Wiper Start: Difference between revisions

== [[Advertising]] ==

* In a commercial for ''[[Twisted Metal]] 4'', [[Monster Clown|Sweet Tooth]] brings his souped-up ice-cream truck in for service. His midget clown sidekicks aren't all that familiar with the control scheme...

''(The midget turns off the wipers, and flicks another switch...firing a rocket and blowing up a car across the parking lot.)'' }}

 

* Invoked on ''[[Top Gear]]'' by Richard Hammond, while hypnotised into believing he didn't know how to operate a car.

** And when he reviewed the Cadillac CTS:

''Cut outside to show the hood of the car popping open.'' }}

* Occurred on one episode of ''[[Scrapheap Challenge]]'' when a car's wiring loom had been cut. After the first attempt to reconnect the severed wires, the wipers ran whenever the ignition was on.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* One ''[[Paranoia]]'' module features a vehicle with a couple dozen controls ("button", "switch", "slider") with no labels and no manual, forcing the [[PC|PCs]] to figure them out by [[What Does This Button Do?|trial and error]]. Naturally, this trope ensues.

GM: [[Cryptic Conversation|Sounds like something big just fell off.]] }}

 

* In ''[[Futurama]]'' Fry turns on the coffee maker on the Planet Express ship when trying to start it up in "Space Pilot 3000".

** When Zapp Brannigan tries to pilot an orbital restaurant he activates wipers, opens and closes windows, and turns on the turn signal. And then he manages to crash the restaurant into a planet.

* In a memorable scene in ''[[Justice League]]'', [[Batman]], [[Martian Manhunter]], and [[The Flash]] are trying to figure out the controls of an alien space ship on the front steps of Wayne Manor. [[Martian Manhunter|J'onn]] admits that he doesn't know how to fly the device, and [[The Flash]] suggests pressing buttons. The first one activates the ship's weapons systems, blowing a large hole in the side of the mansion and irking [[Batman]].

* A Wiper Start is only the first of many things to go wrong with ''Mike's New Car'' on the ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'' DVD.

* The titular character of ''[[WALL-E]]'' does a Wiper Start as one of many things he tries in an attempt to shut off the self-destruct sequence of a spaceship lifepod.