History Main / CutTheJuice

* In ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}, Walter Peck orders a ConEdison utility worker to do this to the containment unit. Bad idea.

* In ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'', the salvage team sent to retrieve HAL take the precaution of installing a wire-cutting device on his power cord, just in case HAL tried to kill them as well. [[spoiler:It is not used. When they consider activating it at the climax of the plot, Dr. Chandra reveals that he disabled it because he felt it would be unfair to HAL and he didn't believe it would be necessary. On the latter point, he is proved correct.]]

* In ''Film/DieHard'', the FBI cuts all power to the building (and a big chunk of the surrounding area) during the hostage situation. [[spoiler:This is exactly what the BigBad has been relying on to deactivate the otherwise insurmountable final lock on the vault.]]

* Right before Sonia's badass-looking giant robot can smash the main characters in the second season of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', it suddenly freezes. Cut to a puzzled Hinagiku standing next to an oversized outlet holding an equally oversized plug. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Yukiji has gotten taken over by evil spirits who power the same robot with just their evil spirit-ness.]]

* In Creator/KimNewman's {{Deconstruction}} of sci-fi tropes, ''Literature/TomorrowTown'', the BigBad's attempt to cobble together a DoomsdayDevice by setting the heating system to overload is thwarted by the supercomputer advising that for safety reasons, Circuit Breaker 15 should be pulled.

* In ''Film/PacificRim'', [[spoiler:Leatherback can ''specifically'' do this and in fact did, blacking out the entirety of Hong Kong]]

* In NicktoonsUnite, the heroes have just defeated the BigBadDuumvirate, only to find out that their doomsday device is still set to go off. The majority of the heroes are stumped as to how to stop it...and then Spongebob pulls the plug at the last second.

** In ''Film/GoldenEye'', Boris, having been "spiked" by Natalya to prevent him from disconnecting his computer from hers, rips apart his computer to break the connection. Considering the fact that he could have just shut off the computer, or, even easier, turned off the internet connection (pull out the ethernet cord or shutdown a router), the apparently thousands of dollars of damage he inflicts on the computer is pretty retarded.

* In the ''Series/FlandersCompany'' episode "Unlimited", resident MadScientist Caleb screws up while working on a machine, which subsequently makes everybody's superpower uncontrolable in the whole building. Hippolyte attemppt to use his pain-powered HandBlast to destroy the machine, but it is protected by SomeKindOfForceField. Comes CuteBruiser Cindy, whom they ask to try too, in the hope the forcefield would be weak to brute force (her power being SuperStrength). Instead, Cindy just unplug the whole thing.

* In the original ''Series/DoctorWho'' series’ second serial, ''The Daleks'', the plan to defeat the Daleks revolves around trying to unplug their city’s electricity supply.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' has Harley Quinn sending Catwoman down a ConveyorBeltODoom. When Batman turns up, Harley claims that he doesn't have enough time to beat her and save Catwoman. Cue the camera panning out slightly to show Batman standing right next to the master switch, which he promptly flips.

* In ''Film/PacificRim'', [[spoiler:Leatherback can ''specifically'' do this.]]

** An episode that parodies ''Series/TwentyFour'' uses an amusing subversion. The bomb inside Hillary Clinton (don't ask) is set to explode once the 24 clock hit 1:00. Instead, the power goes out, leaving the timer flashing 12:00.

* ''Film/{{Spider-Man}} 2'' uses it twice. The first time it works; the second time subverts it, as the ongoing fusion that had previously required power had become self-sustaining.
* In ''TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'', the salvage team sent to retrieve HAL take the precaution of installing a wire-cutting device on his power cord, just in case HAL tried to kill them as well. [[spoiler:It is not used. When they consider activating it at the climax of the plot, Dr. Chandra reveals that he disabled it because he felt it would be unfair to HAL and he didn't believe it would be necessary. On the latter point, he is proved correct.]]
* In ''[[OceansEleven Ocean's 13]]'', Danny Ocean proposes doing this to disable the Bank Casino's ultra high-tech player monitoring system. "Why don't we just kill the power?" Roman Nagel scoffs at the idea. "That could work... failing that, you could just kick the plug out of the socket." They figure out that they could shut it down temporarily, if only they could get a magnetron into the control room. So they get a magnetron into the control room.

* The 1997 version of the DeanKoontz novel ''Demon Seed'' plays with this. [[spoiler:In this version, the story is told from the point-of-view of the evil AI. The story abruptly [[KilledMidSentence ends in midsentence when it is powered down]].]]
* In ''Literature/TheGhostBrigades'' by JohnScalzi, [[spoiler:Steve Seaborg shuts down the Obin [=BrainPal=] jammer by blowing up the power generator -- and himself]].

