History Main / JustinTime

* ''Film/{{Argo}}'' has several added to the climactic airport scene, probably none of which happened in the true story it was based on.

A SisterTrope to BigDamnHeroes.

* ''WalkerTexasRanger'': Regularly used, to varyingly degrees. A frequent use will be a split second before the villain is about to leave town, kill someone or carry out a particularly evil act (e.g., committ a huge bank robbery and kill hundreds of people inside), only for Walker and Trivette to arrive at the last second – with an army of police officers – and, after interrupting the vile act, beat up the bad guys.

* In Zaccaria's ''Pinball/{{Farfalla}}'', when the ball goes down an outlane, the player can use the "React Feature" for a split-second chance to use a smaller flipper and knock it back into play.

* In the WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing episode The Clock King]] this trope is zigzagged: The titular villain wants revenge against Gotham’s Mayor, but he knows that Batman always appears just in time to stop the villains. So he starts his plan [[LudicrousPrecision 6 hours (and 20 minutes)]] earlier, so he can get Batman LuredIntoATrap and get revenge on Hill. Unfortunately, Clock King’s own BondVillainStupidity ruins his plan, and Batman saves mayor Hill in a BigDamnHeroes moment… just in time. It's even lampshaded:
-->'''Temple Fugate:''' ''The Batman. It's about time you showed up.''

->''"That's the thing about rescues. They only happen in the nick of time."''
-->--'''The Fourth Doctor''', ''Babblesphere''

* Averted in an episode of [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space 9]]. While the crew of the ''Defiant'' looks like they'll be able to [[spoiler: save a stranded Federation officer they've been in contact with]] it turns out they were too late. Worse, they were [[spoiler: several years too late]] because they had actually been [[spoiler: unwittingly sending messages to the recent past before she had died]].

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/MovingPictures'', Victor ponders the idea that since the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality would ensure he arrives in the Nick of Time, he could stop to catch his breath but decides against it, because that would break the rules: he'll inevitably arrive in the nick of time, so long as he dramatically gives his all to get there.

* In ''Anime/PokemonArceusAndTheJewelOfLife'', Arceus uses Flamethrower at Ash and the gang and their new friends but Giratina appears and takes the flames for them. Good thing it's not very effective.
* ''{{Film/Argo}}'' has several added to the climactic airport scene, probably none of which happened in the true story it was based on.

* [[GiantFlyer Deus Ex Machina Airlines]]

* Doubling as a BigDamnHeroes moment, in the DarkestPowers series, Derek tracks down Chloe in [[TitleDrop just enough time]] to [[spoiler:save her from having her face carved up by a vindictive street kid]].

* ACruelGodReigns: [[spoiler: Ian]] finds [[spoiler: Jeremy]] just in time when he is DrivenToSuicide and tries to drown himself. Considering how much water [[spoiler: Jeremy]] swallowed, it looks like he barely made it.

No relation to the eponymous time-traveller, JustinTime (which is just a pun on the term).

* This is used countless times in ''Series/StargateSG1''. In one case several SG teams come to rescue SG-1 from Hathor minutes before they were to be executed. Most cases of this trope, however, are when someone or something is "beamed" away with transporter technology at just the right moment. In most cases the heroes are beamed away to safety, but in some cases an enemy or weapon is beamed away just as it is about to kill someone. There are a few cases in which the trope is ''inverted'', such as when someone (usually Jack or Daniel) is whisked away just as they are about to say something important. These "JustInTime" moments are {{lampshade|Hanging}}d almost every time, especially in the 200th-episode special when the team is reading a script for a sci-fi movie based on their experiences and the movie's heroes are beamed away right before the base collapses on them. They comment that this is "too convenient", and the movie's producer replies that they can simply "hang a lantern on it" ({{lampshade|Hanging}}) and move on.

* In ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', John Watson shows up JustInTime to [[spoiler:shoot the serial killer before Sherlock takes the pill that [[TheUnreveal may or may not have killed him]]]].

* Several cases in the ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' series have everything seem lost, only for a casebreaking piece of evidence to appear at just the last moment. A particularly extreme example occurs in the first game. [[spoiler:The judge ''declares a Guilty verdict'' and starts to go through the normal game over sequence before being interrupted at the last second.]]

** Alternatively, a literal example of JustInTime occurs in ''Dual Destinies'' when the panicked people in the courtroom manage to all fumble their way out in time before the time bomb that's been planted explodes, thus saving people from dying. [[spoiler:Although in actuality, Junpier woods and Apollo Justice didn't manage to get out in time, but they both survive.]]

* In the second episode of ''{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'', Blackadder is cheerily quipping on his way to be ShotAtDawn, because he expects George's uncle to let him off. When they get as far as "Ready, aim..." he starts to get nervous, and then a message arrives. Blackadder comments "I think that's what they call the nick of time", but it's a card reading "Here's looking at you, from all the boys in the firing squad". They get as far as "Fi.." before the ''real'' message arrives.

* Son Goku manages this a few times in DragonBallZ. Most notably in the Namek arc when he is Just In Time to save Gohan, Krillin and Vegeta from the Ginyu Special Taskforce. Also in the Saiyan arc when he saves Gohan and Krillin from Nappa, although in that case [[YouAreTooLate He Was Too Late]] to save his other comrades.

* Done in episode 13 of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': Judai duels a monkey named [[FunWithAcronyms SAL]] to save one of Asuka's friends, and tells the scientist to promise that he'll set SAL free when he's done. In the end, Judai wins, [[ILied but the scientist refuses to let SAL go.]] Just when all hope is lost, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Daitokuji-sensei sics Pharaoh on the scientist's men and gives all of them a warning.]]
* {{A Cruel God Reigns}}: [[spoiler: Ian]] finds [[spoiler: Jeremy]] just in time when he is {{Driven to Suicide}} and tries to drown himself. Considering how much water [[spoiler: Jeremy]] swallowed, it looks like he barely made it.

* Spoofed in the "[[HerCodeNameWasMarySue His Code Name Was The Fox]]" series of strips in FoxTrot: Roger's Marty Stu self-insert has less than a fraction of a second left to disarm a bomb, yet still correctly decides which of the ''186'' wires to cut.

* StarWars

* In {{Saw}} VI, William reaches the end of his tests just as the timer is at 1. [[spoiler: The true game begins here.]]

* Several cases in the ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' series have everything seem lost, only for a casebreaking piece of evidence to appear at just the last moment. A particularly extreme example occurs in the first game. [[spoiler:The judge ''declares a Guilty verdict'' and starts to go through the normal game over sequence before being interrupted at the last second.]]

* At the end of ''SuperSmashBros Brawl'''s Subspace Emissary story, all the heroes are gathered before [[spoiler:Tabuu]], who prepares to simply blow them all away with another helping of his OneHitKill Off Waves... only for [[spoiler:Sonic The Hedgehog]] to zoom in out of ''nowhere'', smash the [[spoiler:wings]] giving said attack power, and join in for the final battle. It just goes to show; [[{{Foreshadowing}} "Heroes always arrive late."]]
* Sabin in ''FinalFantasyVI''. Turns into a DuelBoss battle.

* ''W-a-a-a-y'' overused in the first season of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'', to the point where it was practically a OnceAnEpisode deal. There was even an episode ''called'' "Just In Time," but it was much closer to "By A Hair" in the original French (a more fitting pun, since one of the important plot devices was a strand of Aelita's hair [[spoiler: which Jeremy managed to materialize and used to revirtualize her when she was deleted near the end of the episode]]).

