# Silly "nick of time" scenes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327 "2013-03-30T04:32:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/41 "2013-04-04T19:12:59Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > No, I was thinking of some movie where the bad guy gets shot and when they do the “pan to the shooter” the audience gasps because it’s someone who (it ends up) had been stalking the good guy the whole movie, and which actually explained a lot of loose ends. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Very familiar. Well there’s **From Russia With Love** , where Grant was saving Bond’s bacon several times throughout the movie, but I know there’s better examples I can’t think of… ---
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/42 "2013-04-06T16:49:57Z")
Most recent one I saw was in The Host when Melanie’s uncle finds her before she dies of dehydration/heat stroke. There are more but that would reveal spoilers. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/43 "2013-09-12T17:32:55Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > I just figured it out! I know where our hero is, and the baddie is gonna get the drop on him. Let’s hurry (including leave here, get in our cars, drive across town, go into building, figure out what room person is in, enter without making a sound, etc.) > > Cut to scene of baddie has hero dead-to-rights, at gunpoint. > > Close up on baddie’s face… Oh no he’s about to shoot hero… but wait! he wordlessly looks quite surprised. He’s surprised because someone’s shot him dead (from behind, through the chest, once. Good guy last minute rescuers never shoot the person in the brain) > > Lately it seems like the secondary “to the rescuer” must be white and female and reasonably pretty. > > Also, even though the baddie has clearly collapsed to the floor dead, she must still be holding the gun up and aiming it with both hands (because she’s processing what she’s done, and certainly not so it’s obvious to viewer who the shooter was because they’re still holding the gun as if they’re firing) Ugh… resurrecting this because I watched Dredd last night (yeah, I know… my own fault)… and they did this exact trope almost verbatim. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/44 "2013-09-12T17:46:20Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > One variation on this which made us give up on a British police series. > > One character has unwittingly walked into the bad guy’s lair, as his partners just figure out who did it. They race across town to rescue him, getting there just in time. What they don’t do is pick up their damn radio and get some coppers a lot closer to do it. > This plot device in general worked a lot better before cellphones. That’s also pretty much every episode of CSI: Miami. The only person in the entire freaking city allowed to save the day is Horatio. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/45 "2013-09-12T18:18:18Z")
More annoying to me than the general nick of time cliché is the badly done version of them in which the last smidgeons of time are repeatedly played with no appreciable progress while the heroes or protagonists are racing around trying to beat the deadlines. You know… \*\*giant spider looms over the victim, mandibles open up and go to either side of the victim’s head and begin to close… the hero runs up the steep slope, dodges hexes from three witches and spends 4 agonizing minutes in a swordfight with the 2nd-worst evil knight before running him through the heart, yanking sword out and wiping blood off on evil knight’s hair… giant spider looms over the victim and again opens mandibles, having apparently stopped in mid-bite and gone off to take a potty break before coming back but it’s chomping time now for sure… hero runs over the crest of the hill, yells “Buddy!”, seeing the spider, and dashes down the hill only to be confronted by 3rd-worst evil knight weilding a mace… close-up of very frightened victim, pull back to see spider do a couple of experimental test-chomps in mid-air, just to make sure they’re in working order, before again approaching victim, having backed off several yards for the test-chomps, and opening them wide and moving in for the kill, which is really really imminent and could happen like really soon or something…\*\* ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/46 "2013-09-12T18:37:26Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > “Some days, you just **can’t** get rid of a bomb!” > > – and, of course – > > “M, as in Mancy!” Starting with the fact that we just bombed Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/47 "2013-09-12T18:52:02Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > More annoying to me than the general nick of time cliché is the badly done version of them in which the last smidgeons of time are repeatedly played with no appreciable progress while the heroes or protagonists are racing around trying to beat the deadlines. My God, yes. It must be [Zeno’s deathblow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes#Dichotomy_paradox). ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/48 "2013-09-12T21:15:52Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Starting with the fact that we just bombed Ireland. Actually, that’s Wales. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/49 "2013-09-13T14:23:33Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > In the 1930s, movie theatres showed serials on Saturday afternoons. Those were episodes that ran for a half an hour or so, ended in a cliffhanger and continued next week. The cliffhangers were often ludicrous to the point of showing the burning building collapse on the hero, his girlfriend and his funny sidekick. > > Next week you’d see the burning building and see the hero, his girlfriend and the funny sidekick run out the side door just before it collapsed. My father said he’d go to the movies every week and the fake resolution of the cliffhanger used to annoy him a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/50 "2013-09-13T14:30:50Z")
