# The red wire. No, the Blue!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 16, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731 "2018-08-16T14:17:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/41 "2018-08-20T04:24:20Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> [Some real bombs are not so easily disarmed.](https://www.damninteresting.com/the-zero-armed-bandit/)
When a bomb has that many booby traps, all I can think of is “How the hell did they build the damn thing without it going off?”
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### Author:  [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/42 "2018-08-20T04:34:50Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> Does anyone know the first use of this trope? There’s a 1974 movie called _Juggernaut_ that ends with a “cut the blue wire” scene. Awesome cast (Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, Anthony Hopkins), and pretty good overall, but the ending is infuriating if you think about it a bit.
>
> I’m still reading the story of the Harvey’s casino bombing. I heard a very good podcast on it a while ago. One thing I’ve not heard, once the culprit was captured was any wiring diagram or instructions found that revealed if there was a way to disarm the bomb using the switches on the panel? Could the bomber have given instructions on how to deactivate the bomb?
Bob Newhart had a routine, “Defusing a bomb,” in his 1960-62 albums and mentioned it as a recurring theme already.
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### Author:  [@EdelweissPirate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdelweissPirate)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/43 "2018-08-20T13:26:10Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> In WWII, the Germans found out (through spies) that unexploded bombs also worked well as terror weapons, and started putting booby traps and all sorts of things in their bombs to prevent them from being easily disarmed.
I’m really curious: do you have a cite for this? Remarkably, British counterintelligence discovered and captured every single German spy sent across the Channel, turning many of them into double agents.
Cite: [Double-Cross System - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-Cross_System)
Of course, the spies you refer to may not have been ones operating on British soil. But either way, I’m curious.
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> This is one of the few cases where real-life bombs had anything even coming close to a Hollywood bomb. In those old German bombs, they did come up with techniques for disarming them that did involve things like “cut the blue wire”, though these techniques were bomb model specific. The bombs often had fake wires designed to look like they went to the detonator when in reality cutting the fake wires would trigger the bomb to explode. The real detonator wires would be hidden underneath. Once you had some way of identifying the real detonator wires, the bomb disposal technician would cut those wires instead.
A fantastic early-‘80s British TV series called “Danger UXB” (Un-eXploded Bomb) featured extremely realistic accounts of efforts to disarm unexploded German bombs in WWII England. It also explored the arms race between German fuse designers and the British teams that tried to disarm those fuses.
I’ve seen full episodes available on YouTube and they may well be available elsewhere. I watched this show as a kid with my parents when they aired in the US on Masterpiece Theatre. The entire family was riveted. I can’t recommend the show highly enough.
> **[Danger UXB](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_UXB)**
>
> Danger UXB is a 1979 British ITV television series set during the Second World War. It was developed by John Hawkesworth and starred Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, an officer in the Royal Engineers (RE).
> The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company,\[n 1\] which has been made a bomb disposal unit, and specifically 347 Section of the company, to deal with the thousands of unexploded bombs ("UXBs") in London during the Blitz. As with all his fellow officers,...
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/44 "2018-08-20T14:06:08Z")
> [@EdelweissPirate](#):
>
> … A fantastic early-‘80s British TV series called “Danger UXB” (Un-eXploded Bomb) featured extremely realistic accounts of efforts to disarm unexploded German bombs in WWII England. It also explored the arms race between German fuse designers and the British teams that tried to disarm those fuses.
>
> … I can’t recommend the show highly enough. [Danger UXB - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_UXB)
Another pair of thumbs upwards for Danger UXB.
It was in the back of my mind as I wrote the question at the start of the thread. Completely gripping and entertaining. I often looked to see if it was boxed-up for sale, but glad to know its made it to YouTube.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/45 "2018-08-20T22:22:07Z")
I have always thought the timers on TV spoil the whole suspense angle.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/46 "2018-08-20T23:30:48Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#):
>
> I have always thought the timers on TV spoil the whole suspense angle.
Yes. It’s like one day I’d like to see a play where you see a pistol in the first act and it never is fired.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/47 "2018-08-20T23:36:00Z")
> [@EdelweissPirate](#):
>
> …
> A fantastic early-‘80s British TV series called “Danger UXB” (Un-eXploded Bomb) featured extremely realistic accounts of efforts to disarm unexploded German bombs in WWII England.
[No more zukes!](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20581577&postcount=15)
Actually that whole [GQ thread on defusing WWII (and other) bombs](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=835242)has details on stuff here.
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### Author:  [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/48 "2018-08-20T23:36:52Z")
[How NOT to defuse a bomb.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcaWQZlPXgQ)
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2018, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/49 "2018-08-21T01:30:39Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#):
>
> [How NOT to defuse a bomb.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcaWQZlPXgQ)
[Could do worse.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-4iOOfgBQo)
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/50 "2018-08-21T03:15:04Z")
> [@DPRK](#):
>
> [Could do worse.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-4iOOfgBQo)
That’s a WWII cartoon (“that’s a blockbuster bomb”). Who’s the other character? A gremlin as in who shows up when stuff doesn’t go “just right?”
NB: All quotes the gremlin guy/thing…
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/51 "2018-08-21T19:39:05Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> That’s a WWII cartoon (“that’s a blockbuster bomb”). Who’s the other character? A gremlin as in who shows up when stuff doesn’t go “just right?”
>
> NB: All quotes the gremlin guy/thing…
It ain’t Wendell Willkie!
The [cartoon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GuX0NEfxiw) is from 1943, though “gremlins” are attested as early as the 1920s. Wiki trivia is that the color scheme of the gremlin in the cartoon reflects that of U.S. Army Air Forces training aircraft.
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### Author:  [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-red-wire-no-the-blue/819731/52 "2018-08-22T15:08:47Z")
> [@DPRK](#):
>
> [Could do worse.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-4iOOfgBQo)
[Know the difference between red and green.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yiu1uLgwF1E)
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