History Main / FerrisWheelOfDoom

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': In ThatOneCase for Satou, her partner died rather than choose to disarm a bomb in a Ferris wheel so he can send her the directions to another bomb that the bomber had hidden, and the location would not be given in full unless the timer was allowed to run out.
In the 20th film Gin causes the giant Ferris wheel to roll by shooting the axis with his helicopters minigun.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': In ThatOneCase for Satou, her partner died rather than choose to disarm a bomb in a Ferris wheel so he can send her the directions to another bomb that the bomber had hidden, and the location would not be given in full unless the timer was allowed to run out. In the 20th film Gin causes the giant Ferris wheel to roll by shooting the axis with his helicopte's minigun.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': In ThatOneCase for Satou, her partner died rather than choose to disarm a bomb in a Ferris wheel so he can send her the directions to another bomb that the bomber had hidden, and the location would not be given in full unless the timer was allowed to run out.

* TruthInTelevision: Ferris wheel accidents do happen, although more often a single seat failing when the [[ TooDumbToLive rider abuses it]] (they aren't typically fast enough to drop somebody who's just sitting) than the entire thing going haywire. Statistically you're still far more likely to die in the car ride to and from the amusement park/fair than from the Ferris wheel or any other ride there.

* TruthInTelevision: Ferris wheel accidents do happen, although more often a single seat failing when the rider abuses it (they aren't typically fast enough to drop somebody who's just sitting) than the entire thing going haywire. Statistically you're still far more likely to die in the car ride to and from the amusement park/fair than from the Ferris wheel or any other ride there.

* ''Literature/SputnikSweetheart'' (by Creator/HarukiMurakami) has a woman trapped overnight in one, causing her MindScrew and [[WhatTropeIsThis her hair going white]]

* In the ''SakuraTaisen'' TV series, Iris freaks out while on a Ferris wheel and ends up breaking the thing accidentally with her telekinetic powers.

* In ''Manga/IchigoOneHundredPercent'' the main character and his on-again off-again girlfriend are stuck in the Ferris wheel when it stops. Then their door opens up and they almost fall out. Go go Romance Comedy!

* In the ''SakuraTaisen'' TV series, Iris freaks out while on a Ferris wheel and I think ends up breaking the thing accidentally with her telekinetic powers.

A Ferris Wheel is the most useful ride for TV and movies because it is both big and tall (a hero saving people from a spinning teacup ride gone amok isn't impressive) and slow (If a rollercoaster doing a hundred miles an hour leaves the tracks it boggles the mind that any hero but a {{Super Speed}}ster could find a convenient phone booth, change, and return in time to do anything but help gather up the dead). Ferris Wheels are also large open structures with a lot of rods and beams that let athletic types show their stuff. [[WeirdnessMagnet Having a hero in the area]] thus generally causes any Ferris Wheel to suffer a sudden massive breakdown.

A Ferris Wheel is the most useful ride for TV and movies because it is both big and tall (a hero saving people from a spinning teacup ride gone amok isn't impressive) and slow (If a rollercoaster doing a hundred miles an hour leaves the tracks it boggles the mind that any hero but a {{Super Speed}}ster could find a convenient phone booth, change, and return in time to do anything but help gather up the dead). Ferris Wheels are also large open structures with a lot of rods and beams that let athletic types show their stuff. [[WalkingDisasterArea Having a hero in the area]] thus generally causes any Ferris Wheel to suffer a sudden massive breakdown.

* TruthInTelevision: Ferris wheel accidents do happen, although more often a single seat failing when the rider abuses it (they aren't typically fast enough to drop somebody who's just sitting) than the entire thing going haywire. You're still far more likely to die in the car ride to and from the amusement park/fair than from the Ferris wheel or any other ride there.

* TruthInTelevision: Ferris wheel accidents do happen, although more often a single seat failing when the rider abuses it (they aren't typically fast enough to drop somebody who's just sitting) than the entire thing going haywire.

It should be noted that if in RealLife a Ferris wheel ''did'' break off and roll away, it wouldn't get very far. The wheel itself isn't very structurally sound, and would collapse under its own weight.

