Be polite now.
I'm putting together all tropes, removing the Schizo Tech bits for now. Added Apocalypse How as the trope of Kashyyk's first bit. Changed Johnfalcon's Friendly Sniper pun from Stealth Pun to Incredibly Lame Pun just because I can. Kept Kashyyk's version of the Four Temperament Ensemble because it's stated earlier that Eriksson's Stoicness is just an act he drops eventually.
MASSIVE WALL O' TEXT WARNINGThe Falling DarkThe Falling Dark was a Scottish Live-Action television show, set
after the end in
Orkney. It ran for three seasons from 2005 to 2007, before
it was cancelled.
A
film adaptation is planned.
Needs Wiki MagicThis series also provides examples of:Everything Trying To Kill You: All over the place. Basically, if there's a break from all the
unresolved sexual tension, it's usually caused by this.
Internal Retcon: Done chillingly by Colonel McArthur in the Season 1 finale.
Lewis who?The Dog Bites Back: Averted.
It seems like this is going to happen to Doctor Grey at the end of 'Dead Light'. Cue the army...
led by the Colonel.Father Neptune: The captain from the season 2 premiere fits the bill. He even has the beard!
Apocalypse How: The world is massive
hellhole to begin with, at least Severity Class two on that scale. Although the
fandom are
pretty sure that there was destined to be a good
ending.Guns Akimbo: Used to great effect by the Captain.
Tin Can Robot: Almost every robot in the series, although very few are actually functional.
Bald of Evil: Colonel McArthur. Also doubles as a
Bald of Awesome.
Everyone calls him Barkeep : The Captain.
Omnicidal Maniac: Doctor Grey after the
Season 2 finale.
Dreaming of Things To Come: According to
Word of God, David's
bizarre viking dream in Season 3's 'The Blizzard' was related to something from the cancelled fourth season,
probably the Norwegians from the finale's
Stinger.
The Stoic: Eriksson tries to be this, but he drops the act between Season 1 and Season 2. A more straightforward example would be
Elizabeth after 'Drifters'.
Red Sky, Take Warning: What we see of the apocalypse in the opening titles. The episode 'Red Horizon' also features this on a smaller scale (implied to be a distant nuclear detonation, but
never mentioned again).
Mechanical Monster: Colonel McArthur mostly commands a number of sentient machines which resemble this in his personal retinue.
Second Law My Ass:
Chromatic Arrangement: The Captain's, David's, Slyv's, and Eriksson's outfits normally contain some form of Blue, Green, Red, and Yellow respectively.
Friendly Sniper: Pretty much Slyv, making him the most cheerful character on the show by a
long shot.
Old Soldier:The Captain. Although it's never explicitly mentioned, it's generally believed due to
Word of Dante and the fact that no one in the production office denied it. Colonel McArthur is obvious one.
Knight Templar: Alistair Laurence and Karen Phelps. Both of them were from
the City.
Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence: For the most part 1-3, but the Season 3 finale hints that at least Colonel McArthur's machines might have been
much more than they seemed.
Tie-In Novel: One was released just before the show was cancelled, set between Seasons 2 and 3.
Your Mileage May Vary, as it openly contradicts some things from the finale.
Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Slyv. At first, he seems like a complete incompetent wash out from McArthur's army.
Then he gets a Rifle.Four Temperament Ensemble: David = Sanguine, Eriksson = Choleric, The Captain = Melancholic, Slyv = Phlegmatic.
Sacrificial Lion:
Evil Evolves: The Colonel loves this trope. His robots start out as simple humanoid androids, then evolve to meet the situation. Notable examples would be
Clarence, who resembles a cybernetic snake more then a robot, Drake, who is a Big-Dog style wolf, and
Sheila, who eventually grows into aAcid Trip Dimension: The Stranger's House, along with
Eldritch Location. How weird is it? The bathroom has a closet
that leads into a door to the bathroom and is also filled with a demon that stretches for infinity!Humanoid Abomination: The Stranger. He is so wrong that he rivals
Slender Man. Notable in Episode six of the second season where he stalks David through a forest for hours, while somehow being at Siyv's house at the same time. Did we mention
there is nothing underneath the theater mask he wears all the time?
At the start of series 1, it is confirmed that it takes place a "Short period of time" after a complete economic collapse that resulted in a large scale war that left the entire world completely destroyed.
The government is non-existent, the closest authority figure being the Colonel, dust has blocked out the sun making it impossible to farm, everyone apart from the protagonists (And [url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NonActionGuy]Doctor Grey) is completely helpless or apathetic, and the only remaining city (named The City) is a complete dictatorship that is falling apart anyway[/url]. However, there are signs things may be getting better, such as
Antagonist In Mourning: 'Silent Echoes' starts with Doctor Grey and Elizabeth burrying
with the rest of the episode
being a flashback.
Alas, Poor Villian:
Billions of Buttoms: The Stranger's House.
