Scott, don't look a gift brainwashing in the mouth.
In fiction, there are many ways of illustrating that a character's mind has dramatically changed in some way, from changes in wardrobe to interactions with friends. However, regardless of whether the change is a mundane descent into madness or some kind of psychic personality modification, one of the most immediate forms of demonstrating this is by having the change occur while the character is speaking.
Here, the character is in the middle of a speech or conversation, often with no hint of anything strange afoot, when their voice, tone, cadence, inflection, and even topic of conversation abruptly changes, often wheeling off into a Non Sequitur; in some cases, the character may change personality entirely.
Depending on the nature of the mental change the character has just undergone, this can be a prelude to a temporary or permanent change of attitude, Demonic Possession, a physical transformation, a critical loss of function, or even death.
On occasion, this mental change may be due to drugs, and in this case, the cause need not always be immediate — especially in the case of the Dramatically Delayed Drug — in which case, the change in mind and speech is a sign of the substance finally kicking in.
May overlap with Deteriorates into Gibberish. May also intersect with Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap! when the mind warp also demonstrates the phenomenon the person was talking about. May involve later being Un-Paused.
Compare Shifting Voice of Madness, in which this is happening all the time to illustrate the speaker's insanity. Compare Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption, where sentences change halfway through due to surprise instead of mind control. Compare and contrast Non Sequitur, *Thud*, in which a character says something bizarre (not necessarily mid-sentence) due to head— BONK! After that, make sure to massage the daffodils to sleep.
Contrast Killed Mid-Sentence and Disconnected by Death.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Delicious in Dungeon: Thistle is attacked by the Winged Lion, who proceeds to start eating his desires. Desperate to escape, Thistle starts crawling away while mentally screaming his refusal to die and repeating his wish to see Delgal again. He then immediately asks who he wanted to see, realizing with horror he has no idea what he was even fighting for as the Lion continues to devour, turning the mage into an Empty Shell.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Stardust Crusaders: When grabbing Anubis's sword, Polnareff's conversation with Jotaro takes a shift when Anubis takes over his body in the midst of talking.
- Stone Ocean: Upon arriving at the maximum security ward and witnessing the other prisoners being let loose, Jolyne attempts to focus on her goal of locating DIO's bone before suddenly stating her intent to kill everyone in the room, which takes her by surprise before realizing that Guccio's Survivor is affecting her.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bakura has invited Yugi and his friends over for a tabletop game session, but the night before, he's realized that Yami Bakura, residing in the Millennium Ring, intends to use this game to steal their souls and take the Millennium Puzzle. When Yugi and his friends arrive at Bakura's home, Bakura urges them to "Get out..." right before Yami Bakura takes over and finishes the sentence: "...of the hall and come on in!"
Comedy
- In A Night at the Met, Robin Williams jokes that Ronald Reagan acts like an animatronic puppet at Disneyland and worries that he'll eventually break down in the middle of a press conference — complete with a mimicry featuring Reagan's voice dissolving into a slow-motion Electronic Speech Impediment mid-sentence before giving out altogether.
- Invoked in Bill Bailey's Part Troll; Bill's attempt to explain his adventures in Java leads to him mispronouncing the word "Buddhist" as "Boddhist", and he rapidly Deteriorates into Gibberish as he attempts to correct himself. After he recovers, he jokes that he was possessed by the spirit of Bill and Ben for a minute.
Comic Books
- The Incredible Hulk (1968): Happens to the Hulk — at the time separated from Banner — in the middle of a fight, when he suddenly goes from his usual third person to first. Not to mention suddenly become a bit more eloquent, as a new alter takes the wheel.
Hulk(?): Now Hulk — I — will lift this sucker up!
- Uncanny X-Men (1963): In issue #131, during The Dark Phoenix Saga, when Shadowcat first joins the team, her father is outraged because she had been seemingly killed earlier. While he's ranting about taking her home, Phoenix alters his mind into giving the team his blessing for her to remain. This is one of the first hints that Jean is becoming Dark Phoenix.
Fan Works
- In the Knights of the Old Republic fanfic In the Shadow of the Genoharadan
, Revan belatedly realizes that Darth Malak is using one of the cloned shapeshifters as a Body Double to lure her into a trap. So, seemingly just to annoy the real Malak, she uses the Jedi Mind Trick to convince the extremely Weak-Willed double that it's actually a Twi'lek dancing girl. The double is halfway through denying Revan's allegations - before suddenly breaking off in mid-sentence and remarking (in a progressively more feminine voice) that it's not Malak at all but just a simple dancing girl, while also progressively losing fluency in Basic until it's fully transformed and speaking entirely in Twi'leki.
