History Main / HolodeckMalfunction

*** At least three times their holographic technology has accidentally created fully actualized sentient beings.

* Optic Sunflower's stage in ''MegaManX 8''.

Sometimes involves part of the simulator software [[InstantAIJustAddWater becoming self-aware]]. For the other common way for simulations to become deadly, see YourMindMakesItReal. Compare OrpheanRescue.

* The ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' episode "Avatar", where Teal'c gets trapped in a training simulation of the SGC getting invaded by Goa'uld. Problem is, despite all the successes they had, Teal'c still believes on a subconscious level that the Goa'uld cannot be beaten. Therefore, the game won't let him win because it's programmed to learn from the user, even by [[NintendoHard spawning nigh-invulnerable enemies]] and even if the electric shocks caused by dying in the simulation puts the user in cardiac arrest. Oh, and the failsafe-exit he could use to abort the simulation at any time? [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy If this would be a real fight, Teal'c wouldn't quit under any means]] [[GoneHorriblyRight so the program disabled it]].
* In ''PowerRangersInSpace,'' [[LightningCanDoAnything lightning]] somehow results in simulated monsters breaking free, going to Earth, and impersonating townspeople to lie in wait for the Rangers.

* This was the plot of the ''{{X-Men}}'' game for the Sega Genesis. Magneto infects the Danger Room computer with a virus to turn its simulations deadly; every level except for the last one involves beating these simulations.

** The game also had an interesting refference to StarTrekTheNextGeneration, in that when the simulation ended, the simulation room looked exactly like the TNG holodeck.

* This happens in ''Revelation Space'' by AlastairReynolds. Justified in that the sim is deliberately sabotaged to turn a training sim into a deadly trap.

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* This happens in ''Revelation Space'' by AlastairReynolds. Justified in that the sim is deliberately sabotaged to turn a training sim into a deadly trap.

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** Between ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' and ''StarTrekVoyager'' this basic plot tended to happen at least OnceASeason. [[LongRunner That's a lot of episodes.]] Some explored issues regarding the tech that didn't require it to technically malfunction, usually someone becoming addicted to the fake reality it created.

--> '''Worf:''' We were like warriors from the ancient sagas. There was nothing we could not do.

* ''HarshRealm''

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->''"Oh, no! It's finally happened! They've disappeared '''into the simulation'''! Trapped! As my favorite sci-fi scenarios have foretold!"''
--> -- '''Dr Disaster''', ''GunnerkriggCourt''

-->It is less due to wanting to be with the animals, and more them needing to be kept in the technological environment they have been raised in.

*** Interesting enough it happens twice to the same person, Giannine of ''Heir Apparent'' is one of the players in User Friendly.

** A notable aversion to the "safety protocols going off" is a Voyager episode where the holodeck world was compatible with the realm of some {{Energy Being}}s and it caused the entire ship to get stuck. The safeties remained in place but they couldn't shut it down, requiring them to play along with "The Adventures of Captain Proton!" Though it was mentioned they could still be thwarted (but not killed) by the non-fatal obstacles, like a force field prison.
** Averted in the Original Series episode "Shore Leave": The crew arrives on a planet that creates lifelike robots to simulate whatever visitors are thinking about for the purposes of amusement, but they don't realize it and inadvertently conjure up attackers and enemies. The aversion is that the planets safety protocols ''are'' working, and the crew isn't in any real danger, they just don't realize that. Played straight in the follow-up episode of the animated series (see Western Animation).

* The plot of {{Portal}} kind of fits this trope. The player is going through a series of test chambers to try out the portal gun, but when you reach chamber 16: "Due to mandatory scheduled maintenance, the next test is currently unavailable. It has been replaced with a live-fire course designed for military androids. The Enrichment Center apologizes and wishes you the best of luck."

** Hint: There was a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien prankster on the loose.

* ''TheXFiles'' episode "First Person Shooter" featured a video game designer's fantasy wish-fulfillment character gaining sentience and infiltrating another designer's prototype [[{{Cyberspace}} virtual reality]] FirstPersonShooter game to kill players (who, of course, [[YourMindMakesItReal die in real life]]). A famous gamer is brought in (but fares no better) and ultimately Mulder and Scully end up going in to take down the marauding avatar. Rather than, you know, just [[WallBanger scrapping the killer video game]] or loading a [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup backup copy]] of the game onto a different mainframe or something.

** That's not the interpretation that I read. (Admittedly, I read the comic book adaptation, so AdaptationDecay might be in effect.) What I read was that the simulation was used as a replacement for actual parenting while providing the children with whatever they wanted. Ultimately, what the children wanted was their parents dead so that they could stay in the simulation. (Also, the children had been using the lions to kill fake versions of their parents for at while before they really did kill their parents.) It's implied that they'll use the simulator to create fakes of their parents to fool anyone who comes calling, like the child psychologist they're talking to at the end of the story.

