Help, I'm Stuck!

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

An instance when a character gets stuck in a tight spot. There are numerous times when characters seem to get stuck, but only for a second or two and manage to pull themselves out. This is an occurrence when someone gets seriously stuck and needs help, usually in a diabolical situation.

Examples of Help, I'm Stuck! include:

Anime and Manga

  • In the Pokémon episode, "The Case of the K-9 Caper", while Ash and Pikachu are running the obstacle course, Pikachu gets his tail stuck on barb wire. He responds by letting out his Thunder Shock, which electrocutes the whole wire.
    • In another episode, Jigglypuff somehow gets stuck in a Blastoise’s cannon, and she sings while she’s in there causing the Blastoise to be asleep.
    • In yet another episode, Lyra's Marill gets wedged between two buildings; it is freed with the help of Pikachu, Piplup, and a Water Gun attack.
    • In Pikachu's Vacation, Charizard getting his head stuck in a metal pipe is what eventually leads to Pikachu's group and the gang of bullies becoming friends.
  • On an episode of Monster Rancher , Gollum gets stuck in a hole in the ground.
  • In Hamtaro, the character, Stucky, is this trope alone. He gets his name from the fact that he's always stuck in a piece of a hamster tunnel that he always rolls around in.
  • In one volume of Yotsuba&!, Fuuka ends up locked in a bathroom, and gets stuck trying to escape through the window.
  • A similar incident happens to Mitsuba in Mitsudomoe
  • In Sankarea, Ranko ends up stuck in some form of tunnel while trying to follow a cat.

Film

  • In The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, (or to be more precise, “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree”) Pooh winds up getting stuck in Rabbit’s front door due to him overeating. He was stuck in that hole for months!
  • In The Little Mermaid, Flounder gets stuck in a hole in a sunken ship.
  • In The Lion King, Pumbaa winds up getting stuck under a tree root while he’s being chased by Nala.
  • In One Hundred and One Dalmatians, when Tibs is trying to secretly help the puppies escape Horace and Jasper, he squeezes them each through a little hole in the wall. The last one in line is Rolly, but since Rolly was so fat, he couldn’t fit through the hole as easily as the other puppies. Jasper caught this right at the instant when Tibs finally got him through.
  • In Bolt, there’s an instance where Bolt gets his head stuck in between two metal poles.
  • In The Brave Little Toaster, Blanky gets stuck twice.
  • In the second Land Before Time movie, Littlefoot gets his foot stuck in a tree trunk.
  • This occurred in Fun and Fancy Free when Mickey, Donald and Goofy were first entering the giant’s castle. Mickey and Donald manage to squeeze under the door, but Goofy got stuck. Mickey and Donald pulled him inside, but Goofy lost his pants in the process.
  • In A Bugs Life, Heimlich gets stuck while luring away the bird. The ants, looking at a safe distance, comment on how brave he is offering himself as live bait.
  • In Ice Age The Meltdown, Ellie gets stuck under a log because, having been raised by possums, she doesn't realize she's a mammoth and can simply lift the log out of the way.
    • Throughout the Ice Age series, Scrat gets stuck in numerous places while trying to get that acorn.
  • Happened to Rosy's brother in A Troll in Central Park while he was looking for her.
  • Happens frequently to Spike in the Land Before Time movies.
  • In Aladdin, Iago winds up getting stuck in a door when Jafar slams him into it.
  • In |Hercules, Herc assumed this was the case when he first met Phil. (all he saw was Phil's rear end coming out of a bush)
    • Pegasus gets stuck trying to get into Phil's house.
  • In Recess: School's Out, Miss Finster gets stuck when trying to enter the school via the basement window

Miss Finster: I'm stuck! Curse these bodacious hips of mine!