Films — Animated
- Abra-Catastrophe!: Shortly after Crocker uses the Fairy-Versary Muffin to Take Over the World, Timmy's parents check on him to ensure that he's suitably devoted to their tyrannical overlord. As Timmy's dad grabs the doorknob on his way out, his voice suddenly trails off and he then switches topics, revealing that the Forget-Me-Knob (and by extension, Timmy's other magical gifts) are still working in Crocker's Egopolis, and that he can use them to Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
Timmy's Dad: Well, I suppose we can forgive you this one time... [touches the Forget-Me-Knob] ...s two equals two!
- FernGully: The Last Rainforest: Batty Koda was subjected to animal testing that left him with an antenna-like set of wires implanted in his skull; touching the wires in any way will cause him to suffer a mind warp and begin randomly spouting human cultural references, possibly due to receiving radio or TV signals. At one point, when Batty starts ranting about the things that humans will do to the rainforests if they get the chance, Zak shuts him up by giving the antenna a flick, resulting in an immediate change of subject before he can finish his sentence.
Batty: First, all these trees go. Then come your highways, then come your shopping malls and parking lots and convenience stores, and then comes- (flick) Price check on prune juice, Bob? Price check on prune juice?
- Paprika: In the animated film adaptation, Dr. Shima is discussing the theft of the DC Mini with Chiba, Tokika, and the Chairman, when he suddenly veers off-topic in mid-sentence and begins maniacally spouting Word-Salad Horror. It turns out that the thief has been able to hack Shima's brain using the DC Mini, driving him insane.
Dr. Shima: I think we are getting sidetracked. We need to find the Mini, not Paprika's bikini. This requires discipline.
Chairman Inui: [baffled] ...Discipline?
Dr. Shima: Yes, sir! True satisfaction! That's what discipline brings! Even the five court ladies dancing to frog flutes and drums had it, and so did the whirlwind of recycled paper! Computer graphics playing in my head, and I like it!
Films — Live-Action
- Angels in the Outfield (1994): During a montage of the Angels winning games, George Knox is about to yell at an umpire over a perceived bad call, but the head angel Al takes control briefly and makes him pleasantly agree with the man, calling it an "astute evaluation of a potentially difficult decision" instead of what he planned to say.
- Bruce Almighty: While using his divine powers to possess Evan and sabotage his first broadcast as anchor, Bruce makes Evan suddenly shift to talking in a high, squeaky voice mid-sentence.
- Return to Oz: During the big escape from the Emerald City, Tik-Tok's thought key finally runs down long before his action and speech keys, causing him to slowly descend into complete gibberish right in the middle of a sentence. Chaos ensues because he's supposed to be leading Jack and Billina in building the getaway vehicle.
Tik-Tok: Excellent. Now we must gump the head in the front and tie Jack's feet together.
Jack: [oblivious] Right. Tie my feet together. [does so] - RoboCop 3: Nikko is reprogramming an ED-209 robot as it counts down the time before it guns down her friends, finishing up right in the middle of its death-triggering catchphrase.
ED-209: You have one second to comply. I am now authorized to... be loyal as a puppy.
- Split: In the finale, Kevin is finally allowed to be in control of his own body long enough to realize that he's been kept suppressed for years and the Beast has just murdered Dr. Fletcher. In despair, he begs for Casey to kill him — only for his other benevolent alters to panic and hijack his body in an attempt to beg for their lives, resulting in Kevin repeatedly switching personality in mid-sentence as the others try to make themselves heard.
Kevin: Wait-wait-wait, no, no, no! Don't do that! He can't handle reality! My name is Jade. Has Dr. Fletcher been getting our emails? This is what we have to do, we a— [as Orwell] As in 1008, when Anandapala suffered the Shahis' most crushing defeat and Mahmud overran the entirety of the Punjab region, taking the famed temple of Kangra, we have been wronged by this alliance, this horde of Patricia, Dennis, and the boy! Their actions do not represent us! They are... every— [as Barry] Everybody, just take a minute!
- The Wolf of Wall Street: To celebrate their money-laundering success, Jordan Belfort takes a dose of extremely powerful Lemmon quaaludes... only for them to have seemingly no effect. Ninety minutes later, Jordan heads to a payphone for an emergency call from private detective Bo Deitl to discuss legal troubles; however, while claiming that he didn't try to bribe an FBI agent, his speech very suddenly begins to slur, and when Deitl asks him to repeat himself, Jordan's reply is completely incoherent. A moment later, he hits the deck in the throes of a quaalude high.
