History Main / ScottyTime

* In May 1942 the USS ''Yorktown'' was heavily damaged after the Battle of the Coral Sea, and it was estimated that it would take three months of repair before she was seaworthy again. After only 72 hours Pearl Harbor dockworkers laboring around the clock had managed to patch her up enough to sail and launch/land aircraft, just barely in time for ''Yorktown'' to join two other US carriers at the Battle of Midway. As a result of this herculean effort, not only did the veteran aviators flying from ''Yorktown'' inflict more damage on the enemy than those from the ''Hornet'' (most of whom missed the Japanese fleet entirely), but ''Yorktown'' herself twice received air strikes that otherwise might have hit the ''Hornet'' and ''Enterprise''. Between both attacks her repair teams were so effective that the Japanese pilots mounting the second attack assumed they had taken out a second, previously undamaged carrier. Since the Japanese had assumed they would only be facing the two American carriers known to be available, they falsely believed both were now out of action and were caught off guard when their last remaining carrier ''Hiryu'' was attacked and sunk by aircraft from ''Enterprise'' and ''Hornet'', ending the battle with a decisive victory for the Americans.

*** Sam often has to [=MacGyver=] some technology or Daniel has to translate some lost language in far less time than they need but this is not always the case.

%%* Gibbs of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' does this to his team often.

* The USS ''Yorktown'' was heavily damaged after the Battle of the Coral Sea, and it was estimated that it would take two weeks of repair before she was seaworthy again. They managed to repair her (she wasn't in tiptop shape, but she could sail and launch planes) after only 72 hours of round the clock work, just in time to participate in the Battle of Midway. As a result, the commander of the Japanese Carrier force during the battle, Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, reasonably assumed he would only be facing two American carriers with his own four carriers, as the ''Yorktown'' couldn't possibly have been repaired so quickly and the USS ''Saratoga'' was still recovering from being hit by a torpedo. The ''Yorktown'' was struck partway through the battle, doing damage that should have sunk her or at least taken her out of commission for the rest of the battle, but her repair teams were so effective that about an hour later, when a second wave of Japanese aircraft arrived, they assumed the ''Yorktown'' had sunk and they were now attacking a second carrier. The ''Yorktown'' was again struck, and this time taken out of the battle. The rapid repair of the ''Yorktown'' caused Nagumo to underestimate the size of the force he was facing, as he believed that both sides were now down to only a single carrier, which allowed the two remaining US carriers, ''Enterprise'' and ''Hornet'', to launch a devastating strike while his guard was lowered that took out the final Japanese carrier, ''Hiryu'', ending the battle in a decisive victory for the Americans.

* Repair estimates and safety limits are often made conservatively ''precisely'' to allow some flexibility in the case of an emergency, as well as account for the fact that there ''is'' no ExactTimeToFailure in RealLife.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Umbridge asks Snape for some [[TruthSerum Veritaserum]] to interrogate Harry, whom she has ''just'' caught using her fireplace for an illegal chat. He tells her that, unfortunately, she used it all up in [[ChekhovsGun the previous interrogation]], and brewing more would take a month.[[note]]And adds that, while he has plenty of poison to work with and would completely understand if she wanted to use it on Harry, it would all likely kill him too fast to get any answers.[[/note]] She responds to this by declaring him "[[InsaneTrollLogic deliberately unhelpful]]" and putting him on probation. It's the start of her VillainousBreakdown. [[spoiler: Given [[FakeDefector revelations]] in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', he may have been lying about being out. He was lying about having ever given her real Veritaserum (according to Dumbledore in the denouement). Certainly Umbridge's accusation that he was being deliberately unhelpful, though poorly thought out, was ''correct'' -- even if he wasn't lying, he could have conveniently run out earlier, and/or conveniently forgot to restock.]]

Named, of course, for Scotty from ''Series/{{Star Trek|TheOriginalSeries}}''.

* In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', Gon demands Neferpitou come with him to heal Kite, but she's busy healing Komugi on Meruem's orders. Gon asks how much time she'll need. Neferpitou, realizing this trope will be in effect, intentionally asks for four times more time than she needs, just so Gon can reject it. After he does, Neferpitou then asks for the amount of time she actually needs, and Gon grants that.

