Slow "NO!"

A cousin to the Big "NO!", a Slow No is one that happens when Bullet Time is used at the same time as a character going into denial. Usually used in places of war, explosions, just after death... yeah, it tends to be morbid. And occasionally subverted. Using it as a parody or in Mundane Made Awesome sequences are becoming increasingly common than playing it straight however, making it a Dead Horse Trope. (It's a time-tested source of Narm, since it tends to make the screamer sound kind of like a Wookiee, which is why it's more often Played for Laughs these days than played straight.)

Not to be confused with Slow Mo. Can happen simultaneously with a Slow-Motion Fall.

---

Straight Examples:

Advertising

• Bounty has been producing ads where a sudden spill is depicted in slow motion and all the present characters engage in this trope regardless of whether they are in the room, on a screen or even if you are merely a photo on a wedding cake. You are bound to react to an incoming stain-inducing liquid.

Fan Works

• Happens in a dream sequence in the Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series "Bonds Beyond Time" movie.
  Yusei: I said, "Card games on motorcycles".
  Jack: WHAT THE HELL IS A MOTORCYCLE?
  Yusei: You're kidding, right?
  Jack: HEY CROW, DO YOU KNOW WHAT A MOTORCYCLE IS?
  Crow: Can't say that I do.
  Jack: YEAH, WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.
  Yusei: But we ride them all the time!
  Jack: WHAT FOR?
  Yusei: To play card games on!
  Jack: THAT SOUNDS LIKE A REALLY STUPID IDEA.
  Yusei: Jack, you're scaring me.
  Jack: COME ON, CROW, LET'S GO PLAY A CARD GAME. WHILE STANDING COMPLETELY STILL. ON. THE. GROOOOOUUUUUND.
  Yusei: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Films — Animation

• Frozen (2013): Used when Anna leaps in front of Hans' sword for Elsa, and subsequently freezes solid.
• Oscar from Shark Tale does it when seahorse Lucky Day trips and loses the race.
• Shrek 2: When Mongo, the giant gingerbread man, falls into the moat during the Storming the Castle sequence, both Shrek and Gingy do a Slow No.
• In Turning Red, Mei does it when Ming throws down the drawings Mei made of Devon in front of him.
• WALL•E: The Slow No from EVE when WALL•E shoots her disconnected Arm Cannon in the robot repair ward.

Films — Live-Action

• At the climax of the first Austin Powers, he does this as he leaps to stop a bomb.
• Even though the film is a comedy, the scene in Galaxy Quest that employs this trope (complete with the usually-comical pitch shift on the slowed-down audio) is played deathly serious, when Sarris infiltrates the bridge of the Protector and starts brutally gunning down and killing the main cast until Jason can activate the Omega 13 and rewind time to prevent it.
• In the climax of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Gamora screams this during Peter's Desperate Object Catch for the Infinity Stone that must not touch the ground.
• Played With in The Mask in an attempt to modernize it: when a bomb is about to go off, everything goes into slow-mo, but rather than anyone giving a protracted and warped, "Nooooo!" it's a weird, echoing, "Get it!"
• A Slow No occurs from Duke (Apollo's trainer) in Rocky III in which, near the end of the rematch, Balboa is making Clubber Lang angry enough to KO him; and another Slow No from Duke in Rocky IV after Apollo Creed was KO'ed by Ivan Drago in an exhibition match.
• Accidentally done in the film preview in Singin' in the Rain, as the film got screwed up.
• When a military helicopter is shot down by the aliens in Skyline, Jarrod lets out a Slow No, complete with silly camera angle. It's almost the cheesiest thing in the movie, which is really saying something.
• A non-death version happens in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as time distortion thanks to a failure in the warp drives means that Decker's words come out very slowly as he gets Kirk to not order the firing of the phasers (which he knows are offline) at an in-the-way asteroid.
  Decker: Nooooooooo! Beeeellllaaayyyy thhhhhhaaaaaatttt Phhhhaaaaasssseeeeeerrrrr ooooorrrrrrdddddeeeeerrrrr!
• In Les Visiteurs, Godefroy de Montmirail is under the potion spell of the witch he captured, which makes him hallucinate. He sees the father of his betrothed Frénégonde (Valérie Lemercier) as a menacing bear and shoots at him with his crossbow. Frénégonde falls on her knees screaming "NO!" in slow motion as she sees the crossbow bolt speeding in her father's direction and ending up in his forehead.

