Magic Countdown: Difference between revisions

== Comics ==

* ''[[DC Challenge]] #2'' (1985). The bomb, which is far away, is about to detonate in 8 seconds. Batman is confronting the villain at a power plant. [[Talking Is a Free Action|The following exchange takes place:]]

'''Batman:''' ''(thoughts)'' He's right... can't afford to lose control now... have to focus... have to think... there has to be some way to disarm that device... }}

::At this point we see the bomb again, and it's down to 5 seconds left. (Batman does disarm the faraway bomb, by cutting the power at the power plant.)

* Inverted in the movie ''[[Space Camp]]''. The accidentally launched shuttle is low on air, so the cadets fly to the partially assembled space station, where there is a cache of oxygen tanks. Ignoring the fact that the movie compresses the transit time to a few minutes, if you take the estimated amount of air left when they start the trip, and subtract the estimated transit time, the answer is considerably larger than the estimated amount of air left in the shuttle when they arrive. What were they doing to use up all that extra air?

* Demonstrated brilliantly in the [[Mystery Science Theater 3000|MST]] rendition of ''[[Time Chasers]]'':

'''Servo:''' "''One.''" }}

** Related, in the episode Soultaker, they mock the movie for continuing to show the clock ''after'' the midnight deadline has passed:

* In ''[[Time Cop]]'', there's a bomb in the protagonist's house with a mere 10 seconds left on the clock. Even though the scene is going in slow motion, he somehow manages to make it from the second story to the outside the house while carrying his wife in both arms. He isn't even running down the steps, either.

 

** Despite being averted in ''42'' (see below), this was played straight in ''Last of the Time Lords'', which is ironic, as the countdown was critical to {{spoiler|the Doctor}}'s plan.

* Lampshaded by the cast of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' in the episode ''Time Chasers'':

* On the children's TV show ''[[The Big Comfy Couch]]'', one of the usual devices employed in every episode was that Lunette would look around for items inside the couch while making a mess, and then at the end of the episode she would clean the mess up in a "ten-second tidy". Usually these would last over a minute. Very likely this was done under the assumption that [[Viewers are Morons|children can't count]].

* ''[[Knight Rider]]'' (2008) "Knight Fever": Trying to abort the destruction of a recently nanovirus-infected command center, Carrie and Alex find that the security device has malfunctioned and won't read their handprints. It repairs itself just in time to stop when the countdown reaches 1 second.

* Played with in an episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', where the bomb does this, but it's because of a time dilation field.

** Also mentioned in the 200th episode ("200") in which a movie writer proposes a scene in which SG-1 has to escape a situation in ten seconds and debates on how long the time should be.

'''Daniel:''' That's ridiculous... }}

* Also averted in the ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode "Thirty-Eight Minutes". It really is 38 minutes from the Gate opening to it closing, and the countdown towards the resolution is accurate.

== Films ==

* Spoofed in the film ''[[Spaceballs]]'', with the countdown on Mega-Maid's [[Self-Destruct Mechanism]]:

'''Computer:''' Just kidding! }}

** Also averted, since the actual three-minute self-destruct countdown only runs ten seconds too long, even with the argument over "seven".

* Brutally subverted in the ''[[Freehold]]'' novel. A trainee is trying to disarm a bomb with a timer. He takes a moment of respite, as there's plenty of time left... then the (fake) bomb goes off. [[An Aesop]] on how bad guys in the ''Freehold'' future have read the [[Evil Overlord List]].

* In one of ''[[The Destroyer]]'' novels, since there's no time to get anyone remotely qualified, Chiun ends up making an attempt to disarm a nuclear bomb and the timer just keeps on ticking down to zero (causing everyone else to become rightly worried) and then nothing happens...

 

 

== Video Games ==

* Spoofed in ''[[Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal]]'':

'''Biobliterator CPU:''' Bye-bye! ''(explodes)'' }}

* In the timed bonus levels of ''[[Gauntlet (1985 video game)]]'' (the original), the narrator's voice (you know, the [[Wizard Needs Food Badly]] guy) would count down the last ten seconds before you failed to clear the level and get the bonus. Sometimes he'd [[Unreliable Narrator|mix up the numbers]] as a joke.

** Also spoofed in the episode "A Big Piece of Garbage": The crew is sent to destroy a giant ball of garbage heading directly towards the Earth along with an explosive set to detonate after 25 minutes. Once they activate it, the digital timer counts down "25:00...15:00...05:00...6h:00" to the crew's surprise. The reason? The timer was ''upside down'' and thus set to ''52 seconds''. Way to go, Farnsworth.

*** The same episode featured a count down for a rocket launch:

'''Leela:''' Just fire the damn thing. }}

* Parodied on ''[[South Park]]'' in the episode "The Snuke": In a parody of ''[[24]]'', a bomb is set to go off when a digital clock with the requisite seven-segment display reaches 1:00. With just minutes to go, the authorities cut the power... and when it comes back, the digital clock controlling the detonator is flashing 12:00.

* Subverted in an early episode of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]],'' as Squidward counts down to what he thinks is an explosion that will kill Spongebob.

'''Squidward:''' [[Crosses the Line Twice|Twooooooo]]! }}

* [[The Simpsons|FIVE-hy-ay-ay, FOUR-hy-ay-ay...]]