And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Riku:''' Now you know. And knowing is half the battle!

 

The episode of your cartoon series is over already, and the kids haven't yet had [[An Aesop]] or a science lesson? Well, we can't have that!

 

{{examples}}

== [[Trope Namer]] ==

{{quote|'''Random Kid:''' "'Cause now we know!"

'''Random Joe:''' "[[Trope Namer|And Knowing Is Half The Battle]]!"

** (9 seconds of seeing someone [http://youtu.be/W5a_fEzpDik fall of a cliff] before cutting to the GI JOE title) "[[Curse Cut Short|Shiiiiiiii]]-"

 

** Some of these took ''extremely'' vague lessons out of the material. As [[That Guy With The Glasses|That Chick With The Goggles]] points out two good examples-- "[[It Makes Sense in Context|Today we saw buses vanish into thin air]]. If only we could make the smog that buses cause vanish into thin air, too! Even though we're just kids, we can carpool and make a difference." ...yeah. Another example given was that one episode had a lesson to believe in yourself and have confidence, because the episode was about an insecure artist who was afraid to draw what she really looked like because she didn't believe she looked good enough. The end of that episode included a reminder that [[Drugs Are Bad]].

*** Because artists take drugs. Right.

*** "So....Studying....Yeah...."

* The "science lessons" in ''[[Gunbuster]]'' and ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' may have been partly meant to parody such tags in series imported from the US, as they are something rarely if ever seen in [[Anime]] as it is broadcast in Japan.

* An anime which plays this straight is ''[[Mari and Gali]]'', which attempts to teach middle school students about scientific principles. Its makers still throw in a lot of slapstick and general silliness, so the result is [[Widget Series|rather strange]]—to say the least.

* ''[[Yakitate!! Japan]]'' ends each episode with a random factoid about bread.

* Used in one volume of the English edition of [[Kindaichi Case Files]] talking about the differences between Western and Japanese computers. They also use it to justify the heavy edits by explaining that if they used a literal translation, the English reading audience won't get a fair chance at solving the mystery themselves.

* Some of the ''[[Yumeiro Patissiere]]'' episodes end with cooking advice for making certain types of sweets.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Comic books from a lot of different companies back then also sometimes had the starring characters advertising and selling war bonds on the front cover.

* DC Comics once commissioned a series of in-house PSAs in the early 90s featuring several DC heroes like [[Batman|Robin]], [[Booster Gold]], [[The Flash]], among others getting informed about the real facts concerning HIV and AIDS. The most well known of the bunch was the adult-oriented Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean authored ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120308200136/http://members.fortunecity.com/bookdepository/comics/death/life.html Death Talks About Life]'', featuring Death of the Endless from ''[[The Sandman]]'' and John Constantine.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 2'' has an in-universe example where the last aired episode of [[Show Within a Show|Woody's Roundup]] had the show Woody address the audience about not forgetting their friends and family while singing the recurring song "You've Got a Friend in Me". This convinces the Woody watching, who had just decided to abandon his old friends and his owner Andy to go to a museum in Japan with the rest of the roundup gang toys, to reverse his decision and take the roundup gang with them.

 

* Each major American network has their own version of these. The most well-known and often parodied are NBC's "The More You Know Segments", which featured celebrities of the time in [[Public Service Announcement]]s. Notable parodies include:

** A special feature on ''[[The Office]]'' season 2 DVD, where the show's characters tell you important facts about life. Dwight informs viewers that he could survive on a wolf's diet, Jim tells you that the black jelly beans are bad, and Ryan tells you, if you're hanging out with your friends, and someone tries to sell you a $9 beer, just say no, because $9 is way too much for a beer. ''[[The Office]]'' [[Biting the Hand Humor|airs on NBC.]]

* One of J.D.'s fantasies in ''[[Scrubs]]'' (also on NBC) parodies this with J.D. telling the audience why it's wrong to smother your kids, in a [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|horrifyingly casual manner]]:

{{quote|'''JD:''' You had a tough day at the office. So you come home, make yourself some dinner, smother your kids, pop in a movie, maybe have a drink. It's fun, right? Wrong. Don't smother your kids.}}

** ABC had "A Better Community".

** CBS has "CBS Cares".

* [[Wizards of Waverly Place]] did this once.

