...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Chained to a Railway
- 706 statements
- 133 feature instances
- 110 referencing feature instances
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The music is high-tempo, the damsel is in distress, and the mustachioed villain is mugging to the camera. Yup, she's been chained to a railroad track, and the 7:10 Express is running right on time. Despite popular opinion, there are hardly any silent films in which you'll see this exact scenario. And in the ones where it does happen, it's usually played for laughs, making fun of the already well-known trope from the world of theater. When this trope did appear in silent cinema, it was usually Played With in various ways, and had more variation to it than modern homages would have you believe. Nevertheless, parodies are often done in a Retraux style that imitates old silent movies. This familiar scenario first appeared in the 1867 short story "Captain Tom's Fright," although a more rudimentary form of it was seen on stage in 1863 in the play The Engineer. However, it really entered the meme pool as a result of its inclusion in the 1867 play Under the Gaslight◊, by Augustin Daly. (Interestingly, in Gaslight the victim is a male, not a fair maiden - and is in fact rescued by the fair maiden.) By 1868, it reportedly could be found in five different London plays all running at the same time, and remained a theatre staple for decades. Variations of this trope was used in the films The Train Wreckers (1905) and Buster in Nodland (1912) before appearing in its most iconic form in the 1913 Keystone Komedy film Barney Oldfield's Race For A Life, where it was already Played for Laughs. It's commonly associated with the 1914 film serial The Perils of Pauline, but this is probably due to confusion (no one knows for sure, since neither the full serial nor the script have survived). If a Dastardly Whiplash character appears, he'll probably use this trope without shame, befitting of a similarly "outdated" villain. Heck, he'll be proud to show off his knowledge of "the classics." As bizarre (and horrible) as it may seem, this trope is Truth in Television. At least six people in the United States were killed between 1874 and 1910 as a result of being tied to railroad tracks. Of course, it was never as common in real life as in fiction, no doubt because there are more efficient ways of murdering people. Usually, the trains used in this trope would be powered by old-time steam engines, but a few modern uses/parodies would use diesel locomotives instead. It's also a hazard for characters in a Mouse World, who have enough difficulty with toy trains, let alone real ones. For more information, see this page at The Straight Dope website. If the hero can't reach the maiden, he may have to engage in some Trainstopping. See Chained to a Rock, which is much, much older, but operates on the same basic principle. Compare Railroad Tracks of Doom. |
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Chained to a Railway / int_13d2e7c3 | type |
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Played straight in the 50s The Adventures of Superman episode "The Perils of Superman". Victim was Lois Lane, natch. For bonus points, they also had Perry White tied to a log in a sawmill. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_13d2e7c3 | featureApplicability |
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The Adventures of Superman | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_148f217e | type |
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In Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel, the villain arranges for Nancy to get her foot trapped between the rails of a roller coaster's tracks, and she must free herself before being splattered by the oncoming train of cars. | |
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Nancy Drew (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_1577c9c9 | type |
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In the Agent Angel (formerly known as Angels Unlimited) series, Miss Bloom is tied to the train tracks whilst filming a movie—with her brother crouching just out of shot with knife, in case a train really does come. | |
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Agent Angel | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1577c9c9 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1728937a | type |
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Used in Anthony Horowitz's Diamond Brothers books. The protagonist notes that for all the narrow escapes he's had, he's never going to write a book about how to free yourself when you're very securely tied to a train track, because it's just not gonna happen. He's only saved by an outside party. | |
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Diamond Brothers | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_1a2b452e | type |
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Used in the Count Duckula episode "A Mountie Always Gets His Duck" where the villain (A French Canadian with a Scottish accent) ties Duckula's friend's fiancée to a railway line. Nanny inadvertently saves them all by walking directly in front of the train and wrecking it. | |
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Count Duckula | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1a2b452e | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1aa9d9f4 | type |
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Used, inevitably in the old Adam West/Burt Ward Batman (1966) series. It is claimed that, in keeping with their different status (hero vs sidekick) Batman was chained to a larger gauge railway than Robin was. | |
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Batman (1966) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1aa9d9f4 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1ab7f66f | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1ab7f66f | comment |
An advertisement for a railroad in Our Dumb Century claims that this happens less frequently on their railroad than on competing lines. | |
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Our Dumb Century | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1ab7f66f | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1b21bd20 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1b21bd20 | comment |
A parody of this trope is part of an early scheme in Terror Island—Sid requests Liln put on a frilly dress and be tied to train tracks, demanding Stephen save him by grocery shopping. Liln doesn't do it though. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1b21bd20 | featureApplicability |
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Terror Island (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1b21bd20 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1beda93b | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1beda93b | comment |
Done semi-seriously in the Sluggy Freelance storyline Girls' Night Out, where some ridiculous gangsters tied Torg and Riff to train tracks. Lampshade-hanging ensues. | |
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Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1beda93b | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1c8a1380 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1c8a1380 | comment |
Saiko Rocks: A flashback shows SMG3 doing this to Tari For the Evulz. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1c8a1380 | featureApplicability |
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Saiko Rocks (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1c8a1380 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1e6565c2 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1e6565c2 | comment |
Parodied in The Onion's faux historical retrospective Our Dumb Century, with an ad for a railway company claiming to feature "fewer mustache-twirling villains tying golden-haired maidens to our tracks" than any of its competitors, as such events are quite an inconvenience to passengers. | |
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The Onion (Magazine) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1e6565c2 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1f72b18d | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1f72b18d | comment |
In the 1948 Tom and Jerry short "Kitty Foiled", Tom ties Jerry to a toy railroad track. The mouse is saved by the canary, who bombs the toy railway with a bowling ball, smashing straight through the floor and dispatching the onrushing train into the basement. | |
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TomAndJerry | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1f72b18d | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1f8462f7 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_1f8462f7 | comment |
A sci-fi variation (not to mention a rare heroic one) occurs in Spider-Man 2099 where Spider-Man is clearly outmatched by a cybernetic bounty hunter, and uses his wits to get the cyborg caught by his metal parts on the intense magnetic field of a maglev track and then hit by an oncoming vehicle. | |
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Spider-Man 2099 (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_1f8462f7 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_21eccc35 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_21eccc35 | comment |
The Doctor Blake Mysteries: This is what the kidnapper plans to do to his victim if the ransom is not paid in "Lucky Numbers". His wording is how Lucien realises that she is being held in the railway yards. | |
