History Main / WalkThePlank

* ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'': At the start of the Toppat Civil War route in ''Henry Stickmin -- Completing the Mission'', Ellie snuck aboard the airship and exposed how Henry left her after helping him escape from the prison complex, this causes the other Toppats to turn on Henry and force him to walk the plank for his denouncement.

* OlderThanRadio example from Wiki/ThatOtherWiki: "The earliest known use of the phrase is the latter half of the 18th century... the phrase 'walking the plank' is recorded in Francis Grose's 'Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue', which was published in 1788... In 1769, mutineer George Wood confessed to his chaplain at Newgate Prison that he and his fellow mutineers had sent their officers to walk the plank."

* In the ''[[WesternAnimation/TotallySpies Totally Spies]]'' episode, "WOOHP-ahoy", a hi-tech WOOHP ship is captured by pirates who aim to use a heat-ray to heat up the Sun and melt the ice caps. Sam and Clover are captured and made to walk the plank into the boiling sea, but they manage to turn the ship around, thus turning the ray away from the Sun and cooling the ocean (also they never fall).

* In the ''[[WesterAnimation/TotallySpies Totally Spies]]'' episode, "WOOHP-ahoy", a hi-tech WOOHP ship is captured by pirates who aim to use a heat-ray to heat up the Sun and melt the ice caps. Sam and Clover are captured and made to walk the plank into the boiling sea, but they manage to turn the ship around, thus turning the ray away from the Sun and cooling the ocean (also they never fall).

* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. In the pilot episode, Alice has Sophie Moore BoundAndGagged on the end of a plank sticking out from a construction site building, balanced by a barrel of water on the other end. When Batwoman turns up she throws a knife into the barrel, [[RaceAgainstTheClock causing the plank to flip once enough water has leaked out]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/Popeye'' cartoon "Spooky Swabs", a bunch of ghosts blindfold Olive Oyl and try to send her off the plank into the ocean. Luckily, Popeye lifts the plank over to the deck of the ship so she lands in a bucket of water.

* In episode 24 of ''Anime/MacrossDelta'', Hayate, Freyja, and Mirage are sentenced to be executed by way of walking off a few narrow beams over a high cliff. Hayate offers to go first as a last request. Thankfully, Arad uses a remote controlled Valkyrie to give the three a chance to escape.

* In episode 24 of ''Anime/MacrossDelta'', Hayate, Freyja, and Mirage are sentenced to be executed by way of walking off a few narrow beams over a high cliff. Hayate offers to go first as a last request. Thankfully, Hayate uses his remote controlled Valkyrie to give the three a chance to escape.

* ''VideoGame/WarpForce'': Referenced when Jayson, a SpacePirate, threatens to make the PlayerCharacter and Vogenvuld "walk the plank into the fusion coolant".

* ''Anime/HarlockSpacePirate'' has a variation [[RecycledInSpace as you'd expect]]. Yama and four others climb to the top of a mesa to where the Arcadia has landed, looking to join its crew. They are made to stand on the edge of the loading ramp on flaps sticking out over the abyss. Those who don't correctly answer the question: "Why do we sail?" have their flap dropped from under them. You'd think a simple rejection letter would suffice, geez...

* ''Anime/HarlockSpacePirate'' has a variation [[RecycledInSpace as you'd expect]]. Yama and four others climb to the top of a mesa to where the Arcadia has landed, looking to join its crew. They are made to stand on the edge of the landing ramp on flaps sticking out over the abyss. Those who can't answer the question: "Why do we sail?" have their flap dropped from under them. You'd think a simple rejection letter would suffice, geez...

* ''Anime/HarlockSpacePirate'' has a variation [[RecycledInSpace as you'd expect]]. Yama and four others climb to the top of a mesa to where the Arcadia has landed, looking to join its crew. They are made to stand on the edge of the landing ramp on flaps sticking out over the abyss. Those who can't answer the question: "Why do we sail?" have the flap dropped from under them. You'd think a simple rejection letter would suffice, geez...

* ''Anime/HarlockSpacePirate'' has a variation [[RecycledInSpace as you'd expect]]. Yama and four others climb to the top of a mesa to where the Arcadia has landed, looking to join its crew. They are made to stand on the edge of the landing ramp on flaps sticking out from it. Those who can't answer the question: "Why do we sail?" get dropped into the abyss. You would think a simple rejection letter would suffice, geez...

* ''Anime/FutureBoyConan'': When Lana refuses to do Lepka's bidding, he forces her to stand on narrow metal beam as it extends off the Triangle Tower. Despite having her hand tied, she manages to stand on said plank for quite a while and ''fall over unconscious'' without falling off the beam.

RealLife pirates executed people this way, but only rarely, for as with TheMafia and their alleged fondness for CementShoes, they usually preferred to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shoot 'em]] and then dump the body overboard. Besides, having a grown man walk across a board that was only anchored on one side risks damaging perfectly good planking that could be used to maintain the ship.

A related punishment is Keelhauling, where the victim is thrown overboard with a rope tied to them, then hauled across (or if they're really unlucky, ''along'') the ship's keel and pulled up the other side. This wasn't necessarily fatal, but the barnacles that are usually found attached to the bottom of any ship made this a painfully unpleasant experience.

(The ''[[NotTheIntendedUse intended]]'' function of a ship's plank was to allow the crew to sail up to and walk onto another ship, in case you were wondering.)

* ''VideoGame/AmongUs'': Whenever The Imposter or a Crew member is voted off on the Polus stage, they're forced to walk a metal board into a lava pool and drop in.

* In ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFuckboys'' this is one of Foxy's attacks. Its low damage is compensated for by its high chance to inflict paralysis, making it a GameBreaker and a life-saver against most bosses (since ContractualBossImmunity is rare in this series). The absurdity of making someone walk the plank in a SuckECheeses is lampshaded in the move's description.
* At the start of the Toppat Civil War route in ''[[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries Henry Stickmin - Completing The Mission]]'', Ellie snuck aboard the airship and exposed how Henry left her after helping him escape from the prison complex, this causes the other Toppats to turn on Henry and force him to walk the plank for his denouncement.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', Captain Hook and his crew force Sora and his friends to do this. Fortunately, Sora discovers his happy thought and flies, turning the tables on them.
* One possible death sequence in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIII''. If Alexander gets caught by the pirates while trying to explore the ship, they’ll make him walk the plank, where he will he attacked by a shark (the description claims the pirates are rooting for it). A twist on this trope is that the pirates make him walk from the aft end of the ship rather than from the sides as in most depictions.
* In ''VideoGame/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 ''VideoGame/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.
* Pretty much the whole point of ''VideoGame/RichiesPlankExperience'', which is a VirtualReality demo that lets you walk a plank on a very high building, with all the vertigo but none of the consequences of a mistep.
* In ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'', Captain [=LeFwee=] and his crew force Sly to walk the plank during the "Operation: Reverse Double-Cross". Sly even chews out [=LeFwee=] for making him walk the plank. Fortunately, Murray was waiting for him right underneath.
* Referenced in ''VideoGame/WarpForce'', where Jayson (a SpacePirate) threatens to make the PlayerCharacter and Vogenvuld "walk the plank into the fusion coolant".

* In Hayao Miyazaki's ''Anime/FutureBoyConan'', PluckyGirl Lana has to go through it. She actually manages 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]]

* The pirates in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge4ContinentalDrift'' intend to get rid of Sid and his granny this way. However they don't succeed.

(The ''[[NotTheIntendedUse intended]]'' function of a Ship's plank was to allow the crew to sail up to and walk onto another ship, in case you were wondering.)