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[[Send in the Search Team]] is one plot based around this. [[Late to the Party]] often begins [[In Medias Res]].
Compare: [[Harbinger of Impending Doom]], [[Doomed Expedition]], [[Bring News Back]], [[Action Survivor]], [[Everybody's Dead, Dave]].
{{examples}}
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* Probably the original defining examples of the trope would be the original ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]'' movie and its sequel ''Aliens''. The Nostromo responded to that unidentified signal ([[Genre Savvy]] sci fi horror characters will know to leave such well enough alone) in the first movie, and ''Aliens'' is a textbook case of the "all communications from our colony have ceased" incarnation of the trope.
** Apparently the intended original ending of ''[[Alien]]'' has the Xenomorph surviving and sending a distress call in Ripley's voice.
* ''[[Event Horizon]]'' is pretty much the perfect example of this trope, except combined with [[Poor Communication Kills]].
* The ''[[Doom]]'' film also used this to get the plot rolling. When those research labs on distant planets cease communications, that should be your hint to close the portal.
* In ''[[28 Days Later]]'' the Warning variation is turned on its head - a radio signal is broadcast to lure only the sentient, non-Ragey humans to safety with a promised cure. In fact, it's just as much a distress signal is anything else, because, well... and there's the plot.
* ''[[Return of the Living Dead]]'' has one of the brain-hungry zombies using the Fake Distress Call variant to order in some food: "Send more paramedics."
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* [[Stephen King]]'s teleplay ''Sorry, Right Number'' adds a [[Karmic Twist Ending]] to this trope.
* [[Stanislaw Lem]]'s short story ''The Albatross'' epitomizes the cyclical version. After the spaceship ''Albatross'''s nuclear drive overheats, rendering it helpless and its crew's lives in danger, nearby ships rush to the rescue with such urgency that their own drives overheat. We see the viewpoint character as his own ship prepares to join [[Lemming Cops|half the fleet]] in a mad dash to rescue the rescuers...
* In Charles Sheffield's short story ''With McAndrew, Out of Focus'', the title character's fellow physicists are busy making observations of a supernova at one solar focus. They also detect a distress call from a [[Generation Ship]], but can't locate the source of the signal and thus identify which [[Generation Ship]] sent the message (the signal quality is very poor). McAndrew works out that the [[Generation Ship]]'s signal is coming from the ''other'' solar focus, which is displacing the signal, and leads a scouting / possible rescue mission. He and his partner, the narrator and [[The Captain]], have narrowed the candidates for the [[Generation Ship]] down to a couple of possibilities by the time they reach it. Just before it's too late, [[The Captain]] identifies the [[Generation Ship]] as the CyberArk, which learned too late that [[
* [[Fragment|Henders Isle]] is brought to the world's attention after a distress beacon lures a passing research vessel to investigate. Plays with the trope in that while the being that activated the beacon ( {{spoiler|a member of a sapient species later dubbed "Hendropods"}}) ''did'' want to attract people, it simply did so out of a benign curiousity (it's the ''rest'' of the island that'll get you!).
* The Fourth Imperium in ''[[Empire From the Ashes]]'' littered the galaxy with warning beacons designed to detect incoming [[Kill All Humans|Achuultani]] ships, broadcast a warning to anyone in range, lure the ships in, then self-destruct in massive explosions. [[Cool Starship|Dahak's]] communications were sabotaged during the mutiny so that the Imperium would assume the ship lost, the last communication having been a damage report.
* In ''[[X Wing Series|Wraith Squadron]]'', the heroes set up one of these after recovering from an enemy trap. They station a damaged X-Wing in orbit with a distress call recorded by the squadron's actor, begging for help. When the enemy shows up and tractors it, they shoot a jerry-rigged tiny ship into its hangar bay, and the pilot inside, equipped with one of the X-Wing's [[BFG|laser cannons]], captures their ship. [[Crazy Awesome]]? Oh yes.
* ''[[Last Legionary]]'': When Moros is attacked, all of the Legionaries who're away on missions or whatever are summoned back by Central Command. Once Command realised what was happening, they set up a warning beacon to try and keep those who were arrived later from trying to land.
