History Main / DerailedForDetails

* In ''Film/BladeRunner'', Holden asks Leon to imagine a hypothetical situation where he's walking in the desert and finds a tortoise on its back, the idea being to evoke an emotional response in order to determine if Leon is really human. Leon misses the point entirely and wants to know which desert, why he's there, etc.

Compare DerailedFairyTale, where the listener insists on adding his own details in; DisorganizedOutlineSpeech, where the speaker doesn't really know what point he's trying to make in the first place; {{Metaphorgotten}}, where unnecessary deviation sends an analogy off track; and SidetrackedByTheAnalogy, where a listener focuses on the irrelevant details of an analogy. If this is done with a character trying to correct itself, a DistractingDisambiguation might be in curse.

Compare DerailedFairyTale, where the listener insists on adding his own details in; DisorganizedOutlineSpeech, where the speaker doesn't really know what point he's trying to make in the first place; {{Metaphorgotten}}, where unnecessary deviation sends an analogy off track; and SidetrackedByTheAnalogy, where a listener focuses on the irrelevant details of an analogy.

* On ''TheWire'', Prez tries to set his class a TrainProblem and they pester him for details that would be relevant to an actual journey (which station it's leaving from, what the purpose of this guy's trip is, etc.), but not to the basic maths problem he has in mind.

-->'''Dara:''' La Table, of course, and Jambon et Fromage, the twins. And they used to travel around with [[TemptingFate mosquitoes]], [[TheyFightCrime solving adventures]].

-->'''Dara:''' ... er, Boulangerie, er...

-->'''Dara:''' [[GratuitousFrench Fenêtre... er, Boulangerie, er...]]

* Subverted in ''{{Phenomenon}}''. Somebody asks JohnTravolta's character how old a person would be now if they were born on the 5th of March 1987 (or was it the 7th of July 1976? No, it was the 28th of October 1928...) Anyway, he asks a bunch of questions, the last one being "Where was he born?" The exasperated questioner asks what that has to do with it. "Well, if he were born in New York City he'd be..." and gives the age right down to the minute. He never does explain, though, how a person's gender affects their age.

* In ''StandByMe'', Vern likes Gordy's story about Lard-Ass but isn't quite happy until he knows whether there was an entry fee for the pie-eating contest.

[[DescribeTopicHere Describe]] DerailedForDetails here.\\

[[OverlyLongTitle The Trope Where A Guy Starts Telling A Story Wait It Doesn't Have To Be A Guy Or A Story Either Really It Could Be A Joke Or A Speech But Anyway Where Was I...]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Lisa's First Word", Marge is telling toddler!Bart a typical prince-and-princess story before he goes to bed.
-->'''Bart:''' And then what happened?
-->'''Marge:''' They had 30 sons and 30 daughters.
-->'''Bart:''' What were their names?

* In a ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' episode, a bookworm asks Billy a classic two-trains question. Billy... makes one of the trains blue, full of clowns named Carl and Larry, with a conductor named Tim who is a vegetarian but secretly sneaks bacon when no one is looking.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' that takes place before Lisa was born, Marge is telling Bart a typical prince-and-princess story before he goes to bed.

* In his "Corfu Trilogy", Gerald Durrell relates that this was the only way he was able to learn history. His tutor told him all about Lord Nelson's butterfly collection and the names of Hannibal's elephants.

* This is the reason C. S. Lewis gives for doing a flashback to narrate the story of PrinceCaspian. He says that if he showed the story through Trumpkin (the last chapter ended with Trumpkin saying he'll tell the children what had happened) it would take longer as he'd have to stop for all the interruptions. So he takes over for the time being, and then the next chapter begins with the children reacting to the finished story.

* ''{{QI}}'': (not word for word, for obvious reasons...)
-->'''Stephen Fry:''' Tell me about the 12 Frenchmen and the 12 mosquitoes...
-->'''Dara O'Briain:''' Once upon a time, there were 12 Frenchmen, and they were called 'Appy, Sleepy... er, Silly, Billy... Fatty and... Furieux. They went-

-->'''Dara:''' [[LongList Oh, all right]]... Philippe, Michel, [[GratuitousFrench Aujourd-hui, Flambé, Bof and Zut-Alors]]. And they used to go around with these [[TemptingFate 12 mosquitoes]], [[TheyFightCrime solving crimes]]-
-->'''Phill:''' What were ''their'' names?

