History Main / GasCylinderRocket

->"No." He shook his head, beaming. "Used to have charging room, but also assistant who broke valve one day. Tank went through wall here and flew three streets away, finish through side of bus!" Peals of laughter. "Nobody hurt, but take permission from me."

* ''Film/MachetesKills'': When Machete and Mendez are at the chop shop, the wheelchair bound mechanic pulls a pistol on Machete. Machete snatches it off him and shoots the oxygen tank on the back of the wheelchair, which propels the chair (and its occupant) out into the courtyard, and into a fusillade of gunfire from the cartel assassins.

->"No." He shook his head, beaming. "Used to have charging room, but also assistant who broke valve one day. Tank went through wall here and flew three streets away, finish through side of bus!" [[ActuallyPrettyFunny Peals of laughter.]] "Nobody hurt, but take permission from me."

!'''Examples''':

[[folder:Comics]]
* The titular character of ''[[ComicBook/GastonLagaffe Gaston Lagaffe]]'' once converted his AllegedCar to run on gas, with gas cylinders strapped to the roof as fuel. [[WalkingDisasterArea As per usual]], Gaston had made a slight error in his design. When trying to start the car, the cylinders blasted off... into a passing police van.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

-->'''Esther''': Sweet Sister Frances! ''What did you do to my new truck?!''\\
'''Martin''' (''runs right in''): HOLD ON RIGHT THERE!\\
(''Startled, Esther pepper sprays Martin, who falls to the floor in pain'')\\
'''Martin''': AAH! GOLLY, ESTHER! (''moans in pain'')\\
'''Esther''': Both you boys need serious help!\\
'''Martin''': SPICY EYES!

* In ''[[Film/ThreeNinjas 3 Ninjas: High Noon On Mega Mountain]]'', the boys try to dispose of a time bomb by strapping it to three oxygen tanks and then breaking the nozzles off with a hammer. However, they turn out to not be strong enough to break them. Fortunately, [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Dave Dragon]] shows up and ''is'' strong enough to break them. For bonus points, the bomb gets propelled to the escaping bad guys' boat just as the timer hits zero.

* In ''Film/{{Transporter 2}}'', Frank pushes a hospital cart with a gas cylinder on it into Lola's path, then throws a chemical carboy into the light fixture above it. The collapse of the fixture knocks the nozzle off the cylinder ''and'' sets its gas on fire, causing it to shoot down the hallway and blow up right next to Lola.

* On ''{{Series/CSI}}'', a canister of nitrous is ruptured by a stray bullet during a shooting at a rave. The canister lifts off, trailing sparks, and flies erratically back and forth before slamming down among the party-goers, injuring several who were too high to get out of the way.

[[folder:Music]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In Chapter 40-2 of ''AudioPlay/WereAlive'', Victor shoots a scuba tank that a Little One had become entangled with, sending the tank and Little One skidding across the street at high velocity.
[[/folder]]

--> '''Homer:''' ''[praying] Dear Lord, protect this rocket house and all those who dwell within the rocket house.''