* An interesting example with ''[[Dragonriders of Pern|Dragonsdawn]]'' by Anne McCaffrey. The colonists could've sent a distress beacon into space after thee Threadfall, but this would most likely have brought scavengers down on them, who would pick over the bones of the colony regardless of whether there was anyone still alive or not. Since there's no [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]], they'll have a new generation by the time anyone can receive their call, and a few by the time when (and if) a ship reaches them - and if the colony survived this long, it probably alreay managed to deal with the problem on its own. They decided not call for help.{{spoiler|A rogue group of colonists fire it off anyway, which caused interesting things several generations down the road}}.
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* A staple of ''[[Doctor Who]]''.
** To the point where [[Russell T. Davies]] acknowledges that he had to tell other writers to not start their episodes this way.
* Every once in a while, the plot of an episode of ''[[Farscape]]'' was kicked off by this.
* ''[[Firefly]]'': "They're hurting us...get me out"
** Let's not forget the episode Bushwhacked. The entire episode is classic example.
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* Varied in the pilot episode of ''[[Lost]]'': while it does not draw the Losties to the island, the distress call alerts them that another group has landed on the island and met with a terrible fate, not to mention that the call has been playing for sixteen years, but no one seems to have responded to it.
* Used in the first two seasons of ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' as a combination [[Couch Gag]] and recap.
* About 1 in 4 episodes of ''[[Star Trek: The
* An episode of ''[[Star Trek:
* Subverted in ''[[Star Trek:
* ''[[Babylon 5]]: In The Beginning'' features a distress call that is both genuine and a trap: they call for help from Earth ''and'' lure a Minbari Cruiser into a trap. This is justified as the cruiser wasn't going to help, it returned to finish them off.
** Another episode involves the titular space station receiving a distress call {{spoiler|from themselves, from the [[Bad Future]] [[Alternate Timeline]]. Due to a rift in space/time previously introduced [[Foreshadowing|and recently featured]] on the show.}}
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** Also crops up in {{spoiler|Jacob}}'s loyalty mission in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. The strange thing is, the beacon activated 10 years after the ship disappeared...
* One of the mission objectives in the first ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' is sending a fake SOS from a German bunker, in order to divert the forces from a guarded pass.
* ''[[Metroid]]'' is full of this:
** ''Super Metroid'' starts with a distress signal from the research station she just delivered the [[MacGuffin]] to.
** ''[[Metroid Prime]]'': Oddly enough, [[Space Pirates]] send a distress beacon that Samus picks up.
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** ''[[Metroid: Other M]]'': The "Baby's Cry".
* One of the possible endings of ''[[Notrium]]'' is to successfully send a distress call.
* The first ''[[Resident Evil]]'' game's plot opens this way. For a squad with the word "Rescue" in its name, the STARS members were awfully unsuccessful at saving their buddies all things considered.
* On the horror front, ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' has a "distress letter" from the hero's ''dead wife!''
* ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star Fox]] Assault'' had two Distress Calls, an ordinary one from Katina (naturally, a trap) and a telepathic one from Sauria (which is pretty much overrun by the time the team gets there, but there are still survivors).
** Likewise in ''[[Star Fox Adventures]]'', the story kicks off with Krystal answering a similar distress call from Sauria.
* ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' has optional rescue missions that open up after you received a request for aid. Its sequel uses request for aid in a different way: during a fight in which you are severely outnumbered, your allies call for help if they take too much damage.
* The [[Backstory]] for ''[[X-COM]]: Terror from the Deep'' features plenty of Distress Calls: one is sent by the aliens when their [[The Red Planet|Martian]] base is overrun by vengeful humans, another one is sent by an X-COM submarine pilot whose sub is sunk by [[Fish People|aquatic aliens]] and is not detected until two months later ("I think they're back!"), and many more are sent out by civilian ships and aircraft that disappear before the game commences and the aliens decide to stop hiding.
* In one of the first Order missions in [[Ground Control]], your acting commanding officer tells you he's lost contact with a friendly base and that this could only mean it's under attack from Crayven Corporation forces. [[Genre Savvy]]?
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* A nearly unintelligible phone call motivates Vanessa in ''[[
== [[Web Original]] ==
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