 

 

* This trope is [[Older Than You Think]], as some old-time radio dramas did the same thing. ''[[The Shadow]]'', for one, sometimes offered in-character advice on how to properly operate and maintain a coal-burning furnace after an episode was over. This rather shamelessly combined And Knowing Is Half the Battle with [[Product Placement]], as the program's sponsor was a coal company.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The tabletop RPG ''[[Cartoon Action Hour]]'' is designed to evoke the feel of action cartoons from the 1980s. In fact, players can earn bonus experience points by role-playing their characters in an After-The-Show Message.

 

* The epilogue of ''[[William Shakespeare|Pericles]]'' can be roughly summarized as "Look at all these characters! The gods punished the wicked ones and rewarded the righteous ones!"

* Mozart's (somewhat) dark comedy ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' unexpectedly ends a night of ribald hijinks and catchy tunes with a final scene of the antihero (antivillain?) being dragged down to Hell. The rest of the cast then come onto the stage and [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|Break The Fourth Wall]], lecturing that [[Scare'Em Straight|what the audience has just seen is the fate that awaits all sinners]].

* Most plays written in the 18th century had prologues that basically said, "this is a good play, you'll enjoy it" and epilogues repeating the moral of the play. Probably justified, since few people at the time actually went to the theater to watch a play - they went to see and be seen.

* ''[[The Matchmaker]]'' ends with Barnaby stating a somewhat facetious moral.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Mother 3]]'' has a few signs in certain locations that provide the player with real-world information based on the context, such as about certain types of [[Save Point|frog]] that can survive in desert climates, or why mole tunnels can be so long and complex (the latter even encouraging the player to take time out to go watch moles in action some day).

* When drinking in Catherine, a [[Disembodied Voice]] will interrupt you to tell you about some random trivia about the drink you chose.

 

== Web Animation ==

* Parodied by [[Legendary Frog]], who had a transforming toaster warn Kerrigan about the dangers of electric shock.

** [[Legendary Frog]] also gave us "[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/193439 The Matrix Still Has You]," in which inadvertent phasing by The Twins leads to a car accident, and Neo gives us a lecture on seatbelts.

* In a [[Sonic Shorts]] Collaboration, one of the 'episodes' had this to parody the morals that used to be at the end of [[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]] cartoons, with an Aesop about Internet plagiarism.

{{quote|'''Tails:''' Now I know!

'''Kids:''' YAY! }}

 

* Parodied in [https://web.archive.org/web/20110717220714/http://www.pvponline.com/2008/03/22/safety-first-kids/ this PVP comic] that suggests what "the other half of the battle" is.

* Also parodied by ''[[Overcompensating]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20110810185338/http://www.overcompensating.com/posts/20050809.html here].

* Used in [https://web.archive.org/web/20101229192549/http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=625 this] ''[[Brawl in the Family]]'' strip.

* ''[[The Dragon Queen]]'' gives one on the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140803130735/http://www.dragonqueencomic.com/2010/08/18/transgender-tips/ proper way to pick up a transexual].

 

== Web Original ==

* For some reason, ''[[Sonichu]]'' issue 10 has a message not to let your kids play M-rated games.

* ''[[Full Metal Panic Abridged]]'' parodies this in the first episode, after warning it's viewers about the dangers of creating an abridged series!

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Static Shock]]''—On a few [[Very Special Episode]]s

* ''[[Mighty Max]]'' had a segment at the end of each episode with Max giving a brief fact related to the subject of the episode. One two-part finale, with Max still out with Virgil and Norman in a hellish setting, had Max's mother remarking on her son's choice of Dante's Inferno as reading material.<ref>When the series was shown in the UK, they were cut from [[The BBC|BBC1]]'s screenings but left intact on [[Nickelodeon]].</ref>

* In one early morning commercial on [[Nickelodeon]], Katara from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' gives a lecture about swimming safety, and how you should always have an adult around. This is a ''horribly'' [[Broken Aesop]] considering these are the kids who do everything with the oldest member being fifteen, from world travel, to swimming, to fighting, to [[Refuge in Audacity|completely unpunished]] [[Flopsy|insurance fraud]]. Also [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Toph farts in the pool]].

** You should also keep in mind that when you have characters who can [[Making a Splash|control the very water]] around them, and [[Healing Hands|heal you]] if you do get hurt, drowning is probably not high on their list of worries.

 

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{{reflist}}

[[Category:Children's Show Tropes]]

[[Category:Saturday Morning Cartoon]]

[[Category:An Aesop]]

[[Category:Undead Horse Trope]]