  • Happens to Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story as a result of the fireworks rocket Sid Phillips strapped onto his back being caught between two fence pickets when he and Woody discover that the Davis family is moving to a new house.
  • In Homeward Bound, when the three pets are escaping the pound, Sassy and Shadow manage to escape through the fence, but Chance gets his collar stuck on it, but he manages to make it out eventually.
  • In Mousehunt, Ernie gets stuck in a chimney trying to chase after the mouse.
  • In Pete's Dragon, Elliot gets himself stuck in the lighthouse when trying to light it.
  • A prime example of this is in A Christmas Story, when Flick is dared to stick his tongue on the flagpole. Mrs. Shields had to call the fire department to release him.
  • In Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Jar Jar gets his hand stuck in Anikan's pod racer.

Literature

Live-Action TV

  • Happened to Alan’s friend on an episode of The Journey Of Alan Strange.
  • In the early 90’s sitcom, Dinosaurs, Earl is known for frequently getting stuck in the front door of his own house.

Earl: I'm home! I'm hungry! I'm stuck in the door again!

  • In an episode of Roseanne, Roseanne gets stuck in a vent in a kitchen at a restaurant.
  • In the episode of Designing Women "Julia Gets Her Head Stuck In A Fence"... well...

Music Videos

  • At the beginning of the music video to Weird Al Yankovic’s “Eat It”, it shows two guys coming out of a sewer. The second guy gets stuck.

Puppet Shows

  • In The Great Muppet Caper, Gonzo gets his nose stuck in an elevator door, but after Fozzie pulls him free, he decides to put his nose back into it because he thought it was fun.
  • In an episode of Dumbos Circus, Dumbo gets stuck in marshmallow sauce.
  • In an episode of Under the Umbrella Tree, the three puppets perform a play where they play as dinosaurs. At one point in the play, Iggy gets stuck in a bush, and Jacob and Gloria are forced to help him.
  • At the end of The Muppets at Walt Disney World, after everyone returns from their Walt Disney World vacation, they notice that Miss Piggy is missing. One of the Muppets said the last time he saw her was in front of the Chinese Theater signing autographs. Cut to Miss Piggy in front of the Chinese Theater standing with her hoofs in the now dry cement. She continuously cries for help as the credits roll.
  • There's an episode of Sesame Street where everyone plans to have a big party in Hooper's Store. Snuffy gets stuck in the door trying to get in, so everyone had to work together and push him back out.
    • In the movie, Elmo In Grouch Land, Big Bird gets stuck in Oscar's trash can trying to get into Grouch Land, but only until Gordon gives him a good push.
  • In The Muppets Christmas Carol, Rizzo winds up falling down a chimney and getting stuck in it because he was overwhelmed by the smell of the goose that was arising from it.

Gonzo: I knew you weren't suited for litterature!

  • In the Fraggle Rock episode, "A Friend In Need", Sprocket chases Gobo into the Fraggle hole and winds up getting stuck. Gobo spends the rest of the episode doing all he can to help him.

Video Games

  • In World of Illusion, there are a few instances in the game where Donald can get stuck and Mickey has to pull him through.
  • Happens to Sonic twice in Sonic Unleashed when he crashes face-first into the ground, once in his Werehog form, another in his usual form. There are also a couple of shorts that involve Chip getting stuck in a vase and coconut, respectively.