Literature
- Discworld:
- Feet of Clay: Members of the Watch have learned the hard way that Fingertip Drug Analysis is a bad idea, citing the example of Constable Flint, who tried this with a consignment of slab, said "Yes, this is definitely slab wurble wurble sclup," and then had to be tied to a bed for the next three days until the high wore off and he stopped seeing giant spiders. Detritus ends up doing this anyway by mistake — and has just enough time to comment on the giant spiders before trailing off into "weeble weeble sclup" and hitting the deck.
- The Last Continent: On ending up in primeval XXXX, the wizards of Unseen University quickly find their morphic fields being warped by raw magic, regressing several of them to earlier periods in their life. The Archchancellor becomes a six-year-old and finds himself struggling to maintain an adult mind, resulting in his attempt to explain things to Ponder being frequently interrupted mid-sentence by childish demands for sweets or even crying for his mother.
- Thief of Time: The Abbot of the History Monks routinely dies and is reincarnated in a newborn body, but though he retains all the intellect and wisdom of his previous lives, he's still lumbered with all the mental foibles of his current age — in this case, a toddler. As a result, he often finds his wise proclamations being interrupted mid-sentence by screamed demands of "wanna bikkit".
- Johannes Cabal the Detective: The titular Necromancer is forced by corrupt government officials to reanimate a late dictator for a Balcony Speech and keep him relatively normal until he can inspire the spectators to war. The effect starts to wear off mid-speech, starting with the higher brain functions, so the dictator's bombast abruptly segues into a rant about eating brains. Johannes takes this opportunity to make his escape as the zombie starts trying to make good on its words.
- Land of Oz: As a Clockwork Creature, Tik-Tok's movement, speech, and thoughts all need to be wound up separately with a key for him to function. At one point in The Road to Oz, his thought winding runs out, so his speech abruptly gives way to incoherent gibberish.
- Lost in Stinkeye Swamp: In the plotline when Annabelle turns out to a witch living in the swamp, she offers you and Zeke one of three potions to drink. The middle potion turns out to be the Fountain of Youth, though it features a Behavioral Transformation First: when Zeke throws a bawling tantrum over accidentally spilling the potion, you try to tell him "oh don't be such a baby", but one word in, you dissolve into Baby Talk and say "Oh doo bee soo gee baba!" A moment later, the regression turns physical.
- Nineteen Eighty-Four: At the climax of Hate Week, Winston observes a speaker from the Inner Party delivering a speech on the evils of Oceania's enemy, Eurasia, when a messenger hurries up and delivers a note informing the speaker that Oceania's enemy is and always has been Eastasia, while Eurasia has always been Oceania's ally. Without pausing or even breaking syntax, the speaker switches over to lambasting Eastasia in mid-sentence. It later becomes clear that what Winston witnessed was an example of doublethink in action, for the speaker didn't just change policy, but change his entire political belief system, then erase his memory of it ever having been different.
Live-Action TV
- 3rd Rock from the Sun: Harry's job on the team of aliens observing humans is to relay messages from their leader, the Big Giant Head. So, he'll be going about his business when he suddenly goes into convulsions in mid-sentence before freezing up and saying, "Incoming message from the Big Giant Head." After the message is done, Harry goes back to normal, acting as if nothing had happened.
- Black Mirror: Inverted in "Bete Noire"; late in the episode, Verity reveals the power of her quantum computer by altering reality so that (among other things) Maria has always spoken Chinese, prompting Maria to begin speaking unsubtitled Mandarin as she expresses her alarm and confusion at the situation. After some showing off, Verity reverses the changes, resulting in Maria suddenly lapsing back into English mid-sentence with a scream of "-YOU TOTAL FUCKING BITCH!"
- Criminal Minds: In "Amplification", the Villain of the Week creates a strain of anthrax that kills even more rapidly than usual. Toward the later stages of the disease, the victim's speech degenerates into pure gibberish; after Reid is infected, he's in the middle of explaining his symptoms when he suddenly begins babbling nonsense.
Reid: My throat's a little dry, but other than that I feel fl...fliddle-fin...
- The Crown: Early in "Ritz", Margaret is entertaining her party guests with some deliberately embarrassing-sounding poetry, when she suddenly experiences what appears to be a severe headache and trails off in mid-sentence, every attempt at continuing the poem dissolving into incoherency. It quickly becomes clear that she's just suffered a stroke.
