History Determinator / LiveActionTv

* ''Series/Sense8'': Sun Bak goes to prison to cover up her brother's embezzlement charges, only for him to murder their father who was about to reveal the truth. After escaping, Sun dedicates herself to hunting down her brother and making him pay. Joong-ki lampshades her focus during their final chase.
-->'''Joong-ki:''' Are you serious? My sister's the fucking [[Franchise/TheTerminator Terminator]]?!

** The Jaguar XJ6 which managed to get from Basel to Blackpool on a single tank of fuel. Did we mention that A) Basel is in ''Switzerland'', and B) Jeremy was ''[[FailureIsTheOnlyOption intentionally wasting fuel]] [[SpringtimeForHitler for most of the way]]''?

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E83DeadMansShoes Dead Man's Shoes]]", the dead gangster Dane will not let even death stop him from getting revenge on his treacherous partner Bernie Dagget, even if his shoes have to be worn by host after host after host.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E122Steel Steel]]", Steel Kelly never concedes that his boxing robot Battling Maxo should be retired, despite Maxo having been on the verge of breaking down for three years and robotics having continued to advance in that time. When Maxo does finally break down, he goes into the ring himself and gets beaten practically to a pulp trying to earn repair money.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E128UncleSimon Uncle Simon]]", Barbara Polk is so determined to get her hands on her uncle Simon's money that she sees to his every need for 25 years in spite of the fact that he berated her and insulted at every opportunity. [[spoiler:However, Simon has the last laugh since he stipulated in his will that she is to take care of all of his experiments, including a robot with the same personality as him.]]

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* Lieutenant (and later Colonel) Viktor Burakov of the Soviet Provincial Police, in ''Film/CitizenX''. The head of the FBI's Serial Crimes Task Force calls Burakov "the one man in the world [he] would not want after him, because he absolutely will not give up."
* Capheus Onyango in ''Series/{{Sense8}}'' is a bus driver in Nairobi, Kenya. Specifically, he drives people from a very impoverished area with a lot of gang violence, into the city center where they work. Nothing, whether it's bad traffic or gangs or local politics (which can apparently be very dangerous) is going to stop him from driving his bus. Hence he has earned the nickname "Van Damme", and has Jean-Claude painted on the side of his bus. It is eventually revealed that his determination to drive the bus actually stems from a determination to [[PureHeartedHero do the right thing in general]]: his bus is vital for people in his community to get jobs, because there is no public transportation in their area of the city and they are far too poor to have their own transportation. Although not very well educated, he is a very philosophical and spiritual person with an innate sense of justice. He also functions as a voice of morality in the sensate group, helping balance out the SociopathicHero tendencies that some of them have.

* Gibbs from ''Series/{{NCIS}}''. He ''will'' [[AlwaysGetsHisMan get his man]], no matter what. Shoot him? That'll heal. Hit him with a car? Ditto? Threaten his job? [[UltimateJobSecurity You can't]], and he doesn't care anyway. Blow him up? Been there, done that. Twice. Legal protection? [[CowboyCop screw that]]. the list goes on and on [[OverlyLongGag and on and...]]

* The eponymous ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}''. He's an IronWoobie and HurtingHero turned up to eleven who has been through hell and back barefoot, and he's still continuing on his mission to free the magical people with all the conviction he had from day one. If anything, having all the horrible stuff happen to him has made him even more determined.

* ''Franchise/{{Stargate|Vsrse}}'':

--->'''Khan''': He tasks me! He tasks me and I shall have him. I'll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares malestrom and round perdition's flames before I give him up!
** Actually, most of the main cast of Star Trek.
*** Kirk has, on multiple occassions, weathered MindRape from god level beings without breaking and recovered in time to save the day. In "Journey to Babel" he manages to basically ignore a near-lethal stab wound to return to the bridge and (indirectly) save Ambassador Sarek. That is probably the least impressive of his Determinator performances.
*** Spock, with his Vulcan will power, is naturally great at this. Unlike Kirk, he also has the mental powers to literally will his way through mental or physical assaults, whether it be resisting a Klingon Mind-sifter/ripper, self-healing a gunshot wound through a healing trance or going for weeks without rest to decipher an alien device which could save the day.
** Dr. [=McCoy=] doesn't get to show it often, but he definitely showed his Determinator status when he was the very first person in the 23rd century to deal with Khan when he came out of stasis, seizing [=McCoy=] and holding a scalpel to his throat.
-->'''[=McCoy=]:''' Well, [[GetItOverWith either choke me or cut my throat]]. [[FacingTheBulletsOneLiner Make up your mind.]]
-->'''Khan:''' English. I thought I dreamed hearing it. Where am I?
-->'''[=McCoy=]:''' [[MathematiciansAnswer You're in bed, holding a knife at your doctor's throat.]]
-->'''Khan:''' Answer my question.
-->'''[=McCoy=]:''' [[RefugeInAudacity It would be most effective if you would cut the carotid artery, just under the left ear.]]
-->'''Khan:''' [[WorthyOpponent I like a brave man.]] ''[lowers the scalpel]''

