So Once Again the Day Is Saved

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

...Thanks to The Powerpuff Girls!

A formulaic speech or narration similar to the Opening Narration, placed at the end of every episode of a show to (as close as we can tell) make sure the audience hasn't forgotten what they're watching. It may recap the basic premise of the show, but will not pay more than a token nod to the actual specifics of the episode (unlike, say, a Fauxlosophic Narration). For full credit, the sentence should end with a Title Drop.

Almost exclusive to kid's shows, though it seems to have made a foray into more mature series for a brief period around 1980.

As an Ending Trope, Spoilers ahead may be unmarked. Beware.

Examples of So Once Again the Day Is Saved include:

Anime and Manga

  • A lot of anime in the golden age (70's) have this along with the opening narration. Usually, the narrator would say something regarding the plot's conclusion, and always close with the catchphrase of the anime (e.g. And so, the Yatterman have prevented the Dokuro-stone from being retrieved by the evil Doronbo gang. As long as Yatterman is here, there is nothing to fear! Yatta! Yatta! Yatterman!)
  • Pokémon almost always ends each episode with the narrator making some comment along the lines of "Once again, the day is saved by our heroes. But will [insert generally silly question or occasional reference to troubling plotline here]?"
  • Voltron ended every episode with Keith delivering a line pointing out that evil will always be vanquished by Voltron, Defender of the Universe.
  • Gigantor always ended with the narrator explaining that, "And Gigantor flies off to his next adventure!"
  • Star Blazers: "Hurry, Star Force! Earth has only (insert number) of days left!"

Film

Yakko: Wherever there is injustice, we'll be there! Wherever there is suffering, we'll be there! Wherever there is candy...
Wakko: We'll be there a lot quicker!

  • From the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country:

Capt. Kirk: Captain's Log, stardate 9529.1. This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun, and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man... where no one has gone before.

Live Action TV

  • The first season of Knight Rider ended each episode with a narrator recapping the premise: "Michael Knight: Lone crusader in a dangerous world -- the world of the Knight Rider."
  • Battlestar Galactica (1979), for half-credit, ended each episode with a speech about Galactica‍'‍s quest for "A shining planet known as Earth."
  • "Who was that masked man?" "That was The Lone Ranger."
  • The Bubble-Wrap man sketches on Skithouse always ended with the line "Who was that man, covered in bubble-wrap?" "Bubble-wrap Maaan!"
  • Batman: The narrator makes a punny description of the Cliff Hanger or conclusion of the story, then tells the viewer to tune in for the next episode, "Same bat-time! Same bat-channel!"
  • Parodied in a few Monty Python's Flying Circus sketches, using the line: "It's all in a day's work for..."
  • For that is how things happen "...in The Twilight Zone."
  • Scrubs: [adenoidal voice] "In a hospital, you [deal with moral dilemma / develop relationships in some manner / sometimes feel upset]"
  • The Daily Show: "And now, here it is. Your moment of zen." [Strange clip from news and/or politics.]

Newspaper Comics

Web Comics

Western Animation

  • The Powerpuff Girls also had its narrator end each episode with the relevant speech. It eventually became a Mad Libs Catchphrase, being periodically subverted when the day had been saved by someone else (The Amoeba Boys, Mojo Jojo, The People of Townsville, Ben Franklin), and at least once when the day wasn't ever in any real danger. ("And so...um...hmm. Yeah.").
    • In The Movie, the narrator couldn't say "once again" because this is an origin story, so he says "for the very first time" instead.
    • Inverted when the Rowdyruff boys vow to destroy the girls at the end of "Custody Battle" (an episode the Girls themselves don't appear in) and the ending title is replaced with a skull-and-bones with the narration "And once again, the day is doomed, thanks to... the Rowdyruff Boys."
    • In where the narrator points out that the girls saved the day, but they were the ones who started the trouble in the first place.
    • Then there was the Tear Jerker variation when the girls' monstrous fourth sister (which they created to give themselves a break after an extremely busy week) sacrificed herself to save the girls. The music was melodramatic and the narrator was crying as he mentioned how Bunny saved the day for the first... and last time.
    • One episode has the girls standing by and doing nothing during a crime because Blossom wants to give two elderly superheroes a chance to relive their glory days. They end up horribly injuring themselves. The episode ends with the observation that "none of this would have happened if Blossom had just let the Powerpuff Girls save the day!"
  • Word Girl
  • Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes usually end with a cliffhanger followed by an Incredibly Lame Pun for the next episode title. Example: "We'll find out next time in 'Boris Bounces Back' or 'The Rubber Heel'." If the episode was the end of an arc, the narrator would announce, "Be with us next time for another amazing adventure with Rocky the Flying Squirrel!" "...and his pal Bullwinkle."
  • Roger Ramjet episodes always ended with a "So once again the free world is safe" speech from the Deadpan Snarker narrator, with the snark turned up to eleven if the villains' nefarious plan wasn't very nefarious or Roger Ramjet didn't actually help very much.
  • "Another exciting case solved by... The Problem Solverz!"
  • The Tick (animation) delivers a hilariously incoherent version of this speech at the end of each episode.
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