- Farscape: In "Won't Get Fooled Again", Crichton is saved from the Scarran Virtual-Reality Interrogation by Harvey, the Scorpius clone on the neurochip inside his brain. When Crichton tells Harvey that he's going to get the chip removed now that he knows about it, Harvey simply erases the incident from his memory and tells him that there's no chip in his head. As Crichton tries to protest this, his voice grows increasingly slurred and mumbling as the adjustments take hold, until he can't even remember what he was talking about.
- Red Dwarf:
- During the climax of "Quarantine", Rimmer telekinetically throws a fire axe into Kryten's spine, causing him to glitch and talk gibberish once it's removed. After repeatedly banging his head on a column, Kryten appears to have recovered and is even back to speaking normally... only for the glitch to return right in the middle of his next sentence.
Kryten: Ahh. That's better. Maybe now I can WIN SELF-DETERMINATION FOR THE SOUTH MOLDAVIAN PEOPLE! [screams nonsense and bangs his head on the column again]
- Early in "Back to Reality", the crew is exposed to a small dose of ink from the Despair Squid, and while explaining the effects of the despair-inducing venom in the ink, Kryten, who was previously speaking in a neutral voice, abruptly lets out a very loud sob mid-sentence. A rather casual-seeming Lister claims to be okay, only to very suddenly whimper "true, I don't think anyone's truly loved me in my entire life, but there's nothing new about that..." Before long, even Cat's ended up bursting into tears in mid-sentence.
- During the climax of "Quarantine", Rimmer telekinetically throws a fire axe into Kryten's spine, causing him to glitch and talk gibberish once it's removed. After repeatedly banging his head on a column, Kryten appears to have recovered and is even back to speaking normally... only for the glitch to return right in the middle of his next sentence.
- Stargate SG-1: In "The Fifth Race", O'Neill accidentally activates a piece of Lost Technology that that uploads the entirety of the Ancients' collective knowledge to his brain. Though he initially appears unharmed, the knowledge gradually begins taking over his brain, threatening to fatally overwhelm it; the first hint that this is happening arrives when O'Neill begins interrupting his sentences with words in the Ancient language, often without even realizing that he's doing so, an early warning sign that he'll eventually lose the ability to speak English altogether.
O'Neill: Well, apparently I have lost the falatus to speak properly. [beat] That wasn't a joke. I didn't do that on purpose.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In "Babel", Deep Space Nine becomes host to an "aphasia virus", the effects of which include high fever, word salad, and death. As such, when O'Brien is infected, he tries to say, "She's very fond of the lad herself", but says, "She's flower units about the lad herself"; then Dax begins a sentence with "I am unable to—" before becoming aphasic and finishing with "—foolish assembled regal controlled weather."
- Star Trek: The Original Series: In "Wolf in the Fold", the Enterprise is invaded by a fear-eating entity, which begins trying to take over the ship's computers and threatening to kill everyone aboard. To starve the creature, Kirk orders the medical staff to inject everyone with a drug to make them relaxed. McCoy sticks Sulu mid-sentence, meaning the young officer starts off by concernedly asking Kirk something and shifts abruptly to chuckling and commenting how gloomy the villain is.
- Star Trek: Voyager: In "The Killing Game", Seven of Nine has been brainwashed into a Glamorous Wartime Singer for the Hirogen's simulation of World War II, but the Doctor alters one of her Borg implants to block the signal that the Hirogen are using on the crew of Voyager. "Mademoiselle de Neuf" is next seen singing in the in-simulation lounge before the implant activates and restores Seven's mind, leading to her awkwardly and stoically telling the still-brainwashed Janeway that she needs to stop singing and rest.
- Weird Science (1994): One episode features Lisa getting infected by a virus from a bootleg diskette with an adult game. From time to time, she switches to the mindset of the game's heroine mid-sentence.
Music
- In Tim Minchin's "Angry (Feet)", the narrator's relatively calm dialog is repeatedly interrupted mid-sentence by a screamed Freudian Slip as he struggles to control his violent impulses, often exploding with foul-mouthed rage against family members or just quacking loudly whenever he has to refer to his doctor.
In primary school I had trouble making (ASHTRAYS!) ...friends
An issue which has become somewhat of a trend
The origin of which I cannot pretend does not perplex me
Although my (QUACK! FUCKING!) doctor says it's cool
And that loads of ("Fat prick!" "SHUT UP, I'M NOT FAT!")
