History Main / WireDilemma

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' in an episode where Timmy wishes to always be right. In the end where he wishes to be wrong, Cosmo's idea to test it out is to take Timmy to a bomb squad mission and tell him to pick a wire, the idea being that if the bomb explodes, the wish worked.

* Played for comedy in ''[[Film/TheHangoverPart The Hangover Part III]]''. Mr Chow and Stu have to simultaneously cut the wires on an alarm system to disable it. However, it turns out that Mr Chow is colour blind and has no reference for which wire he should cut.

* Happens twice on ''{{Primeval}}''. In the first example, Connor tells Cutter to [[GenreSavvy cut the red wire]], but all of the wires are red. In the second example, [[MissionControl Jess]] is trying to disarm a bomb under Becker's direction, but the two wires- only one of which she can cut without killing both of them- are both red.
* In the ''MyNameIsEarl'' episode "My Name Is Alias", Earl and Randy are handcuffed to a briefcase bomb. Randy figures out that all they have to do is open it up and cut the blue wire, since that's what always happens in TV. So they open it up, only to find that it's ALL blue wires.

* ''Anime/LupinIIIIslandOfAssasins'': Everyone's survival comes down to red wire vs. blue wire. Goemon walks up while the rest of the group is paralyzed by the decision, draws his sword and cuts the red wire ("the color of pickled plums" being his justification). It works.

* ''Manga/LupinIII'', movie ''In Memory of the Walther P38'': Everyone's survival comes down to red wire vs. blue wire. Goemon walks up while the rest of the group is paralyzed by the decision, draws his sword and cuts the red wire ("the color of pickled plums" being his justification). It works.

* ''HumanTarget'': Winston is on the phone to Guerrero, asking him which wire to cut. Guerrero flips a coin, which does not improve Winston's temper. On being told what the correct wire was, Guerrero nonchalantly says, "Huh... good to know..." and then hangs up.

* ''TroubleInTerroristTown'' features the elusive C4. However, the greed of the traitors usually leads them to setting it at the minimum of 45 seconds, which means 5 out of 6 wires will disarm the bomb.

* Parodied in ''{{Garfield}}'', of all places:

* ''Series/BurnNotice'' explains that it's not about cutting wires in the real world, because any bomb maker worth his salt will make sure you can't get to any of the important wires. Instead Sam and Fiona use liquid nitrogen to freeze the bomb and remove it from several barrels of fertilizer that way. It does go off several seconds later after they throw it behind a pallet rack full of water bottles, though.

* Subverted in ''[[{{MASH}} M* A* S* H]]'''s season one episode, "The Army-Navy Game". Of course, nobody in their right mind would even ''consider'' writing a manual this way. Then the bomb blows up, revealing it to be a propaganda bomb... ''from their side''. The manual may have been intentionally written that way to increase the chances that the propaganda would be spread even if the bomb failed.

* Played for comedy in ''TheHangoverPartIII''. Mr Chow and Stu have to simultaneously cut the wires on an alarm system to disable it. However, it turns out that Mr Chow is colour blind and has no reference for which wire he should cut.

In fiction-land, disarming just about any bomb is a matter of cutting the right wires in the right order - usually each wire will be given a distinctive color, and an assistant will read from a manual: "Clip the red wire, then the blue wire, then the yellow wire..." The implication is generally that if the wrong wire is cut, the bomb will explode instantly, killing the person disarming it. Combines RaceAgainstTheClock with the need to make absolutely sure you're making the right decision for dramatic tension. Of course it's never as easy as just following the manual - generally some kind of subversion is used to heighten tension.

* In the 1994 ''TheShadow'' film, Dr. Lane, faced with a bomb he built while under MindControl, declares that "It's usually green," but then cuts the red wire (he'd [[ChekhovsGun previously been established as red-green colourblind]]). At the last second, Margo pulls the green wire before he does so.

* Avoided in the Austrian series ''KommissarRex''. One of the characters is agonizing over which wire to cut. He can't come up with anything, the timer runs out - and his colleague had pulled the detonator out of the explosives.

* Also seen in ''VForVendetta'', where Dascombe is trying to defuse V's bomb. Lampshaded by an appropriately nervous Finch.

** It has a variation after Iron Man/Tony Stark falls victim to an alien virus. In order to revive Tony, Maria Hill has to repair his arc reactor, and has to do so quickly enough so that his heart wouldn't stop. While guiding Maria, Tony passes out before he could point out the last wire to bypass. Maria decides to guess which of two wires she should bypass, and miraculously, Tony regains consciousness after she performs her guess.