Nuking the Fridge!!

[Doomsday]

I was just talking with Bond about this....

http://www.nukingthefridge.com/

Nuking the Fridge is a colloquialism used by U.S. Cinema critics and fans and has a meaning similar to jumping the shark. It is used to denote the point in a movie or movie series at which the characters or plot veer into a ridiculous, out-of-the-ordinary storyline. Films that have "nuked the fridge" are typically deemed to have passed their peak, since they have undergone too many changes to retain their initial appeal, and after this point critical fans often sense a noticeable decline in their quality. It is considered as the movie equivalent of what Jumping the shark means for television.

The term is an allusion to a scene in the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull of the Indiana Jones series, when the title character Indiana Jones is literally hit by a atomic bomb blast while hiding inside a refrigerator in a desperate attempt to escape a nuclear test facility. The fridge is hurled several miles through the sky, and tumbles hard to the ground. The scene was considered so preposterous that many believed it to be an attempt at outdoing the over-the-top action of the classic introduction sequence of the series.

Nuking the Fridge moments may be scenes like the one described above that finally convince viewers that the film has fundamentally and permanently strayed from its original premise. In those cases they are viewed as a desperate and futile attempt to keep a series fresh.

The phrase refers to the opening scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, first worldwide released on May 22 2008. The infamous scene was seen by many as betraying the normal half-serious tone of the series, by introducing an element of cartoonish factuality and typical excess.

The first public use of the phrase as a direct metaphor is reported to have been on May 24, 2008, on the IMDB message boards by user beachedblonde.

The phrase has been used more recently outside the realm of popular culture, representing anything that has reached its peak and has turned mediocre. If one thinks a stock or a sports team or a subcultural phenomenon has reached its peak, for example, one can say that it has "nuked the fridge."

I think it's a term that I will start using a little more. What other franchises do you know that at one point or another 'nuked the fridge?' And you don't need to put Indy, we all know about that one already. ;)

[DragnFire22]

Ugh. Lame.

[FranklinTard]

jump the shark was enough.

[Ramplate]

jump the shark was enough.

So was Choking the Chicken but look how long that list got ;) :hehe:

[IanTheCool]

Ha! I love this. Great term.

[Scorpio82]

I think the term "jumped the shark" works for both television and movies. The earliest example of it I can think of was from the 1966 Batman movie, where the most ludicrous scene in the movie also featured a shark (along with a Bat-Ladder and a can of Bat-Shark Repellent, which Batman kept next to the Bat-Manta Ray and Whale Repellent.)

The infamous scene was seen by many as betraying the normal half-serious tone of the series.

...There's a normal half-serious tone to this series?

[IanTheCool]

...There's a normal half-serious tone to this series?

YES! why do people think there wasn't?? Just to justify the 4th film?

[shained]

There were some far fetched ideas but as, i think it was JBond, pointed out in the Indy 4 review thread most of the series far fetched ideas were related to the mythology the film was dealing with. This had nothing to do with the films story, IT WAS A NUKE AND HE WAS IN A FRIDGE!!!. I just had to shake my head at it.

I know i know loads of examples of "nuking the fridge" but my minds blank at the min...i'm tired

[JBond]

I guess the Die Hard series "nuked the fridge" with the jet and semi truck.

[shained]

Yeh that bit was very unnecessary

[turtlefocker]

lame term, 'jumped the shark' still works, I predict this 'nuke the fridge' bull will be forgotten by this time next year...

[JBond]

Sooner than that....asuming you mean the phrase, and not the abysmal scene it came from.

[Doomsday]

I think their idea is for jump the shark to pertain to television, while nuking the fridge pertains to film. But yeah, the jet and semi in Die Hard 4 could be a good indicator of nuking the fridge. Perhaps even...

Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face in Batman Forever, or maybe that entire movie is a giant fridge nuke.

Julia Roberts pretending to be Julia Roberts in Ocean's 12.

[ambrosia]

Strangely all the term inspires in my mind is the mental image of someone trying to fit their fridge into a microwave?

[JBond]

James Bond:

OHMSS - Bond gets married
Moonraker - ...
Die Another Day - Invisible car/Robo Cop

[Doomsday]

You know that for decades the Bond writers thought of putting in an invisible car, but it just seemed too easy. Then they got to the point where they said "ah eff it, just put it in, it's been on our minds since the 60s and we have nothing better to throw in."

