History Main / PortalSlam

* Though not quite the same, the title portal of ''Series/{{Stargate SG-1}}'' has an item known as an "iris" that can be closed over the portal, which prevents most physical matter from fully manifesting itself on Earth's side of the wormhole if the bad guys decide to use it in an invasion attempt. Coming through the Stargate after the iris has been closed results in what is known as "bugs on a windshield death". Presumably they have technicians just to wipe the back side of the iris after this happens.

* Will almost certainly happen at least once during a play through of ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', since you're going to screw up and place a blue portal when you meant to place a yellow one, or vice versa. Happens even more often during co-op play in [[VideoGame/{{Portal2}} the sequel]] once you realize that it's almost as much [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential fun to torture]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman your teammate]] as it is to solve the puzzles.

* ''TheMatrix Reloaded'' features a literal backdoor in the programming, whereby the right key in a lock will allow access to anywhere. If the door is closed then the portal shuts and the door goes back to leading wherever it did before. Neo tried to shoulder charge one, only to punch straight through and end up outside the building.

* In ''TheAdjustmentBureau'', the Adjusters have the power to use any door as a portal. Similar to TheMatrix, the portal disappears when the door is closed.

* Though not quite the same, the title portal of ''StargateSG1'' has an item known as an "iris" that can be closed over the portal, which prevents most physical matter from fully manifesting itself on Earth's side of the wormhole if the bad guys decide to use it in an invasion attempt. Coming through the Stargate after the iris has been closed results in what is known as "bugs on a windshield death". Presumably they have technicians just to wipe the back side of the iris after this happens.

* Can happen in ''{{Halo}}'' if you place a vehicle over the receiving end of the teleporter. You can also stand on it, which temporarily blocks them, and then you move and kill them easily. It'll kill you if you stand on it long enough, but at that point [[TooDumbToLive you kinda deserve it]].

* Harry and Ron rebound painfully from the sealed gateway to Platform 9¾ in ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''.

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* [[LooneyTunes Wile E. Coyote's]] experience probably qualifies. He's repeatedly painted a tunnel on the side of a wall, seen the Road Runner go through the tunnel, and then followed it to run smack into the wall.

* Harry and Ron rebound painfully from the sealed gateway to Platform 9-and-Three-Quarters in ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''.

* The child Boo in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.'' finds only an ordinary closet instead of a portal to Monstropolis after Sully and Mike are obligated to let the closet door be destroyed. Earlier, the same thing happens when Sully and Mike are banished, finding a big metal door in the middle of nothing.

* Will almost certainly happen at least once during a play through of VideoGame/{{Portal}}, since you're going to screw up and place a blue portal when you meant to place a yellow one, or vice versa. Happens even more often during co-op play in [[VideoGame/{{Portal2}} the sequel]] once you realize that it's almost as much [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential fun to torture]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman your teammate]] as it is to solve the puzzles.

* Parodied in [[http://xkcd.com/693/ this]] ''XKCD'' strip:

* No less than three incarnations of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' have told the story of an artist based on JackKirby, whose [[ArtInitiatesLife drawings created a parallel universe]] that he and one of the Turtles must save. The portal stays open long enough for the Turtle to return home... but not Kirby.
* The 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated series did this frequently, to the point where it's lampshaded after the Big Bad and his mooks escape through a portal that closes before the good guys can follow: "How do they get away EVERY time?"

* The child Boo in ''MonstersInc.'' finds only an ordinary closet instead of a portal to Monstropolis after Sully and Mike are obligated to let the closet door be destroyed. Earlier, the same thing happens when Sully and Mike are banished, finding a big metal door in the middle of nothing.

* Harry and Ron rebound painfully from the sealed gateway to Platform 9-and-Three-Quarters in ''HarryPotter/{{Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets}}''.

* The doorway in the wardrobe into ''{{Narnia}}'' vanishes when Lucy tries to show it to her siblings the first time. A portal to Narnia only seems to appear when you're not looking for it, according to Professor Kirke -- and indeed, in CSLewis's other Narnia books, every portal only works once, as opposed to the three times the wardrobe does.

* Will almost certainly happen at least once during a play through of {{Portal}}, since you're going to screw up and place a blue portal when you meant to place a yellow one, or vice versa. Happens even more often during co-op play in [[{{Portal2}} the sequel]] once you realize that it's almost as much [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential fun to torture]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman your teammate]] as it is to solve the puzzles.

* Will almost certainly happen at least once during a play through of {{Portal}}, since you're going to screw up and place a blue portal when you meant to place a yellow one, or vice versa. Happens more even often during co-op play in [[{{Portal2}} the sequel]] once you realize that it's almost as much [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential fun to torture]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman your teammate]] as it is to solve the puzzles.