Live-Action TV

• Throughout the two-part Frasier episode "Shutout In Seattle", Frasier keeps calling his girlfriend, Faye, 'Cassandra' by accident, having accidentally ended up dating both women at the same time for a while. He covers by saying that Cassandra is his aunt. Unfortunately, the two women meet each other in Nervosa at the end of the penultimate scene, with Cassandra getting as far as saying, "Nice to meet you! I'm-" before Fraiser launches into this trope while shoving tables, chairs and crockery aside in a futile attempt to reach them before Cassandra can finish her sentence.
• Henry Danger: The climax of "EnvyGram Wall" has a total of three of them during an ultra-slow mo sequence of Piper trying to get a picture of her in front of the EnvyGram Wall despite a low follower count and Captain Man encounters the same bird that pooped in his mouth which led to him destroying the wall in the first place. The sequence starts with Charlotte yelling, "PIPER, NOOOOO!", followed by Kid Danger delivering the same after, and another when Captain Man is trying to kill the bird with Piper right next to it, leading to the wall being destroyed again.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In the season one finale Sisko does this while charging towards an assassin. The scene is in slow motion, making his already deep voice hilariously deep.
• Sydney to the Max: Sydney screams this in "I Know What You Did Last Sleepover" when Olive is about to dirty up her favorite shirt.

Theatre

• In the Reduced Shakespeare Company's version of Hamlet in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), the scene where Hamlet kills Polonius involves Polonious, in 'slow motion', saying, "NOOOOOOO, iiiit wiiiill huuuurt, ow, Iiiii toooold yoooou."

Video Games

• Near the start of Pajama Sam 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren't So Frightening, Sam trips on his cape and does this while flying through the air in slow motion, before landing on the Big Red Button.

Web Original

• Done by The Hardcore Kid in his review of An Extremely Goofy Movie, upon learning that Pauly Shore is the voice of Bobby.
• In the Monster Island Buddies episode "Rebirth of Mothra", after Mothra is reborn in her larva form, Battra attempts to kill her with his Eye Beams and shoots them at her. Rodan jumps in front of Mothra and takes the bullet to protect her while yelling out a slow-motion "Noooo" in a low-pitched, distorted voice. He survives, thankfully, and his protective scales reflect Battra's beams back at him.

Webcomics

• From installment #64 of That's My Sonic!:
  Knuckles: Whoa! Cool! I'm back in the comic!
  Rouge: You mean to tell me that you don't remember a thing before this moment?
  Knuckles: ... Uhm... no.
  Rouge: We went to Vegas and got married!
  Knuckles: *slow motion* NOoOOoooOoooOOooOOooOOo!!
• "Rex launching nuclear missiles? That's not what it was designed for! Nooooooooooo....."

