...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Spies In a Van
- 357 statements
- 68 feature instances
- 31 referencing feature instances
| Spies In a Van | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Spies In a Van | label |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van | page |
SpiesInAVan | |
| Spies In a Van | comment |
So here's the plan: to accomplish our mission, we're going to need a subtrope of The Stakeout. Plotwise, it will go down the same way as a traditional stakeout, but to make things more interesting, we'll be adding a vehicle. A vehicle that looks like any other normal vehicle on the street. But on the inside, it'll be filled with all sorts of electronics and several spies monitoring cameras and bugs they've planted. Most of the time, this trope will be Exactly What It Says on the Tin: First, we'll need some spies or communications staff. They can be highly skilled police detectives or spy agency communications experts or bumbling local beat cops. It may be played straight in a serious spy thriller or when the scene is used as an Info Dump to further the plot (when the spies learn the secret plan). It may also be used to provide comedic relief, if the communications team are bumbling fools. The spies will work for the law enforcement organization or a slightly corrupt but well-intentioned AntiHeroic Government Agency of Fiction. A sophisticated Big Bad will often have these too. Sometimes it's operated by a much smaller organization, such as a private detective or a pair of crooks planning The Caper. Next, we'll need a van or truck. The vehicle selected will need to provide sufficient space for the spies to do their job, have relatively few windows or none at all in the cargo compartment, and be reasonably maneuverable, high-speed, and, most importantly, nondescript. Of course, it doesn't have to be a van, truck or even a traditional land vehicle for that matter. After all, surveillance equipment can also be placed in a travel trailer, tractor trailer, boat, aircraft, or spacecraft. It's just that vans tend to look more... ordinary. The van is often camouflaged with a fake business logo (telecoms, electrical contractors or plumbers); in comedies this is often a Paper-Thin Disguise Played for Laughs. Regardless of its exact form, enclosing the operation in a vehicle has several advantages. First, it allows The Stakeout to move, often following a specific individual, without having to pack up the equipment. If the people getting surveilled get suspicious and approach the van, the van can leave. The van can tail or pursue a person of interest, or be used to kidnap them. The van can serve as Mission Control as well, but that's going to be a bigger vehicle, possibly even the cargo trailer of an 18-wheeler truck, and there will be more screens, more staff, and a weapons rack. In a pinch, the spy van can be used as a getaway car, safehouse, or emergency headquarters should the Elaborate Underground Base be compromised. The communications staff in the van are not the pointy end of the organization's stick, but in a pinch they can be pressed into action. If this happens, expect the comms staff to be bumbling fools as they draw their guns for the first time since basic training. Once in disguise, this trope will be completely indistinguishable from its sister trope Van in Black. Except for one thing: in Van in Black, you'll never know exactly what the vans are doing, if they're really spying on you or not, or even if they're really there or just a figment of your imagination. But not here. In this trope, you, the audience, represented by this man in the white shirt and blue pants, will have full visibility of the operation from within. Keep that in mind when adding examples and you should fit in just fine. Welcome to the inside of the TVtropes van. Your headphones are on the left. Just watch the screen in front of you... |
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| Spies In a Van | fetched |
2023-06-13T21:14:04Z | |
| Spies In a Van | parsed |
2023-06-13T21:14:04Z | |
| Spies In a Van | processingComment |
Dropped link to AbleTeam: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
| Spies In a Van | processingComment |
Dropped link to BoundAndGagged: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Spies In a Van | processingComment |
Dropped link to DuranDuran: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
| Spies In a Van | processingComment |
Dropped link to EscalatingWar: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Spies In a Van | processingComment |
Dropped link to PaperThinDisguise: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Spies In a Van | processingComment |
Dropped link to TheDragon: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Spies In a Van | processingComment |
Dropped link to TheFourthProtocol: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
| Spies In a Van | processingComment |
Dropped link to TheHero: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Spies In a Van | processingUnknown |
TheFourthProtocol | |
| Spies In a Van | processingUnknown |
AbleTeam | |
| Spies In a Van | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Spies In a Van / int_109b49e1 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_109b49e1 | comment |
A larger version in Predator 2 where Agent Keyes has the Mission Control for his alien-hunting team hidden in a couple of unmarked semi-trailer trucks parked outside the slaughterhouse where the Predator goes to feed. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_109b49e1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_109b49e1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Predator 2 | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_109b49e1 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_14aec085 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_14aec085 | comment |
The NSA van in Enemy of the State. The problem with doing this is shown when Robbert is able to spot them and call the police on them, claiming they are drug dealers. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_14aec085 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_14aec085 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Enemy of the State | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_14aec085 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_153f674f | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_153f674f | comment |
