Move Along, Nothing to See Here

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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Ok folks, show's over, nothing to see here, show's... OH MY GOD! A horrible plane crash! Hey everybody, get a load of this flaming wreckage! Come on, crowd around, crowd around, don't be shy crowd around.
—Chief Wiggum, The Simpsons

The standard line used by police officers or The Men in Black keeping people away from something interesting.

Usually a case of Blatant Lies. Also often used in Suspiciously Specific Denials.

Examples of Move Along, Nothing to See Here include:


Film

  • Used by the Men in Black to uphold their Masquerade.
  • Parodied in The Naked Gun, where Frank Drebin tries to do this in front of an exploding fireworks factory.
    • Also parodied earlier in the film - a police officer tries to direct a tiny (read: two people) crowd away from a pier like this. It's not working. Made all the funnier because he says "There's nothing to see here. Move along. Keep moving." all the time.
  • Uttered by Porky Pig at the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?? as the original form of his catch phrase, "Th-th-th-th-that's all, folks!"
  • Invoked in Finding Nemo by the stingray teacher to keep the fish away from a fight brewing between Nemo and his Overprotective Dad Marlin.
  • And, of course, there's Obi-Wan in Star Wars using the Jedi Mind Trick to convince a Stormtrooper to tell Obi-Wan and Luke to "move along."

Literature

  • Used by Sergeant Colon when a dragon is attacking the city in Guards Guards. He follows it up with "Haven't you got homes to go to?", which even he realises isn't as rhetorical as he'd like.
  • In Death: Peabody says this in Vengeance In Death, and then says to Eve, "I Always Wanted to Say That".

Live Action TV

  • One of the catch phrases of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys, often with a put-on Irish accent.
    • Subverted in one episode where they did "Alright, gather 'round, folks, show's just startin'..."
  • Used in The Tenth Kingdom when the rich elf dies.
    • Made more amusing by the exact wording used:

  Sheriff: Move Along, Nothing to See Here... just a dead elf, wings ain't flapping anymore...

  • Used by the Judoon in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
  • Used in Community by Security Guard Chang as he ropes off a "crime" scene (a yam was squashed). Jeff comments that it's the first time that sentence has actually been true.

Music

  • Used as part of the chorus to John Linnell's song "South Carolina":

 Move around, folks

 Push her back there

Move along, show's over folks

Let him breathe, step lively

Move around, folks

Push her back there

Move along, show's over folks

Let him breathe, step lively

Newspaper Comics

  • Done in a Far Side cartoon by a zebra trying to get its herd away from a lion kill of another zebra.
  • During a small story segment, Dilbert has this. Dilbert is assigned to a "fun and valuable" project, and takes Dogbert's advice to crush the opposition. He was one of the guys.

New Media

  • Used on the Recent Changes page of This Wiki when the database isn't working.
  • Used on slashdot when a posting's comment page hasn't been generated yet.

Tabletop Games

  • A gritty version used by the Texas Rangers in the Tabletop Games Deadlands: "Show me where you didn't see Aunt Millie climb up outta her grave. I got some carvin' to do."

Video Games

  • The Longest Journey has an officer use it four times in a row, and April responds in a different way each time. The first three times, the player chooses the order, but the fourth gets cut off when the officer gets fed up.
  • Before they start shooting on sight, this is one of the stock phrases used by City 17's metrocops to shoo away the player.
  • Commonly said by members of the Onett police force, although they tend to mix up the word order after repeating it too many times.
  • The Protectrons in Fallout 3 say this ... when they aren't shooting Frickin' Laser Beams at you.
  • Spore Hero:

 Corshty: What are you, a detective? Nothing to See Here. Move along.

 HK-47: Statement: Just a simple droid here, m'am. Nothing to see. Move along.

  • Sim Copter: All of the megaphone announcements under 'Disperse.' Including, "Get moving you stupid idiots!"
  • A Toad in Super Mario Galaxy 2 delivers this line, and then declares "I'm on CLOUD control!" Yes, it's at the start of a cloud-heavy stage.

Web Comics

Web Original

Western Animation

  • Used and subverted by Police Chief Clancy Wiggum in The Simpsons, see the page quote.
    • Also, in "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment," a parade float honoring Irish police is escorted by several of them, all saying things along the lines of this Trope.
  • This was Officer Barbrady's Catch Phrase in the early seasons of South Park: "Move along, people. Nothing to see here. Go home, you looky-loos." He was even saying it during the Apocalypse in The Movie.
    • And when he had no pants on.
  • Parodied in an episode of The Cleveland Show, in which the police dig up an inflatable doll belonging to one of Cleveland's friends: "It's a sex doll. I repeat, it's a sex doll. Something to see here folks, something to see here."
  • Invoked by Nebby K. Nezzer and Mr. Lunt as "Fish" and "Chips" in the Veggie Tales Affectionate Parody Sheerluck Holmes. Counts as their Catch Phrase - it's just about all they say in the show! (Nebby K. says "Move along!" and Mr. Lunt adds, "Nuh-zing to zee here!")
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