* This caused the death of Alicia Testarossa in the backstory of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha''. Her mother told her superiors that the final stage of assembling and testing her new power plant would take a month. They gave her ten days. As a result, mistakes were made and the reactor failed catastrophically. Alicia was one of the casualties of the resulting accident.
* In ''Manga/NewGame'', Aoba is asked by her new boss, Hifumi, about her progress on an assignment. Aoba admits that she's behind schedule and asks for a two day extension, which her boss grants immediately. Aoba is forced to admit that she can actually get it done a single day; she'd padded her estimate because this trope was always in effect under her old boss, Ko.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsDarthVadar'': After being placed in charge of the fleet, Vader establishes his dominance by asking the new Admiral how long it will take to repair the damage done in the final showdown, and then ordering him to get it done in half the time.

** A SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome happens in [[http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/1999-09-13/ this]] comic. Rather than giving less time, the PointyHairedBoss gives less money.
** In his business book ''The Dilbert Principle'', Scott Adams suggests that when asking for budget money, to ask for several times more than what you need in case your boss invokes this (like something along the lines of a hundred billion dollars to upgrade all the computers). That way, what you do get is still enough or a little more.

** [[http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-02-22 This strip provides the page image.]] The boss tries to invoke this trope, but it doesn't work. This one is most likely a reference to the trope namer, as Dilbert directly tells him leadership "doesn't change the laws of physics."

* ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior'' shows this even happens AfterTheEnd. Max succeeds in RunningTheBlockade with the Mack truck but it gets damaged in the process, so the Mechanic looks it over and gives a LongList of faults, with a clueless assistant shouting it all back to Papagallo.

** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' has this variation, where Spock informs Kirk, "If we go by the book as Saavik suggests, hours will seem like days," before stating that repairs on the ''Enterprise'' will take two days to complete. Turns out that "By the book" is meant as a clue that Spock's message is in code (according to Starfleet Regulations, all communications over monitored lines must be encoded), and when he said two days, he meant two hours. When Kirk shows up two hours later, repairs are a bit behind the coded schedule but ''Enterprise'' is nevertheless in better shape than Khan believes it to be. Then done dramatically in the "Genesis Countdown" scene.

** Played with in ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier''. Scotty says he needs two weeks to get the ''Enterprise'' operational and Kirk gives him three. The ''Enterprise'' ends up being a disaster and Scotty's reply is "I think you gave me too much time."

* Invoked in ''Film/CrimsonTide'' -- Vogler the electrical engineer has been trying (and failing) to fix the radio for half the movie. Creator/DenzelWashington gives him a big motivational speech and says "it's just like in ''Franchise/StarTrek'', the captain says 'I need more warp speed' and Scotty finds a way. Well you're my Scotty and I need warp speed NOW." Of course it works.

* In ''Film/{{Inception}}'', Eames complains about his time to forge Peter Browning's identity.
-->'''Cobb:''' You're on, you've got an hour.\\
'''Eames:''' I was supposed to have all night to crack this!\\
'''Cobb:''' [[spoiler:And Saito wasn't supposed to be shot in the chest.]]
* Justified in ''Film/TheMartian''. After Mark Watney is left alone on Mars, the plan by NASA is to launch a resupply probe to provide extra food that will help sustain him long enough for him to be picked up by the next manned Mars mission. JPL says it will take six months to ready the probe, but they're forced to cut that down to three months, because that's how long their window is to launch. It's also {{Lampshaded}} by the head of NASA, who predicts the course of the conversation to follow. The director of JPL says he needs [[BringMyBrownPants a change of clothes]] when [[spoiler: the HAB's airlock explodes and kills Mark's potatoes, forcing them to accelerate their launch window. Unfortunately, it eventually gets so bad that NASA is forced to skip their pre-launch inspection, and the result is the probe exploding on take-off.]] After that, [[spoiler: the Chinese offer to help with their own booster rocket, which necessitates more Scotty Time. After that, JPL is told to get a sixty day turnaround done in less than thirty.]]

** Defied in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. When told by Coulson that it will take 30 minutes to evacuate the SHIELD compound, Fury simply says "do better." Sure enough, when the compound implodes roughly ten minutes later, many SHIELD agents are still trapped in the rubble (though Coulson himself gets out in time.)

* In ''Film/{{Alien}}'', Parker and Brett can be seen inflating their repair estimate after the ''Nostromo'' damages itself trying to land on [=LV426=]. This trope is less about appearing a miracle worker, than ThoseTwoGuys being reluctant to put some elbow grease in when they're not being paid extra to do so.

* Subverted in ''Film/TopGun''. In the climax, Stinger gives the order to scramble more fighters to reinforce Maverick and Iceman. Upon being told that repairs to the ''Enterprise'''s catapults will take ten minutes, Stinger angrily remarks that the fight will be over in two.