It should be noted that if a Ferris wheel ''did'' break off and roll away, it wouldn't get very far. The wheel itself isn't very structurally sound, and would collapse under its own weight.

* A ''WesternAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' episode involved The Mole and a Ferris wheel. The wheel ended up slicing Lumpy in two (and grinding the left half)

* In ''Manga/IchigoOneHundredPercent'' the main character and his on again off again girlfriend are stuck in the Ferris wheel when it stops. Then their door opens up and they almost fall out. Go go Romance Comedy!
* Manga/DetectiveConan - In ThatOneCase for Satou, her partner died rather than choose to disarm a bomb in a Ferris wheel so he can send her the directions to another bomb that the bomber had hidden, and the location would not be given in full unless the timer was allowed to run out.

* French movie ''Film/LeBoulet'' (pictured): [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1DrtAP0z_4 During an already intense]] ChaseScene, the protagonist, prison escapee Moltes, to avoid the cops pursuing on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Concorde Place de la Concorde]], [[{{Ramprovisation}} runs his car up]] [[RampJump a ramp to jump]] through a large Ferris Wheel, damaging it in the process. Then it starts to crash down and roll into the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries_Garden Tuileries Garden]], straight between Moltes and the InspectorJavert chasing him, until it ends up in a pond and topples to the side.

* French movie ''Film/LeBoulet'' (pictured): [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1DrtAP0z_4 During an already intense]] ChaseScene, the protagonist, prison escapee Moltes, to avoid the cops pursuing on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Concorde Place de la Concorde]], runs his car up a ramp to jump through a large Ferris Wheel, damaging it in the process. Then it starts to crash down and roll into the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries_Garden Tuileries Garden]], straight between Moltes and the InspectorJavert chasing him, until it ends up in a pond and topples to the side.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* In ''UltimateXMen'', at the beginning of the Fenris arc, the team's hanging out at Coney Island. Naturally, bad guys sabotage the Ferris wheel and the X-Men have to save the day.

[[folder: Film ]]

* Avoided in the ''Film/IronMan'' movie; there's a Ferris Wheel which fails to break or roll away at all.
* Happens at the end of ''Film/MightyJoeYoung'', causing the titular Gorilla to save a small child from it. The resulting good publicity sets up the HappyEnding.

* Played with in ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'', as our mouse heroes have to dodge a tambourine sent rolling at them by TheDragon, in a clear invocation of this trope.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* There's a dark version in ''Series/{{Carnivale}}''. A boy is killed in a Ferris wheel accident, and his injured mother prays for death to take her instead of her son. Ben resurrects him, and the mother dies as an EquivalentExchange.
** Not to mention its prominent role in the finale, where [[spoiler: Samson BriarPatches Justin and Iris into riding it, Jonesy traps them at the top, then cuts the brakes and lets the thing go speeding around, and Ben uses Justin's life force to heal everyone at the show. CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Justin as he yells "BE STILL!" ''and the Ferris Wheel listens''.]]

* In "Mr. Series/{{Monk}} Goes to the Carnival", Sharona goes up on a Ferris wheel (which also happens to have been the scene of the murder) to keep an eye out for the murderer, who is somewhere at the carnival. The murderer suddenly appears and begins to climb towards Sharona. After accidentally breaking the controls on the Ferris wheel, Monk has to climb up after the murderer. For a while, part of this scene appeared during the ThemeSong.
** It's better than it sounds. Remember that Monk has clinical phobias about heights, grime, etc. He has to climb a Ferris wheel whose structure is covered in dirt and grease.
* ''Furuhata Ninzaburou'' - a bomber plants a bomb under one of the seats.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* SputnikSweetheart (by Creator/HarukiMurakami) has a woman trapped overnight in one, causing her MindScrew and [[WhatTropeIsThis her hair going white]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* TruthInTelevision: Ferris wheel accidents do happen, although more often a single seat failing when the rider abuses it (they aren't typically fast enough to drop somebody who's just sitting) than the entire thing going haywire.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* The first CutScene in ''Hitman: Blood Money'' features a Ferris Wheel falling down and killing several people. (Your target in the tutorial level is the owner of the amusement park; you were hired to avenge the customer's son killed there.)
* On one of the levels in ''TwistedMetal Black'', you can send a Ferris wheel rolling. If I remember correctly, it either uncovers a secret or does damage to anyone who gets hit by it. Or both...
* In ''Videogame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage'', Layton and Luke are being chased by a ''remote-controlled'' version of this.
* ''Videogame/KatamariDamacy'' has a Ferris wheel in the last level (the moon). It doesn't roll away, but you can roll it up.
* TheRemake of ''RomancingSaga'' as this as one of axe techniques. The axe user creates a ferris wheels out of an axe and unleashes them on an enemy.
* Happens surprisingly in ''Bulletstorm'', with a giant grindwheel taking the Ferris Wheel's role, stalking the player as he tries to outrun it in a minecart.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* A ''HappyTreeFriends'' episode involved The Mole and a Ferris wheel. The wheel ended up slicing Lumpy in two (and grinding the left half)

