Line #146 Main/HadTheSillyThingInReverse


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14	[[quoteright:280:[[WesternAnimation/DuckDodgersInTheTwentyFourthAndAHalfCentury https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rocket_reverse_gear.jpg]]]]
15	[[caption-width-right:280:[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants Well... ya backed up.]]]]
16
17	->''"Have you ever pulled just a little too far into an intersection, so you put the car in reverse and back up just a little bit, and you ''forget the car is in reverse''? You are truly an accident waiting to happen."''
18	-->-- '''Creator/GeorgeCarlin'''
19
20	A device or technique is used... in reverse. Commonly, it is setting a car to reverse.
21
22	In comedies, or a comedic moment anyway, a new driver will pull forward, only it's in reverse. Conversely, they may put the car in gear as if it's in reverse, look behind themselves, and then drive forward.
23
24	Often a SubTrope of DrivingStick. Compare this to BackwardsFiringGun for a more lethal way to do something wrong. See also WiperStart, for more comedic driver incompetence, ReversePolarity, ReverseTelescopicVision, ReadTheMapUpsideDown, and AerosolSprayBackfire.
25
26	----
27	!!Examples:
28
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32	* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'': One of Yukari's trips starts out with the car [[DrivesLikeCrazy careening all over the yard before returning to its initial position]], at which point she notices she was in reverse. Poor Kaorin suffers a complete ColorFailure upon this revelation.
33	* In ''Manga/FourKnightsOfTheApocalypse'', Percival's first attempt to shoot a bow somehow sent the arrow directly backwards (into [[ButtMonkey Donny]]). Given that Percival is [[spoiler:the Knight of ''Death'', not "the knight of hitting inanimate targets"]], this may have been {{Foreshadowing}}.
34	* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer''
35	** First-time driver Hana almost crashes her Panzer [=IV=] into the hangar's back door. She didn't even know how to start the thing a moment before, so not noticing it was in reverse is excusable.
36	** During the championship match against Kururomine, Momoga tries to move her Chi Nu Type 3 away from an ambush, but engages reverse by mistake. Though it moves her closer to the opponents, and her squad takes a fatal hit, it saves the flag tank from the kill shot by TakingTheBullet instead.
37	* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'': In the penultimate scene of the climactic battle in episode 13, [[spoiler:Panty and Stocking fire their Heaven-Ordered {{BFG}} from heaven THE WRONG WAY ROUND INTO HEAVEN. Corset can't believe how stupid they are... until a second later when it turns out that the ''right'' way because the thing [[GiantFootOfStomping summons a giant foot to stomp him to death]].]]
38	* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Happens once in a {{Filler}} episode when Akane attempts to drive a go-kart. In the English script, likely as a ShoutOut to the TropeNamer, Akane even says this nearly word-for-word.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Comedy]]
42	* The page quote is from one of Creator/GeorgeCarlin's skits where he talks about poor drivers.
43	* Creator/JeffFoxworthy:
44	** In one skit, he pointed out that rental cars are good for those moments that you've always wondered "what would happen if", but were afraid to try in your own car. Such as one of your buddies suggesting what would happen if you suddenly kicked it into reverse on the freeway. His answer? "[[BringMyBrownPants a cure for constipation]]."
45	** "If you've ever broken a speed limit in reverse...you might be a redneck."
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Comic Books]]
49	* In one [[ComicBook/ArchieComics Archie I]] story, Reggie invents a bow and arrow, or as he calls it, a vine and stick. ("A very catchy name!") However, he believes that the way to use it is to pull back on the bow part, which results in the arrow falling off and hitting his foot. Big Moose comes along and gives it a go, but holds in "backwards" (Y'know, ''properly'') and shoots a buzzard out of the sky. Reggie storms off in a huff at Moose's AchievementsInIgnorance and continues to shoot himself in the foot.
