Falling into the Plot

And if you go chasing Skull Kid,
And you know you're going to fall,
Tell 'em an Acid-Trip Dimension
Has given you the call

"After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!"

— Alice, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

A Dynamic Entry is a cool way to begin your story, and perhaps no entry is more dynamic than having the protagonist fall from the sky. Sometimes they'll be able to slow their fall, but other times they'll survive the landing due to Rule of Cool. It's especially fitting if the protagonist is a Fish out of Water; they're literally dropped into an unfamiliar setting.

Compare Came from the Sky, Crash in Through the Ceiling, Fall-in Angel, "Pan from the Sky" Beginning, and Down the Rabbit Hole. May be caused by a Teleportation Misfire.

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Examples:

Fan Works

• Eleutherophobia: Shortly after saving himself in The Day the Earth Stood Still, Tom falls from a spaceship in low orbit and has a matter of seconds to morph wings so he can slow his fall.
• Enchanted Miracle Pretty Cure: Episode 2 starts with Saki literally falling from the sky and into the Encanto village.

Films — Animation

• The Iron Giant starts with the titular robot crashing to Earth in the middle of a storm. It is first sighted by a sailor who at first mistakes it for the lighthouse and then spreads stories about it to the local town.

Films — Live-Action

• Army of Darkness begins this way. Justified, as it is an Immediate Sequel to Evil Dead 2, which ends with Ash falling through a time vortex to wind up in the Middle Ages.
• Jack Deebs gets yanked out of his prison cell into the Cool World one night. He plummets from the sky of a grotesque Toon Town into a public square where Holli Would is dancing seductively to a drooling audience. This is the opening move in Holli's Evil Plan to become human, and escape into the human world (Noid World). At the end of Holli's dance, Jack gets dumped back into his cell with no-one the wiser.
• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle: In-universe, this is how the Jumanji video game starts — all the players drop down from the sky and land in a field in the middle of the jungle. We see this happen from Spencer's point-of-view.
• Predators begins with multiple metal pods falling from the sky attached to parachutes. Some don't survive the landing, but those who do wake up on a strange alien planet without any memory of being abducted. They group together to work out why they're there, while also escaping threats such as the titular Predators.

Literature

• The plot of Half Upon a Time is kicked off when May falls out of the sky and lands roughly in front of Jack.
• Paprika has researchers develop the DC Mini, a device that allows psychologists to perceive the subconscious mind of mental patients. When Doctor Chiba uses this device to probe a patient's mind, she becomes the Manic Pixie Dream Girl called Paprika. She begins by falling from the sky, only to come to ground oh-so-gently on a Tokyo street where a parade of lunacy is underway.
• Restart begins with the main character Chase falling off the roof of his house and getting amnesia.
• The Trials of Apollo begins with the titular character making a Trash Landing after being banished to the mortal world.
• The Underland Chronicles begins with Gregor and his baby sister Boots falling down a (seemingly) Bottomless Pit under their apartment building's laundry room.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who: The newly regenerated Thirteenth Doctor falls from the sky into a moving train in "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" after the other major characters have been introduced and the Stenza storyline has begun.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Played With. The Stranger is one of the main characters and he falls out of the sky at the end of episode 1. Various characters witness his coming under the form of a comet and have different interpretations of what they see. Later is revealed he is one of the Istari sent on Middle-earth by Eru Iluvatar.
• Word of God is that this is what the opening of Mr. Bean is supposed to represent, the character being suddenly thrown into the spotlight.
• In a Sesame Street animation about the letter A involving an ant and an apple, the ant literally falls from the sky at the beginning.

