Catch a Falling Star: Difference between revisions
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Most often, the rescue comes from some sort of aircraft: The pilot dives sharply in pursuit of their falling friend, and either positions the craft underneath to catch them, in which case they land uninjured [[Not the Fall That Kills You|regardless of how fast they were falling]], or else flies parallel to them, and someone pulls them back in by the wrist. (In the latter case, the diving craft will just barely pull out of the dive before smacking into the ground.) This can be accomplished even if you fell ''from that aircraft''.
Alternatively, an individual with the superpower of [[Flight]], or some kind of [[Giant Robot Hands Save Lives|giant robot]], or just a mean [[Building Swing]], may swoop in to catch you.
Physics says that [[Not the Fall That Kills You|this really shouldn't work]], but you'll probably be too thankful that you're alive to care.
Compare with [[Take My Hand]]. See also the [[Inevitable Waterfall]] and [[No OSHA Compliance]] for places to fall from.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'': Minmay falls from Hikaru's Valkyrie during the attack on South Ataria Island, and Hikaru not only does a power dive to save her, but manages to open the jet canopy, pull her in, close the canopy, and pull up in time.
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* ''[[Last Exile]]''
* ''[[Simoun]]'': When Kaimu falls from the [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier|flying base ship]], Neviril and Alti use their Simoun to create a special Ri Maajon effect that stops her in midair, which lets them calmly pull her back aboard.
* Kanbei rescues Kirara in ''[[
** But they at least try to avoid the [[Not the Fall That Kills You]] by having him grind his blade against the gears on a falling elevator to slow them down. How his sword is still in one piece after that? The world may never know.
*** Given that [[Katanas Are Just Better|swords]] in that series can cut through giant robots and deflect energy beams, using them as elevator brakes is just par for the course.
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* In episode 6 of ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'', Spike catches Giraffe on the Swordfish after he falls out a window.
** A technique he'd had a chance to practice on Ein four episodes earlier, when the pooch threw himself off a bridge to escape a dognapper.
* Haji pulls this one in ''[[Blood
* Near the end of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS'', just as Vita exhausts her magical energy and falls from a great height, Hayate reaches the room where Vita is and catches her badly battered body.
* Played with in ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'': every time the girls are summoned to Cephiro, they pop into existence several kilometers above ground. They scream all the way down, until they're caught by Fyula, Clef's giant, [[Summon Magic|summoned]] flying fish. They actually ''bounce'' on impact with Fyula's back before settling down, [[Not the Fall That Kills You|none the worse for wear]].
* Renton and Eureka pull this off at least twice in ''[[Eureka Seven]]''.
* In the final episode of ''[[Gate Keepers]] 21'', Miyu catches Yukino after the latter is struck down in a [[Blast Out]] and falls from the top of a [[Humongous Mecha]]. {{spoiler|Yukino is mortally wounded, however, and dies in Miyu's arms.}}
* In ''[[
* The finale of ''[[Sailor Moon]] SuperS'' has Moon and an unconscious Chibimoon falling to their deaths. After catching Chibimoon, Moon spends the rest of the fall trying to get her to wake up so that they can use the Golden Crystal to save them. When she finally does, the Golden Crystal gives them wings which they use to land safely. It's a touching scene, as long as you ignore how long they spend falling.
** There ''is'' some attempt at physics in this scene. Chibimoon is flung, unconscious and limp, off a huge floating platform; Moon jumps after her using her weight and the velocity of her dive to make up the distance between them. Chibimoon is a little girl no older than 7, so she's also light enough to be blown by the wind. By the time Moon catches her, they have matched velocity. But don't ask me how [[Rule of Cool|transforming into Princess Serenity, flowing gown and all, helped here]].
*** The transformation to her more powerful form may have enabled her to speed up even further to catch up with Chibi Moon. And then once she caught Chibi Moon, the flowing dress helped slow down their fall so that she would have more time to get Chibi Moon to wake up before they both went splat.
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Negi and {{spoiler|Chao}} run out of magic power and start plummeting from their [[High Altitude Battle]]. They are saved by Satsuki, piloting a tramway car that Chao had converted into a ''[[Flying Car|flying restaurant]]''.
* Happens often in ''[[Sonic X]]'', except with Cosmo during her first appearance, where she hit the ground a good few moments before anyone found her... but her dress allowed her to land safely.
** Also used in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog The Movie]]'', with Knuckles gliding over to catch Sara after she falls out of Robotnik's aircraft.
* In ''[[
* Kaitou Kid in ''Detective Conan'' has a to do this from time to time by virtue of having a Cape that turns into a hang glider. In movie 8 Conan uses it against Kid.
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* Subverted<s>logically</s>, coldly, cruelly with [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] and Gwen Stacy...
