Line #95 Main/MimeAndMusicOnlyCartoon


1	A lot of animated short films, especially in the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation classic theatrical shorts era]], were made devoid of dialogue. In these cartoons, [[MickeyMousing only music and basic sound effects are used along with the action on screen]] to convey the concepts and feelings of the show. Sometimes, when more complex things ''have'' to be conveyed, it is done via TalkingWithSigns. The reason for this is that lip sync is tedious, and the jokes used were often adapted from old musical comedy sketches in vaudeville.
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3	This trope is also used in media. Whenever a TV character is watching a cartoon, chances are they'll be watching one of these. Often we never even ''see'' the cartoon, just the glow-illumined face of the viewer, and sometimes the side and back of the TV set. If we do get to see the cartoon, it invariably appears to have no plot beyond various characters running back and forth assaulting each other.
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5	For the gaming spins on this, see PacManFever and UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000. Also compare ThePublicDomainChannel and NoDialogueEpisode.
6	----
7	!!Examples
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9	[[foldercontrol]]
10
11	[[folder:Anime]]
12	* Music/DaftPunk's ''Anime/{{Interstella 5555}}: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem'' is an hour-long {{anime}}. The animation is synchronized entirely to the songs in their ''Discovery'' album, which sets the scene and mood and even provides some of the sound effects.
13	* The shorts that comprise the anthology movie ''Anime/RobotCarnival'' are all silent, with the exceptions of "Presence" and "A Tale of Two Robots".
14	* ''Anime/DaiconIIIAndIV'':
15	** ''III'' only features music and sound effects, with what little dialogue there is being delivered through subtitles.
16	** ''IV'' forgoes ''any'' dialogue or sound effects, with the animation being accompanied solely by music. The closest thing to speech comes from the opening scene's soundtrack: the spoken-word song "[[Music/{{Time}} Prologue]]" by Music/ElectricLightOrchestra.
17	* ''{{Anime/Shashinkan}}'' has the story with without any dialogue or even sound effects in some shots, only what the characters are doing and the music.
18	[[/folder]]
19
20	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
21	* ''Animation/AndyPirki'' doesn't really have spoken dialogue. It's mostly just the characters' actions.
22	* ''Animation/{{Lamput}}'' contains no actual dialogue besides SpeakingSimlish.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Comic Books]]
26	* ''ComicBook/{{Owly}}'' is basically the comic book version of this trope. The series generally has minimal amounts of dialogue, if any.
27	* ''Game Over'', the ''ComicBook/KidPaddle'' spin-off featuring the barbarian video game avatar [[ShowWithinAShow seen in many games that Kid Paddle plays]], has no spoken lines aside from the occasional "[[PokemonSpeak Blork]]" and the [[DamselInDistress princess]] yelping. [[note]]Granted, there are a few framing devices, and even then they're reprinted gags from ''Kid Paddle''[[/note]]
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Eastern Animation]]
31	Many, if not most, Eastern Block series were made like this, to be easily exported within the block and outside it.
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33	* The Polish series ''Animation/DziwnePrzygodyKoziolkaMatolka''. Nobody speaks intelligibly; speech is, at best, represented by hollow metal noises.
34	* A lot of older Polish animated series, such as ''Animation/BolekAndLolek'' or ''Pomysłowy Dobromir''.
35	* The Czech series ''Staflik a Spagetka''. There's the crowing crow, but that's all.
36	* ''Animation/NuPogodi'' is a series of Soviet and Russian cartoons which feature almost no spoken dialogue other than the catchphrase that provides the title.
37	* The Hungarian series ''Animation/TheRabbitWithTheCheckeredEars'' features no spoken dialogue (except the odd unintelligble whisper).
38	* In the Romanian series ''Miaunel and Balanel'', "speech" is always rendered with either the title characters' {{Leitmotif}} or a synthetic oscillating figure (often with heavier echo than the music), with very occasional exceptions (in one short, both title characters answer their ringing phone with "Alo?"[[note]] the standard Romanian telephone greeting[[/note]] only to find no-one at the other end).
39	* The characters in ''Animation/TheLittleMole'' only speak in an unintelligible gibberish, apart from a single word or two.
40	* The Hungarian animated short ''Animation/RabbitAndDeer'' has no dialogue at all, although the characters do make a lot of sound.
41	* Similarly, the Latvian cartoon ''Animation/{{Fantadroms}}'' lacks dialogue of any kind, but the show's characters do make sounds such as gasps, laughs, etc. Justified, as the show was made to be understandable to everyone around the world without dubbing the show into other languages being a problem.
42	* The Polish short ''Animation/TheNut1967'' has no dialogue, which is understandable since it is about a walnut rolling around avoiding all kinds of obstacles.
43	* The Hungarian series ''Animation/{{Gustavus}}'' used sound effects or random unintelligible mumbling in place of dialogue depending on the episode, though very rarely characters would say a word or two.
44	* The Czech ''Animation/PatAndMat'' series.
45	* Aside from grunting noises from the characters, ''Animation/{{Booba}}'' has no dialogue whatsoever.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
49	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'', perhaps the most ambitious manifestation of this trope.
50	** Not to mention its sequel, ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia 2000}}''.
51	* ''[[WesternAnimation/PeterAndTheWolf2006 Peter & the Wolf]]'', an AnimatedAdaptation of ''Music/PeterAndTheWolf'', omits the narrator used in the original Prokofiev piece. Instead the story is told solely by the music and characters moving in time.
52	* The Creator/HannaBarbera film ''WesternAnimation/RockOdyssey'' is made up of animated sequences set to popular rock songs from TheFifties, TheSixties, TheSeventies, and TheEighties. There is only brief dialogue from an anthropomorphic jukebox narrator every once in a while.
53	* ''WesternAnimation/TheTripletsOfBelleville'', another animated film with practically no dialogue.
54	** By the same people: ''WesternAnimation/TheIllusionist2010''.
55	* The Italian ''Fantasia'', ''WesternAnimation/AllegroNonTroppo'', especially the glorious coke-bottle scene done to Ravel's "Bolero".
56	* ''WesternAnimation/MinusculeValleyOfTheLostAnts'' has both live-action parts and animated parts, but the animated [[MouseWorld Insect World]] is where the story happens. Not a word is spoken in either.
57	* The first 30 minutes of ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' is virtually dialogue-free, the only talking coming from Wall E's VHS copy of "Hello Dolly" and the various [=BnL=] adverts left on Earth.
58	* The Hungarian medieval epic ''Animation/HeroicTimes'' was made with no dialogue and sound effects in mind, though ExecutiveMeddling forced the inclusion of a [[PointOfView first person]] [[CharacterNarrator narrator]] over the entire film. On international festivals, however, it was screened with only music.
59	* ''WesternAnimation/TheRedTurtle'' has virtually no dialogue save for a man shouting "Hey!" towards the beginning.
60	* "WesternAnimation/RobotDreams" has virtually no dialogue save for the times when the song "September" from Music/EarthWindAndFire is played.
61	[[/folder]]
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63	[[folder:Literature]]
64	* Literary pseudo-example: the surreal children's book ''Tuesday''. It's completely devoid of text other than times, yet nevertheless manages to convey a story about frogs suddenly being able to fly for one night.
65	[[/folder]]
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67	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
68	* Recently, whenever there's been a television showing something besides the news on ''Series/{{CSI}}'', they've used clips from ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' with the basic array of cartoon sound effects instead of the usual music and dialog. Showed up in an episode of ''Series/TheSopranos'', where AJ is seen slacking and watching the show.
69	* Shows up in the ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' episode "Time Chasers," when Crow visits a young version of Mike at a cheese factory's break room where one worker is watching just such a cartoon. As a bonus, the cartoon's dinky music plays over the show's credits at the end.
70	* When Dee is visiting her boyfriend in an episode of ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', they spend the time together watching one of these cartoons with him being exceedingly amused. This is somewhat justified given the episode's name is [[spoiler: "Sweet Dee is Dating a Retarded Person."]]
71	[[/folder]]
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73	[[folder:Video Games]]
74	* In one chapter of ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'', the protagonists' child watches the same short nonsensical mime and music for hours.
75	* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'': ''The Subspace Emissary'' plays out like this, with the only spoken dialogue outside of a comment from [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]] [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall addressed as much to the player as to other characters]] coming from CallingYourAttacks.
76	* ''VideoGame/{{Botanicula}}'' is told entirely in gibberish and images.
77	* ''VideoGame/{{Chuchel}}'' doesn't use any word but still manages to be very expressive.
78	* From 2005 to 2012, this is how the ''VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame''s tackled story cutscenes. This would sometimes come into conflict with story beats, requiring creative solutions such as [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Vader showing Luke a photo of him with Padme]] rather than [[LukeIAmYourFather the usual]]. 2012's ''LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes'' averted this for the first time by using an original story with full voice acting. 2012's ''LEGO The Lord of the Rings'' averted this for direct adaptations by using voice clips from the films, a practice retained to this day and phasing out the trope entirely.
79	* ''VideoGame/KazeAndTheWildMasks'' contains no dialogue at all; its story is told exclusively through cutscenes and images unlocked by collecting the "KAZE" letters in each level.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Web Animation]]
83	* ''WebAnimation/ThereSheIs'' is an entire series of web animations done like this with K-pop.
84	* In ''WebAnimation/PorkchopNFlatscreen'', the number of spoken lines can be counted on a person's hands.
85	* ''Blank: A Vinylmation Love Story''
86	* ''WebAnimation/MysterySkullsAnimated'' as expected from a music video, the animated version of Music/MysterySkulls' features this, with everything that happens syncing up to the beat, but even when characters are just sitting still, they're still bobbing their heads to the music. The only bit of "dialogue" that the videos have is in "Ghost" when [[DemBones Lewis]] points to Arthur right when the song declares "Fuck, it's you I hate the most".
87	* Disney's ''As Told By Emoji'' series is a rare modern example of this trope. Although written text frequently appears, the characters "communicate" through facial expressions, physical actions, and emojis, without spoken dialogue.
88	* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWniqUJjhSg "Let's switch bodies"]] is animated in the style of a show episode, but with no spoken lines whatsoever.
89	* Used throughout ''WebAnimation/SonicManiaAdventures'', with the music being composed by Tee Lopes of ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' with more Sonic music references than you can shake a gold Ring at.
90	* ''WebAnimation/{{Dinosauria}}'' features non anthropomorphic dinosaurs roaming about nature, with no dialogue or voiceover to accompany them.
91	* ''WebAnimation/InAHeartbeat'' mostly fits this trope because the only vocalisations are gasps and muffled squeaks with the occasional sound effect.
92	* ''WebAnimation/AstroLOLogy'': There's no dialogue outside of some occasional SpeakingSimlish. The Japanese dub, however, adds voiceovers with proper Japanese speech to the characters and the messages at the end of every episode, while the Bulgarian sub just adds narration to the opening and end.
93	* Most of Pedro Araujo's animations are this. Dialogue is rare, and the only sounds that are heard are sound effects like Pokémon cries.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Web Comics]]
97	* Most of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'''s non-interactive Flash updates qualify. [S] Descend is really the only exception, what with its [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Squiddles scene]].
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Western Animation]]
101	* The entire [[UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfAnimation silent age]] had cartoons like this. Music was provided by piano players in the theater.
102	* The "Chibi Tiny Tales" shorts for Creator/DisneyChannel are this.
103	* About 75% of the ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' episode "Quiet Please" becomes this, thanks to a warning by the ScaryLibrarian to not make any sound, not even talking or whispering. The Greens' dialogue becomes a mostly InnerMonologueConversation thanks to Tilly suggesting they use sign language whenever they need to speak, and there is very little onscreen speaking until they leave the library in the end.
104	* ''WesternAnimation/OneFroggyEvening'' is just such a musical, no-dialog cartoon. Of course, it ''does'' have singing, which might be considered "dialogue" of a sort.
105	* Creator/ChuckJones was particularly fond of these; other dialogue-free cartoons of his include the [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner Road Runner/Coyote]] series (unless you count "beep, beep!" as dialogue), the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny entry ''Baton Bunny'', ''WesternAnimation/MuchAdoAboutNutting'', ''WesternAnimation/NowHearThis'' and ''WesternAnimation/HighNote''.
106	** Jones often staged 'dialog' scenes where we couldn't hear the speech (often behind glass) but still knew what was going on - see ''For Scent-imental Reasons'', ''Two Scent's Worth'', ''Beanstalk Bunny''.
107	* Speaking of bunnies, there's also ''WesternAnimation/UntalkativeBunny''.
108	* Disney did a number of these in the 1930s. "WesternAnimation/TheOldMill" is particularly noteworthy for its melodramatic depiction of [[ItWasADarkAndStormyNight a dark and stormy night]].
