Just Eat Gilligan: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

[[Plot Induced Stupidity]] on a grand scale. An entire show whose continued existence depends on its castmembers ''not'' doing one simple, easy-to-think-of thing that could solve all of their problems and wrap everything up in a neat little package. It's the Helen Keller of [[Genre Blindness]]. It's any [[Fridge Logic|question]] the viewer may have to which the only sensible answer is: "[[Anthropic Principle|Because then there'd be no show]]/movie/novel/game, that's why." 

 

Not to be confused with [[Just Eat Him]]. When a villain falls prey to this trope, it is often [[Never Recycle Your Schemes]]. See also [[The Millstone]], when one character is the cause of this situation, and [[Fawlty Towers Plot]], when the source is a lie. If they ''did'' eat Gilligan, that would be an example of there being [[No Party Like a Donner Party]]. Contrast with [[For Want of a Nail]], [[Who Will Bell the Cat?]].

 

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'' has the age old question of why the people cursed by the Jusenkyo springs didn't just cure themselves while they were still there.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' features several occasions where a bad guy could achieve his goal without an obligatory Duel, but nevertheless does one for some unknown reason. Repeatedly lampshaded in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]''.

{{quote|'''Yami Yugi:''' Did you even consider ''just asking me for it''? I mean, do you have any ''idea'' how much time and money you've wasted with this whole facade? People have ''died'' because you wanted a necklace! ''I killed a gay clown'', for Ra's sake!}}

{{quote|'''Rare Hunter:''' We are here to take your rarest card.

'''Joey:''' You mean you're gonna kick the crap out of me and steal it?

'''Joey:''' ...wouldn't it be much easier just to skip the first step?

'''Rare Hunter:''' Yes. Yes, it would. ''(proceeds with card game)'' }}

{{quote|'''Marik''': "We are going to challenge him to a card game! But this will be no ordinary card game. This one will take place... On a boat!"

'''Bakura''': "Why a boat?"

'''Bakura''': Why do we need to play a card game against him?

'''Marik''': "Foolish fool! The card game is integral to the plot. The ''evil'' plot, of which ''I'' am the evil mastermind!" }}

{{quote|'''Bakura''': "Can't we just kill him?"

'''Marik''': "No, and even if we did, those EFF-tards would just censor it." }}

* In ''[[Patlabor]]'', SV2 Division 2 is often derided for the massive collateral damage they cause while fighting crime... and 90% of those are caused by Ohta. Now, his gung-ho, gun-loving attitude is supposed to be played for laughs, and he is a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] really, but just the same, getting rid of him would've saved much of SV2's troubles.

** Note that in the manga version, Ohta is shown to be less incompetent than his anime counterparts.

** This is reinforced in the second movie, where he cooly demonstrates that he's capable of aiming from the hip with their [[Humongous Mecha]] and nailing a moving target; the recruits he was drilling at the time couldn't fathom the purpose of the exercise but are impressed nonetheless.

* In ''[[Inuyasha]]'', the heroine has the ability to travel back and forth in time to Ancient Japan. Presumably, she and her friends who remain in the past after the defeat of Naraku could arrange to preserve the information on how it was done in such a way that Kagome could easily discover it in the present, take the information back to the ''past'' where the as-yet-undefeated Naraku is still wreaking havoc and use it to defeat him. Of course, trying to explain the logistics of [[Timey-Wimey Ball|such a paradox-based plan]] would most likely make all of the characters heads' explode, which would ''itself'' end the series ''right there.''

* ''[[Dragon Ball]] Z'' plot lines tend to play out along the following lines: A powerful foe appears, none of the Z fighters are strong enough to defeat him (or they spend so long messing around that he is allowed to reach full power), he kills lots of innocent people whilst the Z fighters train to become stronger, the villain is confronted and the strongest fighter barely manages to scrape through with a win, and then the magical dragon balls are used to wish all of the dead civilians back to life. However, The dragon balls grant ''wishes'', so the protagonists could wish for pretty much anything they want (within certain ill-defined boundaries). Not once does anyone think to wish for the villain to be weaker, or to be frozen in ice, or to be put to sleep, or to be transported to the centre of the sun. Vegeta is at least smart enough to try to wish himself to be more powerful, but this is only before his [[Heel Face Turn]] and so naturally he fails. The idea apparently never reoccurs to him. The show highlights the ridiculous ease with which the good guys are able to gather the balls so it is unclear why they never think to use them for anything other than resurrection. Even if they 'wasted' their wish by using it to destroy the villain the innocents would only remain dead for a year until the next wish could be made.