* In ''BigBangTheory'' Wolowitz gets a robotic hand stuck on his ... well ... gentleman parts. The guys are told not to turn it off because it's programmed as a screwdriver, and will start to twist. The nurse in the ER, not knowing this, simply turns off the computer and it releases.

* Used in ''TreasureOfTheRudras''. [[spoiler:You have to deactivate [[WaveMotionGun Sodom]]'s Power source for the Moonlight or you will be unable to fight it, since it will repel you every time you enter the chamber it is in.]]
* Used ''accidentally'' by Roger Wilco in the second ''SpaceQuest'' game. After being shrunk to a height of an inch by BigBad Vohaul, he climbs into a nearby air duct and pushes a big red button marked "Stop". He then discovers that he just stopped Vohaul's life support system, killing the evil man. Whoops. I mean, hooray! That's exactly what I intended to do!
* Used frequently in ''{{Half-Life}} 2'' as a combat-puzzle mechanic.

* In ''DragonBall'', Goku has been completely unable to defeat the robotic Sgt. Metallic, even after blowing Metallic's head off. He seems indestructable until he suddenly stops moving. Turns out his batteries died. Goku shrugs it off and continues to the next floor of Muscle Tower.

[[folder:Comics -- Books]]
* At the end of ''{{XIII}}'', the protagonist must stop a military base from self-destructing, but the computer console that can abort the process has a small bomb attached that will kill him if he tries it. The solution? Trace the console's conduit up to the equipment cage it controls and blow it up!
** The exact same scenario happens near the end of the video game based on the comic.

* Parodied with the [[IncrediblyLamePun climax]] of ''[[http://www.ranmabooks.com/Projects/OOC3.php Out of Character 3]]'', a ''RanmaOneHalf'' {{Hentai}} dôjinshi. Kasumi, after having all the fun she could with a [[NaughtyTentacles Tentacle Monster]], then stops it by... simply pulling out a pair of small batteries.

** ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' uses this as a subversion of the classic bomb plot. The bomb expert that arrives to stop the atomic device does so by merely hitting a switch. (You'd better believe that it stopped at [[JamesBond 0:07]].) The counter was originally going to stop at 0:03 - Connery has a line of dialogue to that effect immediately after the shutdown - but for obvious reasons, they changed it in the edit.

* In the ''GauntsGhosts'' novel ''The Guns of Tanith'', a squad of Ghosts are trying to figure out how to disable the force fields the enemy has wired into the city they are trying to take while in the main control room. The problem is solved by Major Kolea, who pulls one lever and shuts down the entire power grid.

* In ''MassEffect'', a subquests pits you against a suicidal A.I., who has decided to take you along for the ride. Now, you can try to figure out the shutdown override code for its self-destruct system by trial-and-error before the timer runs out... or you can take out your shotgun and blow up a nearby fusebox. Brute-force hacking at its best.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', the Monotoli building is guarded by a clumsy robot with a particularly unusual moveset. After the heroes survive its attacks for a while, The Runaway Five bursts into the room in a BigDamnHeroes moment... and flips the switch on the robot's back. Success!
** If you use the power shield to bounce its missile back at the clumsy robot, you get to see the same scene twice.
* This is used again in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''. Lucas, Boney, and Dr. Andonuts are being chased by the nigh-unbeatable Ultimate Chimera. As it pounces for its meal, Salsa runs in and hits the button on its back, effectively killing the power. The duck on its back flips it back on long after you've left, which should explain why it appears later on in the Empire Porky Building.

* ''BiggerThanCheeses'': [[http://www.biggercheese.com/index.php?comic=332 Oh crap! HACKERS!]]
* ''SluggyFreelance'': the entire 4U city arc leads up to the big confrontation between Riff and the enigmatic dictator of the eponymous dystopia, known as His Masterness. When it's revealed that [[spoiler: His Masterness is actually well intentioned, and any actually bad things attributed to him were actually done by a rogue AI]], Riff instantly solves all problems by pulling the computer's plug, rebooting it only for a short time to ward off a mutant invasion before pulling the plug again.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]''
** Parodied in one episode: an alien "toy" threatens the existence of Earth and as it powers up, things look hopeless for our heroes... then it stops. As it turns out, April knew that "every toy has batteries", showing a massive cylindrical battery to the turtles.