** ** In "To Be a Man", Mac uses a butane tank as torpedo to knock down a bad guy.

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': In "The Odd Triple", Mac is locked up in the cellar of a winery. Needing to escape, he attaches several oxygen tanks to a large wheeled wine cask. Knocking the heads off the cylinders, he turns them into juryrigged rockets that propel the cask through the wall like a battering ram.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Broforce}}'', this is the only reliable way to deal damage to the Megacockter, by shooting the gas cylinders scattered around the rooftops causing them to fly up and explode on it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', Helen shoots the oxygen tanks [[spoiler:Evelyn]] has on her back with a flare gun, causing them to blast off like a jet pack.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' ("The Exodus", part 2) had Quinn and company locked in a room as the evil Rickman was sliding without them. They used an oxygen tank attached to a rolling metal hospital tray as a rocket to bust the door open.
* ''Series/DueSouth'': In 'Mountie on the Bounty', Fraser and Ray K use ruptured air tanks as rocket packs to escape the sinking ship.
* On ''{{Series/CSI}}'', a canister of nitrous is ruptured by a stray bullet during a shooting at a rave. The canister lifts off, trailing sparks, and flies erratically back and forth before slamming down among the party-goers, injuring several who were too high to get out of the way.
* Turned up a few times in ''Series/LondonsBurning'', usually played somewhat more realistically in that the source of the explosion was the building or vehicle the cylinders were stored in ''being on fire'', which is easily the most reliable way of getting this effect in real life. The seventh season ended with a particularly memorable example after a fire broke out in a builder's yard behind a row of terraced houses, with about fifty of them shooting off like bottle rockets and crashing down all around whilst Blue Watch tried frantically to evacuate the local residents and get the fire under control. We find out in the first episode of the next season that the fire eventually took three days and fifteen crews to bring under control, with one fire truck burnt out after it took a direct hit.
* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': In "The Odd Triple", Mac is locked up in the cellar of a winery. Needing to escape, he attaches several oxygen tanks to a large wheeled wine cask. Knocking the heads off the cylinders, he turns them into juryrigged rockets that propel the cask through the wall like a battering ram.

* On ''Series/{{Scorpion}}'', a slow-leaking gas canister (along with a rip in its butt) propels the Super Fun Guy parade balloon that carries a nuclear hazard out over the ocean and safely away from Los Angeles.

* In the casual hidden object game ''Surface: Mystery of Another World'', you can use a GasCylinderRocket to propel a large statue out of your path.

* Creator/ValveSoftware's Source engine, used in every Valve game released in the 2000s starting with ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', includes code to create a GasCylinderRocket. [[https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Physics_cannister The relevant reference material.]]
* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', you can place these in Forge mode in games from ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' onward (like ''VideoGame/HaloReach'').
* In the Vivendi expansions of ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'', there are green gas cylinders that will [[WreakingHavok fly about uncontrollably in unpredictable physics-oriented patterns]] when shot at or hit by an explosion... except ''they're completely harmless''. All they really do is distract you with their antics (aside from the crazy flying, they make '''one hell of a lot''' of noise both before and during their explosion) and you alone, since [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard the AI doesn't bat an eye at them]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Broforce}}'', this is the only reliable way to deal damage to the Megacockter, by shooting the gas cylinders scattered around the rooftops causing them to fly up and explode on it.

* Instead of a gas canister, a malfunctioning surgical laser goes ballistic in the WesternAnimation/RogerRabbitShort "Tummy Trouble".

* Not actually a gas cylinder, but a similar effect occurs in ''WesternAnimation/TheCroods'' when the grandmother, attempting to beat the fire that's burning the end of her staff to death against the ground, sets some giant corncob-like plants alight. The flames heat up their oversized kernels until they pop, sending the cobs streaking in all directions; the "rocket" analogy is taken even further when the ones that fly upwards explode into colorful sparks, like fireworks.

* In ''WesternAnimation/OverTheHedge'', a broken propane tank sends a grill skyward, even flying over an airplane.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', Helen shoots the oxygen tanks [[spoiler:Evelyn]] has on her back with a flare gun, causing them to blast off like a jet pack.

* Bronson in ''Film/StreetTrash'' is killed when a gas cylinder is send flying his way, and it removes his head.
* There is a literal variation in ''Film/{{SpaceCamp}}'' that is definitely not PlayedForLaughs. After Andie is successful in supplying the space shuttle ''Atlantis'' with an extra supply of oxygen, she forgets to turn off the oxygen tank when she takes the hose off, which results in the oxygen tank rocketing backwards with her holding on to it, until she gets knocked unconscious from running into the side of the ship.

* In ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'', Peter creates a rocket sled in a sporting goods store by strapping two scuba tanks to a canoe, and then breaking the ends off by dropping a barbell on them.
* In ''Film/ChainReaction'', Eddie chops the valve off a tank of hydrogen gas to shove open a safety door so he and Dr. Sinclair can escape.
* In ''Film/ScoobyDooMonstersUnleashed'', Scooby uses a fire extinguisher to freeze a monster and then ride it around on the frozen monster like a snowboard. He then kicks off the end of the extinguisher and rides it briefly like a rocket.

