History Main / UnimpressiveProgressReveal

-->-- Sherpa Richard P. Offsteader, ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'', "Mission: Save Bigfoot"

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', Po starts climbing the stairs to the temple. The scene cuts to several hours later and Po falls to the ground out of breath, then the camera zooms out and reveals he's only made it up about five steps.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': In "The Greatest Show-Offs on Earth" Theodore attempts tightrope walking for Uncle Ben's Celebrity Circus; we see he makes it halfway across the rope (though, just barely), and appears very proud of his achievement, then we see [[TheReveal the camera pan out to reveal he's only six inches from the ground]]. Eleanor even points this out when [[TheDitz Jeanette applauds Theodore for his feat]].
* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': In the episode "A Horse Walks Into a Rehab", during hiking therapy we see Bojack completely exhausted and having to be carried by two men... to the starting point of the trail, on which he immediately collapses. This repeats later when we see him fall to his knees of exhaustion, only to reveal he moved a few meters at most. Subverted the third time when we see him needing to stop to rest, and it's revealed that while nowhere near completion, he has actually made good progress this time.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' in the WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack parody, "Samurai Quack" Dodgers is shown struggling to climb a mountain and of course when he looks down he's only a few feet off the ground.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales|2017}}'' episode "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S1E3TheGreatDimeChase The Great Dime Chase!]]", a broken elevator forces Louie to climb the stairs to the 57th floor of Scrooge's money bin. After much struggling, sweat, and panting, he reaches... the second floor.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Virt-Ed-Go", Ed is asked to climb a tree so they can build their new clubhouse on it. Ed struggles for a bit and asks for help, and the next shot shows he'd only made it a few feet up the tree.
* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': In "Camp Keep a Good Mac Down", Mr. Herriman ventures into the forest in search of food for his friends, and he becomes more afraid the darker and more mysterious it becomes. And he starts to panic.
-->'''Mr. Herriman:''' Oh. Oh dear. My bearings, they seem to have become misplaced. What's that noise? Hello?! HELP! HELP! ''MADAME FOSTER!!!''\\

* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'': In "Weighty Problem", Jon makes Garfield go jogging with him, and it only takes a short while before Garfield collapses from exhaustion.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'''s episode "Veterans Day", Arnold's grandpa was recounting a mission he had in World War II. He had to transport some food elsewhere and after some time driving he decided to camp up and started thinking if any of his enemies might have already noticed him...only for one of his comrades to ask him to join a poker game with the rest of his regiment, showing he was barely a few meters away.
* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo''. In "Hip Hop Flop", a hip-hop group named The Round Pound goes out in search of a new turn-table to purchase [[ItMakesSenseInContext after one of them eats their old one, thinking it was a giant sandwich]]; as they press on, they collapse in exhaustion, but then we see they're only inches away from their tour bus.

** In the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E5TreehouseOfHorrorIII Treehouse of Horror]]" segment "King Homer", the eponymous giant ape [[KingKongClimb climbs a skyscraper with Marge in his hand]], but drops from exhaustion -- from the second floor, about half his body height.
** Used twice in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E23KingOfTheHill King of the Hill]]"

* Baba's character video from ''VideoGame/FZero GX'' is made up of several of these. First, we see him jump into the air, apparently leaping a great distance, only to then reveal he hopped over a small puddle of water. Next, we see him scale a cliff, only to zoom out and see the "cliff" is barely taller than he is. Finally, we see him holding up a boulder using only his finger, only to zoom out to show that the boulder is being held up by a crane.

Except, as we see when the camera pans out, they've only made a tiny amount of progress in the overall goal. Almost always PlayedForLaughs. They may or may not continue on with their task, but if they do continue, the rest of the task is usually not seen and the characters seem O.K. at the end, giving the impression that it was only the very start that was that difficult.

* In the music video for Attitude City by ''Music/NinjaSexParty'', Danny is shown jogging himself to the point of exhaustion, before the camera pans back to a shot fo him about 15ft from where he started.

[folder:Music]]

* The opening to the second season of ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'' shows the party heading out for a quest, bursting with enthusiasm. Then all but Darkness are falling behind, then stumbling, then lying down exhausted... and then a shot shows they are still in sight of their starting town.

* PlayedForDrama in ''Film/{{Armageddon}}''. After landing on the [[ColonyDrop killer asteroid]], Harry Stamper and his team have exactly eight hours to drill a shaft eight hundred feet deep to plant a bomb before it crosses "zero barrier" and cannot be deflected away from Earth. After a HardWorkMontage that lasts two and a half hours in-universe, Colonel Sharp demands an update and is [[OhCrap less than pleased]] when Stamper admits they're only at 57 feet.

** In the episode "Procrastination", [=SpongeBob=] writes his homework very dramatically and enthusiastically... only to be revealed that all he did was just write a very stylized "THE".
** In an earlier episode, "Your Shoe's Untied", [=SpongeBob=] realizes he doesn't know how to tie his shoes after he unties them for a demonstration; consequently, he can't take a single step without tripping on them and falling flat on his face, which causes a problem at the Krusty Krab when he has to bring a Krabby Patty from the grill to Squidward on the other side of the kitchen. He tries rubbing his shoes together and slowly shuffling along on the wood floor, but despite his best efforts, he barely moves away from the grill, which only annoys Squidward further.

