Air Vent Passageway/Quotes

Oh yeah, no one would think of looking for us in THE VENT!

—Cale Tucker, Titan A.E.

Sounds like Thor, god of thunder, is trying to sneak into my building!

—The MythBusters busting this trope (or, at least, doing it without being noticed...)

In the movies, ventilation shafts are the escape route of choice for heroes trapped in industrial buildings. They're clean and roomy and soundproof, and will take you anywhere you want to go all, like a Habitrail system for the beleaguered protagonist on the run. I don't know where Hollywood buys their ventilation shafts, but they don't use the same supplier as the museum.

—Hope Adams, "Chaotic"

I love 1958, no-one's seen Die Hard. Or Alien. Or Die Hard 2, or Aliens. [...] There's always a ventilation shaft!

—The Doctor, Doctor Who

"Attention, test prisoners attempting to escape through the air ducts. I don't know what nonsense you learned on TV, but in real life, air ducts just go to the air conditioning unit. It's also pretty dusty, so if you've got asthma, chance are you're gonna die up there. And we'll be smelling it for weeks because, again, the air ducts aren't a secret escape hatch: they're how we ventilate the facility."

—Alternate Universe Cave Johnson, Portal 2 (Perpetual Testing Initiative).

Air ducts in a modern office are 18 inches wide. So if you need to make a quick escape and are older than 4... you won't fit.

—Michael the Narrator, Burn Notice