Western Animation

• Action Man (2000): This happens once when Action Man uses his AMP factor to obtain super speed.
• Adventure Time:
  • In "Ocean of Fear", Finn tries to confront his fear of the ocean, only to freak out in this fashion over a single drop of sea water.
  • In "Heat Signature", Lumpy Space Princess has this reaction to Finn and Jake knocking over a can of beans she was cooking.
    Lumpy Space Princess: Noooo.... mah beans!
  • In "Stakes Part 7: Checkmate", Princess Bubblegum yells this as she watches the bucket containing the vampiric essence fly through the air in slow motion after Peppermint Butler drops it.
• In an episode of The Amazing World of Gumball called "The Debt" Gumball jumps towards Mr. Robinson, trying to save his life from a falling light. During his jump he yells an incredibly dragged out slow motion "NOOOOOOO."
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Zuko when Azula breaks the rules of their Agni Kai and aims a lightning shot at Katara, goading him into Taking the Bullet.
  • In The Ember Island Players, the actress playing Aang delivers one of the looooooooooooooooo(...)ongest dying screams. It goes "Nooooooooooooooooooo(...)ooo!" of course.
• Big City Greens: In "Skunked", Cricket screams one when he is about to take the blow for the skunks' stink meant for Gloria.
• On Butterbean's Cafe, Dazzle does it "Dazzle's Cake-tastrophe" when knocking down the box with the mayor's cake.
• In Danny Phantom when Danny's family and friends (and teacher) were about to be blown up to their doom in an alternate timeline, Danny cries one out, complete with slow motion movement.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy: Eddy after Rolf smacks him with a fish in their duel in "Dueling Eds".
• Hailey's On It!: In "Seas the Day" Hailey shouts this while trying to prevent Scott from reading the revealing message written in icing on the cake being sent to him. Although her voice sounds completely normal as she begins to shout "NOOOOO!", her voice immediately becomes deepened as the scene cuts to her face colliding with the cake.
• Hulk Vs.: Deadpool's reaction to getting his gun sliced in half by Wolverine in Slow Motion:
  Deadpool: No! That was my favorite gun!
• The Loud House: In "Linc or Swim", Lincoln shouts one when he is about to destroy the deluxe swimming pool his sisters got.
• Molly of Denali: In "Heat Wave," Tooey slowly says "Oh noooooooooo!" when trying to catch the falling fan.
• Almost every Big "NO!" that has ever occured in The Penguins of Madagascar — and there are several — has been a Slow No.
• On Pete the Cat, Gustavo gives one in "Callie vs. the Volcano" when Callie puts the mix for the lava into the volcano before they were ready for the volcano to go off.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
  • In "Mo Job", there is an ULTRA-slow motion sequence (the likes of which the series had never even done before) where Buttercup is about to be shot with a laser with an antidote for Chemical X stripping the Powerpuff Girls of all their powers. The sequence starts with Blossom yelling "NOOOOOOOOO! BUTTERCUP!"
    • Princess also gets two Slow No lines in this episode. The first is her reaction to Blossom saving Buttercup from losing her powers. She starts off by cheering in slow motion as she roots for the antidote beam to hit Buttercup but her reaction quickly turns to horror as she watches Blossom fly in for the save. "YEEEAAAAH!... NOOOOOOOOO!'".
    • Later, she lets out a serious Slow No shout of denial as the beam ricochets back at her and removes her own powers.
    • The slow motion scenes in this episode are all played straight but are notable for deepening all the character's voices, creating a somewhat comedic tonal clash from how ridiculous they sound in an otherwise dramatic sequence.
  • Bubbles gets one in "Sun Scream" as the villain of the episode flings a rubber band at her backside.
  Bubbles: [trying to get away] NOOO-OOOOO...[gets hit by rubber band] GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
• The Simpsons:
  • Principal Skinner has done it more than once. Ex.: "Bart's Comet", "Lisa's Date With Destiny", "Duffless," "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em"...
  • Homer gets one in "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily" when Flanders is about to baptize Bart.
  • Apu gets one in "Homer and Apu" when some gun-wielding maniac is about to shoot James Woods. Apu takes the bullet. And lives.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: The slow-mo sequence in "Company Picnic" ends with SpongeBob screaming this when Plankton's candy pen is about to hit the eye of one of his robots.
• Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City: Strawberry Shortcake yells this in the episode, "Catch that Cricket!", when her aunt tosses a grenade in their apartment in an attempt to eliminate a cricket.
• Thomas & Friends: In "A Cranky Christmas", Thomas shouts one as he sees the package flying through the air after slipping before breaking on the ground.
• In Thunder Cats 2011 Lion-O performs a Downplayed one (with no pitch-lowering) that coincides with a Futile Hand Reach upon seeing his father King Claudus stabbed In the Back, before a Slow-Motion Fall.
• In the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "Prank Day", the Snack Pack say this when they warn Smidge about the water balloon that's going to fall on her.
• Undergrads: Just before teetotaler Nitz is about to take his first sip of alcohol, Rocko, his alcoholic best-friend (who has been having hallucinations about a giant whiskey bottle and decided to abstain), lunges at him with a long, drawn out "Nooooo!" in slow motion.
• Wander over Yonder: Used in "The Nice Guy" at the end of an Overcrank of Wander running up to a store counter with his substitute Thunder Blazz only to spill it all by tripping over a lumpy mat.
  Wander: OHHHHHH NOOOOOO, THEEE MAAAAAT!
• Used in X-Men: Evolution when Nightcrawler witnesses Mystique, who's been turned to stone, get chucked off a cliff. Combined with his accent and relatively high-pitched voice, the effect is somewhat undramatic.

