History Main / PortalSlam

* Though not quite the same, Earth's stargate of ''Series/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 a "bugs on a windshield death", with [[RuleOfPerception an audible "THUMP" and the iris visibly pulsing]]. Presumably they have technicians just to wipe the back side of the iris after this happens.

** A non-lethal variant occurs when the gate deactivates moments before a traveler reaches it (hopefully before partially entering it and suffering a PortalCut). For example, in ''Michael'', Ronon pursues Michael Kenmore who has taken Teyla hostage, tries to leap through but just lands painfully behind the inactive gate.

* Indirectly parodied (no attempt to re-enter the portal is made) in [[http://xkcd.com/693/ this]] ''XKCD'' strip:
-->"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."

* In the ''DungeonsAndDragons'' ''{{Planescape}}'' setting, this is a frequently mentioned hazard of plane-walking. 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"), and portals can be destroyed or closed by various beings, so it's recommended players provide their own means of transportation.

* 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 ''BobAndGeorge'', George just quite doesn't make it to a portal that Bob just got hit into, believing it to lead back to his own world, where George is the only person who can keep him in check. However, the Author had redirected the portal, meaning it wasn't as bad as George had feared.
* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006531 God Cat unplugs one of Roxy's portals]], resulting in this.

* [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/nothingofhistory/ This]] ''WapsiSquare'' strip demonstrates that this trope can also occur if someone simply pulls the portal away at the last second.

* JamesPatterson's ''WitchAndWizard'' series has portals to the alternate world of the Shadowland, which can only be accessed by certain beings known as "Curves." It is strongly implied that the New Order is trying to eliminate the Curve ability from its prisoners (at one point, when an evil hellhound is the only one of its kind to make it through, Celia suggests that it "must not have been fully brainwashed by the Straight and Narrows.") Said Straight and Narrows, when attempting to get through a portal, will invariably slam into the wall instead.

** A non-lethal variant occurs when the gate deactivates moments before a traveler reaches it (hopefully before partially entering it and suffering a PortalCut). For example, in ''Michael'', Ronon pursues Kenmore who has taken Teyla hostage, tries to leap through but just lands painfully behind the inactive gate.

A character tries to enter a [[CoolGate magic portal]], often at high speed, only to discover that it is no longer there. Maybe the magic has been sealed or the portal cannot be opened in the presence of {{Muggles}}, i.e. the character can't show it to his family or friends. Maybe the portal is an EmpathicWeapon that lets you through only when it's in the mood.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''ThePhantomTollbooth'' (the movie, not the book) eats itself after Milo goes through it.
* ''Film/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.
** 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.
* A famous scene from ''Film/AustinPowers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' has Dr. Evil running into his ''un''activated portal-style time machine, only to smack into it.
* In the Napoleon scene in ''TimeBandits'', The Bandits escape through a timehole, and just as the angry soldiers reach it, the timehole collapses and all the soldiers crash into each other and fall down.
* In ''TheAdjustmentBureau'', the Adjusters have the power to use any door as a portal. Similar to Film/TheMatrix, the portal disappears when the door is closed.

** It didn't vanish. The TARDIS interior exists in another dimension. Merely the portal between dimensions vanished, presumably due to the disruptions. Falling apart would make exactly no sense, because the interior and exterior aren't actually related.

** [[BlackComedy The "THUMP" is just for]] [[YouBastard your sick, twisted viewing entertainment]].

* Vortices disappearing when people try to jump through them happens an awful lot in ''{{Sliders}}''. If it's a good guy, they'll always find another vortex. If it's a bad guy, they're usually trapped until the good guys can deal with them. Rickman, the BigBad of season three, meets his end this way when a portal is just over a cliff. When it shuts down just as he's leaping for it, the PortalSlam is soon followed by [[KilledOffForReal a standard slam]].

* 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 title 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.
** In Riven, The Fissure was [[spoiler:the instability in the world that eventually destroyed it]]. However, in and of itself it was a Portal, as the linking book that initiated the Myst franchise falls into the player's hands [[spoiler:when Atrus jumps into The Fissure and uses the book to link back to Myst, allowing the book to fall into the fissure so Gehn would not be able to get it, trapping him in Riven.]] The book then falls through the fissure and onto the surface of [[spoiler:D'ni, "New Start", or as we call it, Earth,]] where the player found it. Later, in Myst: Uru, you also find the telescope that fell into the fissure, also on the surface. So the player comes into the story due to [[spoiler:Atrus]] pulling a PortalSlam on [[spoiler:his father, Gehn]].
*** More conventionally, [[spoiler:destroying a Descriptive Book will seal off access to an Age permanently. Certain drastic changes to a Descriptive Book will also change which Age it links to, as opposed to effecting changes in the Age itself - not a PortalSlam in the traditional sense, but the original link is still severed all the same]].
* {{Minecraft}} semi-example: Ghast fireballs can disable Nether portals, and if you don't have a flint and steel, you're stuck in hell.

