Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Big Train

 Big Train
type
TVTItem
 Big Train
label
Big Train
 Big Train
page
BigTrain
 Big Train
comment
Big Train was a very surreal BBC sketch show, devised by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan (of Father Ted fame), starring something of a British comedy supergroup: Simon Pegg, Mark Heap, Kevin Eldon, Julia Davis and Amelia Bullmore, amongst others, as well as several prominent comedy writers. It delighted in leftfield takes on standard comedy fare in a similar vein to Monty Python, ridiculous pop-culture parodies as well as some fairly uniquely off-the-wall fantasist humour. It ran for two series in 1998 and 2002.
 Big Train
fetched
2023-09-16T20:02:40Z
 Big Train
parsed
2023-09-16T20:02:40Z
 Big Train
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Big Train / int_17a8866a
type
No, You Hang Up First
 Big Train / int_17a8866a
comment
No, You Hang Up First: Between a surgeon and his consultant... during the middle of an operation. It doesn't end well for the patient.
 Big Train / int_17a8866a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_17a8866a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_17a8866a
 Big Train / int_1c445e86
type
Poor Communication Kills
 Big Train / int_1c445e86
comment
Poor Communication Kills: One of the Cavaliers, prior to a pitched battle.
 Big Train / int_1c445e86
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_1c445e86
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_1c445e86
 Big Train / int_1ec3eb0a
type
Take Our Word for It
 Big Train / int_1ec3eb0a
comment
Take Our Word for It: A man orders an escort, only for the company to send another man, who calls him naive for thinking he would look like the woman on the advert. The man protests he's not gay, only for the escort to reassure him that he does straight sex as well. Cut to the lights going off...
 Big Train / int_1ec3eb0a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_1ec3eb0a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_1ec3eb0a
 Big Train / int_1f14978d
type
Talking Animal
 Big Train / int_1f14978d
comment
Talking Animal: A theatre-loving dog and a French tortoise, among others. Also inverted, in a strange way. A number of sketches feature people inexplicably behaving like animals, such as a herd of jockeys being stalked by The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.
 Big Train / int_1f14978d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_1f14978d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_1f14978d
 Big Train / int_222dc873
type
Black Comedy
 Big Train / int_222dc873
comment
Black Comedy: A lot of the sketches are pretty dark.
 Big Train / int_222dc873
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_222dc873
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_222dc873
 Big Train / int_2765af58
type
Language Fluency Denial
 Big Train / int_2765af58
comment
Language Fluency Denial: Played with in a sketch where a driver whose car has broken down asks two locals whether they speak English. They reply, in perfect English, that they don't speak English, and start a conversation (in perfect English) about how they really should have paid more attention to their English lessons in school. When the driver tries to explain that her car broke down, they apologise (in perfect English) for not being able to understand a word of it. She then asks them, in broken German, if they speak German. One of them replies in fluent German that he's sorry but he doesn't, "nür ein oder zwei Worten, aber ich bin nicht fließend" (only one or two words, but I'm not fluent.) They eventually tell her there's a village five miles away where she might find someone who speaks English. As she walks off toward the village, the locals jokingly admit to each other that they do speak English.
 Big Train / int_2765af58
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_2765af58
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_2765af58
 Big Train / int_2937826d
type
Hurricane of Puns
 Big Train / int_2937826d
comment
Hurricane of Puns: Used as a plot point in a sketch about a radio DJ who keeps a gang of child slaves in the basement of a radio station to keep him supplied with inane chatter.
 Big Train / int_2937826d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_2937826d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_2937826d
 Big Train / int_2d4fa515
type
Ax-Crazy
 Big Train / int_2d4fa515
comment
Ax-Crazy: One of Mark Heap's, who interprets everything as a slight about not being married, and cuts off the end of his own finger with a cigar cutter.
 Big Train / int_2d4fa515
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_2d4fa515
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_2d4fa515
 Big Train / int_4e324321
type
Single-Issue Wonk
 Big Train / int_4e324321
comment
Single-Issue Wonk: A character who devolves into aggressive paranoia, misreading almost anything as some kind of slight against 'me not being married'.
 Big Train / int_4e324321
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_4e324321
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_4e324321
 Big Train / int_4f0b6445
type
Announcer Chatter
 Big Train / int_4f0b6445
comment
Announcer Chatter: Spoofed in the commentary for the World Stareout Championship, a recurring animation from the first series.
 Big Train / int_4f0b6445
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_4f0b6445
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_4f0b6445
 Big Train / int_4f84cdef
type
Smug Snake
 Big Train / int_4f84cdef
comment
Smug Snake: Pegg's womanising studio executive, who just happens to pick up the Idiot Ball whenever he tries to open a door.
 Big Train / int_4f84cdef
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_4f84cdef
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_4f84cdef
 Big Train / int_5080221
type
Faux Horrific
 Big Train / int_5080221
comment
Faux Horrific: One sketch had a guy jump to his death over a fear of spoons.
 Big Train / int_5080221
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_5080221
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_5080221
 Big Train / int_5892169d
type
Absurd Phobia
 Big Train / int_5892169d
comment
Absurd Phobia: One sketch had a new manager on his first day since his promotion mentioning that he has a crippling fear of an object that he has written down on a card to pass around: Spoons. Unfortunately, one of his staff was late for the meeting and enters the room stirring a coffee. The manager ends up jumping out the window to his death.
 Big Train / int_5892169d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_5892169d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_5892169d
 Big Train / int_5eeef76e
type
Rule of Personification Conservation
 Big Train / int_5eeef76e
comment
Rule of Personification Conservation: Generally ignored in favour of Rule of Funny. A surprising amount of sketches would play out as drama if all the characters were human.
 Big Train / int_5eeef76e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_5eeef76e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_5eeef76e
 Big Train / int_6023a9bc
type
Bloody Hilarious
 Big Train / int_6023a9bc
comment
Bloody Hilarious: Kevin Eldon plays a drunken husband at a dinner party who keeps telling embarrassing stories about the other guests, especially his wife; eventually, she stabs him to death with a carving knife and immediately apologises to the other guests, who are a little bit uneasy but very understanding ("We've all done it, haven't we..."). In the meantime, Eldon's corpse is still sitting at the dinner table oozing copious amounts of blood.
 Big Train / int_6023a9bc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_6023a9bc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_6023a9bc
 Big Train / int_6b35bdff
type
Serious Business
 Big Train / int_6b35bdff
comment
Serious Business: The World Stareout Championships. Billie Piper's music career for this chap.
 Big Train / int_6b35bdff
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_6b35bdff
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_6b35bdff
 Big Train / int_6f7e717a
type
Surrealism
 Big Train / int_6f7e717a
comment
Surrealism: Invoked in a sketch where a traumatised woman (Bullmore) is giving a description of her attacker to a police sketch artist, and she slowly drives him up the wall with the increasingly bizarre language she uses, such as saying his eyebrows needed to be more "mainstream" and that "There was rage behind his nose."
 Big Train / int_6f7e717a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_6f7e717a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_6f7e717a
 Big Train / int_7426107
type
The Cast Showoff
 Big Train / int_7426107
comment
The Cast Showoff: Mark Heap's circus training, lots of conversations in Gratuitous French, plus a few musical interludes.
 Big Train / int_7426107
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_7426107
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_7426107
 Big Train / int_7c0bfb83
type
Obviously Evil
 Big Train / int_7c0bfb83
comment
Obviously Evil: Tim the Evil Hypnotist, who appears to have walked straight out of a 1920's movie. Subverted in that he does exactly what his patient wants, except with an echoing "BWAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It worked!" at the end of the session.
 Big Train / int_7c0bfb83
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Big Train / int_7c0bfb83
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_7c0bfb83
 Big Train / int_8bff32a8
type
Creepy Doll
 Big Train / int_8bff32a8
comment
Creepy Doll: A man gets turned into a ventriloquist's dummy. He even describes himself as "one of the old-fashioned scary ones".
