History Main / PhlebotinumBreakDown

* In the backstory of the ''Literature/{{Foreigner}}'' series, the starship ''Phoenix'' fails to drop out of {{hyperspace}} when it should. When the pilot presses the "emergency stop" button they find that they haven't merely overshot their target, they haven't merely gotten turned in the wrong direction, but ''they have no idea where they are''. With the amount of fuel they had it shouldn't have been possible to go further than 30 light years from Earth, in which case they should easily be able to spot the Sun, but no known stars or pulsars are visible to their telescopes, so it seems they accidentally took a trip through a shortcut in hyperspace, a shortcut which hyper-physics says shouldn't exist.

* ''Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold'': The Golden Condor uses solar energy to fly. Which is great, except when it's nighttime or the sky is overcast.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

* Kurau in ''Anime/KurauPhantomMemory'' suffers from bouts of weakness since the arrival of her "pair", Christmas--usually when being chased or having to fight. Of course, when Christmas is around it only [[ThePowerOfLove adds to her strength]].

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In the PC game ''VideoGame/EmpireAtWar – Forces of Corruption'', during the last mission, Tyber Zann captures the Eclipse-class Star Destroyer. The game then allows you to use its [[WaveMotionGun superlaser]], capable of smashing a capital ship instantly. Predictably, it breaks down just as a Super Star Destroyer enters the area.

** The holodeck is also a prime example, so much so that HolodeckMalfunction is a trope in its own right. The most common "simple" breakdown is to lock the senior officers inside and turn off the safety protocols. Why these features would always be the [[FailsafeFailure first to break]] defies explanation. However, the holodeck can give 'interesting' result without even been broken, say, by giving a simulation of [[SherlockHolmes Professor Moriarty]] full sentience and complete control of the ship's computer.

* ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'': Doraemon's gadgets always have some sort of weakness that causes them to never work as planned.

* In the backstory of the ''Literature/{{Foreigner}}'' series, the starship ''Phoenix'' fails to drop out of {{hyperspace}} when it should. When the pilot presses the "emergency stop" button they find that they haven't merely overshot their target, they haven't merely gotten turned in the wrong direction, but ''they have no idea where they are''. With the amount of fuel they had it shouldn't have been possible to go further than 30 light years from Earth, in which case they should easily be able to spot the Sun, but no known stars or pulsars are visible to their telescopes, so it seems they accidentally took a trip through a shortcut in hyperspace which hyper-physics says shouldn't exist.

** ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and every incarnations.

** The TARDIS is a particularly unreliable bit of Phlebotinium, justified by the fact that it's an obsolete piece of crap by Time Lord standards that the Doctor stole from a junkyard. Its navigation is notoriously unreliable when it works at all, its camouflage system has been stuck for the past 50 years, it has a habit of ignoring the Doctor's directions to deposit them in situations of extreme and immediate peril, and it was once blown to bits outright. Also, it once [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrank its passengers to the size of fleas]]. In contrast to the examples above, though, rather than breaking at the worst possible moment, the TARDIS seems to work correctly ''only'' when it's absolutely vital that it does (see MillionToOneChance, OneBulletLeft). That said, the TARDIS is supposed to be piloted with six crewmembers, not just the Doctor plus one. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife "The Doctor's Wife"]] revealed that the TARDIS [[spoiler:is sentient and in love with the Doctor]], and it often sends the Doctor where [[spoiler:she]] thinks they need to be, sometimes malfunctioning to keep them there.

----

** The TARDIS is a particularly unreliable bit of Phlebotinium, justified by the fact that it's an obsolete piece of crap by Time Lord standards that the Doctor stole from a junkyard. Its navigation is notoriously unreliable when it works at all, its camouflage system has been stuck for the past 50 years, it has a habit of ignoring the Doctor's directions to deposit him in situations of extreme and immediate peril, and it was once blown to bits outright. Also, it once [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrank its passengers to the size of fleas]]. In contrast to the examples above, though, rather than breaking at the worst possible moment, the TARDIS seems to work correctly ''only'' when it's absolutely vital that it does (see MillionToOneChance, OneBulletLeft). That said, the TARDIS is supposed to be piloted with six crewmembers, not just the Doctor plus one. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife "The Doctor's Wife"]] revealed that the TARDIS [[spoiler:is sentient and in love with the Doctor]], and it often sends the Doctor where [[spoiler:she]] thinks he needs to be, sometimes malfunctioning to keep him there.
** The Doctor also has a piece of "psychic paper" that appears to the people he shows it to as whatever credentials the Doctor needs to pass as whatever he's trying to pass himself as. [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol One time]], he tried to use it to convince a kid that he is "universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult":

'''The Doctor:''' ...Yeah, it's shorted out. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Finally, a lie too big.]]

