Anything but That!

Well, would you want to taste his armpit?

"You can scratch up my records, you can drink my booze
But baby, please don't wear those shoes
You can make me an offer I can't refuse
But darling, please don't wear those shoes
You can play your bongos while I'm trying to snooze
But honey, please don't wear those shoes
You can expose yourself on the six o' clock news
But please, please don't wear those shoes"

— "Weird Al" Yankovic, "Don't Wear Those Shoes"

Standard response when someone is threatened with something. It tends to come off as a bit of an overreaction, since the speaker must know that there are far worse things that could happen, but might be justified if it is their worst fear and/or a Fate Worse than Death. Often played for comedy when the threat is relatively minor.

Classic reaction to when family or the Band of Brothers are threatened. For many heroes, someone they love being hurt because of them is literally the worst punishment they could possibly receive at the hands of a villain.

Sometimes the reaction to a Cool and Unusual Punishment and Suckiness Is Painful; more rarely, to a friend or ally asking for a specific reward or favor they really don't want to (but probably can) give. See also Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?. Frequently paired with "We Have Ways of Making You Talk". See also I Take Offense to That Last One.

Commonly found in Room 101.

When someone is faking this under the assumption the more they beg for "Anything but that," the more likely they will be given "that," it's Briar Patching. When they're forced into accepting the threat anyway for their own personal needs, see Too Desperate to Be Picky. See Would Rather Suffer for a similar trope for non-threatening choices.

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Examples

Anime and Manga

• In Code Geass R2, this is how Kallen Kōzuki reacts to Suzaku Kururugi coming to interrogate her with the Refrain drug. Understandable, since Refrain would cause her to give up the Black Knights' secrets. More importantly, her mother has been addicted to the drug for years, so Kallen is understandably terrified of being subjected to its damage. At first, Suzaku disregards her pleas and even hits her when she tries to resist. But eventually, due to being The Fettered, he decides not to drug her and tries to apologize... only for Kallen to assault him with a vicious series of punches for his constantly revolving moral duplicity.
• Used humorously in an episode of Pokémon: The Original Series. Team Rocket demand that Misty hand over a Water-type, when this happens:
  Jessie: Give us a Water-type Pokémon, twerp!
  (Psyduck pops out of its Poké Ball, with its usual dumb look)
  James: NO! NOT THAT ONE! Please don't make us take Psyduck!
• In A Cruel God Reigns this is Jeremy's response to the laundry rope line that his stepfather uses to tie him up while he whips/rapes him, and not necessarily to the abuse itself (although he doesn't want that either.) In his defense, that is the rope with which Greg's first wife Lilya hung herself and Jeremy knows this.
  Jeremy : Anything but that rope! You strangled Lilya with that rope!
• In Fairy Tail after Team Natsu comes back from an illegally taken quest, everyone is told they are going to be given a punishment only referred to as "that", with the exception of Erza who 1.) Was the only member of the team allowed to take such a mission, and 2.) Because she's the one sent to collect the rest of the team. Everyone responds appropriately, except Lucy, who is terrified of what they're in store for and is begging everyone to tell her what it is. It's soon revealed to be a simple smack to the head (and, in Lucy's case, her ass). (The anime, on the other hand, keeps it a mystery.)
• Played for Horror in the final episode of Digimon Adventure 02, where MaloMyotismon tortures his minion Arukenimon to death—her final words are screaming "No, please, NOT THAT!" just before he destroys her.

Comic Books

• Played for Drama (twice) in JLA/Avengers, first when Superman knocks out Thor, the Avengers yell things in the line of "No! Not Thor!" in anger and dog-pile him in retribution. Aquaman says something similar when he witnesses this and rushes to help Superman, by summoning a giant sea serpent and ordering the Avengers to back off.
• Regularly happens for comedic effect in the Mortadelo y Filemón comics - often when a new secret entrance to HQ is to be used or an invention by Dr Bacterio is to be tested. And Mortadelo and Filemón have good reasons for their reaction.
• As shown by the current page image, Marvel Comics' What The—?! protagonist The Pulverizer is always willing to play hard ball. When all of his threats don't break the bully, giving him an armpit lollipop is too much to take.

Fan Works

• In the Kingdom Hearts Fanfiction Oathkeeper's Awakening, Elsa reacts this way when Anna attempts to sing Let It Go.
  Ugh, no! Anything but that.
• In The Lion King Adventures, Zazu fears being tickled more than anything.
  Zazu: Oh, no, sire, not the monkeys! They always know what the best spots to tickle are!
  • This is Simba's reaction when a Brainwashed and Crazy Haiba threatens to give him the Kiss of Death.
• In the Bleach Crack Fic Please Stop Eating The Hell Butterflies, Yamamoto promises to give the Vizards an official apology, publically and in writing. Hell, he'll even give them a hundred years' worth of backpay as compensation for the troubles Soul Society has caused them, but for the love God he does not want them joining the Thirteenth and Three Quarters Division! They end up joining anyway.
• In Infinity Train: Seeker of Crocus, Specter is about to re-board the Infinity Train when he gets cryptic text messages that read out as his "thoughts" on previous cars. While the first two entries seem fine, he starts getting freaked out when the sender starts making him reflect on the Fog Car since it was where he was tortured, had to see London nearly die, and he kicked Easter out of a window out of anger.
• In Face The Vax Everest says it almost word for word when she's informed she has to get a shot.
• Shadows over Meridian: The rebels who were detained for taking part in the Prison Riot at Snowpoint have this reaction when Jade sentences them to be taken to her palace's dungeons in the Shadow Realm, as ending up in the Land of Eternal Shadows is believed to be akin to being Dragged Off to Hell.

Films — Animated

• Shrek: Gingy, while being interrogated by Lord Farquaad, says the following:
  Gingerbread Man: "Not my gum-drop buttons!"
• The Lion King (1994) has this case of Disney doing some Self-Deprecation:
  Scar: Sing something with a little... bounce in it.
  Zazu: (sings) It's a small world after all...
  Scar: NO! No. Anything but that!
  • Even funnier in the theater version, where Zazu starts singing "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast, which was also on Broadway at the time. When that ended, he switched to "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins, which also went on Broadway. Which then switched to "Let It Go" from Frozen.
  • And earlier in the film:
  Zazu: Oh, NO! NOT THE BIRDY BOILER!
• Toy Story 3 has Barbie interrogating Ken in order to rescue a Brainwashed and Crazy Buzz. Her method; tie him to a chair and force him to watch as she tears his clothes. Ken breaks when Barbie starts tearing his favorite piece.
  Ken: Not the Nehru jacket!