---

Parodies, lampshade hangings etc.:

Advertising

• Parodied in a commercial for Corn Pops, we see a box sitting on a ledge overlooking the San Francisco skyline, someone knocks it over, and tries to grab it before it falls, in slow motion along with the obligatory "Noooo!!!", only he fails, and the camera pulls back to show us that the ledge was only 3 feet off the ground of a hill overlooking the skyline. The man reaches down and retrieves the box.

Anime & Manga

• In the first episode of Great Teacher Onizuka, this is Onizuka's reaction when Nanako throws away a huge platter of sushi he wanted to eat.

Films — Animation

• Megamind: The Button of Doom. Megamind sells his dehydration ray to some brat kids who use them to turn their parents into cubes so they can run rampant. Then Megamind and Minion barge in to get their ray gun back, announcing that while they could haul the kids off to jail, their parents will think up worse punishments. Cue this trope from the kids as Megamind dumps a glass of water on the cubes to restore said parents.

Films — Live-Action

• Jack Black did it before in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny: "POOOOWEEERRRRR SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!!!" To add an extra level in badassery it has the ultimate song for a slow-motion power slide: (Glasses Pull) "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
• Hilariously parodied in Tropic Thunder: The penultimate scene has most of the characters' dialog in slow motion, including Jack Black screaming "myyyyyyy assssssssssssss!"

Jokes

• A guy just arrived in States and phones late in the night to a hotel:
  "I want to know if there are any free rooms for one person, but my americano is very, very bad, so answer me very, very slow, okay?"
  "Nnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooo!" — the receptionist answered.

Literature

• Mentioned in the book The Brain: The Story of You, a title written by a neuroscientist and a companion book to a PBS show. He talks about studies he's done in which despite proven fact, people still believe that an event which happened to them unfolded as if like a slow-motion movie, with time unfolding as if in Bullet Time. At this point, he will then ask them something like whether the person next to them in the car was screaming like they do in slow-motion movies, with a low-pitched "noooooooo!" At this point, they generally admit that, no, that didn't happen.