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The Doctor Blake Mysteries | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_22147342 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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Arrow In "An Innocent Man", Oliver Queen interrogates a miscreant by chaining him to a railroad track, then shooting free the chain at the last moment so he can dive free. In "Draw Back Your Bow", Oliver himself gets handcuffed to the tracks by Cupid, who's planning to die along with him. Oliver dislocates his thumb to pull his hand free of the cuffs and hauls them both off the track Just in Time. |
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Arrow | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_22147342 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_261c8d3f | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_261c8d3f | comment |
Parodied on The Simpsons in The Itchy and Scratchy Movie, in which Itchy does just this to Scratchy - however, Itchy discovers that the engineer won't let him in the engine of the train without proper training. So Itchy goes to college, passes his exams, gets his degree, finds a job as an engineer at a railway, and proudly rides the train right over Scratchy (who, being the poor luckless bastard that he is, had almost managed to free himself in the meantime before fate caught up with him). | |
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The Simpsons | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_261c8d3f | |
Chained to a Railway / int_299db5c7 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_299db5c7 | comment |
Bruce Coville's Book of... Nightmares: In Death's Door, Death tricks his way into acting as a substitute bus driver, then parks the bus on a set of train tracks, seals the doors and waits for the train to hit it, killing everyone aboard. They're saved when they remember the bus has kick-out windshields as an emergency backup. | |
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Bruce Coville's Book of... | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_2ba1d958 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_2ba1d958 | comment |
Played straight, probably for the first time in years, by The Matrix. Rather than tying Neo to the tracks, immortal Agent Smith just puts him in a chokehold, holding him in place, and makes him watch the oncoming subway train. (Smith, being an Agent, doesn't have to worry about dying himself.) Unfortunately for Smith, his goading triggers Neo's Berserk Button, and Neo escapes. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_2ba1d958 | featureApplicability |
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The Matrix | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_2ba1d958 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_2bbcacd9 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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Parodied in numerous Looney Tunes cartoons, including Bob Clampett's "The Big Snooze", in which Elmer Fudd (who's dressed as a woman) is tied to the tracks by Bugs Bunny and the "Super Chief" runs right over him — the "Super Chief" being a long line of little bunnies following Bugs, who's wearing a feathered headdress. Other cartoon-inspired versions include the train running over the bad guy who may or may not even be standing on the tracks, or derailing into a pile of twisted steel, leaving the tied-up person without a scratch. One toon ended with Bugs tied to the tracks by Crusher (the wrestler antagonist) and is just about to be run over by the train...when the film is literally cut abruptly stopping the cartoon. One guess as to who did it. This was also subverted in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, when the Evil ACME Chairman, among one of the many classic tricks for D.J.'s father Damian to meet his doom, ties Damian to the railroad tracks, where the streamlined ACME Train of Death is hurtling towards him. If that doesn't kill him, the surrounding dynamite would. (Wile E. Coyote is also driving the train.) However, Damian is saved in the nick of time, and the train eventually crashes (thanks to it running into some dynamite). |
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Looney Tunes | hasFeature |
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Totally Spies!: In "The Fugitives", Clover has an Imagine Spot of Mandy being tied up on railroad tracks as a train approaches her. | |
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Totally Spies! | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_2c646433 | type |
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In one of the cutscenes of Line Rider 2: Unbound, Chaz captures Bailey and ties her to a railroad where a train happens to be passing by. Bosh hears Bailey's screams and, taking notice of the situation, runs to the swings he was using and uses them to make some skis for him to use. Thanks to this, Bosh is able to change the sign to redirect the train to the railroad where Chaz happens to be standing on, causing him to be run over and allowing Bosh to untie Bailey from the railroad. | |
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Line Rider (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_2d311a08 | type |
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Chained to a Railway / int_2d311a08 | comment |
The above-quoted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode has Bebop and Rocksteady doing this to Splinter. Of course, Splinter is eventually saved and the train winds up destroyed (thanks to Rocksteady cutting the brakes.) | |
Chained to a Railway / int_2d311a08 | featureApplicability |
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_2f5e0d1f | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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Starlo does this as one of his trials in Undertale Yellow. Even if it's a fake train, his team are unsurprisingly NOT okay with the whole ordeal and take it out on Clover, before quitting Starlo entirely. | |
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Undertale Yellow (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_331eea2e | type |
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Chained to a Railway / int_331eea2e | comment |
In Cordell Barker's cartoon adaptation of The Cat Came Back (see trope), old Mr. Johnson drives a handcar over no fewer than seven (if not more) bound women and a cow, before derailing on a beetle. | |
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The Cat Came Back | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_342c4c18 | type |
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In the "Sweet Caroline" arc in Modesty Blaise, one of the attention getting murders committed by Sweet Caroline is to drug a famous actress and tie her to a railway track like a heroine from an old-time melodrama. | |
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Modesty Blaise (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_3683873b | type |
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In The Muppet Show Comic Book #2, there's a page called "From the Top-Secret Casebook of Scooter, Boy Detective", which ends with Scooter watching the hypnotist Creepy McBoo tying a chicken to the railway tracks and noting "Remain firmly unconvinced that McBoo is not an evil hypnotist." | |
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The Muppet Show Comic Book (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_37a6e77b | type |
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Happens to Scoutmaster Lumpus on Camp Lazlo after he is captured by the clowns of Slapstick Mountain. | |
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Camp Lazlo | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_38fd8712 | type |
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This Time Round: In the story "Master Test", the Jacobi Master, challenged to prove his evilness, decides to tie Mel to a railway. She complains that he's being unimaginative. | |
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This Time Round / Fan Fic | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_3aafea68 | type |
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Chained to a Railway / int_3aafea68 | comment |
A more literal variant of this appears in the Saw spinoff Spiral, where the opening trap features an officer effectively tied to subway tracks by his tongue. | |
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Spiral (2021) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_3aafea68 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3adfb1ba | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3adfb1ba | comment |
Parodied in a segment on Mickey Mouseworks, in which Peg Leg Pete kidnaps Minnie (apparently in a series of segments parodying the old "damsel in distress" cliches), and ties her to a set of railroad tracks. Unfortunately, Mickey's not that good at untying knots, so before long, both of them are tied to the track, just as railroad crossing signals begin flashing. Pete's driving the train, which consists of a large diesel locomotive and several passenger cars. But right before the train can run over them, Mickey manages to hit a switch conveniently located in front of them, and the train goes up this other track into a tunnel ("I KNEW I shouldn't have put in that second set of tracks!" Pete curses). Mickey and Minnie manage to get off the tracks, still tied up. The train then speeds by again, going the opposite direction, managing to cut the ropes and free our heroes. | |
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House of Mouse | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_3e0ca6b7 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3e0ca6b7 | comment |
In one episode of Brazilian show TV Colosso, a producer working for the fictional network had been tied to railroad tracks. The reason her captors did it to her was to force the train out of the tracks. | |
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1.0 | |
