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You know you have at least one friend like this.
"Uh, Blunk hate to spoil moment, but... CUTE COUPLE STILL IN TROUBLE!!!" — Blunk (reminding a making-out Caleb and Cornelia that a runaway ATV is about to run them down), WITCH, "I is for Illusion"
Leela: We're heading straight into a black hole!
Fry: Talk about a mood killer.
It's really going to happen this time. They are about to share with each other their feelings after years of keeping them hidden. They come closer together and look into each other's eyes; there has never been a moment so perfect. The stars are aligned, the moon is full and one of them says, "I've never had the courage to tell you this before..."
Then her brother walks into the room, asking if she wants pepperoni or ham on her pizza. "Ugh!!!" is their reply, echoed by all of the fans. Whatever was there has been shot down dead. They lost the spirit of the moment and it will be a long time before they can get it back. After witnessing their frustrated anger, the brother then asks, "Is this a bad time?"
The Moment Killer is the bane of all shippers, and eternally frustrates those who will find any reason to hook up a favorite pairing. The moment is far most commonly romantic in nature, but covers the instances whenever there is a possibility of a relationship upgrade or change, including going from enemy to ally or getting that coveted " Well Done, Son."
The exact nature of the killer can come under several varieties:
- Random Accident: The killer is something mundane, so that the frustration is at its highest because the important moment is destroyed by something unimportant. (The pizza example above.)
- Plot Progression: Something too important to ignore interrupts the moment, but it doesn't make the moment killing any less painful. (Aliens attack.)
- Fatal Fumble: One of the individuals involved ends up being their own moment killer due to miscommunication, poor choice of words, or just a brief hesitation that ruins the magic. ("Hahaha, you're joking, right?")
- Deliberate Destruction: A third party intentionally spoils the moment for reasons of their own; often a jealous rival. Also called "the cockblocker." ("You guys aren't doing anything funny in there, are you?")
- Idiot Matchmaker: Someone who's purportedly trying to help set the mood kills it, through impatience or unconscious design. ("So have you kissed her yet?")
Basic staple of any Will They Or Won't They set up. The most common subtrope is the Almost Kiss.
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Examples
Advertising
- More than one beer commercial has used the idea of a Moment Killer, usually demonstrating how the advertised beer will aid in thwarting him.
Anime & Manga
- Planetes: Tanabe and Sempai are back on earth, visting his parents, they end up on the beach at sunset when Tanabe stumble and create by accident the favorable position for a kiss... a frigging rocket launched by Hachimaki's brother literally sink the moment.
- Happens to Ranma and Akane in Ranma ½ from as early as the Ice Skating battle. In response to that storyline (it makes sense when you see it, I promise) Ramna was dared by Akane to kiss her. As he worked up the raw nerve, he leaned in closer to her, and paused for just a brief moment, hesitating. Then he noticed the other family members watching from a door, encouraging him to "Just kiss her!"
- A much more infuriating one comes from late in the manga. After the parents have told him that the only way to get Akane to give up the Battle Dogi is to, basically, seduce her, Ranma pulls her into a closet for a "sincere" chat. He realizes very early on that, while she's being honest and affectionate, his intentions were not, which makes him feel like a miserable scumbag. Having realized this, he abandons the "plan" and then proceeds to talk to her with his true feelings, and the two of them embrace and come the closest ever to a real romantic kiss... only to have the entire family barge in, and Soun reveals that Ranma's goal was to make her give up the Dogi. Understandably, Akane's anger exploded like never before or after in the manga.
- A favourite trope of CLAMP's, it shows up particularly in Card Captor Sakura. Every time Touya starts to tell Yukito about his other self (in their Yaoi Guys pose), someone interrupts. Of course, the interruption is usually deliberate.
- Every time Keiichi is about to get his nerve up with Belldandy in Ah My Goddess!, something happens. It often involves explosions or magic SNAFUs.
- Inu Yasha's Miroku and Sango have a mutual genius for this, no third party interference required. Miroku is the most frequent offender thanks to his habit of copping a feel just when things are going well, but Sango has been guilty a few times as well. It happens so many times that at one point the series subverts it: finding Sango downcast after an encounter with her little brother, Miroku sits beside her to comfort her, and, atypically, remains perfectly chivalrous until Sango remarks that she would have expected him to try groping her by now. Miroku being Miroku, he promptly offers to make up for his omission if she wants him to. Guess what.
- There's the other time that happens, of course, where she gropes him (expecting to find Shippo's tail, because of course Miroku would never have so much tact to properly comfort her).
- There's one time in "Inuyasha: The Final Act" and the manga (I can't believe it's not butter... er, filler) when Inuyasha and Kagome are in her room talking about her staying in her time until Naraku is dead, then they come this close!... and then here comes the rest of the family from their spontaneouos trip to the hot spring, with Sota coming in and completely spoiling it. Mabye it was because Kagome mentioned her family. That seems to happen a lot, you know, the speak of the devil thing. It's quite annoying, actually.
Inuyasha:How about until the fight with Naraku, is over, you just stay here?
Kagome:(thinking he's delusional)[feels his head]Hmm, no fever.
Inuyasha: Hey! I'm not delusional!
(skipping over unimportant details)
Kagome: It's all right. I'll always be with you.
Inuyasha: In that case, I'll protect you with my life.
(about to kiss)
Kagome's mother: We're home!
- You can quite literally hear the mood bubble pop(no really! they actually made it go * pop* !) and practically hear millions of InuKag fans screaming at their TV (or computer, they had it out on Hulu subbed first)"Oh, COME ON!!!