* In the ''Series/KenanAndKel'' made-for-TV movie "Two Heads are Better than None," the Rockmores ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Kel]]) take a road trip and end up stranded in the desert when Kel removes wires from the car's engine because they're pretty. After some encouragement, Kenan and Kel offer to walk to the nearest town, which is ten miles away. An apparent TimeSkip passes, and we see Kel dramatically saying that he's dying of thirst; he falls to the ground, groaning for Kenan to go on without him...at which point Kenan turns around and asks for some water bottles, because the family car is ''ten feet behind them.''

* In ''Series/KenanAndKel'' TV Movie "Two Heads Are Better Than None", Kenan's family [[AndZoidberg and Kel]] get stranded in the desert and Kenan volunteers himself and Kel to search for help, we get a time skip of Kel almost passing out of walking while begging for water, and Kenan just turning around asking his family for a water bottle.

->Excellent! The first three feet are the hardest.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'' with Usopp desperate to get off Bowin Island and back to Luffy with fellow stranded adventurer Heracles continuously telling him it's impossible to escape to the outer island. Also do to eating the island's enticing food, Usopp is [[TheFatEpisode extremely fat now.]]

* ''Film/CoolRunnings'': During the training, Derice, Junior and Yul do pull-ups easily, while Sank hangs from the bar. Much later, when the four are shown pulling up again, Sanka seems to be progressing... until the camera goes down to show Blitzer holding his legs and pushing him up.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied The Girl Who Died]]" the Doctor and his companion attempt the TrainingThePeacefulVillagers when a Viking settlement is threatened by an alien invasion. The results are absolutely PlayedForLaughs: a basic swordfighting excercise somehow leads to the village being ''on fire''.

* A dialogue-based example occurs in ''Series/{{Spaced}}'': Daisy decides to write up a house-cleaning rota for the flat. Cue Daisy typing to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 1, with shots of various house-hold implements overlaid, all set up to suggest that it's a grand, massive undertaking on par with writing an epic novel. When she gets to the end, she promptly passes out on her typewriter from exhaustion. Tim then awakens her, and reveals when asked that she'd only been typing for two-and-a-half minutes.

* Baba's character video from ''VideoGame/FZero GX'' is made up of several of these. First, we see him jump into the air, apparently leaping a great distance, only to then reveal he hoped over a small puddle of water. Next, we see him scale a cliff, only to zoom out and see the "cliff" is barely taller than he is. Finally, we see him holding up a boulder using only his finger, only to zoom out to show that the boulder is being held up by a crane.

* One comic parody of ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' showed a player booting up the game and (apparently) grappling with its NintendoHard nature. Many looks of frustration and anger are shown until at last he wipes some sweat of his brown satisfied with his accomplishment... of finally completing the CharacterCustomization.
* One ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'' comic [[http://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/2013/11/29/unbridled-victory-also-abdominal-wall/ shows Maxwell deciding he's gotten buff enough]] to impress Grape after not really trying. According to his chosen trainer, Kevin, he only completed half-a-rep. The comic shows the [[FlexingThoseNonBiceps minuscule change in his arm-flex]]. Grape even throws a lampshade on it while simultaneously humoring him.

* ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' has the title character spend the whole day climbing Mount Nearburg to try and get a head-start from [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Mindy Wonderful]]. Unfortunately, by the time tomorrow comes around, they only managed to climb a small elevated ledge from ground height, and could have walked around instead.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'''s episode "Veterans Day", Arnold's grandpa was recounting about a mission he had in World War II. He had to transport some food elsewhere and after some time driving he decided to camp up and started thinking if any of his enemies might have already have noticed him...only for one of his comrades to ask him to join a poker game with the rest of his regiment, showing he was barely a few meters away.
* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo''. In "Hip Hop Flop", a hip-hop group named The Round Pound goes out in search for a new turn-table to purchase [[ItMakesSenseInContext after one of them eats their old one, thinking it was a giant sandwich]]; as they press on, they collapse in exhaustion, but then we see they're only inches away from their tour bus.

** In the episode "Procrastination", [=SpongeBob=] writes his homework very dramatically and enthusiastically... only to be revealed that all he did was just writing a very stylized "THE".

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': When Anna and Kristoff reach the North Mountain, Anna begins scaling the rock wall as Kristoff teases her for her inability to climb. After a few shots, the camera pans out and we see Anna about 5 feet up the side of the cliff.

* PlayedForDrama in ''Film/{{Armageddon}}''. After landing on the [[ColonyDrop killer asteroid]], Harry Stamper and his team have exactly eight hours to drill a shaft eight hundred feet deep to plant a bomb before it crosses "zero barrier" and cannot be deflected away from Earth. After a HardWorkMontage that lasts two and a half hours in-universe, Colonel Sharp demands an update and is [[OhCrap less than pleased]] when Stamper admits they're only at fifty-seven feet.