** It is stated several times that the Dragonballs are unable to grant any wish that is beyond the power of the creator of the Dragonballs. This means that said creator would have to be able to defeat the villain my normal means in order to harm them in any way with the Dragonballs.

** This needs an edit. Krillin HAS tried to wish the villain of the month defeated, and was informed by the Dragon that it was not powerful enough to do so. How powerful are the dragons? Well, the first one we see in the series is One-Shotted by Evil Picollo back when Goku was still a kid. So, overall, very weak compared to ANY enemy by the time Goku's grown up, due to power inflation. Kuririn also failed to wish the Androids into humans for the same reason, the dragon was too weak.

*** Really, any questions about "Why don't they just wish for ______?" are answered by [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch|actually watching any of the episodes where they summon the dragon]]. The characters ''try'' most of the "hurr durr it's so simple" wishes, only for Shenlong to say that it's beyond his power. Basically he can only do so much and is not as omnipotent as people assume of your typical genie.

 

* Rogue From ''[[Marvel Comics]]'' is a mutant who broods constantly because her mutant power has the potential to kill anyone she comes physical contact with. However, since mutant negation technology is widely available (and has been shown to work on her in the past), it should be no problem to simply make a necklace or something with the embedded technology and just put an on/off switch on the circuit. End of meaningless brooding.

** One of the explanations is also that most of the technology was developed by people who hate mutants and want to kill them, and thus using their inventions for her own benefit offends her morals. It would be roughly equivalent to taking a vaccine developed by Nazis who had experimented on imprisoned Jews to perfect it... some people wouldn't have a moral problem with that, some would, Rogue can simply be assumed to be the latter.

 

* Bob Denver, a.k.a. Gilligan, [[Lampshade Hanging|hung a lampshade]] on ''Gilligan's Island'' himself in the film ''Back to the Beach''.

{{quote|'''Bartender:''' Hey, I knew a guy who could build a nuclear reactor out of coconuts but couldn't fix a two-foot hole in a boat.}}

*** Unfortunately, that's [[No Bisexuals|another trope entirely.]]

* ''[[Blood Simple]]'' justifies this with its title; people in those situations aren't in the best of mental states, generally.

** They did discuss that very option at the beginning of the experiment. The one person does make the valid-at-the-time point that it would disrupt the experiment and make the entire time they spent preparing go down the drain; which when faced with two people of unknown talents is logical. They did eventually kick out the idiots after a certain point, but the idiots then went back in to genuinely help. You have to remember that part of the movie.

** They do hammer on the precise amount of days for the sake of stability, but really, it does stress the suspense of disbelief to not worry at least as much about the exact amount of people present.

** Giselle has the mentality of the typical [[Damsel in Distress]], making her brain the size of a walnut to figure that out, its her time the real world does she become [[Genre Savvy]] enough to save the day.

* "Stagecoach". John Ford was once asked why, during the climactic chase scene, the Indians didn't just shoot the horses to stop the stagecoach? "Because the movie would have ended right there", he replied.

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[Journey to the West]]'', almost every story features Xuanzang believing Zhu Bajie's lies about Wukong, taking his bad advice, or taking his side in arguments. He gets captured by demons as a result, and despite this happening dozens of times in the story, he never realizes that Bajie is always wrong. Every single time.

* In the second ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' book, Edward thinks Bella is dead and goes to try and kill himself, leading to a rush to save him. That part of the book could've been taken out entirely if he just called or texted someone to confirm that she really is dead.

