History Main / CutTheJuice

* At the end of ''ComicBook/{{XIII}}'', the protagonist must stop a military base from self-destructing, but the computer console that can abort the process has a small bomb attached that will kill him if he tries it. The solution? Trace the console's conduit up to the equipment cage it controls and blow it up! The exact same scenario happens near the end of the video game based on the comic.

So really, this trope is used in just about any situation where it can be effective or dramatic. Now if only we could [[AreTheseWiresImportant do the same thing]] with those [[MurderousMalfunctioningMachine pesky defective robots...]]

* [[Magazine/{{MAD}} MAD Magazine]]'s satire of ''Film/StarWarsANewHope'' (although then it was still just called ''Star Wars'') featured this gag as the explanation for why Ben Kenobi's lightsaber went out just before Vader killed him.

* In the climax of the six-part ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' story "Revenge of the Sinister Six", where the villains (including the titanic monster Gog) have broken into a military base with the controls to a DoomsdayDevice, when the ComicBook/FantasticFour pulls a BigDamnHeroes entrance to back Spidey and some other heroes up. ComicBook/DoctorOctopus reaches the controls to the device and threatens to push "the button" if anyone comes near; then he sees that Reed has unplugged it. Cue OhCrap from Ock, right before the Hulk pummels him.
* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim Drake is a rare example of a comic book hacker who knows to just cut the power when the security of his system is compromised by another hacker. He's not happy about shutting down the Batcomputer but he has done so.

* A non-computer example appears in ''Fanfic/NarutoTheSecretSongsOfTheNinja'' when Jiraiya puts a delayed variant of the Five Elements Seal that Orochimaru used in canon to seal away the Kyuubi on Naruto's stomach that he can activate at will to cut the Kyuubi off from his chakra network if it looks like the demon fox is getting out of control. Jiraiya warns him that doing so will also disrupt Naruto's control over his own chakra as well, so it should only be done in battle if there's no other choice. [[spoiler:He has to use it in chapter 10 to keep the Kyuubi from taking over his body altogether.]]

* ''Film/SpiderMan2'' uses it twice. The first time it works; the second time subverts it, as the ongoing fusion that had previously required power had become self-sustaining.

* In ''Film/OceansThirteen'', Danny Ocean proposes doing this to disable the Bank Casino's ultra high-tech player monitoring system. "Why don't we just kill the power?" Roman Nagel scoffs at the idea. "That could work... failing that, you could just kick the plug out of the socket." They figure out that they could shut it down temporarily, if only they could get a magnetron into the control room. So they get a magnetron into the control room.

* ''Film/TheMother'' tells Agent Williams to cut the power while she goes in to rescue her daughter. But the circuit board is such a rat's nest of wiring he has to cut several before he finds the right one.
* The ''Film/MysteriousDoctorSatan'' has put a remote-controlled ExplosiveLeash on a KidnappedScientist, so the hero convinces the chief of police to arrange a citywide power blackout for thirty seconds, in order to knock out the power to the control panel Doctor Satan is using. It's just enough time for him to remove the bomb and throw it away before the power comes back on.

* In ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'', Walter Peck orders a utility worker to do this to the team's ghost containment unit. This turns out to be a really bad idea.
* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''. Bones and Carol Marcus are trying to defuse a photon torpedo when a hatch shuts on Bones' arm, trapping him in place, and a timer starts counting down. Carol frantically tries to defuse the weapon, but with only seconds left she resorts to yanking out the power core. Fortunately that works.
* Averted in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' which opens with S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters being evacuated because the Tesseract has turned itself on, which is [[MassOhCrap universally regarded as Bad News]].
-->'''Nick Fury:''' I assume you've pulled the plug?\\
'''Dr Selvig:''' She's an energy source! We turn off the power, she turns it back on.

* The 1997 version of the Creator/DeanKoontz novel ''Literature/DemonSeed'' plays with this. [[spoiler:In this version, the story is told from the point-of-view of the evil A.I. The story abruptly [[KilledMidSentence ends in midsentence when it is powered down]].]]
* In ''Literature/TheGhostBrigades'' by Creator/JohnScalzi, [[spoiler:Steve Seaborg shuts down the Obin [=BrainPal=] jammer by blowing up the power generator -- and himself]].

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks "The Daleks"]], the plan to defeat the Daleks revolves around trying to unplug their city's electricity supply. It works because the original Daleks drew their power from the floors of their city and had no internal power supply.
* ''Series/MrBean'': In "Mind the Baby, Mr Bean", Mr Bean causes mayhem on a bumper car ride, when a baby is hidden in the bumper car activating the throttle, and Mr Bean is standing on top, clinging on. When the baby starts crying, Mr Bean then activates the baby's squeaky toy. The attendant sees this, and switches off the power, stopping all the cars. He even says "Cut the juice".