Films — Live-Action

• Angels in the Outfield: In the remake, when Knox needs David out of the way, he tells him to go get nachos — David, who'd earlier gotten embarrassed when he unwittingly sat on a batch of them, responds with "Anything, but nachos."
• Parodied in The Kentucky Fried Movie.
  Dr. Klahn: The CIA thinks they can infiltrate the Mountain of Dr. Klahn!
  CIA Agent: You can't scare me, you slant-eyed yellow bastard!
  Dr. Klahn: Take him to... Detroit!
  CIA Agent: No! No, not Detroit! No! No, please! Anything but that!
• Kalifornia, with a side dish of Be Careful What You Wish For.
  Carrie Laughlin: Please don't let them be as boring as Brian's friends. Anything but that.
• Spaceballs: Rico's "Oh, shit! Oh, no-no-no-no! Please, no-no-no! No, not that!" followed by Dark Helmet's Schwartz-assisted Groin Attack.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
  Indy (peering into the Well of Souls): "Snakes? Why'd it have to be snakes?"
• Invoked in Max Keeble's Big Move: "I'm going to mete out a punishment to you that is so severe, future generations will refer to it as "The Keeble." They will beg on bended knee— "Oh, please, sir! Not the Keeble, sir. I swear I'll never misbehave again, if you'll just spare me... The Keeble."
• In the 1932 Bela Lugosi film White Zombie, when the evil zombie-master, Murder Legendre, suggests to the planter Beaumont that he can gain the heroine's affections by changing her into a zombie, Beaumont recoils shouting, "Not that!" He repeats the remark later, when learning that Lugosi has an avian familiar: "You! The vulture! No, no! Not that! Not that!"
• In 1940's Crimes At The Dark House, the Dastardly Whiplash Villain Protagonist Sir Percival Glyde (Tod Slaughter) declares to the blackmailing lawyer, Isidor Fosco, "Oh, I've been longing to sink my fingers in your fat, greasy little throat!" to which Fosco replies, "No! No! No! Not that! Not that!"
• In Mary Poppins, when Mr. Banks is being drummed out of the bank, as the younger Mr. Dawes prepares to flip his umbrella inside-out, one of the board members cries out, "No! Not that!"
• In 1980's Flash Gordon, Princess Aura utters the immortal line, "No! Not the Bore Worms!"
• From The Wicker Man (2006): "No, no, not the bees!"
• Hairspray (2007): You almost miss it, but Penny shrieks "Not the jump rope!" as her mother threatens her.
• In Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy, Big Boy Caprice tells his rival Lips Manlis that he looks dirty... he needs a bath... And as his men drag the luckless gangster away, he's screaming "Not the bath! Not the bath! Big Boy, not the ba-a-ath - ". Understandable, since the "bath" entails being drowned in concrete.
• Mrs. Shwartz during the famous soap scene in A Christmas Story, presumably referring to her son saying the F-word.
• Renfield In Dracula: Dead and Loving It.
  Renfield: "No! Not another enema!"
• J-Men Forever. Spy Swatter is being tortured by Those Wacky Nazis.
  Evil Nazi: "Welcome to the Hot Hitler Disco, where the beat never Gestopos. If we can't spring some info from you, we'll make you listen to Donna Summer all winter, until you fall."
  Spy Swatter: "Anything but that, fiend!"
• The Eiger Sanction. To force Jon Hemlock to do One Last Job, Dragon threatens to have the IRS investigate his multi-million dollar illegal art collection. However he follows this up by describing how his valued paintings will be confiscated and auctioned off to be bought by the great unwashed public that Hemlock despises, even Dragon's minion Mr Pope!
  Dragon: Won't it do your heart good to think of one of your paintings...in Mr. Pope's hands?
  Hemlock: Dragon, you have a talent for describing the indescribable.

Literature

• Played horrifyingly straight in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Winston has been almost completely brainwashed into becoming an obedient follower of the Party, but a part of him is still loyal to his lover Julia instead. The Party sends him to Room 101 where they threaten to subject him to his worst fear of having his face gnawed off by rats. He, in a fit of desperation, screams at them to do this to Julia instead which breaks down the last bit of mental resistance he had to the Party's conditioning as he can no longer love Julia after knowing that he was willing to condemn her to save himself.
  • And spoofed brilliantly in Mystery Science Theater 3000's version of "High School Bigshot" when the smart kid gets caught writing a paper for the pretty girl "She's guilty of thought-crimes! Put the rat mask on her!"
• In Belles on Their Toes, Tom, the handyman, generally gathers the children in the kitchen for what he calls his "club" (which includes refreshments and storytelling). When he attempts to threaten Ernestine with exclusion from it for scratching her chicken pox, she gasps "in mock terror", "Not that! Anything but that!"
  Tom made no reply. But it was clear that the Princess, as Tom called her, was out of the Club for a thousand years and four days.
• Br'er Rabbit is possibly an ur-example (at least in American folklore) — then subverts it. Turns out, he's quite at home in the briar patch.
• In Craig Shaw Gardner's Bride of the Slime Monster Doctor Dread pleads "No! Not them! Anything but them!" when faced with - cartoon bunnies. With some justification, since shortly after he arrives in Bunnyland he changes into the inept wizard Malevelo.
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has Hermione sick of Fred and George's antics, and tells them to stop, or else. The twins aren't fazed, until Hermione threatens to write to their mother. This is notably the only time where Fred and George backed down in the entire series, as nobody, and we mean nobody, survives the wrath of Molly Weasley.
• The Ganymede Takeover. Mekkis opposed the conquest of Earth, but now the Alien Invasion has been a success he demands his cut of the spoils. They put him in charge of Tennessee. On discovering this, Mekkis faints in horror.

Live-Action TV

• Fraggle Rock: In "We Love You, Wembley", the Trash Heap is looking for a good Love Potion to dispense, and decides on No. 9;

  Philo and Gunge: Not No. 9!
  Wembley: Not No. 9! Whatever that is!

• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman episode "Top Copy".
  Mayson Drake: [after Lois saves her life] Keep that up and we may have to start liking each other.
  Lois Lane: [smiling] Anything but that.
• Not exactly the same wording, but when Jesse proposes a sing-off with Finn for Rachel's heart in Glee, Rachel's horrified, breathy little "No!" expresses a similar sentiment.
• Monk: In "Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist," when a crooked dentist prepares to torture Monk by extracting a healthy tooth with no anesthetic, what freaks the germophobic Monk out the most, and what he begs the dentist not to do, isn't the extraction itself but the dentist's performing the operation without washing his hands beforehand. Monk puts up such a fuss that the dentist actually gives in on that point and agrees to wash his hands.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: In one episode, Pearl decides to send Mike Nelson and his robot pals a really bad movie as payback for jumping on her new couch... namely, Hobgoblins. Mike and the 'Bots are literally begging for her to send any other movie within seconds.
• Whoniverse
  • In Torchwood: Children of Earth, this is used in a huge tearjerker moment when Jack cries "Not him!" when the 456 expels its deadly virus into the air, infecting Ianto.
  • The infamous line from "The Five Doctors", which went viral (long before there was an internet to go viral on) for its Accent On The Wrong Syllable pronunciation. (The actor was given the direction to say the line as if the Time Lords had many kinds of probes, and the mind probe was the worst of them—which would have added an extra layer to the character's dismay had the actor given a better reading.)
    The Castellan: "No, not the mind probe!"
  • Played for Laughs when Clara glomps the Doctor at the end of "Listen", despite his open protests. "No, no, not the hugging! I'm against the hugging, please..."
• Radio Enfer: As part of a ploy to make Mr. Giroux (the school's principal) help Carl get his driver's license so that the latter could give her lifts to school, Maria tries to convince the principal that helping a student get his license would make him look like an endearing father figure, which could then impress the cafeteria cook, Mrs. Champoux (whom Giroux fell in love with). While the principal wonders which student could need his help, Carl walks into the room while being pestered by Germain asking him signs-related questions. Upon realizing that the cocky student is the one he was looking for, Giroux exclaims in a panicky tone "Not Carl Charest!" before reluctantly agreeing to help him with his license.
• In Scrubs, this J.D.'s reaction to Turk preparing to give him a pink-belly. Apparently Turk is capable of giving the greatest pink-belly in the world and signed it, knowing full-well that because it was so painful, J.D. wouldn't be able to wash it off for several days.
• In Shining Time Station, Schemer punishes his bratty nephew by straightening (or cutting off) the kid's Schemer-curl (the spit-curl unique to the Schemers). "No, not the curl!" "Oh, yes, the curl."
• "The comfy chair!" Played with, in that Cardinal Fang & co. are the only ones who think that the comfy chair is threatening - their victim treats it as an ordinary chair.
• In the very first episode of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Alpha 5 freaks out when Zordon requests "five overbearing and over-emotional humans".
  Alpha 5: No! Not that! Not teenagers!
• In Vikings, Jarl Borg is initially defiant and unconcerned when captured by Ragnar, even when faced with imminent death. But when he learns that his death will take the form of a Blood Eagle, his composure dissolves and he gives a horrified, breathless 'No!'.
• In the documentary series Britain's Most Historic Towns, the Norwich episode sees the presenter, Professor Alice Roberts, undergo two Tudor experiences: being lowered waist-deep into the River Wensum on a ducking stool, and participating in Morris dancing. Of the two, she protests far more strongly about the Morris dancing.

