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* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 Apollo 13]] actually ran into this dilemma. After the oxygen tank in the command module explodes, the crew is forced to use the life-support systems of the LEM module. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but the LEM was only designed to support two people, not the full crew. [[hottip:* :In an ordinary mission, two crew members would land on the moon in the LEM and explore the surface while the third stayed on the command module in lunar orbit.]] Luckily, they succeeded in MacGyvering a few ways to work around this that didn't involve murder, and NASA wanted their LEMs to have a big fat margin of error if something went awry. NASA didn't expect the LEM to have to last for 3 men for the entire mission, but it did.
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* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 Apollo 13]] actually ran into this dilemma. After the oxygen tank in the command module explodes, the crew is forced to use the life-support systems of the LEM module. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but the LEM was only designed to support two people, not the full crew. [[hottip:* :In an ordinary mission, two crew members would land on the moon in the LEM and explore the surface while the third stayed on the command module in lunar orbit.]] Luckily, they succeeded in MacGyvering a few ways to work around this that didn't involve murder, and NASA wanted their LEMs [=LEMs=] to have a big fat margin of error if something went awry. NASA didn't expect the LEM to have to last for 3 men for the entire mission, but it did.
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* Subverted in {{Planetes}}, where the exact situation comes up. The testes are placed in a situation where they do not have enough oxygen to outlast the test, either they give up or kill someone to preserve the oxygen they have. Instead, [[{{TakeAThirdOption}} they lower the temperature of the room to reduce their metabolism and oxygen consumption.]]
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A spaceship has been damaged and is running out of oxygen (or food or fuel). But then someone calculates that if they had one ''less'' crewmember, they just might make it back safely...
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A spaceship has been damaged and is running out of oxygen AlmostOutOfOxygen (or food or fuel). But then someone calculates that if they had one ''less'' crewmember, they just might make it back safely...
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* In [[MultipleEndings one ending]] of ''{{Ever 17}}'', Tsugumi and Takeshi find an escape module with which to leave LeMU, but it turns out not to be able to carry both of them to the surface, so one of them ends up having to sacrifice themself for the other.
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* In [[MultipleEndings one ending]] of ''{{Ever 17}}'', Tsugumi and Takeshi find an escape module with which to leave LeMU, [=LeMU=], but it turns out not to be able to carry both of them to the surface, so one of them ends up having to sacrifice themself for the other.
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* In the 1950's ''Rick Random: Space Detective'' comic, "Kidnappers from Mars", SpacePirates get their vessel caught in a '[[SpaceIsAnOcean space tide]]' and realise the only means of escape is the two-man shuttle. The BigBad and his FemmeFatale girlfriend hide until all the other pirates have killed each other fighting over the shuttle, then take off in it.
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* In the 1950's ''Rick Random: Space Detective'' comic, Detective'', a comic of the 1950's. In "Kidnappers from Mars", Mars!" SpacePirates get their vessel caught in a '[[SpaceIsAnOcean space tide]]' and realise the only means of escape is the two-man shuttle. The BigBad and his FemmeFatale girlfriend hide until all the other pirates have killed each other fighting over the shuttle, then take off in it.
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* A SpaceOpera comic this troper read as a kid had SpacePirates being caught in a NegativeSpaceWedgie and realising that the only means of escape was the two-man shuttle. The BigBad and his FemmeFatale girlfriend hide until all the other pirates have killed each other fighting over the shuttle, then take off in it.
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* A SpaceOpera comic this troper read as a kid had In the 1950's ''Rick Random: Space Detective'' comic, "Kidnappers from Mars", SpacePirates being get their vessel caught in a NegativeSpaceWedgie '[[SpaceIsAnOcean space tide]]' and realising that realise the only means of escape was is the two-man shuttle. The BigBad and his FemmeFatale girlfriend hide until all the other pirates have killed each other fighting over the shuttle, then take off in it.
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** Also, due to the extra weight, the ''launch'' would be slower. Assuming it would cost exactly as much energy to speed up as to slow down (adjusted for respective gravity), it wouldn't even matter.
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* The TropeNamer is of course ''The Cold Equations'', the classic 1954 sci-fi short by Tom Godwin famous for averting the AlwaysSaveTheGirl trope. A young girl stows away on a shuttle carrying vital medicine to a planetary colony, not knowing that its fuel has been precisely calculated and her extra weight is enough to cause disaster. The pilot has no choice but to have her ThrownOutTheAirlock. Unfortunately the story has an obvious plothole in that the pilot has the legal authority (and even a weapon) to evict stowaways, yet doesn't take the simple precaution of searching the ship before launch or putting a lock on the door.
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* The TropeNamer is of course ''The Cold Equations'', the classic 1954 sci-fi short by Tom Godwin famous for averting the AlwaysSaveTheGirl trope. A young girl stows away on a shuttle carrying vital medicine to a planetary colony, not knowing that its fuel has been precisely calculated and her extra weight is enough to cause disaster. The pilot has no choice but to have her ThrownOutTheAirlock. Unfortunately the story has an obvious plothole (and ''incredibly polarizing'') plot hole in that the pilot has the legal authority (and even a weapon) to evict stowaways, yet doesn't take the simple precaution of searching the ship before launch or putting a lock on the door.
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* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 Apollo 13]] actually ran into this dilemma. After the oxygen tank in the command module explodes, the crew is forced to use the life-support systems of the LEM module. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but the LEM was only designed to support two people, not the full crew. [[hottip:* :In an ordinary mission, two crew members would land on the moon in the LEM and explore the surface while the third stayed on the command module in lunar orbit.]] Luckily, they succeeded in MacGyvering a few ways to work around this that didn't involve murder.
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* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 Apollo 13]] actually ran into this dilemma. After the oxygen tank in the command module explodes, the crew is forced to use the life-support systems of the LEM module. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but the LEM was only designed to support two people, not the full crew. [[hottip:* :In an ordinary mission, two crew members would land on the moon in the LEM and explore the surface while the third stayed on the command module in lunar orbit.]] Luckily, they succeeded in MacGyvering a few ways to work around this that didn't involve murder.murder, and NASA wanted their LEMs to have a big fat margin of error if something went awry. NASA didn't expect the LEM to have to last for 3 men for the entire mission, but it did.
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** After realizing that the shuttle is carrying vital medical supplies to her brother's colony and saying her good-byes, she voluntarily [[HeroicSacrifice steps into the airlock]].
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* Two famous court cases involving survivors of shipwrecks who took to the lifeboats and were charged with murder for their subsequent actions are ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brown_(ship) United States vs. Holmes]]'' in which sailors forced passengers (including women and children) off an overcrowded lifeboat, and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens R vs. Dudley and Stephens]]'' in which sailors murdered the weakest member of their lifeboat crew, on the grounds that they were starving and he was likely to die anyway.
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* Two famous court cases involving survivors of shipwrecks who took to the lifeboats and were charged with murder for their subsequent actions are ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brown_(ship) United States vs. Holmes]]'' in which sailors forced passengers (including women and children) women) off an overcrowded lifeboat, and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens R vs. Dudley and Stephens]]'' in which sailors murdered the weakest member of their lifeboat crew, on the grounds that they were starving and he was likely to die anyway.
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* ''{{Ever 17}}''. Tsugumi's good ending.
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* In [[MultipleEndings one ending]] of ''{{Ever 17}}''. Tsugumi's good ending.
17}}'', Tsugumi and Takeshi find an escape module with which to leave LeMU, but it turns out not to be able to carry both of them to the surface, so one of them ends up having to sacrifice themself for the other.
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* StanislawLem played with this scenario in ''Moon night''. [[spoiler:And turned it into great BlackComedy with one entirely sensible line.]]
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* StanislawLem played with this scenario in ''Moon night''. [[spoiler:And an entirely sensible punchline turned it into great BlackComedy with one entirely sensible line.BlackComedy.]]
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* StanislawLem played with this scenario in ''Moon night''. [[spoiler:And turned it into great BlackComedy with one entirely sensible line.]]
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!!Examples:
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* This is evoked at one point in ''RedPlanet'', and one of the three still-alive crewmen decides to try and reach the old Russian module alone. The second crewman later dies protecting the third one.
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* An episode of ''SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' involved a vast ship with a bunch of survival modules, one of which had to be sacrificed for power. The guy has trouble pushing the button, because ''his younger sister'' is in the one module that isn't full.
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* ''Marooned'' (1969 -- [[OlderThanTheyThink made before the Apollo 13 disaster]]). The crew of an Apollo mission is left stranded in orbit with no means to re-enter earth and a dwindling oxygen supply. Both an emergency rescue mission and a passing cosmonaut eventually help the crew, but not before the mission's commander decides to sacrifice himself.
