Big No/Live-Action TV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Big No in Live-Action TV include:

  • Played for laughs in the Britcom Coupling when Jane finds out her boyfriend is opposed to premarital sex.
  • Oz: Happens a few times.
    • The most notable one would be when Keller commits suicide and leaves Beecher thinking that he's the one who killed Keller.
    • Shirley Bellinger does this right before she's hanged.
  • From Scrubs,
  • Played straight (and generally approved of) near the end of Angel's Season Three. Possibly helped by the hero sobbing so hard he can barely get the word out.
  • Doctor Who:
    • Used non-ironically in "Age of Steel." By an ostensibly emotionless cyborg.
    • "The Fires of Pompeii" has at least two characters Big-Noing simultaneously at its climax.
    • And then there's Sutekh from The Pyramids of Mars, whose end is hilariously interspersed throughout this compilation.
    • One of the more effective uses of this in the old series was when Omega has only just realized that he is little more than a walking ghost -- partly because his denial is also followed up by a very tortured primal scream that sounds disturbing realistic.
    • Used very effectively in the series 2 finale "Doomsday", though it isn't so much heard as conveyed though Ten's expression.
    • Used in the Sixth Doctor story, "The Ultimate Foe", the Sixth Doctor screams a Big No when he is slowly disappearing into sand when hands grabbing him.
    • In the TV movie by FOX, the Eighth Doctor yells it when the Master kills Chang Lee and again when the Master kills Grace Halloway.
    • The Tenth Doctor upon the Master's death. The last of his kind, again.
    • Used at least twice in "Voyage of the Damned" by... go on have a guess from the sacrifice made by Foon Van Hoff to stop one of the Host as well as Astrid when she takes Max Capicorn with her into the nuclear engine. The second was also unheard and accented with music just like "Doomsday".
    • Eleven actually shouts "Big no!" during The Lodger.
    • Yelled quite a few times by Rory, after Amy's death in The Pandorica Opens.
    • The Series 6 opener, The Impossible Astronaut, has not one, not two, but THREE Big Nos: the first from Amy as the Doctor is shot. The second, shortly after from River as the Doctor is shot mid-regeneration, killing him for real. The third, from the Doctor as Amy shoots the astronaut without realising who it is.
  • MacGyver:
    • In the episode "Flame's End", when MacGyver's New Old Flame's car blows up, the action slows down as MacGyver rushes toward the car, the soundtrack mutes, and MacGyver shouts her name.
    • When, in the Very Special Episode "Blood Brothers", Jason Priestly's character accidentally shot himself, things went slow-mo and MacGyver yelled not that character's name, but the name of his childhood friend who died after accidentally getting shot.
  • The X-Files ends a cliffhanger episode like this. Also, in "Monday" Scully and Mulder are doomed to endlessly repeat the Big No, as they are trapped in a Groundhog Day Loop which always results in their deaths.
    • "This is Not Happening" ends this way with Scully (of all people) invoking this trope after finding Mulder dead in a field. She ran to find the supernatural healer, only to find him nowhere in sight. She collapses on the floor and screams in anguish.
  • Used often on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, particularly the episode "Not Fade Away".
  • Supernatural
    • In "All Hell Breaks Loose", Dean lets out one when he just finally found Sam and seen him get stabbed in the back. Helped by the fact that the viewers are probably feeling the same thing and his look of complete panic and devastation at the sight of his little brother getting knifed.
    • Played absolutely hilariously when a wishing well turns a girl's teddy bear into a life-sized, sentient being. A very depressed, alcoholic, somewhat perverted, plushy sentient being. Eventually, he (it?) decides to end it all and sticks a shotgun in its mouth, graphically blowing a cloud of fluff across the room. Which doesn't kill it, as apparently cotton batting doesn't double for brains. Despairing, the teddy raises its paws to heaven and implores "WHHHYYYYYYY?!"
    • Sam also lets one out at the end of the pilot episode when Jessica dies.
    • This is Gordon's reaction in "Fresh Blood" as he's being turned into a vampire.
    • Dean reacts this way in "Swan Song" when Sam!Lucifer telepathically snaps Bobby Singer's neck.
  • The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: "MAMA NOOOOOOOOOO!"
  • Spaced:
    • Parodied when Tim screams "NOOOO!!!" at the top of his lungs when cradling the body of his fallen best friend Mike, who has just been shot whilst saving Tim from an ambush by a hated rival and has just given a moving eulogy. It's worth noting, however, that this is merely a paintball game, and Mike, having merely been shot by a gob of paint, is far from dead; indeed, the scene immediately cuts to the two of them leaving the paintball centre casually chatting about how much fun they had.
    • Later parodied again in the first episode of the second season, in which Tim, recounting events in voice-over, introduces Mike -- who runs to the centre of the pavement, falls to his knees, and angstily screams "WHYYYYYYY?!?!?!" at the top of his lungs for absolutely no reason whatsoever. According to the Spaced Season 2 DVD'S Homage-o-meter, this moment is a reference to Platoon.
  • In the first episode of The Middleman, the Mad Scientist gives a Big No when Wendy and the Middleman thwart his plans.
  • Ned Bigby from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide has used the Big No when things were going badly for him.
  • Used to great effect on The Daily Show during, of all things, the 2000 election aftermath. At the end of a long montage involving the host and correspondents working through 37 days of hell, during which they turn to cannibalism and Jon and Stephen apparently fall in love, Al Gore concedes and it looks like it's all over -- when suddenly Stephen is shot dead. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
    • The Even Stephven segments occasionally had these when Carell and Colbert were explaining their positions:

"No!" "Yes!" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

  • Parodied to the max in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, in which practically every dramatic / tragic moment in the series will be punctuated by someone -- usually Rick Daglass -- screaming "Nooooooo!!!" at the top of his lungs, in slow motion, for at least a full minute. Usually more than once.
  • Miami Vice episode "Calderone's Demise" features a string of no less than eight successive iterations of the slow-motion Big No.
  • Stephen Colbert regularly uses them for comic effect. He is well known to be a huge fan of both Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, so it's obviously an homage. For example, in his "audition tape" for the post of White House press secretary, where Colbert repeatedly uses this as he is pursued by Helen Thomas.
  • Played straight in Primeval. In episode 4 of Season 2, Plucky Comic Relief Connor attempts to get around a particularly nasty creature to rescue his friend/crush Abby. The creature smacks him across the room, where he hits a wall and then drops out of sight, resulting in Abby uttering the Big No. While it was probably Narm to some viewers, actress Hannah Spearritt deserves serious credit here. The anguish on her face and in her voice actually makes the line work.
  • In the Big Time Rush 2-part special Big Time Concert, when Gustavo hears that James already left for LA with Hawk, he begins to scream a Big No, but briefly runs out of breath, stops, and takes some water from Kelly. Then, after he drinks it, he continues to scream so loud and the view shows that it can be heard from space.
  • Used as the season one cliffhanger of Sliders (when Quinn is shot and then cradled in Wade's arms -- Sabrina Lloyd can scream), and again in season two (when Wade dreams of her past-life self being shot and cradled in her lover's arms).
  • Big Wolf on Campus makes fun of it. When an attempt to save Merton's life seems to fail and Merton just lies still, everyone goes quiet... and then Merton goes "That's it? No tears? No wailing? No protracted moan of nooooooooooooooooooooooooo?"
  • Star Trek the Original Series:
    • In the season 1 episode "The Alternative Factor", Lazarus lets out a Big No when Kirk vanishes into a antimatter universe.
    • In the third season episode, "Whom Gods Destroy", Kirk does this three times after he is forbidden to beam aboard the Enterprise after Scotty tells him to answer the chess problem. Turns out it is actually Garth of Ivar in disguise.
  • Star Trek Deep Space Nine:
    • In the season one finale Sisko does this while charging towards an assassin. The scene is in slow motion, making his already deep voice hilariously deep.
    • Gul Dukat does this when his daughter was killed in the sixth season episode "Sacrifice of the Angels".
  • Star Trek the Next Generation:
    • In the Season 6 episode "Timescape", Picard succumbs to temporal narcosis after laughing, he repeatedly lets out a Big No.
    • In the 3rd season episode "Sarek", Picard yells it after the mind-meld with Sarek.
    • In the 6th season episode "Frame of Mind", Riker screams a Big No before waking up from a nightmare.
    • Counsellor Troi screams a Big No in her hallucination in the 5th season episode, "Violations" and again as an old woman when the alien ambassador heads for the transporter room in the 6th season episode "Man of the People" and once more, when Data stabs in her shoulder in the turbolift in the 7th season episode "Phantasms".
    • In the 1st season episode "Hide and Q", Q does this when he is called back to his people. Worf does it earlier in the episode when a Klingon woman appeared and wanted to have sex with him.
    • Picard gets another Big No moment in 4th season episode "Night Terrors," when he hallucinates that the turbolift ceiling is bearing down to crush him.
      • I'm actually QUITE sure that was from the 1st season episode "Where No One Has Gone Before"...
    • Data does it when he punched Picard in the 2nd season episode "The Schizoid Man."
    • In the 5th season episode "Darmok", Picard does this when the transporter snatched him away.
    • Wesley Crusher screams it in the climax of the 7th season episode "Journey's End".
    • Hugh does it at the climax of the 7th season premiere episode "Descent, part 2" when Lore is going to kill Data.
    • Worf gets a Big No in 1st season episode "The Last Outpost," and Riker does it a moment later.
  • Star Trek Voyager:
    • From the holoprogram The Adventures of Captain Proton!:

Chaotica: Your once proud country will fall to its knees. How ironic that I am using your rocket ship to lead my space force into battle!
Kim: You're wrong, Chaotica. Before you came on board, someone pushed the self destruct button. In three minutes, we'll all be dead.

Chaotica: (with appropriate Large Ham body language) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

    • In "One", Seven screams "no" after the Doc goes offline, leaving her to deal with the hallucinations she's having, plus the fact that every system is failing by herself.
    • In "The Thaw", Kim screams "NOOOOOO!!!!" when the Clown proceed cut Harry open with a scalpel before being stopped by the Doctor.
  • In the Disney Channel tv movie, The Luck of The Irish, the villian has one when he's tricked into being banished to Cleveland. "OHIO?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
  • Pee-Wee Herman does it repeatedly in an episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse, after Jambi tells him that there is only one wish per show.
  • Babylon 5: In the Season 4 episode "The Face of the Enemy", an increasingly upsetting season long arc culminates in a brainwashed Mr. Garibaldi betraying his friends in a big public way, leading to the capture and torture of the captain. Guess what happens when Garibaldi snaps back and realizes that everything he loves is gone and all his friends believe he betrayed them?
    • Also, this exchange earlier in Season 4

Mollari: Your ships are very impressive in the air, or in space, but right now they are on the ground.
Morden: So? They can sense an approaching ship from miles away. So what are you going to do, Mollari? Blow up the island?
Mollari: Actually...now that you mention it...
Morden: NOOOOOOOO!
(Londo presses a button on a small remote detonator he takes out of his pocket, and a distant explosion is heard)

  • In Battlestar Galactica, Lee Adama gets a very effective one when Starbuck is apparently killed somewhat spoiled when they used it in recap clips for the rest of the season.
  • In the Sci Fi miniseries Tin Man, Wyatt Cain does a Big No during a Flashback Nightmare.
  • In The Office (USA), Michael has this reaction when he discovers Toby has returned from South America. The fact that it's interrupted by the opening credits makes it funnier. Behold.
    • Another classic one with Pam after discovering Michael is sleeping with her mother. Like the example above, made funnier by a break; in this case, she runs out of the office in a Big No, and the show soon cuts to a commercial break and upon return, she's still in the midst of her Big No in the parking lot.
    • Dwight gets a truly epic one when he gets the news that a billboard with himself and Andy in a rather unfortunate position has been defaced. In all it's glory.
  • Ashes to Ashes, when Alex fails to prevent her parents' death, compounded by the knowledge it was her father who had done the deed.
  • The cliffhanger ending of season 2 of Farscape has left Aeryn dead, John an unintelligible vegetable on an operating table, and Scorpius walking away having killed the doctor and recovered the neural chip from John's head. He tries to let out a big no. As his speech center has been carved out along with the chip it's more of a "FWWOOOOOOO", but the effort was there.
  • Stargate SG-1:
    • Disc One Final Boss Sokar does an inarticulate roar when he realizes that Apophis has outmaneuvered him, while making use of the Goa'uld "deep voice" effect. It comes off as pretty Badass.
    • Also done well when Anubis sees his fleet destroyed by Earth's Ancient defense weapon. He gets in one good big NO before his ship blows up. (Same actor, incidentally.)
  • In the season 3 finale of Heroes, Angela Petrelli gives a (possibly) frightening Big No upon seeing the bloody corpse of Nathan.
  • Parodied in The IT Crowd as part of The Fun in Funeral frolics surrounding Denholm's funeral; when his long-lost son Douglas turns up out of nowhere he bursts in the door, takes off his sunglasses and make sure he's got everyone's full attention before screaming out "Fath-EEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!"
  • Played for laughs in Frasier in Part Two of "Shut Out in Seattle" -- and in slo-mo! -- when Faye asks Cassandra's name, undoing Frasier's double-episode-long Snowball Lie that was keeping his relationship from exploding. He also dashes across Cafe Nervosa in slo-mo as he shouts it, scattering tables along the way, but doesn't get there in time to avoid disaster.
  • Played for laughs in Coupling when Patrick encounters 'The Melty Man'.
  • In Chuck, Sarah lets a loud one out when Michael Clark Duncan's character drops Chuck head-first off the roof of a building.
    • Chuck returns the favor in slow-mo as he takes a bullet meant for Sarah in the series's penultimate episode.
  • Community has several first-season "mini episodes" that take place during study breaks. In one, Abed asks Pierce, the creepy offensive member, to play Truth or Dare. When Pierce chooses Truth, Annie yells, NOOOO. She calms herself and apologizes. Then Abed asks Pierce what he's ever done that he's ashamed of and the whole group yells NOOOO.
  • Green Wing: Sue White's reaction to Mac withdrawing from the slave auction.
  • Jack Bauer does one in Season 4 of 24 when Marwan kills himself.
  • Done hilariously in this MadTV skit.
  • Parodied in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Storyteller". When Andrew is trying to convince Buffy--and himself--that his murder of Jonathan was actually accidental, or he was possessed both his imagine spots end with an over-the-top Big No.
  • This is the Catch Phrase of Saturday Night Live's Mr. Bill.
  • Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers: In the final episode of this arc, Billy shouts this trope when the command center is about to be blown up.
  • Merlin has one (well, two close together) at the very end of season 1, when he thinks Gaius is dead.
  • V-2009 has not one, but TWO of epic proportions when Anna experiences her first human emotion in the Season 1 finale.
  • Highlander the Series plays it straight with Duncan MacLeod shouting "DARIUS!" upon finding his dead body.
  • A Seinfeld episode ended with one from George when his plan to get his girlfriend to break up with him by suggesting a 'menage-a-trois' backfires.
  • Conan O'Brien let one out on his first show on TBS once he learns that he'll never work on Network TV again.
  • Parodied on Big Train when Chaka Khan has a western-style shootout with the Bee Gees - when Robin Gibb (1849-1880) is gunned down by Chaka Khan (1850-1920), Barry Gibb (1847-1880) gives one up that lasts nearly half a minute. Then he does a second one. (During that time, Robin takes upwards of 70 bullets from Chaka's six-shooter. Rule of Funny in full effect, of course.)
  • Played straight in Twin Peaks, when sheriff Truman breaks the sad news to Laura's parents.
  • Wilson does this in the episode "Out of the Chute" when he sees House jump off of a hotel balcony, thinking he's committing suicide. Turns out he was just jumping into a pool.
  • This moment on 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Nina: You're taking it better than I thought you would.

  • Parodied in Hot in Cleveland when Victoria lets one out... after gaining one pound.
  • On Cheers as Rebecca goes into her office Woody is about to leave the bar and tells her he's going out to ask her boss' daughter out for a date. Rebecca not really listening says "Okay." and closes her door. Then a second later she runs out of her office and across the bar screaming "Nooooooooo!!!!" jumps on Woody's back and tackles him just before he reaches the door.
  • In Rizzoli and Isles Hoyt threatens to kill Jane leading Maura to scream {{"No!" Big No}}
  • In the Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode "The Tale Of The Renegade Virus" a virus attempts to enter Simon's brain via plugging in a serial port connector as his hand in the serial port embedded in Simon's hand leading Simon to scream "NO!" The virus also does this a few times after Simon defeats him by "pressing any key to escape".
    • One girl does this in "The Tale of the Many Faces" when she is threatened with the "Punishment Book".
  • In the last seconds of the Game of Thrones episode "A Man Without Honour", Maester Luwin upon seeing the charred corpses of Bran and Rickon Stark
  • In Shake It Up "Protest It Up", this was CeCe's reaction to the announcement of a Sudden School Uniform.

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