History EnemyMine / LiveActionTV

** The general arch of the show is about most enemies putting aside their differences to face together the menace that the Shadows represent (albeit is later revealed that the Vorlons are not much better). The Army of Light is made of basically every major and minor power of the Galaxy including many bitter enemies.
*** One particular egregious example of this is that after the Shadow War two ''really'' embittered enemies, the Narn and the Centauri, both joint the Interstellar Alliance as founding members. However peace did not last as a sort of "civil war" broke off between the Centauri (puppeted by the former Shadow vassals, the Drakh) and all the rest and at the last moment several former Centauri colonies like the Narn, Brakiri and Drazzi eagerly bombed-down Centauri Prime which then withdraw from the Alliance. According to the Extended Universe some 20 years later the Centauri with the help of the Alliance manage to get rid of the Drakh and the Centauri Republic re-enters the Alliance.

*** One particular egregious example of this is that after the Shadow War two ''really'' embittered enemies, the Narn and the Centauri, both joint the Interstellar Alliance as founding members. However peace did not last as sort of "civil war" broke of between the Centauri (puppeted by the former Shadow vassals, the Drakh) and all the rest and at the last moment several former Centauri colonies like the Narn, Brakiri and Drazzi eagerly bombed-down Centauri Prime which then withdraw from the Alliance. According to the Extended Universe some 20 years later the Centauri with the help of the Alliance manage to get rid of the Drakh and the Centauri Republic re-enters the Alliance.

*** One particular egregious of example of this is that after the Shadow War two ''really'' embittered enemies, the Narn and the Centauri, both joint the Interstellar Alliance as founding members. However peace did not last as sort of "civil war" broke of between the Centauri (puppeted by the former Shadow vassals, the Drakh) and all the rest and at the last moment several former Centauri colonies like the Narn, Brakiri and Drazzi eagerly bombed-down Centauri Prime which then withdraw from the Alliance. According to the Extended Universe some 20 years later the Centauri with the help of the Alliance manage to get rid of the Drakh and the Centauri Republic re-enters the Alliance.

** [[spoiler: When Dean was trapped in Purgatory for a year between seasons 7 and 8, he teamed up with a vampire named Benny in order to escape.]]

** In "Prophecy Girl", Xander enlists his hated enemy's (Angel) help to storm the Master's lair, and save Buffy. Angel scoffs at that, so Xander shoves a cross in his face for extra convincing.
** A very brief one occurs in Season 3's "Choices", when the Mayor and Faith, in the interest of mutual survival, team up with the Scooby Gang in the high school cafeteria when demon spiders escape from the Box of Gavrok.

* ''Series/{{Airwolf}}'': In the episode "Condemned", String and Caitlin have to work together with some UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets to acquire the antidote for a lethal virus. Then stop [[UsefulNotes/FromRussiaWithNukes three nuclear warhead-equipped cruise missiles from hitting the island]]. Soviets attempt to acquire Airwolf, but don't get very far and stop this before things get hairy between them. The parties depart friends.

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': No matter how much Sean Connery would try to antagonize Alex Trebek during the Celebrity Jeopardy skits, the two of them would often commiserate over another contestant's idiocy--note the skit where they both snark on Anne Heche's nutty behavior.

** This is the reason that the wildlings are all united under a single leader. Every tribe hates each others' guts; they just hate the idea of dying in droves to [[BiggerBad the White Walkers]] more.

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': Season 2, Jack is forced to work with Nina Myers, the woman who killed his wife, in order to find information on the season's terrorist threat. Likewise, in season 6, Jack teams up with the previous season's BigBad [[spoiler:Charles Logan]] to investigate a corrupt Russian diplomat.

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': Has Nate teaming up with [[EvilCounterpart Sterling]] for "The Zanzibar Marketplace Job".

* ''Series/{{The 100}}'' Season 1 had a war occur between the Grounders and people from the Ark. In Season 2, the two factions ally against Mount Weather, which is kidnapping people from both sides to use as HumanResources, and has by far the most advanced military on the Ground.