 Big Train / int_8bff32a8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_8bff32a8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_8bff32a8
 Big Train / int_8f9f71a8
type
Crazy Enough to Work
 Big Train / int_8f9f71a8
comment
Crazy Enough to Work: A sketch involving a man who attempts to distract his boss from the fact that he and his team haven't finished their assignment by dressing up in a bra and panties made out of paper and doing a funny dance. It fails miserably.
 Big Train / int_8f9f71a8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_8f9f71a8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_8f9f71a8
 Big Train / int_917f5066
type
Stunt Double
 Big Train / int_917f5066
comment
Stunt Double: Also parodied in the same sketch as Soundtrack Dissonance; a white detective gets into a fight with a criminal and the footage immediately cuts to a black stunt double in a blonde wig.
 Big Train / int_917f5066
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_917f5066
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_917f5066
 Big Train / int_95265081
type
Leeroy Jenkins
 Big Train / int_95265081
comment
Leeroy Jenkins: Simon Pegg playing a character who gives an incomprehensible mumble of a Rousing Speech before shouting "CHARGE!" and running off towards the enemy alone. He is promptly shot.
 Big Train / int_95265081
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_95265081
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_95265081
 Big Train / int_9f9540ae
type
We Can Rebuild Him
 Big Train / int_9f9540ae
comment
We Can Rebuild Him: Used in a spoof of RoboCop; in true British levels of competence, a copper wakes up ensconced in three cardboard boxes plus various plastic spoons and milk bottle tops, plus a truncheon wrapped in foil.
 Big Train / int_9f9540ae
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_9f9540ae
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_9f9540ae
 Big Train / int_9fb64a13
type
Cluster Bleep-Bomb
 Big Train / int_9fb64a13
comment
Cluster Bleep-Bomb: Florence Nightingale, the Lady with the BLEEP-ing Lamp.
 Big Train / int_9fb64a13
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_9fb64a13
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_9fb64a13
 Big Train / int_abad35b4
type
Soundtrack Dissonance
 Big Train / int_abad35b4
comment
Soundtrack Dissonance: Parodied in one sketch where an editor is finishing up the final cut of a movie. Soundtrack for the funeral scene where a boy and his father are weeping over the grave of their wife/mother? "Rocking all Over the World" by Status Quo. The live version, not studio.
 Big Train / int_abad35b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_abad35b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_abad35b4
 Big Train / int_b2cdd776
type
Bottomless Magazines
 Big Train / int_b2cdd776
comment
Bottomless Magazines: Spoofed in a sketch where Chaka Khan is battling with The Bee Gees in The Wild West - It Makes Sense In Context (actually, no it doesn't). Used in combination with not one but two Big "NO!"'s, Chaka pumps Robin Gibb with at least fifty shots from her revolver.
 Big Train / int_b2cdd776
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_b2cdd776
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_b2cdd776
 Big Train / int_b4eff8a8
type
Epic Fail
 Big Train / int_b4eff8a8
comment
Epic Fail: "We'll try again, and this time... try not to go on fire."
 Big Train / int_b4eff8a8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_b4eff8a8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_b4eff8a8
 Big Train / int_bd29e069
type
PreciousPuppies
 Big Train / int_bd29e069
comment
Precious Puppies: One of the distractions a manager uses on his staff to avoid paying his staff their bonus.
 Big Train / int_bd29e069
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_bd29e069
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_bd29e069
 Big Train / int_c5bcb6d7
type
Subverted Punchline
 Big Train / int_c5bcb6d7
comment
Subverted Punchline: A sketch has an employee in a large food company attending a presentation, where someone is explaining that they found their cakes sold better when they were heated up. The character quips: "You could say that they sold like hot cakes!" - which is met very coldly from everyone present. He's transferred under a cloud to the broth department, where his new boss explains that they recently ruined a batch of broth by having too many chefs in supervision, to which he starts to quip "You could say that... you've bollocksed it up."
 Big Train / int_c5bcb6d7
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Big Train / int_c5bcb6d7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_c5bcb6d7
 Big Train / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Big Train / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: At least a dozen per episode; hardly surprising given the subject matter and people like Pegg on the payroll.