- Every time Keitaro and Naru in Love Hina come close to kissing or admitting their feelings for one another, someone will inevitably barge in on them or Keitaro will suffer an Accidental Pervert moment and provoke Naru into Megaton Punching him. Even after they finally kiss and become an official Official Couple in the manga, Moment Killers still abound whenever they try to consummate their relationship.
- This occurs in a romantic moment in Elfen Lied between Kouta and Yuka, in which Nyu promptly jumps out, startling them both and ruining said moment. Luckily though, she's completely naked.
- Kaoru and Aoi get this a lot in Ai Yori Aoshi. Most of the cast Moment Kills by accident, but Miyabi, being the Mama Bear she is, does it on purpose. She mellows eventually.
- Might have been taken a bit too far in Code Geass's second season, where the Tsunderes Lelouch and Kallen have yet to have a single conversation that did not go down this path (the Moment Killers have been becoming more and more ridiculous with every passing ep). Note: Code Geass is not a romantic comedy and Kallen, while the most developed of the romantic prospect in season two, may not end up being the winner... if there is a winner at all.
- To make it even more annoying, the first uninterrupted conversation they have during the whole season ends with Kallen confessing to Lelouch and even kissing him, but since he's moments away from turning himself into the enemy of the entire world and doesn't want to drag her into it, he doesn't respond to any of it (says nothing at all, and doesn't even admit that he knows who she is), leaving Kallen with the impression that he feels nothing for her, resulting in Kallen bidding him farewell and walking away, with him sadly whispering goodbye once she's out of earshot.
- Ironically, in R2 episode 24, Lelouch and C.C. have a very touching moment together, and it's interrupted by Kallen bursting through the wall to kill Lelouch. A few fans joked that this was revenge for C.C. interrupting a near-Accidental Kiss between Lelouch and Kallen earlier in the series in a very "mother walking in on her son and his girlfriend making out" fashion.
- Almost everytime Saito and Louise come together in Zero no Tsukaima
- It gets worse and worse. Especially once you consider that it keeps happening during the third season as well, despite the fact that they got married at the end of season two.
- Taniguchi barging in on Suzumiya Haruhi, when Kyon and Yuki were, erm, close to each other could be counted as a Moment Killer. Of course, it's Played For Laughs.
- Haruhi disrupting Kyon and Mikuru twice, too.
- Sousuke is finally about to embrace Kaname when she breaks down in tears at the end of Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid!, but then an entire classful of girls enter the corridor and start shouting at him for upsetting Kaname again.
- Inverted Trope in Digimon Frontier. In episode 46, Takuya and Zoe are talking in the library when Takuya blurts out, "I really like you." Cue Luminescent Blush by Zoe and then by Takuya when he realizes what he just said. By the time Izumi tries to respond, Takuya is sleeping. In this case, the Moment Killer was one of the people that would benefit from the completion of the moment. ...The shippers were not amused.
- America and England of Axis Powers Hetalia have a moment killed in a strip titled this. Also happens between Germany and Italy. In both cases, they don't even need third parties due to tsundere-ish traits or outright Obliviousness.
Germany: Hey! Don't run off when I'm having a moment!
- Anytime Nike and Kukuri have a tender moment in Mahoujin Guru Guru, Gipple will inevitably pop up screaming for a barf bag.
- Naruto and Sakura were having a moment and Sakura was about to feed Naruto ramen when Sai pops in as the Moment Killer — and offers to feed Naruto himself, which Naruto was not pleased about.
- Kakashi ends up being the one who feeds Naruto, which doesn't please anybody.
- Somewhat subverted with Soul and Maka from Soul Eater, when Maka is standing beside Soul in the infirmary after the fight with Crona, in which he was seriously injured. Maka is tearing up and in the middle of some kind of heroic vow when Black?Star crashes into the room and starts yelling at the top of his voice as he practically strangles an unconcious Soul on the bed in an attempt to wake him up. Most shippers felt that the Maka Chop that came after was well deserved.
- Eiken's Densuke and Chiharu, usually caused by Kirika, the other members of the club, and anyone else, in order of likeliness.
- In the final episode of Tenchi in Tokyo, just when Ryoko was about to kiss Tenchi, Washu pops out of the tree trunk where Tenchi and Ryoko are standing, to test her new and improved Dimensional Tunnel. She was then followed by Sasami, and then Ayeka, and finally Mihoshi and Kiyone.
- This happens quite a few times to Dee and Ryo in FAKE. Usually the moment killer comes in the form of Bikky and/or Carol barging into their room (Ryo even calls on them at least once to deliberately foil Dee's wiles), but there's also that time when Ryo fell asleep right after kissing Dee and that other time when Dee's phone rang just as things were getting hot and heavy between the two of them. No wonder it took them seven volumes (which is quite long indeed for a BL manga) to officially get together.
- Good job, Nel, you kind of ruined the quiet, subtle, heart filled moment between Ichigo and Orihime, which essentially counted as their true reunion. Not that you diving into Ichigo's, uh, lower abdomen area wasn't cute in it's own way, it's just, you killed that sweet moment.
- Also, don't forget that bit in chapter 228 when Rukia and Orihime are veering dangerously close to a les yay moment (I mean, just look at the chapter break if you don't believe this troper! http://manga.bleachexile.com/bleach-chapter-228-page-3.html
 ), and Hiyori quite literally falls from the sky and drags Orihime off. Moment killer much?
- This trope is essentially the only reason it took Kei and Mizuho so long to, oddly, do anything at all...except hook up. Huh.
- His annoying and oft-tragic condition doesn't help matters much.
- Kotarou manages to kill what even the translator called a NegiNodo moment, with some ill-timed comradery. Konoka, you could've left him partly Taken For Granite a little longer.
- Nogizaka Haruka No Himitsu uses this trope extensively, with the primary offenders usually being the sister and maids who are supposedly rooting for them to get together.
