Tropescilloscope: Spanner in the Works

That imbecile has ruined all of my plans! (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Silent Movie Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Defrosting Ice Queen More Dakka Rasputinian Death Index of Film Westerns '80s Hair And I Must Scream Eagleland He Who Fights Monsters Fantasy Films Reality Has No Subtitles Star-Crossed Lovers The '70s Shoot the Shaggy Dog Show Within a Show Sole Survivor Brutal Honesty I'm a Humanitarian The Mole Rule of Funny Villain Opening Scene Dogged Nice Guy Beauty Is Never Tarnished Spell My Name with an "S" Half the Man He Used to Be Dull Surprise Bloody Hilarious Dramatic Gun Cock Death by Irony Big Bad Duumvirate Meaningful Name Left the Background Music On Anachronic Order Artistic License – Physics Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Camera Abuse Rule of Cool Random Events Plot Needs Wiki Magic Love Double Entendre Politically Incorrect Villain Real Life Writes the Plot Broken Aesop Badass Bookworm Empathic Environment Determinator aka: The Determinator Conspicuous CG Deus ex Machina Overprotective Dad Hollywood Law Despair Event Horizon You Killed My Father Imagine Spot Didn't Think This Through Even Evil Has Loved Ones My God, What Have I Done? After the End Getting Crap Past the Radar Peek-a-Boo Corpse The '90s Instant Death Bullet What Happened to the Mouse? Genre Shift Ripped from the Headlines Shower Scene Epic Fail Due to the Dead Exactly What It Says on the Tin Older Than They Look Moment Killer As Long as It Sounds Foreign folderlabel Spanner in the Works Male Frontal Nudity Face–Heel Turn Big Applesauce Blackmail Death by Adaptation Have a Gay Old Time Disproportionate Retribution Adults Are Useless Race Lift Accidental Misnaming Never Trust a Trailer Mystery and Detective Films Facial Horror "Awesome McCool" Name Bond One-Liner The Vamp Loophole Abuse Wham Shot Mistaken for Gay Kick the Son of a Bitch Cool Old Guy Deal with the Devil Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Bar Brawl Major Injury Underreaction Bring My Brown Pants Re-Cut The '80s Tranquil Fury Sanity Slippage Leitmotif Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Zombie Stories Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Calling the Old Man Out Downer Ending Maybe Ever After Cruel and Unusual Death The Alleged Car Too Dumb to Live Chiaroscuro Roaring Rampage of Revenge Same Language Dub Loads and Loads of Characters Karmic Death Scare Chord Only One Name Expy Woman in White Hell Is That Noise Fourth Date Marriage Not What It Looks Like Establishing Character Moment Artistic License – Gun Safety Dressing as the Enemy Ironic Echo Shell-Shocked Veteran Romantic Comedy Fun with Acronyms Captain Obvious Dark Action Girl Animal Title Index Crazy-Prepared Sealed Evil in a Can Pet the Dog Becoming the Mask Deconstruction Narrator The Ditz Famous Last Words Daylight Horror Suddenly SHOUTING! Soft Glass Blood from the Mouth Men Are the Expendable Gender Berserk Button Cat Scare Big-Bad Ensemble Red Right Hand Leave the Camera Running Mighty Whitey Hoist by His Own Petard Batman Gambit Unusually Uninteresting Sight The '60s Hong Kong Films Plot Hole Romantic False Lead Film Series Gone Horribly Right Line-of-Sight Name Affably Evil Bunny-Ears Lawyer Adaptational Villainy Spared by the Adaptation Artistic License – Military Historical Villain Upgrade Totally Radical Daddy's Girl Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Took a Level in Badass Ambiguously Gay Jump Scare Drives Like Crazy Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! May–December Romance You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Irony Humiliation Conga Fingore Double-Meaning Title Mr. Fanservice Determinator No Name Given Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Stepford Smiler Ms. Fanservice Groin Attack How We Got Here Disappeared Dad Bottomless Magazines Credits Gag It's All About Me No Antagonist Faking the Dead Face Death with Dignity The Atoner Visual Pun Pragmatic Villainy No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Japanese Films The Great Depression Recycled IN SPACE! And Starring Adaptation Name Change Death Glare Stock Footage Reality Ensues Bare Your Midriff Bait-and-Switch Boom, Headshot! Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? In Name Only Artistic License – Geography Department of Redundancy Department MacGuffin Bullying a Dragon Mercy Kill Break the Haughty Car Fu Throwing Your Sword Always Works Evil-Detecting Dog Truth in Television Catch-Phrase Cowboy Cop Crazy Jealous Guy Bond Villain Stupidity Pretty in Mink Sadistic Choice Everyone Has Standards Running Gag Abusive Parents Whole Plot Reference Award-Bait Song Put on a Bus Does Not Like Shoes Serial Killer Gender Flip The Power of Love Ascended Extra Black Comedy The '50s Gold Digger Creative Closing Credits Music Stories The Load Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor All There in the Manual Crucified Hero Shot Creator Cameo Scenery Gorn It's Personal Handicapped Badass My Beloved Smother Crapsack World Age Lift Fatal Flaw Only a Flesh Wound Corrupt Corporate Executive Heel Realization The Oner Reality Is Unrealistic Cold-Blooded Torture Bavarian Fire Drill The Un-Reveal Anyone Can Die Off with His Head! Cool Shades Dramedy Obstructive Bureaucrat Science Fiction Films Immune to Bullets Taking You with Me Mad Scientist Framing Device World of Ham Accidental Murder Not So Different The Alcoholic Brick Joke Gilligan Cut Artistic License – Law Ambiguous Ending Novelization Film Noir Genre Throwback Guile Hero Hypocritical Humor Mooks Offscreen Teleportation A Date with Rosie Palms Humans Are Bastards Gory Discretion Shot As You Know Homage Actually Pretty Funny The Chessmaster Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Unreliable Narrator Bowdlerise Funny Foreigner Chase Scene Arc Words Destination Defenestration Once More, with Clarity! Hope Spot Central Theme Documentary The Film of the Book The Lost Lenore Not So Stoic Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Curb-Stomp Battle Badass Longcoat Brainless Beauty Anachronism Stew Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Wretched Hive Coming-of-Age Story Affectionate Parody Contrived Coincidence Ship Tease Dropped a Bridge on Him Plucky Comic Relief Trailers Always Spoil Darkest Hour Eiffel Tower Effect Russian Films Author Avatar I Did What I Had to Do Spiteful Spit Rape as Drama Karma Houdini Deliberate Values Dissonance Big Fancy House Implacable Man Fatal Family Photo Precision F-Strike Man on Fire Bad Boss La Résistance Brother–Sister Incest One-Man Army Black Comedy Rape Red Herring Cassandra Truth Oh, Crap! Twist Ending Pay Evil unto Evil Police Brutality The X of Y Dirty Coward Black Best Friend Wounded Gazelle Gambit Mundane Made Awesome Broken Pedestal Informed Ability Film Noir Index Children Are Innocent Anti-Hero In the Back Butt-Monkey Redemption Equals Death Distracted by the Sexy Dying Moment of Awesome Chekhov's Skill An Arm and a Leg Psychological Thriller Self-Deprecation Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Curse Cut Short Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Bi the Way Rich Bitch Dark and Troubled Past Fainting Anti-Villain Red Shirt Flipping the Bird Shout-Out Would Hurt a Child Nothing Is Scarier Redshirt Army The Hero Dies The Reveal Villainous Breakdown Henpecked Husband Dark Reprise Soundtrack Dissonance O.O.C. Is Serious Business Took a Level in Jerkass Death by Sex Leaning on the Fourth Wall Parental Incest Hate Sink Big Damn Heroes Annoying Younger Sibling Mind Screw The Remake Expository Hairstyle Change Covers Always Lie Laser-Guided Karma Kids Are Cruel Say My Name Almost Kiss Better to Die than Be Killed Death of a Child Badass Boast Decoy Protagonist Foil Combat Pragmatist The Bad Guy Wins Horror Comedy Bland-Name Product For Want of a Nail Camp Gay Sexy Discretion Shot Card-Carrying Villain Chewing the Scenery Our Zombies Are Different Fire-Forged Friends All Men Are Perverts Translation Convention Rule of Three Character Development British Films Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Blatant Lies As the Good Book Says... Slap-Slap-Kiss Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Auto Erotica I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Aluminum Christmas Trees Stuff Blowing Up Light Is Not Good Book-Ends Femme Fatale The Big Guy Bittersweet Ending Failed a Spot Check Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Sports Stories Adaptation Dye-Job Posthumous Character Historical In-Joke I Have Your Wife Jitter Cam War Is Hell Four-Temperament Ensemble Friend to All Children Properly Paranoid Bilingual Bonus She's Got Legs Not Using the "Z" Word This Is Gonna Suck In Medias Res Improbable Aiming Skills Darker and Edgier Slasher Smile Never Found the Body Idiot Ball Setting Update timeperiod Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Be Careful What You Wish For Serious Business Demoted to Extra Gorn Awesome, but Impractical Cain and Abel Early-Bird Cameo Red Eyes, Take Warning Insult