It is never revealed what they do.Well Intentioned Extremist: Doctor Grey.
Nothing Is Scarier: Everything about
The Stranger. We never find out anything meaningful about him/her, but s/he is easily the creepiest character, despite the presence of vampires and at least one intelligent zombie.
Tonight Someone Kisses: Used repeatedly in advertising, nearly always out-of-context and
misleadingly. Very little of the show's
UST is ever actually resolved.
Hell Is That Noise: Played oh-so-straight with the noises from the Stranger's bathroom closet. Hell is that noise indeed (or
something from there is).
Cosmic Horror Story: Averted. There are Lovecraftian elements, but they're only relevant in a few episodes (though
Word of God says they would've become more important later on) and as the second season tagline goes, 'hope remains'.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Lewis in Season 1, until he's
ingloriously killed off and basically
removed from existence in the Season 1 finale, apparently a result of
the actor's behavior on set.
Coat, Hat, Mask: The Stranger's trenchcoat, grinning theater mask and fedora is
the most striking thing about the Stranger at first. The creators confirm that the trenchcoat is the same one that Lewis had. Which
implies an even worse fate for Lewis...Wham Line: One to wrap up each season!
"Lewis who?" (S1E12, "Ashes To Ashes"), "The Colonel has found the last nuclear arsenal. Long live the Colonel!" (S2E12 "Red Horizon") and "Where's Elizabeth?" (S3E13 "Flying North").
The Colonel has a nasty Glasglow Grin (Well, half of one, so it's technically a Glasglow Smirk) and is absolutely covered in scars on his torso. Lewis has white phosperous burns on his right arm.
Young Gun: Alistar is a serious case of this. He gets better in Season 2.
The Unmasqued World: Apparently the vampires, the zombies and everything else existed before the apocalypse without the humans knowing; it's just that they have become just as apathetic as everyone else and don't think hiding matters anymore. Then again, this is
Frank the Bloodsucker we're talking about here, so he may be lying.
Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Elizabeth is fairly friendly, and
David becomes this in Silent Echoes, though as an intelligent zombie instead.
The Stenches are running, dumb cannibals who can use melee weapons but can't use tactics, who spread by being bitten who need to eat flesh or they will die. The Risers are smart zombies who like flesh but don't need to have it constantly, regenerate lost limbs but will be put down by fire as they
"Regenerate themselves to death", and are created by burying them in places infected by the "Rising Plague".
Swamps Are Evil: The swamps of Orkney were created by the carpet bombings of World War III deforming the terrain and causing rivers to flow down into the plains, and they are infested with Stenches and Risers.
Crowning Music Of Awesome: The Opening Theme is really really good.
Sweeping, fits the show's atmosphere well, and it's just fun to listen to.Dramatic Shattering: The Captain does this often when everyone is talking at the same time.
David: "Surely you can only have so many glasses?"
Captain: "... Oh, yeah. Looks like we may have to drink from the bottle tonight."Bound And Gagged: David wakes up in the Stranger's House tied up with
ropes made out of flesh, and upside down. He gets out eventually after a lot of screaming.
Broken Treasure: The Captain's diamond studded seashell in "Memories In The Waves", broken accidentally by . The saddest part of the episode was Siyv's confusion as to why the Captain was so upset over the loss of such a useless item.
Siyv: "It's just fake diamonds on a plastic seashell, it's just--"
The Captain grabs and throws Siyv across the room.
Captain: "Shut the fuck up! That was my home, that was my life, that was everything before now! Don't you understand? That was the only thing... The only thing I had left... Memories In The Waves is one of the best done examples of combining this trope with
Hidden Depths and
How We Got Here, at least with how the apocalypse was..
Nightmare Fuel: Memories In The Waves. Even the Stranger and Red Horizon can't stand up to the sheer horror of the situation:
You've been drafted into a war you don't know the reason of, your beautiful village is being shelled and everyone you love in there is going to die. The best thing?Your best friend is standing on a building that is loaded with C4. If you do not press the button, thousands will die and you will be executed. If you do, then he will most certainly die.
Then the world ends, making your entire struggle pointless in the long run.
The Brigadier: Lewis. Even if he's technically a postman, he's a
former SAS officer and seems to be the only authority figure left in England apart from the Colonel, organizing Orkney and trying to start production again. It's implied that he was also involved in "Operation Shepherd's Warning", which seems to be the cause of the apocalypse, so he
might be not as benevolent as one may think.From Nobody To Nightmare: Gee, who'd have thought Dr Grey, the mild-mannered Red Cross medic (Who happens to be the only Red Cross still operating) would eventually
nuke the City, the last epicenter of civilization, assassinate Lewis and then try and take over Orkney?
Lewis loves this trope. He once shot at the Stranger with a
flare gun and then fired an assault rifle clip into it's chest.
