Van in Black: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"How do you know [[The Men in Black|they're]] watching us?"''<br />
''"Because that pool cleaner's van has been parked out on the street for over four hours. No one's pool is ''that'' dirty."''|'''Sandra Bennet''', ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''}}
You've [[Seen It a Million Times]]
These vehicles provide a sense of foreboding mystery to the characters they follow and the audience. The vans appear in the background, and are viewed only from the outside. Unlike [[Spies in a Van]], it's common that neither the audience nor the protagonist ever find out exactly who is in the vans, or what they are doing. Occasionally, both tropes can occur in the same series, if there are competing vans. Or if the organization operating them determines [[The Hero]] is not their enemy and invites them into [[The Masquerade]].
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* The Zap 'Em Pest Control van in ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' ironically serves as transportation for a [[Big Creepy-Crawlies|big bad bug]].
** Somewhat [[Lampshaded]] because half of his spaceship stuck out of the back and top.
* A scene in ''[[Ocean's Eleven]]'' involved the team attempting to ''purchase'' a
* In ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'', the government forces use a van with surveillance equipment to find E.T.
* Played for laughs in ''[[Old School]]'', when the protagonists use one of these to kidnap their fraternity pledges, complete with Metallica soundtrack.
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* Frank's "Rape Van" from ''[[It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]''.
* The private investigator in ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' also used an "ice cream truck" for spying purposes.
* The conspiracy in ''[[Jekyll]]'' use a black van full of surveillance equipment to keep track of the
* The Three Nemeseses in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' have a black van, which is rather less stealthy after one has the idea of painting a ''[[Star Wars]]'' mural on the side.
* In ''[[Little Mosque on the Prairie]]'', when an agent of the Canadian Secret Service came to Mercy on holiday, the Muslim community got paranoid, and Baber noticed a delivery truck outside the Mosque. He claims it's a stakeout, and there are three agents there, one of them called "Sarge", and they're drinking coffee out of paper cups. At the end of the episode, the Secret Service really start surveillance on the Mosque [[Strange Minds Think Alike|there really are three agents there, drinking coffee out of paper cups, and one of them is called "Sarge"]]
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== Video Games ==
* The Cleaners' vans in ''[[Max Payne 2]]''.
* There are some Vans In Black in ''[[Mirror's Edge]]'' but seeing how you more often take the roofs, they are much less prominent than [[Black Helicopter
* The weird black vans throughout the first levels of ''[[The Simpsons Hit and Run]]''. {{spoiler|It turns out they're only pizza vans.}}
* An absurdly oversized van in ''[[Silent Hill Origins]]'' (it's just a prop, but somebody forgot to scale it correctly) is treated as this in a [[Let's Play]].
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** Parodied again with similar vans labeled CIA, FBI, and ATF, which here stand for "Chinese Intelligence Agency", "French Bureau of Investigation", and "[[The A-Team|A-Team]] of Finland".
** In one episode Homer is sent into the Kwik-E-Mart with a hidden camera by the Channel 6 news team, which is monitoring him from a van parked out front, with "Ordinary Van" painted on the outside.
** ''The Simpsons: Hit and Run'' featured black vans as the catalyst for the plot, kicking off the first level with Homer trying to find out what they're
* Crocker in ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' used a fairy tracking van disguised as an ice cream truck at least once.
** Which proved horribly ineffective since he was immediately mobbed by kids. To drive them away, he converted the van into a spinach truck... and was immediately mobbed by [[Popeye|sailors]] instead.
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