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Nuking the fridge refers to the moment in a film series when 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. Originating from the film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" where Harrison Ford's character survives a nuclear detonation by getting into a fridge, and is then blown hundreds of feet, only to hit the ground, and then emerges safely. 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 the phrase was coined. 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.
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