http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NeverGiveTheCaptainAStraightAnswer

T-Rex (on why #1270 (on why this trope bugs him), Dinosaur Comics "I don't like when they encounter something amazing in Engineering or wherever and call up to the bridge and say 'Captain, you'd better get down here.' Explain what it is! THAT IS WHAT PEOPLE DO. I don't call up my friends and say, 'Utahraptor, you'd better get down here.' and he says 'Why?' and I say 'Oh Utahraptor, if only we had descriptive language; if only I could describe something using my words. But you know as well as I that I can only point and say, lookit.'"

Advertisement:

A giant bug-eyed monster has just appeared in the engine room, and is asking to borrow a cup of sugar. Someone on the bridge calls down and asks what's going on.

Now, if this were a real spaceship note okay, we don't actually have spaceships complex enough to have "bridges" or "captains" yet, but just bear with us here  and the point also applies just as well to the mundane sea-bound ships we do have, your duty would be to give a short, concise description of the problem. To do otherwise would be irresponsible to the point of criminality.

But this is TV, and we need The Captain in this scene. That is why you Never Give the Captain a Straight Answer. Instead, you say something like, "You'd better come see for yourself," or the ubiquitous "Sir, I think you'd better (come) see this...", giving the character a reason to enter the scene, with the added bonus of allowing a surprised reaction to the crisis when he arrives.

Advertisement:

Occasionally, some rationale is offered. Perhaps the person who encountered the weirdness is simply too stunned to explain what's going on. Another possibility is that the situation is too sensitive to discuss over a possibly insecure line of communication. Or perhaps the person who encountered the weirdness doesn't know what's going on, and is calling someone who might be able to figure it out.

Of course, there's the option of you giving out a description, then the Captain responds "What!? I'm coming down there to see for myself!"

Variation crops up in most Space Opera. Though less common in other genres, it still occasionally shows up as a way to perform the Room Shuffle in response to an unexpected guest or sudden crisis (Often phrased as, "There's No Time to Explain, just get here right away!"), or to hold off The Reveal until the moment of maximum drama. Can lead to some Fridge Logic that if this ship is the Weirdness Magnet that it has a reputation of being, why isn't there any training to reflect that? Compare Figure It Out Yourself.

Advertisement:

Examples:

open/close all folders

Anime & Manga

A too-flustered-to-explain variant occurs in the first season of Strike Witches, with Lynette unable to explain to Mio that Yoshika is fondling Shirley. For the most part, though, the show avoids this.

Comic Books

In Ex Machina, Mayor Hundred's chief of staff drags him to the Brooklyn Museum of Art to look at a painting of Abe Lincoln with the word "nigger" across his face, claiming he needed to see it for himself.

Wonder Woman (1942): For whatever reason the communications officer felt the need to call Suprema and every other officer out of the room to hear the broadcast that explained why their earth prisoners were really there and how the Green Geni had broadcast a lying call to help to earth that painted the space police as the villains. By the time they return to the room to apologize and explain the misunderstanding Diana and the Holliday Girls had escaped and gone to the Geni.

Justified in the 2008 Dan Dare miniseries, as Sergeant-major Wallis doesn't want to announce to the already rather shaken civilians present that a horde of monsters is coming their way.

Films  Animated

How to Train Your Dragon 2: When Stoick tries to drag Hiccup out of the dragon sanctuary, Gobber, after learning that Valka is alive, just tells Stoick, "You might want to take this one... hooboy..."

Films  Live-Action

In Alien, Science Officer Ash does this to Captain Dallas twice. Possibly justified by Ash having no interest in being helpful. The first time occurs after the alien facehugger releases itself from Kane's face and disappears. Ash: I think you should have a look at Kane. Something's happened.

Dallas: Serious?

Ash: Interesting. The second is when Kane wakes up. The novelisation has Dallas envisioning all kinds of horrible scenarios as he rushes to Medical, only to find Kane awake and alive, so it wasn't very nice of Ash to do this. Ash: Dallas, I think you should see Kane.

Dallas: Has his condition changed?

Ash: It's simpler if you come.

Almost every time the Sea Tiger's intercom rings in Operation Petticoat, chances are good Lt. Cmdr. Sherman will have to deal with this sort of call. One sequence revolves around about half a dozen of them happening in a row, chasing him from one end of his sub to the other and back.

One of the most famous examples actually zig-zags the trope, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Without Kirk's knowledge, Spock goes down to Engineering and takes a lethal dose of radiation while saving the ship. Kirk calls down to Engineering. Kirk: Engine Room? Well done, Scotty.

McCoy: Jim! I think you'd better get down here.

Kirk: Bones?

McCoy: Better... hurry. Given that it was the ship's doctor and not the engineer who answered, and given the very personal nature of the situation, discretion was called for and the trope is justified. Then again, it's still played straight to the hilt: we did just pull the captain off the bridge in a crisis situation, ostensibly with no explanation, after all. As McCoy says that last line, Kirk turns to look at Spock at the science station , but only sees an empty chair. That, combined with the tone of McCoy's voice, tells Kirk exactly what he needs to know, and he immediately charges through the ship to get to Engineering.

