Worst use of Deus Ex Machina you've ever seen

[sheic99]

The James Bond gadgets.

Seriously, whenever Bond got in trouble (in the good James Bond's that is) he would always have the perfect gadget for the occasion. It got a little old for my tastes. (this is probably gonna recive some hate)

Yeah, no, this. Especially in Casino Royale. In a movie where there were no other weird psychotic gadgets, why is his car rigged up to work as a crash cart? It makes the Cigarette Lighter in License to Kill look downright intelligent and coherent.

James Bond actually has very few of these. All of his gadgets are explained well in advance in the movie.

I'd be inclined to agree with you except for how ridiculous these get at times, he gets issued a car that turns into a submarine right before he drives off a cliff and into the Mediterranean Sea? An ejector seat that will throw the person in the passenger seat out of the car? There's an idea, and he's issued this before the only time we have a mook climb in the car with him. The above Aston Martin Defibrillator from Casino Royale deserves mention because it comes out of freakin' nowhere, it's something he could do with the goddamn car battery, and, I'll admit, I'm not a toxicologist, but how the hell does shocking yourself out of cardiac arrest stop the effects of digitalis?

Now sometimes these gadgets make (some kind of) sense, like the cleats on his car's tires when he's running around in an arctic environment, but others are just freakin' insane, like the explosive pen in Goldeneye.

With the exception of the defib, all of those are actually a Chekhov's Gun. If the gadget is explained early in the movie, then it's a Chekhov's Gun, not Dues ex machina. They're both lazy writing though.

On a side note, there are 3 dues ex machina's in Casino Royale, the aforementioned defib car, the C.I.A. agent that bought Bond back in the game and when he his rescued during the torture scene.

 

[Julianking93]

snippy

Oh no, I'm not arguing that that doesn't happen. I know it does. The body's natural instincts of protection and such kick in and thus, you become borderline superhero. However, that cliche is just tired as fuck

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Let's just agree to disagree, and leave it at that.

[sub][sub] I certainly don't want to have an argument over whether or not Superman's should just kiss his enemies to make them forget about certain things. Although that would be an interesting battle strategy[/sub][/sub]

Still, its not as bad as Captain Hero's, from Drawn Together, method to erase people's minds.

Spoiler

He renders them unconscious and then has sex with them, just ask his parents.

There was an episode of Red Dwarf where they needed to build a device to "Save the Day", every single piece of equipment they stumbled over just happened to be one of the parts they needed. Possibly justified that the main character had been injected with a "Luck" virus.

 

[Darwins_Folly]

Trygalle Trade Guild in the book Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. One of my favorite books, but one particular case of Deus Ex Machina is spectacularly blatant. I won't go into anymore detail to avoid spoilers, but if you've read it, you know what I'm talking about.

 

[Landis963]

The horcruxes and the hallows in Harry Potter. They did nothing to add to the plot, confused things and were made out to be the pivotal story elements. After finishing the last Harry Potter book, I wondered what on earth JK Rowling was thinking.

Actually, the horcruxes were foreshadowed as early as Chamber of Secrets, so that doesn't count. Hallows, I'll grant you as a plot turn that could have used a second pass, but the true Deus Ex Machina of that series was the "temperamental wand" loyalty BS. If this was foreshadowed at all since the beginning of the franchise, it might get a pass, but oh no, it has to come out of f**king nowhere during the very last book to give Owuh Hewo a chance against the magically superior Big Bad.

 

[Starke]

With the exception of the defib, all of those are actually a Chekhov's Gun. If the gadget is explained early in the movie, then it's a Chekhov's Gun, not Dues ex machina. They're both lazy writing though.

On a side note, there are 3 dues ex machina's in Casino Royale, the aforementioned defib car, the C.I.A. agent that bought Bond back in the game and when he his rescued during the torture scene.

For a Chekhov's Gun to be in effect, the element has to be introduced early on, without it's significance being apparent. The only one of the above examples that actually fits within Chekhov's Gun is the lighter from License To Kill, which is introduced as a gag gift early in the film, and then brought back for the finale. The others are introduced very deliberately.

The rest are just shitty writing of one form or another.

TV Tropes is your friend, but it is also dosed to the gills on mescaline.

 

[Porecomesis]

snippy

Oh no, I'm not arguing that that doesn't happen. I know it does. The body's natural instincts of protection and such kick in and thus, you become borderline superhero. However, that cliche is just tired as fuck

I agree, although it's never referred or even hinted as related to adrenaline, so that's why it never sticks. However, it is important to remember that cliches are cliches for a reason: they worked. They may not anymore, but they did.

