The characters will be in a conversation when suddenly the scene changes to another location entirely... but the conversation continues as if no time has passed at all, despite how far away the new location was from the original one.
Sometimes this will be avoided by a "I still don't get...", to make it seem like the characters have been talking all along, but usually they just scene transition and keep talking.
And sometimes a character would question the said speaker for their sudden resume of the conversation, as time actually did pass.
Subtrope of Time Skip. Related to Traveling at the Speed of Plot. The supertrope of Gilligan Cut and "I Know What We Can Do" Cut.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In Strawberry Marshmallow, Hiroki Matsui, cosmetics salesman, is punched in the eye, breaking his glasses and causing them to hang under his nose by one ear, thanks to Nobue becoming convinced that he's a pedophile. A few panels later, he's in front of the company president, resigning. For whatever reason, he has not removed his glasses.
- Right after the A Minor Kidroduction in the first episode of Asteroid in Love, Time Skips to Mira's first day at high school. As she walks to the homeroom after the speech...
Mira: As of today, I'm a high schooler! And the one thing I'm looking for the most in high school is...
[Cut to Mira reading the club listings after school]
Mira: [Ocular Gushers] GONE!
Comic Strips
- Calvin and Hobbes does this sometimes, often in strips while the duo are talking and walking through the woods, where a single relatively short conversation is written, but the settings and activities appear to be a montage taking place over several hours.
- The "April 30, 1989"
Sunday strip "cuts" from a stroll through the woods, to the two of them settled on a log across a stream throwing a pile of stones, and back to the two of them walking through the woods again, in the space of just a sentence or two.
- The "April 30, 1989"
Fan Works
- In the second chapter of My Immortal, Ebony and Willow have a conversation with the line "as we went out of the Slytherin common room and into the Great Hall" thrown in at one point. The Slytherin common room and the Great Hall are hardly next to each other, but Ebony and Willow apparently traversed the whole distance between two lines in their conversation.
- In A Witch, A Wizard, and a Mechanic, a Ministry of Magic employee is being questioned by the Aurors about something he had done that unwittingly helped a band of death eaters. When he asked the Aurors why they wanted to know, they hauled him down to an interrogation room (down three flights of stairs and an elevator) before answering his question.
Films — Live-Action
- The Arrangement: Gwen is trying to get Eddie out of the booby hatch. The doctor at the asylum says "I suggest that you see—", cut to next scene, and a servant says "Judge Morris," introducing Gwen to the judge who signed Eddie's commitment papers.
- Dark Waters: One long scene shows Robert explaining his research and its health implications first to his wife, then to his boss Tom, then to opposing lawyer Phil Donnelly, then to his client Tennant, with it all feeling like the same non-stop speech.
- Speed: In the beginning, Jack and Harry start a conversation in a skyscraper, then the scene cuts to the roof of the building, where they finish it after running up several flights of stairs.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World jumps around erratically in this manner several times.
- Played with in Baby's Day Out: Instead of using a Jump Cut, Eddie simply says the first half of a sentence then runs away, leaving his partners wondering what he's talking about.
- Newt clasps his hands in prayer in The Learning Tree as the family says grace. Cut to Newt clasping his hands in prayer at the church, as the preacher seamlessly continues the prayer.
- Opfergang: Albrecht is telling his friend Matthias that it's time to tell Octavia, "Octavia, will you be my wife?". Cut to Octavia as it becomes apparent that Albrecht is doing just that. She happily accepts.
- The President's Analyst has a scene where two spies, an American and a Russian, old friends, swap notes and make a bet on finding the fugitive doctor — it takes place over some time as they're both in some five different changes of clothing.
- Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World: Multiple times director Shirley Clarke cuts back and forth between different scenes in such a way that Robert Frost's train of thought is uninterrupted. One scene has Frost meditating on American greatness, saying "The Russians know how good we are," cutting to a completely different conversation before a different audience in which Frost says "Everything the Russians say they say in our direction."
- In S.O.B., the conversation about Felix falling through the ceiling and landing on gossip columnist Polly Reed cycles through the whole cast this way, with each character getting a line or two over several conversations.
- Richard III. Richard's "Now is the winter of our discontent" monologue starts off as a public speech praising the victorious King, before a Mood Whiplash dialogue cut to Richard sneering at the King in the privacy of a urinal, this time addressing the audience.
- A particularly egregious example in Revenge of the Nerds III. Booger tells Lewis' nephew, Harold that there's only one way to truly unwind. It then cuts to him in a conga line, looking directly into the camera, where he says, "And that's to party with an Omega Mu! MOOO!"
- Constantine (2005): Constantine and Angela Dodson are standing in a room in a psychiatric institution talking about Angela's sister Isabel. Constantine asks Angela how long she had Isobel committed to the institution. The scene suddenly changes to Isobel's room in the institution and Angela says "Two weeks". In other words, Constantine asked her the question, they walked up to Isabel's room, then Angela answered the question.
- Garbage Pail Kids: Tangerine and Dodger get in a car at midday driving to a fashion show when Dodger asks Tangerine a question. In the next shot, it's nighttime as Tangerine starts answering the question. This implies they drove around the city for 8-10 hours in dead silence before Tangerine even started to answer the question Dodger asked.
Literature
- The Hotel New Hampshire ends with one of these.
- In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Julia and Winston call this "talking in installments". They will sometimes abruptly cut off their conversations mid-sentence if they think someone could hear them, and continue talking as if nothing had happened the next time they crossed paths.
- The Murderbot Diaries: Murderbot has an In-Universe version in Artificial Condition when it shuts itself down for recharging to avoid speaking to ART, only for the artificially intelligent spacecraft to continue the conversation the moment that Murderbot revives, as it can't get bored or distracted like a human can.
Live-Action Television
- Subverted in the Season 4 premiere of Community. The Dean says, "Then follow me to..." and proceeds to lead everyone somewhere while continuing the "ooh" sound. It takes a long time, and at least one point, he has to draw breath before resuming.
- Used as a plot point in an episode of House. A conversation moves from an office to a staircase with no transition, which House promptly lampshades as violating laws of both physics and reality. This is actually a crucial clue in diagnosing the patient: House himself is in a coma after being shot, and he needs to wake himself up from the dream he is trapped in.
- Sometimes happens in Star Trek when two or more characters carry on a conversation while beaming someplace. Also happens in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Message in a Bottle" when two holograms transfer their programs to another location mid-conversation.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- In "Once More, With Feeling", Willow and Tara move from serenading in a park to their bedroom during the song "Under Your Spell", as due to magical influence everyone in Sunnydale is acting like they're in a Musical Episode.
- In "Bad Eggs", Joyce finds Buffy in her bedroom fully dressed, having just got back from patrolling.
Buffy: I had a bad dream?
Joyce: Oh, no, you're about to have a bad dream! A dream that You Are Grounded! for the rest of your natural life!
(Cut to the next morning in their Jeep pulling to a stop in front of the school.)
Joyce: Which means: no after school socializing, no Bronze, no nothing. Not until I say so. Do you understand?
- Angel. In "The Girl in Question", Angel and Spike are arguing as they enter an elevator at Wolfram & Hart. Cut to them still arguing on the airplane to Italy.
- An early episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has Kimmy's apathetic teacher explain that he doesn't care if she fails because it gets him "one step closer... to this!" (where "this" is a room where useless teachers sit and do nothing while still getting paid). Subverted in that while it seemed like this trope to the audience, Kimmy reveals that he literally paused his sentence, walked her over to the room, and finished it. It took 20 minutes, and she forgot what the beginning of the sentence was.
Web Animation
- Homestar Runner uses this in the Strong Bad Email "concert"; Strong Sad and Strong Bad carry on a conversation about sloshy through several such cuts.
Webcomics
- Concerned lampshades this, when Frohman pauses to get dressed midway through a sentence.
- In Poppy O'Possum, Kit Darling claims over the phone that she's in the bath, when she's actually nowhere near it. But when she finishes the sentence in the next panel, she's already jumping into the bathtub. Subverted when the reply is: "I'm…going to ignore the fact that it took you three minutes to say a five word sentence."
- Penny Arcade does this on occasion:
- "Linguaphiles Unite" has this effect, although Gabe and Tycho are actually going through three different versions of reality from frame to frame, rather than just locations, as they casually discuss how the strip should be drawn.
- "Render" doubles as an Answer Cut as a conversation about how their "process" works takes them from what appears to be an office to a misty forest without any break in the dialogue.