* In the Series/AgentsOfSHIELD episode [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E2HeavyIsTheHead ''Heavy is the Head"]], Raina helps SHIELD track down Carl "Crusher" Creel, a superhuman working for HYDRA, as she doesn't want HYDRA to get their hands on the incredibly dangerous artefact that Creel has stolen for them any more than SHIELD does. Unsuprisingly, this being [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Raina]], [[spoiler: she steals the artefact from under both HYDRA and SHIELD's noses.]]

-->'''Angel:''' You're afraid of what's coming. Maybe we can help each other. The enemy of my enemy--\\

-->'''Bester:''' [[ItsPersonal Your war is now my war.]]

** A very brief one occurs in Season 3's "Choices," when the Mayor and Faith, in the interest of mutual survival, team up with the Scooby Gang in the high school cafeteria when demon spiders escape from the Box of Gavrok.

** Episode ''El retorno de Súper Sam'' Chapulin has to team-up with his bitter rival Súper Sam (a mix between [[TakeThat Superman and Uncle Sam]]) in order to fight a mad man escaped from prison that is stalking a girl.
** Episode ''La isla de los hombres casi solos'' (PunnyName in reference to the famous novel ''La isla de los hombres solos'' from Costa Rican author José León Sánchez) el Chapulin helps two villains, Rascabuches and Matonsísimo Kid, because they are being abused by an evil female warden in a penal colony, forced to work 23 hours a day.
** Episode ''La Horca'', this was from the one-hour variety show ''Series/{{Chespirito}}'' in the 80s and a two-part especial with Chapulin Colorado. He teams-up with two villains; Matonsísimo Kid and his daughter Rosa la Rumorosa and helps him escape from jail after he's sentence to death by hanging, as Chapulin opposes the Death Penalty. [[note]] The episode ends with AnAesop about the need for rehabilitation of criminals, as with the previous example, Roberto Gomez Bolaños held very progressive views regarding the treatment of convicts.[[/note]]

** The serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis "Logopolis"]]. Of course, the Master turns on the Doctor, tries to destroy the Universe rather than being unable to rule it, and then kills the Doctor by shaking him off a radio telescope into a parking lot. [[TheNthDoctor It isn't the end though, as the moment has been prepared for]]. Considering how the Master is just about the closest thing the Doctor has to a rival, they've certainly been forced to team up on any number of occasions throughout their history -- usually to stop a catastrophic evil that the Master himself unleashed, and invariably with the Master turning on the Doctor shortly before or after the problem is solved. Of course, the Doctor has been anticipating betrayal all along, and has almost certainly done something clever to come out ahead regardless.
** Happens in the conclusion of "Trial of a Time Lord", when the Master reveals that the prosecutor, the Valeyard, is actually the Doctor's EnemyWithout, whom will get the Doctor's remaining regenerations if he gets the Doctor executed. The Master helps the Doctor for two reasons: to have an enemy with which he's more familiar (the Doctor vs. the Valeyard) and to retain the chance to end the Doctor's existence personally.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]], the presence of just four Daleks bumps an entire army of Cybermen down from "enemy" to "temporary ally". Once the Daleks start moving, Torchwood and the Cybermen appear to ignore each other in favour of the new targets.

** Plays out differently in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], with a temporary alliance between armies that would normally kill each other on sight: [[spoiler:[[SpacePolice Judoon,]] [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Daleks,]] [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Sontarans,]] [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul Cybermen,]] [[LizardFolk Silurians]], [[CombatByChampion Sycorax]], [[MayContainEvil Autons]] [[ContinuityPorn and a whole load of other races]] show up to [[SealedGoodInACan imprison the Doctor]] in an attempt to [[WellIntentionedExtremist stop the non-existence of the Universe.]]]]

** [[Recap/DoctorWho2019NYSResolution "Resolution"]]: In the backstory, three warring factions in ninth century Britain end up working together to fight and imprison an ''incredibly'' dangerous alien that arrives on planet Earth, which speaks volumes about how dangerous [[spoiler:just one single Dalek]] is.

%%* ''Series/{{Galactica 1980}}'': The episode "The Return of Starbuck". Often the only episode of the series that some fans of the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 original series]] will [[FanonDisContinuity accept as continuity]].

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': This is the favorite way they deals with Sylar.

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': Murdoc and [=MacGyver=] work together to rescue Murdoc's sister in "Halloween Knights".

