History Main / TwoDSpace

* The Franchise/DCU setting is established as having an enormous wall known as The Source Wall encircling the entire multiverse, seemingly made of the petrified bodies of beings that have tried to breach it; failing certain cataclysmic events, it's supposed to be impenetrable. However, it's shown to be very much a ''wall'' in every respect, with a top giving way to a starscape above (and presumably no ground beneath either), so it's not clear why nobody's tried to just fly over it. Unless some strange metaphysics or non-euclidean geometries prevent this.

* The Creater/DCUniverse is established as having an enormous wall known as The Source Wall encircling the entire multiverse, seemingly made of the petrified bodies of beings that have tried to breach it; failing certain cataclysmic events, it's supposed to be impenetrable. However, it's shown to be very much a ''wall'' in every respect, with a top giving way to a starscape above (and presumably no ground beneath either), so it's not clear why nobody's tried to just fly over it. Unless some strange metaphysics or non-euclidean geometries prevent this.

** "The Swarm" had the ship confronted with a vast swath of hostile territory that would take too long to go around lengthwise, so they shoot straight through the narrowest point and hope no-one notices. Simply going around it on the z axis at said narrow point is never considered.

* Parodied in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9W7pvOLxmQ Every Episode of Popular Space Show™]] by Creator/AlastairBeckettKing, in which two spacecraft captains, during a confrontation, complain that the other's ship is at a weird angle. This cumulates in one teleporting the other onboard, sideways.

* Subverted in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9W7pvOLxmQ Every Episode of Popular Space Show™]].

*** Probably to hit the ship from that specific angle, because Khan's torpedoes are ''also'' forward-facing, and they wanted to hit him from the side it was most difficult for him to return fire from.

** Taken even further in ''Literature/EndersShadow''. Bean is smarter and much less trusting than Ender, and rarely assumes that something is true just because it was taught to him. This is best demonstrated in the scene where Bean comes to the conclusion that [[spoiler:none of the solar system defenses are practical, because the Buggers could just hop over them. He realizes that the only defensive strategy that makes any sense is a preemptive attack against the ''enemy's'' planet. He decides that Earth's attacking force must have been sent decades ago, and would be arriving within the next few years]].

* Exploited in ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'' and its [[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins sequel]] – anyone who plays this trope straight ends up losing because [[GenreSavvy someone else]] [[ExploitedTrope thought in three dimensions]]. For example...

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'', curiously only a few creatures actually ''swim''. Which is treated like flying. [=SpongeBob=] once built an ''airplane''-- indeed, the episode where he does so is entirely oriented around him trying to "fly". This is from the same series where there's Fire underwater, dying of thirst underwater (for fish, so the "clean water" argument is moot), and Drowning underwater (again, they're FISH).

** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'', Chang takes glorious glee in pummeling the ''Enterprise'' all over the place with his modified Bird of Prey, both on top and on the bottom. The most devastating the blow in this attack comes from the bottom, which tears through the saucer section like wet paper. The only reason Kirk or Sulu couldn't fight back initially is because they weren't able to see the damn thing in the first place and only fire away once the specially modified torpedo locks on.

** Exploited in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', where the page quote comes from. Kirk and his ''Enterprise'', battling Khan in a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie sensor-jamming nebula]], manage to duck under Khan's ''Reliant'' and then rise to deliver the fatal shots. However, for all the implications that his "two-dimensional thinking" was a critical flaw in Khan's strategic prowess (he's never fought a space battle before, because almost all of the time he's been in space was as a HumanPopsicle), this is [[OneShotRevisionism one of perhaps two times]] in the franchise's entire history that anyone tries anything like this. There's also the fact that the ''Enterprise'' has to "rise up" behind the ''Reliant'' before firing on it. While this is certainly dramatic, realistically there's no reason why the ship couldn't fire on the ''Reliant'' while still under it. Even if the weapon systems were all forward facing, all they would have to do is rotate the ''Enterprise'' until it was pointed directly at the Reliant's underside.

** Exploited in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', where the page quote comes from. Kirk and his ''Enterprise'', battling Khan in a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie sensor-jamming nebula]], manage to duck under Khan's ''Reliant'' and then rise to deliver the fatal shots. However, for all the implications that his "two-dimensional thinking" was a critical flaw in Khan's strategic prowess (he's never fought a space battle before, because almost all of the time he's been in space was as a HumanPopsicle), this is [[OneShotRevisionism one of perhaps two times]] in the franchise's entire history that anyone tries anything like this. There's also the fact that the Enterprise has to "rise up" behind the Reliant before firing on it. While this is certainly dramatic, realistically there's no reason why the ship couldn't fire on the Reliant while still under it. Even if the weapon systems were all forward facing, all they would have to do is rotate the Enterprise until it was pointed directly at the Reliant's underside.

** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'', Chang takes glorious glee in pummeling the ''Enterprise'' all over the place with his modified Bird of Prey, both on top and on the bottom. The most devastating the blow in this attack comes from the bottom, which tears through the saucer section like wet paper. The only reason Kirk or Sulu can't fight back initially is because they can't see the thing in the first place and only fire away once the special torpedo locks on.
** ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' depicts the final battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar with both ships utilizing full directional advantage. After taking substantial damage to a particular side of the DeflectorShield, the Enterprise would rotate less damaged sections away from the line of sight of the Scimitar to offer more time for repairs, which involves the image of turning sideways or upside down. Previously, and most of the time afterward, even combat against large cruisers played out more like an OldSchoolDogfight, some twist and turns but largely staying on the same relative plane as the opponent.

"Sacrifice of Angels" did a couple of interesting things with this. A Federation fleet and a Cardassian/Dominion fleet went head-to-head in a vertical wall of ships that Sisko in the ''Defiant'' later attempted to punch through. Later TheCavalry arrive for Sisko in the form of a Klingon fleet that attacks out of the sun at a downward angle.

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' played with this a little bit: it's explained that because the Dominion views their soldiers as expendable, their energy shields are disproportionately focused on the sides of the ship that would face the enemy when they're ''attacking''. Think of the old 2D army example of enemy units that only have armor on their front, because they're not supposed to retreat - and they're also meant to be used in blitz attacks that win on the first strike, so they're not well-prepared for being overwhelmed from every side. The issue is that in three-dimensional space, there are six "sides" (forward, rear, left, right, and also top and bottom), and Dominion ships are also troop carriers that deploy soldiers into combat zones, so their bottom shielding is pretty strong too. Examining a captured Jem'Hadar ship, however, Starfleet realizes the top-side shields on Dominion ships are incredibly under-powered, compared to the other five sides. This is exploited during the battle to retake Deep Space 9 at the beginning of Season 6: just as the Federation fleet is being overwhelmed, Klingon reinforcements suddenly arrive, making a Z-axis strike from "above" the plane of the battle, hitting many Dominion ships on their weakest side, and evening the balance of the battle.

*** "Sacrifice of Angels" did a couple of interesting things with this. A Federation fleet and a Cardassian/Dominion fleet went head-to-head in a vertical wall of ships that Sisko in the ''Defiant'' later attempted to punch through. Later TheCavalry arrive for Sisko in the form of a Klingon fleet that attacks out of the sun at a downward angle.

*** [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends The old Expanded Universe]] justified this with ''Interdictor''-class Star Destroyers being used at the battle, thus keeping the Rebels locked in the system due to their gravity wells preventing hyperspace jumps, and they came round the planet so that a jump into the system was not necessary, thus a cloud of Star Destroyers on the same plane (albeit with a bit of vertical and horizontal variance), all pointed at the Rebel fleet. The present Expanded Universe does feature ''Interdictor''-class Star Destroyers (notably in ''WestrnAnimation/StarWarsRebels''), but no mention has yet been made of them being used in the battle to prevent escape.

Maneuvering is also shackled to the horizontal plane most of the time. Very rarely will shows and writers take advantage of the lack of "up/down" in real space by having ships attack each other at odd angles or vectors, which would offer something visually and tactically fresh. Even outside of battle, when two ships approach each other, no matter where they come from, they will always be oriented the same way; you never see a ship flying "upside down". (On rare occasions, an exception will be made for derelicts. Then again, upside-down derelicts can be found in the ocean, too.)

** "Literature/TheGeneralFoundation": General Riose is [[AvertedTrope averting]] the two-dimensional concept of space by organizing his ships into an "Inclosure", a 3D sphere of ships where the enemy cannot escape. As the Inclosure tightens, he advances through the Foundation's territory and maintains a supply line for his fleet.

** ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' has the ''Millennium Falcon'' pulling off 3D manouevers all the time during the Hoth chase, and Star Destroyers are often seen at odd angles relative to one another. Also an example of SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome, as the Falcon did all this while filmed with motion control photography, which (as noted above) makes 3-D space difficult to shoot.