Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
**Then there was the dream episode. Already starting out as surprisingly action-packed with high stakes for a mid-season episode, more like what you'd see in a season premiere, the kicker comes when we find out what the dream demon really is. [[spoiler: Luna created it to torture her for her crimes as Nightmare Moon. In other words, the Tantibus is nothing less than a form of ''self-harm.'' Next to that, the fact that ''creating an EldritchAbomination that could end the world is well within the princesses' capabilities'' almost went unnoticed by fans. Almost.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Series/DoctorWho'', a sci-fi series, had its share of dark episodes and dark moments. But even by those accounts, "Heaven Sent" from 2015 was ''dark'', given that the episode was essentially a 60-minute examination of grief.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 44 (click to see context) from:
*** ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': With gun violence, ElectricTorture, suicide attempts, large-scale destruction, bad guys who WouldHurtAChild, and "good guys" who run from the police and lie to their own families, all in the same film, ''The Incredibles'' may very well be the darkest Pixar movie yet. Creator/BradBird's history of working on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' really comes through here.
to:
Changed line(s) 46 (click to see context) from:
*** ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', despite getting a G rating, is just as dark. The whole story is driven by the villain's sexual obsession with one of the female protagonists, and a number of darker themes - including lust and [[TheFundamentalist religious fanaticism]] - are shown. For that matter, [[BigBad Frollo]] tries to ''drown baby Quasimoto'' solely because of his deformities, right after killing his mother early in the film. It's still LighterAndSofter than [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame the original book]], however.
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
*** ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': With gun violence, ElectricTorture, suicide attempts, large-scale destruction, bad guys who WouldHurtAChild, and "good guys" who run from the police and lie to their own families, all in the same film, ''The Incredibles'' may very well be the darkest Pixar movie yet. Creator/BradBird's history of working on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' really comes through here.
-->'''Brad:''' Really, really little kids should not see this movie. They should wait till they get older. We're getting some reactions from people who were disappointed that their four-year-old was a little freaked out by it. Well, I don't want to compromise the intensity in order to please a four-year-old.
*** ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', despite getting a G rating, is just as dark. The whole story is driven by the villain's sexual obsession with one of the female protagonists, and a number of darker themes - including lust and [[TheFundamentalist religious fanaticism]] - are shown. For that matter, [[BigBad Frollo]] tries to ''drown baby Quasimoto'' solely because of his deformities, right after killing his mother early in the film. It's still LighterAndSofter than [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame the original book]], however.
-->'''Brad:''' Really, really little kids should not see this movie. They should wait till they get older. We're getting some reactions from people who were disappointed that their four-year-old was a little freaked out by it. Well, I don't want to compromise the intensity in order to please a four-year-old.
*** ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', despite getting a G rating, is just as dark. The whole story is driven by the villain's sexual obsession with one of the female protagonists, and a number of darker themes - including lust and [[TheFundamentalist religious fanaticism]] - are shown. For that matter, [[BigBad Frollo]] tries to ''drown baby Quasimoto'' solely because of his deformities, right after killing his mother early in the film. It's still LighterAndSofter than [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame the original book]], however.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** On a similar note, we have ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' and ''Disney/TheIncredibles'', both of which deal with genocide as well as having two of the most evil Disney Villains ever.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 129 (click to see context) from:
** The nephews were once turned into gold statues, and there also were several episodes, where a character nearly dies.
to:
** The nephews were once turned into gold statues, statues in the GrandFinale, and there also were several episodes, where a character nearly dies. dies.
** "The Curse of Castle McDuck" is pretty dark too. Not only is it atmospheric thanks to the old castle setting for most of the episode with a vicious hound, but it's far more personal for scrooge as it's part of "my heritage" to retake Castle McDuck.
** "The Curse of Castle McDuck" is pretty dark too. Not only is it atmospheric thanks to the old castle setting for most of the episode with a vicious hound, but it's far more personal for scrooge as it's part of "my heritage" to retake Castle McDuck.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 118 (click to see context) from:
** Any episode featuring a villain [[VileVillainSaccharineShow who is really evil]], such as Miss Doombringer (a crazy woman who is definitely worse than [[AntiVillain Mr.Crocker]]) from "No Substitute For Crazy" and The Destructinator from the episode "Wishology".
to:
** Any episode featuring a villain [[VileVillainSaccharineShow who is really evil]], such as Miss Doombringer (a crazy woman who is definitely worse than [[AntiVillain Mr. Crocker]]) from "No Substitute For Crazy" and The Destructinator from the episode "Wishology".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 84 (click to see context) from:
* The fourth episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', [[Recap/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePoohS1E4FindHerKeepHer "Find Her, Keep Her"]], while not particularly dark, has a BittersweetEnding and is far more emotionally complex than any other episode of the show, or any animated show at the time, for that matter.
to:
* The fourth episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', [[Recap/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePoohS1E4FindHerKeepHer "Find Her, Keep Her"]], while not particularly dark, has a BittersweetEnding and is far more emotionally complex than any other episode of the show, or any animated show at the time, for that matter. It revolves around Rabbit saving a young bluebird named Kessie during a snowstorm, his growing bond with her as the seasons pass, and his growing anxiety at her needing to fly south when winter returns.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 21 (click to see context) from:
* The Aliea Academy arc in ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' is already DarkerAndEdgier as it is, but the anime episode "The Captain's Trial" somehow managed to pushed it to this; and even to PsychologicalHorror territories despite the already grimdark tone in this arc. The episode starts with [[spoiler: Kazemaru]] crossing the DespairEventHorizon and left Raimon, then [[spoiler: Fubuki's]] SanitySlippage ramps up in this episode, [[spoiler: Kurimatsu]] also crosses the DespairEventHorizon and followed in [[spoiler: Kazemaru's]] footsteps. This might be the only time in history when someon actually got depressed, and it actually isn't because of soccer.
to:
* The Aliea Academy arc in ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' is already DarkerAndEdgier as it is, but the anime episode "The Captain's Trial" somehow managed to pushed it to this; and even to PsychologicalHorror territories despite the already grimdark tone in this arc. The episode starts with [[spoiler: Kazemaru]] crossing the DespairEventHorizon and left Raimon, then [[spoiler: Fubuki's]] SanitySlippage ramps up in this episode, [[spoiler: Kurimatsu]] also crosses the DespairEventHorizon and followed in [[spoiler: Kazemaru's]] footsteps. This might be the only time in history when someon someone actually got depressed, and it actually isn't because of soccer.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* The Aliea Academy arc in ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' is already DarkerAndEdgier as it is, but the anime episode "The Captain's Trial" somehow managed to pushed it to this; and even to PsychologicalHorror territories despite the already grimdark tone in this arc. The episode starts with [[spoiler: Kazemaru]] crossing the DespairEventHorizon and left Raimon, then [[spoiler: Fubuki's]] SanitySlippage ramps up in this episode, [[spoiler: Kurimatsu]] also crosses the DespairEventHorizon and followed in [[spoiler: Kazemaru's]] footsteps. This might be the only time in history when someon actually got depressed, and it actually isn't because of soccer.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]" is a story focusing on Frank Grimes (a "realistic" character, by WordOfGod) being forced into the PlayedForLaughs CrapsackWorld of Springfield and getting so fed up with Homer's IdiotHoudini luck that he becomes the titular "enemy" of Homer... and then when Homer's luck saves him from being humiliated by a plan of Grimes, he undergoes a VillainousBreakdown which ends with him accidentally committing suicide-by-high-voltage. The BlackComedyBurst was so strong that [[BaseBreaker some people believe]] marked the moment when the show became the same brand of insensitively offensive KafkaComedy as other shows like ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has several.
** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]" is a story focusing on Frank Grimes (a "realistic" character, by WordOfGod) being forced into the PlayedForLaughs CrapsackWorld of Springfield and getting so fed up with Homer's IdiotHoudini luck that he becomes the titular "enemy" of Homer... and then when Homer's luck saves him from being humiliated by a plan of Grimes, he undergoes a VillainousBreakdown which ends with him accidentally committing suicide-by-high-voltage. The BlackComedyBurst was so strong that [[BaseBreaker some people believe]] marked the moment when the show became the same brand of insensitively offensive KafkaComedy as other shows like''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E18TheBoysOfBummer The Boys of the Bummer]]" gets a special mention. The entire population of Springfield [[MoralEventHorizon abused, mocked, humiliated and attacked Bart]] simply over a lousy baseball game. And they did not stop abusing Bart, even when he was DrivenToSuicide. [[FridgeHorror If Marge hadn't intervened, who knows what might have happened]].
** Any episode with a character who has no funny quirks and is played seriously. Examples include the french winemakers from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E11TheCrepesOfWrath The Crepes Of Wrath]]" (who nearly killed Bart by giving him antfreeze-laced wine not to mention that their general treatment of him was pretty poor), the Babysitter Bandit from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E13SomeEnchantedEvening Some Enchanted Evening]]" (who tied up the kids and tried to rob the house) and Bart's kindergarten teacher from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E3LisasSax Lisa's Sax]]" (whose treatment of Bart made him what he is today).
** Some episodes with [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Burns]] are darker and more dramatic than any other episodes (except the ones mentioned here). Examples include "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in The Curse of the Flying Hellfish" (where he crossed MoralEventHorizon by trying to drown Bart), "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" (where he blocked all the sunlight from Springfield, and he screwed over other characters in the same episode and his action were played seriously. It makes his shooting look justifiable.), "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E8MotherSimpson Mother Simpson]]" (where he was involved with biological warfare and he is responsible for making Homer's mother, Mona Simpson, to run from the law, even though she saved him). As you can see like Bart's unhappy kinder gardening, Mr Burn's actions also set future episodes in motion...
