< Noodle Incident

Noodle Incident/Film

  • In Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Melanie Daniels's mischievous character is established by reference to a prank she pulled that resulted in the shattering of a plate-glass window. Though she supposedly had to appear in court because of it, the nature of the prank is never explained. That makes her impulsive decision to impress a man she's just met by buying a pair of lovebirds, driving 50 miles, and delivering them via breaking-and-entering more believable.
  • In Secondhand Lions when Uncle Garth is recanting the story of how he and Hub ended up in the Foreign Legion to Walter, he says, "there were these two girls. Twins. And they . . ." Walter is enthralled, and he immediately coughs and continues with his story, sans reference to the twins.
  • The second Revenge of the Nerds film had Gilbert in the beginning wearing a leg cast and lamenting "I'm probably the only person who got a broken leg in Chess Club!" Lewis responded, "Hey, it was a very difficult move."
  • The botched heist in Reservoir Dogs is both a noodle incident and a MacGuffin that drives most of the plot without ever being depicted or fully described.
  • Whatever it was that happened "This one time, at band camp..." in the broadcast TV version of American Pie. Those who watched the film elsewhere got to hear about it in more detail.
  • One is mentioned in the beginning of The Iron Giant when Hogarth brings a new pet he's caught to show his mom. She adamantly refuses. "Remember the raccoon, Hogarth? (*shudder*) I remember the raccoon."
  • In The A-Team, most of the action takes place "eight years and eighty successful missions" after the team was formed. As such, they frequently reference past missions.
  • Star Wars had a handful of examples--nearly all of which are explained in detail in the Expanded Universe:
    • In Episode 3, Anakin and Obi-wan have one listed under their adventures.

Obi-Wan: Anakin, let's be fair. Today you were the hero and you deserve your glorious day with the politicians.
Anakin Skywalker: All right. But you owe me one, and for not saving your skin for the tenth time.
Obi-Wan: Ninth time. That business on Cato Neimodia doesn't... doesn't count.

      • The novel Labyrinth of Evil describes the event in question. Basically, Obi-Wan accidentally inhales gas during a battle that causes him to go ga-ga. Much to his embarrassment, Hilarity Ensues. Turns out Obi-wan is a Drunken Master with a lightsaber. Guess that explains why he felt comfortable enough to stop for a drink when they chased the bounty hunter Zam Wessel into a bar in Episode II....
      • Earlier, during their introductory shot in Episode II, Obi-wan tells Anakin to "Relax. I haven't seen you this tense since we fell into that nest of gundarks." Anakin responds with "You fell into that nightmare, Master, and I rescued you."
    • The Original Trilogy had a bounty hunter on Ord Mantell sometime between A New Hope and the Empire Strikes Back. It's been explained at least three different ways in the expanded universe.
    • When Han and crew are attempting to land at Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back and the security cloud cars are giving them a hard time, Chewie suggests something that is, as usual, unintelligible. Han responds, "Well, that was a long time ago. I'm sure he's forgotten about that." He hasn't: "You've got a lot of nerve coming here... After what you pulled." This, too, has been explained in the EU; it refers to when Han swiped the Millenium Falcon out from under Lando in a Sabacc game and with a helping of Loophole Abuse (Lando wagered a ship of Han's choice from his used-ship lot; Han jumped on the fact that he didn't specify it had to be one of the ships for sale).
      • More likely he meant something that happened in Rebel Dawn, the next book in that trilogy. A Rebel force teamed up with a group of smugglers, including Han and Lando, to rescue slaves and steal spice from a Hutt operation on Ylesia. The smugglers were to be paid in spice, but then the Rebels found out about the Death Star and took everything because they really needed the funds. Han's ex-girlfriend was one of the Rebels and the rest of the smugglers assumed Han was trying to cut them out of the deal.
    • How Lando Calrissian managed to get the position of General in the Rebel Alliance in Return of the Jedi was also a Noodle Incident, with the only thing known about it was that it involved a maneuver during one of the battles that was strongly implied to be ace-level. The EU explains this where he manages to down about 20 enemy ships with nothing but a tractor beam generator and some asteroids within Taanab's rings.
    • In Empire, when Darth Vader tells Boba Fett "No disintegrations". The closest they ever come to explaining that is "Vader always insisted on that, after the first incident."
      • There's a theory: who we know were disintegrated? That's right: a bunch of Jawas, Owen and Beru. It turns out, Boba Fett could have both motive and opportunity. Conversely, the Stormtroopers would either leave them be or bring in for interrogation - unless they were attacked, but would this be in character for Larses?
    • "What of the reports of the Rebel fleet massing near Sullust?"
      • Like the above Noodle Incidents, this too has been elaborated on in the EU, more specifically the game Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron, where the titular squadron laid waste to an Imperial Base on Sullust with the intention of causing enough of a distraction to lure a large enough number of the Imperial forces guarding the Death Star at Endor so the rest of the Rebel Alliance could easily infiltrate Endor to blow it up. The Imperials don't take the bait, obviously.
      • Which doesn't make much sense, given that it's implied at the time (and confirmed elsewhere) that the rebel fleet that did attack the Death Star was using Sullust as a staging point.
  • Austin Powers in Goldmember makes use of this, when Austin and his father speak about a certain incident, using subtitles and British colloquialisms, regarding an insane maid. The actual gist of what happens is a barrage of unintelligible gibberish (with no subtitles), though apparently it ends with "... and then she shat on a turtle!"
  • Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow. Hot Scoop Polly Perkins is visibly annoyed when Sky Captain shares a hilarious recollection with fellow Ace Pilot (and implied ex-lover) Action Girl "Franky" Cook.

