Catapult Nightmare: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Whenever a character awakes from a nightmare on screen, he will ''fling'' himself up from lying down, while panting and looking around confused. Think carefully: how many times do you remember waking up from a nightmare by flinging your torso off the bed? Probably never, right? When most people wake up from one, they lie stunned and confused for a few seconds getting reoriented before looking around. The most you might get is a gasp and a full-body twitch. But that would be boring on screen, so anyone with a bad dream has to halfway fling himself out of bed to show the audience it is a dream. Used particularly during an [[All Just a Dream]] sequence, to emphasize that the previous scene didn't happen. [[Rule of Cool|Besides, it's just cool.]]

 

 

 

Note: This trope may be somewhat justified if the "nightmare" the hero wakes up from was actually caused by a [[Phlebotinum]]-wielding villain. (After all, dark magic or a piece of advanced alien technology could conceivably cause a human brain and body to react in a way that's different from how they would normally.)

All that being said, however, one must admit that simply [[Eye Open|cutting to an extreme closeup of a character's eyes opening]] isn't [[Rule of Drama|quite as dramatic a way]] of portraying sudden awakening from a dream.

 

See also [[Instant Waking Skills]].

{{examples}}

* As pictured above, it happens to Owaki in ''[[The Enigma of Amigara Fault]]''. The dream might just disturb anyone who reads it too.

** A giant Kunô declaring his love for the pigtailed girl before snatching "her" up effortlessly (which the anime replaced with about a dozen naked Kunôs trapping a naked Girl-Ranma).

** In an anime-only episode, Ranma dreams that Akane is showing him their new baby. When she pulls the covers from the baby's head, it has [[Dirty Old Man|Happôsai's]] face. [[Nightmare Fuel|Naturally]], he wakes up screaming.

* Happens to Mamoru in ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' after he dreams of something bad happening to Usagi. Usagi does this routinely as well.

** In the omake to episode 63, Isane Kotetsu wakes up like this from a nightmare ('''"FISH PASTE!"''').

** In chapter 238, Ichigo again wakes up like this (but he falls out of bed, too.)

** And the first episode in both seasons opens with Ahiru having a nightmare, and then waking up from it when she flings herself out of her bed and tries to fly by flapping her arms.

* ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]''

** Earlier in the manga, she also jolts awake from a nightmare and punches Chrono in the face (who was bent over her and trying to wake her up). Although this one might be justified in that she wasn't exactly ''sleeping'' as much as having an out-of-body experience.

** In the anime she also catapults out of a [[Bad Dreams|nightmare about her missing brother]] in Episode 2.

* In the manga version of ''[[Maximum Ride]]'', Max has this in the beginning, after her nightmare about Erasers.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''

** Evangeline does this after she gets a fever dream about the Thousand Master.

* Albert of ''[[Gankutsuou]]'' does this after having a nightmare about the Count.

* Seras of ''[[Hellsing]]'' does this while waking up from a nightmare she had shortly after becoming a vampire.

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Goh has one about the failed rebellion at the start of the first OVA.

 

* In the ''[[Batman]]'' story ''Going Sane'', a normal-looking, reformed and amnesiac Joker has frequent nightmares of [[Bad Dreams|bats and clowns trying to drown him in madness]]. He would wake up from these dreams and yell "drowning!"

* ''[[Little Ego]]'', being a parody of ''[[Little Nemo]]'', always has the heroine waking like this. However, in Ego's case, she is not waking from a nightmare but instead an [[Erotic Dream]].

* In ''[[Le Scorpion]]'', Armando experiences one at the start of the album ''The Stone Cross''.

 

 

* The Baby Nightmare sequence in ''[[Shrek]] the Third''.

* ''[[Mulan]]'': Mulan quietly dashes off to the Chinese Army in the middle of the night. Only Grandma Fa, who is closer to the Fa family ancestors, senses something is wrong when she wakes up supposedly not too long after this.

* Francis from ''[[Felidae]]'', after he has a nightmare about Gregory Mandel tormenting him with zombie cat puppets.

* ''[[Star Wars]]''

** Avoided in ''[[Star Wars|Attack of the Clones]]''. Anakin dreams about his mother dying and merely opens his eyes.

** ''[[Star Wars]] III: The Revenge of the Sith''. Anakin has frequent nightmares foreshadowing Padme's death. Comes complete with a free [[Shirtless Scene]].

* Hitchcock's ''Vertigo''.

* In the third ''The Naked Gun'' movie, Frank wakes up after the opening sequence which is a "nightmare" of being in a situation of there being crime he can't stop. Of course, given that the scene (as well as the movie's format itself) is slapstick and not supposed to be taken seriously in the slightest, it would only be considered a nightmare to him.