The thinking is this: the [[{{Teleportation}} transporter]] does something really amazing and miraculous when it's ''working.'' Just imagine how amazing and miraculous a thing it could do if it were ''broken''. Never mind that this is no more logical a line of thought than, say, "A functioning toaster makes toast, but a broken one might start suddenly making [[LiteralGenie ''French'' toast!]] Or maybe even [[SerialEscalation sausage links!!]]"

'''The Doctor:''' ''[looks at paper]'' Yeah, it's shorted out. [[ManChild Finally, a lie too big.]]

HolodeckMalfunction is a subtrope, as is TeleporterAccident on occasion.

->'''The Doctor''': I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.\\

'''Kazran''': It's just a lot of wavy lines. \\
'''The Doctor''': ''[looks at paper]'' Yeah, it's shorted out. [[ManChild Finally, a lie too big]].

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The "malfunctioning toaster would make sausage rule" also applies to magic as well as science. In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', when Saiou's defeat-equals-mind-control spell fails on Judai, instead of just not being {{Brainwashed}}, Judai loses the ability to see monster spirits and the images on Duel Monsters cards.

* ''Literature/AwakeInTheNightLand'' has the Earth Current, which can protect the humans from the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s of the titular Night Land. However the exact date in which it will fail has been calculated for eons, which will eventually culminate in the extinction of mankind.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' likes this one, usually with things (or people) breaking or being corrupted by Chaos at just the right time to sentence lots of people to horrific death.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' likes this one, usually with things (or people) breaking or being sabotaged by Commie Mutant Traitors at just the right time to sentence lots of citizens to highly amusing death.

* In the PC game ''VideoGame/EmpireAtWar - Forces of Corruption'', during the last mission, Tyber Zann captures the Eclipse-class Star Destroyer. The game then allows you to use its [[WaveMotionGun superlaser]], capable of smashing a capital ship instantly. Predictably, it breaks down just as a Super Star Destroyer enters the area.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/{{Descent}} 2'', the Pyro GX's [[FasterThanLightTravel warp core]] malfunctions and dumps him in the wrong place. This is revealed in ''Descent 3'' to have been deliberate sabotage.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', the firing of the replacement Halo causes the slipspace field to collapse prematurely, cutting a ship in half. The front half makes it to its destination, but the back half only materializes in space only partway there, leaving Master Chief and Cortana floating near a [[VideoGame/{{Halo 4}} Forerunner planet in an unknown location]].
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork 3'', Flashman's last gasp before deletion glitches up Lan's PET, at one point making it impossible for Megaman to jack out.
* Fenix in ''Videogame/StarcraftI'' is ambushed by hydralisks in a cutscene. Unfortunately for him his psi-blade emitters picked that moment to malfunction. Incredibly enough he still managed to survive whatever the hydralisks did to him, though the damage was severe enough that he had to be placed inside a Dragoon.
* In the original Japanese version of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', if [[OldSaveBonus you carried over save data]] where Ike had beaten the Black Knight, he attributes his defeat to malfunctioning [[VillainTeleportation warp powder]] leaving behind [[ActuallyADoombot a weak "ghost" of himself]]. This isn't in other versions, as the localization team [[{{Woolseyism}} deemed it ridiculous and changed it]] to [[ILetYouWin letting Ike win]].

'''The Doctor:''' ...Yeah, it's shorted out. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Finally, a lie too big.]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Happens to the Millennium Falcon ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', when the Imperial attack forces Han and Chewie to rush a maintenance job. When the hyperdrive works, it lets them travel faster than light. When it doesn't work, it... doesn't do anything. (Funny, that.)
* At the end of ''Film/ShortCircuit 2'', Johnny 5 tries to use his [[EverythingIsOnline radio that hacks into things]] on a boat, but it doesn't work because [[ItsASmallNetAfterAll the boat is ''not'' electronic]].