Sky Captain: Franky, you remember our milk run over Shanghai, don't you?
Franky: We had the target buttoned up and he was jinxing in the flak...
Sky Captain: Pops a rivet, thinks he's taken a hit...
Franky: And started yelling...
Both simultaneously: "Protect the rabbits! Protect the rabbits!"

  • In Sister Act: "There was a hooker living next door named Buckwheat Bertha, who..."
  • In Disney's The Great Mouse Detective, Ratigan mentions "the Big Ben Caper" and "the Tower Bridge Job" in his Villain Song. The latter was apparently a major jewel theft.
    • One of them involved the drowning of several widows and orphans as well....
    • An alternate version of Ratigan's song adds more detail to The Tower Bridge Job. It apparently involved Ratigan throwing innocent victims into the Thames River, and shooting any that managed to surface. A wonder why this verse wasn't used in the film.
  • Men in Black: Agent K tells Agent J, "You should've been here for the Zeronion migration in 1968." (This may be explained in the upcoming third movie.)
    • In the sequel, J is bringing K up to speed about what's happened with him since K left MIB. J, trying to sound badass, tells K that he stopped a invasion by Kreelons. K snorted and said that they were "the Backstreet Boys of the Galaxy. What'd they do, throw snowballs?"
  • This Is Spinal Tap: Talking about the band's first drummer's death:

David St. Hubbins: He died in a bizarre gardening accident...
Nigel Tufnel: Authorities said... best leave it... unsolved, really.

  • Another Christopher Guest film, Best in Show, also includes a noodle incident. The hotel manager (Ed Begley Jr.), when discussing the difficulties cleaning up after a dog show, mentioned an unnamed rock band (probably a Spinal Tap reference). Details are sparse, and include only the comment that "they probably didn't realize there was a toilet in the room", as well as something about "roasting a goat," and how how hard it was to get the smell of charcoal and cumin out of the curtains.
    • There are also frequent un-elaborated-upon references to Cookie Fleck's past sexual history; as she coincidentally encountered numerous former partners.

Bulge: Cookie Guggleman?
Cookie Fleck: Yeah. Do I know you?
Bulge: Does this ring a bell? (singsongs) "I'm not wearing underwear".
Cookie Fleck: Bulge? Get outta town!

