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{{trope}}
[[File:
A character(s) stranded on a [[Deserted Island]] (or a desert) builds a message with sticks and/or stones for a passing plane to see. It usually reads "HELP", although "SOS" is common as well.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', the trio write "SOS" on the beach of the [[Deserted Island]] they are stranded on.
* In one novel of ''[[Read or Die]]'', Yomiko gets trapped on a desert island. There is a picture of on the beach with her rescue message. "Send Books!"
== [[
* Played for laughs in a [[Far Side]] cartoon, where the message says "HELF" and the passing pilot consequently decides it's a false alarm. Also, see above.▼
* In one [[Carl Barks]] one page Scrooge McDuck strip had Scrooge stranded on an small island, and "Help" spelled out on piece of paper hanging on a clothesline. When help doesn't arrive, he replaces the letters with money, and suddenly, a armada of all sorts of boats (including a kayak and a submarine amongst others) appear around the island.
* Played for laughs in the ''[[Monica's Gang]]'' story "Sand, Sea and Surprises" where Monica and Jimmy Five get stranded on what they think is a deserted island. At one point, while Monica looks for food, Jimmy Five decides to write a message on the sand with a few twigs... and ends up forming a Monica caricature.
{{quote|'''Monica:''' You were going to write "help"!
'''Jimmy Five:''' ''Wight''! But then I thought... [[Lampshade Hanging|Anybody can]] ''[[Lampshade Hanging|wwite]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|"help"!]] }}
* One Foxtrot arc has Roger take Peter and Jason on a [[Horrible Camping Trip]] / [[Macho Disaster Expedition]]. When he tells them to build a fire pit, he tells them they're doing it wrong, as the stones are in an S shape. The next bird's eye view panel shows they've written "SEND PIZZA".▼
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In ''[[The Maretian]]'' -- a ''[[The Martian]]''/''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' crossover (no, really) -- Mark's first attempts to communicate with the departing ''Hermes'' and/or Earth are massive (but brief) messages written out with rocks on the Martian surface.
== [[Film]] ==
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* In ''[[28 Days Later]]'', the survivors form the word "HELLO" from sheets and curtains on the field next to their hideout. [[Rule of Symbolism|We see it first before they finish the O.]] They get rescued by Finns.
** Done again in ''[[28 Weeks Later]]'' where we see American forces pressure-washing off a message on a roof which read "Alive in here!". They probably weren't.
* [[Dick Van Dyke]] does this at the end of
* The film, ''[[Cast Away]]''.
== [[Literature]] ==
* Played straight in [[Joe Haldeman]]'s early ''[[Star Trek]]'' novel "[[wikipedia:Planet of Judgment|Planet of Judgment]]". When Captain Kirk's survey party is trapped on a planet without means of communication, they lay out a series of symbols once used by stranded airmen to communicate with the Enterprise.
* The [[James Patterson]] novel ''Sail'' - a kid whose family is stuck on an island sticks a message in a bottle, which a big fish swallows. The fish is later caught and a search effort restarts.
== [[Live
* This has been a challenge in several seasons of ''[[Survivor (TV series)|Survivor]]''.
* ''[[Lost]]'' - the episode "SOS," appropriately enough.
** {{spoiler|The SOS sign was never completed. However, the discarded materials make a rather large sad smiley like this :( }}
* Played with on ''[[Friends]]''. The gang is trapped at a rest stop somewhere in upstate New York and Joey writes "help" in sticks on the snow. Only he spells it "pleh" so the guys in the planes can read it.
* In part 2 of ''[[Little Britain
* ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' - Upon hearing a radio broadcast that a NASA capsule is crossing the south Pacific (presumably within eyeshot of their island), the castaways try writing "SOS" in burning logs to get their attention. [[Failure Is the Only Option|As usual]], Gilligan does something that angers the Skipper, and he chases Gilligan across the message, rolling the logs around and distorting the message. When the astronauts fly by, they see the message: "SOL", the name of the mission leader, and assume it's a "You're awesome!" message. Skipper punished Gilligan by making him write "SOS" a zillion times on a chalkboard until the Skipper felt he had enough.
* ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' - In one episode Hogan tricks Klink into calling a nighttime fallout rollcall. After all are accounted for and the men are allowed to be at ease, Klink lets the POWs have a smoke. What Klink
* ''[[I Dream of Jeannie]]'' - In the pilot, spacecapsule wrecked astronaut Tony Nelson makes one,
* The final ''[[
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
▲* Played for laughs in a ''[[The Far Side]]'' cartoon, where the message says "HELF" and the passing pilot consequently decides it's a false alarm. Also, see
▲* One
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In the original ''[[Survival Kids]]'' game (the series that went on to become ''[[Lost in Blue]]''), the way to get the quickest ending was to build one of these on the beach. You'd then get rescued. (It is, of course, a long ways from the Best Ending, which you need to unlock New Game Plus
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Pictures for Sad Children]]'', [[David Foster Wallace]] writes a [http://www.picturesforsadchildren.com/index.php?comicID=122 help message]{{Dead link}}.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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* There's an episode of ''[[The Jetsons]]'' wherein George and the Space Cubs of Troop 54 get stranded in the wild untamed area of the moon, and Spacely's son fires off flares that read HEPL. George reads it aloud, and the kid, realizing his mistake, fires another flare that strikes out his typo and corrects the last two letters so it does say HELP when all is said and done.
* Hilariously [[Parody|parodied]] in an episode of ''[[Cow and Chicken]]'' where Cow and Boneless got stuck on the roof of Cow and Chicken's house. Cow spots a helicopter flying by and starts writing something with ripped out roof tiles... Which turns out to be "My cousin and I were playing catch but I tossed him too high, we got stuck on the roof and now we need [runs out of space]" The pilot reads all this, goes "Need what?" and distractedly crashes onto a tree.
* ''[[The Critic (animation)|The Critic]]''{{'}}s parents were stranded on a South Pacific Island once; [[Cloudcuckoolander|His father]] spelled out a message on the beach, which was acted upon by a [[Crazy Prepared]] rescue crew: "Need Gin."
* One episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' features a similar joke to the ''[[Futurama]]'' example mentioned above, except with sharks.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Island Help Message]]
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