* In ''RockyAndBullwinkle'''s ''Treasure of Monte Zoom'' arc, there's a joke about the heroes always showing up in "the 'Ta-da' nick of time," leading Bullwinkle to wait around instead of going to save the day and arriving too early.
* In the WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing episode The Clock King]] this trope is zigzagged: The titular villain wants revenge against Gotham’s Mayor, but he knows that Batman always appears just in time to stop the villains. So he starts his plan [[LudicrousPrecision 6 hours (and 20 minutes)]] earlier, so he can get Batman LuredIntoATrap and get revenge on Hill. Unfortunately, Clock King’s own BondVillainStupidity ruins his plan, and Batman saves mayor Hill in a BigDamnHeroes moment… just in time. Its even lampshaded:

* In the WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing episode The Clock King]] this trope is zigzagged: The titular villain wants revenge against Gotham’s Mayor, but he knows that the local hero Batman always appears just in time to stop the villains. So he starts his plan [[LudicrousPrecision 6 hours (and 20 minutes)]] earlier, so he can get Batman LuredIntoATrap and get revenge on Hill. Unfortunately,{{ClockKing}}’s own BondVillainStupidity ruins his plan, and Batman saves mayor Hill in a BigDamnHeroes moment… just in time. Its even lampshaded:

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Nanase [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-09-15 wakes up in her fairy doll summon]] just as Abraham is swinging the axe to kill Ellen and manages to deflect it a fraction of a second later.

* At the BatmanTheAnimatedSeries [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing episode The Clock King]] this trope is zigzagged: The DangerouslyGenreSavvy villain ClockKing wants revenge against Gotham’s Mayor, but he knows that the local hero TheBatman always appears JustInTime to stop the villians. So he begins his EvilPlan [[LudicrousPrecision 6 hours (and 20 minutes)]] earlier, so he can get TheBatman LuredIntoATrap and get revenge on Hill. Unfortunately,{{ClockKing}}’s own BondVillainStupidity ruins his plan, and TheBatman rescues mayor Hill in a BigDamnHeroes moment… JustInTime. Its even lampshaded:
-->'''Temple Fugate:''' ''TheBatman. It's about time you showed up.''

* Tragically averted in an episode of [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space 9]]. While the crew of the ''Defiant'' looks like they'll be able to [[spoiler: save a stranded Federation officer they've been in contact with]] it turns out they were too late. Worse, they were [[spoiler: several years too late]] because they had actually been [[spoiler: unwittingly sending messages to the recent past before she had died]].

* ImpureBlood [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter002/ib012.html Roan has to escape by sunrise. Naturally it's dawn by the time they get him to the gates]]

* At the BatmanTheAnimatedSeries [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing episode The Clock King]] this trope is zigzagged: The DangerouslyGenreSavvy villain ClockKing wants revenge against Gotham’s Mayor, but he knows that the local hero TheBatman always appears JustInTime to stop the villians. So he begins his EvilPlan [[LudicrousPrecision 6 hours (and 20 minutes)]] earlier, so he can get TheBatman LuredIntoATrap and get revenge on Hill. Unfortunately,{{ClockKing}}’s own BondVillainStupidity ruins his plan, and TheBatman rescues mayor Hill in a BigDamnHeroes moment… JustInTime.

* At the BatmanTheAnimatedSeries [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing episode The Clock King]] this trope is zigzagged: The DangerouslyGenreSavvy villain ClockKing wants revenge against Gotham’s Mayor, but he knows that the local hero TheBatman always appears JustInTime to stop the villians. So he begins his EvilPlan 6 hours (and 20 minutes) earlier, so he can get TheBatman LuredIntoATrap and get revenge on Hill. Unfortunately,{{ ClockKing}}’s own BondVillainStupidity ruins his plan, and TheBatman rescues mayor Hill in a BigDamnHeroes moment… JustInTime.

* A chilling subversion comes in ''RainbowSix: Vegas 2''. Your squad of highly trained covert anti-terror badasses arrive in a Rec Center where hostages are being held... just in time for the terrorists to fill the area with poison gas, killing the civilians.