Big "Never!"

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Not even for a coffee maker.[1]


Zoidberg: "Forgive me, my friend."

Bender: "NEVER!"
Futurama, The Day the Earth Stood Stupid

Shouting the word "NEVER!" to show a character is determined not to do something, and will proclaim it, usually either angrily or proudly.

Note, without the determination being expressed, it's not this trope. It's just shouting a word that happens to be "never".

A Sub-Trope of Big Word Shout.

Compare Big No.

Contrast Big Yes.

Examples of Big "Never!" include:

Anime and Manga

  • In the final battle between Simon and the Anti-Spirals in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Simon shouts "Take/Eat this!" with a huge "never" as a response.
  • In One Piece when Kuma is about to finish off the whole crew on Thriller Bark, he offers them a chance if they give Luffy in. They all answer "NEVER!!" and get nuked by his attack.

Comic Books

  • In The Smurfs comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress", the waste disposal robot, who became the tyrant of the Smurf Village, shouts this when he tries to escape from the front door of his castle, but finds himself surrounded by the Smurfs that were once his captives, demanding for his surrender. He tries to use a secret escape hatch, only to be turned into furniture when Handy cuts off his escape with his furniture-making machine.

Film

Kevin: You guys give up? Have you had enough pain?
Marv: Nevah!
Harry: (shakes head at Marv)

Stinky Pete: Your choice, Woody: you can go to Japan together or in pieces. If he fixed you once, he can fix you again. Now get in the box!
Woody: Never!

  • Beauty and the Beast: Belle says this after Gaston says he'll save her father from getting thrown into the asylum if she agrees to marry him.
  • Enchanted:

Queen Narissa: So this is the forest rat who thinks she can claim my throne... NEVER!!!

  • 1776: The very last sung line of the opening number, "Sit Down, John", is a solo voice asking, "Will someone shut that man up?", referring to John Adams. Adams shouts "Never! Never!" and stalks off.
    • He gets in a couple quieter ones later in the film, most notably when he realizes Franklin's recruited Richard Henry Lee.

Literature

  • Joseph Lemaitre's French: How to Speak and Write It uses this trope in a comic illustration to make the introduction of the word "never" more memorable:

Il: Embrassez-moi!
Elle: Jamais!

Live-Action TV

  • In Seinfeld, Kramer has a jacket which used to belong to his mother's ex-boyfriend, and is refusing to give it back to him. Later, the boyfriend turns up pounding at Jerry's door demanding the jacket. Kramer responds with an over-dramatic "Never!"
  • An episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has a following dialogue:

Sisko: What can you do?
O'Brien: Leave the station.
Sisko: NEVER!! Give me your phaser, I'll get rid of Kira.
O'Brien: Hear me out, sir. We leave the station, raise the Federation attack force and return. And in day, you should get rid of all your enemies.

Music

  • Done repeatedly and with...erm, gusto...in the ending of "Day Sixteen: Loser" by Ayreon.

Theatre

  • In Kiss Me Kate, Kate has a wild coloratura cadenza in the first-act finale whose words are "Never!" repeated nineteen times.
  • In The Musical On the 20th Century, Lily has an entire song called "Never" (about how she won't go back to her controlling ex-lover), which culminates in a shouted "Never!".
  • In The Lion King stage musical, Nala typically responds to Scar's propositioning with: "Never, Scar. NEVER."
  • 1776

Extra: "Will someone shut that man up?!"
John Adams" "NEVER!!! NEVER!!!"

Video Games

Web Comics

Web Original

"NEVAH!"

Western Animation

  • American Dad
    • Hayley about being told to drop being angry about Bush.
    • In the episode Stannie Get Your Gun, the mascot upon learning that he is fired and will have to relinquish his costume. A beautifully rendered "NEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!" coupled with a fantastic dive through a plate glass window.
  • Futurama had a few.
    • This exchange from Bender's Big Score

Nudar: So what'll it be, unconditional surrender -
Leela: Never!
Nudar: - Or total destruction?
Leela: Also never!
Nudar: You have thirty seconds - make up your minds!
Leela: NEVER!

    • From "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid":

Zoidberg: Forgive me, my friend!
Bender: NEVER!

  • The Simpsons
    • Spoofed in a scene where Homer is asked to do something that is only reasonable and not a big deal and then snaps "Never!".

Bart: As long as you're doing things for me, would you tie up your bath robe when you walk around the house?
Homer: Never!

    • In a play done by the characters involves George Washington (played by Ralph Wiggum) responding to Lisa's character's "couldn't we just give in to the British?" question with a big "NEVER!"
  • The dialogue of the first few minutes of the first Fairly Oddparents movie Abra-Catastrophe goes more or less like this:

Disguised Cosmo or Wanda: Tell me your secret, Timmy!
Timmy: NEVER!!!

  • Seen in the original Adventure Time pilot. Pen (later Finn) shouts this while freeing himself from the Ice King's ice.

Abraham Lincoln: You need to believe in yourself!.
Pen: NEVER!!![2]

    • And the time the keeper of "The Enchiridion!" tried to make Finn slay an unaligned ant.
    • Speaking of the "The Enchiridion!"...

Finn: NEVERRRR!!!!!! (runs and kicks the Key-per in the nuts)

Dan's arm is on fire
Chris: Dan, stop, drop, and roll!
Dan: *runs off* Never!

"Now will you be my frieeeeend?"
"NEVERRRRR!"

  • Optimus Prime delivers a defiant "NEVER!" to Megatron in Transformers: The Movie in response to him saying "It's over, Prime!" before smacking him right in the face.
  • During the climax of Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip, when present Dexter asks for the MacGuffin back, Future Mandark replies with "NEVEERRR!".

Real Life

  1. unless it did espresso
  2. It doesn't make sense in context either.