History Main / WidelySpacedJailBars

** [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] in an earlier episode, "What Have You Done?" where Ice King is imprisoned in a cell with ''only two bars.''

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', when [[spoiler: Discord]] traps the other Mane 5 and Spike in a cage.

* In ''[[TheFlintstonesInVivaRockVegas The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas]]'', Fred and Barney are in a jail. While the bars are close enough together to give Fred trouble, Barney can walk through the gaps without even shrugging. He ''doesn't'' until an item falls just out of reach and he has to step through to get them. No, it wasn't the keys; Fred actually has to tell him to go back out and get the keys and let Fred out of the cell.

->''"There’s nothing about this that really seems like it’s related to cat powers. Instead, it just makes me think that a crime syndicate composed of supermodels and actresses would be unstoppable, assuming you didn’t employ actual doors. I’d watch that movie."''\\

->''"Are you seriously telling me that you can't fit through those bars? You could drive a fucking pickup truck through those giant gaps!"''
-->-- '''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic''', on ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog''

* There's a variation in the ''MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''[[note]] Fourth series, sans Cleese, which is officially just titled ''Monty Python''[[/note]] episode "Michael Ellis", where the department store sells birdcages in which to keep pet ''ants''.

Comical Type: the character in the cell [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the spacing of the bars by sticking her head or torso through. Someone might even ''accidentally'' escape through the bars, having been too stupid to figure it out on purpose. A particularly GenreSavvy character might even wait for the jailor to leave before slipping between the bars and making her escape.

* Played with in the ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "Avatar Day". Aang is clearly too small for the adult-sized stocks, so he easily slips in and out of them while talking to his fellow inmates. This is all part of the episode's premise that Aang is voluntarily submitting to justice when he is obviously powerful enough to escape any time he wanted to.

* In ''TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'', the prisoners in the jail in Bree-town really should be able to just walk out of there.

--> '''Roger''': "No, not at any time! Only when it was funny."

* On one ''OhYeahCartoons'' short, a boy secret agent and his cat sidekick are in a cage about to be hit by a DeathRay. When the cat asks how they can possibly escape, the kid simply slips through the bars. The cat, amused at how simple it is, hops back and forth between the bars ("I'm in, I'm out, I'm in, I'm out...") and ends up being hit by the ray. (Being a cartoon character, [[IGotBetter he got better]].)

* In ''AMuppetChristmasCarol'', Rizzo and Gonzo climb over a barred gate, and then Rizzo runs back between the bars to get something he dropped.

* In the ''[[Film/Catwoman]]'' movie, the titular character breaks out of jail this way.

* In ''[[BatmanArkhamAsylum Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'', Batman imprisons Harley Quinn in such a cell.

* Averted in the ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "Avatar Day". Aang is clearly too small for the adult-sized stocks, so he easily slips in and out of them while talking to his fellow inmates.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

Film

Literature

Video Games

Western Animation

* In an episode of ''OnePiece'', some characters are caught in a net. In closeup shots the net has a very fine mesh, but in distance shots the mesh is drawn wide enough that the characters could potentially fall right through. This demonstrates that it's done for the visual necessity of drawing the trap in a way that doesn't obscure the characters.
* In ''[[{{Slayers}} Slayers: Revolution]]'', Zelgadis caught Pokota in a cage with bars so far apart, the little guy had to spread his arms in order to hold onto two bars at once. But he still couldn't get out.

* In ''RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'' there is a containment area on the Starship Phoenix with bars like these. The PlayerCharacter actually can walk between the bars, but the {{NPC}}s in there never think of escaping this way.

* In the Garfield TV special ''[[WesternAnimation/GarfieldSpecials Here Comes Garfield]]'', Garfield and Odie are [[PoundsAreAnimalPrisons taken to the pound]]. Odie is thrown into the back of an animal control truck where the bars are more than wide enough for him to slip through. Later, when Garfield and Odie are in the pound, all the cage bars are wide enough for [[FatCat even Garfield]] to walk out, but nobody seems to notice.
* ''TheSimpsons'' episode "The Frying Game" has Marge and Homer in jail together, in a cell whose bars are clearly too close together for Homer but that Marge could walk right through. She doesn't, making this a Serious Type.
* LooneyTunes: Tweety's cage usually has bars wide enough apart for him to fly right through--but they're mostly there to keep Sylvester out anyway, and he does it if he has a good enough reason.
* On one ''OhYeahCartoons'' short, a boy secret agent and his cat sidekick are in a cage about to be hit by a DeathRay. When the cat asks how they can possibly escape, the kid simply slips through the bars. The cat, amused at how simple it is, hops back and forth between the bars ("I'm in, I'm out, I'm in, I'm out...") and ends up being hit by the ray. (Being a cartoon, [[IGotBetter he got better]].)
* Averted in the ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "Avatar Day". Aang is clearly too small for the adult-sized stocks, so he easily slips in and out of them while talking to his fellow inmates.

* [[LooneyTunes Tweety's]] cage usually has bars wide enough apart for him to fly right through, and he does it if he has a good enough reason.

* Averted in the ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "Avatar Day". Aang is clearly too small for the adult-sized stocks, so he easily slips in and out of them while talking to his fellow inmates.



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