** [[Big Bad|Voldemort]] would have been able to kill Harry many times in the series if he hadn't arrogantly insisted on having to kill Harry personally. Since his wand and Harry's are linked and unable to work properly against each other, Voldemort instead spends half the series being thwarted by this connection and half the final book trying to find a loophole by using other wands, when at any time he could have just ordered his servants to kill Harry on sight for him.

*** Though there is the point that Voldemort runs a fairly EVIL group, which has mixed loyalties, a near amatuer can take out the best Magician given surprise or some other advantage (Draco vs Dumbledore, Harry vs whoever) means that theoratically any of the Death Eaters could take out Voldemort, and the fact that Voldemort's ace in the hole, immortality, merely means he is reduced to a wandering spirit instead of outright killed... You must realize that Voldemort rules through FEAR and by keeping an image of supremacy and invulnerability. So... no, he CAN'T ask one of his minions to destroy his arch-nemesis for him. One, it makes him look bad. Two, it makes his minion look TOO GOOD...

** In the first book, when Harry, Ron and Hermione discovered that Quirrell planned to steal the Philosopher's Stone, rather than trying to stop him themselves, why didn't they tell the school's teachers or staff about Quirrel's plans? Granted, they tried to inform Dumbledore about it and were told he wasn't at the school at that moment. But there were so many other teachers and members of the school's staff who were far more capable than three first-year students and would have handled the situation much better.

*** They did try to tell McGonagall, but she refused to listen and just insisted that the stone was protected well enough. Still, they might have tried harder or tried other teachers.

**** Don't forget, you can't get off the school grounds with Apparitions and Portkeys (the closest to this is Floo Powder). But the area right around the castle itself, {{spoiler|(since Snape and Malfoy apparate away right as soon as they enter the forest)}} makes me think that Moody had to have Harry get off the school grounds. Since the maze would not be in school grounds, Harry could be taken directly to Voldemort, everyone would think his death was an accident, and Moody would not be suspected at all.

**** In the books, the maze was on the Quidditch Pitch so it was on the school grounds, even though the much larger movie maze may not have been. But this doesn't mean you're wrong as it's implied portkeys can be used in Hogwarts if the person has the authority to do so - Dumbledore made one to send Harry and the Weasleys to Grimmauld Place in ''Order of the Phoenix''. Crouch Jr. wouldn't have been able to make one until Dumbledore gave him permission to do so. (I believe it's pretty widely accepted that the cup would have sent the winner back to the entrance of the maze - he just set a different location!)

*** Also, why did the school's staff let Harry participate? They were aware of the suspiciousness of Harry's name coming out of the goblet, as he said that he didn't put it there, and him participating goes against the rules, which stated that there would be only 3 participants, who also had to be older than what Harry was at that point. Not to mention that Harry himself wasn't even interested in participating in the first place. If they hadn't made him participate, Voldemort wouldn't have been able to restore his body, and Cedric wouldn't have been murdered.

**** It was mentioned earlier that anyone chosen by the Goblet was put under a powerful, binding magical contract, which meant that they ''had'' to participate. Dumbledore warns of this when he tells the students who are of age to not sign up frivolously, but to be certain that they want to potentially go through with it.

**** On the other hand, the judges allowed him to continue after he went over the time limit in the water challenge. If they had stuck to the rules of the challenge, Harry would have been disqualified, and Voldemort would have stayed dead.

* In ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'', Alhox has a legitimate excuse (his [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|head trauma]]) for [[Devil in Plain Sight|not immediately figuring out]] what the Mystery Wanderer [[Obviously Evil|so plainly is]]. The other characters [[Horrible Judge of Character|really have no excuse]] for being [[Unwitting Pawn|so easily manipulated]]. Still, they begin to have suspicions about him. However, the most Pinkata does is say: "I have a feeling he's a really bad man." Had she voiced her "[[Cassandra Truth|crazier]]" suspicion that he was {{spoiler|Melchar}}, Alhox would have put two and two together - and a third of the series' entire plot would immediately disintegrate. All this trouble because the [[Only Sane Man|Only Sane Woman]] [[Cannot Spit It Out]].