Workaholics has an AWESOMELY silly “nick of time” scene where they try to beat Angela back to her house with her kid brother. He gives them directions for a shortcut he knows. When it looks like they’re just about to get him home in the “nick of time”, it’s revealed that he took them to IHOP. He didn’t want to go home, he wanted breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/51 "2013-09-13T15:42:22Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > One variation on this which made us give up on a British police series. > > One character has unwittingly walked into the bad guy’s lair, as his partners just figure out who did it. They race across town to rescue him, getting there just in time. What they don’t do is pick up their damn radio and get some coppers a lot closer to do it. > This plot device in general worked a lot better before cellphones. There is a good reason for this. They know that if they call the near by cop, no matter what they say, no matter what warnings they give, the non-hero cop will walk in, gun still holstered, and get shot down from behind because he never looked to the sides when he walked through the door. They know this because that’s what happens to every single non-main-character cop who is the first to arrive at every single main- bad-guy crime scene. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/52 "2013-09-13T15:54:37Z")
In _ **The Day After Tomorrow** _, a GIGANTIC tidal wave is crashing through the streets of New York. Like, 10 stories tall. Our heroes make a mad dash up the library steps to the door, because if they can just get inside the library _they’ll be fine_. And they do. And they’re fine. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/53 "2013-09-13T16:58:52Z")
> [@Orr\_G](#): > > _Galaxy Quest_ lampshades this with an intentionally silly scene involving an attempt to defuse the ship’s self-destruct. > > “It always stops at one on the show.” “Whoever wrote this episode should DIE.” Sorry, just had to add that. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/54 "2013-09-13T18:56:57Z")
Indiana Jones. [My favorite n-o-t shot.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ui85HwTX1s&noredirect=1) ---
**Author:** ![LuckyBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecae2f/32.png) [@LuckyBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckyBastid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/55 "2013-09-13T19:48:51Z")
I nominated End of Days. The devil has until midnight to impregnate his chosen bride and bring about the birth of the antichrist. At the end, the counter has dropped below one minute and neither of them even has their pants off. We’re meant to be on the edge of our seats about whether or not he’ll be stopped in time.:rolleyes: God vs Satan. Winner: Physics. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/56 "2013-09-13T20:57:34Z")
[“Wow! Just like a Vin Diesel movie!”](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0119.html) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/57 "2013-09-16T03:50:49Z")
In the _Star Trek: The Lost Era_ novel _Serpents Among the Ruins,_ a couple of engineers have to go into a heavy-radiation-filled Jeffries tube on the \*Enterprise-\*B, to fix some kinda mechanical problem or whatever. They have timers on their heads-up displays telling them how long they have to fix the problem before they’re up a creek without a paddle. So they get in, fix the problem, and as they’re exiting the tube, there’s like two minutes left. “Two minutes left. That wasn’t even dramatic.” “Yeah, sorry. Next time.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/58 "2013-09-16T04:40:27Z")
The best “red wire/blue wire” is from The Abyss. Ed Harris is in the special deep diver suit, damn near the bottom of the ocean, trying to defuse a NUKE. They tell him which one to cut but his only light source is a yellow glow stick. Making the info useless. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/59 "2013-09-16T04:44:30Z")
The German movie Lola Rennt was basically one big silly sequence of just-too-late scenes mixed with time travel (-ish nonsense) which turned them all into silly just-in-time scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327/60 "2013-09-16T04:58:20Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > The German movie Lola Rennt was basically one big silly sequence of just-too-late scenes mixed with time travel (-ish nonsense) which turned them all into silly just-in-time scenes. Hey, that’s a pretty unfair description of Lola Rennt. That’s a really good movie! (Also, it’s the movie that started my infatuation with [Moritz](http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md6y7wI5Ga1rhcruuo1_500.jpg) [Bleibtreu](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001953/), whom I’ve had a sadly unrequited crush on ever since.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-nick-of-time-scenes/654327.md?page=4)