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Reverse Polarity: Difference between revisions
moved anime example out of Live Action TV, fixed section order
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* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Honky Tonk Woman":
{{quote|She reversed the polarity of one of the missiles! It's coming right back at us!}}
* In episode 17 of the ''[[Sakura Taisen]]'' TV series, Kohran puzzles over how to make Iris' ''kohbu'' properly handle her vast spirit energies, and comes up with an idea that, among other things, reverses the flow of her spirit energy through the regulator crystal.▼
== Comic Books ==
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* ''[[Buck Rogers]]''. [[Ur Example|Did it way more than]] ''[[Star Trek]]'' ever did, too.
* In ''[[Sonic the Comic]]'' Tails states lines involving this a few times, which is unusual since he isn't a [[Teen Genius|child genius]] in Fleetway's continuity.
== Films ==
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* In ''[[Cars]] 2'', Holley says this while trying to escape a death trap in the Big Bentley clock tower. On one hand, they at least keep it grounded in reality: once reversed, the only effect is the clock's motor and gear system running in reverse. On the other hand, she does it by shocking the motor with a Taser...
* ''[[Forbidden Planet]]''. Commander Adams orders a subordinate to "Stand by to reverse polarity" during the initial landing on Altair 4. In contrast to the description at the top of the page, this is indicated to be a usual part of landing the starship, '''not''' a way of fixing a disaster.
* One of the many reasons for which ''[[Fantastic Four (film)|Fantastic Four]]'' was criticized was its wham-tastic use of this trope. Reed is constantly spouting technobabble, and quite literally, his plan to return the Four to normal is to reverse the polarity of the cosmic rays that gave them their powers.
== Literature ==
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* Kemren the "Purple Mage" in ''[[Thieves' World]]'' generated [[Mana]] by means of [[Magic From Technology|waterwheels]]. It gave him a lot of extra power, but running those waterwheels backwards was enough to beat him.
* In the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' novel ''[[Ragnarok (noel)|Ragnarok]]'', the aliens of the week are using shields that automatically reverse polarity whenever something is shot at them. The crew figures out that they can shoot the shields and then reverse polarity so their next shot will ignore the shields.
== Live-Action TV ==
* Similarly, the cast of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' once attempted to shake an alien monster off the satellite with a polarity-reversal maneuver; theirs involved an actual car battery and jumper cables. Also, the alien liked it.
* The ''[[CSI New York]]'' Season 1 finale had someone actually "reverse the polarity".
▲* In episode 17 of the ''[[Sakura Taisen]]'' TV series, Kohran puzzles over how to make Iris' ''kohbu'' properly handle her vast spirit energies, and comes up with an idea that, among other things, reverses the flow of her spirit energy through the regulator crystal.
* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]''
** In the episode "That Which Survives", Spock orders Scotty to reverse the polarity of a "magnetic probe". Scotty's incredulous, "reverse polarity?!" qualifies as the [[Trope Namer]].
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* In ''[[Emergency]]'', there is a factory worker with his arm caught in a feeding hopper of a machine and Dr. Brackett is rushing over to have it amputated to save his life. However while he is en route, the paramedics come up with a better idea: they work with the factory's engineers and rewire the machine to make the hopper work in reverse to free the worker instead. Just as Dr. Brackett arrives, the modification is finished and they are able to free him instantly.
* In ''[[Sliders]]'' Season 2, Episode 3: Gillian of the Spirts, Quinn (via a spirit medium, the titular Gillian) instructs Arturo how to fix the timer by reversing the polarity. It might have been brought up other times in the show, I don't know, who cares?
== Music ==
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* Pops up in the [[Rush]] song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsj_FRBNrZE "Vital Signs"].
== Radio ==▼
* Lampshaded nicely in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' BBC Radio drama ''The Ghosts of N-Space'', in which the Brigadier jokingly suggests that the (Third) Doctor "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow", to which the Doctor replies that the Brig knows as well as he does that the phrase is meaningless.▼
* The ''[[Torchwood]]'' radio play "Lost Souls" plays this trope entirely straight, with the world saved from disaster by reversing the polarity of the positron flow. CERN apparently approved the science, and the impression is the writer was delighted to have found a context where the phrase ''actually made sense''.▼
== Tabletop Games ==
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* ''[[Paranoia]]'' adventure "'The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues''. The Maxwell-Effect Moleculokinesic Field Device is basically a Pyrokinesis gun (e.g. it acts like a flamethrower). 50% of the time it fires at reverse polarity and freezes the target.
* ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' adventure ''Hot Rods of the Gods''. If a Ghostbusters fires his proton pack at Meera at the same time as Meera shoots at him with the red devolvo ray, it will reverse the polarity. The devolvo beam will affect Meera and the Ghostbuster will evolve into a superior being with increased intelligence and [[My Brain Is Big|a large head]].
▲== Radio ==
▲* Lampshaded nicely in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' BBC Radio drama ''The Ghosts of N-Space'', in which the Brigadier jokingly suggests that the (Third) Doctor "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow", to which the Doctor replies that the Brig knows as well as he does that the phrase is meaningless.
▲* The ''[[Torchwood]]'' radio play "Lost Souls" plays this trope entirely straight, with the world saved from disaster by reversing the polarity of the positron flow. CERN apparently approved the science, and the impression is the writer was delighted to have found a context where the phrase ''actually made sense''.
== Videogames ==
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* The Apple II version of ''[[Karateka]]'' has [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=LVqSHLjiJCA an upside-down version of the game on the b side] so tech support could tell people it's like that because the game is inserted upside down.
==
* At least [[Narbonic]]'s [[Genre Savvy]] Dave Davenport knows he's appealing to the [[Theory of Narrative Causality]]: "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131101032008/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/users/narbonic/111005about_for.jpg Sometimes it helps, for some reason]".
* Referenced in [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/6/6/ this] ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' comic.
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* Done [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20100926.html here] in [[Exterminatus Now]], to shut down the Void. Complete with references to both [[Star Trek]], Ghostbusters, and a [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade.]]
* Used in ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=856 here]. Annie is trying to fake a [[Relationship-Salvaging Disaster]], and her lack of tech-savvy shows.
== Web Originals ==
* Yaeger has to do this to the Gravity Engine in ''[[The Mercury Men]]'' to put the moon back in its proper orbit.
* This is #4 of ''[[Cracked.com|Cracked]]'''s [http://www.cracked.com/article_17392_6-sci-fi-movie-conventions-that-need-to-die.html 6 Sci-Fi Movie Conventions (That Need to Die)].
== Western Animation ==
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* ''[[Superfriends]]'' 1973/74 episode "The Shamon U". Professor Shamon reverses the polarity on his giant electromagnet to repel the Batmobile instead of attracting it.
* ''[[The Herculoids]]'' episode "Revenge of the Pirates". Zok does it with his laser [[Eye Beams]] to neutralize a force field.
== Real Life ==
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