That’s exactly where I first noticed it.
…and then turn it off just after the news come. “The president has just been shot by three-headed aliens” and poof, not getting a single detail more.
When a shooting is being investigated, once it’s clear who was present at the shooting, that person is going to say “the gun just went off”. Damn, it’s that magic gun again!
Kids, DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!!! I spent ten years in the elevator industry and have seen the pictures of what happens when the elevator starts moving unexpectedly, and I can’t unsee them. :eek: Use the alarm button or the phone, either in your pocket or in the elevator.
OTOH, modern elevators usually have “Pull to Stop” buttons, absolutely ruining the sitcom trope of accidentally pushing the “Push to Stop” button, so hilarity no longer ensues.
Wife couldn’t wait and wanted him to be shirtless all the time.
If one of the kids on a sitcom suddenly has a best friend that has never been seen or even heard of, it’s the equivalent of a previous unknown Star Trek guy wearing a red shirt.
When a giant dinosaur or dragon goes into attack mode, first it has to open wide its mouth, cock its head and make a loud roar. It’s such a cliche that I irrationally get pissed when I see it.
Does anyone know the name for this trope? Not necessarily the hero being “on the ground” but a variation of this seems to be on almost every damn episode of Supernatural–one of the good guys is in danger when suddenly a blade pokes out of the chest of the bad guy. He/she slumps down to reveal one of the other main good guys or the Meek Guest Star of the Week showing a hidden bad-ass streak. It happened in last week’s episode. I’d like to find a list somewhere of how many times it has happened on the series–I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 50 episodes.
Similarily if the hero is on his back being choked out or about to be stabbed and he looks sideways there most certainly will be an object within arm’s reach that he grabs and uses against the bad guy.
When the protagonists have made it to safety but there’s still fifteen minutes left to the movie, we know that one last encore of the villain/monster will happen.
Also, in response to your example, if the two are wrestling on the ground with a gun and the gun is pointed at the hero you will here a “bang” thinking the gun went off and shot the hero. ALAS! The “bang” was actually the sidekick’s gun killing the bad guy.
Shows like Bonanza had the “wrestling on the ground with a gun” scene often. There’d be a bang, and then a pause, then it was always the bad guy who was shot. They paused like people would seriously think it could have been Adam or Little Joe who was shot. I always wondered how the gun could get pointed at either one considering they were always in a clench.
Thanks. A small amount of googling didn’t turn up any site that keeps a running list of all those types of death (though here is a large but not sufficiently descriptive list) but it does turn up at least a dozen recaps for episodes with that trope. I think that is still far from complete, though.
I’ve seen the schmaltzier variation of this way too many times:
Chiseled-But-With-Boyish-Charm Hero (let’s call him Dave) is at the mercy of Misunderstood But Plenty Evil Anyhow Villain (Stewart, for our purposes). Dave’s fallen on his back, and in ANY other instance, he’d make one last lunge at Stewart. But this one time, he just waits passively, clearly unaware that an entire TV/film franchise hangs on the next second and a half. Stewart gloats, takes aim, and…
Gunshot! A nice, throaty CRACK with reverb (in spite of the calibre and environment… seriously, a .45 in a warehouse sounds just like a 9mm outdoors).
Hero looks confused, and even… (here’s the part I’ve seen too much)… pats his torso, looking for gunshots. Upshot from his POV of Villain with blank look. Hollllld… then eventually he tips to the side, and whaaaaat?!? It’s Plucky Sidekick Girl Who’s Nerdy Yet Inexplicably Hot, with a wisp of smoke curling from the gun she was afraid of, and swore she’d never touch.
And don’t forget: The Brother (black character, not sibling) always dies first.
When someone (generally the bad guy, but sometimes the good guy) is fighting, and is knocked over the edge and into a body of water far, far below, they don’t die, and will come back to finish what they started before the end of the film.
From last week’s episode of* Family Guy*: “That’s the third time you’ve mentioned the hydraulic grappling winch. I wonder if that’s going to be important later?”
if there’s a lesbian in a made for tv movie … shes just there to make the lonely ignored overworked underappreciated but married heroine another notch on her belt and confuse the heroines sexual identity for a while as a “homewrecker”
Now if theres actual sex involved depends on the network … said homewrecker might be psychotic or she sees said lesbian is a better person and fallsl in love with her depending on the network …
If the villain finally has the hero at his mercy, he will take the time to deliver a lengthy monologue (usually a confession of his entire evil plan) rather than killing him immediately. This will either give the hero just enough time to figure a way out of the situation, or allow a sidekick to show up in the nick of time.
As seen on a certain "science " fiction …any attempt at cross breeding animal species even if its for the good of mankind NEVER EVER goes well until the hero needs that special venom from pythocrocasharktopusadactyl to save his sick 9 year old cute as a button daughter …
and if said movie even gets 50 people tuning in thell double down on the stupid on the next movie and create something just as dumb and deadly for it to fight