History Main / ItWasADarkAndStormyNight

-->-- '''Creator/EdwardBulwerLytton''', ''Paul Clifford'' (opening line)

* The intro to some of the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' cartoons. The UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube game ''Scooby Doo: Night of a Hundred Frights'' parodies this: Some of the upper levels of the haunted mansion are called "A Dark and Stormy Knight". Naturally, this is where Scooby encounters the Black Knight. [[note]]The title was also used for a cartoon episode.[[/note]]

* In the UsefulNotes/CommodoreAmiga version of the RogueLike ''VideoGame/{{Moria}}'' (which evolved into ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'') you could encounter an enemy called "A Dark and Stormy '''K'''night". Unlike the trope this monster is no joke being fast and attacking with blinding (as it is "Dark") and lightning (as it is "Stormy") attacks as well as physically - very dangerous if you get caught by surprise by one.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'': the night where Weathermay-Foxgrove sisters first made contact with [[TheFairFolk the Shadow Fey]], which was also their DangerousSixteenthBirthday‎. Gennifer even mentions how such night would have been more fitting to have a fight with TheUndead or evil mages.

* In the Literature/{{Goosebumps}} novel ''The Blob That Ate Everyone'', the protagonist acquires a typewriter that alters reality. So when he types "It was a dark and stormy night", it actually becomes one.

* One of Stephen Leacock's early-20th-century parodies of Bronte-style romantic literature, the short story ''[[http://www.online-literature.com/stephen-leacock/nonsense-novels/5/ Gertrude the Governess: or, Simple Seventeen]]'', begins with a parody of this opening:

* Played straight in the ''Literature/TheRaven''.
-->''Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary...''

* In a episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuchaLucha'' The Flea told his baby sister Pulgita a scary story about The Masked Toilet He begins by saying "It Was A Dark And Stormy Night...",

A SubTrope of WeatherReportOpening. Not to be confused with HostileWeather or StopMotionLighting. Thanks to the [[LightningCanDoAnything power of lightning]], of course, opening on a stormy night scene or at least featuring one has been a Horror trope since Universal's ''[[Film/Frankenstein1931 Frankenstein]]'' and before. Often used in a ScarilySpecificStory if you're telling the story ''on'' a dark, stormy night. Contrast DaylightHorror.

A SubTrope of WeatherReportOpening. Not to be confused with HostileWeather or StopMotionLighting. Thanks to the [[LightningCanDoAnything power of lightning]], of course, opening on a stormy night scene or at least featuring one has been a Horror trope since Universal's ''[[Film/Frankenstein1931 Frankenstein]]'' and before. Often used in a ScarilySpecificStory if you're telling the story ''on'' a dark, stormy night.

* The opening of the short story "'The Five Barley Grains" in ''[[Literature/TheRomanMysteries The Legionary from Londinium & Other Mini Mysteries]]'' starts out the way. Caroline Lawrence said that like Snoopy, she always wanted to started a story with that stock phrase.

* ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1634: The Galileo Affair]]'' references the famous line, in regards to the stormy evening at the start of the fifth chapter.

* ''The Julekalender'', a Danish TV series, starts all its episodes with the phrase.

* A comedy/mystery stage play written by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Kelly_%28playwright%29 Tim Kelly]] is entitled ''It Was A Dark and Stormy Night''.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' starts off like this. Link awakens in the middle of a dark, stormy night after hearing Zelda's telepathic plea, and goes off after his uncle to investigate his doings and ultimately rescue Zelda from the castle dungeon.

* Used in chapter 1 of ''Fanfic/AllAmericanGirl'', where it is referred to as an old cliché.

-->It seemed a fairly ordinary night when Brad Majors [[note]]Asshole![[/note]] and his fiancee Janet Weiss [[note]]Slut![[/note]], two young, ordinary healthy kids left Denton that late November evening, to visit a Dr. Everett Scott, ex-tutor, now friend to both of them. [[note]]Is it true that you fuck sheep?[[/note]] It’s true, there were dark storm clouds. [[note]]Describe your balls![[/note]] heavy, black, and pendulous, toward which they were driving. [[note]]Is it also true you fuck goats?[[/note]] It’s true also, that the spare tire they were carrying was badly in need of some air [[note]]Like your neck![[/note]] but they being normal kids and on a night out, well they weren’t going to let a storm spoil the events of their evening. On a night out… [[note]]It was a Days Inn![[/note]] …it was a night out… …they were going to remember [[note]]For how long?[[/note]] for a very long time.

!!It was a Dark and Stormy Night. Suddenly... an example rang out![note]]My plot is thickening![[/note]]:

!!It was a Dark and Stormy Night. Suddenly... an example rang out!:

The phrase, which opens Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel ''Paul Clifford'', has been so thoroughly mocked and re-used it should be a DeadHorseTrope if it were not an UndeadHorseTrope: it's just too much fun. In fact, not [[Literature/BulwerLyttonContest one]], but [[Literature/LyttleLyttonContest two]] annual writing contests are held (and named) in Bulwer-Lytton's honor.

* The original first chapter of ''FanFic/PokemonMysteryDungeonReflectingBalance'' begins with a lampshaded instance of this line. In the revised version of the chapter, this was changed.

The phrase, which opens Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel ''Paul Clifford'', has been so thoroughly mocked and re-used it should be a DeadHorseTrope if it were not an UndeadHorseTrope: it's just too much fun. In fact, two yearly [[http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/ writing]] [[Literature/LyttleLyttonContest contests]] are held (and named) in Bulwer-Lytton's honor.

* ''Detective Comics'' #500 turns Snoopy's short novel (see Newspaper Comics below) into a ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' story!
* Chantal, a character in ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' has a dream which is a loop of a sailor telling a story that begins with "It was a dark and stormy night."
* One issue of ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' has a supporting character narrating his meeting with ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', beginning with: "He was a dark and stormy knight."

* In ''VideoGame/Borderlands1'', Marcus beings the introduction to the Zombie Island of Doctor Ned DLC with this quote, followed by what sounds like surpressed laughter. Seeing as the entire DLC is an affectionate parody of zombies and horror, the phrase is quite fitting.