** The earlier Sideshow Bob episodes were also quite dark and dramatic. This eventually went away after his gradual VillainDecay.
** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]" is a story focusing on Frank Grimes (a "realistic" character, by WordOfGod) being forced into the PlayedForLaughs CrapsackWorld of Springfield and getting so fed up with Homer's IdiotHoudini luck that he becomes the titular "enemy" of Homer... and then when Homer's luck saves him from being humiliated by a plan of Grimes, he undergoes a VillainousBreakdown which ends with him accidentally committing suicide-by-high-voltage. The BlackComedyBurst was so strong that [[BaseBreaker some people believe]] marked the moment when the show became the same brand of insensitively offensive KafkaComedy as other shows like
** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E18TheBoysOfBummer The Boys of the Bummer]]" gets a special mention. The entire population of Springfield [[MoralEventHorizon abused, mocked, humiliated and attacked Bart]] simply over a lousy baseball game. And they did not stop abusing Bart, even when he was DrivenToSuicide. [[FridgeHorror If Marge hadn't intervened, who knows what might have happened]].
** Any episode with a character who has no funny quirks and is played seriously. Examples include the french winemakers from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E11TheCrepesOfWrath The Crepes Of Wrath]]" (who nearly killed Bart by giving him antfreeze-laced wine not to mention that their general treatment of him was pretty poor), the Babysitter Bandit from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E13SomeEnchantedEvening Some Enchanted Evening]]" (who tied up the kids and tried to rob the house) and Bart's kindergarten teacher from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E3LisasSax Lisa's Sax]]" (whose treatment of Bart made him what he is today).
** Some episodes with [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Burns]] are darker and more dramatic than any other episodes (except the ones mentioned here). Examples include "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in The Curse of the Flying Hellfish" (where he crossed MoralEventHorizon by trying to drown Bart), "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" (where he blocked all the sunlight from Springfield, and he screwed over other characters in the same episode and his action were played seriously. It makes his shooting look justifiable.), "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E8MotherSimpson Mother Simpson]]" (where he was involved with biological warfare and he is responsible for making Homer's mother, Mona Simpson, to run from the law, even though she saved him). As you can see like Bart's unhappy kinder gardening, Mr Burn's actions also set future episodes in motion...
** The earlier Sideshow Bob episodes were also quite dark and dramatic. This eventually went away after his gradual VillainDecay.
Added DiffLines:
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short "Heavenly Puss" is a lot darker than most ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons. Tom is killed trying to catch Jerry, and is told that if he wants to get into Cat Heaven, he has one hour to make amends with Jerry... otherwise, he'll be condemned to eternal torment by a demonic bulldog. Tom ''[[YankTheDogsChain just]]'' [[YankTheDogsChain misses the deadline]], and is literally dropped into Hell, where demon Spike dunks him in a cauldron of boiling water. Fortunately for Tom it was AllJustADream, but it was still a harrowing experience for him, and for young children watching, too.
** The short "Blue Cat Blues" is just as dark. Both Tom and Jerry are driven to suicide in this episode after their hearts are broken, and though it is never shown, it is implied, as they sit on the train tracks as the sound of an oncoming train is heard just before the episode ends.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** The episode "Knock it Off" had them sell the formula Dick Hardly, a villain who, despite having no superpowers, was thought by most fans to be the worst villain they ever fought, even worse than Him. He was an unscrupulous and cruel man who used the stuff to started cranking out "EXTREME" Powerpuff Girls. He used more Chemical X and less of the other ingredients resulting in malformed girls, whom he abused or callously destroyed, and for no reason other than greed. Later when he wouldn't give up the Chemical X he drinks it and turned into a monster and nearly sucked the life out of the girls leaving them sickly green and covered in spots. The professor and their clones were just barely able to save them. It was little wonder that Dick was the only originally-human villain on the show who was KilledOffForReal.
** The "Speed Demon" episode where the girls travel to a grim future where Ms. Bellum has turned into a Mayor-hat obsessed wretch [[spoiler: because the Mayor had been killed]], the teacher is so traumatized that she keeps repeating a MadnessMantra about the girls leaving, and the professor is a shallow shell of his former self, not even going into the list of people who blame them, having suffered possibly even worse things. And it's all caused by [[spoiler: Him]] who has reduced the town to an apocalyptic wasteland and becoming a [[PhysicalGod literal Satan]] himself.
* Though ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is usually lighthearted, the season premieres and finales can get into dark stuff.
** The second season starts on a [[SarcasmMode light note]] with the [[VileVillainSaccharineShow new villain]] brutally [[MindRape twisting the minds]] of most of the main cast and [[SugarApocalypse consuming the world]] [[WorldGoneMad in chaos]].
** In the third season's premiere, the villain is [[KilledOffForReal outright killed]]. Said villain is a blackhearted unicorn king who enslaved his subjects seemingly just {{for the evulz}}.
** The fifth season opener is ''even darker'', verging into WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids territory. Instead of a powerful ancient evil, the ArcVillain is a perfectly normal unicorn who runs a FalseUtopia where IndividualityIsIllegal, and any pony who stumbles upon the village is brainwashed through MoreThanMindControl into never leaving. The town's VillainSong is, according to WordOfGod, inspired by WWII era propaganda, and every pony in the town sports incredibly disturbing fake smiles. What's more, the villain captures the Mane 6 and locks them in a room full of speakers that chant her philosophy non-stop, refusing to let them out until they accept her way, and they can ''slowly feel themselves losing their identities''. Yes, a show about coloured horses for kids has a disturbingly realistic take on a cult or dictatorship.
** And then comes the season 5 finale, which includes (among other things) a [[spoiler: G-rated depiction of an ''actual pony war'' and a BadFuture apocalyptic version of Equestria that is nothing but a ''lifeless ash-swept wasteland'']].
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' has the episode "Pigmalion". Luanne gets a job at a millionaire's house and moves in with him, at first things are fine but after a while he starts to get very obsessive and creepy, he dyes her hair and won't let her wear anything but identical dresses, it turns out to be an insane plot about his vision of "the perfect family" which consists of her and a man dressed in a Swiss outfit and himself as their pet pig, this scares Luanne and he chases her into a pork processing plant where he ends up being killed by the processing machine.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', despite being a light-hearted show about group of kids and their adventures at school, had a few dark and serious episodes.
** "Prickly Is Leaving". We were introduced to Dr. Slicer, the most evil villain in the series, who [[WouldHurtAChild employed cruel and unusual tactics]] to control the school and, unlike Finster or Prickly, only cared about power without regard for the students' welfare. His behavior [[EvenEvilHasStandards even disgusted Miss Finster]], and TJ (who was never afraid to stand up to adults before or since) was completely scared of him. He was ousted in the end, but [[FridgeHorror consider this]]: Third Street wasn't the first school he was principal of, and likely would not be the last.
** "The Biggest Trouble Ever" is a WhamEpisode for the series. It involves the gang accidentally breaking the statue of Thaddeus T. Third III and become the town's most hated people. Ms. Finster punishes them by making them work menial jobs. But the real reason why the episode is so dark is what happens later: Mayor Fitzhugh, the mayor of Third Street, decides to [[MoralEventHorizon send the Recess Gang to six separate schools]], even though they were remorseful and [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Prickly and Ms. Finster objected]]. Throughout the episode, Fitzhugh looked very gleefully sadistic about the whole thing, and only relented when Third's own grandson, demanding that they be pardoned, threatened to expose Fitzhugh's own (deliberate) past misbehavior regarding the statue.
** The Halloween special is really quite creepy, especially for a show aimed at kids. It's presented in an anthology format (similar to the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons): One story features a recurring character becoming a werewolf and attacking various citizens, the second (in a homage to Stephen King's Christine), has the kids' bicycles coming to life during a storm, causing fear and chaos (this even ends with a sinister cliffhanger, as the bus the school escapes on is revealed to be similarly alive), and the final story features the gang being pursued by zombies, very creepy ones at that.
* The GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' could probably qualify. Not only are all the main locations of the series destroyed, but the TakeOverTheWorld scheme is more destructive than any other, and on top of that, the hero comes closest to dying. It also contains the only real time when the villains of the episode are KilledOffForReal. Granted, they were more dangerous than the other villains that the series showed and [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman they weren't humans]], but still.
* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'':
** The GrandFinale titled "Destination Imagination". It was even rated TV-PG.
** The first episode "House of Bloo" could count as well. There are much more serious and TearJerker moments dealing with possibly losing a friendship. The next episodes became LighterAndSofter when that conflict was resolved.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
** "Action Packed" is an example of this. Even the physics of the animation is darker and edgier when Timmy wished to be in an action movie.
** TheMovie titled ''WesternAnimation/AbraCatastrophe''. Crocker is much more evil than in other episodes, even crossing the MoralEventHorizon when kidnaps and tortures Wanda for use as a power source. In fact, the consequences are quite threatening and Timmy has no choice that faces Crocker in a fight during the climax.
** Any episode featuring a villain [[VileVillainSaccharineShow who is really evil]], such as Miss Doombringer (a crazy woman who is definitely worse than [[AntiVillain Mr.Crocker]]) from "No Substitute For Crazy" and The Destructinator from the episode "Wishology".