** Admiral Nimitz is shown the ''USS Yorktown'' has a massive hole blasted in her deck from 500 pound bomb during the Battle of the Coral Sea. It was estimated that the damage would need three months in a dry dock in the United States to get fixed, but they reckon they can fix it in a couple of weeks. Nimitz says he wants her at sea in 72 hours. Not only do they pull it off, but ''Yorktown'' is back at sea in ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome half that time]]''.

** In an earlier book in the series, the trope is actually ''invoked''. When [[AFatherToHisMen Wedge Antilles]] asks his mechanics how long their procedures will take, they inform him it'll be several hours; Wedge is clearly unhappy, but just tells them to do what they can. Once he leaves, the chief engineer (who's a Scotty {{Expy}}) notes that it'll be only one hour, and offers to play sabacc[[note]] ''Star Wars'' poker[[/note]] with the others after they're done. Definitely PlayedForLaughs, especially as one part cited as needing urgent repair was completely made up. Much to their dismay, however, Wedge soon comes back and sticks around the hanger while awaiting a guest, leading them to do useless busywork so the commander doesn't catch on.

** Played straight in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E4TimeSquad Time Squad]]" when Avon says he needs five minutes to do something, then adds, "Yes I know, make it two."
** A [[GoodIsNotNice chilling example]] in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E10Breakdown Breakdown]]". A neurosurgeon is operating on a member of the crew, but Blake realizes he's stalling until a Federation pursuit force arrives.

*** In keeping with the trope, he manages to rig a Delta Wave transmitter, but there's a catch: [[spoiler:He doesn't have the time to refine the transmitter so it will only target the Daleks, meaning if he activates the makeshift transmitter, it will kill all the humans as well.]]

* Parodied in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgvuJSHCsP0&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive this]] ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch, a parody of the show ''Series/{{Scandal}}''. The skit in general makes fun of how all the Gladiators can get so much done in an absurdly short period of time (except for Kelsey the [[NaiveNewcomer intern]], who holds up the line by asking for details).

*** This is standard procedure for Rodney [=McKay=]. He's usually exaggerating the time required intentionally, either so he looks like a genius when he gets done quicker or so he can claim he didn't have enough time if he fails. By a certain point in the series, everyone knows he does this and expects him to finish his work quicker, only for him to reveal that this time, he was giving the accurate estimate. Further supported in the episode "Condemned", where the leader of the inmates immediately realizes that [=McKay=] does this. He is not amused.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The first-ever invocation of Scotty Time is in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime The Naked Time]]". He does it in less, of course -- though in this case, he has to resort to a completely new (and untested) method of cold-starting a warp engine; one that only existed ''in theory'' until that point, and he needs Spock's help. [[GodzillaThreshold Given that the alternative is crashing into the planet below (in eight minutes), the untested procedure is pretty much the only option]].

** {{Averted|Trope}} in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E2TheEnsignsOfCommand The Ensigns of Command]]". Picard orders Geordi, Wesley and O'Brien to come up with a way to get the transporters to break through a heavy radiation field to evacuate an entire colony before the Sheliak arrive to blow them up (it's the alien's world and the colonists aren't supposed to be down there; no one knew for over a hundred years because of said radiation). At the end of the episode, Geordi finally admits it would take fifteen years with a hundred-strong team, but by that time Picard decided to TakeAThirdOption and get the Sheliak to wait for a transport ship to arrive.
** {{Discussed|Trope}} in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E4Relics Relics]]" when Scotty tells Geordi that he ''always'' overstated how much time it would take to fix something because the captain would ''always'' give him less time than he said he would need.

** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E21TheDieIsCast The Die Is Cast]]" plays with this trope a bit. After the ''Defiant'''s cloaking device is sabotaged, O'Brien says it will take ten hours to fix and Sisko gives him two. While O'Brien does end up fixing it in well under ten hours, it's also explicitly stated at one point that he's been at it for three hours, well over the time limit given to him by Sisko.
** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E20ShatteredMirror Shattered Mirror]]" has a fairly standard version of this, except that the normal roles are reversed: [[TheCaptain Sisko]] is the one who says he can have the ''Defiant'' overhauled in two weeks, and Mirror [[GadgeteerGenius O'Brien]] is the one who tells him he only has four days.
** The subplot in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E06TreacheryFaithAndTheGreatRiver Treachery, Faith, and the Great River]]" starts and ends with this, seeing a harried O'Brien trying to acquire a graviton stabilizer for Sisko -- O'Brien says it would take a month to acquire, Sisko gives him three days. In enlisting Nog's help, he accidentally barters away the Captain's desk in a ludicrously long ChainOfDeals. O'Brien's ready to face the music when, suddenly, the desk reappears along with Nog, who [[SureLetsGoWithThat has allegedly been polishing it]]. The stabilizer is on hand, too, and a relieved O'Brien promises to install it in six hours; Sisko tells him to make it two.

