashed inside out by [[spoiler:Green Goblin and Venom]], so team moves in with Peter, till the new Tricarrier built.

* Done in the ''NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' GrandFinale -- Gordy gets fired, and resolves to catch the weasel once and for all, completely and totally demolishing the set with a large bulldozer and several other pieces of construction equiptment. (It must be really tempting at the end of a school-related series--the producers and stars get to act out their adolescent fantasies of tearing apart the school....)

* During the filming of ''{{Titanic}}'', they built a ship in a large tank of water... and then sank it. There's a reason it was among the most expensive movies ever made.

* HardBoiled's teahouse shootout is an opening example of TrashTheSet -- the teahouse in question was slated for demolition around the time the movie was made, and JohnWoo got permission to use the teahouse for the shootout in question.
** The entire movie is a series of {{Trash The Set}}s. First the tea house, then the warehouse, then a goddamn hospital explodes.
** The same thing with the farmhouse in NightOfTheLivingDead.

* The forest in which GeorgeLucas filmed the Endor sequences for ''ReturnOfTheJedi'' was doomed anyway, because the government wanted to build a new highway or a mall or something like that in its place. So the film crew used real explosives for the pyro-effects in the final battle which burned and shredded real wood.

* Subverted by ''TheYoungOnes'', which trashed various portions of the set in ''every'' episode - the damage would always [[SnapBack disappear by the beginning of the next episode]]. The main reason that the show featured a guest act or band every episode was so it would qualify for a "Variety Show" budget, not a "Sitcom" budget. This higher budget was needed as the sets were constantly being demolished by the cast. The character Vyvyan played a game called "Murder In The Dark" in one episode, the rules of which were TrashTheSet with an axe and with the lights off.

* Done in the ''NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' GrandFinale -- Gordy gets fired, and resolves to catch the weasel once and for all, completely and totally demolishing the set with a large bulldozer and several other pieces of construction equiptment. (TrashTheSet must be really tempting at the end of a school-related series--the producers and stars get to act out their adolescent fantasies of tearing apart the school....)
* The third season finale of ''CSINewYork'' involved a bunch of Irish criminals attacking the lab to recover a small fortune in seized cocaine. The place got shot up, soaked by sprinklers and then finally blown up by a pipe bomb.

* On ''HappyDays'', the original Arnold's restaurant burns down when Chachi leaves the grill on and they build an all new, different set.

* ''{{Smallville}}'' destroyed two long-standing sets for its final season, the Talon coffee shop/upstairs apartment and the Luthor Mansion.

* This happens in the Wrestling/{{WWE}}, when the [=TitanTron=] ([=OvalTron=] on ''Smackdown'') gets destroyed to make way for a new model:
** In early 1999, StoneColdSteveAustin tore up the [=TitanTron=] (after TheBigShow ''brought it down'').
** In 2001 Rhyno gored ChrisJericho through the [=OvalTron=], resulting in the "big fist" set.
** In 2008 TripleH destroyed the [=TitanTron=] with his sledge hammer, which made way for the current [=TitanTron=] HD stage, which is used on all shows from then on.
* At the beginning of the last episode of ''{{WCW}} Worldwide'' (a RecapSeries) they showed a sped up video of stagehands building the set. At the end of the episode, when they admitted it was the last show and there was no more WCW they showed it again but forward, revealing that (1) the version shown at the start of the show was broadcast in reverse and (2) they were actually tearing down the set.
* In 2010, the WWE stable Nexus made its debut when its seven members came to ringside to beat JohnCena, before turning their attention on everyone (the commentators, ring announcer, referee and cameramen) and destroying both the ring and the announcer's table.

** '''Piper's Pit''', hosted by RowdyRoddyPiper:
*** During one of the most famous segments of the show's run, one featuring Piper mocking "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka before smashing him in the head with a coconut, the set partition fell over as Piper began whipping Snuka.

** '''The Brother Love Show''', hosted by Bruce Prichard as the title character (a smarmy, red-faced "preacher" inspired by the televangelists of the 1980s). On Brother Love's last segment, the UltimateWarrior tore apart the set (knocking apart the podium in which Love sat "The Book of Love," ripping apart the curtain surrounding the set and tearing the pages of "The Book of Love") before chasing Love to the ring to give him a brutal beating.

* The Ministry of Magic gets trashed in ''Film/HarryPotter and the OrderOfThePhoenix'' - led to a RebuiltSet after the seventh book came out and more scenes at the Ministry were needed.

* HughLaurie and Robert Sean Leonard shoot up the Series/{{House}} sets with paintballs during the "Swan Song" special that aired just before the series finale.

* The first trailer for ''Film/IronMan 3'' shows [[spoiler: Tony's "trophy room" of old suits exploding, and his entire BigFancyHouse getting blasted into the sea. Turns out he has more armors stored in a safe room which he uses in the finale... and he blows up all of them too.]]

* ''Series/SesameStreet'' did it with Hooper's Store in one episode: Biff tries to put a single nail into the wall to hang up Mr. Handford's framed first dollar, and somehow this causes a chain reaction that destroys the store's entire interior. The rest of the episode involved rebuilding it all, with a more modern décor.
** At the end of that episode, when Biff, Sully & Stella offer to hang Mr. Hanford's framed first dollar again, Mr. Hanford, to make things safe, says "I'll hang this one myself."

* A long-standing tradition amongst high school theatre groups is the 'striking of the set' in which the cast and crew assist in demolishing the sets used in the show. It's not uncommon for parents to get in on this act, especially for complicated sets. Additionally, set pieces are occasionally saved, especially for schools with a limited drama program budget.
** This is true of any theater group: sets have to be taken down so new sets can go up, or so the pieces can be reused for the next show. Generally it's messier and easier than construction, but most of the pieces of set will be re-used, often with just a dash of new paint (if that!)
*** This troper helped to strike a whole stage that had to be moved to a new location.

* Ususally after UberHaxorNova and [[SSoHPKC Seamus]] finish a MineCraft adventure map together, they will celebrate the completion by spawning stacks of TNT and blowing the map up.

* The first trailer for ''Film/IronMan 3'' shows [[spoiler: Tony's "trophy room" of old suits exploding, and his entire BigFancyHouse getting blasted into the sea.]]