History Main / StyrofoamRocks

* The end of ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' has debris falling from the top of a skyscraper, and in one shot you can see a rock, which had supposedly tumbled from several hundred feet in the air, fall straight down and bounce off of a ''wooden'' police barrier.

* The pre-shows for the two former [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Studios Florida]] attractions, ''Ride/EarthquakeTheBigOne'' and ''Disaster!'', had Styrofoam rocks being used as a way of demonstrating the many different special effects used in movies.

When shooting in a studio, you can't just bring in a truckload of rocks and drop them on the actors. Wood won't work either - what if somebody is injured! The rocks could of course be done with CGI, but that would cost quite a deal, and be hard for the actors to properly portray.

** There's another example in the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]] episode "The Return of the Archons": A melon-sized "rock" bounces off a stuntman's head and he keeps running. Apparently it wasn't supposed to hit him at all, and was left in under time pressure.

** It was also parodied rather hilariously in the ''Wormhole X-Treme'' episode when they kept pelting the Jackson-analog with the "bricks" in multiple 'takes'.
* In ''ElChapulinColorado'', it's not only rocks but literally '''everything'''. El Chapulín hits an enemy with a chair, and you can actually see the styrofoam right there.
* {{Nickelodeon}}'s ''LegendsOfTheHiddenTemple'' and ''[[NickelodeonGuts Guts]]'' were made of this trope. They were {{game show}}s for children, so it would have been disturbing if the effect were more convincing.
* This occurred in the series finale of ''SmallWonder'', when Ted gave a literal meaning to the term CardboardPrison. He offered to pay for the damage, but the movie director said there was no money in the budget for it.

AliceAndBob are on an epic adventure to find a treasure buried deep underground. They are making their way through a maze of tunnels, with only a flashlight and an ancient treasure map keeping them from getting lost. But oh no! The villain hot on their heels accidently sets off a bomb and the ground starts shaking under the heroes' feet! The ancient tunnels aren't built sturdily enough to take the tremors and the walls crumble around them!

Except the rocks that fall sort of...''bounce'' when they hit the ground...

When shooting in a studio, you can't just bring in a truckload of rocks and drop them on the actors. Even wood won't work - what if somebody is injured! The rocks could of course be done with CGI, but that would cost quite a deal, and be hard for the actors to properly portray.

This trope is a kind of SpecialEffectsFailure and is applicable in situations where light objects, such as Styrofoam, are meant to portray rocks, bricks or some other heavy material in a dramatic fashion, but fails to [[{{Pun}} lend any weight]] to the seriousness of the situation.

** The Ogri in "The Stones of Blood" are a whole alien race of this.

** In "Robot", the newly regenerated Fourth Doctor performs a BrickBreak. The brick prop looks good, but when it hits the ground it makes the distinctive sound of balsa wood.

* This occurred in several early ''Series/DoctorWho'' stories, but most notably in "An Unearthly Child" and "The Daleks." It was a variation in that rocks and rock walls were made of the stuff; the DVD of "The Daleks" points out where Ian accidentally pulls off a chunk of the rock face (!). It's entirely forgivable because the show was at the time confined to Lime Grove Studios.

* ''[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Viper Viper]]'' Episode "Cold Storage". Two people are running away from an explosion. The Rocks flying around are out of Styrofoam. They have been broken and you can clearly see the white unpainted inside of the Rocks.

* ''Series/Viper'' Episode "Cold Storage". Two people are running away from an explosion. The Styrofoam Rocks flying around have been broken and you can clearly see the white unpainted inside of the Rocks.

* ''DragonBallEvolution'': In the climax of the movie, the heroes are in a valley between rock pillars. Except the rocks look very light.

* The boxes thrown between Bond and terrorists in [[FanWorks/DiamondsCut Diamond's Cut]] are obviously empty and wouldn’t hurt anyone, especially when both Bond and terrorists have guns.

* ''TheThreeStooges'' used this a lot, to keep up the illusion that the three had the endurance of a typical cartoon character when being hit in the head with rocks or bricks.

->''"Why would we be interested in Planet X?" asked Proton. "It's a rock! Styrofoam rock admittedly — but still a rock."''
-->-- '''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space''' by Odon

* In ''{{Congo}}'' rocks fell from the cave roof; some bounced and those that landed in the underground river floated.

* A famous goof in ''RaidersOfTheLostArk'' has Indy shove a loose cubical stone the size of a compact car hood out of a wall, and the shadow shows it bouncing several times as it hits the sand.

* ''Series/{{Stargate SG-1}}'' has an episode with a flashback which reveals how Daniel Jackson's parents were killed. Apparently, they were crushed to death under the collapsing walls of an ancient cardboard temple.

When shooting in a studio, you can't just bring in a truckload of rocks and drop them on the actors. Hell, even wood won't work - what if somebody is injured! The rocks could of course be done with CGI, but that would cost quite a deal, and be hard for the actors to properly portray.

This trope is a kind of SpecialEffectsFailure and is applicable in situations where light objects, such as styrofoam, are meant to portray rocks, bricks or some other heavy material in a dramatic fashion, but fails to [[{{Pun}} lend any weight]] to the seriousness of the situation.