Another Story for Another Time

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

When someone gives an Exposition, they'll often mention something that pertains to a certain event. Questioning the character about it would elicit this response.

Due to The Law of Conservation of Detail, this story may later turn out to be relevant.


Examples of Another Story for Another Time include:


Film

  • Used as a Sequel Hook in the ending of the 1982 Conan the Barbarian, where narration by Mako tells us that in time, Conan "became a king by his own hand, and this story shall also be told."

Literature

  • Artemis Fowl: "...but that's another story" becomes something of a catchphrase for the first book's narrator. Most of these stories are eventually told as sideplots in books 2 and 3.
  • The Neverending Story ends many of its chapters with a reference to what happened to a side character who had been important in the chapter, but "that is another story and will be told another time."

Live Action TV

  • Often happens on How I Met Your Mother, usually refering to events in future episodes. Subverted in one episode when Older Ted says this of a security guard and his band, then decides that he'll probably never get to it and gives the Cliff Notes version ("They had one song, it didn't suck, end of story.")
  • Due South used to use a variant a lot, with Fraser going "...But that's not important, what is important..."

Tabletop RPG

  • Dungeons & Dragons module DA 1 Adventures in Blackmoor. The DM Background section is written like someone telling a story. At one point it starts describing the destruction of Blackmoor, but then says "But of the sinking of that fabled land - another time! Today, we speak of other things."

Western Animation

  • In "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" from The Simpsons, Bart and Lisa still have questions after Homer finishes his tale of a Beatles-like career.

Lisa: How come we never heard about this until today?
Bart: Yeah, and what happened to the money you made?
Lisa: Why haven't you hung up your gold records?
Bart: Since when could you write a song?
Homer: (laughs) There are perfectly good answers to those questions, but they'll have to wait for another night.