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    There's a tendency in media to create very long titles full of rare (or fake) multisyllabic words that paint a picture of whimsy, fun, and adventure, especially when the work is set in the past. This is almost a Dead Unicorn Trope as most of the titles are homages to works that never existed at all. It's often associated with pseudo-Victorian throwbacks and Steampunk.

    Not to be confused with (but may overlap with) Character Name and the Noun Phrase. A sub-trope of Long Title. See also The Adjectival Superhero.

    Examples of The Fantastic Trope of Wondrous Titles include:

    Anime and Manga

    Comics

    • The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael (and the Dead Left in his Wake).

    Fan Works

    Film

    • The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
    • Another movie from those wacky late '50's - early '60's days was Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes. Possibly the origin of the trope.
      • Of course the success of Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (the eventual re-release title) led the director to revisit this trope with Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies.
        • It also lead to the comedic adaptation Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon being retitled Those Fantastic Flying Fools by the American distributor.
    • Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain (The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain)
    • Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
    • The Wonderful Ears of Johnny McGoggin
    • Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
    • The Magical Time Traveling Thugtastic Jug
    • The Completely Remarkable Utterly Fabulous Transformation of a Regular Joe
    • The Magnificent Magical Magnet of Santa Mesa
    • Wee Sing in The Marvelous Musical Mansion
    • The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?
    • Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow
    • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
    • The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man In The Moon Marigolds
    • Spinal Tap's 1969 "concept album," The Incredible Flight of Icarus P. Anybody

    Literature

    Live Action Television

    • Stephen Colbert claimed that Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy starred in The Splendiferous Zeppelin Escapades of Filliam H. Muffman.
    • Mr. Show and the Incredible, Fantastical News Report
    • Subverted in a series of Saturday Night Live skits with Michael Palin about a supposed Charles Dickens novel, The Wretched Birth, Miserable Childhood, Agonisingly Painful Adolescence, and Appallingly Vile and Degrading Death of Miles Cowperthwaite.

    Music

    • Music from the unrealized film script Dusk at Cubist Castle, debut LP of The Olivia Tremor Control. To a lesser extent, the band's name (and the loosely-structured "Elephant 6 Collective" of bands, of which they are a member) are also examples of the trope.

    Western Animation

    Web Comic

    Web Original

    Video Games

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