-->'''Ari Tasarov:''' The enemy of my enemy--\\

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': Sheppard and a wraith cooperated to escape custody of Kolya in the episode "Common Ground". This included the wraith feeding on Sheppard to have the strength to fight off their enemies, giving it the opportunity to double-cross our hero. However, he returned all the LifeEnergy he took (and possibly made up for a few months Sheppard spent in a time-dilation field) and Sheppard made good on his promise to let it go free. The wraith in question, later dubbed "Todd", would become a recurring character, and is notable for being unusually sociable for a Wraith, even ''joking'' with the heroes.
** Taken UpToEleven in the final battle against the Asurans, where the Earth, Traveller, and Wraith ships fight side by side against the Asuran warships in what is hands down the single most awesome space battle any of the three series has managed (''Series/StargateUniverse'', being set on a CoolStarship, had a chance to top it before it was cancelled). This is even more impressive given the distinctly quarrelsome nature of the Wraith, thus the battle is a meld of nine factions (7 Hives, Atlantis and the Travellers) rather than 3 as some may think.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Features this a great many times. It seems to be one of the favorite negotiating tactics of the Tau'ri in particular.
** Ba'al has had to join forces with SG-1 to defeat his master Anubis and the greater threat of the Replicators during the "Reckoning" two-parter. This is not the last time they'd work with him. Initially subverted, as Ba'al asked SG-1 for an alliance and was flat-out rejected by Jack O'Neill.
-->'''O'Neill:''' I've got a better idea, instead of helping you, why don't we sit around and watch you get your ass kicked? That way you'll be dead, and we'll be glad.
** Special mention just ''has'' to go to the two-parter "The Quest", where SG-1, Ba'al, ''and'' [[DarkMessiah Ori messiah Adria]] team up to solve Morgan le Fay's puzzles.
** There is also an ''SG-1'' episode entitled "Enemy Mine", though it is unrelated to this trope at first. The conclusion is somewhat an example of this trope, as the Colonel overseeing the mine and the Unas definitely considered each other enemies until the compromise where they agreed to work the mine themselves so long as it contributed to killing some Goa'uld. Plus they look a little ''Enemy Mine'' Lou Gossetty, what with the scaly skin and labored manner of speaking.
** The original alliance (the one led by Ra) against Anubis, whose crimes were apparently considered unspeakable, even amongst the System Lords. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Think about that]].
*** Sokar was banished from the System Lords for much the same reason, and by much the same method.
*** According to Thor in "Fair Game", it is precisely because of the concept of "enemy of my enemy" that the Goa'uld System Lords banded together in the first place. Due to their AlwaysChaoticEvil nature, however, it takes a serious threat (like the Tau'ri) to convince them to work together for any extended length of time.
** The "Giant Aliens" (later named Omeyocans by the novel ''City of the Gods'') in the episode "Crystal Skull" quote the full line verbatim to SG-1. In Mayan, no less. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse And then they're never heard from again.]]
** Then there's the various times the SGC temporarily allied with Lord Yu. To paraphrase Daniel Jackson, Yu is not to be liked or trusted, only trusted to make a [[PragmaticVillainy practical decision]] unhampered by the [[StupidEvil usual Goa'uld mindset]].

** One of the series' primary arcs deals with different factions setting aside hostilities to work together so they can defeat the threat of [[ZombieApocalypse the White Walkers]]. The [[spoiler:Targaryens lead by Dany, the Starks lead by Jon, and the wildlings are on board]] but [[spoiler:Queen Cersei Lannister]] reveals to her brother she has refused the alliance, hoping the White Walkers will take out her enemies. Jaime clearly sees this as sheer insanity and breaks from [[spoiler: his sister]] to help [[spoiler: Jon and Dany]].
** This is the reason the wildlings are all united under a single leader. Every tribe hates each others' guts: they just hate the idea of dying in droves to [[BiggerBad the White Walkers]] more.

** The Tyrells set aside their centuries-long rivalry with Dorne when Cersei murders every Tyrell save Olenna, who jumps at the opportunity to join the Sand Snakes in their quest for vengeance against the Lannisters.

** Euron tries to propose a marriage alliance between him and Cersei despite their houses past animosity in order to counter the coming Targaryen invasion. She rebuffs, though Euron has far from given up on his efforts.