[Ramplate]

James Bond:

OHMSS - Bond gets married
Moonraker - ...
Die Another Day - Invisible car/Robo Cop

OHMSS was character building - besides they self corrected :D

[Scorpio82]

YES! why do people think there wasn't?? Just to justify the 4th film?

Temple of Doom.

[Fanible]

I don't even care that it was an atomic bomb hitting him in a fridge. I've said it countless times, that the main thing that annoyed me about it was him flying through the air inside, smashing into the ground, and rolling out unscathed. Imagine being inside a car without seatbelts, and you wind up driving off a cliff, rolling down the edge into the gulf below. It'd be kinda like that.

[FranklinTard]

I think their idea is for jump the shark to pertain to television, while nuking the fridge pertains to film. But yeah, the jet and semi in Die Hard 4 could be a good indicator of nuking the fridge. Perhaps even...

Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face in Batman Forever, or maybe that entire movie is a giant fridge nuke.

Julia Roberts pretending to be Julia Roberts in Ocean's 12.

but thats not what the article is saying, its for-seeing a day when 'nuke the fridge' becomes common language for pop culture terms, including television. so this is trying to blanket over the already blanketed term 'jump the shark'?

star wars jumped the shark the minute they met ewoks. lucas has more than proven that was his downfall, been falling ever since.

[JBond]

Imagine being inside a car without seatbelts, and you wind up driving off a cliff, rolling down the edge into the gulf below. It'd be kinda like that.

That's an understatement.

[Where's my elephant?]

Beverly Hills Cop III - Where the hell was Taggart?! Rosewood without Taggart is like a tuna sandwhich without mayo.

[JBond]

Ew, I hate tuna without mayo.

[EnderDeschain]

OHMSS - Bond gets married

But it was worth the pay-off, wasn't it? I thought it was. I actually teared up at the "all the time in the world" stuff, and that ending remains one of the most memorable Bond moments ever, for me.

[Andrey83]

- First time I watched Dead Mans chest I got that exact feeling when Sparrow fell like.....200 feet free fall and landed on his back. No scratch. Meh....

Anyway, other examples i guess:

- Riddick becoming a superhero in Chronicles of Riddick

- Rocky beating up kids in Rocky 5

- Ripley clone in Alien 4

- Bad boys 2 (yeah, the whole damn thing)

[moviebuff801]

James Bond:

OHMSS - Bond gets married
Moonraker - ...
Die Another Day - Invisible car/Robo Cop

Die Another Day was an entire movie that "nuked the fridge".

[Knerys]

How exactly was "jumping the shark" coined?

[Scorpio82]

It was coined when Fonz waterskiied over a shark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE) on Happy Days.

[FranklinTard]

never heard of jump the shark...?

and the dark knight has PLENTY of 'jumping the shark' or 'nuking the fridge' moments.

[JBond]

But it was worth the pay-off, wasn't it? I thought it was. I actually teared up at the "all the time in the world" stuff, and that ending remains one of the most memorable Bond moments ever, for me.

Yeah, I still had to put it up there though. Often shark jump moments are still the most enjoyable parts of movies and TV shows...you just can't go back so easily.

- Rocky beating up kids in Rocky 5

Que?

[FranklinTard]

yea are you saying rocky 1-4 were good enough that none of them jumped the shark? bold claim sir.

[Knerys]

never heard of jump the shark...?


Oh I have heard of it. I just never knew where it came from.

[JBond]

Then Henry Winkler again jumped over a shark in Arrested Development.

[Andrey83]

Que?

Ok, ok, 1 kid.

Still..... ;)

[Scorpio82]

It's more like Rocky jumped the shark when he ended the Cold War with his fists.

[PsYkOoOoO]

1. Falling from a few hundred feet just by grabbing onto the billboard in The Island.
2. The whole motorbike fight sequence in MI3.
3. The frogs raining down on the characters in Magnolia.
4. The black girl defeating a raptor with gymnastics in The Lost World.
5. Everything in Wanted.

[IanTheCool]

It's more like Rocky jumped the shark when he ended the Cold War with his fists.

When we all know the cold war was ended my Paul Henderson.

[Tornado]

3. The frogs raining down on the characters in Magnolia.

You do know that does actually happen, right (it is pretty rare, though)? Maybe not quite as dramatically as it was depicted in the film, but it certainly does occur from time to time. Frogs can be sucked into waterspouts and then dropped down on the mainland from miles above, making it seem like the sky is raining frogs.

[Andrey83]

You do know that does actually happen, right (it is pretty rare, though)? Maybe not quite as dramatically as it was depicted in the film, but it certainly does occur from time to time. Frogs can be sucked into waterspouts and then dropped down on the mainland from miles above, making it seem like the sky is raining frogs.