50	* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'': In ''[[Recap/TintinTheRedSeaSharks The Red Sea Sharks]]'', when the ''Ramona'' is being menaced by a submarine, Captain Haddock tries to put the ship into full speed ahead, but when he tries to move the ship's engine order telegraph accordingly, the device's handle breaks off in his hand, jamming it at half speed astern. Even better, the sudden change in momentum causes the ''Ramona'' to dodge a torpedo.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
54	* ''{{ComicBook/Foxtrot}}'':
55	** One of Jason and Marcus' model rocket launches goes wrong when the rocket starts tunneling into the ground, prompting Jason to wonder if they put the engines in backwards, and Marcus if there wasn't a second stage. Cue death from ''below'' as rays of heat and flame erupt all over the yard.
56	** Roger gets flames to shoot out of the underside of a grill because he put the charcoal in upside-down. Jason quips that if anyone else had done what his dad did, he would've deemed the feat impossible.
57	* One episode of the "Mayhem Garage" strip in ''Practical Classics'' magazine showed a customer collecting his car after repair and driving off enthusiastically... straight backwards into a wall. One of the mechanics then comments "I had a feeling that crown wheel and pinion were the wrong way up." [[note]]For those less familiar with car mechanics than the readership of ''Practical Classics'': this refers to a mistake in reassembling the differential which is possible to make on many rear-wheel-drive cars, which has the effect of converting ''all'' the forward gears into reverse gears.[[/note]]
58	* In one story from Wally Wood's ''[[ComicStrip/SallyForthWood Sally Forth]],'' a new robot is being tested by having a bazooka fired at it. Unfortunately, the scientist firing the bazooka had it pointed backwards, blasting the President behind him instead.
59	* ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'': "N for neutral, R for reverse... and D for disaster."
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Fan Works]]
63	* ''Webcomic/{{Spooky}}'': [[http://www.neopets.com/ntimes/index.phtml?section=489942&week=445 One comic]] has Tombstones put on a pair of steampunk wings backwards. Despite claiming to have followed the instructions, he doesn't notice until he powers them up and they start smacking him in the face.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
67	* In ''WesternAnimation/Home2015'', when Oh repairs Tip's car, he accidentally wires the brakes and gas backwards.
68	* In the movie version of ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'', this happens when a tank is commandeered by unskilled villagers during the castle battle scene.
69	* WesternAnimation/PixarShorts:
70	** The "forward when going in reverse" variation appears in the short ''WesternAnimation/MikesNewCar''.
71	** In the short ''WesternAnimation/{{Lifted}}'', the alien novice who just failed his abduction test gets pity from his tester, who lets him fly the ship back. He crashes it downward first.
72	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Adventures of Tintin\|2011}}: The Secret of the Unicorn'', Captain Haddock takes aim at the villain with a bazooka... and promptly takes out the dam behind them.
73	-->'''Tintin:''' [[TemptingFate Did you hit anything?]]
74	* In ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'', the Sub is traveling perilously close to the Vacuum monster, so Old Fred instructs the Beatles to put it reverse only to come perilously close to another monster.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
78	* The inverted variation (having it in drive while trying to reverse) occurs in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle''. After he and Rocky are gifted a car, Bullwinkle tries to back out of its parking space, but accidentally puts the car in drive instead and rams it straight into a brick wall. Unfortunately, this instance of bad driving is [[DrivesLikeCrazy not a fluke]].
79	* ''Film/AirBud'': Snively, the villain of the piece, gets into his truck and, fully intending to back out of his driveway, hits the gas. He proceeds to wreck the trash cans sitting in front of him.
80	* ''Film/AmericanGraffiti'': Toad, driving his friend's car, waits to drag race someone at a stoplight. He jumps the gun when the left-turn signal goes on and backs up - then when the light turns green he accelerates backwards into a car behind him.
81	-->'''Angry motorist:''' Excuse me. I think we've had an accident.\
82	'''Toad:''' Damn it, I won't report you this time, but next time, just watch it! ''[drives off]''
83	* In ''Film/AskAPoliceman'', Sgt. Dudfoot attempts to move the Chief's Constable's car. However, when he presses the starter, he discovers Brown had left it in gear as it lurches forward and [[CarMeetsHouse through the window of Harbottle's shop]].
84	* A running gag in ''Film/AustinPowers''; in the first movie, he gets a vehicle stuck in an impossible position while trying to back up. In the sequel, he knocks over every possible object around him just trying to go forward.
