History Main / WireDilemma

* In the UsefulNotes/{{Intellivision}} game ''Bomb Squad'', you have to cut out or replace the parts of each bomb in a certain order. If you replace a part incorrectly, the MagicCountdown speeds up until you remove it. If you cut a part out of order, you only have a few seconds to resolder it before that bomb explodes. Short circuits also occasionally occur, requiring you to use the fire extinguisher to prevent an explosion.

* ''VideoGame/SuzukiBakuhatsu'' for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation is an obscure PuzzleGame about BombDisposal. The typical red wire/blue wire situation comes up in the final puzzle (except the Ice Coffee and Gunder Mecha stage. The former is both wires are purple and you can cut a wire you want, while the latter is an UnexpectedGameplayChange where you have to win the mecha battle through RockPaperScissors). If you don't pay attention to any hints, visually and audibly, this trope will take place.

* In ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'', a bomb is placed under the Liberty Bell. The bomber had earlier given a DyingClue of "red, white, and blue" to Steve. When Steve lifts the Bell for a bomb tech to disarm the bomb, there are ''four'' wires -- red, white, blue, and green. Steve figures out that the bomber ''wanted'' the Bell to be destroyed, so he tells the tech to cut the green wire -- which disarms it.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': Mostly averted in episode "Countdown"; when faced with a bomb about to go off, with the expert a couple blocks away (New York traffic, seconds to go) and unable to make out the cell phone photo they sent him, Castle and Beckett hold hands, give each other sad looks, and then [[spoiler: Castle grabs a whole handful of wires as the timer counts down to the last second and yanks. Later he says "One of them had to be the right one."]]

* Subverted in ''Film/TheFifthElement''. When Ruby Rhod discovers a ticking bomb aboard the Phloston Paradise cruise ship, Ruby asks Korben Dallas if he knows how to defuse a bomb. Korben stares in shock a bit, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere before cutting to them fleeing the ship]].

* In ''Film/LethalWeapon3'', Riggs insists on trying to defuse a bomb rather than waiting for the bomb squad to arrive. After joking around with Murtaugh about what color wire to cut, he finally cuts one that accelerates the timer on the bomb... which leads to the classic one-liner, "Grab the cat."
** This gets a CallBack at the end of the film. Riggs and Murtaugh drive up to a scene where a bomb has been reported and are trying to recall what color wire they cut the last time, when the building explodes before they can get out of the car.

* An interesting form of this shows up in ''Literature/SurvivorsQuest''. Luke and Mara have been trapped in a turbolift and are told that they can't slice their way out with lightsabers, because the power and control cables for both repulsor beams have been wrapped randomly around the turbolift car. Currently it's suspended midway between two Dreadnaughts, but if one is cut the forces will become unbalanced, and the surviving repulsor beam will quickly smash them into a Dreadnaught. They and the people caught in other turbolift cars are supposed to be kept there until their captors disarm the traps and let them out. Luke and Mara get out of this by carefully moving their lightsabers so that they don't quite nick the cables and using their danger sense to discover which wire will shove them up and which one will shove them down. Then they stand [[BackToBackBadasses back to back]], mindmeld, strike simultaneously, and sever both at once, cutting both repulsor beams. After that they start falling, but the safeguards in the car can handle normal falling speeds. Four [[BadassCrew 501st stormtroopers]] and an officer stuck in the same trap in a different car solve this by using their sensors to figure out what wire does what and rigging something using the control cables, so that some power from one beam is redirected to the other, letting them move.

* Given an interesting twist in the ''Series/{{Profiler}}'' episode "Unsoiled Sovereignty", where the villain has planted explosives at a site, all of them accessible only by the outside of the building. ATF agent Coop defuses the first, but it is affixed to the ''inside'' wall of the building, so he has to work THROUGH a small window without being able to see what he's doing. VCTF agent John Grant, who always wanted to be on the bomb squad, panics at trying to defuse the second, mounted on a strut of the building, and it is only after Coop ignores his own bomb to talk John through his that John figures out how to disarm it. Of course, both bombs are disarmed.

** "[[Recap/StargateSG1S4E14TheSerpentsVenom The Serpent's Venom]]" features an interesting variation, with a space mine with an access panel designed like a combination lock. The scene goes all out with this trope, including a "No, Wait!", uncertainty over the correct code, ''and'' a wrong wire scenario resulting from the fact Carter and Daniel are having to translate the manual on the fly using the language's distant descent from Phoenician [[spoiler:which doesn't have the number zero]].

* ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest II'' plays this straight, but one-ups it by that wires (and there are many of them) not only have to be cut in the right order, but some must also be reconnected in the middle of the run. Luckily, it's not as bad as it seems, because a perceptive player will have picked up the instructions earlier in the game. The written instructions come from the dead terrorist who built the bomb and actually describe how to arm the bomb. You have to reverse the procedure to disarm it.