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* Lampshaded in the ''MartianSuccessorNadesico'' episode "The Lukewarm 'Cold Equation'", where AntiHero Akito gets stranded without fuel after piloting his HumongousMecha out of range of the CoolStarship, and the two leading contenders in the LoveDodecahedron get stranded with him when their rescue attempts fail due to enemy attacks. Akito ejects the mecha's limbs to get it moving, but the oxygen issue comes up again. Akito finally decides to TakeAThirdOption before they discover that they'd drifted back in range of their starship.
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[[AC:{{Manga}} and {{Anime}}]]
* In the second season of ''{{Vandread}}'', TheStoic Meia has to take care of Ezra's baby daughter when a space battle breaks out and in the confusion, they accidentally launch in an escape pod. When oxygen begins to run out, Meia has no choice but to [[HeroicSacrifice throw herself out of the airlock]] ([[GoOutWithASmile with a smile, no less]]) to make sure Karu lasts until the pod is picked up by ''[[CoolStarship Nirvana]]''. [[spoiler:It turns out, the pod has just been picked up, and Meia didn't notice until she walked out.]]
* In the second season of ''{{Vandread}}'', TheStoic Meia has to take care of Ezra's baby daughter when a space battle breaks out and in the confusion, they accidentally launch in an escape pod. When oxygen begins to run out, Meia has no choice but to [[HeroicSacrifice throw herself out of the airlock]] ([[GoOutWithASmile with a smile, no less]]) to make sure Karu lasts until the pod is picked up by ''[[CoolStarship Nirvana]]''. [[spoiler:It turns out, the pod has just been picked up, and Meia didn't notice until she walked out.]]
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Note: Please do not include discussions on the short story ''The Cold Equations'' on this page. [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/JustBugsMe/TheColdEquations Instead post them here]].
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Note: Please do not include discussions on the short story ''The Cold Equations'' on this page. [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/JustBugsMe/TheColdEquations [[JustBugsMe/TheColdEquations Instead post them here]].
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-->"I am just going outside and I may be some time."
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* ''{{Ever 17}}''. Tsugumi's good ending.
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* ''{{Ever 17}}''. Tsugumi's good ending
* ''{{Ever 17}}''. Tsugumi's good ending
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* ''Ever17''. Tsugumi's good ending
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* ''Ever17''.''{{Ever 17}}''. Tsugumi's good ending
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* ''Ever 17''. Tsugumi's good ending
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* ''Ever 17''.''Ever17''. Tsugumi's good ending
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* ''FrauImMond'' (1929). After a struggle punctures the oxygen tank, the two male crewmembers [[LotteryOfDoom draw straws]] to see who stays behind. The DirtyCoward gets the short straw and breaks down sobbing, so the hero makes the HeroicSacrifice and stays behind on the moon instead.
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* ''FrauImMond'' (1929). After a struggle punctures the oxygen tank, the two male crewmembers [[LotteryOfDoom draw straws]] to see who stays behind. gets to return to Earth on the rocket. The DirtyCoward gets the short straw and breaks down sobbing, so the hero makes the HeroicSacrifice and stays behind on the moon Moon instead.
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* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 Apollo 13]] actually ran into this dilemma. After the oxygen tank in the command module explodes, the crew is forced to use the life-support systems of the LEM module. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but the LEM was only designed to support two people, not the full crew. [[hottip:* :In an ordinary mission, two crew members would land on the moon in the LEM and explore the surface while the third stayed on the command module in lunar orbit.]] Luckily, they McGyvered a few ways to work around this that didn't involve murder.
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* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 Apollo 13]] actually ran into this dilemma. After the oxygen tank in the command module explodes, the crew is forced to use the life-support systems of the LEM module. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but the LEM was only designed to support two people, not the full crew. [[hottip:* :In an ordinary mission, two crew members would land on the moon in the LEM and explore the surface while the third stayed on the command module in lunar orbit.]] Luckily, they McGyvered succeeded in MacGyvering a few ways to work around this that didn't involve murder.
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[[AC:{{Other}}]]
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* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 Apollo 13]] actually ran into this dilemma. After the oxygen tank in the command module explodes, the crew is forced to use the life-support systems of the LEM module. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but the LEM was only designed to support two people, not the full crew. [[hottip:* :In an ordinary mission, two crew members would land on the moon in the LEM and explore the surface while the third stayed on the command module in lunar orbit.]] Luckily, they MacGyvered a few ways to work around this that didn't involve murder.
