5ive Days to Midnight is a five-part Mini Series which ran on the Sci-Fi Channel in June 2004. It stars Timothy Hutton as J.T. Neumeyer, a physicist who discovers a briefcase containing postdated documents and evidence which indicate he will die five days in the future. The supporting cast includes Gage Golightly, Randy Quaid, Kari Matchett, Angus Mac Fadyen, Hamish Linklater and David McIlwraith.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Gun: Lots of them, but the gun JT hid behind a radiator is an aversion, since he got Out-Gambitted by Sikorski, who removed it in advance. Fortunately the unfired cartridge from the crime scene fifty years ago that had been put in the suitcase is still able to fire.
- Child Prodigy: Jessie Neumeyer is shown to be a promising physicist in her own right, eventually turning out to be the one who sent the briefcase back in time.
- Corrupt Cop: Detective Irwin Sikorski, presented as JT's ally against Roy Bremmer for the first four episodes, attempts to kill him and Claudia as part of a plan to scam money and property from Bremmer's estate.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the first episode during Jessie's birthday party, she receives a PlayStation 2 and an accompanying video game. It's hard to make out in real-time, but when pausing in the right place
◊ you'll see she received a copy of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. - Go Mad from the Revelation: Carl Axelrod is certain that the universe demands JT's death. It puts him over the edge.
- I Have Your Wife: Sikorski tells Claudia to sign over 5 million worth of real estate to him, on the threat of shooting JT, who points out he'll have to shoot them anyway. Sikorski however points out that Jessie is locked up in a separate room and doesn't know about him, but there's nothing to stop him from killing her as well if they don't cooperate.
- Imported Future Phlebotinum: The "super-metal" case, which Brad wants to reverse-engineer to claim credit for inventing. JT objecting to this is what makes Brad a suspect.
- Letters 2 Numbers: "Five" becomes "5ive."
- Papa Wolf: JT gets a little aggressive when his daughter is in danger.
- Psycho Ex-Boyfriend: Claudia's ex-husband Roy Bremmer, a notorious gangster and the prime suspect for JT's murder.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Jessie Neumeyer's goal in sending back the briefcase was to save her father.
- Screw Destiny: JT decides to do this, first by saving someone else who was reported to die in an accident a few days before he did, and then by continuing to try to prevent his own death eventually succeeding.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Most of the series seems to be setting up a Stable Time Loop, as three of the four suspects didn't have motives to kill JT until after he found the briefcase. Nor did the actual killer. Carl in particular becomes a suspect because he fears that JT surviving will create some kind of Reality-Breaking Paradox. However, when Detective Sikorski is killed and JT is saved, an Alternate Universe is created and the evidence becomes a Ripple Effect Indicator, with the police file changing to reflect Bremmer and Sikorski's deaths, disproving Carl's fears.
- Whodunnit to Me?: JT tries to solve his murder before it happens.
- Write Back to the Future: Inverted. The briefcase is sent from the future as a warning to help JT prevent his murder.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Carl is convinced of this regarding JT, and he seems to be proven right when Mandy Murphy dies in another accident the day after JT saved her from a falling tree. This is why Carl almost tries to kill JT himself after Sikorski is stopped, but seeing the changed police file convinces him otherwise.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Sikorski says this to JT, but is Instantly Proven Wrong when JT pulls the trigger...on an empty gun which Sikorski handed to him. Sikorski has also retrieved the gun that JT stashed away in the radiator. However when Carl ramraids the building, JT has a chance to load the unfired bullet from the crime scene evidence in the suitcase. Sikorski mocks the idea that it will fire after fifty years, but it does, after a couple of pulls of the trigger.
