Forbidden Chekhov's Gun: Difference between revisions

* Fone Bone, Gran'ma Ben, and one of the Dreaming Masters were the only people who didn't want to do it, but near the end of ''[[Bone]]'', the Crown of Horns seems to be the only way out, even though it's been said that if Thorn even touches it, all of existence would be in jeopardy, and the trip there would be dangerous anyway with all the dragons that guard the Crown of Horns and intend to kill anyone who's anywhere near it.

* The ''[[The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'' (at least the second one), after spending the last two series trying to prevent Lord Foul from obtaining Covenant's [[Cosmic Keystone|white gold ring]] in the final confrontation {{spoiler|Covenant just hands him the ring. It turns out to be a massive [[Batman Gambit]], as Covenant had finally come to understand how the whitwhite gold worked, and was able to trick Foul into destroying himself with the power.}}

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': The "Bonehead Maneuver" as mentioned in the Season 3 premiere. Basically, you have two ways of going in and out of hyperspace. If your ship is powerful enough, you can open your own jump point, or, if your ship isn't that powerful, you have a Jump Gate open one for you. You never want to open a jump point inside a jump gate, because this causes one massive explosion of a [[Negative Space Wedgie]]. Aside from the loss of a very -hard -to -replace jump gate (typically a star system will have one at most) and potentially stranding people in the system if they lack massive starships, this doesn't actually cause any huge universe-altering affects. Just a huge explosion that is difficult for most ships big enough to open a jump point to [[Outrun the Fireball|outrun]] (Soso, not really a [[Godzilla Threshold]]). They end up using the trick in a tricked-out new spaceship that MIGHT''might'' be fast enough to get away after using this trick to kill an enemy they DEFINITELY''definitely'' weren't big enough to fight.

* In ''[[HitchThe HikersHitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'', it's generally a really bad idea to activate the starship [[Cool Ship|''Heart of Gold'']]'s Infinite Improbability Drive without proper programming, as literally '''anything''' could happen as a result. However, when confronted with imminent destruction by a pair of nuclear missiles, [[Unfazed Everyman|Arthur Dent]] goes ahead and does it anyway, since almost anything else would be an improvement. Luckily, the only thing that happens this time is a redecorating of the ship's bridge, and the two nuclear missiles being replaced by a live sperm whale and a bowl of petunias. (Also occurs in the book, TV series and movie adaptations.)

** If we knew why the bowl of petunias thought "Not again!" while falling, we would probably understand a lot more about the universe. {{spoiler|Of course, later in the series, we find out EXACTLY''exactly'' why. Damn thing kept getting killed by Dent.}} [[It Makes Sense in Context]].

** A cheesy instruction video seen while in line on the ride explains exactly WHY''why'' you don't press the button; it's basically a ''nuke'' capable of frying the more [[Kaiju]]-esque aliens.

* The entire ''[[Halo]]'' trilogy had you attempting to prevent the Halo'sHalos from going off. Guess what the last level has you doing? Mind you, {{spoiler|It was only one Halo, not the whole set,}} but the concept remains the same. Cortana even handwaves it.

* ''[[Tsukihime|Shiki]]'': "Shiki, you've got about thirty seconds before Roa takes over your mind? ''What are you going to do now?'''" Answer: Stab himself in his own point of death on the assumption that if his will is stronger than Roa's, he'll live through it and Roa will die instead. Still, it's not like Ciel had any other ideas, and Arcueid provided backup by way of a single drop of her blood. (Thus sharing her will with his and allowing him to overpower Roa with relative ease.)

* The Manhattan Project. Scientists did experiments seeing how close they could get radioactive cores to going critical without ''actually'' making them go critical. They called this [[Tempting Fate|"Tickling The Dragon's Tail"]], and considered it a necessary but insanely dangerous thing to do. One core did accidentally go critical (very briefly) on two separate occasions, resulting in the deaths of two researchers and less severe cases of radiation poisoning for several others. They dubbed this one the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Demon Core]].