** In the WhamEpisode "Hassle In The Castle", we're introduced to Maryanne who, despite being a one shot character, is probably one of the most evil characters ever to appear in a children's cartoon. She killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife ForTheEvulz and caused UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, which led to Adolf Hitler rising to power, UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, the deaths of millions, and the creation of nuclear weaponry.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'':
** Several episodes focused on Tom and his relationship with Jane and Daria have a darker tone.
** The final episode, entitled "Boxing Daria". It is probably the most serious and dark episode of the entire series and has a significant TearJerker. The creators had this to say about it:
---> "Daria's journey was wrapped up in... [this] episode. Daria realizes that her isolation isn't just about being different - she likes being isolated. It may be painful for her, but she's better off trying to interact with the others. She's pretty realistic. She's smart and articulate yet unsure of how the world will accept her."
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
** "Hot Water". In it, Stan buys a living hot tub who alienated Stan from his family, then kills Lewis, Marguerite, Francine and Stan in that order and while the episode was eased with some humor, TheBadGuyWins this time and the living hot tub is actually a KarmaHoudini. If the series had not been renewed after this episode, this would have been the end of the series.
** Roger-centric episodes are darker than usual (to the point of being [[SurpriseCreepy downright creepy]]), but one that deserves special mention is "Love, American Dad Style", where you could say Roger finally crosses the MoralEventHorizon (if he hasn't already) by developing an extreme obsession with Hayley, and reacting badly when she rejects him. He shoots her, ties her to a mattress in an ice factory, and tries to rip off her skin and wear it over himself to be "closer" to her. Jeff shows up in the nick of time, but things still end badly, since Roger [[TheBadGuyWins decides to wear Jeff's skin instead, leaving him in a tub full of ice.]]
** The episode "Son Of Stan" also deserves a mention, especially in the climax of the episode, where Stevearino (Steve's evil clone) reveals his TrueColors: He has dedicated himself to kill cats ForTheEvulz, later he tries to kill his own brother and his father. Unlike Roger, he's played seriously.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' was mostly a light-hearted kids show, but it had a few dark episodes.
** The nephews were once turned into gold statues, and there also were several episodes, where a character nearly dies.
** The alien robots in the episode "Money to Burn" not only stole Scrooge's money bin, so they could melt down the coins to make new robots. But they also were really close to melting Scrooge and Launchpad into grease. Not to mention the FridgeHorror that these robots had probably killed off the alien race, who had once created them in the first place...
** The mites in "[[Recap/DuckTalesAttackOfTheMetalMites The Attack of the Metal Mites]]" were played ''very'' seriously, despite the fact that they were tiny insects. After all, they were designed to eat metal! So they caused plenty of damage all over the city, and they even devoured Fenton's otherwise indestructable Gizmoduck suit.
** The short "Blue Cat Blues" is just as dark. Both Tom and Jerry are driven to suicide in this episode after their hearts are broken, and though it is never shown, it is implied, as they sit on the train tracks as the sound of an oncoming train is heard just before the episode ends.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** The episode "Knock it Off" had them sell the formula Dick Hardly, a villain who, despite having no superpowers, was thought by most fans to be the worst villain they ever fought, even worse than Him. He was an unscrupulous and cruel man who used the stuff to started cranking out "EXTREME" Powerpuff Girls. He used more Chemical X and less of the other ingredients resulting in malformed girls, whom he abused or callously destroyed, and for no reason other than greed. Later when he wouldn't give up the Chemical X he drinks it and turned into a monster and nearly sucked the life out of the girls leaving them sickly green and covered in spots. The professor and their clones were just barely able to save them. It was little wonder that Dick was the only originally-human villain on the show who was KilledOffForReal.
** The "Speed Demon" episode where the girls travel to a grim future where Ms. Bellum has turned into a Mayor-hat obsessed wretch [[spoiler: because the Mayor had been killed]], the teacher is so traumatized that she keeps repeating a MadnessMantra about the girls leaving, and the professor is a shallow shell of his former self, not even going into the list of people who blame them, having suffered possibly even worse things. And it's all caused by [[spoiler: Him]] who has reduced the town to an apocalyptic wasteland and becoming a [[PhysicalGod literal Satan]] himself.
* Though ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is usually lighthearted, the season premieres and finales can get into dark stuff.
** The second season starts on a [[SarcasmMode light note]] with the [[VileVillainSaccharineShow new villain]] brutally [[MindRape twisting the minds]] of most of the main cast and [[SugarApocalypse consuming the world]] [[WorldGoneMad in chaos]].
** In the third season's premiere, the villain is [[KilledOffForReal outright killed]]. Said villain is a blackhearted unicorn king who enslaved his subjects seemingly just {{for the evulz}}.
** The fifth season opener is ''even darker'', verging into WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids territory. Instead of a powerful ancient evil, the ArcVillain is a perfectly normal unicorn who runs a FalseUtopia where IndividualityIsIllegal, and any pony who stumbles upon the village is brainwashed through MoreThanMindControl into never leaving. The town's VillainSong is, according to WordOfGod, inspired by WWII era propaganda, and every pony in the town sports incredibly disturbing fake smiles. What's more, the villain captures the Mane 6 and locks them in a room full of speakers that chant her philosophy non-stop, refusing to let them out until they accept her way, and they can ''slowly feel themselves losing their identities''. Yes, a show about coloured horses for kids has a disturbingly realistic take on a cult or dictatorship.
** And then comes the season 5 finale, which includes (among other things) a [[spoiler: G-rated depiction of an ''actual pony war'' and a BadFuture apocalyptic version of Equestria that is nothing but a ''lifeless ash-swept wasteland'']].
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' has the episode "Pigmalion". Luanne gets a job at a millionaire's house and moves in with him, at first things are fine but after a while he starts to get very obsessive and creepy, he dyes her hair and won't let her wear anything but identical dresses, it turns out to be an insane plot about his vision of "the perfect family" which consists of her and a man dressed in a Swiss outfit and himself as their pet pig, this scares Luanne and he chases her into a pork processing plant where he ends up being killed by the processing machine.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', despite being a light-hearted show about group of kids and their adventures at school, had a few dark and serious episodes.
** "Prickly Is Leaving". We were introduced to Dr. Slicer, the most evil villain in the series, who [[WouldHurtAChild employed cruel and unusual tactics]] to control the school and, unlike Finster or Prickly, only cared about power without regard for the students' welfare. His behavior [[EvenEvilHasStandards even disgusted Miss Finster]], and TJ (who was never afraid to stand up to adults before or since) was completely scared of him. He was ousted in the end, but [[FridgeHorror consider this]]: Third Street wasn't the first school he was principal of, and likely would not be the last.
** "The Biggest Trouble Ever" is a WhamEpisode for the series. It involves the gang accidentally breaking the statue of Thaddeus T. Third III and become the town's most hated people. Ms. Finster punishes them by making them work menial jobs. But the real reason why the episode is so dark is what happens later: Mayor Fitzhugh, the mayor of Third Street, decides to [[MoralEventHorizon send the Recess Gang to six separate schools]], even though they were remorseful and [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Prickly and Ms. Finster objected]]. Throughout the episode, Fitzhugh looked very gleefully sadistic about the whole thing, and only relented when Third's own grandson, demanding that they be pardoned, threatened to expose Fitzhugh's own (deliberate) past misbehavior regarding the statue.
** The Halloween special is really quite creepy, especially for a show aimed at kids. It's presented in an anthology format (similar to the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons): One story features a recurring character becoming a werewolf and attacking various citizens, the second (in a homage to Stephen King's Christine), has the kids' bicycles coming to life during a storm, causing fear and chaos (this even ends with a sinister cliffhanger, as the bus the school escapes on is revealed to be similarly alive), and the final story features the gang being pursued by zombies, very creepy ones at that.
* The GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' could probably qualify. Not only are all the main locations of the series destroyed, but the TakeOverTheWorld scheme is more destructive than any other, and on top of that, the hero comes closest to dying. It also contains the only real time when the villains of the episode are KilledOffForReal. Granted, they were more dangerous than the other villains that the series showed and [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman they weren't humans]], but still.
* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'':
** The GrandFinale titled "Destination Imagination". It was even rated TV-PG.
** The first episode "House of Bloo" could count as well. There are much more serious and TearJerker moments dealing with possibly losing a friendship. The next episodes became LighterAndSofter when that conflict was resolved.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
** "Action Packed" is an example of this. Even the physics of the animation is darker and edgier when Timmy wished to be in an action movie.
** TheMovie titled ''WesternAnimation/AbraCatastrophe''. Crocker is much more evil than in other episodes, even crossing the MoralEventHorizon when kidnaps and tortures Wanda for use as a power source. In fact, the consequences are quite threatening and Timmy has no choice that faces Crocker in a fight during the climax.
** Any episode featuring a villain [[VileVillainSaccharineShow who is really evil]], such as Miss Doombringer (a crazy woman who is definitely worse than [[AntiVillain Mr.Crocker]]) from "No Substitute For Crazy" and The Destructinator from the episode "Wishology".
** In the WhamEpisode "Hassle In The Castle", we're introduced to Maryanne who, despite being a one shot character, is probably one of the most evil characters ever to appear in a children's cartoon. She killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife ForTheEvulz and caused UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, which led to Adolf Hitler rising to power, UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, the deaths of millions, and the creation of nuclear weaponry.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'':
** Several episodes focused on Tom and his relationship with Jane and Daria have a darker tone.
** The final episode, entitled "Boxing Daria". It is probably the most serious and dark episode of the entire series and has a significant TearJerker. The creators had this to say about it:
---> "Daria's journey was wrapped up in... [this] episode. Daria realizes that her isolation isn't just about being different - she likes being isolated. It may be painful for her, but she's better off trying to interact with the others. She's pretty realistic. She's smart and articulate yet unsure of how the world will accept her."
