When Chuck forced Blair and Serena to work out their differences in an elevator on Monday, I got to thinking, do people in real life ever get trapped in elevators? The idea of elevator malfunctions moving plotlines isn’t new. I can go way back to Punky Brewster delivering a baby in an elevator, and more importantly, saving it from a lifetime of being named Herman. I’m sure you all can go back farther than that.
And so my question to you is:
What is your favorite trapped in an elevator scene?
This can also be extended to include any scene/episode in which characters were trapped in an enclosed space other than an elevator. Also, bonus points if you tell a personal tale of being stuck in an elevator long enough to finally make a move on someone, make up with a friend, perform surgery, or deliver a kid.
Jump to the comments and write away!
There have definitely been a lot of these scenes but I’m having a hard time thinking of my favorite one! I remember in Saved by the Bell (during the Tori) episodes, Mrs. Belding gives birth in an elevator with Zack and Tori helping. This isn’t one of my favorites though because I never like Tori.
I also know that the soap opera I used to watch, General Hopsital, had tons of these scenes, but I’m having a difficult time remembering the exact scene. I’ll have to keep thinking about this.
AH! KM – that was MY elavator memory!
If I had to choose another one (hurumph!
) I would have to say Grey’s Season 1 when George pulls through in that elavator surgury and Alex get all jealous. Hmm.. lots of elevator scenes in that show…
My husband got stuck in an elavator once. In August. In South Carolina. With 8 other people. For 8 hours. To this day, he tenses up when those doors close, and always always suggests taking the stairs.
Hahahaha. I was about to mention the Saved by the Bell story, too. Not really my favorite, but it’s the most memorable. With Screech standing outside the doors doing breathing exercises with a hippo puppet.
Funny Screech-related story, when he came to my college for a standup act and I met him, there was this girl who was trying to do a trivia game with him, and she INSISTED he was wrong when she asked what floors they were between in that episode. He was like, “I was on the show…”
Now I must think of another one. There were some definite frightening ones on The X-Files, I recall.
The three that come to mind are:
1) Huffy, bitchy, and generally just doing her job as a hospital administrator Mrs. Gloria Akalitus gets stuck on an elevator in the hospital and Nurse Jackie knows it and pretends to not hear her calling for help (Jackie also delays calling the elevator repairmen).
2) On their way to intercept Brigit from blowing up Mr. Parker’s helicopter, Miss Parker and Broots (The Pretender) get stuck on the elevator in Sub Level 27. Miss Parker is shot in the arm but still sarcastically ripping at Broots in her prickly affectionate way.
3) You’ve Got Mail: Tom Hanks and girlfriend are stuck on an elevator for hours. It results their breakup, clearing the way for him to woo his mystery Yahoo Gal.
Why does everyone always deliver a baby in an elevator? I blame Archie Bunker for the precedent who I believe was the first to do this.
Deepa–I, too, liked the George doing open-heart surgery in the elevator. I felt like at the very least, he was able to overcome the 007 moniker with that. At least there was some major character development that occurred in that scene.
I think my favorite has to be when Jack and Jill (best…short-lived show ever) get locked in the laundry room. There’s a whole bit about cell phones never holding a battery charge that couldnt work today. Jack’s phone is upstairs in the charger and Jill’s has no battery so they can’t call for help. This forces them to confront their feelings for each other. Awwww!
Incidentally, it’s National Elevator Safety Week. I did not know this when I suggested it as an open thread.
Heehee! How perfect!
As per usual, I’m going to dive into the nerdy end of the pool and say that the first example that came to mind for me was a Babylon 5 episode in which Londo and G’Kar get trapped in an elevator for a long time at probably the lowest point in their often not very cordial relationship. Nobody dies, but it’s a near thing.
I think if there’s a sci-fi variant on the “stuck in an elevator” plot, it would be the “stuck in a shuttlecraft with little hope of rescue” plot. Enterprise used it, I think BSG used it in some webisodes, and Firefly’s “Out of Gas” could have been written that way. I’m sure there are more…
I realize they’re not stuck in it, but every time I think of elevator scenes, I always think of JD in Scrubs. There have been a lot of good moments (and laughs) in the Sacred Heart elevator.
How about a “stuck outside the elevator” scene? There was a great episode of Leverage when Sophie had to get downstairs ASAP, so Parker had to zipline her down.
Oooh, how about this stuck in an elevator scene, also Leverage. In a recent one when they were doing a fake magic show, they trapped someone in a box, then put it in the elevator, pushed it around a lot to confuse him, then left him there until they were ready to take him back.
Oh, and Community’s reference to iCarly just reminded me of another one. This time, Spencer was stuck in an elevator halfway down into the room, so he could put his face and arms in the scene. Yeah, he ordered pizza and then the pizza guy stole his stuff since he couldn’t get out. Spencer retaliated by throwing pizza at him.
I feel sad that I know that. But not the Leverage stuff. Those, I just feel like I’m bending the rules too much.
[...] enjoyed. Probably because you got that wacky but real feeling back. I mean, if we had posted the trapped-in-an-elevator open thread this week, I’m sure this would have ended up on it. Getting stuck on the elevator as Ted and [...]