TV Colosso | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_3e0ca6b7 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3e8278f7 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3e8278f7 | comment |
Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey: The story's Big Bad, Neko-Jara, have the kidnapped Idol Singer Syami (whom Doraemon had a crush on) chained to the tracks of his amusement park, in order to threaten Doraemon to fix the Devolution Light. Doraemon complies in a desperate attempt to save Syami, but it turns out Syami was a spy working for Neko-Jara and not in any danger in the first place. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3e8278f7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3e8278f7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_3e8278f7 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3f633fb4 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3f633fb4 | comment |
The Cracked series of survival guides presents: So You've Been Tied Up and Left for Dead on Train Tracks. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3f633fb4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_3f633fb4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Cracked (Website) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_3f633fb4 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_404622d6 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_404622d6 | comment |
Parodied in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "Fair Weather Friends", where Berry tried to do this to Mac, only with a toy train set. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_404622d6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_404622d6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_404622d6 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_40c64dd8 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_40c64dd8 | comment |
Parodied in Dudley Do-Right, where the villain Snidely Whiplash is found to have this "thing" about tying ladies to railroad tracks. In one episode it's treated almost as a creepy, fetish-like obsession stemming from his lonely childhood. (Incidentally, he at one time not only tied three women to railroad tracks — including Nell — but also a man, Horse, Inspector Fenwick... and himself.) | |
Chained to a Railway / int_40c64dd8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_40c64dd8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dudley Do-Right | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_40c64dd8 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_42a8f33b | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_42a8f33b | comment |
A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) has Count Olaf attempt to kill the Baudelaire orphans by leaving them in a locked car parked on the railroad tracks. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_42a8f33b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_42a8f33b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_42a8f33b | |
Chained to a Railway / int_43b1575d | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_43b1575d | comment |
This is how one Earthworm Jim episode opens; Jim and Peter Puppy are tied to a railroad, implied to be a consequence of switching bodies (but not heads) because Peter can't use Jim's super suit very well. Psycrow, meanwhile, is driving an express at them. Jim manages to get back inside the suit, free them, and bend the tracks so they're pointing up. The train is sent flying up, Psycrow falls out ("Maximum suckage.") and Jim and Peter walk off to have their bodies fixed. Then the train falls on Psycrow. Later on in the episode he still has the train on his back. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_43b1575d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_43b1575d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Earthworm Jim | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_43b1575d | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4617a9f2 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4617a9f2 | comment |
Married... with Children had an episode where Al briefly hoped Peggy would be "accidentally" tied to railroad tracks but commented that she'd end up flipping the train. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4617a9f2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4617a9f2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Married... with Children | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_4617a9f2 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_468bebb0 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_468bebb0 | comment |
The Discworld guidebook Mrs Bradshaw's Guide (a tie-in with Raising Steam) states that the railway abandoned plans for a route passing Holy Wood Hill due to a persistent hallucination among the workmen that there was a young woman chained to the tracks. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_468bebb0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_468bebb0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Discworld | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_468bebb0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_48a07ba5 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_48a07ba5 | comment |
Courage also has a fantasy of the Chicken doing this to Muriel in the Pilot. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_48a07ba5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_48a07ba5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Chicken from Outer Space | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_48a07ba5 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4a11097d | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4a11097d | comment |
There was also a scene in the series pilot from Oh Yeah! Cartoons, in which Vicky was tied on railroad tracks, with Cosmo as the train, Wanda as the engineer, and Timmy as the old-timey villain (complete with black top hat and mustache!) | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4a11097d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4a11097d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Oh Yeah! Cartoons | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_4a11097d | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4b356e7c | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4b356e7c | comment |
In the pilot episode of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Brisco and Lord Bowler are tied to the railway tracks by the John Bly Gang. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4b356e7c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4b356e7c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_4b356e7c | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4c99197e | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4c99197e | comment |
Parodied in a The Muppet Show sketch where Miss Piggy was tied to a track by a Snidely Whiplash like character. Wayne appears as the hero, but forgets about saving Piggy when he recognizes the villain as a fellow boy scout from his youth. Instead, Wayne advises the villain on how to tie knots restraining her properly and leave as friends. Luckily, Piggy escapes by rising her to her feet and literally tearing off the section of track she is tied to. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4c99197e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_4c99197e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Muppet Show | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_4c99197e | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5178149f | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5178149f | comment |
Happens to Batman in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Emperor Joker!". | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5178149f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5178149f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Batman: The Brave and the Bold | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_5178149f | |
Chained to a Railway / int_52499c38 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_52499c38 | comment |
Midnight Sun (2016): In episode 4, some miners receive a video of a young man chained to a railway as a train approaches. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_52499c38 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_52499c38 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Midnight Sun (2016) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_52499c38 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_52c6e73a | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_52c6e73a | comment |
In Sensation Comics #26, Wonder Woman is tied to the railway tracks with what she thinks is her magic lasso. It isn't as her mother has stolen her lasso and replaced it with a copy. Once she realises it is a fake, she is able to break loose and stop the train by lifting the locomotive off the tracks. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_52c6e73a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_52c6e73a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sensation Comics (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_52c6e73a | |
Chained to a Railway / int_53ce0517 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_53ce0517 | comment |
In Let Dai, Dai does this to Jaehee after he considers him to have spurned his love. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_53ce0517 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_53ce0517 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Let Dai (Manhwa) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_53ce0517 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5896bcd7 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5896bcd7 | comment |
