History Main / OverrideCommand

* Nagato and Asakura from ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' know the override codes [[RealityWarper to reality]]. In the light novels the code they use is rendered as SQL queries. The anime has them "speaking" SQL as well, but so quickly it can barely be recognized as speech.

* ''Literature/AncillaryJustice'': ''Justice of Toren'' and every other Radchaai ship or station AI has these, [[spoiler:and by the time of the series have each been given multiple conflicting commands from [[SplitPersonality Anaander Mianaai]]]]. In the third book, [[spoiler:the ships and station in Athoek system have their overrides removed using the overrides posessed by Lieutenant Tisarwat]].

->''"The problems with the security system were high on Jurassic Park's bug list. Nedry wondered if anybody ever imagined that it wasn't a bug—that Nedry had programmed it that way. He had built in a classic trap door.''"
-->-- ''Literature/JurassicPark'' (the novel)

* In ''Manga/OutlawStar'', [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Melfina]] the bioandroid/ship navigator has an override command that suspends her personality.

* In ''Film/WarGames'' (1983), the creator of the military super computer W.O.P.R. implements a back door password: Joshua, the name of his son.
* Justified example: In ''Film/JurassicPark'', the giant gates have a manual override lever so that they can be opened in the event of a power failure. There is also of course Nedry's software backdoor. This is justified too, since he wrote the software in the first place.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'', Private finds the override code for the ship in the first one.

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': After discovering a chamber filled with apparently dead Cardassians, Garak warns the [=DS9=] crew that the Cardassian government would use it as an excuse to send an "inspection" team to the station to fully investigate the situation. Odo notes that after the Cardassians initially left it took the station crew about a year to close off all the overrides and backdoors and worries that if such inspectors were able to plant more override commands the [=DS9=] crew would never be able to have a secured conversation again.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': In the [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "The Romulan Prize" the Romulan Commander Valak uses a chip to override the lockout on the ''Enterprise''-D computers after he and his people capture the ship. However Picard is able to shout out a command to the computer that causes it to erase all classified materials stored in the ship's computers. When Riker asks Picard how Valak was able to override the lockout, Picard informs him that chips with override codes were kept in secured locations so technicians with sufficiently high clearance could clear up any access problems, and that a Romulan spy must have stolen one of those chips.
* ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'': Mara Jade, being a former personal agent to Emperor Palpatine himself, knows the secret access codes Palpatine had hardwired into the mainframe computers of every ship in the fleet so that he or his agents couldn't be locked out of his own ships by vessel commanders. She uses them to access the ''Chimaera''[='s=] records to find Talon Karrde's detention cell as well as the ship's itinerary so that she and Luke can rescue him. She knows that Thrawn can't have removed her back door codes, but she worries that he might know about them and have set flags to show if they are used. Fortunately, no flags were set and Mara was not caught accessing the computer. During the rescue itself, she again uses the computer to alter duty rosters and reroute turbo lifts. When Thrawn figures that Karrde has been broken out of his cell, and that the rescuers must have used the computer to help them do it, he simply shuts the computer down entirely. While this considerably impairs the ship's operations, having the computer actively work against you is an even greater impairment.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': In the last years of Bruce Wayne's crime-fighting career, he'd created an electronic batsuit which included a "kill switch", a BigRedButton in the Batcave, to use in the event the suit ever ended up in the wrong hands, which completely shuts down the suit's system. It was used in the pilot episode "Rebirth", when Terry [=McGinnis=] first took the mantle, and "Lost Soul", when [[AIIsACrapshoot the Robert Vance program]] hacked its way into the suit. However, in the latter episode, when the suit was recovered, the Vance program reactivated itself and destroyed the kill switch before escaping the Batcave.

* ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'': Mara Jade, being a former personal agent to Emperor Palpatine himself, knows the secret access codes that he had hardwired into the mainframe computers of every ship in the fleet so that he or his agents couldn't be locked out of his own ships, and uses them to access the ''Chimaera''[='s=] records to find Talon Karrde's detention cell as well as the ship's itinerary so that she and Luke can rescue him. During the rescue itself, she again uses the computer to alter duty rosters and reroute turbo lifts. She knows that Thrawn can't have removed her back door codes, but she worries that he might know about them and have set flags to show if they are used. When Thrawn figures that Karrde has been broken out of his cell, and that the rescuers must have used the computer to help them do it, he simply shuts the computer down entirely. While this considerably impairs the ship's operations, having the computer actively work against you is an even greater impairment.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':

* In ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'', Lewton must get into the Archeologists' Guild vault, which is guarded by a magical lock which will BalefulPolymorph anyone who enters the wrong code. The trick is to talk to a wizard, who will tell you there's a "back passage" code.