[beat]
...kids at school
Have problems with communication
Theatre
- The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals: In "Let it Out", Paul goes to destroy the meteorite, only to learn he's been breathing in airborne spores the object has been emitting, infecting him and causing him to at last start singing. As he attempts to power through, he switches between voicing his horror at the situation to excitedly trying to convince himself to just give up, ultimately choosing to throw the grenade while he's still lucid enough to do it. Not that it does any good.
Am I crazy?
Maybe I've always been.
I've become what I've hated.
Or maybe I never did! It's awful freeing now!
To share the hate I felt!
Video Games
- ANNO: Mutationem: At The Consortium's underground facility, a number of researcher staff members encountered The Eroder after it escaped from containment, hitting them with psychological damage. When spoken too, they initially speak normal sentences before suddenly speaking in a state of madness when the effects of the attack emerge.
- Carmen Sandiego: Word Detective: Carmen has invented the Babble-On Machine to steal language. When Ann Tickwittee is captured in the opening cutscene, she reports, "I'm in, sir. I'm inside the tower. That's the good news. The bad news is I've been-" And at that point, she starts speaking unintelligible nonsense because Carmen had just used the Babble-on Machine on her.
- Fallout: New Vegas: During the climactic missions of "Dead Money," God and Dog end up in the Sierra Madre kitchens, and in a fit of suicidal depression over being continuously left caged and hungry, Dog decides to ignite the kitchen's gas pipes. Consequently, as you approach in an effort to stop them, the two personalities can be heard struggling for control over the Nightkin's vocal cords, often switching personalities right in the middle of God's frantic attempts to talk Dog out of the suicide attempt and Dog's primitive Despair Speech. For good measure, the final words of their interrupted sentence usually match up with what the other personality wants to say next:
God: Back in the cage! Stop what you're doing, we can—
Dog: —can hear you now. Not much longer, not—
God: —listening to me! - Honkai Impact 3rd: In chapter 19, after Owl gets stabbed from behind by his crush Ana, who has become the "Herrscher of Ice", there's a scene inside his mind where he finds out (as her memories are "transmitted" into him) that in the past, Ana ran away from the cry for help of his sister (who's trapped underneath building rubble) because of Honkai Beasts near it — her inaction led to his sister's death. This causes him to have a Freak Out as his voice gradually becomes distorted...which signifies his corruption into another Herrscher.
- Mega Man X5: In Squid Adler/Volt Kraken's stage, the heroes' conversation with him about needing the energy cartridge for the Enigma cannon at first goes normally... but then he becomes corrupted with the Sigma Virus mid-speech, then his speech warps and he goes on a tantrum about how the heroes killed his friend Launch Octopus. Cue boss fight.
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure: In Sackboy: A Big Adventure's Interstellar Junction level, you're assisted by NAOMI (Non-Aggressive Overseer of Massive Intelligence) to navigate the area. Unfortunately, she's been hacked by Vex, causing her to shift rapidly from genuinely assisting Sackboy to threatening him.
NAOMI: We hope you find your stay - SHORT AND LETHAL.
- Return to Zork: After you restore the mage Canuck to human form, it quickly becomes clear that he's been possessed by Morphius, a fact that Canuck will reveal by occasionally shifting into his voice and mannerisms in mid-sentence, before awkwardly returning to normal. An easy way of getting him to do this is to show him the glowing rock in your inventory:
Canuck: That's Illuminyte. Oh, pardon, pardon.
- Warframe: Cephalon Ordis is centuries old and has degraded, causing him to have mood swings. These typically manifest as Ordis abruptly switching to a harsher, more violent manner of speech mid-sentence, then snapping back and finishing his original sentence as if nothing had happened.
Cephalon Ordis: Excellent armaments, Operator. Please return COVERED IN BLOOD ...safe and sound.
Webcomics
- Nice Kaachan AU: Bakugo is hit with a Mirror Morality Machine Quirk and becomes a Nice Guy (one who spends some time horrified at how much of a Hair-Trigger Temper he normally has), an effect that will fade away within a few days. And it does just as the nice Bakugou is giving a farewell speech, suddenly going from "it was nice knowing you" to "I'm going to kill you all extras for being nice to me for a week!" mid-sentence.
- The Order of the Stick: Elan's Evil Twin Nale infiltrates the heroes by disguising himself as Elan. However, when Belkar manages to see through the disguise, he immediately jumps on Nale and threatens to cut him apart. Nale manages to save himself by casting charm person in the middle of Belkar's sentence, leading to a non sequitur about Belkar cutting Nale's hair instead.
