History Main / WalkThePlank

This was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the 2010 prequel ''Rock & Chips'' when after being told by the school gym teacher to buzz off, Del and his gang suggest heading to the park, and Slater protests that he doesn't want to walk the plank. Del assures him that that's kids' stuff and they're grown-ups now.

* One possible death sequence in ''[[KingsQuest Kings Quest III]]''.

* Cosmo Jarvis' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dysG12QCdTA&feature=feedlik Gay Pirates]] features this as the ultimate punishment (though in the video, at least, it seems [[IGotBetter they get better]].)

* Old-style ''Series/{{Batman}}'': [[YeOldeButcheredEnglishe "By thunder, thee will walk the plank deck."]]

* Old-style ''Series/{{Batman}}'': [[YeOldeButcheredEnglish "By thunder, thee will walk the plank deck."]]

* ''[[ReturnOfTheJedi Star Wars: Episode VI -- Return of the Jedi]]'' - Jabba the Hutt's minons force Luke Skywalker to walk the plank extended from a hover skiff over the Sarlaac pit. Luke spins and grabs the plank as he falls, spingboarding back of the to skiff to fight.

* Old-style ''Series/{{Batman}}'': "By thunder, thee will walk the plank deck."

* ''[[StarWars Return of the Jedi]]'': Jabba the Hutt made Luke Skywalker walk the plank on his skiff-thing.

* ''[[ReturnOfTheJedi Star Wars: Episode VI -- Return of the Jedi]]'' - Jabba's minons force Luke to walk the plank extended from a hover skiff over the Sarlaac pit. Luke spins and grabs the plank as he falls, spingboarding back of the to skiff to fight.

RealLife pirates executed people this way, by only rarely. There are no records of them making people walk 1.6 x 10[[superscript:-33]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length centimeters]]. SpacePirates have a parallel punishment with a similar dramatic role: the victims are ThrownOutTheAirlock. Walking the plank is especially dangerous when SkyPirates are forcing the hero down the wobbly board with a cutlass.

The victim is usually bound. An occasional twist is for an unbound victim to grab the plank on the way down or otherwise use it as a springboard into combat: a SuicidalGotcha.

RealLife pirates didn't go in for this one much. Nor did they make people walk 1.6 x 10[[superscript:-33]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length centimeters]]. SpacePirates have a parallel punishment with a similar dramatic role: the victims are ThrownOutTheAirlock. Walking the plank is especially dangerous when SkyPirates are forcing the hero down the wobbly board with a cutlass.

RealLife pirates didn't go in for this one much. Nor did they make people walk 1.6 x 10[[superscript:-33]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length centimeters]]. SpacePirates have a parallel punishment with a similar dramatic role: the victims are ThrownOutTheAirlock. Walking the plank is especially dangerous when SkyPirates are poking the hero with a cutlass.

[[StockPhrases Standard]] {{Pirate}} [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment punishment]]: extending a wooden board or similar object over the side of a ship, and forcing the intended victim to step off the far end and presumably drown or [[SharkPool be eaten]]. Not that common in RealLife, though.

This is a good scene for building suspense, if taken slowly. It is also an excellent opportunity for last-ditch-bravado and summing up antagonistic relationships. The plankee often tells the villain exactly what he thinks of him, and vice versa.

The victim is usually bound. An occasional twist is for an unbound victim to grab the plank on the way down or otherwise use it as a springboard into combat.

Not to be confused with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length Walking The Planck]], where a person must walk 1.6 x 10[[superscript:-33]] centimeters.

SpacePirates have a parallel punishment with a similar dramatic role: the victims are ThrownOutTheAirlock. Walking the plank is especially dangerous if the pirates are SkyPirates.

* In ''Pocket Dragons'' a group of sky pirates make the dragons walk the plank - but don't know they're supposed to walk off it, so they end up walking up and down it.

* In Hayao Miyazaki's ''FutureBoyConan'', PluckyGirl Lana has to go through it. She actually manages [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome to stand on said plank for quite a while and NOT fall off]]. [[spoiler: The SmugSnake grabs her and takes her away, then Conan has to fight him to free Lana]]

Data immediately wonders why everybody else thinks Worf's impromptu dive is hilarious. Beverly Crusher makes the mistake of telling him that humans find the misfortune of others [[ComedicSociopathy to be hilarious]]. Data immediately figures that if one is funny, two must be even better-and tosses the advice-giver overboard. Instead of more laughter, Data is met with horrified expressions, and Geordi must tell him that he has instead invoked [[DudeNotFunny an entirely different trope]] by applying it to TheStaffChick instead of [[IronButtMonkey the resident Klingon.]]
* ''[[ReturnOfTheJedi Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi]]'' - Jabba's minons force Luke to walk the plank extended from a hover skiff over the Sarlaac pit. Luke spins and grabs the plank as he falls, spingboarding back of the to skiff to fight.

-->-- ''DoctorWho'': ''The Pirate Planet''

[[StockPhrases Standard]] {{Pirate}} [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment punishment]]: extending a wooden board or similar object over the side of a ship, and forcing the intended victim (usually bound) to step off the far end and presumably drown or [[SharkPool be eaten]]. Not that common in RealLife, though.

Not to be confused with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length Walking The Planck]], where a person must walk 1.6 x 10[[superscript:-33]] centimeters.[[hottip:*:(We're [[IncrediblyLamePun very, very sorry]].)]]

Especially dangerous if the pirates are SkyPirates. SpacePirates, on the other hand, usually have a [[ThrownOutTheAirlock different type of punishment]].

* ''StarTrekGenerations''. While on a sailing ship holodeck program, Lt. Worf has to leap from the tip of the plank and grab his commander's cap (suspended overhead) as part of the ceremony marking his promotion. When he does this without falling off, Riker decides to make things more interesting by making the plank disappear.
** Evidently that was an error. Picard: "Number One, it's RETRACT the plank, not REMOVE the plank." (or, judging from Riker's grin, it wasn't.)
*** Data immediately wonders why everybody else thinks Worf's impromptu dive is hilarious. Beverly Crusher makes the mistake of telling him that humans find the misfortune of others [[ComedicSociopathy to be hilarious]]. Data immediately figures that if one is funny, two must be even better-and tosses the advice-giver overboard. Instead of more laughter, Data is met with horrified expressions, and Geordi must tell him that he has instead invoked [[DudeNotFunny an entirely different trope]] by applying it to TheStaffChick instead of [[IronButtMonkey the resident Klingon.]]

* In the appropriately named ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Pirate Planet", the Captain gives this description: "The theory is very simple. You walk along it. At the end, you fall off. Drop one thousand feet. Dead."

* In ''OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' episode "May the Force Be With You", Del's school rival and police officer Roy Slater complains that he was always the one who had to walk the plank when they played pirates in the local park pond as kids. Del points out that they did let him play Bluebeard once. Slater responds that was the day that Bluebeard had to walk the plank.
** This was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the 2010 prequel ''Rock & Chips'' when after being told by the school gym teacher to buzz off, Del and his gang suggest heading to the park, and Slater protests that he doesn't want to walk the plank. Del assures him that that's kids' stuff and they're grown-ups now.

* Happens in an issue of ''LittleNemo in Slumberland''.
* Played with in ''TheFarside'', where a pirate seems to be whistling and dancing off the plank, only for the captain to grab him by the ear and say "Oh no, you'll WALK the plank like everyone else!"

* In ''PuzzlePirates'', you can use the /plank command to eject other players from your ship (or any ship that you are, by virtue of your rank in a crew, authorized to command). If the pirate made to walk the plank is a jobber (that is, hired help rather than a member of the crew) then their employment with the crew is also automatically terminated so they can't just hop back on.
** Hilariously, a captain can inflict this on himself.
* One possible death sequence in ''KingsQuest III''.

* This was constantly threatened in ''ScoobyDoo! Pirates Ahoy!'' probably because the pirates really can't do anything violent on Scooby Doo.

-> ''Yo ho, yo ho, the frisky plank,''
-> ''You walks along it so,''
-> ''Till it goes down and you goes down''
-> ''To Davy Jones below!''
-->-- '''Captain Hook''', ''PeterPan''

* In ''PocketDragons'' a group of sky pirates make the dragons walk the plank - but don't know they're supposed to walk off it, so they end up walking up and down it.

%% Image Pickin' conversation: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=nvdtspyys03u4ymoycoqexi4

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/plank-walk.jpg

* Modern day pirates in the Indian Ocean leave hapless crewmen and tourists to stand in the shallows on coral reefs a mile off-shore, where they must stand on tiptoes and hope to be rescued. Somali pirates are more practical, however; they merely kidnap the Westerners and hold them for ransom.

-> ''Yo ho, yo ho, the frisky plank, You walks along it so,''
-> ''Till it goes down and you goes down To Davy Jones below!''

* In the Disney ''PeterPan'' movie, Captain Hook offers the Lost Boys and the Darling kids a choice -- join his crew and become pirates, or walk the plank. Wendy, the oldest of the Darlings, chooses the plank. Peter is able to rescue her before the big splash.

* ''PeterPan''.

-->-- '''The Captain''', ''DoctorWho'': ''The Pirate Planet''

-> ''A plank. The theory is very simple. You walk along it. At the end, you fall off.''

* In the appropriately named ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Pirate Planet," the Captain gives this description: "Plank. Theory: simple. Walk along it. Come to edge. Fall off 1000 feet. Die!"

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* In TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland, Guybrush is forced to walk the plank, but there's a dinghy directly underneath it, which he jumps into. When the pirates complain that they didn't hear a splash, Guybrush shouts "Splash!" to satisfy them. Later you have to saw off the plank in order to force the pirates to find an alternate means of torture. They promptly tar and feather you.
* In ''PuzzlePirates'', you can use the /plank command to eject other players from your ship (or any ship that you are, by virtue of your rank in a crew, authorized to command). If the pirate made to walk the plank is a jobber (that is, hired help rather than a member of the crew) then their employment with the crew is also automatically terminated so they can't just hop back on.
** Hilariously, a captain can inflict this on himself.
* One possible death sequence in ''KingsQuest III''.

* The Characters/BugsBunny cartoon [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Diving_Hare High Diving Hare]]. It's really a diving board but it's treated as if it's a "walk the plank" plank several times.

* This was constantly threatened in ''Scooby Doo! Pirates Ahoy!'' probably because the pirates really can't do anything violent on Scooby Doo.