History Main / VerySpecialEpisode

''[[SelfDemonstration Tonight, on a very special article of]] Website/TVTropes ...''

** Stopped a [[CanadaEh Canadian]] drug ring in a story by Creator/ToddMcfarlane. Naturally, they just had to be [[AuthorAppeal smuggling their drugs in hockey pucks]].

** The show's GrandFinale, "Changing Nature", was a Very Special Episode about pollution played pretty much completely straight. [[SuddenDownerEnding It wasn't]] [[KillEmAll very upbeat]].

* In the short film ''Film/CacaMilis'', Paul proudly tells [[HatesSmallTalk Catherine]] that when he was a little boy, he had been invited to appear on a radio program because in addition to being blind, [[IllGirl he had a very severe form of asthma ("the worst case they'd seen")]].

* In October, WWE superstars wear pink to raise awareness on the battle against breast cancer and to promote their partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

** Episode 12 of the 2004 [=OVA=] series ''Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho'' titled "The Seventh Witch Appears: Non-chan's Secret" [[TheTopicOfCancer tackles cancer]] (which is a taboo subject matter in Japan) and terminal illness. The episode involves Doremi befriending a cancer patient named Nozomi Waku whom she encounters while cheering up sick or critically ill children at a children's hospital. She learns that Nozomi has a big fascination of witches and owns tons of witch related books at her hospital room. As Nozomi struggles to overcome cancer (while never named in the episode, Nozomi is suffering leukemia), she tells Doremi that she wishes to become an actual witch someday. One night, Doremi surprises her by showing their witch forms at bedtime and temporarily makes her a witch. The next evening, Doremi witnesses Nozomi struggling to breath showing signs that her friend is losing her battle. A day later, Nozomi's mother reveals to Doremi that her daughter has passed away early that morning and gives Doremi back a card that she gave Nozomi to make her a magical witch. Nozomi's mother and Doremi decide to have a playful snowball fight in her memory which reduces them to [[CryLaughing happily crying]] (while Doremi's witch friends are silently watching on). [[BittersweetEnding The episode ends]] with Genki (another cancer patient from the same hospital) visiting Doremi and her friends witch headquarters to reveal that he's been discharged from the hospital. The titular character responds to the news by immediately running up to Genki to give him a big hug as she openly cries not only out of grief from Nozomi's passing, but from relief knowing Genki won't suffer the same fate of her deceased friend.

''[[SelfDemonstration Tonight, on a very special article of]] Wiki/TVTropes ...''

** Episode 28 focuses on Homare's pet dog falling in love with a cat and Ruru, who is an android, thinking it's wrong. Emiru then teaches her that you can love anyone regardless of their species.

* [[WebVideo/TheGameHeroes 8-Bit Mickey]] interviewed a member of the Westboro Baptist Church at one of their protests, the Holocaust Museum. Why yes, they are Anti-Semitic among being Anti-War, Anti-Gay, [[Franchise/StarWars Anti-Sith,]] Anti-White and Pro-Oil Spill. He kept level headed throughout the interview and at the end of the video stated that he was quite shocked at these people.

** In a Very Special Story Arc of ''Anime/MagicalDoremi'', the eponymous [[CuteWitch elementary school witches]] have to help Kayoko, a little girl pushed on the brink of depression by the inherent competitive Japanese school system. [[TheWoobie Feeling inadequate, mercilessly bullied, teased by her peers, ignored by the teachers and witnessing her parents always arguing for her school problems,]] Kayoko starts to exhibit psychosomatic reactions (aka throwing up in fear) whenever she approaches school, ultimately choosing to become an hikikomori. The witches just decide, without any use of their powers, to be Kayoko's helping hand, going so far to offer their own hats for... Kayoko's use and offering their friendship to ease her feeling of inadequacy and loneliness.