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* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 Apollo 13]] actually ran into this dilemma. After the oxygen tank in the command module explodes, the crew is forced to use the life-support systems of the LEM module. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but the LEM was only designed to support two people, not the full crew. [[hottip:* :In an ordinary mission, two crew members would land on the moon in the LEM and explore the surface while the third stayed on the command module in lunar orbit.]] Luckily, they MacGyvered McGyvered a few ways to work around this that didn't involve murder.
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Cold Equation
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''{{Film/Alien}}'' (1979). After the xenomorph does some snacking, there are four crew members left.
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* ''{{Film/Alien}}'' (1979). After the xenomorph does some snacking, there are four crew members left.
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* Two famous court cases involving survivors of shipwrecks who took to the lifeboats and were charged with murder for their subsequent actions are ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brown_(ship)
United States v. Holmes]]'' in which sailors forced passengers (including women and children) off an overcrowded lifeboat, and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens R v Dudley and Stephens]]'' in which sailors murdered the weakest member of their lifeboat crew, on the grounds that they were starving and he was likely to die anyway.
United States v. Holmes]]'' in which sailors forced passengers (including women and children) off an overcrowded lifeboat, and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens R v Dudley and Stephens]]'' in which sailors murdered the weakest member of their lifeboat crew, on the grounds that they were starving and he was likely to die anyway.
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* Two famous court cases involving survivors of shipwrecks who took to the lifeboats and were charged with murder for their subsequent actions are ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brown_(ship)
org/wiki/William_Brown_(ship) United States v.vs. Holmes]]'' in which sailors forced passengers (including women and children) off an overcrowded lifeboat, and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens R v vs. Dudley and Stephens]]'' in which sailors murdered the weakest member of their lifeboat crew, on the grounds that they were starving and he was likely to die anyway.
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Click the edit button to start this new page.
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A spaceship has been damaged and is running out of oxygen (or food or fuel). But then someone calculates that if they had one ''less'' crewmember, they just might make it back safely...
Can also apply to circumstances outside of ScienceFiction. Such incidents have even happened in real life, involving sailors in lifeboats running out of food or freeboard. These seldom involved any fine calculations, just desperate people willing to do anything to live a bit longer. Those who travel on spaceships are presumed to be a different breed, or perhaps they're just more educated; therefore expect a LotteryOfDoom or HeroicSacrifice.
Note: Please do not include discussions on the
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[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* The TropeNamer is of course ''The Cold Equations'', the classic 1954 sci-fi short by Tom Godwin famous for averting the AlwaysSaveTheGirl trope. A young girl stows away on a shuttle carrying vital medicine to a planetary colony, not knowing that its fuel has been precisely calculated and her extra weight is enough to cause disaster. The pilot has no choice but to have her ThrownOutTheAirlock. Unfortunately the story has an obvious plothole in that the pilot has the legal authority (and even a weapon) to evict stowaways, yet doesn't take the simple precaution of searching the ship before launch or putting a lock on the door.
* {{Arthur C Clarke}}'s excellent short story "Breaking Strain" is about a spaceship with only two astronauts that is running out of oxygen. It follows one of the character's thoughts as he becomes more and more tempted to murder his companion. It has two different {{Adaptation Expansion}}s: the novel ''Venus Prime 1: Breaking Strain'', and the film ''Trapped in Space'' (which expands the crew to six people and has a more AndThenThereWereNone kind of plot with successive murders).
* ''The Engines of God'' by Jack [=McDevitt=]. Hutch is piloting a spaceship which crashes into an alien artifact, shutting down their fusion engine. The spaceship starts to lose heat (so much that it starts snowing inside) and the oxygen pumps fail, leaving them with only a week's worth of air in the shuttle and the nearest rescue ship ten days away. A LotteryOfDoom is half-heartedly suggested, but Hutch tells everyone to sleep on it, then sneaks out with the intention of committing suicide (as pilot it's her responsibility to ensure the safety of the others). [[spoiler:At the last moment Hutch realises all they have to do is melt the 'snow' (actually frozen atmosphere) to get the needed oxygen.]] Later on another pilot is looking at his shuttle -- named after a pilot who famously performed a similar sacrifice -- and bemoans the fact that such exciting heroics don't happen now that spaceflight has become routine and safe.
[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* ''FrauImMond'' (1929). After a struggle punctures the oxygen tank, the two male crewmembers [[LotteryOfDoom draw straws]] to see who stays behind. The DirtyCoward gets the short straw and breaks down sobbing, so the hero makes the HeroicSacrifice and stays behind on the moon instead.