* Invoked in ''VideoGame/WingCommander'', where the Kilrathi find a way to obscure an intergalactic jump point, leaving the Terrans stranded and in an ambush.

* The Australian TV series ''MirrorMirror'' has a portal that only works when both ends are in alignment. Also, it refuses to allow certain people through, to the point of ''shocking'' them. [[spoiler:At the end of the show, Nicholas chooses to stay and Louisa returns to 1919, thus negating every single event the Old Man worked to bring to pass, thus the Mirror erased itself from the "present day" timeline.]]

* In the final episode of the original ''TwilightZone'', kids who jump into a pool emerge from a pond, to live with a nice old woman. Once the kids do this, they can hear their parents arguing become fainter and fainter, implying the portal is closing.

* Cowl forces this on Harry and Lara in the DresdenFiles, just as they were about to escape the C4-rigged cave.

* In ''WebComic/{{Erfworld}}'', this one's invoked by Charlie and the Jetstone side, in order to trap Parson in an unwinnable situation.

* The Australian TV series ''MirrorMirror'' has a portal that only works when both ends are in alignment. Also, it refuses to allow certain people through, to the point of ''shocking'' them. [[spoiler:At the end of the show, Nicholas chooses to stay and Louisa returns to 1919, thus negating every single event the Old Man worked to bring to pass, thus the Mirror erased itself from the "present day" timeline.]]

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

** Captain Carter says "It doesn't even allow matter to reintegrate", but stuff still comes through as atoms - it just doesn't have enough room to reassemble itself into molecules or Jaffa. This is used to provide allies without an IDC with a primitive one-time method of contacting SGC: Throwing a box containing iridium through the gate allows traces of the element to be detected on the iris.

* Though not quite the same, the title portal of ''Series/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 a "bugs on a windshield death", with [[RuleOfPerception an audible "THUMP" and the iris visibly pulsing]]. Presumably they have technicians just to wipe the back side of the iris after this happens.

* Though not quite the same, the title portal of ''Series/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 a "bugs on a windshield death", with [[RuleOfPerception an audible "THUMP" and the iris visibly pulsing]]. Presumably they have technicians just to wipe the back side of the iris after this happens.

* In the ''DarkTower'' novel "Wolves of the Calla", when someone brings Black 13 (a magic black ball which radiates evil) through the portal in the Cave of Voices, the portal slams shut, separating Ronald and his friends.

* A famous scene from ''AustinPowers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' has Dr. Evil running into his ''un''activated portal-style time machine, only to smack into it.

* [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner 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.
** Usually accompanied by a literal 'splat' sound.

* In one episode of ''TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', Billy's kiddie pool becomes a portal to another dimension. Whenever [[TheBully Sperg]] tries to use it, he just hits the bottom of the pool.

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

* In the film version of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', Arthur is afraid to go into the portal at Magrathea after the others. By the time he gets up the nerve and runs at it full speed, the portal is inactive and he ends up sliding through it.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* [[WesternAnimation/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.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* JamesPatterson's ''WitchAndWizard'' series has portals to the alternate world of the Shadowland, which can only be accessed by certain beings known as "Curves." It is strongly implied that the New Order is trying to eliminate the Curve ability from its prisoners (at one point, when an evil hellhound is the only one of its kind to make it through, Celia suggests that it "must not have been fully brainwashed by the Straight and Narrows.")

* Though not quite the same, the title portal of ''Series/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.
** Captain Carter says "It doesn't even allow matter to reintegrate", so there shouldn't be any residue. This doesn't explain why there's an audible "THUMP" and the iris visibly pulses each time an object splats against the iris, though.
*** Stuff still comes through as subatomic particles, it just doesn't have enough room to reassemble itself into molecules or Jaffa. The "THUMP" is presumably the iris being bombarded with the stream of low energy protons and electrons which used to be the traveller.
**** Atoms are reintegrated. This is used to provide allies without an IDC with a primitive one-time method of contacting SGC: Throwing a box containing iridium through the gate and allowing traces of the element to be detected on the iris.
**** [[BlackComedy The THUMP is just for]] [[YouBastard your sick, twisted viewing entertainment]].
*** It could also be seen as the RuleOfPerception in effect.
** A non-lethal and variant occurs when the gate deactivates moments before a traveler reaches it (hopefully before partially entering it and suffering a PortalCut). For example, in ''Michael'', Ronon pursues Kenmore who has taken Teyla hostage, tries to leap through but just lands painfully behind the inactive gate.