History Main / ExcessiveSteamSyndrome

* While not a spaceship, Raising Heart from ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' usually discharges ''some'' kind of gas after any particularly impressive attack.

* The original ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Classic}}'' pilot does this. Starbuck and Cassiopeia are seen kissing in the hangar bay, while Starbuck's other love interest catches them by surveillance camera. Cue the push of a "Steam Vent" button.
** The pilot of the [[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined re-imagined version]] had Ragnar Station. Justified, as [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Leoben]] had just ripped a steam pipe. The rest of the station wasn't really steamy at all.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starwarssteam_7049.jpg]]]]

* Steamboy. This trope is present throughout pretty much the whole movie, especially so in the second half with the Steam Castle. Of course, when you're talking about a colossal structure that runs entirely on steam power, large quantities of the stuff are to be expected, right?

* ''BraveFencerMusashi'' has lots of pipes seemingly designed to pump hot steam into areas where you need to be.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Stanley Steamer Spaceships and Stanley Steamer ''tanks''. Sometimes justified in the latter case; the primary STC tank of the Imperium is of extremely basic design, so much so that the things can be adapted to run on 'actual steam engines''. This is quite a popular option on less developed worlds; after all, a steam engine can be made to run on just about anything you can reliably light on fire.

* Brought to the logical extreme by LeijiMatsumoto in ''Manga/GalaxyExpress999'': the titular CoolTrain is a spaceship that looks like a train pulled by a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JNR_Class_C62 C62 steam locomotive]], smoke included. Justified out of universe by AuthorAppeal and in-universe by RuleOfCool (Maetel quickly points out it was built with that look because people preferred it to more modern-looking space trains).

* In the {{Doctor Who}} confidential episode for "The Impossible Planet" it's commented by the producer that practically every shot has steam rising from somewhere.

See also SelfDestructMechanism. Compare to ImpressivePyrotechnics and MadeOfExplodium. Has nothing to do with fanservice anime that overdo CensorSteam nor addiction to buying far too many games at 20% off on {{Steam}}.

* Steamboy. Pretty much the entire movie. Especially explicit in the second half with the Steam Castle. Of course, when you're talking about a colossal structure that runs entirely on steam power, large quantities of the stuff are to be expected, right?

* Present in ''VideoGame/BioShock'' to show damage and decay in many of the stages, especially present in Hephaestus.

* In the {{Doctor Who}} confidential episode for "The Impossible Planet" it's commented by the producer that practically every shot has steam rising from somewhere.

* Larry Niven's Smoke Ring setting includes rockets that travel inside the Smoke Ring, on jets of live steam. It is unpleasant if they malfunction. [[spoiler: The novel Smoke Ring has such a malfunction in an early scene. One victim has the misfortune to not be killed immediately when engulfed by live steam from the exploding ship. There is a brief mention of one of the already-known characters trying to catch the victim as she goes by, grabbing her ankle...and the flesh coming off in the would-be rescuers hand.]]

When a place has more steam present when there shouldn't be, you've got ExcessiveSteamSyndrome. Two extremely common versions are steam expulsion during an escape sequence after a self-destruct mechanism is triggered and the other is where space faring vessels demonstrate a tendency to belch steam.

*** ''Partly'' justified, since there are surely better places for the coolant system to try and dump excess heat than into crew spaces. (It's interesting that in ''Film/{{2001}}'' the ''Discovery'' was originally going to have radiator fins jutting out from the engine block; they were dropped from the design to avoid people asking why the ship needed wings).

* Possibly exaggerated in a story by Brazilian author LuisFernandoVerissimo, where an InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien race built a wood-powered spaceship, with chimney and such, when they were trying to build a nautical ship instead.

** Not just RH; Bardiche and really, most other Intelligent Devices and Armed Devices do this. Especially with a cartridge system. This kind of supports the theory that Magi-Link Cartridges generate a lot of waste heat, if not for the AI system decompiling the [[VancianMagic Magic As Programs]] attacks in split-seconds and then cooling down in-between. In other words, [[FridgeBrilliance AI split-second overclocking in weapon forms]].
*** It even gets supported by the side materials: Nanoha mentions her new Raising Heart jury-rigged with a cartridge system is a total maintenance nightmare.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Stanley Steamer Spaceships and Stanley Steamer ''tanks''.
** It should be noted that the primary STC tank of the Imperium is of extremely basic design, so much so that the things can be adapted to run on ''wood'' with minimal adjustments. Steam is a ''relatively'' popular form of power in many tanks, especially considering the availabilities of particular fuel types can vary wildly in an empire that's lost count of how many planets it contains.

** given that it was cold gas, that likely counts more as a inversion.

When a place has more steam present when there shouldn't be, you've got ExcessiveSteamSyndrome. Two extremely common versions are steam expulsion during a escape sequence after a self-destruct mechanism is triggered and the other is where space faring vessels demonstrate a tendency to belch steam.

[[caption-width-right:350:TheChosenOne bringing [[IncrediblyLamePun balance to the Fog]]]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starwarssteam_7049.jpg]]
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