About
“There’s No Time To Explain” is an expression typically found in image macro captions used to alert someone of an unplanned event or destination that requires immediate attention. It is often used on photos of animals or people in odd poses, wearing absurd attire or sitting in strange looking vehicles.
Origins
Prior to its use in image macros, the phrase “There’s No Time to Explain” was a common phrase in movies and television shows to explain a sudden jump between locations or storylines. Between 1980 and 1990, the phrase appeared in episodes of Doctor Who[4] and Star Trek: The Next Generation[5], as well as Woody Allen’s 1991 black-and-white crime film Shadows and Fog.[6] In April 2009, it was also used in an episode of Charlie the Unicorn (shown below).
One of the earliest known uses of the phrase as an image macro caption was posted on I Can Has Cheezburger[3] on November 3rd, 2009, showing an orange cat sitting on what appears to be a backpack with the caption “there’s no time to explain, but we are out of cough syrup and the cops are on the way.”
Spread
A TV Tropes [1] page about the phrase’s use in media was created in February 2009.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] TV Tropes – No Time To Explain
[2] Thumbpress – 100 Things I Learned From Watching Movies
[3] I Can Has Cheezburger – There’s No Time To Explain
[4] Doctor Who Transcript – Arc of Infinity | BORUSA: Why are you doing this, Hedin? HEDIN: There’s no time to explain now.
[5] The Next Generation Transcript – Interface | LAFORGE: But how can that be? I mean, how is it possible? SILVA: There’s no time to explain. We have to go down.
[6] The New York Times Review – What plan? There’s no time to explain now, says the leader. Just get dressed and go outside. Someone will find him.