History Main / SpeakFriendAndEnter

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* In ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter'', "You can't do anything to solve this puzzle." Or, in other words, [[spoiler:"To solve this puzzle, you can't do anything."]]

* ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' uses a variant of this trope, amazingly enough, [[Film/PokemonTheMovie2000 in the second movie]]: "And the world will turn to Ash." (This was a {{Woolseyism}}; the Japanese version simply referred to "a trainer".)

* ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' uses a variant of this trope, amazingly enough, [[Anime/PokemonTheMovie2000 in the second movie]]: "And the world will turn to Ash." (This was a {{Woolseyism}}; the Japanese version simply referred to "a trainer".)

* ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' uses a variant of this trope, amazingly enough, in the second movie: "And the world will turn to Ash." (This was a {{Woolseyism}}; the Japanese version simply referred to "a trainer".)

* ''ZorkGrandInquisitor''

* ''The Men from the Ministry'': In the episode ''Cheesed Off'' protagonists are faced with an infestation of mice. Lennox-Brown suggests poisoning them (and in the Finnish version using high tech methods to get rid of them such as laser beams or ultrasonics). His secretary suggests a cat.

* Happens in one episode of ''{{Timon and Pumbaa}}'' where the duo are enlisted in a Survival of the Fittest training camp to get fit and healthy by a wolverine who secretly plans to eat them afterwards because he favors lean food. While Pumbaa faithfully follows his fitness guidelines, Timon lazes around and does absolutely nothing. After a pumped up Pumbaa surpasses a gruesome maze of challenges, when it's Timon's turn all he does is walk across the white starting line, erase the "start" etched on the ground next to it, walk back to the front of the starting line and then write down the words "Finish" on the ground, completely ignoring the maze of challenges.

* In ''Scribblenauts'', puzzle level 10-11, the player is given the clue "Write the answer!". [[spoiler: "To beat the level, you actually have to write Answer in the notebook."]]

* ''The Men from the Ministry'': In the episode ''Cheesed Off'' protagonists are faced with an infestation of mice. One character suggests using high tech methods to get rid of them such as laser beams or ultrasonics. His secretary suggests a cat.

* ''BedknobsAndBroomsticks'': Near the end, they realize the spell they were looking for was in the [[spoiler:child's book]] all along. This make a large part of the movie somewhat of a ShaggyDogStory in retrospect.
* In ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Identity]]'', Jason and Marie are trying to obtain some information from a hotel's files. Jason comes up with an absurdly complicated scheme for acquiring this information, and instructs Marie at length about the precise timing and attention to detail required before sending her in. She returns thirty seconds later, having decided to simply walk up and ''ask'' the clerk for the files after claiming to be Bourne's personal assistant.

* The very first ''DawnOfWar'' has a mission where an unholy artifact is at the center of an old cathedral, whose massive doors require a great concentration of firepower (lascannons and missiles) to destroy. Or, you could just go through the hole in the wall that's actually closer to the artifact, isn't guarded by entrenched Chaos SpaceMarines, and wide enough to admit four Land Raiders inside the cathedral and shoot down the doors from inside.

* The [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney version]] of ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Quasimodo and Phoebus find the entrance to the Hall of Miracles (the Gypsies' secret hideout) using the amulet Esmeralda gave Quasimodo. The amulet leads them to a large grave with mysterious writing on the lid. While Phoebus tries to decipher the writing, Quasi simply lifts it open, uncovering a staircase.

* In ''TheFairlyOddparents'', Timmy, Chester, and AJ are sent to a military school, where they are forced to conquer an obstacle course. One obstacle is a sixty-foot climbing wall covered in spikes. While Timmy and Chester are in awe of what they seemingly have to climb, AJ comes up with a simpler solution -- walk around it.

* ''HeadOfTheClass'': Dr. Samuels gives the class an assignment: how do you measure the height of a building using a barometer? After several explanations, he asks the new sub Mr. Moore how he would do it. Mr. Moore says to the super, "If you tell me how tall this building is I'll give you this neat barometer.". This is a reference to a tale of [[http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/barometer.asp similar smartassery]] on the part of Niels Bohr (in his university days).

* In the ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'' episode ''The Blind Banker'', John finds a wall covered in graffiti that's actually the code that will allow them to solve the case. He runs to fetch Sherlock, but by the time they get back, the entire thing's been painted over. Sherlock then spends the next minute or so pressing John to remember the code, waxing lyrical about the fallibilities of the average human mind's memory capacities, all the while ignoring John's protests and attempts to get to his camera phone, on which is stored a picture of the entire wall before it was painted over.

* ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' is the TropeNamer.
** Gandalf spends hours casting opening spells and trying passwords on the door into Moria. He finally realizes that he mistranslated the inscription on the door: instead of "Speak, friend, and enter", it was "Say 'friend' and enter" All he had to do was say the elven word for "friend" and the door opened. Gandalf read the inscription aloud before, but in the common tongue, not in Elvish.
** In the movie version, however, Frodo deducing it makes a lot less sense. In the books Frodo is stated to know some Sindarin: the fact that he quotes Gandalf's translation implies that in the movie he doesn't. By framing it as his knowledge of Riddles (which [[Literature/TheHobbit he'd come by honestly enough]]), it does make more sense.

* The children's series ''Literature/The Peterkin Papers'' runs on this. The Peterkins are a very intelligent family--so intelligent that they have no common sense. For every problem that has both a simple solution and a complex one, they'll inevitably go for the complex one, and get themselves entangled. They need to go to their neighbor the "Old Lady from Philadelphia", who always presents the simple solution--and is praised for her wisdom.

* ''DMOfTheRings'' has its own take on the trope namer in [[http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=680 this strip]]; the players are working out how to construct a battering ram by the time the exasperated GM gives in and just tells them the solution.

* ''The Men from the Ministry'': The protagonists are faced with an infestation of mice. One character suggests using high tech methods to get rid of them such as laser beams or ultrasonics. His secretary suggests a cat.

* ''Bureaucracy'': this InteractiveFiction game, written by DouglasAdams, has a puzzle that consists of a locked door in an apartment complex. The way to get the door open is to do something no experienced adventure game player would ever think of trying, but someone faced with the same situation in RealLife would probably have no trouble finding the answer. [[spoiler: Simply knock on the door, and the person inside lets you in.]] It's that kind of game.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' parody novel ''Literature/BoredOfTheRings'', Goodgulf tries many passwords before realizing that the door has a knob.

** In the movie version, however, Frodo deducing it makes a lot less sense. In the books Frodo is stated to know some Sindarin: the fact that he quotes Gandalf's translation implies that in the movie he doesn't.

* ''[[{{Film/Terminator}} Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]''. Dyson outlines the complicated method of opening the glass cabinet containing the original Terminator chip. John Connor just smashes it.

* In ''Scribblenauts'', puzzle level 10-11, the player is given the clue "Write the answer!". [[spoiler:"To beat the level, you actually have to write Answer in the notebook."]