Busman's Holiday: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A detective, for example, goes on holiday. While he or she is on that holiday, a murder will take place in the vicinity and they will be [[Closed Circle|forced to solve that case.]] If the killer actually knows the detective is there, they're either very stupid, very [[Pride|arrogant]] or is plotting something big.

This trope is much more likely than not to be lampshaded. Often, upon finishing the impromptu adventure, the hero insists on returning back to work immediately stating he needs a vacation from his ruined vacation.

 

 

 

* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', even if the characters go to a beach or some other spot to relax, Sōsuke still manages to find a robot that needs piloting, a team of ridiculous villains who need an ass-kicking, or some other situation that requires his special skills.

** Alternately, [[Stuff Blowing Up|he makes one]] [[No Social Skills|by accident]].

* In a ''[[One Piece]]'' filler arc, the crew stops at a resort that even welcomes pirates, but end up fighting the Foxy Pirates and thwart the owner's scheme to find a hidden treasure that two sisters are looking for.

* ''[[Kiddy Grade]]'' episode "Day/Off" - which turns out to be anything but.

* Every single breather episode in ''[[Bleach]]'' will end with a fight against a Hollow, regardless of how much sense it makes in context. The only exceptions are the breathers that follow the Zanpakuto arc, where they fought against a Sword Beast in every episode.

* In ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', [[Superhero|Kotetsu]] finally makes use of his vacation days to visit his daughter in the tenth episode. {{spoiler|He gets as far as the bridge out of Sternbild before it blows up right in front of him, heralding the start of a citywide terrorist attack.}}

* Inverted in ''[[Rental Magica]]'' - when the company goes to the seaside on business, all but two of the characters decide to take a holiday while they're there.

 

* [[Tintin]] can't go anywhere, ever, for any reason without something happening.

* Used to humorous effect in the [[Beach Episode]] of DC's ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' comic; a thief grows increasingly nervous about the endless stream of Legionnaires showing up, convinced they're there to bust him. In fact most of them are only there to goof off, and even the two who are investigating his thefts aren't making much progress and have no idea he's involved; everyone is rather baffled when he finally panics and confesses all.

* Jenkins from ''[[Atomic Robo]]'' gets attacked by a beach full of mooks when he is forced to go on vacation.

** And that's only part of it. His week off is entirely spent in destroying a crime syndicate. However, this is ''[[Memetic Badass|Jenkins]]'' we're talking about; a week fighting drug lords is ''relaxing'' to him.

* There was a ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' cartoon in ''[[Disney Adventures]]'' with this very name. He keeps getting in Latin Darkwing's way. At the end, the Latin [[Expy]] takes a Busman's Holiday in Darkwing's city.

* [[Superman|Clark Kent and Lois Lane's]] relaxing honeymoon away from the rigors of investigative reporting (which in the DCU, ''especially'' in Metropolis, means "escaping from Apokolips-backed gangsters and uncovering [[Mega Corp|Lexcorp]]-financed [[Supervillain Lair]]s") predictably turns into a kidnapping-cum-terrorist attack by a foreign conspiracy ring.

 

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* In ''[[What About Bob?]]?'' Richard Dreyfuss' psychiatrist character, Dr. Leo Marvin, goes on vacation to get away from his neurotic, clingy patient Bob Wiley. Bob follows him, and his continued antics lead to the following exchange:

{{quote|'''Dr. Catherine Tomsky:''' Relax, Leo.

'''Dr. Catherine Tomsky:''' Take a vacation.

'''Dr. Leo Marvin:''' I'M ON VACATION! }}

* In ''[[Speed 2]]'', the super cop protagonist goes on a cruise vacation with his girlfriend that, naturally ends up being [[Die Hard on an X|hijacked by a madman]].

* In ''[[The Transporter|Transporter 2]]'', the French detective from the first film takes a vacation to America just when the Transporter gets mixed up in another caper. The detective spends his vacation sleuthing around the local police department.

* Played with in ''[[The Net]]'', in which [[Sandra Bullock]]'s character Angela is working on debugging a computer program using her laptop, while on vacation at the beach, not because she is forced to, but rather because that's the way she is. It is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by the male lead{{spoiler|/main villain}}, also a computer programmer, who first meets Angela during this incident.

 

 

== Literature ==

** [[Miss Marple]] had this in ''A Caribbean Mystery''.

*** Lampshaded in ''Nemesis'', in which Miss Marple considers that her tendency to stumble into crimes is similar to an "accident prone" friend of hers who has been in four taxi accidents.

* Possibly [[Older Than Radio]]: In a couple of the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' stories (''The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle'' (1893) and ''The Devil's Foot'' (1910)), Holmes has worked himself almost to the point of a nervous breakdown, prompting Watson to drag him off on a vacation. Of course they immediately run into a mystery that needs solving—much to Holmes' delight, and Watson's annoyance.

* In [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]' ''Busman's Honeymoon'', super-sleuth [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] goes on his honeymoon with his detective novelist wife, only to run slap bang into a locked room murder mystery.

* The equivalent expression in Diane Duane's ''[[Young Wizards]]'' books is "Wizard's Holiday", which became the title of the seventh book.

* A couple of ''[[Discworld]]'' novels have [[Lampshade Hanging|hung a lampshade]] on the idea that wherever Commander Vimes goes, usually on diplomatic missions as Duke of Ankh, he can't help looking for crimes. And he usually finds them.

* In the ''[[Finnegan Zwake]]'' novels, Finn's mystery-writer uncle is followed wherever he goes -- [[Latin Land]], [[Qurac]], the [[Land Down Under]]—by ''real'' murders.

* God forbid the [[Babysitters Club]] could take one vacation without babysitting, not matter how contrived. The sole exception was ''Stacey's Lie''. Oh, and even if they went on vacation without Mallory's five-billion younger siblings or Kristy's step-siblings, then there would be some parents who for some stupid reason needed a sitter for the exact amount of time they'd be there.

* In Peter Tremayne's ''Sister Fidelma'' novels, Fidelma, a Dark Ages defence lawyer, seems to keep finding murders when she's off-duty, whether she's attending the fair at a neighbouring kingdom or on pilgrimage to Rome.

* [[Biggles]] complains of this when his squadron finds itself being shuttled around the world in one of his World War 2 adventures.

** He eventually accepts, on the condition that he plays a [[Dumb Muscle|barbarian]] with "enormous thews."

** In the short story "Day Off", after securing a rare entire day to himself and planning to spend it with his girlfriend, Harry instead spends most of it dealing with the same kind of havoc he usually has on his plate, although of an unusually trivial variety, such as his werewolf friends getting supernatural fleas (for the record, it's of the "unusually trivial variety" because the story was written for a story anthology called "Blood Lite," in which an author challenged some of her sci-fi/horror writer friends to take a shot at comedy.)

* Referred to by name in the Jonathan Kellerman novel ''Bones''.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* In the aptly-named "Captain's Holiday" episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Next Generation]]'', Picard accidentally ends up spending his vacation trying to stop the evil aliens' master plan to conquer the universe—which is his day job.

** Make this every "shore leave" episode of Star Trek ever. Bonus points if the crew member in question has been ordered to take time off by the chief medical officer.

* In the ''[[Monk]]'' episode "Mr. Monk Goes on Vacation", Monk's assistant Sharona takes him on a vacation against his will, where he is incredibly uncomfortable and simply sits on the beach fully clothed. When a murder mystery pops up he couldn't be happier, and drags Sharona into helping him solve it. Upon their return Sharona asks that they never go on vacation again, then says "I can't believe I just said that!"