  • James Bond does this by not actually showing Bond having sex. It just builds up the legend. Tatiana Romanova, in particular, in From Russia with Love makes references to things they did last night when they're on a boat that aren't fully explained.
    • There's a much better moment in From Russia with Love - M and his staff are listening to a recording of Bond and Tania. Tania asks "Am I as exciting as all those Western girls?" Bond: "Well once when I was in Tokyo with M..." M stops the recording at lightspeed.
  • Guest and his collaborators seem to like this one; and each of his improv films include at least one such reference. In A Mighty Wind, several comments are made about Mitch's highly troubled period after his breakup with Mickey, and his anger management issues which were "not healthy... for anyone." There's also Laurie Bohner's past as a porn actress where she "was known for doing a certain thing, that most of the other girls, wouldn't do."
  • Pirates of the Caribbean has a number of them:
    • Jack Sparrow's list of charges at the end of Curse of the Black Pearl:

Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature, the most Egregious of these to be cited herewith: piracy, smuggling, impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England, sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, brigandage, pilfering, depravity, depredation, and general lawlessness.

    • Every one of those is a Noodle Incident. Except the piracy, of course. And, I suppose, the depravity, considering how many times he seemed to be suggesting getting drunk as the appropriate course of action.
    • Don't forget the ones not egregious enough to mention. And when the charge of "Impersonating a cleric of the Church of England" is read, Jack even gives a smirk.
    • As Elizabeth is falling into the water in the first film, Jack says, "... and then they made me their chief." In the writers' commentary, they explain that this is one of the many stories about how Jack survived his being marooned. It's also a reference to one of Johnny Depp's favourite shows, The Fast Show: "And then they made me their chief. Which was nice."
    • Jack's line, "Clearly you've never been to Singapore."
    • Jack's ruminations on whether or not he "deserved" any particular slap from any particular woman.
  • Dogma had this in the scene where Loki and Bartleby were judging the board members of the Mooby's franchise. Everyone's big, revolting sin is mentioned, except for board head Whitland:

Bartleby: But you, Mr. Whitland, you have more skeletons in your closet than the rest of this assembled party. I cannot even mention them aloud.
(Bartleby whispers something in Whitland's ear)
Loki: You're his father, you sick fuck!
(Whitland starts crying)

  • Mallrats features a smaller example when T.S, Brodie and Gwen were talking about a high school costume party the three were at:

Brodie: How many chances do you get to see Smokey fuck the Bandit?
Gwen: Didn't I look just like Burt Reynolds?
Brodie and T.S.: Except for the moustache.

  • In Clerks II, the whole Pillow Pants conversation. Kevin Smith was told he needed to film a pussy troll, and he said nothing he could film would be half as funny as what the audience is picturing.
  • Slap Shot: The hockey team which is the star of the movie becomes a vicious bunch of goons, so the other team brings out the worst of the worst hockey players to challenge them, including ones that had retired, such as one who's "been living in semi-seclusion running a donut shop in Moosejaw, Saskachewan, ever since the famed Denny Pratt Tragedy."
  • In Super Troopers, references are made frequently to Farva's "School Bus Incident", giving that as the explanation for his relegation to deskwork instead of active duty. The trope is subverted at the end of the film, when during the credits they play a clip of "archived footage" recorded from the police car, detailing said incident.
    • There's also "And that was the second time I got crabs."
  • Ocean's Eleven:

Reuben Tishkoff: Look, we all go way back and uh, I owe you from the thing with the guy in the place and I'll never forget it.
Danny Ocean: That was our pleasure.
Rusty Ryan: I'd never been to Belize.

  • Also in Ocean's Thirteen when Rusty talks about the towel and the surprise.
  • Similarly, in Hackers: "It's in that place where I hid that thing that time."
    • At least we do get to find out that "that place" is behind a pillar inside the boys restroom at the school.
    • Justified in that this "shared secret" was used to transmit vital information in a code the presumed eavesdroppers could not break.
  • In Kangaroo Jack: "How was I supposed to know those dalmatians were being used to smuggle diamonds?"
  • In The Way of the Gun, Dr. Allen Painter is reminded of "what happened in Baltimore," an apparently shameful incident that is never elaborated upon.
  • In Predator, soldiers occasionally remind each other of past operations, referencing them by their locations such as "that little job in Libya."

Poncho: Do you remember Afghanistan?
Dutch: I'm trying to forget it!

Sheriff Hague: Sorry, I didn't know you were... (melodramatic tone)... El Wray. Give him the guns. Give him all the guns!

  • The Hangover can be seen as a variant on this trope, where it starts off a noodle incident, and it becomes clearer as the movie goes on. Only two things are never explained: why that one chair is smoking and where they got a chicken.
    • Word of God is that the chicken was there because the guys were going to feed it to the tiger.
    • There are a couple more involving Alan. One, why is he not allowed within two hundred feet of a school or a Chuck E. Cheese? And what is the story behind him finding a baby at a Coffee Bean?
      • I thought Alan wasn't allowed within 200 feet of a school or a Chuck E. Cheese because he likes to pick fights with kids (though the punishment sounds more suited for a child molester).
  • Atlantis: The Lost Empire had one, as well.

Milo: What's Mole's story?
Dr. Sweet: Trust me on this one. You don't wanna know. Audrey, don't tell him. You shouldn't have told me, but you did. And now I'm tellin' you: (Points at Milo) You don't wanna know.

    • In the sequel, it was revealed that Mole was raised by naked mole rats. Kida comments "That explains so much..."
  • Rush Hour 3 has an interesting conversation between Lee and Carter which alludes to an incident (Carter's fault) which causes Lee to break up with his girlfriend. Apparently it involved Carter shooting her in the neck -- nonfatally but causing her one eye to be droopy -- and leading to her working for some time at El Poco Loco and then returning to the FBI as soon as she was able. Lee is shown to be very unhappy about this as he feels that had the accident not happened, they would have eventually slept together.
  • Undercover Blues may be legitimately considered as a series of noodle incidents connected by a script, including several subversions of the trope.
  • Scary Movie 3 does this; Tom says "I'm not a stoner anymore" and the flashback almost starts before his friend says "Goodbye Tom", before driving away as quickly as he can.
  • Buckaroo Banzai: "Why is there a watermelon there?" "I'll explain later." Three entirely different reasons for the watermelon were given by the DVD Commentary track and two other DVD extras. (The "real" answer, from the commentary, was that it was a test to see if an overzealous nit-picking producer had stopped checking the daily rushes.)
  • Unforgiven. Will and Ned often talk about their past exploits as well as members of their old gang.
  • There is a brief mention of a Noodle Incident in the first Spider-Man film. While Peter's class is visiting the laboratory at the beginning of the film, several of the students are screwing off, prompting their teacher to say, "Remember, it is a privilege to be here. We're guests of Columbia University's Science Department, so behave accordingly. Let's not have a repeat of our trip to the planetarium."
  • A kind of Historical In-Joke in Oscar: "You were in Chicago. It was St. Valentine's Day?"
  • In the movie Broadcast News Albert Brooks's character is speaking to Holly Hunter's character over the phone when he tells her, "Ok, I'll meet you at the place near the thing where we went that time."
  • During the interrogation sequence in The Usual Suspects, the police try to get Fenster to crack by telling him that McManus broke and gave them the whole story. Fenster's reply? "What, is that the one about the hooker with the dysentery?"
  • In Escape from New York, everyone says to Snake that they thought he was dead.
    • He also gets asked if he "flew the Gullfire over Leningrad" (implying participation in some black-ops mission in the past, possibly during World War 3).
    • Don't forget Escape From LA: Snake's past adventure in Cleveland.
  • A minor example from Back to The Future Part 3: The Doc has just angered his love interest, Clara Clayton, and miserably goes to the bar to drink his sorrows away. The bartender is reluctant to oblige him however because of 'what happened on the 4 of July'.
  • Leon Phelps from The Ladies Man gets fired when he tells a nun a very raunchy story. We never hear what it is but it's enough to give her a heart attack. All we hear is that it begins with a "Missionary Position".
  • A similar (albeit cleaner) variation of the above scenario occurred in the Abbott and Costello movie Lost In Alaska. When an Eskimo chief communicates to his tribe in sign language, an exasperated Costello mimics some fake signs. The chief laughs, saying that Costello had just told a very funny joke. Costello later displayed the same set of fake signs to a female eskimo, only to get slapped in the face. Evidently it was that kind of joke.
  • The Specials is full of these; the Pterodactyls, the anal slugs(it's a pretty good one), the Colossal Blister, Amok and the Scabies(not Scurvy) incident, and why Deadly Girl's action figure is not available in Vermont.
  • One or more noodle incidents may have been referred to in Iron Man when Pepper sees her boss in the Iron Man suit for the first time:

Tony Stark: Face it, this isn't the worst thing you caught me doing.

  • Heartbreakers: Two scammers are discussing how to get a free room at a hotel. Says one, "I was thinking the Trogden Triangle." Says the other, "Right...but where are we going to get a trumpet and a talking parrot?"
  • Dirty Work

Mitch: I've never seen so many dead hookers in all my life!
Creepy Guy: Lord knows I have...

  • Cecil B. Demented: "I haven't had this much fun since my last livestock mutilation."
  • In That Thing You Do, when the Wonders are on a radio show, Lenny mentions a time "When we stayed up way past midnight and we--" and we never learn more, as he dissolves into giggles. Of course, he's mainly being a smartass and having a laugh at the expense of the band's squeaky-clean image (i.e. the idea that staying up "way past midnight" is itself crazy and transgressive).
  • Hot Tub Time Machine has a couple.
    • Adam, Nick and Lou twice perform a reverent (and unexplained) round chant of "Great white buffalo..."
    • They later have a heated argument about Cincinnati — mainly over the fact that they swore they would NEVER talk about what happened in Cincinnati. Also, Lou is horrified that Nick apparently has "it" in a box labelled "Cincinnati" in a closet.
  • The marines discuss "Acturian poontang" in Aliens.
    • One character also asks if this is gonna be "just another bug hunt", implying that they were involved in combat operations against some kind of critters before. Note that the logo on theor dropship depicts an eagle with combat boots and the motto "Bug Stompers - We endager species".
  • Real Genius - A little more detail than usual, but the most horrific elements are left to the imagination.

Kent: You're all a bunch of degenerates.
Chris: We are? What about that time I found you naked with that bowl of Jell-O?
Kent: Look, it was hot and I was hungry, okay?

  • In Sahara, the boss of a couple of Americans is trying to get a member of the U.S. Government Intelligence Community to help rescue his men. The man doesn't want to do it. He then mentions a date, something like "October 22, 1988," and the other guy says, "I figured you might bring that up. If I help you out on this, we're even."

What's a Panama?

  • In the Star Trek reboot, Scotty's been exiled to the middle of nowhere for some experiment involving transporters and "Admiral Archer's prized beagle."
    • It is heavily implied -- but not actually said -- that he transported the beagle to prove his theories. Indirectly subverted -- if inexplicably -- in the novelization when the beagle rematerializes on the Enterprise. Try not to think about it too hard.
  • In A Bugs Life, Thorny mentions Flik's Tunnel-Within-A-Tunnel Project. It took the whole Engineering Department two days to dig him out.
  • At the beginning of Jurassic Park 3, Billy is relating to Alan Grant the tale of how his "lucky backpack" saved him. the lucky backpack saves him again later in the film.
  • Played for no laughs at all in The Hunted. The police finally capture rogue black ops agent Aaron Hallam, played by Benicio del Toro, who proceeds to name the classified operations he'd been made to carry out by codename, until Tommy Lee Jones stops him.
  • The Linguini Incident is named after this, and the titular Linguini Incident is, indeed, a noodle incident.
  • In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, when Flint asks Sam what she wants to eat, Steve the monkey exclaims, "Gummy bears!"

Flint: Steve, no. You know how you how get around gummy bears.

    • Not so noodled when the climax has Steve encounter zombie gummy bears.
  • How the bad guys got the piece of Stone Henge in Halloween III.

Conal Cochran: Ha ha. We had a TIME getting it here. You wouldn't believe how we did it.

Robo-Gadget: You know how to dance, don't you?
Gadget: Well, actually, I was taking lessons not too long ago, in the hopes that one day I--
Robo-Gadget: Shut up and dance!

  • Madame Suzanne, the café manager from Amelie does this when discussing a recipe:

Georgette: (complaining about "au gratin" sauce) I can't stomach it, like you with horse meat.
Suzanne: It's not my stomach, it's my memory. (beat) ...I'd rather cook human flesh.