- Wataru of Hayate the Combat Butler blocked himself. Nagi'd stuffed Isumi in a coffin so she could listen in while Nagi talked to Wataru about the problem of the week. She manages to get him to confess to liking Isumi, then turns to Isumi and asks if she needs anything more. Wataru fiercely backpedals and claims it was a joke. The audience weeps for his crush.
- In Little House with an Orange Roof, Natsumi and Shou are interrupted by Natsumi's sister. Unusually, the killer immediately realizes what she was interrupting and attempts to remove herself from sight.
- In Baka To Test To Shoukanjuu, when the whole building was falling down and everyone forgot that there was an ESB going on, Akihisa and Yuuji were saving their respective partners. Everyone was going awww and suddenly, Yuuko Kinoshita just HAD to defeat Yuuji's summon. Class A won because of it.
- In Kannazuki No Miko, Himeko and Souma have their first kiss, when Himeko starts crying.
- In Gankutsuou Albert and Eugenie are about to kiss in one scene but are interrupted by Andrea.
- In Omamori Himari, its practically a Running Gag for one of the girls starting to get intimate with Yuuko...only to be violently (and, oftentimes, hilariously) interrupted by one or more of the other girls.
- In Special A Yahiro and Megumi are about to kiss when Tadashi rushes by on a motorcycle, yelling "Hey, Yahiro! I'm borrowing your bike for a moment!" Yahiro responds "Can't you read the atmosphere here?"
- How has no-one mentioned Brock's Croagunk yet? The thing is a walking cockblock. Any time Brock gets excited around a woman, he leaps into action with a Poison Jab attack, right in Brock's ass. Brock will collapse and be dragged off. Before Croagunk, variations where Misty or Max would drag him off by the ear used to occur.
Comics
Films
- As for Disney Films:
- In The Little Mermaid; Ursula does this intentionally to prevent a kiss between Eric and Ariel. It has a bit more behind it, though — she's not specifically trying to keep them apart, but instead trying to keep Ariel from fulfilling the terms of her Deal With The Devil.
- Happens several times between Bernard and Bianca (involving a marriage proposal rather than a kiss) in The Rescuers Down Under.
- In Aladdin; Jasmine and Aladdin were having a moment at his sleeping spot and talking about how they both feel trapped by their circumstances. About to kiss, they are interrupted by the palace guards arriving to rescue Jasmine and arrest Aladdin.
- In Hercules; Megara and Hercules were having a post date conversation and falling in love when Phil arrives with Pegasus to interrupt and chastise Hercules for sneaking out on him. Making the best of the situation, he gives her a flower and a kiss on the cheek before he leaves and that leads to Megara's "falling in love" song.
- In what was pretty much his role in all the Star Wars movies, C-3PO exclaimed, "Captain Solo! Captain Solo! I've isolated the reverse power flux coupling!"
- Dot Matrix, the parody version of C-3PO in Spaceballs, has a Virgin Alarm that lets out a loud klaxon when Lone Star and Princess Vespa are about to kiss. "It's set to go off before you do!"
- Judge Dredd. The title character and Judge Hershey are having an intimate talk in Hershey's trashed apartment. Herman Ferguson, the comedy relief sidekick who's been tagging along with Dredd, walks in and interrupts them, then says "Is this a bad time?"
- Donkey does this constantly in the Shrek films. Often to say stuff like "Isn't this romantic?"
- Back to the Future: Marty and Jennifer are dreaming about things in the clock-tower square and are playfully flirting, coming close to a kiss. But it is interrupted by an activist asking for donations to save the clock tower, setting up the Chekhov's Gun about lightning hitting the tower later in the film.
- And at the end of the movie (or the beginning of Part 2), the return of the Delorean from Doc's trip to the future interrupts another kiss.
- Hilariously subverted in Serenity, where Simon and Kaylee finally resolve their UST in the engine room, and the camera pans up to show River poking her head in as they start to do the horizontal mambo. In this case, though, the moment isn't killed; River just watches. From the ceiling.
- In The Dark Knight, Rachel and Bruce are on the balcony outside the large fundraiser for Harvey Dent. Just as they look like they're going to reconcile romantically, Dent comes in abruptly. To make matters worse, the Joker breaks in with his gang and promptly begins shooting up the place looking for Dent.
- Not to mention when Harvey was proposing to Rachel, Bruce appears out of nowhere to knock him him and drag him to a closet because that's when the Joker appeared, looking specifically for him.
- Another balcony scene: in Iron Man, Tony and Pepper are talking outside one of Tony's annual parties. They almost kiss, and stop when both of them realize how awkward the situation is. Pepper asks for a drink and Tony goes downstairs.
- A related scene at the end of the movie, Tony and Pepper share a tender moment when he reminds her of "that night" on the balcony. Pepper then reminds him that he forgot to bring the drink back upstairs and left her waiting.
- Another subversion (or aversion, depending on your point of view) of this trope pops up in the final scene of WALL-E: WALL-E and EVE finally hold hands, staring lovingly into each other's eyes while WALL-E's tape of Hello Dolly! reaches the "It Only Takes a Moment" scene. Just then, the broken robots and M-O arrive to greet the two. Fortunately, M-O recognizes that WALL-E and EVE need to be left alone, and he shoos the other 'bots away.
- In another Mel Brooks film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, after defeating the Sheriff of Rottingham and finding his key fits Mariam's Chastity Belt, Robin was about to unhook her when Mariam's nursemaid storms in, declaring: "Before you do it, you must go through it!... or else I blew it." Cue Robin snapping his fingers in frustration at being cock-blocked.
