Shark Pool: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"[[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|Why sharks]]? Why couldn't it be otters? I wouldn't mind dropping into a tank of otters. [[Playful Otter|They're fun.]]"''|'''Ron Stoppable''', ''[[Kim Possible]]''}}

 

 

The hole or vat may contain substances besides water, including molten metal, toxic waste, hot lava, or, for the villain who happens to have a [[Sweet Tooth]], boiling chocolate, caramel, or any sugary or savory food in liquid form. See also [[Acid Pool]].

 

 

See also [[Fed to the Beast]].

 

{{examples}}

* In a rare anime example, ''[[Excel Saga (anime)|Excel Saga]]'' features the title character frequently being dropped into a pit of alligators, piranha, and/or various other nasties by her superior-slash-object of obsessive affection, Il Palazzo. When Il Palazzo's wrath is imminent the rope to open the trap door for the pit spontaneously descends (by mechanisms unknown) into his reach. [[Excel Saga (manga)|In the manga,]] the animals in the pit become increasingly ludicrous (''baboons!''), while the main characters lampshade the pit's creatures on a regular basis, for example wondering if Lord Il Palazzo personally hunts the animals put down there, since there shouldn't be any members in the organization besides the main characters.

* Rando hangs Yusuke over a pond of piranha-like fishes in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]''.

* ''[[Pokémon Special]]'': Aqua Admin Ark, feeling as if [[Locked in a Room]] and his handmade [[Drowning Pit]] variant weren't lethal enough, calls out his Sharpedo to turn it into a makeshift Shark Pool. Ironically, attempting to execute a [[Jungle Princess|Nature Heroine]] in this fashion wound up taking a bite out of his own fisherman's basket instead.

 

* Happens regularly throughout various incarnations of ''[[Batman]]'', where he utilizes his grappling hook at the last second.

** Although the [[Batman (TV series)|Shark Repellent Bat-Spray]] probably deserves a special mention.

* In one ''[[Daredevil]]'' storyarc, the hero ends up in an old mansion [[Death Trap|converted into a gigantic house of DEATH]]. At one point, he gets thrown into a tube and ends up in a pool... which, due to lack of maintenance, featured a half empty base, and a suffocating shark. Subversion!

* ''Doctor Fun'' had a [http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/collections/1990/images/df1990-430.gif detailed comparative study] of the problem by lowering subjects into test barrels:

Less fun: barrel of [[Squirrels in My Pants|squirrels]].

 

* In the 1986 ''[[Transformers: The Movie|Transformers the Movie]]'', anyone the Quintessons found "innocent" was dropped into a tank filled with Sharkticons.

* In ''[[Despicable Me]]'', Vector's living room sits ''on top'' of a shark tank—with a ''transparent floor''.

* Cleverly inverted in ''[[Deep Blue Sea]]'': the shark tank in question was built by the protagonists and most of the movie consists of the sharks breaking into the non-tank parts of an aquatic research base. [[Better Than It Sounds]].

* The aforementioned ''[[Austin Powers]]'' example. In the third movie, Dr. Evil ''did'' get sharks with frikkin' laser beams attached to their heads.

* In the 1936 ''[[Flash Gordon Serial]]'' film serial, while in the underwater city, Flash is locked in a tank to fight a shark.

 

* ''[[James Bond (novel)|James Bond]]''

** The original ''Bond'' books do this too. In the original ''[[Dr. No]]'', Bond was dropped into a pool with a giant squid.

{{quote|''Symrustar had over a thousand finned and scaled pets here. From the crowning bowl where she now scattered morsels of the secret food she mixed herself (Amaranthae had heard it said that its chief ingredients were the ground flesh, blood, and bones of unsuccessful suitors)''... (after next page there is little doubt).}}

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** Paul Kidby did an illustration of the scorpion pit for ''The Art of Discworld''. In it is a mime. Hung upside down. Opposite an (unseen) plaque saying "LEARN THE WORDS". Do ''not'' try to do mime in Ankh-Morpork.

* The "slow death caused by being lowered into a pond full of killer fish" idea is [[Older Than Feudalism]]. Seneca wrote about a wealthy Roman who was really pissed off at one of his slaves for breaking a glass when the emperor was visiting. So he decided to have the slave thrown into a pool full of famished moray eels, because that way it'd take longer for him to die. Good times! Thankfully, the story ends with the slave being spared because the emperor finds the idea barbaric.

* A particularly chilling example of this trope occurs in the autobiography ''[[When Rabbit Howls]]'' written by the multiple personalities of a woman. As a punishment her sadistic stepfather {{spoiler|lowers her into a well infested with snakes. The trauma of this single event finally pushes her over the edge and she begins to split off her personalities to deal with her abuse.}}

 

* In the 2006 ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' series, Robin at one point is lowered into a pit of venomous snakes... that were [[You Fail Biology Forever|clearly harmless boa constrictors]].

