Dorothy: Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.
Bill: May I and literally everyone else for the rest of time quote you on that?
— RiffTrax riffing the Trope Namer
A Stock Phrase referencing The Wizard of Oz, used to express the realization that the character is in a completely unfamiliar (or indeed otherworldly) place.
The original quote was "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," but it is sometimes misquoted as "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto."
Saying this to a person from Kansas is a good way to get a boot in the ass.
If the characters have actually found themselves in a parody or plot reference to The Wizard of Oz, then they're Off to See the Wizard. If this phrase is used in a setting where Kansas doesn't exist, or at least where characters would have no knowledge of it, it's also a case of Orphaned Etymology.
Note: this line never appears, in any form, in Baum's original 1900 novel.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In Digimon Tamers (or the English dub at least), when the main characters travel from Japan to the Digital World, Terriermon says, "You're not in Kansai anymore, y'know."
- In the English dub of Smile PreCure! (Glitter Force), Miyuki/Emily says she's not in Kansas anymore before she teleports into the magic library.
- Inuyasha: In the English dub, Kagome says something to this effect (actually mentioning Kansas) after she climbs out of the Bone Eater's Well. She's talking to herself, however.
Comic Books
- In one Excalibur story, Colonel Novikova says something along those lines when Alfie dimensionally swaps her and Nth Man with Rachel and Nightcrawler.
- The Mighty Thor: Lampshaded by Thunderstrike in Thor Corps #1 when he gets transported to the past:
Thunderstrike: "There's an old cliche about not being in Kansas anymore that's too corny for even me to use!"
- Parodied in Convergence: Adventures of Superman #1. When Superman and Supergirl enter the Phantom Zone, the latter quips: "Are we even in the same universe as Kansas?"
Comic Strips
- The Far Side has one with two fleas walking through what is implied to be human hair with monstrous lice are around them. One says "I don't think we're on Toto anymore." Dorothy's hair, perhaps?
Fan Works
- In crossover fanfiction Displaced (TheMountainJew), Spider-Man paraphrases the line when he gets abruptly teletransported from Marvel's New York to DC's Gotham.
"I am not in NYC anymore", Peter said flatly. In the past two years he's become very familiar with New York's skyline, he knew it by heart, both day and night. What he was looking at was certainly not his home city.
- Subverted in Maybe the Last Archie Story, where Archie's gang are flung through time and arrive at an unfamiliar place. Veronica starts quoting the "Not in Kansas anymore" line, but Betty cuts her off angrily.
Films — Animated
- Justice League × RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen: Superman says this line when he wakes up in the world of Remnant.
- Variant: Ralph Breaks the Internet, when Ralph and Vanellope make the jump from the arcade's Wi-Fi router to an Internet portal:
Ralph: Kid, I don't think we're in Litwak's anymore.
Vanellope: We most certainly are not, friendo.
Films — Live-Action
- The Cloverfield Paradox. The test of the Shepard device has Gone Horribly Wrong, producing energy but the Earth has vanished, making the crew wonder if they've somehow been transported across the galaxy.
Volkov: We're definitely not in Kentucky any more.Mundy: Kansas.Volkov: Kansas? Who gives a shit.Mundy: People from Kansas?
- The Wizard of Oz: The Trope Namer. As Dorothy, who is originally from Kansas, sets foot for the first time into the colorful and Magical Land of Oz with her dog Toto, the quote given above (the original) is something of an understatement. When Glinda shows up in her magic bubble, this only confirms things for her: "Now I know we're not in Kansas!"
- The Matrix: Just before the red pill taken by Neo kicks in, Cypher warns him "Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye!"
- Avatar: Colonel Quaritch warns the newly arrived soldiers "You are not in Kansas anymore!"
- Honey, I Shrunk the Kids:
Amy: I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.
Nick: I don't think we're in the food chain anymore, Dorothy. - Little Shop of Horrors, when Audrey meets Audrey II:
Audrey: "Am I dreaming?"
Audrey II: "No, and you ain't in Kansas, neither." - Swamp Thing:
Alice: "I don't know where we are Toto, but it sure isn't Kansas. "
- In The Rookie Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) gets called up from a minor-league baseball team playing in Kansas to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and says this on seeing the wonders of the major league changing room.
- Joey (1997): As their train arrives in Sydney, Billy remarks, "Well Joey, I guess we're not in Harrisville anymore."
Literature
- Nanny Ogg says "I don't think we're in Lancre any more, Greebo" in Witches Abroad. After a farmhouse drops on her head.
- In the second Artemis Fowl, Root tells Artemis this after he asks whether Root is good cop or bad cop.
The commander loved quoting "The Wizard of Oz". Three of his cousins were in the movie.
- Parodied in one of S. P. Somtow's Aquiliad stories about a world where the Roman Empire survives to the 20th century and interacts with
Red IndiansNative Americans. At some point one of the Romans says something like "All things considered in toto, I don't think we're in —— anymore." - Not in Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America is a book by Christine Wicker.
- We're not in Kansas Anymore: Strategies for Retiring Rich in a Totally Changed World is a book by Walter Updegrave.
- The Southern Reach Trilogy: Grace believes Area X is another planet, but the previous expeditions never stayed long enough to notice. Grace becomes trapped for three years there and mentions the stars are arranged differently on some nights and time moves much faster. The biologist makes the same observation about the night sky.
- The Dark Tower, The Drawing of the Three: After Odetta is brought into Roland's world, Eddie basically says this to her, making her cry.
Live Action TV
- The Dukes of Hazzard: One of the standout episodes of the entire series, Season 7's "Cool Hands, Bo and Luke," has that episode's villian, Col. Claubourne (a man who was seeking to destroy avowed enemy Boss Hogg) give the Duke boys a dressing down before telling them, "You're not in Hazzard anymore!" ... implying that, unlike Hazzard County's lax law enforcement, the Osage County Sheriff's Department is effective in upholding the law and will work quickly to deter lawbreaking, and that things will be much different from now on. (Of course, that's Claybourne being a hypocrite ... he's the top lawbreaker in the county.)
- Inverted in Farscape. The episode where the protagonist John Crichton finally gets back to Earth is called "Kansas" even though it takes place in Florida, due to the symbolic and In-Universe references to The Wizard of Oz in the series.
- Stargate SG-1: In episode Solitudes: "What's the bad news, 'cause unless they've redecorated the Gate room, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
- In the episode 2001, the team ends up on an agrarian planet. Jack's reply is "Just when you think you're not in Kansas anymore, it turns out you are."
- Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Aisha goes to find her piece of the Zeo Crystal and ends up in Africa. She sees a lion, and says "I don't think I'm in Angel Grove anymore."
- The first episode of 90210 is titled We're not in Kansas anymore.
- In The Pretender episode "Road Trip", Jarod sets Miss Parker and her posse following a chain of clues that begins with a yellow brick with GPS co-ordinates written on it. As they approach the location of the co-ordinates (which turns out to be a scarecrow with the next location clue), Broots looks up from the GPS to announce that they've just crossed a state line and aren't in Kansas any more.
- In an episode of MythBusters, they were testing hurricane myths, and built a scale house to put in front of a giant hurricane wind machine. Adam Savage quipped, "Oh, we are so not in Kansas anymore."
- In the Supernatural episode "What Is And What Should Never Be" (S02, Ep20), Dean can't resist saying this when he finds the warehouse that is in Joliet, Illinois, while still in the djinn induced simulation of Lawrence, Kansas.
- In the Smallville episode "Apocalypse", Clark Kent time travels back to Krypton, but loses his powers due to the red sun. Brainiac beats him up and mocks him by saying, "You're not in Kansas anymore."
- In the Eureka episode "Lost" (Season 5 Episode 1), Zane Donovan declares "Well, we're definitely not in Kansas anymore" when putting the foot on Titan
- In the Bones episode "The Witch in the Wardrobe" (Season 5 Episode 20), Jack Hodgins says "We aren't in Kansas anymore" after discovering what it appears to be the corpse of a witch with red shoes
- The Future Is Wild concludes one episode on desert steppelands in North America with the narrator saying "Freezing winds, blinding duststorms. In five million years' time, this certainly doesn't look like Kansas anymore." The kicker is the episode actually is in Kansas itself (if not central North America), right down to the episode in question being called "Cold Kansas Desert".