The Bug Van from Miami Vice, complete with an enormous model roach on top for extra inconspicuousness. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_153f674f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_153f674f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Miami Vice | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_153f674f | |
| Spies In a Van / int_16b77c5d | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_16b77c5d | comment |
In Twelve Days, some spies lurk around Olympia's neighborhood in a cable truck so they can gather information on the inside of her home so they can make her prison at Salvation Sanctuary as much like it as possible. Olympia thinks one of her neighbors must have been ordering a lot of HBO. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_16b77c5d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_16b77c5d | featureConfidence |
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| Twelve Days | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_16b77c5d | |
| Spies In a Van / int_19328272 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_19328272 | comment |
After a few episodes of Scorpion, the team acquires a van from their employers at Homeland Security, ostensibly so they don't have to keep bumming rides from Paige and Cabe on the way to missions. In practice, the van, much like the team itself, often takes on a far more active role than it was meant to — even having its engine blown up once. It includes wireless connectivity and room for Happy's tool chest. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_19328272 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_19328272 | featureConfidence |
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| Scorpion | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_19328272 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_1ac6ad40 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_1ac6ad40 | comment |
In Hitman: Blood Money, one of these vans is used by FBI agents to control and monitor their witness protection efforts. Spiking doughnuts meant for the agents there with sedatives or poison is probably the best way to get an FBI agent suit in this level. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_1ac6ad40 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_1ac6ad40 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Hitman: Blood Money (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_1ac6ad40 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_22119589 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_22119589 | comment |
Alias: Many missions begin with the field agent (usually Sydney) finalizing her disguise in a van (or appropriate local equivalent) while going over the plan with Mission Control. Then she hops out of the back of the van and heads around the corner to the office/bunker/party while her backup waits inside. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_22119589 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_22119589 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Alias | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_22119589 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_222c2051 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_222c2051 | comment |
In Chuck, sitting in the van during a mission was considered drawing the short straw. Whoever had to do it often didn't stay there, especially if it was Chuck or Morgan. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_222c2051 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_222c2051 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Chuck | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_222c2051 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_225c51e0 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_225c51e0 | comment |
The Naked Gun 2 1/2 does this. And then the cops get stuck in the van for parking too close to a wall. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_225c51e0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_225c51e0 | featureConfidence |
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| The Naked Gun | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_225c51e0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_2547d61f | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_2547d61f | comment |
Done occasionally in Season 1 of White Collar, and Once an Episode in Season 2. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_2547d61f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_2547d61f | featureConfidence |
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| White Collar | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_2547d61f | |
| Spies In a Van / int_261c8d3f | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_261c8d3f | comment |
The Simpsons: "Bart the Murderer" has Marge comment about it taking two weeks to deliver a pizza, which is overheard and causes the van to flee. A minute later, another causal van arrives, Flowers By Irene. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_261c8d3f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Simpsons | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_261c8d3f | |
| Spies In a Van / int_27831967 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_27831967 | comment |
On Parks and Recreation, Leslie and Tom use a van to spy on the community garden to see who has been planting marijuana in it. Leslie decides instead to spy on her friend Ann who lives next to the garden and is going on a date with Leslie's ex-boyfriend. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_27831967 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_27831967 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Parks and Recreation | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_27831967 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_2a640f8c | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_2a640f8c | comment |
In Gunsmith Cats, ATF agent Bill Collins uses one of these to spy on Rally. The girls aren't fooled. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_2a640f8c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_2a640f8c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gunsmith Cats (Manga) | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_2a640f8c | |