* In Literature/AncillaryJustice ''Justice of Toren'' and every other Radchaai ship or station AI has these, [[spoiler:and by the time of the series have each been given multiple conflicting commands from [[SplitPersonality Anaander Mianaai]]]]. In the third book, [[spoiler:the ships and station in Athoek system have their overrides removed using the overrides posessed by Lieutenant Tisarwat.]]

* In ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', Mara Jade, being a former personal agent to Emperor Palpatine himself, knows the secret access codes that were hardwired into the mainframe computers of every ship in the fleet, and uses them to access the ''Chimaera’s'' records to find Talon Karrde’s detention cell as well as the ship’s itinerary so that she and Luke can rescue him. During the rescue itself, she again uses the computer to alter duty rosters and reroute turbo lifts. She knows that Thrawn can’t have removed her back door codes, but she worries that he might know about them and have set flags to show if they are used. When Thrawn figures that Karrde has been broken out of his cell, and that the rescuers must have used the computer to help them do it, he simply shuts the computer down entirely. While this considerably impairs the ship's operations, having the computer actively work against you is an even greater impairment.

** The example from ''Wrath of Khan'' shows up again in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', being used to shut down the shields of a captain who was waging a one-man war on the Cardassians[[note]]it was specifically the modulation of that particular ship's shields, which is less of an override and more of an armor-piercer, but the principle is the same[[/note]]. It was given to the Cardassians to stop him, but even without shields (however briefly), he still won.

** if you did set your admin password you can reset it using tools like a Bart PE disk that boots your computer into a lite environment that will allow you to run diagnostics on your harddrive without worrying about it being in use along with being able to do background administrative tasks

* While it doesn't give you any access to the phone's other functions, many cell phones have an emergency dialer that can be used by anyone whether they know the code to unlock your phone or not. Very handy if it is the only phone available yet it's owner is missing or incapacitated by an emergency situation.
** This is actually a legal requirement of almost all telephone systems throughout the world. The emergency number(s) must always be available, even if no other service is either available or allowed. If you can get a connection and use an emergency number you will be routed to an emergency dispatcher.

* Unmanned spacecrafts have a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_mode_(spacecraft) safe mode]], that stops everything but the essential functions as communications or attitude control so engineers at MissionControl can fix whatever caused the craft to enter into said situation. For critical moments of the mission as orbit insertion or landing this mode is overriden, so for example a cosmic ray hit on the wrong place at the worst moment will not cause the failure of a multi-billion dollar mission.
* Android by default does not allow to install .APK files of unknown origin (ie, not downloaded from trusty sources as the Google Play Store). However there's a switch on the "Security" menu at least until Android 7.0 that once activated allows you to do so.
* Many multi-factor authentication systems allow you to print a set of codes you can use in case you don't have access to the authentication method. If you use one of those codes, it becomes invalid however.

* Ken Thompson, creator of the UsefulNotes/{{Unix}} operating system, produced [[http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html one version]] whereby the login program had a back door. So just recompile from source, right? Except the C compiler was in on the joke too, and was programmed to add the back door to any case where it was building login, ''and'' to add the back-door-adding code to any case where it was building ''itself'' (so you could have a system where the programs were evil but the source looked 100% clean). [[CrazyPrepared And to add insult to injury, it was ''also'' programmed to recognize when it was building the disassembler, and alter it so the hacks wouldn't show up]]. [[ParanoiaFuel No one knows if the back door made it out of Bell Labs]].

* UsefulNotes/{{Unix}} and similar operating systems have "sudo" (which temporarily elevates your privileges for one command) and "su" (which elevates them until you undo it).[[note]]su stands for SuperUser, which is the Unix equivalent to what Windows more prosaically calls an administrator account.[[/note]] This is useful because you can accidentally run malicious or otherwise damaging programs, but as long as your privileges aren't elevated at the time, then the potential damage is limited.

* In ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', Mara Jade, being a former personal agent to Emperor Palpatine himself, knows the secret access codes that were hardwired into the mainframe computers of every ship in the fleet, and uses them to access the ''Chimaera’s'' records to find Talon Karrde’s detention cell as well as the ship’s itinerary so that she and Luke can rescue him. During the rescue itself, she again uses the computer to alter duty rosters and reroute turbo lifts. She knows that Thrawn can’t have removed her back door codes, but she worries that he might know about them and have set flags to show if they are used. When Thrawn figures that Karrde has been broken out of his cell, and that the rescuers must have used the computer to help them do it, he simply shuts the computer down entirely.