Some manner of simulator (whether HardLight {{Hologram}}s, a {{Cyberspace}} Virtual Reality program, or even just robot mannequins) suffers a PhlebotinumBreakdown. Naturally, said breakdown [[FailsafeFailure targets the safety features of the simulator first]] (rather than, say, shutting the whole thing down) and everything GoesHorriblyWrong, turning the sim, originally intended for training or [[PowerPerversionPotential pleasure]], deadly.

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* The ''DetectiveConan'' NonSerialMovie ''Phantom of Baker Street'' has this as the main premise. The VR game console was [[spoiler:hacked by an AI called Noah's Ark]], and the 50 players have to WinToExit... or their brains will be literally fried.
* ''ToAruKagakuNoRailgun'' has the cast modeling swimsuits inside a holodeck. Naturally, it malfunctions, and they start getting transported to random "locations," culminating in a ''[[TheMonolith 2001]]'' {{homage}} on the surface of the moon.

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* The ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' episode "Avatar", where Teal'C gets trapped in a training simulation that will eventually kill him if he doesn't win.

* [[MST3K Doctor Forrester's]] [[FunWithAcronyms CFVDEWTOD]] from TheWayOfTheMetagamer is specifically designed to fail and trap the user within a lethal "simulation", so that he can use it to take over the world.

** Lampshaded when Worf joined the crew of DS9, and reminisced about his days on the ''Enterprise'' with an old shipmate:

** Between ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' and ''StarTrekVoyager'' this basic plot tended to happen at least OnceASeason. [[LongRunner That's a lot of episodes.]] Although there were others that explored issues regarding the tech that didn't require it to technically malfunction, usually someone becoming addicted to the fake reality it created. A notable aversion to the "safety protocols going off" is a Voyager episode where the holodeck world was compatiable with the realm of some {{Energy Being}}s and it caused the entire ship to get stuck. The safeties remained in place but they couldn't shut it down, requiring them to play along with "The Adventures of Captain Proton!" Though it was mentioned they could still be thwarted (but not killed) by the non-fatal obstacles, like a force field prison.

* ''TheXFiles'' episode "First Person Shooter" featured a video game designer's fantasy wish-fulfillment character gaining sentience and infiltrating another designer's prototype [[{{Cyberspace}} virtual reality]] FirstPersonShooter game to kill players (who, of course, [[YourMindMakesItReal die in real life]]). A master hacker is brought in (and killed, and why his hacking skills would translate into virtual reality gunplay is never addressed) and ultimately Mulder and Scully end up going in to take down the marauding avatar. Rather than, you know, just [[WallBanger scrapping the killer video game]] or loading a [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup backup copy]] of the game onto a different mainframe or something.

* A large part of the premise of ''Virtuality'' (the failed 2009 pilot, not the the film).

** Between ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' and ''StarTrekVoyager'' this basic plot tended to happen at least OnceASeason. [[LongRunner That's a lot of episodes.]] Although there were others that explored issues regarding the tech that didn't require it to technically malfunction, usually someone becoming addicted to the fake reality it created. A notable aversion to the "safety protocols going off" is a Voyager episode where the holodeck world was compatiable with the realm of some {{Energy Being}}s and it caused the entire ship to get stuck. The safeties remained in place but they couldn't shut it down, requiring them to play along with "The Adventures of Captain Proton!"

The heroes inside the sim may be able to fight their way out, or [[WinToExit make the sim release them by completing the game]]. Sometimes however, all they can do is TryNotToDie while their friends on the outside repair the sim.

-->-- '''Kif''', ''{{Futurama}}''

-->-- '''Dr Disaster''', ''GunnerkriggCourt''

Sometimes involves part of the simulator software [[InstantAIJustAddWater becoming self-aware]]. For the other common way for simulations to become deadly, see YourMindMakesItReal.

* Vivian Vande Velde's ''HeirApparent'' and ''User Unfriendly'' both deal with virtual reality games gone wrong; both games, ironically, were made by Rasmussem Enterprises. In ''Heir Apparent,'' people protesting the violence in Rasmussem's fantasy games (and fantasy in general) damage the computer equipment to which the protagonist is connected, forcing her to either win the game or die. in ''User Unfriendly,'' the protagonists have gotten ahold of an illegal copy of another of Rasmussem's games rather than pay for time, and are playing it at their home. That doesn't go as planned either, and again, the only way out is to win.

**Averted in the Original Series episode "Shore Leave": The crew arrives on a planet that creates lifelike robots to simulate whatever visitors are thinking about for the purposes of amusement, but they don't realize it and inadvertantly conjure up attackers and enemies. The aversion is that the planets safety protocols ''are'' working, and the crew isn't in any real danger, they just don't realize that. Played straight in the follow up episode of the animated series (see Western Animation).

** A subversion involves one of the game characters coming to life and Rimmer ends up shooting him with a bazookoid, helping to gain the confidence to become Ace Rimmer. Turned out, Lister had dressed up to play the part, and loaded the gun with blanks.