# Horrible Movie and TV tropes about computers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 6, 2026, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852 "2026-09-06T04:51:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/41 "2026-09-06T19:06:23Z")
Nobody seems to use Windows and there is nary a mouse in sight. Progress in copying files is always displayed on the monitor using a 1990s style bar filling, always on a white on black screen ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/42 "2026-09-06T19:21:30Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > > [@DPRK](#): > > > > some types of timing-based SQL injection > > Does that require the password to have been stored in plain text in the database? The attack I had in mind does: if the timing of a query depends, or you can cause it to depend, on whether the result is true or false, then first you query whether the first letter is “a”. If it is, move on to the second letter. If not, try “b”… there are tools like SQLmap that automate this procedure and you can watch it in action if you choose. Slightly more realistically, the passwords would not be stored in plain text, but you might be able to extract records that contain usernames and hashed passwords, which you can then crack offline (storing hashes of the passwords is not that much more secure than storing the plain passwords, for this reason). ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/43 "2026-09-06T19:30:37Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > > [@Czarcasm](#): > > > > I think it only happened once…but I think it ended with Gibbs stopping the computer virus that was running throughout the NCIS computer system…by pulling the plug on their monitor?!? By ghod, I hope this is a mistake that will be corrected by another poster. > > [Here’s the scene you’re referring to](https://youtu.be/u8qgehH3kEQ?is=nE_XhjSy7Ztpbp6P). There’s another episode where Gibbs was being talked through some kind of obstacle course with booby traps, with a computer on a countdown at the end. IIRC it was set to detonate an explosive of some kind when it reached zero. Instead of messing around with unplugging red wires or blue wires or trying to defuse it some other hight tech way, Gibbs just pulled out his gun and shot it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/44 "2026-09-06T19:32:24Z")
Which is fine if the computer was going to send a “detonate” signal at the end. But would not be fine if the computer was instead going to cease sending a “don’t detonate” signal. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/45 "2026-09-06T19:34:07Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > …Gibbs just pulled out his gun and shot it. The [Indiana Jones method](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQKrmDLvijo) of dealing with things. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/46 "2026-09-06T19:37:55Z")
Alexander the Great invented it first! ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/47 "2026-09-06T19:44:01Z")
> [@robby](#): > > > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > > > …Gibbs just pulled out his gun and shot it. > > The [Indiana Jones method](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQKrmDLvijo) of dealing with things. 😉 Also known as the [Han Solo Method](https://youtu.be/3bjEpLoL0ls?is=oyVHTusn387RJVsR). Maybe we should call it the Harrison Ford Method. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/48 "2026-09-06T20:22:46Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Blinkenlights are real: My old PDP-11 had them. Useful when manually entering the bootstrap sequence from switches. > [@Askance](#): > > And of course there is the film **Hot Millions** where Peter Ustinov needs to break into a computer. Apparently to the script writers this meant physically accessing the inside of the computer, which he does by hitting its case with a metal bucket. I know this isn’t the thread topic, but _Real Genius_ got this right. Our heroes want to sabotage the first test of a death ray satellite. The writers were smart enough to know that this thing would not be hooked up to any sort of network, so they had to go into the base and manually swap a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory) with new directions. One of the many things that movie got right. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/49 "2026-09-06T20:23:46Z")
Kirk had a redshirt shoot the computer in “That Which Survives." ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/50 "2026-09-06T20:33:36Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > told me I was right about the blinkenlights. So, it’s all YOUR fault. “Sir, all these lights are flashing out of sequence.” “Well, get them to flash IN sequence!” > [@robby](#): > > The [Indiana Jones method](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQKrmDLvijo) of dealing with things There was an episode of Elementary where Holmes and Watson find a high explosive in their living room, wired to a cell phone detonator. Holmes simply rips the phone off bodily. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/51 "2026-09-06T20:43:24Z")
Yeah, and it might be plausible in a movie that a real AI (which WOPR was being presented as) could figure out a previously unknown vulnerability in the launch code system equivalent to SQL injection (or better yet, to a timing attack). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/52 "2026-09-06T20:45:04Z")
He’d usually just confuse a computer until he drove it crazy. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/53 "2026-09-06T20:47:03Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > whomever wrote that episode Nitpick: whoever ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/54 "2026-09-06T20:51:49Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Nitpick: whoever I choose to believe two people simultaneously types that reply. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/55 "2026-09-07T01:10:29Z")
As seen in the 1993 _Beverly Hillbillies_ movie, where Granny stops the transfer-in-progress by shooting the villains’ laptop. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/56 "2026-09-07T01:41:53Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Mention of _NCIS_ reminded me of a very common trope in modern procedurals: that your computer geek can “enhance” a blurry photo or video, and magically make details become crystal-clear. That notion has been presented to the public so often that county prosecutors now have a little speech that they give to jurors that this was ‘movie magic’ and that it doesn’t work that way in real life. And they often have to repeat/re-emphasize this during closing arguments in trials. Because juries were disregarding photo evidence because the typical low-resolution, dark security camera footage didn’t look anything like as the clear, detailed photos shown in TV crime shows. And of course, defense attorneys would try to push juries to expect that perfection (“if the glove don’t fit, you must acquit”). It’s become an actual problem in courts. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/57 "2026-09-07T02:13:18Z")
This is more of a computer security thing than a “how computers work” thing, but I’m soooo tired of seeing a mystery thumb drive being anonymously delivered to some police precinct or federal law enforcement office and no one ever thinking twice about sticking it into the nearest computer…which, of course, is never air-gapped. (And, of course, the network immediately becomes hacked/infected – but it’s the “hey, let’s just stick this in a random computer” thing that bugs the crap outta me.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/58 "2026-09-07T02:32:56Z")
That’s sadly realistic, though. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/59 "2026-09-07T02:44:17Z")
For the Average Joe, sure…I guess I expect “don’t stick mystery thumb drives in networked computers” to be covered in fictional law enforcement academies. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852/60 "2026-09-07T02:52:58Z")
I mean, you’d also expect it to be covered in nuclear weapons R&D programs… and yet, Stuxnet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horrible-movie-and-tv-tropes-about-computers/1032852.md?page=4)