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{{trope}}
[[File:cit hayate the combat butler - shameless hinagiku plug.jpg|link=Hayate the Combat Butler|frame]]
{{quote|"''Sometimes it’s easier if you just turn off the power.''"
|'''Chloe''', ''[[Smallville]]''}}
Considering how much our society relies on computers and machinery, it makes sense that we have often considered the possible effects of [[Science Is Bad|such things being used against us]]. Thus, we have many stories where [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|a computer runs rampant]] or [[Time Bomb|a bomb is set to explode]], or [[Mad Scientist|someone]] just built your average everyday doomsday machine.
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But there's hope yet. Machines simply don't work unless they have a power supply. Thus, when in such a dangerous situation, even if there's no [[Big Red Button]] available for the hero's pushing pleasure, it is still possible for the hero to escape the predicament without a scratch.
All you have to do is '''Cut the Juice'''. Just unplug the thing. Simple as that.
Scenes in which characters Cut the Juice usually fall into one of three categories:
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# [[It Won't Turn Off|Dramatically ignored]]. You can tell that this one is coming when unplugging the device is one of the first options considered ([[Failsafe Failure|especially if it has been introduced before as a "failsafe"]]). Simply put, the machine's power supply cannot be compromised so easily, especially if its inventors (or the AI itself) manages to reroute power or relocate its source. Incidentally, if you are not a hero and you are ever in this situation, ''run''.
So really, this trope is used in just about any situation where it can be effective or dramatic. Now if only we could [[Are These Wires Important?|do the same thing]] with those [[Crush! Kill! Destroy!|pesky robots...]]
See also [[Have You Tried Rebooting]].
{{examples}}
== Played Straight ==
=== [[Film]] ===
* ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]] 2'' uses it twice. The first time it works; the second time subverts it, as the ongoing fusion that had previously required power had become self-sustaining.
* In ''[[2010: The Year We Make Contact]]'', the salvage team sent to retrieve HAL take the precaution of installing a wire-cutting device on his power cord, just in case HAL tried to kill them as well. {{spoiler|It is not used. When they consider activating it at the climax of the plot, Dr. Chandra reveals that he disabled it because he felt it would be unfair on HAL and he didn't believe it would be necessary. On the latter point, he is proved correct.}}
* In ''[[Ocean's Eleven|Ocean's 13]]'', Danny Ocean proposes doing this to disable the Bank Casino's ultra high-tech player monitoring system. "Why don't we just kill the power?" Roman Nagel scoffs at the idea. "That could work... failing that, you could just kick the plug out of the socket." They figure out that they could shut it down temporarily, if only they could get a magnetron into the control room. So they get a magnetron into the control room.
* In ''[[Die Hard]]'', the FBI cuts all power to the building (and a big chunk of the surrounding area) during the hostage situation. {{spoiler|This is exactly what the [[Big Bad]] has been relying on to deactivate the otherwise insurmountable final lock on the vault.}}
* ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]'': In order to bypass security measures at the door to The Source, the group decides to shut off the power. By blowing up an entire ''nuclear'' powerplant. Even then, there is a contingency system which has to be shut off simultaneously from an entirely different place.
===
* The 1997 version of the [[Dean Koontz]] novel ''Demon Seed'' plays with this. {{spoiler|In this version, the story is told from the point-of-view of the evil AI. The story abruptly [[Killed Mid-Sentence|ends in midsentence when it is powered down]].}}
* In ''[[The Ghost Brigades]]'' by [[John Scalzi]], {{spoiler|1=Steve Seaborg shuts down the Obin BrainPal jammer by blowing up the power generator -- and himself}}.
