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Defcon 5
- 272 statements
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In some movies, the phrase "Defcon 5" or Defense Readiness Condition 5 is used to refer to the highest state of alert for the United States Armed Forces. This is incorrect, and this trope is about the misuse of these terms. DEFCON 5 (codename "FADE OUT"note These codenames are used during exercises to avoid confusion with the real deal) is the lowest state of alert, aka completely tranquil peace time. DEFCON 1 (codename "COCKED PISTOL") is the highest, indicating that nuclear war is imminent, or has already commenced. The use of nuclear weapons is authorized here, but they will still require unlock codes from high authority. The highest state reached for the Strategic Air Command in US history was DEFCON 2 (codename "FAST PACE", during the Cuban Missile Crisis), the Gulf War also led to forces in the Middle East reaching DEFCON 2, for obvious reasons — i.e., actually being at war. The Yom Kippur War of 1973 saw a brief period at DEFCON 3 (codename "ROUND HOUSE", with some forces in the Middle East being at 2), as did 9/11. It's important to note that DEFCON levels can be limited to geographical regions, DEFCON 2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Gulf War were limited to the affected regions. The highest that the worldwide DEFCON level has ever risen to is 3. The UK did once operate a "Queen's Order" level which escalated from 1 to 5, QO1 being the peacetime default and QO5 meaning (at the time) that the V-bombers had started their [probably] one way trip to enemy territory. The current system, dubbed the UK Threat Levels, doesn't use numbers at all, instead ranking the current likelihood of attack on a scale from Low to Critical (its most recent predecessor, the now-defunct BIKINI scale, used colours). Since 2006, the UK has used a non-numeric Threat Levels system, ranging from Low to Critical. While this system could in theory be used to describe the threat to the country in the event of a declaration of war by another country, since its inception it has been used primarily as a means to monitor and describe the threat posed by terrorism. Other countries have their own status levels, in some cases where this trope is played straight, in others they use phrases or colours instead. For the Record: DEFCON 5: Lowest state of readiness — this is the normal state of readiness in peacetime. Code name: FADE OUT DEFCON 4: Increased intelligence watch and strengthened security measures. Code Name: DOUBLE TAKE DEFCON 3: Increase in force readiness above that required for normal readiness. Air Force ready to mobilize in 15 minutes — this is the first truly "shit is about to get real" phase of the levels. Code Name: ROUND HOUSE DEFCON 2: Conventional warfare is imminent. Armed Forces ready to deploy and engage in less than 6 hours — this is the highest level ever reached in history.note This would have been during the Cuban Missile Crisis on October 22, 1962. Only the Strategic Air Command (the nuclear bombers) were at DEFCON 2, the rest of the military was maintained at DEFCON 3 throughout the crisis Code Name: FAST PACE DEFCON 1: Nuclear war is imminent. Code Name: COCKED PISTOL It should be pointed out that alert levels mean different things to different forces. An armoured division in the US is going to take several weeks at best to move and engage an enemy (unless the Russians are hitting Long Island right now), even at DEFCON 1. On the other hand, nuclear missile forces - designed to launch at a moment's notice - are essentially at DEFCON 1 at all times, even if the current status is DEFCON 5. Other nations have similar alert systems. Compare with The War on Terror, for the color system that is often parodied for its vagueness. |
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| Defcon 5 / int_1b02159a | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_1b02159a | comment |
Ultimate Avengers: The Defcon is raised to 4 when aliens are spotted, and then "raised" again to 5 once the aliens actually begin to attack military installations. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Done in an episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete with Little Pete's "LOVECON" alerts, with 5 being the highest level of "danger" (i.e., lovesickness). | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Upheld in the Angel episode "Dad". Lilah refers to Wolfram and Hart as being at "Defcon, like, a thousand" over Connor's birth, Lilah being a civilian lawyer who apparently knows nothing about the military. What she was trying to say was that they were at DEFCON 1. | |
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Parodied in Chuck: "We're at Defcon 1, or 5, or whichever means HURRY!" | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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One Justice League of America issue had a rather glaring example; after seeing a city attacked by some kind of aliens and he himself was set aflame, resident angel Zariel responded by shrieking "We are now at Defcon Five!" Lord knows what needs to happen in The DCU for Defcon 1… A few issues later, a Reality Warper turning the cars into goblins and a bank into a giant living monster was referred to as Defcon Four. | |
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A general in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) said "we're going to DEFCON 4!" when the Triceraton spaceships began attacking Earth. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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In Mad Men (season 6 episode 1), Peggy knows the correct usage but she is annoyed by Burt Peterson who gets it wrong twice. First he uses DEFCON 4 as a synonym for a crisis and then when told he has it backwards he says they are at DEFCON 0. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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In Community episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics": | |