| Spies In a Van / int_31dd3db0 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_31dd3db0 | comment |
Happens in one of the early chapters of The Return when the super-secret paranormal black-ops team take time out to bust a perfectly ordinary bank robbery. Leads to some mild Jurisdiction Friction. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_31dd3db0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_31dd3db0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Return / Fan Fic | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_31dd3db0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_38ce5997 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_38ce5997 | comment |
The Boys (2019). In "Get Some", Billy Butcher hires a cheap Pack-N-Go truck for their surveillance, commenting that a Van in Black with flowers on the side would be far more conspicuous. This becomes a Brick Joke in the season final when Butcher sees a black florist van parked outside the hotel they're staying at, and drives past without stopping because he realises the rest of the Boys have been captured. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_38ce5997 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_38ce5997 | featureConfidence |
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| The Boys (2019) | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_38ce5997 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_3cd90f30 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_3cd90f30 | comment |
The Dog washing van from Arrested Development. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_3cd90f30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_3cd90f30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Arrested Development | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_3cd90f30 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_421c6643 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_421c6643 | comment |
In Honey West, Honey and her partner Sam Bolt drive around in a surveillance van with "H. W. Bolt, TV Repairing" written on the side. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_421c6643 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_421c6643 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Honey West | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_421c6643 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_43576f5 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_43576f5 | comment |
Supernatural. Sam and Dean have to use this trope in Season 7, because every Leviathan knows their face on sight, so just sitting in a car or Impersonating an Officer (their usual tactics) to gather information could get them killed. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_43576f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_43576f5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Supernatural | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_43576f5 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_48cf61a6 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_48cf61a6 | comment |
In the Superfriends episode "The Balloon People". Dr. Noah Tall and Twisty use one called the "Snoop Wagon" to spy on the title characters. Bonus points for having an exterior radar dish and extendable telescope. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_48cf61a6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_48cf61a6 | featureConfidence |
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| Superfriends | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_48cf61a6 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5079f984 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5079f984 | comment |
The van used by the bank robbers in Inside Man. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5079f984 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5079f984 | featureConfidence |
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| Inside Man | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_5079f984 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_513bbffb | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_513bbffb | comment |
Berry Bees: The Berry Bees have a covert surveillance vehicle disguised as a white van with a dog painted on the side. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_513bbffb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_513bbffb | featureConfidence |
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| Berry Bees | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_513bbffb | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5690420f | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5690420f | comment |
DuckTales (1987): The Beagle Boys use the "Spies in A Van" technique in "The Bride Wore Stripes" and "My Mother the Psychic". | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5690420f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5690420f | featureConfidence |
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| DuckTales (1987) | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_5690420f | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5ce0b89e | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5ce0b89e | comment |
The two CIA agents from The Spirit of '76 are first seen in a Custom Industrial Appliances van. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5ce0b89e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_5ce0b89e | featureConfidence |
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| The Spirit of '76 | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_5ce0b89e | |
| Spies In a Van / int_60f02ddb | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_60f02ddb | comment |
Used in an episode of American Dad! Stan and a fellow agent camp out in a van, spying on a house full of terrorists. Unfortunately, the terrorists notice the van parked right outside and take them both hostage. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_60f02ddb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_60f02ddb | featureConfidence |
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| American Dad! | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_60f02ddb | |