* In "Film/TheSixthWorld", the genetically-modified corn stops producing oxygen, endangering the colonization mission.

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The transporter would break (in the simple "fails to work" sense) pretty much any time our heroes needed to make a hasty exit from a hostile planet. It would break (in the spectacular sense) on occasion as well. Broken transporters have created twins of at least two people (Kirk and Riker), in one case somehow [[LiteralSplitPersonality separating "good" and "evil"]], [[FountainOfYouth caused people to regress in age]], [[CompositeCharacter merged two individuals to create a viable and integrated third individual]], sent people to a [[MirrorUniverse parallel universe]], and even transformed a bunch of people into manatees trapped in the void between dimensions.
** The holodeck is also a prime example, so much so that HolodeckMalfunction is a trope in its own right. The most common "simple" breakdown is to lock the senior officers inside and turn off the safety protocols. Why these features would always be the [[FailsafeFailure first to break]] defies explanation. However, the holodeck can give 'interesting' result without even been broken, say, by giving a simulation of [[SherlockHolmes Professor Moriarty]] full sentience and complete control of the ship's computer.
** In fact, most ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' plots revolved around some form of this, from malfunctioning replicators to [[EvolutionaryLevels crew members devolving]] to the everyday, run of the mill warp core breach. And the holodecks. And Data. Both of them should have tossed off of the 1701D at their first sign of major trouble... which happened for both of them in TNG's first season.
** In a more down-played fashion, the communicators more than once had to be kept from working properly for the reasons mentioned in the CellPhonesAreUseless trope.[[note]]That trope specifically points to this one for futuristic communications not working.[[/note]]
** Likewise, the EverythingSensor[=s=] range from being able to detect the smallest sub-atomic phenomena to being completely unable to locate Starfleet personnel or equipment depending on the needs of the plot. The same generally applies to Deanna Troi's infamously unreliable [[TheEmpath empathy]].
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Borg technology is popular AppliedPhlebotinum on the show, being depicted as able to grow in an organic manner, absorb nearby technology and resist attempts to deactivate or remove it. But when the most important of Seven of Nine's implants breaks down, it is perhaps the only one that is not self-repairing and ones from deceased drones likewise become useless very quickly and thus cannot be salvaged. Pity Starfleet did not know this, because a weapon specifically designed to target that one implant could kill drones easily.
* ''Franchise/StargateVerse'':
** ''Series/StargateSG1'' frequently has [=DHD=]s broken or destroyed on planets where the team would not like to stay. More extravagantly, a malfunctioning Stargate trapped one of the team in a wormhole (when one Stargate was destroyed), trapped Earth in a time-loop (when working in conjunction with an alien device that was intended to do this), nearly destroyed a star (though technically the gate was not malfunctioning, just being abused), ''actually'' destroyed a star (this time [[WeaponOfMassDestruction on purpose]]), sent SG-1 backward in time, and almost sucked Earth into a black hole. The worst the gate has yet done on ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' was to ensnare a puddlejumper when one of its engine pods failed to retract.
** Not mention the teleportation chips SG-1 had installed recently for purposes of whenever deus ex machina is needed. Take a wild guess what happens when the episode is 30 minutes in and one is ''not'' needed.
** In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' the Stargate managed to send Colonel John Sheppard 48000 years in the future by the same problem that sent SG-1 to the past, considerably increasing the bar for Atlantis' Stargate mishaps. To make matters worse it wasn't a proper breakdown, just poor programming.
** Also, in one try at making a power source more powerful than the Zero Point Module (a device that draws energy from an artificially created micro-universe) in ''Stargate Atlantis'' they ended up almost destroying a parallel universe (although they knew something as such would happen, they only didn't knew the other universe would be populated, much less that it would be a parallel one). The incredible part is that the machine became an actual extra-dimensional portal.
* A particularly bad offender was ''Series/SevenDays'', where the sphere seemed to malfunction more often than it functioned, and could do anything from inverting the morality of the entire universe to turning its pilot into (I swear ) the pope.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The TARDIS is a particularly unreliable bit of Phlebotinum, justified by the fact that it's an obsolete piece of crap by Time Lord standards that the Doctor stole from a junkyard. Its navigation is notoriously unreliable when it works at all, its camouflage system has been stuck for the past 50 years, it has a habit of ignoring the Doctor's directions to deposit him in situations of extreme and immediate peril, and it was once blown to bits outright. Also, it once [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrank its passengers to the size of fleas]]. In contrast to the examples above, though, rather than breaking at the worst possible moment, the TARDIS seems to work correctly ''only'' when it's absolutely vital that it does (see MillionToOneChance, OneBulletLeft). That said, the TARDIS is supposed to be piloted with six crewmembers, not just the Doctor plus one. The episode "The Doctor's Wife" revealed that the TARDIS [[spoiler:is sentient and in love with the Doctor]], and it often sends the Doctor where [[spoiler:she]] thinks he needs to be, sometimes malfunctioning to keep him there.
** The Doctor also has a piece of "Psychic Paper" that appears to the people he shows it to as whatever credentials the Doctor needs to pass as whatever he's trying to pass himself as. One time, he tried to use it to convince a kid that he is recognized as a responsible adult
---> '''Kid:''' It's just a bunch of wavy lines.\\
'''Doctor:''' ...Yeah, it's shorted out. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Finally, a lie too big.]]
* In ''Series/{{Voyagers}}'', the boy visits the time of UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison and finds to his horror that the curious inventor has disassembled his time machine, the handheld device called the Omni. The inventor insists he is confident he can reassemble it, and by the end of the story, he proves it, as he presents the boy with a fully intact Omni; the operation even ''repairs'' an intermittent malfunction in the device.
** Also, the Omni malfunctioning is what starts off the series; it's not programmed to take Bogg past 1970, but a brief malfunction lands him in 1982, where he picks up Jeffrey...who he then can't take home again.