* ''[[The Matrix]]'': After Neo gets the bug put in him, and possibly when he jacks out of the Construct program in the real world hovership after learning the truth about the Matrix.

* Wolverine has an especially notable one in ''X-Men''. In all honesty, adamantium claws don't mix well with many activities.

* Averted in the 2007 film ''[[I Am Legend]]'', when the protagonist wakes up from terrifying flashback-dreams (yanking the viewers out of intense scenes) by simply opening his eyes (where the viewers see a close-up of his face in quiet morning silence).

* ''[[The Golden Child]]'' (1986). Chandler Jarrell after his dream of being tortured and almost killed by Sardo Numspa and his henchmen.

* In ''[[Zoolander]]'', Derek Zoolander does this, only as he shoots straight up, he slams his head into the frame of the bed above his (he and his three roommates slept in two sets of bunk beds) and crashes to the ground.

* Somewhat averted in the Korean film ''Seducing Mr. Perfect''. After a nightmare, the heroine's body does tense, but other than that, she doesn't move before opening her eyes. After opening her eyes, she stares into space for a few seconds, and then, she pushes herself up and gasps.

* Averted in ''[[Signs]]'', where Graham only opens his eyes when he wakes from bad dreams.

* In the American version of ''[[The Ring]]'', Naomi Watts' character does this after having a nightmare of Samura being in her apartment.

* Larry Gopnik experiences several of these in ''[[A Serious Man]]'' after moving into the Jolly Roger.

* Happens to the protagonist at the end of ''When a Stranger Calls'' (2006).

* ''Dreamscape''. Happens to the President of the U.S. twice. He wakes up yelling after having nightmares of his wife running away from a nuclear explosion and being attacked by mutant children in a post-nuclear environment.

* Butch from ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'' does it twice.

* Happens several times to Leonardo DiCaprio's character in ''Shutter Island''. On one occasion, however, it is part of a [[Dream Within a Dream]], from which the character later awakens (for real) by simply opening his eyes whilst still lying down.

* At the beginning of ''[[Total Recall]]'', Douglas Quaid wakes up with a jolt from a nightmare about dying of suffocation in the Martian atmosphere.

* Arguably, this is what happens to Tina in the original ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]''... 'cept the waking-up part.

* Used a number of times in ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]''... always after Scott sees Ramona in his dreams as she goes through his subspace highway. The best response, though, is how Wallace Wells ALWAYS sits up immediately after as well, sometimes followed by one or two other guys....

* Practically every time Ji-Won wakes up in ''[[Dead Friend]]'' (a.k.a ''The Ghost'').

* In ''[[Paranormal Activity]]'', Katie does this at least one time.

* In ''[[The Magnificent Seven]]'', Lee (Robert Vaughn) not only bolts upright, but also scrambles across the room in a panic when he awakens from a bad dream.

* In ''[[Dracula 2000]]'', Mary wakes up thrashing and incoherent after dreaming that a tall dark stranger is about to bite her throat out.

* ''[[The Fugitive]]''. After escaping, Kimble has a nightmare about the murder of his wife while sleeping in the woods. At the end of the nightmare he wakes up and sits upright.

* ''[[Braveheart]]'': [[Face Heel Turn|After he betrays William Wallace at Falkirk]], the Scottish Noble Mornay has a nightmare in which Wallace is riding towards him, fire blazing all around and the most terrifying [[Death Glare]] ever. He wakes up, but moments later, Wallace actually rides into his bedroom and gives Mornay [[Epic Flail|a face full of flail]].

 

* Eve, from the ''[[In Death]]'' series. Certain things will make her lapse into flashback when awake. Often dragged out of them by Roarke.

 

* In an episode in the first season of ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', Leonard and Sheldon (and Raj and Wolowitz) buy the original time machine, from the movie The Time Machine. After a commercial break, we see Sheldon in the machine, in a steamy jungle, as Morlocs close on him. He wakes up, in the apartment, screaming, in the time machine. Leonard comes out, they have a short discussion about getting rid of the machine, and Leonard calls in some movers (Morlocs wearing jumpsuits that say "Hungry Morlocs") Sheldon awakens again, in his bed this time, and starts screaming, sitting upright rather stiffly as is his manner.

* ''[[Bones]]'', season 5 episode "The Boy with the Answer". In the opening, Brennan has a classic Catapult Nightmare after a very disturbing dream inspired by the memories of the Gravedigger, and the stress from having to face the [[Serial Killer]] at trial.

** It wasn't a nightmare per se, but in "Out of My Mind", Spike catapults to a sitting position with a choking gasp upon waking up from a dream in which [[Love Epiphany|he tells Buffy he loves her]].

** Averted with Buffy's very first appearance in the very first episode: she has a (prophetic, as it turns out) nightmare about vampires and apocalypse, and wakes up... pretty much like a normal person would.

