History Main / BigDamnMovie

* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'', where a group of goats outsmart a wolf who wants to eat them, has several movies, at least three of which have significantly more dramatic plots than the normal show:

* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'': The regular manga and TV series is about the mundane daily life of [[ThisLoserIsYou the 10-year-old loser protagonist]], his [[RobotBuddy robotic cat]] who tries to help him be less of a loser, and his other elementary school friends in suburban Tokyo. However, the series' movies (based on official manga, albeit) will always be huge epic adventure stories (often set in elaborate sci-fi/mythological/high fantasy/pre-historic locations) and the main characters are inevitably portrayed as the [[TookALevelInBadass brave action heroes]]. It’s even a bit of a joke in the massive online Japanese fanbase just how much the protagonists become cool plucky action {{Kid Hero}}es when they’re in a movie.

** Some of GarfieldSpecials are a bit more dramatic than the comic strip. For example, "Here Comes Garfield" has Garfield saving Odie from the pound, "Garfield on the Town" has Garfield reuniting with his family in the alleys, and "Garfield in the Rough" has Garfield fighting a ''panther''. And then there's ''ComicBook/GarfieldHis9Lives''.

** ''WesternAnimation:PhineasAndFerbTheMovieCandaceAgainstTheUniverse'' sees Phineas and Ferb lead their friends, along with Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Agent P, on a rescue mission [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]] to save Candace from a group of aliens who believe her to be The Chosen One, culminating in the gang fending off both an alien invasion and an alien plant kaiju from wreaking havoc in Danville.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension'': Phineas and Ferb finally find out that Perry is a secret agent, and go into an AlternateUniverse where a more evil version of [[HarmlessVillain Dr. Doofenshmirtz]] rules. And there are lots of [[KillerRobot killer robots]]. All the characters have alternate selves who (except for the title characters) are part of LaResistance. In the TV show, they're usually enjoying the summer making cool contraptions in their backyard. However, this was ''definitely'' an example of Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, as the fandom rejoiced both before and after the film premiered.

* ''Series/DadsArmy'' revolves around the World War II-era British HomeGuard group that causes [[ArmedFarces hilarious and chaotic antics]] in their town (mostly by stepping on each other's toes and/or [[RagTagBunchOfMisfits not being exactly what you would call "Britain's Finest"]]). The 2016 film adaptation has said Home Guard group causing hilarious and chaotic antics as they battle a Nazi infiltrator ring that is using Walmington-on-Sea as a staging ground, and the film climaxes with them trying to prevent the Nazis from escaping Britain with the secrets they plundered.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' is set to have one in 2022 tentatively called The Amazing World of Gumball [[ExcitedShowTitle The Movie!]] Normal show? The satirical and wacky misadventures of a 12 year old cat and his best friend goldfish as they explore their messed up world. The Movie? One of the show's [[AscendedFanboy biggest fans]] discovers the lost final episode to the series and upon watching it accidentally opens a gateway to Elmore. Gumball Darwin Anais Nicole and Richard must team up with the fan to prevent [[EldritchLocation The Void]] from erasing Elmore while unintentionally unleashing another threat that seeks to end all of existence.

* The ''Literature/PaddingtonBear'' books are about Paddington comically misunderstanding everyday situations and muddling through regardless (although sometimes he has to give someone a Hard Stare). ''Film/{{Paddington}}'' is an OriginStory that also has him being pursued by a CruellaToAnimals taxidermist. ''Film/Paddington2'' is somewhere in the middle - where it's more SliceOfLife but has a more action-packed climax.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicRoundabout'' the series: Five minutes of funny and mildly surreal dialogue. ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicRoundabout Movie''[[note]]released in North America under the more confusing title ''Doogal''[[/note]]: Zebadee's EvilTwin is released from [[SealedEvilInACan his prison under the Roundabout]], and the characters must prevent him from creating a new Ice Age.

** The first movie is about the goats going into the body of Mr. Slowy's snail to fight a bacteria war.
** The second is about everyone working together to save Qing Qing grassland.
** The third film is about them saving the moon.

** The [[Film/TheMuppets 2011 movie]] is about saving the studio from demolition by a greedy oil tycoon.

** And ''Film/DontEatthePictures'' had them get locked in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, with the primary plot seeing Big Bird and Snuffy helping the spirit of an Ancient Egyptian prince escape a demon and pass into the afterlife.

* 1993’s ''[[http://www.atlasfilm.com/product/by-genre/family---children/the-ottifants.html The Ottifants]]'' were Germany’s failed attempt at creating their own animated sitcom à la WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons. Most episodes of its only season had fairly mundane [[RandomEventsPlot Random Events Plots]] that were adapted from the newspaper comic it was based on. Then, in 2001, eight years after the show aired, a just as obscure movie was released, in which Paul, Grampa, and Baby Bruno go on an epic quest to find Störtebeker's treasure to replace the donations Paul accidentally lost betting on pigs in order to save his job and the hospital the donations were for, all the while being hunted by gangsters who want to find the treasure first.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' used to be the TropeNamer, with this trope being called "Why is Arnold Saving Something?" The show itself is an urban slice-of-life comedy with most episodes usually dealing with problems faced by individual characters. ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheMovie'', on the other hand, woudl feature Arnold saving his neighborhood by using spy gadgets and infiltrating corporate buildings, while also dealing with runaway buses, explosions, and a bulldozer army. Several years later, the show got a GrandFinale in the form of ''[[WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie The Jungle Movie]]'', which saw the characters get lost in a South American jungle and get caught up in a pirate crew's schemes to find a lost city held in an eternal slumber that Arnold's [[ParentalAbandonment missing parents]] also fell victim to.