Web Animation
- ENA:
- This is a running gag with the title character. Having a Split Personality, she tends to shift from being cheerfully happy to wimpy and depressed within a drop of a hat.
ENA: Ah, auction day... these are the utmost grand of days! This is going to be so, so— 🔀 AWFUL! I think this is going to be the worst day of my life!
- This also occurs in its video game sequel, ENA: Dream BBQ. As this ENA shifts from being humble and polite, to being rude and grouchy.
ENA: Hope you don't mind, but could you tell me— 🔀 WHERE THE HELL IS THE BOSS?!
- This is a running gag with the title character. Having a Split Personality, she tends to shift from being cheerfully happy to wimpy and depressed within a drop of a hat.
Web Originals
- Funhaus: Frequently invoked; Bruce is prone to mumbling or garbling his sentences, especially while under stress, and the rest of the team will jokingly suggest that the game they're playing has broken him or that the content they're watching is making him dumber. In one clip, Bruce even invokes this himself seemingly by accident.
Alanah: I've been changing the expiration dates on the Naked Juices in the fridge. You've been drinking—
Bruce: No wonder I have stomachs achessss scuvvers zise!
James: [howls with laughter] - Game Grumps: During the playthrough of Doki Doki Literature Club!, Arin voices Monika as a Robotic Psychopath that speaks in a Machine Monotone reminiscent of a text-to-speech program, and whenever Arin stammers or loses track of what he's saying, he interrupts himself with an "error message" in a much deeper voice.
- SCP Foundation: SCP-5083 instances often cause this to happen, as they take the form of a bewildered golden man materializing in the middle of a crowd of people — all of whom immediately lose interest in whatever they are doing and are overcome with an urge to pursue, dismember and eat him. Anyone who happens to be speaking at the time will abruptly change topic to their desire to do so. For example, at a funeral, where the deceased's best friend was delivering his eulogy:
Tyson: Without Blake, I really wouldn't be who I am today. So much of what I love was given to me by him. My love of fishing, my guitar and, of course, my favorite dish: [gold man appears among attendees] ...raw gold. Whenever I eat it, I think of Blake, and... I'm hungry for it now. I'm hungry for raw, uncooked gold.
- SF Debris:
- In the review of "Unimatrix Zero", Chuck is utterly flabbergasted to discover that Janeway's plan involves her and the crew getting assimilated by the Borg on purpose, and parodies this by imagining Janeway's inner monologue during the assimilation process.
Janeway: Yes, sir, this is definitely the best plan I've everrrr— [a Borg implant is drilled into her head] —♪rrry day, it's a getting closer, going faster than a roller coaster...♪
- In "Shades of Gray", Chuck is a little skeptical of Data's claim that the plant that attacked Riker was "symbiotic", given that nothing about its behavior bears that out, eventually joking that Data might just be bugging out.
Data: Absolutely, sir, it's similar to when a lion eats a zebra, then the zebra's seeds emerge from the lion's dropping to grow into melons, from which fully-grown zebras spring to continue the circle of life. Which reminds me, captain, there's a large magnet over my quarters which I would like tooooooooWWWWWWWWWelcome our contestants to tonight's show!
- In the review of "Unimatrix Zero", Chuck is utterly flabbergasted to discover that Janeway's plan involves her and the crew getting assimilated by the Borg on purpose, and parodies this by imagining Janeway's inner monologue during the assimilation process.
- The Theorizer: At the end of his Patrick Star video, during which he diagnoses the starfish with thousands of Split Personalities that he switches between in every episode, Theorizer himself seems to switch personalities as well. He's giving his usual outro, only to suddenly interrupt himself with "The Theorizer isn't here right now."
Western Animation
- Adventure Time:
- In "From Bad to Worse", Princess Bubblegum once again causes a lab accident, infecting her whole kingdom. Luckily, she has all the notes she needs to get to work on the antidote formula, but a zombie bursts in and infects her, leaving responsibility to the remaining survivors.
Princess Bubblegum: Don't worry, Finn. You have the notes to my formula. Just let science do the work. Science... is... mmmuurrraaaaaaaaahaaaaah...
- "Jake the Dog" takes place after the Lich wishes for the extinction of all life and Finn unwisely wishes that the Lich never existed, trapping himself in an alternate timeline. At the advice of Prismo the Wishmaster, Jake fixes things by wishing to change the Lich's wish, sending them back in time and rewriting the Lich's words as he speaks.
