Relax-O-Vision: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''What followed was… ugh. Horrible. It shall not be described here, this is a teen-rated story. How about this? Have you ever been to a slaughterhouse, like for a school field-trip or something? It was a bit like that. Only to a person.''

A gag in which the camera cuts away or is interrupted by a bumper explaining the following scene is too disturbing to see, or, more importantly, would not be allowed by the broadcasting network.

* ''[[SHUFFLE!]]'' has Sia beating up her father with a chair [[Running Gag|on occasion]]. One time when she was particularly pissed off, it switched to a message of apology for not showing the scene.

* Used in episode 50 of ''Gintama'' to censor the worse of Okita's [[Brown Note|rather... interesting demonstration]] of how he thinks the show could be improved.

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* Occasionally used in the British [[Anthology Comic]], [[The Beano]], especially in Calamity James strips, to obscure pain caused upon Calamity James due to his misfortunes.

== [[Film]] ==

* Another live action example with the sound intact; according to [[IMDb]], the original Japanese cut of ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' had the film freezing on the frame prior to any gore scene, with the sound playing through, and having the film jump back into motion once the offending moment passed.

* Played with in the British film ''Cuts'', about a man trying to write a screenplay. Early in the film, a man in the film industry makes a very loud joke that in his day, to refer to sex, you would show a field of waving corn, while today, to refer to a field of waving corn, you show two people having sex. Suffice to say that both versions happen in the film.

== [[Literature]] ==

* In ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]],'' Tom has just successfully [[Fence Painting|conned]] all his friends into giving him enough tickets to receive a special prize in Sunday School for [[The Bible|Bible]] memorization. However, he didn't count on his surprised teachers proudly asking him to display his Scripture knowledge by answering a few questions. Needless to say, his cover is blown when when he answers the question, "Who were the first two disciples?", with, "''[[You Fail Religious Studies Forever|David and Goliath]]!''" At which point [[Mark Twain|the narrator]] interjects: "Let us draw the curtain of charity over the rest of the scene." End of chapter.

* On ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', a sketch involving a four-star restaurant in the middle of the jungle cuts out just as bushmen are about to attack the diners. A faux BBC apology plays over the scene, with the announcer describing in rather graphic detail the violence and nudity that will not be shown. In typical Python fashion, they play the 1958 Gardening Club instead...and a few seconds into footage of a formal garden, in run several nude women, the Pantomime Goose, Mister Gumby, and others having a frantic, clumsy orgy.

** A variation occurs in another episode. Following the ridiculously violent "[[Sam Peckinpah]]'s ''Salad Days''" sketch, and the subsequent gunning down of critic Philip Jenkinson in slow motion, the show ends with several minutes of waves crashing against the shore.

* Happens a lot on ''[[Everybody Hates Chris]]''. Usually it is just when Chris is about to do something bad. One example was when Chris was handed a bag of marijuana by a criminal trying to escape the police. His friend Greg suggest they smoke it. A screen then comes up and says that Chris Rock does not endorse the smoking of pot. He instead decides to put it in lasagna.

* There is a segment on the German ''[[The Daily Show]]'' style "heute-show" that has correspondent Gernot Hassknecht ("Hateservant") peacefully commenting on a news story, then launching into a hateful tirade. After a few seconds he is cut off by a VHS recording of the network's 60s-era Technical Difficulties screen with elevator music in the background.

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

* At least one ''[[Krazy Kat]]'' strip censors the usual "Ignatz beans Krazy with brick" gag thus:

{{quote|''[[Blatant Lies|Rather than taint our "art" with the smirch of undignified pictorialism we draw the curtain of propriety - we deal as ever in naught but "gentle humor".]]''}}

== [[Radio]] ==

* The [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)|original radio version]] of ''The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy'' included an interlude during the approach to Magrathea where, supposedly in order to help combat rising stress levels in the galaxy, it was carefully explained to the audience that no one was going to get killed in the ensuing confusion—although one unidentified person would be bruised on the arm. [[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (novel)|The novelization]] did this too, as did [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (TV series)|the television series]], the latter of which used posterization and other special effects to obscure the action as [[Narrator|the Book]] explained what was going on.

** The same series, of course, includes the famous Peril Sensitive Sunglasses, which help you take a relaxed attitude to danger by going black at the first hint of trouble to prevent your seeing anything that might alarm you. A pair of these glasses were provided as feelies with the text adventure game. {{spoiler|They're totally made out of black cardboard.}}

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In MetalGearChick's [[Let's Play]] of ''[[Yoshi's Island]]'', she cuts the frog boss battle in case some viewers were to get grossed out, and puts a test pattern in place of it.

* Playing ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'' with sex scenes turned off brings in pictures of stuff to replace them. (For instance a sex scene in Shizune's route is replaced by a picture of cantaloupes.)

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* Subverted in ''[[Errant Story]]'', where Meji's early melee with the guards at the Heretic Knowledge Vault (using her familiar Ellis as a [https://web.archive.org/web/20150326225148/http://www.errantstory.com/2003-05-26/100 melee weapon]) goes on behind a relax-o-vision curtain. However, that wasn't out of concern for the sensibilities of the reader; it was because Poe was too lazy to draw the melee scene. ([[Word of God|He said so]].)

* In ''[[Italian Spiderman]]'', the start of a love scene cuts away to [[Toku]].

* In ''[http://faultylogic.comicgenesis.com/d/20080830.html Jalyss Dislikes Headcrabs]'', Jalyss shows pictures of puppies while describing how a [[Half Life|headcrab]] attaches itself to a victim because there is no way she's showing anything that disturbing.

* In the conclusion to the ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'' adventure "Big Moose on Campus," Rocky is making [[Down to the Last Play|a dramatic, game-saving, climactic move]], when suddenly the action stops as we cut to a blank screen with the only word "RELAX!!!" After a few seconds, the action resumes where it left off.

* "[[Halloween Episode|Treehouse of Horror]]" episodes of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' sometimes cut from a scene of implied violence on a [[Show Within a Show]] to a card explaining "technical difficulties, please stand by."

== Troping ==