So I pose you this question: how would YOU implement that trope?

 

[Valkyrie101]

Every episode of Doctor Who ever. Notice how he never really seems to have a plan? Just run around unarmed, dodging monsters until the insta-win button presents itself.

 

[Zantos]

i direct you to every last turn in every episode of yugioh ever

Screw the rules, I have money!

Did anyone ever play Might and Magic VII? Every time you died you get a scary voice telling you death was not your fate today and you end up outside your castle with all your items but no cash. Seriously!

 

[The Genius]

The ending of The Stand by Steven King

 

[Julianking93]

I agree, although it's never referred or even hinted as related to adrenaline, so that's why it never sticks. However, it is important to remember that cliches are cliches for a reason: they worked. They may not anymore, but they did.

So I pose you this question: how would YOU implement that trope?

Indeed and I think they can still work if done right. Pulling that trick out at the last minute is just annoying and shows that the writers have or had zero creativity in regards to the ending (or in some cases, the entire thing). However, if it's done in a way that implements a bit of creativity, I think it works.

For instance, the beginning of Magneto's story in Xmen I think works well with this

Spoiler

In the comics, Magneto can't control his powers unless he's angry. When he gets angered, his powers awaken and thus he manages to fuck up everyone around him.

I think when used in that way in which the basis is from that particular trope, it can work if the writer puts in effort. I myself wrote a few stories in which the main character is a weakling at the beginning, but something horrible happens to them, thus bringing out that inner brutality in a similar way. It's not used at the last second, but rather it's what makes the character who he is. Jaded and full of rage but not used in a way to tie everything together.

 

[James Mann]

It seems that deus ex machina is not a clear concept to many people.

A unexpected plot twist is not a deus ex machina
A new fuction of a existing tool is not a deus ex machina
A strange powerful weapon that was given to the hero in act 1 but only used in act 3 is not a deus ex machina

A hidden item/power/skill that has never been mentioned before and is revealed to help the protagonist carry on the plot. THAT is a deus ex machina.

Sensu beans have been mentioned a lot in the series and aren't deus ex.
it would be, if Goku was losing his battle with Frieze and suddenly revealed he had one more bean hidden in his shirt.

As i understand it a new function of an existing tool would be deus ex machina; any plot device that arrives unexpectedly without prior mention to solve a problem is deus ex machina.

As long as there is no mention of the object having that particular use. Although i would only count it if the devise was added with a different intention in mind and then it just happened to have this extra ability for no reason.

 

[Jandau]

I'd say Starcraft 2 deserves a mention - The alien artifact just so happens to do exactly what needs to be done at exactly the right moment.

 

[GenericAmerican]

The ending of Raider's of the Lost Ark. Who knew that opening the Ark of the Covenant would LITERALLY cause God to kill you in the messiest way he could think of? Or that not looking at it would somehow protect you?

Because in the the bib-ley it says that anyone who touches the ark of the covenant will be struck down by god. So they had to carry it around on a pedestal or something, and it had its own separate room in the tabernacle.

 

[Fappy]

The Force. Seriously, it is so Deus Ex Machina it isn't even Dues Ex Machina anymore. When an impossible coincidence happens the characters just go, 'must have been the force again."

For that matter: fate. Applies to a lot of things XP

 

[endtherapture]

The horcruxes and the hallows in Harry Potter. They did nothing to add to the plot, confused things and were made out to be the pivotal story elements. After finishing the last Harry Potter book, I wondered what on earth JK Rowling was thinking.

Actually, the horcruxes were foreshadowed as early as Chamber of Secrets, so that doesn't count. Hallows, I'll grant you as a plot turn that could have used a second pass, but the true Deus Ex Machina of that series was the "temperamental wand" loyalty BS. If this was foreshadowed at all since the beginning of the franchise, it might get a pass, but oh no, it has to come out of f**king nowhere during the very last book to give Owuh Hewo a chance against the magically superior Big Bad.

The Hallows were ridiculous. They were a convoluted wand related plot. Because the Elder Wand ended up being more important than any of the Hallows, and it was ridiculous. Did Harry cheat death because he owned the Hallows? I don't know. It was all bullshit. The last book should've been about Horcruxes but then there was this Hallows crap.

Voldemort should've been defeated through 1 - Horcruxes and 2 - The Twin Core Wand connection between Harry and Voldemort.

Not this convoluted Hallows rubbish, it was a load of nonsense.