85	* ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'': Jack Burton and the other protagonists are in his truck ready to escape from Lo Pan's warehouse. Burton throws the truck into gear, they all lean forward...and the truck zips backward, bursting out through a wall.
86	-->'''Jack Burton:''' Sorry.\
87	'''Gracie Law:''' Don't you know how to drive this thing?
88	* ''Film/{{Commando}}'': Cindy tries to fire a missile launcher, but it's facing backwards and it blows up a structure behind her.
89	* Justified in ''Film/{{Critters}}'', in which the alien bounty-hunters have no clue how a car works and only succeed in making it go in reverse. The driver naturally looks over his shoulder when he starts it a second time, only to have it move forward.
90	* Invoked in ''Film/DCCab'', when one of the cabbies covertly adjusts the hack inspector's shift lever and causes him to unintentionally back his car into a restaurant window.
91	* ''Film/DiamondsOnWheels'': When Lady Truesdale starts the rally, she has her car in reverse and backs into the car behind her.
92	* In ''Film/FourLions'', one of the Jihads fires a missile launcher the wrong way, missing the American aircraft and demolishing the terror training camp he was staying at, killing many people. The video gets on the news as a comedy clip, much to the man's embarrassment.
93	* Justified in ''Film/TheGodsMustBeCrazy'', since the driver was a Bushman utterly new to any technology more advanced than a bow, and it was a [[TheAllegedCar shit car]] at that.
94	* ''Film/{{Hellzapoppin}}'': While trying to move the prop truck off the lawn, Chic Johnson backs it into the statue they had just unlaoded, demolishing it.
95	* In ''Film/{{Hunk}}'', drunken TV presenter Garrison Gaylord accidentally gets his jeep stuck in reverse and rockets backwards along the pier until stopped by Hunk.
96	* ''Film/IndependenceDay'': Steven at first, accidentally, when piloting the captured UFO. He then turns the control instructions upside down and retapes them to the dashboard.
97	* ''Film/IWasMontysDouble'': Has Jimmy do this when he is temporarily assigned to the motor pool where General Montgomery is serving in order to learn his mannerisms. Jimmy is used as a chauffeur, and has virtually no driving experience and puts the staff car straight into reverse and bashes into the car behind them.
98	* Enforced in ''Film/LicenseToDrive'': Due to the damage he's done to his parent's car, Les can only go in reverse as he drives his pregnant mother to the hospital.
99	* In ''Film/MovingViolations'', the bad cop's squad car suffers a mechanical fault after a collision, forcing him to drive backward during the concluding car chase. As he's losing his temper, he proceeds to ''deliberately'' back up into someone's garden and through a brick wall.
100	* In ''Film/NickAndNorahsInfinitePlaylist'', Nick lets Norah drive his [[TheAllegedCar Yugo]], and after showing off [[DrivingStick her "awesome" driving skills]], she parks by the curb. When Nick comments on how far away from the curb she is, she goes to reverse closer to the curb and ends up driving forward ... [[EpicFail into a fire hydrant]].
101	* ''Film/PowerRangers2017'': When the Rangers pilot their Zords into battle for the first time, Billy's Triceratops is running backwards at top speed.
102	* In ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'', Josephine (Tony Curtis) is trying to impress Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) by showing her 'his' yacht (it actually belongs to someone else). They get in the motorboat used as the tender for the yacht, but he can only get it to work in reverse.
103	* ''Film/SonInLaw'': Crawl looks back to drive in reverse, but rides the tractor forward through the fence.
104	* ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby'': we see how far Ricky Bobby has fallen when he resorts to delivering pizzas, and accidentally takes off in reverse, smashing a woman's shopping cart.
105	* The VHS movie ''[[https://youtu.be/NOWHUxSZ-cs?t=1195 There goes a train!]]'' has Dave attempting to drive a brand new GE Genesis locomotive under supervision. Since Dave has a reputation for daydreaming when given instructions and just being TheKlutz, the locomotive moves backwards the first time he gets it moving.
106	* ''Film/ThoroughlyModernMillie'' had this when Millie is attempting to drive Grayson's car for an escape.
