History Main / ItWasADarkAndStormyNight

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bulwer-Lytton,_1st_Baron_Lytton Edward Bulwer-Lytton]] was [[RuleOfThree three]] remarkable things: an author, the inventor of such catchy cliches as "the pen is mightier than the sword", "the great unwashed" and "the pursuit of the almighty dollar", and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick possibly a]] [[GodwinsLaw proto-Nazi]]. However he is not [[PopularHistory remembered]] for any of these: It is "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night..." that keeps him alive as a multimedia sensation beyond anything he could possibly have imagined -- the ''ur''-touchstone for convoluted PurpleProse and campfire [[GhostStory Ghost Stories]].

* The first book of the ''KnightAndRogueSeries'' begins with "To say it was a dark and stormy night would be a gross understatement." The character narrating that chapter goes on to exagerate the weather for the rest of the paragraph before settling into his regular snarky tone.

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

* In Episode 6 of Season II of Inanimate Insanity, Nickel told a scary story, starting with, "It was a dark and stormy night." That was enough to scare Suitcase and Balloon, causing them to run away.

* ''Film/ThrowMommaFromTheTrain'' begins with Larry Donner having massive writer's block, unable to get past "The night was..." He discards such lame words as "foggy", "hot", even ''"moist"''. HilarityEnsues later when he finds out one of his literature students used the same phrase he did ("The night was humid"). Later, Momma picks the ''perfect'' word ("The night was ''sultry''", itself a ShoutOut to ''ATaleOfTwoCities'') which presses Larry's BerserkButton and causes him to [[TranquilFury declare quietly]] to Owen that he's getting up "to kill the b****".

* ''Literature/{{Bunnicula}}'', a series of AffectionateParody horror novels about, well, [[ExactlyWhat***aysOnTheTin a vampire bunny]] who vampirizes fruits and vegetables, begins its third story thus:

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

* ''Film/ThrowMommaFromTheTrain'' begins with Larry Donner having massive writer's block, unable to get past "The night was..." He discards such lame words as "foggy", "hot", even ''"moist"''. HilarityEnsues later when he finds out one of his literature students used the same phrase he did ("The night was humid"). Later, Momma picks the ''perfect'' word ("The night was ''sultry''", itself a ShoutOut to ''ATaleOfTwoCities'') which presses Larry's BerserkButton and causes him to [[TranquilFury declare quietly]] to Owen that he's getting up "to kill the bitch".

* ''Literature/{{Bunnicula}}'', a series of AffectionateParody horror novels about, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a vampire bunny]] who vampirizes fruits and vegetables, begins its third story thus:

* 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:

* ''Time Pressure'' by SpiderRobinson begins with this sentence, then has a paragraph about how yes, it really ''was'' a dark and stormy night, and he's saying it even if it's cliche. He then returns to his sentence: "It was a dark and stormy night--when [[BigWhat suddenly the snot ran out]] . . ."

->''It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.''

* ''[[CastlePerilous Castle Murders]]'' by John [=DeChancie=] opens on a college campus, with the line "It was a stark and dormy night..." He uses the [[LampshadeHanging line]] "It was a dark night of ''Sturm und Drang.''"

* ''Music/{{Blutengel}}'': The song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asfex0mTSwQ "The Oxidizing Angel"]] begins on this theme.
* ''Music/WarrenZevon'': "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" includes the lines "The deal was made in Denmark / On a dark and stormy day"

* Mercedes Lackey wrote a song entitled "It Was A Dark And Stormy Night" set in her HeraldsOfValdemar universe. The song is a comedy about a Countess who is a GiftedlyBad singer who is apparently murdered by her henpecked husband who decides he can't take her nagging or nightly 'singing' practice anymore.

-->-- '''''Paul Clifford''''' by '''Creator/EdwardBulwerLytton'''

[[quoteright:300:[[{{Peanuts}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/darkandstormy_5013.jpg]]]]

* Subverted, of course, in the ''RockyHorrorPictureShow'': "It seemed a fairly ordinary night when Brad Majors and his fiancee Janet Weiss, two young, healthy, normal kids, left Denton to visit a Doctor Everett Scott, ex-tutor and now friend to both of them." Though, how dark and stormy the night actually turns out later, can hardly be a matter of debate.

* ''ThrowMommaFromTheTrain'' begins with Larry Donner having massive writer's block, unable to get past "The night was..." He discards such lame words as "foggy", "hot", even ''"moist"''. HilarityEnsues later when he finds out one of his literature students used the same phrase he did ("The night was humid"). Later, Momma picks the ''perfect'' word ("The night was ''sultry''", itself a ShoutOut to ''ATaleOfTwoCities'') which presses Larry's BerserkButton and causes him to [[TranquilFury declare quietly]] to Owen that he's getting up "to kill the bitch".

* Used in chapter 1 of ''[[FanFic/ShinzakurasAllAmericanGirl All-American Girl]]'', where it is referred to as an old cliché.

* ''Detective Comics'' #500 turns Snoopy's short novel (see Newspaper Comics below) into a ''{{Batman}}'' story!

* ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1633: The Gallileo Affair]]'' references the famous line, in regards to the stormy evening at the start of the fifth chapter.

* Found in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series. The follow-up gag usually being along the lines of "I'm sorry, but it was, a scene like this just demands it, okay?"
** Alternatively, it is pointed out that is ''should'' have been a dark and stormy night, but that's weather for you.

* In the {{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.

* The opening of ''[[AceCombat Ace Combat Zero]]'', "It was a cold and snowy day...", is a deliberate toying with this trope: Pixy recalls the weather during his very first mission as Cypher's {{wingman}} and in the final mission, [[spoiler:the two of them duke it out above the Avalon dam in a snowstorm]], with Pixy nostalgically remarking "Here comes the snow", making it both an IronicEcho and a BookEnds. It then [[FridgeBrilliance becomes apparent]] that Pixy chose a cheesy phrase to begin his story specifically to point out the similarities between his first and last meeting with Cypher.

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** He tried to change it once without Lucy, writing, "It may have been dark, it may have been stormy. One thing was certain, it was night." Then, after rereading it, he thought, "I think that could be shortened somehow..."

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bulwer-Lytton,_1st_Baron_Lytton Edward Bulwer-Lytton]] was [[RuleOfThree three]] remarkable things: an author, the inventor of such catchy cliches as "the pen is mightier than the sword", "the great unwashed" and "the pursuit of the almighty dollar", and [[BreadEggsSquick possibly a]] [[GodwinsLaw proto-Nazi]]. However he is not [[PopularHistory remembered]] for any of these: It is "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night..." that keeps him alive as a multimedia sensation beyond anything he could possibly have imagined -- the ''ur''-touchstone for convoluted PurpleProse and campfire [[GhostStory Ghost Stories]].

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bulwer-Lytton,_1st_Baron_Lytton Edward Bulwer-Lytton]] was [[RuleOfThree three]] remarkable things: an author, the inventor of such catchy cliches as "the pen is mightier than the sword", "the great unwashed" and "the pursuit of the almighty dollar", and [[GodwinsLaw possibly a proto-Nazi]]. However he is not [[PopularHistory remembered]] for any of these: It is "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night..." that keeps him alive as a multimedia sensation beyond anything he could possibly have imagined -- the ''ur''-touchstone for convoluted PurpleProse and campfire [[GhostStory Ghost Stories]].