** "Root Cause": Finch backtraces a hacker, then realizes it's a honeypot and they're attacking his systems. He could try to counter-hack her, but just kills the power, unplugs everything, destroys his phone, and tells Reese to do the same.
** In season 4, a series of flashbacks show Finch experimenting with prototypes of the Machine. In one flashback, the fledgling A.I. tricks Nathan into providing it with his admin password, which it used to access Nathan's nearby laptop to try and escape into the real world. When Finch realized what was happening, he tried to erase the AI's program - but [[OhCrap the A.I. overrode his deletion command]]. His next response was to simply pull the computer's plug out of the wall.

* If a [[Platform/NintendoGameCube GameCube]], Platform/{{Wii}} or Platform/WiiU game [[GameBreakingBug freezes up]] [[HellIsThatNoise with a loud noise]], you'll have to unplug it because no buttons will work once that happens; not even the reset button.
* Used in ''VideoGame/TreasureOfTheRudra''. [[spoiler:You have to deactivate [[WaveMotionGun Sodom]]'s Power source for the Moonlight or you will be unable to fight it, since it will repel you every time you enter the chamber it is in.]]
* Used ''accidentally'' by Roger Wilco in the second ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' game. After being shrunk to a height of an inch by BigBad Vohaul, he climbs into a nearby air duct and pushes a big red button marked "Stop". He then discovers that he just stopped Vohaul's life support system, killing the guy.

* ''VideoGame/FarCry3BloodDragon'' gives us "Punch the nuclear reactor!"
* In any game following a CommandAndConquerEconomy where power is a resource, targeting enemy power plants to cause a blackout in the enemy base is a valid tactic. But odds are the other player knows it too and protected his power plants.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In Episode 6 of ''WebVideo/DontHugMeImScared'', Red Guy unplugs the machine that controls the teachers. [[spoiler:It apparently causes the world to reset.]]

* Right before Sonia's badass-looking giant robot can smash the main characters in the second season of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', it suddenly freezes. Cut to a puzzled Hinagiku standing next to an oversized outlet holding an equally oversized plug. (See the current page image.) Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Yukiji has been taken over by evil spirits, who can power the robot with just their evil spirit-ness.]]

* Used in the ''ComicBook/RichieRich'' story, ''The Great Weather Mystery''. When Richie's weather computer tries to take over the world by controlling the weather instead of simply reporting it, Richie finally realises he can defeat the computer with two fingers... to pull out the computer's power plug.

* ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace''. When a TinCanRobot tries to arrest them, [[Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainProton Captain Proton]] and Buster Kincaid keep it busy while [=TuMok=] sneaks up behind it and yanks out its power cord.
-->"DAMAGE! DAMAGE! REQUIRE MAINTENANCE! [[Film/{{Aliens}} HOW CAN YOU CUT THE POWER? YOU'RE ANIMALS!]] HELP! HELP! [[ElectronicSpeechImpediment HELLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPP...]]"

-->"Are you sure you've tried everything?"
-->"Yes, Captain. I have reversed the polarity of the neutron flow, boosted the power to the containment fields, depolarized the coupling on the negative access, crossed the streams causing total protonic reversal, carried out a Level One diagnostic, reinitialized the dilithium matrix, conducted an inverse tachyon sweep with the forward deflector array__"
-->"Have you tried [[BoringButPractical yanking out that power cord by your foot?]]"

* ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' uses this as a subversion of the classic bomb plot. The bomb expert that arrives to stop the atomic device does so by merely hitting a switch. (You'd better believe that it stopped at [[Film/JamesBond 0:07]].) The counter was originally going to stop at 0:03 -- Connery has a line of dialogue to that effect immediately after the shutdown -- but for obvious reasons, they changed it in the edit.

* In one of the later ''Literature/{{Ender|sGame}}'' books, a MD Device[[note]]planet-buster[[/note]] is on countdown to destroy a ship. The technician flips a switch and turns the Device off. When it's pointed out that disarming it was considerably simpler than originally arming it, he responds along the lines of "It's designed that way ''for a reason''."