| Spies In a Van / int_610a694a | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_610a694a | comment |
In Pokémon Adventures, the Shadow Triad has one decked with spy equipment. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_610a694a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_610a694a | featureConfidence |
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| Pokémon Adventures (Manga) | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_610a694a | |
| Spies In a Van / int_64494e71 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_64494e71 | comment |
Walker, Texas Ranger tends to do this from time to time, usually during a sting operation, whether or not they have the FBI assisting them or vice-versa. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_64494e71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_64494e71 | featureConfidence |
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| Walker, Texas Ranger | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_64494e71 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_6536962d | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_6536962d | comment |
The finale of A Way Out reveals that the botched diamond deal Leo and Harvey did before the events of the game was being monitored by several cops in a surveillance van. Vincent was in the van with them, and they were watching over his brother and fellow officer Gary, who was the client at the deal that Harvey shoots dead. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_6536962d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_6536962d | featureConfidence |
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| A Way Out (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_6536962d | |
| Spies In a Van / int_74f1eb4c | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_74f1eb4c | comment |
Sneakers has a van like this. Whistler ends up having to drive it across a parking lot despite being blind. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_74f1eb4c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_74f1eb4c | featureConfidence |
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| Sneakers | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_74f1eb4c | |
| Spies In a Van / int_74fb542e | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_74fb542e | comment |
One sketch in That Mitchell and Webb Look features a spoof variation: two people, in a van, keeping an eye on the field agent and advising him. The only difference is that their advice is about what quips and double entendres to use. That and providing the same service for the villain. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_74fb542e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_74fb542e | featureConfidence |
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| That Mitchell and Webb Look | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_74fb542e | |
| Spies In a Van / int_761a48d7 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_761a48d7 | comment |
Iron Fist (2017) has a variation in "The Mistress Of All Agonies". When Davos wants to keep surveillance on the Rand Corporation building, he knocks out the guy operating a taco van parked across the road and takes his place. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_761a48d7 | featureApplicability |
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| Spies In a Van / int_761a48d7 | featureConfidence |
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| Iron Fist (2017) | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_761a48d7 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_8625eef5 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_8625eef5 | comment |
In I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar, your base of operations is a van in order to maintain the agent's KIA status and keep Zoraxis Industries from finding out you're still alive after the end of the previous game. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_8625eef5 | featureApplicability |
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| I Expect You To Die (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_8625eef5 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_88a89745 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_88a89745 | comment |
The expository opening scene of Smokin' Aces features FBI agents in a van. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_88a89745 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_88a89745 | featureConfidence |
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| Smokin' Aces | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_88a89745 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_8d81bb26 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_8d81bb26 | comment |
NCIS does this a lot. Usually with McGee in the van. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_8d81bb26 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_8d81bb26 | featureConfidence |
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| NCIS | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_8d81bb26 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_924bb56e | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_924bb56e | comment |
On Dollhouse, the agents follow and monitor the Actives in surveillance vans, just to make sure everything goes well. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_924bb56e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_924bb56e | featureConfidence |
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| Dollhouse | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_924bb56e | |
| Spies In a Van / int_97a70962 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_97a70962 | comment |
The Professionals CI5 have a red "buggy-boo" that they use for wire-tapping (in the episode "Blood Sports" it's manned by a young Pierce Brosnan). In The '70s tinted windows were used by rock stars rather than van drivers, so for straight surveillance CI5 are more likely to use their own vehicles or a nearby apartment or rooftop. In "Servant Of Two Masters", Bodie has to follow his boss Cowley around without him noticing, so he uses a minivan that looks different from the usual fast cars he likes to drive. It comes in handy when our heroes have to stash several Bound and Gagged minions in the back. |