- Which reminds me of another moment killer of a much different kind, when Robin realized just how sturdy Marian's "everlast" chastity belt was. I think it was more literally painful.
Robin: What do you have on under that dress?
Marian: Practically nothing.
Robin: Oh, Marian. * clank* ... Unnnngh.
Marian: Oh... except that.
- Also at the very end, when they try the key... and it doesn't work. "Call the locksmith!"
- Used as a Running Gag in Chicken Run. Every time Ginger and Rocky try to kiss, something interrupts them. (Mostly done because the animators had no clue how to make two chickens kiss...)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Eddie and Delores are about to kiss when they hear Roger sighing. "P-p-p-please, don't mind me."
- Cars: McQueen and Sally are interrupted by Mater on the Dinoco helicopter.
- Mikaela in the Transformers film improvised and used this as an excuse why Sam was acting nervous and jittery when his parents came into his room: "He was hiding a girl." And his parents fell for it enthusiastically, actually really happy about it. Of course the real reason was that anxious alien robots were in the backyard.
- The entire Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film is just one cockblock after another for Harry. After Dumbledore ruins Harry's chance with a cute waitress, Hermione smacks Harry for even looking at Romilda Vane, and his date with Luna never gets past "just friends", Harry then has this happen TWICE with his true love Ginny. The first time, Ron sits down in the couch between them with an oversized plate of pies. And it just gets better when a bathrobe-clad Ginny is interrupted in kissing Harry when a gaggle of Deatheaters come right the frig out of nowhere and wreak havoc upon The Burrow. Later he finally gets one tiny kiss...and she's gone when he opens his eyes. Oh well, maybe next time. After Voldemort's defeated, or something....
- Technically he never intended to go past "just friends" with Luna.
- Imagine Me and You: the long-awaited make-out scene between Luce and Rachel is interrupted by the sound of Rachel's husband's voice.
- The X-Files: Fight the Future: When Mulder and Scully are about to kiss, Scully is stung by a bee.
- In Notting Hill just before the "I'm also just a girl, standing in front of a boy" speech, Will and Anna are interrupted by a random customer and by a phone call from Will's mother.
- From Enchanted, during the ball scene, Robert and Giselle were dancing together, including Robert singing softly in Giselle's ear (when he earlier claimed that he didn't sing), leaning quite close to each other, when Nancy and Edward interrupted them.
- Tallahassee does this in Zombieland.
Columbus: My God. You are like a giant cockblocking robot developed in a secret fucking government lab.
Tallahassee: Hey...
- The best part is, he accidentally ruined the moment by coming in and asking if they could help him build a pillow fort.
- Ron Howard's character Genius from the MST3K-featured movie Village Of The Giants is this early in the film.
- In the apparently-never-heard-of movie Space Camp, Kevin and Kathryn's kiss is interrupted by two of the camp counselors, because they weren't supposed to be outside of the camp after dark.
- "You just cockblocked McLovin, man! He's our friend, we should be guiding his cock."
Literature
- A much earlier example of the meddling robot (a la C-3PO/Dot Matrix) appears in the Robert Sheckley short story Human Man's Burden. Every time the man and the woman start edging towards expressing their true feelings, an obnoxious marrying-bot bursts in, ruining the moment. Some other robots finally physically restrain the intruder long enough to allow the couple to clinch.
- Thursday Next's time-traveling father does this to Thursday and Landen in the first book when he shows up (freezing time for everyone but himself and Thursday) to have a chat with his daughter about the invention of the banana — while she and Landen are having a moment.
- That's exactly what happens in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Ginny invites Harry to her bedroom to give him his birthday present. How far they would've gone is debatable, but they clearly would've gone past "Thank you for the gift." if Ron hadn't shown up to assassinate the moment.
- In the third Kate Daniels novel, Kate and Curran are having hot and heavy makeouts in a hot tub when oblivious Derek comes in and asks Curran's opinion on another matter. After he leaves, Kate shuts Curran down cold, the break giving her a chance to regain her willpower and her resolution not to get romantically involved.
- In Starfighters of Adumar, Wedge and Iella, who were lovers once but became estranged, are giving little hints about hooking up again, but then someone bursts into the room across the hall to start a duel for honor, and they pull back.
Live Action TV
- Named from a running gag in an episode of Scrubs. Whenever J.D. worked up the nerve to ask Kim out on a date, Elliot would step in and chat with her girl-pal. Cue title-card: ELLIOT REID: MOMENT KILLER.
- Elliot/J.D. had this happen to them in one of the first (pilot?) episodes, when J.D. remarks about the timelimit before you enter "the friend zone" after a near-kiss, just as he is about to get in before the time limit, Dr Cox jumps into the room and kills the moment.
- iCarly: Spencer does this to all 3 of them: he cockblocks Carly hard in her attempt to kiss Shane in iSaw Him First; when Freddie hits on Carly in iDon't Wanna Fight, a flush is heard from Spencer's toilet; and as for Seddie fans, Spencer breaking in to find his banjo before they even answer Carly's question if Sam and Freddie liked their kiss.
- The episode iSaw Him First is quite full of moment killers where both girls attempt to kiss Shane first in all futility.
- Also, Mrs. Benson abruptly interrupts the make-out session between Carly and Freddie in iSaved Your Life. Which at half an hour and going strong, might have been leading towards, or have already involved, something more than just making out.
- Friends did this between Ross and Rachel. In "The One with the Blackout", Ross is about to declare his feelings to Rachel on the balcony, then gets attacked by a psycho cat who belongs, of course, to Paolo.
- Also, in "The One Where the Monkey Gets Away", Ross is about to declare his feelings to Rachel again, when her ex-fiance barges into the apartment.
- This happens again with Rachel in The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs when she is about to reveal her feeling to her assistant Tag until he realizes that his car is being stolen.
- Constantly occurring in the seventh season finale of Frasier, as nearly every supporting character from the episode enters at one point or another, interrupting Niles confessing his feelings for Daphne.
- Also in the seventh season, Frasier and Roz come quite close to hooking up when Kenny barges in unknowingly interrupting them. Of course Frasier and Roz do eventually sleep together in season 9, the aftermath of which can be seen as closure for Frasier/Roz shippers who can now see that they are better suited as Just Friends.
- Parodied in the SM:TV Live Chums sketches, "Me and Cat alone in the flat..." However, Mary being Mary, she understood they had to leave.
- In the Firefly episode "Objects in Space", Simon and Kaylee are talking, one thing leads to another, they both lean in, about to kiss for the first time, and then Book interrupts by accident.
- Simon also has the dubious distinction of having killed at least one moment on his own, though. When alone with Kaylee, in a freak show of sorts, he gives as reason that he is attracted to her, that she is the only woman in his life who is neither married, a "professional," or a close blood relative. Quoth Wash, "Oh my God! It's grotesque! Oh, and there's something in a jar."
- In Farscape Aeryn and John are stranded, apparently going to die. So of course they kiss and start taking off their clothes. Then D'Argo shows up, doing his Big Damn Heroes impression - easily a Crowning Moment of Funny what with Aeryn's pissed-off voice ("Someone's docking?!") and D'Argo's obvious amusement. Also notable is that Aeryn manages to be the moment killer in most of their future romantic moments. Though attacking spaceships, imminent death and Scorpius-take-overs do manage to contribute to aborted romantic moments.
- In The Office fourth season finale, Jim is about to propose to Pam, which the show had been hinting at in recent episodes, when Andy asks Angela to marry him.
- Earlier seasons often featured Jim and Pam having a moment, only for it to be interrupted by the people they were actually with at the time...
- A very unique version happens in the third season finale of Angel. Cordelia asked Angel to meet her at romantic spot on the beach to talk about their feelings, and very strange things happen to prevent that from happening. Angel was betrayed by his son, shackled up in a casket and dropped into the ocean. Cordelia Ascended To A Higher Plane Of Existence. It sorta Makes Sense In Context.
- There's also the end of "Waiting in the Wings", when Angel is trying to tell Cordy about his feelings for her...and then Groo shows up.
- This happens quite literally in Life On Mars. Sam Tyler is leaning over the table to kiss WPC Cartwright... when his future self has an induced heart attack.
- Count how many times Gene Hunt interrupts a heart-to-heart talk between Sam and Annie throughout both seasons.
- He's paid back in Ashes to Ashes, though. Every time Gene and Alex get near each other, Shaz pops in with some vital bit of info or other.
- In the most recent episode of Ashes to Ashes, Jim Keats manages to pull off one hell of an epic cock block. Mind you, that was accomplished with pictures of Sam Tyler so maybe he deserves the credit after all...
- Speaking of John Simm, how has the recent heart-to-heart between the Doctor and the Master in Doctor Who not been mentioned yet? The Doctor is persuading the Master to come and travel with him through the universe, the Master is going all teary-eyed and mellow, there's a declaration of affection on the Doctor's part... and then Wilfred shouts his way into the conversation. Arg.
- Turnabout is fairplay, though, since the Doctor himself is often guilty of this; most recently in "The Lodger", when Craig, his landlord and Hapless Nice Guy, has invited his best friend Sophie around to finally admit to her that he's in love with her. He's just about to blurt it out when cue the Doctor, having decided to rewire the house's electricity.
- Smallville: Clark and Lois are about to kiss for the first time, "officially", when there is a shout of "Oh my god!" and Clark's ex, Lana Lang, walks in.
- Happens to Buffy and Angel when they first kiss — Angel vamps out unexpectedly. This is how Buffy finds out about Angel's true nature.
- A more long-lasting moment killer is when Faith started to tetter towards The Dark Side and Angel managed to capture her before she killed Xander. While talking her down and actually getting her to listen, Wesley burst in with a Watchers Council squad to apprehend her. This effectively ruined any chance to stop her before she made a full Face Heel Turn. Although this was the start of a unique friendship between her and Angel because of being Not So Different.
- BtVS was rife with Moment Killers. Another one that springs immediately to mind comes from the beginning of Season Two. Willow and Xander are out for a nighttime stroll, and Xander playfully dabs Willow's nose with ice cream. He's just about to kiss it off when they are interrupted by a vampire, which Buffy promptly arrives back in town to kill. Willow later attempts to recreate the moment, but by that point, Xander is back to being all hung up over Buffy.
- In True Blood, Tara and Eggs' first near-makeout is interrupted by Maryanne's servant carrying towels. Maryanne is not happy about this.
- In Merlin, Merlin accidently interrupts a tender moment between Gwen and Arthur (spoiler because the episode in question first aired only a few hours before time of writing in UK, and US viewers may have not seen it yet.)
- Dan for Blair and Chuck on Gossip Girl in the season two episode where she has decided to take the chance and tell Chuck that she loves him. Ironic since she originally turned to Dan for help on how to get Chuck into bed without telling him she loved him (he refused to put out unless she confessed love and she didn't want to let him win) and Dan gave her a little speech that convinced her that it was better to take the chance and risk her pride for a shot at happiness. Dan then does a 180 and realizes he hates Blair so he intercepts her on her way to see Chuck and basically tells her she's doomed if she confesses love to Chuck Bass. She tells him he's wrong, but when she's face to face with Chuck she loses nerve and they end up arguing instead.
- Also Vanessa in season one, when Dan and Serena try to have sex for the first time.
- Dan does it to Chuck and Blair again in the season three finale. Chuck's on one knee, box in hand, says "Blair, will you-" and then Dan punches Chuck for sleeping with his sister hours before.
- Finn for Puck and Quinn, twice, in the same episode of Glee. First when the two were about to kiss, and then when Puck tells her he wants to be with her and their baby and she tells him he's special.
- A horrifically literal example pops up in the Dollhouse episode "Getting Closer." Topher and Bennett do outright kiss. Moments later, Saunders shoots Bennett in the head.
- The Mighty Boosh has a couple, albeit somewhat variated: in the first season episode 'Tundra' Howard and Vince are tied up and about to be frozen to death by the evil black frost. Vince and Howard break into a crimp; then Howard suddenly blurts out that he loves Vince. Vince starts to laugh, but when Howard becomes angry and hurt, Vince admits he loves him back. Then, seconds later, Dixon Bainbridge enters the ice cave and spoils the moment. It's variated because a) They aren't looking into each others eyes and b) it's somewhat unclear if Howard means he loves Vince in a platonic or romantic way. It's fairly obvious though that Vince meant his declaration romantically. The second, more brutal moment killer comes about in the episode 'Jungle'. Vince becomes fed up with Howard's constant worship of his mentor, Tommy, and asks Howard if he was in love with Tommy. Howard laughs it off; then Vince moves closer to Howard, looks into his eyes and asks if he ever kissed him. The moment is spoiled when Howard storms off.
- Toward the end of Chuck's second season, Chuck and Sarah finally make out and start to have sex, but when Chuck gets a condom from his wallet, he only finds an IOU from Morgan. This sufficiently kills the moment that their relationship stalls for another season.
- On Dark Angel the moment killer was Logan's eternally helpful PT, Bling and killing moments was very nearly his entire raison d'etre.
- A non-romantic example in Supernatural. As Michael and Lucifer are getting ready to throw down, it's a dead serious moment, full of dramatic tension, Lucifer's "last temptation" to Michael, and they are ready. Then Dean rolls down the road, his car blasting Rock of Ages by Def Leppard. Cue Lucy and Mike going "Wtf?"
- According to Remington Steele the entire universe was involved in a vast conspiracy to prevent him from getting chummy with Laura Holt.
Laura: Why are they shooting at us?
Steele: Because we were kissing. Somebody always shoots at us when we're kissing!
- Happened at least once between Wes and Jen in Power Rangers Time Force. And even after everything was spout the two morons never kissed.
- That goddamn clown.
- Happens a few times in early episodes of Get Smart - in the pilot, Smart realizes 99 is a girl (after quite awhile), they draw closer, closer, and his dog Fang lets out a bark. 99 says "He's right." and they go after the bad guys.
- An (arguably) non-romantic version in The Pacific: Sledge and Snafu have just shared a sweet moment in which Snafu wordlessly comforts his friend over the death of his dog by leaning against his shoulder...and then Hamm barges in to announce that his brother was on a ship that was attacked by kamikazes. (Snafu: "Wow.")
- Several moments between Sydney and Vaughn were killed on Alias: at the end of The Counteragent, Asst. Director Kendall interrupts a particularly tender moment between the two; at the beginning of Phase One, Weiss bursts into the "flirting corner" with exceptionally awful timing, though they later fix that.
- In the Fringe episode "Jacksonville," Olivia pulls one on herself, and yet another happens when she discovers Peter's glimmer before their not-date.
Video Games
- In Persona 3, during the Yakushima Island vacation, the Main Character goes out to comfort Yukari after she runs off upon discovering that her father was responsible for creating the Shadow threat the party has been fighting. After a brief and somewhat stormy conversation, depending on the player's dialog choices, the Main Character will move to embrace Yukari... and then the two will fly apart when Junpei shows up to bring them back inside. True to form, Junpei asks "Did I miss something?"
- These videos featuring a really popular hateship between Kaguya and Mokou show that Tewi also part-times as a Moment Killer. This is what happens when Tewi is left behind. (By the way, all these are fanmade. Yuri fans, enjoy.)
- In a cut scene in Max Payne 2, Max and Mona are in an alley heavily making out to the point where Mona is leaning against a wall with her legs wrapped around Max and her shirt pulled up to her neck and Max * ahem* below that, when they hear Mooks yelling and running towards them. They then have to end their previous activities.
- In MGS3: Snake Eater, Naked Snake managed to cock-block himself. EVA moved in to kiss him and was suggesting a little more when he out of the blue decided to offer her a roasted snake, while moving his head away from her.
- Shepard and your chosen Love Interest in Mass Effect are getting quite close (should you pursue the romantic subplot between them) when Joker interrupts. Shepard can accuse him of doing it intentionally.
- At the end of Uncharted Drakes Fortune, just as Nate and Elena are leaning in suggestively for a kiss, Sully comes out of nowhere and says "You two got a funny idea of romantic!" therefore breaking up the romance... and making it a dreaded Almost Kiss. Nice job, Sully.
- Daxter. Daxter Daxter Daxter Daxter Daxter. Turning a kiss into an Almost Kiss once would be forgivable, but doing it twice? Thankfully, not only does Jak get his revenge in Jak III, but at the end of Jak X Daxter Lampshades this with "Would you just kiss her already? Sheesh!"
- Not sure if this counts 100%, but in The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Tetra finally gets better from being Taken For Granite, and Link and Tetra look one another in the eyes. Smiling, they reach their hands out to one another in slow-motion, and just as they're about to touch, Bellum bursts through the ceiling and steals Tetra away.
- Becomes a running gag in Ace Attorney, when Detective Gumshoe walks in, accompanied by a loud "THUMP" and exclaims "Hope I'm not interrupting anything!" Cue the icy stares and Gumshoe sulking off.