 

== Live Action TV ==

* Named after what is likely the most [[Egregious]] example: the title character from ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'', whose bungling so often sabotaged the rest of the cast's attempts to get back to civilization, that one has to wonder why they simply didn't eat him -- ''or'' at least arrange for some sort of "accident" to happen to him. Or if they didn't want to be killers, they could've just locked him up until they got off the island (which would likely only take a week), then send someone back for him afterwards. Or they simply could have given Gilligan a less critical role in the plan. 

*** Rebecca's father on ''[[Cheers]]'' made the same point:

{{quote|"As a man who has thirty years of naval experience, I can say with all confidence that if that crew got together and shot Gilligan, they'd have been off that island in a week. Problem solved."}}

** Evidence from the show itself actually help's Gilligan's case. [http://captaincomics.ning.com/forum/topics/the-baron-watches-gilligans?id=3370054%3ATopic%3A27071&page=29#comments Statistically speaking], out of 98 episodes, only 37 involved a direct possibility of escaping the island. Of those 37, only 17 potential rescues were foiled as a result of Gilligan's actions. Admittedly, that's still a lot of rescues for one man to screw up, but the series also has a large number of episodes where Gilligan's actions ''save'' everybody - from death, enslavement, imprisonment, etc.

*** Russell Johnson's (The actor who played [[The Professor]]) stock answer: If you were a mega Science Geek trapped on an island with two beautiful girls...would YOU be quick to get rescued?

** Third question: if the Minnow had, as passengers, one of the world's richest men, and one of Hollywood's favorite actresses, why weren't there more exhaustive rescue attempts? Considering how many people managed to stumble onto the island, it couldn't have been all ''that'' far from the mainland, and since the boat was still in one piece, even if it wasn't sea-worthy, it should have been visible from a low-flying plane ''specifically searching for it.'' It was probably really all Thurston Howell's fault. Someone had plotted to eliminate him, and when he wasn't killed in the shipwreck, then to keep him on the island, in order to have control of his money. Either his nearest relative, or estate trustee probably knew where he was the whole time.

** ''[[Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure]]'' falls victim to this until almost the very end, when the two not-so-bright heroes finally realize that, duh, they have a time machine, and proceed to arrange it so that, in some future time, they will go back into the ''past'' and cause certain events to happen in the ''present'' which will allow them to escape from jail and make it to the school in time to deliver their fateful history report. The climax of the sequel features both Bill and Ted ''and'' [[Big Bad]] Nomolos DeNomolos playing this game, each attempting to get the advantage in a [[Mexican Standoff]]... until Ted rightly points out that only one side gets to win, then go back in time and stage everything just right, and they had in fact planted all the items he thought he planted to lull him into a false sense of security. Probably not so much of a concern, because the film is too silly to be taken seriously.

** A similar stand-off occurs between the Doctor and the Master in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' parody film ''The Curse of Fatal Death''. The Doctor wins the fight by arranging for the architects to have built a trap door under where the Master's feet would have been after the race goes extinct.

*** The in-universe explanation for this is that The Doctor and other "time aware" species like the Daleks are aware of fixed points in history that cannot be changed. This is usually indicated by their significance in subsequent history books. It seems that the more an event is ingrained into legend, the less power the Doctor has to alter it. Like the Titanic Sinking, the volcano which destroyed Pompeii, the mysterious destruction of the first Mars colony, etc. Attempts to push against these boundaries seem fruitless as Fate keeps making them happen anyway. It is implied that it *is* possible to beat fate, but only by accepting all the ramifications to the stability of time. Even a Dalek is shown sparing someone's life because it realizes she isn't meant to die yet.

*** Series 6 shows what happens when a "fixed point" is altered; {{spoiler|it breaks history. The entire history of Earth is altered so it all takes place at once, and it's ''always'' the moment when time is broken.}}

* In ''[[Lost in Space]]'', Dr. Smith is a sanctimonious coward who constantly gets the whole ship in trouble through his greed. A great many potential future problems could have been solved simply by leaving him to get killed in the mess he's caused for himself. A later comic continuation by Innovation Comics partially addresses that by the Robinsons and West finally losing their patience with Smith, throwing him in one of the ship's cryo tubes and keeping him there. At least the movie adaptation gave an explanation as to why he wasn't immediately thrown out the airlock after his first treachery, and they ''did'' eventually leave him to die after his betraying them yet again.

** Also makes sense in ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]''. The city of Corinth is surrounded by a forcefield, meaning that each monster has to have some way to get around that and into the city. Also, finding out where the enemy's base is is a major plot point.

** The lead villain in the delightfully self-aware ''[[Power Rangers Ninja Storm]]'' actually attempts to [[Make My Monster Grow|supersize]] all of his monsters at once, only for the computer to respond with a memory error and his underling pointing out that he skimped on the memory upgrade that would let him supersize more than one monster at a time.

** Similarly, "Why don't you just get the Zords from the beginning and stomp the monster?" was discussed (while not done in a way that justifies it for the whole series) when the Rangers were having trouble fighting multiple monsters who managed to break the [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]] (oh, and they ''actually were ninjas,'' working for the ninja-based villain faction.) Ronny suggests sending the Zords even though "we don't normally do this," but they couldn't be launched due to an earlier monster-inflicted computer virus.

*** [[The Ditz|Natsuki]] uses this ''exact'' tactic in ''[[Gou Gou Sentai Boukenger|Boukenger]]''. And it's simultaneously [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKWnVjPZoJ0 horrifying and hilarious].

*** Except once in ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', but the result wasn't good, because this monster was specifically designed to hijack the Zords. And in ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'', because the monster was sun-powered, and the Rangers decided the only way to defeat him was ''using the Megazord to '''shadow''' him''.

** The Zords couldn't be sent "all at once" because the "laws of Good" prevent Good from "escalating" the violence. The bad guys, especially in ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' most likely have limits such as the magic taking a heavy toll on the user. In fact Ivan Ooze in ''[[The Movie]]'' needed to hypnotize people to build the technology so that he could use it.

** Then again, it's probably a giant waste of energy to send the robot to squish the not-yet-big monster. Zord fuel can't be cheap.

** "Why don't villains just blow up the Rangers' houses at night?" has also been dealt with, once again, by Ninja Storm. [[The Dragon]] suggests attacking them at the sports shop they work at, but Lothor says that a Ranger's power can only truly be destroyed while the Ranger is morphed. (Mind you, we've seen that prove untrue more than once in the past, but hey, they tried.)

* Almost invariably in the early seasons, the [[Monster of the Week]] would be trashing the Power Rangers, and Rita would declare, "If you think you're having it rough now, wait until you see this!" before making the monster [[Make My Monster Grow|grow to a preposterous size]]. At this point the ''Power Rangers'' would use their cool toys and destroy the monster, every single time. If only Rita had left the monster at its original size, she could have won easily. For that matter, why didn't the Power Rangers just use their giant mechas on the "human-sized" monster? Another thing: every villain in ''Power Rangers'' ever has had the ability to teleport at will, anywhere, through walls, and even bring along passengers or cargo. Picture the cataclysmic implications if they were to use this power intelligently.

** In the Alien Rangers arc of MMPR, Goldar and Rito did ''just that,'' only with a bomb of the usual villains' making.

* In the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'', more than half of the plots could have been resolved in ten seconds if the characters had chosen to just eat Jay Hogart. What did his victims do when they finally realized he was manipulating them? They glared at him really angrily, and sometimes even spoke harsh words. Some of these kids have beaten each other up because of his tricks, but when they find out the brawl was his fault, they don't even throw a punch at him. However, he does become a semi-helpful member of the cast in the sixth and seventh seasons.

* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. If the crew had simply tossed the [[Lawful Stupid]] Captain Janeway out the airlock after her silly Starfleet rules prevented them from getting home the first time, they'd have gotten home by the next week.

** [[SF Debris]] also noted that judicious use of a [[Time Bomb]] in the pilot would have turned the series into little more than a TV movie. {{spoiler|The [[Sadistic Choice]] at the end of "Caretaker" was, should ''Voyager'' destroy the Caretaker Array and leave themselves with hoofing it home, or use the Array to get home and let the Kazon enslave the Ocampas? Janeway chose to blow the Array. Chuck Sonnenburg's solution was to set a time bomb aboard the Array, set to go off just after it chucked ''Voyager'' back to the Alpha Quadrant.}}

** For more information on Janeway's questionable actions and possible justifications, check out Trek Nation's [http://www.treknation.com/articles/court_martial_janeway_intro.shtml The Court Martial of Captain Janeway].

*** He's not just put in charge of morale, but also of ''cooking'', of all things. His [[Lethal Chef|food is so awful]] that in one episode he actually ''poisons'' the ship with his cooking fumes. Not the ship's crew, but the ''actual ship itself.''

*** What makes the above example even more ridiculous is that his reaction to experiencing those traumatising memories was to hallucinate, pick up a phaser and hold Naomi hostage in the Mess Hall, believing he was protecting children in a combat-zone. It took a while for Tuvok to talk him down. And that is one of the memories you want someone ''else'' to remember? The poor sod who next undergoes that could easily kill half of his crew, blow a hole in the side of the ship or get himself shot!

*** Also, is asking someone who witnessed the destruction of his homeworld, and has demonstrated long-lasting psychological scars from that event on more than one occasion, really the best person to give advice on subjecting people's mental health to images of a massacre? You'd think, given his background, he'd be against this?!

* In ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', GOB routinely screws up Michael's plans to save the company, week after week after week, even to the point of undoing what good Michael has achieved. Given how often this occurs, it is surprising that Michael always has a change of heart right after he decides to finally get rid of GOB for good. Indeed, the humor of the series mainly stems from the [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] that Michael should stop caring about his family, but he is unable to.

** If only [[Only Sane Man|Michael]] had moved away from his incompetent, irresponsible and immoral family, he wouldn't have to deal with their shenanigans. To his credit, he did try to leave in the beginning of season two. But the SEC was extra suspicious at that point.

* In the obscure children's TV show ''The Legend of Tim Tyler'', the title "hero" sold his laugh to an evil baron for the ability to win any bet. It took until the end of the 13 part series for Tim Tyler to discover the one way to screw the baron over... to make a bet that he could laugh.

** In the German book ''Thimm Thalers Lächeln'', which seems to be the source, this is both lampshaded by Thimm and made plausible because he couldn't make this bet with just anyone - he was not allowed to tell anybody about the deal, so he had to find someone who figured it out by himself as a partner to his bet.

* ''[[Lost]]'' thrives on this, which is not surprising considering the connections to ''Gilligan's Island''. All the survivors of 815 had to do was to ''hold a big meeting and compare notes about this VERY odd island'' to keep their cool and work more as a cohesive group, but noooo.....

** This is what the survivors tried to do initially. Except there were people trying to act in the best interests of the group, such as Sayid and co. keeping the French transmission a secret. And then people acting in their own interests, like Kate trying to keep her past a secret or Sawyer making everyone hate him because he's a [[Jerkass Woobie]]. And then there's Locke, who... is Locke. Arguably, part of the show's point is that when left to their own devices, people are prone to conflict and self-destruction.

** Particularly as she likewise discovers she has magic in the second series. Her neck is on the line just as much as his, as it doesn't seem like that Uther would have been merciful.

* In the fifth season of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', the main characters are desperately trying to come up with a way to stop Lucifer. After the Colt and Gabriel fail, all seems lost and they resort to sacrificing Sam to lock him away... despite being presented with several other options as the series goes on which they never even consider. The two that come to mind are the Antichrist (who can apparently "destroy the host of heaven with a thought" and seems a nice enough kid), and Deaths Scythe (which is apparently capable of killing even Death, but they never think to use it against Lucifer).

* ''[[Dennis the Menace (TV series)|Dennis the Menace]]''. Mr. Wilson's life would be much better if the Mitchells would move away. The worst part is that the man is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to know this, and his warnings to the other characters are tragically ignored.

