History Main / CantUseStairs

** {{Invoked|Trope}} and subverted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek]]", where Rose tells her companions the pursuing Dalek won't be able to follow them up the stairs, which naturally prompts Adam to mock it as a "[[DoNotTauntCthulhu great big alien death machine, defeated by a flight of stairs!]]". The characters attempt to exploit this stalemate to negotiate with the Dalek, but it ignores the RedShirt's pleas to desist and just says "EL-E-VATE!" before levitating up the stairs after them. This was put in after one of the new series writers asked his girlfriend why she thought the Daleks made rather pathetic villains in the original show, and she told him how easy they were to foil.

** {{Enforced|Trope}} and subverted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek]]", where Rose tells folks the pursuing Dalek won't be able to follow them up the stairs, which naturally causes a RedShirt to mock it as a "[[DoNotTauntCthulhu great big evil alien death machine, defeated by a flight of stairs]]". The Dalek announces "EL-E-VATE!" and begins levitating up them. This was put in after one of the new series writers asked his girlfriend why she thought the Daleks made rather pathetic villains in the original show, and she told him how easy they were to foil.

''"Stairs? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"''

->''"There's no stopping us now, Minion! Together, we shall free Pandora! I will lead you into battle! I will destroy Handsome Jack with my bare hands! I will... Stairs? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"''

* A RunningGag about the Daleks in ''Series/DoctorWho''. Canonically Daleks ''could'' handle stairs (they are shown upstairs from where their time machine arrived in their third story), but they didn't have the budget to ''show'' it until more than 20 years in.

** A related joke is that ''[[NoTrueScotsman real]]'' Daleks don't climb stairs, they [[CuttingTheKnot level the building]].

* In [[https://what-if.xkcd.com/5/ one post of]] ''Blog/WhatIf'', written by the creator of ''{{Webcomic/XKCD}}'', the question of the week is: "What if there was a robot apocalypse? How long would humanity last?" According to the writer, current robots not only wouldn't be able to chase us upstairs, but might not even be able to get over the threshold of ''a door''.

* Toddles and small children will also have difficulties navigating stairs on their own, due to their small sizes compared to the height of the steps.

* [[MemeticMutation Famously]], the ED-209 in ''Film/RoboCop1987'', ostensibly built for urban law enforcement, was designed without the ability to navigate a simple staircase. {{Justified|Trope}} in-story, as it was intentionally written as a poorly-conceived design in several ways (spotty AI, major weak points, seriously overarmed), which is why the project was abandoned in favor of the titular character.

** In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', BB-8 has difficulty managing a long flight of steps, although he manages to roll down them one at a time with difficulty. In ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance Resistance]]'' episode [[Recap/StarWarsResistanceS1E5TheChildrenFromTehar "The Children from Tehar"]], circumstances force BB to go down a staircase at speed, with the result being that he ends up tumbling out of control and rolling over himself at the bottom.

* The RealLife cow example is referenced in the last chapter of ''Literature/WaysideSchool is Falling Down''. Mrs. Jewls constantly rang her cowbell during a fire drill on a very windy day. Since the sound carried for miles, thousands of cows heeded the call and filled the school classrooms and stairs. The school ended up temporarily closing while the problem was dealt with because cows "don’t mind walking upstairs, but nothing can make them walk downstairs."

*** This was later lampooned on ''{{Series/QI}}''
--> '''David Mitchell''': Are you claiming that disabled access is a Dalek conspiracy?!

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** Tavros eventually gains some [[ArtificialLimbs prosthetic legs]]... That he's warned can't use stairs yet, when Tavros tries to use them the [[StaircaseTumble predicable]] happens.

* A RunningGag about the Daleks in ''Series/DoctorWho''. Canonically Daleks ''could'' handle stairs, but they didn't have the budget to ''show'' it until more than 20 years in.

** Referenced directly onscreen by the Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of the Daleks]]" as the Fourth Doctor taunts a Dalek to try and follow him up the stairs.

** It took a long time of prototyping for Boston Dynamic's robots to get where they are today. It was and still is extremely challenging to make robot have the human levels of balance and limb coordination required to move up and down stairs.

** {{Enforced|Trope}} and subverted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek]]", where Rose tells folks the pursuing Dalek won't be able to follow them up the stairs. The Dalek announces "EL-E-VATE!" and begins levitating up them. This was put in after one of the new series writers asked his girlfriend why she thought the Daleks made rather pathetic villains in the original show, and she told him how easy they were to foil.

** The Golem King in ''Discworld/FeetOfClay''. Golems are invulnerable unstoppable robotic killing machines created by an alchemical marriage of magic and pottery. There is just one drawback: they are far too heavy for a normal set of stairs to take without collapsing.
** It's CommonKnowledge in Klatch that you can get a donkey ''up'' a minaret, but not down. Of course, in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', Vetinari does just that.

-->-- '''[[OneWheeledWonder Claptrap]]''', ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}''

* The robot Claptrap in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}''. In the [[VideoGame/Borderlands2 second game]], this is pointed out, and the player is forced to use a crane to hoist him. It comes up again in the final mission [[spoiler:where this very weakness keeps him from joining you in the final battle against Jack]].
* Averted in ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'', in which Claptrap is playable, the justification being that Handsome Jack installed a special wheel on him that he removed once he destroyed the entire Claptrap line of robots.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The [[WheelchairWoobie wheelchair-bound]] [[TheWoobie Tavros]] from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' needs to get to the top of his house, so [[{{Jerkass}} Vriska]] builds a system of staircases for him. [[BullyingTheDisabled Then she repeatedly pushes him into the bottom stair and tells him to apologise for being paralysed, which is also her fault to begin with.]] [[MoralityChain Kanaya]] eventually convinces her to build a rocket car for him, at least.

%©* The Gag Reel for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'' reveals this about Creator/ChristopherLee's Saruman [[RobeAndWizardHat costume]].

* The Gag Reel for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'' reveals this about Creator/ChristopherLee's Saruman [[RobeAndWizardHat costume]].