** {{Defied|Trope}} in an early episode when ''Voyager'''s new Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres tells Captain Janeway that she won't be ready before tomorrow. Janeway says she wants the task done by the end of the day and starts to walk off, this being how the conversation would end in any other Trek series. B'Elanna however stops her. "No, Captain. When I say tomorrow, I mean tomorrow. I don't exaggerate. Tomorrow is the best I can do." The next day, B'Elanna's away team beams over to the other vessel, and when Janeway calls to tell them to hurry up, she's surprised to find they've already completed the job quickly and efficiently.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E03TemporalEdict Temporal Edict]]", the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos ''specifically'' calls out ScottyTime as "Buffer Time".
--> '''Rutherford:''' You ''never'' admit the actual amount of time it takes to finish a job. If you did, your days would be '''packed'''.\\
'''Tendi:''' But isn't that...''lying''?\\
'''Rutherford:''' No, it's creative estimating. When you get an assignment, you exaggerate how long its gonna take. Then you're a hero when it's done early.
** "When Captain Freeman hears about "buffer time", she goes ballistic, then sets time limits on all shipboard work, driving the crew into a screaming, rushing panic.

* Parodied by Creator/EddieIzzard when he talks ''Franchise/StarTrek'':

* [[MadScientist Lash]] from ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' gets this twice:
** She does this to ''herself'' in Mission 27: Sinking Feeling, when due to her raging ego she tells her superiors she can do 30 days worth of repairs in only 17 days. She's able to pull it off if you let her, albeit at the cost of using her troops as additional manpower for the repairs -- this cripples her defensive front enough that Jess is able to swoop in and sink all her battleships with minimal resistance.
** Sturm does this to her in Mission 34: Final Front, when Lash tells him she needs 40 more days to finish construction of their missile. Sturm tells her, in no uncertain terms, that she ''will'' have it done in 30 days. Once again she does actually manage to pull this off, if you let her.

* Occurs in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'' at the end of the game when your squad is trying to escape from the enemy stronghold. Cpt. Price desperately calls in an evacuation from his superiors... [[spoiler:Subverted when the evac doesn't actually make it until all but two of your squad members are dead.]]

* Referenced in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' when EDI rats out Joker for padding time estimates in order to make himself look good for coming in under them. Shepard can either tell Joker to stop it, or EDI to leave him alone.
* The heist in Nikolai's first season of ''VisualNovel/QueenOfThieves'' hinges upon the heroine being able to successfully forge a painting - a newly-discovered Van Gogh which is about to be unveiled at the Louvre - with only fifteen minutes in the presence of the original to do most of the work. The trope comes into play during the actual heist, when [[TheCracker Zoe]] informs the heroine that the security setup has changed - instead of the expected fifteen minutes, she now has ''ten''. With some encouragement from Nikolai, she manages to pull it off.
* ''Videogame/RoadOfTheDead 2'' has one at the end. [[spoiler:The evacuation helicopter [[PlotDrivenBreakdown breaks down just before Diane and Cocheta can escape]]. The on-board mechanic offers repairs in five minutes, to which General Sherman anwsers "You have TWO."]] [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since A: they're a sitting duck surrounded by literally millions of zombies, and B: [[spoiler:they're about to be [[NukeEm nuked]], and as Sherman points out, "That bomb will go off whether we're here or not."]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', an executive sends out a requisition for 14 satellites, expecting that this trope will come into play and it will be cut down to 10, which is the number he actually needs. Instead, because the department needs to use up its money in order to avoid budget cuts in the next quarter, he ends up with 20.
* Sort of retroactively happens in ''WebComic/GirlGenius'', when Agatha [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160222 finds a hidden room]] in a library. The students and staff had been searching for it for centuries, but she took about ten minutes, which she justifies by pointing out she doesn't have a lot of time.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Parodied when the ship has crashed:

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', during the arc based on the Secret Wars. In this case, Kirk = Spidey, Scotty = Curt Connors (in his Lizard form but still himself) and the ''Enterprise'' = Iron Man's damaged armour.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'': Subverted in "The Survivor"; Scotty says that it'll take hours to repair the ship's deflector shield, but it's seemingly restored to working order within minutes. Afterwards, Kirk calls Scotty to congratulate him, but Scotty points out he's still nowhere close to being finished, causing Kirk to realise it was actually Winston.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': This kicks off the entire plot of "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E03TemporalEdict Temporal Edict]]". Captain Freeman learns of "buffer time" from Boimler and bans the concept, putting everyone on strict deadlines. This causes chaos and fatigue as everyone's rushing to do everything in the strict time they have.

