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* SeeingThroughAnothersEyes: Dinah can do this at times. Unfortunately, she at least once gets stuck with Toomy's delusional view of what's around him.
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* {{Jerkass}}: Craig Toomy is one of the sharpest, and not to mention loudest, examples in King's mythos. He's a tragic character, sure, being a severely schizophrenic victim of hideous parental abuse, but he's still a colossal asshole from the moment we meet him.
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* OhCrap: Bob's reaction when Brian initially announces that he's going to try flying through the time rip. Which, since everyone on-board is awake, would have had the side-effect of vaporizing everyone and leaving the now-empty plane to run out of fuel right over downtown Los Angeles. Fortunately, he's able to point this out in time.
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* PayEvilUntoEvil: Nick briefly considers outright killing Craig Toomy in cold blood as the man lies on the floor, already dying of a crushed skull. After the damage Craig has inflicted on everyone by that point, it's not entirely unreasonable.
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* BlackDudeDiesFirst: In the TV movie, the sole black man in the group of survivors dies first. His race was not mentioned in the novella. However, he wears a RedShirt.
to:
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: In the TV movie, the sole black man in the group of survivors dies first.is the first on-screen death we see (not counting the passengers who got vaporized off-screen at the start, and [[spoiler:Dinah]], who was mortally wounded before him but didn't die until after he did). His race was not mentioned in the novella. However, he wears a RedShirt.
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Changed line(s) 18,19 (click to see context) from:
* {{Badass}}: Nick, who is former British Special Forces and is implied to be a secret agent. While the rest of the group is at risk from the story's antagonist Toomy, Nick easily handles him the first time he tries to create trouble. The only reason Toomy ever ratchets up a body count from that point on is because Nick is either not present or otherwise indisposed during his attacks.
* BadassNormal: Albert is a shy, nerdy Jewish teenager who dreams of being a hardcore gunslinger [[spoiler: and who damn near bashes Craig Toomy's head in with a toaster]].
* BadassNormal: Albert is a shy, nerdy Jewish teenager who dreams of being a hardcore gunslinger [[spoiler: and who damn near bashes Craig Toomy's head in with a toaster]].
to:
* {{Badass}}: {{Badass}}:
** Nick, who is former British Special Forces and is implied to be a secret agent. While the rest of the group is at risk from the story's antagonist Toomy, Nick easily handles him the first time he tries to create trouble. The only reason Toomy ever ratchets up a body count from that point on is because Nick is either not present or otherwise indisposed during his attacks.
* BadassNormal: ** Albert is a shy, nerdy Jewish teenager who dreams of being a hardcore gunslinger [[spoiler: and who damn near bashes Craig Toomy's head in with a toaster]].
** Nick, who is former British Special Forces and is implied to be a secret agent. While the rest of the group is at risk from the story's antagonist Toomy, Nick easily handles him the first time he tries to create trouble. The only reason Toomy ever ratchets up a body count from that point on is because Nick is either not present or otherwise indisposed during his attacks.
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** Creator/WillemDafoe's audiobook version is hammy in the way only Willem Dafoe can be hammy. On more than one occasion, the man does successfully out-ham the miniseries, which is no small feat.
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That\'s YMMV, and pretty much a Zero Content Example.
Deleted line(s) 95 (click to see context) :
* SpecialEffectFailure: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlmdH78T7Ao Only the best]] [[SarcasmMode effects were used in this movie.]]
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* SpecialEffectFailure: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlmdH78T7Ao Only the best]] [[SarcasmMode effects were used in this movie.]]
to:
* SpecialEffectFailure: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlmdH78T7Ao Only the best]] [[SarcasmMode effects were used in this movie.]]]]
* StuckAtTheAirportPlot: The only things keeping this flight grounded is a lack of clearance from Air Traffic Control and a lack of fuel.
* StuckAtTheAirportPlot: The only things keeping this flight grounded is a lack of clearance from Air Traffic Control and a lack of fuel.
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* GlassesPull: In the mini-series, and done by a ''blind'' character, at that!
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* BadAss: Nick, who is former British Special Forces and is implied to be a secret agent. While the rest of the group is at risk from the story's antagonist Toomy, Nick easily handles him the first time he tries to create trouble and usually is somewhere else when Toomy attacks people.
to:
* BadAss: {{Badass}}: Nick, who is former British Special Forces and is implied to be a secret agent. While the rest of the group is at risk from the story's antagonist Toomy, Nick easily handles him the first time he tries to create trouble and usually is somewhere else when trouble. The only reason Toomy attacks people.ever ratchets up a body count from that point on is because Nick is either not present or otherwise indisposed during his attacks.
* BadassNormal: Albert is a shy, nerdy Jewish teenager who dreams of being a hardcore gunslinger [[spoiler: and who damn near bashes Craig Toomy's head in with a toaster]].
* BadassNormal: Albert is a shy, nerdy Jewish teenager who dreams of being a hardcore gunslinger [[spoiler: and who damn near bashes Craig Toomy's head in with a toaster]].
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None
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* BadAss: Nick, who is former British Special Forces and is implied to be a secret agent. While the rest of the group is at risk from the story's antagonist Toomy, Nick easily handles him the first time he tries to create trouble and usually is somewhere else when Toomy attacks people.
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* BiggerBad: Arguably Roger Toomy, being directly responsible for Craig's insanity and implied to be perhaps the first person ever to know of the Langoliers' existence. This is made more prominent in the miniseries, where he seems to have some measure of control over them.
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* SpecialEffectFailure: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlmdH78T7Ao Only the best]] [[SarcasmMode effects were used in this movie.]]
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* AntiHero: Nick is firmly of the PragmaticHero bent, being an overall affable chap capable of intense brutality when it means getting the job done. It's suiting of a soldier turned government hitman.
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* ShoutOut: Many, including prominent ones to Literature/LordOfTheRings and Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries.
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* AntiVillain: Again, Craig Toomy, and of the Woobie Villain mold. Despite being a Type A {{Jerkass}}, he doesn't want to hurt anyone, not really, but extreme pressure coupled with obviously severe mental illness eventually cause him to violently snap and lose his mind entirely.
to:
* AntiVillain: Again, Craig Toomy, and of the Woobie Villain mold. Despite being a Type A {{Jerkass}}, he doesn't want to hurt anyone, not really, but extreme pressure coupled with obviously severe mental illness eventually cause him to violently snap and lose his mind entirely.
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* AntiVillain: Again, Craig Toomy, and of the Woobie Villain mold. Despite being a Type A {{Jerkass}}, he doesn't want to hurt anyone, not really, but extreme pressure coupled with obviously severe mental illness eventually cause him to violently snap and lose his mind entirely.
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* FacialHorror: In the novella, Albert's toaster attack on Toomy leaves the latter's face pretty well obliterated, to the point that it's a wonder he lived.
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He\'s never really considered \"redeemed\" by anyone.
Deleted line(s) 29 (click to see context) :
* [[spoiler:DeathEqualsRedemption: Craig Toomy,]] whose death is what saves everyone else.
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* ContrivedCoincidence: A pilot being among the group - if these guys didn't have a pilot it would have been a real short story.
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YMMV item migration
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* InferredHolocaust: No one ever seems to make a big deal out of the fact that 90% of the people on the plane were apparently vaporized at the beginning of the story. Justifiable, considering that there are bigger issues to deal with. Alternatively, as they were awake at the time, they may simply not have gone through the time rip with everyone else... and the plane. [[GravityIsAHarshMistress Oops...]]
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* RecycledINSPACE: This miniseries is essentially "[[Series/TheTwilightZone The Odyssey of Flight 33]]" under a Stephen King filter (which emphasises the TimeyWimeyBall nature of the whole ordeal).
to:
* RecycledINSPACE: RecycledInSpace: This miniseries is essentially "[[Series/TheTwilightZone The Odyssey of Flight 33]]" under a Stephen King filter (which emphasises the TimeyWimeyBall nature of the whole ordeal).