- From the TV movie Lifepod.
Clara: Where were you born?Rena: Venus.Clara: Is that where your parents were born?Rena: My parents were born in Kansas.Clara: Well, we're not in Kansas anymore.
Music
- Referenced in Big Country's song "We're Not in Kansas", a song by a Scottish band lamenting the state of the USA.
- The entire premise of Jo Dee Messina's 1996 top 10 hit "You're Not in Kansas Anymore" – a California woman and her boyfriend, who had never been outside of Kansas.
- From "Tijuana Jail" on Gilby Clarke's solo debut ''Pawnshop Guitars":
"He smiled and said 'Senor, you're not in Texas anymore'
- In The Nationals' song Not In Kansas.
- In the beginning of the music video for the Parachute Express song "Dr. Looney's Remedy" (which originated as a segment in the 1995 music special Parachute Express: Come Sing with Us), Stephen comments, "I kinda get the feeling we're not in Kansas anymore!"
Toys
- Vultraz in BIONICLE:
Video Games
- Coffee Crisis have a level set in the Smurglien planet, where the protagonists Nick and Ashley (two Pittsburgh natives) found out they're in another world after sneaking aboard an alien ship. Ashley name-drops the trope, only for Nick to ask, "You mean Pittsburgh?"
- The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning: Sparx says "Spyro, we're not in Kansas anymore" — despite living in a fictional world with no such thing as Kansas — when the two step out onto the balcony of the Dragon Temple and the two see the ruins of the dragon settlement there, giving them their first personal glimpse into the wider scope of the world and the ongoing war.
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: The action begins in the country of Azad, and enters a magic area that leads to a magic well that increases his life-bar when the Prince drinks from it; upon entering, he says "I don't think I'm in Azad anymore."
- In the Japanese version of Puyo Pop (2001)'s English script, Arle references the quote in the prologue, rephrasing it as "I don't think we're in Kansai anymore".
- Gex: Enter the Gecko: One of Gex’s lines in the game is “ I am most certainly not in the vicinity of Kansas anymore.”
Webcomics
- Karate Bears are not in Kansas any more.
- Irregular Webcomic! does this here, complete with a hilarious Take That! at the Kansas Board of Education
- In Commander Kitty, Nin Wah has her own take on the classic quote.
Web Original
- "Not in Kansas Anymore: a supercut," a montage of not-in-Kansas moments from 58 films and television series.
- In his (non-blind) Let's Play of Obduction, Dilandau3000 says the phrase as he exits the initial area after the title screen, followed by "I take that back: Kansas is not in Kansas anymore!" as the half-Earth, half-alien landscape fades into view.
Western Animation
- Mocked in Courage the Cowardly Dog, where most of the main happenings are in Kansas.
- The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: When a human family in winds up in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Father: We're sure not in Kansas anymore! Maybe we're in Iowa.
- Lampshaded and subverted in JLA Adventures: Trapped In Time, when The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg travel back in time to Smallville at the moment when the Kents found the infant Kal-El:
Cyborg: I was just about to say "We're not in Kansas anymore", but this is the one time that doesn't work.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Raphael says the line when the Kraangs have the turtles surrounded at TCRI. Mikey's response:
I thought we were in New York? (Raph smacks him upside the head)
- Moonbeam City has this exchange:
Dazzle: We're not in Kansas anymore. *beat* This ain't your daddy's Kansas. Anymore. *beat* Kansas, we have a problem.Chrysalis: Can you stop?Dazzle: Of course I can...sas.
- In the Animaniacs episode "Hollywoodchuck," as the bus Charlton Woodchucks is riding to Hollywood leaves his home state of Kansas, the bus passes a sign, "You're Not in Kansas Anymore."
- Said once by Don Wei in Ōban Star-Racers.
- At the beginning of the Rocko's Modern Life reboot special, Rocko and his friends return to earth after 20 years in space and find modern life completely changed, with Rocko saying "I don't think we're in The '90s anymore."
- The Bump in the Night episode "Gum Crazy" had Squishington say "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore" after finding himself and Mr. Bumpy inside Bumpy's body during Mr. Bumpy's quest to retrieve the gum stored in his stomach.