Music

• Meat Loaf would do anything for love. Yes he would do anything for love. Oh he would do anything for love...but he won't do that.
  • Arguably subverted, the only thing he won't do for love is betray his lover's trust. Or more specifically, he won't: lie to her, forget the way she feels, forgive himself if they don't go all the way, do it better than he does it with her, stop dreaming of her, forget her, or screw around. Most people don't realize he gets so specific about what he won't do.
  • The Milk Chocolate M&M, aka "Red" in his 2013 commercial sings the song to Naya Rivera of Glee, and then HIS list of things he won't do are: get into a piñata, be part of a sundae, be a birthday cake topping or baked as part of a cookie. Though this list began when she licked the back of his head and he got an Oh, Crap! moment. Then her other girlfriends enjoy savoring Red and he goes, "It hurts but I kinda like it!"
  • Referenced in Spice World, where Mr. Loaf plays the girls' bus driver, Dennis. The toilets on the bus have all broken down, and the manager orders Dennis to fix them.
    Dennis: Hey man, I love these girls, and I'd do anything for them. But I won't do that.
• The Wall: The Judge's final words in the Trial sequence evoke this.
  Since, my friend, you've revealed your deepest fear, I sentence you to be exposed before your peers:
  TEAR DOWN THE WALL!
• You can do anything. Just don't step on Elvis Presley's (originally, Carl Perkins) blue suede shoes.
• In a possible parody of the above, "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote a song called "Don't Wear Those Shoes", where the singer pleads his spouse to do several terrible and annoying things because he can't stand the thought of her wearing shoes that he apparently finds atrocious in appearance.
  • Al's pretty fond of this trope. In "The Brady Bunch" (a parody of Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance"), he makes it very clear to his listeners that they may watch anything they want to on TV (even till their eyes fall out of their head), except The Brady Bunch. And in "Achy Breaky Song" (a parody of Billy Ray Cyrus's guess what), he'll tolerate Donny and Marie, Yoko Ono, Debby Boone, or being tied to a chair and then kicked down the stairs, but "if you play that song, that Achy Breaky song, I might blow up my radio."
• Tim Maia's "Vale Tudo" has its Looped Lyrics state anything goes, other than men dancing with men and women with women^note which on stage Maia would sing as "snake with snake and grinding steel wool" ("The rest goes!").

Newspaper Comics

• Calvin and Hobbes: In one Sunday strip, Spaceman Spiff is captured by some disgusting aliens who want some information from him. Spiff tells them he's immune to all pain, so threats of torture don't scare him! But it turns out the aliens have something much worse than that...
  Spiff: Hey! Hey, what kind of dungeon is this?! Aren't you going to torture me?
  Yukbarf Alien: Oh yes! Have a seat and let's see how you withstand a calm discussion of wholesome principles!
  (Cutting Back to Reality)
  Calvin: AAAUGH!
  Calvin's Dad: Yes, life is tough and suffering builds character. Nothing worth having ever comes easy. Virtue is its own reward. And when I was your age...

Podcasts

• A common running gag throughout RiffTrax, due to the Faux Horrific nature of what they are watching. Usually the "that" is being exposed to Quidditch or Pod Racing.

Professional Wrestling

• ECW: Francine said that she'd rather have a root canal than take Total Elimination again.

Tabletop Games

• Changeling: The Dreaming: young Nockers are advised, when bargaining with a Sidhe, to start out asking for sex in return for whatever invention or creation they are selling. The Sidhe will likely reply with this trope, whereupon the Nocker can ask for what he actually wants - which will strike the Sidhe as extremely reasonable in comparison.

Theater

• Jesus Christ Superstar:
  • Pontius Pilate:
    But since you come from Galilee, then you need not come to me
    You're Herod's race! He's Herod's case!
  • In the 2000 version (the one with Rik Mayall as Herod), Mary Magdalene gives a Big "NO!" expression at the mention of King Herod.
• Moonlight And Magnolias: At the end, after five days of high-pressure work on the screenplay for Gone With The Wind, writer Ben Hecht is horrified at the prospect of having to type the Captain Obvious line "Tomorrow is another day," to the point of it being physically painful. He begs, pleads, and even tries to run from the office before finally being persuaded to return to the typewriter and finish the job.
• Westeros: An American Musical: Littlefinger's reaction to the prospect of having Stannis as a King.

Theme Parks

• In the pre-show for Shrek 4D at Universal Studios, when Lord Farquaad threatens the Three Little Pigs with "Luau Time", he asks Thelonius to "fetch his muu-muu". This gets the most horrified reaction out of the pigs.