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Hid spoilers.
Changed line(s) 20 (click to see context) from:
* BloodFromTheMouth: Dinah, after Toomy stabs her in the chest with a butcher knife. Justified in that the knife has punctured her lung, at least in the book.
to:
* BloodFromTheMouth: Dinah, [[spoiler:Dinah, after Toomy stabs her in the chest with a butcher knife. knife.]] Justified in that the knife has punctured her a lung, at least in the book.
Changed line(s) 28 (click to see context) from:
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Craig Toomy, whose death is what saves everyone else.
to:
* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:DeathEqualsRedemption: Craig Toomy, Toomy,]] whose death is what saves everyone else.
Changed line(s) 35,36 (click to see context) from:
* ExtremeOmnivore: The Langoliers eat the past. Can't get much more extreme than that. In the process they also eat a hillside, an airport, a runway, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and Craig Toomy]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: "THEY WILL EAT YOU ALIVE! ALIVE AND SCREAMING!"
* {{Foreshadowing}}: "THEY WILL EAT YOU ALIVE! ALIVE AND SCREAMING!"
to:
* ExtremeOmnivore: The Langoliers eat the past. Can't get much more extreme than that. In the process they also eat a hillside, an airport, a runway, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick [[spoiler:[[BreadEggsMilkSquick and Craig Toomy]].
Toomy]]]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}:"THEY [[spoiler:"THEY WILL EAT YOU ALIVE! ALIVE AND SCREAMING!"SCREAMING!"]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
Changed line(s) 45 (click to see context) from:
** Round 1: Cased violin. Round 2: Toaster in a tablecloth. Albert: 2, plus several thousand for style; Toomy: 0, minus several billion for getting eaten afterwards.
to:
** Round 1: Cased violin. Round 2: Toaster in a tablecloth. Albert: 2, plus several thousand for style; Toomy: 0, minus [[spoiler:minus several billion for getting eaten afterwards.afterwards]].
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None
Changed line(s) 87 (click to see context) from:
* [[TalkToTheFist Talk to the Vulcan Nose Hold]]: Nick really doesn't have time to listen to Toomy yammering on about how important his meeting is and how much he ''forbids'' the plane to make any sort of unscheduled stop at all. No, not even if most of the people on the plane including the flight crew have mysteriously vanished.
to:
* [[TalkToTheFist Talk to the Vulcan Nose Hold]]: TalkToTheFist: Nick really doesn't have time to listen to Toomy yammering on about how important his meeting is and how much he ''forbids'' the plane to make any sort of unscheduled stop at all. No, not even if most of the people on the plane including the flight crew have mysteriously vanished.
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It\'s Toomy. If you don\'t believe me, check out the character list on Stephen King\'s official site: http://www.stephenking.com/library/novella/langoliers_the_characters.html
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* AbusiveParents: Toomey's father is strongly implied to be a violent narcissist who was living vicariously through his son. In the novella, it's also hinted that he drove his alcoholic wife to insanity.
to:
* AbusiveParents: Toomey's Toomy's father is strongly implied to be a violent narcissist who was living vicariously through his son. In the novella, it's also hinted that he drove his alcoholic wife to insanity.
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* AlasPoorVillain: Toomey. [[spoiler:His death is just tragic and terrifying, made even more tragic that the moment he got on that plane, (or, perhaps the moment he was forced into the job by his father's demands, or one could argue the moment ''he was born'') he was doomed. Even though Toomey stabbed her, Dinah still feels pity for him when she sends him to his death.]]
to:
* AlasPoorVillain: Toomey.Toomy. [[spoiler:His death is just tragic and terrifying, made even more tragic that the moment he got on that plane, (or, perhaps the moment he was forced into the job by his father's demands, or one could argue the moment ''he was born'') he was doomed. Even though Toomey Toomy stabbed her, Dinah still feels pity for him when she sends him to his death.]]
Changed line(s) 16,17 (click to see context) from:
* TheBait: [[spoiler:The only reason Toomey's allowed to live until the end (at Dinah's request, whom he had fatally wounded after she [[UngratefulBastard tried to help him]]): so he can be Langolier-bait and save the rest from being devoured and they can escape. Rather darkly, the novella implies that not only is this the only reason he survived that long, it's ''the only reason he ever existed in the first place.'']]
* TheBGrade: Part of Toomey's FreudianExcuse for flipping out over not landing in Boston as planned is the relentless pressure to succeed that shaped his childhood. His father scolded him if he got an A-, and grounded him for a week if he got a B. In the film, we see his father in a flashback roaring at him about his grade: "'B'! 'B' IS FOR ''BUM!'' DO YOU WANT TO SWEEP THE STREETS?"
* TheBGrade: Part of Toomey's FreudianExcuse for flipping out over not landing in Boston as planned is the relentless pressure to succeed that shaped his childhood. His father scolded him if he got an A-, and grounded him for a week if he got a B. In the film, we see his father in a flashback roaring at him about his grade: "'B'! 'B' IS FOR ''BUM!'' DO YOU WANT TO SWEEP THE STREETS?"
to:
* TheBait: [[spoiler:The only reason Toomey's Toomy's allowed to live until the end (at Dinah's request, whom he had fatally wounded after she [[UngratefulBastard tried to help him]]): so he can be Langolier-bait and save the rest from being devoured and they can escape. Rather darkly, the novella implies that not only is this the only reason he survived that long, it's ''the only reason he ever existed in the first place.'']]
* TheBGrade: Part ofToomey's Toomy's FreudianExcuse for flipping out over not landing in Boston as planned is the relentless pressure to succeed that shaped his childhood. His father scolded him if he got an A-, and grounded him for a week if he got a B. In the film, we see his father in a flashback roaring at him about his grade: "'B'! 'B' IS FOR ''BUM!'' DO YOU WANT TO SWEEP THE STREETS?"
* TheBGrade: Part of
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* BloodFromTheMouth: Dinah, after Toomey stabs her in the chest with a butcher knife. Justified in that the knife has punctured her lung, at least in the book.
to:
* BloodFromTheMouth: Dinah, after Toomey Toomy stabs her in the chest with a butcher knife. Justified in that the knife has punctured her lung, at least in the book.
Changed line(s) 28 (click to see context) from:
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Craig Toomey, whose death is what saves everyone else.
to:
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Craig Toomey, Toomy, whose death is what saves everyone else.
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* EducationMama: Toomey's father was a male version.
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* EducationMama: Toomey's Toomy's father was a male version.
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* ExtremeOmnivore: The Langoliers eat the past. Can't get much more extreme than that. In the process they also eat a hillside, an airport, a runway, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and Craig Toomey]].
to:
* ExtremeOmnivore: The Langoliers eat the past. Can't get much more extreme than that. In the process they also eat a hillside, an airport, a runway, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and Craig Toomey]].Toomy]].
Changed line(s) 37,39 (click to see context) from:
* FreudianExcuse: Toomey's childhood. As mentioned, his father was cruel and demanding. After he died, things didn't get better, because Toomey's mother was an alcoholic, who, for example, on his tenth birthday put a kitchen match between two of his toes and lit it while singing "Happy Birthday to You". She considered this good fun.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene between Toomey and the hallucination of his father in the movie.
* HateSink: Pretty much the point of Toomey; without him, we wouldn't really have an antagonist.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene between Toomey and the hallucination of his father in the movie.
* HateSink: Pretty much the point of Toomey; without him, we wouldn't really have an antagonist.
to:
* FreudianExcuse: Toomey's Toomy's childhood. As mentioned, his father was cruel and demanding. After he died, things didn't get better, because Toomey's Toomy's mother was an alcoholic, who, for example, on his tenth birthday put a kitchen match between two of his toes and lit it while singing "Happy Birthday to You". She considered this good fun.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene betweenToomey Toomy and the hallucination of his father in the movie.
* HateSink: Pretty much the point ofToomey; Toomy; without him, we wouldn't really have an antagonist.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene between
* HateSink: Pretty much the point of
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** Round 1: Cased violin. Round 2: Toaster in a tablecloth. Albert: 2, plus several thousand for style; Toomey: 0, minus several billion for getting eaten afterwards.
to:
** Round 1: Cased violin. Round 2: Toaster in a tablecloth. Albert: 2, plus several thousand for style; Toomey: Toomy: 0, minus several billion for getting eaten afterwards.
Changed line(s) 51,52 (click to see context) from:
* ItCanThink: The Langoliers actively tear up the runway to try and slow down the escaping plane. They also seem to take sadistic joy in [[spoiler:watching Toomey beg for his life before they eat him.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobie Toomey, but he is one of the first adults to believe Dinah when she hears the Langoliers coming.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobie Toomey, but he is one of the first adults to believe Dinah when she hears the Langoliers coming.
to:
* ItCanThink: The Langoliers actively tear up the runway to try and slow down the escaping plane. They also seem to take sadistic joy in [[spoiler:watching Toomey Toomy beg for his life before they eat him.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobieToomey, Toomy, but he is one of the first adults to believe Dinah when she hears the Langoliers coming.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobie
Changed line(s) 56,57 (click to see context) from:
* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Craig Toomey, who has possibly the funniest last thought ever, under the circumstances:]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Toomey:''' How can their little legs be fast? They don't have any le--]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Toomey:''' How can their little legs be fast? They don't have any le--]]
to:
* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Craig Toomey, Toomy, who has possibly the funniest last thought ever, under the circumstances:]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Toomey:''' -->[[spoiler:'''Toomy:''' How can their little legs be fast? They don't have any le--]]
Changed line(s) 60,61 (click to see context) from:
** Toomey is one of the most enjoyable characters in the film because of it, while his facials look like they're doing an Ernest P. Worrell impression.
-->'''Toomey:''' I didn't make any money for you! I didn't MAKE ANY MONEY FOR YOU!! I LOOOOOST MONEY FOR YOU!!! AND I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! [[EvilLaugh EEYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]
-->'''Toomey:''' I didn't make any money for you! I didn't MAKE ANY MONEY FOR YOU!! I LOOOOOST MONEY FOR YOU!!! AND I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! [[EvilLaugh EEYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]
to:
** Toomey Toomy is one of the most enjoyable characters in the film because of it, while his facials look like they're doing an Ernest P. Worrell impression.
-->'''Toomey:''' -->'''Toomy:''' I didn't make any money for you! I didn't MAKE ANY MONEY FOR YOU!! I LOOOOOST MONEY FOR YOU!!! AND I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! [[EvilLaugh EEYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]
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* NeverTrustATitle: The name of the story implies that the monsters which appear in the story are themselves Langoliers, whereas in fact they just have some parallels with the made-up boogeymen of Craig Toomey's childhood and neither their appearance nor their purpose matches.
to:
* NeverTrustATitle: The name of the story implies that the monsters which appear in the story are themselves Langoliers, whereas in fact they just have some parallels with the made-up boogeymen of Craig Toomey's Toomy's childhood and neither their appearance nor their purpose matches.
Changed line(s) 78,79 (click to see context) from:
* PsychoPartyMember: Toomey, who was on the edge of a breakdown even before he ended up in the past.
* RantInducingSlight: Toomey couldn't care less about almost everyone (including the ''pilots'') vanishing or them being trapped in a dead dimension, but if you dare suggest he's going to be late for his meeting in Boston he will flip out on you like you wouldn't believe.
* RantInducingSlight: Toomey couldn't care less about almost everyone (including the ''pilots'') vanishing or them being trapped in a dead dimension, but if you dare suggest he's going to be late for his meeting in Boston he will flip out on you like you wouldn't believe.
to:
* PsychoPartyMember: Toomey, Toomy, who was on the edge of a breakdown even before he ended up in the past.
* RantInducingSlight:Toomey Toomy couldn't care less about almost everyone (including the ''pilots'') vanishing or them being trapped in a dead dimension, but if you dare suggest he's going to be late for his meeting in Boston he will flip out on you like you wouldn't believe.
* RantInducingSlight:
Changed line(s) 83 (click to see context) from:
* SeriousBusiness: "I have a meeting in Boston at NINE O'CLOCK!" This is so important to Toomey that he snaps and is willing to try to kill several passengers to make his meeting on time.
to:
* SeriousBusiness: "I have a meeting in Boston at NINE O'CLOCK!" This is so important to Toomey Toomy that he snaps and is willing to try to kill several passengers to make his meeting on time.
Changed line(s) 87 (click to see context) from:
* [[TalkToTheFist Talk to the Vulcan Nose Hold]]: Nick really doesn't have time to listen to Toomey yammering on about how important his meeting is and how much he ''forbids'' the plane to make any sort of unscheduled stop at all. No, not even if most of the people on the plane including the flight crew have mysteriously vanished.
to:
* [[TalkToTheFist Talk to the Vulcan Nose Hold]]: Nick really doesn't have time to listen to Toomey Toomy yammering on about how important his meeting is and how much he ''forbids'' the plane to make any sort of unscheduled stop at all. No, not even if most of the people on the plane including the flight crew have mysteriously vanished.
Changed line(s) 89 (click to see context) from:
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The Langoliers started off as a childhood boogeyman that Toomey's dad menaced him with, a hobgoblin that ate up lazy children. Adult Toomey makes the natural conclusion when the local ClockRoaches show up...
to:
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The Langoliers started off as a childhood boogeyman that Toomey's Toomy's dad menaced him with, a hobgoblin that ate up lazy children. Adult Toomey Toomy makes the natural conclusion when the local ClockRoaches show up...
Changed line(s) 94 (click to see context) from:
* TragicVillain: Toomey, oh so very much.
to:
* TragicVillain: Toomey, Toomy, oh so very much.
Changed line(s) 96,97 (click to see context) from:
* WellDoneSonGuy: Toomey. Again. (Yes, he is both TheBGrade ''and'' the WellDoneSonGuy. Scary, isn't it?)
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Toomey stabs Dinah in the chest, which eventually leads to her death. However, he was insane, and thought that Dinah isn't a real child but a Langolier in disguise]].
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Toomey stabs Dinah in the chest, which eventually leads to her death. However, he was insane, and thought that Dinah isn't a real child but a Langolier in disguise]].
to:
* WellDoneSonGuy: Toomey.Toomy. Again. (Yes, he is both TheBGrade ''and'' the WellDoneSonGuy. Scary, isn't it?)
* WouldHurtAChild:[[spoiler:Toomey [[spoiler:Toomy stabs Dinah in the chest, which eventually leads to her death. However, he was insane, and thought that Dinah isn't a real child but a Langolier in disguise]].
* WouldHurtAChild:
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Correct name.
Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
* AlasPoorVillain: Toomy. [[spoiler:His death is just tragic and terrifying, made even more tragic that the moment he got on that plane, (or, perhaps the moment he was forced into the job by his father's demands, or one could argue the moment ''he was born'') he was doomed. Even though Toomy stabbed her, Dinah still feels pity for him when she sends him to his death.]]
to:
* AlasPoorVillain: Toomy.Toomey. [[spoiler:His death is just tragic and terrifying, made even more tragic that the moment he got on that plane, (or, perhaps the moment he was forced into the job by his father's demands, or one could argue the moment ''he was born'') he was doomed. Even though Toomy Toomey stabbed her, Dinah still feels pity for him when she sends him to his death.]]
Changed line(s) 16,17 (click to see context) from:
* TheBait: [[spoiler:The only reason Toomy's allowed to live until the end (at Dinah's request, whom he had fatally wounded after she [[UngratefulBastard tried to help him]]): so he can be Langolier-bait and save the rest from being devoured and they can escape. Rather darkly, the novella implies that not only is this the only reason he survived that long, it's ''the only reason he ever existed in the first place.'']]
* TheBGrade: Part of Toomy's FreudianExcuse for flipping out over not landing in Boston as planned is the relentless pressure to succeed that shaped his childhood. His father scolded him if he got an A-, and grounded him for a week if he got a B. In the film, we see his father in a flashback roaring at him about his grade: "'B'! 'B' IS FOR ''BUM!'' DO YOU WANT TO SWEEP THE STREETS?"
* TheBGrade: Part of Toomy's FreudianExcuse for flipping out over not landing in Boston as planned is the relentless pressure to succeed that shaped his childhood. His father scolded him if he got an A-, and grounded him for a week if he got a B. In the film, we see his father in a flashback roaring at him about his grade: "'B'! 'B' IS FOR ''BUM!'' DO YOU WANT TO SWEEP THE STREETS?"
to:
* TheBait: [[spoiler:The only reason Toomy's Toomey's allowed to live until the end (at Dinah's request, whom he had fatally wounded after she [[UngratefulBastard tried to help him]]): so he can be Langolier-bait and save the rest from being devoured and they can escape. Rather darkly, the novella implies that not only is this the only reason he survived that long, it's ''the only reason he ever existed in the first place.'']]
* TheBGrade: Part ofToomy's Toomey's FreudianExcuse for flipping out over not landing in Boston as planned is the relentless pressure to succeed that shaped his childhood. His father scolded him if he got an A-, and grounded him for a week if he got a B. In the film, we see his father in a flashback roaring at him about his grade: "'B'! 'B' IS FOR ''BUM!'' DO YOU WANT TO SWEEP THE STREETS?"
* TheBGrade: Part of
Changed line(s) 20 (click to see context) from:
* BloodFromTheMouth: Dinah, after Toomy stabs her in the chest with a butcher knife. Justified in that the knife has punctured her lung, at least in the book.
to:
* BloodFromTheMouth: Dinah, after Toomy Toomey stabs her in the chest with a butcher knife. Justified in that the knife has punctured her lung, at least in the book.
Changed line(s) 28 (click to see context) from:
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Craig Toomy, whose death is what saves everyone else.
to:
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Craig Toomy, Toomey, whose death is what saves everyone else.
Changed line(s) 30 (click to see context) from:
* EducationMama: Toomy's father was a male version.
to:
* EducationMama: Toomy's Toomey's father was a male version.
Changed line(s) 35 (click to see context) from:
* ExtremeOmnivore: The Langoliers eat the past. Can't get much more extreme than that. In the process they also eat a hillside, an airport, a runway, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and Craig Toomy]].
to:
* ExtremeOmnivore: The Langoliers eat the past. Can't get much more extreme than that. In the process they also eat a hillside, an airport, a runway, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and Craig Toomy]].Toomey]].
Changed line(s) 37,39 (click to see context) from:
* FreudianExcuse: Toomy's childhood. As mentioned, his father was cruel and demanding. After he died, things didn't get better, because Toomy's mother was an alcoholic, who, for example, on his tenth birthday put a kitchen match between two of his toes and lit it while singing "Happy Birthday to You". She considered this good fun.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene between Toomy and the hallucination of his father in the movie.
* HateSink: Pretty much the point of Toomy; without him, we wouldn't really have an antagonist.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene between Toomy and the hallucination of his father in the movie.
* HateSink: Pretty much the point of Toomy; without him, we wouldn't really have an antagonist.
to:
* FreudianExcuse: Toomy's Toomey's childhood. As mentioned, his father was cruel and demanding. After he died, things didn't get better, because Toomy's Toomey's mother was an alcoholic, who, for example, on his tenth birthday put a kitchen match between two of his toes and lit it while singing "Happy Birthday to You". She considered this good fun.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene betweenToomy Toomey and the hallucination of his father in the movie.
* HateSink: Pretty much the point ofToomy; Toomey; without him, we wouldn't really have an antagonist.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene between
* HateSink: Pretty much the point of
Changed line(s) 45 (click to see context) from:
** Round 1: Cased violin. Round 2: Toaster in a tablecloth. Albert: 2, plus several thousand for style; Toomy: 0, minus several billion for getting eaten afterwards.
to:
** Round 1: Cased violin. Round 2: Toaster in a tablecloth. Albert: 2, plus several thousand for style; Toomy: Toomey: 0, minus several billion for getting eaten afterwards.
Changed line(s) 51,52 (click to see context) from:
* ItCanThink: The Langoliers actively tear up the runway to try and slow down the escaping plane. They also seem to take sadistic joy in [[spoiler:watching Toomy beg for his life before they eat him.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobie Toomy, but he is one of the first adults to believe Dinah when she hears the Langoliers coming.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobie Toomy, but he is one of the first adults to believe Dinah when she hears the Langoliers coming.
to:
* ItCanThink: The Langoliers actively tear up the runway to try and slow down the escaping plane. They also seem to take sadistic joy in [[spoiler:watching Toomy Toomey beg for his life before they eat him.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobieToomy, Toomey, but he is one of the first adults to believe Dinah when she hears the Langoliers coming.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobie
Changed line(s) 56,57 (click to see context) from:
* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Craig Toomy, who has possibly the funniest last thought ever, under the circumstances:]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Toomy:''' How can their little legs be fast? They don't have any le--]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Toomy:''' How can their little legs be fast? They don't have any le--]]
to:
* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Craig Toomy, Toomey, who has possibly the funniest last thought ever, under the circumstances:]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Toomy:''' -->[[spoiler:'''Toomey:''' How can their little legs be fast? They don't have any le--]]
Changed line(s) 60,61 (click to see context) from:
** Toomy is one of the most enjoyable characters in the film because of it, while his facials look like they're doing an Ernest P. Worrell impression.
-->'''Toomy:''' I didn't make any money for you! I didn't MAKE ANY MONEY FOR YOU!! I LOOOOOST MONEY FOR YOU!!! AND I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! [[EvilLaugh EEYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]
-->'''Toomy:''' I didn't make any money for you! I didn't MAKE ANY MONEY FOR YOU!! I LOOOOOST MONEY FOR YOU!!! AND I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! [[EvilLaugh EEYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]
to:
** Toomy Toomey is one of the most enjoyable characters in the film because of it, while his facials look like they're doing an Ernest P. Worrell impression.
-->'''Toomy:''' -->'''Toomey:''' I didn't make any money for you! I didn't MAKE ANY MONEY FOR YOU!! I LOOOOOST MONEY FOR YOU!!! AND I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! [[EvilLaugh EEYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]
Changed line(s) 68 (click to see context) from:
* NeverTrustATitle: The name of the story implies that the monsters which appear in the story are themselves Langoliers, whereas in fact they just have some parallels with the made-up boogeymen of Craig Toomy's childhood and neither their appearance nor their purpose matches.
to:
* NeverTrustATitle: The name of the story implies that the monsters which appear in the story are themselves Langoliers, whereas in fact they just have some parallels with the made-up boogeymen of Craig Toomy's Toomey's childhood and neither their appearance nor their purpose matches.
Changed line(s) 78,79 (click to see context) from:
* PsychoPartyMember: Toomy, who was on the edge of a breakdown even before he ended up in the past.
* RantInducingSlight: Toomy couldn't care less about almost everyone (including the ''pilots'') vanishing or them being trapped in a dead dimension, but if you dare suggest he's going to be late for his meeting in Boston he will flip out on you like you wouldn't believe.
* RantInducingSlight: Toomy couldn't care less about almost everyone (including the ''pilots'') vanishing or them being trapped in a dead dimension, but if you dare suggest he's going to be late for his meeting in Boston he will flip out on you like you wouldn't believe.
to:
* PsychoPartyMember: Toomy, Toomey, who was on the edge of a breakdown even before he ended up in the past.
* RantInducingSlight:Toomy Toomey couldn't care less about almost everyone (including the ''pilots'') vanishing or them being trapped in a dead dimension, but if you dare suggest he's going to be late for his meeting in Boston he will flip out on you like you wouldn't believe.
* RantInducingSlight:
Changed line(s) 83 (click to see context) from:
* SeriousBusiness: "I have a meeting in Boston at NINE O'CLOCK!" This is so important to Toomy that he snaps and is willing to try to kill several passengers to make his meeting on time.
to:
* SeriousBusiness: "I have a meeting in Boston at NINE O'CLOCK!" This is so important to Toomy Toomey that he snaps and is willing to try to kill several passengers to make his meeting on time.
Changed line(s) 87 (click to see context) from:
* [[TalkToTheFist Talk to the Vulcan Nose Hold]]: Nick really doesn't have time to listen to Toomy yammering on about how important his meeting is and how much he ''forbids'' the plane to make any sort of unscheduled stop at all. No, not even if most of the people on the plane including the flight crew have mysteriously vanished.
to:
* [[TalkToTheFist Talk to the Vulcan Nose Hold]]: Nick really doesn't have time to listen to Toomy Toomey yammering on about how important his meeting is and how much he ''forbids'' the plane to make any sort of unscheduled stop at all. No, not even if most of the people on the plane including the flight crew have mysteriously vanished.
Changed line(s) 89 (click to see context) from:
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The Langoliers started off as a childhood boogeyman that Toomy's dad menaced him with, a hobgoblin that ate up lazy children. Adult Toomy makes the natural conclusion when the local ClockRoaches show up...
to:
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The Langoliers started off as a childhood boogeyman that Toomy's Toomey's dad menaced him with, a hobgoblin that ate up lazy children. Adult Toomy Toomey makes the natural conclusion when the local ClockRoaches show up...
Changed line(s) 94 (click to see context) from:
* TragicVillain: Toomy, oh so very much.
to:
* TragicVillain: Toomy, Toomey, oh so very much.
Changed line(s) 96,97 (click to see context) from:
* WellDoneSonGuy: Toomy. Again. (Yes, he is both TheBGrade ''and'' the WellDoneSonGuy. Scary, isn't it?)
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Toomy stabs Dinah in the chest, which eventually leads to her death. However, he was insane, and thought that Dinah isn't a real child but a Langolier in disguise]].
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Toomy stabs Dinah in the chest, which eventually leads to her death. However, he was insane, and thought that Dinah isn't a real child but a Langolier in disguise]].
to:
* WellDoneSonGuy: Toomy.Toomey. Again. (Yes, he is both TheBGrade ''and'' the WellDoneSonGuy. Scary, isn't it?)
* WouldHurtAChild:[[spoiler:Toomy [[spoiler:Toomey stabs Dinah in the chest, which eventually leads to her death. However, he was insane, and thought that Dinah isn't a real child but a Langolier in disguise]].
* WouldHurtAChild:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Moving to Namespace.
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Langoliers_2970.GIF]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Do not taunt {{Happy Fun|Ball}} TimeyWimeyBall.]]
Imagine waking up on a plane and discovering that it, along with some of its passengers, had traveled... somewhere else. A place with no other people, no other living things, a place where sounds are dulled, there are no odors, nothing seems to work, and even time seems to be winding down. And you don't know if you'll be able to get home. Welcome to the past. The cleanup crew will be here soon. Pray you aren't here when they arrive....
'''''The Langoliers''''' is a novella by Creator/StephenKing, published in the anthology ''Four Past Midnight'' in 1990. It tells the tale of a handful of passengers on a cross-country redeye flight who wake to discover that the flight crew and most of their fellow passengers have vanished. They are unable to contact ground control, and they see only darkness below them. After making an emergency landing in Bangor, they soon discover the chilling truth, and must find a way to escape the approaching sounds that may spell their doom while dealing with one of their fellow passengers, who is having a psychotic breakdown.
The novella was adapted into a two-part TV movie in 1995, starring Kate Maberly, Kimber Riddle, Patricia Wettig, Mark Lindsay Chapman, Frankie Faison, Baxter Harris, Dean Stockwell, David Morse, Christopher Collet and Bronson Pinchot.
----
!!''The Langoliers'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AbusiveParents: Toomey's father is strongly implied to be a violent narcissist who was living vicariously through his son. In the novella, it's also hinted that he drove his alcoholic wife to insanity.
* ArcWords: SHOOTING STARS ONLY.
* AlasPoorVillain: Toomy. [[spoiler:His death is just tragic and terrifying, made even more tragic that the moment he got on that plane, (or, perhaps the moment he was forced into the job by his father's demands, or one could argue the moment ''he was born'') he was doomed. Even though Toomy stabbed her, Dinah still feels pity for him when she sends him to his death.]]
* TheAtoner: Nick. He eventually [[spoiler:volunteers for a task that means certain death to atone for accidentally killing children]].
* TheBait: [[spoiler:The only reason Toomy's allowed to live until the end (at Dinah's request, whom he had fatally wounded after she [[UngratefulBastard tried to help him]]): so he can be Langolier-bait and save the rest from being devoured and they can escape. Rather darkly, the novella implies that not only is this the only reason he survived that long, it's ''the only reason he ever existed in the first place.'']]
* TheBGrade: Part of Toomy's FreudianExcuse for flipping out over not landing in Boston as planned is the relentless pressure to succeed that shaped his childhood. His father scolded him if he got an A-, and grounded him for a week if he got a B. In the film, we see his father in a flashback roaring at him about his grade: "'B'! 'B' IS FOR ''BUM!'' DO YOU WANT TO SWEEP THE STREETS?"
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: In the TV movie, the sole black man in the group of survivors dies first. His race was not mentioned in the novella. However, he wears a RedShirt.
* BlindSeer: Dinah, who was on her way to have surgery to correct her blindness, is the first to hear Something Horrible approaching, and also uses psychic powers to divert a psychotic passenger into their path.
* BloodFromTheMouth: Dinah, after Toomy stabs her in the chest with a butcher knife. Justified in that the knife has punctured her lung, at least in the book.
* CigaretteOfAnxiety: At the airport, Bob Jenkins asks a cigarette from Bethany, though he quit ten years ago, saying: "This seems like an excellent time to renew acquaintances with old habits."
* ClockRoaches: The eponymous Langoliers, whose job is to tidy things up.
-->(''Bob is watching the Langoliers eat up the entire airport'')\\
'''Bob Jenkins:''' Now we know, don't we?\\
'''Laurel Stevenson:''' Know what? We know what?\\
'''Bob Jenkins:''' We know what happens to today when it becomes yesterday. It waits for them. It waits for them, the timekeepers of eternity. Always following them behind, cleaning up the mess in the most efficient way possible: by eating it!
%% ConspicuousCG is an animation trope and doesn't fit here.
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Craig Toomy, whose death is what saves everyone else.
* DisabilitySuperpower: Dinah is able to hear the approaching Langoliers before anyone else does, leading to NotNowKiddo, below. She is also able to psychically "see" through the eyes of others, and use a sort of blind-sense to be aware of the presence or absence of others around her.
* EducationMama: Toomy's father was a male version.
* EldritchAbomination: The Langoliers. The [[HappyFunBall Happy Fun]] [[TimeyWimeyBall Timey Wimey Balls]] they see are just AFormYouAreComfortableWith.
* EldritchLocation: The Airport in Maine.
* EmptyPilesOfClothing: A strange version: the disappeared passengers from the plane leave behind watches, glasses, jewels, even surgical pins -- but not clothes. Bob Jenkins lampshades this, saying: "What was taken and what was left behind [...] doesn't seem to have a lot of rhyme or reason to it."
* ExpositionIntuition: The AuthorAvatar character manages to completely guess everything that's happening with perfect accuracy.
* ExtremeOmnivore: The Langoliers eat the past. Can't get much more extreme than that. In the process they also eat a hillside, an airport, a runway, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and Craig Toomy]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: "THEY WILL EAT YOU ALIVE! ALIVE AND SCREAMING!"
* FreudianExcuse: Toomy's childhood. As mentioned, his father was cruel and demanding. After he died, things didn't get better, because Toomy's mother was an alcoholic, who, for example, on his tenth birthday put a kitchen match between two of his toes and lit it while singing "Happy Birthday to You". She considered this good fun.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene between Toomy and the hallucination of his father in the movie.