** One of the series' primary arcs deals with different factions setting aside hostilities to work together so they can defeat the threat of [[ZombieApocalypse the White Walkers]]. The [[spoiler:Targaryens lead by Dany, the Starks lead by Jon, and the wildlings are on board]] but [[spoiler:Queen Cersei Lannister]] reveals to her brother she has refused the alliance, hoping the White Walkers will take out her enemies.

** Jon Snow argues that the Night's Watch, the southern kingdoms, and the wildlings must put aside their differences to fight the White Walkers or they're all toast. It seems to work, with Queen Cersei agreeing to ally with them until the White Walkers are defeated. When Jaime Lannister prepares their forces to go North and help Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen fight this undead threat, Cersei reveals to Jaime that despite what she told Jon and Dany, she believes she's better off having everyone else fight the Walkers and won't help them. Jaime clearly sees this as sheer insanity and breaks from his sister to help Jon and Dany.

* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'': An unusual example occurs where Jordan Collier and Tom Baldwin must work together to escape a dream sequence (whose actual purpose is to get people to work together). It's an odd example in that neither character is a villain: as Tom is a government official doing its best to deal with bizarre circumstances (and sometimes engaging in some morally-questionable methods of dealing with problems) and [[FauxSymbolism Jordan Collier]] is trying to avert the end of civilization, but supports anarchy and believes everyone should take Promicin (a drug that has a 50% chance of death or super-powers).

* ''Series/{{Merlin1998}}'': Merlin himself outright states that this is his motivation for allying himself to Uther. Uther's enemy, Vortigern, is Merlin's enemy and has joined forces with an even worse enemy.

* ''Series/{{Galactica 1980}}'': The episode "The Return of Starbuck". Often the only episode of the series that some fans of the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 original series]] will [[FanonDisContinuity accept as continuity]].

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'': This happens several times when the Halliwell sisters must reluctantly team up with demons for various reasons that are in the best interests of both sides, such as preventing the existence of magic from being revealed to the mostly unaware human population or stopping a neutral third party whose plan, if successful, would result in the vast majority of combatants on both sides being exterminated.

** Happens again in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], where [[spoiler:the Master saved the Doctor from being disintegrated by Rassilon. It should be noted that [[ThirdActStupidity Rassilon brought the alliance, and thus his defeat, upon himself.]]]]
** And again in [[spoiler:[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice The Magician's Apprentice:]] The Doctor goes missing and Davros turns up.]]

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom "The Seeds of Doom"]] features a plant maniac who employs a number of hired guns. They spend the first four episodes of the serial [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim chasing, capturing, and recapturing]] the Doctor and Sarah Jane, only to ally with them when the [[AlienKudzu Krynoid]] [[BodyHorror that used to be]] [[MinionWithAnFInEvil Keeler]] starts to get really huge, dangerous, and indiscriminately hungry for organic matter.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks "Genesis of the Daleks"]] when the Doctor has the chance to destroy the Daleks at their creation, one of the reasons he gives against this is that otherwise hostile races would be forced into alliances due to this.

** Apparently what happened after [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace "Frontier in Space"]], where the Master and Daleks tried to cause a war between Earth and Draconia after which they would [[WarForFunAndProfit invade the Galaxy]]. The humans and Draconians are told by the Doctor to form an alliance against the Daleks.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks "Asylum of the Daleks"]] is based around the Doctor and the main Dalek army working together to prevent an army of insane Daleks from escaping their prison and wiping them both out. The Doctor is forced into the alliance at gunpoint.

--> '''Pub Landlord''': *''Shakes hand''* The ''[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII mutual]]'' enemy, all hostilities are now ceased!
* The ''Series/{{Timeless}}'' episode, "The Capture Of Benedict Arnold" involves the protagonists having to team up with [[BigBad Garcia Flynn]] to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin capture Benedict Arnold]], as he has connections to the original founder of [[AncientConspiracy Rittenhouse]]. This alliance ends up falling through, due to [[spoiler: Flynn also wanting to kill the founder's son, which the team won't let him do]].

* ''Series/{{The Vampire Diaries}}'': Damon will take a break from harassing Stefan if there's a bigger threat, or if it's in his interest.