** [[Lampshade]]d in "Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever":

** Eleven's first series keeps doing this too: in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31/E06 The Vampires of Venice|The Vampires of Venice]]" the Doctor takes Amy and Rory to the romantic destination of their choice as a wedding gift—presumably anticipating more ice-cream and gondola rides than vampires. In "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31/E08 The Hungry Earth|The Hungry Earth]]'', the Doctor seems to have promised his companions Rio and ended up in a small Welsh village with, of course, a mystery that demands solving... You'd think he'd be a bit more [[Genre Savvy]] by now.

** In "The Time of Angels", Eleven and Amy's trip to a museum is cut short by a discovering a homing black box with temporal co-ordinates sent 12,000 years earlier by an old friend. The same friend later (earlier from her point of view) also defaces one of the first cliffs in existence to call the Doctor in the series 5 finale.

** In the 2008 Christmas special "The Next Doctor", the Tenth Doctor lands in [[Victorian London]] to see the sights...then another Doctor appears to apprehend a Cybershade and the plot begins.

** Ten explores a New Earth hospital with Rose, only to end up having Rose's mind taken over by a presumed-dead enemy and the hospital hiding a dark secret.

** The Fifth Doctor spends a bit of time trying to get to The Eye of Orion, the most peaceful place in the universe. When he finally gets there, he gets roped into the events of The Five Doctors.

* Hammy British detective series ''Rosemary and Thyme'' also suffered from this trope. While its leads are primarily gardeners, they moonlight as detectives. Whenever they're off somewhere fixing a garden- sometimes abroad, however much this stretches belief- someone pegs it, and it ALWAYS has something to do with their primary calling. It verges on the ridiculous at times, but never had something ridiculous in a verge.

* None of the major characters in ''[[The Sentinel (TV series)|The Sentinel]]'' can go on vacation without ending up being chased by armed goons.

* In the ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' episode ''Kidnap'', Jim and Barney are on vacation, and Jim is planning a tennis game like it's a mission, talking about the opponent's weaknesses and how to go after him.

* Happens unintentionally to JD in the ''[[Scrubs]]'' episode ''My Way Home''. On his day off, he's paged by an intern to answer a (rather easy and pointless) question. He spends the rest of the episode trying to leave the hospital and get home, but keeps getting caught and interrupted.

 

== Video Games ==

* In the western version of the story of ''[[Tails Adventure]]'', the title character was taking one of these after his previous adventure, only to be woken up by a bomb going off in the forest.

** Pretty much the same thing happens in ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'', sans framing.

** And in ''[[Super Mario 64]]'', he thinks he's just there for some cake, at least until some Lakitu with a camera talks to him as if he knows he's going on an adventure.

** And ''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'' starts with the heroes at Princess Peach's birthday party. Cue attack by the Koopalings and Bowser Jr.

** For that matter, ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' starts with Mario simply heading to Rogueport to join Peach in searching for treasure. He runs into [[The Dragon]] the second his ship arrives, and it just gets worse from there.

* Whenever the protagonist in the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series takes an interest in anything, someone will die in connection to it. Many members of the [[Economy Cast]] [[Lampshade Hanging|pick up on this]], but think it's ''them'' with the bad luck.

** This continues in the [[Gaiden Game]], ''Ace Attorney Investigations.'' The second case has Edgeworth on an airplane. When he goes to use the in-flight elevator, there's a body inside.

** It happens again in the sequel when Edgeworth goes to a speech that the president of Zheng Fa gives in his honor, and there ends up being an assassination attempt {{spoiler|which was staged, as a way for the president to regain popularity and for the killer to murder his rival}}.

* A bit of a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]] [[Crisis Core]]'' is that every time Zack attempts to take a vacation at Costa del Sol, he ends up having to save the town from some sort of monster attack and thus completely ruins his vacation. At least these missions allow for [[Fan Service]]...

* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', a Commander Shepard with the War Hero background was on shore leave on Elysium when the Skyllian Blitz hit. Being a crack spec-ops soldier, [[Badass|Shepard only did what came naturally...]]