 Big Train / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_c75df49a
 Big Train / int_d32b4ca3
type
Pantomime Animal
 Big Train / int_d32b4ca3
comment
Pantomime Animal: A pet dog the size of (and quite obviously played by) a man. One of the few animals in the series not to talk
 Big Train / int_d32b4ca3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_d32b4ca3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_d32b4ca3
 Big Train / int_d802f2af
type
Animal Testing
 Big Train / int_d802f2af
comment
Animal Testing: Inverted in a series of sketches about a man who has second thoughts about his impossible-to-get-out-of situations.
 Big Train / int_d802f2af
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_d802f2af
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_d802f2af
 Big Train / int_d99a228f
type
Unusually Uninteresting Sight
 Big Train / int_d99a228f
comment
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A lot of the sketches revolve around people taking quite unusual things (such as someone's girlfriend turning out to be a mermaid and a man being stalked Terminator-style by the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz) in remarkable stride.
 Big Train / int_d99a228f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_d99a228f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_d99a228f
 Big Train / int_dfb71617
type
Male Gaze
 Big Train / int_dfb71617
comment
Male Gaze: Spoofed in one sketch where several men start leering over a brightly coloured puppet.
 Big Train / int_dfb71617
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_dfb71617
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_dfb71617
 Big Train / int_e034faef
type
Limited Animation
 Big Train / int_e034faef
comment
Limited Animation: Used intentionally in the Stareout sketches, which were mostly composed of a few static frames, with commentators breathlessly extolling what an exciting match it was.
 Big Train / int_e034faef
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_e034faef
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_e034faef
 Big Train / int_eb99df21
type
Funny Animal
 Big Train / int_eb99df21
comment
Funny Animal: Used frequently, by way of a wide array of animal costumes. The most notable example is probably the "Cat & Mouse" fight, which is played entirely straight, except for the costumes.
 Big Train / int_eb99df21
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_eb99df21
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_eb99df21
 Big Train / int_ef2fcbe1
type
Le Film Artistique
 Big Train / int_ef2fcbe1
comment
Le Film Artistique: Parodied in a sketch performed entirely in French with subtitles, where a woman (played by Catherine Tate) announces to her boyfriend that she has fallen in love with "something else" - a set of traffic lights. After he tries and fails several times to win her back, she eventually wants to go back to him, but by now he has begun a new relationship with a lawn sprinkler. There's also film about the war-weary French soldier reminiscing about his teenage love for Une Grande Pomme de Terre (i.e. a large potato), who was stolen away from him by his best friend. Another example has a French woman played by Catherine Tate explain all her woes to her dinner companion at length... at which point, he informs her — in English — that he doesn't speak or understand a word of French. She continues rambling on despite his protests.
 Big Train / int_ef2fcbe1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_ef2fcbe1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_ef2fcbe1
 Big Train / int_f9f2c33
type
Running Gag
 Big Train / int_f9f2c33
comment
Running Gag: Every episode had at least one sketch involving seventies and eighties pop stars in unusual contexts, such as Chaka Khan hunting down The Bee Gees in the Old West, Kevin Rowland from Dexys Midnight Runners as Frankenstein's Monster and Daryl Hall & John Oates as a pair of council estate social workers.
 Big Train / int_f9f2c33
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_f9f2c33
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_f9f2c33
 Big Train / int_name
type
ItemName
 Big Train / int_name
comment
 Big Train / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Big Train / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Train
hasFeature
Big Train / int_name
 Big Train / int_name
itemName
Big Train

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Big Train
hasFeature
Absurd Phobia / int_61572f0f
 Big Train
hasFeature
Cluster Bleep-Bomb / int_61572f0f
 Big Train
hasFeature
Dumbass DJ / int_61572f0f
 Big Train
hasFeature
Facial Composite Failure / int_61572f0f
 Big Train
hasFeature
Iconic Song Request / int_61572f0f
 Big Train
hasFeature
Incredibly Obvious Bug / int_61572f0f
 Big Train
hasFeature
Le Film Artistique / int_61572f0f
 Big Train
hasFeature
Learning to Ride a Bike / int_61572f0f
 Big Train
hasFeature
Staring Contest / int_61572f0f
 Big Train
hasFeature
Subverted Punchline / int_61572f0f