* In the episode ''A Necessary Evil'' of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', Xena enlists the aid of her enemy Callisto to fight Velasca, an Amazon who acquired [[AGodAmI the powers of a goddess]]. At that point, Callisto had recently become immortal and was the only person available to go up against her, despite Gabrielle's protestations.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'': The episode "En Ami". And "Tunguska"/"Terma" as well, although that turned out to be a set-up.

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': Murdoc and MacGyver work together to rescue Murdoc's sister in "Halloween Knights".

** And again in [[spoiler:[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice The Magician's Apprentice]] The Doctor goes missing and Davros turns up.]]
** Differently, in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], [[spoiler:[[SpacePolice Judoon,]] [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Daleks,]] [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Sontarans,]] [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul Cybermen,]] [[LizardFolk Silurians]], [[CombatByChampion Sycorax]], [[MayContainEvil Autons]] [[ContinuityPorn and a whole load of other races]] show up to [[SealedGoodInACan imprison the Doctor]] in an attempt to [[WellIntentionedExtremist stop the non-existence of the Universe.]]]]

** Londo and G'Kar team up again in the "And The Rock Cried Out, 'No Hiding Place'" when Londo constructs a BatmanGambit [[spoiler: to enlist G'Kar's aid in destroying Lord Refa, whom Londo believes killed his lover Adira and was responsible for using [[ColonyDrop mass drivers]] on the Narn homeworld. Londo supposedly tricks G'Kar into leaving the sanctuary of station under the pretext of having the Centauri forces arrest him on Narn in Refa's presence; in fact, it was so G'Kar could make contact with the Narn resistance and set up the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Lord Refa receives [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome to the tune of the episode's eponymous Gospel tune]].]]

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': SubvertedTrope during the fourth season, when Angel comes to Lilah for information on the Beast and suggests they work together:

** However, Angel eventually convinces Lilah to give him the information he was seeking, with the argument that Angel will either use it to stop The Beast (in which case Lilah wins) or Angel will die trying (in which case Lilah also wins). As it turns out he decided to [[spoiler: TakeAThirdOption]], so in the end it's more played straight.
** And in the end, she does ally with the team anyways.

** The main arch is about different factions that hate each other having to work together to face the threat that the White Walkers represent. Of course for the moment apart from [[spoiler:Wildlings, the Targaryens lead by Dany and the Starks lead by Jon]] we still don't see much cooperation.
** This is the reason the Wildlings are all united under a single leader. Every tribe hates each others' guts: they just hate the idea of dying in droves to [[BiggerBad the White Walkers]] more.

** Jon Snow argues that the Night's Watch, the southern kings, and the Wildlings should put aside their differences to fight the White Walkers.
*** Sadly, Jon has failed to realize that, even after seeing a Walker in person, Cersei still refuses to put any risk to herself and believes she's better off having everyone else fight the Walkers. Jaimie clearly sees this as sheer insanity and breaks from his sister to help Jon.

** Despite his open distaste for the Boltons (and their Karstark allies), Smalljon chooses to ally with Ramsay because of Jon Snow's decision to let the Wildlings through the Wall and he believes that this will result in them razing the Umbers' land.

* Nick and Renard's relationship durint season 3 to 5 of ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' is like that. They became allies because they have a common enemy; The Royal Families.

** Volume 3 had Noah Bennet work with ''Sylar'' to stop the escaped Level 5 villains. The two barely tolerated each other but seem to have ''bonded'' by the end of the 3rd episode. Then Sylar starts up with the brain-stealing again, causing Bennet to vow to kill him eventually.

* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': Doctor Riders are about the most [[DysfunctionJunction incompactible bunch]] you can get, so having similar goals doesn't stop them from hating each others' guts for very valid reasons. They (somewhat) willingly team up against [[BloodKnight Graphite]] [[MonsterOfTheWeek Bugster]]. What follows is hilarious example of TeethClenchedTeamwork as they bicker and try to one up each other while not interrupting the flow of the battle. Then [[KnightOfCerebus Kamen Rider]] [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Gemn]] shows up, [[spoiler: kills one of them]] and they finally get their shit straight. The bickering stays, but they are more interested in beating Gemn than each other.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': As of episode 14, the Resistance and the Georgia Federation have allied to open a two front war against Monroe.