* In Creator/KimNewman's {{Deconstruction}} of sci-fi tropes, ''Literature/TomorrowTown'', the villain's attempt to cobble together a DoomsdayDevice by setting the heating system to overload is thwarted by the supercomputer advising that for safety reasons, Circuit Breaker 15 should be pulled. Once done, the hero points out that despite what the villain appears to think, in the future (which the titular community is attempting to predict) it's unlikely that communities and public offices will come equipped with self-destruct mechanisms or {{Doomsday Device}}s just in case an incumbent doesn't feel like giving up power once their term of office is up.
** Earlier an accomplice tries to murder the hero and his associate while they're asleep. He starts by cutting the power to their room, but not only does this wake his targets up [[ItsQuietTooQuiet when all the humming gadgets in their futuristic room go dead]], he then has to crank the door open manually, [[DidNotThinkThisThrough giving those inside plenty of time to prepare for his attack]].

* ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing: Rogue Squadron]]'' uses this when the Rogues and some Y-Wings get jumped by a ''Lancer''-class frigate, an Imperial capital ship [[CripplingOverspecialization designed solely to kill starfighters.]] Corran Horn volunteers to deal with it by having the Y-Wings, which are too cumbersome to get within torpedo range of the frigate without getting mauled, instead lock onto his X-Wing's signal, so he can lead the torpedoes into the frigate while he dodges its defensive fire with the help of some randomized inputs to his ship's controls, courtesy of his R2 unit. The plan works, except one Y-Wing pilot fires his torps a little too late, so they avoid the ''Lancer'' and keep following the X-Wing. Corran desperately tries a HighSpeedMissileDodge but is still fighting those randomized controls, yells at his astromech to "Cut it out!" ...and his R2 unit promptly shuts off the signal the torpedoes were locked onto, causing them to harmlessly self-destruct.

* In ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'', a dirty bomb is counting down. Castle and Beckett are the only ones on-scene and neither of them know how to [[WireDilemma defuse a bomb]]. The music swells dramatically as the timer counts down until Castle [[CuttingTheKnot rips all the wires out at once]], separating the bomb from the power source.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion "School Reunion"]], [[spoiler:Mickey pulls the plug on the Evil Computer Cluster of Doom]]. He looks around first, clearly expecting the solution to be a bit more dramatic, then does it anyway. Because sixty-odd computers are plugged into a single socket, it unexpectedly sparks back at him.
* Gibbs in ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': A hacker is determined to hack the NCIS computers and [=McGee=] and Abby are just as determined to stop him. They are typing on the same keyboard once, and just as it seems as the hacker is going to win, the screens go black. They think that they managed to do it but when they all look to Gibbs, they see him holding the plug with a "duh" look on his face.
** This could be a great example of "even when they get it right, they get it wrong." If the hacker's attacking the NCIS ''mainframe'', and Gibbs just unplugged a ''terminal''... In any case, Gibbs has the right idea, in that the best way to stop an intrusion into a system is to get the system off the network (by either pulling the cord or the ethernet cable). Indeed, many governments actually isolate computers with sensitive information from the internet ''for this exact reason''.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Mother}} EarthBound Series]]''

--> *safe opens*
--> '''Player character:''' Uh-huh, yeah... right.

* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'': One of [[VideoGame/Splatoon1 the first game's]] Sunken Scrolls explains how the Octarians used several powerful war machines known as the Great Octoweapons during the Great Turf War. These weapons seemed to almost guarantee the Octarians' victory over the Inklings... until the plug was pulled from its socket, rendering the Octoweapons inoperable.
* Parodied in ''VideoGame/Disgaea3''. After facing down the trauma inside Mao's heart (a rematch with the Chapter 1 boss, [[ItMakesSenseInContext the gigantic hand and digits of Mao's father]]), the boss suddenly ''revives itself'', leading the party into a panic. Almaz, however, notices that the trauma is plugged into a large socket, and pulls the plug. Subverted a few minutes later when we learn of the outright damaging effect unplugging the trauma had on Mao.