The Lich: I wish for the extinction of all l— [garble] —for Finn and Jake to go back home to Ooo. Huh?! No wait! That's not what I wish for!
Prismo: Sorry, guy, you only get one wish.
- In "From Bad to Worse", Princess Bubblegum once again causes a lab accident, infecting her whole kingdom. Luckily, she has all the notes she needs to get to work on the antidote formula, but a zombie bursts in and infects her, leaving responsibility to the remaining survivors.
- American Dad!:
- In "Stan Smith Is Keanu Reeves As Stanny Utah in Point Break", Stan explains he picked up pills earlier to help manage his stress, but as he reveals that he took the whole bottle, the full effects kick in causing him to slur and then collapse.
- In "American Fung", when Stan ends up in a mental institution and is about to be lobotomized, the onset of symptoms occurs this way.
Surgeon: Easy, bud. Your troubles are over.
Stan: Really? 'Cause to me, they seem to be starting. Why don't you turn off the drill, and we'll talk about point of view? [gets drilled] Every villain is the hero of his own — apple cinnamon monkey toaster! - In "I Am the Jeans: The Gina Lavetti Story", Francine tries to be a better friend to one of Roger's personas, Gina who is selling her homemade jeans on TV. As soon as Gina becomes successful on the Langley Home Shopping Network, her customers start reporting that the jeans are taking over their lives and seemingly acting of their own accord, driving their wearers towards a strange location while suddenly shouting the coordinates, for Roger had made the jeans with a bit of his ship’s material making them sentient. Roger tries to stop this mess, but the jeans take over and make him walk a different path.
Tuttle: Where you going?
Gina: I don't know. Probably— [deepened voice] 10.21.16.47.
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force: In "Deleted Scenes", The Mooninites attempts at threatening Frylock before getting hypnotized by the hypno-rims mid-sentence.
Ignignokt: We have your precious part. And we will—
Frylock: [shows the hypno-rims] And you'll what?
Ignignokt: We will... what... what did you want us to do?
Err: We are here for you. - An internal monologue example in Batman: The Animated Series episode "Mad Love", where Harley reflects on what Joker did to her.
Harley: [bandaged in bed at Arkham after her fall from the window, thinking] Never again. No more obsession, no more craziness, no more Joker. I finally see that slime for what he is: a murderous, manipulative, irredeemable... [sees a single rose in a vase near her bed, with a note reading "Feel better soon. - J" attached] angel!
- Camp Lazlo: In one episode, Chip and Skip hanging themselves upside down on a branch causes their blood to rush to their head, increasing their intelligence as they go from suggesting sloppy food to more cultured cuisine.
- CatDog: In "Smarter Than the Average Dog", Cat has Dog watch educational videos to make him smarter, but this ends up causing his own intelligence to drop to the point where he can't construct sentences correctly.
Cat: He's right! The smarter he gets, the dumber... I'm get!
- Ed, Edd n Eddy: In "Once Upon an Ed", the Eds take turns telling Jonny the story of how they got stuck in the walls of his house. During Edd's story, he's scolding the other Eds when suddenly he starts mocking himself in Eddy's voice to indicate that Eddy has taken over the story to mock Edd.
Edd: Take note, as I am a [in Eddy's voice] stupid sockhead and a babbling dweeb who can't lift a butterfly. I wish I was as good-looking as Eddy!
- Family Guy: In "Death Lives", Peter is playing golf, only to end up punting his ball into the head of another golfer. The golfer in question is a businessman who was talking on his cellphone at the time, and he abruptly switches from talking about stocks and shares to talking about waffles — resulting in all the brokers at the stock exchange taking this as an explicit order and suddenly buying shares in the waffle industry.
Businessman: The Fed is going to be lowering rates, so get your money out of T-bills and put it all into [gets hit by golf ball, goes cross-eyed] waffles! Tasty waffles with lots of syrup!
- Futurama:
- In "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back", Bender is halfway through voicing his intent to gossip about Fry and Morgan's forbidden relationship when his voice suddenly slows to a stop, barely managing to finish the sentence. It turns out Morgan has downloaded his brain onto a disk, reverting Bender to factory settings.
- In "The Problem with Popplers", Lrr devours Free Waterfall and starts to feel the effects of eating a whole hippie while making a dramatic speech.
Lrr: People of Earth...! Whoo, that hippie's starting to kick in. We have all learned an important lesson today! I realize now that... Dude, my hands are huge. They can touch anything but themselves. [his fingertips touch] Oh, wait.