109	** They returned to them in 2012 with the beautiful theatrical short ''WesternAnimation/{{Paperman}}'', and later, several shorts from the Short Circuit program.
110	* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons for a very long time had no dialogue, either.
111	-->"Don't you believe it!"
112	** In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTales'' we actually see the ''media'' version of this trope; Tom is sitting lazily on the couch eating popcorn and watching a generic cat vs mouse cartoon.
113	* As an extension, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''' ShowWithinAShow ''Itchy & Scratchy'' (which is based heavily on ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry''[[note]] More specifically, the direct inspiration for ''I&S'' was ''WesternAnimation/HermanAndKatnip'', itself a more violent rip-off of ''Tom & Jerry''[[/note]]) also seldom have dialog.
114	* All but a few of the ''[[Franchise/ThePinkPanther Pink Panther]]'' theatrical shorts from the 1960s and early 1970s were produced in this manner.
115	* A modern example is ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches''.
116	** From the same creator, there's ''WesternAnimation/ZigAndSharko''.
117	* Most of the WesternAnimation/PixarShorts. Only "WesternAnimation/{{Boundin}}" with its rhyming narration, "Lava" with its sung dialogue and narration, and the shorts spun off the features, have any dialogue.
118	* The Hungarian cartoon ''Leo and Fred''.
119	* The short film ''ComicBook/TheSnowman'' only has the spoken introduction and the lyrics to "Walking in the Air".
120	* ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep''. Most of the "dialogue" consists of animal noises, and even the human characters only mumble incoherent gibberish. This continues in TheMovie, aside from a handful of songs.
121	* Go to any video sharing site. Search for "short cartoon". You'll find thousands of these.
122	* Although ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfFigaroPho'' uses some vocal sounds, like laughing or screaming, there are no actual lines of dialogue.
123	* Though they had their share of interstitials filling these requirements in the early to late 1970s, Hanna-Barbera had only one such regular entry: Wile E. Coyote knockoff ''Blast-Off Buzzard.''
124	* [[WesternAnimation/TheWizardOfOz1933 The 1933 Wizard of Oz animated short]] virtually has no dialog, save for Dorothy shouting Toto's name at the beginning.
125	* ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'' is completely devoid of any dialogue. There's only one prominent human character amongst the slew of prehistoric animals, and since he's a caveman, all of his vocalizations are animalistic yells and grunts. [[spoiler: Subverted in the last episode of season 1 when he meets a Cro-Magnon woman who ''can'' speak, albeit in Arabic (which he doesn't understand)]].
126	* In the history of the Hanna-Barbera stable, Blast-Off Buzzard was the only entry to fit this trope (though Daws Butler did do the vocal effects for him and Crazylegs the snake). Then again, the segment ''was'' based off WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner.
127	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' had several shorts using this trope: "Babblin' Bijou", the second half of "Potty Emergency" (from the point where Wakko finds the toilet in his bag), "Toy Store Terror" and "White Gloves". All of them, however, have dialogue from the characters at the end.
128	* The ChristmasEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBeaks'' was this, aside from the opening and ending, to mimic the feel of ''Fantasia''.
129	* Creator/{{Teletoon}} has commissioned several series of shorts in this style over the years, aired as interstitials.
130	** ''WesternAnimation/FlyTales'': This adaptation of a French comic series had all of its characters speaking entirely in gibberish rather than any verbal dialogue.
131	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Doodlez}}'': The most that Dood and any of the other characters ever make are things like laughs, sneezes, and grunts.
132	** ''WesternAnimation/{{W}}'': While music and sound effects are prominent in every one of the series' 30-second shorts, none ever featured true spoken dialogue.
133	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Futz}}'': Verbal dialogue is wholly eschewed in this series of 3-minue shorts.
134	** ''WesternAnimation/ChopChopNinjaChallenge'': None of the four ninjas ever speak as they attempt to accomplish the various challenges their sensei puts out for them in these 90-second shorts.
135	** ''WesternAnimation/Cracked2016'': The closest thing featured to dialogue in this series of 60-second shorts are the occasional squawks, squeaks, screeches, and screams that Ed makes.
136	* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 2 "[[Recap/CentralParkS2E06TheShadow The Shadow]], the last five minutes of the episode are a silent montage of Birdie's life busking in the park when he's not narrating about Bitsy or the Tillermans, backed only by his violin.
137	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / MimeAndMusicOnlyCartoon