    • Partially subverted later (and simultaneously played straight [1]) when it's revealed that she was in a circus related accident involving a horse falling over and a trapeze artist dropping her.
  • In the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie when Irene first shows up to ask for Holmes' help and he reflexively grabs her wrist to stop her from pulling something out of her jacket pocket. The lines suggest a whole slew of noodle incidents to choose from.

Irene: Why are you always so suspicious of me?
Holmes: Shall I answer chronologically or alphabetically?

Morgan: Timothy. Tim. Johnny Whiplash. First he offered me friendship...then he offered me rock candy...then he offered me something I never should have accepted.

Lord Rutledge: Remember what happened to your brother...*claw-spike-things shoot out of his cane* Samson liked to play games...and we all remember what happened to Samson.

    • Exactly what he did is never explained.
  • Jumanji could also fit this trope considering all we know is that Alan spent and somehow survived 26 years in the "deepest, darkest" jungle. Although if the animated series of it is anything to go by, it could be boarderline Nightmare Fuel.
  • In Smokey and the Bandit, the Sheriff's son makes a noodle-incident reference:

Buford T. Justice: Nobody, and I mean NOBODY makes Sheriff Buford T. Justice look like a possum's pecker.
Junior: Except for that...
Buford T. Justice: Shut your ass.

  • After they go off the reservation, Mr. and Mrs. Smith meet with a colleague to find out what they're up against.

Eddy: Remember Canada? That was kid's stuff next to this.
John: (whistles)
Jane: That was you?
Eddy: Is that a turn-on? Didn't she try to kill you with a car?

  • Tangled: How Rapunzel got Pascal the chameleon as a pet in the first place.
  • In The Road to El Dorado, as they are preparing to meet certain doom:

Miguel: I just want you to know, I'm sorry about that girl in Barcelona.
Tulio: You mean you - you...

  • Yellow Submarine: During the Blue Meanie's initial attack on Pepperland, the Chief Meanie gleefully declares, "I haven't laughed this much since Pompeii!"
  • From Ghostbusters:

Venkmann: This reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head. Remember that?
Spengler: That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me.

  • How Simba and Nala managed to get rid of Zazu before heading for the Elephant Graveyard in The Lion King qualified as such, with the only thing known is that it apparently involved getting a Rhinoceros to sit on Zazu.[2]
  • While in the first two film, Megatron's main alt-mode is portrayed as a bizarre Cybertronian jet-tank hybrid, in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, he becomes an armored truck instead. Yet we never see him obtain said truck mode at all. The truck he supposedly scanned is presumably in Africa, which is where we first see him in that movie.
  • The Avengers: Whatever the hell happened to Hawkeye and Black Widow in Budapest.
  • Fairly early in The Natural, the New York Knights' supply manager is kitting Roy out with cleats and a uniform. Roy asks to be number eleven. The manager tells him number eleven's unlucky, but he won't go into it. Roy settles on number nine.
  • Several in the Friday series. From the first Friday, we have:

- The circumstances behind Craig being fired from his UPS job - Craig nearly getting choked by Deebo in Smokey's back yard - Big Worm having someone who crossed him "smoked" for fifty bucks - Willie mentioning how Craig's uncle found out the hard way why violence (in this case, guns) isn't the answer. Slightly implied in Next Friday that Elroy is the uncle in question.

    • From Next Friday we have:

- We're never told exactly what the Jokers did to land in the pen, nor why Carla and her mother keep trying to get away from them. - the circumstances surrounding Elroy's bad back

    • From Friday After Next:

- Craig and Day Day are never told what happened to the last security guards; they figure it out soon enough, though. - How Damon landed in the pen, - too many others to name individually...

Adam: They have to believe her! She has photographs!
Barbara: Adam, you have a photograph of Bigfoot.
Adam: That was... different.

  1. ↑ through explaining the noodle incident with another vague/noodle incident
  2. ↑ And before anyone cites "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" as how they did it, that doesn't count, as most of the song was strongly implied to be an acid fantasy sequence due to the oddly colored animals and the surreal sequence.
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