** Played straight in the 2003 ''[[TMNT2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon, where Serling stops a toy robot from killing the Turtles by removing its batteries.
** Inverted in ''TurtlesForever'', where cutting the juice [[spoiler:almost results in the multiverse getting wiped out]].

[[folder:Comics -- Books]]
* A ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'' comic subverts this. In a brief display of bravery, J. Jonah Jameson unplugs a device that he believes is keeping Spidey from using his powers. Peter doesn't have the heart to tell him that Jameson merely unplugged the coffee machine.

* ''Film/SupermanIII'': Subverted. Gus Gorman, geek-for-hire, has built a supercomputer with a self defense arsenal capable of taking down even Superman. As Superman crumbles under the computer's assault, the boss triumphantly congratulates him on building the machine that Kills Superman. Gorman has an ''OhCrap'' (despite this not being the first time in the movie it was made clear to him that this was the goal) and tries to Cut the Juice (which somehow can be performed by removing a single ordinary screw with a single pocket screwdriver from a panel. Apparently giant knife-switches or ''{{Big Red Button}}s'' weren't dramatic enough, or at least wouldn't have given the boss time to realize his henchman wasn't all the way on board with this plan and try to keep him from disabling the computer before it can finish). This works for a few seconds. Then, although supposedly without power, the supercomputer restarts and creates its own reroutes straight to the nearest power lines. Gus shouts in horror, "It's feeding itself... it wants to LIVE!"
* The [[Film/{{Transformers}} live-action]] ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' movie.

* ''{{Wargames}}''. If power to the master computer is cut, the silos would assume that Cheyenne Mountain had been nuked (since they are at [[DefconFive Defcon 1]]), and launch their missiles in response.

* The novel version of ''TwoThousandAndOneASpaceOdyssey''. Bowman contemplates cutting HAL's powersupply, but since HAL also controls the ship's life support, Bowman realizes that he can't simply cut off the power. In addition to the fact that HAL is powered by a nuclear reactor.
** In ''TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact,'' Floyd has the engineer Curnow install a device on HAL's main power supply to let them shut him down remotely, if he goes nuts again. Dr. Chandra knew that they'd do that, and disconnected it.
* In the James P. Hogan novel ''The Two Faces of Tomorrow'', an AI is constructed (on an isolated space station) in order to test whether or not it can learn to defend itself from attempts to Cut the Juice if it goes [[AIIsACrapshoot out of control]]. [[spoiler: The AI learns to defend itself all too well. Eventually, it also learns to peacefully coexist with humans despite their initial attempts to destroy it, so things work out in the end.]]

* Most of the time you hear someone in the StargateVerse say "Shut it down" the response is invariably either "I can't" or "I already tried to". In that universe destructive things seem to have have an uncanny ability to power themselves. The stargate is capable of drawing power from just about anything, so the justification will usually be that it's being fed constant power by whatever's causing the problem.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Deus, at the beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''.
[[/folder]]

* Not so much ''dramatically'' ignored, but comedically subverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants''. Realizing that Plankton's computer-wife is loading the Krabby Patty formula, Spongebob dives for an outlet to unplug her. He ends up unplugging the coffee maker instead.
* In ''{{Archer}}'', a viral worm has infected the ISIS computers and threatens to upload the entire list of covert ISIS agents to a villain's hard drive. The ISIS tech team can't access the mainframe directly because it is sealed inside a magnetically-locked room. Instead, they try to stop the upload by cutting power to their mainframe, but this fails to work, and Doctor Krieger then realizes that the worm has made the ISIS mainframe become ''self-aware!'' [[spoiler: No, he's just fucking around, it's just got a backup battery in the same room as the mainframe.]]
* In a ''SuperFriends'' story, a team of scientists invent an artificially intelligent computer and it instantly turns evil. In a panic, the scientists immediately pull the plug on it and the situation seems resolved. Unfortunately, the robot then ''turns itself back on'', saying it has all the power it needs to operate, which means this is now a job for the superheroes to deal with.

* In WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic unplugs his computer after ItWontTurnOff while displaying strange symbols and messages from [[spoiler:Ma-Ti]]. After he unplugs it, the images just start coming faster and faster until [[ExplosiveInstrumentation the monitor explodes]].

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "School Reunion", [[spoiler:Mickey pulls the plug on the Evil Computer Cluster of Doom]]. Because sixty-odd computers are plugged into a single socket, it unexpectedly sparks back at him.

* ''FarCry3BloodDragon'' gives us "Punch the nuclear reactor!"