- After which Phoenix will promptly call him over, it was a running gag in the bonus fifth case where Gumshoe would then retort "You're doing this on purpose aren't you? Making a gumshoe run around while on duty! And on top of that you drag me here! I've seen happier people at funerals!"
- Final Fantasy IX has one scene involving Steiner and Beatrix together... which gets wrecked when Baku walks into them, sneezing loudly.
- Guybrush has just proposed to Elaine, and put the engagement ring on her finger, when Wally appears and innocently informs them that the ring has a HUGE VOODOO CURSE on it. Elaine is not happy.
- In Earthbound Zero, right after Ninten and Ana confess their love for each other, Teddy bursts in and a giant robot attacks them, killing Teddy. Real moodkiller there.
- In the Fate/stay night games, especially hollow ataraxia, Sakura tends to walk in at bad moments. This is especially bad in hollow ataraxia where she manages to walk in on just seemingly every scene that Shirou and Rider have together. Perhaps justified though—Sakura is Rider's Master, also likes Shirou, and the few times she doesn't walk in, Rider and Shirou tend to end up naked.
Web Animation
- In the Homestar Runner cartoon Date Nite, Homestar and Strong Bad do this on purpose to Marzipan and The Cheat.
Homestar: Ah, good evening ungodly couple, my name is Waiter, I will be your Homestar for this evening. Can I start you two off with a glass of "Breaking Up", or perhaps "Never Seeing Each Other Again" with capers?
Web Comics
- This becomes a Running Gag in Kid Radd.
- Casey and Andy, Strip 627: Andy pops in to inform Casey of the arrival of Jenn's time-traveling daughter, and the necessity to embark on further temporal misadventures to save the timeline... while he's in the middle of proposing to his girlfriend. Of course, Mary is very understanding, and even lets Casey go off with Andy to save the timeline.
- Chapter 18 of Gunnerkrigg Court begins with Kat walking in on her parents as they're getting intimate.
- Much cheer was had when they carried on after she had left the room.
- Rumisiel plays the Moment Killer on Ash and Em in an early Misfile strip, sending their relationship straight down Belligerent Sexual Tension alley.
- And here we have Ash and Em having a significant moment, with Em just on the verge of saying that... Y HELO THAR, MISSI!
- Happened in The Order of the Stick # 316: Haley attempts to kiss Elan during New Year's Eve, but can't bring herself to do it. When she finally gets the courage, another girl jumps in and kisses Elan instead.
- The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: A velociraptor-riding bandito (roll with it) makes a very cool speech at the end of this strip. Then the doctor has to go and ruin it.
- El Goonish Shive had this often, usually with Sarah doing the moment-killing — and occasionally realizing that she'd just killed a moment. Also lampshaded in the process of aversion when Tedd asks Grace why she's leading him away from Ellen and Nanase as if they need privacy for some reason.
- The Demonic Duck deliberately interrupts Justin and Susan during the party using his illusion powers. Afterward, they're both grateful the "light bulb burned out".
- In 8-Bit Theater, Black Mage accidentally Killed his own Moment. The one time when it seemed he might be slowly winning the heart of White Mage, he casually let it slip that his Hadoken siphons love out of the universe every time it's used... and that he sacrificed several children to obtain the spell. She didn't take it too well. Tough luck for BM, but if he ever reads this page, he'll feel better knowing he killed something.
- The title character of Experimental Comic Kotone is a Moment Killer, a theory that Konstantin forcibly tests out here
- Agatha and Gil's Almost Kiss in Girl Genius is interrupted by an angry professor on a mechanized Gatling gun carrier. This fact, all by itself, tells you everything you need to know about the comic.
- Gil's reaction to being shot at is an indignant 'hey!' that is clearly a reaction to the moment being killed rather than him almost being killed.
- Sluggy Freelance: Torg and Zoe have something like this happen a few times.
- In the chapter "Summer Vacation", Zoe feels attracted to Torg after he does something heroic (if stupid). Even Kiki comments that they're going to smooch. But when Zoe starts telling how brave she thinks he was, he obliviously says that if she was impressed by it, another woman he has a crush on is "going to flip", and makes to call her. The moment is killed so thoroughly Zoe stops showing any such inclination for years.
- Later, having realized he's in love with her, Torg tries to win Zoe's heart with a giant bejewelled necklace he found in a pyramid as a Christmas present. She's quite taken with the gift, until she puts it on and it turns her into a camel.
- Subverted in "Love Potion," when Torg and Zoe look at each other by accident while they think they're under the influence of a potion that makes people madly attracted to the first person they see. As they're staring at each other, Gwynn pops up to tell them the potion's effects have worn off. After she leaves, Torg finally asks Zoe out and she readily accepts.
- The biggest moment killer of all is in the same chapter, during said date. Just as he's contemplating leaning over and kissing her, he suddenly finds lips touching his - but they belong to a back-from-the-dead assassin who is extremely yandere towards him. To protect Zoe, he has to insult her and then laugh it off when said assassin kicks her in the face before dragging him away to get married. Epic moment kill.
- Deliberately set up in Blip. When Hester gets set up on an unwanted date, she arranges for her friend K to "accidentally" run into them and act as a third wheel for the remainder of the date.
- Nerf Now, this strip. Scout - an impatient, twitchy loudmouth - is of course a natural Moment Killer.
Web Original
- In the fourth book of Shadow of the Templar, Jeremy, normally calm and emotionally unaffected, suddenly kisses Simon passionately and seems to be about to tell him something important. Of course, they're interrupted before he can get it out.