The 1947 The Perils of Pauline film — actually a musical biopic about actress Pearl White — played this trope straight in a Death Trap montage. The film was Very Loosely Based on a True Story, and arguably more of a Troperiffic homage to adventure serials in general than a direct copy of the original work. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5896bcd7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5896bcd7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Perils of Pauline | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_5896bcd7 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b08c386 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b08c386 | comment |
In the original Way of the Samurai, the main character can end up tied to a railroad track if the player makes some bad decisions early on. It's also possible to get yourself killed this way by refusing the rescue attempt. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b08c386 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b08c386 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Way of the Samurai (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b08c386 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b8491b1 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b8491b1 | comment |
The Handbook of Heroes comic "Railroad" has Fighter tie his fellow party members to a railroad track in front of a train as a metaphor for an attempt to derail railroading from the GM. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b8491b1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b8491b1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Handbook of Heroes (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_5b8491b1 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5ddec4e5 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5ddec4e5 | comment |
Sergio Aragonés Destroys DC has one pair of tied damsels on the splash panel for his Superman story (keep magnifying glass handy). | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5ddec4e5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5ddec4e5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sergio Aragonés Destroys DC (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_5ddec4e5 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5e11dafe | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5e11dafe | comment |
Chopping Block describes this as "the back-to-basics approach." | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5e11dafe | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_5e11dafe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Chopping Block (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_5e11dafe | |
Chained to a Railway / int_671d5c19 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_671d5c19 | comment |
Happened to The Powerpuff Girls (1998) with a Homage to a silent movies in the episode "Slave the Day". But a train is eventually stopped by Big Billy of the Gangreen Gang wrongly saving them. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_671d5c19 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_671d5c19 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Powerpuff Girls (1998) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_671d5c19 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_67abe4e4 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_67abe4e4 | comment |
In the Eek! The Cat episode "Cape Fur", the Killer Rabbit sees JB playing with a toy train in his room, so he eventually ties him up to the railroad tracks and turns the train on. As the train is about to hit JB, he cries for help. The titular Eek hears JB's crying, so he goes up to his room and unties him, but unfortunately, Mom comes up and sees both of them, and after untying JB, Eek gets hit by the train, and then his family locks him in a cage for punishment. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_67abe4e4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_67abe4e4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Eek! The Cat | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_67abe4e4 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6856de05 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6856de05 | comment |
A variation (without the actual chaining part) appears in The Train Wreckers (1905), where a group of bandits knock a woman out and just leave her on the tracks. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6856de05 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6856de05 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Train Wreckers | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_6856de05 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6b3cfe38 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6b3cfe38 | comment |
Bob and George along with a few other problems. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6b3cfe38 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6b3cfe38 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Bob and George (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_6b3cfe38 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6c8976db | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6c8976db | comment |
The World is Flat plays with this here. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6c8976db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6c8976db | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The World is Flat (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_6c8976db | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6e33f3df | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6e33f3df | comment |
In The Beatles episode "I Feel Fine," movie hero Dick Dashing challenges Paul to perform the same stunts he usually does. One stunt has co-star Bridget Buildup tied to a railroad track with Paul trying to untie her before the train gets there. Paul simply holds his hand out to show the train was a cardboard prop. Later in the sequence, Dick Dashing attempts the same stunt, only he and Bridget get flattened by an actual train. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6e33f3df | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_6e33f3df | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Beatles | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_6e33f3df | |
Chained to a Railway / int_72373277 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_72373277 | comment |
Issue 60 of The Superman Adventures has a flashback of Superman showing up to save Jimmy Olsen when he's been tied to a set of train tracks as Toyman rides an oversized toy train that's about to run him over. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_72373277 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_72373277 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Superman Adventures (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_72373277 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_746814ae | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_746814ae | comment |
Arthur: In "Kiss and Tell", D.W. sees a scene on TV at the mall where a woman in this predicament is rescued by a man and she kisses him afterward, which inspires her to try and recreate a similar scenario with James. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_746814ae | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_746814ae | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Arthur | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_746814ae | |
Chained to a Railway / int_75c31694 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_75c31694 | comment |
The A-Team once did this to a perp in "Bullets and Bikinis". In order to get Councilman Prescott to sign a paper they tied him to railway tracks at the end of a tunnel. He wouldn't talk at first, but soon he noticed a train approaching from the far end of the tunnel and signed it, only for Hannibal to leave him tied to the tracks. Of course it was then revealed that the oncoming train was just Murdock on a bike, complete with a high-powered lamp, a fake chimney and a tape player with train sound effects. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_75c31694 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_75c31694 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The A-Team | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_75c31694 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e1ae72 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e1ae72 | comment |
Parodied in the CatDog episode "Silents Please!". CatDog saves a woman tied to the railroad tracks, but it is revealed that this is part of a filming set. Cat puts her back to the railroad tracks and leaves, while she gets run over by the train. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e1ae72 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e1ae72 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
CatDog | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e1ae72 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e88c0b | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e88c0b | comment |
The trailer for the film Trainspotting consists of a postscript scene (not in either the book or the film itself) of Renton (Ewan McGregor) tied to a railway line, and telling the audience how the other characters caught him and did this to punish him for the final events in the film itself. Possibly done to relate the title to the film and avoid confusion. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e88c0b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e88c0b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Trainspotting | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_76e88c0b | |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e22425 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e22425 | comment |
