History Main / TheyWouldCutYouUp

* The Japanese did this to Prisoners of War and Chinese civilians during [[WorldWarTwo World War 2]], and to make it worse, [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel they didn't use any anesthetics on the patients when they were dissected]]
* Vivisection, dissection while awake. It's often used on animals (not that that's any less horrid), but has also been used on humans.

Sadly, there is some TruthInTelevision here (there is a long and dark history of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_experimentation#Human_vivisection human subject research]] and the early days of biological science can best be summed up with "let's see how many needles we can stick in this dog before it stops making noises out of its mouth!") But this trope doesn't exactly show a fair or accurate portrayal of ''modern'' science. Currently, in RealLife, scientists have to follow ''very'' strict ethical testing standards to be able to publish their results. Getting caught violating them can easily end their careers. Of course, these considerations only apply to scientists who ''intend'' their results to be publicly documented (e.g. secret military projects aren't). Crime is only punishable if one is ''caught''. Further theories should be directed to NoDelaysForTheWicked. (Naturally, none of this applies to the [[GovernmentConspiracy various black ops]] organizations that either suspect -- or already know about -- TheMasquerade.)

** Ironically, when the crew actually does arrive on Earth, they're all treated as honored dignitaries and celebrities. Although it's somewhat implied that this is because Crichton knew how to manage the situation, not that humans were actually better than the previous episode had given them credit for being.

* This is one of the reasons the sheriff gives for bringing the recently discovered "bat boy" to the local vet:
-->"I didn't know where else to take him...Can't go to jail, he's underage.\\
Folks up at the Med School, bet they'd carve him up or bake him. \\
I'd send the FBI a page, but I don't think we're at that stage."

** The irony of course being that they're suffering from WrongGenreSavvy. Several teams of Power Rangers operate openly, and it's unlikely that Lightspeed would allow the goverment to experiment on other power rangers given the generally brotherhood like nature of the Rangers.

->''"I can't let ANYONE else find out [about my powers]. Not even my parents. I know the chemical plant wants to find me, and turn me into some experiment!"''
-->--'''[[TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack Alex Mack]]''' gets to the nitty gritty of this trope in the OpeningNarration of her show.

* What Wolfram & Hart want to do with Connor in ''{{Angel}}''.

* Asimov also wrote an SF version of the Golden Goose story (''Pâté de Foie Gras'') which subverted this. Even though it's just a goose, the government scientists were extremely careful not to harm it, and were terrified when it developed a fever.

If [[GovernmentConspiracy the authorities]] got [[CapturedSuperBeing their hands on them]], they'd [[PoundsAreDoggyPrison stick them in a concrete box]] and [[PlayingWithSyringes perform all sorts of cruel experiments]] to find out what makes them and/or their special powers tick, either [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman destroying their quality of life, or killing them outright]]. Scientists will usually be portrayed as [[ForScience too obsessed to care]] for anyone or anything who might be used to further our knowledge of the universe or make a cool new weapon, caring only about the fame or payment they'll receive from their higher-ups. Only one bad scientist is quite enough to spoil your day, but in [[DarkerAndEdgier settings that use this trope]] the ''majority'' of encountered research workers are likely to be like this.

If [[GovernmentConspiracy the authorities]] got their hands on them, they'd [[PoundsAreDoggyPrison stick them in a concrete box]] and [[PlayingWithSyringes perform all sorts of cruel experiments]] to find out what makes them and/or their special powers tick, either [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman destroying their quality of life, or killing them outright]]. Scientists will usually be portrayed as [[ForScience too obsessed to care]] for anyone or anything who might be used to further our knowledge of the universe or make a cool new weapon, caring only about the fame or payment they'll receive from their higher-ups. Only one bad scientist is quite enough to spoil your day, but in [[DarkerAndEdgier settings that use this trope]] the ''majority'' of encountered research workers are likely to be like this.

* Averted: When [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Special Agent Axel Hughes finds out that Joey is the KidWithTheRemoteControl for ''{{Heroman}}'', Joey asks him what's going to happen to him. "The U.S. Government is going to lock you away and do experiments on you for the rest of your life." Upon the look of horror on Joey's face, Axel laughs and tells him, that ''no''; a friendly alliance is more beneficial for everyone. "You really thought we were going to do that?"

* In ''PushingDaisies,'' this is why Ned doesn't want anybody to know that he can bring people BackFromTheDead -- see the page quote. Given Ned's neurotic personality, it's not really surprising that he would think this.

Possibly fated to become a DiscreditedTrope, at least in the literal pass-me-the-scalpel sense, as sonography, MRIs, and other imaging techniques have made hands-on vivisection unnecessary for the internal examination of research subjects, given sufficient funding and resources. Depending on who exactly might be after you and why, however, you may still want to be very careful not to get discovered and/or captured just the same.