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
** "Hot Water". In it, Stan buys a living hot tub who alienated Stan from his family, then kills Lewis, Marguerite, Francine and Stan in that order and while the episode was eased with some humor, TheBadGuyWins this time and the living hot tub is actually a KarmaHoudini. If the series had not been renewed after this episode, this would have been the end of the series.
** Roger-centric episodes are darker than usual (to the point of being [[SurpriseCreepy downright creepy]]), but one that deserves special mention is "Love, American Dad Style", where you could say Roger finally crosses the MoralEventHorizon (if he hasn't already) by developing an extreme obsession with Hayley, and reacting badly when she rejects him. He shoots her, ties her to a mattress in an ice factory, and tries to rip off her skin and wear it over himself to be "closer" to her. Jeff shows up in the nick of time, but things still end badly, since Roger [[TheBadGuyWins decides to wear Jeff's skin instead, leaving him in a tub full of ice.]]
** The episode "Son Of Stan" also deserves a mention, especially in the climax of the episode, where Stevearino (Steve's evil clone) reveals his TrueColors: He has dedicated himself to kill cats ForTheEvulz, later he tries to kill his own brother and his father. Unlike Roger, he's played seriously.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' was mostly a light-hearted kids show, but it had a few dark episodes.
** The nephews were once turned into gold statues, and there also were several episodes, where a character nearly dies.
** The alien robots in the episode "Money to Burn" not only stole Scrooge's money bin, so they could melt down the coins to make new robots. But they also were really close to melting Scrooge and Launchpad into grease. Not to mention the FridgeHorror that these robots had probably killed off the alien race, who had once created them in the first place...
** The mites in "[[Recap/DuckTalesAttackOfTheMetalMites The Attack of the Metal Mites]]" were played ''very'' seriously, despite the fact that they were tiny insects. After all, they were designed to eat metal! So they caused plenty of damage all over the city, and they even devoured Fenton's otherwise indestructable Gizmoduck suit.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* The pre-school claymation series ''WesternAnimation/{{Pingu}}'' includes a [[OldShame shameful]] BannedEpisode that terrified many toddlers: "Pingu Runs Away". In this episode, Pingu misbehaves, runs way from home in the dark of night and comes across some scary ice sculptures (a skull, a dinosaur and a devil). The episode does have a happy ending, and is designed to teach young children about the dangers of running away, but it can easily make toddlers cry and/or give them nightmares. Even the scene of Pingu being punished at the beginning of the episode is pretty dark; Pingu actually gets ''spanked'' by his mother, with him crying in pain. This may be the darkest episode of a pre-school television series ever made.
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' featured several episodes which were darker than the rest of the series as well as children's animation in general. Linka's cousin dies of a drug overdose in "Mind Pollution", a drive by shooting of a family is shown in "Utopia", "Formula For Hate" covers the topic of AIDS, a teacher and a friend of Gi gets shot in a gang shoot out in "Teers in the Hood" (and the episode also shows realistic images of victims of gang violence, including a dead child), Wheeler's friend is killed in "Talking Trash", and throughout the series, the deadly effects of pollution are shown.
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' is generally a bit more adult and risqué in its humor and situations than other Creator/CartoonNetwork shows, but In one Christmas special [[BigBad Quillgan]] [[spoiler:gets his hands on a present he created and wishes for the destruction of Christmas forever, which then causes bombs to be placed on anything Christmas-ish, including snow. Thankfully we never see how powerful the bombs were but it's very likely they could do serious damage and had he succeeded it would've been the largest terror attack in history. This would've likely caused no one to want to celebrate a holiday that goes hand in hand for a global scale bombing.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** The show is usually a fairly light-hearted SliceOfLife cartoon with the occasional moments of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, but one episode called "On The Lam" was pretty dark as well as hilarious. It involves Harold, Sid, and Stinky [[spoiler:believing to]] blowing up an old police station with a rocket and they bound and gagged Arnold so that he wouldn't tell anybody.
** The infamous "Cheese Festival" episodes. They usually start in a lovey dovey valentine style, with Arnold going to the cheese festival with his love interest, and Helga doing whatever she can to ruin the date. No matter how hilarious the episode is, they always have the same, depressing, dark ending: Arnold doesn't get the girl while Helga is left completely alone at the festival without a lover or even a friend, making a very miserable face just before all the lights go out.
** There are also the episodes addressing Arnold's parents ("Parents' Day" and "The Journal"). "Parents' Day" is just straight up sad for the most part, given the subject matter. "The Journal" does have its fair share of comedic moments, but the ForegoneConclusion that Miles and Stella will eventually go missing and be unable to properly raise their son makes the whole thing kind of sad. [[spoiler: The two parter does end on an optimistic note given that Arnold finds a map detailing where his parents actually went. This was supposed to be a hook for the second series movie, which unfortunately never got made...until 2017, that is.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' featured several episodes which were darker than the rest of the series as well as children's animation in general. Linka's cousin dies of a drug overdose in "Mind Pollution", a drive by shooting of a family is shown in "Utopia", "Formula For Hate" covers the topic of AIDS, a teacher and a friend of Gi gets shot in a gang shoot out in "Teers in the Hood" (and the episode also shows realistic images of victims of gang violence, including a dead child), Wheeler's friend is killed in "Talking Trash", and throughout the series, the deadly effects of pollution are shown.
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' is generally a bit more adult and risqué in its humor and situations than other Creator/CartoonNetwork shows, but In one Christmas special [[BigBad Quillgan]] [[spoiler:gets his hands on a present he created and wishes for the destruction of Christmas forever, which then causes bombs to be placed on anything Christmas-ish, including snow. Thankfully we never see how powerful the bombs were but it's very likely they could do serious damage and had he succeeded it would've been the largest terror attack in history. This would've likely caused no one to want to celebrate a holiday that goes hand in hand for a global scale bombing.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** The show is usually a fairly light-hearted SliceOfLife cartoon with the occasional moments of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, but one episode called "On The Lam" was pretty dark as well as hilarious. It involves Harold, Sid, and Stinky [[spoiler:believing to]] blowing up an old police station with a rocket and they bound and gagged Arnold so that he wouldn't tell anybody.
** The infamous "Cheese Festival" episodes. They usually start in a lovey dovey valentine style, with Arnold going to the cheese festival with his love interest, and Helga doing whatever she can to ruin the date. No matter how hilarious the episode is, they always have the same, depressing, dark ending: Arnold doesn't get the girl while Helga is left completely alone at the festival without a lover or even a friend, making a very miserable face just before all the lights go out.
** There are also the episodes addressing Arnold's parents ("Parents' Day" and "The Journal"). "Parents' Day" is just straight up sad for the most part, given the subject matter. "The Journal" does have its fair share of comedic moments, but the ForegoneConclusion that Miles and Stella will eventually go missing and be unable to properly raise their son makes the whole thing kind of sad. [[spoiler: The two parter does end on an optimistic note given that Arnold finds a map detailing where his parents actually went. This was supposed to be a hook for the second series movie, which unfortunately never got made...until 2017, that is.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 72 (click to see context) from:
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has several episodes like this, including "I Remember You", "Simon and Marcy", and "Evergreen". The first two deal with the backstory of Ice King, generally a comic relief villain, and reveal him to be a TragicVillain with [[WasOnceAMan a sympathetic backstory]]. [[spoiler: He used to be Betty's fiance Simon, before wearing the Ice Crown drove him insane to the point where he doesn't remember who he was.]] The third follows the history of Ice King's crown and has a DownerEnding.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has several episodes like this, including "I Remember You", "Simon and Marcy", and "Evergreen". The first two deal with the backstory of Ice King, generally a comic relief villain, and reveal him to be a TragicVillain with [[WasOnceAMan a sympathetic backstory]]. [[spoiler: He used to be Betty's fiance Simon, before wearing the Ice Crown drove him insane to the point where he doesn't remember who he was.]] The third follows the history of Ice King's crown and has a DownerEnding. It isn't even limited to the episodes centred around Ice King - in "Bad Timing" Lumpy Space Princess falls in love with a guy, accidentally kills him, and then has her mind wiped of the whole thing by PB.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
[[folder: Animated Film]]
* In the context of the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon, you've got ''Disney/TheBlackCauldron''. While not as dark and violent as it could have been, (uncut, the film probably would have gotten an ''R'' rating) it was still dark and violent enough to carry the canon's first PG rating.
* ''WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure'' for ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh''. The typical wacky hijinks of the characters in the Hundred Acre Wood where the biggest danger to be found was bad weather and annoying pests gives way to a perilous journey from their homes to the "great unknown" in search of a missing Christopher Robin. Pooh and the others face their respective signature character flaws head on and at several points are [[DespairEventHorizon very nearly overcome by them]]. To say nothing of them all thinking that Pooh has been ''killed'' at one point. It even ends on a fairly [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]] note. It's not really considered a bad movie because of it, but the complex plot and actual peril for the cuddly Pooh and friend still took many by surprise.
[[/folder]]
* In the context of the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon, you've got ''Disney/TheBlackCauldron''. While not as dark and violent as it could have been, (uncut, the film probably would have gotten an ''R'' rating) it was still dark and violent enough to carry the canon's first PG rating.
* ''WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure'' for ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh''. The typical wacky hijinks of the characters in the Hundred Acre Wood where the biggest danger to be found was bad weather and annoying pests gives way to a perilous journey from their homes to the "great unknown" in search of a missing Christopher Robin. Pooh and the others face their respective signature character flaws head on and at several points are [[DespairEventHorizon very nearly overcome by them]]. To say nothing of them all thinking that Pooh has been ''killed'' at one point. It even ends on a fairly [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]] note. It's not really considered a bad movie because of it, but the complex plot and actual peril for the cuddly Pooh and friend still took many by surprise.
