Order of The Stick comic.
Would that be an example of the trope, but with dinosaurs?
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry PratchettIt would be interesting to see a discussion of how this relates to the Monty Python interrupted sketch format. On one hand, the policeman (or whatever) certainly comes from nowhere, but on the other hand he doesn't serve advance the plot in any way, as it will rather be completely discarded. Then again, it does advance the programme.
Does the Naruto example really count? As i understand it, this trope only applies when something random happens and nobody sees it coming with the interest of continuing the plot, but Orochimaru's attack wasn't random, it had been built up for a long time, it may have interrupted the chunin exam, but it wasn't unplanned or out of nowhere.
HiI never knew about this trope before! This sounds absolutely brilliant!
I don't know if there's already a trope for this, but the very beginning of Season (I think) 3 of Weeds, sort of the opposite happens: Everyone is standing in the kitchen with guns drawn, and in comes this innocent little kid who just needs to use the bathroom. So instead of things suddenly getting more intense, they suddenly get less intense — for a little while. I don't know if that would count as "subverting" the trope or what...
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Split, started by Antheia on Nov 3rd 2010 at 12:00:13 AM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman