Nuke the Fridge

[sj001]

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/06/04/...ump-the-shark/

Is “Nuke the Fridge” the New “Jump the Shark”?

The Urban Dictionary has added an entry for “Nuke the Fridge”, a contemporary replacement for the slang term “Jumped the Shark”.

Jump the Shark is a reference to a scene in an episode of Happy Days when Fonzie literally jumps over a shark while water skiing. The scene was considered so preposterous, and is considered by many to signify the moment in time when the show became unappealing to its core audience.

The new term Nuke the Fridge is based on an event in the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Here is an explanation of the term from the online Urban Dictionary:

“Nuke the fridge is a colloquialism used to refer to the moment in a film series that is so incredible that it lessens the excitement of subsequent scenes that rely on more understated action or suspense, and it becomes apparent that a certain installment is not as good as a previous installments, due to ridiculous or low quality storylines, events or characters.

The term comes from the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in which, near the start of the movie, Harrison Ford’s character survives a nuclear detonation by climbing into a kitchen fridge, which is then blown hundreds of feet through the sky whilst the town disintegrates. He then emerges from the fridge with no apparent injury. Later in the movie, the audience is expected to fear for his safety in a normal fistfight.

Fans of the Indiana Jones series found the absurdity of this event in the film to be the best example of the lower quality of this installment in the series, and thus coined the phrase, “nuke the fridge”.

The phrase is also a reference to the phrase “jump the shark”, which has the same meaning, only applied to a television series instead of a film series.

This phrase is not in common use.
“Star Wars didn’t really nuke the fridge until Jar Jar Binks was introduced.”

“Peter Parker dancing around the bar in Spider-Man 3? Kinda nukes the fridge!”

“The Godfather: Part III nukes the fridge.”

“Gremlins 2 more or less nuked the fridge.”

What do you think? Pretty funny but I think “Jumped the Shark” rolls off the tongue easier.

[JJ]

I agree with it. It was ridiculous. And applies fully to Spiderman and Star Wars.

[Marquoz]

Just a heads up, might have wanted to spoiler that for the 1 or 2 people on the forum that haven't seen it yet and are waiting for it on Blu before they see it.

But I completely agree with the article, my major complaint with the movie was that part! It was just utterly ridiculous. I was halfway tempted to look up stats on nukes to see if a fridge could even have survived the temperatures, and then blast waves to see how badly he would have been smashed to a pulp inside. Then I realized, meh, that's a waste of my time, I can just read threads on here.

[Beta Man]

Haven't seen the New Indy Film..... Want to buy the first three on Blu, but no interest in seeing the new one.