Are you serious??

I always just assumed it was used as an artistic expression. Damn, for real?

[Tornado]

Definitely. It's extremely rare, but there have been a few reported cases. Here's an article with a couple of reports:

http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa082602a.htm

[FranklinTard]

... when batman used the tumbler to jump another car and block a rocket propelled grenade from decimating the police vehicle in the dark knight.

when the dark knight stole the ideas from 'daredevil' and used them on a massive scale.

[Doomsday]

When all the cell phones in Gotham were used as sonar devices in Dark Knight. Once the hype wears off, this is destined to go down as a definite 'nuke the fridge' moment.

[FranklinTard]

along with the microwave thing from the first one... i mean it turns all water into gas right... aren't we made of water...?

'realism' at its best eh fanboys?

[Tornado]

along with the microwave thing from the first one... i mean it turns all water into gas right... aren't we made of water...?

'realism' at its best eh fanboys?

Actually, at a different wavelength the microwave emitter could have a... "ripple-like" effect on the metal water pipes rather than the water molecules directly. That current could then transfer its energy to the water, speeding up the molecules into a gaseous state.

That's how I've always seen it anyway.

[FranklinTard]

then why would the manhole covers blow off if it was just a 'ripple' effect.. i mean the way they depicted it, obviously it microwaved all that water underneath them, obviously, with the fact that they were heading for the main water source, and it was going to, if i remember correctly, do some major damage to the city. and then when they switched the machine on, they didn't have their masks on, they put them on slyly as the gas formed around them... now call me crazy, but wouldn't it be having an effect on them?

sure say they had an immunity, then why did they wear masks?

some simple editing would really help nolan.

[Tornado]

then why would the manhole covers blow off if it was just a 'ripple' effect.. i mean the way they depicted it, obviously it microwaved all that water underneath them, obviously, with the fact that they were heading for the main water source, and it was going to, if i remember correctly, do some major damage to the city. and then when they switched the machine on, they didn't have their masks on, they put them on slyly as the gas formed around them... now call me crazy, but wouldn't it be having an effect on them?

sure say they had an immunity, then why did they wear masks?

some simple editing would really help nolan.

Well I'm assuming they all took some kind of an antidote as Bruce, Rachel, and Gordon did too. But maybe the gas is more difficult to breathe than regular air, so they put the masks on to help regulate their breathing. I don't know.

The energy in the pipes could easily blow the manhole covers off. I've done plenty of chemistry and physics experiments similar in tone to that. But I think the point of making it to the mains is that they could vaporize all/more of Gotham's water supply, and that instead of water flowing out of the system the toxic gas would.

[FranklinTard]

Well I'm assuming they all took some kind of an antidote as Bruce, Rachel, and Gordon did too. But maybe the gas is more difficult to breathe than regular air, so they put the masks on to help regulate their breathing. I don't know.

The energy in the pipes could easily blow the manhole covers off. I've done plenty of chemistry and physics experiments similar in tone to that. But I think the point of making it to the mains is that they could vaporize all/more of Gotham's water supply, and that instead of water flowing out of the system the toxic gas would.

no they didn't have the antidote... it was spelled out for us, that that first antidote that bruce had fox make him was just that... the first antidote. i could see some sort of tolerance or something, but again, it acts in seconds and they breathed it in for a few seconds... easy editing could have solved this.

and maybe if they mentioned the 'ripple' effect i would buy it, but they didn't, they just said if the train makes it the entire ****ing building is going to blow up, because we have such and such amount of water in there, that is going to turn to gas.


but agree to disagree.

[Tornado]

no they didn't have the antidote... it was spelled out for us, that that first antidote that bruce had fox make him was just that... the first antidote. i could see some sort of tolerance or something, but again, it acts in seconds and they breathed it in for a few seconds... easy editing could have solved this.

and maybe if they mentioned the 'ripple' effect i would buy it, but they didn't, they just said if the train makes it the entire ****ing building is going to blow up, because we have such and such amount of water in there, that is going to turn to gas.

How do you know they didn't have the antidote, though? I mean, I understand that what Lucius made was the first... I guess what could be called "consumer" version of the antidote, but that doesn't mean Crane didn't make a dozen vials of the stuff prior to. After all, the majority of the film is from Bruce's perspective and we don't really know what the villains are up to until the last act. Or, maybe you're right. Maybe he didn't and it's just an over-sight on Nolan's part. You're right though, the editing needed a bit of work, and some of this stuff would make a lot more sense otherwise.