Live-Action TV

• Henry Danger: A lampshaded version in the beginning of the first part of "Indestructible Henry". While the entire scene in slow motion was done with a combination of comedy ad drama (Henry retrieving his phone from a shop with a bomb inside), the Slow "NO!" was done after Henry had survived and was outside, only to see his phone screen crack.
• Uttered by Howard on The Big Bang Theory, when he thought someone was about to kiss his girl. He dashed in to intervene, and ended up kissing Rajesh instead.
  • Also done on the spin-off series Young Sheldon when Sheldon gets a tiny splinter on his finger.
• A bit on Late Night with Conan O'Brien demonstrated what the show would look like as directed by an action movie veteran. Conan lets out one of these when Andy is shot.
• Frasier: Frasier provides a hilarious slow-motion example when he tries to stop his girlfriend Faye—whom he's been accidentally calling by the name of his ex-girlfriend Cassandra, explaining it as the name of a favorite aunt—from meeting the real Cassandra, exposing his deception. Tables are overturned, dishes are dropped, people are knocked over, and, of course, it doesn't work.
• Parodied to the max in Garth Marenghis Darkplace, in which practically every dramatic / tragic moment in the series will be punctuated by someone — usually Rick Daglass — screaming "Nooooooo!!!" at the top of his lungs, in slow motion, for at least a full minute. Usually more than once.
• iCarly:
  • Spencer beautifully evokes a "Non-Lethal K.O." version in "iSaved Your Life" during a paintball assassin game sub-plot, complete with Slow-Motion Fall and distorted voice effects.
    Spencer: What's that, a lollipop?
    Delivery Man: Yeah, except from where I'm from, we don't call it a lollipop.
    Spencer: What do you call it?
    Delivery Man: SUCKER! (slaps Spencer and dives on the floor)
    (Sam hangs upside down from the doorbeam, blowtube in her mouth ready for the "kill")
    Spencer: NOOOOOOOOOOO! (attempts to draw his blowtube but Sam strikes him with a headshot, claiming victory)
  • Carly also evokes this in iBeat the Heat (again, with distorted vocal effects) when Sabrina blindly tramples on her model of an Utopian City ala Godzilla.
• Done to comically melodramatic effect on numerous Key & Peele skits, such as "Slap-Ass: In Recovery" and "LA Vice", the latter case being lampshaded afterwards.
  Key: "Oh, I get it. When I say no, stuff blows up. Cool."
• On the Mystery Science Theater 3000 skewering of Quest of the Delta Knights, the moppetlike hero yells in horror at the film's climax but is drowned out by the film score. Mike shouts "mmm-bop!" in a slowed-down-sounding voice.

Webcomics

• 8-Bit Theater: Red Mage does this by casting slow and feather fall on himself for dramatic effect when Thief and BM talk about burning the Rat Tail they need to complete their side-quest. He overdoes it and gets stuck in mid air for several hours.

Western Animation

• In the Futurama episode "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", Fry does this when he sees a credit card fall on the dinner table. Fun fact: The "no" was not done in slow motion, Billy West actually made his voice sound like that.
• Hulk Vs. Wolverine, when Wolverine just slices Deadpool's gun.
  Deadpool: NNNOOOOO!!! That Was My Favorite Guuunnn!!!
• A very funny Slow No occurs in Invader Zim when a time-affected Dib is about to strike a similarly affected explosion.
• In the Johnny Bravo episode "Under The Big Flop", the female villain called "Vivian Vixen" reacts in slow motion to her mind control device dropping into a boiling pot of oil. After her long Slow No and failing to catch the device, Johnny announces in full meta: "Man, I love slow motion."
• In Phineas and Ferb, the episode Canderemy makes fun of this trope. When the robotic dog gets shut down and drops the device that can return Candace and Jeremy to normal, the program goes into dramatic slow-mo and Phineas, Candace, Isabella and Bufford all yell "Nooo" frantically (save for Ferb, who blinks in slow motion), complete with loud distorted voices. The only exception is Baljeet, who merely stands in his place and does the lampshade by asking how they are all doing that.
• In The Simpsons episode "Mayored to the Mob", Homer attends bodyguard school and is told that while his Diving Save is good, his Slow No needs work, since that's what'll get him his next job. The instructor then tells him "Drop and give me twenty!"; Homer lets out a Big "NO!", to which the instructor replies "Better!"
• In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Bubble Buddy," SpongeBob does the Big No when Squidward is about to pop the bubble with a needle. It goes into ridiculously slow motion, and he starts randomly messing with the vowel, making this a spoof as well.

---