* One sketch in the BBC series ''[[The Wrong Door]]'' has an evil genius discussing this with a workman fixing his [[Trap Door]]. The workman points out that piranhas aren't that deadly, being omnivores, and even pointing out that his last victim is still alive. He then recommend polar bears to be the optimum creatures for a killing pool.

* ''[[CSI]]'' has a plot where a killer put a shark in a casino swimming pool, resulting in it eating someone (thus making it a double duty trope with [[Animal Assassin]]).

 

 

* Kim Jong-il has one in ''[[Team America: World Police]]'', which he drops Hans Blix into.

 

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''

** The add-on ''Dungeonscape'' features an acidborn template... making... wait for it... SHARKS IN ACID. Which is basically the [[Rule of Cool|most awesome idea ever]].

** ''[[Dragonlance]]'' module DL12 ''Dragons of Faith''. One of the traps in a maze is a [[Trap Door]] leading to a pool filled with sharks.

 

* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''

** It is possible to create something much worse in ''Dwarf Fortress''—the Carp Pool!

** Or you could just use one of the many species of [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Shark shark].

* Pools filled with [[Goddamn Bats|leeches]] are very common in ''[[Blood|Blood 2]]''. And 90% of the times, the game REQUIRES you to swim through it.

* Exaggerated in ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', where every single body of water, from the shoreline of Keelhaul Key to the docks of Rogueport ''to an innocuous, luxurious water fountain'' in Poshley Heights, has piranhas waiting to bite at Mario should he fall in.

 

* The aforementioned acidborn shark from ''Dungeonscape'' is prominently featured in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0541.html strip #541] of ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', where O-Chul is dropped into a vat of spikes, acid, and an acid-breathing shark. The villains make wagers on his survival in a game show format. Extra Irony bonus: Rich Burlew, the author, was involved in writing said add-on. [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193765 He says], "If I thought I could have slipped [[Austin Powers|laser-headed sharks]] through the WOTC editing staff, I would have."

{{quote|'''Demon-roach:''' [[Self-Deprecation|They'll let any old hack write a sourcebook these days.]]}}

* [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=994 "The Voice of Reason"] from ''[[Questionable Content]]''.

{{quote|'''Khrima:''' And this "boiling sharks" idea of yours... Wouldn't the sharks die if we boil them?}}

* The [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090617 "Revenge of the Weasel Queen"] side-story of ''[[Girl Genius]]''. Not only a pit of acid, but it's filled with mutant acid-resistant flying piranhas equipped with flamethrowers and battle axes. And much, much more! There's a reason why the Weasel Queen calls it her "Pit of [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|DOOOOOM]]". When you go through the list of threats, [[Phil Foglio]] pretty much covers all the tropes of this genre. What trope is covered by the robotic Morris dancers? [[Rule of Funny]], [[Crazy Awesome]], [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]], [[Mad Science]]....

* ''[[Freefall]]'' has a shark tank in Ecosystems Unlimited for some reason (probably intended for release once there will be enough of prey).

{{quote|'''Security guard''': Earth fish. Very educational. Keeps you from getting bored... }}

 

* The fictional movie trailer ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CY_HGl6W2U Shark Pool]'', naturally enough, features one of these. However, it's a ''swimming pool'', and the only thing making people go into it is abject stupidity.

 

* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]''

** [[The Joker]] does this in the episode "The Laughing Fish", in a scene adapted directly from the example under "Comic Books".

** Professor Dementor had an almost generic shark pool, filled with lava!

** [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Evil!Ron]] had a piranha pool prepared in order to scare [[The Dragon|Shego]] into complete obedience. It worked.

* ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' has Jackie and Tohru suspended over one.

* ''[[The Pirates of Dark Water]]'' features Bloth's Constrictus, a nasty alien creature that lives in a watery pit in his deck, and that he uses to dispose of enemies and [[You Have Failed Me...|stupid crewmen]]. Quoth the first episode:

* ''[[The New Adventures of Superman]]'' episode "Luthor's Loco Looking Glass". Lex Luthor puts Jimmy Olson in a [[Death Trap]] involving a sliding floor over a pool of sharks.

* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' had HIM invent the "vat of boiling sharks" trick as part of a [[Knights and Knaves]] setup. HIM being a [[Reality Warper]], HIM could go that in the middle of a test of logic puzzles and get away with it.

 

* The Golden Nugget Casino Hotel in Las Vegas has a shark tank next to the swimming pool. It even has a transparent water slide that goes through the tank.

* The Georgia Aquarium has a shark pool with four foot long Bonnet Head Sharks—that visitors are encouraged to touch. (They're fairly even-tempered sharks.)

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Aquatic Animal Tropes]]

[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]

[[Category:Death Trap Tropes]]