Reverse Polarity: Difference between revisions

Of course you can't do this with neutrons, because they're as electrically neutral as the name suggests, although if we're getting technical, they do have a ''magnetic'' polarity. However, if the neutrons are ''flowing'' somewhere, reversing the polarity might refer to changing the direction of flow.

 

 

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Honky Tonk Woman":

{{quote|She reversed the polarity of one of the missiles! It's coming right back at us!}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[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 ==

* In the original ''[[Spy Kids]]'', the heroes force a [[Heel Face Turn]] of the titular Spy Kids robots by reversing their alignment polarity. He does this by ''inverting the binary code''. While it probably would stop the robots from attacking, they would be more likely to crash then turn good. Of course, you can [[Never Say "Die"]] in a kids film, so...

* In ''[[Young Frankenstein]]'', Frederick reads from his [[Doctor Frankenstein|grandfather's]] book ''[[Fictional Document|How I Did It]]'':

** Some fans justify it in that, being at the end of the journal, we don't hear all of it. Basicly what if one neck bolt was positive and the other negative, and the first experiment got them wrong? For the second one, you would reverse the poles and it would then work.

* In possibly the earliest use of this trope, ''[[Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man]]'' (1943), Dr. Frankenstein's journal explains that the practically immortal monster can be killed by attaching him to the machine that gave him life and "changing the poles".

* 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.

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' novel ''Scourge the Heretic'', the jury-rigged device to keep a machine going "reversed the polarity of the neutron flow" (a clear [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Doctor Who]]'').

** Considering the amount of tropes invoked and subverted in the book and the fact that the above-mentioned machine simply ''didn't work'' due to the tampering, this can probably be considered deliberate.

* 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.

 

== 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".

* ''[[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]].

* 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 ==

* Pops up in the [[Rush]] song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsj_FRBNrZE "Vital Signs"].

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* According to the ''[[Star Trek]]'' d6 RPG sourcebooks, reversing the polarity in different ways on the main deflector array can create a low power phaser, force someone out of warp, and allow you to [[New Powers as the Plot Demands|basically do ANYTHING you could think of]]. The Main Deflector Array; [[Swiss Army Weapon]] of the Federation. In fact players are encouraged to come up with [[Techno Babble]] explanations for whatever it is they are trying to do.

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' made a card for "Reverse Polarity"—any damage taken so far that turn from artifacts is retroactively added to your health total. Lampshaded, but [[Better Than a Bare Bulb|most certainly not explained]], in that the picture shows a mace acting as a [[Healing Shiv]].

* ''[[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.

 

* In ''[[Freedom Force]] vs. the Third Reich'', Sky King gets his jetpack to work and saves the day after Bullet tells him to reverse the polarity on his neutrino pack. Bullet is from the future and knew this from reading the Sky King comic books written after Sky King got his jetpack to work, but causality sucks anyway.

* It turns this is the way to reconnect Clockwerk's body in ''[[Sly Cooper|Sly]] 2''.

* In ''[[Ikaruga]]'', polarity reversing is a gameplay mechanic. White polarity absorbs white bullets, and does double damage to black targets. Black polarity does the opposite.

* ''[[Space Quest]]'' 5 has you "reverse the phase polarity of the interface grid" multiple times throughout the game.

* The video game adaptation of the ''[[Death Gate]]'' novels uses [[Magi Babble]] instead of [[Techno Babble]], but the principle remains the same. There's no point to casting a spell that sets you on fire—but reversing the order of the spell runes casts it on your [[Doppelganger]].

* At the end of ''[[Ratchet and Clank]] 2'', {{spoiler|Angela's anti-Protopet weapon turns the Protopet into a giant monster. When she attempts to figure out what went wrong, Clank points out that the battery is in backwards.}}

{{quote|By reconfiguring the polarity of the daedron fields, it is possible to manipulate and trace the streams in the following cases...}}

* Your [[Mission Control]] in ''[[Vanquish]]'' says this word for word. But in that case, you're just trying to make a [[Humongous Mecha]]'s giant energy cannon blow up.

* 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.

 

* Referenced in [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/6/6/ this] ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' comic.

* [[Irregular Webcomic|Serron]] suggests reversing the polarity [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2201.html of something].

* 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 ==

* ''[[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 ==

* Reversing the Polarity of one speaker of a stereo sound system can have real effects. This happens because waveforms that are 180 degrees out of phase will cancel each other out. The listener will usually hear this as weakened bass response. Of course, this only works once: "My stereo sounded much better when I reversed the polarity on the left speaker. I can't wait to hear how much better it will sound when I reverse the right speaker too!"

** This can also serve as a simple way of converting mono to stereo. Take a mono sound file, put your sound editor into stereo mode, then invert one of the channels. Quick surround sound. Mind you, it only works well with headphones, and if the resulting file is converted to mono again, silence will result.

* Live sound reinforcement mixing consoles have a "phase" switch on every input which is really just a Reverse Polarity switch. This is often used when placing two microphones on the same sound source directly facing each other. If there are 2 microphones on a snare drum, one above facing down and a second below facing up, the engineer will usually Reverse Polarity on the bottom mic.

* Converting a voltage follower with gain into a comparator with hysteresis is as simple as reversing the polarity of the amplifier.

* In classical Chinese thought, if the Yellow River runs clear when it should be muddy, or muddy when it should be clear or anything that should be Yin is Yang (or vice versa), it is considered an omen that the ruling dynasty has lost the [[wikipedia:Mandate of Heaven|Mandate of Heaven]]. Reversing the polarity, in other words, is an omen of DOOOM!

* The Earth literally reverses the polarity of its magnetic field every couple of hundred thousand years. Scientists are not entirely sure what happens to life when it happens, but you can bet it will be the solution to ''somebody's'' problem.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capillary_electrophoresis

* Diodes pass current in one direction, while blocking it from going the other way.

* Thermal optics can also reverse polarity. Doing so switches between White Hot and Black Hot (Meaning that heat shows up as white or black, respectively.)

 

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