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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"I will never employ any device with a digital countdown. If I find that such a device is absolutely unavoidable, I will set it to activate when the counter reaches 1:17 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation."''
|''[[Evil Overlord List]]'', #15}}
In many cases, for whatever
Naturally, things will go down to the wire and the hero will foil the evil scheme at the [[Just in Time|last possible second]]. It's especially powerful when combined with [[Real Time]]... even if it takes a [[Magic Countdown]] to line things up properly. This is a frequently used but still effective method of adding more tension to the story. Compare [[When the Clock Strikes Twelve]] and [[Right on the Tick]].
One variant is that a specific time isn't the point of success; the villain must instead be stopped before he collects all the [[Plot Coupon
In other cases, time itself is the foe with the help of some [[Contrived Coincidence|random coincidences]] that impede the hero's progress. Interestingly, the audience will probably buy these coincidences since they come off, if done well, as an application of [[Finagle's Law]]. Usually, such a sequence will serve as a dramatic finale.
The video game equivalent is the [[Timed Mission]]. The video game [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] is [[Take Your Time]], where they
A rather specific subtrope is [[You Have 48 Hours]].
{{endingtrope}}
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
* The whole ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' series is based on this for every single one of its arcs. In the first one the heroes have to reach the Pope after having to go through 12 temples protected by fierce warriors in less than 12 hours or else their Goddess would die. In the second arc of the anime, the heroes have to gather 7 saphirs to break the spell on the filler's baddy before dusk or else their Goddess would die. In the third arc, they need to break the pillars of the 7 seas before the world gets completely flooded and before their Goddess turned human pillar drowns or else their Goddess would die (and the world would be turned into [[Waterworld]]). In the final arc, they need to defeat Hades and rescue their Goddess before the alignment of the planets or else their Goddess would die. Notice a regular pattern? Finally, in the new manga Next Dimension, they have 3 days to go to the past and break Hades' sword or else... the hero would die (but their Goddess too just for good measure).▼
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* A subplot in ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]'' has Ken "Karate Keeper" Wakashimazu defying his parents because he wants to play soccer and not become the [[Heir to the Dojo]]. In the original manga and old series, his father gives him one year to reach the championship with the Toho team; if not, he'll have to come back home and inherit the dojo. When Ken fulfills his word, Mr. Wakashimazu gives him his blessings.▼
▲* The whole [[Saint Seiya]] series is based on this for every single one of its arcs. In the first one the heroes have to reach the Pope after having to go through 12 temples protected by fierce warriors in less than 12 hours or else their Goddess would die. In the second arc of the anime, the heroes have to gather 7 saphirs to break the spell on the filler's baddy before dusk or else their Goddess would die. In the third arc, they need to break the pillars of the 7 seas before the world gets completely flooded and before their Goddess turned human pillar drowns or else their Goddess would die (and the world would be turned into [[Waterworld]]). In the final arc, they need to defeat Hades and rescue their Goddess before the alignment of the planets or else their Goddess would die. Notice a regular pattern? Finally, in the new manga Next Dimension, they have 3 days to go to the past and break Hades' sword or else... the hero would die (but their Goddess too just for good measure).
* In ''[[Glass Mask]]'', Tsukikage gives her pupil Maya Kitajima two years to win an award as prestigious as one that her rival Ayumi Himekawa has just won, or else Ayumi gets the ''Crimson Goddess role without further contest.▼
▲* A subplot in [[Captain Tsubasa]] has Ken "Karate Keeper" Wakashimazu defying his parents because he wants to play soccer and not become the [[Heir to the Dojo]]. In the original manga and old series, his father gives him one year to reach the championship with the Toho team; if not, he'll have to come back home and inherit the dojo. When Ken fulfills his word, Mr. Wakashimazu gives him his blessings.
* In the ''[[Digimon]]'' Movie ''Our War Game'', a virus called Diablomon has caused a nuclear missile to launch, somewhere in the world. Diablomon sends a menacing but childish email to them, asking, "which one has the clock?". They then have ten minutes to destroy the various copies he's making of himself, finding the one with the clock that controls the missile. Could be considered a [[Time Bomb]].▼
▲* In [[Glass Mask]], Tsukikage gives her pupil Maya Kitajima two years to win an award as prestigious as one that her rival Ayumi Himekawa has just won, or else Ayumi gets the ''Crimson Goddess role without further contest.
