# What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311 "2021-02-06T04:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 269
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5389 "2026-05-25T19:38:13Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > _Mythbusters_ did this on one episode. Adam Savage’s conclusion: “We are being infiltrated by Thor, the God of Thunder!” Yep. In most cases, it wont work. Sewers, OTOH, can work. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5390 "2026-05-25T19:44:04Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > “We are being infiltrated by Thor, the God of Thunder!” [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xdoQtUgQ-0M/hqdefault.jpg "Lilo & Stitch - Stitch Escapes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdoQtUgQ-0M&t=63s) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5391 "2026-05-25T20:56:09Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > most movies and series get how computers work and people work _with_ computers totally wrong, sometimes hilariously so It’s been nigh on fifty years now but an episode of _The Six-million Dollar Man_ still makes me cringe. He’s in a bunker with the girl of the week and a missile’s headed their way. The bunker has an anti-missile system but it isn’t working. He strides over to a rack of Cool Computer Stuff, slides open a drawer, and yanks a card out of its socket. After staring at the card a moment with his bionic eye he declares, “The filaments are out of alignment!” then pokes the card a bit with his bionic(?) finger before plugging the card back in and sliding the drawer closed. The missile instantly blows up in a huge fireball. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5392 "2026-05-25T21:01:02Z")
Ok, I was rather thinking about intense randomly hacking on the keyboard when things get tense, but your example really is of the “and then a miracle happens” kind… ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5393 "2026-05-25T23:38:17Z")
In the film Hot Millions, Peter Ustinov plays a computer expert. At one point he has to break into a computer. And by ‘break in’ I mean he does it physically, by bashing the cabinet with a metal bucket so it pops open. I seriously think he’d heard the term “break in” in the context of computers and thought that’s how it went! ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5394 "2026-05-26T01:37:14Z")
It’s really awesome when they have two people working the same keyboard at the same time. IIRC, NCIS was bad about that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5395 "2026-05-26T03:19:46Z")
They did it once, apparently as a sort of in-joke. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5396 "2026-05-26T03:25:11Z")
I would really like a link about that “in-joke”, because it didn’t look intentionally stupid to me. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5397 "2026-05-26T03:42:05Z")
Watch it, the scene ends with Gibbs casually walking over and pulling the monitor’s power plug to stop the hack. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5398 "2026-05-26T03:44:21Z")
That scene was just as stupid as that two-on-a-keyboard stunt. Nothing about that says “tongue in cheek” to me. Can you find anyone else online that believes as you do? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5399 "2026-05-26T03:50:55Z")
Which leads to another annoying trope of computer monitors always displaying garbage when a system gets hacked. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5400 "2026-05-26T03:52:20Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Watch it, the scene ends with Gibbs casually walking over and pulling the monitor’s power plug to stop the hack. In what world would shutting off the monitors in that room effect the virus rifling through their whole system. That is just more ignorance from the writers. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5401 "2026-05-26T16:37:10Z")
Yeah NCIS became famous as [2 IDIOTS 1 KEYBOARD](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ) > [@Askance](#): > > And by ‘break in’ I mean he does it physically, by bashing the cabinet with a metal bucket so it pops open Zoolander does that too but it doesn’t go well. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2026, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5402 "2026-05-26T16:39:46Z")
> [@solost](#): > > crawling through ventilation ducts. Has this ever really been done in the history of the world? Do any commercial buildings even have ventilation ducts large enough for an adult human to crawl through? In 1982, my college campus build a brand new building with theater and classrooms and all the latest wonderful stuff. It also had an unlocked door to the air handling ducts! We were so excited! We got the gang together and went urban spelunking. We got about 40 feet. That was all the ducts large enough to be accessible. We went home, sadder but wiser. The other thing about sheet metal air ducts is they are deigned to move air. Aside from the thunder-like rumbling generated by a human, the weight might bring the whole thing crashing down. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5403 "2026-05-26T16:49:02Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > We got about 40 feet. That was all the ducts large enough to be accessible. We went home, sadder but wiser. …and dustier? Well, maybe not so much, since it was a new building. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5404 "2026-05-26T16:51:50Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > At one point he has to break into a computer. > > And by ‘break in’ I mean he does it physically, by bashing the cabinet with a metal bucket so it pops open. Presumably so that he could manually reset the jumper switches. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5405 "2026-05-26T16:55:52Z")
The silliest example of that is maybe a Mission Impossible one where (from memory) the guy is crawling through a duct which is directly over the top secretest room in the world. The whole place is loaded with sensors. He’s hanging upside down over the desk, and a single drop of sweat threatens to trigger the alarms. All of which could have been avoided with sensible sized ducts. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2026, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5406 "2026-05-26T16:59:25Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Well, maybe not so much, since it was a new building. Yup! Nothing but a small bit of construction dust. I wonder what it looks like now. One comment on the “gimme a beer!” bar scene. We watched a 1965 episode of The F.B.I. and Erskine walks into a bar to meet an informant, and he asks for a beer. The bartender gives him one - in a can! The barkeep pops the top\* and pours it in a glass. I guess this bar was one where “We serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast, and we don’t need any [beer drinkers] around to give the joint atmosphere!” \*I don’t remember if he pulled the tab (rare then) or used a church key. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5407 "2026-05-26T17:18:17Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Which leads to another annoying trope of computer monitors always displaying garbage when a system gets hacked. Like a devil’s face wit the caption “You’ve been hacked! Muahhauhah!”. Yeah, hackers want you to know you’ve been hacked… ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5408 "2026-05-26T17:32:48Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Yeah, hackers want you to know you’ve been hacked… Well, some do, especially the really annoying ones. My favorite example of this was a virus that would delete the FAT table from the disk of an old DOS system, and supposedly saves a copy in RAM. Then it has you play a game to get it to write your FAT back to the disk. The Wiki page says that it just shuts down without writing your FAT back to disk whether you win or lose, but I recall a friend saying that he was able to win and get it to write is FAT back to the disk. Most likely it was just poorly written software that sometimes worked and sometimes failed. > **[Casino (computer virus)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_(computer_virus))** > > Casino is a computer virus that upon running the infected file, copies the File Allocation Tables (FATs) to random-access memory (RAM), then deletes the FAT from the hard disk. It challenges the user to a game of Jackpot of which they have 5 credits to play with, hence the name. No matter if they win or lose, the computer shuts down, thereby making them have to reinstall their DOS. The message it shows when it challenges the user read(s): > .mw-parser-output .monospaced{font-family:monospace,monos... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=268) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=270)