* There was a mechanically failing Ferris wheel in the first episode of the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' cartoon, "Man of Tomorrow." It made things pretty easy for the Legion when they needed to figure out who Superman was.
** Superman in his own [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries animated series]] had to play tug-of-war using a Ferris wheel in "Monkey Fun" while fighting a [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant monkey]].

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* TheOnion takes on this trope with an article entitled [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-40000-people-died-on-ferris-wheels-this-sum,26414/ Report: 40,000 People Died On Ferris Wheels This Summer]]

[[quoteright:256:[[Videogame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/schasingafterus_6047.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[[ImplausibleDeniability That's preposterous]]!]]

* In ''[[Film/FantasticFour Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer]]'', the London Eye breaks down and has to be rescued, although it had more to do with the Silver Surfer destroying the surrounding area than just a random failure. While the London Eye is not quite a Ferris Wheel but an observation wheel (its gondolas are motorized), it's similar enough to count.
* In ''[[NineteenFortyOne 1941]]'', a Ferris wheel in a California seaside amusement park is shot loose by a Japanese sub and rolls into the ocean.

* Happens at the end of ''MightyJoeYoung'', causing the titular Gorilla to save a small child from it. The resulting good publicity sets up the HappyEnding.

* In ''[[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest]]'', the three-way battle for the key to the titular chest on Isla Cruces eventually ends up on top of a water wheel, which, while not a ferris wheel, still matches this trope when it breaks off its supports and proceeds to start rolling around the island. '''With the characters still fighting on top of it.'''

* Happens in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Clerks}} TheAnimatedSeries'' as part of the storm of TakeOurWordForIt. At one point the girl [[ButtMonkey Dante]] likes starts [[AnythingThatMoves making out with it]].

* In the ''KaBlam'' one-shot short, "A Girl Named Fuzzball", the title character mentions this happening at a previous carnival in town.

* CaseClosed - In ThatOneCase for Satou, her partner died rather than choose to disarm a bomb in a Ferris wheel so he can send her the directions to another bomb that the bomber had hidden, and the location would not be given in full unless the timer was allowed to run out.

[[quoteright:256:[[Videogame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/schasingafterus_6047.jpg]]]]

* ''BeverlyHillsCop 3'': It's not a Ferris wheel exactly, but close enough. Our hero, Axel Foley, gets onto the ride to escape the bad guys, and is hoisted in the air. The bad guys try to get him down by overriding the controls of the ride, and end up breaking it. The ride is damaged, and one of the gondolas is about to fall. Foley then spends the next few minutes jumping from gondola to gondola, and climbing along the supporting beams, to reach the broken gondola before it falls. He, of course, succeeds. And, he's not even a super hero.
* In the Russian film ''[[Literature/{{Nightwatch}} Day Watch]]'', tremors caused by TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt cause a Ferris Wheel to break free and roll down the street. Since the heroes are too busy trying to stop the world from ending, plenty of people get crushed. [[spoiler: Except they don't, thanks to the hero RewritingReality]]

* SputnikSweetheart (by HarukiMurakami) has a woman trapped overnight in one, causing her MindScrew and [[WhatTropeIsThis her hair going white]]