- In Awkward, Alex performs this function for Lester and Steph. Lester being the target of his stalkerish affections, it's entirely intentional. Lester doesn't take it well.
Western Animation
- My gods, the amount of this with the Teen Titans movie Trouble in Tokyo drove this rabid Robin/Starfire shipper nuts. "No! Why did you walk in now? They were about to, and Robin's wearing those! Arghhh!"
- Then you must have been relieved when they finally got to that part at the end of the movie.
- And there were plenty of these in the series itself.
- Which is pretty freaking funny because anyone that knows the slightest thing about the comic series knows they did a ton more than kiss. I believe the term is "shared quarters" in Titans' Tower.
- Beast Boy and Raven had, not one but two of these. The first one was after a tender hug, Cyborg promptly threw a ball of dirty laundry at Beast Boy's head. It Makes Sense In Context. The second was killed by Beast Boy himself, much to Raven's annoyance.
- Several times in Avatar: The Last Airbender. In "The Earth King", the group was parting ways for a little time, and Aang wanted to confess his feelings to Katara. Just as he said, "I kinda want to tell you something..." Sokka swings his arm around him and excitedly talks about where they are going.
- Zuko and Katara have a gentle moment where Katara was pondering whether to use her healing powers on Zuko's scar... when Aang bursts through the cave wall to come to the rescue. Word Of God has repeatedly said that nothing romantic was implied in that scene anyway, except maybe a cruel "never-going-to-happen" Ship Tease.
- Shipping aside, that moment also had the potential to trigger Zuko's Heel Face Turn...
- Zuko also picks a very bad time for a chat with Sokka...
- Very, very, VERY bad. * must unsee*
- And even later when Zuko sits between Aang and Katara when Aang wanted to sit next to Katara. Zuko is really bad at this.
- Runs in the family: Azula does it to Zuko and Mai during their sunset picnic.
- Azula does it on PURPOSE. Zuko simply doesn't think. (He's older and more experienced than most of the kids on the show, it's just that he's a bit too self-focused to realize other people might have relationships outside him.)
- Played with on Code Lyoko. After returning from a school break, Yumi wanted to walk to Ulrich about their UST. No less then three times in 10 minutes, as they tried to have that moment, they were interrupted. When they finally get the needed 30 seconds, Yumi then gives him the dreaded Just Friends line. Ouch.
- In an episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man, Gwen keeps attempting to suggest that she'd like to go to the High School Dance with him (since she Cannot Spit It Out any other way), but Peter is her Moment Killer by confessing that he had been going to go with an older girl, but she turned him down. And then Gwen tries to be a little more blunt...("She's not the only girl who would...")...before Peter changes the subject. What An Idiot.
- In Justice League Unlimited, Flash managed a dramatic moment killer: the league makes a perfect, epic entrance and the awe of the moment gets Narmed by Flash shouting "Ta da!" More traditional examples happen to moments between Green Lantern and Hawkgirl.
- A few of these happened to Batman and Wonder Woman. One time, they were discussing about their potential relationship when an alarm sounded off.
- Wade does this a few times in Kim Possible. Apparently it was funny according to the writers.
- In the Futurama episode "A Flight to Remember", where the characters travel on a cruise spaceship:
Leela: Looks like everybody's got somebody. Except me.
Fry: And me.
(they almost kiss, when the ship shakes and they fall over)
Leela: What was that? Oh, my God! We're heading straight into a black hole.
Fry: Talk about a mood killer!
- In the episode "Parasites Lost", Fry himself kills the moment. First, he runs away to get rid of the parasites, hoping to prove that Leela loves him and not just what the parasites did for him. When he came back, and Leela was rather miraculously still in the mood, he managed to tick her off by bringing an old girlfriend into the conversation.
- Doubles as a Crowning Momentof Awesome in this troper's opinion, that Fry would rather win her over while remaining who he is instead of letting the miracle worms keep turning him into Batman.
- Cody from Total Drama Island constantly kills Gwen and Trent moments by trying to win Gwen's affections, he even manages to pull this off in the theme song.
- In Superman: Brainiac Attacks, the titluar villain is the moment killer for Clark and Lois. Let's face it, all supervillains seem to have perfect timing for moment killing...
- In the Hulk vs. Wolverine this seems to be Deadpool's role, though he kills drama rather than romance. For example, as the Weapon X members resolve to hunt down Wolverine and there's the traditional menacing shot of the team assembled and ready for violence, Deadpool shouts, "Strike a pose!"
- The Super Robot does this to Sprx and Nova in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go, ironically enough by saving their lives.
- In The Fairly Oddparents, "Wishology" Part III had a Running Gag about Timmy and Trixie trying to kiss, but a different character would interrupt them each time: first Mark, then Mr. Turner, then finally Jorgen, who may be the worst, since he flat out tells Timmy he's wiping everyone's memories, effectively hitting a Reset Button of the relationship.
- That actually goes against what has been stated time and time again throughout the series about magic not being able to interfere with True Love.
- Parodied in South Park: For most of the series, every time it's even theoretically possible Stan and Wendy might be on their way toward having a moment, he throws up. Usually on her.
- Tucker Foley from Danny Phantom.
- Several happen for Candace and Jeremy in Phineas and Ferb.
Other
- Comedian Pablo Francisco describes this trope perfectly in one of his sets.
- Billy Joel's song "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" is about this but the Moment Killer is the narrator himself (and in once case, the girl he fancies)
- In Patton Oswalt's comedy album Werewolves & Lollipops, Oswalt is building a serious moment about birth control and having an intimate relationship when... this happens (at the 6:20 mark).
Statler: You think these guys have ever had a moment killer? Waldorf: I don't think they've ever had a... Khârn: SKULLS FOR KHORNE! RAAAAGH!
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