History Main / MagicCountdown

* The film ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' (the original one). When O'Neil sets the timer on the nuke, it also beeps constantly in all the scenes. In most scenes, counting the beeps is pretty accurate between timer shots, but the time between beeps varies widely between shots. In one scene, it counts down normally, in another it's almost rapid fire.

* Occurs in the FinalBoss fight of ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}''. The first stage timer is the amount of time before you succumb to the neurotoxin the final boss is pumping into the room. After you finish the first stage (which knocks out the neurotoxin emitters...somehow), the second stage gives you four minutes before the entire Enrichment Center explodes in an atomic fireball due to a reactor meltdown. You can beat that stage with as little as one second left, but the third stage starts over at precisely two minutes, and even after you finish that, the conclusion is a TakeYourTime. You could go eat lunch and the place will still be about to explode. There is a subtle LampshadeHanging of this when the automated announcer declares after the second stage that the reactor explosion timer has been destroyed. Not the explosion itself, mind you, the ''timer'' for the explosion.
** Of course, this being Aperture, the third timer[[hottip:*: Activated by the 'Reactor explosion uncertainty emergency preemption protocol']] is a self-destruction timer to prevent the uncertainty that would result if they didn't know exactly ''when'' they were going to die.

-->--'''Rule #216 of The EvilOverlordList'''

* SciFi once ran a marathon of the ''{{Robocop}}'' television series with humorous running commentary. One episode had a bomb set for five minutes. The running commentary points out that it takes 7:04 for the bomb to eventually be shut off.

* Each installment of the ''SaturdayNightLive'' sketch ''[=MacGruber=]'', a parody of ''MacGyver'', involves a countdown (usually of twenty seconds) before a bomb goes off. The twenty seconds tend to last about a minute.

* Parodied on TheBenStillerShow, where [[UnfortunateNames Andy Dick]] seems to find plenty to do while [[http://www.ifc.com/videos/the-ben-stiller-show-bomb-squad.php trying to defuse a bomb]].

** Arguably an aversion. Khan was counting down similar to a parent counting down for a child on a time limit they KNOW is too short - "I'm going to count to three and it better be done - one, two, two and a half, *pause* - task finishes - good you just made it." Khan is basically saying, "You have until I feel like blowing you up to get me what I want" - as long as the crew APPEARED to be giving him what he wanted, Khan was willing to stretch his countdown.

* Considering how infamous it is in the fandom, ''WebVideo/DragonBallAbridged'' naturally parodied the entire exploding Namek sequence, with Goku [[IdiotHero of all people]] calling out Freeza's way off estimates.

** Baseketball games often see something similar, especially if the game is close, as the team that is behind will commit fouls to prevent the team ahead from wasting time.

* While not ''technically'' possible in real life, let's be honest, that last hour of work before punch out time can feel like this.Even AlbertEinstein pointed it out.

* An entire episode of ''SlamDunk'' not only takes place during a single shot, from release to entering the basket, but during the last few seconds of a game. While the flashbacks can be attributed to moving at TheSpeedOfThought, the internal monologue shouldn't.

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...00:17, 00:16, 00:15...

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* Lampshaded in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'', where a malfunctioning transmitter chip is successfully extracted with one second to go before it explodes, leading to Calvin remarking:

* The time limit for the entire game on ''FortBoyard'' doesn't really exist, and is only there so the editors can add some drama to the show. This troper saw one example on the UK version where the team had about 2:00 left on the clock when a woman attempted a challenge at some height. After about 4 minutes of faffing about, she gave up, and only about 1:00 had gone off the clock.

[[quoteright:350:[[Website/{{Cracked}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/magiccountdown.jpg]]]]

** In the tax day episode, the new years' ball malfunctions when it gets to 8. Chief Wiggum shoots the ball and it falls down immediately, causing everybody counting down to say "sevensixfivefourthreetwoone!"

* An entire episode of ''Anime/SlamDunk'' takes place during a single shot, from release to entering the basket. While the flashbacks can be attributed to moving at TheSpeedOfThought, the internal monologue shouldn't.

When applied to a TimedMission in VideoGames, it becomes AlwaysClose (and when applied to non-timed missions in video games, TakeYourTime). See also ExactTimeToFailure, which may give us the countdown in the first place, and InstantCooldown or MagicAntidote for the miraculous events that occur when it is stopped. May be also applied to a DescendingCeiling or when TheWallsAreClosingIn - the crusher keeps conveniently moving back between shots.

* While not ''technically'' possible in real life, let's be honest, that last hour of work before punch out time can feel like this.

->''"If I ever MUST put a digital timer on my doomsday device, I will buy one free from quantum mechanical anomalies. So many brands on the market keep perfectly good time while you're looking at them, but whenever you turn away for a couple minutes then turn back, you find that the countdown has progressed by only a few seconds.:''

* On ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'', in the episode "Both of You, Dance Like You Want To Win!", the timer that counts down until the EVA units run out of power is actually shown on screen as the action sequence is played out.

** Although technically, the stages with the ten-minute timer (White Jungle) and the eight-minute timer (Green Forest) are actually running in parallel, with different characters playing it.

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' lives by this trope. Whenever an Eva gets disconnected from it's "umbilical cable", huge digital timers show up to indicate how much internal power is left. The amount varies with the activity: at full-blown battle, it only lasts one minute - in theory. In practice, battles always last longer than one minute - especially if the Eva goes berserk. For example, in episode 19 Shinji topped the minute with a good 14 seconds and he was fighting like a madman. Once he ran out of power, the Eva had gone berserk, curbstomped [[spoiler:and ate]] the Angel in another three minutes.