Parodied in a Pinky and the Brain episode set during the silent film era. The Brain's latest scheme involves becoming a silent film star, and he and Pinky make a movie featuring this trope. However Pinky's cut of the film is hilariously bad, typecasting the duo into comedy forever. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e22425 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e22425 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Pinky and the Brain | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e22425 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e30f15 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e30f15 | comment |
In the Secret Squirrel cartoon "Catty Corned" a particularly nasty dog does this to a scientist's cat whom he thought had swallowed some explosives, and the dog was trying to find ways to set off the explosives with Secret and Morocco thwarting his attempts. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e30f15 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e30f15 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Secret Squirrel | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_77e30f15 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7a4375df | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7a4375df | comment |
Unusual example appeared in 21 Jump Street - Hanson was handcuffed to a railroad track by the episode's Manic Pixie Dream Girl so that he could feel the "rush" of impending death. She did rescue him in the nick of time, of course. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7a4375df | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7a4375df | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
21 Jump Street | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_7a4375df | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b68eb70 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b68eb70 | comment |
Played straight on at least two instances in the Mega Man (Ruby-Spears) cartoon. Since he was a robot, he was electrified to the rail rather than tied. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b68eb70 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b68eb70 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mega Man (Ruby-Spears) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b68eb70 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b706e62 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b706e62 | comment |
The ninja students do this to the teacher Hayato in the very first episode of Himawari! | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b706e62 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b706e62 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Himawari! | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_7b706e62 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7de5643c | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7de5643c | comment |
As noted above, by the time this was first done in film for 1913 comedy Barney Oldfield's Race For A Life, it was already a subject for parody, and in fact might have already been a Discredited Trope or Dead Horse Trope. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7de5643c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7de5643c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Barney Oldfield's Race For A Life | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_7de5643c | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7f39a041 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7f39a041 | comment |
In the fourth episode of the Gintama anime, Shinpachi and Kagura (who is "introduced" in said episode) are pushed onto a train track while being stuck in a garbage can. They are saved by Gintoki... who just happened to be around because he managed to find that week's Shonen Jump at the station's newsstand. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7f39a041 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_7f39a041 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Gintama (Manga) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_7f39a041 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8125b468 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8125b468 | comment |
Batman: Detective Comics #532. The plot in one sentence: Joker ties Batman to a train and Vicki to the track; Batman breaks free and saves her. Bane did this to at least one street-thug as an Enhanced Interrogation Technique (in a slight variation, the victim wasn't laid flat on the railway, but forced to kneel on it, with his arms chained to tunnel-walls to keep his torso upright). Since Bane's not Batman, he makes no move to free the poor guy even after he's got the info he wanted. |
|
Chained to a Railway / int_8125b468 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8125b468 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Batman (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_8125b468 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_865b5c19 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_865b5c19 | comment |
This trope makes an appearance in Runescape where the player has to rescue one of the goblins who is tied to a railway. The player saved more than just the goblin; if Zanik were to have been run over, it would have started a war between the Dorgeshuun and the Dwarfs (who built the train) which was exactly what Sigmund (the villain) planned. |
|
Chained to a Railway / int_865b5c19 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_865b5c19 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
RuneScape (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_865b5c19 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_87b55b5d | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_87b55b5d | comment |
The Onion: Report: Amtrak Loses $100 Million Annually To Route Interruptions Caused By Mustachioed Villains Tying Kidnapped Damsels To Railroad Tracks. | |
Chained to a Railway / int_87b55b5d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_87b55b5d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Onion (Website) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_87b55b5d | |
Chained to a Railway / int_87baeecc | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_87baeecc | comment |
Val and Isaac: In a rare heroic example, Vera ties a slave owner to a train track and rambles about her family for a while, ignoring their protestations that they can hear the train coming. After the hovertrain passes harmlessly over them, she points out that a non-hover train is coming in a few minutes and asks if they're ready to free their slaves now. | |
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Val and Isaac (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_87baeecc | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8a6d835c | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8a6d835c | comment |
As the World Turns: Played completely straight when Gwen's stalker and doppelganger ties her and Jade to the railroad tracks in order to Murder the Hypotenuse and romance Gwen's husband Will. | |
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As the World Turns | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_8a6d835c | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8b419fa5 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8b419fa5 | comment |
Played straight in Lackadaisy, where the three redneck farmer brothers try to dispatch Rocky by tying him up in his own coat and nailing his necktie to the railroad tracks. Especially egregious since one of them had a shotgun. Though they weren't too bright, it's still justified, as one of them explicitly stated they were interested in seeing what would happen when the train hit. Just shooting him wouldn't have been as much fun. |
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Chained to a Railway / int_8b419fa5 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8dd4a32c | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8dd4a32c | comment |
In Popeye, this was Bluto's very first method of capturing Olive. When he tied her up with the tracks, Olive Oyl would pull her arms out of the constricting tracks to wave and holler, then put them back into the tracks. How does Popeye save her? By punching the train into scrap with one blow! Also affected in "Cartoons Ain't Human" and "She-Sick Sailors." The former was Popeye's homemade cartoon with a stereotypical Dastardly Whiplash, the latter had Bluto impersonating Superman who does this after his navy cap gives him away to Olive. In "Take It Easel" (Brodax era), Brutus paints a railroad and ties Popeye to it as the 5:15 train roars towards him. Popeye paints a can of spinach and sets things right. |
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Popeye | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_8dd4a32c | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8ee278fb | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8ee278fb | comment |
In the ChalkZone episode "Mellow Drama Falls", the villain is of the Dastardly Whiplash persuasion and not only ties a woman to railroad tracks, but also tries to light a trail of gunpowder on fire and tie Penny to a log that's headed towards a spinning blade. | |
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ChalkZone | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_8ee278fb | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8f422dc7 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_8f422dc7 | comment |
Obscure example and variation: The manga sequel to Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Shinsetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, features a villain that captures both Beauty and Dengaku-man, and he chains them up to the end of a downward-spiraling train track; Bo-bobo and his group must defeat all of the enemies on each of the trains in order to stop them in time. Only Softon is able to fully stop one of the trains; at the last minute, Heppokomaru/Gasser is able to destroy all of them and save Beauty. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_8f422dc7 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_90b916ba | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_90b916ba | comment |
