History Main / WeNeedToGetProof

* In ''DeptHeavenApocrypha'', the main characters involved in Nessiah's plot spent months trying to convince Asgard that [[spoiler:Hector had raped him]]. To make things worse, it looks like said character's [[VillainWithGoodPublicity influence]] is going to quash all possibility of a fair and just trial.

* In VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}, after saving the mayor of a little town from an assassination attempt, he asks you to gather evidence on the person (a local crime boss casino owner) he knows is behind it. You can either side with the crime boss, pretend to be an assassin available for work to make him do an EngineeredPublicConfession thanks to a tape recorder the mayor gave you, or just plain bugging his room.

* ''{{My Teacher Is an Alien}}'' starts off with Susan Simmons finding out that, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin look at the title]]. She knows full well no-one will believe her, and her efforts to try to get evidence are what set the story in motion.

* In ''BaldursGate II'' you're required to find overwhelming evidence of the younger Roenall's wrongdoings, as all complaints about him have to go through...him. So you need something very convincing to convince his superior to break protocol and get rid of him.

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* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Dipper worries that his sister Mabel is dating a zombie. Soos tells Dipper that unless he gets solid evidence, no one will believe his claims, leading to a montage of Dipper following "Norman" and Mabel on their dates. Dipper apparently gets his proof when he catches Norman's hand falling off and reattaching, goes to warn Mabel…[[spoiler: And then it turns out that Norman is in fact a bunch of gnomes stacked up.]]

* The main obstacle for L of ''Manga/DeathNote'' is not in deducing [[SerialKiller Kira]]'s identity, but in finding proof beyond a shadow of a doubt to ''support'' his deduction.
** Not unreasonable, given that Kira is using a magic killer notebook to commit his crimes. Without proof, who would believe that?

* About halfway through every episode of ''{{Monk}}'', the titular detective will figure out who did it. Without exception, the person he accuses will have an airtight alibi (once, the guy was ''in space'' at the time of the murder), and Monk will have to find the one thing that doesn't fit.

* Zim of ''InvaderZim'' is a DevilInPlainSight whose PaperThinDisguise shouldn't ''need'' any proof to expose, but the earth is largely populated by idiots so [[HeroAntagonist Dib]] is continually after "proof" (generally, a shot of Zim not in disguise) -- he's managed to get it on more than one occasion, but since FailureIsTheOnlyOption he always loses it even if he otherwise thwarts Zim's latest {{Zany|Scheme}}[=-=]but-EvilScheme.
* A common occurence for Candace in ''PhineasAndFerb'', despite the guys not being evil (at least not to us). Their inventions are always in plain sight, but their sister goes through gread ordeals to actually get their mom to see it, resulting in this trope several times by using cameras et.c.

Basically, the heroes discover that some bad guy is up to no good. The problem is that for whatever reason. the hero has trouble getting people to believe him. Maybe because [[JustAKid the hero is a kid]], because the bad guys are [[VillainWithGoodPublicity respected authority figures]], or because [[CassandraTruth their scheme sounds outlandish]]. They may have tried to deliver a warning ''without'' getting evidence first and been [[YouHaveToBelieveMe dismissed out of hand]]. Or maybe [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure the authorities]] do believe them, but can't act without evidence. Either way, the heroes need proof of what the bad guys are doing in order to get anyone to believe them, and the ensuing adventure becomes essentially about that. Of course, this plot isn't ''quite'' able to [[ScienceMarchesOn catch up in this day]] and age of hand-held phone recorders/cameras/camcorders in cell phones; because that would get in the way of the ''drama'' of trying to acquire evidence. Often they'll come up with [[ReinventingTheTelephone different ways of recording information]] that's complicated enough for the plot.

* Zim of ''InvaderZim'' is a DevilInPlainSight whose PaperThinDisguise shouldn't ''need'' any proof to expose, but the earth is [[DyingLikeAnimals largely populated by idiots]] so [[HeroAntagonist Dib]] is continually after "proof" (generally, a shot of Zim not in disguise) -- he's managed to get it on more than one occasion, but since FailureIsTheOnlyOption he always loses it even if he otherwise thwarts Zim's latest {{Zany|Scheme}}[=-=]but-EvilScheme.