* In [[Kurt Busiek|Kurt Busiek's]] "Walking the Earth" storyline in [[Superman]], Kal-el Actually manages to stop a young girl from jumping in the first place. He still would've caught her if she had, but it seems especially sweet that he went up to talk to her instead of waiting for her to jump.
* ''[[PS238]]'' had a lite version: 84 was de-powered and sliding off an alien spaceship hovering over the town, and Moonshadow threw himself after her, requesting his mentor's nearby stealth plane while moving. {{spoiler|The plane was needed mostly to leave in a dignified way rather than dangle and wait until someone who can fly picks them up - he did successfully [[Grappling Hook Pistol|use the grapple]] with his other hand after grabbing her.}}
== Radio ==
* ''[[The
== Film ==
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* Used in ''[[The Dark Knight]]''. They try to make it more reasonable by {{spoiler|Batman unfolding his cape and gliding down with Rachel, but there's not nearly enough time with the way the film is edited for them not to have at least some kind of injury when they land}}.
** This is averted later on when a mobster {{spoiler|says that he's too close to the ground to die, if dropped. Batman agrees and lets go, and both of the mobster's legs are broken when he hits the ground.}}
* And, of course, we can't forget Spock halting Kirk's fall from El Capitan in ''[[Star Trek V:
** And let's not omit Kirk catching Sulu mid-air over Vulcan in [[Star Trek (
* Gandalf's escape from Isengard via Gwaihir Air Service in the first film of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Also counts as a [[Suicidal Gotcha]].
* In ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action
* Subverted in the ''[[Iron Man (
* Played painfully straight in ''[[The Matrix]]: Reloaded''. {{spoiler|Trinity decides that a fall from the 65th floor of a building is less lethal than dealing with an Agent, so she jumps out a window. Moments before she hits the ground, Neo swoops in (at a speed so fast that he has a tornado of cars in his wake) and catches her in his arms, thus letting her only fall 64 1/2 stories instead of 65.}}
** In all fairness, Neo's status as "The One" basically gives him the power of Fuck You Physics in the Matrix. Which, of course, raises more questions...
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* [[Harry Potter]] is saved by Dumbledore after falling off his broom in ''Prisoner of Azkaban''.
** Justified, as [[A Wizard Did It]].
* Towards the end of ''[[The Avengers (
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[
* A variation occurs in ''[[Super Smash Bros.|Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'''s Subspace Emissary mode, where several of the heroes jump out of a bomb-filled room and land in Captain Falcon's [[Cool Car]]. They're falling at enough of a height that they ought to be at terminal velocity, but ''Smash'' never really bothered with falling damage, what with being [[Rule of Cool]] and all.
** Really, The terminal velocity for the story doesn't appear to fall under [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]], and is thus about 5
** Also, Meta Knight pulls this off with Lucas and the Pokemon Trainer, ''right'' before they hit the ground. Although at least in that case it seemed like Lucas was trying to psychokinetically slow their fall.
*** Also, the Trainer had already recovered his Charizard at that point, and could have used it to save them. Too bad he was unconscious...
* In ''[[Star Fox (
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', Terra's magic power vanishes, taking away her Esper half and its ability to fly. Setzer then dives his zeppelin-sized (and shaped) airship to catch her, flying fast enough to ''knock out everyone on board'', and [[Improbable Piloting Skills|apparently scooping her up on the bow of the "boat" part of the airship]] (which, aside from being a tenth of the size of the dirigible, hangs from the stern end of the ship.)
* ''[[Illusion of Gaia]]'' parodies and subverts this one at the same time. After the second major dungeon, the hero Will falls from a floating continent, but luckily his cousin Neil owns the only biplane in existence, and flies up to catch him. Except he misses Will the first time! The second time he catches him, but <s>in doing so plunges into the ocean</s> runs out of fuel before they reach land, causing them to crash in the ocean ''near'' an island.
* [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] likes this one. In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]'', ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles
* Played straight in ''[[Metroid]] Prime 3: Corruption'' during the first Ridley fight, which occurs as both combatants are free-falling down a fusion generator tunnel about sixteen thousand meters deep. Once Samus polishes off Ridley, Rundas, showing off his powers of ice flight, swoops down the tunnel, [[Big Damn Heroes|catching her a few thousand meters from the bottom]], which also served as his [[Establishing Character Moment]].
* Appropriately enough, Batman:Vengance actually had this as a reoccuring minigame, where the player would have to guide Batman as he dived to catch a falling character, switching between a diving-pose for speed, or a skydiving style spread-out pose for control, until you caught the target, whereupon Bats would automatically grappel to safety- twas pretty cool.
* In the famous FPS ''[[Battlefield (
* ''Everything Or Nothing'' an original-story Bond game, has this as a basis for an entire level. Notable in that Bond, while freefalling in pursuit of the love interest, can navigate -between- rocky outcroppings. And aim and blast bad guys he is rocketing past.