Video Games

• While not a part of the actual story, the title screen of the second Bomberman Max game shows the version's protagonist coming down from the sky and landing on the ground unharmed upon which the title and options pop up.
• Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure: The second episode starts with Cosmo falling through a massive pitfall until he's swallowed by a monster. Luckily, Cosmo is still alive, so the next level is a Womb Level.
• Dark Souls II: The game begins with your character falling into the kingdom of Drangleic.
• Deltarune: After a brief prologue, Kris and Susie fall into the Dark World, where the game truly begins.
• Diablo III: The Falling Star that crash lands on the ruins of Tristram cathedral and sets in motion the first act of the game is revealed to be an amnesiac human, with no clue as to his own identity, when the heroes reach the lowest level of the cathedral to investigate. Further investigation reveals that he's actually the Fallen Angel Tyreal, who has renounced his position in Heaven in order to defy the Alien Non-Interference Clause angels have towards humans, and help save the human world from a demon invasion.
• Final Fantasy III begins with the entire party falling into a crevice in the Altar Cave.
• The Forgotten City starts with you checking out an ancient shrine after waking up washed up on a river, only for the floor to open up and drop you into the titular city.
• Halo 3 opens with the Master Chief falling to Earth after jumping/falling off of the Prophet of Truth's ship that he was clinging on to at the end of Halo 2.
• Kingdom Hearts. Falling into adventure is a regular occurrence in the series:
  • Kingdom Hearts: The game opens with Sora falling into a dream sequence that acts as a tutorial, and many times the heroes end up falling into a world.
  • Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]: Every world opens with a minigame where Sora or Riku fall, or "drop", into the world.
• In Kirby Super Star, Kirby discovers the titular cave in "The Great Cave Offensive" by falling into a deep hole.
• Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil begins with Klonoa falling out of the sky and into the Sea of Tears.
• The Legendary Starfy: The fifth game begins when Starfy is awoken by Bunston falling from the sky and crashing into the roof of Pufftop Palace.
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: During the game's prologue, Link chases the Skull Kid after the latter kidnaps Epona and steals the Ocarina of Time. He reaches a grotto and ends up falling several meters down, which takes him into the land of Termina; it is there where the game takes place.
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater: Naked Snake's mission starts right after he drops himself from the plane where he's being transported and parachutes into a jungle, not too far from his target destination.
• In Myst, Atrus links (teleports) himself to the eponymous island while falling through the world-bridging Star Fissure, to escape and trap his misguided father, Gehn, on a world called "Riven". The book he used to link kept falling, eventually landing on Earth, where The Hero would find it and follow him. Naturally, the game's logo is simply a human silhouette mid-fall.
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus begins with the player character falling from the sky into the Hisui region on the outskirts of the Obsidian Fieldlands, being brought there from the present day by Arceus itself. Most of the characters in the game comment on how you're a person who fell from the sky, with Commander Kamado in particular seeing it as a bad omen following the recent creation of the space-time rift.
• After choosing what Pokémon to become, the player character in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity falls thousands of feet from the sky and crash-lands in the forest with nothing worse than a mild concussion.
• Puyo Puyo Tetris begins with Ringo commenting on what a peaceful day it is, realizing that the peace is kinda boring, and joking about her friends falling from the sky. Sure enough, Amitie and Arle inexplicably fall from the sky and end up near Ringo.
• Skullmonkeys begins with the villain Klogg falling from the sky after falling into space after the events from the last game.
• Sonic and the Black Knight: Sonic is summoned to the world of Arthurian legend this way in the opening cutscene.
• Stray kicks off with a pipe breaking under the cat's weight, sending them sliding down into the bowels of the City.
• Super Mario Bros. 2: In the opening scene that starts the first level, the player's chosen character falls from a door in the sky. This is the door Mario and his friends entered during the story's prologue, taking them to the Dream Land of Subcon.
• Undertale begins with the Human falling into the Underground from the top of Mt. Ebott. Since the game mostly takes place beneath the Earth, from most monsters' perspectives, the Human may as well have come from the sky.
• The Wind Road starts with you falling down the dark skies of the spirit realm before landing in a knee-high shallow pool, which somehow doesn't harm you at all. And then you get up and the game begins in proper.

Webcomics

• The David Gonterman fan comic Sailor Moon USA begins with Gonterman watching the series, then walking outside... and catching Usagi, who falls out of the sky and right into his arms.

Western Animation

• The Schoolhouse Rock! song "A Victim of Gravity" starts with a teacup falling from the sky and breaking when it hits the ground. Justified, as this is meant to be an initial showcase of the effects of gravity.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: "Dunces and Dragons" begins with Patrick and SpongeBob being launched from seahorses into the sky, and when they land, they learn they somehow time traveled back to medieval times.

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