--->'''Q''': They will follow this ship until you exhaust your fuel. They will wear down your defenses. Then you will be ''theirs''. You can't outrun them. You can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains. They regenerate and keep coming! Eventually you will weaken; your reserves will be gone. ''They are relentless''.
** The majority of the Next Generation episode ''The Hunted'' depicts the Enterprise crew trying and repeatedly failing to capture the super soldier Roga Danar, who is running loose in the Enterprise and refuses to be captured, despite the odds.
** Likewise, the Jem'Hadar.
--->'''Omet'iklan''': I am First Omet'iklan, and I am dead. As of this moment, we are all dead. We go into battle to reclaim our lives. This we do gladly, for we are Jem'Hadar. Remember, victory is life.
** And, in the same episode
--->'''Miles O'Brien''': I am Chief Miles Edward O'Brien. I am very much alive, and I intend to stay that way!
** Worf, in ''By Inferno's Light''.
--->'''First Ikat'ika''': I yield. I cannot defeat this Klingon. All I can do is kill him, and that no longer holds my interest.
** Garak, also in ''By Inferno's Light'', who engineers everyone's escape by working for hours in a small dark crawlspace, despite his intense claustrophobia. His determination even earns the respect of the ''Klingons''.
--->'''General Martok''': There is no greater enemy than one's own fears.\\
'''Worf''': It takes a brave man to face them.

** Ben Sisko. In the episode "Paradise", he's tortured by the EvilLuddite village leader by locking him in a metal box in the hot sun. When he's let out, she offers him water if he'll change out of his uniform. He responds by staggering back over, barely able to walk, and climbing back into the box. It's small wonder the ''Defiant'' is as tough as it is, given that he designed it in the ''best'' possible mood to design new warships - utterly furious.

* The eponymous ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}''. He's an IronWoobie and HurtingHero turned UpToEleven who has been through hell and back barefoot, and he's still continuing on his mission to free the magical people with all the conviction he had from day one. If anything, having all the horrible stuff happen to him has made him even more determined.

** The [[CoolStarship cool ships]] are like this as well. Every version of the ''Enterprise'' has taken abuse that would reduce another ship to recycled scrap metal. The USS ''Voyager'' was stranded a bajillion light-years from any kind of base that could offer repairs and yet managed to take on, and defeat, hundreds of enemy ships and leave a trail of destruction and reconstruction on its way home. And of course, you have the ''Defiant'' which takes the design principles of the preceeding, turns them UpToEleven then asks the question "how can we make this ''more unstoppable?''" And manages to do it too, taking on multiple ships ''each'' five to fifteen times her size and winning.

* Charlie Crews from ''Series/{{Life}}''. As a cop that's been sent to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_Bay_State_Prison Pelican Bay]] - a federal maximum security prison - which houses Level IV criminals and some of the world's most notorious prison gangs, he pretty much got targeted for all kinds of hell and abuse imaginable. For the first few years of his incarceration, he spent more time in the prison infirmary than in gen pop because they kept breaking every bone in his body. One time, they cut him up so bad he had to get 241 stitches. That's not even taking into account the beatings he received from the [=COs=]. Aside from the physical and mental abuse that's already been heaped on him, he also got sent to the SHU for a few years and that knocked quite a few screws loose from his head. He then decides that he's had enough so when he gets back to gen pop, well... Let's just say the inmates get introduced to a ''whole new Charlie Crews''. He's finally let out from prison when, after 12 years, he gets exonerated. He proceeds to win a $50 million lawsuit against the city, gets back on the job as a detective despite the universal suspicion he receives from the LAPD, [[spoiler: ''tracks down the murderer he served the sentence for, and (after deciding not kill the guy) brings him in and puts him behind bars''.]]

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* On season 6 of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' there was Lena. While doing the infamous hay bale Roadblock, she unrolled hay bales for almost ''10 hours'', long after all the other teams had come and gone. She unrolled over one hundred bales without finding a clue and did not stop until Phil came out to the field to eliminate her and her sister.

