He Didn't Make It
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"I didn't make it. Twelve freaking times!"
—Ran, Bob and George
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A Stock Phrase used whenever somebody wants to avoid saying "died". Or it could be used for its literal meaning in some other context.
Sometimes it's a case of one person asking how the victim is, and the other person just sadly shakes their head no. Or they look down.
Sometimes this doesn't work, and the person has to lay it out.
Frequently preceded by Breaking Bad News Gently.
Compare Bearer of Bad News or Death Notification. Contrast No Longer with Us.
See a video with many scenes of this being said at the Huffington Post.
Not, in this exact wording, what Mario said to Luigi about the origin of his football.
Anime and Manga
- Ojamajo Doremi Naisho, in episode 12 near the end when Non-chan's mother comes to see Doremi, she tells her that "she couldn't make it". Cue one of the biggest Tear Jerkers of the series.
- In a late episode of X 1999, Karen and Yuto kill each other, while Satsuki struggles with the Beast and is eventually killed by it, too. As Yuto lies dying by the fountain, he remembers making a promise with Satsuki earlier and says with a faint smile: "It seems tonight, I won't make it for tea..."
- In Fullmetal Alchemist when Hughes dies, he apologizes to his family for not being able to make it home.
Film
- Search the IMDb [dead link].
- I got a 404 Error :/ Apparently the page didn't make it.
- The Two Towers movie has a strange example because that scene was filmed before the script was totally ironed out, the director wasn't sure what actually did happen to Aragorn, so decided to keep the dialogue vague to save time:
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Eowyn: Where is Lord Aragorn? |
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- Which ironically turned out to be literal.
- Dante's Peak
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Harry: Where's Paul? |
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- Tron:
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Tron: Where's Ram? |
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- Speed has a particularly dark variant.
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(Jack answers his phone) |
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- In the movie Airport, it's used exactly as it means: someone failed to do something.
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Demerest: When I'm flying over 200,000 pounds of 707 I want a runway that's mighty long, and mighty dry. |
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- Serenity (made all the more devastating by the fact that it's Zoe invoking the trope.)
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Kaylee: Wait...Wash! Where's Wash? —Said as she quietly and carefully loads a shotgun, one shell at a time.
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Whitmore's daughter: Is Mommy sleeping now? |
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- Used interestingly in The Fifth Element: towards the end, when they're in the temple, David says quietly to himself "We're not gonna make it" and sighs, unwittingly activating the 'air' stone (by breathing on it), which leads to their figuring out how to work the rest of the stones and saving the world.
- Laconic version from Jaws:
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Hooper: Quint? |
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- The Lost World Jurassic Park had a darkly sarcastic version when Tembo returns after going to look for Stark:
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Malcolm: Did you find him? |
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Literature
- In the novel Jurassic Park, Grant asks about the ultimate fate of Ian Malcolm, who was badly injured when the T-Rex escaped. The character being asked only shakes his head. He got better and showed up in a later novel, stating that rumors of his demise were grossly exaggerated.
- The standard line is used in the sequel, The Lost World, after the antagonists' attempt to steal a T-Rex egg goes very badly for one of the trio:
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King: Where's Baselton? |
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Live Action TV
- Rolf Harris's Animal Hospital. "He didn't make it through the night." (Although he probably didn't say it as much as impressionists did.)
- On Arrested Development, George Sr.'s doctor tells the family that he's "gone" and that "he just got away from us". It turns out that he meant George just escaped through the window. It became a running joke how the family is never sure how to interpret anything the doctor says.
- Home Improvement: When Tim told Jill about her father's heart attack.
- Also on Will and Grace, when Will tells Grace about his father's heart attack after his mother calls.
- Power Rangers Time Force episode "The End of Time: Part 2": Alex talking about Wes' death.
- Also in Power Rangers RPM, when Scott had to report to his dad/commanding officer that his brother died: "Eagle One is down, sir... He's gone."
- On Nash Bridges, this is practically Harvey Leek's Catch Phrase.
- Lost episode "What They Died For". They refers to Sayid, Jin and Sun.
- In the final episode of Stargate Atlantis:
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Sheppard: Where's Ronon? |
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Theatre
- The ending of Puccini's opera La Boheme.
Video Games
- Rucks of Bastion delivers a long string of them; as the Kid wanders through a village, Rucks gives the name of every ashen corpse they walk by, before adding "...didn't make it".
- If you screw up, this is what you'll get to hear from Joker regarding some of your team (if not your ENTIRE team) after the Final Battle in Mass Effect 2.
- In the first Mass Effect, one of your party members does the nonverbal version after the Final Boss (before Shepard emerges unharmed).
- In Halo: Reach this is how Noble 6 tells Kat about Jorge's death.
- In Sonic Adventure 2, right after the end of the True Final Boss, Sonic returns to the space station alone, where everyone else was waiting. Rogue notices this and hesitantly asks, "Shadow...?". Sonic just shakes his head and brings Shadow's bracelet to Rogue to tell her what happened.
- In World in Conflict, a private gets sniped in a cutscene. Directly after the scene, this phrase is used about him.
Western Animation
- Disney's |Hercules. Herc sees Megara lying there, and doesn't ask. But Phil looks up at him sadly and shakes his head anyway to confirm his fears.
- Pixar's Cars T oons, in the Mater the Greater episode of the series, at the end Mater is relating the Jump over Radiator Springs gorge, which was made by Lightning McQueen, and then they cut back to them, when McQueen asked what happen he gets a "You didn't make it" and then Mater goes out, followed by the two forklifts from his story who sadly look at McQueen as well.
- This is Early Cuyler's casual reaction to using his son's eggs for target practice.
Real Life
- As many tropers can tell you, this phrase is often Truth in Television. Sometimes you just can't admit that someone died right after it happened.
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Waldorf: Did you hear about the guy who tried to watch all of these horrible shows without committing suicide? |
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