* A preview photo shows Ballard doing this in the upcoming ''[[Dollhouse]]'' episode "Needs".

* The "Eurosong" episode of ''[[Father Ted]]''. "We have to lose that sax solo!"

* In ''[[Firefly]]'', River wakes up from a couple of her [[Bad Dreams]] in this way. Most of the times, though, she wakes up normally.

** Of course, [[Ax Crazy|considering who]] [[Cloudcuckoolander|we're taking]] [[Little Miss Badass|about]], it's entirely possible she was trained to wake ready to fight.

* Paul Slippery at the beginning of the third episode of ''Fortysomething'' in his second [[Dream Within a Dream]] awakening. He just jerks his head up and gasps the first time.

** Kate does this in the season 4 finale.

** The series [[Averted Trope|averts]] this in the first season: Charlotte thrashes around and hurts herself, but does not sit bolt upright.

** Averted surprisingly often, however. Many times she'd just wake up dramatically opening her eyes with a gasp.

* ''[[Northern Exposure]]'': In "All Is Vanity," Holling becomes convinced fiancée Shelly prefers, ahem, ''cleaner-looking'' men and schedules an appointment with Dr Fleischman. He soon has [[Body Horror|second thoughts]].

* In ''Pretty Little Liars'' episode "The Badass Seed", Spencer manages to wake up normally after a strangling dream: Trope averted.

* Averted in ''[[Rescue Me]]''. Tommy often has nightmares and delusions, but usually comes out of them looking disoriented before getting his bearings.

* In an episode of ''[[Spaced]]'', a slammed door awakens the four main characters, each of whom yell something in a [[Montage]] format.

'''Tim:''' [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy!]] }}

** Happened frequently to resident psychic Counselor Troi, usually caused by the [[Monster of the Week]]. The writers seemed to have a thing for having her suddenly wake up in her nightgown while panting and covered in sweat for some reason...

** Hell, even ''[[Artificial Human|Data]]'' got one of these in the episode "Phantasms". Granted, he may have [[Reality Is Unrealistic|programmed himself to react to nightmares in the way he thought humans do]].

* In ''[[True Blood]]'' Jason does this twice in the same scene as it was a [[Dream Within a Dream]].

* In ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', thanks to Goldar's evil spell, the protaganists dream about their past battles and dream that Zordon has fired them as Power Rangers. All five Rangers are shown waking up, but since it was shown from the side instead of the front it loses most of its dramatic effect.

* On ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' Cory does this several times in one episode where he has recurring nightmares about killing his friends.

** Played straight when Dean wakes up from a nightmare in 7.05 "Shut Up, Dr Phil".

** Averted in most of the season one episodes where Sam is having prophetic nightmares.

 

* Occurs [[Dream Within a Dream|three]] [[Rule of Three|times]] at the end of [http://youtu.be/oiMZa8flyYY this] music video of [[OK Go]] and [[The Muppets]].

 

 

** After the Creature first appears to the Alchemist in a dream, most of the possible results have the Alchemist bolting upright in bed when he wakes up.

 

 

* [[Sims]] do this on rare occasions, usually when something traumatic has recently happened to the Sim. There exists at least one hack to trigger it on command.

* Used in one of the endings of ''[[Ao Oni]]'': {{spoiler|in version 5, Takeshi has a nightmare about being back inside the house, hiding in the cabinet you first found him in, and getting discovered by the monster instead}}.

 

* In Kirbopher's April Fool's Flash animation ''$eG@'', four versions of Sonic do this in succession. Seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp8CuOgGr8s here].

* Lampshaded in one ''Evil Josh and Billy'' episode. Evil Josh at first does this, but then notes that nobody wakes up like that in real life, then realizes that [[Dream Within a Dream|this is also a dream.]] Sure enough, he's right. {{spoiler|Unfortunately he was asleep in the middle of driving a car and immediately crashes after he wakes up.}}

 

* [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1169 This] ''[[Questionable Content]]'' strip. Happens twice, the first one with a [[Dream Within a Dream]] featuring [[Man, I Feel Like a Woman]].

* Ash has a scare in [http://www.misfile.com/index.php?page=265 this] ''[[Misfile]]'' strip.

* Happens several times in ''[[Ménage à 3]]'':

** DiDi gets one in [http://www.menagea3.net/d/20090113.html this strip]. Not exactly a nightmare, but still a weird dream.

** [http://www.menagea3.net/d/20101030.html Make that two].

** [http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004895 It happened again.]

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''

* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' has an [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1849#comic unending sequence of these].

 

** Subverted in the second ''Treehouse of Horror'' special, where Homer didn't catapult awake because he had a nightmare, but rather because Bart bit him.