* An unlucky victim in ''Film/FinalDestination4'' is struck by one of these and slammed into a chain-link fence with enough force to turn his back into chunks.
* In ''Film/{{Transporter 2}}'', Frank pushes a hospital cart with a gas cylinder on it into Lola's path, then throws a chemical carboy into the light fixture above it. The collapse of the fixture knocks the nozzle off the cylinder ''and'' sets its gas on fire, causing it to shoot down the hallway and blow up right next to Lola.
* In ''[[Film/ThreeNinjas 3 Ninjas: High Noon On Mega Mountain]]'', the boys try to dispose of a time bomb by strapping it to three oxygen tanks and then breaking the nozzles off with a hammer. However, they turn out to not be strong enough to break them. Fortunately, [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Dave Dragon]] shows up and ''is'' strong enough to break them. For bonus points, the bomb gets propelled to the escaping bad guys' boat just as the timer hits zero.

* In the Film/SyfyChannelOriginalMovie ''Dam Sharks!'', the heroes launch a couple of gas cylinders into the shark-built corpse dam by chopping off their nozzles with axes. The cylinders blast off and streak through the air to lodge themselves in the dam, yet [[ArtisticLicensePhysics somehow still have enough pressure left to explode]] and destroy it.
* In the similarly-stupid ''Atomic Shark'', the two heroes use SCUBA gas cylinders to propel their boat safely out of range of the mini-nuclear blast that's set off when the title creature finally dies.

* In ''Disney/{{Bolt}}'', a gas canister at the animal shelter is damaged and goes shooting into the parking lot, where it knocks down an illuminated sign that topples onto a car, resulting in a huge explosion.

* Note that in real life rocketry there is a type of rocket (pressurized gas rocket) that sounds like this trope but shouldn't be confused with it. Here the either the propellants or, more commonly, a neutral gas in a third thank are pressurized so that release of this pressure forces the propellants out the nozzle before its ignited. This is done to increase reliability and reduce mechanical complexity by eliminating pumps.

-->-- ''The Mandarin Cypher'' by Creator/AdamHall

* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', Helen shoots the oxygen tanks [[spoiler:Evelyn]] has on her back with a flare gun, causing them to blast off like a jet back.

* ''{{ComicBook/GastonLagaffe}}'' once converted his AllegedCar to run on gas, with gas cylinders strapped to the roof as fuel. [[WalkingDisasterArea As per usual]], Gaston had made a slight error in his design, causing the cylinders to be launched when trying to start the car... into a passing police van.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Broforce}}'', this is the only reliable way to deal damage to the Terrorcockter, by shooting the gas cylinders scattered around the rooftops causing them to fly up and explode on it.

'''Martin''' (''runs right in''): HOLD ON RIGHT THERE!!!\\

'''Martin''': AAH! GOLLY, ESTHER!! (''moans in pain'')\\

'''Martin''': SPICY EYES!!

* Turned up a few times in ''Series/LondonsBurning'', usually played somewhat more realistically in that the source of the explosion was the building or vehicle the cylinders were stored in ''being on fire'', which is easily the most reliable way of getting this effect in real life. The seventh season ended with a particularly memorable example after a fire broke out in a builder's yard behind a row of terraced houses, with about fifty of them shooting off like bottle rockets and crashing down all around whilst Blue Watch tried frantically to evacuate the local residents and get the fire under control. We find out in the first episode of the next season that the fire eventually took three days and fifteen fire trucks to bring under control.

* ''Series/MacGyver'': In "The Odd Triple", Mac is locked up in the cellar of a winery. Needing to escape, he attaches several oxygen tanks to a large wheeled wine cask. Knocking the heads off the cylinders, he turns them into juryrigged rockets that propel the cask through the wall like a battering ram.