Line #15 Series/Bugs


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bugs-title-screencap.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:Pretty wires, and running around with briefcases. The show in a nutshell.]]
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4	''Bugs'' is a mid-1990s British techno-espionage TV series, intended to be ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' for a new decade. Website/{{Wikipedia}} [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_(TV_series) has the facts]]. Absolutely laden with HollywoodScience tropes, and quite prone to SoBadItsGood.
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6	It died out pretty horribly due to awkward soap-opera elements being forced in. The fourth series in particular was half-dead from the start and only made worse by poor scheduling.
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8	----
9	!!''Bugs'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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11	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The then-new London Docklands, where many of the outdoor scenes were filmed, helped with this.
12	* AppliedPhlebotinum: ''In spades'', such as the miracle foodstuff that can be grown cheaply in large quantities which just happens to be [[spoiler:toxic if exposed to UV]], or (in a charity special) a machine capable of ''controling'' the lottery draw.
13	* ArcadeSounds: In "Assassins, Inc.".
14	* AIIsACrapShoot: "The Bureau of Weapons" and "A Cage for Satan" has a mind-controlling AI named Cyberax starting to take over the world.
15	* AirVentPassageway: Ed's entrance in "Assassins, Inc.".
16	* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler: Jean-Daniel]]
17	* BeepingComputers: In the Bugs universe, even the Windows 95 "pipes" screensaver renders with a loud BIP-BIP-BIP-BIP...
18	* CrashCourseLanding: Ed needs to be talked through using a computer to land a plane in "All Under Control"
19	* [[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard in a Futuristic Power Plant]]: 2x05, "Blackout". Practically a WholePlotReference. Self-proclaimed ecoterrorists take over a "[[ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics split isotope fusion plant]]" - supposedly for ideological reasons, but in actuality to carry out a heist. Complete with [[AirVentPassageway air duct crawling]] and long-haired [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent vaguely Germanic]] mercenaries.
20	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Ros. When armed with Beckett's Jeep in "Out of the Hive" ([=S1E1=]), she decides the most efficient way to reach someone the other side of a roundabout is simply to drive over it.
21	* EnhanceButton
22	** Played entirely straight on too many occasions to count.
23	** Averted in "Assassins, Inc."; Ros zooms in on some blinkenlichten on a mainframe to demonstrate recovering the data being displayed, but they remain fuzzy, and she explicitly notes that the camera framerate wasn't anywhere near high to get it all.
24	* EveryCarIsAPinto: And how! They establish this with a midair explosion in the very first episode. No, it doesn't hit anything. Simply losing road contact makes it blow up.
25	* ExactTimeToFailure: In almost every single episode. Usually coupled with a MagicCountdown.
26	* FacialDialogue: Necessitated by voice-triggered bombs.
27	* FloorboardFailure: Ed is cornered on a weak roof and challenges his pursuer to come and get him.
28	* HollywoodSilencer: Averted. The series features lots of silenced pistols, but they generally produce muted bangs instead of "fwip" noises.
29	* HowDidYouKnowIDidnt: Ros defusing a bomb attached to an uncooperative Ed.
30	-->'''Ed:''' You took long enough working out what to pull out.\
31	'''Ros:''' Who worked it out? I guessed.
32	* InstantSedation: Of all the tropes this series plays straight, this one is notably averted. In "Gold Rush", two characters, [[spoiler:a RedShirt and Ed]], are shot in the neck with tranquiliser darts, but it takes near enough half a minute for the sedative to take effect.
33	* LastNameBasis: Beckett. Oddly, not for the others in the team.
34	* MadeOfExplodium: Pretty much everything, including a mainframe computer that explodes in 30 seconds of the air conditioning being turned off, and yet Ed manages to extract three circuit boards in that time that are surprisingly free of heat damage.
35	* MagicalComputer: "Assassins, Inc." has a voice-activated mainframe that seems to be lifted straight from ''Star Trek''.
36	* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Jean-Daniel in "A Cage for Satan":
37	--> "We've been collecting the brightest human specimens... and Roland."
38	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: "Assassins, Inc." starts with Beckett doing a simple data-wiping job. [[spoiler:Hey, where did the evidence to convict this week's villain go?]]
39	* NoFullNameGiven: Ed.
40	* OhCrap: Jean-Daniel realizing that removing the timer from Beckett's bomb actually armed it.
41	-->"This is broken. So how were you going to set it off? ''beat, camera focus changes to the tripwire'' ... Ah."
42	* OnceIsNotEnough: Perpetrated by most of the main characters, who take turns being taken hostage. The gold medal goes to Bureau 2 chief "Jan" for doing this ''several times during the same episode'' ("Identity Crisis"), without once stopping to pick up the stunned guard's weapon.
43	* PlotArmor: Roland Blatty survives a point-blank shot to the chest from a ''howitzer'' with only a computer between him and the muzzle.
44	* PowerTrio
45	** Ros Henderson -- Ego; most likely to take the lead.
46	** Nick Beckett -- Superego; relatively speaking.
47	** Ed -- Id; carefree.
48	* RealMenWearPink: Musclebound Ed is the only person in the show who is any good with a needle and thread.
49	* ScienceIsBad: Ros (of all people) comes up with the following InsaneTrollLogic while trying to FindTheCure for Alex's 6th century plague in "Pandora's Box":
50	-->'''Dr Hemmings''': "We have all this technology, and it seems useless."
51	-->'''Ros''': "All this technology... that's it! We've been looking at this completely the wrong way."
52	-->'''Dr Hemmings''': "You mean this is a 6th century plague?
53	-->'''Ros''': "Right. Now maybe, we have to fight it with 6th century methods."
54	--> ...
55	-->'''Ros''': "You heat substances by flame, not in a microwave!"
56	-->'''Dr Hemmings''': "You cool them on ice, not by electricity!"
57	-->'''Ros''': "You use natural containers, not plastic!"
58	* SpaceIsNoisy: Mostly averted. In one episode, a leaking and unstable fuel cell is jettisoned from a shuttle and explodes silently, albeit still with a fireball that implies the presence of atmospheric oxygen.
59	* SuperSerum: Tri-Meserone in "A Sporting Chance".
60	* SuperSoldiers: of the drug-induced variety in "A Sporting Chance".
61	* ViewerFriendlyInterface: On every computer used. Complete with cheesy mid-'90s CGI!
62	* WrenchWench: Ros. They all use gadgets, but she's the one most likely to have tinkered them into existence.
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Context Series / Bugs