[[/folder]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 45 (click to see context) from:
* The two-parter "The Perils of Punky" in ''Series/PunkyBrewster'', in which the gang goes in vacation in a lake and Punky tells her friends a ghost story about an evil spirit haunting the lake. Which includes all her friends being killed and their image used to taunt Punky, a la ''Film/TheThing''. In a children's show.
to:
* The two-parter "The Perils of Punky" in ''Series/PunkyBrewster'', in which the gang goes in vacation in a lake and Punky tells her friends a ghost story about an evil spirit haunting the lake. Which includes all her friends being killed and their image used to taunt Punky, a à la ''Film/TheThing''.''Film/TheThing1982''. In a children's show.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' has the infamous Halloween Story Arc of 1989, which involved Garfield suddenly waking up in a future where he hasn't existed, Jon and Odie are gone, and eventually [[GoMadFromTheIsolation going mad from the lonliness]], upon which the ordeal winds up being AllJustADream. The sudden shift of a family-friendly comic like ''Garfield'' into borderline psychological horror (and the abrupt shift back) is very notable among comic strip enthusiasts and [[SnarkBait Garfield detractors]].
[[/folder]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' has the infamous Halloween Story Arc of 1989, which involved Garfield suddenly waking up in a future where he hasn't existed, Jon and Odie are gone, and eventually [[GoMadFromTheIsolation going mad from the lonliness]], upon which the ordeal winds up being AllJustADream. The sudden shift of a family-friendly comic like ''Garfield'' into borderline psychological horror (and the abrupt shift back) is very notable among comic strip enthusiasts and [[SnarkBait Garfield detractors]].
[[/folder]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
It's not that dark, really
Deleted line(s) 74 (click to see context) :
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' is normally a light-hearted comedy series featuring Dr. Robotnik as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain easily outsmarted by Sonic. However, the episode "Mass Transit Trouble" involves Robotnik attempting to bomb three separate transit stations, and [[RaceAgainstTheClock giving Sonic only five minutes to find and dispose of the three bombs]]. The fact that Robotnik and his henchmen are far more competent than usual in this episode does not help matters, nor does the fact that one of them even sadistically fantasizes about blowing up Sonic and having his bones then fall into his burial hole in the ground. The episode has even been [[BannedEpisode pulled from syndication]] several times because of [[HarsherInHindsight similar bombings that happened in real life]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 74,75 (click to see context) from:
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' is normally a light-hearted comedy series featuring Dr. Robotnik as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain easily outsmarted by Sonic. The episode, "Mass Transit Trouble", however, involves Robotnik attempting to bomb three separate transit stations, and [[RaceAgainstTheClock giving Sonic only five minutes to find and dispose of the three bombs]]. The fact that Robotnik and his henchmen are far more competent than usual in this episode does not help matters, nor does the fact that one of them even sadistically fantasizes about blowing up Sonic and having his bones then fall into his burial hole in the ground. The episode has even been [[BannedEpisode pulled from syndication]] several times because of [[HarsherInHindsight similar bombings that happened in real life]].
[[/folder]]
[[/folder]]
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' is normally a light-hearted comedy series featuring Dr. Robotnik as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain easily outsmarted by Sonic. The episode, However, the episode "Mass Transit Trouble", however, Trouble" involves Robotnik attempting to bomb three separate transit stations, and [[RaceAgainstTheClock giving Sonic only five minutes to find and dispose of the three bombs]]. The fact that Robotnik and his henchmen are far more competent than usual in this episode does not help matters, nor does the fact that one of them even sadistically fantasizes about blowing up Sonic and having his bones then fall into his burial hole in the ground. The episode has even been [[BannedEpisode pulled from syndication]] several times because of [[HarsherInHindsight similar bombings that happened in real life]].
[[/folder]][[/folder]]
----
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 66 (click to see context) from:
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' may have been DarkerAndEdgier by the standards of TheDisneyAfternoon, but it's a Disney show; even with the characters averting NeverSayDie it's still lighthearted by most shows' standards. Then we get "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E50TimeAndPunishment Time and Punishment]]", an episode in which Gosalyn visits a BadFuture caused by Darkwing reinventing himself as a KnightTemplar after she disappeared. While Darkwarrior had a fairly humorous ideal (based largely on DisproportionateRetribution for crimes like jaywalking) the episode he was in, for the most part, took itself seriously.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' may have been DarkerAndEdgier by the standards of TheDisneyAfternoon, but it's a Disney show; even with the characters averting NeverSayDie it's still lighthearted by most shows' standards. Then we get "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E50TimeAndPunishment Time and Punishment]]", an episode in which Gosalyn visits a BadFuture caused by Darkwing reinventing himself as a KnightTemplar called Dark Warrior Duck after she disappeared. While Darkwarrior Dark Warrior had a fairly humorous ideal (based largely on DisproportionateRetribution for crimes like jaywalking) the episode he was in, for the most part, took itself seriously.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 47 (click to see context) from:
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' has "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics". The episode has a decidedly darker tone than your usual episode and shortly after it begins, someone sticks a quarter in Garrett's butt crack. The rest of the episode focuses on finding the "Ass Crack Bandit" in a way similar to hunting a serial killer. Subverted in that despite the dark atmosphere, the hunt for the perpetrator is still relatively silly compared to an actual serial killer search. Double Subverted when their final pursuit of the Ass Crack Bandit is interrupted by Shirley telling Jeff and Annie [[spoiler: that Pierce has died.]]
to:
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' has "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics". The episode has a decidedly darker tone than your usual episode and shortly after it begins, someone sticks a quarter in Garrett's butt crack. The rest of the episode focuses on finding the "Ass Crack Bandit" in a way similar to hunting a serial killer.SerialKiller. Subverted in that despite the dark atmosphere, the hunt for the perpetrator is still relatively silly compared to an actual serial killer search. Double Subverted when their final pursuit of the Ass Crack Bandit is interrupted by Shirley telling Jeff and Annie [[spoiler: that Pierce has died.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 33 (click to see context) from:
* ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', a generally humorous miniseries, ends on a sudden and bleak note as Donna Troy and Omen die horribly and Young Justice dissolves, along with the Teen Titans.
to:
* ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', a generally humorous miniseries, ends on a [[SuddenDownerEnding sudden and bleak note note]] as Donna Troy and Omen die horribly and Young Justice dissolves, along with the Teen Titans.ComicBook/TeenTitans.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
** The sixth movie Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIsland. Much in contrast to the rest of the movies or the series in general, this one contains some really dark and disturbing imagery that would fit better in an actual Horror Movie.
to:
** The sixth movie Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIsland. movie, ''Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIsland''. Much in contrast to the rest of the movies or the series in general, this one contains some really dark and disturbing imagery that would fit better in an actual Horror Movie.horror movie.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:
** Episode 5's ''ESP Kitty'', in which LazyBum Ichimatsu is forced to face his insecurities and social issues. It reveals that Ichimatsu is actually lonely, but afraid of making friends, something a lot of socially awkward people can relate with.
to:
** Episode 5's ''ESP Kitty'', "ESP Kitty", in which LazyBum Ichimatsu is forced to face his insecurities and social issues. It reveals that Ichimatsu is actually lonely, but afraid of making friends, something a lot of socially awkward people can relate with.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
You have a work that's generally a comedy, or at least played less than seriously. Suddenly, the BlackComedy is more black than comic, the HeroicComedicSociopath or seemingly HarmlessVillain's actions are [[NotSoHarmlessVillain played dead seriously]], half the cast is dead, and it turns out that the upbeat comic relief has a [[DarkAndTroubledPast horrific backstory]].
to:
You have a work that's generally a comedy, or at least played less than seriously. Suddenly, the BlackComedy is more black than comic, the HeroicComedicSociopath or seemingly HarmlessVillain's actions are [[NotSoHarmlessVillain played dead seriously]], half the cast is dead, and it turns out that the upbeat comic relief PluckyComicRelief has a [[DarkAndTroubledPast horrific backstory]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 52 (click to see context) :
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' may cover themes of war, violence and vengeance, but Venom Snake is largely a heroic character who physically cannot hurt his men, children or prisoners without getting a NonStandardGameOver. Episode 34, "Shining Lights, Even In Death," offers the one and only violation of this principle and solidifies Snake as a VillainProtagonist. [[spoiler:In order to contain a parasite that spread throughout his crew, Snake personally murders every one of his soldiers in Quarantine, even a room full of men saluting him.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 52 (click to see context) from:
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' may cover themes of war, violence and vengeance, but Venom Snake is largely a heroic character who physically cannot hurt his men, children or prisoners without getting a NonStandardGameOver. "Shining Lights, Even In Death" offers the one and only violation of this principle and solidifies Snake as a VillainProtagonist. [[spoiler:In order to contain a parasite that spread throughout his crew, Snake personally murders every one of his soldiers in Quarantine, even a room full of men saluting him.]]
to:
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' may cover themes of war, violence and vengeance, but Venom Snake is largely a heroic character who physically cannot hurt his men, children or prisoners without getting a NonStandardGameOver. Episode 34, "Shining Lights, Even In Death" Death," offers the one and only violation of this principle and solidifies Snake as a VillainProtagonist. [[spoiler:In order to contain a parasite that spread throughout his crew, Snake personally murders every one of his soldiers in Quarantine, even a room full of men saluting him.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' may cover themes of war, violence and vengeance, but Venom Snake is largely a heroic character who physically cannot hurt his men, children or prisoners without getting a NonStandardGameOver. "Shining Lights, Even In Death" offers the one and only violation of this principle and solidifies Snake as a VillainProtagonist. [[spoiler:In order to contain a parasite that spread throughout his crew, Snake personally murders every one of his soldiers in Quarantine, even a room full of men saluting him.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 62 (click to see context) from:
* "The Fear", an episode of ''[[{{Superfriends}} The Super Powers Team]]'', deals with similar themes as the Scarecrow forces Batman to reenact the murder of his parents.
to:
* "The Fear", an episode of ''[[{{Superfriends}} ''[[{{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}} The Super Powers Team]]'', deals with similar themes as the Scarecrow forces Batman to reenact the murder of his parents.
Changed line(s) 67,68 (click to see context) from:
* "PhineasAndFerb Get Busted!" has Candace succeeding at busting her brothers, and they get sent to a military school where they are broken down and stripped of their identities and creativity. Such scenes included being forced to watch propaganda films ''[[Film/AClockworkOrange Clockwork Orange]]''-style, working on a chain gang and ''faux-waterboarding''. ItWasAllADream in the end, but ''dude''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]'', just... ''Homer's Enemy''. A story focusing on Frank Grimes (a "realistic" character, by WordOfGod) being forced into the PlayedForLaughs CrapsackWorld of Springfield and getting so fed up with Homer's IdiotHoudini luck that he becomes the titular "enemy" of Homer... and then when Homer's luck saves him from being humiliated by a plan of Grimes, he undergoes a VillainousBreakdown which ends with him accidentally committing suicide-by-high-voltage. The BlackComedyBurst was so strong that [[BaseBreaker some people believe]] marked the moment when the show became the same brand of insensitively offensive KafkaComedy as other shows like ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]'', just... ''Homer's Enemy''. A story focusing on Frank Grimes (a "realistic" character, by WordOfGod) being forced into the PlayedForLaughs CrapsackWorld of Springfield and getting so fed up with Homer's IdiotHoudini luck that he becomes the titular "enemy" of Homer... and then when Homer's luck saves him from being humiliated by a plan of Grimes, he undergoes a VillainousBreakdown which ends with him accidentally committing suicide-by-high-voltage. The BlackComedyBurst was so strong that [[BaseBreaker some people believe]] marked the moment when the show became the same brand of insensitively offensive KafkaComedy as other shows like ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
to:
* "PhineasAndFerb ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted!" has Candace succeeding at busting her brothers, and they get sent to a military school where they are broken down and stripped of their identities and creativity. Such scenes included being forced to watch propaganda films ''[[Film/AClockworkOrange Clockwork Orange]]''-style, working on a chain gang and ''faux-waterboarding''. ItWasAllADream in the end, but ''dude''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]'', just... ''Homer's Enemy''. A Enemy]]" is a story focusing on Frank Grimes (a "realistic" character, by WordOfGod) being forced into the PlayedForLaughs CrapsackWorld of Springfield and getting so fed up with Homer's IdiotHoudini luck that he becomes the titular "enemy" of Homer... and then when Homer's luck saves him from being humiliated by a plan of Grimes, he undergoes a VillainousBreakdown which ends with him accidentally committing suicide-by-high-voltage. The BlackComedyBurst was so strong that [[BaseBreaker some people believe]] marked the moment when the show became the same brand of insensitively offensive KafkaComedy as other shows like ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Created from YKTTW
Added DiffLines:
You have a work that's generally a comedy, or at least played less than seriously. Suddenly, the BlackComedy is more black than comic, the HeroicComedicSociopath or seemingly HarmlessVillain's actions are [[NotSoHarmlessVillain played dead seriously]], half the cast is dead, and it turns out that the upbeat comic relief has a [[DarkAndTroubledPast horrific backstory]].
This episode will likely have a DownerEnding, or at least [[BittersweetEnding a bittersweet one]]. BlackComedy may also become this if more emphasis is placed on the Black than on the Comedy, or if themes previously played for laughs are treated seriously.
This isn't necessarily a sign of CerebusSyndrome, since the comedic tone may return after the Unexpectedly Dark Episode, but it may not. These may also be [[VerySpecialEpisode Very Special Episodes]] if they also tackle a serious RealLife issue in the process. It is, however, likely to be a WhamEpisode. It may lead to CerebusSyndrome if there are multiple episodes like this, or a SuddenDownerEnding if it happens at the end. All that's required is that a usually comic or upbeat series has a sudden and very serious episode.
Contrast BreatherEpisode, where a serious show has a comparatively light episode. Compare MoodWhiplash and WhamEpisode (where the shift isn't necessarily to DarkerAndEdgier, but often is), and HowUnscientific, in which a show generally grounded in reality suddenly has a supernatural-based episode. The two tropes may go together in a HalloweenEpisode.
For an unexpectedly dark ''villain'', see VileVillainSaccharineShow.
----
!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/ICantUnderstandWhatMyHusbandIsSaying'' is, for the most part, HappilyMarried SliceOfLife hi-jinx. Episode 11 is a FlashbackNightmare to before Kaoru met Hajime. Although it still ends on an [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments incredibly sweet note]].
* ''Anime/ElCazadorDeLaBruja'' consists mostly of light-hearted wacky adventures, but "Maple Leaf" is an extremely moody OriginsEpisode for Ellis, revealing her childhood as a living genetic experiment and her apparent murder of her handler-slash-father figure when she lost control of her powers.
* While ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' could get pretty dark, the episode "His Master's Voice" was an outright CosmicHorrorStory, with Kari being threatened by [[Literature/CthulhuMythos Deep Ones]] and Dagomon, an outright Cthulhu {{Expy}}. The events of this episode were never mentioned again, aside from occasional references to the Dark Ocean.
* ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' is a slice of life comedy about six quirky brothers and the weird people around them. Despite that, some episodes have some TearJerker skits, where the comedy is toned down a great deal.
** Episode 5's ''ESP Kitty'', in which LazyBum Ichimatsu is forced to face his insecurities and social issues. It reveals that Ichimatsu is actually lonely, but afraid of making friends, something a lot of socially awkward people can relate with.
** Episode 9's "Jyuushimatsu Falls in Love". It's really jarring when the PerpetualSmiler CloudCuckoolander Jyuushimatsu broke down crying due to heartbreak. It gets darker when it's implied the girl he's in love with [[spoiler: is a suicidal porn star]]. Unlike "ESP Kitty", which at least ends with a gag, this skit ends on a completely serious note.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' crosses this with BLAMEpisode in the episode "Time Warp Heals all Wounds!", that features May and Meowth travelling back in time in order to stop a man before he takes the train where he will die before his wife can tell him that she is pregnant.
* Every episode of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' has a particular gimmick or theme, usually PlayedForLaughs. One of the later episodes is the only exception to this, as its gimmick is [[ShooOutTheClowns removing all of the comedy]].
* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' has an episode from the viewpoint of a civilian family, an overworked {{Salaryman}} who gets chewed out by his boss. It doesn't help that they're drawn much more realisitcally than the pseudo-PowerpuffGirls style of the show.
* ''Franchise/OnePiece'':
** Most flashback sequences that explore a character's background tend to be this, as they can feature rampant death, which is rare in the present storyline. At least two of those have involved genocide plots of entire countries. Even InfantImmortality gets averted.
** The sixth movie Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIsland. Much in contrast to the rest of the movies or the series in general, this one contains some really dark and disturbing imagery that would fit better in an actual Horror Movie.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', a generally humorous miniseries, ends on a sudden and bleak note as Donna Troy and Omen die horribly and Young Justice dissolves, along with the Teen Titans.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Fan Works]]
* While [[FanFic/TheCATverse the [=CATverse=]]] is in general a BlackComedy, several stories are much darker than average. The issues of bullying and child abuse, a key part of the Scarecrow's backstory, are treated very seriously when they come up in ''Paean of the Bells'' and ''Noel'' respectively. ''Small World'' is also very low on the comedy and contains a graphic murder, AdultFear, flashbacks to abuse, psychological torture of a child, and culminates in a horrific KickTheDog moment from Crane and a DownerEnding that is ''not'' PlayedForLaughs one bit.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* The final episode of ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'', a comedy series, ends with all of the main characters being killed in an ice age, and the main character (who was responsible) explaining why they're going to die to his youngest child.
* The final episode of ''{{Series/Blackadder}} Goes Forth'' ends with Edmund, Baldrick, George, and Darling being sent over the trench, which was made clear over the series to be a death sentence that Edmund desperately wants to avoid. They are strongly implied to have been killed.
* In the final episode of ''{{Series/Alf}}'', the title alien [[TheBadGuyWins is captured and taken away by the Alien Task Force]]. Before this, the series was a lighthearted comedy. There was a TV movie to finish the story (which was still much darker than the main series), but viewers who didn't see it were left with the impression that Alf was going to be tortured and killed.
* The British cosy crime series ''{{Series/Bergerac}}'' had a very disturbing horror episode called "The Dig", in which gruesome events started occurring on an archaeological investigation of Norse graves, and it was implied right up to the end that they were due not to a ScoobyDooHoax but to real evil supernatural forces.
* The two-parter "The Perils of Punky" in ''Series/PunkyBrewster'', in which the gang goes in vacation in a lake and Punky tells her friends a ghost story about an evil spirit haunting the lake. Which includes all her friends being killed and their image used to taunt Punky, a la ''Film/TheThing''. In a children's show.