* ''DestinationMoon'' (1950). The rocketship loses reaction mass landing on the moon, so someone has to stay behind even after they've thrown out every piece of equipment they can unbolt. [[spoiler:While the {{Campbellian Hero}}es are arguing over who gets to make the HeroicSacrifice, the PluckyComicRelief sneaks outside and larconially tells the others to take off without him. Fortunately someone realises how to dispose of an extra piece of equipment so they can all return safely.]]
''{{Film/Alien}}'' (1979). After the xenomorph does some snacking, there are four crew members left.
-->'''Lambert:''' "I say that we abandon this ship. We get the shuttle and just get the hell out of here; we take our chances and hope that somebody picks us up!"
-->'''Ripley:''' "Lambert, the shuttle won't take four."
-->'''Lambert:''' "Well why don't we [[LotteryOfDoom draw straws]] then__"
-->'''Parker:''' "I'm not drawing any straws. I'm for killing that goddamned thing right now."
* ''Starflight One'' (1983). Disaster movie involving a hypersonic passenger plane that gets stuck in orbit. Most of the passengers are successfully evacuated and the crew intends to try and achieve reentry, but they're running out of oxygen (the plane is only meant to pass through space for a short time before returning to Earth). A CorruptCorporateExecutive on the ground half-heartedly suggests that if there were a couple less passengers...whereupon the pilot retorts that if he survives this experience there's going to be one less executive.
* ''Lifepod'' (1993), set in an escape pod ejected from a sabotaged spaceship with limited air, food and water. Stating that their odds of survival would increase if one of them dies, a blind passenger tries to cut his wrists. [[spoiler:He's actually the saboteur, and did it knowing the others would stop him.]]
* ''{{Sunshine}}'' (2007). Icarus II is damaged on its mission to reignite the sun, but the crew realise they can still get there if one of them dies. A scientist who's lapsed into depression after indirectly causing the death of TheCaptain is an obvious candidate. All but one of the crew vote to kill him (their mission is, after all, to save the entire human race) only to find he's already killed himself. [[spoiler:Or he was killed by a stowaway whose presence makes the whole question moot.]]
[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''StarTrekEnterprise'' ("Shuttlepod One"). Trip Tucker and Malcolm Reed are stranded on a shuttle, and the latter decides to throw himself out the airlock to give his companion more time, only to be ordered back at phaser-point by Trip.
** Sci Fi Debris really tore that "Shuttlecraft One" episode a new
* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Galileo Seven". When the shuttlecraft Galileo crash lands on a planet it loses so much fuel that it can't even reach orbit unless they lighten their load by 500 lbs. It's immediately pointed out that 500 lbs. is the weight of three men. Two of the crew die while on the planet, and they eventually take off and achieve orbit. Unfortunately they had to use the boosters to do so, so they're guaranteed to burn up on re-entry.
** Another ''Star Trek: TOS'' episode "The Conscience of the King" had this, not in a space ship but on a planet. Kodos "the Executioner", former governor of the Earth colony of Tarsus IV, was responsible for the massacre of over 4000 people, including members of Kirk's family. Governor Kodos had ordered the executions of more than half Tarsus IV's population after the food supply was all but destroyed by a fungus. This would have allowed the rest of the population to survive until relief came. It so happened that the vital resupply ships that could have saved the whole colony arrived much sooner than Kodos had anticipated, rendering all the executions unnecessary.
* ''BlakesSeven'' episode "Orbit". AntiHero Avon and DirtyCoward Vila are on a shuttle desperately trying to achieve escape velocity. They throw out everything they can but are short seventy kilos. [[spoiler:It turns out that the shuttle is being weighed down by a piece of super-dense matter. Once Avon finds it all he has to do is push it out the airlock - if he can, because it's so damn heavy. Trouble is, he can't get Vila to help him because he's scared Vila into hiding.]]
-->'''Avon:''' "Not enough, not nearly enough! ''DAMMIT! What weighs 70 kilos?!''"
-->'''Orac:''' "Vila weighs 73 kilos, Avon."
-->'''Avon:''' ''(pulling out a handgun)'' "Vila..."
* In one episode of ''{{Bones}}'' twins had been abducted by "The Gravedigger," who buries his victims and demands ransom or they will die in exactly 24 hours (due to suffocation). Except in this case since the Gravedigger didn't expect to abduct two people they only have 12 hours of air. One was seriously injured and killed himself so the other might be able to hang on a bit longer.
