"You know, I'd like to take this opportunity to say that this is a very poorly designed bomb, and I think we should say something to somebody about it when we get back."
— Colonel Jack O'Neill (on opening a bomb with all yellow wires), Stargate SG-1, "Fail Safe"
Disarm the bomb, dismantle it, that's what I'm gonna do,
If you cut the red then I'm gonna cut the blue,
Just three seconds left until it spells our doom,
Make a little oopsie, and we all go BOOM!
If you cut the red then I'm gonna cut the blue,
Just three seconds left until it spells our doom,
Make a little oopsie, and we all go BOOM!
— Ropponmatsu #2, Excel♡Saga
Tech-Priest: It should be simple, all you have to do is cut the red one.
Cain: They're both purple.
Cain: They're both purple.
— Ciaphas Cain, "Duty Calls"
"The blue wire! It's always the blue wire!"
— Fidget, Action Man (2000)
Joan Watson: But you didn't pick a wire, you just-
Sherlock Holmes: Despite the plots of the many movies you tell me are good which are in fact not good, bomb-makers don't build tests of electrical-engineering skill, they build devices that go bang.
Sherlock Holmes: Despite the plots of the many movies you tell me are good which are in fact not good, bomb-makers don't build tests of electrical-engineering skill, they build devices that go bang.
— Elementary, "A Difference In Kind"
"Red or green, red or green, which do I cut?!"
"Come on, they're only peppers! How long is this salad supposed to take?"
"Come on, they're only peppers! How long is this salad supposed to take?"
— Hugh Dennis, Mock the Week, "Unlikely Lines From A Thriller"
Tyler Durden: Oh, heavens, no. Not the green one, anything but the green one.
Protagonist: [cuts green wire]
Tyler Durden: I asked you not to do that!
Protagonist: [cuts green wire]
Tyler Durden: I asked you not to do that!
Ein: So how do I disarm zis sing?
Zwei: I told you, just clip the red wire. Or was it the blue one? [Beat] Ach, hold on while I go get the manual!
Ein: Never mind, they all look gray to me anyway.
[Beat]
[huge explosion]
Zwei: I told you, just clip the red wire. Or was it the blue one? [Beat] Ach, hold on while I go get the manual!
Ein: Never mind, they all look gray to me anyway.
[Beat]
[huge explosion]
— Two Nazis trying to disarm a bomb, Return to Castle Wolfenstein
"What do you mean 'cut the blue wire?' THEY'RE ALL BLUE WIRES!"
— Meg Griffin, Family Guy
Nishida: B-But, boss... Does doing this really tell you how the wiring works?
Majima: You for real!? How the fuck should I know how this tangly-ass rainbow shit works!? But we gotta handle it, so I'm here puttin' my instincts to work.
Nishida: Instincts!? This is all instinct?
Majima: What's that? Ya don't trust my instincts?
[...]
Majima: Eenie-meenie-miney-mo, oh-god-which-one-isn't-gonna-blow? [points at the still-uncut red wire] That one. Gimme red!
Nishida: Boss! This is a life-or-death decision here! Can you take it a little more seriously!?
Majima: Shut up, nitwit! I said gimme red! [takes the wire cutter from Nishida] Gimme that! [cuts the red wire, causing the bomb to explode ...in Kaoru's dream, anyway]
Majima: You for real!? How the fuck should I know how this tangly-ass rainbow shit works!? But we gotta handle it, so I'm here puttin' my instincts to work.
Nishida: Instincts!? This is all instinct?
Majima: What's that? Ya don't trust my instincts?
[...]
Majima: Eenie-meenie-miney-mo, oh-god-which-one-isn't-gonna-blow? [points at the still-uncut red wire] That one. Gimme red!
Nishida: Boss! This is a life-or-death decision here! Can you take it a little more seriously!?
Majima: Shut up, nitwit! I said gimme red! [takes the wire cutter from Nishida] Gimme that! [cuts the red wire, causing the bomb to explode ...in Kaoru's dream, anyway]
— Yakuza 2
"NOT THE BLUE ONE! YOU'LL BLOW US ALL TO SMITHEREENS! Seriously, you were right. Cut the black one — I mean the red one! No, blue! That's it: black-and-yellow-striped-one— NO, WAIT! Green..."
"On a well-made bomb, you can forget about cutting wires. Any decent bomb maker will make sure the important wires are impossible to reach. Freeze the detonator, though, and you can usually remove it safely. Of course, 'usually' is not a word you want to hear when you're working with explosives."
— Michael Westen narrating an aversion, Burn Notice
"I can't see any green wire!"
— Megsie Green, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
"On TV, they just have to choose the red wire or the blue wire... But all these wires are black!"
— Anya Forger, Spy X Family