107	-->'''Miss Dorothy:''' No, ''forward,'' dear, ''forward.''
108	* In ''Film/WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot'', among a snippet of news reports being done by Kim Baker is one about the first licensed woman driver in Kabul, Afghanistan, during which said driver goes in reverse and smashes into a stack of goods at a market. Baker deadpans, "That sucks. That sucks for women."
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Literature]]
112	* Creator/JohnVarley's ''Rolling Thunder'': [[ShoutOut Podykane]] tries to drive a golf cart: "Clue number one: R probably means 'Reverse', not 'Ride'(...) I looked for a gear named G, for 'Go', but there wasn't one. I tried D, for 'Dear me, this is harder than I thought,' and away I went." The [[HilarityEnsues hilarity]] only starts there.
113	* A very non-humorous version is part of the backstory of ''Literature/ThePinballs''; one of the protagonists, Harvey, was removed from his father's custody because his father [[DrunkDriver had been drinking]] and put the car in drive instead of reverse while Harvey was walking in front of it, running over Harvey and breaking both his legs.
114	* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'', the heroes are attempting to escape from a doomed city in Klatch but cannot get the magic carpet they have stolen to start. Despite repeated and more urgent repetitions of the operating word "Up!" it refuses to do anything. Finally the Wizzard Rincewind comes out of his sulk, assesses the situation, and intones the command "Down!" At which the carpet takes off. When the others ask how he did it, Rincewind replies that he paid attention to the spatial co-ordinate logic of the situation.
115	-->'''Rincewind:''' You rolled it out upside-down.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
119	* ''Series/TheBennyHillShow''. A spoof of ''Series/TheATeam'' had Mr. T firing a LAWS rocket the wrong way round, and blowing up a public lavatory another member of the Team was using.
120	* ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'': Boba has stolen several speeders and is instructing the Tusken tribe he's with in their use. He gives the Tuskens a lengthy explanation of how the controls work: moving the handlebars forward makes it go, pulling them back makes it stop. The language barrier and the Tuskens' masks makes it hard to know if they actually understand what he's telling them. He climbs off and asks who wants to try first. One Raider climbs aboard, starts the engine... and goes flying backwards.
121	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]", a [[ItMakesSenseInContext wooden Cyberman]] threatens the Doctor with an arm-mounted flamethrower. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver on the Cyberman to no apparent effect, then explains that his device was set to make the Cyberman's own weapon fire backwards. The Cyberman promptly flips its weapon around to point in the opposite direction, only to incinerate ''itself'' instead of the Doctor when it tries to kill him. The Doctor then admits to the burning wreckage that his screwdriver doesn't affect wood.
122	* In the TV movie version of ''How to Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days'', Milo, the main character who is too young to drive, tries to back his brother's car out of the garage to clean it. He puts the car in gear, looks carefully over his shoulder, hits the gas, and drives forward all the way through the garage wall.
123	* ''Series/LastOfTheSummerWine'': When Edie is learning to drive, she engages reverse instead of first and nearly backs into the protagonists. Her husband Wesley, who's used to her driving, merely comments "Sometimes she does that."
124	* ''Series/MsMarvel2022'' has Kamala Khan start and end her driving exam by accelerating full-speed in reverse into another car. [[EpicFail The driving examiner's car, to be specific.]]
125	* ''Series/MythBusters'': Inverted and thankfully averted, as Jamie reminds Adam that since his excavator is facing backwards on the dump truck, he doesn't have to set it to reverse.
126	* ''Series/OddSquad'': In "Flawed Squad", Shapeshifter grabs Father Time's staff and attempts to use it to freeze Odd Squad. Father Time points out that she is holding it the wrong way round just before she activates it and freezes all of the villains.
127	* In the ''Series/{{Psych}}'' episode "You Can't Handle This Episode", Shawn picks up something and asks what it is. He's told that it's a rocket launcher, and he's pointing it ''at himself''.
128	* In an episode of ''Series/ScrapheapChallenge'' where the challenge was a drag race, one team had no option ''but'' to turn their car 180 degrees and put the silly thing in reverse because that was the only gear that worked.