▲* In the [[Digimon]] Movie ''Our War Game'', a virus called Diablomon has caused a nuclear missile to launch, somewhere in the world. Diablomon sends a menacing but childish email to them, asking, "which one has the clock?". They then have ten minutes to destroy the various copies he's making of himself, finding the one with the clock that controls the missile. Could be considered a [[Time Bomb]].
* In ''[[Future War 198X]]'' Wataru has only one hour of oxygen left up in outer space and must find some way to stop the Communists from pressing the [[Big Red Button]] and destroying the world with nukes.
* In ''[[Oto x Maho]]'', Kanata imposes a race against the clock on HIMSELF, transforming to start fighting, then telling the student council president on the other side of the door to the roof to count to 10, then open the door. If he does not kill the enemy in 10 seconds, then transform back to his normal form, his job as a [[Magical Girl|Magical]] [[Gender Bender|Girl]] will be exposed.
* Yugi, Judai and Yusei in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time
* The second half of ''[[Steins;Gate]]'' features Okabe trying to get enough clues as to how to undo the changes he previously did to the past before {{spoiler|Mayuri dies, always at 8 PM.}} Every time he succeeds, the deadline gets delayed for 24 more hours.
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
== Card Games ==▼
* In the [[Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game]], there is a card called Final Countdown that will end the game making the user the winner in 20 turns after being used, it can even be sped up by 1 turn by using the Pyro Clock of Destiny Trap Card. So it turns out to be a [[Race Against the Clock]] to defeat the opponent before the 20th turn is reached.▼
** The [[Magic: The Gathering]] card Darksteel Reactor has the exact same effect. Since it uses charge counters to mark how many turns have passed and comes from a block in which charge counters are a major mechanic, there are many ways to speed it up. (For example, Energy Chamber puts a charge counter on any of your artifacts once each turn, thus functionally cutting the Reactor's "clock" in half.)▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Final Crisis]]'', the Guardians of the Universe tell [[Green Lantern|Hal Jordan]] and his fellow Green Lanterns that: "You have 24 hours to save the universe."
* This was a vital plot point in the four-part "Countdown" series of ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]''. At the time, Banner would turn into the Hulk (as in, Grey Hulk, where he was smarter but not quite as strong as the Green Hulk) at sundown and turn back to Banner at sunrise. The story starts immediately after sunset, right after a mysterious villain poisons Banner. While the Hulk cannot be hurt by this poison (as he's invulnerable, obviously) turning back into Banner will kill him instantly, giving him until sunrise (the time measured by a caption with a clock counting down through the whole 4-part story) to find a cure.
▲== Fan Fic ==
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]'' has a non-lethal variation in "Eggs for Calvin": the titular protagonist has to find five eggs hidden throughout town or else Hobbes and [[The Prankster|resident prankster]] Socrates will prank him. {{spoiler|[[It Makes Sense in Context|He manages to unwittingly jail two crooks in the process.]]}}
** A more serious example would be much later, in "Our Solemn Hour"; [[Big Bad|Holographic Retro]] sets up an extremely hazardous maze that Calvin and Hobbes must escape from within an hour, or else they'll be crushed by the ceiling. {{spoiler|They just barely make it, and then Calvin and Retro have their showdown...}}
== Film ==▼
* In ''[[Aliens]]'' the "Big Computer That Controls Everything" announces that the coolant system has shut down and the reactors will overheat and explode. Bishop estimates that they have approximately four hours before that, and later on the computer inside the reactor starts giving them a precise countdown.
* The latter type of
** ''Part III'' has one as well, set up very similarly to the first movie, with at least three elements working against the heroes.
* [[Cinderella (film)|Most versions]] of "''[[Cinderella (novel)|Cinderella]]''". The [[Cinderella (Disney film)|Disney version]] adds an actual chase for good measure.
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*** Both often subverted these days, in that the deadline is missed but the Love Interest decided not to go through with it.
* ''[[Run Lola Run]]''. Lola's boyfriend Manny has a meeting with some mobsters, and he just lost the money he was supposed to hand off to them. The meeting's in twenty minutes, so Lola and Manny have that long to get the money back.
* Used in numerous ''[[James Bond]]'' films - the Connery films often had the counter finishing at 0-0-7; by the Moore era the producers pushed it to the limit by having Bond disable the weapon right on 0-0-0.
* ''[[Seven Days in May]]''. The US President believes the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is plotting a military coup under cover of a mobilisation exercise to be held in seven days. Because the general is highly popular, the President can't dismiss him without proof, so his staff have that long to find evidence of the conspiracy.
