Line #42 Main/WentToTheGreatXInTheSky


1	An UnusualEuphemism used to describe a character's death (regardless of whether it has actually occurred), where X is a place that exemplifies the deceased's personality, interests or habits.
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3	May or may not be a subtrope of NeverSayDie (depending on the target audience of the work) and, should that be the case, a SisterTrope (albeit more versatile) to HeDidntMakeIt. It may also overlap with NoLongerWithUs (in which case it is almost always PlayedForLaughs) if the character has really gone to some great X in the sky (and this is mistaken as an euphemism), or if the character has really died (and others believe that he has gone to the great X in the sky).
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5	----
6	!!Examples:
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8	[[foldercontrol]]
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10	[[folder:Advertising]]
11	* One of the stop-motion animated [=PSAs=] of RAT (Reject All Tobacco) consists of some toy soldiers being interviewed, who have names based on what they're doing. The sergeant is asked where Smoking A Cigarette Man is, to which he sadly replies that he's gone to the big toy box in the sky.
12	[[/folder]]
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14	[[folder:Comic Books]]
15	* Issue 54 of ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron'' (a tie-in to ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'') has the Dummy make this kind of euphemism when attempting to kill Alan Scott after the latter has destroyed Oom the Mighty and is relieved that Jay Garrick is saving Hourman so he doesn't have to.
16	-->'''Alan Scott:''' Th-Thank God!\
17	'''The Dummy:''' You can thank him in person in a second-- When I send you to that big World's Fairgrounds in the sky!
18	* ''ComicBook/AmalgamUniverse'': Alluded to in ''Spider-Boy Team-Up'', where Spider-Boy falls into a dumpster during his fight with Scavulture and comments on the smell by suggesting that he probably died and ''didn't'' got to the hallowed Hall of Justice in the sky.
19	* In the ''[[ComicBook/ThePunisherPresentsBarracuda Barracuda]]'' miniseries, Barracuda asks his old army associate what might've put the local mafia family on his ass, "Outsida the same ol' lista complaints they always got." He responds with "Outsida all them guineas you sent to the great olive garden in the sky, you mean."
20	* The secondary story of the third issue of the 2015 ''ComicBook/HowardTheDuck'' series has Howard inform an aged Wolverine impersonator that the real Wolverine has gone to the big Canada in the sky.
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23	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
24	* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'':
25	** In the February 7, 1999 strip, a spider wants to take revenge for his grandfather whom, as he says, Garfield sent to "that big web in the sky".
26	** Another strip mentions that Jon's curtains have gone to "that big bay window in the sky".
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Fan Works]]
30	* In ''[[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Yu-Gi-Oh Bonds Beyond Time: Abridged]]'', after Yugi's grandpa dies.
31	-->'''Yugi:''' It finally happened, he went up to that great big basement in the sky.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
35	* ''WesternAnimation/TopCatAndTheBeverlyHillsCats'': Late in the film, T.C. and the gang regretfully inform the niece of Gertrude Vandergelt that her aunt has "gone to the great country club in the sky".
36	[[/folder]]
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38	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
39	* In the notorious ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'', one of the guards at the State Home for the Ugly remarks that the imprisoned Garbage Pail Kids will eventually go to the big garbage dump in the sky.
40	* ''Film/DeathRace2000''. When one of the drivers is killed, TV host Grace Pander hopes they'll be "racing down the big highway in the sky...[[BlackComedy running over the angels]]."
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43	[[folder:Literature]]
44	* In Creator/StephenKing's "[[Literature/FourPastMidnight The Library Policeman]]", the town's resident drunk, Dirty Dave, is said to have gone to the "great ginmill in the sky".
45	** In ''Literature/NeedfulThings'', Pop Merrill, who was relatively rich for a resident of Castle Rock, has gone to the "big flea-market in the sky".
46	* Literature/{{Discworld}}:
47	** In ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' some of the newly sapient rats have begun developing a tentative belief that on death the [[GrimReaper Bone Rat]] (who definitely ''does'' exist) sends them to be with the Big Rat That Lives Underground (unknown but certainly a possibility, as Discworld gods are created by people [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly believing they exist]]).
48	** In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', the Wizards momentarily lose sight of The Librarian when he goes through one of his transforming fits. They eventually decide that he went to the big rainforest in the sky.
49	* In ''Literature/DeathIsForever'', Literature/JamesBond tells a fellow agent that he and the CIA woman he is working with replaced the people who are now "going through a debriefing with that great Director of Intelligence in the sky".
50	* ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'': In book 12's "The Case of Lightfoot Louie", Thad Dixon sadly tells Encyclopedia and Sally that due to an accident on his part, his pet worm, Sis-Boom-Bah, "went to that big mud hole in the sky".
