History Main / WidelySpacedJailBars

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'', [[spoiler:Sebastian]] can clearly fit through the bars of the jail cell he and [[spoiler:the Catfish Club Band]] are stuck in. It's even pointed out by one of the prisoners trying to convince him to pick the lock.

* Asuna's cell in ''Anime/SwordArtOnline''. The bars are spaced enough to warrant a MemeticMutation. [[https://9gag.com/gag/aQ4MY08 Seen here]].

* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' TV special ''[[WesternAnimation/GarfieldSpecials Here Comes Garfield]]'', Garfield and Odie are [[PoundsAreAnimalPrisons taken to the pound]]. Odie is thrown into the back of an animal control truck where the bars are more than wide enough for him to slip through. Later, when Garfield and Odie are in the pound, all the cage bars are wide enough for even Garfield to walk out, but nobody seems to notice.

* One of the many and humorous signs ''VideoGame/RavensCry'' is a ObviousBeta is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lofR-R_rFJ0&t=3m58s guy stuck in a prison cell]] that's literally ''half open.''

* Bowser's prison cages in ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' are far enough apart that the imprisoned could easily get through them, especially the flying Lumalee. Not that it matters, since they're above lava, the room is guarded by flying Clown Cars, and Lumalee is a DeathSeeker.

* The Puni tribe in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' are locked in cells you need keys to open. The Punis are mouse-sized creatures who seemingly are only prevented from squeezing through the bars by exclusively having 3/4 angle-drawn sprites that are ''just'' wider than the space.

* In the filmed version of ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'', when Joseph is in jail, he's kept in a small circular cage within a larger cell. When the Butler and Baker approach him to have their dreams interpreted, the Butler easily slips through the bars to join him inside. And when the Baker turns out to be too [[FatComicRelief fat]] to do the same, Joseph simply opens the cage's unlocked door to let him in.

* In ''Film/HotShotsPartDeux'', Colonel Walters is imprisoned inside a cage. He slips through the bars, grabs a set of keys, and slips back inside the cage. He then unlocks the door and leaves normally.

* One of the plot points in the Dressrosa arc of ''Anime/OnePiece'' is [[ArcVillain Doflamingo]] trapping the whole island (including some of the Straw Hats and marines) inside a cage built with his [[RazorFloss cutting string power]]. In closeup shots the net has a very fine mesh, but in distance shots the mesh is drawn wide enough that the characters could potentially fall right through. This demonstrates that it's done for the visual necessity of drawing the trap in a way that doesn't obscure the characters.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Seen in "Twilight's Kingdom Part 2" when [[spoiler:Discord]] [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jailbars_66.png traps Twilight's friends and Spike in a cage]]. Even Pinkie Pie doesn't notice, putting it in the serious category.
* On one ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' short, a boy secret agent and his cat sidekick are in a cage about to be hit by a DeathRay. When the cat asks how they can possibly escape, the kid simply slips through the bars. The cat, amused at how simple it is, hops back and forth between the bars ("I'm in, I'm out, I'm in, I'm out...") and ends up being hit by the ray. (Being a cartoon character, he made it.)

* The bars of the cage Sonic and Tails are trapped in during ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode "Subterranean Sonic" are easily wide enough for the two of them to escape through.

* In "Victor the Villain" on ''WesternAnimation/WallyKazam'', Victor traps Wally and his pet dragon Norville in a cage with bars spaced such that Norville (a small dragon) could probably at least escape from them.

* An especially egregious case in ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', where Dojo (prophesied to turn evil every 1,500 years or so) is locked inside a pet-carrier with just ''two'' bars. This might be enough for your average cat or dog, but Dojo has the rough dimensions of a garden hose, and at one point he cajoles Omi to slip some eggrolls through the bars, ''which are exactly as thin as he is''. The bars might be magically enchanted to block him from escaping, given the setting being a world where magic artifacts exist.

* Asuna's cell in ''Anime/SwordArtOnline''. Is enough to warrant a MemeticMutation. [[https://9gag.com/gag/aQ4MY08 Seen here]].

* In the ''Film/Catwoman2004'' movie, the title character breaks out of jail by slipping between the bars.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'': The wooden cage where Ganondorf keeps his kidnapped children has this problem. The relevant cutscenes make it pretty obvious that both Link and his captive sister could easily fit between the bars. This is far from the only thing keeping them there (it's in a properly-locked room at the top of a heavily-guarded evil fortress), and the cage itself may be intended to protect the prisoners from the giant bird guarding the area; but it's still pretty silly when Link ineffectually and unnecessarily tries to force the door open.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'': If the bars from the cells of the stadium's gaol may keep in a large, burly man like Malevolus, they look way too spread apart to hold in [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-8-112/ a pair of thin elves]].

* Dan of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' [[https://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/2020-006 discovered]] the utility of this trope the hard way in drawing a bird cage intended as a prison for a tiny person.
-->'''Dan:''' I actually made a 3D model of that gosh darn bird cage to help me with this. It used to have more bars, but after accepting the horrible, horrible truth that seeing Sarah was more important than the bar spacing making sense, I removed half of them.

** Zig-zagged in "Do Unto Brothers". The bars are narrow enough to prevent the penguins from escaping, but not the kids. As Michelle puts it...

* ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'': ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' has an ImagineSpot episode that portrays the wild west and shows a jail cell that has bars wide enough to walk though and the characters actually do, but still don't think to escape this way. Of course, that's nothing compared to the fact that [[CardboardPrison the jail cell didn't have a back wall.]]
* An especially egregious case in ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', where Dojo (prophesied to turn evil every 1,500 years or so) is locked inside a pet-carrier with just ''two'' bars. This might be enough for your average cat or dog, but Dojo has the rough dimensions of a garden hose, and at one point he cajoles Omi to slip some egg-rolls through the bars, ''which are exactly as thin as he is''. The bars might be magically enchanted to block him from escaping, given the setting being a world where magic artifacts exists.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': As pointed out by WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, the bars of the cage Sonic and Tails are trapped in during ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode "Subterranean Sonic" are easily wide enough for the two of them to escape through.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'', Scar has Zazu trapped in a cage that appears to be made of bones that it looks like he could easily walk right out of if he just tucked in his wings and sucked in his gut a little.

* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "Avatar Day". Aang is clearly too small for the adult-sized stocks, so he easily slips in and out of them while talking to his fellow inmates. This is all part of the episode's premise that Aang is voluntarily submitting to justice when he is obviously powerful enough to escape any time he wanted to.

* The Puni tribe in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' are locked in cells you need keys to open. The Punis are mouse-sized creatures who seemingly are only prevented from squeezing through the bars by exclusively having 3/4 angle-drawn sprites.