History Main / MakeRoomForTheNewPlot

* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' had their first StoryArc with the Eighth Doctor end with him and his companion, Charley, getting [[TrappedInAnotherWorld trapped in another universe]] where time as they knew it didn't exist. This was the beginning of the so-called Divergent Universe arc. It was evident that Creator/BigFinish had big plans for this story arc and the possibilities in exploring another, weirder universe. But something would throw a kink in their plans. The Divergent Universe arc was kicked off in late 2003, and around the same time, it was announced that the ''Series/DoctorWho'' TV show would finally return in 2005 after being absent from the small screen for 16 years, thereby bringing an end to the so-called "Wilderness Years". Realizing that having what was their "main version" of the Doctor milling about in an entirely different universe without any recognisable history or landmarks would probably cause ContinuityLockout for new potential listeners, Big Finish decided to quickly cut the Divergent Universe arc short, ending it with the story "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho064TheNextLife The Next Life]]" in December 2004, ending the arc after eight stories and barely over a year of it being the "official" status quo.

** Occurs twice at the start of the Boo Arc. At first this arc focused around Gohan in high school and his alter-ego as Great Saiyaman, as well as befriending fellow student Videl. Creator/AkiraToriyama didn't feel Gohan was suited as the main character however, so he quickly introduces the return of the [[TournamentArc Tenkaichi Budokai]], with Goku spending a day among the living to compete. This tournament is then hijacked by Babidi and his minions to return to a classic Villain Arc formula. The tournament however does do a decent job at setting up one important element for the story that replaced it: [[StockShonenRival Vegeta]] was hoping to fight Goku in the tournament and gets increasingly frustrated as the Boo threat burns up more and more time of Goku's day on Earth, which contributes to his willing FaceHeelTurn by way of Babidi's "majin" spell.

** "Homer at the Bat" has Homer leading the power plant's softball team on a winning streak, attributing his success to a homemade bat ForgedFromLightning. The HalfwayPlotSwitch occurs when Burns makes a large bet on the team and decides to ensure its success by hiring a number of professional baseball players as nominal employees of the plant. One of them, Roger Clemens, breaks the bat with a pitch during the very first team practice.

* This is how the Android Saga starts in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Frieza and King Cold have just gotten to Earth, ready to take revenge. Everyone is seriously alarmed by this and the stage is set for another multi-episode battle against the evil bastard and his father to buy time for Goku to arrive and clean house. But then a Super Saiyan from the future shows up and takes them both down single-handedly. The warrior in question, Trunks, explains that in the future he's from, there are enemies way stronger than him and the Z Warriors need to start preparing for it now if they want to stand a chance.

** This cliffhanger is addressed at the beginning of the next season, ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', which sees the Rangers recover swiftly -- using the Zeo Crystal to replace their old powers and gain new suits, weapons and Zords (the Command Center is rebuilt as the new Power Chamber), while Rita and Zedd get PutOnABuss thanks to the new threat of the season, the Machine Empire, forcing them to flee for their lives (though they return later in the season).

* Happened with ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' in 2006, when the headwriters Ken Penders and Creator/KarlBollers left due to CreativeDifferences, and Creator/IanFlynn stepped up as the new headwriter. Flynn would spend most of his first year tying up most of the lingering plots left behind by Penders and Bollers (Tails being The Chosen One; the identity of "Anonymous"), writing out some contentious characters and plot elements (the Mystics Walkers, the Source of All, Tommy Turtle), and retooling many of the comic's elements to bring it more in line with the game series' mythos (reducing the comic's hundreds of Chaos Emeralds into the seven found in the games; turning "The Zone of Silence" into "The Special Zone").

* Happens in ''Fanfic/TheRiseOfDarthVulcan'' with much of the pre-existing plot of MLP being derailed and pushed aside to focus on the arriving VillainProtagonist. This includes Lord Tirek, who is killed off in the span of a chapter without even meeting the protagonists.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has Homer trying to deal with a badger invading the back yard, but he discovers he can't contact animal control because the town's area codes have been bisected. In this case the original plot was simply ignored -- Homer casually dismissed the badger when it reappears, stating that they now have bigger problems.
** That is, [[TheBusCameBack until the end of the episode when an army of badgers appears to attack the town in the middle of their reconciliation.]]

* Happened with ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' in 2006, when the headwriters Ken Penders and Creator/KarlBollers left due to CreativeDifferences, and Creator/IanFlynn stepped up as the new headwriter. Flynn would spend most of his first year tying up most of the lingering plots left behind by Penders and Bollers (Tails being The Chosen One; the identity of "Anonymous"), writing out some contentious characters and plot elements (the Mystics Walkers, the Source of All, Tommy Turtle), and retooling many of the comic's elements to bring it more in line with the more in line with the game series' mythos (reducing the comic's hundreds of Chaos Emeralds into the seven found in the games; turning "The Zone of Silence" into "The Special Zone").