History Main / ExpositionCut

-->Well, it all started when I was a cute little purple and green egg...
-->... and that's the story of my entire life. Well, up until today.

* One episode of ''JimmyNeutron'', "Send in the Clones", has everyone asking Jimmy why they are all victims of something. Jimmy starts with "ICanExplain". however, the audience has already seen everything, so we get a brief clip of "4 hours later" and cut back to Jimmy wrapping up the story with "...and that's how it all happened".

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* In ''Fanfic/TheLegendOfTotalDramaIsland'', TheStoryteller regularly skips over repetitive content with the line, "But nothing would be gained by repeating it here." Taken from the Mardrus & Mathers translation of ''[[Literature/ArabianNights The Thousand and One Nights]]''.

* This is used in DragonBallZ when Goku arrives on Namek for the first time. He finds Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta beaten to a pulp. Krillin tries to explain what happened since they got there and instead, Goku places his hand on Krillin's head and reads his mind.

** Let's face it. Nobody wants to listen to Krillin.

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* ''Disney/BrotherBear'' has a variant where one of the movie's songs plays over top of most of Kenai's story of what happened to Koda's mother. Not only does the audience already know, showing exactly Kenai explained it might have robbed some of the emotional impact.

** The Jimmy Stewart version of ''TheManWhoKnewTooMuch'' plays with this. We see Stewart's character going through the theater talking to people, but don't hear what he says. Since we know what happened, it works just fine. (IRL, Hitchcock got rid of the dialogue because the audience wouldn't hear the orchestra's music.)

* In "Fanfic/JohntronGoesToEquestria", when Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity rush up to Fluttershy, she asks what is the matter. Before anyone can respond however, Pinkie jumps up and yells "Exposition Cut!!" followed by a hyper link to this very TV Tropes page before cutting away, and comes back to the story with "I now completely understand the situation and am one-hundred percent behind you, Twilight, and don't need any further convincing. Thank you for providing such an in-depth and detailed explanation."

* In "Fanfic/JohntronGoesToEquestria", when Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity rush up to Fluttershy, she asks what is the matter. Before anyone can respond however, Pinkie jumps up and yells "Exposition Cut!!" followed by a hyper link to a certain TvTropes page. It then initiates the cut, and comes back to the story with "I now completely understand the situation and am one-hundred percent behind you, Twilight, and don't need any further convincing. Thank you for providing such an in-depth and detailed explanation."

** Twilight then breaks the fourth wall by stating "I didn't actually say anything"

* In "Fanfic/JohnTronGoesToEquestria", when Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity rush up to Fluttershy, she asks what is the matter. Before anyone can respond however, Pinkie jumps up and yells "Exposition Cut!!" followed by a hyper link to a certain TvTropes page. It then initiates the cut, and comes back to the story with "I now completely understand the situation and am one-hundred percent behind you, Twilight, and don't need any further convincing. Thank you for providing such an in-depth and detailed explanation."

* It's pretty much constant in the first parts of ''BreathOfFireIV''. Nina explains the situation established in the opening cutscene to Ryu when they seek shelter in a cave for the night using this trope, then they explain things in the same way to Cray when they return to the crash site, then they explain things to the Woren elders when [[spoiler:Cray is arrested]].

* Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''NorthByNorthwest'' has this; when the hero is brought up to speed, we do not hear the exposition since we already know this stuff.

* One episode of ''JimmyNeutron'', "Send in the Clones", has everyone asking Jimmy why they are all victims of something. Jimmy starts with "ICanExplain". however, the audience has already seen everything, so we get a brief clip of "30 minutes later" and cut back to Jimmy wrapping up the story with "...and that's how it all happened".

* On an episode of ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Dr. Bashir is trapped in a JourneyToTheCentreOfTheMind for a while. When he wakes up he tells the rest of the cast "You won't believe where I've been." and the episode cuts to various characters speaking to him about his dream.

A well written story tries to avoid [[ShowDontTell just dumping]] all the relevant information on the audience's lap. Whether it be TheHero piecing together the villain's plot, each episode revealing a little more about TheVerse in which the work's set or the cast and their backstories being introduced one at a time. Some information is best just leaked rather than poured.

After a while, however, new characters might be introduced; maybe the cast need to welcome the SixthRanger, or explain themselves to a ReasonableAuthorityFigure or reporter. That's where this trope comes in handy; rather than just repeating everything that's been said to the audience the characters begin explaining and then the action cuts to when they've just finished. StockPhrases that indicate that this trope's about to appear include;
* "Well, it's a long story..."
* "I'll explain on the way." - Particularly just after TheCavalry pick someone up.
* "You won't believe what I've been through." - Often used at the end of a story (this might lead to a variation where the episode ends rather than cutting to a new scene).

When the new scene begins, the characters listening to the explanation will usually repeat a few of the details, just to make it clear what's been explained to them (or possibly indicate that a few crucial details have been distorted).

Occasionally this trope will be used to keep the audience in the dark for an UnspokenPlanGuarantee or TheUnreveal rather than to avoid wasting time repeating what they already know. It may be needed for a work to successfully make use of ShowDontTell. Compare AnswerCut, for when the cut jumps ''to'' the explanation rather than past it. Contrast AsYouKnow and ViewersAreGoldfish.
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* AlfredHitchcock's ''NorthByNorthwest'' has this; when the hero is brought up to speed, we do not hear the exposition since we already know this stuff.

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* On an episode of ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Dr. Bashir is trapped in a JourneyToTheCentreOfTheMind for a while. When he wakes up he tells the rest of the cast "You won't believe where I've been." and the episode cuts to various characters speaking to him about his dream.

* Quoting Spike, from the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
-->Well, it all started when I was a cute little purple and green egg...
-->... and that's the story of my entire life. Well, up until today.

* It's pretty much constant in the first parts of ''BreathOfFireIV''. Nina explains the situation established in the opening cutscene to Ryu when they seek shelter in a cave for the night using this trope, then they explain things in the same way to Cray when they return to the crash site, then they explain things to the Woren elders when [[spoiler:Cray is arrested]].

* Played for laughs in ''ABugsLife''; Slim says that Flik can explain on the way. It then cuts to Flik finishing his explaination to...Tuck and Roll, who don't speak a word of English. This pretty much keeps [[MagnificentSeven the plot]] on track.

* Late in the "Sister" storyline of ''ElGoonishShive'', [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-11-14 the author lampshades their use of this.]]

* Spoofed on an episode of ''FamilyGuy'', where Peter comes up with a plan to stop students from using drugs at the Quahog high school. Peter is seen in the principal's office saying, "... and that's the plan." The principal points out that Peter never actually gave a plan but rather walked into his office and said this line.

* Spoofed on an episode of ''FamilyGuy'', where Peter comes up with a plan to stop students from using drugs at the Quahog high school. Peter is seen in the principal's office saying, "... and that's the plan." The principal points out that Peter never actually gave a plan but rather walked into his office and said this line.

* Just about every RPG does this, particularly when someone new joins the PlayerParty. Sometimes to their detriment, since console [=RPGs=] are often so long that the player forgets important plot elements from what he played as long ago as several days.

* Quoting Spike, from the first episode of ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':

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* AlfredHitchcock's ''NorthByNorthwest'' has this; when the hero is brought up to speed, we do not hear the exposition since we already know this stuff.