* This is a JustifiedTrope, as repair estimates and safety limits are often made conservatively ''precisely'' to allow some flexibility in the case of an emergency, as well as account for the fact that there ''is'' no ExactTimeToFailure in RealLife.

* This trope caused the death of Alicia Testarossa in the backstory of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha''. Her mother told her superiors that the final stage of assembling and testing her new power plant would take a month. They gave her ten days. As a result, mistakes were made and the reactor failed catastrophically. Alicia was one of the casualties of the resulting accident.
* In ''Manga/NewGame'', Aoba is asked by her new boss, Hifumi, about her progress on an assignment. Aoba admits that she's behind schedule and asks for a two day extension, which her boss grants immediately. Aoba is forced to admit that she can actually get it done a single day; she'd padded her estimate because this trope was always in effect under her old boss, Ko.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''
** When [[spoiler:Eren launches his attack on Liberio]], Pieck, who has the power of the Cart Titan, meets up with the members of the Cart Titan's crew. They say they can equip the Cart Titan's armor in 15 minutes, and she says, "Do it in ten."
** Near the end of the series, when some Azumabito engineers announce that it will take 30 minutes to get a ship ready to leave, Magath says that they need to do it in fifteen, given the stakes: [[spoiler:the fate of humanity is on the line]], and every second counts.

* When Nick Fury orders Maria Hill to Washington in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', she tells him to give her four hours to get there. Fury gives her three.
* In the Russian movie ''Admiral'' (2008), a destroyer is vastly outgunned by a German cruiser [[FromBadToWorse when a shell knocks out their engine]]. The engineer says he can repair the damage in half an hour. The captain gives them 15 minutes as the German warship is bearing down on them. His NumberTwo says even that's too long. "In fifteen minutes they'll turn us into a sieve!"

* Defied in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. When told by Coulson that it will take 30 minutes to evacuate the SHIELD compound, Fury simply says "do better." Sure enough, when the compound implodes roughly ten minutes later, many SHIELD agents are still trapped in the rubble (though Coulson himself gets out in time.)

* Referenced in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' when EDI rats out Joker for padding time estimates in order to make himself look good for coming in under them. Shepard can either tell Joker to stop it, or EDI to leave him alone.
* Occurs in ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare]]'' at the end of the game when your squad is trying to escape from the enemy stronghold. Cpt. Price desperately calls in an evacuation from his superiors... [[spoiler:Subverted when the evac doesn't actually make it until all but two of your squad members are dead.]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* The heist in Nikolai's first season of ''VisualNovel/QueenOfThieves'' hinges upon the heroine being able to successfully forge a painting - a newly-discovered Van Gogh which is about to be unveiled at the Louvre - with only fifteen minutes in the presence of the original to do most of the work. The trope comes into play during the actual heist, when [[TheCracker Zoe]] informs the heroine that the security setup has changed - instead of the expected fifteen minutes, she now has ''ten''. With some encouragement from Nikolai, she manages to pull it off.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', an executive sends out a requisition for 14 satellites, expecting that this trope will come into play and it will be cut down to 10, which is the number he actually needs. Instead, because the department needs to use up its money in order to avoid budget cuts in the next quarter, he ends up with 20.
* Sort of retroactively happens in ''WebComic/GirlGenius'', when Agatha [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160222 finds a hidden room]] in a library. The students and staff had been searching for it for centuries, but she took about ten minutes, which she justifies by pointing out she doesn't have a lot of time.
[[/folder]]

---> '''Rutherford:''' You ''never'' admit the actual amount of time it takes to finish a job. If you did, your days would be '''packed'''.\\

''Tendi:'' But isn't that...''lying''?\\

* ''Series/StarTrekLowerDecks'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E03TemporalEdict Temporal Edict]]" the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos ''specifically'' calls out ScottyTime as "Buffer Time".

* ''Series/StarTrekLower Decks'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E03TemporalEdict Temporal Edict]]" the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos ''specifically'' calls out ScottyTime as "Buffer Time".