* In a ''WesternAnimation/GrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' episode, a bookworm asks Billy a classic two-trains question. Billy... makes one of the trains blue, full of clowns named Carl and Larry, with a conductor named Tim who is a vegetarian but secretly sneaks bacon when no one is looking.

--->'''Maddie:''' Okay, Lance, remember: You're rich.
--->'''Lance:''' Rich who?
--->'''Maddie:''' No, I mean you have money
--->'''Lance:''' So I'm rich, and my name is Rich?
--->'''Maddie:''' No! No, your name isn't Rich!
--->'''Lance:''' What's my name then?
--->'''Maddie:''' It doesn't matter!
--->'''Lance:''' Then why can't it be Rich?

* In an episode of TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody, Maddie is directing a student film with the help of the dim lifeguard, Lance, who plays the role of the wealthy male lead.
--->Maddie: Okay, Lance, remember: You're rich.
--->Lance: Rich who?
--->Maddie: No, I mean you have money
--->Lance: So I'm rich, and my name is Rich?
--->Maddie: No! No, your name isn't Rich!
--->Lance: What's my name then?
--->Maddie: It doesn't matter!
--->Lance: Then why can't it be rich?
** In an episode of TheSuiteLifeOnDeck when Bailey tries to tutor London, we get this exchange:
--->Bailey: Your bus leaves the station at--
--->London: *scoffs* I would never take the bus. I would take my private jet.
--->Bailey: Right...Your private jet leaves the bus station at 6 a.m.
--->London: 6 a.m.? I would never get up that early!
--->Bailey: *getting ticked* What time y'think you're gonna get there?
--->London: I don't know. Ask my chauffeur. He's the one driving me.
--->Bailey: *really ticked now* So let's assume that your chauffeur has gotten you to your private jet at say, noon.
--->London: But--
--->Bailey: You'l have lunch on the plane!!
--->London: *claps* Goodie!! Wait, what are we having?

--It doesn't matter! Shut up and let me finish! Ahem. Bob is trying to tell a story or joke, or ask a hypothetical or rhetorical question. He's interrupted constantly by requests for unnecessary extraneous details, quickly derailing the story into a ShaggyDogStory or a {{Metaphorgotten}}. Common culprits are the ConstantlyCurious, the missing-the-point {{Cloudcuckoolander}} or the MouthyKid who's just trying to get on his nerves. Alternatively a self-conscious joke teller [[CannotTellAJoke might do this to himself]], adding unnecessary detail or going back and changing things.

-->'''Phil Jupitus:''' [[OverlyLongGag That's six!]]
-->'''Dara:''' [[LongList Oh, all right]]... Philippe, Michel, Aujourd-hui, Flambé, Bof and Zut-Alors. And they used to go around with these [[TemptingFate 12 mosquitoes]], [[TheyFightCrime solving crimes]]-
-->'''Phil:''' What were ''their'' names?

* In ''{{Friends}}'', Joey tells Ross a story about France which he ''swears'' is a guaranteed pass at getting laid. When Ross tries to repeat the story to a woman, it quickly devolves into this.

Compare DerailedFairyTale, where the listener insists on adding his own details in; DisorganizedOutlineSpeech, where the speaker doesn't really know what point he's trying to make in the first place, and {{Metaphorgotten}}, where unnecessary deviation sends an analogy off track.

* In ''BladeRunner'', Holden asks Leon to imagine a hypothetical situation where he's walking in the desert and finds a tortoise on its back, the idea being to evoke an emotional response in order to determine if Leon is really human. Leon misses the point entirely and wants to know which desert, why he's there, etc.

* In ''HowIMetYourMother'', when Ted [[WhatDidIDoLastNight wakes up with a strange girl in his bed and a pineapple on his nightstand]] everyone tries to figure out who the girl is and how Ted hooked up with her ... except for Marshall, who's fixated on getting details about the pineapple.

* ''TheMightyB'': The main character was trying to tell a joke:
-->"A leprechaun walks into a bar. Wait, you're not supposed to know it's a leprechaun yet..."
** The story gets progressively worse from there.

* In a ''GrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' episode, a bookworm asks Billy a classic two-trains question. Billy... makes one of the trains blue, full of clowns named Carl and Larry, with a conductor named Tim who is a vegetarian but secretly sneaks bacon when no one is looking.
* In an episode of ''TheSimpsons'' that takes place before Lisa was born, Marge is telling Bart a typical prince-and-princess story before he goes to bed.

* In one of his stories, EphraimKishon tries to tell a joke to a Swiss gentleman, who then uses this trope. The dialogue ends like this: