History Main / CosmicDeadline

* ''[[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker]]'' is an entire movie plagued by this issue. The start of the trilogy, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', was directed by Creator/JJAbrams, and its sequel, ''Film/TheLastJedi'', was directed by Creator/RianJohnson. However, Johnson had a very different approach to the trilogy than Abrams, so its planned BigBad was killed off, Luke Skywalker was portrayed in a very different and controversial manner and then killed off, and the Resistance was reduced to a dozen people or so with no-one willing to help them. Abrams was back on the saddle for the conclusion, and he was obviously not happy with what Johnson did to the story he envisaged. To make matters worse, ''The Rise of Skywalker'' was planned to focus on Leia, whose actress, Creator/CarrieFisher, died between movies. As such, it had to establish a new BigBad, give the Resistance a viable path to defeating them, give Rey a backstory (that ended up contradicting the one in the previous movie), and resolve her relationship with Kylo Ren (that was already resolved), all while being on the specter of a director whose vision directly contradicted with the film's predecessor. The result is a movie that quickly jumps between locations and relies on [[ContrivedCoincidence coincidences]] to rush characters along their plotlines, as well as creating [[ContinuitySnarl Continuity Snarls]] between it and the rest of the trilogy.

* ''[[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker]]'' is an entire movie plagued by this issue. The start of the trilogy, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', was directed by Creator/JJAbrams, and its sequel, ''Film/TheLastJedi'', was directed by Creator/RianJohnson. However, Johnson had a very different approach to the trilogy than Abrams, so its planned BigBad was killed off, Luke Skywalker was portrayed in a very different and controversial manner and then killed off, and the Resistance was reduced to a dozen people or so with no-one willing to help them. To make matters worse, ''The Rise of Skywalker'' was planned to focus on Leia, whose actress, Creator/CarrieFisher, died between movies. As such, it had to establish a new BigBad, give the Resistance a viable path to defeating them, give Rey a backstory (that ended up contradicting the one in the previous movie), and resolve her relationship with Kylo Ren (that was already resolved). The result is a movie that quickly jumps between locations and relies on [[ContrivedCoincidence coincidences]] to rush characters along their plotlines, as well as creating [[ContinuitySnarl Continuity Snarls]] between it and the rest of the trilogy.

* ''[[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker Star Wars: IX The Rise Of Skywalker]]'' is an entire movie plagued by this issue. The start of the trilogy, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', was directed by Creator/JJAbrams, and its sequel, ''Film/TheLastJedi'', was directed by Creator/RianJohnson. However, Johnson had a very different approach to the trilogy than Abrams, so its planned BigBad was killed off, Luke Skywalker was portrayed in a very different and controversial manner and then killed off, and the Resistance was reduced to a dozen people or so with no-one willing to help them. To make matters worse, ''The Rise of Skywalker'' was planned to focus on Leia, whose actress, Creator/CarrieFisher, died between movies. As such, it had to establish a new BigBad, give the Resistance a viable path to defeating them, give Rey a backstory (that ended up contradicting the one in the previous movie), and resolve her relationship with Kylo Ren (that was already resolved). The result is a movie that quickly jumps between locations and relies on [[ContrivedCoincidence coincidences]] to rush characters along their plotlines, as well as creating [[ContinuitySnarl Continuity Snarls]] between it and the rest of the trilogy.

* [[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker Star Wars: IX The Rise Of Skywalker]] is an entire movie plagued by this issue. The start of the trilogy, ''Force Awakens'', was directed by JJ Abrams and its sequel by Rian Johnson. However Johnson had a very different approach to the trilogy than Abrams, so its planned BigBad was killed off, Luke Skywalker was portrayed in a very different and controversial manner and then killed off, and the Resistance was reduced to a dozen people or so with no-one willing to help them. To make matters worse, TROS was planned to focus on Leia, whose actress died between movies. As such, it had to establish a new BigBad, give the Resistance a viable path to defeating them, give Rey a backstory (that ended up contradicting the one in the previous movie), and resolve her relationship with Kylo Ren (that was already resolved). The result is a movie that quickly jumps between locations and relies on ContrivedCoincidence coincidences]] to rush characters along their plotlines, as well as creating [[ContinuitySnarl Continuity Snarls]] between it and the rest of the trilogy.

* StarWarsIXTheRiseOfSkywalker is an entire movieplagued by this issue. The start of the trilogy, ''Force Awakens'', was directed by JJ Abrams and its sequel by Rian Johnson. However Johnson had a very different approach to the trilogy than Abrams, so its planned BigBad was killed off, Luke Skywalker was portrayed in a very different and controversial manner and then killed off, and the Resistance was reduced to a dozen people or so with no-one willing to help them. To make matters worse, TROS was planned to focus on Leia, whose actress died between movies. As such, it had to establish a new BigBad, give the Resistance a viable path to defeating them, give Rey a backstory (that ended up contradicting the one in the previous movie), and resolve her relationship with Kylo Ren (that was already resolved). The result is a movie that quickly jumps between locations and relies on ContrivedCoincidence coincidences]] to rush characters along their plotlines, as well as creating [[ContinuitySnarl Continuity Snarls]] between it and the rest of the trilogy.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

In videogames, this is particularly common because developers know full well that reviewers usually won't be able to play the full game. Even normal players often won't finish it, meaning they'll never see the last sections; so it makes logical sense to devote much more time and effort to early segments, and rush the later parts, resulting in {{Disappointing Last Level}}s. Of course, it's just as common for them to be running out of time and/or money. Sometimes, this may be the result of a game being [[ChristmasRushed rushed for whatever reason]] or a TroubledProduction that everyone wants to be ended with.

In videogames, this is particularly common because developers know full well that reviewers usually won't be able to play the full game. Even normal players often won't finish it, meaning they'll never see the last sections; so it makes logical sense to devote much more time and effort to early segments, and rush the later parts, resulting in {{Disappointing Last Level}}s.

* In ''VideoGame/Rayman2TheGreatEscape'', you have to collect the [[PlotCoupon Fourth Masks of Polokus]]. Three are in long levels and guarded by a boss. The fourth and last one is given after you rescue the baby globoxes shortly after the third one. You don't even meet a boss.

'''This is an {{Ending Trope|s}}, so expect spoilers'''! A common result of this trope is the GainaxEnding.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'''s ending is pretty trippy and incomprehensible compared to the game's pacing before it.

* In many of his early novels (particularly the "juveniles"), Creator/RobertAHeinlein would wrap up the plot in a page or two, often leaving the story unresolved. This was probably due to word count/length limitations. Several blatant examples are ''Literature/BetweenPlanets'', ''Literature/SpaceCadet'', ''Literature/TheRollingStones'' and ''Literature/ThePuppetMasters''.

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' - Jeane's backstory is literally fast-forwarded in game to get to the "final" boss. Not only a cosmic deadline, but a cosmic limitation. The characters seem to believe there's a limit to how much messed-up stuff they can say before the game gets cancelled/delayed. If the scene is replayed at a slowed rate, the story becomes understandable. It is notable as an example that combines terror and NoFourthWall as Jeane's backstory goes from TearJerker to unimaginablely screwed up quickly, making the reaction portrayed beliveable. [[UpToEleven And then]] comes the true ending, where Travis finds out that Henry, the assassin who killed Dr. Letz Shake earlier in the game, is his twin Irish brother and the husband of Jeanne, and at that point what little that remained of the fourth wall was done away with.

* When Creator/DanDiDio was fired from Creator/DCComics and his "5G" initiative was cancelled, DC scrambled to figure out what the new direction was going to be. Dozens of people were fired and a significant number of books were cancelled at very short notice with their final issues set for November 2020, in what was termed the "DC Bloodbath". Reading stories from around that time you can visibly see the writers rush to conclude their existing storylines, ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'' in particular basically resorts to a montage in its final issue.

* As ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' was given a shortened 13-episode third season, with the writing team still wanting to attempt some of the larger plot ideas they had while also having to tie up all the loose ends from the previous two seasons. The end result was a divisive final season home a lot of compressed storylines, supporting characters (such as Valerie) whose arcs never got a resolution, and the romantic subplot concerning Danny and Sam going from a slow burn to constant ShipTease moments up until their LastMinuteHookup in the finale.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' special "Powerpuff Girls Rule!" was originally an hour long, but was later cut down to half an hour due to ExecutiveMeddling, which is why the plot feels so rushed and a lot of characters speak so quickly.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' special "Powerpuff Girls Rule!" was originally an hour long, but was later cut down to half an hour due to ExecutiveMeddling, which is why the plot feels so rushed and a lot of characters speak so quickly.

