big-lipped alligator moment

English

Etymology

Coined in a 2009 Nostalgia Critic review of FernGully: The Last Rainforest, referring to a scene in the 1989 film All Dogs Go to Heaven, in which an alligator breaks into an Esther Williams-style musical number.

Noun

big-lipped alligator moment (plural big-lipped alligator moments)

1. (fandom slang) A notably unusual, tangential scene in a movie or similar work of fiction, which occurs without setup and does not affect the story afterward.

   Synonym: BLAM (initialism)

   • 2009, rec.arts.animation‎^[1] (Usenet):

     This may be the first case where the *entire* movie is a Big Lipped Alligator Moment . . .