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Used correctly in Freefall. While the actual use is colloquial, using Defcon to describe the general situation rather than the likelihood of nuclear war (which is particularly unlikely given that Planet Jean has quite a low human population and doesn't even seem to have multiple nations), Mr Ishiguro still refers to Defcon 5 in his order that Clippy disable and archive all offensive software weapons. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: "I have to crack this guy. I mean, this is Defcon Five, and I have to do something truly appalling. It's not funny." Which possibly makes sense in this context, since Ben is doing everything he can to keep the relationship peaceful while Andie is trying to get dumped. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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X-Men: Evolution: Defcon 4 at the Xavier Institute means that the entire mansion is now in multi-layer steel-doors-all-around lockdown. Nothing gets out or in, and anything that tries to get in gets blasted by laser cannons. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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The Big Bang Theory: In "The Lizard-Spock Expansion", Leonard describes Howard's situation with the Mars rover as "Defcon 5". Sheldon corrects him, using the page quote, and the conversation gets derailed into a discussion of the merits of the Star Trek films. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Supergirl (2015): In "Solitude," the President orders DEFCON 2 after Indigo launches a US nuclear missile at National City. Normally, this wouldn't be cause for a DEFCON change, since it's a US weapon being misused rather than a military threat from an outside power. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Used and corrected in Wolfgang, when Sesh gets annoyed at Pres for not seeming to care that someone left the door open in their supposedly secure bunker. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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In American Dad!, Stan keeps a color coordinated terror alert system on his fridge, which he'll adjust according to his paranoid delusions. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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/pol/ has a semi-humorous bend on this trope called HAPPENINGCON — a measurement of whether something big is unfolding in American and international politics. HAPPENINGCON 5 is "It hasn't even begun", 4 is "You didn't listen", 3 is "You could have prevented this", 2 is "IT'S HAPPENING!", and 1 is "IT HAPPENED". | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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WarGames Defcon 1, true to its namesake, uses the DEFCON phases in the correct order (descending from 5 to 1) as the mission timer, though whether it uses them correctly is debatable - even at DEFCON 5 it appears things are far from peaceful. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_6f70ad52 | comment |
Wasteland's intro correctly describes the DEFCON status as "1". | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Stargate SG-1: In the season 3 episode "Nemesis", the US goes to DEFCON 3 and then raises to DEFCON 2 due to an imminent attack by alien forces. Given the show's strong backing by the Air Force, it's not a surprise that they'd use the DEFCON ratings correctly. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Chicago Fire manages to avert this in the aptly named episode "Defcon One". The episode focus on the serial arsonist upping his campaign against Firehouse 51. In a sub plot, a rival bar starts to actively sabotage Herrman's bar. When he mentions they just went to DEFCON 5, Otis quietly mentions that is in fact the lowest level. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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The episode titles in 801 T.T.S. Airbats start with DEFCON I, counting up to DEFCON V… and beyond, with the final episode named DEFCON VI. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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In Universe at War, DEFCON is an Epic gamemode where the entire Tech Tree is researched, as opposed to only 3 projects in regular play. It starts at 4 and counts down to 1. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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In Canadian Bacon, Defcon 4 means "imminent nuclear attack." | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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WarGames averted this trope, though Word of God thought they had it wrong in the DVD commentary. Includes the memorable line: And at the end of the movie, when everyone's cheering and the day has been saved: |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Tropico 4 has a mission where you must prevent the DEFCON counter from counting down to 1. Failing quests will decrease it, whereas fulfilling quests and spending money to organize a Pan-Caribbean Summit will increase it. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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In one episode of The Office (US), Michael Scott declares DEFCON 10 because he is afraid of an upcoming meeting with Jan. Later in the episode, he "increases" it to DEFCON 20. Michael also has an interesting take on "threat level", as evidenced by his Michael Scarn film "Threat Level: Midnight". |
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Defcon 5 | |
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In Macross Plus, when the Big Bad activates Earth's defense grid, astonished operators gasp "The system's at Defcon Five!", while armed satellites reorient themselves. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Unskippable highlights the way that getting it wrong is bad for dramatic tension with more informed players when looking at Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Played with in the radio adaptation of Good Omens. When the four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse power up the nuclear exchange that will end the world, all relevant indicators go to DEFCON 5 — because the Horsepersons have decided that having the indicators stuck on "normal peacetime conditions" while conditions become increasingly abnormal will increase the confusion. | |