* ''VideoGame/SuzukiBakuhatsu'' for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation is an [[WidgetSeries obscure]] PuzzleGame about BombDisposal. The typical red wire/blue wire situation comes up in the final puzzle (except the Ice Coffee and Gunder Mecha stage. The former is both wires are purple and you can cut a wire you want, while the latter is an UnexpectedGameplayChange where you have to win the mecha battle through RockPaperScissors). If you don't pay attention to any hints, visually and audibly, this trope will take place.

* ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'': Parodied in ''ComicBook/Hawkeye2012'' #6. The issue starts with Clint standing over a bunch of wires, thinking carefully, and finally cutting the green wire... and then it turns out they're the wires to all the electronics in his apartment, which have gotten hopelessly tangled.

* Parodied in a ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' strip, where after trying hopelessly to figure out which wire to cut (the colorblind character problem), someone asks for a physical description of the bomb, and it turns out it's powered by a simple battery pack, which is pulled out. The GM was steamed he didn't realize it would be that simple.
* Subversion: In ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'' #61, Catwoman fights Film Freak, a madman who sees everything in terms of [[{{Film}} film tropes]]. After defeating him, she has to defuse an atomic bomb, and faces a classic "red wire blue wire" situation. She cuts a wire at random -- cutting ''any wire'' will shut the bomb down.

* ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'' has the titular hero completely stumped as to how to disarm a Thanagarian bomb. Luckily, resident Thanagarian Hawkman walks in at the last second and figures out where the off switch is.
* Played with in the ComicBook/SpiderMan [[ComicBook/TheCloneSaga Clone Saga]] story "Maximum Clonage", the Scarlet Spider's able to easily defuse a bomb's chemical payload the Jackal had set up to wipe out New York through his Spider-Sense, but he's forced to haul it out to the Hudson Bay when he can't disarm the actual explosive.
* In the ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'', after the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational gets together, they have to face an underground faction of mad anarchists who want to bomb the United Nations. One of the bombs is disarmed in this fashion, when Godiva sends her PrehensileHair into the bomb (because it would go off if the casing were removed) and uses it to blindly pull out one of the wires. Which turns out to be the right one.
* In a ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' comic, ComicBook/BlackWidow talks DD through disarming a bomb. He follows most of her instructions without any difficulty, but when she tells him to cut the red wire, he points out [[DisabilitySuperpower he has no idea which one that is]].
* A variation in ''ComicBook/SupermanAndSpiderMan'', where Superman and Spider-Man work together to stop Characters/DoctorDoom's super-reactor from going critical and threatening to destroy the world. While Superman tries to contain the reactor elements from within, Spider-Man has to shut off the reactor, but if he throws the wrong switch it will only accelerate the meltdown. When he touches one switch it triggers his Spider-sense, making him realize he needs to trigger the other switch.

* ''ComicBook/WeAreRobin'': Issue #3 has the Robins working on two identical bombs, with Shug-R, the VoiceWithAnInternetConnection, trying to give them instructions. After one bomb is successfully disarmed, Shug-R gets called away from her computer and The Nest, their ''other'' Voice with an Internet Connection, tells them to clear out. Troy stays behind on the basis that he knows how to do it now. [[spoiler: It turns out that bomb was wired differently and when he cuts the red wire he's caught in the explosion.]]
* In ''ComicBook/GrimmFairyTales: Genesis'', ComicBook/RobynHood has to defuse a bomb in Times Square in New York on New Year's Eve. She snarkily comments on how movies never get it right right, and how it is never just one wire, as she rips out all of the wires on the bomb.

* A variation in ''ComicBook/SupermanAndSpiderMan'', where Superman and Spider-Man work together to stop Character/DoctorDoom's super-reactor from going critical and threatening to destroy the world. While Superman tries to contain the reactor elements from within, Spider-Man has to shut off the reactor, but if he throws the wrong switch it will only accelerate the meltdown. When he touches one switch it triggers his Spider-sense, making him realize he needs to trigger the other switch.

* A variation in the second ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}/ComicBook/SpiderMan'' {{Crossover}}, where Superman and Spider-Man work together to stop Character/DoctorDoom's super-reactor from going critical and threatening to destroy the world. While Superman tries to contain the reactor elements from within, Spider-Man has to shut off the reactor, but if he throws the wrong switch it will only accelerate the meltdown. When he touches one switch it triggers his Spider-sense, making him realize he needs to trigger the other switch.
* Parodied in the Matt Fraction ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'' run. One issue starts with Hawkeye standing over a bunch of wires, thinking carefully, and finally cutting the green wire... and then it turns out they're the wires to all the electronics in his apartment, which have gotten hopelessly tangled.
* ''We Are ComicBook/{{Robin}}'' #3 has the Robins working on two identical bombs, with Shug-R, the VoiceWithAnInternetConnection, trying to give them instructions. After one bomb is successfully disarmed, Shug-R gets called away from her computer and The Nest, their ''other'' Voice with an Internet Connection, tells them to clear out. Troy stays behind on the basis that he knows how to do it now. [[spoiler: It turns out that bomb was wired differently and when he cuts the red wire he's caught in the explosion.]]

* ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'': In Season 4's "Blown Apart", Max Kale, a mad bomber Walker put away, escaped from prison and is seeking revenge against the people who put him away by bombing them to death. He already killed the judge, and Trivette was nearly killed, having suffered numerous shrapnel wounds from his butt to his back, and before killing Walker, next on his list were the witnesses (including his ex-wife, Angela) and the prosecuting attorney, Alex. He subjects Alex to this at her apartment after he kills a Ranger protecting her; the bomb activates two minutes after Walker enters through her front door and if Walker touches it, it'll go off immediately. There were three wires connecting the bomb-- one red, one blue and one yellow-- and cutting the wrong one would make it go off. Walker determines that the blue wire disables the bomb, just one second before it went off.

* ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'': In Season 4's "Blown Apart", Max Kale, a mad bomber Walker put away, escaped from prison and is seeking revenge against the people who put him away by bombing them to death. He already killed the judge, and Trivette was nearly killed, having suffered numerous shrapnel wounds from his butt to his back, and before killing Walker, next on his list were the witnesses (including his ex-wife, Angela) and the prosecuting attorney, Alex. He subjects Alex to this at her apartment after he kills a Ranger protecting her; the bomb activates two minutes after Walker enters through her front door and if Walker touches it, it'll go off quickly. There were three wires connecting the bomb-- one red, one blue and one yellow-- and cutting the wrong one would make it go off. Walker determines that the blue wire disables the bomb, just one second before it went off.

* ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'': In Season 4's "Blown Apart", Max Kale, a mad bomber Walker put away, escaped from prison and is seeking revenge against the people who put him away by bombing them to death. He subjects Alex to this at her apartment after he kills a Ranger protecting her; the bomb activates two minutes after Walker enters through her front door and if Walker touches it, it'll go off quickly. There were three wires connecting the bomb-- one red, one blue and one yellow-- and cutting the wrong one would make it go off. Walker determines that the blue wire disables the bomb, just one second before it went off.

* In ''Film/TheNakedGunTwoAndAHalf'', Drebin has to disarm a nuclear bomb at one point in the film. [[spoiler: He can't figure out what wire to cut, but saves the day by accidentally unplugging the bomb, shutting it down.]]

* ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' has one "operation" where Dr. Stiles is following very precise instructions to defuse a bomb. In the DS version, it's a fairly standard bomb -- but it becomes ''ridiculously'' elaborate in ''Second Opinion''.

* This is a standard microgame in Wario Man's microgame set in ''VideoGame/WarioWare Touched!'', with the number of wires to cut going up per difficulty level. The color (red, blue or yellow) to be cut varies and you are always told which one to cut.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Wild Cards", the Joker plants a bunch of bombs all over Las Vegas. This being the Joker, the bombs all require a very specific sequence of wire cuts to disarm, which Batman learns and communicates to the rest of the team. The very last bomb is encountered by the Flash. Being the Flash, he can't remember what said sequence of wire cuts is. To make things worse, the Joker keeps messing with him while he tries to figure it out. So he just decides to use his SuperSpeed to [[TakeAThirdOption run the damn thing out into the desert]]. The bombs themselves turn out to be an InvokedTrope on part of the Joker, who is filming the whole thing for a TV show and [[TheCoconutEffect is playing with the public's perceptions on how time bombs function]] to increase suspense. Their confusing layout also helps cover up the fact that several of them are fake and won't detonate either way. Incidentally, the colors of the wires match the Justice League members involved: black (Batman), blue (Superman), red (Flash), green (Green Lantern) and yellow-and-black (Hawkgirl).

* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoe'' had an episode where COBRA planted several earthquake-causing bombs that could only be defused by cutting four colored wires in the right sequence. With the added problem that their bomb-defusal expert momentarily forgets the right sequence halfway though.

** It's also stated that the Syndic nukes are specifically designed to go off as soon as the timer is activated in order to prevent anyone from disarming the device after the soldier planting it leaves or decides to have a change of heart (the thinking being that if a target is valuable enough to be worth nuking, you want to make sure that it is). Naturally, the Syndic soldiers told to deliver the devices don't know this. [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis It is widely believed amongst Alliance bomb technicians that the same is true for Alliance nukes]].

** It's also stated that the Syndic nukes are specifically designed to go off as soon as the timer is activated in order to prevent anyone from disarming the device after the soldier planting it leaves or decides to have a change of heart (the thinking being that if a target is valuable enough to be worth nuking, you want to make sure that it is). Naturally, the Syndic soldiers told to deliver the devices don't know this. [[NotSoDifferent It is widely believed amongst Alliance bomb technicians that the same is true for Alliance nukes]].

** It's also stated that the nukes are specifically designed to go off as soon as the timer is activated in order to prevent anyone from disarming the device after the soldier planting it leaves or decides to have a change of heart. Naturally, the soldiers told to deliver the devices don't know this.

* In ''Film/TheAbyss'', Virgil must disable a warhead at the bottom of the Cayman Trough. He is told to cut the blue wire with a white stripe, ''not'' the black wire with a yellow stripe, but the yellow-green chemical light on his diving suit renders them indistinguishable. In reality, wires are in striped and unstriped pairs ''specifically'' so that they are distinguishable even under colored lighting.