History Main / DestructionEqualsOffSwitch

* Averted in the FirstPersonShooter series ''NoOneLivesForever''. Shooting cameras sets off the alarm.

* Happens many times on the various ''StarTrek'' series with force fields. Numerous episodes have characters shoot a control panel and a force field shuts off. Why even bother having access codes to unlock??

* Used in the JamesBond movies ''DiamondsAreForever'' and ''DieAnotherDay''.

* ''DeadSpace''

Another example: why would you possibly think that, upon destruction of the one system controlling the electronic locks of a prison or BedlamHouse, it would be a good idea to have it unlock every single cell at the same time? The designers are obviously suffering from GenreBlindness.

* Used at the end of the ''ToAruKagakuNoRailgun'' anime, where [[spoiler: Ruiko Saten smashes the consoles controlling the Big Bad's psychic-power-limiting device, thus allowing her friends to use their powers and defeat the villain.]]

* Averted in TheIncredibles ; in fact, it's the ''Omnidroid itself'' the one seeking to destroy it's remote control, so it cannot be controlled by anyone else, and it's up to the Incredibles to try keep it safe until they can figure out how to operate it.

* TheRealAdventuresOfJohhnyQuest has a particularly egregious case in the final episode. When the crew use Questworld to track down a reality warping demon, it takes over the system, leaving Johhny trapped. His father saves him by taking an axe to the laptop. Nevermind that based on everything established about Questworld so far, a stunt like that could potentially kill anyone connected.

* In most car braking systems, cutting the brake line will fail them open (i.e. brakes are open and can't be applied". Locomotives, however, have air brakes that will activate if the brake line is fouled up somehow (separation of the train, etc).
** Specifically, hydraulic brakes (like those on a car) require the pressure of the oil to close the brakes while air brakes (semi-trucks and trains) require the air pressure just to keep the brakes open. If air pressure is lost in an air brake the springs that the air pressure was pushing against will force the brake to immediately close and prevent a runaway vehicle situation.

* Hilariously averted in ''TheBatman'' - Batgirl sabotages the doomsday device, the countdown stops...

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*** The Droid Control Ship is given justification in the expanded universe: the droids stopped working because the Trade Federation was too cheap to outfit all the droids with processors, as well as being paranoid about them be used against them. The droids fell a part because they are held together magnetically. The stupidity of this was noted, and most of the droids used in the Clone Wars had central processors.

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* Hilariously averted in ''TheBatman'' - Batgirl sabotages the doomsday device, the countdown stops...

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* Averted in TheIncredibles ; in fact, it's the ''Omnidroid'' itself the one seeking to destroy it's remote control, so it cannot be controlled by anyone else, and it's up to the Incredibles to try keep it safe until they can figure out how to operate it.

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* Used in the JamesBond movies ''Diamonds Are Forever'' and ''Die Another Day''.

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* Happens many times on the various Star Trek series with force fields. Numerous episodes have characters shoot a control panel and a force field shuts off. Why even bother having access codes to unlock??

* DeadSpace

* Averted in ''TeenTitans'', in which Raven and Terra are arguing whether to destroy a control panel in order to shut off a device that's going to destroy the tower if they don't stop it. It ends up getting destroyed... which makes the device go faster.

* Subverted (in the right sense of the word this time) on ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}'': Kenzan catches Saiou's {{Brainwashed}} minion after he has used a laptop to fire a missile from a KillSat, so he figures the best way to fix things is to destroy the laptop. It's not until after he's done so that someone tells him he's in fact ''destroyed the Off Switch''. Did we mention Saiou is DangerouslyGenreSavvy?

*** The Droid Control Ship is given justification in the expanded universe: the droids stopped working because the Trade Federation was too cheap to outfit all the droids with processors, as well as being paranoid about them be used against them. The droids fell a part because they are held together magnetically. The stupidity of this was noted, and all the droids used in the Clone Wars had central processors.

* Averted in ''TeenTitans'', in which Raven and Terra are arguing whether to destroy a control panel in order to shut off a device that's going to destroy the tower if they don't stop it. It ends up getting destroyed... which doesn't help at all.

** Kind of the same thing happened at the end of the virtual world arc of ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'', only whoever destroyed the console actually wanted to destroy the off switch.

* Averted in ''TeenTitans'', in which Raven and Terra are arguing about whether to destroy a control panel in order to shut off a device that's going to destroy the tower if they don't stop it. It ends up getting destroyed...which doesn't help at all.

->Villain: What happened? Did we lose power?
->Henchman: No, the countdown timer's disabled. The device is still operational.