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Impressive Pyrotechnics: Difference between revisions
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[[Stuff Blowing Up]] on TV and movies are usually large, visually impressive fireballs, that appear to be fueled by gasoline, propane or another similar such fuel, even when the object in question [[Made of Explodium|has no right to explode]] ''[[Rule of Cool|at all]]'', much less spectacularly. Sometimes they are (or include) a shower of sparks.
In reality, a fireball is often a minor part of an explosion (though not always, as is the case with incendiaries, like phosphorus, uranium, gelled fuels like napalm, etc). The real devastation from an explosion often comes from the force (overpressure) of the blast and the flying debris and shrapnel. Very rarely will explosions look like what they do in real life, an expanding cloud of dust and debris with very little light
The explosions also burn at a ridiculously slow rate, which conveniently enables one to [[Outrun the Fireball]].
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Oh, and fireballs in space. Perhaps some chemical mixtures can make fireballs in a near vacuum, but it's unlikely most space explosions are like that.
Occurs in 90% of all onscreen explosions.
If you turn this trope [[Up to Eleven]], then [[You Can See the Explosion from Orbit]].
Compare [[Koosh Bomb]], [[Every Car Is a Pinto]].
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== Live
* Demonstrated in an episode of ''[[
** Of course the proper one ''did'' have a very impressive fireball of its own. You just needed to watch in [[Slow Motion]] to really appreciate it.
** They also tested whether [[wikipedia:Tracer ammunition|tracer bullets]] + petrol tank = boom. The answer? Sort of, but not really an explosion, so much as just a fire. But a bad guy in a movie is unlikely to be using tracer bullets, especially since [[SoCalization|most movies take place in Los Angeles]], and tracer bullets are illegal in California.
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* [[Professional Wrestling]] must have an infinite budget supply for this...
* The ''[[Scrubs]]'' episode "My Unicorn" parodies this when an explosion occurs after ''a toy airplane crash''.
* Any kind of [[People in Rubber Suits|monster]] in
* ''[[Der Clown]] -- Payday'': {{spoiler|The explosion of the aircraft at the end suggests that the plane was filled with fuel from wingtip to wingtip, including the entire fuselage behind the rear cockpit wall}}, so huge is the fireball.
** Didn't from quarter to half of the series in any given season contain [[Every Car Is a Pinto|some]] or [[Misguided Missile|other]] fireworks?
* Much beloved of Jeremy Clarkson on ''[[Top Gear]]'', which earned him the ire of co-presenter James May when he set off fireballs while May was trying to film an ad for a tame diesel Volkswagen Scirocco.
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' featured plenty of explosions, but happily mocked the need for bigger explosions with each season in one episode. No matter how large the special effects team made their fireballs, the director constantly demanded larger, requiring increasingly elaborate setups to get the desired effect.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star Fox]] 64'' was great at this. Best examples include: Either ending of Katina (Bill comments on the fireworks if you destroy the Saucerer, but seeing it vaporize the Katina base is probably even cooler looking), Macbeth (where you get to blow up an enemy weapons facility by smashing a supply train into it), Bolse (the entire Bolse ''satellite'' blows up, and since it's described in the Guide as being planet-sized, this may also qualify for [[Earthshattering Kaboom]]), Area 6 (everything explodes in Area 6. Especially at the very end) and of course, Venom, where {{spoiler|Andross makes his entire base explode when he's defeated in an attempt to kill you off and you have to follow [[Dead Person Conversation|your dead father]] out of the exploding ruins.}}
** Also, the underwater level, in which it is proven that giant clams are made of nitroglycerine.
* ''[[Crysis (series)|Crysis]]'' is actually the ultimate king of
* Surprisingly, the video game ''[[Borderlands]]'' subverts this trope, as the grenades and rockets the player acquires behave like normal, boring, Real-Life explosions.
** Er, that is, until you pick up 'Grenade M.O.D.s', which add features like [[Incendiary Exponent|Incendiary]], [[Shock and Awe|Shock]], and [[Hollywood Acid|Corrosive]] damage to your otherwise normal frag grenades. Which causes them to explode in Spectacular Fireballs, Static Discharges, and Chemical Plumes, respectively.
== Multiple media ==
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[[Category:Spectacle]]
[[Category:Stuff Blowing Up]]
[[Category:Tropes Examined by the Mythbusters]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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