Laser Hallway: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"There is one neat effect when characters unwisely venture into a corridor and the door slams shut on them. Then a laser beam passes at head level, decapitating one. Another beam whizzes past at waist level, cutting the second in two while the others duck. A third laser pretends to be high but then switches to low, but the third character outsmarts it by jumping at the last minute. Then the fourth laser turns into a grid that dices its victim into pieces the size of a Big Mac. Since the grid is inescapable, what were the earlier lasers about? Does the corridor have a sense of humor?"''|'''[[Roger Ebert]]''', in his review of the first ''[[Resident Evil]]'' movie}}

 

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* It appears an Intel ad for their I5 processor, featuring the ''[[Madagascar]]'' penguins trying to steal said processor.

** In episode five, {{spoiler|Mimi}} now hides out in a Buddhist temple that comes with a "laser cage" consisting of vertical [[Frickin' Laser Beams|laser beams]] to trap intruders and leave them open to [[Five Rounds Rapid|fire]] by her army of [[Church Militant|nuns with guns]]. Since it's designed to contain rather than detect, the beams are spaced at a small distance from each other.

* Averted in ''[[New Getter Robo]]'': in the second episode some people pass through laser sensors that weren't visible to them ([[Rule of Perception|only to the audience from an angle where they were practically pointed at the camera]]) and were aimed in five different angles, making it so it'd be all but impossible to get past them even if you could see them.

* One features in the second episode of ''[[Angel Beats!]]'', likely as a [[Homage]] to ''[[Resident Evil]]''. The group is trapped in a locked corridor and have to dodge the increasingly complicated laser patterns. {{spoiler|Matsushita}} ends up sliced into pieces, but of course, [[Death Is Cheap]] here and he revives soon after, although his clothes are shredded.

* Occurred in a ''[[Kochikame]]'' TV special when one of the circus villains acrobat through the laser room which holds the gold head statue.

* In a tech-free variant, the bungalow shootout in ''[[Near Dark]]'' turns the vampires' hideout ''into'' a Sunlight Hallway, as bullet holes in the walls allow beams of skin-searing light to penetrate and crisscross the room.

 

 

* An episode of ''[[Space Precinct]] 2040'' had a laser trap inside a bomb. The laser was shown by firing a fire extinguisher not-directly-at the bomb in question.

* The ''[[MythBusters]]'' thoroughly debunked this trope, first by discovering that visible laser security systems such as these simply don't exist (invisible infrared laser systems are sold instead), and secondly by demonstrating that even with a crude homemade mockup of the typical Laser Hallway most of the usual "circumvention methods" used on TV and the movies won't work, and can in fact trigger it. Specifically, they found that blowing smoke/powder at red lasers (jury-rigged from laser pointers) does make them visible, but not long or well enough to be very helpful without setting them off. Night-vision goggles plus powder make even IR beams visible, but with the same problem. Deflecting a beam with a mirror or hitting the detector with another beam worked, but was impractical. And most of their attempts assume beams placed so you could squeeze past them if only you knew where they were. Ironically, the ultrasonic motion sensors can be beaten with the ludicrous methods (tried almost on a whim by the producers) of holding up a bedsheet or simply walking at a snail's pace. Were it not for the fact that these methods violate the [[Rule of Cool]], I'm sure we'd have seen Tom Cruise using them in the next ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' movie.

* ''[[Fight Science]]'' employed a non-moving visible Laser Hallway to demonstrate a female ninja's flexibility and kinesthetic sense. [http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/fight-science#tab-Videos/07741_00 She clears the room in 56 seconds and does a back walkover out of the room just to show off].

* The ''[[Bionic Woman]]'' remake had them visible despite the fact that Jaime's bionic eye [[Justified Trope|could have given her a plausible way]] of seeing infra-red beams. Subverted when instead of trying to slip through the beams, her partner deliberately steps into them so they can get captured as a [[Trojan Prisoner]].

 

 

== [[Music Videos]] ==

 

== Tabletop Games ==

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the first episode of the '90s ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'' series, the beams are detected by smelling ozone, revealed by super-summoned fog, and shut down by scaling overhanging pipes to reach the control panel.

* In ''[[X-Men: Evolution|X-Men Evolution]],'' Iceman uses an ice bridge to pass the beams along the floor, and when bragging to Shadowcat, he's spinning the keys (to disable the security system) on his finger. They fly off, fall through a beam, and trigger the alarm. The look on Iceman's face is priceless.

* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man|The Spectacular Spider Man]]'' one of these appears, somewhat [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?|peculiarly]], in the genetics labs at Empire State University, to deter theft of the "ooze." This doesn't stop the [[Classy Cat Burglar|Black Cat]] from trying, however.

* In the ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' short ''The Wrong Trousers'', Feather McGraw's plan for bypassing the lasers protecting a diamond is by having a sleeping Wallace, strapped to remote-controlled Techno-Trousers, walk on the ''ceiling'', then using a retractable arm on Wallace's helmet to snatch the gem. It almost works, until the arm swings over and the diamond hits one of the lasers, activating the alarm.

* In ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', Yumi encounters once a Laser Hallway of the deadly variety in Sector 5. Good thing she's the most acrobatic of the team.

* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', it isn't so much a hallway, but the Autobot's base is filled with motion sensors. In "Home Is Where The Spark Is", they sense movements and grab the Autobots.

* Robin and Red X both overcome a tangle of lasers that are protecting a Xenothium vault when Robin goes after whoever was in the Red X suit in ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''.

* The episode "Double Date" from [[Justice League Unlimited]] sees Huntress use an aerosol spray to reveal lasers in Mandragora's home. She simply vaults and flips through them.

 

== Real Life ==

* There's a "laser maze" game at the Excaliber casino's arcade in [[Viva Las Vegas|Las Vegas]].

* The British Museum uses a "beam system" to protect some of its exhibits. However, given that they're not protected in any other way, nobody bats an eyelid when someone sets off the alarm (since it can be easily done innocently by someone who's leaning in to get a closer look), and the "beam system" gets a sign to itself... [[Rule of Cool|it's probably not there because it's effective]].

 

[[Category:This Index Is in The Way]]

[[Category:Tropes Examined by the Mythbusters]]