* HateSink: Pretty much the point of Toomy; without him, we wouldn't really have an antagonist.
* HopeSpot: Inverted. [[spoiler:After they return through the rip, the world is still deserted, but once they land in Los Angeles, the vibrancy and fidelity of their surroundings informs them that they have traveled into the future and thus are now waiting for the present to catch up to them as opposed to it leaving them behind.]]
* IHaveNoSon: Before [[spoiler:Nick sacrifices his life he asks Laurel to find his father, and tell him that he tried his best to atone for the things he did. He says that she has to be persistent, because his father "tends to turn away and curse loudly when he hears my name. The old I-have-no-son bit."]]
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Albert with a toaster in a tablecloth.
-->'''Hopewell:''' [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction You did this with a toaster?]]
* ImprovisedWeapon
** Round 1: Cased violin. Round 2: Toaster in a tablecloth. Albert: 2, plus several thousand for style; Toomy: 0, minus several billion for getting eaten afterwards.
** Nick briefly considers using ordinary coins as a makeshift set of brass knuckles.
* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Averted with Dinah.]]
* InferredHolocaust: No one ever seems to make a big deal out of the fact that 90% of the people on the plane were apparently vaporized at the beginning of the story. Justifiable, considering that there are bigger issues to deal with. Alternatively, as they were awake at the time, they may simply not have gone through the time rip with everyone else... and the plane. [[GravityIsAHarshMistress Oops...]]
* InTheDoldrums: The world between seconds where the survivors end up.
* InWhichATropeIsDescribed
* ItCanThink: The Langoliers actively tear up the runway to try and slow down the escaping plane. They also seem to take sadistic joy in [[spoiler:watching Toomy beg for his life before they eat him.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobie Toomy, but he is one of the first adults to believe Dinah when she hears the Langoliers coming.
* JustOneSecondOutOfSync
** Inverted here, as the characters find themselves an unknown amount of time in the relative past, in a "used-up" version of the world.
** The reverse happens when they find themselves slightly in the ''future''. However, they only need to wait a little for time to catch up to them.
* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Craig Toomy, who has possibly the funniest last thought ever, under the circumstances:]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Toomy:''' How can their little legs be fast? They don't have any le--]]
* KillTheCutie: Poor Dinah.
* LargeHam
** Toomy is one of the most enjoyable characters in the film because of it, while his facials look like they're doing an Ernest P. Worrell impression.
-->'''Toomy:''' I didn't make any money for you! I didn't MAKE ANY MONEY FOR YOU!! I LOOOOOST MONEY FOR YOU!!! AND I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! [[EvilLaugh EEYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]
** Dean Stockwell as the Mystery writer. He actually manages to out-ham ''William Shatner'' with his dramatic pauses.
* LockedRoomMystery: Bob Jenkins initially treats the disappearance of their fellow passengers as this.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The Langoliers are almost entirely mouth, with three rows of teeth in their three jaws. In the movie, these rows also spin in alternative directions, giving them the appearance of hungry excavation drills or evil Pac-Man clones.
* MostWritersAreWriters: Bob Jenkins, who probably has enough material for a lifetime of scary stories afterwards.
* MrExposition: Bob Jenkins. This isn't the first time his actor has played MrExposition, either.
* MythologyGag: In the novella, Bob Jenkins mentions the Shop (a mysterious organization also connected with the events of ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}'') as a potential cause of their OntologicalMystery.
* NeverTrustATitle: The name of the story implies that the monsters which appear in the story are themselves Langoliers, whereas in fact they just have some parallels with the made-up boogeymen of Craig Toomy's childhood and neither their appearance nor their purpose matches.
* NoodleIncident: A dramatic example. [[spoiler:Nick asks Laurel to find his father, and tell him that he tried his best "to atone for the day behind the church in Belfast" and his father has to listen because of the time he brought the daisies (not to him). We find out what Nick did behind the church -- he accidentally shot three boys, mistaking them for terrorists -- but it's not revealed what was with the daisies.]]
* NothingIsScarier: A few examples:
** Before the plane even passes through the heavy cloud cover obscuring the world below, several characters indicate ''very'' strongly that they're terrified of what ''might'' or might '''''not''''' be below. the latter comes true in a big way later on.
** When they wake up at first in the middle of the night, there are no clouds below them, thus allowing them to see the dark, lifeless landscape below.
** ''"What the hell is making that weird crunching noise over the horizon?!"''
** That horrible, eye-watering, soul-sucking ''void'' left behind after the Langoliers eat the past.
* NotNowKiddo: Subverted. Dinah hears the Langoliers coming before everybody else, but she thinks that grownups don't believe children, especially blind girls. However, they believe her pretty fast. They even muse that as she's blind, she probably has really good hearing.
* NowDoItAgainBackwards: The survivors determine that they must fly back though the time rip to get home. But there's a problem...
* OntologicalMystery: Finding out where you are is a bit hard when ''you aren't anywhere''. Particularly present in the novella, where most of the story is spent puzzling out the existential mystery of the past.
* PsychoPartyMember: Toomy, who was on the edge of a breakdown even before he ended up in the past.
* RantInducingSlight: Toomy couldn't care less about almost everyone (including the ''pilots'') vanishing or them being trapped in a dead dimension, but if you dare suggest he's going to be late for his meeting in Boston he will flip out on you like you wouldn't believe.
* RecycledINSPACE: This miniseries is essentially "[[Series/TheTwilightZone The Odyssey of Flight 33]]" under a Stephen King filter (which emphasises the TimeyWimeyBall nature of the whole ordeal).
* RedHerring: The guy with the black beard. Eleven people survive the trip. One spends the the entire book sleeping in the back of the plane. He wakes up, briefly, and then goes back to sleep. You keep expecting him to do something, but no, that's it. His purpose is [[spoiler:to remind Bob Jenkins that they must be asleep to survive the trip back through the time rip. (Rudy Warwick covers this role in the TV adaption, as he retreats to the coach section to sleep while everyone else is in First Class.)]]
* SanitySlippage: Discovering you've lost everything, when you've been made [[FreudianExcuse obsessed with success]], and are going to Boston to explain this to your superiors, only to wind up trapped in a past being eaten by monsters, does this to a person.
* SeriousBusiness: "I have a meeting in Boston at NINE O'CLOCK!" This is so important to Toomy that he snaps and is willing to try to kill several passengers to make his meeting on time.
* ShootHimHeHasAWallet: [[spoiler:Nick once shot three boys behind a church in Belfast, because they had been throwing potatoes painted dark gray to look like grenades.]]
* SleptThroughTheApocalypse: The guy with the black beard.
* SomeoneHasToDie: [[spoiler:Good news: They should be able to escape by flying back through the time rip. Bad news: If they're awake when they go through, they'll vanish -- and after seeing the past get eaten by ClockRoaches, none of them are particularly inclined towards sleep. Good news: If they lower the cabin pressure, they'll all fall unconscious and make it through unharmed. Bad news: Someone has to stay awake to restore the cabin pressure so they'll wake up on the other side.]]
* [[TalkToTheFist Talk to the Vulcan Nose Hold]]: Nick really doesn't have time to listen to Toomy yammering on about how important his meeting is and how much he ''forbids'' the plane to make any sort of unscheduled stop at all. No, not even if most of the people on the plane including the flight crew have mysteriously vanished.
* ThereWasADoor: DoubleSubverted. Right before Nick and Brian kick down the door to the cockpit, Bethany muses on whether or not there's a key. Nick is caught completely off-guard by the question, before asking Brian the same thing. There isn't a key, but Nick compliments her for thinking of it.
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The Langoliers started off as a childhood boogeyman that Toomy's dad menaced him with, a hobgoblin that ate up lazy children. Adult Toomy makes the natural conclusion when the local ClockRoaches show up...
