History Main / TheNativesAreRestless

* Played straight in ''[[StarcraftII Starcraft II Wings of Liberty]]'' single player campaign. After the Terran (human) forces land on the [[spoiler:main Zerg ([[BigCreepyCrawlies creepy crawly alien race]]) planet]] and make a temporal stronghold on it's surface, Tychus J. Findlay says the exact words implying the [[spoiler:Zergs are preparing for massive counterattack]].

* There's a song by (I think) JimmyBuffett called "The Natives Are Restless Tonight" which is the singer warning people not to go outside, because... yeah.

A DiscreditedTrope from the days of the WhiteMansBurden in works depicting [[DarkestAfrica deepest darkest Africa]], generally describing the moment before the natives rise up and overrun the compound, or [[AppeaseTheVolcanoGod abduct the white woman for sacrifice]]. Often indicated by the natives playing JungleDrums. The ''phrase'' is said to go back to the 1933 FilmOfTheBook of HGWells' ''TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'' in which the eponymous [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Morally Ambiguous Doctor]] says this of his half-human / half-beast creations, and has since become a stock phrase for trouble brewing in a group of people. Often a prelude to being ChasedByAngryNatives. Natives, like white villagers, may take up TorchesAndPitchforks when they get restless enough to form a mob.

* Parodied in ''Series/TheGoodies'', set in South Africa where "Apart-Height" has replaced apartheid, with episode where a group of jockeys are planning an uprising; Tim observes that "the jockeys are restless tonight".

* Parodied in ''Series/TheGoodies'' with episode where a group of jockeys are planning an uprising; Tim observes that "the jockeys are restless tonight".

* Done in one of LRonHubbard's less crappier novels - the protagonist interrupts the spooked natives with a sniper rifle that shoots joke holograms, starting with Elvis Presley's ghosts dancing around a cursing JosefStalin (long story).

* A modern variation is invoked in ActOfWar, where the Task Force Talon is driving through the streets of London with [[PowderKegCrowd thousands of protesters]] on the sides. Jefferson even quotes the trope name word by word.
** In what may be a subversion though, the crowd does not turn aggressive but is riled into panic by gunmen firing at the crowd.

A DiscreditedTrope from the days of the WhiteMansBurden in works depicting [[DarkestAfrica deepest darkest Africa]], generally telling the moment before the natives rise up and overrun the compound, or [[AppeaseTheVolcanoGod abduct the white woman for sacrifice]]. Often indicated by the natives playing JungleDrums. The ''phrase'' is said to go back to the 1933 FilmOfTheBook of HGWells' ''TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'' in which the eponymous [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Morally Ambiguous Doctor]] says this of his half-human / half-beast creations, and has since become a stock phrase for trouble brewing in a group of people. Often a prelude to being ChasedByAngryNatives. Natives, like white villagers, may take up TorchesAndPitchforks when they get restless enough to form a mob.

[[AC:LiveAvtionTV]]

* There was a collection of TheFarSide entitled ''The Chickens Are Restless''.
* There's a British film called RestlessNatives, but it's about a clown and a gorilla robbing buses on a motorcycle.
* There's a song by (I think) Jimmy Buffett called "The Natives Are Restless Tonight" which is the singer warning people not to go outside, because... yeah.
* Magazine/{{MAD}} once had an article ''Modern endings to classic movie lines''. One of the lines featured was "TheNativesAreRestlessTonight", cut to a disco filled with partying locals.
* Parodied in ''Series/TheGoodies'' with episode where a group of jockeys are planning an uprising; Tim observes that "the jockeys are restless tonight".

* Played straight in [[StarcraftII Starcraft II Wings of Liberty]] single player campaign. After the Terran (human) forces land on the [[spoiler:main Zerg ([[BigCreepyCrawlies creepy crawly alien race]]) planet]] and make a temporal stronghold on it's surface, Tychus J. Findlay says the exact words implying the [[spoiler:Zergs are preparing for massive counterattack]].

* MadMagazine once had an article ''Modern endings to classic movie lines''. One of the lines featured was "TheNativesAreRestlessTonight", cut to a disco filled with partying locals.

A DiscreditedTrope from the days of the WhiteMansBurden in works depicting [[DarkestAfrica deepest darkest Africa]], generally telling the moment before the natives rise up and overrun the compound, or [[AppeaseTheVolcanoGod abduct the white woman for sacrifice]]. Often indicated by the natives playing JungleDrums. The ''phrase'' is said to go back to the 1933 FilmOfTheBook of [[HGWells H. G. Wells]]' ''TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'' in which the eponymous [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Morally Ambiguous Doctor]] says this of his half-human / half-beast creations, and has since become a stock phrase for trouble brewing in a group of people. Often a prelude to being ChasedByAngryNatives. Natives, like white villagers, may take up TorchesAndPitchforks when they get restless enough to form a mob.