Video Games

• If you've tortured someone already in your basement in Yandere Simulator, they'll say this when you go to do it again. Very much played for horror.
  Saki Miyu: No! Not that! Anything but that! Not again! Stay away! NO!
• Devil May Cry 5: The sheer prospect of being forced to go to Patty's eighteenth birthday is enough for Dante to accept V's job right then and there. Before the Nightmare gives context to Dante's fear; he dreads being around and forced to socialize with so many "normal people" because he considers himself a freak, and he was still planning to celebrate Patty's birthday with her afterwards, just not around her friends.
• In Dragon Age: Inquisition, Lord Livius Erimond scoffs at whatever judgement is handed down by The Inquisitor. Life in jail, execution, given to the Wardens? He proudly marches to his fate. But if the Inquisitor is a Mage, there is a 4th option: to be made Tranquil. Having his ties to the Fade cut off, leaving him with no magic and also leaving him as an emotionless shell. That is what scares him.
  Erimond: I will not lose myself!
• In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Tyme catches Clavell having an unofficial battle with a student (the player character) on school grounds. As punishment for not conducting it properly, she forces him to write an official apology letter to the student body and threatens to tell the school chairwoman. His response is: "Good gracious, no! A-anything but that, I implore you..."
• In In the Claws of Clueless Bob this is a video game reviewer's reaction to the threat of being forced to play computer games written by Clueless Bob Newbie.
  Mr. Smiffy: NO! Torture me instead! Please! I'm begging you! Anything but-

Webcomics

• In Let's Destroy the Shagohod!, Tatyana threatens Sokolov to give information, lest she used the Lipstick Gun (she's kidding). The result...
  Sokolov: No, anything but the Lipstick Gun, AAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Websites

• In SF Debris' review of the Star Trek: Voyager premiere, the advert break deposited him in the middle of a banjo-playing hoedown. Chuck screams in terror, and the scene abruptly shifts to Harry Kim being impaled through the chest, whereupon Chuck immediately relaxes.
  "Ahhh, much better. Like the crash of waves and the call of seagulls..."

Web Videos

• The Kentucky Fried Movie example is used in The Nostalgia Critic during an early segment of his review of Batman & Robin...
  Dr. Klahn: Show him Batman & Robin!
  CIA Agent: No! No, please! Anything but that!
• In Midnight Screenings, Jake said he would watch a 48 hour loop of The Smurfs 2 before watching That's My Boy again.
• In one of The Angry Video Game Nerd's Halloween episodes, the Nerd is being chased by Jason Voorhees. When he's cornered, the Nerd begs "Don't kill me!" Instead, Jason holds up a copy of Friday the 13th on NES. The Nerd stares in horror at the game for a moment, then says "Kill me."
• A spinoff of JonTron's "OH IT'S A ___" random video game element nickname-giving catchphrase on Game Grumps: "NO! NOT ___! (occasionally) ANYTHING BUT ___!"
• Womble has a moment during his playthrough of Alien: Isolation where he walks past an air duct leaking Xenomorph drool but doesn't notice it until about six seconds afterwards, at which point:
  Womble: (audibly losing his sanity) No, no no no. Don't be that. Not now, don't be that. Don't do that. Don't be that. (Motion detector beeps and shows something approaching fast) No...! Don't be that. Please don't be that. DON'T BE THAT!

Western Animation

• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Black Lighting is shown to be ticked off by everything, but he reserves his greatest hatred for "Uri the Unicorn", an overly-saccharine kids show.
• From the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command episode "Stranger Invasion", this was Zurg's reaction upon seeing Buzz's shuttle crash-land on the planet he had just invaded.
  Not 42! Any number, but 42! Why does this always have to happen to me?! Lightyear is here! (sotto voice) And I was having such a good day.
• In the Joe Oriolo Felix the Cat episode "Stone Making Machine", Felix is trapped inside of The Professor's greenhouse, and Professor reveals that he's trapped in there with his man-eating plant, Leopard Lilly, news that Rock Bottom reacts with horror to.
  Professor: Stop, Rock! Leave him to Leopard Lilly!
  Rock Bottom: No! No, boss! Not Leopard Lilly!
  Professor: Yes, Leopard Lilly!
• Danger Mouse episode "The Odd Ball Runaround"
  Danger Mouse: I'm taking the direct approach.
  Penfold: Direct approach! Oh no, no no! Not that! Anything but that, please!
• Used in the Robin Hood episode of the ALF Tales cartoon, when King Richard sentences Prince John and the Sheriff to 200 Hours of Watching the Home Shopping Channel. They are dragged off kicking and screaming, "No! No! Anything but that!"
• Looney Tunes: "NOT HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! NOT HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!"
  • This was a recurring gag in the Looney Tunes shorts It's Hummer Time and Early To Bet, both directed by Robert McKimson. The unnamed cat protagonist is put by his bulldog antagonist through a series of bizarre punishments, each of which he recoils from with a "No, no! Not that! Not '________'! Not that! NOOOOT THHAAAATT!"
    • In the second one, the cat is subjected to them as "punishment" after losing at gin rummy, which the cat can't resist playing because of a malicious Gambling Bug. Eventually, the dog refuses to play with him anymore, because he's afraid the cat is going to hurt himself. In the end, the Gambling Bug gets a taste of his own medicine:
    "No! Not the Post!" (Gets squished with a newspaper)
  • Superman: The Man of Steel #3 featured a dark Shout-Out to these cartoons when Magpie's version of "Happy Birthday" had a lit dynamite stick in a mook's mouth, as another mook sobbed the above line.
• In an episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails is rescued from Robotnik's clutches by Sonic, but wants to stay and help fight off the baddies. Sonic convinces him to leave by threatening to tell everyone his real name is Miles if he doesn't. A mortified Tails screams, "NO!! NOT THAT!!" before flying away THROUGH the nearest wall.
• The Futurama movie Bender's Game had a scene where Bender, believing himself to be a knight of yore, started firing silverware at Fry, Leela's family and Zoidberg.
  Zoidberg Not the SPORK!
• In a Dexter's Laboratory episode featuring a James Bond style photo-workshop villain, one of his female henchmen reacts thus to a punishment of... being blinded with a camera-flash producing eye.
• Bugs Bunny in the spoof of 1001 Arabian Nights. As they prepare to throw him in boiling oil he says that's quite fine, but just as long as they don't throw him down that deep, dark hole. The hole is his way out of the place and he escapes once they throw him in.
• When Peter Venkman of The Real Ghostbusters encounters a phase-shifting ghost in "Drool, the Dogfaced Goblin", he sees a giant cockroach. Even after all the beasts he's encountered, cockroaches are still the only thing that terrifies him. (Then again, we are talking about New York...)
  • Extreme Ghostbusters later revisited the concept with "Fear Itself," a being that caused one's fears to actually materialize. Again, the creature wasn't evil: When the Ghostbusters cornered it, they found a wizened, bug-eyed thing cowering before them. They decided to leave it alone.
• Ms. Wakeman says this in the My Life as a Teenage Robot episode "Puppet Bride" after Little Acorn threatens to sing "the song" over and over.
• In The Fairly OddParents! episode "Spaced Out", the joke being that, to the Yugopotamians, chocolate is one of the most toxic substances in existence, and they never knew very much about humans before Timmy showed up.
  Guard: For your final task, you must EAT the chocolate bar!
  Timmy: Sure! I mean, not chocolate! Anything but that! PLEASE don't make me eat it!! ...*chomp* Hey, there's peanuts in it!
  Everyone Else: AAAAAGH!!
• The Trix of Winx Club begged for any punishment, as long as they weren't inflicted the overdose of happy and cute things reserved for the inmates of Light Rock.
• Tex Avery MGM Cartoons: On the first Screwy Squirrel cartoon, Screwy is listening to Sammy Squirrel drone on about his Ridiculously Cute Critter friends and goes "Oh, brother! Not that! Not that!", then takes Sammy behind a tree and beats the daylights out of him. It is said again by Screwy, Meathead and their twins when Sammy appears at the end.
• The Beatles episode "Chains" has Ringo daydreaming he's Captain Bligh aboard the H.M.S. Bounty, and he orders John, Paul and George to climb the ship's riggings to the crow's nest. They genuflect to Ringo:
  John: Anything but that!
  Paul: No one's ever made it to the top and lived!
• In the first episode of Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Star begs her parents to not send her to St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses after she screws up using her new magic wand and starts a huge fire.
• Dragon Tales: It's one of the very few things Wheezie h-a-a-tes. "No no no! Anything but the...Alone Cone!. For context, the Alone Cone is a special cone that a two-headed dragon uses when one head (Zak) doesn't want to listen to the other (Wheezie).
• In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) episode "Space Invaders Part 2", Leo, Mikey, and Raph capture a Triceraton cruiser and a Triceraton pilot. When the pilot refuses to cooperate, Leo gives control of the craft to Mikey, who nearly gets them killed. After the pilot saves them, Leo threatens to let Mikey drive again, to which the pilot cries, "No! No! I'll fly it!"
• Rugrats: At the end of "The Trial", Angelica is found out as the one who broke Tommy's lamp and is taken by Didi to be punished. In keeping with the courtroom feel of the episode, she is heard screaming "No! Not the chair! NOT THE CHAIR!!" as she is confined to a highchair.
• In the episode "Scared A Lot In Camelot" from The Scooby-Doo Show, Clarence the caretaker screams this line when the ghost of Merlin sentences him to suffer the curse of Camelot.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
  • In "Something's a Ms.", Sedusa yells this when Ms. Bellum and the girls are about to cut off her hair.
  • In "Paste Makes Waste", Buttercup says this when she realizes that the only way to subdue a mutated Elmer is to apologize for throwing glue at him earlier.
• In the South Park Halloween episode "Spookyfish", the kids go to Chef to discuss two problems. When Stan tells Chef about his new killer goldfish, Chef brushes it off as something that will work itself out. When the boys then point out that there are two Cartmans, Chef freaks out saying "Oh no. Oh dear God, NO!"
• DuckTales (2017): In "Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!", Louie begs Goldie O'Gilt to teach him how to be a clever treasure hunter like her, and she agrees to if he helps her get into Doofus Drake's birthday party. Having had a harrowing experience with Doofus before, Louie has this reaction.
  Louie: NO! NO WAY! NOT DOOFUS DRAKE'S BIRTHDAAAAAAAAAY...!
• From the Yogi's Treasure Hunt episode "Yogi's Heroes" after Snooper and Blabber infiltrate Dick Dastardly's country of Dickaragua, are captured and then forced to watch episodes of Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines:
  Snooper: Oh, no! Not "Stop That Pigeon"-type cartoons!
  Blabber: Our brains will turn to mush!
• In Freakazoid!, when his parents are kidnapped in "The Chip", the villain demands that Freakazoid hand over the secret to his powers or else he'll force them to watch... the best of Marty Ingles. He capitulates.
• Captain Flamingo: Shortly after Rutger was caught by Meghan, his babysitter in "The Even Greater Escape", he was then forced to sit down and watch TV so she can keep an eye on him, in which there's nothing on TV except for soap-operas, which Rutger fears worse.
  Lizbeth: There's nothing on but...
  Rutger: SOAPS?! NOOOOO!
• An episode of Garfield and Friends had a nightmare of Garfield featuring two children of Jon. First he objects "No, anything but 'spin the bottle'!" but is still put into a bottle and rolled down a hill. And then the other child's game earns "No, anything but teether totter! I'd rather play spin the bottle than teeter totter!"
• In Star Trek: Lower Decks, there's the threat of being sent to Starbase 80. It's threatened twice through the first three seasons which makes it a shocker when Captain Freeman actually goes through with it in blind rage in season 3's penultimate episode, thinking her daughter Mariner revealed the craziness the Cerritos goes through in order to torpedo her reputation.
• In Invader Zim, Zim attempts to steer a bus full of schoolchildren (which includes his arch-enemy Dib) into the worst alternate dimension he can find. After rejecting a dimension of pure itching and a dimension of pure dookie, he decides upon the worst of the worst: a room... with a moose.

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