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The Abridged Series
aka: Abridged Series

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"I mean, uh, everybody crosses it. Because it's a bridge. Yeah. And before you know it everybody and their mother is making a bridge! So there's a bridge. Everywhere. Nobody even knows why they're making a bridge anymore. They just want people to cross it. They don't care where they're going. The first guy is like, 'I'm going to go to conventions to promote my bridge!' It's like, it's just a bridge. It's not a big deal. Get over it."

A Sub-Trope of Gag Dub and a type of Crack Fic, that deals specifically with shortening works of fiction, and making fun of it. Stricto sensu an abridged series, well, abridges, but many examples over the years have added wholly unique narratives (e.g. Jiz). The first of these was Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, which posted its first episode on YouTube in 2006 — however, the idea of abridging works for fun started way earlier, dating back to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (a play first performed in 1987), as well as Adobe Flash cartoons in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Other YouTubers who liked Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged began abridging other popular series. Originally, abridging was simply a Follow the Leader, but over the years has become a genre in itself. In the mid-2010s, a Sub-Genre based on "MENT" emerged.

Most are on YouTube, but some can be found elsewhere, like Dailymotion. Also be aware that different episodes of certain abridged series may be scattered across different users.

Generally, the existence of most of these fall into a legal grey area, at least as far as US law is concerned. While all of them are generally parodies, which are legal as per the Supreme Court decision in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., the use of copyrighted material puts it at odds with the DMCA.note  This has led to YouTube pulling abridged series such as OPA Studios, Sailor Moon Abridged and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, to mixed success.

Remember that this is a genre, not a trope. Do not put a link to this page in the source work trope list. Instead put it under "Referenced by..." in the work's Trivia sub page.

Compare Fan Vid and Remix Comic. Contrast The Abridged History, the act of parodying and shortening real-life history.

See also Abridged Series Tropes. Doesn't really have much to do with Abridged for Children, though some may be made more humorous in a manner similar to this trope. For straight adaptations of series that shorten the length, see Adaptation Distillation.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Abridged Series Creators 

    Series with their own pages 

Other Series Examples

Before adding something to this section, please make sure it DOESN'T have its own page and thus belongs in the above section. List the source first, then link to the abridged series artist; there should be at least two episodes made; please place new series in alphabetical order by title. If there are multiple authors, those should also be alphabetized.

    Anime & Manga 

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 

    Live-Action TV 

    Pro Wrestling 

    Theater 

    Video Games 

    Western Animation 

    Other 
  • The Editing Room, home of the Abridged Script, is this for a wide range of movies.
  • There exists "Edited Videos" like this one, wherein various sound clips are edited in to a video to make everything from kids' shows to commercials raunchy.


Oh, I get it, it's... A bridge!

Alternative Title(s): Abridged Series

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