History Main / ItWasADarkAndStormyNight

* The first line of the Creator/MercedesLackey novel ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Oathbreakers]]'' is this. The next paragraph is a telepathic complaint about how the focus character is thinking in cliches. This is followed by a retort that the night really ''is'' dark and stormy.

* Robin starts with this very phrase his own story in an episode where the heroes start telling campfire stories in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo''
* The ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' BreatherEpisode "Ro-Becca" starts with Rotor working on a lab assistant robot in the middle of a thunderstorm at night.

* In the UsefulNotes/CommodoreAmiga version of the RogueLike ''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.

* ''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 ''Literatire/ATaleOfTwoCities'') which presses Larry's BerserkButton and causes him to [[TranquilFury declare quietly]] to Owen that he's getting up "to kill the bitch".

* ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' - Creator/WilliamShakespeare begins writing a {{Novelization}} of the ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' movies with this line, [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/743.html here]].

Creator/EdwardBulwerLytton was [[RuleOfThree three remarkable things]]. For one, he was an author. For two, he is the inventor of such catchy cliches as "the pen is mightier than the sword", "the great unwashed" and "the pursuit of the almighty dollar". However, he is not [[PopularHistory remembered]] for either of these. Instead, his legacy is being the man who started a book with "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]].

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

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* It's the opening line to the trashy novel ''Hotel Royale'', a simulation of which traps several characters in a ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode. Picard comments on how it's usually a sign of ThisIsGonnaSuck when he asks the computer to read the novel to him so they can figure a way out.
--> '''Troi''': Maybe it'll get better.
** It's worth noting that earlier in the episode, when the characters discover the diary of the simulation's previous deceased occupant, he wrote that the characters were so trite and cliche that he found himself begging for death's sweet release.

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

* Series/{{Jonas}} mocks this in the episode "Slice of Life" (also known as "Pizza Girl").

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': Mocking this phrase perhaps began with, and was certainly [[TropeCodifier popularized by]], Snoopy's incarnation as World-Famous Novelist, with his typewriter set atop his doghouse. He eventually managed to string together an entire 'novel' out of banal dramatic clichés, including the oft-heard opening line: "It was a dark and stormy night... Suddenly, a shot rang out!"\\
\\
The first "dark and stormy night" Snoopy strip was in 1965, and according to WordOfGod, the original joke was that you have a dog doing something incredible like using a typewriter, only to type such a notorious cliché. From there Charles Schulz built it into a RunningGag. The full opening of Snoopy's perennial novel was:\\
\\
[-It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A door slammed. The maid screamed. Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon! While millions of people were starving, the king lived in luxury. Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas, a boy was growing up. Part 2: A light snow was falling, and the little girl with the tattered shawl had not sold a violet all day. At that very moment, a young intern at City Hospital was making an important discovery.-]\\
\\
After which he fears that he may have written himself into a corner. He ''does'' manage to weave this together: the intern finds a comatose patient has awoken -- the sister of the boy from Kansas, who loves the girl with the tattered shawl, the daughter of the maid who escaped the pirates. Then Linus asks [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse "But what about the king?"]] and gets a typewriter to the head.\\
\\
Snoopy's responses to Lucy's feedback:
** Lucy, having read a draft of the aforementioned novel, tells Snoopy that his writing lacks subtlety. His new draft commences with: "It was a kind of dark and sort of stormy night..."
** Lucy tells him he has to focus on the characters more, and create an iconic hero protagonist. So he changes it to "''He'' was a dark and stormy knight..."
** Lucy complains that he's never tried to write anything romantic, Snoopy changes "Suddenly, a shot rang out" to "Suddenly, a ''kiss'' rang out". This is punnier in German, where "Plötzlich hallte ein Schuss!" becomes "Plötzlich hallte ein Kuss!" Perhaps not a coincidence since the author knew a little German.
** Lucy wonders if "suddenly" is the right word in this instance. Snoopy changes it to "Gradually, a shot rang out."
** Snoopy attempted to write a sequel to ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'', focusing more on Rhett and Scarlett's relationship. He got as far as "It was a dark and stormy marriage" before deciding it was a bad idea.
** Lucy tells Snoopy that all good novels begin with "OnceUponATime". Snoopy promptly reboots: "Once upon a time, it was a dark and stormy night..."
** Lucy complains that all Snoopy's novels begin with that line. Snoopy, CompletelyMissingThePoint, promptly changes it to "It was a stormy and dark night..."
** Lucy again complains that all Snoopy's novels begin the same. Snoopy writes "It was a dark and stormy noon..."
** Lucy says that Snoopy should write a Christmas story. He starts with "It was a dark and stormy Christmas night..."
** Speaking of holidays, she also suggests he write a Thanksgiving story. Snoopy gets as far as "It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a ''turkey'' rang out!"
** Lucy suggests he write a political novel, and he comes up with, "It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a ''vote'' rang out!"
** He tried to change it once without Lucy, writing, "It may have been dark. It may have been stormy. But one thing was certain, it was night." Then, after rereading it, he thought, "I think that could be shortened somehow..."
** Another strip, Snoopy is typing a letter to his mother to wish her a happy Mother's Day, which includes, in part, "I remember the night I was born. It was a dark and stormy night..."
* In ''ComicStrip/PricklyCity'', Winslow starts a book like this (while sitting on a doghouse) but rejects as too doggish.
* A ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' strip where the punchline was the character Pierce perched on top of [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Snoopy's]] doghouse in the final panel, texting "It Wz a Drk N Strmy Nite" or something along those lines.
* The titular character of ''ComicStrip/BigNate'' submitted one his Social studies paper that begins with "It was a dark and stormy night in the morning..." [[SternTeacher Mrs. Godfrey]] immediately gave him an F.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The only way that the 1980s horror-pastiche that was the Literature/FightingFantasy Gameboy ''Literature/HouseOfHell'' could begin on...

* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce''. The opening segments to the first few seasons opened with StockFootage of Dr. Weird's castle. (The footage for the castle exterior actually came ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures''.)

* The 4Kids dub of ''Anime/KirbyOfTheStars'' titles the episode with Kracko 'A Dark and Stormy Knight'.

* The whole plot of ''Literature/ArashiNoYoruNi '' starts with Mei the goat and Gabu the wolf bonding in an abandoned barn while hiding from a storm. The title literally means "One Stormy Night", and it serves as Mei and Gabu's secret phrase.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bulwer-Lytton,_1st_Baron_Lytton Edward Bulwer-Lytton]] was [[RuleOfThree three]] remarkable things, two of which were: 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". However he is not [[PopularHistory remembered]] for either of these. Instead, his legacy is being the man who started a book with "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]].

And take her ridin' around in the rain\\

* One issue of ''WonderWoman'' has a supporting character narrating his meeting with ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', beginning with: "He was a dark and stormy knight."

* ''{{Peanuts}}'': Mocking this phrase perhaps began with, and was certainly [[TropeCodifier popularized by]], Snoopy's incarnation as World-Famous Novelist, with his typewriter set atop his doghouse. He eventually managed to string together an entire 'novel' out of banal dramatic clichés, including the oft-heard opening line: "It was a dark and stormy night... Suddenly, a shot rang out!"\\

* A ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' strip where the punchline was the character Pierce perched on top of [[{{Peanuts}} Snoopy's]] doghouse in the final panel, texting "It Wz a Drk N Strmy Nite" or something along those lines.

* Robin starts with this very phrase his own story in an episode where the heroes start telling campfire stories in ''TeenTitansGo''

* Robin starts with this very phrase his own story in an episode when the heroes start telling campfire stories in ''TeenTitansGo''

* ''The Joulukalenteri'', a Finnish TV series starts all its episodes with the phrase.

* ''Series/ThePrisoner'' episode "A, B, and C" underscores the mad-scientist dream-control experiment performed on the drugged Number Six by holding it on a dark and stormy night. And why they didn't all catch their deaths I'll never know.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bulwer-Lytton,_1st_Baron_Lytton Edward Bulwer-Lytton]] was [[RuleOfThree three]] remarkable things, two of which were: 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". However he is not [[PopularHistory remembered]] for either of these. Instead, his legacy is being the main who started a book with "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". 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 TropeNamer is from ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}.

** Snoopy attempted to write a sequel to ''GoneWithTheWind'', focusing more on Rhett and Scarlett's relationship. He got as far as "It was a dark and stormy marriage" before deciding it was a bad idea.

The TropeNamer is [[NoShitSherlock obviously]] from ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}.

* In SFDebris' review of ''TheXFiles'' episode "Our Town" he notes: