This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Darmok: I don't agree with the entry for Buffy The Vampire Slayer here. It doesn't describe what must fail every week. But I have never seen the show so I can't decide what to correct it to or whether to remove it from the list. (Buffy does not have to have an example of everything people!)
Paul A: Buffy can never succeed in ridding the world of monsters — she can slay individual monsters, and once a season or so stop a big conspiracy, but there will always be more. Happy, monster-free world = no more series.
Tabby: That's kind of like saying every cop show is a Failure Is the Only Option show because they can't stop all crime everywhere. I gotta stand with Darmok on this one.
Darmok: You could also use the same argument to say that both Star Trek The Original Series and Star Trek The Next Generation failed continuously (up to and including the last episode) because they never explored the entire galaxy.
Gus: I think the BtvS item was added (aside from the fan-reflex) as an illustration of what happens when the big thing is accomplished. Anyway, it doesn't add much. The Twin Peaks item was a similar comment. I'll pull them over here.
- In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Buffy won the war and the series ended.
- On Twin Peaks, Agent Cooper solved the murder and the show promptly ran off the rails.
Tabby: See, I think the Twin Peaks example does merit inclusion. Buffy didn't win the war, exactly (there's still demons and now insane superstrong girls), and also it was the end, so there was no in-show fallout. Agent Cooper wrapped up the plot line but the show kept going and fell into a pit of its own crazy, thus proving what a bad idea it is to win before the very end.
Devil's Advocate: Removing the M*A*S*H example; it's not as if the characters are personally trying to end the Korean War, much as they'd like that to happpen.
smith2000: X-files is a kind of Idiot Plot.Conspiracy has manpower,great wealth, laboratories and apparently controls most of U.S. Government itself;Mulder is relatively powerless.If Mulder had found Truth, what would he do with it ? Who would arrest Conspiracy? (Deep Throat: there is nothing these people can´t do)
Japper: Does anyone know if there's a trope, similar to The Firefly Effect, regarding Genre Savvy fans not committing to a show where Failure Is the Only Option simply because they knew that the goal would never be achieved? That's actually why I never really got into Samurai Jack.
Drow Lord: Took out the Naruto example. Yes, his eventual goal is to become the Hokage...key word: eventual. It's not like he attempts to seize power in Konoha all that often, and he is progressing in skill.
Seaside Messenger: Issue regarding the Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni example: While it IS a very interesting inversion, there is evidence that the time loop could end with Takano still victorious, in particular the time interval are shown to be getting shorter, and Rika even suspects that the particular cycle in which they succeed would be the last one anyway.
lee4hmz: Okay, so my day job involves writing software for Windows, and seeing that dialog box (especially after a long night of debugging CD-burner code) made me laugh heartily. :D
