Chekhov's Gun/Quotes

Gumball: Man, I really wish something that once seemed insignificant would show up and save me!
(Darwin charges at Bobert, but he gets knocked away for the second time.)
Gumball: Okay, something else insignificant.

—The Amazing World of Gumball, "The Robot"

Thornton Reed: Take this, Dag.
Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.: What is it?
Thornton Reed: Something that might come in handy.

—Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, "Scotch Mist"

It appears that you're heading directly into the heart of the volcano. On reflection, this was inevitable, really. I mean, you can't just have a Final Boss Battle near a volcano. It would be like having a car chase in which the Fruit Cart doesn't get knocked over. Or fighting crime in a Giant Robot and never using Rocket Punch.

—Kingdom of Loathing

TG: you just HAD TO FIGURE all that juice was going to come back to haunt me
TG: like frankensteins incontinent fucking ghost
TG: it was like
TG: chekhov's juice

—Dave Strider, Homestuck

Vyvyan: "It's a potion I've invented, where, when the patient drinks it, he turns into an axe-wielding homicidal maniac. It's basically a cure...for not being an axe-wielding homicidal maniac. The potential market's enormous!"

Neil: "Is this it?"
Vyvyan: "Yeah, yeah, I put it in a Coke can so nobody'd drink it by mistake."
Neil: "Y'know, I just bet a bit later on somebody does drink that and turns into an axe-wielding homicidal maniac."
Rick: "Yes, I bet that as well. That's just the sort of crazy, imaginative thing that happens around here."

—The Young Ones

This means nothing right now, but obviously will later.

—Andrew Hussie

Casey: Well, you know what they say about a gun in the first act, Ron.
Kyle: First act of what?

—Party Down

"We’ve been trained by movies that if you find some seemingly unimportant bauble, then the story will later create a situation where it will be the key to solving a problem in an unexpected way."

—DM of the Rings

Archer: "God, I SAID the cap slips off the poison pen for no reason, didn't I?!"
Cyril: "I know, I know, but I just assumed that if anything bad happened it-it would've been-"
Archer: "No, do NOT say the Chekhov gun Cyril! THAT, sir, is a facile argument!"
Woodhouse: "Also woefully esoteric."

The coffin was the trap, the coffin was the solution. That's so neat I could write a thesis.

—The Doctor, The Sarah Jane Adventures

Works like a charm. I could build a mechanical barrel-maker in my sleep, but for real inventing genius, these Brain-Transfer Helmets have to be my pièce de résistance!

—'Cranky Kong, in a scene which, assuming you're Genre Savvy, doesn't need any further explanation.

James Bond always used every single item. He never came back and said "Q, I've got a lot of stuff I didn't use on that adventure."

—Eddie Izzard, Unrepeatable

"Killed by a knife? You gotta show it! Killed by a hair-straightener? You gotta show it!"

—YourMovieSucks, Unfriended Review (Part 1)