Compare PublicServiceAnnouncement. TooSmartForStrangers (about the danger of child abduction) and DrugsAreBad (about Just Saying No to them) are two specific kinds of Very Special Episodes that reached their zenith in [[TheEighties the 1980s]]. DescentIntoAddiction is a special case of the latter trope, in which the episode is all about a character's gradual slide into addictive behaviour. See CompressedVice for when a character is saddled with an issue for just long enough to illustrate the aesop, and LongLostUncleAesop for when a new character is introduced ''solely'' for this purpose and never seen again. An AuthorTract is when the ''entire'' work is used as an excuse to preach about a particular real world issue. GreenAesop is when the story focuses on environmental issues, but these aren't as common. Can also double as a PrejudiceAesop.

* The music video for the song "Stress" by the French group Music/{{Justice}} deals with the violence associated with young inhabitants of ''banlieues'' or slums of major French cities, particularly those from North African immigrant backgrounds. The video was directed by Romain Gavras, co-founder of the Kourtrajmé collective, whose members were, for the most part, born in ''banlieues''.

''Tonight, on a very special article of Wiki/TVTropes ...''

** The month after ASM #98 was published, DC published ''Franchise/GreenLantern[=/=]ComicBook/GreenArrow'' #85 (pictured at the top of the page), which introduced a heroin addiction for [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Speedy Roy Harper. By this time, the CCA, having endured a backlash against them for refusing to approve the Spidey story, revised their standards to allow the Speedy story to be approved.

** His drug abuse is still part of his character like when Speedy lectured ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} in a very holier-than-thou way in one comic, Nightwing sneered that he was [[AdHominem getting advice from a heroin addict.]]

* Most of the other Franchise/GreenLantern/ComicBook/GreenArrow comics written by Dennis O'Neil may qualify as Very Special Episodes and not just the one where it is revealed that Speedy was a heroin addict. For instance, the issue that introduced John Stewart had Hal Jordan ([[AudienceSurrogate and by extension, the audience]]) learning a lesson about police harassment and institutional racism.

* Creator/JuddWinick also penned a very special issue with Franchise/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner's assistant getting beaten up for his sexual orientation. Judd was the one who introduced the character and built up the homosexuality angle prior to this with a less {{Anvilicious}} issue, where Kyle discovered the assistant had a crush on him. Kyle Rayner's Green Lantern series wasn't entirely free of this before Creator/JuddWinick, with Ron Marz penning issues on alcoholism, racism, and hate crimes against lesbians.
* There's a Very Special ''Issue'' of the ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'' comic book, wherein Tim Drake [[TalkingDownTheSuicidal talks a kid down from jumping off the roof]]; it fits well in the story, as Robin himself had recently lost everyone he ever knew. It even came complete with a teen suicide hotline at the end of the issue. Another involves a classmate of Tim's being killed by another who brings a gun to school, which ended up having repercussions in future issues.

* Coming back to ''Franchise/SpiderMan'', he has been a very popular character for very special episodes, selected {{narm}}filled issues shows our hero:

** Teamed with ComicBook/{{Storm}} and ComicBook/LukeCage to combat Smokescreen. [[http://atopthefourthwall.com/spider-man-storm-and-cage/ Guess what this one is about]].

** And finally, coming back to the subject of the original ''Amazing Spider-Man'' storyline, Harry Osborn's drug history would actually lead him to follow in [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn his father]]'s footsteps and become [[LegacyCharacter the second Green Goblin]].
* ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' [[http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/new_mutants_45.shtml issue #45]] was all about a new kid named Larry who was secretly a {{mutant|s}}. His classmates started teasing him about it (not knowing he really ''was'' a mutant) and stuck a flyer under his door that said "X-Factor [the mutant hunting team] is coming for you!" That freaked him out so badly that he ended up committing suicide. And the whole thing ends with a [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot We Could Have Avoided This]] speech from ComicBook/KittyPryde about name-calling. Fortunately, it's so well-written that it's not really that {{Narm}}y. [[TearJerker No, indeed.]]

* ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Death talks about life]]'' was a giveaway special produced by Creator/VertigoComics at the height of the AIDS epidemic. [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/295605.html#cutid1 It]] features Death [[BreakingTheFourthWall directly addressing the reader]] about AIDS and sex related issues, and is probably the single most {{Anvilicious}} comic not written by [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Jack Chick]]. It's also probably the best {{Anvilicious}} comic of all time, as it makes up for its {{anvilicious}}ness by featuring a scene in which [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]] holds a banana while Death rolls a condom onto it. The AIDS epidemic was also a bit of a running motif in ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' itself, although never to the extent of having entire issues based around it.

* Creator/PeterDavid did quite a few of these in ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'' and ''ComicBook/YoungJustice''. In the former, he dealt with AIDS and abortion; in the latter he dealt with gun control and 9/11.

* DC got it on it at about the same time, producing ''Heroes Against Hunger'' where Franchise/{{Superman}} discovers [[PowerfulAndHelpless his powers are useless against famine.]]

* Around Creator/ECComics, these kinds of stories were called "E.C. Preachies." One of the best known of these was "Judgment Day", which featured a representative of TheRepublic travelling to a planet of robots that segregates between functionally identical blue and orange robots, with one of them having [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything having significantly worse facilities and less rights]] than the other and ultimately deciding not to admit them to the republic. The representative then takes his helmet off on the way back home, {{reveal}}ing him to be a black man. Notably, a reprint of the pre-Code story was denied approval by administrator Judge Charles Murphy, simply because of the aforementioned reveal. Editor William Gaines and writer Al Feldstein threatened the CCA with a lawsuit, after which Murphy asked them to remove the sweat from the protagonist's face in the last panel. Gaines and Feldstein's response was a literal "fuck you" and the story would be reprinted without Code approval in the very last comic EC ever published before shifting focus to ''Magazine/{{MAD}}''.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' had a 2-part story about domestic abuse in the early 90's called "Crisis at Hand," deconstructing the days when Supes was a WifeBasherBasher from the early Golden Age comics, showing that early in his career when he once attempted to scare a man from beating his wife, only to later learn it failed and the man later ''killed'' her the next time he got violent; in the present day when he learns that one of his neighbors is the victim of abuse, Clark tries to find a way to help her without setting her husband off worse. Considered one of the better cases of a "very special issue" and was actually brought up a few times afterward in the Superman books.

** According to [[http://articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/26/entertainment/ca-11792 this article,]] "When You've Got To Go!", which taught about [[ToiletTrainingPlot potty training]], was a very special episode. Why? Because back in the 90's, and even still today, potty training was rarely addressed in Western children's shows. It even was released on home video![[note]]And as of 2022 remains in print, despite first-run broadcast of the series having ended in the mid-2000s.[[/note]]

** His review of ''Film/{{Melancholia}}''. The movie deals with themes of severe depression, and when it starts as a fun MilestoneCelebration, it quickly grinds down and becomes less funny until WebVideo/FilmBrain calls him out for focusing on easily mocked but ultimately irrelevant aspects of the movie instead of facing the ElephantInTheRoom. At this point, Kyle stops the review to talk for a moment about real-life depression and his battles with such.