=== [[Video Games]] ===
* Used in ''[[Treasure of the Rudras]]''. {{spoiler|You have to deactivate [[Wave Motion Gun|Sodom's]] Power source for the Moonlight or you will be unable to fight it, since it will repel you every time you enter the chamber it is in.}}
* Used ''accidentally'' by Roger Wilco in the second ''[[Space Quest]]'' game. After being shrunk to a height of an inch by [[Big Bad]] Vohaul, he climbs into a nearby air duct and pushes a big red button marked "Stop". He then discovers that he just stopped Vohaul's life support system, killing the evil man. Whoops. I mean, hooray! That's exactly what I intended to do!
* Used frequently in ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' as a combat-puzzle mechanic.
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* The ''[[Teen Titans]]'' episode "Haunted" does the opposite. Once Robin realizes that the visions of Slade can only exist in the dark, he defeats the phantom by switching the lights on. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome| "Light's out, Slade,"]] he says.
=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* Right before Sonia's badass-looking giant robot can smash the main characters in the second season of ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', it suddenly freezes. Cut to a puzzled Hinagiku standing next to an oversized outlet holding an equally oversized plug. Unfortunately, {{spoiler|Yukiji has gotten taken over by evil spirits who power the same robot with just their evil spirit-ness.}}
** Sonia angrily yells at Hinagiku about how simply unplugging the robot like that, without a proper shutdown procedure, might damage its operating system.
* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', Goku has been completely unable to defeat the robotic Sgt. Metallic, even after blowing Metallic's head off. He seems indestructable until he suddenly stops moving. Turns out his batteries died. Goku shrugs it off and continues to the next floor of Muscle Tower.
===
* At the end of ''[[XIII]]'', the protagonist must stop a military base from self-destructing, but the computer console that can abort the process has a small bomb attached that will kill him if he tries it. The solution? Trace the console's conduit up to the equipment cage it controls and blow it up!
** The exact same scenario happens near the end of the video game based on the comic.
=== [[Fan Works]] ===
* Parodied with the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|climax]] of ''[http://www.ranmabooks.com/Projects/OOC3.php Out of Character 3]'', a ''[[Ranma ½]]'' [[Hentai]] dôjinshi. Kasumi, after having all the fun she could with a [[Naughty Tentacles|Tentacle Monster]], then stops it by... simply pulling out a pair of small batteries.
{{quote|'''Nabiki:''' A battery-powered demon? What kind of lame production is this?
'''[[No Fourth Wall|Ye Old Writer's Box]]:''' Hey now, you know we're on a tight budget. What do you expect? }}
=== [[Film]] ===
* ''[[The Naked Gun]] 2½'' features a nuclear bomb that is defused only when Frank Drebin, deciding to flee with three seconds to spare, accidentally trips over the cord.
* ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]''
** ''[[Goldfinger]]'' uses this as a subversion of the classic bomb plot. The bomb expert that arrives to stop the atomic device does so by merely hitting a switch. (You'd better believe that it stopped at [[James Bond|0:07]].) The counter was originally going to stop at 0:03 - Connery has a line of dialogue to that effect immediately after the shutdown - but for obvious reasons, they changed it in the edit.
** In ''[[GoldenEye (film)|GoldenEye]]'', Boris, having been "spiked" by Natalya to prevent him from disconnecting his computer from hers, rips apart his computer to break the connection. Considering the fact that he could have just shut off the computer, or, even easier, turned off the internet connection (pull out the ethernet cord or shutdown a router), the apparently thousands of dollars of damage he inflicts on the computer is pretty retarded.
* In the 2016 [[Continuity Reboot]] of ''[[Ghostbusters (2016 film)|Ghostbusters]]'', Jillian very easily shuts off Rowan's "ghost machine" {{spoiler|after he electrocutes himself. Subverted in that when Rowan comes back and possesses Kevin, he just as easily ''turns it back on'' and sets off the Apocalypse he had planned.}}
===
* In [[Kim Newman]]'s [[Deconstruction]] of sci-fi tropes, ''Tomorrow Town'', the [[Big Bad]]'s attempt to cobble together a [[Doomsday Device]] by setting the heating system to overload is thwarted by the supercomputer advising that for safety reasons, Circuit Breaker 15 should be pulled.
* In the ''[[
* In the Ender Saga, a bomb is on countdown to destroy a ship. The technician flips a switch and turns the bomb off. When it's pointed out that disarming it was considerably simpler than originally arming it, he responds along the lines of "It's designed that way ''for a reason''."
=== [[Live-Action TV]] ===
* In one episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', the team infiltrates a Goa'uld ship with the intention of shutting down the [[Deflector Shields]]. Resident old guy Bra'tac states that they will have to descend many floors, defeat many warriors and security measures in order to get close to the shield generator... and O'Neill pops the pin on a couple of grenades and drops them down a shaft to the shield generator. "Hey look! Grenades."
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "School Reunion", {{spoiler|Mickey pulls the plug on the Evil Computer Cluster of Doom}}. Because sixty-odd computers are plugged into a single socket, it unexpectedly sparks back at him.
* Gibbs in ''[[
=== [[Music]] ===
* Inverted in the [[Filk Song]] [https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=66922#1129857 "The IBM Computer" by Brian Leo], a parody of [[Stan Rogers]]' "Mary Ellen Carter". After hours of frustrated and increasingly-strained attempts to get an office's out-of-order computers working, one small voice finally suggests: "let's plug the damn thing in!"
===
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', a subquests pits you against a suicidal A.I., who has decided to take you along for the ride. Now, you can try to figure out the shutdown override code for its self-destruct system by trial-and-error before the timer runs out... or you can take out your shotgun and blow up a nearby fusebox. Brute-force hacking at its best.
* In ''[[
* This is used again in ''[[
** Minor Robots (in Thunder Tower) are also vulnerable to the effects of this trope, as their batteries tend to run out after a few battle rounds, rendering them motionless... Unless, of course, they're being accompanied by a [[Living Battery|Battery Man]], who, if one is still alive when the Minor Robot runs out of power, will remove itself from the battlefield to repower the Robot.
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'': "The controls are fused! I can't shut it down! He's going to FRY-- [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100305 AND NO POWER ON EARTH CAN STOP IT!"]
* ''[[Bigger Than Cheeses]]'': [http://www.biggercheese.com/index.php?comic=332 Oh crap! HACKERS!]
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* ''[[South Park]]'':
** An episode that parodies ''[[
** Also in the Season 12 episode "Over Logging", where Kyle restores the broken-down Internet by un- and replugging the giant modem that apparently ''is'' the Internet. Of course, after [[Adults Are Useless|Adults]] try to communicate with bullhorns, bullets and music.
* In the ''[[Men in Black (
* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987
** Parodied in one episode: an alien "toy" threatens the existence of Earth and as it powers up, things look hopeless for our heroes... then it stops. As it turns out, April knew that "every toy has batteries", showing a massive cylindrical battery to the turtles.
** Another time, she stops a generator from overloading by pulling the power plug. She stops a GENERATOR by UNPLUGGING it.
** Played straight in the 2003 ''[[
** Inverted in ''[[Turtles Forever]]'', where cutting the juice {{spoiler|almost results in the multiverse getting wiped out}}.
* One episode of ''[[Batman:
{{quote|
* Used in ''[[
== Dramatic Subversions ==
===
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''
** Pulling the plug on an Eva is one of NERV's main failsafes. It doesn't go well when you charge the Eva's internal batteries, giving it anywhere between thirty seconds and five minutes to destroy your headquarters.
** Cutting the juice to {{spoiler|Bardiel}} is useless.
** Not to mention ''both'' times they try to shut down the Magi.
===
* A ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' comic subverts this. In a brief display of bravery, J. Jonah Jameson unplugs a device that he believes is keeping Spidey from using his powers. Peter doesn't have the heart to tell him that Jameson merely unplugged the coffee machine.