* A couple of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' episodes do this, like "[[Recap/GleeS3E14OnMyWay On My Way]]", which opens with attempted suicide and closes with a violent car crash, and "[[Recap/GleeS4E18ShootingStar Shooting Star]]", with the second half being practically silent as the school faces a shooting. What's even especially jarring about them is the fact that they were set up to be more like {{Breather Episode}}s between story-heavy episodes: "On My Way" to have a singing competition and then the OfficialCouple's wedding to wrap up the first half of the season, "Shooting Star" to be the return from season break focussing on TheDitz' wild song themes.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' has "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics". The episode has a decidedly darker tone than your usual episode and shortly after it begins, someone sticks a quarter in Garrett's butt crack. The rest of the episode focuses on finding the "Ass Crack Bandit" in a way similar to hunting a serial killer. Subverted in that despite the dark atmosphere, the hunt for the perpetrator is still relatively silly compared to an actual serial killer search. Double Subverted when their final pursuit of the Ass Crack Bandit is interrupted by Shirley telling Jeff and Annie [[spoiler: that Pierce has died.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Video Games]]
* The [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic classic Mega Man games]] were pretty lighthearted in general, but there are exceptions, such as ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'' (in which a virus causes robots to go out of control, and only Dr. Wily is capable of developing a cure), and ''VideoGame/SuperAdventureRockman'' (in which technology as a whole in endangered by an ancient alien supercomputer, and explict scenes of death and destruction are featured).
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Web Original]]
* "The History of Trunks" in ''WebOriginal/DragonBallZAbridged'' is one of the darker episodes, with the Androids' sociopathic behavior and the deaths of the majority of the cast in Trunks' timeline played relatively seriously, especially Gohan.
* The anthology ''Webcomic/ParadoxSpace'' has "Damara," which ignores one-off gags and {{Continuity Nod}}s in favor of a story about sexual assault and a child's death.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Western Anmation]]
* "The Golden Lagoon", an episode of the normally lighthearted ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', ends on a bleak note, with the title lagoon destroyed in a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons over its resources.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' is a light and humorous interpretation of the Dark Knight. In "Chill of the Night", however, Batman goes after his parents' killer, and the tone is much more serious than usual.
* "The Fear", an episode of ''[[{{Superfriends}} The Super Powers Team]]'', deals with similar themes as the Scarecrow forces Batman to reenact the murder of his parents.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has several episodes like this, including "I Remember You", "Simon and Marcy", and "Evergreen". The first two deal with the backstory of Ice King, generally a comic relief villain, and reveal him to be a TragicVillain with [[WasOnceAMan a sympathetic backstory]]. [[spoiler: He used to be Betty's fiance Simon, before wearing the Ice Crown drove him insane to the point where he doesn't remember who he was.]] The third follows the history of Ice King's crown and has a DownerEnding.
* "Storm the Castle", the finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', is significantly darker than the previous episodes - comic relief villain Ludo is ([[DisneyDeath temporarily]]) killed by his more competent and dangerous [[TheStarscream Starscream]] Toffee, it ends with Toffee [[TheBadGuyWins getting what he wants]], and Star's wand is only saved thanks to a unicorn's HeroicSacrifice. Even then, a piece is stuck in the monsters' realm.
* TheMovie of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' reveals that Eddy's brother, who Eddy spoke highly of throughout the series, is a bully who was and is physically abusive to Eddy. This physical abuse is treated dead seriously as opposed to the series' usual {{Slapstick}}, with the Eds, the cul-de-sac kids, and even the other antagonists [[EvenEvilHasStandards horrified]].
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' may have been DarkerAndEdgier by the standards of TheDisneyAfternoon, but it's a Disney show; even with the characters averting NeverSayDie it's still lighthearted by most shows' standards. Then we get "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E50TimeAndPunishment Time and Punishment]]", an episode in which Gosalyn visits a BadFuture caused by Darkwing reinventing himself as a KnightTemplar after she disappeared. While Darkwarrior had a fairly humorous ideal (based largely on DisproportionateRetribution for crimes like jaywalking) the episode he was in, for the most part, took itself seriously.
* "PhineasAndFerb Get Busted!" has Candace succeeding at busting her brothers, and they get sent to a military school where they are broken down and stripped of their identities and creativity. Such scenes included being forced to watch propaganda films ''[[Film/AClockworkOrange Clockwork Orange]]''-style, working on a chain gang and ''faux-waterboarding''. ItWasAllADream in the end, but ''dude''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]'', just... ''Homer's Enemy''. A story focusing on Frank Grimes (a "realistic" character, by WordOfGod) being forced into the PlayedForLaughs CrapsackWorld of Springfield and getting so fed up with Homer's IdiotHoudini luck that he becomes the titular "enemy" of Homer... and then when Homer's luck saves him from being humiliated by a plan of Grimes, he undergoes a VillainousBreakdown which ends with him accidentally committing suicide-by-high-voltage. The BlackComedyBurst was so strong that [[BaseBreaker some people believe]] marked the moment when the show became the same brand of insensitively offensive KafkaComedy as other shows like ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
* The fourth episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', [[Recap/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePoohS1E4FindHerKeepHer "Find Her, Keep Her"]], while not particularly dark, has a BittersweetEnding and is far more emotionally complex than any other episode of the show, or any animated show at the time, for that matter.
* The ''Literature/{{Franklin}}'' episode "Franklin and the Fire" is about fire safety. A hardware store is burned down and fire is played very seriously. Franklin's friends talk about how their houses could burn down and all their stuff burning up.
* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'':
** "Burrito" plays like a normal comedic episode where Grizz clings to a huge burrito instead of eating it. When Panda and Ice Bear try to keep it away from Grizz and accidentally destroy it, Grizz ponders why he got so attached to it. The SuddenDownerEnding reveals that [[spoiler:Grizz was trapped on top of a tall tree as a cub and was rescued by a fireman. The fireman had a safety band around his arm for Grizz to hold on to, which is what the warm burrito reminded him of when he hugged it.]]
** "Primal", the episode right after, has the three bears trapped in the wilderness after Grizz tries to help them live out their natural ways instead of living at home with technology. Panda and Ice Bear end up reverting to their primal bear natures and actually attack Grizz, their own brother, because they aren't anthropomorphic anymore.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' is normally a light-hearted comedy series featuring Dr. Robotnik as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain easily outsmarted by Sonic. The episode, "Mass Transit Trouble", however, involves Robotnik attempting to bomb three separate transit stations, and [[RaceAgainstTheClock giving Sonic only five minutes to find and dispose of the three bombs]]. The fact that Robotnik and his henchmen are far more competent than usual in this episode does not help matters, nor does the fact that one of them even sadistically fantasizes about blowing up Sonic and having his bones then fall into his burial hole in the ground. The episode has even been [[BannedEpisode pulled from syndication]] several times because of [[HarsherInHindsight similar bombings that happened in real life]].
[[/folder]]
This episode will likely have a DownerEnding, or at least [[BittersweetEnding a bittersweet one]]. BlackComedy may also become this if more emphasis is placed on the Black than on the Comedy, or if themes previously played for laughs are treated seriously.
This isn't necessarily a sign of CerebusSyndrome, since the comedic tone may return after the Unexpectedly Dark Episode, but it may not. These may also be [[VerySpecialEpisode Very Special Episodes]] if they also tackle a serious RealLife issue in the process. It is, however, likely to be a WhamEpisode. It may lead to CerebusSyndrome if there are multiple episodes like this, or a SuddenDownerEnding if it happens at the end. All that's required is that a usually comic or upbeat series has a sudden and very serious episode.
Contrast BreatherEpisode, where a serious show has a comparatively light episode. Compare MoodWhiplash and WhamEpisode (where the shift isn't necessarily to DarkerAndEdgier, but often is), and HowUnscientific, in which a show generally grounded in reality suddenly has a supernatural-based episode. The two tropes may go together in a HalloweenEpisode.
For an unexpectedly dark ''villain'', see VileVillainSaccharineShow.
----
!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/ICantUnderstandWhatMyHusbandIsSaying'' is, for the most part, HappilyMarried SliceOfLife hi-jinx. Episode 11 is a FlashbackNightmare to before Kaoru met Hajime. Although it still ends on an [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments incredibly sweet note]].
* ''Anime/ElCazadorDeLaBruja'' consists mostly of light-hearted wacky adventures, but "Maple Leaf" is an extremely moody OriginsEpisode for Ellis, revealing her childhood as a living genetic experiment and her apparent murder of her handler-slash-father figure when she lost control of her powers.
* While ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' could get pretty dark, the episode "His Master's Voice" was an outright CosmicHorrorStory, with Kari being threatened by [[Literature/CthulhuMythos Deep Ones]] and Dagomon, an outright Cthulhu {{Expy}}. The events of this episode were never mentioned again, aside from occasional references to the Dark Ocean.
* ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' is a slice of life comedy about six quirky brothers and the weird people around them. Despite that, some episodes have some TearJerker skits, where the comedy is toned down a great deal.
** Episode 5's ''ESP Kitty'', in which LazyBum Ichimatsu is forced to face his insecurities and social issues. It reveals that Ichimatsu is actually lonely, but afraid of making friends, something a lot of socially awkward people can relate with.
** Episode 9's "Jyuushimatsu Falls in Love". It's really jarring when the PerpetualSmiler CloudCuckoolander Jyuushimatsu broke down crying due to heartbreak. It gets darker when it's implied the girl he's in love with [[spoiler: is a suicidal porn star]]. Unlike "ESP Kitty", which at least ends with a gag, this skit ends on a completely serious note.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' crosses this with BLAMEpisode in the episode "Time Warp Heals all Wounds!", that features May and Meowth travelling back in time in order to stop a man before he takes the train where he will die before his wife can tell him that she is pregnant.
* Every episode of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' has a particular gimmick or theme, usually PlayedForLaughs. One of the later episodes is the only exception to this, as its gimmick is [[ShooOutTheClowns removing all of the comedy]].
* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' has an episode from the viewpoint of a civilian family, an overworked {{Salaryman}} who gets chewed out by his boss. It doesn't help that they're drawn much more realisitcally than the pseudo-PowerpuffGirls style of the show.
* ''Franchise/OnePiece'':
** Most flashback sequences that explore a character's background tend to be this, as they can feature rampant death, which is rare in the present storyline. At least two of those have involved genocide plots of entire countries. Even InfantImmortality gets averted.
** The sixth movie Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIsland. Much in contrast to the rest of the movies or the series in general, this one contains some really dark and disturbing imagery that would fit better in an actual Horror Movie.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', a generally humorous miniseries, ends on a sudden and bleak note as Donna Troy and Omen die horribly and Young Justice dissolves, along with the Teen Titans.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Fan Works]]
* While [[FanFic/TheCATverse the [=CATverse=]]] is in general a BlackComedy, several stories are much darker than average. The issues of bullying and child abuse, a key part of the Scarecrow's backstory, are treated very seriously when they come up in ''Paean of the Bells'' and ''Noel'' respectively. ''Small World'' is also very low on the comedy and contains a graphic murder, AdultFear, flashbacks to abuse, psychological torture of a child, and culminates in a horrific KickTheDog moment from Crane and a DownerEnding that is ''not'' PlayedForLaughs one bit.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* The final episode of ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'', a comedy series, ends with all of the main characters being killed in an ice age, and the main character (who was responsible) explaining why they're going to die to his youngest child.
* The final episode of ''{{Series/Blackadder}} Goes Forth'' ends with Edmund, Baldrick, George, and Darling being sent over the trench, which was made clear over the series to be a death sentence that Edmund desperately wants to avoid. They are strongly implied to have been killed.
* In the final episode of ''{{Series/Alf}}'', the title alien [[TheBadGuyWins is captured and taken away by the Alien Task Force]]. Before this, the series was a lighthearted comedy. There was a TV movie to finish the story (which was still much darker than the main series), but viewers who didn't see it were left with the impression that Alf was going to be tortured and killed.
* The British cosy crime series ''{{Series/Bergerac}}'' had a very disturbing horror episode called "The Dig", in which gruesome events started occurring on an archaeological investigation of Norse graves, and it was implied right up to the end that they were due not to a ScoobyDooHoax but to real evil supernatural forces.
* The two-parter "The Perils of Punky" in ''Series/PunkyBrewster'', in which the gang goes in vacation in a lake and Punky tells her friends a ghost story about an evil spirit haunting the lake. Which includes all her friends being killed and their image used to taunt Punky, a la ''Film/TheThing''. In a children's show.
* A couple of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' episodes do this, like "[[Recap/GleeS3E14OnMyWay On My Way]]", which opens with attempted suicide and closes with a violent car crash, and "[[Recap/GleeS4E18ShootingStar Shooting Star]]", with the second half being practically silent as the school faces a shooting. What's even especially jarring about them is the fact that they were set up to be more like {{Breather Episode}}s between story-heavy episodes: "On My Way" to have a singing competition and then the OfficialCouple's wedding to wrap up the first half of the season, "Shooting Star" to be the return from season break focussing on TheDitz' wild song themes.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' has "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics". The episode has a decidedly darker tone than your usual episode and shortly after it begins, someone sticks a quarter in Garrett's butt crack. The rest of the episode focuses on finding the "Ass Crack Bandit" in a way similar to hunting a serial killer. Subverted in that despite the dark atmosphere, the hunt for the perpetrator is still relatively silly compared to an actual serial killer search. Double Subverted when their final pursuit of the Ass Crack Bandit is interrupted by Shirley telling Jeff and Annie [[spoiler: that Pierce has died.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Video Games]]
* The [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic classic Mega Man games]] were pretty lighthearted in general, but there are exceptions, such as ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'' (in which a virus causes robots to go out of control, and only Dr. Wily is capable of developing a cure), and ''VideoGame/SuperAdventureRockman'' (in which technology as a whole in endangered by an ancient alien supercomputer, and explict scenes of death and destruction are featured).
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Web Original]]
* "The History of Trunks" in ''WebOriginal/DragonBallZAbridged'' is one of the darker episodes, with the Androids' sociopathic behavior and the deaths of the majority of the cast in Trunks' timeline played relatively seriously, especially Gohan.
* The anthology ''Webcomic/ParadoxSpace'' has "Damara," which ignores one-off gags and {{Continuity Nod}}s in favor of a story about sexual assault and a child's death.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Western Anmation]]
* "The Golden Lagoon", an episode of the normally lighthearted ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', ends on a bleak note, with the title lagoon destroyed in a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons over its resources.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' is a light and humorous interpretation of the Dark Knight. In "Chill of the Night", however, Batman goes after his parents' killer, and the tone is much more serious than usual.
* "The Fear", an episode of ''[[{{Superfriends}} The Super Powers Team]]'', deals with similar themes as the Scarecrow forces Batman to reenact the murder of his parents.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has several episodes like this, including "I Remember You", "Simon and Marcy", and "Evergreen". The first two deal with the backstory of Ice King, generally a comic relief villain, and reveal him to be a TragicVillain with [[WasOnceAMan a sympathetic backstory]]. [[spoiler: He used to be Betty's fiance Simon, before wearing the Ice Crown drove him insane to the point where he doesn't remember who he was.]] The third follows the history of Ice King's crown and has a DownerEnding.
* "Storm the Castle", the finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', is significantly darker than the previous episodes - comic relief villain Ludo is ([[DisneyDeath temporarily]]) killed by his more competent and dangerous [[TheStarscream Starscream]] Toffee, it ends with Toffee [[TheBadGuyWins getting what he wants]], and Star's wand is only saved thanks to a unicorn's HeroicSacrifice. Even then, a piece is stuck in the monsters' realm.
* TheMovie of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' reveals that Eddy's brother, who Eddy spoke highly of throughout the series, is a bully who was and is physically abusive to Eddy. This physical abuse is treated dead seriously as opposed to the series' usual {{Slapstick}}, with the Eds, the cul-de-sac kids, and even the other antagonists [[EvenEvilHasStandards horrified]].
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' may have been DarkerAndEdgier by the standards of TheDisneyAfternoon, but it's a Disney show; even with the characters averting NeverSayDie it's still lighthearted by most shows' standards. Then we get "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E50TimeAndPunishment Time and Punishment]]", an episode in which Gosalyn visits a BadFuture caused by Darkwing reinventing himself as a KnightTemplar after she disappeared. While Darkwarrior had a fairly humorous ideal (based largely on DisproportionateRetribution for crimes like jaywalking) the episode he was in, for the most part, took itself seriously.
* "PhineasAndFerb Get Busted!" has Candace succeeding at busting her brothers, and they get sent to a military school where they are broken down and stripped of their identities and creativity. Such scenes included being forced to watch propaganda films ''[[Film/AClockworkOrange Clockwork Orange]]''-style, working on a chain gang and ''faux-waterboarding''. ItWasAllADream in the end, but ''dude''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]'', just... ''Homer's Enemy''. A story focusing on Frank Grimes (a "realistic" character, by WordOfGod) being forced into the PlayedForLaughs CrapsackWorld of Springfield and getting so fed up with Homer's IdiotHoudini luck that he becomes the titular "enemy" of Homer... and then when Homer's luck saves him from being humiliated by a plan of Grimes, he undergoes a VillainousBreakdown which ends with him accidentally committing suicide-by-high-voltage. The BlackComedyBurst was so strong that [[BaseBreaker some people believe]] marked the moment when the show became the same brand of insensitively offensive KafkaComedy as other shows like ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
* The fourth episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', [[Recap/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePoohS1E4FindHerKeepHer "Find Her, Keep Her"]], while not particularly dark, has a BittersweetEnding and is far more emotionally complex than any other episode of the show, or any animated show at the time, for that matter.
* The ''Literature/{{Franklin}}'' episode "Franklin and the Fire" is about fire safety. A hardware store is burned down and fire is played very seriously. Franklin's friends talk about how their houses could burn down and all their stuff burning up.
* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'':
** "Burrito" plays like a normal comedic episode where Grizz clings to a huge burrito instead of eating it. When Panda and Ice Bear try to keep it away from Grizz and accidentally destroy it, Grizz ponders why he got so attached to it. The SuddenDownerEnding reveals that [[spoiler:Grizz was trapped on top of a tall tree as a cub and was rescued by a fireman. The fireman had a safety band around his arm for Grizz to hold on to, which is what the warm burrito reminded him of when he hugged it.]]
** "Primal", the episode right after, has the three bears trapped in the wilderness after Grizz tries to help them live out their natural ways instead of living at home with technology. Panda and Ice Bear end up reverting to their primal bear natures and actually attack Grizz, their own brother, because they aren't anthropomorphic anymore.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' is normally a light-hearted comedy series featuring Dr. Robotnik as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain easily outsmarted by Sonic. The episode, "Mass Transit Trouble", however, involves Robotnik attempting to bomb three separate transit stations, and [[RaceAgainstTheClock giving Sonic only five minutes to find and dispose of the three bombs]]. The fact that Robotnik and his henchmen are far more competent than usual in this episode does not help matters, nor does the fact that one of them even sadistically fantasizes about blowing up Sonic and having his bones then fall into his burial hole in the ground. The episode has even been [[BannedEpisode pulled from syndication]] several times because of [[HarsherInHindsight similar bombings that happened in real life]].
[[/folder]]