51	* In ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul'', Dirk Gently, attempting a PhonyPsychic scam, tells a woman her husband must be "flighty", only to be told that he's a fighter pilot who disappeared over the North Sea two weeks earlier. In a panic, he babbles that the man has gone to "the great something-or-other in the sky". (As usual, he turns out to be [[NotSoPhonyPsychic exactly right]].)
52	* Played with in ''Literature/WatershipDown'' where after his death General Woundwort becomes a mythical figure, a giant rabbit who hunts the elil like mice and grazes in the sky.
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54	[[/folder]]
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56	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
57	* ''Series/LabRats'': In "Drone Alone", it was shown that Donald made an assistance video to help the others in case he dies, where he says that he must have gone to the big hard drive in the sky.
58	* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOnDeck'': In "[[ChristmasEpisode A London Carol]]", which is a clear parody of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', when London's Mirror takes her [[TimeSkip 60 years into a]] BadFuture where all her friends stopped caring about her and giving her Christmas presents because of how terribly she treated them, the Mirror tells her that Mr. Moseby passed away during that timespan, saying he's "managing that big hotel in the sky". [[TheDitz London, of course,]] [[ComicallyMissingThePoint doesn't get the full picture of what the Mirror meant to tell her.]]
59	-->'''Future London:''' Santa forgot me again? Bah humbug!\
60	'''Present Day London:''' Nobody got me anything? But what about Moseby? He never forgets to get me something.\
61	'''Mirror:''' At this point, honey, I'm afraid he's managing that big hotel in the sky.\
62	'''Present Day London:''' There are floating hotels in the future?\
63	'''Mirror:''' Yeah, that's what I meant.
64	* ''Series/RedDwarf'': In "Stoke Me A Clipper", the dying Ace Rimmer states that he is about to head up to the "great airfield in the sky."
65	[[/folder]]
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67	[[folder:Music]]
68	* Norman Greenbaum's [[OneHitWonder singular hit]] "Spirit in the Sky" is a classic case of an entire song devoted to this trope, as the song title indicates. (The spirit in question is [[Literature/TheBible the Holy Ghost]].)
69	* "The Great Gig in the Sky" is the 5th track on Music/PinkFloyd's 1973 album ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon''. (The phrase has become popular for this trope since then, especially regarding musicians dying.) It certainly helps that the song's main composer was Richard Wright, the first member of the post-Barrett lineup to [[UnusualEuphemism arrive at the gig]].
70	* Creator/AllanSherman's "The Streets of Miami" (a parody of the folk song "The Streets of Laredo") involves two associates who get in a gunfight over which hotel in Miami is better ("I'm going to the Fontainebleu, pardener it's moderner"). One of them dies, and the other is forced to leave Miami forever to avoid mob justice. He ends up complaining that New York is so cold that a person could die, and envies his dead colleague because "he's in that big Fontainebleu in the sky."
71	* A song by Music/TheDeadMilkmen titled "The Thing That Only Eats Hippies" states at one point that the creature sends its victims to 'that great folk festival in the sky'.
72	* The ''Music/GaelicStorm'' song "Never Drink Em Dry (Johnny Tarr's Funeral)" mentions that Johnny has gone to "the pub way up in the sky."
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75	[[folder:Radio]]
76	* In ''Radio/TheMenFromTheMinistry'' dying is often called going into the "Great Ministry in the Sky."
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79	[[folder:Theatre]]
80	* Not a dead character, but one of the heavenly host; at the end of "Beauty School Drop-Out" in ''Theatre/{{Grease}}'', the Teen Angel tells Frenchy he's "gotta be goin' to that malt-shop in the sky".
81	[[/folder]]
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83	[[folder:Video Games]]
84	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' AdventureGame, the babies' Reptar toy accidentally ends up in the garbage can outside. Angelica says that Reptar is going "to that biiig dump truck in the sky!". Phil responds "They have those?"
85	* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight''
86	** One of the game over messages said by [[spoiler:the hallucination Joker]] is that Batman has gone to join mom and dad in that big country club in the sky.
87	** A potential line of dialogue from a thug beating on a firefighter is "Ain't long before you go to that big hydrant in the sky!"
88	* In the ending of ''VideoGame/CrashTagTeamRacing'', Pasadena O'Possum states that without Ebenezer Von Clutch's Black Heart Power Gem he'll go to the big demolition derby in the sky.
89	* In ''The Very Big Cave Adventure'' (a parody of ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'') the bird sends the snake (which happens to be a python) to "that great [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus flying circus]] in the sky"
90	* After his death in ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'', [[spoiler: Scooter]] left behind an ECHO recording of his last will and testament that serves as the basis of the a sidequest in the ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' add on, ''Commander Lilith and the Fight For Sanctuary.'' When you go to talk to [[spoiler: Ellie about running the Catch-A-Rides, the recording says, "If you're listening to this, it means I've become a super-ghost on that big racetrack in the sky, drivin' ghost cars around the sun an' shit."]]