* In [[Final Fantasy X]], Yuna summons Valefor ''in midair'' to catch her as she falls off the tower in Bevelle. Sure, physics might not work that way but hey, it's [[Final Fantasy]]. Besides, ''damn'' [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|that was awesome.]]
* In ''[[Drakengard]] 2'', Nowe seems to be in the habit of jumping off of high places on purpose simply because he knows that Legna will catch him. He also gets to play hero by doing this: Manah falls off a cliff, Nowe jumps off after her, lands on Legna, and the pair of them race downwards until they're beneath Manah, where Nowe catches her safely in his arms. It's not quite a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], considering some of the things Nowe gets to do later in the game, but it's pretty close.
* The ending of ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' has Ada Wong jump down from a ledge. A few seconds later a helicopter rises into view with Ada sitting inside it, having apparently fallen through the roof and, yes, the rotors.
* [[Final Fantasy XIII]] has the beginning of Chapter 11, where Fang ''and'' Lightning summon [[Transforming Mecha|Bahamut]] to save the party after their airship is crippled
* ''[[Adventure Island]] III'' ending. Higgins and [[
* Done routinely in ''[[Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword]]''. Traveling is accomplished by either leaping off one of the [[Floating Continent
== Web Comics ==
* In a 2008 scene from ''[http://www.alpha-shade.com/0Comics/pages.htm Alpha Shade]'' a girl gets thrown off the deck of an airship during a firefight, and a flier on a giant bird swoops down and tries to catch her. (Not sure if you can link directly to individual pages, but pages can be selected from a drop-down menu - this scene begins on Page 224.)
* In ''[[
* A building swing variant occurs in this [http://www.shortpacked.com/2009/comic/book-10/01-this-man-this-manhattan/flammable/ Shortpacked!] strip.
* Gets used and [[Lampshaded]] in [http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/17p35 this] episode of ''[[
* In ''[[
** Immediately after grabbing the bottle, Rose herself is caught and saved by Jaspersprite, with scant seconds to spare.
* In ''[[Spacetrawler]]'', both Emily and Growp get knocked out a window during a fight. Both of them snatch passing hoverbikes to stop their descent... and then crash their bikes into the ground.
* In the [[David Gonterman]] comic ''[[Sailor Moon]] USA'', Gonterman's [[Author Avatar]] at the time does this to Sailor Moon herself. What's worse was that this was done after Queen Beryl launched her from ''Tokyo to St. Louis''. And the worst Usagi suffered was passing out and a ravaged uniform. [[MST3K Mantra|It's best not to think of it too much.]]
* ''[[mezzacotta|Lightning Made of Owls]]'' [http://www.mezzacotta.net/owls/?comic=29 once] joked about the physics of catching by superheroes.
== Web Original ==
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
* ''[[The Perils of Penelope Pitstop]]'': In "The Treacherous Movie Lot Plot", Zippy catches the other mobsters in his plane as the mechanical ape destroys the other planes.
* In the [[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]] pilot movie, Booster catches XR this way.
* ''[[
* Also done in [[Batman: The Animated Series
* In the pilot of ''[[
* In an unusual case of the craft doing the falling part, the second season finale of ''[[Justice League]]'', "Starcrossed," has Batman piloting the Watchtower (the League's orbital base) on a kamikaze descent to destroy an alien engine. He's pulled out of the collapsing wreckage by Superman seconds before impact.
** This is pretty much what [[
*** Parodied in [[
*** This is [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]] in [[The Incredibles]]. A guy jumps off a building, Mr. Incredible catches him at an 90-degree angle, smashing through a glass window in the process. Mr. Incredible is [[
** Superman (again) does it to Batman (again) after the Batplane is eaten by alien nanomachine dogs, and his ejection seat is destroyed. Fortunately, Batman is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to know he's got time, and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unl8l8VdONw calmly calls for help over the radio].
** Dr. Light bails Batman out ''the second time he plummets in the same episode''.
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' where Danny rescues Sam from falling to her doom from atop a train passing a tall bridge. She's also rescued in a similar manner by a cop hanging from a chopper in another episode, though we don't see it dive down to catch her in time.
** Danny also saved Sam from a tightrope-induced fall in the same episode as the train.
* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
* In ''[[Teen Titans (
** And vice-versa, with Robin catching Starfire.
* If you're talking about midair rescues from high places, look no further than ''[[
* [[Action Man]] does this pretty often. Alex is an expert at the [[Building Swing]], what with his superpowered reflexes, his endless supply of extreme-sport-type grapnels, and his strong arms for snagging the rescuee one-handed. Nothing like a CGI cartoon for making physics look optional.
* In ''[[
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[[Category:Index to The Rescue]]
[[Category:Chase Scene]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Falling, Dropping, and Plummeting]]
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