History Main / Hotline

->'''Jim Hacker:''' Where is the hotline?\\

* ''CommandAndConquer: Red Alert 2'' President Dugan has five of them.

-->--''YesPrimeMinister''

* The TV series ''[[YesMinister Yes, Prime Minister]]'' poked fun at the prosaic realities of the hotline - the phone only goes to a Kremlin switchboard... and the operator doesn't speak English.
* In some buildings, such as college campuses, red telephones are meant to be a direct line to the security guards. Other universities set up stand-alone phones outdoors marked with blue lights.

'''Bernard Wooley:''' The [[IncrediblyLamePun Red hotline]], sir.

* The TomClancy novel ''TheSumOfAllFears'' (and TheFilmOfTheBook) shows the text-based Hot Line in action. It also shows how the operators tested the Hot Line back in the day: with poetry.

->'''Jim Hacker:'''Where is the hotline?\\

->'''Jim Hacker:''' And where is the hotline?\\

* {{Dilbert}}'s company built one once. It looked like an ordinary telephone. Dogbert used it to prank call Gorbechev.

* The TomClancy novel ''The Sum of All Fears'' (and TheFilmOfTheBook) shows the text-based Hot Line in action. It also shows how the operators tested the Hot Line back in the day: with poetry.

* The live-action {{Batman}} show had a hotline connecting Commissioner Gordon's office to Bruce Wayne's living room (Of course, Gordon didn't know where Batman's end of the line was located).

* Averted in ''ThirteenDays''. The Hot Line did not exist at the time (in fact it was created as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis), with messages going by coded telegram This resulted (as in the film), in the US spending 12 hours decrypting Khrushchev's offer to remove the missiles in return for the US not invading Cuba. While doing that, a second message arrived, being more threatening, demanding that the US remove missiles from Turkey in exchange for the USSR doing the same in Cuba. [=ExComm=] thought about it, accepted the first offer and accepted the second discreetly later.

!!Examples

* ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'' Season 6.

* Averted in ''Thirteen Days''. The Hot Line did not exist at the time (in fact it was created as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis), with messages going by coded telegram This resulted (as in the film), in the US spending 12 hours decrypting Khrushchev's offer to remove the missiles in return for the US not invading Cuba. While doing that, a second message arrived, being more threatening, demanding that the US remove missiles from Turkey in exchange for the USSR doing the same in Cuba. [=ExComm=] thought about it, accepted the first offer and accepted the second discreetly later.

* Seen in the new series of ''DoctorWho'', at 10 Downing Street.

* ''Dr. Strangelove'' (Not actually the Moscow-Washington line, but rather an ordinary phone. Which is even worse.)

* ''{{Portal}}''. Before entering [=GlaDOS=]'s chamber, you see a red phone. In the commentary, the devs explain that it was a hotline for scientists to use in case of an emergency with the AI. They point out that the connection cord is cut, hinting at just how effective it was.

!!Examples of bad use

!!Examples of better use

* The TV series ''[[YesMinister Yes, Prime Minister]]'' poked fun at the prosaic realities of the hotline - the phone only goes to a Kremlin switchboard... and the operator doesn't speak English.

* The TomClancy novel ''The Sum of All Fears'' (and TheFilmOfTheBook) shows the text-based Hot Line in action.
** It also shows how the operators tested the Hot Line back in the day. With poetry.

-->--''Yes, Prime Minister''

* In some buildings, such as college campuses, red telephones are meant to be a direct line to the security guards. Other universities set up stand-alone phones marked with blue lights.

* In some buildings, such as college campuses, red telephones are meant to be a direct line to the security guards.

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<<|ColdWar|>>

'''Bernard Wooley:''' The [[IncrediblyLamePun red-hot line]], sir.

'''Bernard Wooley:''' The [[IncrediblyLamePun red hotline]], sir.

'''Bernard Wooley:''' The Red hotline, sir.

* ''{{Portal}}''. Before entering [=GlaDOS=]'s chamber, you see a red phone. In the commentary, the devs explain that it was a hotline for scientists to use in case of an emergency with the AI. They never got to use it.