* Will almost certainly happen at least once during a play through of {{Portal}}, since you're going to screw up and place a blue portal when you meant to place a yellow one, or vice versa. Happens more even often during co-op play in [[Portal2 the sequel]] once you realize that it's almost as much [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential fun to torture]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman your teammate]] as it is to solve the puzzles.

* Will almost certainly happen at least once during a play through of {{Portal}}, since you're going to screw up and place a blue portal when you meant to place a yellow one, or vice versa. Happens more even often during co-op play in Portal2 once you realize that it's almost as much [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential fun to torture]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman your teammate]] as it is to solve the puzzles.

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* In ''{{Bionicle}}'', the transportation system of the city of Metru Nui isn't made up of highways or railroads or anything like that - it's made up of chutes. Some daredevils, instead of just hopping on at the stations, prefer to jump in through the energy fields that hold the chutes in place. Time the chute-diving when the field fluctuates and you pass right through; time it wrong and the impact could be lethal (time it in-between, as Matau did in ''Legends of Metru Nui'', and the "slam" is merely [[ThePratfall a pratfall]]).
* In The ''{{Planescape}}'' setting, this is a frequently mentioned hazard of plane-walking - because many portals sometimes work only under extremely specific circumstances ("Thou must be accompanied by a flame-haired tiefling whilst holding a lily and only on the third day of the second week of the month on a year with a solar eclipse on Aber-Toril"), or are purposely closed up by some powerful thing - such as The Lady. So it's often recommended for players to provide their own means of transportation.

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* A Portal Splat was used to remove Mr. Marshall from ''LandOfTheLost'' when the actor playing him wouldn't come back for the third season. Fiddling with the controls of a pylon, he opened a portal and slipped through, but a tremor knocked the control-pedestal over, causing the portal to vanish before Will and Holly could follow him.

See also TeleporterAccident, TeleFrag, and PortalCut. Despite the visceral name, this is the one variant where the person who attempted to teleport survives unharmed.

* Semi-example: The Portal used to travel between Ages in the ''{{Myst}}'' games are the Linking Books - written on the right paper with the right ink in the right language, and have a moving image on the title page that takes you to the Age the book describes when touched. The titular world of ''Riven'' collapses at the end as a result of your method of escaping. In the next game, ''Exile'', you run across the old Linking Book for it - the panel is black, and ripples electrically while never actually opening.

* Though not quite the same, the titular portal of ''StargateSG1'' has an item known as an "iris" that can be closed over the portal, which prevents most physical matter from fully manifesting itself on Earth's side of the wormhole if the bad guys decide to use it in an invasion attempt. Coming through the Stargate after the iris has been closed results in what is known as "bugs on a windshield death". Presumably they have technicians just to wipe the back side of the iris after this happens.

** The Episode "Girl in the Fireplace" gives more examples of this, with time portals between a futuristic spaceship and 17th century France. One portal the doctor uses is attached to a mirror, which breaks on the way through and won't let him back in. The titular fireplace is another (malfunctioning) portal, but while time passes normally on one side years pass between each trip on the other, with more than one serious plot consequence.

** Sometimes, after the Road Runner goes into the painting, a truck comes back out of the painting to run Wile E. over. Then HeGetsBetter and tries it himself.

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* The child Boo in ''MonstersInc.'' finds only an ordinary closet instead of a portal to Monstropolis after Sully and Mike are obligated to let the closet door be destroyed. Earlier, the same thing happens when Sully and Mike are banished, finding a big metal door in the middle of nothing.

* ''ThePhantomTollbooth'' (the movie, not the book) eats itself after Milo goes through it.

** One of the the Twins goes to gruesome extents to prevent this from happening. He stuck his arm through the door to keep the heroes from shutting it, and stayed like that even after they unloaded a pistol into his arm. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Luckily for him, his wounds heal completely]] when going into ghost form.

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** It also makes more sense than a similar scene in "The Time Meddler"; when the Meddling Monk's TARDIS had its dimensional controls removed, the console room ''shrunk'' to fit the exterior shell!

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-->"Well, I guess I spend the rest of my life pretending that didn't happen or knowing that everyone I love suspects I'm crazy. This'll be a fun 70 years."

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* In The {{Planescape}} setting, this is a frequently mentioned hazard of plane-walking - because many portals sometimes work only under extremely specific circumstances ("Thou must be accompanied by a flame-haired tiefling whilst holding a lily and only on the third day of the second week of the month on a year with a solar eclipse on Aber-Toril"), or are purposely closed up by some powerful thing - such as The Lady. So it's often recommended for players to provide their own means of transportation.
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