129	* ''Series/SilverSpoons'':
130	** Inverted: Grandpa tries to teach Ricky to drive, and his attempt to reverse to car moves it forward, crashing it through a wall, leading to this gag:
131	--->'''Ricky:''' I thought I was in reverse!\
132	'''Grandpa:''' Well let me put it this way. You ''weren't''.
133	** And [[BrickJoke the same joke]] is used in TheStinger when ''Grandpa'' tries to drive.
134	** And to top it all off, a clip of TheStinger is played in reverse -- with the damage being undone -- during the closing credits! This time, the car really ''was'' in reverse.
135	* ''Series/TheSopranos'': Livia Soprano accidentally drives over her friend while trying to reverse gher car out of the friend's driveway.
136	* Similarly, in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode "Condemned", the inmates have plundered the team's grounded ship and are testing out the weapons. They fire the gun correctly, but when the rocket launcher is attempted, they have the thing backwards and end up destroying the building behind them instead of shooting the explosive into the pool in front of them.
137	* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
138	** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E17APieceOfTheAction A Piece of the Action]]", this is just one of the mistakes that Kirk makes while [[AreYouSureYouCanDriveThisThing trying to drive a 1920s-style car]]. It's no wonder Spock didn't care for Kirk's driving abilities.
139	** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. In "Azati Prime", Travis Mayweather is trying to fly a Xindi-Insectoid shuttle. He hits a control that makes it go backwards into the wall of the launch bay.
140	--->'''Travis:''' I think I found reverse.\
141	'''Trip:''' Great, but unless we plan to fly in ass-first, we'd better figure out how to make it go forward.
142	* ''Series/TedsTopTen'': Inverted in "Ways To Lose At Home Alone", when Jada--at Ted's urging--attempts to reverse her stepfather's [[ThePreciousPreciousCar Precious Precious Car]] down the driveway into the street. However, she has it in drive and drives the car into the garage door. which then falls off and lands on top of the car. The rest of he episode is devoted to their ZanyScheme to raise money to repair the car and the garage before their parents get home.
143	* ''Series/TopGear'' did this in a season 15 episode with on of their Cheap Car segments. James May buys a Mercedes-Benz [=190E=] Cosworth which has a dog-leg gearbox, meaning "left and forward" puts it into reverse while "left and ''back''" is first gear. Once James actually starts driving it [[DamnYouMuscleMemory muscle memory]] means he keeps doing "left and forward" and going into reverse. This earns him the ire of Jeremy and Richard who are usually parked behind him when it happens.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Music]]
147	* Inverted in The Firm's novelty song "Star Trekkin", in which the crew asserts that they're only "boldly going forward" because they ''can't find'' reverse.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Radio]]
151	* [[NoSenseOfDirection Navigation Officer]] Sub-Lieutenant [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Phillips]] can do this with Naval Frigates in ''Radio/TheNavyLark'', frequently.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder:Roleplay]]
155	* ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG'':
156	** As a ShoutOut to the aforementioned example from ''Film/IndependenceDay'', Rex's first attempt to drive an [[TankGoodness Iron Predator]] after several months of inactivity resulted in driving in reverse because the control instructions were accidentally placed upside-down.
157	** This also happened to Elizabeth the first time she tried to drive an Iron Predator, demolishing a T-1 Typhoon in the process.
158	[[/folder]]
159
160	[[folder:Video Games]]
161	* Often overlaps with DamnYouMuscleMemory when dealing with franchise games that involve driving, yet have control schemes for that activity change between games (i.e. ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'').
162	* ''VideoGame/AvencastRiseOfTheMage'': {{Invoked\|Trope}}; The dictatorial founder of the titular WizardingSchool uses a VampiricDraining machine to execute his political rivals and enhance his own power, so the PlayerCharacter sets the machine in reverse to get him HoistByHisOwnPetard.
163	* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', Luigi ends up smashing one of his karts in a kart race thanks to doing this. This actually helps him win since everyone else followed his lead, and by the end his kart was the only one that worked enough to finish the race.
164	* A variant in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'': [[spoiler:FakeUltimateHero turned BigBad Captain Qwark attempts to use Angela's Helix-o-Morph to neutralize the monstrous tendencies of the original [[KillerRabbit Protopet]] and take credit for saving the Bogon Galaxy from the disaster that he had orchestrated, but it instead mutates and grows giant, becoming the game's FinalBoss. After the Protopet is subdued, the reason why it transformed the way it did turns out to be that the Helix-o-Morph's batteries were simply in backwards.]]
165	* A random gag in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' that sometimes happens when Roger Wilco starts up his hover skimmer on Kerona. He accidentally backs it into a wall, then drives out properly.
166	* ''VideoGame/SummertimeSaga'': In the climax, MC commandeers an RPG launcher from the Russian gang's armory, but since he's holding it backwards, all it does is destroy the room behind him. Fortunately, [[spoiler:Tony, Officer Harold, and Father Keeves come to his aid and dispatch all the mooks.]]
167	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has a scene with a Dwarf test driving a new tank a Gnome just built. Due to being built on the spot with random parts, the gearbox was in backwards, and the tank takes off in reverse.
168	[[/folder]]
169
170	[[folder:Web Animation]]
171	* ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVsAnimation'' has an interesting example: the Skeleton from "Monster School" aims ''better'' when Red reverses it's bow.
172	* ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'' had a scene where Professor E. Gadd drove his Poltergust 3000 backwards, in a direct homage to the Duck Dodgers scene.
173	[[/folder]]
174
175	[[folder:Webcomics]]
176	* A direct ShoutOut in [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0556.html this]] ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' panel, after Palpatine [[spoiler:forgets the Force Drain only works on angry targets]].
177	* In ''Webcomic/GoblinHollow'', Ben actually counted on his teen sister-in-law Penny to make this mistake in order to explain the destruction of her gargoyles.
178	* In ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'', Karishad says he didn't know Keene could drive. Keene [[https://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/2021/04/09/automoweasel/ immediately reverses straight into the back wall of the garage]] and says "A rough approximation of it."
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder:Western Animation]]
182	* ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand:'' The pilot movie has Zurg and his minions preparing to fire the Zurgatomic Ray, having just installed the Crystallic Fusion Cell (read: giant battery). It powers up... and nothing happens. Zurg asks the minions if they made sure the plus end went into the plus part, and the minus end to the minus part.
183	-->'''Grub:''' Oooohhh. That'd do it, huh?\
184	'''Zurg:''' [[SurroundedByIdiots Urgh.]]
185	* ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'':
186	** The ''Men in Black'' gag is re-used in an episode where Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones compete as their MIB characters against the stars of ''Series/TheXFiles''
187	** In one episode where a HumongousMecha (piloted by the band 98 Degrees) goes out of control and starts wrecking the city, Wrestling/SteveAustin brings out an enlarging ray and tells Nick to use it on him so he can bring down the Mecha himself. Unfortunately, Nick points it backwards and hits Jessica Simpson instead. (Fortunately, she manages to do the job just as well.)
188	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales\|1987}}'' episode "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E45Superdoo Superdoo!]]", two inept alien criminals are scheming to recover their stolen power crystal. One of their plots involves destroying the summer camp with an alien bazooka; unfortunately, the one holding the bazooka is holding it backwards, and it ends up blasting the forest behind them instead.
189	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E7TheDayTheEarthStoodStupid The Day The Earth Stood Stupid]]", Fry addresses the now stupidified citizens of New New York by megaphone, only he's holding it backwards. A pigeon flies in and squawks into the megaphone, knocking Fry on his ass.
190	* ''WesternAnimation/TheHairBearBunch'': Square Bear's [[ItMakesSenseInContext invisible motorcycle]] goes in reverse after he says "Geronimo!" backwards.
191	* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'': In "Yaarp", when Pleakly tried to capture Experiment 613 (Yaarp) with the vacuum attached container, instead of sucking in Yaarp, it blew him into a wall of the cave, causing Pleakly to say "Darn thing's still in reverse!"
192	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
193	** The {{Trope Namer\|s}} is "WesternAnimation/DuckDodgersInTheTwentyFourthAndAHalfCentury", when Duck Dodgers initially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RepTEN4J3sU launches his rocket ship into the ground.]]