91	* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'': At the end of the side-mission, "He's British, of Course", when Arthur Morgan[[spoiler:/John Marston]] returns to ringmaster Margaret after killing his lion, Margaret gets a little sad, but repays him with an emerald (a fake one, obviously) before going on a journey with his assistant Sally Nash, telling her that the lion has "gone to the great circus in the sky".
92	* When Tex dies in ''VideoGame/UnderAKillingMoon'', he meets the "big P.I. in the sky", aka {{God}}, who comments on whatever he screwed up before sending him back in time to try again. Played by Creator/JamesEarlJones.
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95	[[folder:Web Comics]]
96	* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0222.html one strip]], the wife of a dirt farmer, when reunited with him, states that she was afraid that he had gone to the "Great Dirt Pile in the Sky".
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99	[[folder:Web Original]]
100	* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' referred to "the big bench in the sky" in [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-old-timey-rules-sports-should-bring-back-immediately_p2/?wa_user1=4&wa_user2=Sports&wa_user3=blog&wa_user4=feature_module an article]] about old-timey sports rules they should bring back.
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103	[[folder:Western Animation]]
104	* ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'':
105	** The episodes "Over Cooked Beans" and "Are You There, S.M.I.T.S.? It's Me, Samson!" have the campers use "Scout Master in the Sky", or "Smits" for short, as an UnusualEuphemism for {{God}}.
106	** In "Snake Eyes", Lazlo says the campers went to the "great big cabin in the sky" when he believes the other campers have been eaten by a snake. It turns out they are all sitting in a nearby tree.
107	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'': In ''The World's Greatest [=SuperFriends=]'' episode "Lex Luthor Strikes Back'', when Lex Luthor has Superman nearly beaten, he taunts that the other Super Friends will be going to the great Hall of Justice in the sky.
108	* ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' has used this trope several times.
109	** At one point in "Fred the Flying Fish", Cat believes that he and Dog have died and tearfully tells his conjoined twin brother that they've gone to the big scratching post in the sky.
110	** Another case happens during Cat and Dog's dreams of living separate lives in "It's A Wonderful Half-Life", when the Greasers start to attack Cat.
111	--->'''Shriek:''' You're going to that great big litter box in the sky!\
112	'''Lube:''' ''[looks up]'' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Where?]]
113	** In "[=CatDog=] 3001", Winslow's descendant Winslow the 38th asks [=CatDog=] if they're ready to go to the big litter box in the sky.
114	** Cat refers to dying as "skiddily-bopping to the lonely alley in the sky" in "Cat Gone Bad".
115	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' episode "The Patchwork Bear", the Emerald Empress says that her father went to the great palace in the sky.
116	* In ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', Rocko's car goes to the Great Parking Lot in the Sky. He is guided up by the Grim Tow Truck, and stands at the Pearly Garage Door, which is to be opened by a truck named Saint Peterbilt. [[spoiler: Of course, Rocko gets the car fixed back in O-town, which means the car doesn't actually go past the Pearly Garage Door.]]
117	* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' saw Shaggy use the line "great big boneyard in the sky" in "Scooby-Doo and a Mummy, Too" after seeing Scooby-Doo apparently [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]] by the VillainOfTheWeek. [[spoiler:It turned out to be quick-mix cement.]]
118	* From ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldGoesHollywood'';
119	-->'''Jon:''' My guitar is crushed! It's gone! Kaput!\
120	'''Garfield:''' Gone to that big tuning fork in the sky, huh?
121	* From the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'' episode "Gummis At Sea" ([[spoiler: It was actually a DisneyDeath for Tummi, but still...]]):
122	-->'''Gusto:''' I'm sorry, Gruffi, looks like Tummi's gone off to that big bear den in the sky!
123	* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheHairBearBunch'' episode "The Bear Who Came To Dinner": Square Bear is faking an injury and Peevly is forced to take care of him. Peevly tries to prove Square is faking when the superintendent arrives and wants to know why Square is in Peevly's bed. Hair Bear tells him that Peevly helped pull Square back "from that big bear cave in the sky."
124	* NobleDemon Sixshot of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' will NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead, especially a WorthyOpponent, and refers to his foes as having gone to "the great junkyard in the sky." Which is actually a little weird, considering that the Transformers hold that their ''planet'' is their God-figure Primus.
125	* ''WesternAnimation/WildWestCowboysOfMooMesa'':
126	** "The Cacklin' Kid" has the Cowlarado Kid say to the Baying Bunch that he's not ready to go to the big mesa in the sky.
127	** In the episode "Circus Daze", the Great Bovini gets his clown henchman to retrieve his hypnotizing crystal by threatening to send him to the big top in the sky.
