History Main / MemoryWipingCrew

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/BlakesSeven'', Blake is contacted by LaResistance who inform him that he led a rebellion several years ago, was captured and brainwashed into denouncing his cause, then implanted with FakeMemories to make him forget this. Blake then witnesses the rebels being massacred by Federation troops. The authorities try to erase his memory again, but the trauma causes Blake to remember everything again, so he's framed and deported to a penal planet, setting in motion the events of the series.

* The Memory Police in ''Series/UltramanNexus'', who erased the memories of people who saw the Space Beast and Ultraman Nexus.

* A typically dark example from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Since admitting the existence of an elite army of {{demon slayer}}s would be admitting that there are such things as demons, the Imperium treats the GreyKnights as a state secret enforced by specially-trained psykers. Other {{space marine}}s who fight alongside them go through a lengthy memory-scrubbing afterwards, while Imperial Guardsmen who distinguish themselves are subjected to a hasty process that is both painful and often fatal. [[HeKnowsTooMuch Everyone else is just executed]]. An especially notable example was after the first war for Armageddon; after the invasion was driven off, the entire population of the planet was sterilized and worked to death in concentration camps.

-> Searching for a handle on the moment? I can't help you. The only comfort I can offer... is my promise that tomorrow morning you won't remember a thing.

* In the first "VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic", the Player Character's memory is wiped out before the start of the game and replaced with another.

* In ''[[Literature/NightWatch Sixth Watch]]'', the characters wonder how extremely important information about the origins and true nature of the [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Others]] could have been hidden or forgotten. [[spoiler:It was the Great Others themselves, who have wiped their own and others' memories in order to keep that knowledge from interfering with their plans for a perfect world. One, a witch, has managed to retain the memories by imparting them onto an artifact. Her memories were restored as soon as she touched it]].

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/a-man-at-the-top-of-his-profession One "tale" horrifically subverts this]], in that "Class A amnestics" are just what agents put down on reports to make themselves feel better. The actual memory loss is caused by a TortureTechnician via MindRape and beating witnesses until they [[TraumaInducedAmnesia no longer remember what happened]]. Thankfully, the not-quite-canon nature of the SCP tales lets you decide whether this is true or not.

* ''{{UFO}}''. The SHADO organization captures people who see real [=UFO=]s and has its medical department use a drug to erase their recent memories, thus preventing the public from learning about UFO attacks.
* ''TheTroop'' has a little alien whose song causes short-term memory loss so they can cover breaches of TheMasquerade. However, ordinary ear plugs can protect one from the effect.

* Any kindred in ''VampireTheMasquerade'' with [[MindControl Dominate 3]] can be a one-vamp memory wiping crew. Not only can they make the victim forget, they can implant false memories. However, these memories don't always stay undone...

* In ''Film/MenInBlack II'' they even use a gigantic neuralizer hidden in the Statue of Liberty, capable of wiping the memories of all New York City.

* Professor X often plays this role in early versions of the Franchise/{{X-Men}} such as ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', wiping memories when TheMasquerade has been blown. During an episode of ''Evolution'' where the Brotherhood show off their powers in the middle of a school football game, he dangerously overexerts his powers by modifying the memory of every spectator. Naturally, the one person whose mind he doesn't ''completely'' wipe is Principal Kelly...

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': "Class A Amnesiac administered to all survivors."
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/a-man-at-the-top-of-his-profession One story horrifically subverts this]], in that "Class A amnesiacs" are just what agents put down on reports to make themselves feel better. The actual memory loss is caused by a TortureTechnician via MindRape and beating witnesses until they [[TraumaInducedAmnesia no longer remember what happened]]. Thankfully, the indecisive-canon nature of the SCP lets you decide whether this is true or not.

* One episode of ''KolchakTheNightStalker'' had Kolchak narrating the events into a tape recorder, because the government had done this to him, and it hadn't quite taken, or rather not all at once. His memory of the incident ''was'' fading rapidly, and he had to make the recording while he still remembered most of the details.

* ''DarkerThanBlack: Gemini of The Meteor'' features a faction of the military that serves as this for people whom get into contact with the super-powered [[ProfessionalKiller Contractors]]. Witnesses that prove too difficult to catch are simply killed.

* A typically dark example from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Since admitting the existence of an elite army of {{demon slayer}}s would be admitting that there are such things as demons, the Imperium treats the GreyKnights as a state secret enforced by specially-trained psykers. Other {{space marine}}s who fight alongside them go through a lengthy memory-scrubbing afterwards, while Imperial Guardsmen who distinguish themselves are subjected to a hasty process that is both painful and often fatal. [[HeKnowsTooMuch Everyone else is just executed]].

* Early in TheKingfisher, Helen is used by Vitus as a one-woman MemoryWipingCrew, giving Marc LaserGuidedAmnesia.
* The Erasers in SamAndFuzzy, in charge of keeping the public in the dark about the Underground

* Played with in TheMovie of ''PhineasAndFerb''. [[spoiler:The OWCA doesn't have any memory-erasing tools, so they just steal the villain's amnesia-inator.]]

!!!Examples

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Film/MenInBlack'' is probably the best example. Individual MIB teams had the neuralizer, which could wipe memories for a set amount of time and leave them in a hypnotic state so that new memories could be implanted. While they could often do the jobs themselves, and indeed it was part of their function, for larger memory fixing they could call in special task forces that would come out, neuralize large numbers of people, plant evidence, etc.
* In ''Film/MenInBlack II'' they even use a gigantic neuralizer hidden in the Statue of Liberty, capable of wiping the memories of all New York City.

* Lacuna Inc, from ''EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' are a non-MIB version, removing memories of bad relationships. They would even set up in the client's home so they would wake up without any idea that something had happened.
* Discussed in ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau'' . The adjusters mention an Intervention Team that takes care of the [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory resetting]].
* ''Film/{{Paycheck}}'' has Creator/BenAffleck's character routinely undergo memory erasure by his best friend in order to hide his reverse-engineering activities from the authorities (even though reverse engineering is not technically illegal), who have the same memory-scanning devices. Later, the job is performed by TheDragon.

** In ''Film/MenInBlack II'' they even use a gigantic neuralizer hidden in the Statue of Liberty, capable of wiping the memories of all New York City.
*** [[FridgeLogic Assuming everybody was outside, facing the right way at the time]]
*** If they weren't looking outside, they wouldn't have seen the incidents that needed to be erased in the first place. (And probably MIB went around covertly neuralizing the small number of exceptions afterwards).
*** Jay's car also has a neuralizer built into the underside in order to neuralize anyone under the vehicle while it's flying.
* In ''TheIncredibles'', the government had a team like that, that would come in and wipe memories and implant new ones when an undercover Super would screw up and use his powers in the open.

** Though it's also possible that they just paid any involved persons to never speak of anything related to this again.
*** ''[[PixarShorts Jack-Jack Attack]]'' proves they do in fact wipe memories.

* Discussed in ''TheAdjustmentBureau'' . The adjusters mention an Intervention Team that takes care of the [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory resetting]].
* ''{{Paycheck}}'' has Creator/BenAffleck's character routinely undergo memory erasure by his best friend in order to hide his reverse-engineering activities from the authorities (even though reverse engineering is not technically illegal), who have the same memory-scanning devices. Later, the job is performed by TheDragon.