* TimeAndRelativeDimensionsInSpace: The "nowhere at all" variant, as the passengers end up in a "used up" past.
* TimeStandsStill: See Above.
* TimeyWimeyBall: Admittedly, up until the Langoliers show up, this story had an interesting take on time travel.
* TotallyRadical: Approximately 60% of Bethany Simms's dialogue is this.
* TragicVillain: Toomy, oh so very much.
* WaifProphet: Dinah
* WellDoneSonGuy: Toomy. Again. (Yes, he is both TheBGrade ''and'' the WellDoneSonGuy. Scary, isn't it?)
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Toomy stabs Dinah in the chest, which eventually leads to her death. However, he was insane, and thought that Dinah isn't a real child but a Langolier in disguise]].
* WorstAid: [[spoiler:Dinah is stabbed in the chest with a butcher knife. Then they pull it out.[[note]]As indicated on the trope page, leaving the knife in, contrary to public belief, would have kept most of the blood in.[[/note]]]] Given the nature of her injuries, though, that wouldn't have necessarily have saved her life, but it would have at least made it more likely she would have survived. To be fair, [[spoiler:after they take it out they do try to stop the bleeding. Nick even comments that had they taken it out right away, she would have died already.]]
* YeahShot
** The novella ended with a literary version.
** The end of the TV movie.
----
[[caption-width-right:350:Do not taunt {{Happy Fun|Ball}} TimeyWimeyBall.]]
Imagine waking up on a plane and discovering that it, along with some of its passengers, had traveled... somewhere else. A place with no other people, no other living things, a place where sounds are dulled, there are no odors, nothing seems to work, and even time seems to be winding down. And you don't know if you'll be able to get home. Welcome to the past. The cleanup crew will be here soon. Pray you aren't here when they arrive....
'''''The Langoliers''''' is a novella by Creator/StephenKing, published in the anthology ''Four Past Midnight'' in 1990. It tells the tale of a handful of passengers on a cross-country redeye flight who wake to discover that the flight crew and most of their fellow passengers have vanished. They are unable to contact ground control, and they see only darkness below them. After making an emergency landing in Bangor, they soon discover the chilling truth, and must find a way to escape the approaching sounds that may spell their doom while dealing with one of their fellow passengers, who is having a psychotic breakdown.
The novella was adapted into a two-part TV movie in 1995, starring Kate Maberly, Kimber Riddle, Patricia Wettig, Mark Lindsay Chapman, Frankie Faison, Baxter Harris, Dean Stockwell, David Morse, Christopher Collet and Bronson Pinchot.
----
!!''The Langoliers'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AbusiveParents: Toomey's father is strongly implied to be a violent narcissist who was living vicariously through his son. In the novella, it's also hinted that he drove his alcoholic wife to insanity.
* ArcWords: SHOOTING STARS ONLY.
* AlasPoorVillain: Toomy. [[spoiler:His death is just tragic and terrifying, made even more tragic that the moment he got on that plane, (or, perhaps the moment he was forced into the job by his father's demands, or one could argue the moment ''he was born'') he was doomed. Even though Toomy stabbed her, Dinah still feels pity for him when she sends him to his death.]]
* TheAtoner: Nick. He eventually [[spoiler:volunteers for a task that means certain death to atone for accidentally killing children]].
* TheBait: [[spoiler:The only reason Toomy's allowed to live until the end (at Dinah's request, whom he had fatally wounded after she [[UngratefulBastard tried to help him]]): so he can be Langolier-bait and save the rest from being devoured and they can escape. Rather darkly, the novella implies that not only is this the only reason he survived that long, it's ''the only reason he ever existed in the first place.'']]
* TheBGrade: Part of Toomy's FreudianExcuse for flipping out over not landing in Boston as planned is the relentless pressure to succeed that shaped his childhood. His father scolded him if he got an A-, and grounded him for a week if he got a B. In the film, we see his father in a flashback roaring at him about his grade: "'B'! 'B' IS FOR ''BUM!'' DO YOU WANT TO SWEEP THE STREETS?"
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: In the TV movie, the sole black man in the group of survivors dies first. His race was not mentioned in the novella. However, he wears a RedShirt.
* BlindSeer: Dinah, who was on her way to have surgery to correct her blindness, is the first to hear Something Horrible approaching, and also uses psychic powers to divert a psychotic passenger into their path.
* BloodFromTheMouth: Dinah, after Toomy stabs her in the chest with a butcher knife. Justified in that the knife has punctured her lung, at least in the book.
* CigaretteOfAnxiety: At the airport, Bob Jenkins asks a cigarette from Bethany, though he quit ten years ago, saying: "This seems like an excellent time to renew acquaintances with old habits."
* ClockRoaches: The eponymous Langoliers, whose job is to tidy things up.
-->(''Bob is watching the Langoliers eat up the entire airport'')\\
'''Bob Jenkins:''' Now we know, don't we?\\
'''Laurel Stevenson:''' Know what? We know what?\\
'''Bob Jenkins:''' We know what happens to today when it becomes yesterday. It waits for them. It waits for them, the timekeepers of eternity. Always following them behind, cleaning up the mess in the most efficient way possible: by eating it!
%% ConspicuousCG is an animation trope and doesn't fit here.
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Craig Toomy, whose death is what saves everyone else.
* DisabilitySuperpower: Dinah is able to hear the approaching Langoliers before anyone else does, leading to NotNowKiddo, below. She is also able to psychically "see" through the eyes of others, and use a sort of blind-sense to be aware of the presence or absence of others around her.
* EducationMama: Toomy's father was a male version.
* EldritchAbomination: The Langoliers. The [[HappyFunBall Happy Fun]] [[TimeyWimeyBall Timey Wimey Balls]] they see are just AFormYouAreComfortableWith.
* EldritchLocation: The Airport in Maine.
* EmptyPilesOfClothing: A strange version: the disappeared passengers from the plane leave behind watches, glasses, jewels, even surgical pins -- but not clothes. Bob Jenkins lampshades this, saying: "What was taken and what was left behind [...] doesn't seem to have a lot of rhyme or reason to it."
* ExpositionIntuition: The AuthorAvatar character manages to completely guess everything that's happening with perfect accuracy.
* ExtremeOmnivore: The Langoliers eat the past. Can't get much more extreme than that. In the process they also eat a hillside, an airport, a runway, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and Craig Toomy]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: "THEY WILL EAT YOU ALIVE! ALIVE AND SCREAMING!"
* FreudianExcuse: Toomy's childhood. As mentioned, his father was cruel and demanding. After he died, things didn't get better, because Toomy's mother was an alcoholic, who, for example, on his tenth birthday put a kitchen match between two of his toes and lit it while singing "Happy Birthday to You". She considered this good fun.
* HamToHamCombat: The scene between Toomy and the hallucination of his father in the movie.
* HateSink: Pretty much the point of Toomy; without him, we wouldn't really have an antagonist.
* HopeSpot: Inverted. [[spoiler:After they return through the rip, the world is still deserted, but once they land in Los Angeles, the vibrancy and fidelity of their surroundings informs them that they have traveled into the future and thus are now waiting for the present to catch up to them as opposed to it leaving them behind.]]
* IHaveNoSon: Before [[spoiler:Nick sacrifices his life he asks Laurel to find his father, and tell him that he tried his best to atone for the things he did. He says that she has to be persistent, because his father "tends to turn away and curse loudly when he hears my name. The old I-have-no-son bit."]]
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Albert with a toaster in a tablecloth.
-->'''Hopewell:''' [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction You did this with a toaster?]]
* ImprovisedWeapon
** Round 1: Cased violin. Round 2: Toaster in a tablecloth. Albert: 2, plus several thousand for style; Toomy: 0, minus several billion for getting eaten afterwards.
** Nick briefly considers using ordinary coins as a makeshift set of brass knuckles.
* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Averted with Dinah.]]
