History Main / SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in a ''PowerpuffGirls'' episode, when Mojo Jojo steals the Anubis head for the second time and replays clips from the last episode of the effects of the head's magic in countries around the globe:
-->'''Blossom:''' How'd you get this footage? What, you have cameras all over the world?
-->'''Mojo:''' Yes! Now shut up!

* According to ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series}}'', Seto Kaiba has cameras all over Tokyo to stay aware of his enemy's every move. He is adamant that this includes shower rooms.

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* On ''HomestarRunner'', the Cheat Commandos Thanksgiving episode featured a scene where hero Gunhaver was spying on evil Blue Laser's Thanksgiving dinner on the "main screen". In the words of the Blue Laser commander, "I'm not thankful for that guy with the camera!"

* In BuffyTheVampireSlayer, the Trio has cameras where the need them. How they pulled off planting that [[spoiler: gnome in Buffy's lawn]] is a question for the ages.

->'''Blossom''': Who filmed this anyway? Do you have cameras all over the world?\\

->'''IronMan''': ...How many cameras do [[LexLuthor you]] ''have?''
->'''[[{{Spider-Man}} Green Goblin]]''': What, did you buy out Google Earth?
-->-- ''[[ImAMarvelAndImADC Marvel/DC]]: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WalQMzkGJpU&feature=channel Zero Hour #3]]

* The Ministry of Love from ''[[NineteenEightyFour 1984]]''.

-->--''ThePowerpuffGirls''

->'''[[{{Spiderman}} Green Goblin]]''': What, did you buy out Google Earth?
-->--''[[ImAMarvelAndImADC Marvel/DC]]: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WalQMzkGJpU&feature=channel Zero Hour #3]]

The trope used to take its name from the Palantíri, the mostly-lost Seeing Stones from JRRTolkien's Middle-earth stories (e.g. ''TheLordOfTheRings''). Incidentally, magical versions of this trope ({{Crystal Ball}}s, {{Magic Mirror}}s, etc.) are a little more sensible.

* Mocked by [[AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] in his [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/at4w/11957-koolaid01 Kool-Aid Man #1 review]], where Kool-Aid man is able to bring up a camera shot of some "Thirsties" bothering some children even though he shouldn't be able to switch to footage of this, relating Kool-Aid Man to BigBrother.

-->Surveillance was used in a much more retarded fashion in BatmanAndRobin. Incriminating speeches made by the villains were sometimes replayed using THE SAME SHOT THAT WAS USED EARLIER IN THE MOVIE, SURVEILLANCE-FREE!
* The main villain of ''EagleEye'' apparently has the ability to spy on anyone she cares to, including closely monitoring our heroes to ensure that they enact her plans. [[spoiler: As it turns out, she's a super-computer that the government has built for spying, and her hijacking of various cameras was justified by the DHS having forced the companies to include back doors.]]

* The Ministry of Love from ''[[NineteenEightyFour 1984]]''

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* Lex Luthor in ''SuperFriends'' had cameras everywhere, including Earth orbit...and near the Earth's ''core''.

* [=WOOHP=], the HeroesRUs of ''TotallySpies'' can not only record ''everything'' everywhere in the world but can find and summon the girls from ''anywhere'': at school, at the mall, [[TimeTravel in the Middle Ages]], even from their bedroom or [[FetishFuel from in the shower]]!

-->'''The Monarch:''' ''Yeah, yeah, roll the clip...''
-->'''[[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Councilman]] 1:''' ''Unfortunately, we have no visual records of your time in college.''
-->'''The Monarch:''' ''...Really? So we're not going to have to sit through hours of [[ADateWithRosiePalms me abusing myself]] to [[NightCourt Markie Post]]?''
-->'''Councilman 2:''' ''Of course not! How could we have video of you from that long ago? That's crazy!''
-->'''Councilman 3:''' ''We're the Council of Thirteen, not magic angel babies.''
-->'''Councilman 2:''' ''We don't have like a... magic window into the past-''
-->'''The Monarch:''' ''Okay, okay, I get it.''

* Parodied in Blazing Saddles, where the villain goes into a movie theater to escape the hero, sits down, and sees the hero coming into the theater on the screen.

-->"''The Kool-Aid Man sees you when you're sleeping. * Leans in close to camera* [[NightmareFuel The Kool-Aid Man sees you in your nightmares]].''"

The bad guys [[SinisterSurveillance have cameras everywhere]]. Like some even-more-sinister version of ''BigBrother'', they always know exactly where the heroes are and what they're doing, even if there's no possible reason for them to be able to. It doesn't matter if they're [[SubspaceAnsible three galaxies away]] or [[SanDimasTime five thousand years in the past]], the villains can still find them. They can put anything that they want up on the big screen, making you wonder why they don't just give up on the bizarre plans for world domination and [[CutLexLuthorACheck just surreptitiously blackmail every government]] in the world without the good guys ever finding out. Or at least you would if you weren't so busy trying to puzzle out exactly how Luthor managed to get a live feed of the SuperFriends repairing satellites in outer space.

** And as {{Seanbaby}} has lampshaded, they could have used blackmail to take over the world several times over by now... except it's the Superfriends, the show where everyone, hero or villain, is {{too dumb to live}}.

** Additionally, it is subverted and actually used against Sauron: [[TheAragorn Aragorn]] uses the Palantír taken from Isengard to show Sauron that Isildur's heir is alive and challenging him. However, this is all just a ploy to keep Sauron's attention elsewhere while Sam and Frodo slip into {{Mordor}}.

The bad guys [[SinisterSurveillance have cameras everywhere]]. Like some even-more-sinister version of ''BigBrother'', they always know exactly where the heroes are and what they're doing, even if there's no possible reason for them to be able to. It doesn't matter if they're three galaxies away or five thousand years in the past, the villains can still find them. They can put anything that they want up on the big screen, making you wonder why they don't just give up on the bizarre plans for world domination and just surreptitiously blackmail every government in the world without the good guys ever finding out. Or at least you would if you weren't so busy trying to puzzle out exactly how Luthor managed to get a live feed of the SuperFriends repairing satellites in outer space.

** Maybe they somehow hacked into the one Ms. Bitters used to record Zim saying he would attend Parent-Teacher Night. Zim {{Lampshades}}:

* A not-quite inversion: Zordon (the mentor to the ''good guys'') in ''Mighty Morphin' PowerRangers'' has the Viewing Globe, which allows him and the Rangers to see anywhere on Earth and beyond, even in far-off galaxies or pocket dimensions, though not in the bad guys' lair. To be fair, though, this advantage was offset by Rita Repulsa's nigh-omniscient telescope with the same inability to see into the Power Chamber.

** "I must always be one step ahead"

*Mocked by [[ThatGuyWithTheGlasses Linkara]] in his [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/at4w/11957-koolaid01 Kool-Aid Man #1 review]], where Kool-Aid man is able to bring up a camera shot of some "Thirsties" bothering some children even though he shouldn't be able to switch to footage of this, relating Kool-Aid Man to BigBrother.