- "Linguaphiles Unite
Web Original
- CinemaSins points this out in their Skyfall video. Bond is receiving information about the situation while montaging through a workout, leading them to wonder if he's literally spending only a few seconds on each exercise or the other man is providing the information a few seconds at a time.
- Don't Hug Me I'm Scared: Played with in episode 6, when Red Guy starts changing the teacher mid-lesson.
Tony: Time went old, got new like history. Stuff from the past went into a mystery!
Yellow Guy: You made me die!
Tony: But look—!
Colin: —A computer! I'm a computer-y guy! Everything made out of buttons and wires! I'd like to show ya—!
Shrignold: —Why we're here, what's it all about you've no idea. And everywhere you look, all you see is hatred; and darkness, death and—
Meat Man: —Ice cream beef? Ice cream beef makes your teeth go grey!
Spinach Can: Doesn't matter, just throw it away! Why not try some—?
Duck Guy: —Fish on my tray? WHAT?! WHERE AM I—?!?! - The creator of Courier's Mind: Rise of New Vegas handles Fast Travel by having the Courier start talking and cut to wherever the conversation ends, which is always on a weird note as they arrive at their destination.
Western Animation
- In Charlie and Lola, Lola decides to collect leaves by trying to pull them down from a tree. However, she's unable to catch them.
Marv: Does she know it's only spring?
Charlie: No, I don't think she knows that the leaves won't be falling off until...
[cut to Lola, shocked]
Lola: Autumn?! The leaves don't fall until autumn? - Kim Possible: In one episode, Drakken and Shego go from a flooding underwater lair to a supermarket and their conversation continues as if they'd never moved.
- The Simpsons:
- Lampshaded when someone trying to win Marge's heart says "Why ride when we can [scene switch to plane] glide!". She responds "I'm just glad you're talking. You didn't say anything for 40 minutes".
- The Simpsons has started to breathe this trope lately. It's now impossible for them to do this straight, but they just love it too much.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Used in the second episode, with Twilight Sparkle reading the last known location of the Elements of Harmony, and the scene dissolves from the library into the location as she (and the other ponies) say "...the Everfree Forest!" Pinkie Pie does another one at the end of the episode:
Pinkie Pie: Hey, you know what this calls for? [scene transition to Ponyville] A party!
- Parodied in The Cleveland Show when Freight Train is roped into spending time with Cleveland Jr. Cleveland Jr has a baking class he needs to get too, but Freight Train decides to take him somewhere more manly.
Freight Train: Forget your cake class. I'm taking you somewhere else.
Cleveland Jr.: Where?
Freight Train: Not where...
[scene cuts to the outside of a YMCA]
Freight Train: ...Why! (Y)
Cleveland Jr: You made me sit in silence the entire car ride for that? - Lampshaded in an episode of Futurama when Zoidberg says that "It was worth waiting five hours to hear you finish that sentence".
- Archer has a variation on this as a standard writing style, where a scene cut has a response to a previous bit of dialog, but in a completely different context, by completely different characters.
- Sonic Boom:
- Lampshaded when Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles need to pass of as music industry professionals.
Sonic: I know just what to do...
[scene cuts to Sonic's house]
Sonic: We'll form our own boy band!
Tails: Did you really have to bring us all the way down here to finish that sentence? - And again in the same episode.
Tails: Don't worry, I know just what to do...
[scene cuts to Tails' workshop]
Tails: Since the mind-control is embedded in Justin's music track, there must be an opposite sound frequency that can counter it. I just need to find it. Thus, the measurometer.
Sonic: It's fun to bring people a long way to finish a sentence, isn't it?
Tails: It really is! - Sonic Boom seems to love this trope. In the episode, Sticks and Amy's Excellent Staycation, they drive it in even further.
Amy: Sorry, Sticks, but dirt throwing isn't my cup of tea. Thankfully, I know something that is my cup of tea.
[scene cuts to Amy's house]
Amy: A cup of tea!
Sticks: Why did you just say that?
Amy: Remember before, I said "I know something that is my cup of tea"? I was just finishing the thought.
Sticks: But you said that, like, an hour ago.
Amy: Yeah, but imagine if you were an outside observer just watching pieces of the conversation.
Sticks: You see them, too?! [glares at the audience]
- Lampshaded when Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles need to pass of as music industry professionals.