* ''Webcomic/BiggerThanCheeses'': [[http://www.biggercheese.com/index.php?comic=332 Oh crap! HACKERS!]]
* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': The entire 4U city arc leads up to the big confrontation between Riff and the enigmatic dictator of the eponymous dystopia, known as His Masterness. When it's revealed that [[spoiler: His Masterness is actually well intentioned, and any actually bad things attributed to him were actually done by a rogue AI]], Riff instantly solves all problems by pulling the computer's plug, rebooting it only for a short time to ward off a mutant invasion before pulling the plug again.
* In ''Webcomic/RealLifeComics'' after [=PAL=] tries to take over the household, and everyone is a bit concerned that he might try to kill them all, Dave concocts a zany plan and asks that Tony help him enact it. Tony, ever the pragmatist, just shuts off the breaker box, because while all of ''Tony's'' inventions are MadScience, ''[[GadgeteerGenius Dave's]]'' are all a little more down to Earth.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In the ''Series/FlandersCompany'' episode "Unlimited", resident MadScientist Caleb screws up while working on a machine, which subsequently makes everybody in the building suffer PowerIncontinence. Hippolyte attempts to use his pain-powered HandBlast to destroy the machine, but it is protected by SomeKindOfForceField. Comes CuteBruiser Cindy, whom they ask to try too, in the hope the forcefield would be weak to brute force (her power being SuperStrength). Instead, Cindy just unplugs it.
* On ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'', a [[https://notalwaysright.com/only-generating-contempt/ late-night client calls the IT company in a frothing rage]] that all their business's computers and phones suddenly stopped working! The tech asks how many people are in the business to be affected by the outage. "Just me, two security guards, and some guys replacing the generators." They needed it pointed out to them that the electrical work would cause a network outage.

** An episode that parodies ''Series/TwentyFour'' uses an amusing version. The bomb inside Hillary Clinton (don't ask) is set to explode once the 24 clock hits 1:00. Just before it reaches then, the power goes out, leaving the timer flashing 12:00.
** Also in the Season 12 episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS12E6OverLogging Over Logging]]", when Kyle restores the broken-down Internet by un- and replugging the giant modem that apparently ''is'' the Internet. Of course, after [[AdultsAreUseless Adults]] try to communicate with bullhorns, bullets and music.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries'' features an evil Time Traveler assassinating founding MIB agents, resulting in a RubberBandHistory where the eponymous agency uses "unreliable" human technology. Agent J stops the antagonist from finding the location of his last victim by pulling the plug on the PC being used as a database.
* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'':
** Parodied in one episode of [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 the 1987 cartoon]]: an alien "toy" threatens the existence of Earth and as it powers up, things look hopeless for our heroes... then it stops. As it turns out, April knew that "every toy has batteries", showing a massive cylindrical battery to the turtles.
** Another time, she stops a generator from overloading by pulling the power plug. She stops a GENERATOR by UNPLUGGING it.
** In [[RuleOfThree yet another example]], one episode saw an [[AIIsACrapshoot evil supercomputer]] draining electricity from the entire city to both bring machinery to life and open a portal to Dimension X for Shredder. The Turtles are at a loss to stop it, until it abruptly turns off. As [[VillainExitStageLeft Shredder hightails it out of the building]], April emerges from her hiding place and remarks that she defeated the AI by unplugging it. It's promptly lampshaded by Raphael who calls the plan "simple, but effective."
** Played straight in [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 the 2003 cartoon]] when Serling stops a toy robot from killing the Turtles by removing its batteries.
** Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'', where cutting the juice [[spoiler:almost results in the multiverse getting wiped out]].
* ''WesternAnimation/MonaTheVampire'': One episode has the trio facing off against a malfunctioning robot that proves to be immune to all their attacks. It's eventually defeated by Mona simply yanking the batteries out, rendering it inoperable.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': The episode "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE46AlmostGotIm Almost Got 'Im]]" has Harley Quinn sending Catwoman down a ConveyorBeltODoom. When Batman turns up, Harley claims that [[FriendOrIdolDecision he doesn't have enough time to beat her and save Catwoman]]. Cue the camera panning out slightly to show Batman standing right next to the master switch, which he promptly flips.
-->'''Harley Quinn:''' [[OhCrap Heh heh.]] Good call. Help!

* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "[[Recap/InvaderZimS1E30Megadoomer Megadoomer]]" when The Tallest accidentally send Zim a Megadoomer X-3 Combat Stealth Mech. The giant mech was incredible, but it came without batteries and had to be plugged into an outlet at all times in order to function. As a result, it loses power mid-rampage when the extension cord gets yanked out of the socket. Afterwards, Zim has GIR plug it into a new outlet each time it powers down.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': In "[[Recap/AmericanDadS16E4RabbitEars Rabbit Ears]]", as Stan and Tuttle escape from the supernatural TV show they've been trapped in, they're pursued by the demonic entity that runs it, which begins to force itself through the television screen... until the TV suddenly shuts off, and Tuttle reveals that he pulled the plug ("Look what I got!").
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': After our heroes defeat the Brain, he deploys a sinister array from his chassis as if he's going to activate a SelfDestructMechanism or DeathRay. Everyone raises their weapons or ducks for cover...and all the lights go out. When they come back on, [[StealthHiBye the Brain has vanished]].

