History Main / OutOfGenreExperience

* LuisBuñuel and [[SalvadorDali Salvador Dali's]] [[{{Surrealism}} surrealist]] art film ''[[LAgeDOr L'Âge d'Or]]'' starts as a brief NatureDocumentary on scorpions before switching to. . . [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible whatever the hell the rest of the film is about]]

* In ''Mists of Everness'', the second book [[JohnCWright War of the Dreaming]], there is a chapter or two which features a switch from the present-day High Fantasy to Beatrix-Potteresque TalkingAnimal interlude. It's interesting and funny, and ties into the plot later on, but the unexpected change can be jarring.

** Ben and Sayid had a ''{{James Bond}}''/''DieHard'' episode.

* Jim Davis intentionally did this for a few Garfield strips in which Garfield is in the midst of an abandonment nightmare. Suddenly the strip is entirely creepy and not at all funny.

* {{Queen}}'s ''BohemianRhapsody'' abruptly breaks into HeavyMetal for about a verse before returning to its faux-operatic style.

[[{{Firefly}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/firefly-outgenrexp_3977.png]]
[[caption-width:400:Would you believe this is a SpaceWestern?]]

* ''{{House}}'', which is actually a medical drama, has an arc in which Dr. House hires a private investigator to spy on Wilson. Instant detective drama!

* ''{{Torchwood}}'', a show in which aliens and the supernatural are commonplace, has the episode "Countrycide" [[spoiler:in which the killers turn out to be nothing more than humans. Cannibals, but humans nonetheless]].
** It turned into a political thriller for the duration of the ''Children of Earth'' serial/miniseries which made up all of Season 3, and "Miracle Day" is... well, it's definitely not the same genre as the first 2 seasons.

* In ''AmericanDad'' the alien Roger once pooped out a turd made of solid gold; pretty standard fare for the show. But then a couple scenes in two different episodes were devoted to people finding the golden turd and engaging in ''FilmNoir'' style crime out of greed over it, without a joke to be heard. These scenes would even switch to a widescreen format back when the show was still aired in fullscreen just to make them look more cinematic.

* ''{{Lost}}'': Lost's use of flashbacks and [[spoiler:flashforwards]] allows it to dabble in other genres frequently.
** Ana Lucia's flashbacks become a crime drama.

** Ben and Sayid had a ''{{James Bond}}''/''DieHard'' episode.

* The ''{{Firefly}}'' episode "Ariel," pictured above, has Mal and crew robbing a hospital in the Core while Simon and Jayne smuggle River into the hospital and to an imaging suite so that Simon can find out what the Alliance did to her. Simon, the resident doctor on board Serenity and once one of the best trauma surgeons in the Core before the events which led to him and River becoming wanted fugitives, poses as a doctor and gets some awesome moments, including one where he saves a patient's life even though it posed the danger of blowing his cover and then ''thoroughly'' chews out the guy who was treating him.
* The episode of {{Jericho}} that dealt with [[spoiler:April's death]].

* ''{{Berserk}}'', for one arc, becomes a grim and gritty midevial story devoid of any demons, aside from the Zodd fight. After the arc, shit starts hitting the fan and we return to the CrapsackWorld that is the world of Berserk.

* Its arguable whether TenchiMuyo is a HaremComedy that randomly switches to a SpaceOpera or vice versa.

* The ''{{Ryu ga Gotoku}}'' series, known as ''Yakuza'' outside Japan, is a crime drama about life in the [[{{Yakuza}} Japanese underworld]]. The upcoming fifth game, ''[[WordSaladTitle Ryu ga Gotoku Of the End]]'', is set during a ZombieApocalypse. Oh, and Ryuji Goda has a [[GatlingGood Gatling gun]] [[ArmCannon arm]].

* ''KingdomHeartsCoded'' does this in several chapters, taking an action-RPG game and twisting it into a 2D platformer, a hall-running railshooter, and even a turn-based RPG at times.

* TechN9ne's "Devil Boy" jumps from HipHop to ThrashMetal for a one-line CrowningMomentOfFunny:

* Florida band Presence was a pretty standard NuMetal / RapMetal outfit. Their last album was a straightforward PostGrunge album with nary a rap on it. Out of nowhere.

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* Halfway through ''MayoiNekoOverrun'', the viewer gets an entire episode about {{mecha}} and later about a simple game that was made so [[SeriousBusiness dramatic]] it goes on par with [[{{Saki}} a certain mahjong anime]].

[[{{Firefly}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/firefly10_0507b.png]]

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** It turned into a political thriller for the duration of the ''Children of Earth'' serial/miniseries which made up all of Season 3. Presumably, it will shift back to its previous format if/when it returns for Season 4.

** The Farm is often described as effecting the characters mentaly. Every time anyone goes there, they always feel something in the pit of their stomachs and think the exact same thing, "People have died here." It's also believed to be haunted, giving it a weird horror vibe even though we don't see anything.

* An upcoming DLC pack for RedDeadRedemption, "Undead Nightmare" will turn the game into a ZombieApocalypse story in a new campaign mode. Oh, and apparently it'll add mythical creatures, too.

* Each of the ''FalloutNewVegas'' add-ons are this. ''Dead Money'' is a slice of SurvivalHorror in a Art Deco resort (not unlike {{Bioshock}}), ''Honest Hearts'' swaps the struggles of the Mojave out for a religious conflict in Utah, ''Old World Blues'' is a zany romp with the MadScience and humor typical of the {{Fallout}} series magnified. Heaven knows what ''Lonesome Road'' will do...

* Lampshaded in ''DiagnosisMurder'', a series that sticks to ''two'' popular genres: medical and crime.

* ''MotherGooseAndGrimm'' can't make up its mind whether it's a SliceOfLife strip with an anthropomorphic goose and her pet dog, or a gag-a-day strip without recurring characters á la ''TheFarSide''.