=== [[Film]] ===
* ''[[Superman (film)|Superman]] 3'': Subverted. Gus Gorman, geek-for-hire, has built a supercomputer with a self defense arsenal capable of taking down even Superman. As Superman crumbles under the computer's assault, the boss triumphantly congratulates him on building the machine that Kills Superman. Gorman has an ''[[Oh Crap]]'' (despite this not being the first time in the movie it was made clear to him that this was the goal) and tries to Cut the Juice (which somehow can be performed by removing a single ordinary screw with a single pocket screwdriver from a panel. Apparently giant knife-switches or ''[[Big Red Button]]s'' weren't dramatic enough, or at least wouldn't have given the boss time to realize his henchman wasn't all the way on board with this plan and try to keep him from disabling the computer before it can finish). This works for a few seconds. Then, although supposedly without power, the supercomputer restarts and creates its own reroutes straight to the nearest power lines. Gus shouts in horror, "It's feeding itself... it wants to LIVE!" It Got Worse.
* The [[Transformers Film Series|live-action ''Transformers'' movie]].{{context}}
* The backstory to ''[[The Matrix]]'' trilogy. The machines were solar powered, so the humans took the logical (if horrible) step of blackening the sky. The machines retaliated by switching to a much [[Human Resources|nastier]] power source.
* ''[[
=== [[Literature]] ===
* The novel version of ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]''. Bowman contemplates cutting HAL's powersupply, but since HAL also controls the ship's life support, Bowman realizes that he can't simply cut off the power. In addition to the fact that HAL is powered by a nuclear reactor.
** In ''[[2010: The Year We Make Contact]],'' Floyd has the engineer Curnow install a device on HAL's main power supply to let them shut him down remotely, if he goes nuts again. Dr. Chandra knew that they'd do that, and disconnected it.
===
* The ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode "The Ultimate Computer". The computer finds a way to draw power directly from the engines (that it controls) while killing the [[Red Shirt]] who tried it. In the end it took one of Kirk's patented [[Logic Bomb]]s to do it.
* Most of the time you hear someone in the [[Stargate Verse]] say "Shut it down" the response is invariably either "I can't" or "I already tried to". In that universe destructive things seem to have have an uncanny ability to power themselves. The stargate is capable of drawing power from just about anything, so the justification will usually be that it's being fed constant power by whatever's causing the problem.
=== [[Video Games]] ===
* Deus, at the beginning of ''[[Xenogears]]''.
===
* In an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', "Marge vs. the Monorail", two guys discuss the speeding out of control monorail:
{{quote|'''Guy 1:''' I got it! We can just shut off the power!
'''Guy 2:''' No such luck. It's solar powered.
'''Guy 1:''' Solar power. When will people learn!? }}
* ''[[
** During the first two seasons, XANA could have been defeated by simply turning off the Supercomputer. But that [[Can't Live Without You|would have meant killing Aelita]], too, so the main objective for said seasons was to materialize Aelita and free her from her link with Lyoko so they ''could'' Cut the Juice. Of course, by the time they've done so, {{spoiler|XANA has escaped from the Supercomputer, and now they ''need'' to use Lyoko as a staging ground, and XANA is trying to ''destroy'' it}}.
** Also, in a couple of Season 1 episodes, XANA's dastardly plan involves electricity, and everything up to and including ''physically cutting power lines to the site of the attack'' fails to do anything.
* Not so much ''dramatically'' ignored, but comedically subverted in an episode of ''[[
* In ''[[Archer]]'', a viral worm has infected the ISIS computers and threatens to upload the entire list of covert ISIS agents to a villain's hard drive. The ISIS tech team can't access the mainframe directly because it is sealed inside a magnetically-locked room. Instead, they try to stop the upload by cutting power to their mainframe, but this fails to work, and Doctor Krieger then realizes that the worm has made the ISIS mainframe become ''self-aware!'' {{spoiler|No, he's just fucking around, it's just got a backup battery in the same room as the mainframe.}}
* In a ''[[
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