History DeusExMachina / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' has the Red Angel in its second season. In "New Eden", it was revealed to be responsible for aging a group of humans on Earth during WorldWarIII, and transporting them to the Beta Quadrant. In "The Sound of Thunder", when the Ba'ul are about to [[spoiler: commit genocide against the newly evolved Kelpian race]], the Red Angel directly intervenes and [[spoiler:Destroys the Ba'ul pylons which would have eradicated the Kelpians]].

** In the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]], reversing the effects of opening a breach to the void that's been pulling Cybermen and Daleks through not only seals the void, but pulls back in any material that passed through it due to them holding background radiation. Also, it can be closed from one end.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords "Last of the Time Lords"]] is a glaring example of a Deus Ex Machina. A satellite network which was used for subtle mind control by the Master is suddenly capable of giving the Doctor superpowers (telekinesis, regeneration (not talking about [[TheNthDoctor that kind]]), de-aging, flight and a force-field) provided everyone in the world thinks the word "Doctor" at the same time. This one comes with consequences: [[TheWoobie Martha's family]], being aboard the ''Valiant'', were at the eye of the storm. The Year That Never Was still happened for them.

** It is established that Donna will die if she remembers her time with the Doctor, there's an entire scene dedicated to how important it is that she never remember. In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]] a year later, it's revealed that the Doctor was being somewhat melodramatic as he had in fact installed a buffer to prevent her from suffering any harm whatsoever if and when she remembers... and just forgot to tell her family. In fact the act of remembering her previous life is actually pretty beneficial as it knocks out a bunch of master clones with no ill effects whatsoever.

*** Other examples of Deux Ex Machina {{Stable Time Loop}}s saving the day: In the short [[Recap/DoctorWho2007CiNSTimeCrash "Time Crash"]], the Tenth Doctor knows what to do because he saw what he did when he was the Fifth Doctor watching the Tenth Doctor do it. In the shorts [[Recap/DoctorWho2011RNDSSpaceAndTime "Space"/"Time"]], an Eleventh Doctor from slightly into the future comes back and tells the present Doctor which level to pull. These shorts were for charity, though. In fact, Rose's example above is another case of this: after obtaining godlike powers to stop the Daleks, she sends the words "[[ArcWords Bad Wolf]]" back through time to make sure her past self will follow the same path. In short, her "Bad Wolf" incarnation created itself.

** This is how TheNthDoctor got started. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet The story]] is concluded, but the Doctor ([[RealitySubtext and his actor]]) is dying. He rushes to the TARDIS, collapses, and then [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands something completely insane happens.]]

* The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Sacrifice of Angels" is resolved with a Deus ex Wormhole. Sisko is faced with thousands of Jem'Hadar ships that are about to come through the wormhole, and is determined to take out as many as he can. The Prophets, however, don't want to see Sisko die, and try to convince him not to do so. Sisko ends up having to goad the Prophets into stopping the ships themselves for the good of Bajor. Note that this is an unusual example as the Prophets are well-established in ''Deep Space Nine'''s mythos, but they had never intervened so drastically in mundane matters before. Showrunner Creator/IraStevenBehr viewed it as the next step in their relationship with Sisko; fan opinion is divided on whether he succeeded.

** The concept is presented in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TimeHeist "Time Heist"]]. [[spoiler:There is a bank that holds the universe's most valuable treasures, and as security the bank has an alien that can sense guilt (and killing those who are guilty of trying to break into the bank). In order for the Doctor and his group to succeed, they had to wipe their memories after planning the heist, so if they are caught they won't be guilty because they literally have no idea how they are going to do it and what it is they are looking for up until the point they find it. As such, the entire heist is a series of deus ex machinae, one after another, of plot devices that they planted before their memories were wiped.]]

* Series/ArrestedDevelopment:
** "Well that was a freebe."

*** Other examples of Deux Ex Machina {{Stable Time Loop}}s saving the day: In the short "Time Crash", the Tenth Doctor knows what to do because he saw what he did when he was the Fifth Doctor watching the Tenth Doctor do it. In the shorts "Time"/"Space", an Eleventh Doctor from slightly into the future comes back and tells the present Doctor which level to pull. These shorts were for charity, though. In fact, Rose's example above is another case of this: after obtaining godlike powers to stop the Daleks, she sends the words "[[ArcWords Bad Wolf]]" back through time to make sure her past self will follow the same path. In short, her "Bad Wolf" incarnation created itself.