* In ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', Mara Jade, being a former personal agent to Emperor Palpatine himself, knows the secret access codes that were hardwired into the mainframe computers of every ship in the fleet, and uses them to access the ''Chimaera’s'' records to find Talon Karrde’s detention cell as well as the ship’s itinerary so that she and Luke can rescue him. During the rescue itself, she again uses the computer to alter duty rosters and reroute turbo lifts. She knows that Thrawn can’t have removed her back door codes, but she worries that he might know about them and have set flags to show if they are used. When Thrawn figures that Karrde has been broken out of his cell, and that the rescuers must have used the computer to help them do it, [[CutTheKnot he simply shuts the computer down entirely]].

Sometimes this is spoofed with "manual override" being a euphemism for [[PercussiveMaintenance pounding on the machine with fists or tools until it finally does what you want]]. KlaatuBaradaNikto is a specific variant.

* As expected of a Creator/KenAkamatsu Manga, [[MadScientist Hakase]] in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' built [[RobotGirl Chachamaru]] with her override function applied by adding moderate pressure to her right breast plate. Take from that what you will. Presuming the override only works when she's in diagnostic mode (the one time we've seen it used), this isn't either a security risk or too bad a choice. Easy target if you need that, and nothing there you'd normally be testing.

* Justified in ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'', when Clark never realized the "cells" (actually high-tech Kryptonian ''shipping crates'') in his Fortress even ''had'' voice-activated override codes. Which means they were never changed from the factory default, which General Zod knows...

* In the ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Forward}}'', the Alliance has hardwired override commands installed on all their ships in case of subversion. Only Operatives and very high-ranking military commanders and officials know these codes. Unfortunately for them, many of these people were in the same room with a mind-reading psychic at one point...

** Windows has "runas", which basically work the same as "sudo" (or "su", if the one command you run is "cmd").

** Played with in the [[spoiler: core transfer procedure and the Stalemate Resolution Button. It overrides the current core and replaces it with another, ''as long as both cores agree.'' If not, a trained Stalemate Resolution Associate must push the aforementioned button.]]

-->-- ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' ([[Literature/JurassicPark the novel]])

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has some sentient terminals and robots that can be affected by your Science skill (or failing that, Robotics Expert perk). One particular instance is the M.A.R.Go.T terminal, which can be overridden thusly.
** VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas also has this a few times. Also, hacking computers in general is this trope turned into a minigame in both this game and Fallout 3.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'''s Wheatley performs a ''manual override'' on a wall to get Chell on to the old testing track to reclaim the portal device. [[spoiler:AKA he smashes the wall down.]]

* VideoGame/MechWarrior series of games, being based on TabletopGame/BattleTech, grants pilots the Override Shutdown command. The pilot shuts off the automatic shutdown designed to be engaged if the mech red lines over the Heat threshold, leaving only the Heatsinks and Life support systems active, while trying to limit damage to the fusion reactor and mech, as well as reduce the risk of an ammo explosion. Pilots shut it off when absolutely need to keep firing in a desperate attempt to survive by destroying the enemy mech quickly. Or by those who realize they're facing the end of the line, and are about to make one last final defiant stand.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]], Grand Admiral Thrawn's assassin droids, which he [[KingpinInHisGym spars with]], have the override "[[MythologyGag Rukh]]" to deactivate them. ReverseMole [[spoiler:Kallus]] either deactivates or changes the override code when he sics the droids on Thrawn in an AssassinationAttempt.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'', of course, has several examples, from voice commands to manual overrides. Not only do they have override commands (in most cases as simple as saying the word "Override"), but they have Auxiliary Control, which appears to be able to take over control from the Bridge without it being given voluntarily!
** The example from ''Wrath of Khan'' shows up again in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', being used to shut down the shields of a captain who was waging a one-man war on the Cardassians[[note]]It was specifically the modulation of that particular ship's shields, which is less of an override and more of an armor-piercer, but the principle is the same[[/note]]. It was given to the Cardassians to stop him, but even without shields (however briefly) he still won.

** Averted in ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' when [[TheAlcoholic Raffi]] decides INeedAFreakingDrink.
--->'''Raffi:''' Burgundy. ''(replicator beeps, nothing happens)'' Red wine. ''(replicator beeps, nothing happens)''
--->'''EHH:''' ''(materialising)'' What is the nature of your hospitality emergency?
--->'''Raffi:''' I need a glass of red wine.
--->'''EHH:''' [[NailedToTheWagon You disabled alcohol services from your quarters two days ago.]]
--->'''Raffi:''' Reinstate it. Override.
--->'''EHH:''' You locked yourself out of over-ride and... ''(consulting padd)'' meta-override.