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In The West Wing, before President Bartlet delivers the State of the Union, he runs over what to do in a nightmare scenario with his designated survivor, the Secretary of Agriculture. Namely, he should get the military together, make the proper command assignments, and take the US to Defcon 4. The entire government could explode, but what's left would be pretty relaxed, all things considered. | |
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In Independence Day, the president says, "We may need to upgrade to Defcon 3", and does order it in the extended cut, which could either be correct or incorrect. Either way, no one could accuse them of screwing up. | |
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By Any Means 1x06: Charlie is trying to persuade Jessica to take things easy, telling her "It's like that whole DEFCON thing. You have DEFCON 1 then DEFCON 2 - you don't just start at DEFCON 5, do you?" She corrects him: "Yeah, actually you do - you start at DEFCON 5, work your way up to 1!" | |
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In The Santa Clause 2, the opening of the film shows that the North Pole has an "ELFCON" system" which tracks the threat of Santa's workshop being discovered by the outside world. It's surprisingly done correctly, with the number lowering from 5 to 1 as a plane passes closer and closer to the workshop and the threat of discovery rises. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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In Cryptonomicon, the narrator refers to "some very high Defcon level, the one just short of all-out nuclear exchange." Its vagueness prevents it from falling down either way. | |
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Averted in The Sum of All Fears. It gives a detailed description of what happens during the escalation to DEFCON 1. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Undercover Brother: "That's Right! It's goin' to the streets. Hey y'all! It's revolution up in this Bitch! Set the alarm for Defcon 5! It's on, baby... it's on!" | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law parodied the color-coded alert by having a paranoid Phil Ken Sebben raise the office threat level to "BLACKWATCH PLAID!" (which the episode takes it's name from). Later, he decides to raise the level to "the cover of Rush's seminal album Moving Pictures", which he reminds us of in a clumsy attempt to prevent the viewers from finding out he has a monitoring station in Iowa. | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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Doctor Who: "The Poison Sky" averts it by correctly using DEFCON 1 when UNIT is preparing to launch a nuclear strike at the Sontaran ship. (Although arguably, British UN troops shouldn't be using DEFCON at all.) | |
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Defcon 5 | |
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DEFCON, as one would hope given the name, plays it correctly, starting the game at 5 and inevitably decaying to 1, with progressive changes in gameplay as it ticks down. | |
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1.0 | |
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Defcon 5 / int_c5472110 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_c8c98633 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_c8c98633 | comment |
Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge uses it correctly, with Lt. Eva announcing that the US has entered DEFCON 2. This actually makes sense on another level as well; the U.S. can't technically enter DEFCON 1 because their nuclear arsenal was sabotaged at the beginning of the base game. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_c8c98633 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_c8c98633 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_c8c98633 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ccb90a7f | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ccb90a7f | comment |
The Cheap Trick song Man-U-Lip-U-Lator includes the line "full alert, DEFCON 4." Even if the scale were 1 to 5 instead of 5 to 1, DEFCON 4 still wouldn't be full alert. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ccb90a7f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ccb90a7f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Cheap Trick (Music) | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_ccb90a7f | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d0744832 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d0744832 | comment |
One issue of The Avengers has Iron Man announcing a situation is at Defcon 1000, due to the sudden appearance of Thanos. Even more egregious given Iron Man used to be U.S. Secretary of Defense, not to mention the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d0744832 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d0744832 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Avengers (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_d0744832 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d461f757 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d461f757 | comment |
Generally averted in Battlestar Galactica (2003). The Colonial Fleet uses Condition One as the highest level of alert readiness. However, in the episode "Pegasus", Adama commits this error after the eponymous battlestar is identified. He orders the fleet to step down to Condition One, when he should have ordered them to step down to Condition Three. Or perhaps step down from Condition One, and it was just a slip up. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d461f757 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d461f757 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Battlestar Galactica (2003) | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_d461f757 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d68df17d | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d68df17d | comment |