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| Spies In a Van / int_97a70962 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_97a70962 | featureConfidence |
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| The Professionals | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_97a70962 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_97f815aa | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_97f815aa | comment |
Rubber deconstructs the van when one of the viewers of the Show Within a Show points out how stupid the trope is. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_97f815aa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_97f815aa | featureConfidence |
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| Rubber | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_97f815aa | |
| Spies In a Van / int_9a1a8272 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_9a1a8272 | comment |
Odd Squad has surveillance vans disguised as ice cream trucks for this purpose. In "Undercover Olive", Fladam comes up to the van believing that it's an actual ice cream truck and asks for ice cream, only for Otto and Oscar to give him a haphazard scoop of ice cream between two slices of bread. In Odd Squad: The Movie, one of the Big O's ice cream surveillance vans is turned into a spaceship for space travel. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_9a1a8272 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_9a1a8272 | featureConfidence |
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| Odd Squad | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_9a1a8272 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_9ea78176 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_9ea78176 | comment |
In The Siege, it's the FBI protagonists who get themselves bugged by military intelligence officers hiding in a van (New York's placed under martial law at that time). The FBI promptly turns tables and arrests the officers for obstructing a federal investigation. | |
| Spies In a Van / int_9ea78176 | featureApplicability |
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| Spies In a Van / int_9ea78176 | featureConfidence |
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| The Siege | hasFeature |
Spies In a Van / int_9ea78176 | |
| Spies In a Van / int_a0b707e6 | type |
Spies In a Van | |
| Spies In a Van / int_a0b707e6 | comment |
In Star Traders: Frontiers , you can Spy in the orbit of any Faction holding, effectively making it Spies in a Starship. | |
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DEA agents are stationed in one in the opening of Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection. Then the Big Bad's men show up and shoots the thing into kingdom come. | |
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Mr. Crocker in The Fairly OddParents! used a fairy-tracking van disguised as an ice cream truck at least once. This 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 sailors instead. | |
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Elysium. Kruger is introduced as a sleeper agent for Elysium on the Crapsack World that Earth has become, and stores his weapons in a seemingly derelict van which conceals a pristine-looking arms vault. | |
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An episode of Father Ted involves Father Ted and Father Dougal, trying to catch out a philandering local milkman who's been knocking up all the women on his route, engaging in this with a truly ridiculous amount of surveillance equipment for two Catholic priests (although technically it's in Ted's car and not a van). Played for laughs in another episode, where Ted is paranoid he's being spied upon by the priests from Rugged Island in regards to the upcoming All-Priests Five-a-Side Over-75's Indoor Challenge Football Match." Cue Father Dougal asking for ice cream from a truck parked outside the a parish. Which proceeds to peel out and take off after Father Dick Byrne realizes they've been had. |
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Spoofed in Life On Mars. Sam Tyler convinces a dubious Gene Hunt to use a bug to gather information on the bad guys, saying "One day this stuff will bring down Richard Nixon." Gene is sitting in the van when he suddenly says, "Wouldn't they notice a great big van parked outside the White House?" | |
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Kate opens with the protagonist and her handler on their Osaka assignment in a Hidden in Plain Sight version; a truck covered in bright pink merchandising, playing an advertising jingle. However they're using the truck as Mission Control rather than direct surveillance. | |
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The Cooper family in K.C. Undercover have one (being a family of spies after all). During missions one member (usually Ernie) stays inside to act as Mission Control. | |
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Leverage does this sometimes—Hardison (The Hacker) is often in the van. He even named his van Lucille. In the episode "The Two Horse Job", Parker and Hardison are using a van to carry out surveillance on Sterling. FBI Agents Taggert and McSweeten have a fairly obvious black van as well. |
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Tenet opens with the Protagonist and his CIA team in a van, waiting for terrorists to attack an opera house. When other vans for the local anti-terrorist unit arrive, they pile out dressed in identical uniforms with no-one paying attention to how their van is a different color. When the Protagonist returns to the van after the mission, he finds an opposition team waiting inside to capture him. | |
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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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The Punisher's reconnaissance vehicle-slash-mobile armory is his Battlevan (originally disguised as things like TV repair). | |
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The Zap 'Em Pest Control van in Men in Black ironically serves as transportation for a big bad bug. Somewhat Lampshaded because half of his spaceship stuck out of the back and top. | |