Backfire Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Really Gets Around Even Evil Has Standards The Mafia Kubrick Stare Animal Motifs Nice Hat Punny Name Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Room Full of Crazy Title Drop Adaptational Badass Amoral Attorney Vomit Indiscretion Shot Dissonant Serenity Taking the Bullet Well-Intentioned Extremist Not So Above It All The Bully Paper-Thin Disguise The Dragon Dual Wielding True Companions Antagonist Title Green-Eyed Monster The Voiceless The Lancer Action Genre Good Is Not Nice Big Bad Casting Gag Sacrificial Lion Adaptation Distillation Those Wacky Nazis Defiant to the End Male Gaze Ungrateful Bastard Insistent Terminology Knife Nut The Smart Guy From Nobody to Nightmare Arranged Marriage Race Against the Clock Catapult Nightmare Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Refuge in Audacity Rewatch Bonus Only in It for the Money You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Heroic BSoD Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Asshole Victim Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Spiritual Successor Large Ham Depraved Bisexual Woman Scorned For the Evulz Only Known by Their Nickname Important Haircut Sequel Escalation The Musical Fat Bastard Meaningful Echo Shirtless Scene Villain Ball Villain Song Honor Before Reason Beware the Nice Ones Insane Troll Logic Gainax Ending Those Two Guys Only Sane Man Sassy Black Woman There Is No Kill Like Overkill Parental Abandonment Up to Eleven Product Placement Drill Sergeant Nasty Eureka Moment Dirty Cop Grievous Bottley Harm Cat Fight Adaptation Expansion Love at First Sight Beard of Evil Stealth Hi/Bye You Have Failed Me Canon Foreigner Fan Disservice Adapted Out Would Hit a Girl N-Word Privileges Disguised in Drag Authority Equals Asskicking Does This Remind You of Anything? Yandere An Aesop Foreshadowing Creepy Child Bury Your Gays Shut Up, Hannibal! Dutch Angle "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Actor Allusion Happily Married Demonic Possession Market-Based Title Corpsing He Knows Too Much The Stinger Works Set in World War II Italian Films Grey and Gray Morality Lock and Load Montage Ax-Crazy All Girls Want Bad Boys Exact Words Thriller Armor-Piercing Question Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Adorkable Fake Shemp Badass Normal Canadian Movies Ominous Latin Chanting Noodle Incident Superhero German Films Black and Gray Morality Love Triangle Video Credits Scary Black Man Five-Man Band Dwindling Party Suspiciously Specific Denial Artistic License – Biology Offscreen Moment of Awesome Manipulative Bastard Nice Guy Toplessness from the Back Intrepid Reporter Historical-Domain Character Scenery Porn Bolivian Army Ending Punch-Clock Villain Motor Mouth Author Appeal The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Television Movie Index Meet Cute Rousing Speech Aside Glance Off-into-the-Distance Ending Country Matters Action Prologue Composite Character Dumb Blonde Villain with Good Publicity A Father to His Men Tagline Hypocrite Parental Substitute Shipper on Deck Military and Warfare Films Frame-Up Chekhov's Gun Non-Indicative Name Improbable Weapon User Your Cheating Heart Married to the Job Bad "Bad Acting" Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas BFG 20 Minutes into the Future Fanservice Extra The Ace Mood Whiplash Here We Go Again! Drugs Are Bad Names to Run Away from Really Fast Match Cut Artistic License – History Malevolent Masked Men Suspiciously Similar Substitute A Minor Kidroduction Diabolus ex Machina Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Mr. Exposition Improvised Weapon Tempting Fate Evil Laugh Retirony Gratuitous English No Celebrities Were Harmed "Well Done, Son!" Guy Those Two Bad Guys Freudian Excuse Madness Mantra Sci-Fi Horror Captain Ersatz Ass Shove Never My Fault Logo Joke Faux Affably Evil Bald of Evil Poor Communication Kills Cluster F-Bomb Heel–Face Turn Mythology Gag Drowning My Sorrows Animated Credits Opening Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Meaningful Background Event Evil Brit And the Adventure Continues No OSHA Compliance Our Vampires Are Different Missing Mom Alpha Bitch Vomit Discretion Shot The Stoic Obviously Evil Victoria's Secret Compartment Intergenerational Friendship Hooker with a Heart of Gold Domestic Abuse Hidden Depths Together in Death Jerkass Has a Point The Faceless Time Skip Body Horror Pre-Mortem One-Liner Adaptational Heroism Vampire Fiction Made of Iron Funny Background Event Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Abhorrent Admirer Vitriolic Best Buds The Place Pragmatic Adaptation Reckless Gun Usage She Cleans Up Nicely Dies Wide Open My Greatest Failure Pyrrhic Victory Costume Porn Badass in a Nice Suit The Cavalry Not Quite Dead The Brute Betty and Veronica Cool Car The Ghost Shown Their Work Freeze-Frame Bonus Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Take That! An Axe to Grind Blood Knight Foregone Conclusion Extreme Doormat Air-Vent Passageway Belligerent Sexual Tension Hair-Trigger Temper Dark Is Not Evil Laughing Mad Alliterative Name Manly Tears Guns Akimbo Pretty Little Headshots The Starscream Wham Line Adaptational Attractiveness Neck Lift French Films The Sociopath Fantastic Racism Cloudcuckoolander Chekhov's Gunman Earn Your Happy Ending Fiery Redhead Dramatic Irony Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Horror Films Not Even Bothering with the Accent Manchild Heroes Want Redheads I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Obfuscating Stupidity One Steve Limit Retcon Action Survivor A.I. Is a Crapshoot Based on a True Story Riddle for the Ages All There in the Script Parental Neglect Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Early Installment Weirdness Heroic Sacrifice Final Girl Fate Worse than Death Public Domain Feature Films B-Movie Mama Bear Get Out! Tap on the Head Vacation Films The Dreaded Kill 'em All Token Minority Kick the Dog Killed Mid-Sentence Retired Badass Developing Doomed Characters Unresolved Sexual Tension Undying Loyalty Playing Gertrude Continuity Nod Mugging the Monster No-Sell Amusing Injuries Revenge Your Head A-Splode Deliberately Monochrome Unusual Euphemism Call-Back Smug Snake Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Reasonable Authority Figure Monumental Damage Australian Movies Police are Useless Did Not Get the Girl Straight Gay The Hero Unspoken Plan Guarantee Sequel Hook Sinister Minister No Ending Every Car Is a Pinto Disney Death Mexican Standoff Outrun the Fireball What the Hell, Hero? Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Pimped-Out Dress Slasher Movie Evil vs. Evil Break the Cutie All for Nothing One-Word Title Fish out of Water Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Danny Peary Cult Movies List Beta Couple Eye Scream Wrong Genre Savvy Epic Movie Big Eater Silence Is Golden Biopic It Can Think Ghost Fiction Cool Guns Jerk Jock Heterosexual Life-Partners From Bad to Worse Flashback Word of God It Will Never Catch On Enemy Mine Hero of Another Story Evil Counterpart Lampshade Hanging Badass Grandpa Christmas Movies Index The End... Or Is It? Storming the Castle Red Oni, Blue Oni The Casanova Neck Snap Lighter and Softer Back from the Dead The Cameo Evil Is Hammy The Smurfette Principle Bound and Gagged Action Girl Villain Protagonist Death Seeker Call-Forward Disney Villain Death Morality Pet Made of Explodium Martial Arts Movie Bloodless Carnage Greater-Scope Villain Eyepatch of Power Bloodier and Gorier Historical Hero Upgrade Alas, Poor Villain Protagonist Title Let's Get Dangerous! Evil Cannot Comprehend Good "The Reason You Suck" Speech Make It Look Like an Accident Anguished Declaration of Love Fanservice All Just a Dream Big Brother Instinct Celebrity Paradox Sir Swears-a-Lot Knight Templar The Quiet One Hollywood Darkness Evil Is Petty Easily Forgiven Rule of Symbolism Manic Pixie Dream Girl The Dog Bites Back Stalker with a Crush Evil Plan I Need a Freaking Drink Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Rated M for Manly Eldritch Abomination Slashed Throat Very Loosely Based on a True Story Small Name, Big Ego Wicked Cultured Cool Old Lady Real Life The Chick Papa Wolf Smoking Is Cool Comically Missing the Point NO INDOOR VOICE Arch-Enemy Hero Antagonist Genre Savvy Broken Bird Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Attempted Rape Training Montage Jerk with a Heart of Gold Psychopathic Manchild Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Damsel in Distress Last-Name Basis Adult Fear Kill It with Fire Jerkass Super Strength Stylistic Suck Worthy Opponent Interrupted Suicide What You Are in the Dark Apocalypse How Agony of the Feet "Shaggy Dog" Story As Himself Deadpan Snarker Extremely Short Timespan The Stoner Naked People Are Funny Evil Sounds Deep Skewed Priorities Psycho for Hire Stealth Pun A God Am I Advertised Extra Take a Third Option Big "NO!" Babies Ever After Unwitting Instigator of Doom Dirty Old Man Overly Long Gag Black Dude Dies First Closed Circle Naïve Newcomer Breaking the Fourth Wall Ambiguous Disorder Driven to Suicide