* In an example of the original definition, the [[Final Boss]] of ''[[Touhou|Phantasmagoria of Flower View]]'', Sikieiki Yamaxanadu, is a [[The Judge|judge]] [[Celestial Bureaucracy|of the Dead]] who spends her working hours deciding whether to send a given soul to hell. She is [[All There in the Manual|stated]] to spend her free time going around and lecturing sinners (so that she doesn't ''have'' to send them to hell).

* In ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]: Ripto's Rage,'' Spyro and Sparx decide to go on vacation to the theme park Dragon Shores... only to get picked up by the Professor and Elora, who need him to save the world for him. Although they do occasionally remember that he's technically on vacation and throw him a bone, mostly, he doesn't get to relax like he wants to until the very end.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Dewey the librarian in ''[[Unshelved]]'' spends his day off [http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20080726 reading].

** As a librarian myself, we all do this. We don't have time to read at work.

 

== Web Original ==

* It became a running joke in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' that superheroes should never go on vacation, because when they do, something bad always happens. Supervillains attacked [[Disney Theme Parks|Walt Disney World]] while the heroes are attending in [[Secret Identity]] with their families. The Caribbean resort they go to gets hit by a hurricane and the entire island needs rescue and evacuation. The cruise ship they sail on is attacked by a kraken. A werewolf stalks the tourists to the mountain lodge they've escaped to. The Atlanteans attack if they go to the beach. It was just easier for them to stay home some days.

* The girls of Team Kimba can't go anywhere in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' without ''something'' happening, or someone attacking them. Over Christmas break, the six girls go to six different cities. Six fights with badguys.

 

== Western Animation ==

* An episode of ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' has Team Lightyear take a vacation together. Of course, [[Plucky Comic Relief]] XR immediately gets involved with a mob of bounty hunters and everyone winds up in a gunfight.

* ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'': No matter where the Rangers travel, there is always at least one case waiting for them. And they travel a lot.

* In an episode of ''[[American Dad]]'', Roger goes on a date with a bartender... at the same bar she works at... and he has her serve the drinks. She is visibly annoyed by it.

* ''[[Martin Mystery]]'': No matter what they do, Martin, Diana and Java always have to deal with something supernatural. They visit an aunt in the countryside? They're attacked by a [[Scary Scarecrows|possessed scarecrow]]. They buy a guitar, or a typewriter, or some random stuff on the Internet? It's magic and evil. They go on a corporate retreat? Time for an ''[[Evil Dead]]'' [[Whole-Plot Reference|episode]].

* Anytime the girls of ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' try to relax, a mission is not too far away.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who Expanded Universe|Doctor Who]]'' adventure game ''TARDIS'', Amy [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshades]] that a lot of the Doctor's holidays always go wrong. The Doctor is upset by this, trying to prove Amy wrong by heading to 23rd century London, only to lead into the cliffhanger for the next game, involving alien sharks and flesh-eating shadows.

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Chief Wiggum goes to the beach in uniform because "crime doesn't take a vacation", then it cuts to Fat Tony and his henchmen playing volleyball.

* [[Popeye]] and Olive tried to take a vacation from their treasure-seeking business and ended up looking for the lost treasure of [[Marie Antoinette]]. In the end of that episode, somebody asked them to look for an artifact that belonged to [[Joan Darc]]. They refused.

* [[Goofy]] once took a vacation from his job as a dishwasher and used a credit card to pay for expenses. Once he ran out of credit, he had to wash dishes to pay for his bill.

 

== Real Life ==

* Writers. Since the invention of the laptop (and, frankly, even before that, the notepad) have made it so easy, and since their job isn't exactly physically demanding (mentally, on the other hand...), it's not uncommon for them to occasionally scribble down ideas that they might elaborate on later. Although, they usually do enjoy their vacation, with the occasional burst of writing during downtime, such as before bed.

* How often do you hear stories about a crime such as a robbery getting foiled because one of the people nearby happens to be an off-duty or retired police officer who steps in to stop them?

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Older Than Radio]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Vacation Tropes]]