* ''Series/{{Animorphs}}'': The series finale has no less than ''8'' subplots. This, combined with the small number of episodes (Season 2 is only 6 episodes long: Face-Off Part 3, two normal episodes, and the three part finale) strongly suggests that the series was abruptly cancelled, and each of the subplots was originally going to be it's own episode.

** The third and last Goddess Pearl in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' is given to Link directly by the Sea Spirit Jabun, without the former having to go through a dungeon beforehand as in the case of other ''Zelda'' games with three or more {{Plot Coupon}}s. A third dungeon was planned, but had to be scrapped to time constraints, with one of the producers saying the said the dungeon concept was eventually reused in following ''Zelda'' entry, though he'd never specify.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', the first three dungeons take the longest to locate (the very first one in particular). But from there, each dungeon takes less time than the previous one, with the exception of the City in the Sky. The last two dungeons merely require Link and Midna to go where they are, which takes little, if any, effort. It doesn't help that the very last dungeon houses the FinalBoss that [[HijackedByGanon hijacked what was supposed to be the last opponent]], whose residing dungeon had at least some smooth buildup.

*** ''Endwalker'''s particular arc of dealing with TheEmpire and confronting Zodiark is resolved ''pretty'' fast. While Zodiark being the first trial (after Zodiark was brought up as the GreaterScopeEvil) was a ShockingMoment, others feel as if maybe they should have gotten more time to actually ''see'' what TheEmpire would be like.

** The quote on the top of the page alludes to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' ending, which is pretty trippy and incomprehensible compared to the game's pacing before it.

* ''Anime/SenkiZesshouSymphogear''. There is a popular belief that the episode count was halved after it started airing. This is [[UrbanLegendOfZelda absolutely]] [[GodNeverSaidThat untrue]]--what actually went on is that they had too many ideas to fit in one season, and they were only given enough funding to do one season. End result: The DarkMagicalGirl's HeelFaceTurn proceeds ludicrously quickly, the BigBad's nature and plan comes out of nowhere, and there's little to no explanation for the nature of the magical stuff. Fortunately, the series got another four seasons to actually fit more stuff in.

* ''VideoGame/{{Star Ocean|1}}'' is well paced at first, but when you expect you're halfway done, you get sent to an AssPull final dungeon and introduced to a new (final) villain who monologues, explaining what would have been the second half of the game.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfArise'' featured this once the party goes to Lenegis. Lenegis itself only includes one dungeon with a handful of sidequests. But then the party goes to Daeq Faezol for an extended WhamEpisode. While everything was foreshadowed, it feels as if all the revelations are dropped with mulitple cutscenes and it should have had maybe a couple more playable dungeon segments to allow all the [[WhamLine wham lines]] to settle in.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Film/TheArkOfTruth''. The really screwy thing here is that SG-1 had several season finales that could have easily served as series finales, each with increasing amounts of closure for the series (including ''ending the conflict that ran throughout the whole series''), and then they cancel it mid-plot. This is mostly due to ExecutiveMeddling of a sort; the producers were worried each year that they'd be cancelled, so they ended each season as if it were a series finale. Then after ten seasons, they felt certain that they'd get renewed for an 11th season, and so ended the season with many plot threads still open. And [[ScrewedByTheNetwork then the network canned them.]]

* Various Creator/YoshiyukiTomino series tend to end like this, mainly because his earlier series kept getting CutShort. Especially egregious for ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'', which ends on a text summary. TheMovie covered the events of the summary, [[KillEmAll and]], [[DownerEnding well]]...

* When Creator/DanDiDio was fired from Creator/DCComics and his "5G" initiative was cancelled, DC scrambled to figure out what the new direction was going to be. Dozens of people were fired and a significant number of books were cancelled with their final issues set for November 2020, in what was termed the "DC Bloodbath". Reading stories from around that time you can visibly see the writers rush to conclude their existing storylines, ''ComicBook/{{Aqauaman}}'' in particular basically resorts to a [[TimeLapseMontage montage]] in its final issue.