It also appeared in Batman: The Animated Series where a one-shot villain who specialized in nigh-unescapable death traps to extract information from his victims used a woman tied to the tracks as bait for Batman. The woman turns out to be a hologram. The villain laughs at Batman for thinking he would have really done it. | |
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Batman: The Animated Series | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_90b916ba | |
Chained to a Railway / int_9199e27f | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_9199e27f | comment |
Pops up in the GG-Guys! take on Spirit Tracks with...unpleasant results. | |
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GG-Guys! (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_9199e27f | |
Chained to a Railway / int_9b7e31d | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_9b7e31d | comment |
This is done in a Thunderbirds episode titled 'The Perils of Penelope'. Penelope wasn't actually bound to any rails, but she was bound to a ladder that was stretched out right in the path of the approaching Anderbad Express Monotrain. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_9b7e31d | |
Chained to a Railway / int_9c8dedd9 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_9c8dedd9 | comment |
Scooby-Doo! Team-Up: In "Perils Before Swine", Penelope is being tied "to yet another train track" and sees this as the Hooded Claw not having much originality. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_9c8dedd9 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_a04b0ca3 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_a04b0ca3 | comment |
Chicago gangster Bobby Smiles did this to Tintin in Tintin in America. Tintin is saved not by Snowy (who had been driven off by Bobby and his friend moments earlier), but by a fussy old lady who demands that the conductor of the train do something about a puma chasing a stag, thereby stopping the train so that Tintin can get the conductor's attention. This wouldn't be so ridiculous if Gladstone Gander was tied up in his place, but each of these events looks horribly out-of-place in Tintin books... | |
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Tintin (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_a04b0ca3 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_a16acaad | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_a16acaad | comment |
A variant of this trope is done in 3 Ninjas: High Noon on Mega Mountain where the bad guys tie Rocky's girlfriend to the tracks of a roller coaster. What makes it nightmarish is that they just tie her arms to the track and leave her dangling, meaning if Rocky had failed to save her, then the roller coaster would have severed her arms and then she would have fallen to her death. | |
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3 Ninjas | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_a4420d22 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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The Venture Bros. features a memorable moment where "classic" villain The Red Death knocks out the up-and-comer Blind Rage attempting to blackmail him and wakes him up tied to the tracks of a subway. Red Death then proceeds to lecture his victim on the merits of the process: Its relatively cheap costs, assured lethality, the terror that comes with the growing anticipation of an oncoming train, plus the minor Hope Spot of last-second escape. We never see if Blind Rage survived or not, but his odds weren't exactly great. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_a4420d22 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_a8729c90 | type |
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Chained to a Railway / int_a8729c90 | comment |
The Fairly OddParents!: Done in episode "The Good Old Days", a parody of old-timey cartoons. An old-timey version of Vicky is the bad guy, and she has Timmy's Grandpappy tied up. She attempts to put him on the train tracks, but it is crowded with similar villains. ("Beat it, Buster! We're working this side of the street!") She opts for a Conveyor Belt o' Doom at the local sawmill. There was also a scene in the series pilot from Oh Yeah! Cartoons, in which Vicky was tied on railroad tracks, with Cosmo as the train, Wanda as the engineer, and Timmy as the old-timey villain (complete with black top hat and mustache!) Timmy, as the Masked Magician, once saved Vicky from railroad tracks and asked her who tied her there in the first place. Since she failed to see the one(s) responsible, she instead listed the people she believed to hate her to that point. The list was so long Timmy wouldn't stay around to hear it all. Parodied in "This is Your Wish", during a clip in which Cosmo ties Timmy and Wanda to a set of train tracks. Fortunately, Cosmo switches the train away from them every time it comes close to running them over. It later turned out that the track Timmy and Wanda were tied to was never connected to the tracks the train was on the first place... and that it was on some quicksand. |
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Chained to a Railway / int_a8729c90 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_aa0f80e6 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_aa0f80e6 | comment |
Two episodes in Rambo: The Force of Freedom feature this kind of peril. There's at least gender equality because one features a female and one features a man. In the first one, it's played straight. General Warhawk and his S.A.V.A.G.E hold the daughter of a minor nation's president hostage and after changing his mind about what to do to the daughter, Warhawk decides to tie her to a railway, and she's helpless as the train comes to her and would meet her doom if it wasn't for Rambo coming to the rescue by riding his motorcycle to outspeed the train and untie her just in time. In the second one, it's the downplayed version. Rambo himself gets an Unwilling Suspension in the middle of a train railway and a train is on the way to smash him. Too bad for his captors (S.A.V.A.G.E, as usual) they forgot to tie Rambo's legs so he just swung around with sheer force of strength, hang around the railway signpost on his legs, to avoid being smashed to death, before untying himself. |
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Rambo: The Force of Freedom | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_aa0f80e6 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_ae0356e0 | type |
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Chained to a Railway / int_ae0356e0 | comment |
In the episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog, where the three-headed son of the Chicken from Outer Space attempted to avenge his father's death by destroying Courage, one of his attempts was this, however, Courage managed to save himself by using a track switch, which two of the heads wondered why they included in the plan. Courage also has a fantasy of the Chicken doing this to Muriel in the Pilot. |
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Chained to a Railway / int_ae0356e0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_b295cdad | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_b295cdad | comment |
In Marvel's Spider-Man, Peter does this to himself accidentally. During a fight in the subway, he gets knocked into a tunnel wall — and the impact damages his web-shooter, pinning him there with webbing just as a train approaches. He uses the other shooter to throw a lever that makes the train change tracks. | |
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Marvel's Spider-Man | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_b295cdad | |
Chained to a Railway / int_b3b15bc1 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_b3b15bc1 | comment |
Played straight in X-Men: The Animated Series with Jubilee tied up on the subway tracks. It was only a mental image of Jubilee implanted in Wolverine's mind so he'd get splatted trying to save her, though. | |
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X-Men: The Animated Series | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_b3b15bc1 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_b3e81703 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_b3e81703 | comment |
Inverted in an Arthur, King of Time and Space sketch, with Guenevere rescuing Lancelot. | |
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Arthur, King of Time and Space (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_b3e81703 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_b89bf586 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_b89bf586 | comment |
Parodied in Ninjago, when Jay poses as a damsel in distress to find out the identity of Samurai X, AKA Nya. | |
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Ninjago | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_b89bf586 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_ba83d772 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_ba83d772 | comment |
The theme re-appeared in television cop drama Longmire Season 1 Episode 8, in which a cult leader conspires to send all his 12 young female followers to 'rebirth' by means of running over their drugged bodies with a train passing nearby his compound. 11 of the cultists volunteer by consuming a draught of narcotic and laying down on the tracks, but one of them is unwilling, and is tied to the tracks with barbed wire. The plot is discovered by the titular hero when he realizes the import of a mural on the wall of the cult compound. The damsels are saved from the onrushing train at the last possible moment. | |