Top Gear got it wrong too, where Clarkson stepping up his Bugatti Veyron (the world's fastest-ever production car) to no-spoiler fast mode took him from Defcon 3 to 4. Clarkson has also announced that it's time to go to 'Defcon Stig' once. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d68df17d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d68df17d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Top Gear | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_d68df17d | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d72b0239 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d72b0239 | comment |
In the Cold War campaign on Rise of Nations, you must not let the DEFCON counter hit 1 — if you do, both sides will launch all their nukes and destroy the world. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d72b0239 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_d72b0239 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Rise of Nations (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_d72b0239 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_db22e683 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_db22e683 | comment |
In the Tremors episode "Night of the Shriekers", Burt Gummer is ironically scolded for inappropriately going to Defcon Five over the presence of Shriekers by someone who is treating the Shriekers as no threat. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_db22e683 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_db22e683 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Tremors | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_db22e683 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_e30f7467 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_e30f7467 | comment |
The Pop Will Eat Itself satirical song "Def. Con. One" suggests that when all hell is breaking loose and we are at the titular status, Americans will still be so blinkered that they’ll be more concerned about their fast food than imminent nuclear war.. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_e30f7467 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_e30f7467 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Pop Will Eat Itself (Music) | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_e30f7467 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ea914eb2 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ea914eb2 | comment |
Used correctly in Twilight Struggle. The game starts at DEFCON 5, and various actions can decrease it (while it goes back up one automatically at a handful of points). The lower DEFCON goes, the fewer places you can attempt to attack militarily. If DEFCON ever hits 1, nuclear war begins, and the player whose turn it is loses (even if they didn't play the card that started it - if it's your turn, the end of civilization is on your hands). | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ea914eb2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ea914eb2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Twilight Struggle (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_ea914eb2 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_eb12d3f7 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_eb12d3f7 | comment |
Critical Path, an interactive movie adventure game which takes place after World War III makes this mistake in the backstory Apocalyptic Log. Kat states "We're on DEFCON 5" when describing that a major attack has occurred, signalling the beginning of WWIII. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_eb12d3f7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_eb12d3f7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Critical Path (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_eb12d3f7 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ec52a5b9 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ec52a5b9 | comment |
Transformers (2007) handled this in an interesting fashion. The Secretary of Defense announces the country was now at "Defcon Delta, our highest alert level." The oddness is reconciled given the depth of cooperation he received from the United States armed forces: in the real world, Threat Conditions Alpha through Delta are used in the military to denote the likelihood of a terrorist/surprise attack (as opposed to a general state of hostilities and war), with 'Alpha' meaning 'remotely possible' and Delta meaning 'attack imminent or has just taken place'. Most likely, it was kept as "Defcon" in the film because that's what people would recognize. | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ec52a5b9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_ec52a5b9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Transformers (2007) | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_ec52a5b9 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_f2cd5221 | type |
Defcon 5 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_f2cd5221 | comment |
In By Dawn's Early Light, not only does USAF General Renning use the "this is a drill" practice names for Defense Conditions COCKED PISTOL (DEFCON 1) and ROUND HOUSE (DEFCON 3); by going from COCKED PISTOL to ROUND HOUSE on his authority, Renning just ordered the reduction of defense readiness when there are Soviet nuclear missiles actively flying towards the United States at that moment! (Odd also is the board, the drill names are also present upon the prop instead of numbers and DEFCON 5 is named APPLE JACK instead of FADE OUT, DEFCON 4 is named SNOW MAN instead of DOUBLE TAKE, DEFCON 3 is named COCKED PISTOL instead of ROUND HOUSE, DEFCON 2 is ROUND HOUSE instead of FAST PACE, the movie's name for DEFCON 1 isn't named in dialog nor is it lit up on screen to be visible.) | |
| Defcon 5 / int_f2cd5221 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Defcon 5 / int_f2cd5221 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| By Dawn's Early Light | hasFeature |
Defcon 5 / int_f2cd5221 |
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