River Of Insanity: In the premier of the second season (S2E1, "The Swamps of Madness"), this trope was played straight to a tee. After fleeing Orkney, the team has a month's worth of food, a canoe and as many bullets as they can carry. They also have some friends in the swamp, and they have an amulet that they are pretty sure will ward off the Stranger. The swamps will fry the Colonel's robots from the water, and if they move fast his human troops can't keep up. How can that go wrong?
Right, let's see. First they have to leave the food and the canoe when they get assaulted by bandits, they lose all their bullets in the swamp water, the reinforcements have been butchered and ritualistically crucified on trees, and the Stranger simply just arranges a trap to make Slyv trip up and lose the amulet in the swamp water, then attack with full force. It's only thanks to the Captain and
liberal use of molotov cocktails that the three survived in the first place.
Implied to be part of the apocalypse. Zombies include
Stenches, Risers, and
David, who becomes a Riser-like zombie with greater intelligence, lesser regeneration, some sort of ability to control other zombies, and less hunger for flesh. He is implied to be some sort of "evolved" version of a zombie, and he infects Ruth with the same...
although she reacts somewhat differently...: Colonel McArthur's home after the events of session 1.
Leave No Witnesses: Quoted word for word during the season one finale by the Colonel.
"Lovable Traitor: the character, Susan, that is introduced in season three has a lot of these tendencies, first by betraying David to Slyv, after Slyv learns about the visions, but has several redeeming qualities despite.
Hero Of Another Story: Alistair, Karen and Ruth are busy fighting the ever growing vampire troops during season 2 and 3, but still show up from time to time.
The Berserker:
Ruth, after she is infected by David.
: Ever since he was introduced, Slyv has
never taken off his old City Military uniform. This quite obviously causes some trouble after session 1.
The Unreveal: Invoked by Slyv in a conversation with Eriksson in Session 2, episode 5 "Darker Waters"
Eriksson: ... and what is behind your mask anyway?
*Slyv shrugs, and motions to take off his helmet before he is interrupted by the captain.*
The Captain's
hoverboat hydrofoil airboat has a top speed of 160 KM/H, goes on land and water, seats 6 but can hold 10, has enough remote controlled guns to start a small war mounted on it, and it comes equipped with radar, sonar, a full sound system and a mini-bar.
Badass Biker: Eriksson. His bike is a classic Harley, no modifications. And if you try to attack him when he's on the bike,
you are going to die.The Big Board: The Stranger has one in his bedroom that tracks every single person in England (And possibly the world), including the protagonists. And there are
too many buttons to count. David pressed one, causing a city on the map to suddenly disappear.
What would the others do?KillSat: The Icarus Satellite slowly gathers huge amounts of solar energy, then gathers it all up to fire at specific targets. The good news is that the only way to activate it is under a mile of radioactive rubble.
Or so thought Doctor Grey.
A lot of the graffiti is actually fairly detailed, offering background information, references to future plot points or simply just being hilarious.
Fuck the Colonel! Long Live the Colonel!
Shoot the risers in the head! It's the only way they stay dead! Sing it loud, sing it proud!
YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER.
If you are looking for a good time knock on the door of the burnt out library and ask for Larry.
IF YOU ARE SO INNOCENT WHAT ABOUT THE SHEPHERD'S WARNING?
No running water, no lights... But a fuckton of booze.
Kilroy *picture of Killroy* is dying of radiation poisoning and was here!
The Colonel wants us under him! He wants us to be his serfs while he lives it up! We must reb *bloodstain*
: The location for the vast majority of Season three. Particularly nice because it allows a closer insight to society in The City (Outside from the first two episodes in Season 1.)
Artistic License - Geography: "The City" is implied to be in the
vague area of real life Kirkwall. The problem? Kirkwall is actually a small town, rather then the large ruined metropolitan city that its showed as in the show.
Deadpan Snarker: The Robot that David and Eriksson encounter when travelling through the Sewers leading into the City in Season three, Episode 2 "Backdoor".
Book Dumb: Apparently, David repeatedly flunked both Science and Math in school before the Bombs dropped. Talked about before, but it shows a lot more clearly in S3, E2. How he ended up as a Police Officer in The City before the Show's premiere is anyones guess.
Private Investigator: Implied to be Eriksson's job before Chief Magistrate Lewis hired him in Season 1, Episode 1. Makes a little sense
considering his Skillset.
Badass Longcoat: Eriksson.
Leeroy Jenkins: Pretty much the entirety of Slyv's tactical planning and Execution. Good thing his
Improbable Aiming Skills keep him from obtaining the fate of the others who followed the same strategy.
Disposable Woman: Dr. Grey's wife, who is said to have been murdered before the series began.
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Used by Slyv to extract information about the colonel's whereabouts from one of his Captains in S2, E11. Who knew Slyv took Interrogation so seriously?
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I think this may actually be the most successful Narrative By Trope to date! Good job, guys!
Author
Topic: Narrative By Trope: The Reboot (Read 10179 times)