* In the ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' episode "Fashion Week", the magic power plant went offline, and the wizard spent ''almost'' an entire episode without magic.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WebComics]]
* Discussed about in [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0105.html this]] ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' strip, with link to this page.

* In ''Webcomic/DAndDS9'', after an attack by the Borg (and a [[CriticalHit Critical Hit roll]]) the U.S.S. Saratoga suffers a Warp Core Breach. This happens less than one minute into the campaign.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' has this at least once every episode. Handy viewer shorthand: When the Omnitrix is red, Ben can't transform because it needs to recharge. Also, there was one of the "toaster makes sausage" variety, where prying off the faceplate of the Omnitrix with a screwdriver and trying to stick it back on with bubble gum results in that episode's transformations becoming MixAndMatchCritters.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': The origin story behind the Delightful Children From Down the Lane goes that Father's first Delightfulization Chamber malfunctioned and [[TimTaylorTechnology overloaded]] when he put the five of them inside, turning them into a kid-hating zombie hive-mind rather than "the perfect children."

* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'': In "Gizmo Gwen," one missing screw caused a bowl-painting gizmo to go absolutely haywire, shooting paint and flinging bowls everywhere.

[[caption-width-right:350:Is something making funny noises and smoking ''ever'' a good thing?[[note]]Well, maybe if the something is [[Creator/CheechAndChong Cheech Marin]].[[/note]]]]

'''The Doctor''': ''[looks at paper]'' Yeah, it's shorted out. Finally, a lie too big.

'''The Doctor''': ''[looks at paper]'' Yeah, it's shorted out. [[ManChild Finally, a lie]] [[CloudCuckooLander too big.]]

* In ''Webcomic/ImpureBlood'', [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue3/ib070.html the timepieces are silent, giving no warning.]]

'''The Doctor''': ''[looks at paper]'' Yeah, it's shorted out. [[ManChild Finally, a lie too big]].

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' spoofed this by having a holodeck malfunction bring the greatest villains of history to life: Attila the Hun, Professor Moriarty, Mr. Hyde, and "Evil Lincoln". In an homage to ''Star Trek'', Moriarty declares, "Righto gents, it's another simulation gone mad, murder and mayhem, standard procedure."
** In another episode, a typical ''microwave'' turns into a time machine when Fry puts a metal container into it just as a solar flare hits the ship.

->'''Doctor''': I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.\\

'''Doctor''': ''[looks at paper]'' Yeah, it's shorted out. Finally, a lie too big.