Basically, the heroes discover that some bad guy is up to no good. The problem is that no-one will believe the hero, for whatever reason. Maybe because [[JustAKid the hero is a kid]], because the bad guys are [[VillainWithGoodPublicity respected authority figures]], or because [[CassandraTruth their scheme sounds outlandish]]. They may have tried to deliver a warning ''without'' getting evidence first and been [[YouHaveToBelieveMe dismissed out of hand]]. Either way, the heroes need proof of what the bad guys are doing in order to get anyone to believe them, and the ensuing adventure becomes essentially about that. Of course, this plot isn't ''quite'' able to [[ScienceMarchesOn catch up in this day]] and age of hand-held phone recorders/cameras/camcorders in cell phones; because that would get in the way of the ''drama'' of trying to acquire evidence. Often they'll come up with [[ReinventingTheTelephone different ways of recording information]] that's complicated enough for the plot.

* ''{{The X-Files}}''. If Scully had a catch phrase, "We need scientific proof!" would be it.
* ''EerieIndiana''
* On ''SavingGrace'', Rhetta is a forensic investigator and does all kinds of tests on any items that Earl gives Grace to prove his angelic existence. Boy, does she find proof.

* Happens a lot in ''WhiteCollar''. The criminals are often known right away; the trick is gathering enough evidence to allow the FBI to do anything about it.
* A common occurance on ''{{CSI}}'' and its spinoffs. Often occurs on cases where the evidence isn't yielding as many leads as the [=CSIs=] need to make the case.

* The early plot of ''MassEffect'' revolves around the protagonist uncovering evidence to prove that the villain is actually the villain to the not-so-omniscient council of very visible politicians.

* A major plot thread in ''HarryPotter/{{Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince}}'' involves the titular character being certain that GoldfishPoopGang leader Draco Malfoy is up to something, and trying (without success) to prove it. Of course, this is in large part due to the fact that the primary responsible authority figures [[spoiler:(Dumbledore and Snape) already know he's up to something and want Harry to have as little to do with it as possible.]]

Basically, the heroes discover that some bad guy is up to no good. The problem is that [[YouHaveToBelieveMe no-one will believe the hero]], for whatever reason. Maybe because [[JustAKid the hero is a kid]], because the bad guys are [[VillainWithGoodPublicity respected authority figures]], or because [[CassandraTruth their scheme sounds outlandish]]. Either way, the heroes need proof of what the bad guys are doing in order to get anyone to believe them, and the ensuing adventure becomes essentially about that. Of course, this plot isn't ''quite'' able to [[ScienceMarchesOn catch up in this day]] and age of hand-held phone recorders/cameras/camcorders in cell phones; because that would get in the way of the ''drama'' of trying to acquire evidence. Often they'll come up with [[ReinventingTheTelephone different ways of recording information]] that's complicated enough for the plot.

Basically, the heroes discover that some bad guy is up to no good. The problem is that no-one will believe the hero, for whatever reason. Maybe because [[JustAKid the hero is a kid]], because the bad guys are [[VillainWithGoodPublicity respected authority figures]], or because [[CassandraTruth their scheme sounds outlandish]]. Either way, the heroes need proof of what the bad guys are doing in order to get anyone to believe them, and the ensuing adventure becomes essentially about that. Of course, this plot isn't ''quite'' able to [[ScienceMarchesOn catch up in this day]] and age of hand-held phone recorders/cameras/camcorders in cell phones; because that would get in the way of the ''drama'' of trying to acquire evidence. Often they'll come up with [[ReinventingTheTelephone different ways of recording information]] that's complicated enough for the plot.

* ''Literature/SpyInTheNeighborhood'' is about three boys who think a certain neighbor may be a spy. They want to get the cops on her case, but in order to do that, they need to find proof of some sort, so they basically spy on her.

* ''ASpyInTheNeighborhood'' is about three boys who think a certain neighbor may be a spy. They want to get the cops on her case, but in order to do that, they need to find proof of some sort, so they basically spy on her.

* ''JenniferTheJerkIsMissing'' starts out this way, as Malcolm needs her babysitter, Amy, to believe that he did indeed witness a kidnapping. They then try to prove it to the adults, which doesn't work.

* In ''BabylonFive'', several episodes involved a search for evidence to prove that [[spoiler: President Santiago's death was an assassination engineered by his successor, not an accident]].

* In the series WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk, a series continuation of the movie WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon, TheHero Hiccup knows the old man named Mildew not only destroyed the village's supply of weapons to defend the village and framed the dragons, he even saw the framing objects in Mildew's hut. But after Mildew destroys the evidence, Stoic tells Hiccup that while he believes his son, he cannot punish Mildew for treason without hard evidence.