194	--->'''Dodgers:''' [[AchievementsInIgnorance Ooops! Heh... had the silly thing in reverse!]]
195	** In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Qv2or3kIuq0#t=363s Mad as a Mars Hare]]", Marvin accidentally set his space-time gun in reverse, resulting in Bugs becoming a neanderthal rabbit.
196	** Witch Hazel had the same problem with her broom in "A Witch's Tangled Hare". (She tends to have mistakes with brooms a lot. In another cartoon, she grabs a broom, and it starts sweeping the floor -- with her on it. "Silly me," she says, red-faced, "that was my sweeping broom!")
197	* In a ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries episode'', J finds an alien [[FireBreathingWeapon flamethrower]] and threatens the monster of the week with it. Then it turns out the weapon was really pointed at his own head, the thing he thought to be the scope really being where the flames came from. Leads you to wonder... why would a flamethrower have a ''scope''? The monster even tells him that it's in reverse, and after J doesn't listen, shrugs "Just trying to be helpful."
198	* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': In [[Recap/RickAndMortyS7E4ThatsAmorte "Thats Amorte"]] Rick tries to use a Franchise/MenInBlack-esque [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory eraser]] on a doctor, but ends up using it backwards and accidentally wipes his own memories. In the next scene, Morty uses the device to restore Rick's memories and Rick implies that this isn't the first time he's done this.
199	* The ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'' episode "Oh, the Ewemanity" involved Sheep becoming gigantic after getting hit with a growth ray. General Specific at one point accidentally makes himself taller with the same growth ray due to thinking he can shrink Sheep to normal size by aiming the ray backwards.
200	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsDroids'': In "Race to the Finish", Tig Fromm declares that our heroes won't get away, and that his own damaged hyperdrive is working just fine. As soon as he activates it, though, his shuttle jumps into hyperspace backwards.
201	* ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'': In the flashback episode, Ilana and Hobbes, her bodyguard, are able to tank-jack, but since the bodyguard was too wounded, Ilana had to drive the tank. The first thing she does at the controls is drive the tank in reverse.
202	* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'': Happens at the end of "Bird-Brained Beast" when the Platypus Brothers back their truck over Taz as they are leaving.
203	* In the fourth episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', Spike and Bumblebee have just finished spying on the Decepticons and learned their EvilPlan. Bumblebee transforms into car mode [[EpicFail and then drives himself backwards off the cliff onto the surprised Decepticons]]. Just how bad a driver are you when you forget that the car is in reverse when ''you're'' the car?
204	* The opening of ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' has Dick Dastardly putting the Mean Machine in reverse accidentally, causing him to smash into and crack the steel beam on which the other racers have been chained to.
205	[[/folder]]
206
207	[[folder:Real Life]]
208	* There are countless HilariousOuttakes taken from film and TV productions showing actors behind the wheel attempting to drive forward but going backwards instead. [[MoodWhiplash And at least one]] [[Website/DarwinAwards Darwin Award]].
209	* There's a reason why knitters should knit all stitches in their row. If they pick it up later, they could accidentally work the next row without realizing they had other stitches in the previous one.
210	* Often done intentionally as insurance scams; by backing into the car behind them so it looks like the scammer was rear-ended, exploiting the fact that the rule of thumb is that the car behind is at fault. Less prominent now due to the increased prevalence of dash cams.
211	* Among the countless mockeries heaped on the first President George Bush's Vice President, Dan Quayle, was the occasion when Quayle toured a military gunnery range and held and aimed an RPG launcher (a.k.a. a bazooka)... backwards. (Fortunately, he didn't fire it.)
212	* Angela Chao, billionaire CEO and sister of Elaine Chao (who was secretary of transportation under Donald Trump) [[https://eu.statesman.com/story/news/state/2024/03/20/angela-chao-tesla-car-accident-cause-of-death-austin-tx-details-investigation-report/72959486007/ died in an accident]] where her Tesla switched to reverse, and the car backed into a lake, and both she and rescuers were unable to open the doors or break the windows.
213	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HadTheSillyThingInReverse