* [[Bill and
* In ''[[Midnight Run]]'', bounty hunter [[Robert De Niro]] has to get fugitive [[Charles Grodin]] back to Los Angeles by midnight on Friday or bondsman [[Joe Pantoliano]] loses the bond.
* In a twist it is the heroes' unfortunate actions in ''[[L: Change the World]]'' that are time sensitive. Maki is the one who injected herself with a lethal virus to begin with, and it has to be cured before it becomes active or she could kill innocent bystanders. L likewise has one more week to live after writing his own name in the ''[[Death Note]]'' to catch Kira and has to get the ''new'' problem solved before he dies.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* Jules Verne's ''[[Around the World in Eighty Days]]''. The original novel, the multiple film adaptations, the [[Michael Palin]] travelogue in which Palin attempts to duplicate Phileas Fogg's trip.
* ''[[Brewster's Millions]]'', a novel twice adapted into films, in which the protagonist will inherit a large sum of money, but only if he can completely waste a smaller amount of money in thirty days (spend thirty million to inherit three hundred million in the later [[Richard Pryor]] film adaptation).
* In ''[[Harry Potter and
** Whereas in ''[[Harry Potter and
* In ''[[Gone (novel)|Gone]]'' , Sam and Caine have eleven days to figure out how to not disappear when they turn fifteen.
== [[Live
* ''[[24]]''. ''Always.''
* Inverted in the ''[[Star Trek:
* Lampshaded in an episode on ''[[NCIS]]'' where a group of marines in a training exercise find an armed bomb with about 3 minutes left on the clock. 10 seconds later the bomb goes off and the Gunnery Sgt. reminds them of Evil Overlord Rule #15: Never assume a bomb's timer is accurate.
* ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' features an episode where the Sheriff goes missing, and must be found by sunset or Nottingham will be destroyed.
* The [[Real Time]] episode of ''[[
* Used very often in ''[[MacGyver]]''. Of course, the timer is sometimes set by our hero himself.
* In ''[[Lost]]'', according to Ms. Hawking, Ben has only 70 hours to reunite the Oceanic 6 and (presumably) return to the island or "God help us all."
* Happens in an episode of [[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|the original ''
** The first episode (post-miniseries-pilot) of [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the new series]] featured a recurring countdown of exactly 33 minutes between Cylon attacks on the colonial fleet.
* In the episode "Endgame" of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' the liberation fleet must destroy the Earth orbital defense system redirected at the planet's surface by the insane
* This is a key aspect of the premise of ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' - the main cast does not have full control of the ''[[Cool Starship|Destiny]]'', and it only stops at a given location for a few hours at a time before jumping back into [[Faster-Than-Light Travel|FTL]]. Anyone not on board the ship at this time is left behind.
* On ''[[Prison Break]]'', they're usually racing against a season-long clock and a tinier clock in a number of episodes.
* In the episode 'Ability' in season 1 of ''[[Fringe]]'', Olivia disarms a timed bomb on the top of a skyscraper by turning out a set of small lights only by staring at them, succeeding with two seconds left on the timer.
* Lampshaded in the troperiffic 200th episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' when the [[Cloudcuckoolander]] movie producer takes a sarcastic comment about having a ticking clock on the screen seriously.
* [[Game Shows]]: Although game shows don't have actual
** ''[[Whew]]'' actually did have a Gauntlet of Villains for it's end game against the clock.
** ''[[Beat the Clock]]'' (duh!)
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** ''[[Truth or Consequences]]'' also had many ticking clock games and contests.
* [[Reality TV]] (aka, game shows on steroids): A few reality TV shows have contestants (or teams of contestants) race against the times of their competitors:
** ''[[The Amazing Race]]''
** ''[[Fear Factor]]''
** ''[[Wipeout 2008]]''
* A rare music example - Madonna's
== [[Tabletop
▲* In the [[Yu-Gi-Oh!
▲* A rare music example - Madonna's recent hit "4 Minutes", and [http://youtube.com/watch?v=U9Ch5LTJhS0 its accompanying video], both center around having "4 minutes to save the world"-- with the video even having a countdown clock as a backdrop. (Never mind, of course, that the song lasts four seconds too long...)
▲** The ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' card Darksteel Reactor has the exact same effect. Since it uses charge counters to mark how many turns have passed and comes from a block in which charge counters are a major mechanic, there are many ways to speed it up. (For example, Energy Chamber puts a charge counter on any of your artifacts once each turn, thus functionally cutting the Reactor's "clock" in half.)