** In ''Mr Busy'', the title character takes Mr Slow on a picnic with him, and rushes away from Mr Slow's front door; and by the time Mr Busy had walked a mile, do you know how far Mr Slow had walked? (Turn the page) [[spoiler: To his own garden gate!]]
** In ''Mr Tall'', the title character goes for a walk with Mr Small, but forgets about him, and walks home, a distance of forty miles. Mr Small also walks home, forty miles. [[spoiler: He got there yesterday.]]

** In the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E5TreehouseOfHorrorIII Treehouse of Horror]]" segment "King Homer", the eponymous giant ape [[KingKongClimb climbs a skyscraper with Marge in his hand]], but drops from exhaustion - from the second floor, about half his body height.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1575432336006547800
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:324:[[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unimpressive.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:324:"Please tell me I'm almost there. Does the air seem a bit thin to you up here?"]]

%% Caption selected per crowner in Caption Repair thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/CaptionSuggestions2
%% Please do not replace or remove without further discussion there: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'': When Anna and Kristoff reach the North Mountain. Anna begins scaling the rock wall as Kristoff teases her for her inability to climb. After a few shots, the camera pans out and we see Anna about 5 feet up the side of the cliff.

* In ''Literature/WitchWeek'', Nan is continuously humiliated by her inability to do a GymClassRopeClimb. Once, she tries climbing with her eyes closed so she can concentrate without seeing the laughing faces of her classmates. After several minutes of strenuous effort, she opens her eyes to check how high she's got and finds that she hasn't made any significant progress at all.

* Played somewhat seriously in Creator/BillBryson's ''A Walk In The Woods''. He and his friend Katz have struggled through the woods on the Appalachian trail for weeks, probably almost two ''months'' by now, suffering all the way, and when they are at an off-trail rest stop that has a map with the trail oriented in an up-down position, Bill checks their location ... and realizes that on a map that has the trail several feet in length, they have only done 2 inches. After a minute of despair, it turns into a good thing, as they decide to skip some parts of the trail that are mostly a boring slog, and to jump on and off the trail at different spots to concentrate on the really nice, scenic parts.

* A dialogue-based example occurs in ''{{Series/Spaced}}'': Daisy decides to write up a house-cleaning rota for the flat. Cue Daisy typing to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 1, with shots of various house-hold implements overlaid, all set up to suggest that it's a grand, massive undertaking on par with writing an epic novel. When she gets to the end, she promptly passes out on her typewriter from exhaustion. Tim then awakens her, and reveals when asked that she'd only been typing for two-and-a-half minutes.
* In the ''Series/TopGear'' Bolivia special, the team are dropped off somewhere on the banks of the Amazon in the middle of the rainforest. After taking a full day to unload their [[TheAllegedCar cars]] from the barge, they camp out and start to head into the jungle the next morning. Cue montage of machete use, undergrowth falling, gratuitous shots of pouring water over their own heads to cool down, the cars driving through the cleared path, and other "great adventure"-type shots. Then Jeremy notices he's forgotten his phone on the shore, and he'll have to go back for it. The other two roll their eyes and wish him luck as he heads off, then about fifteen seconds later he calls to check whether he left it on the rock or by the log.

-->'''Louis''': We made it... I can't believe we made it!\\
'''Bill''': Son, we just ''crossed the street''. Let's not throw a party until we're out of the city.
* Baba's character video from ''VideoGame/FZero GX'' is made up of several of these. First, we see him jump into the air, apparently leaping a great distance, only to then reveal he hoped over a small puddle of water. Next, we see him scale a cliff, only to zoom out and see the "cliff" is barely taller than he is. Finally, we see him holding up a boulder using only his finger, only to zoom out to show that the boulder is being held up by a crane.

* One comic parody of ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' showed a player booting up the game and (apparently) grappling with its NintendoHard nature. Many looks of frustration and anger are shown until at last he wipes some sweat of his brown satisfied with his accomplishment... of finally completing the CharacterCustomization.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks''. In "The Greatest Show-Offs on Earth" Theodore attempts tightrope walking for Uncle Ben's Celebrity Circus; we see he makes it halfway across the rope (though, just barely), and appears very proud of his achievement, then we see [[TheReveal the camera pan out to reveal he's only six inches from the ground]]. Eleanor even points this out when [[TheDitz Jeanette applauds Theodore for his feat]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S1E3TheGreatDimeChase The Great Dime Chase!]]", a broken elevator forces Louie to climb the stairs to the 57th floor of Scrooge's money bin. After much struggling, sweat, and panting, he reaches...the second floor.

* Played somewhat seriously in Creator/BillBryson's ''A Walk In The Woods''. He and his friend Katz have struggled through the woods on the Appalachian trail for ''weeks'', suffering all the way, and when they are at an off-trail rest stop that has a map with the trail oriented in an up-down position, Bill checks their location ... and realizes that on a map that has the trail several feet in length, they have only done 2 inches. After a minute of despair, it turns into a good thing, as they decide to skip some parts of the trail that are mostly a boring slog, and to jump on and off the trail at different spots to concentrate on the really nice, scenic parts.