To the Batpole: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The heroes can't just walk through a door and leap into action—they have to use a secret and special route to reach their [[Elaborate Underground Base]] or [[Cool Garage]]. Extra points if the route somehow engages a [[Transformation Sequence]] ([[Technology Porn]] optional), or at least changes their clothes for no apparent reason.

 

Not to be confused with [[To the Bat Noun]].

 

* Go Nagai loves this trope. ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' emerges from a hangar beneath a nearby swimming pool, ''[[Great Mazinger]]'' rises from the ocean in a waterspout, and ''[[Grendizer]]'' has its hangar hidden behind a dam.

** ''Grendizer'' also features the pilot's chair transferring from flying saucer to the [[Humongous Mecha]] it transports, with its weirdly arbitrary double half-spin.

 

 

* Averted in ''[[Watchmen]]''. The Nite Owl's nest is through an ordinary locked door in his kitchen and down a short flight of stairs.

* The ''Batman'' comics usually go with the staircase, although there have been variants. The clock is also fairly consistent, with the combination needed to unlock usually being the exact time that Bruce's parents were shot.

** The current{{when}} comic variant is a return to the 70s, namely a Batcave located underneath Wayne Enterprises. No indication yet how it's accessed.

 

* [[Wallace and Gromit]] has some direct references to Gerry Anderson and ''[[Thunderbirds]]''.

** In ''A Close Shave'', Wallace has a ludicrously complicated set of slides and machines to transport himself from his armchair to his motorbike and get dressed for work. After that, Gromit then simply walks into the garage through a door from the kitchen, rolling his eyes. It doesn't end there - Wallace even uses a mechanical foot to kick-start the motorbike.

** This was then used as a running gag in [[The Emperor's New School|the series]]. "Pull the lever, Kronk!"

* [[Despicable Me]]. To go into his underground base, Gru gets shifted across the room in a chair, eaten by a cannon which flips around on struts (and apparently dresses him in a suit as well). Then half the floor lifts and the cannon is put on a platform which descends into the ground.

** And then the trope is subverted when the same mechanical arms are used to try to take the suit off. Turns out it doesn't work very well with a squishy human being pinched and pulled in lots of different directions by all the equipment as they try to detach all the parts of the armor.

*** The problem with the unsuiting actually was that the armer had been battle-scarred so much that the bolts had bent, the metal was dented et cetera, making the suit almost impossible to deconstruct.

* ''[[Wayne's World]]'' had a fire pole revealed by pressing a button inside a bronze bust (which of course is a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]''). Partially averted in that everyone but Wayne uses the pole, while Wayne takes the "scenic route," otherwise known as the elevator, to give him time to give the necessary beginning-of-the-movie exposition.

{{quote|"To the Mirthmobile!"}}

 

* The Batpole, naturally, from ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]''. It was never adequately explained how Bruce and Dick changed into Batman and Robin as they slid down that pole, though at least once, we see that there is an "automatic costume change" switch on the wall behind the poles, which can be thrown as one descends to allow Bruce and Dick to enter the batcave uncostumed.

** Do you want to know how? [http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20051016.html Here's how!]

* Sort-of averted and used in the 60s TV adaptation of ''[[The Green Hornet]]''. Apparently The Green Hornet and Kato changed into their [[Coat, Hat, Mask|"costumes"]] in Britt Reid's townhouse, but after putting on their costumes they'd go into Reid's garage. There, Kato would actuate a mechanism, and extensions would come out of the bumpers of Reid's day-to-day car while clamps rose from the floor and attached to the extensions. Once Reid's day-to-day car was securely clamped to the floor, the ''entire floor'' under the car would flip over longitudinally, and we would see the Hornet's [[Cool Car|sleek and powerful Black Beauty]] firmly clamped to the other side of the floor. Kato would activate another mechanism, the clamps would release from the Black Beauty and the doors of the car would open. The Hornet and Kato could then get in the car, perform their "pre-flight checks", and then drive off.

** See the entire sequence [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2RDh0EqRH8 here].

 

 

* The television shows of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's production company, which at first were [[Puppet Shows]] but later included live-action ones, were the main source concerning entrance into a vehicle. The same [[Stock Footage]] was used episode after episode. This meant that the characters always had to start in the same clothes. It also prevented any puppet characters from having to walk on-camera, which was never very convincing.

** This trope began in the Sixties with ''[[Stingray (1985 TV series)|Stingray]]'', a submarine whose crew entered by their base control-room chairs descending down a pole into the open top of the submarine.

** The same trope was reused in reverse for ''[[Captain Scarlet]]'', whose fighter pilots' chairs rose through the deck of a flying aircraft carrier to enter their planes.

** The Andersons' top example was the famous "rotating walls and furniture" that took the Tracys from the house to the hangars in ''[[Thunderbirds]]''. It was this show from which the [[Stock Footage]] in Japanese [[Super Robot]] anime was derived. This was retained for the live-action ''Thunderbirds'' film, which also featured them changing into uniform as they flew down the chutes.

* ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' parodies this trope when a maid accidentally activates the secret trap door in Bruce Wayne's office. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* ''[[Danger Mouse]]'''s couch doubled as an express elevator down to his car. Despite taking the ride nearly every episode, Penfold never got used to it.

* The ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' are warped to WOOHP by a trapdoor magically appearing wherever they are.

* [[Phineas and Ferb]]'s Perry the Platypus has a different entrance to his lair every time. Some of them are really silly.

 

== Real Life ==