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Longmire | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_ba99ace0 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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Jill Tuck is tied to a tunnel in the trailer and teaser of Saw 3D. A more literal variant of this appears in the Saw spinoff Spiral, where the opening trap features an officer effectively tied to subway tracks by his tongue. |
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Saw 3D | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_ba99ace0 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_be92a918 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_be92a918 | comment |
A Cartoon Network Groovies interstitial, "El Kabong Rides Again", starred Quick Draw McGraw as El Kabong thwarting a Mexican bandito named El Honcho Macho who has tied his love interest, Baba Looey, and members of a Dia de Muertos band to a railroad track. El Kabong uses a huge metal guitar to smash the train to pieces. For bonus points, since El Honcho was riding the train, he is sent flying. Music by Calexico. | |
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Cartoon Network Groovies | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_be92a918 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c3c3dfc | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c3c3dfc | comment |
Played straight in Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders when Joseph and Abdul are both magnetized to one of the rails (and each other) by their enemy. Of course, Abdul could have just melted away the rail with his power over fire, but since it would derail the oncoming train, they had to be a bit more clever in their escape. | |
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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders (Manga) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_c3c3dfc | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c4282b71 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c4282b71 | comment |
In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Pinkie Pie has an Imagine Spot of this happening to her. Notably, this may well be the first instance of the trope where both victim and perpetrator are actually on the train. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_c4282b71 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c588a6bf | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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Gunfighter: The Legend of Jesse James have Jesse's girlfriend, Zee, kidnapped by the villain Jack Carson and tied on railroad tracks. One stage is a lengthy battle on a locomotive as Jesse fights his way past Carson's mooks to the front of the locomotive in order to make it stop. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_c588a6bf | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c61f3112 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c61f3112 | comment |
In the Justice Society of America story in All-Star Comics #40 (1948), a teenage gang ties one of their members to a stretch of disused railroad tracks as a prank (the idea being to scare him). However, an explosion forces the railroad to reroute a train onto the 'disused' tracks... In a previous JSA story in All-Star Comics #34, the Wizard shrinks Green Lantern and ties him to the track of a model train set. The villain even Lampshades the trope. |
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Chained to a Railway / int_c61f3112 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c70d858d | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c70d858d | comment |
Shows up in the Miscellaneous Disney Short The Brave Engineer, where Casey Jones saves a woman who was tied up on the tracks by a stereotypical villain character in one of the unending string of delays he faces. | |
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Miscellaneous Disney Shorts | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_c70d858d | |
Chained to a Railway / int_c7912cea | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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An episode of Jimmy Two-Shoes has Heloise having a Dream Sequence involving being tied to the tracks, only to be rescued by Jimmy. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_c7912cea | |
Chained to a Railway / int_ca5d97f1 | type |
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One episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus starts off with the "camel spotting" sketch (a thinly disguised trainspotter claims to be watching for camels), which is interrupted when several one-shot characters steal the camel-spotter's catchphrase, "you're no fun any more", prompting him to threaten the next person who uses it with being tied up and thrown under a camel (here to be read as "train"). Later in the episode, the "embezzlement" sketch ends with one of the characters inadvertently using the phrase, causing him to appear and carry out his earlier threat. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_ca5d97f1 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_cb6228bc | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_cb6228bc | comment |
In the Human Torch story in the third issue of Marvel Mystery Comics, the villains do this to the female side character of the week. A somewhat unusual twist is that there was no train coming and the villain decided to drive a nearby locomotive at her himself. | |
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Marvel Mystery Comics (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_cb6228bc | |
Chained to a Railway / int_d010a732 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_d010a732 | comment |
Parodied in the movie Night at the Museum where the security guard is tied to toy train tracks by the miniature cowboys in a diorama. The train hits his head and then falls off the tracks. | |
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Night at the Museum | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_d010a732 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_d71882ce | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_d71882ce | comment |
This trope is referenced in the song "The Happiest Home in These Hills" from Pete's Dragon (1977), with the two sons in the Gogan family singing (among the many awful things they plan to do to Pete for running away) "Tie him screaming to a railroad track". | |
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Pete's Dragon (1977) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_d71882ce | |
Chained to a Railway / int_d78af2ac | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_d78af2ac | comment |
This crops up in Kingsman: The Secret Service where the three candidates for the position of Lancelot end up drugged and Eggsy ends up tied to a track by a man demanding to know about Kingsman and Harry Hart. This ends up being a Secret Test of Character to see how devoted the candidates are. Eggsy and Roxy pass with flying colours, the latter offscreen. Charlie... not so much. | |
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Kingsman: The Secret Service | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_d78af2ac | |
Chained to a Railway / int_db96ded4 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_db96ded4 | comment |
A mass version of this trope is used in Book Four The Legend of Korra to make An Offer You Can't Refuse. Kuvira uses metalbending to attach a group of bandits' wrists to a set of train tracks. Either they take the chance for "rehabilitation" and pledge their allegiance to her, or she'll simply leave them behind. They take the offer. | |
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The Legend of Korra | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_de23f203 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_de23f203 | comment |
Numb Chucks: In "Hunk O Chuck", Fungus is Mistaken for Dying. To help him cross something off his Bucket List, Dilweed kidnaps Burford and dresses him as a woman before tying him to the railway track so Fungus can fulfill his ambition of rescuing a damsel who has been tied to railroad. Hilarity Ensues. | |
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Numb Chucks | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_de23f203 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e0fcfdea | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e0fcfdea | comment |
Parodied in The Avengers (1960s) episode "The Gravediggers", in which Mrs Peel is tied to the tracks of a miniature railway. | |
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The Avengers (1960s) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_e0fcfdea | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e1c17f2e | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e1c17f2e | comment |
The 2 Stupid Dogs finale, which takes the form of a monochrome 20s cartoon, ends with the dogs leaving the damsel in distress on the track when even after being saved just before all she does is yell for help. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_e1e213b4 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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The New Adventures of Superman: In "Luminians on the Loose", Luthor leaves Jimmy Olsen on the tracks where the express is scheduled to come shortly. | |
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The New Adventures of Superman | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_e1e213b4 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e25322af | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e25322af | comment |