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The Wire does this a lot, both by the cops and by Omar (a stick-up artist - he only uses a van in season one and briefly in season four, though). Featuring such antics as Sydnor complaining that the van is full of Carver's empties, and the fact that Carver is eating such a variety of junk food while on stakeout outside a mini-mart, Omar looking out the van window and watching for hints of where the stash-house is (and Bailey taking notes based on what Omar observed, on a sheet of notebook paper on which they were clearly playing hangman before), Omar and Renaldo watching a convenience store they suspect is a drug front, and getting distracted watching Kima watching the same convenience store from her own vehicle, and so on. And though no one's actually in it, season 2 features a subplot where the Stevedores Union steals Major Valchek's valuable surveillance van from under his nose as part of their series of petty revenges on each other and begin shipping it around the world, sending Valchek taunting photos of it from each new location, which continues even after Sobotka is killed. |
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Poptropica's Virus Hunter Island has the Poptropican Disease Control (a Poptropican version of the CDC) driving around the island in a van trying to find and spy on Patient Zero. Their cover is that they're a pizza delivery company, covering up the agency's name on their van with the Paper-Thin Disguise, Pizza Delivery Company. | |
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They Call Me Bruce?. After becoming an Accidental Hero, Bruce gets a Smooch of Victory from a woman he met earlier, unaware that she's actually an FBI agent planting a Hidden Wire on him. Later as Bruce is bragging about the kiss to his friends, the woman is shown in the back of an FBI monitoring van looking embarrassed as her male colleagues snigger. | |
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The Bad Place begins with the Dakotas staking out the Decodyne Corporation, waiting for a crooked night watchman to steal the company's latest program for a competitor. Julie is well behind the building in a car to provide backup for her husband—Bobby is in a van filled with surveillance equipment doing the actual watching and recording of the crime. Unfortunately, the thief spotted Bobby despite the Dakotas using multiple vans and trucks for the stake-out and hired goons to try and kill him. | |
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A Walk Among the Tombstones. Private eye Matthew Scudder is hired by a heroin trafficker to find the serial killers who dragged his wife into a white van and murdered her. At one point Scudder is being followed by a white van with dirty license plates, marked with the phone number of a plumbing business that isn't listed in the phone book. He takes down a man following him, only to be arrested by his colleagues — DEA agents who are using the van to watch his client, and want to know what Scudder is doing associating with him. | |
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Such vans can also be used by protagonists, generally in police/covert military shows. Section 9 in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, for example, regularly uses one for undercover surveillance. | |
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In the Sam & Max episode, Reality 2.0., because Max became president last episode and moved the Oval Office to the corner of Straight & Narrow, the Secret Service is staked outside in a truck marked "Secret Serv Ice Cream". | |
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How the French agents patrol New York City in the 1998 Godzilla. | |
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The heroes of the first Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! movie drive around in a car with "FIA Unmarked Car" stenciled on the side. | |
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In The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!, we've only seen it once, but FBI Agents Ben and Jerry have a black van clearly labeled "FBI UNDERCOVER" in giant letters on the side. | |
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Le Bureau des Légendes: Jean-Paul, along with a Turkish team, stakes out the terrorist codenamed Iode1 in a white surveillence van. | |
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In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Trio set up a stake-out van to monitor Buffy's activities and coordinate their attacks. There is a brief dispute over whether the very conspicuous Death Star decal added by Andrew really is appropriate on a vehicle that's supposed to be low-key. | |
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In The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe Francois, the title character, is mistaken for a spy - a team of agents bug his apartment and listen in from a van made up to look like a florist's. They record a sexual tryst he's rather unwillingly having with his best friend's wife. Later, they're playing it back as the friend is just outside on a bicycle - he concludes his wife is having an affair with a florist. | |
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Family Guy: In "Stuck Together, Torn Apart", Peter and his friends spy on Lois with a high-tech police van. | |
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Phoenix. The "Dogs" are introduced keeping a garage under surveillance from a white van with tinted windows, but they're more often seen doing surveillance from cars, which work better for following suspects. | |
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One of these shows up on Hill Street Blues of all shows, tailing Hill and Renko's cruiser. (Does that count as an inversion?) When Renko finally confronts the occupants they turn out to be a local TV news crew who've been doing a report on police activity, and are less than impressed with Andy's doughnut habit. | |
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In Justified the Marshals use this several times when scoping out where fugitives may be hiding, with varying levels of complaining from those who get stuck on van duty. | |
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