Fake Static: Difference between revisions

* In the 1997 ''[[The Parent Trap]]'', Hallie does this to Annie when she is unwilling to believe that her father is going to marry [[Gold Digger]] Meredith.

* In ''[[Star Wars]]: A New Hope'', Han Solo claims his radio is malfunctioning when trying (and failing) to pass as a Stormtrooper, then shoots it. Though in this case, he ''knows'' it didn't fool them ("Boring conversation anyway -- ''Luke, we're gonna have company!''").

* ''[[Patton]]'':

{{quote| '''Aide:''' Sir, General Alexander has heard we're moving west. He says here, "Stop immediately. Go no farther than Agrigento. Repeat. Stop, immediately."<br />

'''Cohaagen:''' Call him back!<br />

'''Richter:''' I'm losing you. }}

* Denzel Washington gets a particularly [[Crowning Moment of Funny|hilarious]] example in ''Out of Time'', where he yells "YOU'RE BREAKING UP!" at the top of his voice as he's stamping on the phone.

** And he does it again in [[Unstoppable]] when his character, Frank Barnes, uses this tactic to end his conversation with Galvin before Galvin can order him not to try his plan to stop the train.

* ''[[Blue Thunder]]''. Officer Murphy has been ordered to fly the title helicopter back to the police airbase. He decides to do something else, so he repeatedly tells the tower that their transmission is garbled and he can't read them. His captain later calls him on it.

{{quote| Who are you fooling with that phony radio bullshit? Jesus Christ, Frank, that went out three days after Marconi invented the fucking thing!}}

* A variant is done in the movie ''Heartbreakers''. The person doing it isn't doing it to ''avoid'' someone, it's to get the person on the other end of the line to unknowingly volunteer information.

{{quote| '''Lone Starr:''' We'll do it for... a million.<br />

'''King Roland:''' ''(outraged)'' A ''million''!<br />

'''Barf:''' ''(starts fiddling with dials)'' Oh, you're starting to fade here, we're losing picture your Highness...<br />

'''King Roland:''' All right all right I'll pay it, only find her, save her! }}

* ''[[The Brady Bunch Movie]]'' has Mr. Dittmeyer attempting to use this on his boss in the opening scene.

 

 

== Live Action TV ==

** This causes an interesting little anachronism, as commercial radio and the radio weather forecast (both of whom Blackadder imitates) had not been invented yet at that point. Apparently, the static was so bad it was picking up interference from the future ([[Rule of Funny|Then again, it was hardly the most egregious anachronism ever to appear in the show]]).

** The message was something about he had a lion up his end, so there's an advantage to an enema at once.

* ''[[Friends]]'' does this one a few times, both with the tunnel excuse and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE7t6pHhmGU various others] (skip to 1:30).

* In the pilot episode of ''In Plain Sight'', Mary simulates a bad signal by holding her phone out the window of her moving car and shouting, "What? I'm losing you!"

** Then when he finally answers her call, "Oh, for the love of...WHAT!!!?!?!"

* ''[[Better Off Ted]]'': Veronica uses this to get out of a conversation. [[Blatant Lies|She's not on the phone, the person she's talking to is right in front of her]], but no one dares call her on it.

* In the December 31 2002 episode of ''[[Royal Canadian Air Farce]]'', an Al-Qaeda receptionist uses fake static to avoid speaking with the CEO of Nortel on the phone (even the Al-Qaeda Credit Union has standards!).

* Often in [[Burn Notice]]. An excellent example would be when Fiona's about to ask where a fake banker was dropped off, Michael tells her over the phone to be gentle on the human smuggler, over the phone, when she responds with "You're breaking up" and hangs up on him.

 

* In ''[[Starcraft]]'', Samir Duran claims interference when ordered to intercept an attacking Zerg force; his failure to act allowed Raynor and Mengsk to escape. {{spoiler|This is one of the first hints that Duran's loyalties are not with the UED; he in fact works for Kerrigan. [[The Chessmaster|Maybe]].}}

* In ''[[Halo]]: OSDT'', Sadie tries to do this to end the conversation with her father. Probably wouldn't have worked even if it wasn't video feed.

** (S)he doesn't bother to make any fake static, but Renegade Shepard still shoots down The Illusive Man's attempt at a tirade after {{spoiler|blowing up the Collector Base}} with the line "I'm sorry, I can't quite hear you - I'm getting a lot of ''bullshit'' on this line". And, yes, [[Running Gag|(s)he can have Joker hang up on him]].

** In the third game, you can find Joker and Liara talking over intercom on the Normandy. After Joker slips up and tells Liara how Shepard used to hang up on the council, he immediately claims they're "going through some dark matter".

** A similar example in the new ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' reboot, made all the more awesome because the guy who decides to disconnect the call with the [[General Failure]] is ''an unnamed technician''.

* Parodied in ''[[Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal]]''. Ratchet tries to pull this trick during a call. He forgot the other guy could see him, though.

 

 

"Hey, Randy! He has the same hold tone your parents use! What do you call this song?"<br />

"'The Gullibility Waltz'." }}

 

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'': Jérémie calls Jim, using the Supercomputer to disguise his voice as the principal's, to get him to release Ulrich and Odd. Jim falls for it, but then tries to discuss "a personal matter. It's about Suzanne Hertz..." Jérémie quickly blurts out, "Oh, it's a tunnel. We're about to get cut off!"

* In an episode of ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'', Cosmo does this to distract Wanda from the fact that he's screwed up, resulting in an attack by intelligent roaches. Then the roaches swarm over him and he cries out, "Aah! This tunnel's itchy!"

* Moltar does this to Space Ghost in ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]''. Space Ghost calls him on it: "You're just making noises with your mouth!"

** Galatea is busy beating the crap out of Supergirl when her boss realizes Lex Luthor's treachery. Her boss tries to call off Galatea's attack, but she claims the signal is breaking up. Then she tells Supergirl it was a wrong number.

* Ron tried doing this in an early episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]''; he might have pulled it off if he didn't drop the fake static in between every word of his otherwise complete sentence.

* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'': Princess' limo driver tries to do this in the Christmas special when she asks him if she's naughty.

{{quote| '''Driver:''' ''(faking static)'' You're... you're breaking up ... going through a ... unnel ... call...lat...<br />

'''Princess:''' ''(leaning forward and knocking on his window)'' No, we're not! I'm in the car, you twit! }}

{{quote| ''(Zap Brannigan commandeers the videophone from Kif)''<br />

'''Zap:''' Well, well, well. [[Malaproper|Do my eyes believe me]], or is that my bosomy swan, Leela?<br />

'''Leela:''' Say again? You're breaking up. ''(throws the book she's reading at the videophone)'' }}

{{quote| '''Bruce:''' ''(while crumpling a piece of newspaper)'' Uh, Barb, we're... going through the East... tunnel now. 'fraid... signal's breaking up. Talk later.<br />

'''Tim:''' Squeaked through again, didn't you? }}

* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode, "A Ladder To Heaven", to cut off an interview with a pedophile, the news broadcasters hold up a cardboard test pattern with an image of TV static on it, shake it in front of the camera, and make static noises with their mouths.

* Comes up twice in the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "One Good Scare Ought to Do It!" First, Candace calls her mom to bust her brothers, but ends up talking to her crush, Jeremy, instead and freaks out, crinkling a ball of paper to fake static, claiming the call is breaking up. Second, Candace calms herself down and calls Jeremy, only for his little sister to pick up the phone and pull the same trick on her, which Candace calls her out on.