* In RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/{{Beyond the Black River}}," the Picts, who are using JungleDrums and raiding the colonists. To be sure the Picts are both white (a point lampshaded in the story) and in what would one day be Europe, but the trope is treated identically.

* In ''Series/{{Doctor Who}}'''s "Inferno," a mineral slime from inside the earth's crust turns people exposed to it into homicidal werewolf-like Primords. At one point, a character (trapped in a building with them) says to the Doctor, "The natives are getting restless."
* Played straight in [[StarcraftII Starcraft II Wings of Liberty]] single player campaign. After the Terran (human) forces land on the [[spoiler:main Zerg ([[BigCreepyCrawlies creepy crawly alien race]]) planet]] and make a temporal stronghold on it's surface, Tychus J. Findlay says the exact words implying the [[spoiler:Zergs are preparing for massive counterattack]].

* In RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian story "Beyond the Black River," the Picts, who are using JungleDrums and raiding the colonists. To be sure the Picts are both white (a point lampshaded in the story) and in what would one day be Europe, but the trope is treated identically.

A DiscreditedTrope from the days of the WhiteMansBurden in works depicting [[DarkestAfrica deepest darkest Africa]], generally telling the moment before the natives rise up and overrun the compound, or [[AppeaseTheVolcanoGod abduct the white woman for sacrifice]]. Often indicated by the natives playing JungleDrums. The ''phrase'' is said to go back to the 1933 FilmOfTheBook of [[HGWells H. G. Wells]]' ''TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'' in which the eponymous [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Morally Ambiguous Doctor]] says this of his half-human / half-beast creations, and has since become a stock phrase for trouble brewing in a group of people. Often a prelude to being ChasedByAngryNatives.

* Parodied in ''TheGoodies'' with episode where a group of jockeys are planning an uprising; Tim observes that "the jockeys are restless tonight".

A DiscreditedTrope from the days of the WhiteMansBurden in works depicting [[DarkestAfrica deepest darkest Africa]], generally telling the moment before the natives rise up and overrun the compound, or abduct the white woman for sacrifice. Often indicated by the natives playing JungleDrums. The ''phrase'' is said to go back to the 1933 FilmOfTheBook of [[HGWells H. G. Wells]]' ''TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'' in which the eponymous [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Morally Ambiguous Doctor]] says this of his half-human / half-beast creations, and has since become a stock phrase for trouble brewing in a group of people. Often a prelude to being ChasedByAngryNatives.

* Played straight in Rosemary Sutcliffe's TheEagleOfTheNinth. It is about a colony in Roman occupied Britain, after all.

* In ''Doctor Who'''s "Inferno," a mineral slime from inside the earth's crust turns people exposed to it into homicidal werewolf-like Primords. At one point, a character (trapped in a building with them) says to the Doctor, "The natives are getting restless."

A DiscreditedTrope from the days of the WhiteMansBurden in works depicting [[DarkestAfrica deepest darkest Africa]], generally telling the moment before the natives rise up and overrun the compound, or abduct the white woman for sacrifice. Often indicated by the natives playing JungleDrums. The ''phrase'' is said to go back to the 1933 FilmOfTheBook of [[HGWells H. G. Wells]]' ''TheIslandOfDrMoreau'' in which the eponymous [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Morally Ambiguous Doctor]] says this of his half-human / half-beast creations, and has since become a stock phrase for trouble brewing in a group of people. Often a prelude to being ChasedByAngryNatives.

A DiscreditedTrope from the days of the WhiteMansBurden in works depicting [[DarkestAfrica deepest darkest Africa]], generally telling the moment before the natives uprise and overrun the compound, or abduct the white woman for sacrifice. Often indicated by the natives playing JungleDrums.
Sometimes defined as SomethingsSpookedTheNatives. The ''phrase'' is said to go back to the 1933 FilmOfTheBook of [[HGWells H. G. Wells]]' ''TheIslandOfDrMoreau'' in which the eponymous [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Morally Ambiguous Doctor]] says this of his half-human / half-beast creations, and has since become a stock phrase for trouble brewing in a group of people. Often a prelude to being ChasedByAngryNatives.

Sometimes defined as SomethingsSpookedTheNatives. The ''phrase'' is said to go back to the 1933 FilmOfTheBook of [[HGWells H. G. Wells]]' ''TheIslandOfDrMoreau'' in which the eponymous [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Morally Ambiguous Doctor]] says this of his half-human / half-beast creations, and has since become a stock phrase for trouble brewing in a group of people. Discredited these days. Often a prelude to being ChasedByAngryNatives.