This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
theorc I took out Doctor Who and Star Trek because both are covered, extensively, in the Nightmare Fuel Unleaded portion, and it just repeats stuff.
Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here. Wrong demographic - esp. the SVU example.
- Even Law And Order is not immune to this trope, with its latest episode "Submission" and two words: "Cat bones." You're better off not knowing the rest.
- Obviously the death of ADA Borgia was meant to be disturbing, being a regular character and everything, but even by Law and Order standards the victim was in a hell of a mess when they found the body.
- The last part of the "Authority" episode in SVU. With the Affably Evil villain played by Robin Williams. Specially when he makes believe Elliot that he's torturing a kidnapped Olivia next door by pushing a button that supposedly activates the torture device she's strapped to.. *shudders*
Fast Eddie: I restored it. Not sure where you got the idea that one demographic is all we're interested in. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Sorry about that. My understanding was, ordinary Nightmare Fuel is stuff that is in theoretically family-friendly material, or at least material not known to be family-unfriendly, that gives nightmares unintentionally. Maybe the original Law And Order proper fits here, but does anyone really think Law And Order SVU is anywhere near family friendly?
Some Sort Of Troper: Clean up of Nightmare Fuel, currently ongoing. The page says and has always said it has to be unintentional and to be targetted to kids. The use of the trope namer was to emphasise that point.
This trope is named after the phrase "Good Old-Fashioned Nightmare Fuel", used by Mike and the 'bots at least three times in Mystery Science Theater 3000 to describe trauma-inducing sights and objects in films that appeared by design to be originally intended for children. Three criteria:
- For kids
- unintentional
- gives nightmares
That's not a lot of criteria for a trope, they're simple and it sure as heck ain't meant to be the "Crowning Moments" of scary.
BritBllt: Okay, I read the discussion and a few points, and I'm restoring one of the entries...
- An episode of the The Hogan Family focused on the dreams of each of the family members. One of the characters, a teenage horror fan, has an ostensibly comical horror-parody sequence in which he awakes one morning to find his family turned into zombies. You haven't known true terror until you've seen an undead, marionette version of Sandy Duncan lift its head up from a newspaper and cackle "hello Willie!"
It's a family sitcom that's attempting to do a funny parody of horror movies but accidentally plays it too straight for children, pretty much like the Alf and Melmacian cockroach example.
Also restoring the deleted Thomas The Tank Engine entry, minus the five or six natter points. It's obviously for children and explains the reasons for its inclusion, so the only reason I can think of for deleting it is that someone thought it wasn't scary enough - which, being a "subjective" trope, is totally irrelevant.
(Sorry about that, it's apparently been moved to Western Animation now.)