** Episode 12 of the 2004 [=OVA=] series ''Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho'' titled "The Seventh Witch Appears: Non-chan's Secret" [[TheTopicOfCancer tackles cancer]] (which is a taboo subject matter in Japan) and terminal illness. The episode involves Doremi befriending a cancer patient named Nozomi Waku whom she encounters while cheering up sick or critically ill children at a children's hospital. She learns that Nozomi has a big fascination of witches and owns tons of witch related books at her hospital room. As Nozomi struggles to overcome cancer (while never named in the episode, Nozomi is suffering leukemia), she tells Doremi that she wishes to become an actual wish someday. One night, Doremi surprises her by showing their witch forms at bedtime and temporarly makes her a witch. The next evening, Doremi witnesses Nozomi struggling to breath showing signs that her friend is losing her battle. A day later, Nozomi's mother reveals to Doremi that her daughter has passed away early that morning and gives Doremi back a card that she gave Nozomi to make her a magical witch. Nozomi's mother and Doremi decide to have a playful snowball fight in her memory which reduces them to [[CryLaughing happily crying]] (while Doremi's witch friends are silently watching on). [[BittersweetEnding The episode ends]] with Genki (another cancer patient from the same hospital) visiting Doremi and her friends witch headquarters to reveal that he's been discharged from the hospital. The titular character responds to the news by immediately running up to Genki to give him a big hug as she openly cries not only out of grief from Nozomi's passing, but from relief knowing Genki won't suffer the same fate of her deceased friend.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C31Kz7-M0VY&list=PLxo4wseRbUXYzjE563UerPs7qj69iQoq9&index=24&t=0s The "Western" episode]] touches upon cultural sensitivity in regards to changing values, and how that boils into what many would dismiss as PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naXRBLcOVLI This follow-up video]] goes further into his thoughts on the matter.

** Episode 12 of the 2004 [=OVA=] series ''Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho'' titled "The Seventh Witch Appears: Non-chan's Secret" [[TheTopicOfCancer tackles on cancer]] (which is a taboo subject matter in Japan). The episode involves Doremi befriending a cancer patient named Nozomi Waku whom she encounters while cheering up sick or critically ill children at a children's hospital. She learns that Nozomi has a big fascination of witches and owns tons of witch related books at her hospital room. As Nozomi struggles to overcome cancer (while never named in the episode, Nozomi is suffering leukemia), she tells Doremi that she wishes to become an actual wish someday. One night, Doremi surprises her by showing their witch forms at bedtime and temporarly makes her a witch. The next evening, Doremi witnesses Nozomi struggling to breath showing signs that her friend is losing her battle. A day later, Nozomi's mother reveals to Doremi that her daughter has passed away early that morning and gives Doremi back a card that she gave Nozomi to make her a magical witch. Nozomi's mother and Doremi decide to have a playful snowball fight in her memory which reduces them to [[CryLaughing happily crying]] (while Doremi's witch friends are silently watching on). [[BittersweetEnding The episode ends]] with Genki (another cancer patient from the same hospital) visiting Doremi and her friends witch headquarters to reveal that he's been discharged from the hospital. The titular character responds to the news by immediately running up to Genki to give him a big hug as she openly cries not only out of grief from Nozomi's passing, but from relief knowing Genki won't suffer the same fate of her deceased friend.

** Episode 12 of the 2004 [=OVA=] series ''Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho'' titled "The Seventh Witch Appears: Non-chan's Secret" [[TheTopicOfCancer tackles on cancer]] (which is a taboo subject matter in Japan). The episode involves Doremi befriending a cancer patient named Nozomi Waku whom she encounters while cheering up sick or critically ill children at a children's hospital. She learns that Nozomi has a big fascination of witches and owns tons of witch related books at her hospital room. As Nozomi struggles to overcome cancer (which is never named in the episode), she tells Doremi that she wishes to become an actual wish someday. One night, Doremi surprises her by showing their witch forms at bedtime and temporarly makes her a witch. The next evening, Doremi witnesses Nozomi struggling to breath showing signs that her friend is losing her battle. A day later, Nozomi's mother reveals to Doremi that her daughter has passed away early that morning and gives Doremi back a card that she gave Nozomi to make her a magical witch. Nozomi's mother and Doremi decide to have a playful snowball fight in her memory which reduces them to [[CryLaughing happily crying]] (while Doremi's witch friends are silently watching on). [[BittersweetEnding The episode ends]] with Genki (another cancer patient from the same hospital) visiting Doremi and her friends witch headquarters to reveal that he's been discharged from the hospital. The titular character responds to the news by immediately running up to Genki to give him a big hug as she openly cries not only out of grief from Nozomi's passing, but from relief knowing Genki won't suffer the same fate of her deceased friend.

* In a Very Special Story Arc of ''Anime/MagicalDoremi'', the eponymous [[CuteWitch elementary school witches]] have to help Kayoko, a little girl pushed on the brink of depression by the inherent competitive Japanese school system. [[TheWoobie Feeling inadequate, mercilessly bullied, teased by her peers, ignored by the teachers and witnessing her parents always arguing for her school problems,]] Kayoko starts to exhibit psychosomatic reactions (aka throwing up in fear) whenever she approaches school, ultimately choosing to become an hikikomori. The witches just decide, without any use of their powers, to be Kayoko's helping hand, going so far to offer their own hats for... Kayoko's use and offering their friendship to ease her feeling of inadequacy and loneliness.

** Another story was about [[http://jetpacksunrise.tumblr.com/post/71960037951/the-break-in-story-part-1 Calvin's house being broken into]] [[http://jetpacksunrise.tumblr.com/post/72199972800/calvin-and-hobbes-the-break-in-story-part-2 while the family was away.]] While Calvin is more focused on making sure Hobbes is okay and later mourning his stolen television, [[AdultFear his parents struggle with the trauma and fear of knowing they aren't safe in their own house.]]

** According to [[http://articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/26/entertainment/ca-11792 this article,]] "When You've Got To Go!", which taught about [[ToiletTrainingPlot potty training]], was a very special episode. Why? Because back in the 90's, and even still today, potty training was rarely addressed in Western children's shows. It even was released on home video!

* The episode "Vomiting Point" from ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' was extraordinarily depressing, and a satire on the pitiful, everyday lives of people living in a monotonous world, minus the main characters. The animation style is much more realistic in contrast to the show's normal ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Powerpuff Girls]]''-esque style, and the titular characters (who ''are'' animated in the normal style) only show up at the end for about a minute. The rest of the episode follows a very put-upon office worker as he attempts to simply do his mundane job and get his daughter a present for her birthday. The ending is at least somewhat positive, as Panty and Stocking do give him an autograph to give to her.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries Sun and Moon'' has two episodes that focus on the death of a loved one and the FiveStagesOfGrief, a surprising tone shift from this arc of the anime.
* There is a two-part special episode of ''Anime/TamaAndFriends: Do You Know my Tama?'' in which a curse is put upon the people and animals of the third district regarding a little girl and her dog Shiro, who tragically ended up being two of the 129,000-226,000 casualties of the [[{{UsefulNotes/Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki}} Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings]] that took place during the climactic final months of {{UsefulNotes/World War II}} and caused horrific devastation. Tama's owner Takeshi has nightmares about her in the [[AChristmasCarol Christmas Carol]]-type first part. The girl's ghost even holds Tama hostage and threatens to kill him.

** Although this take on one of the events that ended the Second World War was much tamer compared to the more graphic and nightmare-inducing ''Barefoot Gen'' (which depicts these terrifying events [[NightmareFuel/{{BarefootGen}} in more detail]]), you can see why 4Kids decided to skip the episode due to it being inspired by such a nightmarish true event.

* Most of the other Franchise/GreenLantern/Comicbook/GreenArrow comics written by Dennis O'Neil may qualify as Very Special Episodes and not just the one where it is revealed that Speedy was a heroin addict. For instance, the issue that introduced John Stewart had Hal Jordan ([[AudienceSurrogate and by extension, the audience]]) learning a lesson about police harassment and institutional racism.

* One of the most infamous of these stories was the ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' 'Drug Awareness issue' mentioned in PietaPlagiarism. And holding the victim was Speedy himself. Though this book is also infamous for its CaptainErsatz of Robin, the Protector, due to rights issues (the book was sponsored by a cookie company, but one that didn't have the licensing rights to Robin).

** Creator/JMichaelStraczynski's [[ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan run]] had quite a few of those, through a lot of time the serious issues like bullying or school shooting were organic parts of the plot. Some of the straighter examples would be an issue in which Peter tries to help one of his students who has junkie brother [[spoiler: and turns out they're both homeless]] (and in a subversion of a general rule this issue opens a longer story arc and the girl is one of the central characters of it). The straightest example however would be an issue about 9/11 and it's still considered one of the better written comics about that tragedy.

* ''[[Comicbook/TheSandman Death talks about life]]'' was a giveaway special produced by Creator/VertigoComics at the height of the AIDS epidemic. [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/295605.html#cutid1 It]] features Death [[BreakingTheFourthWall directly addressing the reader]] about AIDS and sex related issues, and is probably the single most {{Anvilicious}} comic not written by [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Jack Chick]]. It's also probably the best {{Anvilicious}} comic of all time, as it makes up for its {{anvilicious}}ness by featuring a scene in which [[Comicbook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]] holds a banana while Death rolls a condom onto it. The AIDS epidemic was also a bit of a running motif in ''Comicbook/TheSandman'' itself, although never to the extent of having entire issues based around it.

* ''Comicbook/{{Shazam}}: The Power of Hope'' is the comic book equivalent of a Very Special Episode. Penned by Creator/PaulDini and drawn by Creator/AlexRoss, it mostly deals with Captain Marvel being sent on an errand to find a ''hopeless boy'' and bring him hope. Captain Marvel spends his free time in a child ward of the local hospital, dealing with terminally ill kids and various other ''hopeless cases''. Only after helping the seemingly most hopeless kid of the bunch, in a TwistEnding moment, [[spoiler: Captain Marvel is made aware that the ''hopeless boy'' was none other than Billy Batson, his alter ego, feeling doubts about his capacity to bring hope and needing to be confronted with the tragedies of human life and innocence of other kids]].

* In ''FanFic/MegaManDefenderOfTheHumanRace'', a secondary arc of Episode 7 involves Lynn finally dealing with her brother Castor's severe drug abuse, with some helpful advice from Mega Man. Castor is seen suffering drug withdrawals and is reluctant to recover. But, in the end, Castor breaks down in his sister's arms and finally agrees to seek treatment.

* ''FanFic/{{Hivefled}}''; Sennir briefly breaks the fourth wall in a question-and-answer session to tell readers that death was not a reasonable price to pay for [[spoiler:[[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} gaining a body which fit his gender]]]], and assures them help is available.
* Several chapters of ''FanFic/FalloutEquestria'' are devoted to TheHero Littlepip trying to kick an addiction to mind-enhancing drugs.
* ''FanFic/MortalMan'' is a ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' fanfiction the plays out like one of these, being a somewhat OriginalFlavor fanfic that depicts [=SpongeBob=] working through the grief of his favorite superhero, Mermaid Man, passing away from old age.

* ''Videogame/{{Fortnite}}'' featured an interactive recreation of ''UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr'' famous speech as well as monuments and museums about the history of the ''UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement'' as a limited time mode.

* Parodied in the comic-within-a-comic ''WebComic/SweetBroAndHellaJeff'', wherein The Big Man [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/sweetbroandhellajeff/?cid=019.jpg wants that us all to keep it real about... AIDS.]]

*** The first, ''Elmo's Playdate'', was based on the video chats that were popular during this era, but also addressed issues resulting from it like essential trips to the grocery store and how hard doctors are working

** Saving a young boy from being molested by his female babysitter [[http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/superhero2.jpg by telling the tale about how he was molested as a kid by an adult friend named "Skip", who had an uncanny resemble to Uncle Ben.]]
** Foiling a plot to [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1333192.html inflict the youth of America with teen pregnancy by giving advice about sexuality.]]

->''"We'd be watching ''Series/SavedByTheBell'', we'd be having a great old time. And then suddenly, a character we had not seen before would show up with some weed, and the episode would stop cold in its tracks!''

->''We'd be watching ''Saved By The Bell'', we'd be having a great old time. And then suddenly, a character we had not seen before would show up with some weed, and the episode would stop cold in its tracks!''