* There are multiple examples of this in ''Series/HellsKitchen''. In season 2, there was Heather West, who seriously burned her hand early in the season. However, instead of giving up, she had a medic check on her hand, put it in ice water, then started to direct her team to help them cover her station, as she was unable to cook, and did not leave until forced to by the medic. To an even greater degree, season 6 had Dave Levey, who broke his wrist in the third episode. Not only did he keep going and cooking with one arm in a cast, but he also ended up winning that entire season literally single-handedly, telling Chef Ramsey in the final four, paraphrased, "Chef, I don't want you to take me out of this competition because of this wrist. If you want me out because I fuck up, that's fine, but don't take me out because of my injury." There is a reason those are two of the fans' most well-liked chefs in the run of the show.

* Murdoc in ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}''. Over the run of the series, he is "killed" in practically every episode that he appears in, yet will always return to complete his ultimate goal of killing Mac. In the western themed dream episode "Serenity" from season five, he actually refuses to not complete a hit on [=MacGyver=] even after Pete has called it off, commenting that he has a reputation to uphold. Though these events are not "real", the attitude is clearly Mac's own recognition that he's being chased down by a rabid Determinator.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E122Steel Steel]]", Steel Kelly never concedes that his boxing robot Battling Maxo should be retired, despite Maxo having been on the verge of breaking down for three years and robotics having continued to advance in that time. When Maxo breaks down, he goes into the ring himself and gets beaten practically to a pulp trying to earn repair money.

** Garak, also in ''By Inferno's Light'', who engineers everyone's escape by defying a chronically debilitating phobia. His determination even earns the respect of the ''Klingons''.

** There's the time Stiles more-or-less made his way across the police station - which was, at the time, a BATTLEGROUND between the Argents, the Kanima, and the werewolves - in order to reach and/or rescue his father. Crawling on the ground; on his belly; with the majority of his body still paralyzed from the Kanima's venom.

** Then there's a T-888 that was sent back too early and accidentally killed a guy who was supposed to construct a building where his actual target is eventually supposed to give a speech. What does the T do? Adopt the dead guy's identity, found the construction firm and design the very building. The robot then immurs itself in a wall and goes into standby to wait many decades for his target to appear and give a speech.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E122Steel Steel]]", Steel Kelly never concedes that his boxing robot Battling Maxo should be retired, despite Maxo's condition having remained at the breaking point for three years and robotics having continued to advance in that time. When Maxo breaks down, he goes into the ring himself and gets beaten practically to a pulp trying to earn repair money.

* Omar Little from ''Series/TheWire'' has robbed Baltimore's most notorious drug crews for almost a decade, but in Season 5 he amps it up by taking on a whole crew out to kill him by himself, escapes an ambush by jumping out of a 6 story window and keeps on going despite having to walk with a broken leg. Even more amazingly, the person he's based on escaped the same situation by jumping from an even higher window, but this was viewed as being [[RealityIsUnrealistic too unbelievable for the audience]] so it was tuned down.

** Yup. This trope fits Mal Reynolds to a 'T'. The man will NOT stay down. Shot in the arm? Minor annoyance. Hit in the chest with a thrown knife? Flinch and a gasp of pain. Shot in the stomach? Some medical tape and a jolt of adrenaline is all he needs. Impaled through the gut with a sword? Pull it out and keep fighting. ''Tortured '''to death'''?'' Get back up, stick the torturer with his own toy, and proceed to beat the hell out of the BigBad.

[[spoiler:'''Roman:'' ''[sneers and laughs]'' Your Zen?]]\\

-->'''Tigh:''' You may as well take whatever credibility you have left and chuck it out an airlock. You seriously want to stand up for these crazy frakkin' people? What is it with you?\\

'''Starbuck:''' Do what we always do. Fight 'em till we can't.[[note]]In the months after she makes that statement, we see how far she takes it (specifically, to the point where she kills the same Cylon ''five times'' despite being imprisoned and [[ImprovisedWeapon deprived of anything her captor thinks could serve as a weapon]], including eating implements).[[/note]]\\
'''Laura Roslin:''' ''[after [[spoiler: being told Adama is dead]]]'' No. Not now. Not ever. Do you hear me? I will use every cannon, every bomb, every bullet, every weapon I have down to my own eye teeth to end you! I swear it! I'm coming for all of you!
** William Adama isn't exactly known for backing down in face of adversity...