Homestar Runner: In the unfinished cartoon "Those Darn Cousins", Homestar's little cousins Preshy and Rafferty torture him when no one else is around. At one point, they tie him to railroad tracks.◊ | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_e25322af | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e3c37ed7 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e3c37ed7 | comment |
In the Even Stevens episode "Louis in the Middle", Tawny pretends to be tied to a miniature railroad while Alan attempts to run her over with a train in an effort to shake Louis out of his 'hero syndrome' mindset. | |
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Even Stevens | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_e3c37ed7 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e56b20ba | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e56b20ba | comment |
Referenced in the Davey and Goliath episode "The Caretakers", when Davey and Goliath take a hike on train tracks. But then Davey decides to pretend he's a damsel in distress tied to the tracks and starts making "clackety-clack" train noises, and thus cannot hear an actual freight train speeding towards him. Luckily Goliath pulls Davey off the tracks just in time. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_e56b20ba | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e5b8fbed | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e5b8fbed | comment |
This was also subverted in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, when the Evil ACME Chairman, among one of the many classic tricks for D.J.'s father Damian to meet his doom, ties Damian to the railroad tracks, where the streamlined ACME Train of Death is hurtling towards him. If that doesn't kill him, the surrounding dynamite would. (Wile E. Coyote is also driving the train.) However, Damian is saved in the nick of time, and the train eventually crashes (thanks to it running into some dynamite). | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_e966997 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_e966997 | comment |
Mighty Mouse actually succumbs to this at the behest of Oil Can Harry. Mighty Mouse stops the entire train with his feet as he tries to extricate himself. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_e966997 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_eb6719f6 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_eb6719f6 | comment |
Played in Final Fantasy VIII with the optional GF Doomtrain. Literally flaming tracks appear after barriers appear on either side of the enemies and the background morphs into unintelligible space vortex-y swirly things. Then you see his light…um…light up and see him zooming down the tracks at a rate of knots, and seconds before contact is made it zooms in to give you a shot of his demon face before he slams through the enemies, and before long all returns to normal and the enemies receive damage and a huge number of additional status affects. You can see all of this here. | |
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Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_eb6719f6 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_ecb10659 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_ecb10659 | comment |
Played nearly straight in the film Stay Tuned, when Helen is tied to the tracks in the path of an oncoming train that's going to crash into a stockpile of explosives: "He's going to hit me with a train AND blow me up?!" Then again, the movie sends up a lot of Dead Horse Tropes. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_ed8afeac | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_ed8afeac | comment |
George of the Jungle: Tom Slick once entered a train race where the villain had tied Marigold to make Tom stop. A Super Chicken episode has a melodrama villain actor believing he actually was a villain — naturally, he takes the damsel actress to all the usual spots — the railroad tracks, the sawmill, and the dynamite shack. |
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George of the Jungle | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway / int_ed8e355c | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_ed8e355c | comment |
In the second of the Roger Rabbit Shorts, made after the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Roger and Baby Herman end up on a roller coaster. Out of nowhere, about half way through the skit, Jessica Rabbit turns up tied to the roller coaster by Droopy wearing a top hat and big mustache. After passing this Roger and Herman even give an Aside Glance because of how random this is. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_f10a65b | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f10a65b | comment |
In a fifth-season episode of Legends of Tomorrow, the Gary Green native to 2018 is rescued by the Legends in 1874, causing 2020 Gary to develop a fear of trains. | |
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Legends of Tomorrow | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_f10a65b | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f14deb8a | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f14deb8a | comment |
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. It even features in the credits. | |
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The Perils of Penelope Pitstop | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_f14deb8a | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f15f622e | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f15f622e | comment |
Subverted in an episode of MacGyver (1985): MacGyver and an old man he is protecting are knocked out and tied to a railroad track by the villain; however, the railroad track is just a film studio prop, and the purpose is to scare the old man (who suffers from a heart condition) into having a heart attack. | |
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MacGyver (1985) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_f15f622e | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f1eeee64 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f1eeee64 | comment |
Chicago's 1974 TV special "Meanwhile Back At The Ranch" is filled with old silent movie gags. One has a gender flip of this, with guitarist Terry Kath being tied up on the tracks by the villain, Anne Murray. | |
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Chicago (Band) (Music) | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_f1eeee64 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f6fe1bfc | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f6fe1bfc | comment |
Parodied in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Sabrina even does the scream-and-struggle seizure, but quickly stops as she realizes that screaming is pretty pointless if you're in a silent movie. Watch. | |
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Sabrina the Teenage Witch | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_f6fe1bfc | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f7569401 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_f7569401 | comment |
Sabotage (2014) is a rare male example: DEA commando Pyro wakes up to find his RV has been dragged into the path of an oncoming train. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_f90f1b9f | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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A variant in the Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers episode, "Last Train to Cashville"; Fat Cat's henchmen steal a toy train to assist Fat Cat in a bank heist. When the Rescue Rangers track him down, Fat Cat captures Chip, Gadget, and Monterey, ties them up in a leash, and puts them on the train tracks so that the toy train can run them over. However, he soon decides against it, thinking it more fun to feed Chip, Gadget, and Monty to a hungry snake instead. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_f99dc3ff | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
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Stuart Little features Stuart lampooning this trope by tying himself to a model railway, with his own tail. | |
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Stuart Little | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_f99dc3ff | |
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Chained to a Railway | |
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Parodied in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, where one of the many tortures that is done to Gizmo has him tied to a miniature train track. A miniature train then painfully collides with him, but does no lasting damage. | |
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Gremlins 2: The New Batch | hasFeature |
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Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_fcf0b6c3 | comment |
This happens to Doc and a couple of guest characters (one of them a child) in the Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers episode "Fire and Iron". | |
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Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_fcf0b6c3 | |
Chained to a Railway / int_fda2664f | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_fda2664f | comment |
In a previous JSA story in All-Star Comics #34, the Wizard shrinks Green Lantern and ties him to the track of a model train set. The villain even Lampshades the trope. | |
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Chained to a Railway / int_fdfd6055 | type |
Chained to a Railway | |
Chained to a Railway / int_fdfd6055 | comment |
In "Draw Back Your Bow", Oliver himself gets handcuffed to the tracks by Cupid, who's planning to die along with him. Oliver dislocates his thumb to pull his hand free of the cuffs and hauls them both off the track Just in Time. | |
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Yandere | hasFeature |
Chained to a Railway / int_fdfd6055 |
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