An Ending Trope common to B Movies of the '50s and '60s, especially those involving a Lost World, in which an earthquake, volcano, avalanche or some similar (usually natural) disaster destroys the Lost World. This can be hinted at in advance, but as often as not it appears out of the blue to threaten the main characters and necessitate a hasty departure. For some reason, the disaster always manages to hold off just long enough for the characters to actually discover the Lost World and explore for a bit, then literally yanks the ground out from under them.
Of course, in a few cases the cataclysm is actually not a coincidence, but indeed is triggered by the protagonists. In these cases it's usually unintentional; it could be the heroes' very presence which somehow disrupts the natural balance. Or, sometimes it is set off by some act done by the villains, or occasionally the heroes — say, a stray bullet/laser blast/etc meant for the heroes instead hits a support structure or the ancient codex holding the world together or what have you. Crash!
If the Lost World in question is an island, an underground society or otherwise isolated location, expect it to be leveled by the cataclysm. If it is a planet, the whole world need not be destroyed; but this has been known to happen.
Like the B Movies it was usually part of, the "natural" version of this sort of ending is practically a Forgotten Trope nowadays. The "triggered" instance, on the other hand...
Compare Trash the Set. If it happens specifically because the villain has just died, you have a Load-Bearing Boss.
Examples:
- Doraemon: Nobita and the Knights on Dinosaurs has Doraemon and gang facing an entire army of raptor-men in the Cretaceous era, in order to prevent the raptors from wiping out ancestors of mammals and to "reclaim Earth for the dinosaurs". After Doraemon repels most of the raptor-men's weapons, they then respond by bringing out their war machines, but then the battle is interrupted by the meteorite heralding the K–Pg extinction event.
- The Fuma Conspiracy has the entire cave is rigged to collapse. The heroes make it out alive, but all the treasures are lost.
- Invoked twice in Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Second Impact was a less successful invocation, but come Third Impact, Assimilation Plot, and The End of the World as We Know It are all in play.
- The Tintin story "Flight 714" ends like this, in true B-Movie fashion.
- Lost Continent: At the end, the island which serves as the film's primary setting just explodes like Krakatoa; there are hints that underground volcanic pressures are responsible.
- The Incredible Petrified World: The cast, seeking an underground refuge from a potential nuclear holocaust, find an entire ecosphere deep within the earth... which quickly caves in for no apparent reason.
- King Dinosaur (just one island, though, and it's because the heroes decided to nuke their prospective space colony)
- Indiana Jones:
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Dr. Elsa Schneider tries to take the holy grail past "The Great Seal," which causes the entire temple to fall apart with a local earthquake. This sets up a Take My Hand! moment where she tries to reach for the grail while hanging onto Indiana. She can't quite touch it and experiences a Death by Materialism. Indiana nearly does the same but decides to let it go.
- Justified in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: the temple setting in the climax turns out to be sitting on top of a giant UFO, which chooses that moment to lift off and fly away.
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. What is it with Indy and Lost Worlds?
- King Kong:
- In King Kong (2005), this is Skull Island's ultimate fate. Note, however, that this factoid was revealed only on the official promotional website, not in the film itself.
- This idea was taken from the climax of The Son of Kong, the mostly forgotten sequel to the original King Kong (1933).
- Forbidden Planet features a rare example of a deliberately triggered cataclysm, via the planet's Self-Destruct Mechanism.
- This Island Earth gives us another deliberate disaster: the destruction of Metalluna via orbital bombardment. While that wasn't the end of the movie, per se, it was essentially the climax.
- Beneath the Planet of the Apes. This is what happens when the Lost World is an entire planet. You'd think blowing up the entire world would put a stop to any future sequels. You'd be wrong.
- In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the massive nuclear launch at the end of the film effectively ends human civilization.
- In Treasure Planet, the title planet is actually a giant self-destructing explosive device, and the climax involves the main characters attempting to escape the planet before it explodes.
- Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) ends with the area of plant life being burnt to a crisp. It seems that it's cyclical in nature and it may be possible to go back in another 50 years, but with all the magma that flooded the area, it's hard to imagine how.
- The climax to One Million Years B.C. is the caveman tribes being threatened by a massive earthquake.
- Hercules and the Captive Women: Hercules destroys the Evil Queen's Magical Cave Of Doom... which takes all of Atlantis with it.
- Undersea Kingdom: Atlantis, an underwater city, is flooded and destroyed note when the villain punches an escape vent through the city's protective shell.
- The Mysterious Island ends with Lincoln Island being destroyed by a volcanic eruption.
- The first book of the Cambridge Latin Course is set in Pompeii. In the year 79 CE. That the last chapter is a Cataclysm Climax should surprise no one.
- T. A. Barron's Heartlight ends with the alien world the heroine visits being swallowed by its sun, which has become a black hole.
- The Long Earth ends with a fairly significant city getting nuked. The conclusion of each book in the series escalates from that baseline. The use of the cataclysm is inverted, in that it does not erase the fantastical realm in the story, but rather forces more people into it as a means of escape or survival.
- It appeared that Lost would end like that for a while: starting with a mention of a volcano being present on the Island, then the Island being shown submerged underwater in the Flash Sideways and finally the Man In Black intending to destroy the Island near the end. The Finale appears to play this straight: after the Island's Heart is disturbed, it is shaken by massive earthquakes and several cliffs collapse into the Ocean before the majority of the heroes make their escape. The Trope is then subverted, when the Island's Cork is put back in place (no kidding) and the cataclysm is stopped.
- The endings of most dino-documentaries involve the asteriod ending the Mesozoic era.
- The ending of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves sees the destruction of the Lost City of Shambhala thanks to Nate blowing up the Tree of Life in the final boss battle against Lazarevic.
- Done again in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception When Ubar is swallowed by the sand due to the central pillar being destroyed. With THREE GODDAMNED BULLETS!
- In Riven: The Sequel to Myst, you cause this yourself. Deliberately, under orders from Atrus.
- Not exactly. Atrus tells you to "signal me and I'll bring a linking book" but it's Catherine who tells you that opening the Star Fissure will do that.
- Averting this trope is the main objective in Return to Mysterious Island 2: Mina's Fate. In fact, you get the option of averting it twice: once by stopping a volcanic eruption triggered by the previous game's events, and again by choosing to protect the island's ecosystem by restoring the shield Mina deactivated in the first game.
- At the end of Earth 2150 the Earth is sent hurling into the Sun, while the factions ships escape.
- Of course, this is not only hinted but outright stated in advance. In fact, your goal for the entire game is to collect enough resources in a certain number of days to build a ship/fleet large enough to take your entire faction to Mars. The fact that the planet keeps looking worse and worse and the various news reports only serves to beat you over the head with the fact.