, but only sees an empty chair. That, combined with the tone of McCoy's voice, tells Kirk exactly what he needs to know, and he immediately charges through the ship to get to Engineering. And perhaps the most important detail to take into account, Spock had knocked McCoy out with the Vulcan Neck Pinch. He was likely still groggy when he contacted Kirk and too disoriented to articulate what happened.

Not to mention, this is incredibly emotional for him too. It's entirely plausible that he simply can't bring himself to say the words. Star Trek Into Darkness also has this. In fact, it's the exact same setup as Wrath of Khan, down to the lines — only Kirk is the one dying, Spock is the one being called down, and Scotty is the one doing the calling .

. In Interstellar, Cooper's father-in-law gives Cooper a call on CB, refusing to explain the situation on his end but instead requests him to come down to the farm and see for himself. Cooper does and sees the harvesting machines acting up, which could have been explained on the CB already. However, Coop is literally the only person on the farm with the technical know-how to actually maintain and fix said machines, so perhaps his dad thought it would be better if he just came in person.

In Predestination, when the Barkeeper offers John to try his real job, the latter asks what his job was but the Barkeeper refuses to explain right out. John: What is it?

Barkeeper: I'll show you. [moving towards the backdoor]

John: No. Fuck that, no. What is it?I'll show you. [moving towards the backdoor]No. Fuck that, no. Stop playing games. Just tell me right now.

The Mask. Dorian Tyrell sends his minions to rob a bank. Later on, one of them shows up unexpectedly and is somewhat unresponsive to Tyrell's question. It turns out that another minion is upstairs dying from gunshot wounds. Tyrell : Why are you here? Minion : There's trouble. You better come upstairs.

Margin Call, Sam gets a call from Will close to midnight to return to the office and Sam offers the logical alternative to have the mysterious problem emailed to his phone. Will replies "I don't think that would be a good idea." This is enough to get him to turn around. Later, Sam's boss Jared leaves the room and makes a call to the CEO at 2am that lasts barely a minute and gets him to come back as well.

Sahara (2005): Al follows a stray soccer ball down the street and into a basement room. He runs out and tells Dirk he better come see what's in the room, which we don't see until Dirk does ... the painting showing the wreck's location . Given that it was the ship's doctor and not the engineer who answered, and given the very personal nature of the situation, discretion was called for and the trope is justified. Then again, it's still played straight to the hilt: we did just pull the captain off the bridge in a crisis situation, ostensibly with no explanation, after all.

Literature

Subverted in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, where the Greystones' servant says he has to show something to Drawlight. He says it can be seen from the edge of the canal... and then he kicks Drawlight into the canal.

In The Princess Bride, Buttercup's parents do this to each other just to be jerks. "You look; you know how."

Dean Koontz's Phantoms. In one house Deputy Frank Autry finds a room with bullets (not complete cartidges, just the part that shoots out of the gun) all over the floor. He realizes that they're all of the bullets that have been fired at the mystery monster during the book. He calls his superior Sheriff Bryce Hammond on the radio. Autry: Sheriff?

Hammond: What is it, Frank?

Autry: We're still here at the Sheffield house. I think you'd better come over. There's something you ought to see.

Hammond: More bodies?

Autry: No, sir. Uh, something sort of weird.

Hammond: We'll be there.

Inverted in the Horatio Hornblower series. Hornblower doesn't give his crew a straight answer—he simply gives them whatever relevant orders re necessary to carry out his plans. He does this for two reasons; one so that success will be more impressive to them, and two because he's mortally afraid of talking about an idea only to have it not work — a sort of self-imposed Unspoken Plan Guarantee, if you will.

Within three pages, His Majesty's Dragon has Royal Navy Captain William Lawrence being told "there is something queer in the hold" of the French ship his crew just captured. No hints concerning the new bulkhead or heavily secured crate beyond are given.

War Junkie by Jon Steele. "Trust me, words cannot describe what is coming up the road." In this case, an air-to-surface missile launcher from a helicopter gunship, mounted on the back of a goods truck.

Happens in the first Artemis Fowl, although in a subversion both people are in the same room, and Foaly tells Commander Root to come look at the screen instead of explaining that Butler is putting on a suit of medieval armor in order to fight a troll.

Live-Action TV

Tabletop Games

Star Fleet Battles. Captain's Log magazine #47, short story "Into the Eagle's Nest". After a battle with the Romulans, Ensign Caldwell calls up the bridge from the shuttle bay. Justified because the Ensign was ordered by a superior officer to only tell the Captain what was going on face-to-face for security reasons. Ensign Caldwell: You'd better get down to the shuttle bay as soon as you can. There's something you need to see here.

Captain Lester: What is it, Ensign?

Ensign Caldwell: Just come quickly! Please, Sir?

Video Games

Inverted in Crysis, where it's the "captain" that calls the "crew", and a rationale is offered. Prophet: Nomad. Get to the rendezvous ASAP. There's something here you need to see.

Nomad: What have you got, Prophet?

Prophet: Just get up here. You wouldn't believe me if I told you.

Webcomics

Parodied by this Chainsawsuit strip.

Chainsawsuit strip. Simultaneously invoked, subverted, and lampshaded in a Schlock Mercenary strip : Tagon: That is suspicious.

Ennesby: See how much time we could have saved if you'd taken my word for it the first time around?

Web Original

CinemaSins dubs this the "You better come take a look at this" cliché.

Western Animation