* ''Anime/DevilSurvivor2TheAnimation'': When the JP's headquarters come under a hacking attack, the group suggests they just cut the power. Unfortunately they can't do that since if they did it would also kill the barriers protecting them as well leaving them horribly exposed to attack.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie2'', while on a mission to stop the purple eagle Zeta from destroying Bird Island and Piggy Island [[spoiler:with an ice cannon, Red tries to disable it at her base by cutting off what appeared to be its power cord, but ''[[EpicFail was actually the power cord for a microwave in the base's breakroom]]''. And sure enough, that arouses enough suspicion from the eagle guards, including a big one named Hank who shows up and catches Red and Silver. Ouch.]]

* The novel version of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. Bowman contemplates cutting HAL's powersupply, but since HAL also controls the ship's life support, Bowman realizes that he can't simply cut off the power. In addition to the fact that HAL is powered by a nuclear reactor.

* The backstory to ''Film/TheMatrix'' trilogy. The machines were solar powered, so the humans took the logical (if horrible) step of blackening the sky. The machines retaliated by switching to a much [[HumanResources nastier]] power source.

* Del's execution in ''Film/TheGreenMile'' (book and film) goes horribly wrong when Percy Wetmore deliberately fails to soak a sponge in brine before putting it inside the electrode cap. As a result, Del catches fire in the electric chair and suffers a drawn-out, agonizing death. Paul Edgecombe orders his men ''not'' to shut off the current, as it would be even more cruel to have to do the execution all over again.

* In the James P. Hogan novel ''The Two Faces of Tomorrow'', an A.I. is constructed (on an isolated space station) in order to test whether or not it can learn to defend itself from attempts to Cut the Juice if it goes [[AIIsACrapshoot out of control]]. [[spoiler:The A.I. learns to defend itself all too well. Eventually, it also learns to peacefully coexist with humans despite their initial attempts to destroy it, so things work out in the end.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]

* The EvilOverlordListCellblockA recommends hooking up capacitors and emergency batteries so those pesky heroes can't win at the very last second.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E11ArcadeMania Arcade Mania]]", Steven tries to stop Garnet from playing the arcade machine by unplugging it, but she just uses her powers to turn it back on.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail Marge vs. the Monorail]]", two guys discuss the speeding out of control monorail:
-->'''Guy 1:''' I got it! We can just shut off the power!\\
'''Guy 2:''' No such luck. It's solar powered.\\
'''Guy 1:''' [[SpoofAesop Solar power. When will people learn!?]]

* Not so much ''dramatically'' ignored, but comedically subverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}''. Realizing that Plankton's computer-wife is loading the Krabby Patty formula, Spongebob dives for an outlet to unplug her. [[NegatedMomentOfAwesome He ends up unplugging the coffee maker instead]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', a viral worm has infected the ISIS computers and threatens to upload the entire list of covert ISIS agents to a villain's hard drive. The ISIS tech team can't access the mainframe directly because it is sealed inside a magnetically-locked room. Instead, they try to stop the upload by cutting power to their mainframe, but this fails to work, and Doctor Krieger then realizes that the worm has made the ISIS mainframe become ''self-aware!'' [[spoiler: No, he's just fucking around, it's just got a backup battery in the same room as the mainframe.]]
* In one ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' story, a team of scientists invent an artificially intelligent computer, and it instantly turns evil. In a panic, the scientists immediately pull the plug on it and the situation seems resolved. Unfortunately, the robot then ''turns itself back on'', saying it has all the power it needs to operate, which means this is now a job for the superheroes to deal with.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' episode "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E3AttackOfTheMousers Attack of the Mousers]]", April explains to the turtles that she wasn't able to shut down Dr. Stockman mouser-robots -- the only way she could stop them was by [[OhCrap activating an overload sequence]]. Thankfully, April and the turtles are able to escape before the mousers explode and subsequently destroy the Stocktronics Labs.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'': In "[[Recap/MonstersAtWorkS1E6TheVendingMachine The Vending Machine]]", everyone at MIFT gets Fritz a brand-new vending machine after their old one, Vendy, accidentally gets broken by Tylor. However, when Duncan tries to repair it when it breaks, he removes some important doohickeys from it, which causes it to go rogue. Duncan tries to shut it down by pulling the plug, but it activates its backup battery power and continues to attack him.

* The ''Film/MysteriousDoctorSatan'' has put a remote-controlled ExplosiveLeash on a KidnappedScientist, so the hero convinces the chief of police to do a citywide power blackout for thirty seconds, in order to knock out the power to the control panel Doctor Satan is using. It's just enough time for him to remove the bomb and throw it away before the power comes back on.