** ''Redemption Island'' would have had a ''very'' different outcome if the [[Too Dumb to Live|Ometepes]] realized Rob was too dangerous to be allowed to run the game. Especially jarring considering the very first tribal council, Kristina reveals she has the idol meaning that Rob doesn't, and has a ''very'' big sign reading, "Vote me out" on his face. Unsurprisingly, he wound up winning.

** ''One World''. Viewers very quickly began to expect that everyone would just let Colton walk all over everybody. He did- until he was medevaced.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' Season Seven would have had far less complications ensue in the second half of the season had the main characters invented some kind of mandatory "touch" system where they would have to make regular physical contact with each other to see if everyone present was corporeal. The First Evil caused so many problems by imitating other characters as an illusion that it seems odd that no system is invented to regularly verify that everyone there is really who they say they are.

'''Sampson''': But then there'd be no play.

'''Prince''': Oh. Carry on, then. }}

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Also, while Cygnar (don't know about the other nations) does cremate the dead after a battle, there isn't really anything preventing the Cryxians from raising their own living troops, or raiding isolated villages for more bodies.

* Averted in the ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' Board Game. Sending a troublesome character out the airlock will only force a now terribly pissed human player to pick another character, or regenerate a Cylon player onto the Basestar. If playing a Cylon, it only eliminates a suspect and puts suspicion back on you.

** Then again, in ''CoC'' getting killed in new and exciting ways (or going permanently insane) is ''kinda the point''.

 

== Video Games ==

* If any of the three heroes in ''[[Fable]] 2'' died, the villain would be completely unable to complete his plan. Conveniently, one of them is a [[Complete Monster]]. Not that {{spoiler|Theresa}} would have let that happen.

* This is a recurrent theme in many genres of games, usually on the part of the villains. Why didn't ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''' Bowser build a tall, sheer wall... anywhere? Why didn't Dr. Robotnik just line up enough spikes that [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] could never clear them? Why didn't [[Diablo]] send a lone overlord to the first level of the Tristram cathedral? Because then [[Rule of Fun|we wouldn't have any of these games]]. Or if we did, they would suck.

* The plots of ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' and its expansion ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'' would be '''enormously''' shorter if the main characters were allowed to use the massive amounts of money they earn to just pay off the debts of the characters they are protecting. By about the middle of ''IV'' specifically, Niko can easily be sitting on over a quarter million dollars but you'll still be doing missions for loan sharks that Roman owes money to without the option of just paying them off. This wouldn't solve ''all'' the problems but it would make them much more manageable.

* The plot of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'', although the cast can be forgiven for not realizing it under the circumstances. {{spoiler|It takes them 6 full stories of them slaughtering eachother to finally halfway the 7th episode realize that none of that would happen if they'd just trust eachother for once. When they start the 8th story with this information and work together from the start, it becomes no more than a ''[[Curb Stomp Battle]]'' against the true enemies.}}

* ''[[Terraria]]'' has the "Guide" who does things like letting monsters into your safe house, prompting many a player to think this trope.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the 1990s ''[[Incredible Hulk]]'' animated series, the military would invariably show up and ruin everything at the exact moment Bruce Banner was undergoing a procedure that would eliminate the Hulk once and for all. If they wanted to get rid of the Hulk so badly, they could have left him alone.

** This was at its absolute worst in the episode where Timmy enters the TV. They didn't even give him some paper-thin reason as to why he couldn't wish the remote back to him and away from Vicky. It's never even ''mentioned.''

*** Actually, there was a time Vicky accidentally got a hold of a magic reality resetting watch. He couldn't wish it back. Apparently you can't wish magical items away from whoever's using it.

** A ''[[Looney Tunes (comics)|Looney Tunes]]'' comic book does actually establish that Wile E. gets his food via mail order, and that catching Roadrunner is just his hobby. [[Word of God]], people.

** This is hilariously lampshaded in a short in which Wile E. [[Team Rocket Wins|is successful in his attempts to capture the Roadrunner.]] Of course, he's now a comically puny size thanks to [[Rule of Funny]] so the Roadrunner is much...'''much''' bigger than him. Wile E. then [[No Fourth Wall|points out to the audience]] that he's [[So What Do We Do Now?|absolutely clueless as to what to do next.]]