* InferredHolocaust: No one ever seems to make a big deal out of the fact that 90% of the people on the plane were apparently vaporized at the beginning of the story. Justifiable, considering that there are bigger issues to deal with. Alternatively, as they were awake at the time, they may simply not have gone through the time rip with everyone else... and the plane. [[GravityIsAHarshMistress Oops...]]
* InTheDoldrums: The world between seconds where the survivors end up.
* InWhichATropeIsDescribed
* ItCanThink: The Langoliers actively tear up the runway to try and slow down the escaping plane. They also seem to take sadistic joy in [[spoiler:watching Toomy beg for his life before they eat him.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nick, he's rough when it comes to getting the job done and the other passengers call him out on his harsh treatment of JerkassWoobie Toomy, but he is one of the first adults to believe Dinah when she hears the Langoliers coming.
* JustOneSecondOutOfSync
** Inverted here, as the characters find themselves an unknown amount of time in the relative past, in a "used-up" version of the world.
** The reverse happens when they find themselves slightly in the ''future''. However, they only need to wait a little for time to catch up to them.
* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Craig Toomy, who has possibly the funniest last thought ever, under the circumstances:]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Toomy:''' How can their little legs be fast? They don't have any le--]]
* KillTheCutie: Poor Dinah.
* LargeHam
** Toomy is one of the most enjoyable characters in the film because of it, while his facials look like they're doing an Ernest P. Worrell impression.
-->'''Toomy:''' I didn't make any money for you! I didn't MAKE ANY MONEY FOR YOU!! I LOOOOOST MONEY FOR YOU!!! AND I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! [[EvilLaugh EEYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]
** Dean Stockwell as the Mystery writer. He actually manages to out-ham ''William Shatner'' with his dramatic pauses.
* LockedRoomMystery: Bob Jenkins initially treats the disappearance of their fellow passengers as this.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The Langoliers are almost entirely mouth, with three rows of teeth in their three jaws. In the movie, these rows also spin in alternative directions, giving them the appearance of hungry excavation drills or evil Pac-Man clones.
* MostWritersAreWriters: Bob Jenkins, who probably has enough material for a lifetime of scary stories afterwards.
* MrExposition: Bob Jenkins. This isn't the first time his actor has played MrExposition, either.
* MythologyGag: In the novella, Bob Jenkins mentions the Shop (a mysterious organization also connected with the events of ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}'') as a potential cause of their OntologicalMystery.
* NeverTrustATitle: The name of the story implies that the monsters which appear in the story are themselves Langoliers, whereas in fact they just have some parallels with the made-up boogeymen of Craig Toomy's childhood and neither their appearance nor their purpose matches.
* NoodleIncident: A dramatic example. [[spoiler:Nick asks Laurel to find his father, and tell him that he tried his best "to atone for the day behind the church in Belfast" and his father has to listen because of the time he brought the daisies (not to him). We find out what Nick did behind the church -- he accidentally shot three boys, mistaking them for terrorists -- but it's not revealed what was with the daisies.]]
* NothingIsScarier: A few examples:
** Before the plane even passes through the heavy cloud cover obscuring the world below, several characters indicate ''very'' strongly that they're terrified of what ''might'' or might '''''not''''' be below. the latter comes true in a big way later on.
** When they wake up at first in the middle of the night, there are no clouds below them, thus allowing them to see the dark, lifeless landscape below.
** ''"What the hell is making that weird crunching noise over the horizon?!"''
** That horrible, eye-watering, soul-sucking ''void'' left behind after the Langoliers eat the past.
* NotNowKiddo: Subverted. Dinah hears the Langoliers coming before everybody else, but she thinks that grownups don't believe children, especially blind girls. However, they believe her pretty fast. They even muse that as she's blind, she probably has really good hearing.
* NowDoItAgainBackwards: The survivors determine that they must fly back though the time rip to get home. But there's a problem...
* OntologicalMystery: Finding out where you are is a bit hard when ''you aren't anywhere''. Particularly present in the novella, where most of the story is spent puzzling out the existential mystery of the past.
* PsychoPartyMember: Toomy, who was on the edge of a breakdown even before he ended up in the past.
* RantInducingSlight: Toomy couldn't care less about almost everyone (including the ''pilots'') vanishing or them being trapped in a dead dimension, but if you dare suggest he's going to be late for his meeting in Boston he will flip out on you like you wouldn't believe.
* RecycledINSPACE: This miniseries is essentially "[[Series/TheTwilightZone The Odyssey of Flight 33]]" under a Stephen King filter (which emphasises the TimeyWimeyBall nature of the whole ordeal).
* RedHerring: The guy with the black beard. Eleven people survive the trip. One spends the the entire book sleeping in the back of the plane. He wakes up, briefly, and then goes back to sleep. You keep expecting him to do something, but no, that's it. His purpose is [[spoiler:to remind Bob Jenkins that they must be asleep to survive the trip back through the time rip. (Rudy Warwick covers this role in the TV adaption, as he retreats to the coach section to sleep while everyone else is in First Class.)]]
* SanitySlippage: Discovering you've lost everything, when you've been made [[FreudianExcuse obsessed with success]], and are going to Boston to explain this to your superiors, only to wind up trapped in a past being eaten by monsters, does this to a person.
* SeriousBusiness: "I have a meeting in Boston at NINE O'CLOCK!" This is so important to Toomy that he snaps and is willing to try to kill several passengers to make his meeting on time.
* ShootHimHeHasAWallet: [[spoiler:Nick once shot three boys behind a church in Belfast, because they had been throwing potatoes painted dark gray to look like grenades.]]
* SleptThroughTheApocalypse: The guy with the black beard.
* SomeoneHasToDie: [[spoiler:Good news: They should be able to escape by flying back through the time rip. Bad news: If they're awake when they go through, they'll vanish -- and after seeing the past get eaten by ClockRoaches, none of them are particularly inclined towards sleep. Good news: If they lower the cabin pressure, they'll all fall unconscious and make it through unharmed. Bad news: Someone has to stay awake to restore the cabin pressure so they'll wake up on the other side.]]
* [[TalkToTheFist Talk to the Vulcan Nose Hold]]: Nick really doesn't have time to listen to Toomy yammering on about how important his meeting is and how much he ''forbids'' the plane to make any sort of unscheduled stop at all. No, not even if most of the people on the plane including the flight crew have mysteriously vanished.
* ThereWasADoor: DoubleSubverted. Right before Nick and Brian kick down the door to the cockpit, Bethany muses on whether or not there's a key. Nick is caught completely off-guard by the question, before asking Brian the same thing. There isn't a key, but Nick compliments her for thinking of it.
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The Langoliers started off as a childhood boogeyman that Toomy's dad menaced him with, a hobgoblin that ate up lazy children. Adult Toomy makes the natural conclusion when the local ClockRoaches show up...
* TimeAndRelativeDimensionsInSpace: The "nowhere at all" variant, as the passengers end up in a "used up" past.
* TimeStandsStill: See Above.
* TimeyWimeyBall: Admittedly, up until the Langoliers show up, this story had an interesting take on time travel.
* TotallyRadical: Approximately 60% of Bethany Simms's dialogue is this.
* TragicVillain: Toomy, oh so very much.
* WaifProphet: Dinah
* WellDoneSonGuy: Toomy. Again. (Yes, he is both TheBGrade ''and'' the WellDoneSonGuy. Scary, isn't it?)
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Toomy stabs Dinah in the chest, which eventually leads to her death. However, he was insane, and thought that Dinah isn't a real child but a Langolier in disguise]].
* WorstAid: [[spoiler:Dinah is stabbed in the chest with a butcher knife. Then they pull it out.[[note]]As indicated on the trope page, leaving the knife in, contrary to public belief, would have kept most of the blood in.[[/note]]]] Given the nature of her injuries, though, that wouldn't have necessarily have saved her life, but it would have at least made it more likely she would have survived. To be fair, [[spoiler:after they take it out they do try to stop the bleeding. Nick even comments that had they taken it out right away, she would have died already.]]
* YeahShot
** The novella ended with a literary version.
** The end of the TV movie.
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