Bad Vibrations



""Anybody hear that? It's an... It's an impact tremor, that's what it is... I'm fairly alarmed here.""

- Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

Whenever there's an earthquake or a particularly large Monster of the Week coming, this will often be demonstrated subtly (or not so subtly) by showing a small object (like a lamp, or a small pile of coins) vibrating, then jumping around as the vibrations get stronger (or the monster gets closer) or possibly ripples in a pool of water. Sometimes the camera starts shaking (and possibly the people, too), for added emphasis.

Made easier in console video games by the vibrating "rumble" motors built-in to most controllers.

See also Worm Sign.

Advertising

 * A GE "ecoimagination" promo uses a non-monstrous variant, when a happy young elephant dances through a research facility and makes the growth-medium in a petri dish ripple.

Films -- Animation

 * In The Lion King, the stampede is signaled by a group of pebbles beginning to shake.

Films -- Live-Action

 * The film version of Jurassic Park has a much-parodied scene where ripples in a glass of water foretold the arrival of the Tyrannosaurus Rex... except at the end. To be fair, they were probably a bit distracted by the velociraptors trying to eat them to notice that the ground is shaking a little.
 * Tremors
 * The first movie runs on this all the way long.
 * Subverted delightfully in Tremors 2: Aftershocks, with sheets of metal instead of water. As the movement gets more violent, and the heroes assume the monster just out of view has to be huge to be making it, so they point their guns higher and higher... until a little beast about half their size hops into view. What's even better is that the camera shot is set up so that the audience fully expects it as well, waiting for the giant inserted-by-special-effects monster to come lumbering around the corner of the building.
 * Also subverted when the approaching rumbles turned out to be.
 * In the 1998 American Godzilla, GINO is making cars shake with each step during its first foray in New York... but no longer later in the movie.
 * In Independence Day, the mother ship erases Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's footprints from the moon with this method (those bastards!), and the smaller city destroyers create vibrations strong enough to be mistaken as an earthquake by the characters.
 * At the beginning of Star Trek VI, the captain's tea cup shakes just before the Excelsior is hit by the shockwave from the Praxis explosion.
 * Done subtly (at first) in the second Ace Ventura movie. As the villain is indulging in a low-key Evil Gloating with a slight What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, everyone falls silent as they feel the house start to vibrate. At first, it's quiet, as if they could possibly be imagining the sound. But it gets louder, and louder, until a horde of animals bursts through the wall, followed by Ace on a flamingo in a Big Damn Heroes moment.
 * The opening scene of Ian McKellen's Richard III. The king is eating a meal when everything on his table starts to vibrate (including a glass of red wine) whereupon an enemy tank bursts through the wall.
 * Downfall. A vibrating water glass shows that the Russians are close enough to the centre of Berlin to start shelling it with artillery.
 * Near the end of The Mist, the whole Jeep bounces before the appearance of the
 * The coach in Shaolin Soccer pauses to watch the water ripple in a cup on a trembling bench, to the sound of pounding in the distance. It's Mighty Steel Leg, repeatedly kicking a soccerball against a wall 50 meters away, hard enough to leave a deepening impact.
 * In Jumanji, the book shelves are shaking, making a bust and some books fall, just as Alan yells "IT'S A STAMPEDE!" And then a rhinoceros comes crashing through the shelves.
 * The Korean action epic War of the Arrows uses this trope, manifested first as a vibrating arrow and then as tremors in cups of tea, as the first sign of an approaching mounted Manchu invasion force.
 * In the 2019 live-action version of Disney's Aladdin, the Prince Ali song (which features a parade) is preceded by things like water in containers vibrating.