128	* In the ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' episode "That's Entertainment", General Hawk becomes distraught over the mistaken assumption that Jackie Love (a [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed stand-in]] for Bob Hope) has been killed. Before Jackie Love is revealed to be still alive, Hawk mentions that he is now performing on the movie set in the sky.
129	* In the ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars'' episode "So Life Like", Throttle makes a quip about the Biker Mice's evil duplicates going to the great syndicated channel in the sky.
130	* In the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' episode "Smog Hog", Wheeler reacts to [[CrazyJealousGuy Hoggish Greedly's son Junior flirting with Linka]] by saying that he'll send him to the great pigsty in the sky. The euphemism of going to the great pigsty in the sky is also used by Greedly in the later episode "The Ghost of Porkaloin Past" to refer to his grandfather passing away.
131	* In the ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' episode "Cowboy Courage", Minnie (represented by Muriel Bagge) mentions that the Whip (represented by Eustace Bagge) has gone to the big round-up in the sky.
132	* ''WesternAnimation/TheDeputyDawgShow'' episode "Double Barreled Boom Boom" has a beatnik duck state that he's not ready to "make the scene in the big swamp in the sky" when a French hypnotist points a gun at him.
133	* The ''[[WesternAnimation/MightyMouse Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures]]'' episode "Aqua-Guppy" uses this when Captain A. Crab attempts to have himself and Pearl Pureheart (whom he mistook for his old flame also named Pearl) hit by a train, stating that he will join Pearl in the great coral reef in the sky.
134	* ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' has used the trope in several episodes.
135	** In the episode "Axed by Addition", Pete is informed by doctors at the hospital that his son P.J. is gone. He misinterprets this as meaning that P.J. is dead and laments that his son has gone to the little playground in the sky.
136	** During a political debate in "A Goof of the People", Pete tells a bogus sob story of how he used to have a dog named Chester until he went to "the great kennel in the sky".
137	** When in jail for Pete wasting water during a drought in "Bringin' on the Rain", Goofy asks Pete how the daisy he's trying to grow is doing. Pete tells him that the daisy has gone to the compost heap in the sky.
138	** In "E = MC Goof", Pete cries that he'll be going to the used car lot in the sky when he and Goofy are in danger of flying into the sun.
139	* In the ''WesternAnimation/DynomuttDogWonder'' episode "The Wizard of Ooze", when the Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, and Mystery, Inc. are imperiled just before the commercial break, the narrator asks if the heroes will end up in the great Falcon Lair in the sky.
140	* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "The Bride Wore Stripes", Scrooge [=McDuck=] [[FakingTheDead pretends to drown in his Money Bin]] as part of a scheme to make Ma Beagle confess that she lied about being Scrooge's wife in an attempt to gain his fortune. The Beagle Boys, who were in on the plan, tell their mother that Scrooge has gone to the big bin in the sky.
141	* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'':
142	** Used in the episode "Paint Misbehavin'" when Splatter Pheonix states that she's going to send Darkwing, Gosalyn and Launchpad to the great canvas in the sky while trying to kill them with her Octobunny monster.
143	** "Fraudcast News" has Gosalyn tell Darkwing that she'll send him to the big beehive in the sky while pretending to be the Bugmaster's lackey the Grub.
144	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAddamsFamily1992'' episode "Itt's Over" had Uncle Fester state that Cousin Itt has gone to the big wig-maker in the sky when he mistakenly believes that he's killed his cousin.
145	* In the ''WesternAnimation/QuackPack'' episode "The Germinator", Daisy gets Donald to cry (so that his shrunken nephews and Dr. Tovar can get out of his body) by reading a spoof of ''Literature/OldYeller''. The last line she reads mentions the dog going to the old [[DogsLoveFireHydrants fire hydrant]] in the sky.
146	* In the ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'' episode "Boxman Crashes", Enid suggests that she, Rad and K.O. haven't seen Lord Boxman lately because he's gone to the big cornfield in the sky.
147	* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction'' episode "All Aboard the Space Train", Kanjar Ro asks Jonah Hex if he has any last words before he sends him to the big rodeo in the sky.
148	* In the ''WesternAnimation/BumpInTheNight'' episode "Adventures in Microbia", Germ Girl asks for one last look at Squishington's face before she journeys to the great mold in the sky after she uses Squishy's cleaning spray to defeat the Great Mama of All Microbes. It's not clear if she's really dying or being overly dramatic.
149	[[/folder]]
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151	[[folder:Real Life]]
152	* In his eulogy for fellow Creator/MontyPython member Creator/GrahamChapman, Creator/JohnCleese said that he had "gone to meet the great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky".
153	* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' compilation special "The Pertwee Years", Jon Pertwee talks about how the story "Inferno" featured the final appearance of William Hartnell's original TARDIS console, before it was sent "to that great junk-heap in the sky."
154	[[/folder]]

Context Main / WentToTheGreatXInTheSky