This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Ununnilium: I'm not sure the Next Generation example fits the trope - it wasn't a problem with the episode. Is there a trope for the abandoned plot element? Not quite a Red Herring Twist, either. Also, the Variable Geo and Weekenders examples seem to be something else entirely - where the plot of the show/episode is wrapped around a competition, but the competition itself isn't what matters - it's the personal lives of the people in it. Of course, I could be wrong, since I've never seen either.
Idle Dandy: I think the TNG instance is an example of an Aborted Arc.
Ununnilium: Good point, and moved over there.
Morganite: That sounds pretty much right for Variable Geo. The tournament wasn't really as important as all the machinations going on behind it. Also, I've heard (but can't really confirm) that one of the playstation VG games picks up where the anime ended, so it makes more sense to resolve the tournament there.
Airbud The Stargate examples are also more in Aborted Arc territory, I'll move them there.
Really? Bad to the Bone? I saw that episode, and all the threads seemed resolved to me: The angry guy killed the bouncer, the police didn't kill the dude, the body in the backyard was a boarder of the angry guy, whom he murdered, the boarder's son was adopted by the guy's sister, who was also the mysterious waitress.
Idle Dandy: Pulled
- Infamously the main achilles heel of Lost, whose succumbing to The Chris Carter Effect has been known to cost them viewership in the millions, but they're at least trying to get around to fix some up now.
because the show is not over yet, and because the mention does not cite any specific examples. There are certain things (the four-toed statue, the Adam and Eve skeletons) which the creators have specifically said will be addressed later. Also, the viewership hasn't declined more than any other series; its Nielsen rating has declined because so many people watch on ABC.com or on iTunes instead. This smacks of Complaining About Shows You Dont Like.
I'm kinda surprised that Big-O isn't on this page. I mean the series finale was literally a cliffhanger. It ends with the shot of three humongous mecha rising out of the sea. and then the screen abruptdly cuts to black.
Document N: Possibly because that's not the finale anymore; there were 13 more episodes aired in 2003.
Mith: Removed a Watchmen (comic) example that fits No Ending better.
Caswin: Excuse me - I've seen this complaint before - but didn't Martian Successor Nadesico resolve the war, as well? It didn't receive a great deal of fanfare, and there were certainly quite a few other plot threads hanging, but according to Ruri's closing monologue, since they scuttled the boson-jumping ruins, the Earth and Jovian forces could only "glare at each other" for now.
Caswin: Removing it. There may be some kind of a place for Nadesico here - I haven't seen Prince of Darkness, so I can't say - but definitely not as it is currently written.
- Martian Successor Nadesico resolved absolutely nothing besides the Love Dodecahedron within the series. Then The Movie came out and the main war plot had been resolved off-camera (specifically, in two video games), but every other subplot (and most of the characters) were ignored in favor of new plot elements introduced in the movie. And questionably-legal Fanservice.
- Oh, and The Movie's plot just sort of stopped in the middle, too, since it was the first part of a planned trilogy.
Dentaku: I removed this addition to the Blue Drop entry:
- Wait, what? Didn't the Distant Finale show she was working for a truce between the Arume and humanity?
The woman shown in the end is Michiko, not Mari. Mari's fate is a total mystery.
