Favorite fourth wall breaking moments

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xxxgarfieldrulesxxx

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What were some of your favorite moments when the characters were aware that they were in a cartoon or made self-references or anything of the like that can be considered fourth wall breaking?

Some of mine were in the old TMNT

It was either Raphael or Donatello: "Heroes In A Half Shell. You know like the theme song?"

*Shredder has just finished talking to Krang about how a device works*

Krang: "Why are you explaining it to me? I already know how it works."

Shredder: "I wasn't explaining it to you.(points to the screen) I was explaining it to THEM!"
 
Off the top of my head, I always crack up in "Fifteen Minutes of Shame" from Family Guy when Peter says something and Chris starts to panic and goes, "The fourth wall! You're breaking the fourth wall!"
 
Duel Masters (aka Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged except extending the card game series by adding in more jokes and refrences to it) had a lot of those.

Kokujo: "You're late Shobu...I was beginning to think you were chickening out."
Shobu: "Nope. Just heightening the dramatic tension."
Kokujo: "You seem to do that a lot on this show."

Saiyuki: (After Rakudah loses after coming close to winning) "Whew! For a minute there I thought I was on the wrong show!"
Mimi: "No kidding, cuz I'm really liking my new curves!"

Pops: (Screen shakes) "Whoa! What's happening?!"
Shobu: "Wobble effect. We're going into a flashback."
Pops: "We didn't do that in the last episode!"
Shobu: "I'm trying to spice things up."

Too bad the show didn't do that as well in the next two seasons but it's still probably the best show to constantly made it. Or at least best anime dub I've seen do it anyway.
 
Freakazoid had some of my favorites. In episode 3 (at least I think it's epi 3) Sharon Stone and Princess Diana are in a cat fight over Freakazoid. His line goes:

"Ladies! Ladies! There's enough of me for both of you. *then he winks towards the fourth wall* And if not they'll just have to draw me bigger. ;)
 
Chowder was well known for this, to the point where it seems a lot of people found it obnoxious, but by far my favourite was;

Mung Daal: No money means....
*cut to live action footage of recording booth*
Dwight Schultz:...NO ANIMATION!


Also, Bug's method of defeating Goassamer from the short 'Hair Raising Hair';

Bugs: Listen, Dracula...have you ever had the feeling you were being watched? Like the eyes of strange things are upon you? Look! Out there! In the audience!
Goassamer: PEOPLE?! AHHHHHHH! *runs off into the background, demolishing several walls*
 
Actually, it was Meg who's the one saying to turn the cameras off.

And yes, this joke was the first time I've been introduced to the fourth wall. :sweat:
 
Gintama: ... does it a lot. But the best time was the Character Rank Arc. Yes, Arc. Three episodes of nonstop 4th wall demolishing (as if there was anything left to demolish) action! It's a simple concept: the characters get ahold of the latest Shounen Jump Character character poll (the Gintama manga runs in Jump) and everyone NOT in the top ten is less than happy about their ranking. Mayhem ensues. The opening(s) for episode 183 are ESPECIALLY epic.

OH, and there's the "Invisible Gin-san" and "Unfinished Episode" shorts. Those were extra special.

Looney Toons - Duck Amok: Poor Daffy. Poor, poor Daffy.

Freakazoid: ... ALL OF IT!
 
I was trying to think of which Tex Avery audience theater silhouettes was best, but I guess I'm bad at this game.:ack:
You are quite right. That reminds me that reminds me that Duel Masters was a Hasbro property, at least at one time, so if you don't mind I'm going to mention it in The Hub forum.;)
 
As far as I?m concerned, nothing beats the 101 Dalmatians: The Series episode ?The Making Of??

The entire episode broke the fourth wall, albeit in an unusual manner. In it, all of the characters in the series were revealed to have been actors, and in that episode, they were at the cast party to celebrate its premiere. They showed character auditions and talked about how the series took a lot of different directions before it became what it was. However, this exchange between Pongo and Perdia was the highlight of the episode.

Perdita: We? We assumed that since we were the stars of the movie, we?d be the stars of the series too.
Pongo: (sadly) Yeah, the studio decided to go for a younger look.
Perdita: But we?re not bitter.
(Perdita rips through a 101 Dalmatians: The Series poster with her claws)
 
Quite a few, but one of the ones that still makes me laugh is the Ed Edd n Eddy one where Double D reminds Eddy about the time he made Jimmy his protege.

Eddy: Oh yeah! Didn't we win an Emmy for that episode?

Double D: .......hardly.

And the one from The Mask animated series where the villain Kablamus tells Mask how he wants to do something to help the children and Mask is like, "children?" And Kablamus looks at the camera and says, "yes, all the children out there."

Mask(to the camera): Let's face it guys, I know you're there, but HE's obviously got a few screws loose.
 
Yes, that does happen when she finally gets fed up, but there's another scene earlier (at the seafood restaurant) where Chris has his little fourth wall panic.

Also, there was a special version of the opening title sequence once where Peter falls down the steps as they're singing the theme song and lies there on the floor moaning in pain. Stewie watches for a moment, then glances up at the screen. He walks out of frame, then a few seconds later climbs up right in front of the screen and says something like, "Uh, yeah, you might just wanna go ahead and take a commercial break now."
 
If you're looking for fourth-wall breaking anime, Excel Saga has director Nabeshin and creator Koshi Rikdo in cartoon form, while Paniponi Dash has sound stages for classrooms and stage crew wandering in and out of shot.
 
Spongebob has a few, I remeber two:

Nature Pants, after Spongebob left:


Sandy: He'll be back in a week
Squidward: He'll be back in eleven minutes

(referencing the lenght of the ep)

Another one form another episode Squidward said sth similar to this:

Squid: Why do every 11 minutes of my life must be filled with misery?!

(again, epiosde length)

I remeber one from Total Drama World Tour where IDK what Geoff says, about the show being 30 minutes long and Harold says:

Actually, It's 22 minutes long, actually, but ads and the opening and closing credits take aproximetely 8 minutes of it.

And on The Simpsons I remember this one, I think it's from "Bart Becomes Famous"

Bart gets to the kitchen whistling the Simpsons tune

Marge: I told you not to sing that horrible song!

And this one is from Chowder's "The Hot Date"

Chowder: ...and then there was the episode where my brain went huge and I re-formatted the show!

(referencing Brain Grub, with is a huge fourth wall breaker, as Chowder figures out they are cartoons).

And this one from Ed Edd n Eddy

Eddy: I'd swear, but the censors won't let me.
 
Tiny Toon Adventures episode: "Animaniacs" Basicaly brisk the fourth wall as much as it would crumble. As it showed the process of cell animation.

In the show Animaniacs (the show, not the TTA short aforementioned) The segment "Pleas Please Please Get a Life Foubdation" Broak the fourth wall by satirizing obsesive usenet fans at the time who would discuss every episode and point out every flaw.

As for more moments in Animaniacs

Miles: "Give me the bird."

Yakko: "We'd love to, but the Fox censors simply won't allow it."
 
The Freakazoid episode with Candle...er...you know, where Freakazoid is tied up, and takes a minute to thank the cast and crew.



Along those lines, I like the Simpsons episode "Saddlesore Galactica" where Comic Book Guy points out that the Simpsons already owned a horse. And when Marge says she thinks she's developing a gambling problem, he says he's watching them.

Granted, it's just grazing against the fourth wall and not breaking it, but close enough.
 
A lot of the fourth wall jokes in the old Warner Bros cartoons I like. They either have characters referring to members of the theatre audience ("Cracked Ice," "The Case of the Stuttering Pig") or sillouhetted members of the audience interacting with the on-screen characters ("Daffy Duck and Egghead," Thugs with Dirty Mugs")

What is interesting is that these cartoons were intended for theatrical viewing in the days before home video or television. These gags easily fooled theatregoers in the 30's, 40's, and 50's.

However, these gags make little sense at all to viewers in a modern world because it appears to them as if they're being addressed through their television screens by a character who thinks he's addressing a theatre audience.
 
In an episode of Idaten Jump, the kid with the glasses talks to one of the other characters and comments on how riding bicycles is a lot safer than playing with spinning tops, marbles, or giant robots. Idaten Jump is a show Hasbro released. Beyblade, Battle B Daman, and the Transformers franchise are all things Hasbro has also been involved with.
 
The Powerpuff Girls made the 4th wall practically non-existent. The Narrator was considered a cast member and would often talk directly to the cast and the audience at home. Sometimes the citizens of Townsville would even respond to his obnoxious commentary.
 
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