Web Comics

Web Original

Western Animation

  • Theodore got stuck a few times on Alvin and The Chipmunks.
  • In an episode of Care Bears, Cheer Bear gets stuck trying to escape through a window of a flying car that she and some other Care Bears are trapped in. Champ Bear tries to push her through.
  • In an episode of The Wuzzles, Hoppo gets her head stuck in a billboard, and Moosle gets her out by sawing it.
  • Happened to Bullwinkle a couple times on The Bullwinkle Show.
  • There’s an episode of Garfield and Friends where Garfield follows Arlene through a hole in a brick wall but gets stuck.
  • Happened quite a few times on Rugrats, mostly with Angelica. The most notable episode is the flashback episode to when the babies first met.
  • There’s an episode of Goof Troop where PJ gets stuck in a washing machine.
  • In a Two Stupid Dogs episode, the big dog gets his head stuck in a hole in a fence, but both dogs fail to realize what’s going on.
  • Happened a number of times to Sonic and Tails in both The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Sat AM.
  • Ariel got stuck a couple times in the Little Mermaid TV series.
  • In the Cow and Chicken episode, “Black Sheep”, Cow gets stuck in a mailbox, but nobody pays attention to her. She eventually gets out herself as Super Cow.
    • In the episode, "Cow and Chicken Reclining", Cow and Chicken both get stuck in an old recliner that their dad got rid of. They remain stuck in it for the entire episode since everyone fails to realize that they need help and only view them as a piece of art.
  • In One Hundred and One Dalmatians The Series, Rolly gets stuck several times, but most of the time, he manages to get himself unstuck by himself. Only a few times did he require help.
  • In the TV special, A Chucklewood Easter, Buttons gets stuck entering the Easter Bunny’s burrow, so Rusty had to give him a little push.
  • In a semi-Christmas special of Sheep in The Big City, Sheep gets stuck under an anvil.
    • In another episode, Sheep gets himself stuck in an automatic door twice.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants once got stuck in a wringer.
  • Clyde Crashcop gets stuck in a chimney once in an episode where he's doing a lecture on "Do It Yourself". After Leonardo frees him, he begins a lecture on help.
  • In an episode of Kipper, Tiger gets stuck under a tree root. He continuously cries for help but nobody comes. Eventually, Kipper arrives and pulls him free.
  • In the first episode of the 2010 Pound Puppies cartoon, "The Yipper Caper", Strudel tries to sabotage the new kibble machine, but after she does, she gets stuck inside it. The squirrels inside manage to push her out, though.
    • In another episode, "My Fair Rebound", Lucky goes into a narrow spot to talk to Rebound. He didn't actually get stuck, but he told the other dogs to pull on his tail just in case he did.
  • In Budgie The Little Helicopter, Pippa gets stuck in a snow drift when delivering fuel to Budgie.
  • Similar to the above example, in a Christmas special of Thomas the Tank Engine, Thomas gets stuck in a snow drift.
  • One episode of Dragon Tales was about Ord accidentally getting stuck in a Knucker Hole after eating too many Dragonberries. Max then tells him a story about a bear who got stuck in a hole because he ate too much honey before finally pulling him out of the Knucker Hole. Obviously, this is a Shout-Out to Winnie the Pooh.
  • In the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic episode, "May the Best Pet Win", Rainbow Dash winds up getting stuck because a boulder landed on her wing.
  • In the Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy episode, "Knock Knock, Who's Ed?", while the Eds are sneaking through a vent, Ed had to push Edd and Eddy because they got stuck. Strangely, Ed didn't considering he's larger than the other two.
  • There is a popular Fractured Fairy Tales about the Golden Goose. In this version, when someone touched the Golden Goose with his bare hands, he got stuck to it, and whoever touched him got his hands stuck to him. This resulted in a large chain of people with their hands stuck to each other's bodies.
  • An entire episode of Beavis and Butthead is centered around this. Butt-head gets stuck in a pipe while the two are exploring a construction site, and Beavis can't get him out. A night patrolman finds them, and calls the news, the police and firefighters to get him out. After everyone else has left, Beavis crawls into the same pipe. He even says "Help, I'm stuck!" exactly.
  • In a Tom and Jerry classic titled "Salt Water Tabby", Tom chases Jerry on a beach, until Jerry slides up an umbrella pole, and with Tom behind him, steps down on the switch, swiftly shutting the umbrella, causing Tom's upper body to be completely wedged inside as he then lies on the floor. Seconds later, the crab runs into Tom's bathing suit and proceeds to snap on his buttocks, to which Tom responds by jumping into the air in pain, with the tip of the umbrella covering Tom landing in the sand leaving him stuck upside down.