- Inverted. In "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid", giant brains attack the Earth, and steal everyone’s intelligence. Once Fry defeats the brain spawn, everyone’s intelligence returns to them. For example, Leela’s vocabulary upgrades as she becomes smart again.
Leela: Me... feel... a bit better in cognitive faculties.
- In "Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Television", the latest episode of All My Circuits culminates in Calculon's son bursting into the room proclaiming he has uncovered a secret, but hangs on revealing it in what at first appears to be an extensive Dramatic Pause. It turns out the robot child actor malfunctioned and glitched right as he was about to say his line.
- Inverted. At the end of "Bend Her", while the Professor is configuring Bender/Coilette back into being a male robot, Coilette's final reflections about herself are interrupted when Bender's antenna springs back into place.
Coilette: My romance with Calculon has shown me a lot about myself. If only somehow, someway, he and I could—
Bender: Drive to Vegas, pick up some Flooziebots, and void their warranties all night long!
- Godzilla: The Series: During the alien invasion arc, one of the alien-modified humans is sowing confusion and mistrust within the team by psychically influencing members. At some point Monique speaks and is made to change her tune mid-sentence.
- Justice League: In the Unlimited episode "Dead Reckoning", Superman is talking about the milkshakes at his favorite diner when Boston Brand possesses him and asks the Justice League for help. The second Boston leaves, Superman finishes his sentence about the milkshake.
- Men in Black: The Series: MIB quick clones eventually dissolve after a set period of time, and the first indication that they're about to die — or that they're quick clones at all — is the fact that their minds abruptly break down and they start talking in word salad. Immediately afterwards, their voices deepen into slow-motion burbling and their bodies melt into coffee-coloured goo. And it's very common for this to happen in mid-sentence.
K: Sorry, kid — I can't take you on this one.
J: What? Why?!
K: I've already left. Besides, the underwear wrench can't tighten the laughing lumbago... [Deteriorates into Gibberish, then melts] - Miraculous Ladybug: In "Dark Cupid", Chat Noir is hit with the villain's arrow right as he tries to announce his love for Ladybug to her, turning it into a declaration of hatred instead.
- Pantheon: When Waxman underclocks him, Ellen, MIST, and himself for a long flight, Caspian's voice slows down and trails off, before a Smash Cut to him waking up in a robotic body at the old Logorhythms building
Waxman: It's a long flight to Palo Alto, so we're gonna underclock.
Caspian: Palo Altooooooooo....? - Rick and Morty: In "Rick Potion No. 9", Beth's co-worker Devon attempts to seduce her when he suddenly catches the airborne flu virus that Morty's Love Potion has just fused with, resulting in Devon very suddenly becoming sexually attracted to Beth's son.
Devon: Just once, I'd like to know— [sneezes] ...what it was like to give your son a bath.
- The Simpsons:
- In "The Wife Aquatic", Homer accidentally burns down Barnacle Bay's boardwalk and is punished by being propped up for photo-ops like a big fish on a hook, the end of which is put up his nose. Homer tells Marge that he's worried the hook is touching his brain before drifting into gibberish.
- "Treehouse of Horror XVIII": Homer gets a ninja star to the head from the mystery assassin (Marge); this causes him to briefly lose articulation mid-sentence before pulling it out.
- In the last segment of "Treehouse of Horror XXXIV", when Ned Flanders gets infected with a virus that turns him into a fat, balding idiot like Homer:
Ned: I've been neighbor-ion'd into Hom-diddly-omer! [spazzes] And why am I in church when football is on?
- Sonic Underground: Invoked at the end of "Bug!". Manic, who had spent much of the episode Brainwashed and Crazy, pranks his siblings by switching to a Creepy Monotone mid-sentence to make it look like the brainwashing has kicked back in again.
Manic: From now on, I am 100% loyal to... Robotnik.
Sonia: Omigosh!
Manic: Must contact Robotnik. [beat] Gotcha. - SpongeBob SquarePants: In "I Was a Teenage Gary", SpongeBob is accidentally injected with snail plasma meant for Gary, and he soon transforms into a spongey snail that only speaks in meows.
SpongeBob: I take it back, Gary! Something's wrong with meeeeeee-ow!
Real Life
- An awake craniotomy is a method of brain surgery where the operation is done while the patient is still conscious, using only local anesthesia. The patient is instructed to talk to the doctors while the procedure is underway, which allows the surgeon to notice if their speech patterns suddenly change when an area is touched, indicating that this area should not be cut through.