Live-Action TV

 * The X-Files, "Dreamland".
 * In the pilot for V-2009, a vibrating glass of water (ala Jurassic Park) presages the arrival of a huge spaceship.
 * Doctor Who:
 * In the 1996 TV movie, when the TARDIS is sabotaged, the Doctor's tea not only vibrates but develops its own little whirlpool.
 * Played with in "The Beast Below", where it's a plot point that the liquid in a glass of water isn't vibrating.
 * The Jurassic Park bit was parodied in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, with Uncle Phil standing in for the t-rex.
 * Became a Running Gag on Tremors: The Series, in that everyone would freeze in mid-argument and grab hold of anything breakable whenever El Blanco passed through town, making the ground vibrate. Soon as he'd passed by, conversations would resume as if nothing odd had happened. This even happened in the midst of a scene where someone was being held at gunpoint.
 * Parodied in an episode of Scrubs when a very pregnant Jordan is summoned to the hospital.

Music Videos

 * Pretty much the entirety of the Nine Inch Nails music video for "Only".
 * The later end of "Prayer" by Disturbed does this in light of the coming earthquake (timed particularly well with the bass-drum and power-chords).

Tabletop Games

 * Justified in Warhammer 40,000, where the Humongous Mecha put the emphasis on the humongous. If you don't feel the minor earthquakes these things cause with every footstep, you deserve what you get. Not to mention that in many Apocalypse games, when custom Titans are brought in, you're moving figures that are over 18" tall. Needless to say, things shake, even on the real tabletop.

Video Games
"Tychus: "Uh, guys, I hate to interrupt but... the natives are getting restless!""
 * The Resident Evil series uses the controller vibration almost every time a boss approaches.
 * The PlayStation port of Quake II likely cleverly used rumble when particularly large enemies were walking. Better yet, it was in stereo.
 * In the Outland area of World of Warcraft, there are monsters wandering known as Fel Reavers. They are absolutely monstrous in scale. Not only does your screen shake as they near, but you can hear their footsteps. Luckily, their eyesight is terrible. Due to the way aggro works in the game, they'll only notice you if you're on the ground. You can fly a flying mount right through its face and it won't attack.
 * StarCraft: Ghost's promo cinematic features an overconfident Marine captain leading a company to retake a Zerg-held refinery. Confident that the Zerg force is minimal to absent, he orders his troops forward en masse. He senses a deep rumble in the ground, pauses, and demands to know who had called for heavy armor support. When his lieutenant informs him that there are no tanks in the area, he realizes: that rumble is coming from the enemy.
 * And in StarCraft II, when Raynor and Tychus show up to, a massive swarm of incoming Zerglings is heralded by rattling shell casings on the ground.


 * The 2008 Turok game would hint that Mama Scarface, the Tyrannosaurus of the game, was nearby with slight tremors indicating her footsteps, as well as environmental effects; like small rocks and pebbles crumbling from around the title character, and the sounds of tree branches breaking. Occasionally, there would be the slight echo of her roaring. Would end up being Paranoia Fuel for some of the time, as she didn't appear immediately afterwards for most of these instances, just leaving the player to wander the jungle, expecting for an encounter, but for nothing to happen.
 * Bungie likes to add these to the Warthog run sequences throughout Halo. Usually because something is exploding in frighteningly-close proximity to you.
 * Slipspace Jumps, such as  In Amber Clad into High Charity or Regret's Carrier over New Mombasa.

Web Animation

 * On Homestar Runner, in the Strong Bad Email "unnatural", the settings at Strong Bad and The Cheat's tea party (as well as Strong Bad and The Cheat themselves) jump around as we hear ominous footsteps, and then the giant Bubs arrives.

Web Comics

 * Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki has used Yuuki's assets reacting to a particularly large monster.

Western Animation

 * Showed up in the Veggie Tales video "Dave and the Giant Pickle".
 * In the last episodes of Code Lyoko, the Kolossus makes the Ice Replika and Ice Sector shake with each step... including the Skidbladnir, although this ship isn't even in contact with the ground. (Technically, it is tethered to the tower; physics are kind of messed up in Lyoko.)
 * One Batman the Animated Series episode has a glass of water vibrate to indicate a rampaging robot T. rex.