* While a few ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episodes threaten to destroy the universe (For instance, The Farnsworth Parabox and Time Keeps on Slippin') the movies usually have more at stake.

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' had "Ego Trip", where Dexter attempts to save the world from a BadFuture where Mandark takes over, teaming up with his various future selves along the way. The absence of Dee Dee for most of the plot and Mandark taking a level in evil (including ''traumatizing Dexter through whipping and mentally abusing him'')adds a darker tone to the movie than the series. It was also [[UnCancelled originally intended to be]] the GrandFinale.

* Parodied by ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8RvTmJdumoa PSA for the Will Rogers Institute]]. The movie has an alien invasion, Bobby becoming a giant, Dale becoming invisible, the destruction of Washington DC, a genie, and Bill being played by Ned Beatty. The cast watching the movie overall thinks that the only good thing to result of this was the Will Rogers combo packs they got at the concession stand.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys Movie'' ups the antics by having Eliza have to rescue a Cheetah cub from poachers. She is also sent away to boarding school when her grandmother disapproves of her [[SpeaksFluentAnimal talking with animals.]] That being said, Eliza had plenty of high scale adventures of her own in the main show - so it's not too drastic a difference.

Disney Channel has given several of their shows the Big Damn LicensedGame treatment over the years, usually on Nintendo DS. The two most well-known of these, ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'': Circle of Spies and ''Series/CoryInTheHouse'' involve spies attempting to sabotage the Tipton and a MadScientist out to brainwash the entire US, respectively.

* ''The Disappearance of LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' (based on the book of the same name) has Kyon hopping through time to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong when someone re-writes the world.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** The show itself never features any of the characters saving anything other than their treehouse and usually deals with problems faced by individual characters. And yet when [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheMovie the movie]] rolled around, suddenly everything needs to be "bigger."[[note]]Featuring spy gadgets, kids infiltrating corporate buildings, a runaway bus, explosions, and a bulldozer army.[[/note]] This Trope actually was argued to have the title "Why is Arnold saving something?"
** Later on, the creative team planned [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie another film]] that was supposed to be even bigger, involving no less than a trip to the jungle to find the titular character's [[ParentalAbandonment missing parents]], while facing a river pirate crew. It got ScrewedByTheNetwork only to be revived over a decade later.

* WebVideo/SchaffrillasProductions' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q8GLJyUYN4 "Why Tamatoa Is My Favorite Character Ever"]] is Schaff's 1 million sub special and his answer to ''It's Awesome, Baby!'', featuring cameos from other [=YouTubers=] (many of which appear as part of a lengthy ChainOfDeals sequence), a plot to restore the 12 pieces of [[WesternAnimation/{{Moana}} the heart of Te Fiti]], a {{secret societ|ies}}y called the [[FunWithAcronyms Guardians Of The Heart Pieces And Top Tier YouTubers]], [[spoiler:[[WesternAnimation/SharkTale Oscar]] summoning a moon with Sykes' face to destroy all land creatures (shades of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''), and a parody of [[Music/BonnieTyler "Holding Out For a Hero"]] as it appears in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'']].

* ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' has the [[MilestoneCelebration 10 year anniversary film]], which at first has the characters (including [=SMG3=]) celebrating said anniversary, then the dead memes [=SMG3=] brought over from the Internet Graveyard start to become corrupted and wreak havoc, then [=SMG4=], [=SMG3=] and Mario get kidnapped and they meet [[BigBad SMG0]], who has kidnapped all the other Mario recolors and turned them into his own zombified lackeys, and it wants to destroy the [=SMG4=] universe by [[MindRape Mind Raping]] Mario, it's up to the Glitchy Gang and [[spoiler:[=SMG1=] and [=SMG2=]]] to stop him and save Mario and the universe.

The movies: Heroic action/adventure.]]

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': The series is pretty action-packed but [[TheMovie the movies]] tend to be more dramatic, the battles more agitated, and there always seems to be some sort of big dilemma involving the fate of the world.

* Spoofed with an ad often seen in theaters which appears to depict the ''Advertising/MAndMs'' characters in a [[RealTrailerFakeMovie movie trailer]] for a Big Damn Movie involving espionage, acrobatics, and bomb diffusion. Then someone's cell phone goes off, revealing the trailer to actually be a NoTalkingOrPhonesWarning. Red storms away in disgust at the realization that there's not really going to be a movie.

* ''Film/AlanPartridgeAlphaPapa'': Radio Norwich is being held hostage by a disgruntled DJ and the hapless presenter becomes a seige negotiator.

* There are no less then ''[[UpToEleven seven]]'' [[ScriptFic fanfic]] ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' films -- two trilogies made by two authors (who are friends), with a final TrilogyCreep movie tying them together (and starting Fanfic/{{the Calvinverse}}). Each one is an ActionizedSequel to the original strip.

* One episode of ''Series/SoRandom'' makes fun of the concept by having the first sketch be a [[RealTrailerFakeMovie trailer to a fake movie]] about a WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake [[{{Expy}} copycat]] saving her land from an alien invasion.