== Video Games ==
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* In the ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' DLC mission "The Arrival", you have only 2 days, and later 2 hours, to destroy a gateway that will let the [[Eldritch Abomination]] / [[Starfish Aliens]] known as the Reapers reach the galaxy. Unlike a lot of time sensitive video game plots, you have a live timer for this, and you get a special game over if it reaches zero.
* The Gigantic in ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors|Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors]]'' sinks after the nominal [[Arc Number|9 hours]] expires. {{spoiler|Except it turns out that the characters weren't on the Gigantic at all.}}
* Actually, a lot of video games from the golden and silver ages in general had a countdown timer. It was seen as strange in 1995 when ''Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'' came out that there was no timer counting down from 400 or 300, which gamers were used to by this point.
* Automated Simulations/Epyx's ''Rescue at Rigel''. "Sudden" Smith has 60 minutes to rescue 10 captives from an asteroid. The current time (counting up from 1) is always on the screen.
* You carry a watch throughout ''[[Assault On Vampire Island]]'' and aim to finish the game before the night finishes.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Homestuck]]'': ''Nearly every time you see a countdown clock'', you can be sure that [[Colony Drop|a meteor is heading towards that clock]], which is a pretty big impetus to get the hell out of wherever you are by whatever means necessary. The game seems to like throwing meteors at things.▼
▲* [[Homestuck]]: ''Nearly every time you see a countdown clock'', you can be sure that [[Colony Drop|a meteor is heading towards that clock]], which is a pretty big impetus to get the hell out of wherever you are by whatever means necessary. The game seems to like throwing meteors at things.
** Oh, and there's that [[Wham! Episode|one countdown]] to the destruction of {{spoiler|''an entire universe and the creation of a sun the size of two of them.''}}
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
* Identified explicitly in ''[[South Park]]'' as "the ticking clock" by the candy store owner, who notes that it "works great in the movies". Another Trey Parker
▲== Western Animation ==
** Lampshaded in [[The Movie|the ''South Park'' movie]] when the Mole looks at his watch when they arrive at the USO show. Under the time is the label "Act Three: The Ticking Clock."▼
▲* Identified explicitly in ''[[South Park]]'' as "the ticking clock" by the candy store owner, who notes that it "works great in the movies". Another Trey Parker / Matt Stone production, ''[[Team America: World Police]]'' uses and calls attention to it (by Kim Jong Il, the [[Genre Savvy]] [[Big Bad]] of the film).
▲** Lampshaded in [[The Movie|the South Park movie]] when the Mole looks at his watch when they arrive at the USO show. Under the time is the label "Act Three: The Ticking Clock."
* [[Monster Clown|Freakshow]] in ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' gives the [[Power Trio]] three days to get [[Gotta Catch Em All|all the gems]] for his Infinity Gauntlet or their family dies. Why three days? Because it's ''dramatic''.
* Played with on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''. Fat Tony gives Marge twenty-four hours to get the money she owes him. To prove that he's serious, she only has 12 hours.
** Or this little exchange:
{{quote|'''Mr. Burns''' [after having a conversation about something totally different]: Oh, and Simpson? ''You must find the Jade Monkey before the next full moon.''
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'''Farnsworth:''' You've got 8! }}
* ''[[Family Guy]]''. "Three days? That's tomorrow!"
* In the ''[[Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', we see an example of one of the longer races against time. There's a comet coming at the end of the summer- that will give the Fire Benders incredible powers, enough to completely burn down the Earth Kingdom. So, yeah, Aang, you got till then to defeat the Fire Nation. Good luck!
** {{spoiler|He loses the race, though he and his friends end up defeating the Fire Nation at the zenith of their power anyway.}}
* In an unfinished episode of ''[[Invader Zim]]'', appropriately named "Ten Minutes 'Till Doom", Dib manages to knock Zim's PAK off of him. This triggers a ten minute
* In the ''[[Justice League]]'' episode "Wild Cards", [[The Joker]] rigs several bombs on the Las Vegas strip, televising a blatant challenge to the heroes to find them in all 22 minutes and 51 seconds. ("Oh, what were you expecting from me, round number?" he snarks.) Naturally, he has planted cameras all over Vegas, along with nasty booby-traps, and has the Royal Flush Gang there to hinder the heroes' efforts. This is, however, all a [[Kansas City Shuffle]] to hide his true plan: to get everyone to watch his broadcast so he can employ his secret weapon - namely Ace, a [[Creepy Child]] with a lethal gaze.
{{reflist}}
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