And I'm not saying that this 'ripple' effect was on Nolan's and Goyer's minds when they made the script, it's just my attempt to rationalize the idea for myself. Like you (apparently), these little scientific problems bother me, and since the majority of them never even come close to being answered I do the next best thing.

[Andrey83]

Definitely. It's extremely rare, but there have been a few reported cases. Here's an article with a couple of reports:

http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa082602a.htm

Holy crap. Thats the weirdest stuff I've read all week :funny:

[Andrey83]

no they didn't have the antidote... it was spelled out for us, that that first antidote that bruce had fox make him was just that... the first antidote. i could see some sort of tolerance or something, but again, it acts in seconds and they breathed it in for a few seconds... easy editing could have solved this.


Well, I always assumed as you did that they didnt have the antidote. But come on man, you cant hold your breath for 5 seconds??

Seriously.

[FranklinTard]

he was talking while he was putting on his mask, therefore taking in air.

sorry but that scene is all sorts of inaccurate.

[Andrey83]

he was talking while he was putting on his mask, therefore taking in air.



He was? Hmm, I remember it wrong then. My version makes more sense though ;)

[Scorpio82]

Crap, I'm noticing some people are posting Dark Knight shark-jumping moments.

Spoiler warnings, please. In spite of what the box office records say, not everyone has seen it yet.

[DragnFire22]

Then go see it.

[FranklinTard]

Crap, I'm noticing some people are posting Dark Knight shark-jumping moments.

Spoiler warnings, please. In spite of what the box office records say, not everyone has seen it yet.

they aren't big spoilers in the least. read if you wish.

[Fanible]

he was talking while he was putting on his mask, therefore taking in air.

You don't need to breath in air while talking. You typically only breath out, when speaking.

Or am I missing something from the scene being talked about?

[PsYkOoOoO]

You do know that does actually happen, right (it is pretty rare, though)? Maybe not quite as dramatically as it was depicted in the film, but it certainly does occur from time to time. Frogs can be sucked into waterspouts and then dropped down on the mainland from miles above, making it seem like the sky is raining frogs.

I do, but that doesn't stop me from going "yeah, sure".

[Andrey83]

You don't need to breath in air while talking. You typically only breath out, when speaking.

Or am I missing something from the scene being talked about?

Actually, I didnt believe that my memory was that bad, so I went back and watched the scene again (actually its on in the background now).

He doesn't talk after the emitter is turned on. He does before though, but who doesnt.

"Gentlemen, time to spread the word. And the word is, panic" *turn on emitter* *scene cuts to pipes blowing up* *puts on mask*

[Scorpio82]

they aren't big spoilers in the least. read if you wish.

Yeah, I see what you mean now. You'd have to see them in context before fully understanding. Although, technically, I guess this whole thread is nothing but spoilers anyway.

[Escape]

How about.........."Pulp Fiction 'Nuked the Fridge' with that entire rape scene and 'Nuked the Fridge' again when we were introduced to 'The Gimp'. So two nukings in one scene.

[Andrey83]

How about.........."Pulp Fiction 'Nuked the Fridge' with that entire rape scene and 'Nuked the Fridge' again when we were introduced to 'The Gimp'. So two nukings in one scene.

Erm....no.

[King_of_Skid_Row]

I must be the only one who thinks this is getting blown out of proportion. I mean yeah it was over the top but my god Crank and Con Air are more over the top.

This reminds me of Apocolypto's violence getting blown out of proportion but 300 and Tarantino's blood and limp chopping fests get praised. Come down to image of the director I guess and not on the material.

[JBond]

You're comparing movies across series? Really?

Sometimes I wonder if people GET movies.

Also, even though the whole "nuke the fridge" phrase is brand new and...pretty stupid, I have to say it's weird that so many people are taking the opportunity to list examples from single movies that don't have a series. How can a scene from Pulp Fiction be a diving point? It's PART OF THE MOVIE. It's not "nuking the fridge", "jumping the shark" or whatever, its a part you don't like.

[Darkstalker]

I think the Predator series nuked the fridge when they declared Danny Glover was the 2nd most ultimate warrior on Earth when the first one was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[JBond]

Well, Stallone and Snipes were too busy fighting in the future.

[Doomsday]

Yeah you have to remember that fridge nukage takes place throughout a series. I can't say a scene in an individual movie had a nuke of the fridge. It would be a like saying a tv series jumped the shark during its pilot.