*** Also humorously played straight at the end of Bart's nightmare in the same special, not because anything generally scary happened, but to Bart it's a wonderful dream, until Homer kisses him, which causes him to wake up screaming long and loud (complete with the camera zooming into his screaming black mouth.)

** One of the funniest comes from "Moaning Lisa" in which Homer dreams that he and Bart turn into the characters from the video game "Super Slugfest" and Bart is about to beat him to death, Homer wakes up screaming then almost immediately falls back to sleep.

** Played with in the episode ''The Sweetest Apu''. After Homer stumbled on Apu cheating on Manjula with the Squishee girl, he ends dreaming that Apu brings out the Squishee girl in the typical harem room environment, and then tells the eunuch (Homer) to avert his eyes before making love with the Squishee girl. Homer then bolts up and screams, then wonders what an "eunuch" is, consulting to the dictionary, and then screams again when he learns what the definition of an eunuch is. The second scream is what wakes Marge up.

** Used and subverted in an episode where Buster has a dream in which Arthur and Alan "Brain" are actually aliens, and are pulling him toward them with telekinetic powers as he screams. He wakes up quietly and near-motionlessly, calmly says, "That was scary," and goes back to sleep. Meanwhile, Arthur has a dream in which his sister Dora Winifred "D.W." comes into their tent to deliver the news that her and Arthur's mother said they have to let her sleep in the tent, too. ''He'' does the catapult with scream, which his mother takes for being caused by a nightmare about aliens.

** In the episode "Sick as a dog" in which Pal gets sick from eating junk food with Arthur and he has to remain at the vets overnight, that night Arthur has a nightmare in which a pack of wild dogs tie up the staff, burn down the clinic, and abduct Pal, before they take him Pal calls the Read's house and speaks to Arthur using dog sounds and Arthur cries out "Pal where are you?!" while lightning strikes, Arthur bolts out of bed gasping and says "Woah!... what a ridiculous dream... Pal doesn't know our phone number!".

** In the episode "Rock-A-Bye Ed", Ed has a crazy nightmare in which his mother (who [[He Who Must Not Be Seen|for some reason]] has Johnny 2x4's face and voice) throws him to "the Kanker pit" for accidentally bugging Sarah. Ed wakes up screaming, and Eddy [[Water Wakeup|throws a bucket of water]] in Ed's face to shut him up.

** {{spoiler|It happens again at the end when it turns out the whole episode was [[All Just a Dream]] Jonny 2x4 had.}}

* Happens to Candace at the end of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]] Get Busted''. And {{spoiler|Perry}} thanks to a [[Dream Within a Dream]].

* ''[[South Park]]'' uses it very frequently.

* Ron in the ''[[Kim Possible]]'' episode "Ill-Suited".

** Episode "Bwah My Nose": Hank wakes up normally after a bad dream.

** Also in the episode "Sug Night" after his second naked Nancy dream he wakes up screaming and Peggy asks what's wrong and he covers it by saying he hears Ladybird whining.

* Happens to Peter in the ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' episode "Blueprints".

* Happens a number of times in the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "The Sting". Leela catapults Nibbler in the process of waking up at least twice.

** Prince Zuko wakes up like this {{spoiler|from his [[Angst Coma]]}}.

** Aang does this a few times himself; most notably in "Nightmares and Daydreams", where he once wakes up everybody with his screams.

** A variation in episode 22: Sadlygrove doesn't propel himself upward immediately after the [[Dream Sequence]]... but screams at the top of his lungs.

** Adamaï also has such a wake-up in episode 24, after receiving a dream warning from the Tree of Life.

* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' goes here from time to time; most notably Tom's [[Prison Rape]] nightmare.

* The ''[[Rugrats]]'' episode "In the Dreamtime" has two. The first one happens to Chuckie early in the episode, and the second one happens to Chuckie's dad at the end of the episode.

* Happens at one point in the [[Dream Within a Dream]] ending of the ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'' episode "To Heck and Back".

* ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]''

** Also in the uncut version of the pilot episode "Big House Blues", Ren dreams that he is flirting with a woman, little does he know he's caressing Stimpy in his sleep and he leans over and kisses him, he wakes up and screams and he washes out his mouth in the toilet.

* This has happened to both of the title characters in ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' at different points, most notably in the episode "Snowball".

** In the second episode "Bearz 'n the Hood", Eek had a dream in which he is hanging out with one of his owners, Wendy Elizabeth, and has her autograph finally signed. Then they go to the moon, but Eek's head grows bigger because there's no air, and as he screams in horror, [[Your Head Asplode|his head explodes]]. After that, Eek wakes up [[Overly Long Scream|screaming for a long time]], but without flinging up. It turns out that one of the Squishy Bears made Eek wake up, and tries to chew him out, but Eek still screams.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Dream Tropes]]

[[Category:Sleep and Wakefulness Tropes]]