** This is how TheNthDoctor got started. [[DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet The story]] is concluded, but the Doctor ([[RealitySubtext and his actor]]) is dying. He rushes to the TARDIS, collapses, and then [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands something completely insane happens.]]
** The concept is presented in ''Time Heist.'' [[spoiler: There is a bank that holds the universe's most valuable treasures, and as security the bank has an alien that can sense guilt (and killing those who are guilty of trying to break into the bank). In order for The Doctor and his group to succeed, they had to wipe their memories after planning the heist, so if they are caught they won't be guilty because they literally have no idea how they are going to do it and what it is they are looking for up until the point they find it. As such, the entire heist is a series of deus ex machinas, one after another, of plot devices that they planted before their memories were wiped]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]] had a whopper of one. So, we have The Doctor [[spoiler: dying of his injuries, with the suspicion he's going to be KilledOffForReal by refusing regeneration]]. It appears as though Missy (The Master) [[spoiler: Well, The Master shot Missy (his future incarnation) dead after she stabbed him...essentially, they die by being so crooked that they backstab themselves]]. Bill has been through the TraumaCongaLine, even by Companion standards [[spoiler: [[UnwillingRobotization forcibly transformed into a Cyberman]], but still keeping enough of herself to block out the programming]]. Nardole is at least safe, but [[spoiler: stranded on a space ship, and The Doctor ''might'' have stalled the Cybermen for the time being.]] So, how do our (marginally alive) heroes get out of it? [[spoiler: Bill's girlfriend [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E1ThePilot who had been transformed into a living "pilot" for an alien]] HiveMind at the top of the season shows up, heals Bill and gets the TARDIS to relative safety where The Twelfth Doctor stumbles out...and runs into the First Doctor]]!

* In Season 3 of ''Series/{{Once Upon a Time}}'', only Light Magic can defeat the big bad. However, Emma, the only character who can use it [[spoiler:loses the ability to use magic due to a curse]]. Instead, Regina inexplicably [[spoiler: becomes able to use Light Magic]]. To make matters worse, [[spoiler: it's never really brought up nor does Regina ever use Light Magic again]]. The trope appears again quite literally at the end of Season 5 where [[spoiler: Zeus makes his first series appearance in the final minute of the season finale to return Hook to life]].
* Used to comedic effect in ''Series/{{The IT Crowd}}'', in the episode ''Return of the Golden Child''. Roy, Moss and Jen are told they would be fired at the beginning of the episode, and only make things worse with their behavior at the funeral (during which their new boss continues to make references to their imminent termination). At the end of the episode [[spoiler: Mr. Denholm's son suddenly reappears, is given full control of the company and fires the man who would have fired them]].
* Used to comedic effect a number of times in ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'', for example in the episode ''The Queen of Spain's Beard''. Edmund is scheduled to be married for political reasons to a Spanish princess, and nothing he does can get him out of the arrangement. At the end of the episode [[spoiler: it is suddenly announced that the political allegiances of Europe have shifted and Edmund will instead be married to a Hungarian princess, who though she is only a child, is at the very least a more pleasant person to be around. It's particularly funny because historically, such changes could happen, but it's intentionally played as a Deus Ex Machina in the show]].
* In the ''Heartland'' episode "When The Truth Lies", a widow's depression is resolved when a total stranger just happens to fall into the same well where her husband died, just happens to see her husband's moldering skeleton, just happens to decide to search the corpse ''despite'' being bugfuck terrified of it and distracted by his recently broken arm (in addition to comforting the other person trapped with him), just happens to find a tiny plot-relevant ring, which just happens to have avoided rusting in the past ''two decades'' underground, and just happens to show off his new discovery in front of the widow during the only brief period of time they have ever been in each other's vicinity.
* In ''Series/{{Fargo}}'', the sudden appearance of a UFO outside the Motor Motel allows Lou to turn the tables on Bear and Peggy and Ed to escape their hotel room before Hanzee bursts in.

* The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Sacrifice of Angels" is resolved with a Deus ex Wormhole. Sisko is faced with thousands of Jem'Hadar ships that are about to come through the wormhole, and is determined to take out as many as he can. The Prophets, however, don't want to see Sisko die, and try to convince him not to do so. Sisko ends up having to goad the Prophets into stopping the ships themselves for the good of Bajor, and as they hint, this act would have its price for Sisko later (eventually paid in the series finale, "What You Leave Behind").
** Though it should be noted that the existence of the Prophets and their powers within the wormhole are established in the two part pilot. Alien artifacts that allow for great insight, visions, and time travel have been created by the Prophets and used in numerous episodes. And the primary antagonists of the show, the Founders of the Dominion purport to be gods, the idea that god like aliens living outside of time and space prevented the Dominion army from passing thru "The Celestial Temple" does fit with the religious themes of the show.

** The car crashing through the window and/or the Aunt Charity canceling the check actually does save them in the end. It means that had they been able to keep the shop, paying for the damage would have ruined them financially. But now, it's not their problem!

* ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls''
** Episode "And Not-so-Sweet Charity": The girls are about to lose their cupcake shop when they appeal to Caroline's heretofore unmentioned rich Aunt Charity, who writes them a check. However, this is inverted when she stops payment on the check, which she signed while on painkillers.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]] there is the development that suddenly the Doctor can stave off a regeneration[[note]]a biological me hanism where his body and personality change in order to survive certain death[[/note]] by sending the excess energy into the hand he had cut off. Then a humam touching it grows a new Doctor and when that human is electrocuted just before the Daleks activate their Reality Bomb to destroy all Universes, she gains the Doctor's intelligence and deactivates the machine, disabling the Daleks, though her mind has to be wiped of this or she will die. A common criticism of Russell T Davies is that he kept using these for his finales.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]] there is the AssPull that suddenly the Doctor can stave of a regeneration by sending the excess energy into his hand. Then the human Donna touching it grows a new Doctor and when Donna is electrocuted by Davros just before the Daleks activate their Reality Bomb to destroy all Universes, she gains Time Lord intelligence and deactivates the machine, disabling Davros and the Daleks, though her mind has to be wiped of this or she will die. A common criticism of Russell T Davies is that he kept using these for his finales.

* At the end of 1984's ''Series/{{V}}: The Final Battle'', Diana has activated a thermonuclear device that will destroy Earth. All attempts to deactivate it or remove it from Earth's atmosphere fail. At this time, HalfHumanHybrid Elizabeth, who is only a few weeks old but has [[PlotRelevantAgeUp aged inexplicably]] to a 10 year-old, steps forward, grabs the doomsday device, ''begins to sparkle and glow'', and somehow deactivates the nuke. There is absolutely no suggestion at any earlier time that Elizabeth might have magical powers, nor are magical powers any part of the preceding nine and a half hours of the science fiction miniseries.

* "Series/ArrestedDevelopment":

* ""Series/ArrestedDevelopment"":

* In Season 3 of ''Series/{{Once Upon a Time}}'', only Light Magic can defeat the big bad. However, Emma, the only character who can use it [[spoiler:loses the ability to use magic due to a curse]]. Instead, Regina inexplicably [[spoiler: becomes able to use Light Magic]]. To make matters worse, [[spoiler: it's never really brought up nor does Regina ever use Light Magic again]].

** The car crashing through the window actually does save them in a way. It means that had they been able to keep the shop, paying for the damage would have ruined them financially. But now, it's not their problem!

* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'' is full of them, more and more as the series progresses, and [[spoiler:it wraps up with a gigantic and very literal example, when God using his "angels" rescues everybody and takes them to a pastoral paradise]].

* ''Series/{{Medium}}'' had two Deus ex Machinas when Allison was faced with spiritual enemies: [[spoiler: The bad doctor (played by [[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Romo Lampkin]] is finally caught by (presumably) the spirits of his wife and his mother. The KnightTemplar stalker (he thinks psychics interfere with God's plan by catching criminals and saving people) is dragged to hell by the victims (almost two dozen in the space of about a week) of his psychic interference.]]

** The amulet that appears at the end of Season 7 definitely qualifies.