*** The heights of Wile E.'s obsession is underscored by the large number of his plans that, had they succeeded, would have ''destroyed'' the Road Runner, or at least rendered its carcass inedible.

*** Really one of his main problems is that he keeps buying shoddy products from Acme. Which one episode reveals as being ''owned and operated'' by the Road Runner!

** If that's the one I'm thinking of, Bluto didn't so much "eat" the spinach as have it forced down his throat by Popeye. At a guess, Bluto hates spinach even more than he hates Popeye.

*** This is underscored by one cartoon where Bluto invents a powerful herbicide to destroy all of the world's spinach to incapacitate Popeye. {{spoiler|Popeye pleads to the audience, and some kid with a grocery bag throws it into the screen. Popeye beats Bluto, and cures all the spinach.}}

* Entire episodes of ''[[Tale Spin]]'' are often driven by Baloo's incompetence, laziness or [[Refuge in Audacity|audacity]], or Rebecca's hardheadedness, blind ambition or naivete. What could be solved simply with some logical thinking often [[Disaster Dominoes|snowballs]] into a very big problem. Sometimes Kit or Molly's recklessness or need for adventure complicates matters, too, though not as often as Baloo and Rebecca's character flaws do.

** Played with in one episode, where Rebecca wins a contest and needs to get her winning entry to a radio station on time to get a large sum, but she's too busy to get it mailed herself. She knows that Baloo is lazy except when something doesn't matter, so she tries to use [[Reverse Psychology]], telling him that she'd appreciate it if he could take care of mailing it out for her, but that it wasn't important. Unfortunately for her, Baloo, already experienced with how much trouble arises from her hardheadedness and blind ambition, figures that her ''laissez-faire'' attitude means it really isn't important, so he spends the fare for the letter on himself (after Rebecca said he could keep the change) and sends it via the cheapest possible postage. Cue scramble when both parties realize what they had done.

* ''[[The Transformers (animation)|The Transformers]]'': Good thing the Decepticons never thought of getting rid of [[The Starscream|Starscream]]. He's the only reason the Autobots kept surviving, or even [http://www.cracked.com/article_16954_5-reasons-megatron-should-have-fired-starscream-years-ago.html woke up in the first place]. One time he even saved the cornered Autobots just for the sake of ruining Megatron's plans. Right in front of him, complete with a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|smug one-liner]].

** However, one could argue Starscream had the right idea. If they just blew up the Ark (or at least slagged the Autobots in their stasis lock), they could have conquered Earth without Autobot interference.

* [[Nostalgia Filter|Anyone who grew up with]] ''[[Jem]]'' will most likely be astounded on revisiting the show and realizing that the rival band of Jem and the Holograms (The Misfits) would often indulge in felonies such as kidnapping, blackmail, sabotage and slander in order to boost their own sales and discredit their opponents. A simple phone call to the police would have seen them locked up for a very long time.

** Made worse by the fact that Jerrica ''owns Starlight Music'' and could probably do a lot more to ensure that Eric Raymond would stop causing trouble as a record executive than a pop idol.

* [[Spanner in the Works|Considering how many times he screws them up,]] [[Pinky and The Brain|if Brain got rid of Pinky]] or at least kept him as far away from his plans as he could manage, he'd rule the world within a week, if that.

** It would seem so - but in "That Smarts," Pinky becomes as intelligent as the Brain, to the delight of the latter... until a) Pinky starts indicating flaws in every single planet-conquering scheme and b) the Brain realises that the ''only'' way any of his plans will succeed is if one of them is an idiot. {{spoiler|So he makes himself as "smart" (i.e. as stupid) as Pinky normally is... unfortunately, Pinky's seen how miserable the Brain is now that the balance of power has shifted, and he makes himself as stupid as he was before! Needless to say, [[Status Quo Is God|this doesn't stick]] for the rest of the series.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Bad Writing Index]]

[[Category:Contrived Stupidity Tropes]]

[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]