[[AC:{{Comics}}]]
* It is alleged that Godwin (author of ''The Cold Equations'') essentially took the story from a story published in EC Comics' ''Weird Science'' #13, May-June 1952, called "A Weighty Decision," scripted by Al Feldstein. In that story there are three astronauts who are intended to be on the flight, not one, and the additional passenger, a girl that one of the astronauts has fallen in love with, is trapped aboard by a mistake rather than stowing away. As in The Cold Equations, various measures are proposed but the only one which will not lead to worse disaster is for the unwitting passenger to be jettisoned. Other sources note that the theme of Feldstein's story is itself strikingly similarly to the story "Precedent", published by E.C. Tubb in 1949; in that story, as in the others, a stowaway must be ejected from a spaceship because the fuel aboard is only enough for the planned passengers. These sources argue that neither Feldstein nor Godwin intentionally "swiped" from the stories that came before, but merely produced similar variations on an ancient theme, that of an individual being sacrificed so that the rest may survive.
* In the {{Tintin}} comic album "Explorers on the Moon" [[spoiler:Colonel Jorgen smuggles himself on board with the aid of Wolff, a crewmember he is blackmailing. He intends to steal the rocket, leaving Tintin and his companions on the surface of the Moon. When Wolff objects Jorgen points out that they don't have enough oxygen to bring prisoners back to Earth. Later when the villains are overpowered, Tintin [[HonorBeforeReason refuses to leave them behind]] despite having exactly the same problem. After Jorgen is killed in a struggle, Wolff decides to atone for his actions [[RedemptionEqualsDeath by stepping out the airlock]]. Even so Tintin and his companions almost don't make it back to Earth.]]
* A SpaceOpera comic this troper read as a kid had SpacePirates being caught in a NegativeSpaceWedgie and realising that the only means of escape was the two-man shuttle. The BigBad and his FemmeFatale girlfriend hide until all the other pirates have killed each other fighting over the shuttle, then take off in it.
[[AC:{{Other}}]]
* That scenario that was supposed to test 'decision making' but was actually a SpaceWhaleAesop regarding the evils of nuclear proliferation. You know the one: there's six people but only room in the nuke shelter for five -- whom do you throw out? There would usually be an obvious RedShirt character like a priest, supposedly proving the irrelevance of organised religion. These scenarios never included the details that would matter in real life, such as who was your best buddy, who was an attractive member of the opposite sex or who was holding a firearm at the moment the crucial decision was made.
* There's an urban myth this troper knows where people found the dead body of a man in the desert holding a piece of straw. In a line from his body are clothes and equipment. It's impossible for him to have walked and there are no tracks leading away from a vehicle. The solution to the mystery is that he was on a balloon than was descending over the desert; the passengers threw out everything they could to gain height, before realising one person would have to go. The corpse drew the short straw.
[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* The nuclear shelter scenario is spoofed in ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Bart's Comet". A comet is about to strike Springfield and so the entire towns' population tries to cram into Ned Flander's bomb shelter. They somehow manage this, but can't get the door closed. After arguing about who should be sacrificed Homer points out that the one skill future society doesn't need is the ability to sell left-handed products, so Ned gets thrown out of his own shelter. Eventually they all feel guilty about this decision, so leave the shelter to die with him. The comet ends up striking the bomb shelter and destroying it.
[[AC:{{Anime}}]]
* ''Ever 17''. Tsugumi's good ending
[[AC:RealLife]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 Apollo 13]] actually ran into this dilemma. After the oxygen tank in the command module explodes, the crew is forced to use the life-support systems of the LEM module. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but the LEM was only designed to support two people, not the full crew. [[hottip:*:In an ordinary mission, two crew members would land on the moon in the LEM and explore the surface while the third stayed on the command module in lunar orbit.]] Luckily, they MacGyvered a few ways to work around this that didn't involve murder.
* Two famous court cases involving survivors of shipwrecks who took to the lifeboats and were charged with murder for their subsequent actions are ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brown_(ship)
United States v. Holmes]]'' in which sailors forced passengers (including women and children) off an overcrowded lifeboat, and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens R v Dudley and Stephens]]'' in which sailors murdered the weakest member of their lifeboat crew, on the grounds that they were starving and he was likely to die anyway.
* Lawrence Oates went out into a blizzard after supplies for the ill-fated [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova_Expedition Scott Antarctic Expedition]] ran low, in an ultimately futile attempt to save his companions.
-->"I am just going outside and I may be some time."
